of supererogation, in giving you advice here, where you possess the far abler counsel of the learned and respected men, your habitual instructors, at whose side I have now the honor of addressing you. This University has been clothed with respectability by the eminence of its teachers, and attentiveness to their precepts is, I take it for granted, an indelible part of your academical character. "But if I should only repeat to you truths which you have already heard from them, what I say cannot efface those truths from your minds, and it may by some possibility, tend to aid your recollection of them, owing to the casual novelty of the circumstances under which you hear them repeated: for an accident of time or place will often influence our associations, in the absence of more solid claims to attention, on the part of a speaker. "Students, I congratulate you on being the denizens of an ancient, an honored, and a useful University-one of those Institutions that have It was mainly through contributed to the moralization of modern man. her Universities that northern Europe, at least, first learnt to distinguish between the blessed light of religion, and the baleful gleams and false fervors of bigotry. No doubt the benighted European ages had views of Heaven and futurity, that strongly rayed on the human imagination, and kindled its zeal. But it was a light unblessed, and portentous of crimes and cruelties, that sullied the face of the earth, and only aggravated the terrors of mental darkness. Non secus ac liquidâ si quando nocte cometa "It is well known that when superstition had walked abroad over Christendom, had forged the seal of religion, had stolen her vestments, and, though a fiend, had counterfeited her sacred resemblance, human learning was commissioned by Providence to unmask the goblin impostor. Wickliff from Oxford gave the signal of detection to Bohemia; and from Germany the spirit of reformation came back to our own shores. Among universities, it is true, our own is far from being one of the most ancient; yet it preceded the Reformation, and whatever might be the fluctuating incidents in the chapter of history, it contributed to the reformation; for wherever learning was there also was a rallying point for the emancipation of human thought. "The advantages of study which you possess in this university I should be sorry to bring into invidious comparison with those of any other places of education, least of all with those of the great universities that have educated the intellectual heroes of England's majestic race of men. Yet without invidiousness, and without indelicacy, I may remark, that the circumstance of all your professors lecturing daily and regularly, is a feature of noble and inspiring usefulness in your tuitionary system, which might be imitated to their advantage, even by those GREAT INSTITUTIONS. Among our teachers, too, we can look back to names in literature and science, that are above the need of praise, as they are above the reach of detraction; and the dynasty of professional talent, I make bold to predict, is not degenerate. It is for you, however, my young friends, to recollect that neither the glory of dead men's names, nor the efforts of the ablest living instructors, can maintain the honor of a university, unless INAUGURATION ADDRESS. 509 the true spirit of scholarship animate the character, and pervade the habits of its students. "The value of time and of youth, and the bitter fruits that result from misspending them, are truths so simple and obvious, that I fear, like the great tree in St. Paul's Churchyard, about the existence of which so many wagers have been lost and won, they are sometimes in danger of being overlooked from their very familiarity. It would be easy, indeed, to invest these topics with a gloomy interest, by proving that the evils resulting from the lost opportunities of youth more or less cling to a man throughout his existence and that they must be, from their nature, greater in reality than they can be to the eye of common observation; for men do their best to disguise the punishment of a neglected education, or, rather, to speak more truly, the punishment disguises them. It hurries them away from your sight, to be immolated in secret by mortification, to die in the shade of neglect, and to be buried in the shroud of oblivion. But it is not by appealing to the ignoble principle of fear that we should teach the youthful bosom the value of its golden opportunities. A feeling still more honorable than even anxiety for reputation-namely, the desire of knowledge for its own sake, must enter into the motives of every man who successfully devotes himself to mental improvement; for learning is a proud mistress, that will not be courted for your hopes of wordly profit by her dowry, nor for your ambition to be allied to her family, nor for the pride of showing her in public, without the passion and devotion which you must bear to her sacred self. "And the love of learning is natural to man. It springs from our interest in this magnificent and mysterious creation, from our curiosity with regard to truth, and even from our fondness for the airy colorings of fiction. Still, however natural the desire of instruction may be, it cannot be expected to attain all the strength and maturity of a passion, whilst our intellectual natures are yet themselves immature; and in the most ingenuous young minds the volition for study may fall far short of their abstract conviction as to the value of knowledge. Voltaire has somewhere spoken of an astonishingly wise young hero, who seemed, he says, to have been born with experience, but, alas! how very few of our heads come into the world furnished with that valuable material. And precocious indeed, and born, we may say, with experience, must that juvenile intellect be, which, amidst the new sensations of life and its early enjoyments, can antidate that day of devotion to study, when a man shall wait for a new book, or for new lights of information on any favorite subject, as eagerly as avarice watches the fate of its lottery ticket, whilst the richest prizes yet remain in the wheel. But cherish the nascent principle of curiosity, and that day will come to you in good time, when study, instead of a duty, will become an agreeable habit; and when it will yield you consolations and amusements beyond what it is conceivable, in the nature of things, that a young imagination can well anticipate. Before those habits have been acquired, however, I suspect that young minds are sometimes beguiled into unwholesome hesitation, by disputes about the particular path of learning into which it is most advisable that they should first strike, and push on most vigorously. The general blessing of learning is no where disputed. It is agreed on all hands that knowledge is power, and that man is but what he knows. None but maniacs would lay the axe to the root of the tree; and none but the most mis chievous would propose tearing down any of its branches, though they may not bear fruits to their taste, or garlands to their honor. Scaliger has incurred only the contempt of posterity by his absurd diatribe against the usefulness of mathematics; and neither Swift nor Johnson have much raised themselves in the estimation of wise men by having undervalued the natural sciences; for it is clear that those men were misled by overweening vanity in their own pursuits, and by shallowness in those pursuits which they decried, thus bringing into monstrous conjunction the pride of learning and the envy of ignorance. But although, in the present day, there may be few or no direct abolitionists as to any particular branch of knowledge, there is still a spirit of invidious comparison, and a spirit, too, for the most part, harshly biassed against classical learning, that may be frequently observed in discussions on the subject of education. I exhort you, my young friends, not to trouble yourselves at all about such disputes, but always to consider that branch of science or literature to be the most valuable which you have the best opportunity of most completely mastering. "Of all the dangers to which the juvenile student is exposed, I hold those of over-confidence and temerity to be incomparably smaller than those of doubt and distrust. It is very true that a young mind, plunging prematurely into the depths of metaphysical research, before it has stored itself with a knowledge of useful facts, may be compared to one exploring the wheels of a watch before he has learnt to read the hours on its dial-plate. It is true, also, that precocious attempts at fine writing and at coloring language, before we have learnt to give shape to our thoughts, has its disadvantages. Yet still, altogether, I tremble at the idea of damping the fire of youthful ambition; for, in the young student, as in the young soldier, the dashing and daring spirit is preferable to the listless. To the early aspirant at original composition-to the boy-poet -I should, therefore, only say, Go on and prosper, but never forget that, in spite of random exceptions, Buchanan is right in the general principle, when in awarding immortality to mighty poets, he designates them by the epithet, LEARNED. Sola doctorum monumenta Vatum Sola contemnunt Phlegethonta et Orci jura superbi.' "The opposite feeling of the mind's distrust in its own powers ought not to be too harshly and hastily set down as a token of mental debility in youth, for it is often connected with considerable talent. It is a failing, however, that, if suffered to continue, will create all the effects of debility, and will dupe the mind to be the passive agent of its own degradation-like a jugling soothsayer contriving to make his prophecy fulfil itself, or a blundering physician verifying his ignorant opinion by despatching the patient whom he has pronounced incurable. But, if to look abroad over the vast expanse and variety of learned pursuits, should appal and overwhelm any young imagination, like the prospect of a journey over Alps and Glaciers, let it dispel the unworthy fear to recollect what guides, and lights, and facilities modern science and literature afford, so that a quantum of information is now of comparatively easy access, which would formerly have demanded Herculean labor. "As to those among you who may have the prospect of being only a short time at college, I trust I need not conjure you against the prejudice INAUGURATION ADDRESS. 511 of lightly estimating the value of a little learning, because you cannot acquire a great deal. If, indeed, we were to compare the value of much with that of little learning, there is no concession in favor of the much that I would not willingly make. But, in comparing small learned acquisitions with none at all, it appears to me to be equally absurd to consider a little learning valueless, or even dangerous, as some will have it, as to talk of a little virtue, a little wealth, or health, or cheerfulness, or a little of any other blessing under heaven being worthless or dangerous. "To abjure any degree of information, because we cannot grasp the whole circle of the sciences, or sound the depths of erudition, appears to be just about as sensible as if we were to shut up our windows, because they are too narrow, or because the glass has not the magnifying power of a telescope. "For the smallest quantity of knowledge that a man can acquire, he is bound to be contentedly thankful, provided his fate shuts him out from the power of acquiring a larger portion; but whilst the possibility of farther advancement remains, be as proudly discontented as ye will with a little learning; for the value of knowledge is like that of a diamond, it increases according to its magnitude, even in much more than a geometrical ratio. One science and literary pursuit throws light upon another, and there is a connexion, as Cicero remarks, among them all. "Omnes Artes, quæ ad humanitatem pertinent, habent quoddam commune vinculum, et quasi cognatione quadâm inter secontinentur.' "No doubt a man ought to devote himself, in the main, to one department of knowledge, but still he will be all the better for making himself acquainted with studies which are kindred to and with that pursuit.— The principle of the extreme division of labor, so useful in a pin manufactory, if introduced into learning, may produce, indeed, some minute and particular improvements, but, on the whole, it tends to cramp human intellect. "That the mind may, and especially in early youth, be easily distracted by too many pursuits, must be readily admitted. But I now beg leave to consider myself addressing those among you, who are conscious of great ambition, and of many faculties; and what I say may regard rather the studies of your future than of your present years. "To embrace different pursuits, diametrically opposite, in the wide circle of human knowlege, must be pronounced to be almost universally impossible for a single mind. But I cannot believe that any strong mind weakens its strength, in any one branch of learning, by diverging into cognate studies; on the contrary, I believe that it will return home to the main object, bringing back illustrative treasures from all its excursions into collateral pursuits. "Let Science bear witness how many of her brightest discoveries have been struck out by the collision of analogy, and by original minds bringing one part of their vast information to consult and co-operate with another. For a single study is apt to tinge the spirit with a single color; whilst expansive knowledge irradiates it, from many studies, with the many-colored hues of thought, till they kindle by their assemblage and blend and melt into the white light of inspiration-Newton made history and astronomy illustrate each other; and Richter and Dalton brought mathematics to bear upon chemistry, till science may now be said to be able to weigh at once an atom and a planet. I admit that this is quo ting only mighty names to illustrate the value of a general knowledge; but all minds, that are capable of extensive application, more or less experience its benefits. For the strength of an active mind is not exhausted by dividing the objects of its attention, but refreshed and recruited— it is not distracted by a variety of lights, but directed by them; and the stream of learned acquisition, instead of being, of becoming shallower by expansion, is rendered more profound. "In literature, I might quote the excursive taste of our Milton, our Gray, our Warton, Hurd, and Sir William Jones among poetry beyond the classical field, to prove that the rule applies to literature as well as to science-but I have already detained you a considerable time, and, for the present, must bid you adieu.-I do so with a warm heart; and I hold it to be no profane allusion to the great and merciful Being who has given us all knowledge, and all mercies, to wish that his blessing may be with you." Dr. Anderson, Vol. II. 1830. The memoir of his early friend, by Campbell, will be found in the "New Monthly Magazine" of this year. Origin of the Campbell Club.* Vol. II., Chapter IX., pp. 226–7. The issuing of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the state of the Scottish Universities in 1826-7, brought to light many real grievances, and probably gave rise to the imagining of some more. The students of Glasgow had long had reason to complain that their interests, as a body, were too often sacrificed to the corporate or private interests of the professors. The election to the office of rector was the only one under the influence of the students, and from a jealousy lest that office should be in any way under professional bias, it had been, for many years a rule among the students to elect some one who, from political and personal connexions, should be under no temptation to be subservient to professors. To be considered the professor's candidate was a sure prelude to rejection. This systematic opposition had given offence to many of the latter, who felt somewhat nettled to find the respect they were accustomed to in the class-room turned into defiance in the committee. They preferred their complaints upon the subject to the Royal Commissioners, and suggested, as a remedy, some limitations of the right of election, including the disfranchisement of the younger students. This advice had come before Campbell in his official capacity. He immediately made it known, sent for some of the most active students, and advised them to set on foot an organized and public opposition to it. Following this counsel, a general meeting, was held in the Common Hall, which the rector's authority obtained for the students. Such a meeting was new, and excited much interest. A committee of nineteen, from each of the four nations, was appointed to take such measures as might be necessary to defend the general privileges, and their exertions seem to have been so far successful that the threatened disfranchisement was little more heard of. The meeting upon this business, as the representatives of their fellow-students, very naturally gave rise to much friendly inter For the obove notice of this Club I am indebted to Dr. Ralston Wood, M. D., one of its late presidents and founders.- ED. |