would be sealed to all those who are familiar with none other than a single modern language. Besides the works more strictly connected with the sciences of these professions, there are, in the discussion of great principles of law and statesmanship, models, preserved in the classical remains, of untold value to those who would attain to the highest skill in such discussions. He, who would excel in THE question is frequently asked by practical people What are the benefits resulting from the study of the ancient languages? And some venture to predict that, in this age of progress and of utilitarianism, when ancient prejudices and conceits are passing away, and when men are looking for the simply practical, the study of the classics, as Latin and Greek authors are denominated, will soon be discontinued in our systems of popular education. We propose to present a few sug-logic, and the fire in appeal, from the orations gestions as to the benefits of a course of classical study. either municipal or international law, even if he could dispense with the works of Grotius and his compeers in modern times, would yet be an incalculable loser, if he could not gath-er the order in arrangement, the clearness in of Demosthenes and of Cicero in the original. In the case of the clerical profession our argument is very brief. The very fact, that God has made a revelation of His will in any tongue, should be sufficient not only to rescue that tongue from oblivion, but, also, to give it an importance above all others. In it are contained those Divine precepts and promises, which are to exalt individual character and to purify and bless rations. To the Divine, as the public advocate and expounder of relig 1. We remind the reader, in the first place, that for a thorough professional education, a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages is very important, if not absolutely indispensable. About this there can hardly be a differ ence of opinion. The technical phraseology in both medicine and law is derived almost wholly from these languages, and it is difficult to realize fully the exact sense of this phraseology without a previous study of the lan-ion, an acquaintance with the original languages from which it is derived. Then, the guages of the Bible is of the utmost consewritings of so many eminent in these profes-quence. In the Greek he finds not only the sions, both in ancient and modern times, books of the New Testament, but the works of many of the early fathers and expositors, proportional to his capacity, and enough to and of many of the most distinguished of the steadily strengthen the understanding, while primitive Christian preachers. And closely the memory is furnished with lasting and associated with the Greek, the Latin language, pleasing subjects for meditation in after years. as embodying the works of many other equal- The mind is also trained to habits of attenly distinguished primitive interpreters and tive application, of careful analysis, of pasermonizers, and ancient versions of the tient investigation, and is thus gradually and Scriptures, and commentaries innumerable in easily prepared for the more difficult and aball times and countries of Christendom, may struse branches of education which are to embe justly regarded as an essential accompani- ploy the thoughts in more advanced age. ment of her sister tongue. "The rules of grammar," it has been very justly observed, "which comprehend systems more or less perfect, of the principles of the dead languages, take a permanent hold of the memory, when the understanding is as yet unable to comprehend their import; and the classical remains of antiquity, which, at the time we acquire them, do little more than furnish a gratification to the ear, supply us with inexhaustible sources of the most refined enjoyment; and, as our various powers unfold themselves, are poured forth, without effort, from the memory to delight the imagination, But, not to dwell upon these illustrations, since our opponents may admit that the classical languages are valuable to professional men, we will turn to some considerations which may show that the advantages of these studies are intimately connected with the proper ends of education, and are of general application. 2. We affirm, therefore, that the study of the Latin and Greek languages is a means of disciplining the youthful mind, for which we have no adequate substitute. We are assuming and to improve the heart." The study of for much less effective in developing and disciplining the mental powers. that this study is to be commenced in early eign modern languages, although far from life at the average age of from eight to ten unprofitable, is by no means productive of the years and we conceive that linguistic studies same benefits. Their resemblance to our own are peculiarly adapted to this period of life, in elementary principles, in etymology, in synand peculiarly profitable; indeed, that nothing tax, in unvaried arrangement and even in can accomplish an equal amount of discipline construction and signification of words, renwith an equal amount of valuable and perma-ders them much easier of acquisition, and nent attainments. At this period of life the memory is especially susceptible and retentive, the perceptive faculties being those particularly active; while, at the same time, the judgment or the power of abstract reasoning is not sufficientiy matured for the severer sciences, the reflective faculties being not yet, in the order of nature, fully developed. In the study of the languages there is a tasking of the reason (with the very young it may be very little, with the adult and mature it may be very much, as much as in the highest logic or mathematics) in the case of each student, 3. The ancient languages, also, offer a very extensive field for philosophic observation, and especially do they furnish great facilities for evolving the philosophy of grammar. It is next to impossible to learn perfectly the theory of grammar, or the natural relations of words to each other in the construction of sentences, and the universal laws which regulate human speech, by the study of only a single language. The study of several languages is to the whole - subject of grammar what comparative anato- morality of Horace, the bold and convincing my is to the philosophy of the human frame satire of Juvenal, the epic fire and intensity of or of organized animal life. The study of Homer, the strongly lined pictures of Virgil, any new language must suggest to us many the animating descriptions of Xenophon, the new views respecting our own, and respect critical skill of Longinus, the dramatic life ing the primary laws of all language. That of Eschylus and his brothers of the age of which differs most widely from our own, as Pericles, the overpowering eloquence of Dethe oriental languages, for example, must mosthenes and of Cicero? These are a few of course present the most numerous points of the stars in the great galaxy, and there are of contrast. We are thus led to observe, to a host of others worthy of the bright comcompare, to trace analogies, to mark peculi-panionship. If to read classic authors is to arities, to perceive excellencies and defects, keep good company, where shall we look for and, in short, to understand our peculiar dia- more gifted spirits? If our thoughts and lect in the general speech, and those universal character take their tone and elevation from laws which are illustrated in it. At the same the objects with which they are conversant, time, we are furnished with new and interest where, among merely human authors, can the ing subjects of speculation on the powers and soul take a more lofty range? If the pleasnecessities of the human mind, which has ac ures of taste are proportioned to the objects commodated so wonderfully to its purpose which excite them, where can the imagination this unparalleled invention. The Latin and revel in a more delightful region? We admit Greek tongues, for their distinct peculiarities, that these authors are not Christian. But the order of inversion in sentences, and the they show us all that man can do without collocation of words so different from our Christianity. They tell us the universal moown, with their perfect system of termina- rality which God has distributed broad-cast tions, by which the cases of nouns and adjec-through all nations and ages, and which tives, and the moods, and tenses, and persons of verbs are distinguished, possess the advantages and furnish the helps referred to in the highest degree 4. In these languages, too, are contained many of the most perfect productions of human genius in history, poetry, and oratory. From very few other sources can the mind of the student drink inspiration so lofty. With the boldest original conceptions are united, in these masters of the ancient times, a simplicity and correctness equally pleasing to the taste and inspiring to the imagination. If the surest path to distinction in any art is the study of the best models, what can better employ the attention of the young and gifted, than the graphic delineation and sublime strength of Tacitus, the sweet and pathetic Christianity did not create but re-affirmed and fulfilled; while the speculations, the reasonings, the yearnings, of Plato and of Cicero exhibit to us all that man can accomplish of himself, bringing us to the very threshold of Revelation, and showing us there the inexorable necessity for a Divine Hand to open to us the mysteries of our spiritual relations. All that human genius can do they have done, and then, in the touching words of Socrates preserved by his pupil, they bid us wait for that Divine Instructor who alone can enlighten our spiritual ignorance. If they do not teach us religion, which God only can teach, they remind us of the humanity which is common to us and to them, and persuade us that, as one of them has beautifully expressed it, we should count nothing foreign from ourselves (nil alienum, etc.) which belong to m field of observation the most interesting and instructive. Such studies as these we advccate, must be the most effectual means of cultivating a correct taste that is, a taste founded on the principles of our constitution, and common to all ages. The man who devotes himself to the literary fashion of a particular period or people, may gain applause, but he will gain it only for the fleeting day and for the limited locality, for with the first fluctuation of the popular taste, his name and works will sink into forgetfulness; his productions may flourish and be admired on the pages of a magazine, but they become obsolete even before the author himself has filled up the common measure of human life. He who would write for immortality, or enjoy the pleasures of a correct and perfectly cultivated taste, should be conversant with the literature of every age. 5. The study of the classics, we further tions, as that of the Latin and Greek. A litcontend, is a very important means of culti-erature, grown up under circumstances so vating a correct taste. There is a fashion in different from our own, at a period of time so literature, as in dress and manners. The man remote, under laws, institutions, and a religwho devotes himself exclusively to the litera-ion so peculiar, in a form of speech sc unlike ture of his own nation and age, will necessa- our own, and among a people differing so rily mistake the caprices of present fashion widely from ourselves in sentiment and manfor the universal dictates of human nature. ners, must show us the workings of genius Unable to compare the writings of his cotem-in forms the most peculiar, and furnish us a poraries with those of other times and countries, his favorite author is made his one standard of excellence, and is admired and imitated both in his virtues and in his faults. A correct taste must be formed upon a thorough observation of the workings of genius, under all circumstances, at all times, and throughout the whole world; and nowhere does literature hold out more profitable subjects for study to the modern scholar, than in the Latin and Greek classics. These studies are to the literary taste what traveling is to our estimate of men and manners our knowledge of the world. “A person,” writes one most competent to speak by authority, "who has never extended his views beyond that society, of which he himself is a member, is apt to consider many peculiarities in the manners and customs of his countrymen as founded upon the universal principles of the human constitution, and when he hears of other nations, whose practices, in similar cases, are different, he is apt to censure them as unnatural, and to despise them as absurd. The effects of traveling in enlarging and enlightening the mind, are obvious to our daily experience, and similar advantages may be derived from a careful study of past ages, or of distant nations, as they are described by the historian." It is the striking remark of a distinguished scholar, that to learn a new language is to acquire a new soul; and, certainly, the acquisition of no modern tongue can so freshen and renovate the mind, or be so suggestive of new and stimulating associa-or a nation, but of mankind and the world. As an illustration of the argument which we have endeavored concisely to present, we refer to one whose name is among the immortals the illustrious Milton. Living amongst those who could relish nothing but affectation, quaint conceits, and extravagant hyperboles, his writings show not a single trait of the false fashion and perverted taste which mark the literature of his day. The sentiments of his cotemporaries could no more fix the standard of his genius than their political institutions could repress the freedom of his thoughts. He was not the poet of one age, We see the cause of this no less in the vast "From the rain drops I am formed, variety of his attainments, than in his surpassing genius. The master-spirits of Greece and Rome were his most familiar associates. England was not to him the only clime of inspiration. Even "Parnassus," writes a classic pen of our own times," was not to him the only holy ground of genius. He felt that poetry was as a universal presence. He felt the enchantment of oriental fiction, surrendered himself to the strange creations of Araby the Blest, and delighted still more in the romantic spirit of chivalry, and in the tales of wonder, in which it was embodied. Accordingly his poetry reminds us of the ocean, which adds to its own boundlessness contributions from every region under heaven." We ask, did not the classics largely contribute to make the Milton whom the world admires, -the poet of all nations and of all times. We strongly insist, then, that no adequate substitute for the Latin and Greek classics can be found, whether we view them as merely teaching the languages which are needed in the professions; as a means of disciplining the mind; as valuable helps to acquaint us with our own language, and the philosophy of language in general; as models of genius; or as important auxiliaries for correcting and perfecting literary taste. For the Schoolmaster. The Brook. The rushing mountain stream, To the God of the land and skies. From the lofty mountain-top. It has run along over rock and stone; It has bathed the foot of the oak V. I have sparkled and shone in the rainbow's arch; Little brooklets gladly meet Flowing joyfully together till they were but one. "Over precipices deep I leaped, And I wake shrill echoes in the mountain gorge: Me the darkening pine trees shade That the burning sun may not lure me to him. "I shall flow on my happy way "Till I reach the lake at the mountain's base: There, my wanderings left behind, I shall sleep 'till I rise to my home in the sky." J. W. O. For the Schoolmaster. IN a retired quarter of a town in one of the rural districts of the Old Bay State stands an old fashioned red farm-house. There are many such; but this one has a special interest for me. Need I say it is my birth place? I would that all the houses of our broad land might be what this was in the days of my childhood and youth, the home of industry, Here one of the old intelligence and virtue. And gladdened the grass on its diamond marge. should have awakened a long train of recol |