mate knowledge of mankind, he re- | members that he is exhorting the opulent individuals of a splendid capital. He considers. Time as an exchequer, from which exhausting draughts have been made, or rather as a valuable article of property, which has been rashly pledged, without, perhaps, the semblance of an equivalent. Hence he enjoins upon those, who have been too prodigal of this inestimable gift, to redeem it as soon as possible.

By every man, whose time has been foolishly or vitiously squandered, it will be redeemed, if he follows apostolick advice, and walks correctly, carefully, and uprightly, like a wise and prudent sage, and not heedlessly and at random, like an idiot, or a drunkard.

During our celebration of the natal days of a new year, it will be a most salutary practice to reflect, with sorrow, upon those portions of the past, which we have lent to bad purposes, and to resolve, with firmness, to adopt every measure, in future, for the redemption of that Time, which has been in captivity to Folly, Indolence, or Oblivion.

This may be effected by various means. Devotion, Virtue, Retirement, Labour, and Learning will all, in turns, lend their aid. The power of the three first of these auxiliaries has been so copiously and eloquently described by my predecessours, and as the limits of my paper, as well as the dreaded yawns of my readers, admonish me to be studious of brevity, I shall confine myself to the latter.

In the first place, to redeem Time, great Exertion is necessary. When a sovereign Prince, or a nobleman of distinction, or an opulent merchant falls into the hands of his enemies, or is captured by the buccaniers of the ocean, he is not ransomed by any of the expedients of

Ease, or any of the devices of Indolence. No; great gifts are necessary, great sacrifices must be made, great toil undergone, and painful privations suffered. So when Time, a personage much greater and richer than any above described, has been lost, or taken from us, we may not hope to enjoy a grateful connexion with him again, without paying the price of Labour, Assiduity, Care, and Perseverance. This seems not only intolerable, but impossible to a vulgar spendthrift of his hours, to the dronish votary of Laziness, whose hirad is drenched with all the poppies of Oblivion, whose mouth never opens but to yawn, and who makes no other noise in the world than a snore. To such an oyster I do not address myself. But a son of Genius and Sensibility, a philosophick thinker, or an ambitious aspirant will remember and believe the correct sentiments of the poet Thomson:

Had unambitious mortals minded nought,
But in loose joy their time to wear away,
Had they alone the lap of Dalliance sought,
Pleas'd on her pillow their dull heads to lay,
Rude Nature's state had been our state today;
No cities e'er their towery fronts had rais ̊d,
No arts had made us opulent and gay;
With brother brutes the human race had
graz'd;

None e'er had soar'd to fame, none honour'd been, none prais'd.

If right I read, we Pleasure all require,
But should to Fame our hearts unfeeling be,
Then hear how best may be obtained this fee,
How best enjoy'd this nature's wide desire;
Toil and be glad. Let Industry inspire
Into our quicken'd limbs her buoyant breath;
Who does not act is dead: absorpt entire
In miry sloth, no pride, no joy he hath;
O, leaden hearted man, to be in love with
Death!

And would you learn to dissipate the band
Of those huge threat'ning Difficulties dire,
That in the weak man's way, like lions stand,
His soul appal, and damp his rising fire!
Resolve, resolve, and to be men aspire,
Exert that noblest privilege alone
Here to mankind indulg'd; control Desire;
Let godlike Reason form her sovereign,
throne,

Speak the commanding word-I will-and it is done.

In the last place, time may be gloriously redeemed by the powers of Genius, the auxiliaries of Application, and the pursuits of Literature. SALLUST, who in the knowledge of human nature is scarcely surpassed by Shakspeare himself, and whose profound histories are an eternal monument of the accu

racy of his assertions, tells us, that it is the duty of all aspiring spirits, strenuously to endeavour to rise above the mists of obscurity; and that without alertness, we shall but little surpass the brute creation, who are doomed by nature to grovel on the earth. In another passage, he exclaims, with an enthusiasm worthy of such a writer, that it was always his opinion that the truest glory consists in the efforts of GENIUS, and that since our time of life is alike transitory and dubious, we should. remember, that in honest fame and the fair applause of posterity, there is found an existence beyond the grave. It is genius alone, that has a legitimate claim to glory and immortality. Survey, he exclaims with truth and eloquence, survey the map of life, and you shall find the predominance of intellect. The labours of the husbandman, the mariner, and the architect, all spring from that powerful source. Yet miraculous as it may seem, throngs are found in every age careless of mental improvement. Immersed in Indolence and Voluptuousness, without knowledge, and without culture,they saunter through life,like strangers in a foreign land; with a

direct inversion of the order of nature, they deem reflection a pain, and sensuality the only pleasure. Whether, he continues in a tone of merited contempt, whether a crew thus listless crawl on the surface,

or sink to the centre is of trivial importance. In either case, they

leave no MONUMENT of their existence. He alone is worthy of life and its enjoyments, who devotes his talents to some active pursuit, and goes in quest of Fame, either in the camp of Glory, or the groves of Science.

SENECA, a philosopher, a moralist, and a man of letters, holds a language, the very echo of that of the Roman historian. No man, strictly speaking, can live, who does not dedicate himself to a life of labour. The house of the loiterer is his grave. There we may erect a monument to the deceased, who has virtually anticipated his own obsequies. Even retirement, he concludes, is little better than being buried alive, unless dignified with the pursuits of literature.

HORACE, who, although a man of pleasure, and a man of the world, was a very industrious writer, and who has bequeathed us brilliant proofs of his assiduity, as well as of his genius, declares, with uncommon energy, that he who wishes to win the chaplet of praise, and reach the goal of Fame, must task all his energy and alertness, and must not suffer the nerves of resolution to be relaxed, either by the witchery of women, or the warmth of wine.

Thus essential is the redemption of Time to the man of reason and reflection; and at the commencement of a year, let us cheerfully pay the precious ransom. Amid the diversity of pursuits, which life supplies, every individual may discover some forthright path, which, diligently pursued, will have for its visto, either the Temple of Fame or Fortune. By arts, not less than by arms, a road may be opened to renown. But to the successful employment of our talents, Time must be husbanded, with a miser's care.

Let us snatch what hours we may from dull oblivion's slumber. Let Let us abridge many meals, and forego some. Let us trim the lamps of midnight, and court the solitude and tranquillity of morning. Above all, let us dread the disgrace of sinking into a listless inactivity, but remember in the most inauspicious period of our own, or country's fortune, that by every noble and strenuous exertion all may yet BE REDEEMED.

CLASSICAL LEARNING.

For The Port Folio.

One of the most essential duties ofa Literary Journalist is, not only to take care that the republick of letters should suffer no detriment, but that the dignity and honour of the wise and the learned should be constantly indicated to all, who aspire to intellectual eminence. Hence, nothing is a source of purer pleasure to the Editor of The Port Folio, than to have it often in his power to reposit, in that Miscellany, every liberal encomium, and every vigorous defence of that portion of Literature, which is correctly denominated Classical. In the decline of the past year, we had the good fortune to obtain, from the pen of the late Dr. NESBIT, a series of speculations, upon a favourite topick. These deserve all the attention that our literary friends can give, and every honour that the Editor can bestow. They certainly claim a conspicuous place in this paper. and if they contribute to rouse, in any degree, an emulation to be skilled in those writers, who have constantly legimate Criticism and delicate Taste on their side, the Editor will be abundantly gratified. The classical authours need only to be accurately known, to be ardently admired. For as it is ascertained from the best authority, the admirer of Homer, and Demosthenes, of Virgil and Cicero, Xenophon, and Cæsar, Herodotus, and Livy, will tell us, that he would not, for

any consideration, give up his skill in the language of those authours. Every man of learning wishes that his son may be learned; and that not so much with a view to pecuniary advantage, as from a desire to have him supplied with the ral amusement. It is true that habit means of useful instruction, and libewill make us fond of trifling pursuits, and mistake imaginary for real excellence. The being accustomed to that kind of study, and, perhaps, also the pride, or the vanity, or simply the consciousness of being learned, may account for a part of the pleasure, that attends the perusal of the Greek and Roman writings. But sure, it is but a small part, which may bethus accounted for. The Greeks were more passionate admirers of Homer and Demosthenes; and the Romans of Virgil and Cicero than we; and yet were not under the necessity of employing so much time in the study of these authours; nor, consequently, so liable to contract a liking from long acquaintance, or to be proud of an accomplishment, which was common to them with all their countrymen.

The study of Greek and Latin being necessary to the perfection of the grammatical art, must also be necessary to the permanence, and even purity, of the modern tongues; and, consequently, to the preservation of our History, Poetry, Philosophy, and of every thing valuable in our literature.

Can those, who wish well to Learning or mankind ever seek to depreciate so important a study? or will it be said that the knowledge of grammar is unworthy of a gentleman or a man of business, when it is considered that the most profound statesmen, the ablest oratours, the most elegant writers, and the greatest men that ever appeared on the stage of publick life, of whom I shall only mention. Julius Cæsar and Cicero, were not only studious of grammar, but most accurate grammarians?

(Continued from Vol. 4, p. 404.)

Besides, without acquaintance with Mythology, the works of the ancients, and of those moderns who have imitated them,

would not be intelligible. The ideal world is as necessary to be known, in order to understand the allusions to it, with which the poets abound, as the natural world is, in order to understand and judge of descriptive poetry. Nothing can please that is not distinctly perceived. If we are unacquainted with Mythology, the chief beauties of poetry will escape our notice; while an intelligent reader will receive the greatest pleasure from the judicious use of ancient fable, without running the hazard of being misled by it, as was the case with those who considered it as the rule of their faith and duty.

We observed, already, that soon after the appearance of the Christian Religion, the Stoick Philosophers endeavoured to disguise and explain away the fabulous History of the heathen gods, by supposing it to be merely allegorical, and to contain many maxims of moral wisdom under the vail of fiction. But it is easy to see, that they were driven to this expedient, by finding the impossibility of defending it as it stood in the popular traditions, which however different from each other, according to the various fancies of men, were all of them unworthy of the Dei. ty, and lay exposed to severe censure and contempt from such as entertained difie. rent opinions. When Lucian, about the time of Adrian, employed the most severe and pointed raillery against their Mythology, it is likely that they exerted their ingenuity still more to allegorize their Mythology, and to defend it from the satire of that ingenious, though wicked writer.

The Lord Chancellor Bacon, and Mons. Freret, of the French Academy, have endeavoured, the one in his essays, entitled The Wisdom of the Ancients, and the other, in his discourse on Mythology, to make the ancients much wiser than they really were, and to attribute views and purposes to them, of which, it appears by their writings, that they were entirely ignorant. These authours have displayed their own ingenuity to advantage, but all their conjectures concerning the design and meaning of the Heathen Mythology, appear to be the product of their own fancies, and cannot persuade an intelligent reader, while he considers the total silence of the ancients themselves, who must have known infinitely better what allegories their Mythology contained, had it contained any, than their modern readers, at so great a distance of time.

Nor have those laboured to much better purpose, who have endeavoured to find all the heathen gods in the fragments of Ancient History preserved by some of the an cient authours. The high antiquity of these fables, and the little tradition we have left of those ages that were prior to the knowledge of letters, render such attempts entirely hopeless; to say nothing of the difference

in the traditions themselves, which cannot be conform to History. Jupiter has, by some, been supposed to be a King of Egypt, and by others, of Crete. The inhabitants of that island, possibly reckoning it for their honour, pretended to show the tomb of Jupiter in their country, for which reason they were considered as liars in the time of Lucan; nay, as early as that of Epimenides, from whom the Apostle Paul quotes a verse describing their character, though doubtless without the least reference to this story.

The machinery of the epick poetry of the ancients is taken wholly from their traditionary mythology. This confers a grandeur on their sentiments, which could not have been reached by simple narration. For if the prosopopeia, which is but the fiction of a moment, is found to produce dignity and animation in poetry, surely more is to be expected from the introduction of persons, imaginary indeed, but supposed always to exist, and to be possessed of powers and qualities superiour to those of ordinary men, not to mention that they were the objects of the popular worship and veneration.

In the use of mythology it is probable, that the poets did not always conform to popular tradition and belief, but varied or augmented the former fictions according to their humour and the nature of their subjects, and these additional fictions came, at last, to have an equal authority with those of older date. Thus Homer speaks of Castor and Pollux as mortal men, though succeeding poets exalted them into demigods. He likewise calls Hercules, the son of Amphitryon and the son of Jupiter in the same speech. From this we may gather that the divinity of Castor and Pollux was not thought of, and that the divinity of Hercules was not fully acknowledged in the days of Homer. The difference betwixt the mythology of Homer and Hesiod, though they lived in the same age, is an additional confirmation of the above observation.

The study of language is not a mere exer. cise of the memory, nor solely versant about words, as superficial observers imagine, but requires also the exercise of judgment and taste, and is calculated for the improvement of these faculties, perhaps in as high a degree as they are capable of receiving in early life. The knowledge of the very rules of construction depends on the knowledge of the sense of the authour, and as language is the expression of thought, the student is, in this manner, introduced to the knowledge of the operations of the human mind, and the manner in which it arranges and expresses its ideas. Hence Grammar is justly placed at the head of the liberal arts, and so far as it depends on fixed rules and principles, may be properly denominated a science.

The knowledge of different languages is not barely the giving different names to the same object, which would be of little moment, but as the mode of conception and expression in different languages, being that which constitutes their peculiar idiom, is extremely different, the study of languages enlarges our knowledge of the human mind, and acquaints us with the principles of universal grammar, which are of large extent and apply to every language, so that in studying a foreign tongue, we learn to understand our own. Quintilian accordingly in. forms us, that the Romans studied the Greek tongue before the Latin, and among us, those who have the best knowledge of foreign languages, are likewise the best judges of English. Some have said, indeed, that there have been men very learned in foreign languages, who were unacquainted with their own, but such learned men, if such there are, must have studied under bad masters, or have been very unsuccessful in their studies, as good masters would have taught them the difference of the idiom of the languages they studied from that of their own, to say nothing of the impossibility of understanding a foreign language without being able to render it properly and readily into our native tongue.

Indeed, something like an instance of the kind alleged may seem to be contained in what Mr. Bayle relates of the famous Budens. After acquainting us with his knowledge of the Latin tongue, evinced by the learned treatises he had composed in that language, he inserts a French letter of the same authour, which is so mean, heavy, and inferiour to any French compositions of the same age, as to satisfy us, that Budæus, at least, had forgot his native tongue, while he excelled in the knowledge of others. But as he began his studies late in life, studied in private, and had no master, nothing prejudicial to the doctrine we have advanced can be inferred from this particular instance.

Perhaps all the objections against a classical education are founded on the examples of those, who have never properly received such an education, but have only trifled away their youthful years in the places where others received it. The length of the time, which is sometimes required to attain it, may discourage many, who could not conceive an object deserving of so much study, and the little sense which the generality of youths have of its importance, prevents them from using that diligence and application, which is necessary to insure success, so that we need not wonder at their disappointment in a pursuit, which they could never be properly said to have begun.

Besides the knowledge of language, and the improvement of the faculties of the mind, acquired in the study of it, the attentive clas

i

sical scholar, by entering into the spirit of the authours he converses with, improves in reason and good sense, and the knowledge of men and inanners. It is ridiculous to pretend, as some have done, that the knowledge of the world is not to be acquired from books, but by actual conversation with men of various ranks and characters. This notion, however fashionable, is entirely contrary to truth. Nothing can be derived from the most extensive experience and acquaintance with men, which cannot be communicated by writing in a much more brief and easy manner. The wise men of antiquity have actually left us the fruit of their long experience, so that we may acquire in a few days or hours, all the wisdom and knowledge of mankind that cost them all their lives in acquiring. The experience of the most of men must be confined to their own country and their own age; whereas, in books, we can converse with the most eminent men of all ages and countries with little trouble, expense, or danger. If a student employ his time well, and exercise his faculties properly, he may attain to much more knowledge of the world, both of men and things, than could be attained by the most extensive and intelligent traveller in real life. Nay, his knowledge must as far excel that of the traveller, in every sense, as that of Ulysses, who had visited the cities and known the manners of many nations, cxcelled the knowledge of Telemachus, who had conversed only with his own mother and his family.

Perhaps a defect of imagination and exact attention is the chief reason why many students get so little knowledge from so extensive opportunities as a classical education affords. They do not consider what they are doing, or what sort of people they are conversing with, in the authours they pretend to study. They do not figure to their minds the scenes in which these great men acted, their situation and rank in life, the difficulties they had to encounter, the character and maxims of the ages in which they lived, the state of knowledge in their times, and the difficulty of attaining and preserving it the education they had received, theirnotions of excellence; and the models on which they endeavoured to form themselves. And it is evident, the unless we consider these things, we can ne ther judge of the strength of their faculties the propriety of their sentiments, nor the su cess of their study and application. The difficulties which some find in understanding their language, render them inattentive to the justness and dignity of their sentiments, the propriety of their expressions, and the strength and elevation of their minds. It is no wonder that students should contract no dignity of thought and expression, no gene. rous ambition, or love of excellence from the conversation of the greatest men of antiqui