have a foundation in truth, and: this it 
was which gave rife to the fevere farcafm 
of the late excellent Soame Jenyns, who 
obferved, that ‘*if he wifhed to bring up 
a boy to the gallows, he would fend him to 
or *  But-I fhould with to 
fee the fubject canvafled upen a ftill 
broader bafis, and the inquiry purfued 
with candour, how far they are deferving 
of approbation, as means of promoting 
ufeful knowledge. 
t. Thefe feminaries are all of Monkith 
‘inftitution—Their fyftem, their difcipline, 
their whole feope and plan, ts Monkith, 
Now undoubtedly the ftate of mankind 
has greatly changed in every refpect fince 
their foundation. At that period all the 
little knowledge that was extant was only 
to be found in the dead Janguages—at 
prefent, all that is eftimable in {cience is 
almoft exclufively confined to the modern; 
and furely, as the circumftances of man- 
kind are altered, the fyitem of education 
ought to undergo fomewhat of a corre- 
{ponding change. 
2. The misfortune, however, is, that 
‘while all the reft of the world has been 
‘progreffive, thefe (like all Monkifh infti- 
tutions) have been completely at a ftand. 
While medern fcience has fcaled the hea- 
vens, and penetrated into the receffes of 
‘nature, not a ray has penetrated thefe 
gloomy abodes of fcholaftic duilnefs. The 
ftudent is left ignorant of the very earth 
which he inhabits, of the countries with 
which it is covered, and of the manners 
and cuftoms of the different tribes by 
“whom it is peopled. There is not even a 
provifion by which a boy is to be taught 
that two and two make four. Nay, fo 
inattentive were our anceftors to the art of 
writing, that this is entirely an extra bu- 
fifiefs to be acquired at their leifure hours, 
‘and. the introduftion of a writing-mafer 
in our public fchools is a modern inno- 
' “vation! 
3. Latin and Greek only are profeffed 
to be taught there. The utility of thefe, 
Ox the Public Schoo/s: - 
' fenfe verfes.” 
S45 
poetry and eloquence, — Admitting, there’ 
fore, that fuch are not to be found in the 
modern languages (which no man of fenle 
will be inclined to admit), the Rudent at 
our public {chools is at beft confined to the 
ftudy of rhetoric and poetry, 
4. But allowing every thing that has or 
can be faid in favour af claffical learning, 
is it taught in the de manner in our pub- 
lic fchools? (I confine myielf to five or 
fix of the greatelt notoriety, for in many 
of the more remote endowed {chools, the 
maiters have had the good fenfe to adapt 
the regimen to modernideas). Thavenever 
heard that the beauties of Homer, Virgil, 
and the other claflical authors, were ex-- 
plained and illuftrated there. The great 
object is to meafure fyliables with accu- _ 
racy; and many, many precious years are 
fpent in what is called, in the technical 
language of .thefe places, ‘¢ capping non- 
Nay, thefe boys who have 
plenty of pocket-money, it is well known, 
‘employ the poorer ones, who are upon the 
foundation, to write their exercifes for 
them. Thus the majority of our young 
noblemen and gentlemen retura juft as 
wife as they went; but fuppofing they 
employ their time to the beit advantage, 
according to the rules of the {chool, fix or 
feven of the moft precious years of life are 
confumed in making very bad verfes in an 
obiolete language ! 
5. ** By their fruits ye fhall know 
them.” The flower of our youth, every 
boy of pregnant parts, and of promifing 
genius, is fent to thofe public {fchools— 
and of the many excellent writers who are 
now in exiftence, how many of them have 
received their education there? A felf- 
taught carpenter we have {een poflefsymore 
{cience than all the heads of thefe_{emi- 
naries put together, and a felf-taughe 
cobler exhibits more fpecimens of refined 
talte, What have they produced? A 
fucceffion of puny pedants, who, like their 
predeceflors, have only learned to conju- 
gate tuniw, and to wield the  , +» 
which are, with fome propriety at prefent, May 10, 1802. BiRCHe 
‘termed the dead janguages, will deferve 
- an inquiry, for which, however, the public To th : ahs, © 
- nnnd is not yet, perhaps, fufficiently pre- athe Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
pared. Suffice it for the prefent to hint, SIR, a 
/ that not an atom of real fcience is to be 
* found inthe ancients. Their mythology 
is puerile, their hiftory fabulous, and their 
“knowledge of nature a confufed mafs of 
_ “error, calculated only to involve the in- 
__telle& in darknefs, and impede the pro- 
gels of reafon and of truth. Ir mut be 
allowed, however, that the claffical au- 
thors contain’ fome* happy ‘fpecimens ‘of 
ioe 
T isevery eafy for an architeét to con- 
kL ceive a large building, the difficulty 
lies in its execution; for this ‘reafon if a 
ftone bridge of 600 feet {pan be exhibited 
to public: view, it is not likely, mere] 
on account of its dimenfions, to sat ; 
much notice: itis as eafy to call it 600 
as 60 feet in {pan, and fo bold a defignis 
in danger of being’ confidered as the 
peo “4 reverie 
