who had supposed him not sufficiently attentive and industrious in his studies. MARCH 10, 1816. * Your first request is, that I would devote more time to my studies. Now the fact is, that I study much more than you may imagine; not so much in time as in degree. My mind has become, by habit, accustomed to the most intense application while it is employed, and I can study more in one hour, than a person whose mind has not been thus disciplined, can study in three. While in study, I can totally abstract myself from every concern, and upon this abstraction, depends almost entirely the impression that is left on the mind. This is philosophically explanatory why no longer portion of my time is devoted to study. Another reason is, that my health will not permit long application. After studying intensely for one or two hours, my head is sensibly affected, and I am obliged to walk for the purpose of carrying off all unpleasant sensations. Notwithstanding the infirmities of his health, his rank as a scholar while in college, was highly respectable. His quickness of mind, and liveliness and originality of conception, gave him great advantage in classical and literary studies, though manifestly not of the same advantage in the more severe class of his college pursuits. His talents for original composition was quite unusual for a youth of his age. Some of the productions of his pen during this period of his life, would not be discreditable to writers much his seniors. Many of his college exercises have been preserved, and it is highly interesting to trace through them the same characteristics. in style and thought, which distinguished the valu able productions of his later life. There is the same view of delicate humour and wit, the same exhibition of cheerfulness and liveliness of temper, which have always marked even his graver writings, and which, while they add a peculiar charm to all his compositions, form an attribute so distinguishing, that his works would be easily recognized by one familiar with his style, without the addition of his name. In looking over several of his early compositions, many of which were prepared for public literary exhibitions, we have selected the following as a fair and interesting specimen of his powers in this department at this period of his life. The reader will see through the whole of this composition, which was prepared for a public discussion before a literary society, the peculiar style of the author. And it is inserted here, not from any special worth in itself, but as a specimen of his power of composition in youth, and an exhibition of the gradual formation and development of his mind for future efficiency and usefulness. On the question, Whether it would be expedient to extend the benefits of a liberal education to the female sex? It has devolved upon me, in the prosecution of this discussion, to present to my auditors a summary of the arguments which have been adduced in support of both sides of the question, and to pronounce that decision which seems most consistent with reason. And here, in the name of myself and copartners, let me be permitted to request, that whatever imperfections are perceived, may be covered with the mantle of charity, and that the eye of candour and benevolence alone be directed towards our youthful, our humble endeavours. The question, "Whether the benefits of a liberal education should be extended to the female sex?" has been ably discussed by my worthy predecessors. It only remains for me to make some remarks on the general scope of their reasoning, and to see, by close examination, in whose favour the decision is to be given. Let every possible degree of praise then, in the first place, be ascribed to the gentleman affirmant, who has so nobly, so eloquently defended the cause of female education against the assaults of its enemies, and who has endeavoured to place the female character on that exalted station to which it is deservedly entitled. Animated by the enthusiasm of the subject, he has seemed to soar into the regions of imagination: for, alas! I fear so exalted an estimate of female excellence as his, will scarcely be realized in this lower world. Let none feel inclined to smile at the honest warmth he has displayed, for it speaks his heart deeply interested in the success of the cause he is advocating. Doubtless, like another Calebs, he too is in search of his Lucilla; and let no fair one present, dare to hope for his favour, unless she is conscious she possesses all those qualifications which he has thought fit to enumerate in the following emphatic language of the poet Hear, ye fair daughters of this happy land, Whose radiant eyes a vanquish'd world command; Virtue is beauty; but when charms of mind, With elegance of outward form are join'd; When youth makes such bright objects still more bright, And fortune sets them in the strongest light, "Tis all of heav'n that we below may view, And all but adoration, is your due. The affirmant begins the discussion of the question by a consideration of the dignity and importance of education as a general principle, and without reference to either sex in particular. The truth of this proposition, which he has taken considerable pains to enforce, is universally admitted, and therefore needs no comment. He next proceeds to answer the objection, that "women are naturally incapable of obtaining a liberal education,”—an objection which, as the opponent very justly observes, no one in their sober senses ever thought of advancing. To establish his proposition, however, the affirmant brings forward several examples of illustrious women; and it must be confessed, that he has been most miserably unfortunate in his selection. Sappho and Madam Dacier appear first on his list; the one a mad poetess, who drowned herself to get rid of her misfortunes; the other as notorious and disgusting a pedant as ever made pretensions to literature. Next advance the worthy Queens, Elizabeth and Anne, and the Tzarina Catherine, three very renowned personages, it must be confessed, as queens, but not exceedingly remarkable for depth or originality of thought, or for the great extent of their acquirements. How much more nobly would his catalogue have been swelled, how much more forcible would his argument have appeared to us, had he substituted in the place of these, the names of a Smith, a Carter, a Hamilton or a More! These are names which will be pronounced with reverence, when those of Sappho, of Elizabeth, of Catharine, shall have perished in the ocean of oblivion. These are names which will always be honoured by every lover of virtue; every enthusiast of female excellence; every admirer of genuine and unaffected piety; and their writings will stand for ages as monuments of the female mind, emerging from the obscurity with which ignorance and prejudice had surrounded it, and displaying to the world illustrious examples of the benefit, the exalted benefit of female education. To such women as these we look with admiration. They have dared to stem the torrent of prejudice; to burst the shackles of ignorance; to rise superior to the generality of their sex, and to give them an example of what they can, of what they ought to perform. They have taught, by their example, more powerful than precept, that the dig nity, the attraction of the female character, does not consist in the gaudy glitter of an outward appearance, or in the vain display of costly and external accomplishments. They have taught; nay, they have verified the assertion of the poet Mind, mind alone, bear witness, earth and heav'n, The living fountain in itself contains, Of beauteous and sublime-here hand in hand, The next argument of the affirmant, and upon which he lays, very justly, a considerable degree of stress, is, that women should have the best possible education, because to them is committed the task of instilling into the minds of children the first rudiments of knowledge. They are to stamp on the pliant wax impressions which can never afterwards be totally erased. How infinitely important is it, then, that they be fitted to give to these impressions a character of beauty, of usefulness, of knowledge, and of virtue ! The affirmant next proceeds to make a comparison between the learning of some of the females of ancient days, and that which is possessed by the generality of females now; and by some roundabout manner of reasoning, is led to conclude, that Aspasia must have been a lady of wonderful literary acquirements, because Socrates, the wisest and best of philosophers, studied rhetoric and politics under her tuition. It would certainly have been better for the wise Socrates if he had learned a little of that cunning and prudence for which that lady was more especially remarkable. And here, though it is wandering a little from the subject, I must be permitted to remark, that Socrates, however he might have been influenced by accomplishments in the choice of tutoress, was not so in the choice of his wife, who, by all accounts, was a mere vixen, and famous for nothing so much as her skill in scolding; and every disciple of this lady is universally and honourably denominated a Xantippe. The only reasonable solution which the |