the Cases from the beginning of Easter Term, 1802, to the end of Easter term, 1804. By John Schoales, and Thomas Lefroy, Esq. Barristers at Law. New York, I. Riley. 1808.

The Duke of York's Trial, with Memoirs of Mrs. Clark. Boston; J. Belcher. 8vo. pp. 371.

Manifesto of the Spanish Nation to Europe, dated at the Royal Palace of Alcazar, Seville, January 1, 1809. New-York; E. Sargeant.

The Life of Petrarch, collected from Memoires pour la vie de Petrarch, by Mrs. Dobson. The first American, from the seventh London edition. Embellished with two engravings. Boston; Farrand, Mallory, and Co. 1809. Considerations on the Nature and Efficacy of the Lord's Supper, by the Rev. Vicesimus Knox. To which are added, Prayers composed and used by Samuel Johnson, LL. D. New York, J. Shedden, 1809.

Calebs in Search of a Wife, &c. 2 vols. 12mo. New York; T. & J. Swords.

WORKS PROPOSED.

T. B. Wait and Co. Boston, have in the press, The Works of Mrs. Chapone: now first collected. Containing, I. Letters on the improvement of the mind. II. Miscellanies. III. Correspondence with Mr. Richardson. IV. Letters to Mrs. Carter. V. Fugitive pieces. To which is prefixed, An account of her Life and Character, drawn up by her own Family. In 4 vols. T. B. Wait, & Co. Boston, have in the press, remarks on the Brunonian System, by James Jackson, A. A S. and M. M. S.

T. B. Wait & Co. Boston, have in the press, Rules and Regulations for the Field Exercise and Manoeuvres of the French Infantry, issued August 1, 1791. Abrigded. And all the manoeuvres added, which have been since adopted by the emperour Napolean. In two volumes. The second volume to consist of thirty-six plates.

T. B. Wait & Co. Boston, have in the press, Lectures on Systematick Theology and Pulpit Eloquence. By the late George Campbell, D.D. F.R.S. Ed. Principal of Marischal college, Aberdeen.

In the press, and shortly will be published, by William Wells, Court street; Hugo Grotius De Veritate Religionis Christianae, cum notulis Joannis Clerici. Accesserunt ejusdem "De Eligenda inter Christianos dissentientes sententia"; et "Contra Indifferentiam Religionum." Libri Duo. Ab editione optima et novissima.

William Hilliard, of Cambridge, proposes to publish by subscription, in 2 vols. 8vo. a Course of Lectures on Rhetorick and Oratory, delivered to the two Senior Classes in Harvard College. By J. Q. Adams, Esq. Subscriptions received by William Wells, Court Street.

Essays on the most important subjects in religion. By Thomas Scott, author of the Commentary on the Bible. One volume, 12mo.

A. Finley, Philadelphia, proposes republishing a History of the Apostles and Evangelists, writers of the New Testament. By Nathaniel Lardner, D. D.

E. & E. Hosmer, Albany, propose by subscription, a work entitled the Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing; containing a general statement of all things pertaining to the faith and practice of the Church of God in this latter day. Published by order of the Ministry in union with the church.

John Morgan, and Thomas S. Manning, Philadelphia, propose republishing Dr. Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, in 2 vols. quarto, into which will be introduced Mason's Supplement, and Walker's Pronunciation. Mathias James O'Conway, Philadelphia, proposes to publish by subscription, a Practical Anglo Spanish Grammar, wherein will be exhibited the whole variety of Spanish Construction, illustrated with copious examples, consisting of familiar and commercial phrases.

Hopkins and Earle, Philadelphia, propose to publish immediately Helps to Composition, or Skeletons of Sermons. By the Rev. Charles Simeon, M A. in 5 vols. 8vo.

THE MONTHLY ANTHOLOGY.

FOR

SEPTEMBER, 1809.

FOR THE ANTHOLOGY.

ON THE

DANGERS AND DUTIES OF MEN OF LETTERS;

AN ADDRESS, PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF

Ф В К,

ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 31st, 1809.

BY J. S. BUCKMINSTER.

PRINTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY.

Ir is not without reluctance, my friends, that I appear before you this morning; not because I feel any distrust of your candour, but because I find it so difficult to offer you any thing, which shall be worthy of your candour. The orator, on this occasion, as he has no definite object, is not restrained in the choice of his topicks.. This appears indeed to be a privilege; but others, I doubt not, as well as myself, have found themselves embarrassed by the liberty of choosing without direction, and their spirits exhausted by indecision before the thoughts were fixed, as they were at last, by necessity.

When I look round, however, on those whom I am called to address, and find them to be men with whom learning is at least in esteem; men too, whose mutual friendships, as they commenced on classick ground, will always preserve, I trust, something of the raciness of their origin, I should think myself unfaithful to this occasion, and to the character of the audience, if I were to choose any other subject, than that which is common to us as scholars. For, however different our professions, opposite our connections, wide our opinions, or uncertain our destinies in life, in this we agree, that letters have been our study, perhaps our delight. By these we are to live'; and by these too, si qua fata aspera sinant! we are to be remembered. In your company, then, I have no inclination to stray beyond the gardens

of the academy, or within the noise of the city and the forum. Is there a man who now hears me, who would not rather be-long to an enlightened and virtuous community, than to the mightiest empire of the world distinguished only by its vastness? If there is, let him cast his eye along the records of states. What do we now know of the vast unlettered empires of the east? The far extended conquests of the Assyrian hardly detain us a moment in the annals of the world, while the little state of Athens will forever be the delight of the historian and the pride of letters; preserving by the genius of her writers the only remembrance of the barbarian powers which overwhelmed her. To come down to our own times; who would not rather have been a citizen of the free and polished republick of Geneva, than to wander a prince in the vast dominions of the Czar, or bask in the beams of the present emperour of a desolated conti

nent.

In the usual course of national aggrandizement, it is almost certain, that those of you, who shall attain to old age, will find yourselves the citizens of an empire unparalleled in extent; but is it probable, that you will have the honour of belonging to a nation of men of letters? The review of our past literary progress does not authorize very lofty expectations, neither does it leave us entirely without hope.

It is our lot to have been born in an age of tremendous revolution; and the world is yet covered with the wrecks of its ancient glory, especially of its literary renown. The fury of that storm, which rose in France, is passed and spent, but its effects have been felt through the whole system of liberal education. The foul spirit of innovation and sophistry has been seen wandering in the very groves of the Lyceum, and is not yet completely exorcised, though the spell is broken. When we look back to the records of our learning before the American revolution, we find, or think we find, (at least in New England) more accomplished scholars than we have since produced; men, who conversed more familiarly than their children with the mighty dead; men, who felt more than we do the charm of classical accomplishments; men, in short, who had not learned to be ashamed of being often found drinking at the wells of antiquity*. But so greatly have our habits of thinking been disturbed by the revolutions of the last thirty years, that the progress of our education, and, of course, the character of our learning have not a little suffered. It is true, we have shared the detriment with Europe; but the effect upon us, though perhaps

* Ch. Justice Pratt, Jas. Otis, Prof. Sewall, Bowdoin, Winthrop, Chauncy, perhaps from the natural effect of distance, appear to us to have been eminent scholars. Whether in New England we have since produced their superiours, docti judicent. There are now living a few men, who were educated before the revolution, whom we should be proud, though not perhaps at liberty, to name. We can only wish, that they may long animate us by their living example, rather than by their remembrance.

temporary, has been peculiarly extensive and unfortunate, because our government and our habits were in some degree unsettled.

In France † and in some other countries of Europe, what literature has lost seems to be compensated by the progress of

We have lately seen a discourse of M. Dacier, Secretaire perpetuel de la Classe d'Histoire & de Literature ancienne, de l'Institut, delivered 20th February, 1808, before the Emperour, on presenting a report of the progress of literature in France during the last twenty years. This class of the Institute, which comprises very nearly the same objects with the ancient Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, and to which its remaining members have been transferred, was charged by the Emperour with an enquiry into this subject, preparatory to some steps, which will be taken to revive these studies. The following extracts are made here; the first, because it gives a very accurate definition of the different objects and value of literature and of physical science; the others, because they contain the deliberate result of the inquiries of a body of men of letters on the present state of French learning.

"Si les sciences de calcul et d'observation ajoutent à nos jouissances physiques, et nous en font espérer de nouvelles pour l'avenir, les sciences morales exercent leur empire sur l'ame; elles l'éclairent, la dirigent, la soutiennent, l'élèvent ou la tempèrent; elles avancent ou conservent la civilisation; elles apprennent à l'homme à se connoître lui-même, et lui donnent dans tous les temps, dans tous les lieux, dans toutes les conditions, ce bonheur dont les autres sciences ne peuvent lui promettre que des moyens." Page 5.

"Votre Majesté verra que, malgré les troubles politiques qui ont agité la France, elle n'est, jusqu'à présent, restée en arrière dans aucune des branches de la littérature; mais c'est avec un sentiment pénible que nous sommes forcés de lui faire apercevoir que plusieurs sont menacées d'un anéantissement prochain et presque total. La philologie, qui est la base de toute bonne littérature, et sur laquelle reposent la certitude de l'histoire et la connoissance du passé, qui a répandu tant d'éclat sur l'Académie des belles-lettres que notre classe doit continuer, ne trouve presque plus personne pour la cultiver. Les savans dont les travaux fertilisent encore chaque jour son domaine, restes, pour la plupart, d'une génération qui va disparoître, ne voient croître autour d'eux qu'un trop petit nombre d'hommes qui puissent les remplacer; et cette lumière publique, propre à encourager et à juger leurs travaux, diminue sensiblement de clarté, et son foyer se rétrécit tous les jours de plus en plus. Faire connoître le mal à votre Majesté, c'est s'assurer que votre main puissante saura y appliquer le remède." Page 6, 7.

66

Cependant, en France, quelques hommes de lettres continuoient, dans le silence de la solitude, leurs études et leurs travaux ; et, dès que les circonstances l'ont permis, on a vu paroître dans les collections de l'Institut un assez grand nombre de notices de manuscrits et de mémoires relatifs à notre histoire du moyen âge et à la diplomatique. Le quatorzième volume du Recueil des historiens de France a été publié par les ordres et sous les auspices du Gouvernement; le quinzième s'imprime, ainsi que le quinzième volume du Recueil des ordonnances des rois de la troisième dynastie fran. coise. D'autres ouvrages du même genre, qui ont été interrompus, attendent encore, à la vérité, des continuateurs; et nous sommes obligés d'avouer, quoiqu'à regret, à votre Majesté, que nous ne pouvons espérer qu'ils en trouvent tous, à moins qu'un de vos regards puissans ne ranime ce genre d'études dans lequel la France s'est illustrée pendant plus de deux siècles, et qu'elle paroît aujourd'hui avoir presque entièrement abandonné.”~ Pages 13, 14.

science. In England the trunk of her national learning was so deeply rooted, that it has been swayed only, and not injured by this tempest of reform. It yet retains its vigour, and we doubt not will entirely recover its former direction. But here, the French revolution, immediately succeeding our own, found the minds of men in an unsettled state, and, as you may well imagine, did not help to compose them. Our forms of education were becoming more popular and superficial; the knowledge of antiquity began to be despised; and the hard labour of learning to be dispensed with. Soon the ancient strictness of discipline disappeared; the curriculum of studies was shortened in favour of the impatience or the necessities of candidates for literary honours; the pains of application were derided, and a pernicious notion of equality was introduced, which has not only tainted our sentiments, but impaired our vigour, and crippled our literary eminence.

This secret influence of publick opinion, though not easily described, has been felt and lamented by many of us who were educated in the present generation. We have many steps to recover; and before we shall travel in the suite of the learned in the old world, we have some long strides to make. Our poets and historians, our criticks and orators, * the men of whom posterity are to stand in awe and be instructed are yet to appear among us. The men of letters who are to direct our taste, mould our genius, and inspire our emulation; the men, in fact, whose writings are to be the depositories of our national greatness, have not yet shown themselves to the world. But if we are not mistaken in the signs of the times, the genius of our literature begins to show symptoms of vigour, and to meditate a bolder flight; and the generation which is to succeed us will be formed on better models, and leave a brighter track. The spirit of criticism begins to plume itself, and education, as it assumes a more learned form, will take a higher aim. If we are not misled by our hopes, the dream of ignorance is at least disturbed; and there are signs that the period is approaching, in which it will be said of our own country, tuus jam regnat Apollo.

You then, my friends, are destined, I hope, to witness the dawn of our Augustan age, and to contribute to its glory. Whatever may be your place in society, I am confident you will not willingly discard the love of virtue and of knowledge; and it is with this confidence, that I shall now venture to speak to you of some of THE DANGERS AND DUTIES OF MEN OF LETTERS. The subject is copious; and what will now be offered is a mere

*That we have had poets, criticks, and historians, is not denied. Belknap and Minot have furnished us good specimens, and Dr. Holmes valuable materials, for which our future historians will give them credit and thanks. All that is meant here is, that we have not yet produced standards, or models in these departments of literature. We have also now among us men, who want nothing but the discipline of a more thorough education, to be consummate orators, worthy of any age or nation.