of their fellow men, and that they who shall give their hours of reflection to the development of knowledge or of moral truth, may be as prompt and anxious as he was, practically to apply it to the improvement of their country's institutions and the immediate benefit of society. PHILADELPHIA, OCTOBER 1st, 1845. DEAR SIR, In pursuance of a resolution of the Philomathean Society, we request for publication a copy of your oration delivered before the Society in May last. In compliance with your request, I transmit to you the Address delivered before the Philomathean Society in May last; nor can I omit the occasion to express the gratification it afforded me, to participate in the ceremonies of an institution formed for the cultivation of letters, with which the recollections of my college days so agreeably connect me. Very respectfully, yours, H. D. GILPIN. To Messrs. James Ely, Caldwell K. Biddle, S. Wylie Crawford, Jr., William P. Lewis, Robert M. Lewis, Jr., and Charles F. Burgin, Committee. 'ADDRESS. I come this day to revisit scenes and to participate in ceremonies that bring back the recollections of bygone years. The vivid picture, once here before my eyes, of youthful enthusiasm starting upon the active theatre of life, is restored by the incidents around me. The colours, indeed, have been scarcely darkened by the clouds of time; but how different is the interest with which I now regard it. The lessons of experience can alone teach us how much of the future is bound up in the spirit that animates and guides in the outset of life. By our natures we are creatures of passion; thrown upon the earth the most helpless and unprotected of animated beings, but imbued with emotions imparted by heaven to us alone. When the Gods, in the tale told by the great teacher of ancient philosophy, had formed all the animals of the earth, they permitted Prometheus to assign to them their qualities. With lavish generosity he gave to the brutes all that was necessary for their safety-strength, and swiftness, and powerful instinct, and sure protection against the seasons-till neglected man was left naked and helpless, exposed to the rigour of nature and the violence of the brutes. Touched with pity, Prometheus, to repair his fault, stole fire from heaven, and placed in the bosom of our race the passions and the intellect that distinguish man from the beings that surround him. Let us not think that such a spirit was given to us in vain. Let us not suppose that such passions are useless weeds rudely to be eradicated. In the wise economy of nature every faculty is to be applied to some useful end. Not indeed to all of us has she given the same temperaments. With that hand which scatters vast variety through all her works, she has, in different degrees, imbued us with the feelings of the heart, as she has endowed us with vividness of intellect and with physical power. Yet to all has she given, in general, the same emotions, and properly to direct and to exercise these, above all in the outset of life, is best to secure its happiness and success. The enthusiasm which fills the young heart is the guide and guardian of its future fate. I mean not the wild excess of a heated imagination; but I mean the pure and exalted enthusiasm which then glows brightly, imparting eager desire of good and impatience of wrong; which gives to the nobler passions an elevated tone; which if neglected soon fades totally away, if abused becomes a bane where it should be a blessing, if cherished and controlled leads to whatever is great and good. It is the incentive to meritorious action. It brings nearer to him whom it inspires the applauses he covets. The meed he aims at can be no common one, for it is that which has been accorded by grateful or applauding nations to the greatest of men. The spirit that actuates him is likely to be just, for it leads him to seek for the favourable judgment of mankind. It is the spirit which It feels there is always hopes "to make the age to come its own." something to gain that is better than the present. It is not content with the narrow limits of existence here, but burns with love of immortality. Milton calls it "the flame of most erected spirits, most temper'd, pure, ethereal." Cicero describes it with the eloquence of one who has felt its inspiration; "it is not," he says, "the empty blast of popular favour, or the applause of a giddy multitude; but the |