38 Classic Literature. 



tering which scarcely deserves the name of know- 

 ledge. And although in others, laudable exer- 

 tions have been, and continue to be made, for 

 retaining to some profitable extent this part of 

 education, yet the popular prejudice against it is 

 strong and growing; and there is too much reason 

 to fear that this prejudice will, at no great distance 

 of time, completely triumph/ 



The causes of this revolution are various. Since 

 the commencement of the eighteenth century, the 

 physical sciences have been gradually extending 

 their bounds, demanding more attention, and ac- 

 quiring greater ascendency. As the objects of 

 study multiplied, a less degree of leisure was left 

 for any particular pursuit. The splendour of seve- 

 ral new branches of philosophy, as they success 

 sively rose into view, attracted the studious, and 

 gave a new turn to fashion. Hence those who 

 employed themselves in the illustration of the clas- 

 sics, in the settlement of various readings, or in mak- 

 ing themselves masters of those venerable remains 

 of antiquity, soon sunk in popular esteem. It be- 

 came fashionable to represent them as persons void 

 of taste; as is word catchers, that lived on sylla- 

 bles;" as far below the votaries of science in dig- 

 nity. This ridicule sensibly diminished the public 

 respect for classic literature, and still continues to 

 operate with undiminished force, 



g While a great fondness prevails in the United States for giving young 

 men a College education, and obtaining for them the usual academic honour 

 qf a diploma, there is also a prevailing disposition, not only among the 

 youth themselves, but also among parents and guardians, to give them as 

 small a portion of classic, and especially of Greek literature, as possible. 

 Against this latter language, it seems, particular hostility is denounced, 

 And in some of our colleges it requires the exertion of all the authority 

 vested in the immediate instructors, and the governors, to prevent popular 

 ignorance and prejudice from expelling the study of Greek from their plans 

 of education. This is a circumstance which threatens much evil to the in- 

 terests of literature in our country ; and unless the trustees and other ofr 

 ficers, to whom the direction of our seminaries of learning is entrusted, 

 combine to oppose the plausible but delusive literary heresy, another genen 

 jration will witness the most unhappy effects arising from its prevalence. 



