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What then should

the teachers of literary taste, and their productions the foundation of a common literary education. be the foundation of literary education? Grecian and Roman classics. Not that the present modes of instruction need no change. Far from it. The true in

We answer, The

tellectual cultivation, which belongs to a mind deeply imbued with classical learning, and which has been splendidly exhibited by a countless host of the great scholars of Europe, will never be duly appreciated among us until the thorough, extensive, philosophical mastery of the polished literatures of antiquity, so common in the venerable abodes of learning across the Atlantic, shall be rivalled by the younger worshippers of the Muses in these American states.

Our reasons for choosing the Greek and Roman classics, as text-books in literature, may be summed up in a few distinct propositions.

1. The study of Greek and Latin, merely as languages, affords discipline admirably adapted to the youthful mind. It requires the constant exercise of acuteness, discrimination, comparison, and the reasoning power. And this is true to a much greater extent of the ancient than of the modern tongues, by reason of the superiority of the former over the latter, in the thorough display of the principles of grammar and rhetoric.

2. The Greek and Latin languages are, in a great measure, the basis of our own. Our own language ought to be made one of the most important objects in a scheme of education. To understand it thoroughly, an etymological knowledge of Greek and Latin are essential.

3. Classical literature is intimately interwoven with English literature. We do not allude to an influence like that of the doctrine of the Unities on the French drama ; but the general influence of classical cultivation upon the noble productions of English intellect. The fine thoughts of antiquity, like threads of gold, run along the web of our literature, and cannot be separated from it, without destroying the beauty of the texture. But every scholar ought to understand the literature embodied in his own native tongue, and this cannot be without a knowledge of Greek and Latin.

4. The excellences of ancient literature, in a merely literary view, justify our conclusion. The best works of the Greeks

and Romans have come down to us, while their second and third rate writings have perished. This is true as a general rule, though there are some exceptions. The character of these works is established by the consenting voices of many generations, and is obvious to every man who will study them with an impartial mind. They present, therefore, a means of literary culture not subject to the fluctuations of modern

taste.

5. The Grecian and Roman intellect was placed in circumstances sufficiently like our own, to instruct us in the general operations of the human mind; and sufficiently different, to open a curious and interesting page in intellectual history; a page, which we are able distinctly to comprehend; while the case is widely different in regard to Jewish literature.

6. The practical use to which many portions of ancient literature, as the oratory, for example, may be put, in preparing the mind for the duties of professional or public life, we consider a mighty argument in their favor. The proposition, that an intimate acquaintance with the minds of such men as Demosthenes and Cicero, together with a knowledge of the steps by which they attained such an intellectual superiority over their respective contemporaries, is profitable to him who aims at usefulness and distinction at the bar or in the councils of his country, needs no more than a naked statement to be at once acknowledged.

We have neither time nor space to carry these propositions into all their details, nor do we think it necessary. Every well read scholar will be able, from his own experience and memory, to substantiate them. These propositions are far from exhausting the subject, but we believe they comprehend the most important points in the argument for classical learning.

A truly philosophical education is that which unfolds the moral and intellectual powers with the nearest approach to perfection. Intellect, with no moral principle to control it, is a worse than worthless thing. It endangers not only the happiness of its possessor, but spreads, with a fatal frequency, desolation and misery wherever it turns its blighting and withering step. Look at the splendid, but dreary ruins, in which Byron and Shelley, and other members of that false but fascinating school, have left their names recorded;

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and let the melancholy prospect serve as a memento, never to be forgotten, of the insufficiency of genius, however brilliant, however capable of glancing from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,' for happiness, for usefulness, for peace, without the strong, the unfailing support of moral and religious principle. A true system of education is that which unfolds the moral and intellectual powers, with the nearest approach to perfection.' It teaches, in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel, the paramount duty of following the dictates of conscience, at the peril of losses, imprisonment, and death itself; in opposition to the bribes of pleasure, the seductions of the world, the fascinations of temporary but perishing renown. It teaches, in accordance with the spirit of classic poetry, to recognise the Sentiment of Beauty,' implanted by nature in the human soul, in all its countless and Protean forms; whether it'stand confessed' in the mild and majestic repose of the productions of antiquity, or burst out with surpassing splendor in the creations of modern genius.

ART. V.-1. The Young Reader; to go with the Spelling Book. By JOHN PIERPONT. Boston. Richardson, Lord, & Holbrook. 1830. 18mo. pp. 162.

2. Peter Parley's Tales about the Sun, Moon, and Stars. With numerous Engravings. Boston. Gray & Bowen, and Carter & Hendee. 1831. 18mo. pp. 116. 3. Tales of Travels, West of the Missisippi. By SOLOMON BELL, Late Keeper of the Traveller's Library, Province-House Court, Boston. With a Map, and numerous Engravings. Boston. Gray & Bowen. 1830. 18mo. Pp. 162.

4. Cousin Elizabeth. By the Author of A Visit to the Sea-side.' Boston. Leonard C. Bowles. 1830. 18mo. pp. 210.

5. The Children's Robinson Crusoe; or the Remarkable Adventures of an Englishman, who lived Five Years on an unknown and uninhabited Island of the Pacific Ocean. By A LADY. Boston. Hilliard, Gray, Little, & Wilkins. 1831. 12mo. pp. 367.

6. The Little Girl's Own Book. By MRS. CHILD. BOSton. Carter, Hendee, & Babcock. 1831. pp. 263.

HERE is a tolerably long list of children's books, published in one city, within a month or two of each other, and yet it by no means comprises all which have appeared in Boston at about the same season, the stirring season of Christmas and New Year. Nor do we mean to say, that the books which we have named, are the only good ones of this large and recent family. We have selected them from the mass, principally because they are in our possession, lying before us on our table. Being certainly among the best, however, we intend to give each one of them a separate place in this article, and record briefly our opinion of its merits.

We shall not stay to institute any long discussion concerning the causes, which have brought such a little troop among us, because we conceive that they are apparent enough, and may be stated in a few sentences. In the first place, there are a great many children to be instructed and entertained. Secondly, there are a great many parents, who are desirous that their children should be well instructed, and rationally and innocently entertained. Thirdly, there are a great many teachers, who have divers systems, notions, and tastes regarding education and books. And fourthly, there are a great many writers, among whom are able ones, who are interested in the subject of juvenile instruction, and who are ready to devote much of their time to the improvement of the rising generation. And thus it comes, that there are a great many books for children, and that the number is constantly increasing. For ourselves, we regard the operation of these causes with so much complacency; we are so well pleased that children should read, and that so much industry should be maintained, and so much talent employed in the work of supplying them with matter for reading, that we confess ourselves not at all alarmed at the numbers of juvenile books, which every where solicit attention. Nevertheless, we would pot cease to warn parents, and others to whom the guardianship of youth is in any way entrusted, to be careful in their selection of books, and not to run into the error of confusing young minds with an indiscriminate variety and rapid succession of objects, and creating a diseased appetite for novelty, which may never be cured.

And now, asking their pardon, we turn to our friends whom we have left waiting above.

1. THE YOUNG READER presents himself first, and meets with our hearty welcome. This excellent little school-book is prepared by a gentleman, who has already furnished the higher forms of our schools with Readers, which have deservedly obtained an uncommon share of public favor. It appears to us to answer its purpose completely, as a companion to the spelling-book, though it should not be put into the hands of children who are younger than about five years of age. There are little books in existence, composed chiefly of words of one syllable, which are calculated to interest children who are just out of their alphabet. The prettiest of these which we have seen, is called 'Mamma's Lessons,' of which an American edition was lately republished in Salem. But for children from five, or thereabouts, to seven, or perhaps even eight years of age, the Young Reader is the best reader we are acquainted with. The pieces contained in it are various in their topics, simple in their language, engaging in their matter and manner, and conveniently broken up into short paragraphs. The book is calculated to take children, of the ages we have mentioned, by the hand, and lead them along the path of learning by a sweet and easy manuduction.'

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The following prayers in verse, for evening and morning, written, as we understand, by the compiler of the volume, are beautiful.

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