On the Ufes of Claffical Education. 195 
If uistory be claffed among the fciences, in this 
the ancients cannot be too warmly commended. To 
their admirable writings we are indebted, not only 
for the moft important faéts in the hiftory of man- 
kind, but for the moft perfect models in that fpecies 
of compofition. I think, Sir, the ancients have not 
been equalled in this line, and I think I can venture 
to fay, that I have not feen the {weet fimplicity of 
Herodotus—the dignity of Thucydides, the har- 
mony and elegance of Salluft, or the pointed and 
forcible expreffion of Tacitus, transferred into any 
modern language, by their moft learned tranflators, 
VUE. But whatever was wanting to the ancients, 
in fcience, is amply compenfated in tafte. Homer 
and Virgil are, I think, ftill unrivalled, and the 
latter Of them is certainly ftill untranflated.—The 
paftorals of Theocritus, and perhaps the odes of 
Pindar, are without parallels in modern languages— 
The fatires of Horace and Juvenal have only been 
imitated.—In every department of profe compofition 
alfo, we find among the ancients the moft perfec 
models. The clear and energetic reafoning of 
Demofthenes, the full, harmonious, and ornamental 
periods of Cicero, and the fententious neatnefs of 
Salluft, have never been excelled. To form, there- 
fore, a correct tafte, the eafieft and mof effedual 
mode, is certainly by a well directed ftudy of thefe 
ineftimable compofitions, and by occafionally com- 
paring- them with the excellencies and defects -of 
modern productions, 
If 
