the bowl of intoxication, and transgress the bounds of disci pline. Look to the result of their misconduct, and you will remark, that far from affording any true pleasure to an ingenuous mind, it terminates in disgrace, punishment, and ruin. 6. Consider that no habit is so conducive to the accomplishment of the great ends of education, as a habit of diligence. Idleness is the parent of every vice; but well directed activity is the source of every laudable pursuit, and honourable attainment. It is peculiarly adapted to the frame and constitution of youth, promotes good humour, and is conducive to health. Indolence and inactivity are no less subversive of every purpose of mental improvement, than of the general happiness of life. An idle boy will gradually lose the energy of his mind, will grow indifferent to the common objects of pursait, except such as stimulate his passions with force; and when he advances into life, he will with difficulty be prevailed upon to make any impor tant exertion, even for the promotion of his own interest, and much less for that of his friends.

7. The character of a sluggard-of him who loses the pleasant, the healthy, and the precious hours of the morning in sleep, and the remaining part of the day in indolence, is justly reputed contemptible. While his powers of mind remain torpid, the diligent applies his activity to the most useful ends. His steps may not be uniformly rapid, or his actions always conspicuous; he may not attract the gaze of mankind, or move in the circle of fashionable levity and dissipation: but you may observe, that by habitual dexterity of conduct, and the practice of business, he is qualified to meet the difficulties, and fulfil the duties of any situation in which he may be placed; and you will frequently see him, by his unremitting perseverance, acquire objects of fortune, distinction, and honour, which men of unimproved talents very rarely, if ever, obtain.

8. "Excellence is never granted to man, but as the reward of labour. It argues indeed no small strength of mind to persevere in habits of industry, without the pleasure of perceiving those advances, which, like the hand of a clock, whilst they make hourly approaches to their point, yet proceed so slowly as to escape observation."

9. If you take a survey of the world, you may remark that nothing great or laudable, nothing splendid or perma

nent, can be effected without the exertion of diligence. Are not the treasures of fortune, the fruits of industry, the acquirements of learning, and the monuments of glory, to be attributed to its animating influence? Behold the student engaged in poring over the volumes of knowledge by his midnight lamp, and stealing his hours of study even from the season of repose; behold the peasant, roused by the dawn of the morning to pursue his daily toils along the furrowed field: repair to the manufactory of the artificer, and amidst the various divisions of labour, observe with what alacrity all the sons and daughters of industry are plying their incessant tasks; or visit the crowded haven, where the favourable gales call the attention of the vigilant mariners; and you will remark, that the whole scene is life, motion, and exertion.

10. In these various situations, in every nation of the globe, from the ardent and enterprising sons of America, to the almost countless myriads which people the wide plains of China, you may observe, that the principle of diligence, like the great law of creation, which causes the planets to perform their invariable revolutions, pervades each busy scene, and throughout the world actuates the race of men for some useful purpose.

Education of Youth.

1. THE great and extensive advantages which must necessarily accrue to society at large, from the proper education of youth, will appear from considering the influence of their examples upon all around them. If ignorance should be suffered to cloud their understandings, and immorality, resulting from a want of proper discipline, should disgrace their conduct, the injury done to society will extend to all its members. But if our youth be well instructed in their duty, and their conduct prove the rectitude of their principles, the beneficial effects of their actions, like the over flowing waters of a fertilizing stream, will spread far and wide in every direction, and the final result to the state will be highly important and eminently beneficial, as it will consist in general stability of principles, general regularity of conduct, and general happiness.

2. The rising generation, brought up in the true principles of religion, enlightened by general knowledge, and en

couraged not less by the examples, than improved by the advice, of their parents and their teachers, will be freed from the imputation of degeneracy; they will follow their ancestors in the paths of integrity, honour, and true nobleness of conduct; they will be fortified against the attacks and the artifices of infidelity, and will persevere, as they advance in life, in every virtuous and honourable pursuit.

3. And may this indispensable and invaluable truth be forever inculcated by parents and teachers, with a degree of solicitude and zeal proportioned to the importance of the subject, and forever remembered by the young, that the honour, liberty, and independence of America, must depend upon religion, virtue, and knowledge, as their firmest and best supports. In all ranks of society, and more particu larly among professional men, it is more immediately requisite, that these constituents of personal merit should be carried to the greatest perfection.

4. Every sincere lover of his country, therefore, will be eager to promote, by all expedients in his power, that rational, enlightened, and comprehensive system of education, which improves and perfects all of them; and he will determine that every channel to useful information ought to be opened, every suitable reward proposed, and every honourable incitement held out, which may stimulate our ingenious youth to improve to the utmost of their power, the faculties with which Providence has blessed them, in order that the seeds of instruction may produce the most copious harvest of virtue, and their conscientious and able discharge of all the duties of life, may contribute equally to the happiness of themselves and their friends, and to the general prosperity and true glory of their country.

Learning our own Language.

1. A GOOD foundation in the general principles of grammar, is, in the first place, necessary to all those who are initiated in a learned education; and to all others likewise, who shall have occasion to learn modern languages. Universal grammar cannot be taught abstractedly it must be taught with reference to some language already known, in which the terms are to be explained, and the rules exemplified. The learner is supposed to be unacquainted with all but his na tive tongue; and in what other can you, consistently with,

reason and common sense, explain it to him? When he has a competent knowledge of the main principles of grammar, in general, exemplified in his own language, he then will apply himself with great advantage, to the study of any other. To enter at once upon the science of grammar, and the study of a foreign language, is to encounter two difficulties together, each of which would be much lessened by being taken separately, and in its proper order.

2. For these plain reasons, a competent grammatical knowledge of our own language, is the true foundation upon which all literature, properly so called, ought to be raised. If this method were adopted in our schools; if children were first taught the common principles of grammar, by some short and clear system of English grammar, which happily by its simplicity and facility is perhaps fitter than any other language for such a purpose; they would have some notion of what they were going about, when they should enter into the Latin grammar; and would not be engaged so many years as they now are, in that most irksome and difficult part of literature, with so much labour of the memory, and with so little assistance of the understanding.

3. Whatever the advantages or defects of the English language be, as it is our own language it deserves a high degree of our study and attention, both with regard to the choice of words which we employ, and with regard to the syntax, or the arrangement of those words in a sentence. We know how much the Greeks and the Romans, in their most polished and flourishing times, cultivated their own tongues. We know how much study both the French and Italians have bestowed upon theirs. Whatever knowledge may be acquired by the study of other languages, it can never be communicated with advantage, except by such as can write and speak their own language well. Let the matter of an author be ever so good and useful, his compositions will always suffer in the public esteem, if his expression be deficient in purity and propriety.

4. At the same time, the attainment of a correct and elegant style is an object which demands application and labour. If any imagine that they can catch it merely by the ear, or acquire it by a slight perusal of some of our good authors, they will find themselves much disappointed. The many errors, even in point of grammar, the many offences

against purity of language, which are committed by writers who are far from being contemptible, demonstrate, that a careful study of the language is previously requisite, in all who aim at writing it properly.

5. These observations appear to determine conclusively, the subject which we have been discussing. They will suf fice, therefore, to prove, that the application of a child to a dead language, before he is acquainted with his own, is a lamentable waste of time, and highly detrimental to the improvement of his mind.

6. The general principles of grammar are common to all languages; a noun is the same in English, French, Latin, Greek, &c. The variety of languages is easily acquired by observation and practice, when a preliminary knowledge of our own grammar is obtained. But the comprehension of our native tongue is not the only good preparative for the study of other languages. Some previous acquaintance with the general nature of things, is necessary to the accomplishment of this end, that words may be the only obstruction in our literary progress. For, although it be useful to leave some difficulties in the way of a child, that he may exercise his mind in overcoming them, yet he must not be disgusted by too many or too great impediments. Our whole attention should consist in proportioning the difficulties to his powers, and in offering them to his consideration individually. 7. If Latin were made the primary object of a child's lessons, he would lose a vast portion of time in the study of grammar; he would be incapable of perceiving the beauties of that language, because he would not have acquired any previous knowledge. No benefit, therefore, could possibly acerue from reading, in the Latin tongue, subjects which he could not understand in his own. But by becoming well acquainted with our best poets and prose writers, he will easily learn, independently of the number of ideas which he will gain thereby, the general rules of grammar; several examples will unfold them, and a proper application of others may be soon made without difficulty. Besides, he will acquire taste and judgement, and be well prepared to feel the beauties of a foreign tongue, when he begins to feel the beauties of his own. His knowledge being also extended and diversified, it will be found that the sole difficulty attendant or the study of Latin, consists in learning words; so that to ob-.