ciples connected with the subjects upon which it is disciplined, are, of course, frequently of the highest utility and interest; but they are confined to a few classes of subjects, and those, for the most part, considered only in particular points of view. The field of study should be widened-the facts of history and the creations of genius, the phenomena of nature and society, and the thoughts of eminent men in different departments of literature, are necessary to the full expansion and liberal culture of the mind. There is not much danger of overburdening it, so long as it is kept nerved for strong exertion. Like the body, it will digest almost any thing, and any quantity too, so long as it is in vigorous action. Wrong ideas are sometimes entertained of its creative power; the true maxim in relation to it, is "ex nihilo nihil." Its fine tissues of thought are, indeed, spun out, like the spider's web, from its own bowels; but the spider can only spin the same thread over again, without a new supply of material; and the mind, if not constantly furnished with matter for new forms of thoughts, does but repeat itself. The effect, in mental exertion, is not always equal to the apparent cause. The man is sometimes excited to a degree that is absolutely painful; the nerves are strung to intensity; the sweat stands in big drops on the brow; and nothing is produced. A mill-stone will go without any thing in the hopper, and grow the hotter, and smoke the more for that very

reason.

In a course of academical study, there are two consequences of neglecting to read, which are particularly injurious. One of these is, that the mind acquires a habit of thinking only in leading-strings; of following where it is directed; a servile habit. It learns to think too much in one train; and acquires but little confidence in itself. The other danger is that of a sluggish, dreamy mode of thinking. As in regard to money, men generally spend all they get; so in regard to time, they rarely find too much for their purposes. What an hour would suffice for, if but an hour could be had, is spread out over a day, because we have a day to spread it over. The industrious student, who confines himself to a task, for which six hours only are necessary, easily occupies ten in it, and not only loses four hours, but contracts a habit of slow, heavy, sleepy thought, a habit of poring over a subject with asinine patience, from eve to morn, from morn to dewy eve. Such minds never flash and fuse as they pass along. They have not the character adapted to our times. The world does not wait for them.

Encourage young men, therefore, to fill up their time, to crowd life full of interesting subjects, that shall make an hour to look precious, and the loss of a day to be felt as a calamity. Say to them, Read-read almost any thing; but read. Any thing, not absolutely corrupt, is better than reverie-better than entire stagnation of mind. Utter cessation of ideas, indeed, never takes place. When books do not supply materials to youthful thought, they will be furnished from other and more degrading sources; when the divinity in man slumbers, the animal riots. The man that reads not, is necessarily vulgar, His thoughts and associations become gross. Intellectual, spiritual life is not spontaneous; it is fine fruit of careful and patient culture on an ungenial soil.

From these remarks it is not to be inferred that the choice of books is of small consequence, and I therefore remark, in the third place, that too much care can hardly be taken to confine the student, as much as possible, to original and wellprincipled authors. The nature of the case will not allow that this should be always done. Information must often be sought in writers whose philosophy we cannot approve, and whose talents we cannot respect. Errors must be examined, before they can be refuted; and faults must be seen, in order to be avoided.

When room for election is left, original authors will in general be found most satisfactory in all respects. Even when making no pretensions to novelty, they are most worthy of confidence, and most salutary as models of thought and composition. There is in them a compass of view, a depth and justness of reflection, a temperance and a strength of thought, not found in ordinary minds. A philosophy, a respect for general principles will be found to pervade them, which redeem a thousand minute blemishes. They not only teach us what to think, 29

VOL. X.

but how to think. One is surprised to find how little the herd of common writers add to his knowledge, after he has well studied one sterling author on the same subject; and still more surprised to find how little such an one appears to say, in comparison with what he helps us to see might be said-how much he suggests more than he expresses-how much he makes us think, without seeming to think for us.

As to moral principles, let a young man make no compromise; let him have no charity here. Errors of the head, and acts of passion may be pardoned; but the offence of a mind capable of instructing mankind, and actually employed in assailing or undermining the moral habits or institutions of society, should have no forgiveness. With authors of unchristian and immoral character it is not good, it is not safe to hold communion. What though their sophistry be shallow, and their errors manifest, their influence is scarcely the less pernicious. The moral sensibilities are too delicate for the contact of pollution. It is the familiarity of the mind with false views and vulgar scenes, that chiefly taints and corrupts it. It is not so much deluded as degraded. The presence of false ideas and foul pictures of life, of necessity excludes better and nobler ones; and the standard itself of purity falls as the heart grows worse. The unhappy subject of this moral degradation loses at once the sense of descent and his motives to return, and goes down with a constantly accelerated rapidity to the abyss of guilt. Young men should be well aware of the danger of habitual intercourse with authors of a mean ambition, or a gross imagination, or impure feelings. There is rarely any thing wholly just in argument, or faultless in taste, to be found in them as an atonement for their more unpardonable defects. The truly great men are apt to be good men.

Again; the student should read with reference, if possible, to some definite end.

His acquisitions are always most permanent and most useful when made in reference to particular objects. He then sees the bearing of things; and his ideas are connected by some common principle. The mind must have been already trained and disciplined, which is able to lay up every valuable thought, as it occurs in miscellaneous reading, and to recal it in its true connections. The youthful reader cannot do it. To read to most advantage he will do well to select particular passages of history, or particular subjects in literature or morals to be investigated, and to pursue them as far as he has opportunity. If he begin right, one author will suggest another, new interest will be created as he proceeds, new relations of the subject will present themselves, new principles will be developed, until, to his surprise, he finds a little library collected around him, and begins to feel an acquaintance with a whole class of authors, of whom before he had but indistinct, if any ideas.

For example, he proposes to investigate a period of English history, the Rebellion, perhaps. He begins with one of the general historians, with Hume, an apologist for prerogative in politics, and a jacobin in religion. From Hume he goes to Lingard, a monarchist and a Catholic, but a student; from Lingard to Clarendon, a partisan of the king and a churchman, but an honest man; from Clarendon to Neal, a puritan and a republican. In Burnet's Own Time, Hutchinson's Memoirs, and the Lives of Charles, of Cromwell, of Usher, Baxter, Taylor, and Milton, he seeks a more minute account of personal incidents and private character; and in the works of some of these great men, he studies the literary character and spirit of the time. Rapin and various historical collections furnish many of the original documents, and seem to carry him back to the very period of which he reads. Such a course is not, indeed, gone over in a day, but it is accomplished, by an industrious man, in no very long time. After the principal authors are carefully read, the rest are soon examined. Such a course, once thoroughly pursued, will be found to have enriched the mind of the student with facts of great interest to the lover of civil and religious liberty; facts that illustrate the constitution of England, and the origin of our own free institutions. It will have led him to some definite ideas of the nature of government, of the right and hazards of revolution, of the mutual action of civil and religious parties, and of the genius and the moral and social habits of the land of our fathers, in

one of the most active and instructive periods of her history. It will prepare him to read, more profitably, the records of preceding reigns, and to understand the principles, on which the subsequent prosperity and glory of the country are founded. In this way history is not merely read, but studied. Not only is information acquired; but, what is yet more useful, a habit of investigating, of comparing, of judging, is cultivated. The student learns to appreciate authorities; to make allowances for the personal and party feelings of authors; to take into account the points of view from which different individuals look at the same things, and the objects for which they write. He learns where and how to find things, for which he has occasion; to see what is, and what is not, material to a question; to extricate himself from the embarrassment of minute difficulties, and to fasten on the great decisive features of a case.

By such investigations a young man obtains the rare satisfaction of feeling, that, with all his ignorance and indistinctness of views, there are some things which he knows. It is above all price to a youthful mind to enjoy the consciousness of clear and exact intelligence. To be always, and on all subjects, in a fog, or under a cloud, seeing men only as trees walking, is inconsistent with mental independence, and a proper self-confidence. Precision, as well as extent of knowledge, is characteristic of eminent men. Perhaps we may be permitted to suggest in this connection, that of all professions, that of a clergyman is the least favorable to the promotion of a style of close thinking and severe reasoning. He is in too quiet possession of the field for the cultivation of caution in taking his positions; too secure from opposition to be very solicitous about the temper or the edge of his blade. And what is still less favorable to the perfection of his skill in argument, he rarely or never ascertains whether in particular efforts he succeeds or fails. The case at the bar or in the senate is brought to an immediate issue. The audience of a preacher listen with attention, and go away, it may be, impressed with his reasoning, but wait, with one consent, for a more convenient season to make up their minds. To persons intended for the pulpit, therefore, nothing in education which tends to give exactness to their knowledge, or precision to their reasoning, can be useless or uninteresting.

Essentially the same course may be adopted on philosophical or literary subjects, such as the theory of taste, or of moral sentiments, the authenticity of Homer, or of Ossian, the learning of Shakspeare, the origin of language,—any thing which affords scope for inquiry, and in the progress of inquiry leads to the weighing of testimony, the comparison of facts, and the analysis of literary productions, any thing which furnishes occasion to consult the works of eminent writers, and to subject their contents to careful and continued study.

Suppose the theory of taste to be chosen for examination. The first work to which the student would naturally be directed, is the very beautiful and delightful essay by Mr. Alison, a remarkable specimen of the application of inductive reasoning to a subject, which had before been loosely and unsatisfactorily treated. The admirable dissertation, by Mr. Jeffreys, in the supplement to the British Encyclopædia, will be found to exhibit the same theory, unembarrassed by the multitude of examples and illustrations which fill Mr. Alison's essay, and supported by a variety of additional considerations. Mr. Stewart's three essays on beauty, sublimity, and taste, in his volume of Philosophical Essays, in some degree modify the theory adopted by Alison, and trace, in a manner peculiar to that writer, and in the finest style of verbal criticism, the origin and successive applications of the terms taste, beauty, and sublimity. A review of these essays in the Edinburgh Review, deduces from the theory of association the proper doctrine of a standard of taste; and a review of Alison, in the Christian Observer, applies this theory, in a striking manner, to the subject of moral culture. In Dr. Brown's Lectures, the theory is still further modified; and in Mackenzie on Taste and Richard Payne Knight's Analytical Inquiry into the principles of Taste, it is altogether denied, and ingeniously controverted. In Burke, Blair, and Addison, would be found the best specimens of the style in which the subject had been discussed, before Mr. Alison applied to it the singular ingenuity and copiousness of illustration which distinguish his essay.

By such an investigation, it is plain, the student would be carried through a

considerable range of authors, remarkable alike for clear reasoning and beautiful diction; a foundation would be laid for a system of philosophical criticism; habits of self-observation and reflection formed; and a species of judgment cultivated very analagous to that required in practical life-judgment upon facts often indistinctly apprehended, and connected with principles more or less indefinite-judgment depending frequently on a great variety of considerations, and the utmost nicety of distinction; and relating to subjects upon which words are used with little precision, and opinions pronounced with singular confidence and equal folly.

Or suppose the point to be investigated is the authenticity of Ossian. In the prefaces to the different editions of this poem; in Laing's History of Scotland, Blair's Dissertation, the Report of the Committee of the Highland Society, Dr. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides, Montgomery's Lectures on General Literature, and the articles which occur in the various periodicals, the student finds a mass of conflicting evidence, which he is to weigh and balance; principles of composition which he must consider and follow out into their minute application to works of genius; peculiarities of national manners and character, and of different periods in the same country, which he must observe and compare. The work itself, too, whose claims to authenticity he undertakes to settle, must be read and re-read; the genuine marks of antiquity and originality carefully noted, whether in the thought, the imagery, or the expression, in allusions to fact and philosophy, or in the spirit of the composition.

Such a process, diligently pursued in reference to a single production, could hardly fail to instruct the student on a variety of subjects intimately connected with the cultivation of literary taste, and to cherish habits of inquiry and discrimination, of comparison and analysis, in the bighest degree important to useful reading. The claim of Ossian to be considered an original Scottish poem of the fourth century, and not a splendid and successful imposture of the eighteenth, must be supported, or disproved, not merely by reference to historical documents and tradition, but by a careful comparison of the state of manners they describe with the wild and barbarous customs and habits of the age to which they are assigned; by a minute attention to the allusions they contain to civil events and religious institutions; by observing the marks they bear of rudeness or refinement, of native original thought, or of imitation in the genius by which they were produced; by nicely distinguishing those delicate and impalpable traits of composition, which it is so difficult to define, and yet so necessary to perceive, in order to appreciate the higher beauties in every department of art; and, finally, by considering the probability of such a work having been transmitted, unwritten, through fourteen centuries, and the motives which may have actuated the professed translator. Nor is it one of the least of the advantages of such an investigation, that it exhibits a striking instance of the greatest variety of literary judgment and of the strange contradictions of opinion among intelligent men, upon matters, with which they are equally conversant thus illustrating the importance of understanding the character and mental habits, the education and national or personal partialities of a critic, before we adopt his decisions.

The only other point on which I would remark, has been already alluded to, and is introduced again, only because of its peculiar and pre-eminent importance. We refer to the habitual reading of a class of books, whose direct object is to nourish our moral sentiments, and diffuse a Christian spirit over all our mental character. Fortunately the language is full of such works; the only subject of concern is, that the novelties of the press, the mass of exciting periodical literature, which invites attention every where, may withdraw too much attention from works less popular in their character, less stimulating in their style, and less constantly urged upon the notice of the student. But let him not fall into the snare here spread for him. Let him keep his heart with all diligence, knowing that out of it are the issues of life. Let some one of the great masters of moral and Christian wisdom, be ever on his table; and when he has first of all repaired, every day, to the fountains of devotion and divine benevolence in God's own word, let him commune a little with some kindred spirit of the holy

dead, some Baxter or Flavel, or Howe or Cecil, or Thomas à Kempis, nor scorn to be instructed and edified in his ripened youth or age, by the monitors of his childhood, by Watts, or Mason, or Bunyan. Who of us does not know how naturally and easily_the_heart contracts again, the moment some expanding thought has been suffered to escape from it? Who does not feel how necessary it is to the life and purity of his spirit, that he never lose sight of the great practical objects of religious faith? Who is not sensible how dangerous it is to part, for a day even, from the goodly company of the prophets, from the fellowship of spiritual minds ? Next to communion with God, let a constant intercourse with the standard books of Christian ethics, and experimental piety, be inculcated upon young men preparing for the ministry.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL

SOCIETY.

[Prepared at the direction of the Society, by the Rev. NATHANIEL BOUTON, Concord, N. H.]

THE New Hampshire Historical Society is of so recent an origin, that all the important facts relating to it, can be stated with much precision. For the sake of perspicuity these facts will be arranged under the following heads:

I. THE ORIGIN.

II. THE OBJECTS. III. THE RESULTS.

IV. THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

I. THE ORIGIN. Previous to the formation of the New Hampshire Historical Society, in 1823, Historical Societies had been instituted in Massachusetts, New York, Maine, and Rhode Island, which, no doubt, suggested the idea of instituting a society of similar name and objects in this State. Nor are we at a loss, as to the individuals who had a principal agency in devising and maturing the plan for such a society. As early as the year 1813, JOHN FARMER, Esq. then of Amherst, N. H. was a contributor to the publications of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and in 1820, published, in a pamphlet form, "An Historical Sketch of Amherst, N. H." In answer to a letter which Mr. Farmer wrote August 18, 1821, to JOHN KELLY, Esq., then of Northwood, who had just published some valuable "Memoranda, relating to the Churches and Clergy of New Hampshire," Mr. Kelly says, "I gathered a considerable part of my information, relative to the clergy of Hillsborough county, from your communications to the Massachusetts Historical Society; and I very much wish that that Society had as industrious and valuable a correspondent in each of our counties." In the same letter, Mr. Kelly says, "I have once or twice consulted some of my friends upon the expediency of forming such a society in this State. The prevailing opinion seems to be that there are not sufficient suitable materials among us to form it. I should be gratified in having your opinion upon this subject, as well upon the expediency of forming such a society, as on the probability of obtaining a sufficient number of members, who would be disposed and qualified to be active and useful.”

The steps which followed, until the New Hampshire Historical Society was instituted, are stated in the following communication from JACOB B. MOORE, Esq., of Concord, now Librarian of the Society.

"During the winter of 1821, and most of the year 1822, JOHN FARMer, Esq. and myself employed our leisure hours in the preparation of a Gazetteer of New Hampshire, intended to embrace accurate descriptions of all the towns and places in the State, with notices of its geology, mineral localities, natural curiosities, and such other matters as would be useful, and could be compressed