rules, or the false application of correct rules constantly in. volves the student in erroneous constructions and uncertain ideas. He is thus forced, by the very nature of his task, to seek true grammatical principles; that is, he is early disciplined in the application of correct standards-a discipline, the paramount importance of which is conclusively shown, by the abounding misery which results from false judgments. Again, Classical Study forms the habit of easy expression. The mind, constantly busy in acquiring new terms, is as constantly busy, from the nature of translation, in expressing them; and fluency and ease are the consequence of an increasing vocabulary and repeated use. Again, Classical Study forms the habit of correcting and of correctness. Indistinct and imperfect ideas always at first accompany difficult translation. Those which are clear and complete, therefore, are formed only by the correction of past misapprehension and mistake. Classical Study, farther, forms the habit of appreciating congruity. This results from the constant necessity of understanding concord and government, the adaptation of word to word and clause to clause, till a thought be fully expressed. Classical Study, farther, accustoms the mind to form and direct its own trains of thought. This must necessarily be the effect, from the force of discipline and imitation, on a mind long engaged in pursuing trains of thought in others. If now, to all these habits, we add those of method, of selfcontrol and patience, absolutely essential in every process of investigation, and that effective discipline of simple faculties already examined, we shall have a numerous series of benefits resulting from Classical Study considered solely in point of mental discipline-benefits on which all elevated success in life depends, and which in no other way can be secured so per. fectly. No one who has observed the effect, upon youth, of this discipline, even in its first preliminary and somewhat tedi. ous stages, can doubt for a moment but that their minds have received greater impetus from this cause than from all other causes united-and every liberally educated man must trace back to it the first vigorous awakening of his understanding. Hic scientiæ et sapientiæ alta radices. For the discipline now considered, I have implied that the Latin and Greek are better suited than any other languages. They are superior in conciseness. Look, for example, at their elegant brevity in modern inscriptions and epitaphs. They are superior from their latitude of verbal arrangement, in their use of an order of words finely dependant on taste, which, more natural in many respects than that in modern languages, keeps the attention constantly raised, and gives beauty and energy to periods. They are superior also in melody and in significance. By universal acknowledgment, the Greek stands at the head of all languages, both ancient and modern. Melodized in its very infancy, by an Orpheus, a Thamyris and Linus of polished poetical harmony, and corrected by a philosophic Cecrops and Cadmus; acquiring constantly greater purity and copious. ness from the wonderful progress of the arts and sciences in ancient Greece, from the contributions of numerous free states, and from the long brilliant succession of men of genius who made its capacities their accurate study, it became, in Athens especially, an idiom of transcendant accomplishment. Its music, its flexibility, its very painting of sensible objects, its deri vative analogy, by which, as by a wand, we open at once upon its spacious treasure-palace of words-they are passing wonderful! Majestic in the tide of Epic inspiration-rich and calm where the Soul of Philosophy breathes-flowing, or austere, or of simple expressive beauty in History-surcharged with conversational and comic force in its pictures of intercourse and of wit-sparkling, with festivity when Cheerfulness and Love band in the dance of poesy-of tenderest pathos when the heart breaks in mourning-impetuous and overpowering when Passion tyrannizes, and the Lyre is swept, and Eloquence bursts--the Greek language, more various, more perfect than any other, is "the shrine of the genius of the old world, as universal as our race, as individual as ourselves." The Latin language, though inferior to the Greek in copiousness and flexibility and harmony, yet, as improved by the Greeks themselves after their subjection to Rome, and by na tive orators and poets, displays, in the Augustan age, great strength and richness. Its transpositive power is greater than that of any other language. Its modulation is easy and delight ful. Like the Greek, it is sublime and rapid in eloquence and the epic, or by turns calm and delicate. It displays elegant simplicity and grandeur in narration. At times it bounds over the startling events of civil discord and campaigns with tumultuous energy and conciseness. When it stays to teach the philosophy of an event, to point a moral, or mark a lesson of prudence, it leaves its impression deepening and riveted in the soul. In its elegiac power plaintive and touching, of embellished sweetness in the romance of mythology, of bitterest poignancy when vice and folly feel its lash, naive and terse in Comedy-in its lyric power now grand, now tender, now hilarious, this language, more than the Greek that of war and empire, and next to the Greek that of thought and feeling, is one of the most significant variety and splendor. The Greek and Latin languages are then, from their surpassing excellence as polished, perfected instruments of thought, better fitted than any other to answer those great purposes of education already described. But they have beside other claims considered simply as languages. Together with the Teutonic, they are the sources from which all the idioms of Europe are derived. Their principles of grammar and rules of syntax are fundamentally those of modern tongues. They stand in nearly the same relation to Europe, which the Sanscrit, that great original" of every dialect from the Persian Gulf to the China Seas," stands to Asia. When known, there. fore, they wonderfully facilitate the acquisition of modern lan. guages; they make our own native tongue easier of com prehension and of use. We have now showed that the study of language is most important for its discipline of mental faculties, and that this purpose is best answered by the Latin and Greek, languages · admirable in themselves, and rendered still more important from the parental relation which they bear to those of modern times. We add, in concluding testimony to their disciplinary value, that no languages so fully develope and exercise the understanding, where at the same time this development and exercise can be so easily accommodated to the minds of learners, and where embarrassments and difficulty, after suitable exactions of time and effort, are sooner or more delightfully lost in the triumph of successful acquisition. B BY CLASSICAL STUDY, in the second place, TASTE AND STYLE ARE BEST FORMED. That faculty which nicely appreciates all that is great and good, and beautiful and sublime, in the two worlds of matter and of mind, is Taste. That mode on which thought depends for its expression and for its magic effect, is Style. How now can Taste and Style, thus incalculably important, be best formed and cultivated? Principally, according to the judgment of the most competent directors, by the study of correct models—a study which immediately leads the mind to acquire that habit "of comparing and digesting its notions," which is pronounced by Sir Joshua Reynolds, supremely requisite in forming a correct taste, and to the importance of which Dugald Stewart bears strong testimony, when he speaks of a spirit of accurate observation and patient induction as implied in this faculty. A study also which brings the mind directly in contact with those very excellencies of which it is in want-which inspires it with know. ledge of principles and execution, and prepares it for its own independent action. The fervent genius; relieved from delay and wanderings, often fruitless, in search of Truth, here, in the study of correct models, enters her very Paradise-scans her heavenly proportions, and drinks in the harmony of her looks, in her own presence-sends his eye, new.lighted with joy and wonder, far over the magnificence of her possessions and on each individual splendor, in the very, spot of their dazzling existence, and leaves her abode penetrated with Truth's own divinest influences, bewildered and overpowered by that Enthusiasm of Perfection, which only abates to stimulate and guide one unceasing effort in the self-production of excellence. Such then being the effect of a just study of Models, we are prepared to inquire where the most correct Models can be found? By universal consent in the writings and arts of Greece and Rome! In Greece, education adopted Greek text-books, aud artists were nursed on native inspiration. What an offspring, like bees, fed on the honey-cells of Homer! In Rome, it adopted Greek and Roman text-books, and artists studied and imitated Greek Models. In modern times it has also universally adopted Greek and Roman text-books, modern art has been awakened and disciplined by the master-pieces of antiquity. Thus from the early period of Greek cultivation down to the present time, the Classics and Classical art have had the unvarying judgment of men in their favor. This judgment has pro. nounced upon their merits in all respects, and in regard to taste and style, has awarded to them, in general, an entire superiority. "The common sentiments and feelings of men," as Dr. Blair conclusively remarks on this head, “where alone the standard of decision is to be found, have on the most exten. sive examination been fully consulted. The public, the unprejudiced public has been tried and appealed to for many centu ries, and throughout almost all civilized nations. It has pronounced its verdict. It has given its sanction to the writers of Greece and Rome, and from this tribunal there lies no farther appeal." We might rest the question of the superiority of Classical Models here, firmly on the broad basis of the long and univer. sal judgment of men. But let us look at the reason and nature of this superiority. Why are these Models thus in advance of all others? We answer, because they exhibit most that knowledge of what is truly natural, in which is comprised "the beginning, the middle and the end of every thing valuable in taste." They are characterized by greater purity and delicacy, by an exact simplicity of imitation, and correctness and force of em bellishment. They exhibit the play of sensibilities "Active and strong, and feelingly alive They correspond most perfectly in style to the nature of emotions and passions. With all the freshness of youth, they show the guiding judgment of manhood. They spring out of a period when men saw and felt, and wrought and described, without "the spectacles of books," free from the endless and confusing associations of a world full of knowledge, free from the metaphysical restraints of language, free from the carp and chain of criticism. They form emphatically a natural intellectual Eden. Poetry, history, eloquence, philosophy, colloquy, each has its department, and architecture, painting and sculp. ture are in finished excellence! Look at Poetry! To whom do we owe the birth and per fection of the majestic Epopee? To Homer and Virgil, geni |