The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3994, 17 October 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1881.

On a late occasion De Vaoghan delivered an address to the students of St. John's College, Sydney, and the address is worthy perusal, not only for the sound common sense which pervades it, but as coming from such an authority upon the subject as the learned and clever Archbishop. We make the following extracts 'from the address :—" Now let me remind you, gentlemen, that you have not come here simply to qualify for apprenticeship to the bread and butter sciences; you have been sent here by your parents or guardians not alone to prepare to be attorneys, barristers, bankers, squatters, or civil servants ; but to learn how to be men ; I will not say worldly men—for • worldly men are weak men and empty men—but strong men, men of the world, in the highest and beat meaning of that word. (Applause.) I say, then, gentlemen, that you have come to this college to prepare yourselves hot only for your respective professions, but also for becoming able men all round. You may, each of you, select some especial avocatiou, one the law, another physio, a third commerce ; but all of you will, I feel satisfied, desire, apart from the choice of a profession, to become, not worldly men, but men of the world, able not only to hold your own in its mixed society, but, if it be within the compass of your faculties, to rise above the average, and do your part towards making it better, more uultured, and vmore, enlightened than it. is. (Great applause.) If you all aim.at this, there;is no doubt you will raise your average of character and culture; and that is a great thing to do. If the captain of a man-of war can raise the average efficiency of his ship's company, he will not only render his ship more formidable, but he will also multiply their chances of distingnishing themselves amongst his men. How can #ou most effectually realise this aim P Gentlemen, if you will allow me, I will give you my views upon this point, whicli I simply offer you, however, as suggestions. I begin like this. I am aware, us you know, that you hare been following the University course. Of this I confine myself to one branch, we pall classics. You have been spending—yoii know best yourselves how many yearns—in the study of Greek and Litin languages. A large slice of your lires has been consumed in

those studies since you first begau to learn your grammar. I am not saying anything against this; but what Ido emphatically say is, that' that time will have been in a very great degree wasted unless you turn your Greek and Latin to good account, uf course the study of language as language is a very interesting occupation, and a fine exercise for the mind. But, I suppose, unless you are going to become schoolmasters, that you have spent all these years with some other end in view besides that of mastering two dead tongues, which, in the ordinary intercourse of life, will, as languages, be of very little use to you. I look upon Greek and Latin not as treasures so much aa keys, by means of which we can get at treasures. Greek is the golden key, Latin the silver one ; and the treasure-houses they oprn contain those valuables which alone justify you, it Beems to me, in having spent, and still in spending, so much time, money, and strength upon your classical education. By means of these keys you can unlock the golden and silver nates opening out into two worlds, the world of Hellus and the world of Home—the worlds of Greek and Roman Paganism, and Greek and Roman Christianity—worlds containing the history of most splendid epochs, and the biographls of the most cultured, most pure, and heroic men. (Applause.) Now, gentlemen, I hold that by associating your intellects and imaginations, and, with reserve, I may say, your hearts, with these two worlds, you will be gradually forming yourselves into men of the world according to my acceptation of that term. Well, gentlemen, you will now naturally ask me how, after you have left college, you are to set about appropriating those treasures which the Greek and Latin keys place within your reach. My ideas are these: In the first place, unless you form some distinct scheme for yourselves, you will end by reading very little; or, if you do read much, by reading in a perfunctory and desultory manner—in a manner that will do you comparatively little good ; and the years you have spent in pouring over the classics will have been, to a great degree, thrown away. You may ask me whether it would not be more useful to study modern literature in preference to this. I reply, if you neglect the great original springs from which genius, style, character, and the great creations take their rise, your grasp of modern literature will necessarily be a feeble oDe, and you will never thoroughly master it, or really understand it, or be able to take out your rale —and measure it. You would find yourselves, as the saying is, continually "at sea,"and at sea, I may add, very often without chart or even soundings. JNow, I can well imagine your saying to yourselves, and, perhaps to me, "But how shall we ever find time to master the magic circle ?" I reply : I hope you will, and believe you will, on leaving college, be very busy. And the busier you are, the more time, I do not say you will have, but you will know how to make. Shall I tell you the sort of people who never have time for anything? Those who have nothing to do, or who, as Maoaulay designates them, are " merely smoking, card-playing, punch-drinking loungers." (Applause.) If yoiL seriously imagine,- gentlemen, that you will'have so much to engage your attention as not to find time to widen and enrich and fortify your minds, and enoble yourcharacters in^.the way I suggest, I would ask you : Bo you think you will be more engrossed than Julius Caesar was, who made a greater name for himself by his "Commentaries" than by his victories? or than Sir Thomas Moore, or than Bacon or Clarendon were P Men who were from early manhood plunged in the excitement; of affairs: or, to come to modern days, than the late Lord Derby was, who translated Homer, or than Mr Gladstone, who- wrote two learned volumes on the gods and men of the Heroic Age? (Applause.) Do you suppose that he who is to be the most successful lawyer amongst you will be more oppressed with business in Sydney than Cicero was in Home? And, yet, Cicero found time, in the midst of all his multifarious engagements, not only to write voluminously, but to write profoundly and to manifest a width of reading, and an accuracy and a minuteness of knowledge, which are excessively remarkable. Candidly, gentlemen, Ido not think I can satisfy myself that you will not be able to make time; though it is quite another thing whether or not you will have self-control and self sacrifice enough to do so in point of fact. Cicero did what he did because he made up his mind that he would do it. He says, " What others give to their own affairs, to public shows, and other entertainments—nay, even to mental and bodily rest — I give to study and philosophy." This I am persuaded of, that if you make up youi minds to be industrious and methodical, and with perseverance work out a plan of study—something like that which I have suggested to you—you will find it a comparatively easy task to possess joursolf of what is best . ; ia'd' wisest and most remarkable in the lives and teaching, in the styles asJ methods, of the fixent masters ;-of pagan and Christian culture, character, and learning. (Applause.) HjSfifitieiiien, though you may not; all the highest prize, the very attempt,|to win will stimulate-yoUr faculties, fan«j w ill not be without its salutary effectl/upon your lives. Ours is a new country/ w ith a great future before it: that futur| depends upon our' leading men. Such hinstitutions as these are established iniorder to provide, by means of character \ n & culture, or eloquence and learning,? t ne best and most enlightened guides along the future path. You owe it tOiy O u rS elves, to your parents, and to your^ coun try, to do your part manfully, and make the most of the faculties you .possess. Ma,ny a glorious opportunity £> r doing great things .has been lost, bet. ause me n had not had the patience and; industry to fit themselves for seizing it,\ ,