those, who are very great, must undoubtedly have possessed great endowments. But these are too rare to satisfy our inquiries in the present case. A considerable part of the distinction, found here, is derived from a combination of advantages and efforts. The advantages, to which I refer, are such as these. Public offices are open to every man. At the same time, an unusual spirit of inquiry pervades all classes of men in this country. In consequence of these facts, the most powerful motives to exertion are continually held out to those whose dispositions prompt them to exertion. In such a state of things a greater number of persons will be affected, and more powerfully affected, by these motives than in any other.

The influence of this general diffusion of knowledge is unquestionably happy. There is no department, and no concern of life, to which it does not extend. Even the private, neighbourly visit among the common people is materially affected and sensibly coloured by it, and is accordingly more rational, enlightened, and pleasant than it is believed to be in most other countries. Conversation is here carried on with a respectable degree of good sense, a variety of information, and often with wit, humour, and brilliancy. Minds may, without exaggeration, be said to mingle in it, and with each other. Nor will men of superior knowledge, unless possessed of a fastidious taste and character, fail either of entertainment or instruction in their intercourse with the substantial farmers and mechanics of New-England.

In a republic, particularly in those of this country, a great proportion of the business, which is termed public, is managed by the people at large. The complicated affairs of school districts, parishes, townships, and counties, demand a considerable share of intelligence, and the agency of a great number of persons. The debates of a town-meeting not unfrequently affect the interests of the inhabitants in a degree, at least as intimate, and often as important, as most of those which are carried on in the legislature; and the office of the select-man is in many respects more closely interwoven with their happiness than that of the magistrate. The extensive powers, entrusted to these men, and the subjects suspended on the decisions of town meetings, I have mentioned in former Letters. I have also observed, heretofore, that probably

three-fourths of all the male inhabitants in the state of Connecticut sustain, in the course of life, some public office or other. To such a state of society, extensively found in NewEngland at large, this general diffusion of knowledge seems indispensable. All these departments require some, and many of them much thought, good sense, and information. Unless, therefore, knowledge were generally extended, they could not be usefully filled.

Nor is the importance of this fact less real, though perhaps less thought of in the church. A clergyman, here, addresses an assembly, almost all the adult members of which understand, with a good degree of precision, the language which he uses, the doctrines which he teaches, and the illustrations which he employs, that is, if he preaches as he ought to preach. Sound and sensible discourses may here be delivered with a rational assurance, that they will be well understood; and what may be called the elementary part of a preacher's instructions may be safely considered as having been already acquired from other sources. In consequence of this state of things, the churches, in most of the ancient settlements of New-England, are more firmly established, and less liable to be "blown about by every wind of doctrine," than those of many other countries. Among people, possessing a good share of information, religious novelties operate with less fascination, and are more reluctantly received than among those who are ignorant. In a word, knowledge here gives, and in a more desirable manner, a good degree of that stability, which is elsewhere produced by energy in the government.

I am, Sir, &c.

LETTER II.

Academies in New-England. Colleges. State of these Institutions in 1812. Law and Theological Seminaries. Medical, Historical, and Philosophical Societies. Social Libraries.

DEAR SIR;

You may perhaps remember, that in the account which I gave you concerning the establishment of schools in Connecticut, provision is made in the law, which creates the system, for the institution of schools of a higher class than those which are parochial, or of such as in this country are generally styled academies. The knowledge, taught in these schools, is undefined by any general system, and comprehends as much, and as little, of languages, arts, and sciences, as the trustees of each think it proper from time to time to prescribe. In this respect many of them are undoubtedly imperfect, and do not, so well as they easily might, direct the education which they profess to communicate. A wise and well-constructed scheme of education is certainly a desideratum in these seminaries, and might contribute not a little to spread knowledge in a more perfect form, and to a greater extent. There is not, indeed, a very great difference in the objects aimed at, or in the modes pursued. The law commits the inspection of these schools in Connecticut to a number of visitors, annually chosen by those for whom they act, but attempts not to control any other schools besides those which are constituted by itself. The provision of the law is insufficient; but whether a substitute will be provided within any moderate period, which will remedy its defects, is uncertain.

You are not, however, to suppose, that these schools are not very useful seminaries. They are generally filled with students, and are directed by instructors, respectably qualified

for their business. Under this direction a great number of youths are continually employed in obtaining an education in branches of knowledge not communicated in the parochial schools. Here they are qualified for their entrance into colleges. At the same time they are furnished with the necessary means of qualifying themselves for other business, which demands an education considerably enlarged. Thus the country possesses itself of talents, which would otherwise sleep in obscurity; and is enabled to see its affairs prosperously managed in several departments, which, if not of the highest consequence, are yet perhaps more interesting to its welfare than most of those which are. Here they become intelligent surveyors, navigators, happily prepared for commercial apprenticeships, and fitted for the whole routine of human business, which demands a middle education between that of the parochial school and that of the college.

Of these schools there are more than twenty in the state of Connecticut. The exact number 1 do not know. About ten or twelve of them may be incorporated. Seven or eight are sustained by funds. Some have sprung from the combined exertions of numbers, and some from the efforts of individuals. Of those, which have funds, the principal are Bacon academy at Colchester, amply endowed by a Mr. Bacon, one of its inhabitants; the Episcopal academy at Cheshire; the Hopkins grammar school at Hartford; and the Staples academy at Weston.

In Massachusetts there are forty-eight of these schools, all incorporated, and most, if not all of them, endowed to some extent by the state. The principal of these is Philips's academy at Andover. Two of those in Connecticut, and three in Massachusetts, are exclusively female seminaries. Some others admit children of both sexes.

Of the academies in Massachusetts the district of Maine has its full proportional share.

In New-Hampshire the number of schools, which may with propriety be placed on this list, is thirteen. The principal of these is Philips's academy at Exeter, formerly described in these Letters.

The number of these schools in Vermont is twelve, all of which are incorporated.

I have heretofore observed, that there are eight colleges in New-England.

Harvard college, now styled the university in Cambridge.

Yale college, at New-Haven in Connecticut.

Dartmouth college, at Hanover in New-Hampshire. Brown university, at Providence, Rhode-Island. Williams college, at Williamstown, Massachusetts. The university of Vermont, at Burlington in that state. Middlebury college, at Middlebury in the same state; and Bowdoin college, at Brunswick in the district of Maine. You observe, that some of these seminaries are styled universities, and some of them colleges. You will not from this suppose, that the name university indicates any superior importance, or any more extensive scheme of education. The university at Cambridge is, in some respects, the most considerable; and in every respect the university of Vermont is the least of all these literary establishments.

The state of these institutions, in the year 1812, was the following:

THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.

A president; seven professors academical; seven professors medical; three tutors; a librarian; a regent; a proctor; an instructor in the French language.

The academical professors are-of theology; of logic, metaphysics, and ethics; of rhetoric and oratory; of the Hebrew, other Oriental, and English languages; of Latin; of mathematics, and natural philosophy; of Greek; and of natural history.

The three tutors teach-the senior tutor, geography, geometry, natural philosophy, and astronomy; the second, Greek; and the third, Latin.

Of the medical professorships-the first is of anatomy and surgery; the second, of the theory and practice of medicine; the third, of chemistry and the materia medica; and the fourth, of clinical medicine.

The two remaining ones are assistants, or adjuncts, to that of anatomy and surgery, and that of chemistry and the maeria medica.

The number of students the same year was 281.