The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1885-06-25

DELIVERED 1T
JUDGE WILLIAM B. LAMAR.

JUDGE WILLIAM b LAMAR.
% MoNr1c1LLo, FLORIDA
At the Commencement OF the Literary Depart
r.ent OF Florida University. at Tallahassee, June
10. 1885, copy of which was requested for pub :
lication by the FAcu l,y:
Ladies aHd Gssstlesa<a
The object of speech. says the prince Of ancient
orators Is either TO remove some existing pref udce
in the minds of the audience, coueilia.. their
good will, or to please AMI iustruci them | shall
the pie Asiug reflection that IL s unnecessary
for attempt The TWO first and the happiness
Of tue speaker will be more than complete should
be partially succeed in the latter In address
ing an audi encc, however many Of whom can vet
remember the splendid eloqusnce Of him, who a
quarter OF a century ago, was the Sir Philip Situey
OF his day, the ornament Of this state aud
more particularly of this city, and all Of whom
are under the constant charm of some OF the
most polished orators OF the time. the last injunc
ton uf Cicero becomes exceedingly difficult hall
therefore invoke in behalf Of my rjrct upon this
occasion. any ns rest that might fail be accorded
10 the speaker AT these exercises of this Cnivrr-
sty il is quite natural To thai edu alton in
some of its various ranches would be treated Two
Of my PREDECESSORS here have addressed you upon
the subjects IF General Education and d" Puysi.
cal Drvel ,pment of Youth"
The oppo tunities and advantages opened up in
the divers fed professions of this age TO one pos
scs.iug thsI General EducatiJn that is TO be &C.
quired IN our common schools and &C ,drmi-. is
conclusive upon the question Of its utmost Import
ance.
None the less will it appear as to "Physical
Culture" wh-n We consider the difference paid t..
il by the ancients and the large share Of attention
it attracts in the educational system Of the mod
erns
ance into single sentence Im igne .rcules in a
rotten boat; what could he do there, but bv the
very force of bis stroke expedite the ruin Of his
craft And yet il must b. obvious 10 all that
something more than This is desired for those who
propose - move 10 the upper walks Of thought
and action Among rehued and cultured people
something lofter than proficiency in these is de-
minded something higher in degree in the mstter
of learning.
For this higher education we must look TO the
University, which is the summit : the apex of the
pyramid Of which the common school forns the base
Within its walls the idea, just and solid though it
be. must attain that hrilliancy which attracts and
dAzzles tue mind The smith that wrought tue
scyneiar of Saadin bound in its texture its iuvin
chile temper; but it w1s the skll-d artincer alone
that Impressed upon its blade that mysterious light
which oushoue the lame of battle enrapturiny the
| eyes and hearts OF hi. devoted follower
This is the great honor and distinction Of that
higher cultivation Of the powers of the mind that
not uniting man for the practical duties Of life it
renders hin noble in on, infinite ia faculty.
in action like an angel, 10 apprehension like GOD"
This subject OF higher education divides itself
INTO two great Departments Of learning into two
roads. each equally broad, equally pleasant and
| equally profitable to travel In, and whose terminus
/, the same These two great divisions = { as
! eical Learning" or Literary CultGre" and sci.
| enthc Education"
SD sli eudcavor at the present time IN conduct
you In'e distance into hat road which centuries
ago va via Sacra before a tree was feed in
the o'uer AL treat this morning of Literary
culture Ihe-e two great systems are in no wise
antagonistc 10 each other some imagine la ad-
vocatin2 tue one -hal not deprecate the other
Al one age iDdced o. the world it was thought dis
credtable for those wbo trod the heights Of poesy
OF oratory and philosophy to walk in the then %.
scure p1th- of science. But to-day the genius Of
literature As high privilege transmits in her pages
the ifes Of the eminent inventors and DISCOVERIES
in the sciences and the scientists have in their turn
borrowed the and charms of rhetoric 10 con-
vey 10 the world their wonderful truths 1t is the
modern radiation Of the tabled union between We
! aud Vulcan
The deals with the laws and forces Of tn. m A.
tcrldl Eord literature is the mirror that reflects
! the sentiments, the passions and the imsginariops
the mind. /. embraces in IFS universally poetry
orat"ry. history Language, biography and moral
phi Osopby, certainly very vast and various field
| NOT could upon this occasion say anything more
appl Die 10 establish the value OF literary culture
even from the point Of mere utility, than 10 quote
the opinions Of two Of the most distinguished scen.
/ lists of this age
! Says Mr. Huxley there are other forms of cuI
tnre besides physical culture and should be pro-
ioundy sorry to tue fact forgotten or even o.
serve tendency TO starvr OF cripple literary or
aesthetic culture for the sake of science" scarce
~ ceeIn II necessary TO say 10 this audience that
the aestheticisn here spoken of by the Professor
! is not OF the sunfower and knee br-ecbes variety
vi guudlI II even more pronounced, taxing
! Nigh ground, some might imagine Tor in he
/ profession In addressing class of students he
says =" The reading the works OF three un>centiic
| men; men in fact unfriendly to the spirit of
modern science. has placed me here to-day. These
! three are the English Carly lie, The AnerCan EN-.
er-"n and Fetch, the grea est representative pure
| id~ali-1n Man il not an intellect. He feels a. we'll
As thnks. Tie Is receptive OF the sublime and be ~
! tiiui a, we'll as the true. The circle Of human
knowledge not complete without the arc Of feel.
| ing and emotion. Tue lilies OF Tue field have :.
| v .ln far n
nj The village bell. which comes Inellowed from the
valley 10 the traveller Ih- bill, has a value be-
ynd It's acoustcal one; and the setting SUI, when
II mautles with the Dom Of roses the Anime
! SHOWS. has a value beyond its optical one Nv 10
tei!ectuai action Is 10 be traced to purely moral
source. This is just and noble Tribute to The
! spirIt oil literary culture by WHOSE constant
study was the molecules of the air. aud the com
pO-itiJn Of sunbeams
| 1t is weight> testimony. coming as it does from
those VITO them selves have won a high literary rep
utaiOn as p"pultr lecturers. And il is sufficient TO
silence the shallow criticism heard in certain quar-
ter>, that literary culture is ,ly attended with
the same result that hap pened TO tue knight OF l.,
Mancha, who in reading his romauces lost his wits
and that it generally elves the mind that irreso
Lutte state in which Macbeth labOred when as those
bubbles OF the earth disappeared efore hi very ewes
seriously declared that nothing is but what is
not BY this thinly yelled sneer the empires OF
school Of SO called common sense seek to depreci
ate lofty and ecvating study and To teach in their
turn that nothing that Is not useful is beautiful :;
whose be all and end all is to be practical and
whose sole idea Of this state of sublimity was
hunorously characterized by the late Bishop Pierce
intense desire get all they can and hold all
they get Such superficial views may be beet an
swered by stating the chief objects Of literary
culture, namely: mental discipline and the &C.
QUESTION OF knowledge. If be indeed
as be has been described, bundle of
inherited capacities and tendencies, labelled
FROM the indefinite past to the indefinite
future and is TO make his transit from the one to
the other through the education of the present
time, then the object Of that education is ought
TO be provide wise exercise for his apacites wise
direction for his tendencies and through this ex-
erclse and this direction to furnish his mind with
such knowledge as may contribute to tue useful
ness the beauty and the nnbeners of bis life.
The study OF language is mental discipline of
the highest value and especially OF those languages
organized and equipped by the labor of centuries
which are wiclded by the best intelects in the
country in the edncstion IF youth which can point
to ts results in the lives of the foremost men, and
which Lord Byron. on viewing the oblivion over
taking the Imperial City, declared would be Der
resurrection.
Says high authority on this point "The study
Of Ian suage was the most important discipline Of
my boyhood The fierring through the involved
an Inverted sentences of Paradise Lost the link
relative its distant aiHeceden.; of the agent TO
the object OF the transtivc verb of the preposi.
ton To the noun or pronOuu which il governed;
the study of variations in mood and tense the
trdnsposious often Necessary to bring the true
grammatical structure Of sentence; all this TO my
mind was discipline of the highest value indeed
asource Of unfagging delight"
These critics re ady made Us the poet Pope de-
risively terms them VINO Imagine that literary 81 udv
is hut the hashecsh of the mind, looking at il
from this ST ndpOint, might say of Falstaf said
of honor: " II this be delight, III none of -" or