An Address [pp. 760-769]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
institutions and religion of the ancient world. Great
and mighty changes have taken place in the condition
of man since the fall of the vast fabric of the Roman
Empire. The whole interior economy of nations has
been changed. The complex system of polytheism,
with its thousand of forms, and ceremonies, and sacred
mysteries, has all been overthrown, and the beautifiul
and simple religion of the meek and humble Saviour of
the world traced, as with the pencil of light, upon the
sacred page, and revealed even unto babes, has been
established in its stead. This great and salutary change
alone, has stamped a new character upon the age in
which we live. How vast the difference between a
Priest of Jupiter and a Minister of the Gospel! How
great the difference between the Eleusinian mysteries of
the Polytheist, and the communion service of the Christian! In order then that you may be enabled to read
the classic authors to advantage, and apply with skill
the lessons which you may draw from the page of ancient history, it is necessary that you should study the
laws, customs, institutions, religion, and polity of Greece
and Rome. For this reason, there has been recently
attached to our classical department, a school of Roman
and Grecian Antiquities, and Heathen Mythology, in
which you will be enabled to derive full and complete
information on all these topics.
The degree in the classical department has been
placed upon a high footing. It is necessary that the
candidate for this honor should not only be a proficient
in the studies just mentioned, but that he should obtain
a certificate of qualification on the junior, mathematical,
rhetorical, and historical courses. With this additional
information, our classic graduate goes into the world not
a mere Latin and Greek scholar, but an elegant classic.
This course of study has been devised principally for
the benefit of that large and respectable class of students
who propose to follow the profession of teaching. To
all students of this description, I would recommend the
attainment of this degree-a degree which will at once
give its owner a high standing in our community, and
be a most ample certificate of his merits and qualifications.
Besides the degree in the classical school, there are
three others of a high order given in our institution;
these are the degrees of A. B., B L., and A. M. With
regard to the first, you will find in our laws a detail of
the courses of study necessary to its attainment. These
courses you will find full and well selected, bearing an
advantageous comparison with similar courses in any
other college of our Union. They embrace the four great
departments of mathematics, physics, morals and politics. These studies I would recommend to all who may
have the time and the means to pursue them, no matter
what profession they may follow in after life. Independently of the pleasure which each of them imparts to
the mind of the zealous student, there is a utility arising
from them far beyond the conception of ordinary mindsa utility which springs both from the enlargement of
the understanding by the salutary exercise which they
afford to it, and from the light which they respectively
cast on each other. One of the most beautiful and interesting facts in relation to literature, is, that all its departments are connected and associated with each other;
the study of one perfects the mind in the comprehension
of another. The acquisition of a new idea sometimes
revolutionizes the little republic of the mind, and gives
a new cast to all our thoughts. Hence the division of
lal)or in science is not productive of the same advantage
as in physics, but we should always extend the range
of our studies in proportion to the enlargement of mind
and the facilities for acquiring information, no matter
what may be our profession or occupation hereafter.
If the time or means of the student, however, should
constrain him to limit his course of studies whilst here,
then it would be certainly proper that he should make
a selection of those subjects which may have the closest
and most intimate connection with the profession which
he may follow, or the station in life which he may expect
to fill. His own judgment will readily inform him of
the selection which should be made, taking care always,
according to the requisition of our statutes, to enter a
sufficient number of classes to afford him full occupation.
Every young man should task himself fully, lest want
of employment, while here, should induce idle habits.
For the peculiar advantages of each course of studies,
1 must refer you to the introductory lectures of the
Professors, all of which wvill be open to your attendance,
and will give you much more complete information on
each department than I could possibly impart, even if
not confined within the limits of an opening address.
The degree in law is of a professional character, and
consequently we can generally expect that those alone
wvill aim at its attainment who propose to follow the profession of the law. This profession, in all countries, but
particularly in our own, is one of elevated standing, of
superior learning, and, I may add, of great moral and
political power. The habits of his professionensure the
lawyer, in every country, an honorable station among
statesmen, and the foremost rank in deliberative councils. Law, said Dr. Johnson, is the science in which
the greatest powers of the understanding are applied to
the greatest number of facts. The common law of
England, with the great modifications which it has undergone in our own country from the operations of our
government and republican institutions, will form the
principal text to which your attention will be directed
in this department. "This law," it has well been said,
"is not the product of the wisdom of some one man, or
society of men, in any one age; but of the wisdom,
counsel, experience and observation of many ages of
wise and observing men." It is, emphatically, "the
gathered wisdom of a thousand years." And you, gentlemen, who propose to accomplish its study, must devote yourselves to it with unremitting ardor. You must
not study the mere statutes and prescriptions of the law
alone, but you must examine, with the eye of philosophy, the whole foundation on which the great superstructure is raised. It is necessary that you should
examine the principles of the science of government;
that you should look into the wants of our nature;
examine the beautiful structure of the human mind,
with all our feelings, principles, propensities and instincts. In fine, you must, in the language of one who
has risen to the highest eminence in his profession,
"Drink in the lessons and spirit of philosophy. Not
that philosophy described by Milton, as
A perpetual feast of nectared sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns;
but that philosophy which is conversant with men's
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