chastity, he may rationally hope to accelerate that happy intercommunity, which constitutes one of the favorite characters of his philosophical millennium. What security have I, that he will not act in any of these ways? To me at least his conduct is absolutely capricious. The first article of his creed is an utter contempt, mixed with abhorrence, for all the governing principles of life; and in this variegated and changing scene, where good and ill are so infinite in their kinds, so woven one into the other, and linked together in a succession so inscrutable to human foresight, it is impossible to conjecture in what he may chance to place the general good; by what measures he may think to promote it; and through what present evil he may not hope to work its final consummation. All the benefit, I may derive from his conduct, is purely casual; and against all the evil, I may suffer from his philosophical Quixotism, I have no sort of security, but the miserable protection of laws, which he abominates, as shackles; and some lurking remains perhaps of common feeling, which he struggles to suppress, as repugnant to his duty. A vicious man, in the ordinary course of things, is vicious only in particular points. He is satyrical, or debauched, or proud, or revengeful; and while we avail ourselves in some degree of his good qualities, we may guard against the bad. But with the votaries of a System, who think any means lawful, in the pursuit of an end so abstract, that any measures may be thought to promote it, one knows not how to act. It is like dealing with insanity, where innocence is mingled with mischief. Nor is it easy to conceive, how social intercourse could be at all supported amidst such confusion and distrust.

[To be continued.]

ADVICE TO A STUDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY IN A SERIES OF LETTERS.

MY YOUNG FRIEND,

LETTER II.

LITTLE did I anticipate, when writing my former letter, that the University and the public would be so soon called to mourn the loss of the worthy, the useful, the beloved President WILLARD. I had chosen respect for the governors and instructers of College for my present subject; when, lo! the man, I should have recommended to your warmest esteem, is placed beyond the reach of your attentions !

"Sublatum ex oculis quærimus invidi."

The only duties, you can now discharge toward him, are to cherish affectionate remembrance of his character, to reverence and imitate his virtues.

What these are, you have some personal knowledge. The accurate delineation of them by Professor WEBBER at his funeral will help you to form a just notion of the man.

His talents were not of the showy and superficial kind. His worth did not consist in the merely occasional display of fashionable virtues. Nor was his celebrity attained by soothing men's prejudices or flattering their vices. But his literary distinction was acquired by intimate acquaintance with the abstruse sciences. His moral excellence arose from a good heart, and was evinced by uniform integrity of conduct. He was esteemed, because every one believed, he studied to do right. Even those pupils, who were doomed by him to suffer the penalties of the laws, generally gave him the credit of acting from conscientious motives. He sometimes had the appearance of severity. But it was the severity of justice against indolence or vice. Those, who have acted with him in the government of College,

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well remember his aversion to punishment, and, at the same time, his resolution to inflict it, when deemed indispensable.

I give you these hints for the sake not merely of the dead, but the living. I wish to bespeak your candor toward those, whom you are now obliged to obey; and whom you will be often tempted erroneously to suspect of unkind intentions, of in capacity to instruct and to govern.

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No prejudices are more commonly nor more industriously instilled into the minds of young members by senior students, than those, which respect the Officers of College. I will add, that none are more unfavorable to your improvement in knowledge and in virtue. They impede your entific pursuits, as they naturally transfer your hatred of the instructers to the sciences, they teach. These prejudices are also injurious to virtue, as they serve to cherish and confirm that hateful and vicious quality, a censorious temper.

Yet how often have you already heard the characters of your teachers most shamefully traduced? You are told, that one is too severe, and that another has no dignity; that this man is not qualified to instruct, nor that to govern. Compare these different charges; and you will commonly find them as contrary, as they are groundless and absurd.

Attend also to the authors of these reports; and, if rightly disposed, you will need no other arguments against them. They proceed almost invariably from those, who feel the chagrin of disappointed ambition, or who are unused and of course unwilling to submit to restraint, or whose idleness or vice has drawn upon them the vengeance of College laws. Are these the guides, you choose to follow? Are such persons the models, you propose to imitate? If so, farewell to respectability; bid adieu to all thoughts of solid or useful improvement; and prepare the way either for bitter penitence, or for confirmation in vice and infamy.

But I hope better things of you. It is my firm and pleasing conviction, that, while you are emulous to excel, you will without envy acknowledge superior genius or attain

ments; that, from your habits of obedience, you will be disposed to yield unreserved submission to the laws; and that, from your studious and virtuous propensities, you will not incur punishment. If however you should deserve it by some inconsiderate conduct, I am happy to believe, that you will submit to it without a murmur, and be far from making it the ground of future disobedience or obstinacy.

error.

I mean not to assert, that College officers are incapable of This would be to exempt them from the common lot of humanity. Students ought however to presume, they act justly, unless there is undeniable evidence to the contrary, and not condemn them, as is generally the case, for the faithful performance of duty. Should they be guilty of unreasonable censure or punishment, no judicious scholar would have recourse to disobedient or vicious conduct for retaliation. This would be that "revenge," which, as Milton observes,

"at first is sweet;

"But afterwards back on itself recoils."

In most instances, where punishment of an offence falls on the least guilty, the blame, if there be any, must be imputed to those students, who withhold the evidence, which the government have a right to require, and which would enable them to execute the violated laws on the offender. To the members of the University the choice of difficulties is submitted, either to give the truth in evidence, when interrogated concerning the commission of crimes; or, if this be refused, to submit to the alternative without complaint. Those, who may in this case think they suffer undeservedly, should be silenced by the argument, that by compliance with those laws, which they have promised to observe, they might have prevented their doom. In vain do they reply, that this mode of avoiding censure would inevitably expose them to the contempt of fellow students. It is an inconvenience, they suffer, not from the will of the government, for they are always striving to remedy it, but from conformity to the absurd maxims of the students.

Let me therefore entreat you, my dear friend, to use all lawful means to secure the good opinion of your instructers. For this purpose I do not recommend a forwardness to bring complaints against fellow students. An informer, rightly explained, I as sincerely detest, as I do those, who apply the term to every regular scholar. But surely a student may tell the truth, when legally required, without deserving this odious imputation, He may also be attentive to his studies and civil to College officers, without evincing a mean spirit of servility. I know, the contrary line of conduct is often recommended and practised, as discovering magnanimous independence. But it is an independence as totally unconnected with good breeding, as it is foreign to the true design of a College life,

Your instructers neither require, nor expect you to court their favor by studied attentions. They would be the first to resent such conduct, as undeserving of reward. But they have an undeniable right to demand, and decency obliges you to pay regard to their authority, and respect to their persons.

Do not listen then to those, who would alienate your mind from your faithful teachers. Examine the probable motives of such disorganizers. Suspect your own judg ment, before you rashly pronounce an unfavorable opinion concerning any officer of government. Consider, what was the College character of those, whom you most sincerely respect, and whom you propose to imitate. I am convinced, that the result of such an inquiry will be progressive confirm ation in habits of study, obedience, and affection.

Yours, &c,

PHILOS.