CHAPTER XIII. 



CLASSIC LITERATURE. 



At the revival of learning in the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, Classic Litcrahtrc, or the study of the best 

 ancient writers of Greece and Rome, was an ob- 

 ject of primary and enthusiastic attention among 

 the literati of Europe. The remains of those 

 wnters were sought with avidity, and studied 

 with persevering dihgence. Criticisms and com- 

 mentaries upon them abounded. To gain posses- 

 sion of a classic manuscript; to remove an ob- 

 scurity ill an ancient text ; or to propose a new 

 reading, was then considered among the most 

 honourable and useful of all literary achievements. 

 At that time he who could lay claim to the cha- 

 racter of an adept in the Greek and Latin tonguss 

 was, of course, a great and learned man-, while, 

 without this, however solid, extensive, and valu. 

 able, his knowledge of other subjects, no one could 

 be rescued from the charge of barbarous and con- 

 temptible ignorance. In a word, instead of con- 

 sidering classic literature as a incans of obtaining 

 more important knowledge, the directors of pub- 

 lic taste, at that period, unwisely erected it into 

 an ultimate end, and taught their followers to con- 

 sider it as the most worthy object of pursuit, to 

 all who were ambitious of becoming lc;irned. This 

 was an improper extreme. The more judicious 

 had just cause to lament that such a disproportion- 

 ate share of regard was bestowed on language, 



