of the town, passing along the sea-side for about two miles, westward. After passing through the suburbs, which are composed of houses remaining from the recent fires, which are of course old and dirty, I came to the burial grounds. That belonging to the Jews is well kept, very neat, and surrounded by a high wall strongly built of stone. Every tomb is handsome, and some are really elegant. But the English and Catholic grounds are very much neglected, the only fence being a hedge of aloes, with a prickly pear interspersed here and there. The tombs are small and mean, many of the graves being marked only by a wooden cross. From this yard you have a fine scope of the whole harbor presented to your view, and an admirable panoramic prospect of the town; while on the other side of the road the hills rise amphitheatrically, covered with perennial green, with a hedge of cocoa trees between the burial grounds and their base. A mile farther on, you come to a walk of cocoas, the road on each side being hedged with this beautiful tree. On one side of the road runs a small bay of about three miles in circumference, sweeping closely up to the road, its tiny waves fairly breaking on the passing traveller. Seen through the foliage, this sheet of water is most picturesque. I have attempted a sketch of it, which I hope you will recognize among those in the port folio. At the end of this walk stands the most remarkable curiosity in the island,-a silk cotton tree of such gi gantic dimensions as literally to astonish all who behold it. The trunk at the base occupies ground of at least fifty feet in circumference. It is not very high, but spreads abroad its enormous limbs until one would imagine that it must fall asunder by its own weight. Each branch would form a stately forest tree, if growing separately. It extends its foliage-covered boughs far over the way in every direction, and on every bend of the limbs you see grasses of various descriptions growing; and on one in particular, I noticed a vigorous stalk of sugar cane flourishing finely. The foliage hangs densely and gracefully from every bough, and is of a deep green teint. I assayed a sketch of this wonderful tree, but fear I have given you, by the conjoined aid of pen and pencil, but a very inadequate idea of its magnificence and rare beauty. July 9th. Started from St. Thomas', with the assurance that our little schooner was awaiting us at Chagres. We all longed to see the wee craft once more, and to be again with her upon the waves; and indeed we regretted her, clipper as she was, with as much fondness as if she were the most stately man-ofwar. I close my portfolio for the present; where I shall open it next, Fate knows, not I. But wherever it may be, for your eyes and yours alone, my friend, are these "types of travel" recorded. I do not write for the public eye; I leave that to your friend N. P. W. and to my friend Mrs. Trollope, content, when again we meet, and shake hands once more after my wanderings, to hear you say, in the language of Old Will-Well, Ned, "thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel." Wherever the Inquisition had power, the word fata was not allowed in any book. An author wishing to use the word, printed in his book facta, and put in the errata "for facta read fata." LINES. BY P. P. COOKE. I sometime at sweet even go Forth to the greenwood tree, There, sitting on a gnarled root, So I do sit me down and dream- All bright and lovely things. But then THE LEARNED LANGUAGES. BY MATHEW CAREY. So much has been written on the advantages and disadvantages of studying these languages, and such a diversity of opinions prevails on the mode of teaching them, among those who are in favor of the study, that little of novelty can be adduced on this mooted subject; and a writer can scarcely expect to find readers at all disposed to favor his lucubrations with a perusal, or, if they condescend to peruse, they will rarely come to the task with unprejudiced minds. This is very discouraging, and might well forbid any but a bold writer from entering the arena. The importance of the subject induces me, however, to venture. If I fail of producing conviction, I shall only share the same fate as numbers who have preceded me. One among the discouragements to the discussion, is the unfair means employed by the friends of the prevailing system, to decry their antagonists-whom they represent as ignoramuses, incapable of appreciating the value of the classics, and therefore, like the fox in the fable, depreciating what they have not attained, and cannot attain. It requires some courage to incur the risque, indeed the certainty, of being classed in the category of idiots or fools. VOL. II.-71 To enable us to judge correctly of any system, it is necessary to be able to form a correct idea of its objects, and the means adopted to attain them. These two points I shall touch as briefly as possible. ordinary application, frequently acquire the French language in twelve or eighteen months, so as to be able not merely to read it understandingly, but to comprehend it when spoken, and to make themselves tolerably well understood in conversation. 5. That sometimes in addition they acquire the Span The objects of the system of education, pursued in our academies, colleges, and universities, so far as classical learning is concerned, are, 1. To acquire a knowl-ish within that period. edge of the Latin and Greek languages so as to be able not only to read and understand them correctly, but to write and speak them. 2. To relish their beauties. 3. To be incited by emulation to imitate the noble examples scattered through the histories of Greece and Rome | and, 4. To instil into the minds of youth the sublime principles of morality to be found in their poets. 6. That the Latin language is not more difficult than the French-indeed I believe not so difficult. On this point I shall rely on the opinion given, and the fact stated, by Locke, to be offered in the sequel. 7. That the French being attainable in twelve or eighteen months, and the Latin not being more difficult, it follows that it is an error to consume three, four, five, or six years in the attainment of the latter. 8. That in the common intercourse of life, which "comes home to the business and bosoms of men," the French is more useful than the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. Having these objects clearly presented to the mind's eye, it remains to investigate the means employed to attain them, and to ascertain whether there is a due proportion between the means and the end, and whether the end, in all its amplifications, is worthy of the means employed for its attainment. To simplify the subject, I shall, for the present, confine myself to the Latin language. The reasoning will apply, with at least equal force, to the Greek. Let it be observed that I chiefly refer to the cases of young men intended for active business, to which they are generally devoted, from the age 10. That, therefore, for lads intended for trades or of fifteen or sixteen. The reasoning is, in a great de- business, all the time bestowed on learning Latin, begree, inapplicable to those destined for the learned pro-yond the capacity to read and understand it, is literally fessions. thrown away. Lads usually commence learning the Latin at seven, eight, or nine years of age. But to afford the friends of the system the fairest chance in the argument, I will date from nine-and suppose them to enter college at fourteen. The chief portion of the valuable period between those ages, is spent in the dry, irksome, and revolting task of learning the grammar; and if translations of the authors studied, be excluded, as is the case in many schools, they are engaged for tedious hours in hunting in dictionaries for the meaning of the words in the books they are studying, and, when they find, as they frequently do, ten or a dozen meanings to one word, in deciding on the most appropriate one for their purpose. It is difficult to conceive of a more irksome or vexatious employment, especially for the lively, jocund, and merry-hearted lads on whom this penance is imposed. When the term of probation at school is completed, the lads are transferred to a larger scene of action-a | college where they are destined to remain four or five years more, of which term probably a third part is consumed in the study of the two languages in question; thus making on a fair computation, four or five years employed in learning languages of which little use is made in after life. 9. That except to the members of the learned profes‐ sions, and men of leisure and curiosity, the learned languages, to the mass of mankind, are of no use whatever beyond the ability to understand authors, and quotations from them, in those languages. Some of these assumptions may be questioned, and, perhaps, are questionable, without materially affecting the proposed plan. Be this, however, as it may, I shall fortify myself with such an array of authorities, as, if it do not convince the reader of the soundness of the doctrines here advocated, will shield me from the charge of empiricism for advancing them. "How many years of life are spent in learning Latin? How much labor, pain and imprisonment, are endured by the boy? How much anxious drudgery by the master? How much disgust of literature is engendered? How many habits are formed of reluctance to regular employment? In short, how much misery has been produced, is being produced, and will continue to be produced, in teaching the Latin language? This appears to us to be a very important question, and will, we think, appear so to our readers, after a little consideration. "We sometimes figure to ourselves an inhabitant of another world coming among us, and examining with an unprejudiced eye the value of our pursuits. If this idle speculation could be realized, who, we should be glad to know, would be Quixotic enough to undertake a defence of the usual course of instruction in Latin? Nobody, certainly. For, in the first place, not two boys out of three who follow it, ever become able to read even To facilitate the judgment on this system, I will ven- the easier classic authors with fluency. Of these, perhaps ture to assume as postulates, 1. That the advantages of the acquirement of a forcign language may be considered under three points of view-the capacity of correctly reading-of writing—or of speaking it. one half, from the painful associations which they have attached to Latin books, never open one after they leave school. If we add to the account, as Rousseau would, the numbers who die during the schoolboy age, we shall find the list of those who use the knowledge, gained 2. That not one, in one thousand of our citizens, ever with so much pain to master and scholar, dwindle into has occasion to write or speak Latin. a very small one.”—Essay on Public Education, p. 12. London, 1822. 3. That not above one in a hundred of those who learn Latin in this country, is capable, were it neces- "I object to the practice of sending, almost indiscrimisary, of correctly writing or conversing in that language. nately, every male child, whose parents are above the 4. That lads of moderate capacity and no very extra-laboring class of the people, to undergo the painful drudgery of committing to memory the rules of a Latin Grammar, and to sacrifice four of the years of his existence to a pursuit which is ultimately to be of no service to him." -Russel's View of the Scotch System of Education, p. 85. "Does it savor of our characteristic sagacity to send almost every boy of a certain age, to a grammar school, to learn the elements of Latin, and afterwards to enter him to business, with no other qualifications for it than those which he may have derived from a partial and ill-directed attention to writing and accounts?"-Idem. p. 79. "Many children are whipped into Latin, and made to spend many of their precious hours uneasily on it, who, after they are once gone from school, are never to have more to do with it as long as they live. Can there be any thing more ridiculous, than that a father should waste his own money, and his son's time, in setting him to learn the Roman language, when at the same time he designs him for a trade, wherein he, having no use of Latin, fails not to forget that little which he brought from school, and which it is ten to one he abhors, from the ill usage it procured him? Could it be believed, unless we had every where amongst us examples of it, that a child should be forced to learn the rudiments of a language, which he is never to use in the course of life that he is designed for, and neglect all the while," &c.-Locke on Education, p. 289. "The themes are written in Latin, a language foreign to their country, and long since dead every where-a language which your son, 'tis a thousand to one, shall never have occasion to make a speech in, as long as he lives, after he comes to be a man-a language, wherein the manner of expressing one's self is so far different from ours, that to be perfect in that would very little improve the purity and facility of his English style."— Idem, p. 308. "A young Englishman goes to school at six or seven years old; and remains in a course of education till | twenty-three or twenty four years of age. In all this time his sole and exclusive occupation is learning Latin and Greek; he has scarcely a notion that there is any other kind of excellence, unless he goes to the University of Cambridge, and then classical studies occupy him about ten years, and divide him with mathematics for four or five more."-Edinburgh Review, Vol. XV. p. 45. Having offered some of the arguments against the prevailing system of classical education, it is but fair to exhibit some of those of its advocates. "I believe I may say, though not without danger of offending the conductors of English academies, that no man who does not understand Latin, can understand English!"-Knox on Education, p. 82. "Latin themes, Latin declamations and Latin lectures are constantly required of academical students.”—Idem, p. 78. "Another argument in favor of the Latin exercises in our seminaries, is, that it has a natural tendency to improve the student in English composition.”—Idem, p. 79. "To write Latin in youth is an excellent preparation for that vernacular composition which some of the professions require.”—Idem, p. 79. "As soon as the grammar is perfectly learned by heart, [perfectly learned by heart!!] I advise that the practice of our ancient schools should be universally adopted-and that passages of the best classics, construed as a lesson in the day, should be given as a task to be learned memoriter at night."—Idem, p. 101. "I recommend that the scholar's week shall be thus employed: Monday evening, in Latin themes; Tuesday evening, in Latin verse; Wednesday evening, in English or Latin letters; Thursday evening, in English verse; Friday evening, in Latin verse, or in translating English into Latin; and the interval, from Saturday to Monday, in a Latin or an English theme,”-Idem, p. 59. This is the "toujours perdrix, toujours perdrix" of the king of France. "The exercise of mind, and the strength of mind acquired in consequence of that exercise, are some of the most valuable effects of a strict, a long, and a laborious study of the grammar, at the puerile age.”—Idem, p. 46. "Exercises in Latin verse, and in Latin prose, are usual in our best scools, and at the university. They are attended with very desirable effects, and pave the way for improvement in every kind of vernacular composition."-Idem, p. 99. "A boy will be able to repeat his Latin grammar over two or three years before his understanding is open enough to let him into the reason of the rules; and when this is done, sooner or later it ceases to be jargon, so that all this clamor is wrong-founded-and there be supplied with a stock of words, at least, when they come to know how to use them.”—Fellon. In a letter prefixed to the Port Royal Latin Gram-fore I am for the old way in schools, since children will mar, is the following complaint. “The grammar which is in use in all our schools, has been, it is true, compiled by a learned man-but is so prolix, that boys can scarcely learn it in four years." The friends of classical learning in Great Britain assume, that the illustrious men whose education has been completed at either of the universities, and who reflect honor on the nation, have owed their celebrity and the development of their talents to those great establishments. The Edinburgh Review repudiates this idea as destitute of truth. "It is in vain to say we have produced great men under this system. We have produced great men under all systems. Every Englishman must pass half his life in learning Latin and Greek-and classical learning is supposed to have produced the talents, WHICH IT HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO EXTINGUISH."-Edinburgh Review, No. XXIX, p. 50. Muretus, a name of considerable celebrity in his day, goes far beyond all the other advocates of classical education. He appears to believe that every thing good or great, in art or science, depends on a thorough knowledge of the Greek. It is observable that Vicesimus Knox quotes him as one of his authorities. "In the first place I would inform the gentlemen who have conceived a dislike to Greek, that all elegant learning, all knowledge worthy the pursuit of a liberal man, in a word, whatever there is of the politer parts of literature is contained in no other books than those of the Greeks!!!"— Muretus, quoted by Knox, p. 109. "I may venture to predict, that if our countrymen should go on a little longer in the neglect of the Greek, inevitable destruction awaits all valuable arts !"-Idem, p. 140. The system of classical education at present in use, likely to produce more powerful and lasting effects than has by no means improved with the general improve- when scattered through the original histories, where a ment of society. Classical studies occupy nearly as large portion of them never meets the eye of a student. much of the invaluable time of a student, as they did It is greatly to be regretted that this admirable book, two hundred years ago, when the Latin language was, calculated as it is to produce the most salutary conse if not the sole, at least the chief medium of communi- quences on society, has through the prurient desire of nocation between the literati throughout Christendom. At velty, been injudiciously excluded from many schools, that period, it was nearly as necessary to study that and has given way to substitutes incomparably inferior. language as it is now to study the vernacular tongue. The fourth advantage is impressing on the minds of Again. Within that period, knowledge, of various youth the splendid moral maxims to be found in the kinds, has greatly expanded. Branches are now culti-Latin poets. No man can have a higher opinion of the vated extensively that were only superficially attended excellence of those effusions than I have. But though to at that period. Political economy and politics are among these, as are chemistry, botany, and mineralogy. Geology may be almost said to be a new science altogether, as all that was then known of it, compared with its present state, is. only as the Hill of Howth to Mount Caucasus. While such an extension of human knowl-lines of that character, a great part of which, and of edge has taken place, requiring long periods of devotion to new studies, ought not such portions of the old system as require, and will admit of, pruning, to experience a salutary curtailment ? I believe their intrinsic value cannot easily be overrated, yet, I am persuaded, their amount is. Horace has more of those than any other Latin author-yet in a judicious selection of the ethics of this poet and others, it appears that he has only three hundred and seventeen those of other Latin poets, are introduced into the Latin primer to illustrate the rules of the grammar. One of the advantages of the proposed system, and by no means an inconsiderable one, assuming that to I proceed to show how two of the great advantages read the Latin language may be acquired in twelve or of a classical education, stated in the fifth paragraph of eighteen months, would be, that the door of that lanthis essay, (No. 3. and 4.) may be secured by this sys-guage might be advantageously opened to nearly all tem to at least as great an extent as by the prevailing the lads in our public schools, possessed of talent and one; that is, No. 3, the familiarity with the illustrious examples of patriotism, public spirit, magnanimity, bravery, generosity, and other virtues, to be found scattered through the Grecian and Roman histories-the effect of which, on the youthful mind, has always proved eminently beneficial, and led to some of the most noble efforts of the elite of mankind; and No. 4, the impressing on the minds of the students the sublime moral lessons to be found in their poets. application, and without interfering with their other studies. Thus, instead of circumscribing the acquisition of that language, it would be immensely extended-and being learned when the memory was strong, would greatly facilitate at a future day the acquisition of the French, Spanish, and Italian, which have borrowed so largely from the Latin. one year, when its extreme irksomeness would be done Of the grammar, to which so much time and mental labor are now devoted, nearly all that is necessary to be studied on the proposed plan, is the declensions of nouns and conjugations of verbs, which can be com Young men intended for the learned professions, after acquiring the Latin on this plan, would find the study If the question at issue were, whether we were to of the grammar incomparably easier than on the existgive up those advantages, or to give up the present sys-ing system, and probably make more progress in it, in tem of classical education, the decision might be attended with some difficulty. But, fortunately, that is not the alternative. The system need not be absolutely abandoned in order to remove the solid objections to it, and to secure all its advantages. It only requires to be modified and rendered more conformable with the present state of society, the extension of human knowledge, and the wants of the students. It is merely proposed to circumscribe that study to the all-important capacity to read those languages with facility and correctness-mitted to memory in a week or two. And the study of in a word, to prune off, as worthless for the present pur- Clarke's Cordery, Æsop's Fables, and Erasmus, with poses of society, those portions of the study which ap- literal translations, and afterwards Clarke's Justin and pear to demand a capacity to speak and write them— Mair's Cæsar should proceed regularly. When these a capacity which is never required, and never employed, works, or such parts of each as may be judged neces by above one mar in five thousand of the inhabitants sary, are carefully studied, the student will have acof the British dominions and of this country. The case quired a sufficient supply of words to enable him, with is different with some of the inhabitants of the Conti- slight occasional aid from a dictionary, to read under nent of Europe. "But that is none of our concern." standingly the higher authors. The very day on which The major part, perhaps I might say nearly the a lad commences with the declensions and conjugations, whole, of the heroic deeds, which shed such a glorious Cordery may be put into his hands, which will be a lustre on the Grecian and Roman histories, are most relief from the task of committing them to memory. judiciously collected in the "Selectæ e profanis," one of There is an objection zealously enforced by men of the best books ever produced by human industry, com- great weight, against the use of translations, that they piled with nice tact and discrimation. They are ac-encourage idleness and indolence in the student, by the companied by applications and moral reflections calcu-facility they afford, of attaining his task; whereas they lated to make a deep and lasting impression on the minds say that explanations sought in a Dictionary, make an of the young. I think I risque but little in stating an indelible impression on the mind. opinion, that thus concentrated and enforced, they are This objection was fully obviated a century since, by John Clarke, who translated a number of the lower Latin school books. He advises, when a translation is allowed, to double the number of lines that is regarded as a task without a translation. His reasoning on the subject is irrefutable-and further, that the student be obliged, not merely to translate the Latin into English, but the latter into the former, and, if necessary, twice over. This will as effectually fix the meaning in his mind as if he had spent his precious time in poring over a Dictionary. On the subject of the extreme facility of learning Latin, the testimony of Locke is conclusive. "Whatever stir there is made about Latin, as the great and difficult business, his mother may teach it him herself, if she will but spend two or three hours in a day with him, and make him read the Evangelists in Latin to her for she need but buy a Latin Testament, and having got somebody to mark the last syllable but one, where it is long, in words above two syllables (which is enough to regulate her pronunciation and accenting the words) read daily in the Gospels, and then let her avoid understanding them in Latin if she can. And when she understands the Evangelists in Latin, let her, in the same manner, read Æsop's Fables, and so proceed on to Eutropius, Justin, and other such books. I do not mention this, as an imagination of what I fancy may do, but as of a thing I have known done, and the tin tongue with ease got in this way."—Locke, p. 319. Philadelphia, August, 1836. P.S. May I not assume that the knowledge of Greek and Latin, acquired by lads in Grammar schools, before they go to college, is superficial and of little use in after life? If this be granted, as I presume it will, it follows as the whole number of students in all the colleges in the United States is only about five thousand; that the time devoted to those languages, by all the other scholars, who never enter a college, might be much better employed. FOURTH LECTURE Of the Course on the Obstacles and Hindrances to Education, arising from the peculiar faults of Parents, Teachers and Scholars, and that portion of the Public immediately concerned in directing and controlling our Literary Institutions. BY JAMES M. GARNETT. The Faults of Scholars. On the present occasion, I shall attempt to expose the obstacles to all correct education, arising from the peculiar faults of youth, during the period of their pupilage. In all schools having a sufficient number of scholars to embrace much variety of character, the pupils may be divided into four distinct classes or castes, which may be thus described. The first, not content with doing merely what is required of them, in a manner barely sufficient to avoid a violation of the rules established for their government, exert every faculty, at all times, to do their best. They love knowledge and virtue for their own sakes-not from merely selfish considerations; and their earnest desire to obtain them for the sake also of their fellow creatures, gives addi * See American Almanack for 1836, p. 11. tional power and efficacy to their efforts. Their constant study is, to please all with whom they are connected or concerned: they sedulously cultivate every source of moral and intellectual improvement, and they ardently desire to secure their own happiness by promoting that of other people. In a word, they constitute spectacles in the moral world, as refreshing and delightful to the eyes of the mind, as those enchanting spots of the physical world, found only in the great desarts of Africa, are to the eyes of the exhausted traveller perishing with intolerable heat, thirst and hunger. They console us for much of the evil which we anticipate, in beholding the many thousands of the rising generation growing up in ignorance and all its consequent vices: they encourage our efforts to labor in the noble cause of education, while they cheer our hearts and animate our hopes in pursuing that course which we believe to be the only available one for permanently promoting human happiness. The pride and joy of their parents' hearts—the highly prized objects of warmest affection among all their other relatives, and of esteem and regard to every one who knows themthey constitute, in fact, our country's only sure reliance for the preservation of its honor-the promotion of its welfare-the security of its happiness. How supremely important then, is it to increase their number! But my present object being rather to expose faults, than to eulogize good qualities, I shall say no more of this first class, than to wish them, from my inmost soul, every blessing to be enjoyed in the present life, and all the felicity of the life to come. The second class consists of those who always keep within the strict letter of the law, leaving its spirit for other people to regard, who may have any such fancy. To go a single hair's breadth beyond the exact words of whatever requisition may be made of them, would be deemed, not only a great waste of time, but a grievous breach of duty to themselves. They acknowledge the authority under which they are placed, and will do nothing which can fairly be ascribed to a spirit of insubordination. But the performance of what might be called extra duty, however beneficial to themselves, they would consider a very unwise thing, if not the extremity of folly. All, over and above the most scanty compliance with the demands of their teachers; every thing more than is barely necessary to save appearances, would be shunned with infinitely more care, than they are capable of exerting in any voluntary act of real praise-worthy conduct. Whatever they do, is done-because it is required by their laws-not because they desire to do it on account of its being right in itself, or for the pleasure it might give their instructers, who are no more the objects of their regard, than would be so many men or women in the moon. The scholars of this class all die, as they have lived-by none respected-by none beloved: no regret will be felt for their loss, and a few days will suffice to extinguish the remembrance of them forever in every bosom but that of their unfortunate parents. Like horses in a bark-mill, they will have travelled their appointed time, and will have performed with equal exactness their regular, daily task; but beyond this the record of their lives will be as entirely blank, as if they had always continued to form component parts of their elemental and kindred dust. If the whole mass of mankind had always con |