The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1838-09-27
NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN.

NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN.
We extract the following from M srli-
Gle which appeared some months since
in the Portland Orion. which farcIbly H.
illustrates, by a reference TO well aulheh-
licated facts. the principle that man Is
nsUer TOO old 10 learn.
Socrates, al an extreme old age, learnt
10 play on musical instruments. This
would look ridiculous for some al the rich
old men in our city. especially il they
should take il inio their heads 10 ihnm a
guitar under lady's window. which So
crates did not DO. but only learnt TO play
upon some instrument Of his time, not a
guitar, for the purpose Of resisting the
wear and tear Of old age.
Cato, a, eighty years Of eye, thought
proper 10 learn the Greek language.
Many Of our young men a, thirty and for
~ have forgotten even the alphabet Of a
language the knowledge of which was
necessary 10 enter college. and which
was made daily exercise through c'l-
lege. A fine Comment upan their love If
letters. truly.
Piuidrch, when between seventy and
eighty, commenced The study IL The La.
lin. Many Of our young lawyers. no,
thirty years Of age, think that nisi prius.
scire faeids, &c. are English expressions:
and il YOU tell them tina, a knowledge Of
the Latin would make them appear lit
tie more respectable in their profession.
they will reply tina, they are TOO old to
think Of learning Latin.
Boccacio was thirty five years old when
he commenced his studies in p"lie lite
nature. YET he became one If the three
great masters of the Tuscan di,lec', D.We
and Petrarch being The other tv". There
are many among Us ten ger, Younger
than Boccacia who are dstng at eaaui
and regret that they were not educated tn
a taste for literature, but now they are too
OLD.
Sir Henry Spsimda neglected the SCI
ences in his youth, but commenced the
study Of them when he was between fifty
and sixty years Of age. Afer This time
he became The mos, learned antiquarian
and lawyer. Our young men begin to
think Of laying their seniors on the shell
when they have reached sixty years oil
! age. How d,lleren, that which charac-
ter,zed certain period of the Grecian re-
public, when a man was MT allowed 10
open hi, mouth in caucuses or political
meetings who was under furty years oil
age.
i Colbert, the famous French Minister,
al sixty years Of age returned to his La.
tin and law studies. How many Of OUT
college learnt men have ever looked into
their classics since their graduation!
! DR.. johnson applied himself to the
Dutch language bu. few years before
his death. Most Of our merchants and
lawyers Of twenty-five, thirty. and forty
years nf age, are obliged TO apply TO a
teacher to translate business letter writ
ten IN the French language, which might
be learnt in the tenth par, Of the time re-
CURED for the study OF the Du,ch--and
all because they are too old 10 learn.
! Ludouico .Honaidesco. a, The grea, age
Of one hundred and fifteen. wrote The me-
moirs of his own times. A singular ex-
erIion, noticed by Vol,aire, who was him.
sell one OF The most remarkable instances
Of the progress Of age in new studies.
| Ogiiby. the translator of Homer and
Virgil, was unacquainted with Latin and
Greek ill he was pas, fifty.
! Franklin did not fully commence his
philosophical pursuits ill he had reached
his fiftielh year. How many among us
of thirty, fOrly, and fifty, who read no
thing but newspapers for the want Of a
taste for natural philosophy. but they are
+ too old to ieara.
.4ccorSo. a great lawyer. being asked
: why he began the study nf The Law s.
late. answered that, indeed. he began 4
late, but he should therefore master il The
{ sooner. This agrees with our theory
tina. healthy old age gives man the pow
, err Of accomplishing a difficult study u
much less time than would be nccesssr,
: to one Of half his yeas.
: Dryden. in his sixsy-eigh,h year. com
menced the translation Of the llliad; AM
) his mos. pleasing productions were writ
e ten in his old age.
We could 90 on and cite thousands Il
g examples of men who commenced ueS
n study, and struck out into an entirely neS
j PURSUIT; either foo livelihood az anusF