never more so than on a recent occasion, when he took up his pen in favour of religion. It may, in his estimation, be incompatible with the state of literature in America, to afford a subsistence to a professed bookmaker, unless he continually strikes out novelties, which derive a chance of sale from their possession of those qualities alone. It is certainly no cause of reproach to Mr. W. that he looks to the sale of his many books for his support; though I think it would ultimately have been both for his pecuniary advantage, and for his reputation, to feel less ambition to roam in uncultivated regions. The fruits which he gathers in these wanderings in the wilderness, without himself appearing to be a judge of their flavour, he pronounces with enthusiasm to be an important acquisition to his fellow creatures; and he demands for them, in the market, a price far above their value. Unconvinced by the neglect of his countrymen to deal with him, he is obliged to have recourse to artifice in keeping up his prices, which he would not have found necessary, had he been contented to have tilled his soil for the production of those commodities which other men have found saleable and useful.

Though I have traced him through many "changes," and discovered him in the form of many an "untried being;" I had followed him to a resting place, where I had supposed he would have become stationary; but I think I perceive symptoms of some new enterprise. When he completed his Philosophical and Practical Grammar, there was a momentary calm. He described the beatifick mansion, of which, by favour of Mr. Tooke, he had become the lord and possessor, as indeed one of the most enchanting that could be occupied by mortals. One would have supposed, that, so situated, he had nothing further to do but quietly to settle down in his new possession, and enjoy, during the remainder of life, the feast of reason. He describes his habitation thus : "The author of the Diversions of Purley has pointed out the way to the Temple of Knowledge, unlocked the gate, and presented a general view of the structure. I have penetrated into the building, surveyed the interiour apartments, and attempted a delincation of the several forms, with their dependencies, and the symmetry of the whole edifice." But the brightest prospects are often soon overshadowed; and Mr. Webster has already given us cause to apprehend that Mr. Tooke's "Temple of Knowledge" has proved to be a very different estab

lishment; for his recent letter in the Anthology conveys to his friends the painful intelligence that he is hard at work, CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE.

January 8th. 1810.

STEADY HABITS.

REMARKS ON THE UTILITY OF CLASSICAL LEARNING.

Witten in the year 1769.

[The publication of Mr. Locke's Treatise upon Education, which very properly animadverted upon the exclusive attention, then prevailing in the English grammar schools, to the acquisition of the dead languages, unhappily gave some degree of countenance to that darling opinion of dunces and projectors-that the study of the Latin and Greek languages is a branch of education both unnecessary and injurious. The following disquisition of Dr Beattie, though not perhaps doing complete justice to the subject, replies with elegance and considerable ability to the most popular objections to Classical Learning. As a complete edition of the Roman Classicks has been lately proposed, to which we heartily wish success, and the plan and prospectus of which we have printed in a late number, we think our readers will not be displeased to see this essay reprinted entire in the Anthology. Should any one of them wish to see how weakly and absurdly the contrary side may be defended by a respectable and sensible man, he may read Dr. Rush's Essays "On the mode of education proper in a republick," and "On the study of the Latin and Greek languages." [ED. ANTH.

THE calumniators of the Greek and Roman learning have not been few in these latter times. Perrault, La Motte, and Terasson, arraigned the taste of the ancients; and Des Cartes and Malebranche affected to despise their philosophy. Yet it seemed to be allowed in general, that the study of the classick authors was a necessary part of polite education. This, however, has of late been not only questioned, but denied and it has been said, that every thing worth preserving of ancient literature might be more easily transmitted, both to us and to posterity, through the channel of the modern languages, than through that of the Greek and Latin. On this subject, several slight essays have been written; the authors of which seem to think, that the human mind, being now arrived at maturity, may safely be left to itself; and that the classick authors, those great instructers of former times, are become an incumbrance to the more sprightly genius of the present.

"For who, that is an adept in the philosophy of Locke and Newton, can have any need of Aristotle? What useful precept of the Socratick school has been overlooked by modern moralists? Is not geometry as fairly, and as fully displayed in the French and English tongues, as in the unknown dia lects of Archimedes, Apollonius, and Euclid? Why have recourse to Demosthenes and Cicero, for examples in an art, which Massillon, Bourdaloue, and the French academicians, (to say nothing of the orators of our own country,) have carried to perfection? Are we not taught by Voltaire and his editors, who, though ignorant of Greek, are well read in Madam Dacier's translations, that Tasso is a better poet than Homer; and that the sixth and seventh cantos of the Henriade are alone more valuable than the whole Iliad?* What dramatick poet of antiquity is to be compared with the immortal Shakespeare? what satirist with Pope, who to all the fire and elevation of Juvenal, joins the wit, the taste, and sententious morality, of Horace? As to criticism: is there in Aristotle, Dionysius, Cicero, Quintilian, or Longinus, any thing that is not more philosophically explained, and better illustrated by examples, in the writings of Dacier, Rollin, Fenelon, Dryden and Addison?-And then, how debasing to an ingenuous mind is the drudgery and discipline of our publick schools! That the best days of youth should be embittered by confinement, amidst the gloom of solitude, or under the scourge of tyranny; and all for no purpose, but that the memory may be loaded with the words of two languages that have been dead upwards of a thousand years :—is it not an absurdity too gross to admit of exaggeration? To see a youth of spirit hanging over a musty folio, his cheek pale with watching, his brow furrowed with untimely wrinkles, his health gone, and every power of his soul enervated with anxiety, and stupified with poring upon trifles-what blood boils not with indignation, what heart melts not with sorrow! And then the pedant, just broken loose from his cell, bristling all o'er with Greek, and puffed with pride, as Boileau says; "his head so full of words, that no room is left for ideas; his accomplishments so highly prized by himself, as to be intolerable to others; ignorant of the history, and untouched with the interests, of his native coun try; what an useless, what an odious animal! Who will

• See Le Vicende della Literatura, page 166.

say that education is on a right footing, while its tendency is to create such a monster!-Ye parents, listen, and be wise.Would you have your children healthy, and polite, and sentimental? Let their early youth be employed in genteel exercises; the theatre, the coffeehouse, and the card-table, will. refine their taste, instruct them in publick affairs, and produce habits of attention and contrivance; and the French authors will make them men of wit and sprightly conversation, and give a certain je ne sçai quoi of elegance to their whole behaviour-but for Greek and Latin, the study of Gronovius, Scaliger, and Burman, the accomplishment of Dutch commentators and Jesuits ;-heavens ! what has a man of fashion to do with it!"

Most of the discourses I have heard or read on this side of the question were in a similar style of vague declamation, seasoned with high encomiums on the utility and elegance of the French language and literature, and on the late discoveries in physiology, for which we cannot be said to be indebted to any of the sages of Greece and Rome. And how easy is it to declaim on such a topick! By blending some truth with your falsehood; by giving to the latter the air of harmless amplification, and by descanting on the abuses of study, as if they were its natural consequences, you may compose a very plausible harangue; such as could not be fully answered without greater waste of time and patience, than the champion of antiquity would think it worth his while to bestow. And if your doctrine happens to flatter the prejudices, the vanity, or the indolence of the age, you will be regarded by some as a fine writer, of liberal principles, and a manly spirit.

It is however thought by many, who in my opinion are more competent judges, that an early acquaintance with the classicks is the only foundation of good learning, and that it is incumbent on all who direct the studies of youth, to have this great object continually before them, as a matter of the most serious concern; for that a good taste in literature is friendly both to publick and to private virtue, and of course tends to promote in no inconsiderable degree the glory of a nation; and that as the ancients are more or less understood, the principles and the spirit of sound erudition will ever be found to flourish or decay. I shall therefore state as briefly as possible some of the peculiar advantages that seem to me to accompany this sort of study; with a view to obviate, if I can,

certain prejudices, which I am sorry to observe have of late years been gaining ground, at least in the northern part of this island. The subject is copious; but I doubt whether those adversaries to whom I now address myself would take the trouble to read a long dissertation.

The objections that are most commonly made to the study of the Greek and Latin authors, may perhaps be reduced to four. It is said, first, "that this mode of education obliges the student to employ too much time in the acquisition of words: secondly, that when he has acquired these languages he does not find that they repay his toil :-thirdly, that the studies of a grammar-school have a tendency to encumber the genius, and consequently to weaken, rather than improve, the human mind :—and, lastly, that the classick authors contain many descriptions and doctrines that may seduce the understanding, inflame the passions, and corrupt the heart."

I. 1. In answer to the first objection, I would observe, that the plan of study must be very bad, where the student's health is hurt by too close application. Some parents and teachers. have thought, that the proficiency of the scholar must be in proportion to the number of hours he employs in conning his task but that is a great mistake. Experience proves, that three or four hours a day, properly employed in the grammarschool, have a better effect than nine; and are sufficient to lay within a few years a good foundation of classical knowIedge. Dunces, it is true, would require more time; but dunces have nothing to do with Greek and Latin: For studies that yield neither delight nor improvement are not only superfluous, but hurtful; because they misemploy those facul ties which nature had destined to other purposes. At the same time, therefore, that young men are prosecuting their grammatical studies, they may learn writing, drawing, arith metick, and the principles of geometry; and may devote the intervals of leisure to riding, fencing, dancing, and other manly exercises. Idleness is the greatest misfortune incident to early years; the distempers it breeds in the soul are numberless and incurable. And where children, during their hours of relaxation, are left at their own disposal, they too often make choice of criminal amusement and bad company. At Sparta, the youth were continually under the inspection of those who had authority over them; their education, says Plutarch, was one continued exercise of obedience : but it