tremble at the heedless spirit of reform which the confidence of a misguided enthusiasm may attempt in the principles and investigations of philosophy. What would have been the present degradation of science had the spirit of each generation been that of contempt for the labors and investigations of its ancestry? Science would exist in a state of perpetual infancy. Its abortive tendencies to improvement would expire with the short-lived labors of individuals, and the extinction of every new race would again involve the world in the gloom of ignorance. Let us tremble to think that it would require the production of a new miracle to restore the forgotten discoveries of Newton."

Mr. Chalmers could not mention Newton's name without laying down some tribute at his feet. Years afterward, when in the full splendor of his fame, we shall find him in Newton's own University of Cambridge, surrounded by her assembled literati, pouring out, in glowing panegyric, one of the finest passages his pen ever produced. But even now, in the small class-room of St. Andrew's, with twenty or thirty mere youths around him, it was thus that his passionate admiration burst forth :

"Mathematics have been condemned as contracting the best affections of the heart, chilling the ardors of its benevo lence, blasting its heavenward aspirations. Dr. Johnson, who possessed the power of genius without its liberality, and who appears to have cherished an immovable contempt for mathematics, has directed all the powers of his ridicule against the ludicrous peculiarities which he is pleased to ascribe to mathematicians. He conceives a fire raging in a neighborhood, and spreading destruction among many families; while all the noise and consternation is unable to disturb the immovable composure of a mathematician, whe sits engrossed with his diagrams, deaf to all the sounds of alarm and of distress. His servants rush into his room, and

tell him that the fire is spreading all around the neighborhood. He observes simply, that it is very natural, for fire always acts in a circle, and resumes his speculations.* You may be afraid to encounter a study which begets such insensibility. Let me tell you that your apprehensions are groundless, that it is not the effect of this study to divest you of all that is human, or to congeal the fervors of a benevolent or a devout heart. I appeal to the example of our illustrious countryman. Amid the splendors of his discoveries, and the proud elevation of his fame, Newton rejoiced in all the endearments of friendship. In the spirit of a mild and gentle benevolence, he maintained an inviolable serenity. It is said of him that he had the modesty of a child. In the society of his friends, the consciousness of his superiority seemed to desert him. His eye beamed with inexpressible benignity; he indulged in all the luxury of affection, and could descend to the sportful effusions of familiar intercourse. His fame went abroad through the world; but he would not confide his happiness to the treacherous breath of applause. He founded it on a more secure foundation. He felt it in the affectionate homage of those friends to whom his worth had endeared him. He felt it in the consciousness of an unblemished life, in the overpowering impressions of an adoring piety. Newton, we invoke thy genius! May it preside over our labors, and animate to the arduous ascent of philosophy. May it revive the drooping interests of science, and awaken the flame of enthusiasm in the hearts of a degenerate people. May it teach us that science without virtue is an empty parade, and that that philosophy deserves to be extinguished which glances contempt on the sacred majesty of religion."

Spring came with its inviting call to idleness. But at the same time there came a call to strenuous effort, louder

* See Rambler, No. xxiv. June 9, 1750.

VOL. I.-D

and more imperious than at any preceding period of the session; for now the last and most arduous ascent was to be made.

The judicious and genial-hearted arbiter thus adjusted the rival claims :

In the subject that we are now to prosecute, I call for your patient and uninterrupted attention. The course is far advanced. The cheerfulness of the season presents new allurements to indolence, and withdraws the mind from the fatigues of painful and solitary reflection. It is difficult to resist the animating gayety of nature. It is difficult, amid the charms of this her best season, to acquiesce in the restraints of discipline, or to brook the harassing confinement of study. God forbid that I should interrupt the harmless amusements or blast the innocent gayety of youth. Let the morning of life be consecrated to enjoyment. May cheerfulness gladden your early years, and may your hearts retain the uncorrupted simplicity of virtue. May you long be preserved from the cares of advancing manhood, and never may your enjoyments be darkened by the horrors of remorse. May you live a life of pleasure, but a pleasure which is the reward of innocence. May you ever resist the enticements of that pleasure which would hurry you along the infatuated career of dissipation, which would lure you to destruction, which would condemn you to a life of infamy, and to a death-bed of horror and despair. I have too ardent and sincere an affection for youth to look with an eye of severity on their amusements, or to throw a damp over the sportive gayety of their dispositions. Let me never interfere with their enjoyments, but to convince them that a life of unlimited indolence will entail upon them all the miseries of languor and disgust; to convince them of the necessity of exertion; that industry invigorates the faculties and preserves them from decay; that activity sustains the energy of character; that the preparations of youth decide the re

spectability of manhood, and enrich the mind with the fairest treasures of cultivation, and science, and morality.

Let the supreme importance, then, of the subject that is now to occupy us, animate and sustain your exertions. I again repeat my call to industry and to perseverance. It is uttered with solemnity; let it be heard with impression. It will indeed be mortifying if that career, which you have hitherto maintained with honor and applause, shall at last terminate in indolence and disgrace. You will excuse, therefore, my ardor in urging the efforts of a patient and persevering attention. They will conduct you in triumph to the termination of your studies; they will elevate your respect for science. You will look back with joyous exultation on the many hours you have devoted to the peaceful and improving labors of philosophy, and bless the day when you first attempted the proud career of victory and honor."

Into no generous breast could such sparks fall without enkindling a flame. It was a wholly new style of address to issue from the chair claimed by the calmest of the Sciences. It broke in upon the common order; it might appear to jealous eyes even to infringe upon the dignity of an academic address. It was not unnatural that the old professor should be somewhat startled by the reports of such appeals; and his doubtfulness about them might be increased on finding that, taking the precedent of former years as his guide, the students were not as far advanced as they had formerly been at the same period of the session. So strong in Mr. Chalmers was the appetite for the full intellectual sympathies of those whom he taught, that he could not move forward till every effort was made to carry the whole class along with him. His employer did not enter into, perhaps was incapable of sympathizing with the spirit of such a procedure. The very excitement and delight which were awakened among the students may have been displeasing to him.

Doubts were expressed-jealousies arose-interferences took place checks were attempted to be imposed. Such treatment could ill be brooked by one so keenly alive to every thing which he considered ungenerous or unjust. Nor was Mr. Chalmers at any pains to conceal what he felt. closing the session, he thus addressed his students:

In

"In reviewing my labors as your mathematical instructor, I will not assert that I have been infallible, but I will assert that I have been anxious and sincere; that oppressed as I was by the want of time, I have improved it to the best of my judgment, and filled it up with the labors of an active and unremitting industry; that I have discharged my duty with integrity to my employer, and, let malignity frown when I say it, I have consecrated my best exertions to his service. Supported as I am by these reflections, you will not think that I profess too much when I profess contempt for the suggestions of an envious and unprincipled criticism, when I profess that sense of independence to which I feel myself entitled by the testimony of an approving conscience. You will not think that I say too much when I say that I have studied your interests with anxiety, if not with success. I have been anxious to maintain the purity of science, and to exercise that inviolable discipline which can alone protect the industrious from noisy interruption, and from the infection of irregular example. Let me now dismiss the authority of a master, and address you in the language of sincere and affectionate friendship. May you ever be preserved from the deceitful allurements of vice. May you walk the proud career of integrity and honor; and while I live, I have a heart to feel and a voice to plead for your interests."

But it was not enough to unburden himself in his own class-room and in presence of his students; he was determined to say all and more than he had said there in a still more conspicuous place. It was the practice at that time in St.