quillity that prevail in the feats of the English mufes. In the most celebrated univerfities of Holland, Germany, and Italy, the students, who fwarm from different countries, are loofely difperfed in private lodgings at the houses of the burghers: they dress according to their fancy and fortune; and in the intemperate quarrels of youth and wine, their fwords, though lefs frequently than of old, are fometimes ftained with each other's blood. The ufe of arms is banished from our English univerfities; the uniform habit of the academics, the fquare cap, and black gown, is adapted to the civil and even clerical profeffion; and from the doctor in divinity to the undergraduate, the degrees of learning and age are externally diftinguifhed. Inftead of being fcattered in a town, the students of Oxford and Cambridge are united in colleges; their maintenance is provided at their own expenfe, or that of the founders; and the ftated hours of the hall and chapel reprefent the dif cipline of a regular, and, as it were, a religious community. The eyes of the traveller are attracted by the fize or beauty of the public edifices; and the prin. cipal colleges appear to be fo many palaces, which a liberal nation has erected and endowed for the habitation of science. My own introduction to the univerfity of Oxford forms a new era in my life; and at the distance of forty years I ftill remember my first emotions of surprise and fatisfaction. In my fifteenth year I felt myself fuddenly raised from a boy to a man: the perfons, whom I refpected as my fuperiors in age and academical rank, entertained me with every mark of attention and civility; and

my vanity was flattered by the velvet cap and filk gown, which diftinguifh a gentleman commoner from a plebeian ftudent A decent allowance, more money than a school-boy had ever seen, was at my own difpofal; and I might command, among the tradefmen of Oxford, an indefinite and dangerous latitude of credit. A key was delivered into my hands, which gave me the free use of a numerous and learned library: my apartment confifted of three elegant and well-furnished rooms in the new building, a ftately pile, of Magdalen College; and the adjacent walks, had they been frequented by Plato's difciples, might have been compared to the Attic fhade on the banks of the Iliffus. Such was the fair profpect of my entrance (April 3, 1752) into the univerfity of Oxford.

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A venerable prelate, whofe tafte and erudition muft reflect honor on the fociety in which they were formed, has drawn a very interefting picture of his academical life. "Iwas educated (fays Bifhop "Lowth) in the UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. I enjoyed "all the advantages, both public and private, which "that famous feat of learning fo largely affords. I "fpent many years in that illuftrious fociety, in a "well-regulated courfe of useful difcipline and "ftudies, and in the agreeable and improving com

merce of gentlemen and of fcholars; in a fociety << where emulation without envy, ambition without jealousy, contention without animofity, incited "industry, and awakened genius; where a liberal "pursuit of knowledge, and a genuine freedom of

thought, was raifed, encouraged, and pushed

"forward by example, by commendation, and by "authority. I breathed the fame atmosphere that "the HOOKERS, the CHILLINGWORTHS, and the "LOCKES had breathed before; whofe benevolence "and humanity were as extenfive as their vaft genius "and comprehenfive knowledge; who always trea"ted their adverfaries with civility and refpect; "who made candor, moderation, and liberal judge<ment as much the rule and law as the fubject of "their difcourfe. And do you reproach me with

my education in this place, and with my relation <i to this most respectable body, which I shall always "efteem my greatest advantage and my highest "honor?" I tranfcribe with pleasure this eloquent paffage, without examining what benefits or what rewards were derived by Hooker, or Chillingworth, or Locke, from their academical inftitution; without inquiring, whether in this angry controversy the fpirit of Lowth himself is purified from the intolerant zeal, which Warburton had afcribed to the genius of the place. It may indeed be observed, that the atmofphere of Oxford did not agree with Mr. Locke's constitution, and that the philofopher juftly defpifed the academical bigots, who expelled his perfon and condemned his principles. The expreffion of gratitude is a virtue and a pleafure: a liberal mind will delight to cherish and celebrate the memory of its parents; and the teachers of fcience are the parents of the mind. I applaud the filial piety, which it is impoffible for me to imitate; fince I must not confefs an imaginary debt, to assume the merit of a just or generous retribution. To the university of Oxford

I acknowledge no obligation; and she will as cheer. fully renounce me for a son, as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother. I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College; they proved the fourteen months the moft idle and unprofitable of my whole life: the reader will pronounce between the fchool and the scholar; but I cannot affect to believe that Nature had difqualified me for all literary pursuits. The fpecious and ready excufe of my tender age, imperfect preparation, and hafty departure, may doubtlefs be alledged; nor do I wish to defraud fuch excufes of their proper weight. Yet in my fixteenth year I was not devoid of capacity or application; even my childish reading had displayed an early though blind propenfity for books; and the shallow flood might have been taught to flow in a deep channel and a clear ftream. In the discipline of a well-constituted academy, under the guidance of skilful and vigilant profeffors, I fhould gradually have rifen from tranf lations to originals, from the Latin to the Greek claffics, from dead langages to living fcience: my hours would have been occupied by ufeful and agreeable studies, the wanderings of fancy would have been restrained, and I should have escaped the temptations of idleness, which finally precipitated my departure from Oxford,

Perhaps in a feparate annotation I may coolly examine the fabulous and real antiquities of our fifter univerfities, a queftion which has kindled fuch fierce and foolish disputes among their fanatic fous. In the mean while it will be acknowledged, that these venerable bodies are fufficiently old to partake of all

the prejudices and infirmities of age. The schools of Oxford and Cambridge were founded in a dark age of false and barbarous fcience; and they are still tainted with the vices of their origin. Their primitive difcipline was adapted to the education of priests and monks; and the government ftill remains in the hands of the clergy, an order of men whofe manners are remote from the prefent world, and whose eyes are dazzled by the light of philofophy. The legal incorporation of these focieties by the charters of popes and kings had given them a monopoly of the public inftruction; and the fpirit of monopolifts is narrow, lazy, and oppreffive: their work is more coftly and less productive than that of independent artifts; and the new improvements fo eagerly grafped by the competition of freedom, are admitted with flow and fullen reluctance in those proud corporations, above the fear of a rival, and below the confeffion of an error. We may fcarcely hope that any reformation will be a voluntary act; and so deeply are they rooted in law and prejudice, that even the omnipotence of parliament would fhrink from an inquiry into the ftate and abuses of the two univerfities.

The ufe of academical degrees, as old as the thirteenth century, is vifibly borrowed from the mechanic corporations; in which an apprentice, after ferving his time, obtains a teftimonial of his skill, and a licence to practise his trade and mystery. It is not my defign to depreciate thofe honors, which could never gratify or disappoint my ambition; and I should applaud the institution, if the degrees of bachelor or