The Portland daily press., 1869-10-26
BOSTON LYcEUM COURSE LECTURE.

In beginning, Mr.. Phillips said that his lee
ture was first offered TO the Boston Lyceum
in 1888. but that it had been gre"tly changed
from what it then was, more especially as 1t
had never been written; and Ike the Scotch
woman's dress, which bad been pieced at the
top and supplemented at the bottom, and
turned inside out, and "wrang side fore Its
or'9Ihal fabric was now scarcely discernlble.
Inc time when it was originally delivered
was that of the inauguration OF the present
system oil lyceum lectures Mr.. Bancroft
now our mlbister to Prussia, being the first
president OF the first organization. and the
old Odeon, then at the foot OF Franklin street
being the first place OF meeting. In the ear
ly days OF the experiment the youngsters in
the gallery contended with the platform for
the attention of the audience, and made the
difficulty of speaking so great, that it seemed
to him, at the time, that the art Of sttDing
was one OF the lost arts. Later, when the
nuisance became intolerable, the boys anus
Ing themselves during lecture on "TLe
East" by PLAY ing "coram" on the balconies,
the har9ssed mana erS shrewdly determined
to employ policeman; and SO our present
system of lyceum decorum was inauguraled!
The whole scheme OF courses of lyc. um lee
lures owed its existence to Horace Mann, in
whose mind it was intended to do .reat
work as an educator OF the people, as sup
plement to the academy to win men back 10
books. And with that view its topics Were Sc
lected, including chiefly bogiaphy, science,
literature and travel; politics and religion
were not dreamed of as its subjects, and the
modern uses and powers OF the platform were
unforeseen. The special desire which Mr..
Phillips had in choosing "The Lost Arts" tor
his text was to administer corrective TO the
most prominent ioible, or, perhaps, the chief
trait OF the American mind, seli-conctlt-the
conceit especially of its own knowledge and
requirements, which deprecated the learning
OF the past as insignificant and contemplate.
This feeling ian through all departments Of
industry and discovery, except the fine arts,
of which the speaker ma e an exception.-
Here the power and worth OF the labor oI for
mer days was fully recognized and rightly ap-
preciated.
After a brief consideration of the BIT
which poetry and the drama owe to antiqui-
ty, and very livery aid interesting stale-
ment of the way in which stories aud joses
repeat themselves, so that the fiction and wit
OF to-day are the same in substance as those
of thousands of years ago, Mr. Phillips pro-
ceeded to the substance of his discourse, and
discussed the history of the aue ent nations,
especially of Egypt, Ninevah, China, and the
East. Glass, in all OF its various forms, N
Guiding the telescope, the microscope and the
opera glass-which last Nero was shown to
have used at the gladiatorlal shows; the art
OF making DrlIllant ana uuIaDle COlOlS ana
that of hardening, utilizing, and worhi g
metals; the mechanical arts which are occu-
pied with appliances for moving and lifting;
even ventilation and tGe use OF steam-powvr,
canals and railways, and balloons, and finally
revol,crs, were traced to an antiquity more or
less remote, but always far back from the
present. The water-cure. too, was known
long before the days of PriessDltz, travelling
quack having used it to cure the Emperor Au-
eusus of severe neuralgia, after his case bad
been pronounced hope,ess by the regular ply
sicians of Rome. The only defect Of these
earlier nations was that the skilful hand 70
multiply did not go with the designing head.
We are not to measure the knowledge Of 9TH
ers by the yardstick OF our ignorance. The
great and real distinction of our time rests on
its recognition oil the Christian law of human
brotherhood. The arm of this law is tue
printing-press, which conveys the learning OF
lew to ALL The knowledge and art OF the
ancients, as in Egypt for example, was all
with the priests and nobility, and when trese
classes were destroyed by FOREIGN invaders,
TIE arts and learning of the conquered coun-
try iaded away. 1t is the glory OF our age
that wisdom cannot be locked up IN the
brains OF a lew, but must needs become the
property OF all who wish to learn.