The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-03-01
February 19.
COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY.


| T PURPOSE to deliver scourse oflectures on
Il Geography and History to the students of
this college, already ntimated to the public |;
these lectures will be given two evenings of
| the week, and may be about twenty four IN mum.
Der, they will comprehend,
list. All the parts of Astronomy, and of AS
Economical Geography, use of the Globes, Maps
&c. which can be understood without the aid of
| Mathematics
| I'd. The general outline topography of all
the countrie in the known world including the
governments their natural or acquired advan.
tages. and their systems of civil and religious
policy; so far as our sources intelligence will
permit.
Sd The causes of the rise and fall of Ger.
tain states, and the effects which their revolu-
tons have had upon the manners of men, in what
| cases they have proved favorable to liberty and
| the rights of man ; subversve of them and
in what they have promoted true religion and
virtue; or error, superstition, intolerance, and
persecution.
To the members of algrest republick, know
ledge ofthese subjects is indspensaby necessa-
ry it may be obtained with little labour, and is
perhaps, in the present state of society, more
important than some speculations which require
deep research However commendable it may
be to excel in mathematics, this must always be
the province OF few, but the subjects which
these lectures will embrace, ought to consti-
tute part of the common place requirements of
every we'll informed citizen.
1t is my wish and my duty, as publck
teacher, to give to these lectures all the interest
in my power 1 shall therefore endeavour to
render them subservient to the cause of virtue,
and OF publick utility My exertons to ameli-
crate the condition of the department committed
to my care, and to lead my scholars by the res-
diest paths into the right road to Mathematical
excellence, have not been without success
have already overcome some apparently iusupe
rable difficulties, and may perhaps surmount
them all. l shall be equally Jealous in lmpar;-
ing to them this less difficult but not less useful
| kind of information
The tedium of anchorite life, devot ed to
| abstract edies: the dull mono tony resulting
from the constant reiteration ofthc same lessons;
IN place too where the pursuits to which /
have giyen,my existence, do not excite any great
interest, and where the principal stimulus to
eXertion IS sense of duty, have induced me to
seek recreation in this lighter kind of reading
! what nave found pleasant to myself shall trv
to render useful to those young men who are
| in part, confded to my care. These lectures
| are intended to furnish rational instruction. in
| the intervals Of severer studies, without the ne
cessty OF great application. Should some of
our young men find them sufficiently attractive
| to induce their serious attention to them, a few
| months OF every course, shall be satisfied that
have rendered some service to those for whom
q.
Parents and Guardians no wish those whom
they have placed here TO attend the lectures will
please 10 intimate their intention by letter. or o.
the rwise, before the end of this month as il
will be necessary to discontinue them 10 the
month Of June.
take this opportunity to repeat my wish
that students who enter my school would come
qualified to commence the studies proper to the
department NJ IL all lie a.
any valuable improvement be made in Ma
thematcks and Natural Philosophy without
some kind of preparation. Arithmetick and
Algebra at least are necessary such as are I'm.
acquainted with these, may safely reckon upon
making very little progress; they will attend I'm
willingly and with small advantage and their
endorsements will, almost uniformly. induce
their abandonment ofthe object which, with due
preparation, they might easily obtain of this
the instances are numerous.
Parents should also reflect that a college is
not the most proper place for lessons, merely e.
Elementary; the sciences can be taught here no
other way than by lecture, under existing regu-
iations and such as would understand them
ought to be in some degree initiated
AS IT is impossible TO procure mathematical
books here, l recommend that those who in
tend coming to college the ensuing year will use
endeav0rs TO be furnished with them. I want in
the junior class, Hutton's Mathematics 9 vols
8vo. Friends or Bonnyc,ste's Algebra Vince's
Comic Sections KeiIh's or Bonnycsstle's Fri
gonometryi Simpsons Illusions in short all
| lie elementary works of Hutton, Bonnycastle
Vince and Simpson l shall shortly rive fuI er
statement OF the nature OF tits department, and
the objects it ought 20 embrace the advance
which IT has made in Improvement since I un-
dertook the management of it 4, and those of
which 1t IS still susceptible under different ma
nagemehts at present shall only say that its
existing state and that IN which found il are
widely diff rent. Let it not be undertood that
make the most remote allusion to the worthy
men who have held this Office antecedent TO nv
appointment speak from experience
have encountered almost insuperahle difficulties
at every step, and l have generally surmountrI
them This declaration rught SAVIOR of sefadu
latioh II it were not known that make very
moderate estimate OF my oyn genius and talents
however clam the merit Of good intentions, &
OF undated zeal for the improvement of my
scholars.
GEORGE BLACKBURN, NJ p.
February %. 2tO