ed, are his admiffion at a grammar- fchool, 
his matriculation at the univerfity, and his 
departure thence. Thefe three periods, like 
the three primitive colours, are diftinftly 
marked. Shakefpear's feven ages refemble 
Sir Ifaac Newton's feven prifmatic tincls, 
four of which are intermediate (hades, pro- 
duced by the mixture of the primitive red, 
blue and yellow. 
You, my dear boy, have played your part 
in the firft of thefe three a6ls of the great 
drama of life; an,d I hope your performance 
hath been fuch as to be no difgrace to the 
ftage on which you appeared. In this aft 
you have fpent eight years of your terref- 
trial exiftence, with all the advantages of a 
public fchool. If it be true that, from the 
age of ten to eighteen, the mind is moft 
capable of permanent impreffions, it were 
rational to expect that a young gentleman, 
thus educated, fhould enter the univerfity 
pofTefled of all the learning necefiary to con- 
flitute the foundation of his future (Indies. 
The public fchools, in this kingdom, pro- 
fefTedly, teach nothing but the Greek and 
Latin languages ; and even of thefe, at the 
expiration of feven or eight years, many of 
the lads have acquired a very fuperficial 
know- 
