PREFACE. The following Idea of a Seminary of Learning, adapted to the circumstances of a young colony, was drawn up and published, at the desire of some gentlemen of NewYork, who were appointed to receive proposals relative to the establishment of a College in that province; and as it contains a pretty exact representation of what the author is now endeavouring to realize in the Seminary over which he has the honour to preside in another colony, he thought that it might be no improper introduction to the subsequent account of that Seminary. In a performance written in so early a period of life, and designedly offered as a plan for improvement, the reader will not look for perfection. In this edition, however,.some redundancies are retrenched, and some faults corrected, into which, want of experience, hasty publication, and too easy assent, had drawn the author. PROLOGUE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN SPOKEN AT THE OPENING OF THE COLLEGE OF MIRANIA. IT comes! it comes! the promis'd æra comes! Hark! the glad Muses strike the warbling string, And in melodious accents, thus they sing "Woods, Brooks, Gales, Fountains, long unknown to Faine, 'Tis done-woods, brooks, gales, fountains, all obey; And say, with general voice, or seem to say"Hail Heaven-descended, holy Science hail! Thrice welcome to these shores; here ever dwell With shade and silence, far from dire alarms, The trumpet's horrid clang and din of arms; Each sunny lawn and sylvan sweet retreat, Each flower verg'd stream, each amber-dropping grove, VOL. I. 4 Y Where youthful nature with stupendous scenes, Smit deep, I antedate the golden days, O'er worlds and worlds, and reach th' eternal King! With purest ardour for celestial song, Hark! other Homers, Virgils touch the string, And other Popes and Miltons, joyous, sing; Lo! the wild Indian, soften'd by their song, Oh! Science! onward thus thy reign extend Rocks, mountains, floods, before thee shall give way ; |