may tend to give the young mind a habit of thinking with depth and precision. As a severe discipline it may be advantageous. Many a manœuvre is taught the soldier in his course of preparation for war, which will seldom be useful in the field of battle.

All those however who have little opportunity of being actively serviceable to others have an unquestionable right to seek amusement in abstruse speculation, or in any other pastime which is innocent. They may puzzle themselves for diversion even in metaphysics. But if, in the course of their inquiries, they should fall upon a wonderful discovery, which, when divulged, would disturb the happy ignorance of mankind, let them for once be selfish, enjoy it in private, and withhold it from the community.

No. CXLI.

On Latin Verse as an Exercise at Schools.

No part of classical education has been more gene rally censured, and more firmly adhered to, than that of exercising boys in the composition of Latin pre try. The trite remark, that a poet is born, and act formed by discipline, has been urged against at has also been alleged, that the time bestowed on a would be more advantageously spent in the study of things, and in acquiring a right method of express ing our sentimen Ah, say th Engli

be learning a thousand useful things; what is it but extreme imprudence, countenanced indeed by general practice, but nevertheless both culpable and truly ridiculous?

They allow, however, that the custom is general, and of long duration. Surely then that degree of respect is due to the general opinion of mankind, and to the wisdom of our predecessors, which leads us to presume that there must have been some benefit perceived by experience from an institution thus ancient and universal. And it is natural to consider, whether a few arguments may not be found in favour of a mode silently and uniformly pursued, amid the loud clamour every where raised against it.

The defenders of practices unjustly censured, often do an injury to their cause, by admitting none of the objections to be reasonable. We will then allow, that to learn to make Latin verse is to lose time, when the scholar is destined to spend his life in commercial or in mechanical employments. But, at the same time, we must insist on its utility to the man of independent fortune, to the divine, the lawyer, the physician, and perhaps to the accomplished mi commander.

To all these an acquaintance with the c will add an elegance, such as tends to co their characters as gentlemen as well as sc It is the finishing polish of education, and of on the mind, like dancing on the person, by adding a graceful habit. But there is no meth well calculated to infuse an intimate knowled an author, as to imitate and endeavour to excellences. To write Virgilian verse with gance, it is necessary to commit to memor phrase; to catch the very spirit of Virgil; to the varied pauses of his verses, the length

periods, the pecunar grace of his expressions; and to give the whole composition a majestic dignity. All these requisites to poetical composition in LAUN, can only be acum 973 trequent and attenuve perusal of the noe kantuan.

The first fros Cl genius producer T writers that adort our anténue were cu Latin verse. Muco, à dos great elegance. Lowes ILZE dison was much celebrate or s it. Prior began w

the great men whɔ mate schools, where it is mvda. during several years, one daily task; and thong distinguished in poetry, se able advantages from appear from the following re

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authority of his master, and a m
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forbidding aspect, he is not a

lects that he has already perio peared to him impracticable sary to accomplish what is tendency to give the mind ires A subject taken from a Casar or an ingenious remark, his leisure during the a taught that there that he must in

display, if he can, good sense, and Augustan wit, expressed in the most elegant versification. This tends to give a knowledge of things, at the same time that it renders it necessary to call to his assistance all his classical phraseology. He must revolve many ideas in his mind before this thought occurs. In this process he exercises the powers of judgment, of discrimination, of taste. He recollects all his reading, he reviews all he has seen and heard, he searches his books on similar topics, and at once improves what he has obtained, and makes new acquisitions.

He who has been conversant in great schools will have seen copies of verses written as the exercises of an evening, in which were displayed wit, humour, fine language, ingenious turns, harmonious verse, and very shrewd observations on men and things. Such were the Lusus Westmonasterienses; such were many in the Musæ Etonenses, and such are thousands that have never yet been offered to the public view. It is a known truth, that many of the boys, who were engaged in these useful sports of a fertile genius, afterwards became distinguished members of the literary or the political republic; and they owed much of that good reception which they met with in the world to the fame and merit of classical scholarship, acquired at their school.

Every liberal scholar desires to extend his views, and to be enabled to derive literary pleasure from all that is capable of affording it. If he has formed no taste for modern Latin poetry, he will be a stranger to many most pleasing productions. But he cannot have a just relish for them, unless he has a knowledge of prosody, and of their various metres; and of these he can seldom have a perfect knowledge, such a knowledge as will enable him to judge of their finer graces, without having composed Latin poetry as an exercise.

It is certain that none of the modern Latinists have equalled Virgil and Horace, and that the classical student can no where find entertainment so unmixed as in their original writings. But the daintiest fare that an Apicius ever invented ceased to please when constantly repeated. Nor can he be said to have an undistinguishing taste, or a coarse appetite, who seeks variety in the writing of the Virgilian Vida, and in the sweet strains of our own Vincent Bourne. There is often a happy union of the beauties that distinguish Ovid, Tibullus, and Martial, in the Carmina Quadragesimalia. Rapin, Vanier, Buchanan, and Browne, seem to have written Latin verse with an ease, which would almost lead to a supposition that Latin was their vernacular language. In miscellaneous publications of our own and other nations, the man of taste will find a multitude of poematia, which he may read with pleasure, and without danger of corrupting the purity of his style.

Merely as the means of enjoying a sweet and innocent pleasure in greater perfection, of filling up a leisure hour with an elegant amusement, the composition of Latin verse may be justly recommended to the affluent and the generous youth, who enjoys, and knows how to value a liberal education. Others, it must be owned, will be much better employed in learning their pence table.