Author 
 
 Title 
 
 Imprint 
 
(iljc importance of (Ulassical 0tubics. 
 
 "^V 
 
 AN ADDRESS: 
 
 PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE 
 
 PHILOMATHEAN SOCIETY 
 
 Pennsylvania College, February 14th, 1840. 
 
 by n. c. Brooks, a. m. [ 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PUBLISHED BY SORIN AND BALL, 
 
 B A LTIMOR C: 
 PARSONS & KURTZ. 
 
 1846. 
 
 
SORIN&BALL, 
 
 PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, 
 
 NO. 42 NORTH FOURTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 Beg leave to call the attention of the Principals of Schools, Academies, and Col- 
 leges, to the following valuable School Books, published by them. 
 
 BROOKS' SERIES of GREEK and LATIN CLASSICS 
 
 FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 
 
 The subscribers beg leave to announce that they have engaged Professor Brooks, 
 of Baltimore, a fine Classical and Belles-LeUies 1 scholar, to edit a full series of Greek 
 and Latin Class cs,on an improved plan, and with peculiar adaptation to the wants 
 of the American student. A part of the scries have already appeared ; i-oine are in 
 process of publication, and others will follow as soon as they can be prepared lot the 
 press. 
 
 The series is intended to embrace the authois usually read in our best institutions, 
 with such elementary and other works as may be introductory to, or collateial with, 
 the study of the Greek and Latin tongues. 
 
 Great care will be taken to secure accuracy of text in the works that are to ap- 
 pear; and for this purpose, the latest and most appmved European editions of the 
 different Classical authors, will be consulted. Oiigmal illustrative and explanatory 
 notes, prepared by the Editor, will accompany the text. These notes though co- 
 pious will be intended, by proper indications, to dii e< t and assist the student in his 
 labors, rather than by rendering every thing too simple, to supersede the neiessiiv of 
 due exertion on his own part, and thus induce indolent habits of study and reflec- 
 tion, and feebleness of intellect. 
 
 As it is often objected that in the study of the Classics, sufficient attention is not 
 paid to other important blanches, care will be taken on all proper occasions, in the 
 notes that accompany the text, to develop and promote in the mind of the student, 
 the sound principles uf Criticism, Rhetorick. History, Political Science, Morals and 
 general Religion so that he may contemplate the subject of the author he is read- 
 ing, not within the circumscribed limits ol a mere rendering of the text, but consider 
 it in all its extended connexions and relations — and thus leain to think, as well as 
 to translate. 
 
 In former editions of the Classics it has been the custom of editors, in commenting 
 upon the text, to derive all then illustrations and parallelisms from the ancient 
 Classics alone, but in this seiies it is proposed to draw fiom the treasures of Modem 
 History and Literature < opious ma lei nils lor comparison and illusti alien, so as to in- 
 sure on the part of the student an acquaintance with general Belles-Letlres. Espe- 
 cially is it intended to elucidate Grecian and Roman History and the Polities of an- 
 tiqi;i i v by the history and instil ulii ns ol our o\\ n count iv, and to sanctity the pages 
 of heathen Poetiy and Theology by apposite and parallel passages from the Bible, and 
 thus foslei our distinctive nationality by stamping euny upon the minds of our youth, 
 the impress of Republicanism and ('hiisliauily. 
 
 This feature apparent in the first Lai in lessons already published, has elicited 
 warm commendation and is one of the leasons that under all the di:-advantages at- 
 tending a new publication, it has passed through three editions in the space of six 
 months. The hrst lessons in t>RttK on the same plan aie in press and will speed- 
 ily appear. 
 
 It is intended also in the order and manner in which the different authors are read 
 to make some impoitnnl changes thai will facilitate the progress of the pupil, and 
 promote vigor of mind while they refine the taste. There are other features in the 
 contemplated series that will he lound peculiarly valuable and attractive, which we 
 will permit the works themselves to in i. ounce. 
 
 The different editions will be issued in a neat and substantial form, and at moder- 
 ate prices. The general publications «■!' the subs> ribers are a sufficient guarantee 
 thai they will be produced in a style of becoming excellence. 
 
 January I, 1S46. SOR1N & BALL, 
 
 SEE RECOMMENDATIONS AT THE END. 
 
 -^— ^mi^—n-o.,^-^. » ^ ^^-t. 1.1... -'""'■'"—-————■■ 
 
jc Importance of Classical 0tubies. 
 
 AN ADDKESS: 
 
 PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE 
 
 PHILOMATHEAN SOCIETY 
 
 Pennsylvania College, February 14th 1840 
 
 A v fJ , ; v 
 
 BY N r f c°:brooks, a. m. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 *%£& 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY SORIN AND BALL, 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 PARSONS, PRESTON AND KURTZ. 
 
 1846. 
 
I* 
 
 Philomathean Hall, February \4th, 1840. 
 
 N. C. Brooks, A. M. 
 
 Sir, — The Philomathean Society of Pennsylvania College, being highly gratified 
 with the very learned and truly eloquent address delivered on the evening of the ninth 
 anniversary, have authorised the undersigned committee to tender you their sinceie 
 acknowledgments, and respectfully solicit a copy for publication. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 George S. Fouke, 
 Henry Baker, 
 John C. Graeff, 
 William B. McClellan, 
 E. Breidenbaugh, I 
 
 W. McMillan, J 
 
 1 
 
 a S 
 3 5:' 
 
 McClelian's Hotel, February [4th, 1840. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I have received your note conveying the sentiments and wishes of the Philoma- 
 than Society, relative to the address which was delivered this evening, and in placing 
 the copy at your disposal, have only to regret that it is not more worthy the occasion 
 and your expressions of approbation. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, yours, 
 
 N. C. BROOKS. 
 
 To Messrs. George S. Fouke, 
 Henry Baker, 
 John C. Graeff, 
 Wm. B. McClellan, 
 E. Breidenbaugh, 
 W. McMillan, 
 
 1 
 
 • Committee of Arrangement. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 The genius of the present age is utilitarian. The inventive fa- 
 culty is taxed to the utmost for the applications of science to the 
 different mechanic arts ; commercial enterprise seeks to open new 
 avenues of trade; manual labor is abridged; hidden sources of 
 wealth are evolved ; the physical wants of man are supplied, and 
 his bodily comforts promoted. But, while the acquisition of wealth 
 is thus rendered easy, and time and resources are provided for 
 a more extensive cultivation and refinement of the intellectual 
 faculties, it is to be regretted that opulence is regarded as an end, 
 rather than a means, of happiness; and, accordingly, all the ener- 
 gies of the mind are absorbed in a base passion for wealth— ambi- 
 tious luxury, and vulgar display. The discoveries of science — the 
 investigations of philosophy, the power and pathos of oratory, and 
 the inspirations of song, are all valued in proportion as they minister 
 to lucre, and are converted into gold by the alchymy of the times. 
 
 " Omnis enim res 
 Virtus, farria, decu?, divina humanaque pulchris 
 Divitiis parent." 
 
 At a time when Avarice denounces every thing that does not 
 contribute to sordid gain, and when the aspirations of the higher 
 instincts of the soul, are disregarded for the gratifications of the 
 corporeal nature, as if man was designed for nothing nobler than 
 animal enjoyment, I have deemed, on the present occasion, the 
 importance of Classical Learning an appropriate theme for profi- 
 table reflections; as it will be in accordance with the spirit of a 
 society which, in its name and its objects, professes the love of 
 learning. 
 
 The mind of man, asserting its immortality, and refusing to be 
 bound by the narrow confines of the corporeal senses, would em- 
 brace the mysterious future and the mighty past, and while it 
 
dreams of personages and events yet to be, hold communion with 
 the great men and high deeds of ancient days. And if it be natural 
 to linger with soul- absorbing interest over the canvass or marble 
 which has preserved the features and form of departed worth and 
 genius, it is no less interesting to contemplate, through their own 
 writings, or the writings of others, the deathless spirit by which 
 the features and the form were animated. 
 
 " Nee magis expressi vultus per ahenea signa, 
 Quam per vatis opus- mores, animique viiorum 
 Clarorum apparent." 
 
 The classic compositions of Greece and Rome then, challenge our 
 admiration and regard, not only by the sublimity of their truths, 
 and the purity of their moral precepts, but as perpetual models of 
 taste and judgment, and as having come down to us with all the 
 charms, and mellowed glories of venerable antiquity. 
 
 No one is so barbarous as to be opposed to all knowledge. 
 Some cultivation is necessary to meet the wants and obligations of 
 society in its humblest grades; and those who are loudest in the 
 decrial of Classical learning, do not refuse to attribute much utility to 
 mathematical study, as affording practical knowledge, and as a 
 means of strengthening the intellect, and fitting it for a discharge 
 of the duties of life. It will certainly be conceded that the study 
 of Mathematics, improves the reasoning faculty, and induces a kind 
 of mechanical precision in the arrangement of affairs and the per- 
 formance of duties, — but, if the study be mtemperately pursued, 
 that improvement is at the expense of the other mental powers — 
 that precision is the dull round of the horse in the bark-mill, in 
 opposition to the activity of the courser or the generous spirit of 
 the war- steed. 
 
 In the exclusive study of the mathematics, the mind is restricted 
 to few ideas, and those of the most barren nature ; the genius is- 
 repressed; the imagination restrained; the understanding limited, 
 and the heart contracted — while at the same time, the disposition, 
 induced by the study, to reject every thing that does not admit of 
 a positive demonstration, withholds the assent from all the sublime 
 mysteries of faith, and promotes a general skepticism. The at- 
 tempt, too, to carry out in the social and political world the abstract 
 truths of the mathematics, where principles are to be estimated by 
 
their consequences, must ever be attended with inconvenience, 
 danger and unhappiness. And from the days of Epicurus, who 
 maintained the atomic theory, down to the present time, the ex- 
 clusive study of the mathematics and philosophy, has had a ten- 
 dency to lead weak minds into Atheism. The fruit of the tree of 
 knowledge has been drugged with death. Finding the universe one 
 vast assemblage of mathematical truths, they mistake them for the 
 principles of things — recognize nothing beyond secondary causes., 
 refuse to behold the Deity behind the circle and triangle — God 
 becomes nothing more than the properties of bodies; in the beauti- 
 ful language of Chateaubriand, the very chain of numbers robs 
 them of the grand Unity. 
 
 tl Tliis truth, Philosophy, though eagle-eyed, 
 In nature's tendencies, oft overlooks; 
 And having found his instrument, forgets 
 ■Or disregards, or, more presumptuous still 
 Denies the power that wields it." 
 
 On the contrary, it is the natural tendency of literary studies, by 
 enlivening the imagination, and creating a passion for the sublime 
 and beautiful, to elevate the soul to the contemplation of that august 
 Majesty, from whom every thing that is grand and glorious, has 
 emanated. 
 
 In the organization of the human frame, every limb and muscle 
 has its proper use; and the well-being of the whole depends upon 
 a due exercise of the parts — and that system of gymnastics will 
 ever be considered the most perfect which promotes the strength 
 and activity of the several members of the body. The mind in 
 a like manner is composed of a number of faculties with their 
 appropriate spheres of action ; and that exercise is best calculated 
 to strengthen, improve, ennoble and beautify it, which brings into 
 healthy and vigorous play all its diversified powers. Away! then 
 with the miserable folly and wickedness which would enjoin the 
 cultivation of the reason and judgement alone, and the deadening 
 and annihilation of the finer powers of that mind which is the in- 
 spiration of Almighty God— the imagination, the perceptions and 
 and the sensibilities. Is there any one so impious as to tax creative 
 wisdom w r ith forming faculties that are unnecessary — so dull as to 
 question the duty of cultivating them, or so insensate as not to feel 
 that the most exquisite delight is to be derived from their exercise? 
 
Who .would exchange for mere mathematical abstractions — for all 
 the meagre ideas derived from a consideration of the properties of 
 circles and triangles, the pleasures of the imagination alone? which 
 from nothing can call into being ideal worlds clothed with beauty, — 
 and, unrestrained by time and distance, be versant with all scenes 
 and present in all places — that ethereal faculty, which is a lively 
 symbol of the Deity in his omnipotence, omniscience and omni- 
 presence. 
 
 The study of the mathematics then, although absolutely necessary, 
 as affording much knowledge of a practical nature, can never be 
 of exclusive importance, inasmuch as it is at best, but a partial exer- 
 cise of the mind. The study of the Greek and Latin classics, 
 exercises in common with the reasoning faculty, all the other 
 powers, greatly increases the stock of general knowledge, gives 
 scope and freedom of thought, quickens the sensibilities of the 
 soul; by noble examples and generous precepts, fills it with lofty 
 impulses, and merges the love of self in the love of country, or in 
 the wider charities of all human kind. And while the man who 
 has limited his views and feelings to numbers alone, may be expert 
 to calculate interest or usury, and to accumulate a large fund from 
 which he will scarcely permit himself to draw — or, like Archi- 
 medes, buried in mathematical abstractions, be unconscious of his 
 country's danger, the man whose breast has been formed by liberal 
 studies, will live less for himself than others — and in the day of 
 peril, obeying the call of honor, stand in the front rank of the 
 battle plain. 
 
 I consider the study of the Languages superior to any other 
 mental exercise in disciplining the mind. It tends to fix the atten- 
 tion, invigorate and enliven the memory, and promote reflection 
 and discrimination. The ordinary exercise of translation, where 
 the import of each word is modified by those with which it stands- 
 connected, demands considerable mental effort ; but, to be enabled 
 to resolve subtleties of construction, perceive the force or delicacy 
 of expression, and minute shades of meeting in a sentence — dis- 
 tinguish the poetic style from the prose, the conversational from 
 the rhetorical — and to discriminate between the idiomatic and gen- 
 eral use of words, the obvious and figurative, the vulgar and ele- 
 gant, and to render them in an appropriate and graceful manner, 
 requires more severe and chastening thought, and cannot fail to im- 
 prove the memory, the taste and the judgement. 
 
And while the study of the classics is as efficient as the study of 
 the mathematics in strengthening the intellect — and even more ex- 
 tended in its sphere of action, it has certain advantages peculiar to 
 itself. When the student is pursuing the science of numbers, he 
 acquires no other knowledge, while, on the contrary, he who is 
 prosecuting the study of the Greek and Latin tongues, at the same 
 time that his mind is thoroughly disciplined, becomes acquainted 
 with the principles of grammar, criticism, rhetoric!:, history, phi- 
 losophy, morals and civil polity — and they will be more firmly im- 
 pressed upon the memory from the exercise connected with them. 
 
 No one, I presume, will question the value of these acquisitions. 
 Speech is the high prerogative of him whom the Deity has placed 
 at the head of creation ; and its dignity and usefulness alike require 
 that the arts should be cultivated which tend to promote its copious- 
 ness, significancy, force, purity, harmony and beauty. A better 
 understanding of the philosophy of language in general, and ot 
 grammatical construction, will be obtained from a knowledge of 
 Greek and Latin, which have enriched with so many valuable ad- 
 ditions the English tongue, than by the study of the vernacular — 
 and, for the same reason, rhetorick and criticism will be better 
 learned, by a contemplation of those beautiful and sublime compo- 
 sitions which have been the admiration of ages, and the copious 
 sources from which modern genius has derived its richest treas- 
 ures. 
 
 Nothing can be more interesting and instructive than the Histo- 
 rical records which have been bequeathed to us by the writers of 
 Greece and Rome — representing, as they do, the simplicity of the 
 early ages — the daring of the heroic — the triumphs of brute force, 
 and the still wider empire of mind — with all the varied changes 
 that have marked the social and intellectual progress of man. 
 
 The systems of Philosophy which they unfold, it must be ad- 
 mitted, are in many respects erroneous; but their labors, though 
 imperfect, are worthy of admiration, when we consider their limit- 
 ed means of investigation, and the want of guides to direct their 
 way. Few discoveries or inventions are complete at first, yet I 
 believe all generous minds will assign pre-eminence to the great, 
 original genius of the discoverer or projector -rather than the sub- 
 ordinate capacity of him who has carried out his suggestions. — 
 Profiting by the labors and investigations of centuries, the moderns 
 
8 
 
 have only developed more fully the systems of the ancients that 
 were true, and corrected the errors of those that were imperfect. 
 The system of Pythagoras laid the foundation of the true solar 
 system. Thales computed solar eclipses. Meton invented the 
 golden number. Aristarchus taught the diurnal and annual revolu- 
 tions of the earth. Hipparchus invented an astrolabe, and de- 
 termined with considerable correctness the solar year, the preces- 
 sion of the equinoxes, and the eccentricity of the sun's orbit. Be- 
 sides astronomy, they were respectable in other branches of the 
 mathematics, as the Elements of Euclid and other works will 
 establish — in mechanics, in natural history and dynamics. 
 
 Those who maintain that the moderns are wiser than their fa- 
 thers, should not forget their ancient fathers from whom they re- 
 ceived, at least, the elements of knowledge. I believe there is 
 scarcely any thing valuable in modern philosophy, of which we do 
 not find a hint in the writings of Greece and Rome. Newton's 
 apple, with all the stir it has made in the world, appears to me as 
 fabulous as those of the garden of the Hesperides. It is more 
 likely that the idea of gravitation was the result of an impression 
 made upon his censorium by the works of Lucretius, than any vio- 
 lence done to his external caput by the fall of an apple. The stu- 
 dent who reads the De JYatura Rerum, will find that Lucretius 
 tries to controvert the philosophic doctrine of gravitation, commonly 
 held in his day. But, however inferior they may be in Physics to 
 the moderns, it is certain that they hold precedence in morals, 
 over all those who have attempted to establish a system indepen- 
 dent of the Bible. 
 
 The Morality which they teach, although it has not the claims 
 of immediate inspiration, will contribute to imbue the heart with 
 virtuous principles, while it informs the mind. The social and 
 personal duties of man, and his duty to the Supreme Intelligence 
 of the universe, are all enforced by apposite illustrations, dignified 
 examples, pathetic admonitions and cogent arguments. Indeed, in 
 the early stages of Christianity, the writings of some of the Stoics 
 and Peripatetics were so highly estimated, that the reading of them 
 constituted a part of the exercises in the church ; and at the pre- 
 sent day, in the lecture room it might not be unprofitable to listen 
 to these sages who inculcate purity and piety by a dignified illustra- 
 tion of their reasonableness and condnciveness to felicity, rather 
 than by appeals to the slavish principle of fear alone. 
 
The ideas of Civil polity derived from the study of the ancient 
 languages, in which we note the social compact rising from its rude 
 elements, and assuming the grandest and most complicated forms, 
 cannot fail to be a large addition to the store of useful and practical 
 knowledge. 
 
 Thus it will be seen, that the study of the languages, while it in- 
 vigorates all the faculties of the mind, and fits it for long and vigo- 
 rous action, at the same time imparts varied and useful information, 
 to subserve the purposes of life. Neither will it be conceded that 
 it is less favorable to order and regulation of the heart than the 
 Mathematics — surely the order and the fitness of things can be as 
 well estimated, when the heart is formed by the consistency of sen- 
 tences and the harmony of poetic numbers, as when it is formed by 
 the relations and harmony of arbitrary signs. Purity of morals 
 must always be promoted by a refined taste in literature. 
 
 At the same time that I deny the exclusive or pre-eminent claims 
 of the mathematics, I do not wish to be understood that I consider 
 they have no claims, at all, upon attention. Some knowledge of 
 figures is indispensable in every condition of life ; and the higher 
 branches of the mathematics have contributed to subject the earth 
 to man's control, and have brought down even the heavens to his 
 comprehension — yet I would not have them intemperately pursued 
 to the exclusion of more humane studies, but would earnestly 
 recommend that their sternness be relieved by the graces of litera- 
 ture, and that the decisions of the cool head be carried out by the 
 enthusiasm of the warm heart, which it is the peculiar province of 
 letters to enkindle. The most perfect mental training requires a 
 happy blending of the two studies pursued together, at the same time. 
 I would not insist that all persons should study the Classics. 
 Education should be modified by circumstances and the intended 
 pursuits of life. The time, means and ability of many persons, are 
 unfavorable to the acquisition of the learned languages, while they 
 would be, if acquired, of but little practical use in their peculiar 
 avocations. Unnecessary to the mere operative who has not time 
 to devote to them, and to the man of dull genius who has not mind 
 to appreciate them, the Classics are indispensable to the statesman, 
 to the professional man, the artist, the critic, the writer and the man 
 of leisure, — in short, wherever we require the noblest exhibitions 
 of the noblest faculties of the soul. 
 
10 
 
 The Statesman who would be distinguished as the benefactor 
 of his country, must study the classics in order to imbue his mind 
 with wholesome knowledge. He must take a comprehensive view 
 of civil polity, and go hack to society in its rude state, and behold 
 government resolved into monarchy, oligarchy or democracy, by 
 the peculiar genius of a people. In the institutions of antiquity, 
 organized in these different forms, he will be enabled to trace the 
 action of their leading principles— see the advantages or defects of 
 their civil and criminal codes, and the propriety or inappropriate- 
 ness of the forms in which justice was administered — observe the 
 means established for the maintenance of just power over the 
 governed, and the checks agains the abuse of it by those govern- 
 ing — the provisions made for their continuance, defence or exten- 
 sion—investigate the wise measures by which they flourished, and 
 the errors that wrought their declension and final overthrow^and 
 from the whole, educe those great principles which secure the glory 
 and stability of well constituted states, and advance the cause of 
 rational liberty and true happiness. 
 
 Nor will it be sufficient for him to read only the histories of these 
 nations. To form a just idea of their policy, he must fully compre- 
 hend the character of the people ; and to enable him to do this, it 
 will be necessary to read their orators and poets. Plato said, with 
 great truth, to Dionysius, that to understand the Athenian republic, 
 it was necessary to read the plays of Aristophanes. Indeed the 
 oratory and tragedy of the Greeks is a mirror that reflects their 
 noble sentiments, their civil and religious policy, as their comedy 
 does their vices and their follies. The great advantages resulting 
 to the statesman, from the study of the languages, are to be per- 
 ceived on reading the works of Montesquieu, and the Federalist by 
 our own countryman, Hamilton, and noting how much the precepts 
 and examples of antiquity have contributed to perfect the two 
 noblest charters of freedom in the world — the English Constitu- 
 tion and the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 Although the acquisition of a liberal education was attended with 
 great expense and inconvenience in Colonial times, yet its impor- 
 tance was so highly estimated that every obstacle to its accomplish- 
 ment was surmounted. Of the immortal band who signed the 
 Declaration of Independence, there were but ten who did not 
 receive a classical education ; and the secretary, Charles Thomp- 
 
11 
 
 son, lias left a memorial both of his learning and his piety, in a 
 translation of the Bible from the Septuagint. The minds of these 
 worthies were enlightened, expanded and sublimated by the gener- 
 ous studies of their youth ; and we find them laying a foundation of 
 liberty, broad as the earth itself; as if they were legislating, not 
 merely for the good of their own country, but of the whole world. 
 If we contrast their high-bred courtesy, and liberal policy, with 
 the rude violence and low aims of modern legislation, where the 
 good of the country is abandoned for party or personal aggrandize- 
 ment, we cannot but regret that the claims of wisdom and learning 
 are so often set aside by the intrigues of the Demagogue. 
 
 To the Divine, the study of the classics will be of peculiar inter- 
 est and profit, as it will be subservient to his professional studies. 
 In the original Greek of the New Testament, and the Septuagint 
 of the Old, he will find a comprehensiveness of meaning, a fullness, 
 force and beauty of style, that it is impossible for our language to 
 convey — and surely no one who contemplates ministering in holy 
 things, should consider any labor unnecessary which will ensure a 
 fuller acquaintance with the oracles of divine truth. In the writings, 
 also, of the fathers, Irenasus, Clement, Tertullian, Origen, and 
 Gregory, the early expounders and defenders of Christianity, he 
 will meet with the most beautiful illustrations, and powerful proofs, 
 of that glorious system which he is to hold up to the admiration and 
 faith of the great family of mankind. I am aware, however, that 
 there are those who are opposed to all human learning, as entirely 
 useless, and trust to a mysterious illumination, to enable them to 
 convince and persuade those whom they address. Their conduct 
 is as unreasonable and presumptuous as that of a husbandman who 
 should expect a plenteous crop from Providence, without sowing the 
 necessary seed. Was Paul the less efficient because he was learn- 
 ed ? Was he less able to meet the dogmas of the Talmudists, or 
 ■the subtle disquisitions of the Greeks ? Did not his learning and 
 his eloquence, quickened by the spirit of the living God, enable 
 him as the great champion of Christianity, to defend her against 
 the open attacks of her professed enemies, and the covert assaults 
 of her pretended friends ? Surely all will concede, that sound and 
 varied learning, places at the disposal of its possessor more liberal 
 treasures of thought, to be drawn upon for argument, for illustra- 
 tion, for motive — in a word, for moral effect. Since God has 
 
12 
 
 always been pleased to work by means, powerful thought and 
 powerful utterance, when sanctified by grace, are not "carnal 
 weapons, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong 
 holds." 
 
 But there are other advantages of equal importance. He will 
 behold profane history confirming the Mosaic record — the creation 
 — the fall and the deluge, faintly seen for ages through the mists of 
 tradition, preserved at last against further obscuration, in the works 
 of the ancient poets. In the temples and ceremonies of the heath- 
 en, he will perceive the universal idea of a creating and superinten- 
 tending Providence ; and in the types of victims and oblations, re- 
 cognize the great antetype dimly shadowed forth, the Redeemer of 
 the world. He will find the predictions of the true religion con- 
 firmed by the oracles of the false, which, from being the instru- 
 ments of imposture, were permitted to see the advent of him who 
 was the " end of prophecy," and were then silent forever — and 
 will hear heathen lips, touched by the spirit of him who was to be 
 the light of the gentiles, prophesy the benignant reign of the 
 Prince of Peace. Who, on reading the " Pollio," of Virgil, will 
 not perceive that its sublime beauties are kindred and parallel with 
 the glories of the church, as described by the holy men of old, and 
 acknowledge that 
 
 " The sacred name 
 Of poet and of prophet is the same." 
 
 And does not Plato in his " Republic," when treating of his divine 
 man, speak of the qualifications, life and death of the Saviour, with 
 as much distinctness as Isaiah himself? when he says " that he must 
 be poor; and have sublime virtue as his only recommendation — 
 that a wicked world would not receive him or hear his doctrines 
 and reproofs — and that within three or four years, he would be 
 persecuted, imprisoned, scourged and at last put to a cruel death.'' 
 Will any one doubt that he, whose pure spirit aspired after God, 
 amid the solemn shades of Academus, was permitted, by him who 
 is the spirit and the life, to have a glimpse of immortality beyond 
 the grave ? 
 
 Nor will the exercise be unprofitable to trace the operations of 
 the human mind, when unaided by revelation, to find out God ; 
 and to compare the dilFerent systems of philosophy and religion 
 that preceded Christianity, with its sublime truths and exalted mor- 
 
13 
 
 sis, and show its superior claims to all others. The religion of the 
 Greeks and the Romans, like their glorious temples, is in ruins- 
 and from the mutilated fragments which have come down to us, it 
 will ever he impossible to rear again the structure, in its integrity 
 and - beauty. Yet enough remains to convince us, that when divest- 
 ed of its poetic factions, and mythological mysteries, and the errors 
 and corruptions which it suffered in the lapse of ages, that it once 
 was remarkable for its unity and beauty, and calculated to exercise 
 a salutary influence upon the hearts of men. 
 
 The Pelasgians, by the worship of oaks, testified their gratitude 
 to him who thus provided them with sustenance, until Orpheus as 
 legislator and pontiff, introduced a new religion, derived probably 
 from Egypt, and sought to form their rude minds by loftier pre- 
 cepts. Some learned men have supposed that the gods of the an- 
 cients were nothing more than deified heroes — but this is an error, 
 into which they have been led by the circumstance of different 
 persons' assuming the names of the gods; and the actions of the 
 first and the attributes of the latter, have been strangely mingled by 
 the fictions of the poets. Thus several hundred Jupiters have 
 existed, to the utter confusion of the early ideas of that deity. 
 
 Although the remark of Cicero, relative to the mysteries, was 
 correct, that they illustrated the nature of things, more than that of 
 the gods— yet the visible creation was the only means which they 
 had of ascertaining the nature of the divine essence. Their mys- 
 teries, however, though a mixture of physics and theology, taught 
 the doctrines of a creating power, of providence, and a future stale 
 of rewards and punishments. Plutarch says — " The vulgar believe 
 that nothing remains after death, but we, instructed as we are in the 
 sacred rites of Ceres, and witnesses of her holy ceremonies, know 
 there exists a future state." 
 
 The peculiar doctrines of their religion, when freed from alle- 
 gory and fiction, will be found to embrace the following ideas : The 
 existence of two principles from all eternity — the Demiurgic intel- 
 ligence or active principle, mind — and the passive principle, mat- 
 ter. From these two principles proceeded attributes or emana- 
 tions which were characterized by particular names. Thus the 
 power of the Demiurgic intelligence, which formed the universe, 
 was denominated Vulcan — the wisdom which designed it, Minerva 
 — the spirit which imparted heat and activity to it, Vesta ; the 
 
14 
 
 goodness which sustained it, Hecate — and the justice which pre- 
 served it in order, Nemesis. 
 
 The modifications of the passive principle, or matter, were as 
 follows: Pre-existent matter, Rhea — chaos, Latona — the birth of 
 harmony, or the creation of the world, Venus — the variety of ma- 
 terial formations, Proteus — and Pan, the Great Whole — the active 
 and passive principles united — the vast universe, actuated by the 
 _great spirit which impresses motion on matter. Orpheus, the intro- 
 ducer and expounder of the theology of the Greeks, celebrates 
 Pan as the Supreme God, the Creator of all things — by whom, and 
 out of whom, every thing was fashioned. These were the gods of 
 the first order. 
 
 The gods of the second order, represented the system of the 
 world — the elements — the earth — the sun and planets, with their 
 influences, revolutions and phases. The conquests of Dionusos, or 
 Bacchus, were the progress of the sun's course in the ecliptic; and 
 the Muses, who are fabled to preside over music, were the spirits 
 that regulated the motions of the sun and planets ; for it was well 
 known to the ancients, before the days of Pythagoras, that the 
 solar system was formed on a musical scale. Originally three 
 when but three spheres were contemplated, we may suppose the 
 number to have been increased, to keep pace with the investiga- 
 tions of philosophy. All these gods were represented as subject to 
 destiny, which means nothing more than that they were all bound 
 by certain inevitable laws that directed their revolutions. The 
 battles of the gods and giants appear to have been convulsions of 
 nature, by earthquakes, internal fires and inundations — traces of 
 which are to be found deforming the face of the whole earth. 
 
 The third order of their gods, represented the early history of 
 man, his efforts in subduing the elements and making them minister 
 to his wants, and the different exhibitions of the inventive genius* 
 In worshipping these, by which the earth was cultivated, society 
 was formed, and the arts and sciences established which embellish 
 life, they referred the inspiration of these discoveries back to the 
 great intelligence, and adored his wisdom and power as manifested 
 in man. Thus Ceres and Bacchus, and the Cabiri and Hermes, 
 had a worship peculiar to their claims upon the homage of the 
 people. 
 
 Such was the religion of the Greeks and Romans; and while the 
 
15 
 
 vulgar forsook these divine abstractions for the fictions of the poets, 
 and prostrated themselves to gods made in the likeness of men, the 
 intelligent worshipper was inducted into the interior of the temple^ 
 and, initiated into the sublime mysteries of his religion, adored the 
 Supreme Intelligence who created, ordered and sustained all 
 things. And if he paid reverence to the different attributes of the 
 divine majesty, singly, as to so many different spirits, still his wor- 
 ship, in the aggregate, was the same as if paid to him in whom all 
 these attributes centred. The only difference between his wor- 
 ship and ours, was, that while he held a diversity of operations as 
 carried on by different spirits, we agree with St. Paul that "There 
 is a diversity of operations, but one spirit." 
 
 Nor will the piety of the young divine suffer by a perusal of 
 the ancient classics. He will perceive that the degeneracy of the 
 great nations of antiquity, is not to be attributed to their original 
 religious systems, imperfect as they were, but to the neglect of 
 them, and to the errors and corruptions which deformed them, in 
 lapse of time. Horace, in lamenting the crimes and calamities ot 
 his country, ascribes them to this, while he refers her former power 
 and glory to the god supreme, in language that would not be un- 
 worthy inspiration itself. " Romane, imperas, quod geris te mino- 
 rem diis," is a sentiment equally just with that of the Bible, 
 " Happy is the people, whose God is the Lord." Well had it 
 been for modern France, had she profited by the teachings of the 
 heathen, in her former revolution, when she sought to establish 
 empire by deification of a courtezan, or in her latter, when she 
 erased from her escutcheons the recognition of the ruler of nations, 
 " By the grace of God," and impiously substituted " By the sov- 
 ereignty of the people." In most of the Classics he will find many 
 passages of true divinity — breathing a spirit of the most pure and 
 lofty piety. The hymns of Orpheus, Callimachus and Cleanthes, 
 in dignity of thought and holy breathing after God, are very little 
 inferior to the inspired songs of the psalmist of Israel. The apos- 
 tle Paul was suitably impressed with the force and beauty of the 
 Greek poets, and made a quotation from the hymn of Cleaathes,- in 
 his memorable speech on the hill of Mars. 
 
 The Lawyer who would rise above the drawing of deeds and 
 indentures, should be grounded in classical lore. To know the 
 history of his profession, as well as deduce good maxims from the 
 
16 
 
 teachings of the past, he should he familiar with the ancient laws, 
 and the forms of judicial procedure. The codes of the different 
 Grecian lawgivers, and the Pandects of Justinian, will well repay 
 a diligent perusal. Lucid order of arrangement, closeness of 
 reasoning, and an agreeable fullness of language will be the natural 
 result of classical study ; while it will enable him further to under- 
 stand the technicalities that are continually met with. The habit 
 of deliberately studying the import of wovds and the construction 
 of sentences, will be particularly serviceable to him in detecting a 
 flaw in an indictment, or comprehending the phraseology of sta- 
 tutes whose import is obscure. Besides this, the noble examples 
 with which he will become familiar, cannot fail to make him despise 
 the trickery by which some strive to succeed, and order his con- 
 duct, whether at the bar or on the bench, according to those lofty 
 principles which should ever actuate those who solicit or administer 
 justice. The intrepidity of Demosthenes, when the dread of Philip 
 shook all Athens, and the fearless disregard, evinced by Cicero, of 
 the daggers of Catiline and Antony, contributed to form the gener- 
 ous spirit which flamed forth from the lips of Mansfield, in the 
 trial of Wilkes, and of more than one occupant of the bench in 
 our own country. 
 
 As the nomenclature of all the sciences, is principally of Greek 
 and Latin derivation, the languages will not be considered an inap- 
 propriate study to the Physician ; for, besides the pride that every 
 professional man should feel to know the rise of his profession, 
 motives of interest should induce him to consult the fathers of the 
 medical art. The works of Hippocrates and Galen are the basis of 
 modern practice, and the Institutes for forming the physician, as 
 given by the first, are of the most valuable kind. Besides this, the 
 physician is expected to be a man of general learning, and he will 
 be frequently thrown into society where it will be required. — 
 Should he compose treatises, at any lime, upon subjects connected 
 with his profession, it will enable him to communicate his thoughts 
 with freedom and ease, and relieve by the graces of style, the tcedi- 
 um of subjects of a dry and uninteresting nature. Should he be cal- 
 led upon to fill a professor's chair, it will promote the arrangement 
 of ideas and fluency of speech. 
 
 In an especial manner it is incumbent upon the Professors of 
 the Fine Arts, to study the ancient classics. The imagination, 
 
17 
 
 fired by the graphic descriptions of languages noted for their ma- 
 jestic brevity and fulness of metaphors, which are, as it were, so 
 many pictures, rises to the dignity of the pure ideal, and displays its 
 powers in creations of the most sublime and beautiful kind. The 
 truth of this will be evident on reading the lives of those who have 
 been distinguished in the arts of design, and noting the prominence 
 which letters have never failed to give those who cultivate them. — 
 While the imagination is thus expanded, and a proper estimation of 
 the works of art that have come down to us, ensured by a knowl- 
 edge of the characters and events which they are intended to rep- 
 resent, it will be a delightful exercise to trace the history of Paint- 
 ing and Sculpture, from the monograph of the Athenian maid, by 
 lamplight shadowing her lover on the wall, through all their grada- 
 tions, to the highest efforts of art — the chef d'ceuvres of Zeuxis, 
 Apelles, Parrhasius, Phidias, Praxiteles and Apollodorus. Besides 
 this, the allegorical fictions of the Greeks and Romans, and the stir- 
 ring events of their history, have furnished both ancient an<\ modern 
 artists with subjects of the most elevated character. 
 
 I presume it will not be necessary for me to say any thing in de- 
 fence of arts that not merely embellish but ennoble, life — that com- 
 mend themselves to the most tender affections and lofty sentiments 
 of the soul. Is there any one so unfeeling that he does not revere 
 the arts by which he can still enjoy the bland smile of her who 
 watched over his infancy, when the pall has wrapped her features 
 from his view, and they are laid in the solitude of the sepulchre? — 
 arts which enable him to be a witness of deeds, immortal in fame as 
 in influence, and imbibe their ennobling spirit. Pictures and statues 
 representing great and glorious actions, subserve the noblest purpo- 
 ses. They are a kind of sublime writing addressed to the heart and 
 filling it with lofty impulses. The statues of Harmodius and Aris- 
 togiton, were a historical tablet which taught liberty to every pas- 
 ser by ; and the heart of youth, as it stands by the pile on Bunker's 
 Heights, and the noble shaft that is surmounted by the image of the 
 Father of his Country, shall glow with patriotism, and burn with 
 the desire of emulating the moral greatness and glory of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 The study of the Classics will contribute to raise the Architect 
 far above the mere operative in the profession. Imbibing from the 
 works which describe their proportions and purposes of erection, 
 2 
 
18 
 
 the sentiments that gave rise to the magnificent structures of antiqui- 
 ty, he will excel in the structure of edifices, which at the same time 
 that they subserve the interests of patriotism and piety, will be ap- 
 propriate embellishments to our cities, attesting a sense of the dig- 
 nity of the country, and of the majesty of Jehovah. 
 
 Although little advantage to the Musician, can result from the 
 few pieces of ancient musical composition, yet the study of a lan- 
 guage so soft and harmonious as the Greek, and stately as the Latin, 
 must necessarily refine the taste and render the ear delicately sensi- 
 ble. Composers, like other professors of the liberal arts, have 
 been distinguished in proportion to their early educational training- 
 To prove the importance of a science which teaches the true lan- 
 guage of the affections, and is at once a source of the most exquisite 
 delight, and an incentive to the highest exercise of the noblest feel- 
 ings, would be, I am sure, a work of supererogation. All have felt 
 the spells of love which music can weave around the heart — the 
 Song of Callistratus re-called to the minds of the Athenians the 
 generous patriots,Harmodius and Aristogiton, no less forcibly than 
 did the marble of Praxiteles ;* the Marseilles Hymn has ever 
 been a pibroch of liberty; wherever the Star Spangled Banner 
 is heard, there American bosoms are resolute in the defence of the 
 stripes and stars of our ensign; and the aspirations of what breast 
 have not gone up purer and holier, with the swell of the organ and 
 chants of the choir, to the throne of the Eternal ? 
 
 To no one is the study of the Classics more necessary than to the 
 writer, and especially the Critic He who has not studied the art 
 of criticism in the works of Aristotle, Cicero, Horace, Longinus 
 and Quintilian, and had his understanding improved, his conceptions 
 elevated, and his fancy fired by a contemplation of the classic mod- 
 els of antiquity, until he is able himself, 
 
 " With no mid wing, to soar 
 Above th' Aonian mount," 
 
 can never aspire to be the arbiter of taste and judgement, and ad- 
 just the even balances of thought, in weighing the beauties or de- 
 ficiencies of any modern composition. But as this is the age of 
 
 •Praxiteles executed their statues. 
 
19 
 
 empiricism, it is not strange that there exists some who think they 
 can discharge the duties of a critic not only without learning, but 
 without brains. These miserable pretenders, whose talents are fit- 
 ted for nothing nobler than the wielding of a butcher's cleaver, or 
 dealing out tape, assume the literary pruning-knife and measure 
 poetry by the foot, and having foisted themselves by the aid of mo- 
 ney into the temple of Apollo, and mounted the tripod, full of any 
 other inspiration than that of the god, give forth their profound 
 oracles. 
 
 Wanting in delicacy of perception, nice discrimination, deep rea- 
 soning, practised judgment, and a happy versatility of style suited 
 to every composition — in fine, all the essentials of a good critic, 
 their disquisitions serve to illustrate the sense of the writer, less 
 than their own want of sense ; and while they seek to pass off flip- 
 pancy for fulness of ideas, and assurance for independence of 
 thought, their braying generally discovers the true nature of the an- 
 imal beneath the assumed skin of the lion. Their praise is general- 
 ly bestowed on labored dulness that cannot excite their envy — when 
 on true merit it is with fawning sycophancy — while they hope to 
 win distinction by attacks on the highest grade of intellect, like the 
 mad fool who fired the temple of Ephesus for immortality. 
 
 Entertaining little idea of the responsibility or dignity of the of- 
 fice of a critic, they are venal and corrupt, influenced by passion 
 and prejudice, and guided by a sordid interest alone. These grisly 
 porters of the literary Elysium are not, therefore, absolutely inexo- 
 rable, if the aspirant is careful to carry, as prescribed by the Sybil, 
 a twig of the " aureus ramus,'''' and silence their barkings by the 
 " medicatam offam" in the shape of a bribe. Learning is degraded 
 by a tame endurance of such evils; and it is to be hoped that some 
 Pope or Byron will arise, and with vigorous arm, sweep away these 
 cobwebs that defile the temple of Literature. In my censure of 
 those who mistake the mud pools of defamation for the waters of 
 Helicon, I do not wish it to be understood that I have not a just 
 appreciation of the true critic — him who is the high priest of the 
 Muses, the mystagogue who unfolds to the aspirant all the sublime 
 mysteries of their temple — but he is formed of a finer mould, train- 
 ed in a different school — of other feelings and nobler impulses — the 
 man of talents — of taste — of learning. 
 
 To the military man, the Classics will not be without interest 
 
20 
 
 and profit. He will obtain a knowledge of ancient tactics and cas- 
 tramentation, which, if not applicable to modern warfare, will make 
 him familiar with the history of the art. In the writings of Xeno- 
 phon, of Polybius, Sallust, Livy and Caesar, he will meet with much 
 valuable information. Napoleon was a great admirer of the latter 
 writer, and is said to have adopted his policy in many respects. — ■ 
 But a greater advantage derived from the study is, that it fosters a 
 generous and patriotic spirit, so necessary to the due maintenance 
 of just rights. The examples of magnanimous warriors, the eulo- 
 gies of funeral orations, the monuments to great men by their grate- 
 ful country, the embalming of their memory in song, all conspire to 
 fan the flame of freedom, and awaken a glorious devotion to their 
 country's good. The war-trump of Homer stirred the spirit of the 
 young Alexander, and led him to the conquest of the world. I need 
 not tell you that he carried the poems of the bard of Chios in the 
 priceless casket which was found at Arbela, declaring that the most 
 valuable treasure in the world, deserved the richest depository, and 
 that trump has excited the fervor of many an ingenuous breast since 
 his time. How often has the noble speech of Pericles, over 
 the slain at Marathon, and especially the following sentiment — 
 " The whole earth is a monument to illustrious men — the inscription 
 on a domestic tomb is not the only testimony of their virtue, but 
 even in remote nations, the memory of their glorious actions is en- 
 graven more deeply on the hearts of men, than on the marble at 
 home," made the young student feel the force of the truth of the 
 poet ? 
 
 " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." 
 
 Although Attic elegance and refined sentiment might spoil the 
 distinctive dialect of the tar, they cannot be considered inappropri- 
 ate to him, 
 
 " Who treads the monarch of the peopled deck." 
 
 While the periplus of ancient navigators — of Hanno, Nearchus and 
 others — can be of no practical utility, they cannot be unpleasing to 
 the Naval Commander, as the origin of maratime enterprise. — 
 The accomplishments of a cultivated mind will add dignity to the 
 station, at the same time that they provide their possessor with the 
 means of liberal amusement as he is borne o'er the waste of waters, 
 
21 
 
 and will fit him for animated and graphic descriptions of the coun- 
 tries and cities he may visit. The refinements of classic literature 
 will furthermore temper the valor which they inspire with human- 
 ity, resentment with courtesy and honor — the prowess of the strong 
 arm by the virtues of the generous heart. 
 
 A knowledge of the ancient languages will facilitate to the Mer- 
 chant the acquisition of the modern, so necessary in the transaction 
 of extensive mercantile connexions. It will prevent a bowing down 
 of the spirit to money as to a god, and give him a just relish for the 
 elegancies of life; and, when his soul is satisfied with wealth, and 
 he withdraws from the bustle of the world to quiet and solitude, it 
 will enable him to enjoy with dignity, the acquisitions of his early 
 years. Can there be any thing more vulgar than wealth and luxury 
 without intellectual refinement ? poverty of mind where all is rich- 
 ness — littleness of soul where all is splendor. 
 
 To the Gentleman and man of leisure, these studies are indis- 
 pensable. They are a fountain of pleasant imaginings, supply top- 
 ics of reflection for the hours of repose, and provide fulness of ideas 
 for intercourse with society. There is an intellectual elevation ob- 
 tained from them that spurns low pursuits, and a satisfaction of 
 spirit that disinclines the possessor of them to seek pleasure in the 
 course, at the pit, the drinking club or the gaming table. 
 
 The objector will tell me that many men have risen to eminence 
 who never read a line of the classics in the original tongue, and that 
 much time would be saved by consulting translations of the works 
 of antiquity. It is certainly true that many men of strong original 
 genius have been distinguished in literature without a knowledge of 
 the ancient languages, just as some men have become exceedingly 
 wealthy who began the world without means — yet this is no proof 
 that educational training is unnecessary — or that the want of capi- 
 tal is advantageous to the merchant. It is a mark of wisdom to 
 form opinions according to general rules — not according to the ex- 
 ceptions to the rules. We know how great Shakspeare and a few 
 others are, without classic learning — we know not how much grea- 
 ter they would have been, with it. The towering genius of Milton 
 all will acknowledge — his sublime works will go down with the 
 volume of inspiration to the remotest time — yet while he is no copy- 
 ist, every page gives evidence of a most familiar knowledge and just 
 appreciation of the writings of the ancients— contains some delicate 
 
beauty, some forcible illustration, some ingenious reflection, derived 
 from those compositions to which he devoted his earlier years. 
 
 If the ancient Classsics are not read in the original, the virtue of 
 the mental exercise is lost — that vigorous action, which, like the 
 engagements of the palaestra, knits firmly the sinews and muscles of 
 the mind. Besides this, if it is necessary to profit by perfect models, 
 they are to be contemplated in the best light, and not when their 
 beauties are obscured by the misty atmosphere of a translation. — 
 That they are perfect models in oratory and historic writing, in 
 lyric, epic, and dramatic composition, has been conceded by the in- 
 telligent of all ages; and that the beauties of a language delighting 
 in graceful compounds, and abounding in metaphors, which embody 
 as it were, in sensual forms, the creations of the mind, can never be 
 transfused into our tongue, must be owned by all who have the 
 ability to form, and the candor to express, a just judgment. There- 
 fore, in the language of Horace, we admonish you, 
 
 "Vos exemplaria Gr»ca, 
 Nocturna versate manu, versate diuma ;" 
 
 and you will find with him who was great in action, as in counsel, 
 in the senate and in the forum, wielding the consular fasces or en- 
 joying the "otium cum dignitate" of his Tusculan villa — " Haec 
 studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem delectant, secundas res ornant, 
 adversis perfugium ac solatium praebent — delectant domi, non im- 
 pediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur." 
 
 With a generous enthusiasm, you have devoted your days and 
 your nights, gentlemen, to liberal studies ; within the precincts of 
 yonder temple, sacred to wisdom, you have seen in reality, the 
 fabulous Panchaia of the happy islands, and, in their works, have 
 contemplated the monuments of those consecrated to immortality, 
 reared by their own sublime genius. You have delighted to sweep 
 the dust of ages from the papyrus, and peruse its venerable records 
 — the relics of ancient literature, sanctified by the touch of time, 
 have enkindled a lively admiration of the beauties of Greece, and 
 the colossal grandeur of Rome — you have investigated their polity, 
 their laws, their religion, and from the whole have deduced princi- 
 ples 
 
 " To warm tlie genius and to mend the heart," 
 
23 
 
 You have revelled in the riches of classic lore, and you have done 
 well. But there is another Classic which I feel bound to commend 
 to you, equally ancient in origin and interesting in narrative ; equally 
 chaste in style, and more sublime in its records, its philosophy and 
 its precepts — the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. 
 
 In this volume, you have a pleasant picture of the simplicity of 
 the early ages, in all the flowing vivacity of Herodotus, without his 
 fables — you have the exhibition of man in his political connexions 
 and commotions — the spread of empire and the desolations of war 
 — the achievements of men and the miracles of God — described 
 with all the force and atticism of Thucydides, and the graces of 
 Xenoplion — you have a morality exactly suited to the nature and 
 destiny of man, more elevated than ever came from the Portico or 
 Academy — a system of laws and religion that far transcend the 
 dreams of ancient sages — promulgated by him to whom power and 
 dominion and adoration belong — every variety of composition, char- 
 acterized by all the sublimities and beauties of style — of passion, 
 of sentiment, and of action — the visions of the seer, the denuncia- 
 tions of the prophet, the teachings of the sage, the inspirations of 
 the psalmist, the records of the evangelist, and the triumphs of the 
 martyr — tending to inform the mind, move the sensibilities, refine 
 the taste, and above all, purify the heart — fit it for the discharge of 
 the duties of life, and for the destinies of another and abetter world. 
 This classic, above all others, I would commend to you. 
 
 What are the thousand deities of Greece and Rome, compared 
 with the one, living and true God which it reveals? Will the sa- 
 cred pile of the Acropolis, vie with that which surmounted the 
 summit of Moriah ; or the golden Diana of Ephesus, or the marble 
 statue of the Parthenon with the visible glory of the invisible God? 
 Does the tripod of Apollo equal the Urim and Thummim? Do the 
 flamens divine, like the prophets of Jehovah ? Do the elements 
 obey the wand of the augurs, as they do the staff of Moses? Is 
 the expedition of the Argonauts, more full of stirring incidents than 
 the Exodus? The fall of Troy more mournful, than the desolation 
 of Salem? Or the wanderings of iEneas, or the King of Ithaca, 
 more pathetic, than the scattering of the sons of Jacob to the ends 
 of the earth ? 
 
 Compare the Cosmogony of the Bible with that of any who have 
 dreamed upon this subject, either philosophers or poets — the Orphic 
 
24 
 
 egg; of the Egyptians — the mud principle of Sanchoniatho, or the 
 aqueous of Thales — the atoms of Epicurus, or the active and passive 
 principles of Zeno, Plato and Aristotle — with the vainer imaginings 
 of the poets — and you cannot hesitate for a moment to acknowledge 
 the superiority of Moses' to that of all others, in truth and magnifi- 
 cence — the mighty God, by the word of his power, speaking the 
 universe into existence — " He spake and it was done." " He com- 
 manded and it stood fast." But while all other cosmogonies are 
 inferior to this, they attest its truth — the universality of the idea of 
 the proper creation, carried by tradition into every portion of the 
 habitable earth. 
 
 The Chronology of the Bible, although disputed by those who 
 have been guided by erroneous and contradictory eras, periods and 
 divisions of time, and those who mistake the imaginations of science 
 for realities — has been attested by concurrent profane history, by 
 astronomical calculations, and the discoveries of true science; and 
 its historical facts are proved by the histories of other nations — by 
 ruins, by monuments and medals, which, within a few years past, 
 the hand of Heaven itself appears to have exhumed for the purpose 
 of establishing its own eternal truth. 
 
 Compare the commandments given to Moses with the laws of 
 Solon, Minos, Lycurgus, Pythagoras or the ancient statutes of Egypt 
 and of Rome — and while you will find them, at best, imperfectly 
 suited to that particular people for whom they were made, you will 
 find the requirements of the Decalogue of universal application, 
 suited to the condition and character of every kindred and tongue — 
 bearing upon them the broad seal of the sovereign King of Kings, 
 to whom the world and the inhabitants thereof belong. 
 
 And while the systems of pagan theology that were the most ra- 
 tional, proposed a metaphysical worship which was above the com- 
 prehension of the ignorant, it is the beauty of the glorious system of 
 the Bible, that the poor have the gospel preached to them; and 
 that, while it has truths to employ the most lofty intelligence, "a 
 way faring man, though a fool, need not err" in comprehending its 
 precepts. Imbue your hearts with its doctrines — obey its counsels 
 — carry out its principles in thought, word and deed ; and, sustain- 
 ed through the trials of life by its holy influences, you shall lie 
 down in your graves in peace, with better hopes than ancient sages 
 ever knew — secure of joys to which the brightest dreams of their 
 Elysium are dim and fading. 
 
25 
 
 You will be told by some that the Greek of the Old and New 
 Testament is barbarous — believe it not! — that it abounds in imper- 
 fections and errors of style. It is not the fact. Its peculiarities, 
 even those that are condemned by the captious, its transitions, chan- 
 ges and irregularities, will be found, by the true scholar, to be par- 
 allel with those of the most refined Grecian authors. You who 
 have drunk of the waters of Helicon, will not find those of" Siloa's 
 brook, that flows fast by the Oracle of God," less invigorating, nor 
 the dews of Hermon less sweet than those of the Aonian Aganippe. 
 You who have listened to the ravings of the Sybil, and the wild 
 frenzy of the Pythoness will rejoice to hear the seers of old, as 
 they wildly sweep the harp to the oracles of God. 
 
 " Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the 
 inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at 
 hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, 
 as the morning spread upon the mountains : a great people and a strong ; there hath 
 not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many 
 generations. A fire devoureth before them ; and behind them a flame burneth : the 
 land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness ; 
 yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance 
 of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops 
 of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stub- 
 ble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face, the people shall be much 
 pained : all faces shall gather blackness. The earth shall quake before them ; the 
 heavens shall tremble ; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall with- 
 draw their shining. And tho Lord shall utter his voice before hisarmy : for his camp 
 is very great : for he is strong that executeth his word : for the day of the Lord is 
 orreat and very terrible; and who can abide it?" 
 
 If you have admired in the Chorus of Antigone, the attributes of 
 the Deity, 
 
 " AyepZs XpovZ Suvx.<7tcl; 
 
 KctTS^e.'f OAU/U7T0U 
 McLp{LA2.poiTt7a.V MyActV ," 
 
 you will be more highly gratified with the same in the language of 
 the Apostle : 
 
 " O /uxx.x.pt<s; km /uovo; J[/va3-<r»?, o Rcurixivc toiv fixrixzuovrZv, *xt 
 Kuptos rZv xupiwovrZv; o fxovog s^v ctd-avcartx-v; $a>; oinZv ctTrpmrirov." 
 
 If yon have risen, with the sublimity of the Grecian bard, to Jove 
 amid the clouds of Olympus, in reading the admired lines, 
 
26 
 
 " H, you Kvzvvttriv en? otyvn uwt Kpwta>* 
 Kpu.ro; sw' xSmatqio fxiyay <f' tWiKi^iy Om/^ki;" 
 
 you will ri^e, with the inspiration of the psalmist, to the Omnipo- 
 tent who maketh the heaven of heavens his ahode. 
 
 " Then the earth shook and trembled ; the foundations also of the hills moved and 
 were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and 
 fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens 
 also and came down, and darkness was under his feet. He rode upon a cherub and 
 did fly ; yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secrot 
 place ; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 
 At the brightness that was before him, his thick clouds passed — hailstones and coals 
 of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice." 
 
 If commiseration of the unhappy exile has been awakened in 
 your breast by the plaint of Meliboeus, 
 
 " Nos patriae fines, et dulcia linquimus arva 
 Nos patriam fugimus," 
 
 your feelings will be more excited at the lament of the daughters of 
 Zion, as they sit in sorrow by the waters of Babylon ; or at the 
 captivity of the young king of Israel — " Weep not for the dead, but 
 for him that goeth away from his country, for he shall return no 
 more." 
 
 If you have been pleased with the Doric reed of Theocritus and 
 the mellow flute of Virgil, you cannot fail to enjoy the fervent, yet 
 delicate passion of the pastoral of Solomon. If you have admired 
 the Epigrams of Martial, the Golden Sentences of Pythagoras, you 
 will relish still more the precepts of Ecclesiastes and the Proverbs. 
 If the elegiac strains of Tibullus and Ovid have excited tender sen. 
 timents of sorrow, your heart will be melted at the sorrows of the 
 Saviour over Salem, the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the threnetic 
 plaint of Hosea. 
 
 " Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are 
 sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her 
 brood under her wings, and they would not? Oh that thou hadst known in this the 
 day of thy visitation, the things that belonged to thy peace, but now they are hid from 
 thine eyes." 
 
 " Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
 weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people." 
 
27 
 
 " How shall I give thee up Oh Ephiaim ! how shall I deliver thee up Oh Israel ! — 
 How shall I resign thee as Admah ! How shall I make thee as Zeboim !" 
 
 If you have admired the social feelings of Scipio andLaelius, you 
 will find a parallel in the fraternal affection of David and Jonathan ; 
 and will see friendship and grief sanctified by the Saviour, as he 
 weeps at the grave of Lazarus. If you have been moved by the 
 lament of Agamemnon over his wounded brother, the sympathies of 
 the inmost soul will be stirred at the passionate grief of David, for 
 the slain upon the mountains of Gilboa. Acquainted with the beau- 
 ties of the wanderings of the king of Ithica, you will relish, the 
 more, the sublimities of the wanderings of the Israelites. Moved at 
 the manner of the discovery of Ulysses, the waters of the soul will 
 be stirred, when Joseph makes himself known to his brethren. — 
 Struck with pathetic interest at the sacrifice of Iphigenia, your 
 emotions will be stronger as you stand with Abraham and Isaac, 
 upon the mount of Moriah. Familiar with the histories of Clelia 
 and Penthesilea, you will appreciate the daring of Jael, and the 
 valor of Judith, as she unsheathes the sword of slaughter in the tent 
 of Holofernes. Beholding the grandeur of the eagle as he bears 
 the bolt of destruction to the throne of Jove, you will contemplate 
 the purity of the dove, carrying to the ark the bough of mercy ; or 
 on the shores of Jordan, bringing down the spirit of the Deity to 
 sustain the soul of man amid the sorrows of a ruined world. Pleas- 
 ed with the maternal solicitude of Cornelia, in rearing the Gracchi 
 to be "jewels" of pride, you will applaud the nobler ambition of 
 the mother of Samuel, in seeking to make him a jewel worthy of 
 the signet of the Lord. Impressed with sentiments of moral eleva- 
 tion at the devotion of Codrus and Marcus Curtius, for the good of 
 their country, you will be filled with wonder and love at the con- 
 descension of the incarnate God, as he gives himself up a sacrifice 
 for sin, upon the summit of Calvary, amid the tremblings of the 
 earth and the astonishment of heaven; and, touched with the seren- 
 ity and meekness of the dying Socrates, as he cheers his sorrowing 
 friends, you will be dissolved in grief and love and admiration, as 
 the expiring Saviour consoles the weeping daughters of Jerusalem 
 and prays for his enemies. 
 
 Admirers of the beautiful allegories of the Greeks, you will have 
 a double relish for those of Ecclesiastes, and other Hebrew writers. 
 
28 
 
 What can surpass the delicacy and beauty of the following one 
 from the sacred volume ? 
 
 "Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come 
 not nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them : while 
 the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds re- 
 turn after the rain. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the 
 strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and 
 those that look out of the windows be darkened. And the doors shall be shut in the 
 streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the 
 bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low. Also, when they shall be 
 afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall 
 flourish, and the grass-hopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail : because man 
 goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. Or ever the silver 
 chord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the foun- 
 tain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to earth, as it 
 was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." 
 
 Impressed with the beauty of the hymns of Callimachus, Orpheus 
 and Cleanthes, your heart will go out to God in devotional fervor, in 
 reading the song of Moses and Miriam, and the psalms of the Shep- 
 herd King. Versant with the Natural History of Pliny and Aristo- 
 tle, and appreciating their beauties of language, you will admire the 
 striking descriptions to be met with in the book of Job. 
 
 " Behold, now, behemoth, which I made with thee : he eateth grass as an ox. — 
 Lo, now, his strength is in his loins ; he moveth his tail like a cedar. His bones are 
 as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron." 
 
 " Hast thou given the horse strength ; hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? — 
 Canst thou make him afraid as a grass-hopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. 
 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength — he goeth on to meet the arm- 
 ed men. He rnocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither turneth he back from 
 the sword. The quiver rattleth against him ; the glittering spear and the shield. He 
 swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the 
 sound of the trumpet. Hesaith among the trumpets, Ha! ha! and he smelleth the 
 battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting." 
 
 " Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook, or his tongue with a chord which 
 thou lettest down. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish 
 spears. Who can open the doors of his face? — his teeth are terrible round about. 
 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. By his neesings a light 
 doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning." 
 
 Familiar with the sublime beauties of the tragic muse in iEschy- 
 lus, Sophocles and Euripides, you will find in the book of Job, a 
 drama, the oldest in the world, and although irregular, equal in ele- 
 
29 
 
 vation to any that has ever been produced ; and, fired with enthusi- 
 asm by the compositions of Pindar and Horace, you will be able to 
 give its proper estimation to the ode of Deborah, and that grand 
 lyric of Isaiah, relative the king of Babylon, from which Lord Byron 
 drew the sublime image of his ode to Napoleon. 
 
 " How hath the oppressor ceased ; the golden city ceased ! The Lord hath broken 
 the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in 
 wrath with a continual stroke ; he that rnleth the nations in anger, is persecuted and 
 none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet: they break forth into sink- 
 ing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee and the cedars of Lebanon, saying — Since thou 
 art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved for thee, 
 to meet thee at thy coming : it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of 
 the earth : it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they 
 shall speak and say unto thee — Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become 
 like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of thy viols : 
 the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. 
 
 " How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou 
 cut down to the ground which didst weaken nations. For thou hast said in thy heart 
 I will ascend into heaven ; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God : I will sit 
 also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend 
 above the heights of the clouds : I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be 
 brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look 
 upon thee, and consider thee, saying : Is this the man that made the earth to tremble- 
 that did shake kingdoms : that made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities 
 thereof: that opened not the house of his prisoners. All the kings of the nations 
 even all of them, lie in glory, everyone in his own house. But thou art cast out of 
 thy grave like an abominable branch, and, as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust 
 through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under 
 foot. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy 
 land, and slain thy people : the seed of evil doers shall never be renowned. Prepare 
 slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor 
 possess the land, nor fill the fafe of the world with cities. For I will raise up against 
 them, saith the Lord of Hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and 
 son and nephew. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water, 
 and I will sweep it with it the besom of destruction, saith the Lord." 
 
 Such are a few of the beauties of the Bible ; and, if its grand 
 truths be found to rob poetry and mythology of some of their ethe- 
 rial fancies, it substitutes nobler truths, and sentiments equally chaste. 
 If it has displaced cloud-compelling Jove from Olympus, it has 
 placed the heavens under the care of him who "weigheth them in 
 his balance," and " directeth his thunder under the whole heavens, 
 and his lightning to the ends of the earth." If Aurora no longer 
 opens the doors of the east, her oliice is performed by him " who 
 
so 
 
 causeth the day-spring to know his place." If the chariot of the 
 sun be no longer under the care of Apollo, it is guided by him 
 " who hath set a tabernacle for the sun." If Diana has forgotten to 
 lead her circlet in the heavens, it revolves at the bidding of him 
 " who hath appointed the moon her seasons." If the sceptre of 
 iEolus is broken, the winds are under the direction of him " who 
 guides the whirlwind, and propels the storm" — " who maketh the 
 clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind." If 
 the trident of Neptune no longer sways the sea, its billows heave 
 beneath the eye of him who hath said to the deep, " thus far shalt 
 thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be staid." 
 If Ceres has deserted the fields, they are u'.iderthe care of him who 
 has promised that " seed time and harvest shall succeed each other" 
 to the end of time. If the vintage has ceased to ripen for Bacchus, 
 it abounds for him, who "causeth wine, to make glad the heart of 
 man." If Nemesis no longer bears the balances of the earth, they 
 are transferred to him, " the habitation of whose throne is justice 
 and judgment." If the Dryads have forsaken the groves, and the 
 Naiads the streams, the voice of Deity is speaking to the heart in 
 the whisper of every tree, and the murmur of every fountain. If 
 the Muses that presided over the spheres, have abandoned the ob- 
 jects of their tutelar regard, they are still impelled by the hand that 
 rounded them, and peal out the hymn in which they united, when 
 " the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted 
 for joy." If Iris has ceased to be the messenger of the wrath of 
 Juno, it has become the covenant of the mercy of Jehovah. If Pluto 
 has resigned tne guardianship of Hades, it is to him who " holds the 
 keys of hell and death; and if the Lares and Penates have aban- 
 doned the threshold and hearthstone, their place is supplied by him 
 who hath promised to make the habitation of the righteous his abode 
 and to dwell in the heart of the humble. If all the deities have 
 vanished, before the light of truth and revelation, The Lord God 
 Omnipotent reigneth. 
 
HEConxBEEN'DA&xoprs. 
 
 From the Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, D. £>., Bishop of Rhode-Island. 
 
 The increased attention paid to the study of Classical Literature in our country, and 
 the rising standard in this department of education adopted in our Academies and Col- 
 leges, render it highly important that we have accurate and improved editions of those 
 Greek and Latin Classic works for which no substitute can be found in a liberal course of 
 education. I am glad to hear that Sorin & Ball, of Philadelphia, propose to issue a series 
 of these works under the able editorial direction of Professor N. C. Brooks. 
 
 While the latest and most aecuratc European editions will furnish the text of the pro- 
 posed series, the well known literary taste and skill of the Editor will ensure all such illus- 
 trations and explanations as may be needed to aid the researches of the pupil without 
 relieving him from the necessity and labor of careful study. The original notes, intended 
 to increase the acquaintance of the student with modern as well as ancient Literature, and 
 to guard the minds of the American youth from any impressions unfavorable to republican 
 institutions, and the truths of our holy religion, which might be apprehended from the 
 study of heathen authors, will add much to the value of the proposed series. The under- 
 signed recommends the enterprize as deserving patronage from the friends of education. 
 
 Providence, Jan. 19th, 1846. J. P. K. HENSHAW. 
 
 From Rev. TV. R. Whitlingham, D. D., Bishop of Maryland. 
 
 My Dear Sir, — The subject of our last conversation has been often in my thoughts, 
 and the result is a confirmation of the opinion then expressed, that a Series of Classical 
 school books prepared on the plan that you propose is highly desirable, and if competent- 
 ly executed, must be of great advantage to the schools and colleges of our country. I 
 know that you will bring to the work many of the most important qualifications, and con- 
 fidently trust the result of your undertaking will be a lasting benefit to the youth of our 
 country, and a proportionate increase of the high reputation you already enjoy. 
 N. C. Brooks, Esq. Very faithfully, your friend and servant, 
 
 Baltimore Jan. 6th, 1346. W. R. WHITTINGHAM. 
 
 From Rev. B. Waugh, Bishop of the Methodist E. Church. 
 
 " From the acquaintance I have formed with N. C. Brooks, he stands high in my es- 
 teem, both as a gentleman and a scholar. He is a man of great moral worth. His char- 
 acter and abilities have been long enough before the public to secure to him a reputation 
 which seldom falls to the lot of one not older than he." 
 
 " The foregoing plan, in my opinion, is admirably adapted to facilitate the study of the 
 Latin and Greek Classics, and promises great advantage to Academical and Collegiate 
 Students. B. WAUGH. 
 
 Baltimore Jan. 6th, 1846. To Messrs. Sorin & Ball. 
 
 From Rev. C. P. Krauth, D. D., President of Pennsylvania College. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Your edition of Ross' Grammar appears to me to contain everything that 
 could be desired. Its great copiousness, in view of the small bulk of the volume, must 
 bring it into extensive use. The Prosody is commended by very competent judges as far 
 more satisfactory than what has heretofore appeared in the books used in our schools. 
 Your Latin Lessons are admirable, and just the book needed by beginners, and it must 
 
XI. RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 command more extensive patronage than the Grammar, because it has not, so far as I know, 
 any reputable competitor in use in our country. You know, I presume, that both works 
 have been reviewed with unequivocal approbation by Professor Reynolds, a gentleman 
 well qualified to form a correct opinion of their value. Professor Stoever, who has taught 
 the Classics for some years in our College, authorises me to endorse both the Grammar 
 and the Latin Lessons as deserving of high praise. He is very much pleased especially 
 with the latter. I hope your useful labors will be rewarded. 
 
 Yours with respect, C. P. KRAUTH. 
 
 From Rev. W. M. Reynolds, A. M., President of IVitlenberg College. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I am very much pleased with the " Latin Lessons." It is just such a book 
 at I have long felt anxious to place in the hands of those commencing the study of Latin. 
 In a late conversation wilh Professor Eggers, a graduaie of the University of Gottingen, 
 he informed that such a Latin Grammar as your First Lessons, was the book there first 
 put into the hands of beginners. I had some idea of sending to Germany for the Gram- 
 mar which he mentioned, as the basis of a similar work for our American youth ; but as 
 your book is just such a one as I wanted, I shall most cordially recommend it to all teach- 
 ers of the Latin Language. 
 
 Many things in your First Lessons have struck me very favorably. Its brevity and 
 plainness, its freshness and its American tone all combine to make it the very book which 
 our tyros need to initiate them into this science. I venture to prophesy your full success 
 ia this enterprise, and herewith offer you my congratulations upon it. 
 
 Yours respectfully, W. M. REYNOLDS. 
 
 From Edw. Sparks, A. M., M. D-, Professor of Ancient Languages, St. Joints College, 
 
 Annapolis, Md. 
 
 St. John's College, January 24lh, 1846. 
 Dear Sir, — With your revised edition of Ross' Latin Grammar, I am much pleased. 
 Aa a practical proof of my favorable opinion of its merits, I have directed a class, re- 
 cently transferred from the Grammar school to the Collegiate department of St. 
 John's, to furnish themselves with copies to be used as ''text books" on their revi- 
 sion of Grammar. 
 
 I am also much gratified with your " First Latin Lessons." This, I perceive by the 
 card of Sorin &. Ball, the publishers, is the first of a full series to be edited by you. 
 I wisli you all the success which has attended the productions of your pen in another 
 department, and which is confidently anticipated by your friends and those acquainted 
 wilh your general knowledge, superadded to a long expeiience as a practical teacher. 
 Very respectfully yours, EDWARD SPARKS, M. D. 
 
 JFVom Rev. B. J. Wallace, A. M., Professor of Languages Delaicare College. 
 
 Delaware College, Newark, \~rth January, 1846. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Ross' Latin Grammar has long appeared to me a valuable work. 
 With your improvements in clearness and arrangement it will be still more accept- 
 able. The additions you have made have greatly increased the value of the book. 
 
 The Latin Lessons supply a want which teachers must have felt particularly in re- 
 gard to those who commence Latin when quite young. Your plan leads the scholar 
 gradually along, furnishing him with employment, and at the same time exercising 
 his powers of analysis. 
 
 Wishing you all success in your efforts to elevate the standard of classical learn- 
 ing, I remain, yours truly, B. J. WALLACE. 
 
 N. C Brooks, Esq. 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS. m. 
 
 From A. Freitag, LL. D., of the University of Gottingen, now Professor of Languages, 
 
 Baltimore. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Having carefully examined Ross' Latin Grammar, as revised and 
 amended by you, I find it every way equal, if not superior, to any used in our schools. 
 After a thorough perusal of your Latin Lessons, 1 take pleasiT-v in acknowledging 
 that never, even in my " father-land," have I seen a book better calculated to facili- 
 tate the study of the Latin language. It should be in the hands of every beginner. 
 Moreover, the many sentences it contains, embracing facts in the history of my adopt- 
 ed country, must make it interesting, not only to the student, but dear to every pat- 
 riotic heart. Yours, respectfully, A. FREITAG. 
 
 From that able and stern critic E. Ji. Foe, Esq., Editor of Broadway Journal. 
 
 N. C. Brooks, A. M., of Baltimore, well known as a terse and vigorous writer, 
 as well as a poet of much absolute power and refined taste, has lately been rendering 
 substantial service to education, by preparing a series of works for the use of schools 
 and colleges. Encouraged by the popularity of those already prepared, his publish- 
 ers have issued a prospectus, for a series of Greek and Latin classics. From our 
 knowledge of Mr. Brooks 1 thorough classical acquirements and nicely correct judg- 
 ment, we have full confidence in the success of the undertaking, and its consequent 
 popularity. — Broadway (JV. Y.) Journal. 
 
 Brooks' first Lessons iv Latin. — Prof. Brooks, of Baltimore, has lately brought 
 out a little work under the above title, which we most cordially commend to the no- 
 tice of all our classical teachers. It is, we think, just such a work as they have long 
 wanted. The prominent advantages which we believe this work to possess are the 
 following: 
 
 It contains all, and only those parts of the grammar which the student ought to 
 commit thoroughly to memory, in the first instance. 
 
 It is a practical and not merely a theoretical grammar as most of such works now 
 in use, are.~ The learner at once applies what he has learned, and thus impresses it 
 more deeply upon his memory and becomes more interested in it. 
 
 It compresses a great deal of matter into a very small space. 
 
 It is a Christian and an American book. In the examples and exercises a large 
 amount of the matter is drawn from the Bible and from American themes, and is 
 deeply imbued with the spirit of our institutions and of Christianity. — Literary Record, 
 
 Firsi Lessons in Latin, by N. C. Brooks, A. M. — We have been much gratified 
 in looking through this publication, and are persuaded that in preparing it Professor 
 Brooks has done much to simplify and facilitate to beginners the study of the Latin 
 language. The principle introduced of requiring the pupil to apply the rules of 
 grammar, or to reduce them to actual practice as he commits them to memory, is 
 undoubtedly a good one. In inculcating principles of virtue, patriotism, and other 
 sound truth by means of the exercises of analysis and construction, Prof. B. has acted 
 wisely and deserves great praise for it. Upon the whole, we are highly pleased with 
 this publication, and tender to our Latin teachers generally as well as to Prof. B., our 
 congratulations on being furnished witli so valuable a help in prosecuting the labors 
 of their arduous and important, but useful and honorable vocation. — Lutheran Observer. 
 
 " Brooks' Latin Lessons. — The amiable and able author of the above-mentioned 
 work, is an accomplished scholar. But lately, he supplied the schools with an edi- 
 tion of Ross' celebrated grammar, so improved by his skilful emendations, that it is 
 decidedly one of the best, if not the very best, Latin grammar extant. And here, in 
 
IV. RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 his First Lessons in Latin, wo have a very valuable auxiliary to the intelligent and 
 earnest teacher, who feels a proper solk ,; tude for the advancement of his pupils in 
 this fundamental and immortal languag< We most cordially recommend the work 
 to all academies; and especially to those worthy young persons, who, unable to avail 
 themselves of academical aid, are endeavoring to improve their minds, in the few 
 moments of leisure which they rescue from engrossing business engagements." 
 
 Methodist Protestant. 
 " Brooks' Latin Lessons. — This neat little volume contains the essential parts of 
 the Latin Grammar, with Reading Lessons and a Dictionary, and will enable a youth 
 of moderate abilities to obtain a knowledge of the principles of the Latin tongue, with- 
 out the aid of an instructor, or the expense of other books. First Lessons in Greek, 
 by the same author, on the same plan, are in a state of forwardness. 1 ' 
 
 Wiley and Putnam^s News-letter. 
 
 Union Hall Jlcademy, Baltimore, Jlugust 22d, 1845. 
 
 Prof. N. C. Brooks: — Immediately after the publication of your "Latin Les- 
 sons," I placed the work in the hands of a class just commencing the study of the 
 language, and am highly gratified with their progress. 
 
 Having examined the work carefully and critically, I take sincere pleasure in re- 
 commending it as being decidedly superior to any thing of the kind extant. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c. THOS. HENDERSON, A. M. 
 
 "Brooks' Latin Lessons. — There are many things in this compilation of Prof. 
 Brooks, which will commend it to the attention of teachers. It is eminently practi- 
 cal. The scholar is furnished with the means of forming simple sentences, and of 
 turning his knowledge to account as soon as he has learned the first declension. He 
 begins, in fact, to make Latin the very day he begins to study it. This is as it should 
 be. It relieves the study of much of its irksomeness, it insures a thorough under- 
 standing of the rules ; and besides, it tends to foster a practical turn of mind, which 
 is useful in every department of study and life." — Philadelphia Pennsylvanian. 
 pt « Brooks' Latin Lessons. — The book under notice affords evidence that it is the 
 work of a well-trained mind, fully imbued with the knowledge it would communi- 
 cate ; and it is, without doubt, the result of laborious practice in the art of teaching. 
 Based upon the inductive system, it begins with the simplest forms of the language, 
 in their connection with the Grammar, and leads the learner on through such easy 
 gradations, that what he studies becomes a part of his whole mind rather than the 
 especial property of his memory. So striking is this peculiarity, that a lad of ordi- 
 nary abilities might become proficient almost, without the aid of a master." 
 
 Baltimore Patriot. 
 
 " The work is valuable to beginners, and no one who desires to become acquainted 
 with the majestic, rich, and copious language of a Tully, a Tacitus, or a Virgil, 
 should be without it." — The Ray, devoted to Education. 
 
 " Brooks' Latin Lessons. — The work evinces great care in its preparation on the 
 part of its distinguished author, its arrangement being perspicuous, and its details 
 ample, and critically accurate. But its leading peculiarity, and that which should 
 render it an especial favorite in our schools, is its purely American character. It is 
 altogether unequalled by anything of the kind extant in our country." 
 
 Baltimore Clipper. 
 
PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, with notices of other parts of 
 
 America. By S. G. Goodrich, author of Peter Parley's Tales. In one vol. !2mo. 
 
 I have read about two thirds of "A Pictorial History of the United States, with 
 notices of other poitions of America, by S. G Goodrich, author of Peter Parley's 
 Tales." 
 
 I commenced reading the book for the puipose of examining the manner of the 
 execution : 1 have proceeded because of the interest I have felt in the history. It is 
 not a dry compend, as I expected ; but it is history instructive though condensed, 
 communicating in small, but well filled space, all the important events in their 
 proper connexion, requisite to coirecl, hisloiical knowledge. It can be recommend- 
 ed to any citizen of our nation, as a bonk well worthy of his perusal. 
 
 As a school book, its proper plice is among the first. The language is remarka- 
 ble for simplicity, perspicuity and neatness. We could not wish you.h trained to a 
 belter taste for language, than this is adapted to impart. The history is so written 
 as to lead to geographical examination, and impress by practice, the lesson, to read 
 history with maps. 
 
 As a reading book, apart from its use for studying history, it is one of the best that 
 can be used. The reading lessons in common use, make very little impression on the 
 mind. A child learning to read by this book, would acquire a treasure of historical 
 knowledge, of which no citizen should be destitute, and would have desire awakened 
 and taste formed to learn more fully men and events with their characters, causes and 
 consequences, while no better lessons could be selected to teach the art of reading. 
 Indeed it is important to teach reading, that the lessons should be interesting: hence 
 too much resort has been had to fiction, greatly injuring the mind. 
 
 I should be glad to see this book introduced as a reading book into every district 
 School in this Slate. WILLAHD MALL, 
 
 Judge if the United States Court, District of Delaware. 
 
 PICTORIAL HISTORY OF EN3LMMJ. by the same author. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FR\NCE. by the same author. 1 vol. 12rno. 
 
 PICTORIAL HISTORY OF GREECE. \ Tn nres8 
 
 PICTORIAL HISTOTY OF ROME, J p 
 
 Tin? above works are highly recommended by the following gentlemen, Willard 
 Hall, Judge of the United States Court, District of Delaware; Ovid F. Johnson, 
 Attorney General of Pennsylvania ; Hon. Charles Minor, author of the History of 
 Wyoming; Col. H. B. Wright, late Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Repre- 
 sentatives; Rev. Stephen Olin, D. D., President of the Weslevan University, Conn.; 
 Rev. J. P. Durbin, D. D , late President of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.; Rev. 
 H. B. Bascom, D. D., President Transylvania University, Ky.j Prof. E. C. Wines, 
 Philadelphia ; Prof. A. D. Bache, Phila. 
 
 A PICTORIAL MANUAL r .F ELOCUTION, embracing Voice and Gesture, designed 
 for Schools, Academies arid Colleges, as well as for private learners. By Merntt 
 Caldwell, A. M., Professor of Metaphysics, and Political Economy, and teacher of 
 Elocution in Dickenson College. Third edition, enlarged. In 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 Extract of a letter from Rev. J. P. Durbin, D D., President of Dickinson College: 
 
 "The Manual of Elocution, by Professor Caldwell, of Dickinson College, has just 
 been published by Sorin & Ball, of Philadelphia. 1 have been intimately acquainted 
 with the principles laid down and illustrated by Professor Caldwell, and am satisfied 
 
that they are the true principles of Elocution. I have seen them appli.-d and illus- 
 trated in practical instruction in this college during the last len veins; and the suc- 
 cess attending their application has fully established their value. I am persuaded 
 that you wil! find the hook exceedingly well adapted to instruction in ci lieges and 
 academies, and of great service to private learners. The pages on pupil elocution are 
 Valuable indeed, and would he of service to all our preachers." 
 
 AN IMPROVED GRAMVAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUACE. on the Inductive sys- 
 tem; with which Flementaiy and Progressive Lessons in Composition are continued. 
 For the use of schools and academies, and private learners. By Rev. Bradford Fra- 
 zee, lale Principal of Elizabeth Female Academy, Washington, Miss. 
 
 Mr. F razee's Grammar has already heen adopted in many parts of the United States. 
 The following resolution will show that it is in uce in the Pub.ic Schools in Phila. 
 First School District <f Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, April 26, 18-15. 
 
 At a meeting of the Controllers of Public Schools, held at their Chamber, on Fri- 
 day. April "26th. the following resolution was adopted : 
 
 Revived, That " Frazee's Grammar" be introduced into the Public. Schools for 
 general use. From the Minutes. THOMAS IS. FLORENCE, Sec*y. 
 
 In P-ess CHMV13ER'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE, edited by D. M. Rki.sk, M. D., 
 Superintendent of Common Schools lor the City and Count v of New York. 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCES, presenting a connected and syste- 
 matic view of Nature. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 KUDI ENTS OF CHKMISTRY; with Illustiafions of the Phenomena of 
 Daily Life and a series of experiments for scholais. By D. B. Reid, M. D , F. R. 
 S. E. I vol. 12mo. 
 
 THE LAWS OF MATTER AND MOTION, comprehending weight, heat and 
 the movement of bodies. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 MECHANICS, including the Elements of Machinery and moving forces. 1 vol. 
 12.no. 
 
 HYDROSTATICS, HYDRAULICS, AND PNEUMATICS, or the laws of 
 fluids both liquid and aeriform 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 BUDIMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE. 1 vol. 12mo 
 
 RUDIMENTS OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY; explaining in familiar language 
 the structure of the various Organs cf the Living Animal w ith their respective func- 
 tions. I vol 12mo. 
 
 THE bUDlMENTS OF ZOOLOGY; being a comprehensive survey of the 
 whole Animal Kingdom, adapted for the use of schools. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 THE RUD1MKNTS OF VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY; conveying a general 
 idea of the Structure and Organs of Plants with their junctions, adopted for the use 
 of schools. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 RUDIMENTS OF GEOLOGY; in which the leading facts of the Science are 
 Btated in the simplest manner consistent with accuiacy. By David Page. 1 vol 12rno. 
 
 DRAWING. 
 
 FIRST BOOK OF DRAWING, with exercises for practice on the slate and 
 blackboard By John Clark. 1 vol. lirao. 
 
 SECOND BOOK OF DP. AWING; including perspective, and light and shade. 
 By John Clark. 1 vol. \-2mo. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c.