( 36 ) 
verities are governed by ancient ftatutes, 
and habits apparently not calculated to pro- 
duce, either learned men, or polite fcholars. 
Yet thefe Univerfities have produced a Ba- 
con, a Newton, a Locke, a Sanderfon, a 
Bentley, a Tillotfon, a Sherlock, an Addi- 
fon, a Bolingbroke, a Steel, a Chefterfield, 
a Pitt; befides many other learned men, 
polite fcholars, and great ftatefmen. If there- 
fore we may reafon from facts, an Englifh 
Univerfity, with all its imperfections, is 
fully competent to the communication of 
claflical, pliilofophical, and polite literature 
to their greateft extent: nor do we find that 
any other feminaries, in this ifland or on 
the continent, can exhibit a lift of worthies, 
in any degree comparable with the gradu- 
ates of Oxford and Cambridge, from the 
latter end of the laft century to the prefent 
time. 
Yet this fact, indifputable as it may ap- 
pear, does not prove the perfection of our 
academical inftitutionsj but it fufficiently 
demonftrates the poffibility of acquiring at 
Oxford or Cambridge, knowledge in a very 
high degree, in every branch of literature j 
and hence, we are fairly authorized to con- 
clude, 
