ciples, and may all with propriety be treated in the same general manner. Sometimes they originate in dissatisfaction with the diet in the public refectory; sometimes from the extent of the lessons assigned to the several classes; and again, at other times, from the refusal of some solicited privilege or indulgence. Now it would be wrong to assert that the faculty of any college is infallible, or that either their interdicts or their prescriptions are always, of course, to be considered as right. But the fact is, that, even if, from error in judgment, they should sometimes happen to be wrong, it is a much smaller evil, in practice, to assume that in any given case they are right, and to decide and act accordingly, than to allow the students to sit in judgment upon their decisions and doings, and thus to be judges and jurymen in their own cause. The most learned and conscientious jurists presiding in a civil court, may decide erroneously. But suppose they do, what is the appropriate remedy? To raise a mob in the court-house; to explode gunpowder among the multitude, at the risk of life; and to destroy the chairs, tables, and other furniture of the building? Would any of these either rectify the error in question, or promote the cause of substantial justice? The very suggestion of such a method of redress is at once contemptible and shocking; and those who should resort to it, would be deemed a set of silly infatuated savages. If the

decision complained of is to be reversed, the reversal is to be obtained by other and more peaceable All the violence tends but to mischief, and must be severely punished, or there will be an end of order and of justice.

measures.

Precisely such are the principles which ought to be laid down concerning the decisions of a college faculty. They are probably right; but, whether right or wrong, the very worst judges in the case are the rash, inexperienced, and headstrong subjects of discipline. If every wayward child is permitted to review and reverse the sentences of wise and faithful parents, it is plain that domestic government and order will soon cease, and all parties be less safe and less happy. If unwise or oppressive measures on the part of the immediate government of a college are supposed by the reflecting and orderly portion of the pupils to exist, the only measures which ought to be thought of are two; one, to send a small and respectful committee, made up of two or three of the students known to be among the most respected and confided in by the faculty, to present the humble statement and request of the whole body; and if this be not successful, the second step should be to appeal to the board of trustees. If by neither of these methods the object of the complainants can be obtained, the presumption is, either, that the evils complained of are imaginary, or that, for the

time being, they do not admit of a remedy. I have no recollection of any case in which an appeal to the board of trustees was followed with success to the appellants. The truth is, the faculty of every college are always under the temptation to go as far as they possibly can, consistently with duty, to gratify the students. Their own popularity and ease will, of course, in ordinary cases, induce to this. Seldom indeed will a calm and impartial body of guardians, having nothing to do with immediate instruction, lean more than they to the side of indulgence.

There is a species of conduct on the part of students which sometimes occurs, which may, perhaps, be as appropriately mentioned in this letter as in any other. I refer to the case of those students who, in their own estimation, and in that of their friends, are considered as having high claims to distinguished rank in the assignment of college honours: and when honours adequate to their expectations are not awarded to them, undertake to resent it as gross injustice, and either attempt to excite a mutiny in their behalf, or decline to receive the honour assigned them, and perhaps even refuse to speak at all at the ensuing commencement, and forfeit their graduation altogether. There is in all this an arrogance and presumption unworthy of young gentlemen approaching the age of manhood. Who are the best judges of a student's

proper merits and rank-himself, or the faculty, who have been watching over him, and labouring with him for years? It is very possible, indeed, that a faculty may be guilty of great injustice in this matter. From some cause, and perhaps not a very laudable one, they may award to a candidate for graduation a rank decisively below that to which he is fairly entitled. But what then? Is he or the faculty the regularly constituted judge in the case? Every one knows it is the faculty. Will he be likely, then, to gain any thing by resenting their award, or refusing to submit to it? I will not venture to pronounce that no degree of injustice can warrant a student in refusing to submit to it. But I have no recollection of having ever known such a case. Amidst all the instances of insubordinate conduct on such occasions which have come to my knowledge, I have never known one case in which the student who adopted this course gained any advantage by it. They have, in every case, lost the object which they sought, and been regarded by all their enlightened and impartial friends as acting an unwise part.

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LETTER VII.

HEALTH.

"Non est vivere, sed valere vita."

MY DEAR SONS,

I NEED not say a word to you of the value of health. All know it. All acknowledge it. If I were to attempt formally to prove it, you would consider me as undertaking a needless task. And yet a large portion of mankind, and especially of the young, appear to be so unmindful of the value of this blessing, and so reckless of its preservation, that there is hardly any subject in regard to which unceasing lessons are more needed, or are given from time to time with less benefit.

I once felt inclined to enter into cautions and counsels on this subject very much in detail; but a growing impression of the difficulty of doing justice to it, and a fear of doing mischief by multiplying advices respecting it, induce me to be much more brief than I originally intended. All that I shall attempt is to give a few brief hints, which I