DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0183
Ch. HL THROUGH ITALY. 155
the system of instruction, or to the want of
means of improvement. The lecturers are men
of zeal and abilities; the plan of studies is the
result of long· and successful experience; and
libraries, collections, and cabinets of every kind
are numerous and magnificent. Moreover,
encouragement is not wanting, as the places of
professors are both lucrative and honorable, and
the directors, till the late disastrous revolution,
were three Venetian senators. The decrease of
numbers, therefore, at Padua, and in other
ancient Universities, is to be attributed to the
establishment of similar institutions in other
countries, and to the general multiplication of
the means of knowledge over the Christian
world. Knowledge is now fortunately placed
within the reach of almost every village; the
most abstruse science may be learned in the
most remote corners; colleges and seminaries
have been planted and flourish even in the polar
circles; and youth in almost every country,
may enjoy that, which an eloquent ancient justly
considers as one of the greatest blessing of early
life—home education.*
* Ubi enim aut jucundius morarentnr quam in patriot 1
aut pudicius coutinerentur quam sub oculis parentum ! aut
minore sumptu quam domi ? iv. Ep. xiii.
5
the system of instruction, or to the want of
means of improvement. The lecturers are men
of zeal and abilities; the plan of studies is the
result of long· and successful experience; and
libraries, collections, and cabinets of every kind
are numerous and magnificent. Moreover,
encouragement is not wanting, as the places of
professors are both lucrative and honorable, and
the directors, till the late disastrous revolution,
were three Venetian senators. The decrease of
numbers, therefore, at Padua, and in other
ancient Universities, is to be attributed to the
establishment of similar institutions in other
countries, and to the general multiplication of
the means of knowledge over the Christian
world. Knowledge is now fortunately placed
within the reach of almost every village; the
most abstruse science may be learned in the
most remote corners; colleges and seminaries
have been planted and flourish even in the polar
circles; and youth in almost every country,
may enjoy that, which an eloquent ancient justly
considers as one of the greatest blessing of early
life—home education.*
* Ubi enim aut jucundius morarentnr quam in patriot 1
aut pudicius coutinerentur quam sub oculis parentum ! aut
minore sumptu quam domi ? iv. Ep. xiii.
5