llepori on a Course of Liberal Education. 329 



But the claims of classical learning are not limited to this 

 single view. It may be defended not only as a necessary 

 branch of education, in the present state of the world, but on 

 the ground of its distinct and independent merits. Famil- 

 iarity with the Greek and Roman writers is especially adapt- 

 ed to form the taste, and to discipline the mind, both in 

 thought and diction, to the relish of what is elevated, chaste, 

 and simple. The compositions which these writers have 

 left us, both in prose and verse, whether considered in refer- 

 ence to structure, style, modes of illustration, or general ex- 

 ecution, approach nearer than any others to what the human 

 mmd, when thoroughly informed and disciplined, of course 

 approves ; and constitute, what it is most desirable to pos- 

 sess, a standard for determming literary merit. This excel- 

 lence of the ancient classic writers is, indeed, doubted or de- 

 nied ; — and it becomes, therefore, necessary to adduce such 

 proof of it as the subject admits. 



The case here to be considered is not unaccompanied by 

 analogies. In the range of human improvement, there are 

 other facts nearly allied, both in their character and circum- 

 stances, to this now asserted, which aiford it very powerful 

 support. Architecture and sculpture, in their most approved 

 forms, not only had their origin, but received their perfec- 

 tion in Greece. These arts may have been, in certain re- 

 spects, modified in the progress of time ; changes may have 

 been introduced to accommodate their productions to the 

 necessities and manners of a later age ; yet the original works 

 of Grecian genius are the models by which artists, even at 

 the present time, direct their labors ; the standards by which, 

 in a great measure, their merits are determined. It is in vain 

 to pretend that this is the effect of prejudice, the bias of early 

 impressions, and the undue veneration of antiquity. The 

 statuary, in modelling a head or an arm, has nature always 

 in view ; yet he refers notwithstanding to the remains of 

 Grecian art as his best guides, the surest interpreters of na- 

 ture itself. His work is not imitation ; it is a nearer approach 

 to perfection through the skill derived from the contempla- 

 tion and study of superior excellence. In architecture, the 

 eye of one least conversant with antiquity is struck with the 

 simplicity and just proportions of Grecian models ; and these 

 first impressions are strengthened by observation and reflec- 

 tion. Time, which brings to light so many defects, and 

 suggests so many improvements in m^ost of the discoveries of 



Vol. XV.— No. 2. 17 



