FIRST LECTURE.
c and the particular excellencies and defe&s of great£ maders; and finally, to lead them into the readied‘ and mod efficacious paths of dudy*.’—If, Gentlemen,thefe directions prefuppofe in the dudent a fufficientdock of elementary knowledge; an expertnefs in therudiments-, not mere widles but a peremptory will ofimprovement and judgment with docility ; how muchmore do they imply in the perfon felected to addrefsthem—knowledge founded on theory, fubdantiated andmatured by pra&ice; a mafs of feleCt and well digededmaterials; perfpicuity of method and command ofwords; imagination to place things in fuch views asthey are not commonly feen in; prefence of mind, andthat refolution, the refult of confcious vigour, which infubmitting to correct midakes, cannot be eafily dis-countenanced,—As conditions like thefe would dif-courage abilities far fuperior to mine, my hopes ofapprobation, moderate as they are, mud in a greatmeafure depend on that indulgence which may grantto my will what it would refufe to my powers.
In the arrangement of my plan I fhall prefer a pro-greffive method, that may enable me, on future occafions,to treat more fully thofe parts which the preffure of
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