Never To Old To Learn

Sócrates, at a extreme Id age, leárned to play 011 mutúoal instrumenta. This would look ridiculous lor some of the rich oíd men of our city, ospecially if they should t;ike it into their heads to thrum a guilfr under a lady's win dow, which doirates did not do, but only learned to play upon some instrumeot of his "time - nota guitar - f'or the purpose oí resling the weur and tear oí oíd age. Cato, at eigluy years oí' age, tbought proper to leani the Greek lauguage, Mauy ot our young men, at thirty and forty, have forgoüeu even toe alphabet of u language, tho knovtledge of which waa ueoeisary to enter coílege, and which was made a daily exerceu through collego. A fine couiment upon their love of lettere, truly I Pintaren, when between 'seventy and eijhty, cointTieuced the etudy ot Latin. Many of our young lawyers, not thirty y irs of age, thiuk that nisipnus, scire acias, &c, are English expressions ; and you tell thern that a knowlcdge oí' Latin would make tlit'in appear a little more respectuble in their professii d, they will reply that tliey are too oíd to think of learning Latin. Boccaccio waa thirty tive years f age when he commeucod his studies in plite literature. Yet he became one of thethree gieat mustera of tlie Tusean dialect, Dante and Petrarch being tho i other two. There are many aitiong us ten years younger than Boccaccio, who are dymg of enuui, and rcgrut that íhey were not educnted to a tute for literature ; but dow thoy are toa oíd. Sir Heury Spehnan neglected the seieuc.es in his youth, but commenoed tbe study ot them when he vva betweeu fif'ty and sixty years of age. Alter this lime he becaiiie a most learned antiquariun and lawyer. Our young raon begiu to think of layin their eeniors on the shelf when they have reached sixty years of age. How different the preHent estímate put upon experience from that whieh characteriz .d a cerlaio period of the Grrecian republic, when a man was not allowed to open his mouth in caucuses 01' politxal meetinga, wh') was not forty years oí age. Colbert, the fatnous Frenen Minister, at sixty years of age, returned to his Latiu and law studies. How many of our college-learnt men have ever looked over their classics since their graduation ? Dr. Johnson applied hirnself to tbe Dutcu language bilt a few years beforo his death. Many of our merchante and lawyers of twenty-five, thirty, and forty years of age, are obliged to apply to a teacher to translate a business letter wriiten in tho French language, whioh might be learned in a tenth part ot the time required fur the aequisition of the Dutch ; and all because they aro too oíd to learn ! Ludovico Monaldesco, at the great age of one hundred and fifteeu, wroto the memoirs of his own times - a singular exertion, noticed by Vo' taire, who was himself one of the most remarkable instances of the progresa oí age in new studies, ügilby, the translator of'Horner and Virgil, was unacquainted with Latin and üreek till he was past fif'ty. Franklin did not fully conmience his philosophical pureuits till he liad reachd his tiftieth year. How many aaong us of thirty, fortv, and fitiy, who read nothing but newtspapers for the want of a taste for natural pbilosophy ! Accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why he began tbe study oí law so late, answered that indeed he began it late but he should thereiore master it the sooner. This agrees with pur theory, that healthy oíd age gives a man the power of accomplishiug a difücult study in much lcss liine than would be necessary to one of half his years. Dryden, in his sixty-eighth year, commeneed th.e translation of the Iliad ; and his most pleasing productions were written in his old age. We could go on and cite thousands of exatnples of-men who commeneed a nevv 8tudy and Htruck out into an entirely new puisuit, either for livelihood or amusement, at an advauced age. But every oue la'niliar with the biography of distinguished men will recollect individual cases enough to convince him that nono but the sick s nd indolent will ever say, " I am too old to study."