a dictionary and many a map; he must become ac with the early settlements of the little States that Asia Minor, that filled the Archipelago and the cont Greece; he must learn the origin and the progress of the Tyrian migrations to the coast of Africa, and mu that you will easily recollect. But in the midst research, he is allured to persevere by the sweet w of the poet whose full meaning he desires to comp It is thus that the years, which are said to be lost mere acquisition of an useless tongue, are employed in up treasures that may prove so valuable in after life it is thus that the mind, after having acquired this edge, can, without exertion, recall and preserve it relaxes from its laborious occupations, to enjoy the h of the Mantuan bard; just as when, with extrao labor, great research, and no inconsiderable expendi fine cabinet of science has been collected from the regions of the globe and the various kingdoms of kno the exertions and the study for its arrangement are fat but it subsequently is the source for enriching the with intellectual wealth, easily acquired, the occasi refreshing, for the memory, that which would have away, and an agreeable and entertaining retreat in the of necessary relaxation.

Persuaded that a principal obstacle to making the edge of the classics subserve the great object of po recreation, is to be found in the imperfection of the re I shall illustrate, by a passage from one of the great m of criticism the position I have taken respecting the ne of deep study in our early life, to render those books d ful in after days:

"You, then, whose judgment the right course would ste
Know well each ancient's proper character;

His fable, subject, scope in every page;
Religion, country, genius of his age;
Without all these at once before your eyes,

Cavil you may, but never criticise."

You will then perceive, that, not only mere history, such as I have alluded to, is required to be well known as a preliminary to understanding those authors, but history of another description, and respecting which there is much less accurate information, even amongst men of literary reputation, than is generally suspected. The mythology or history of their ancient religious systems is far more necessary to be known by him who would become acquainted with the writers of those early times, than is a knowledge of the Christian religion for the person who would know the scope and meaning of the philosophical or scientific writers of our own age and nation; because their religion entered more extensively into the writings of all classes amongst them, than does ours into the compositions of our mere secular authors. Perhaps I shall be thought at least rash for the assertion that this field is very little examined into, but I could easily sustain my position, first, because the value of mythology is greatly underrated; next, because, when a mere vague general notion of its nature is formed, it is thought to be sufficiently known; and thirdly, because many persons, through an affectation of contempt for its puerility and folly, regard its study as at least a great waste of time. I shall only say that some of the finest passages of the poets and philosophers are scarcely intelligible to those who do not trace mythological history, from the first aberrations of the human mind in the ancient nations, through all their varied forms of worshiping the host of heaven instead of its Creator; of paying the highest homage to genii, to angels, and to demons, whilst they denied it to the God who made them; of beholding the universal soul spread through the whole visible world and manifesting itself in the fire of Persia; in the waters of Egypt, entering into its oxen and its leeks; found in the rude stone of the Scythian equally as in the Bactrian torrent, the Druid's oak, or the African sun. Nor is it for the classics alone. this research is necessary; its results elucidate the pages of the Old Testament; and the reveries of Manes and the

imaginings of Plato must be known in order to c hend the inspired passages of St. Paul and St. John I touch upon a topic from which I have determin abstain. It will suffice for me. to say that an ex and precise acquaintance with mythology is required classical scholar, and that, to obtain it, he must g a multitude of facts. By means of the knowledg obtained, he will find little difficulty in understandin toms that would be otherwise inexplicable or obscure histories of Saturn, of Jupiter, and of the other dei they are styled, are of a later date, and their ch brings them nearer to the period of a more deg worship. To obtain this mythological knowledge r that the student should traverse all the known regi the ancient world, that his search should be co through many centuries, that he should be the assoc the philosopher, the companion of the monarch, the of of the priest; that he should go into the camp W soldier, be seated in the hall of legislation, mingl the shepherds as they tend their flocks or rehearse lays. He must go down with the mariner upon the observe the courses of the stars, learn their influenc only upon the regions of Eolus, but upon the destin With the augur he must study the habits birds, by the soothsayer he will be taught the a ment and the anatomy of beasts, and in company wi Pythoness he must be filled with the inspirations of 1 Think you that, if the study of man be useful, thi criminal waste of time?

men.

There is, in the palace of the Vatican at Rome, corridor, well known to to the visitors of that magi depository of arts and of literature. As you enter, your right hand, the wall is lined from the floor ceiling with fragments of marble, containing the rud the improved inscriptions of Italy, in the days of he ism. An immense vista opens before you, and extremity this monumental partition continues; the

of gods, the fragments of idols, the busts of heroes, the figures of philosophers, the statues of emperors, sarcophagi, and pedestals range along its base; and the learned, the curious, the powerful, and the beautiful, the unbeliever and the pious, the gay and the grave, the libertine and the pilgrim, the British peer, the Spanish grandee, the American citizen, the Oriental sage, and the Italian peasant, in all the varied costumes of rank, of nation, of taste, and of caprice, move along the hall, reading the history of other days, and admiring the works of artists who, for multiplied centuries, have been insensible to censure or to praise. There you may detect their living forms, gliding between stern warriors frowning in marble, amidst petrified consuls and gladiators, blended with matrons, nymphs, and satyrs. One of the fathers of the Church has appropriately remarked that any one possessing eyes may look upon the characters of an illuminated volume, and admire the richness of the tints, the beauty of the letters, the decorations of the vellum; but, had he been taught to read, how much more information would he gather from the document itself! how much more valuable would it be in his estimation! So, to the scholar, how rich is the mine of knowledge which that corridor contains! and are not his authors and his recollections like that corridor, to him who has become familiar with their contents?

On your left, as you enter, monuments of another language are presented to your view. The walls are covered, but the devices are not the same; the emblems are occasionally varied. One monogram, however, in those of the earliest epoch, seems to pervade; the fish is sculptured upon the greater number; the dove with the small sprig of olive in its bill is there; a palm-branch, tinted with red, distinguishes not a few; an ark, borne upon the waters, surmounted by an arch, is discernible amongst them; the word PAX is nearly universal. The archæologist recognizes the symbolic language of early Christendom; and the busts