86739 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, By GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. PREFACE. THE following pages are submitted to the public with great diffidence because they propose changes; and the author has lived too long to be a passionate admirer of innovation. Let it however be remembered that he merely suggests the points to be aimed at where alterations are to be made; leaving the time and manner and degree of alteration to the decision of those whose duty it is to judge of the circumstances in each particular case. Should he have done no more than direct attention to the questions here discussed, the labor which he has bestowed will not have been wholly mis-spent. These pages have been written amidst frequent interruptions arising from pressing Collegiate engagements, as well as from unusual public anxiety. They have been printed at so great a distance from home, that the author has been unable to revise the proofs with all the care that he could wish. With all their imperfections, he offers them as an humble contribution to the cause of Collegiate Education. Brown University, August 1, 1842. |