means of drawing her resources from herself." And we cannot refrain from making, in conclusion, another quotation from the same author, so exactly expressing our own views that we prefer using his own language. "If you educate women to attend to dignified and important subjects, you are multiplying beyond measure the chances of human improvement, by preparing and medicating those early impressions, which always come from the mother; and which, in a great majority of instances, are quite decisive of character and genius. Nor is it only in the business of education that women would influence the destiny of men. If women knew more, men must learn morefor ignorance would then be shameful— and it would become the fashion to be instructed. The instruction of women im proves the stock of national talents, and COWPER AND HIS CRITIC.-Cowper had sent a small poem to the publishers, when some friendly critic took the liberty to alter a line in the poem, to make it smoother, supposing, of course, he had made the line much better because it was smoother, and that Cowper would be grateful for such a favour; but Cowper did not think "oily smoothness" the only merit of poetry, and so was quite indignant at the liberty taken with his poem. "I did not write the line," says he, that has been tampered with hastily or without due attention to the construction of it; and what appeared to me its only merit is, in its present state, entirely annihilated. "I know that the ears of modern verse-makers are delicate to an excess, and their readers are troubled with the same squeamishness as themselves; so that if a line does not run as smooth as quicksilver, they are offended. A critic of the present day serves a poem as a cook serves a dead turkey, when she fastens the legs of it to a post and draws out all its sinues. For this we may thank Pope; but give me a manly, rough line, with a deal of meaning in it, rather than a whole poem of music periods, that have nothing but their oily smoothness to recommend them. "In a much longer poem which I have just finished, there are many lines which an ear so nice as the gentleman's who made the above-mentioned alteration would undoubtedly condemn; and yet (if I may be allowed the expression) they cannot be made smoother without being made the worse for it. There is a roughness on a plumb which nobody that understands fruit would rub off, though the plumb would be much more polished without it. But lest I tire you, I will only add, that I wish you to guard me for the future from all such meddling, assuring you that I always write as smoothly as I can, but that I never did, never will, sacrifice the spirit or sense of a passage to the sound of it." The above "cut" is a good representation of that portion of the buildings of this Institution, appropriated to the use of students, to lecture-rooms, &c. The artist has executed his task faithfully as far as he has gone. But in several particulars the picture fails to do justice to the real appearance of the college grounds and their surroundings. In the first place, there are several fine shade-trees in front of the buildings, which we do not find here represented. In the second place, the splendid mountain scenery, forming the back-ground of that almost unsurpassed landscape, which surrounds the village and the Institution on the West, is here but faintly visible. Again, the Professor's houses, extending out on either side of the line of buildings, add not a little to the beauty of the grounds, but they do not appear in the picture. To criticise, however, was not the object with which we set out, but thus far we may go in that direction, so that the picture may be justly appreciated. "We have before us the Triennial Reg. ister of Alumni with the Annual Catalogue and Circular" of this Institutiona remarkably neat and well executed pamphlet of nearly fifty pages. The "Historical Statistics," briefly set forth on the first two pages, are interesting and suggestive. They carry us back to anterevolutionary days, when the men of this frontier section of our State were wont to be educated, more by surrounding circumstances, than by academic appliances. We find the foundation of the Institution in old "Liberty Hall Academy," as far back as 1774. Its "Rector" for more than twenty years was the Rev. Wm. Graham, the pioneer of classical and mathematical education in the Great Valley. Of him a distinguished pupil* of his own says: "He possessed a mind formed for profound and accurate investigation. He had studied the Latin and Greek Classics with great care, and relished the beauties of those exquisite compositions. With those authors taught in the schools, he was familiar by long practice in teaching, and always insisted on the importance of classical literature, as the proper foundation of a liberal education. He had a strong inclination to the study of Natural Philosophy, and took pleasure in making experiments with such apparatus as he possessed; and he had procured for the Academy as good an one as was possessed by most of the Colleges. In these experiments much time was employed, on which inquisitive persons not connected with the Academy, were freely permitted to attend. The science, however, which engaged his attention more than all others, except theology, was the PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIND. In this he took great delight, and to this devoted much time and attention." Thus we find him viewing the different departments of study as alike important to a complete academic course. Soon after Mr. Graham had retired from its halls, having sacrificed the prime of his life, and to a great extent his pecuniary interest to the welfare of this institution, struggling to stand amid the trying times of the Revolution, and of the first establishment of our government, it had the good fortune to receive from the "Father of his Country," a liberal donation, which Virginia had conferred upon him, but which he was unwilling to accept on his own account; yet he accepted it, that he might re-confer it as a still greater gift upon his native State, by using it in endowing one of her most promising institutions. In this connection, we shall call attention to another interesting item in the history of this College. We copy from the "Triennial Register." "The Cincinnati Society of Virginia was organized by the surviving Officers of the Revolution, soon after the close of the war. The objects of the society were:— 1. To perpetuate the bond of union which had kept them so firmly bound together during their long struggle for Independence; and 2. To raise, by individual contributions, a common fund, for the relief of such widows and orphans as had been left by any of their comrades, or might be left by themselves, in circumstances requiring pecuniary aid. "After some years, it was thought expedient to dissolve the association. It was then found, that after providing for all remaining widows and orphans, there would be a large residuary fund still on hand. This fund they resolved, in imitation of their illustrious Commander-inChief, to add to the endowment of Washington College, under certain specified conditions. The college having accepted and fulfilled these conditions, is now in full possession of this donation, amounting at present to about $23,000. "As a token of obligation to the Society of Cincinnati for their liberality, the College requires of the best scholar in every class of graduates an oration in honor of the Society. This is always a part of the annual commencement exercises." The name of that Association is perpet uated in the title given to the professional chair of Mathematics. We must not pass unnoticed another valuable donation, subsequently added to *The late Rev. Dr. Alexander of Princeton. the endowment of the college, by a worthy son of the "Emerald Isle," to whose memory a beautiful monument has been erected on the campus, and may be seen near the end of the picture on the right. This monument bears the following inscription: "HONOR TO WHOM HONOR'SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN ROBINSON, A NATIVE OF IRELAND-A SOLDIER OF WASHINGTON-A MUNIFICENT BENEFACTOR OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. BORN A. D. 1754. DIED A. D. 1826. Additional mementoes of his liberality are found in the title given to the chair of Physical Science; and in the gold medals annually awarded to distinguished graduates. With these endowments, the "Academy" was enabled to assume a most respectable position as a "College." It has since, occasionally, had its times of depression-it has found its calumniators-it has met with those who would gladly have crushed it; nevertheless, its general course has been "onward and upward." In the matter of external displays, this College claims no remarkably high position. But in its internal arrangement— in its elevated standard of scholarship— in its extended and thorough course of classical, scientific and mathematical studies-in its well-constructed system of discipline, it holds a position in public estimation, second to that of no other college in the Union. In confirmation of this, we quote from a late Richmond paper. Speaking of the closing exercises of the past session, the writer "The examining committee, consisting says: of Rev. Dr. Pendleton of the Episcopal church, Drs. Dabney and Brown, and Mr. Page of Lexington, declare in their report to the Board of Trustees, that the examinations were really admirable." They further say, that "the course in this College is complete to the highest standard; that the members of its faculty are able and efficient; that its system of instruction is rigid and thorough; and that the education it furnishes is as entire as can be secured in any institution of like grade in the country." This, coming from the source it does, is high praise, but not undeserved. In glancing the eye over the list of Alumni, the reader will be at once struck with the extent to which this Institution from its earliest period has contributed to fill every department of society with able and efficient men. While yet an Academy, it sent out for the "Bar and the Bench" its Blackburn, its Stuarts, its Brown, and its Marshall. Then further down along the list, are the names of Coalter, Field, Allen and others equally worthy to be mentioned. More brilliant perhaps are the names familiar in the Legislative councils of our country— Roane, Watkins, Crittenden, Braxton, Preston, McDowell. In the "Pulpit," we find the names of Hoge, Alexander, Baxter, Rice, Speece, McPheeters, Paxton, Ruffner and Plumer, with others immortal in the pages of the church's history. With such a "past" and such a" present," may we not confidently expect for Washington College a still more brilliant "future?" THE LATE LUCIAN MINOR. Brief editorials and brief obituaries in the newspapers of the State, have already apprized the public of the death, on the 8th of July last, at Williamsburg, of LUCIAN MINOR, Professor of Law in William and Mary College. These announce ments sufficed to inflict a pang of sorrow upon a large number of devoted friends, and were, in their simple brevity, just what his own taste would have approved. But the death of such a man would seem to require a more extended notice. In essaying it, the writer seeks, not the somewhat selfish gratification of indulging in deserved eulogy of a departed friend. His aim is higher. He trusts that the exhibition of genius, talents, taste and learning devoted less to the worldly advancement of their possessor, than to the good of mankind, may carry with it a salutary moral lesson. A cordial intimacy and uninterrupted friendship coeval with his acquaintance, and extending through a period embracing more than half his earthly career, in some degree, qualify the writer for the task. No one has enjoyed better opportunities of knowing and appreciating the traits of his moral and intellectual nature. After completing his education in the venerable institution of which he died a Professor, Mr. Minor removed to Alabama, with a view of following his profession in that State. His sojourn there was a brief one, and he returned to Virginia, and commenced the practice of the Law, in his native county of Louisa, where he resided, with the exception of a year or two spent in Albemarle, until his appointment to the Chair of Law in William and Mary. As a Lawyer, Mr. Minor was justly held in very high estimation by all of his brethren who had opportunity to become acquainted with the extent and accuracy of his learning. While he regarded the Common Law, in its harsher features, with disfavor, as a relic of a semi-civilization, and was an earnest and eloquent advocate of such reforms as he thought were demanded by the progress of society-his criticisms were discriminating, VOL. XXVII-15 and displayed a profound familiarity with the ancient sources of jurisprudence and the whole line of judicial exposition by which it has been developed. His learning was the comprehensive learning of a jurisconsult, not the case-knowledge of a mere attorney. The Revisors of the Code of Virginia (1849) were not unwilling to receive the assistance of his pen in the preparations of portions of that work. His success at the bar was moderate, in comparison with his legal attainments. A result due, in part, perhaps, to qualities which made him the more estimable as a man-the utter absence of all arts of popularity, and a stern adherence to his own lofty sense of right-in part, to a style of argument in the conduct of causes, better suited to an appellate, than a nisi prius, tribunal. His peculiar professional qualifications had found, in the pursuits in which he was engaged at the time of his death, their most appropriate and useful sphere-legal authorship and the professor's chair. Mr. Minor was a fine classical scholar. He had been taught in the good old way, and cultivated the Greek and Latin not as affording the materials of mere philological speculation and verbal analysis, but as keys to a noble domain of thought, taste and feeling. He was deeply imbued with the spirit of Greek and Roman literature. It moulded his style and modes of thinking. Unlike most men of the present day, he did not discard these studies as the cares of life pressed upon him. When most actively engaged in the practice of his profession, it seemed a point of conscience to read daily a page or two of some favorite classic author. With our own literature his acquaintance was varied and profound. He had drunk deep" of the pure well of English undefiled," and his taste was refined even to the point, occasionally, of fastidiousness. His reading was multifarious and discursive-though the accuracy of his information might have led you to believe that he was "the man of one book." These almost encyclopedic stores of literary knowledge were never obtrusively para |