There are many, who, possessing in reality very little knowledge, yet wishing withal to be thought extremely erudite, are constantly yelping that “the interests of sound learning are in danger,” whenever they hear of any Work, of which the object is to render the attainment of any branch of literature easy: and these are joined in the cry by another set, whose bread indeed depends on their making a vast secret of the scanty knowledge they have themselves picked up, (viz. a smattering of the Greek and Roman languages, with little or nothing besides,) dealing it out in miserably small portions at a very enormous price.

All such persons are unworthy of the name they assume: for, in the first place, an intimate acquaintance with the Classics is, in itself, an acquisition of comparatively small value: and what, then, must the worth of a smattering be? An acquaintance with the Classics, I say, is comparatively of very small value of itself, being merely an Introduction to Grammar and to Refinement of Taste: whereas, sound learning, as I understand the expression, means a thorough knowledge of all or most of the Arts and Sciences.