sources whence it flows, and which may easily be pointed out, have long existed. And since the same causes are, as we shall see, ever exerting a powerful influence, it is incumbent on the friends. of sound learning to be equally unceasing in their endeavors to prevent the threatened disunion of Letters from Science; and that undue preference which the latter is seeking to usurp. There are, indeed, some points of view from which this subject has been less examined, and which, belonging as they do more especially to our own country and to the state of society among ourselves, may possess for us a greater interest, as well as some share of novelty. To these features of it I shall hereafter call your notice. For the present my intention is to point out the natural connexion that subsists between science and letters, and attempt a vindication of those literary pursuits, which seem to be every where falling into comparative neglect. And here let me premise, that, disregarding just now more accurate distinctions, I would by the term science be understood to mean physica science, or a knowledge of the material world. and of the secondary laws which govern it; and that by letters I intend studies which have no immediate reference to matter; such, for example, as grammar and criticism, poetry and eloquence, civil history, the philosophy of mind, and especially the language and literature of ancient Greece; as well for that it is most perfect in its kind, as because it seems, nevertheless, at the present day to require all the support and countenance which its friends can give. Against these "studies of inglorious ease," there has existed from the earliest time a certain prejudice, which has assumed various shapes, and animated different controversies, in successive periods of the world. We find it amongst the ancient Greeks exciting a rivalry between music and gymnastics; under which two heads was comprehended all that belonged to a perfect education, or one in which both mind and body had received due culture— Music including whatever fell under the superintendence of the Muses: all the exercise and discipline of mind; Gymnastics training the body to activity and strength. Now we find there were among the Greeks themselves some of uncultivated minds disposed to give the active life an almost exclusive preference; and using nearly the same arguments that are employed in our day to decry studies of which the practical results are not at once perceived. That afterwards, among the Romans, a far less intellectual and polished people, Cicero should have found it necessary to |