An Address [pp. 760-769]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
Yet one more vale it finds-the last
On life's meandering shoreIts yellow leaf twirls on the blast,
Its blossoms breathe no more:
And o'er its sullen, beamless tide,
Its bubbles all are breaking'Tis done-it meets the ocean wide,
Each balmy scene forsaking.
'Tis done-the ocean's boundless waste
Rolls up its misty gleaming;
And on that desert shore is cast
The sea-wave darkly streaming.
But shall it be thus lost? No never A brighter impulse shall be given,
E'en from its ocean sleep-to sever
Its scintillings to Heaven.
Elfin Mfoor, Va. 1836.
AN ADDRESS
Delivered before the Students of William and Mary, at the
Opening of the College, on Monday, October 10th, 1836.
BY THOMAS R. DEW,
President and Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy.*
Gentlemen:-In obedience to the customs of our institution, I proceed to address you on the present occasion;
and I do it, I assure you, with feelings of no ordinary
character. When I reflect upon the antiquity and reputation of this venerable institution,-upon the numerous
alumni who have been sent forth from its halls, so many
of whom have graced the walks of private life, or risen
into the high places of our government, and shed around
them the benign influence of their talents and statesmanship,-when I reflect upon the long line of efficient
and distinguished men who have preceded me in this
office, and upon the character and virtues of him who
was my predecessor, I cannot but feel a weight of responsibilitv which excites in me a deep and painful solicitude. For eight years it was my pleasure to be associated with him whose place I have been called to fill.
His learning, his piety, his conscientiousness in the discharge of his duties, however onerous, will long be
remembered by all who knew him well; and the regret
manifested in the countenances of the citizens of our
town when he bade them an affectionate farewell, marks
conclusively the deep impression which his virtues and
usefulness had made upon their hearts, and the loss
which our society has sustained by the departure from
among us of one, who, with his amiable family, constituted so interesting a portion of our social circle. Again,
then, let me say, I enter upon the duties of my station
with deep and painful solicitude, sustained alone by the
consciousness, that I shall yield to none who have gone
before me in this office, in zeal, fidelity, and love for our
venerated Alma Mater.
* Repeated calls from the friends of William and Mary, as
well as our own high estimation of this Address, have induced
us to publish it. It will be understood, of course, that the M.S.
originally, was solicited of Professor Dew for publication, by a
Committee on the part of the Students. We omit the correspondence as of no general interest.
I shall not, on the present occasion, endeavor to pre sent to your view an exposition of the general advan tages resulting from education; the limits which I have
prescribed to myself in this address, together with the
necessity of introducing other topics, will, of course,
prevent me from such an effort. Nor is it necessary; your presence in this hall-your determination to sub scribe to our laws, and to obey the requisitions of our
statutes, prove that you have already comprehended
the inestimable benefits of education, and have come up
here to pursue your collegiate career.
As it is probable there may be students in every
department of our college, and each one may be anxious
to know something of our entire system previous to the
selection which he may make of the courses of study for
his attendance, I will, in the first place, give yout some
information as to our general plan. Our plan embraces
a course of general study, which may be pursued to
great advantage by all having the time and means, no
matter what may be their professions in after life. Besides this course of general study, it embraces the subject of law, and aims at accomplishing the student in
one of the learned professions.
Let me then commence with the subject of the classics. In this school we have a preparatory department,
in which the student may acquire that elementary instruction requisite for the successful study of the higher
classics. As but few of you, however, will, in all probability, wish to enter this school, I shall confine the remarks which I have to make on this subject to the
higher classical studies. In one department of this
higher school, the attention of the student will be confined to the following authors: Horace, Cicero de Oratore, Terence, Juvenal, Livy and Tacitus, in Latin-and
to Xenophon's Anabasis, Eschylus, Herodotus, Euripides, Sophocles, Thucydides, and Homer in Greek.
He will be required to read them with facility-to
construe them-to explain their meaning-to master
portions of history which may be referred to, and to
acquire a thorough and intimate acquaintance with the
whole philosophy of the Latin and Greek Grammars.
In this school it is expected that the classic student
shall complete his knowledge of the ancient languages.
I would therefore recommend it to all who may have the
time and inclination to pursue such studies, or whose profession in after life may demand deep classical learning.
The knowledge of the ancient languages is far more
important to us than that of any other, save our own.
At the time that the barbarians fiom the north and east
broke up the Romnan Empire, and engrafted the feudal
system on its firagments, whence the nations of modern
Europe have arisen, the Latin and Greek languages
were the two great languages of the civilized portion of
the ancient world. It is necessary to study them in
order that we may be enabled to understand their transition into the modern languages; the latter are derivations from the former'. It has been well observed that
there is not a single nation from the north to the south
of Europe, from the shores of the Baltic to the plains of
Italy, whose literature is not imbedded in the very elements of classical learsning, and this remark applies
particularly to the literature of England. But again,
in order that you may understand well the classical
authors put into your hands, it is necessary that you
should become acquainted with the manners, customs,
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