But during the course of these preparatory exercises, as well as after his introduction into society, the energies of his mind must be directed to many subjects of Belles Lettres and scientific research, of the wide-extended range of which he must have a general, and of many of them an intimate acquaintance, before he can be entitled to the truly honourable appellation of an accomplished scholar. The most prominent and necessary of these, I shall now, therefore, as briefly as possible, point out to you. The first subject then which should engage your attention as a relaxation from the severer pursuits of professional studies, is History, both ancient and modern, in its several departments of Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Natural, together with Voyages, Biography, and Travels. Here the acquisition of knowledge will be rendered easy and delightful, by the high degree of entertainment which such interesting and authentic narratives must afford, while a delineation of the various vicissitudes of human affairs, and the various operations of passion and intellect in the mind of man by recording the errors of Ignorance, the miseries of Vice, and the Follies of Indiscretion, must serve as beacons to caution you against danger, at the same time that they operate as incentives to virtuous industry, by animating examples of the benefits resulting from the exercise of fortitude, perseverance, and piety. Let the versatile powers of the human imagination occasionally range at large in the diversified and magic fields of Fancy, and evoke the enthusiasm of Genius, and the animating glow of Sensibility throug the fascinating and flowery paths of Poetry, at the same time cultivate an acquaintance with the other liberal arts of Music, Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, a sufficient knowledge of the principles of which may easily be obtained, to enable you to judge of the real merit of productions in each, without entering upon those minute criticisms which could only be expected from a profest artist. Nor let the important sciences of Botany and Chymistry be neglected, for by the former you will be enabled to distinguish between the various plants and flowers which the benevolent Author of nature has designed either for medicinal, culinary, or ornamental purposesfrom the invigorating or poisonous vegetable which flourishes unnoticed and unknown in the bosom of the forest, to the fragrant woodbine which blooms in the garden's alcove, or the variegated and gaudy tulip, which decorates its gay parterre. By the latter, viz. Chymistry, the instructive volume of nature is elucidated and enlarged, by analyzing compound substances, ascertaining their various properties, and by the operation of heat and combination producing many wonderful and useful results. The structure of the human body, its wonderful organization, the arrangement and harmony of its various parts, together with some of the general principles of Anatomy, demand an early and serious attention. What subject of art or science can be more interesting than the nature and mechanism of our own bodies? by even a partial acquaintance with which, we may be taught to avoid much pain, and guard against and alleviate many diseases. In addition to these subjects of scientific research the general scholar will obtain some information with respect to the principles of Com-' merce, and the relative connexion of one country with another, as it regards an interchange of productions and commodities. As Geography will inform him of their topographical situation, History will acquaint him with their customs, manners, government, and laws; and the principles of Commerce with the nature of their exports and manufactures. And to obtain this kind of knowledge in an ample and satisfactory degree, he will find it necessary to make himself acquainted with some of those living languages which the commercial intercourse of his country may call into action, particularly those generally used in the commercial world, the French, Italian, Spanish, and German. And to the scholar who hath been well instructed in the grammatical institutes of his native tongue, those of other languages will be easily acquired, the radical principles of all languages supporting a close analogy with each other, notwithstanding some idiomatic peculiarities which may distinguish them. You, therefore, gentlemen, who have so long, and so successfully studied the best and most copious grammar of your own language, will find no difficulty in obtaining the instruction which is to be conveyed by those of others. Language is the expression of thought, and Style the peculiar manner in which thought is communicated. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that you should endeavour to convey your ideas in the most polished and expressive form. This the scholar will always studiously observe when subjected to the formality of written language, though frequently regardless of both in common conversation;-a degree of negligence highly censurable; nothing having a more powerful tendency to engage attention and conciliate respect, than a well selected choice of words in the familiar communication of sentiment. Be, then, particularly assiduous to cultivate the colloquial powers, or the Art of Social Converse, by which correct and vigorous thoughts are adorned with the captivating charms of nervous and splendid diction. To recommend the acquisition of this important accomplishment, it will surely be sufficient to observe that the refined imagination of a Chesterfield, and the profound erudition of a Johnson were habitually tasked to convey their thoughts in the most polished and expressive terms: hence the one fascinated and enchained, and the other arrested and compelled the attention of every hearer. I trust, therefore, that you will, on all occasions, so carefully select and arrange your expressions that it may be said of each of you, he communicates his sentiments -" in such apt and gracious words, "That aged ears play truant at his tales "And younger hearings are quite ravish'd, The same ease, gracefulness, and energy, should be supported in your Epistolary intercourse; that being conversation reduced to writing. The science of Legislation is a subject which merits and demands your most attentive investigation. Those principles of government which, according to the situation and local circumstances of a country, are essentially necessary to preserve the association and promote the happiness of its inhabitants should certainly be well understood by all who think or converse about the interests of civil polity. Though there are certain abstract principles, the operation of which, under any state of society, are indispensable to its welfare, yet there are others, the propriety of whose application depends upon the national character, the designation of ranks, the accumulation of wealth, and the dissemination of knowledge among the people. That form of government which would be sufficiently energetic for the firm, moderate, and enlightened Englishman or American, or even for the phlegmatic German, would certainly not possess sufficient activity for the turbulent Turk, the suspicious Spaniard, the licentious Italian, or the gay and volatile native of France. And as the experience of ages has incontestibly proved that no one of the simple forms of government can afford all those privileges and benefits, which would result from a well organized combination of the advantages, and a rejection of the imperfections, peculiar to each, the great point of political wisdom lies in properly arranging those restraints, and in enacting laws accommodated to the character and condition of the people governed. Another and very interesting subject of attention for him who would be an accomplished scholar, is, the cultivation of a correct and graceful Elocution in public addresses. The elementary principles of this branch you have carefully studied in this seminary, with what success, the exemplifications you have just exhibited will most effectually testify. You have only, therefore, to apply those principles, and to expand their influence by the frequent exercise of reading aloud, and of recitation either in private or before others, to make yourselves masters of an accomplishment which must always render you agreeable compa nions in private life, and may enable you to be highly useful and influential in public; the peculiar nature both of our general and state governments rendering every man, who possesses in any degree the confidence of the people, either on account of his integrity or abilities, eligible to a seat in the legislative assembly, where the fascinating, the irresistible influence of chaste and animated oratory is most conspicuously displayed. The pen of the historian has recorded its efficacy in every age of the world, and in every state of society. Among various other instances, I will, for a moment, direct your attention to that of the incomparable Demosthenes, who was not more remarkable for the power of his elocution than for the difficulties he encountered and overcame, before he attained that celebrity which immortalized him in the annals of oratory; exhibiting at once the magic influence of rhetorical skill, and the equally wonderful operation of perseverance and exertion. Place now before your imagination, my young friends, the image of the Grecian orator in his earlier years, struggling against apparently insuperable natural defects in his articulation, in consequence of which he was hissed from the rostrum by the delicate and fastidious taste of an Athenian audience-view him, instead of sinking into apathy and despair, wandering along the shore of the boisterous Archipelago, and endeavouring to outbellow the ocean “with all its roaring multitude of waves," in order to give compass and strength to his pronunciation, and familiarize him to the tumult of a popular assembly-see him then buried in a subterranean cell invoking the inspiration of Apollo by the glimmering light of the midnight lamp, and placing pebbles in his mouth to retard the velocity of his elocution-behold him, with a naked sword suspended over his shoulder to correct an ungraceful movement which had become habitual, and retiring from that scene of discipline with a wounded, bleeding body-contemplate him, finally, returning to the very Areopagus, from which he had been indignantly expelled, but, in which he now triumphantly exhibited the most brilliant trophies of his victorious eloquence, rousing his countrymen from their inglorious indolence, and with the vivid lightning of his eye, and commanding energy of his voice, fulminating over all Greece, and causing the throne of Macedon to tremble before him, whether occupied by the victorious Philip, or his no less intrepid successor, Alexander the Great. His was "that pathetic eloquence, that moulds THOMSON. In these memorable incidents, my young friends, you behold the invincible power of Genius, and the sure reward of unwearied industry and assiduous application. Eloquence may be styled the handmaid of Genius-often eliciting that splendor, and awakening that animation which would otherwise have remained dormant and neglected. Even Shakspeare, whose name is now enrolled in the volume of Immortality, though endowed with superhuman power, slept, as it were, in the tomb of the Capulets, till the potent spell of Garrick's elocution burst the marble jaws of his sepulchre, dissolved, as with Promethean torch, his iron trance, and exhibited his matchless genius to the senses of an admiring world, in all its native mightiness and majesty. By the magic powers of Eloquence the most astonishing effects have been constantly produced in the history of mankind. The calm suggestiops of Wisdom, the dictates of Prudence, the machinations of Artifice, and the exertions of open Force, have often failed to accomplish that which has been instantaneously performed by the effusions of a fervid imagination conveyed through the channels of chaste and animated Oratory. Nations have been guided-armies have been inspired with courage-and empires have been subverted, by the all-subduing influence of a bold, energetic Elocution. An ordinary, unimpassioned utterance may be said to resemble water in a quiescent, fluid state; an animated, nervous elocution, the same element volatilized by heat, which, under that modification, is capable of exerting an elastic, all-commanding force, that can bear down every obstacle in its progress; can "rend the knarled oak;" shiver the adamantine rock; and even if pent in the centre of yon burning orb of day, would burst from its glowing prison, and scatter the glittering fragments of that resplendent luminary in wild disorder through the planetary system. The accomplished orator, like the enraptured poet, may be said to possess the keys of the human heart. "This can unlock the gates of Joy, "Of horror that, and thrilling fears, "Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears." GRAY. Lastly-In order to bring into useful action, and give to these accomplishments their proper effect, you must cultivate the principles of genuine Taste and correct Criticism. "Taste is that faculty of the human mind, by which we are enabled to perceive and enjoy whatever is beautiful or sublime in the works of nature and of art." By a |