 | Our court shall be a little academy.
Shakspeare |
| In an ancient, though not very populous settlement, in a retired corner of one of the New-England States, arise the walls of a seminary of learning, which, for the convenience of a name, shall be entitled 'Harley College.' This institution, though the number of its years is inconsiderable, compared with the hoar antiquity of its European sisters, is not without some claims to reverence on the score of age; for an almost countless multitude of rivals, by many of which its reputation has been eclipsed, have sprung up since its foundation. At no time, indeed, during an existence of nearly a century, has it acquired a very extensive fame, and circumstances, which need not be particularized, have of late years involved it in a deeper obscurity. There are now few candidates for the degrees that the College is authorized to bestow. On two of its annual 'Commencement days,' there has been a total deficiency of Baccalaureates; and the lawyers and divines, on whom Doctorates in their respective professions are gratuitously inflicted, are not accustomed to consider the distinction as an honor. Yet the sons of this seminary have always maintained their full share of reputation, in whatever paths of life they trod. Few of them, perhaps, have been deep and finished scholars; but the College has suppliedwhat the emergencies of the country demandeda set of men more useful in its present state, and whose deficiency in theoretical knowledge has not been found to imply a want of practical ability. |
| The local situation of the College, so far secluded from the sight and sound of the busy world, is peculiarly favorable to the moral, if not to the literary habits of its students; and this advantage probably caused the founders to overlook the inconveniences that were inseparably connected with it. The humble edifices rear themselves almost at the farthest extremity of a narrow vale, which, winding through a long extent of hill-country, is well nigh as inaccessible, except at one point, as the Happy Valley of Abyssinia. A stream, that farther on |
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