INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 17 



ached, and embellished every subject upon which he wrote : even flowers 

 sprung tip under his feet in his journey through the thorny paths of legal 

 investigation ; but from Coke you must expect nothing bat the day, bar- 

 ren \vcedsofscholasticsubtlety and norman chicanery. 



Fourthly ; the energies of our country have been more directed to the 

 accumulation of wealth than to the acquisition of knowledge. Our enter- 

 prising spirit, as exhibited in the fisheries, in navigation, and in commerce, 

 is tfie admiration of the world ; and if it had soared to the heavens in 

 pursuit of knowledge, instead of creeping along the earth in the chase of 

 riches, America would have been as illustrious in the rolls of fame as 

 those states where literature has *cen herangutan ages. There is nothing 

 in the commercial spirit which is hostile to literature. On the contrary, 

 the wealth which it produces furnishes both incentives and rewards. The 

 illustrious family of the Medici were merchants in their origin, and to 

 them we are indebted for the resurrection of letters ; but let us fervently 

 hope that after this passion, so energetic, is satiated in its present pursuit, 

 it may seek more sublime sources of gratification. 



" To either India see the merchant fly, 

 Scared at the spectre of pale poverty ; 

 See bira, with pains of body, pangs of soul, 

 Burn through the tropic, freeze beneath the pole ! 

 Wilt thou do nothing for a noble end, 

 Nothing to make philosophy thy friend ?" 



POPB'S Imitation of HORACE. 



Fifth, and lastly ; in Europe, there is a literary corps who are authors 

 by profession. Here we have scarcely any person of this description, 

 and we have iiot much vernacular literature. The consequences are 

 obvious : while books are written beyond the Atlantic as a matter of 

 course, they are here the offspring of some accidental direction ; there 

 the seed is, at all events, thrown into the ground and the harvest is 

 reaped ; while here we rely upon the fortuitous produce of the chase, or 

 the occasional supplies of the stream. This condition of things has 

 inculcated upon us the vast superiority of Europe, and has made us 

 despair of successful competition. America leans for literary support 

 upon Europe ; and we have been too much in the habit of estimating the 

 value of books by the place of their origin. The time will surely 

 arrive when an eminent american author shall be no longer considered 

 an anomaly, deriving his celebrity more from the singularity than the 

 merit of his productions. 



Our colonial historian has, unadvisedly, stated that " the inhabitants 

 of this colony are, in general, healthy and robust ; taller, but short 



