been erected, and the necessary arrangements for opening the institution had not been completed until the spring of 1825. The germ of the University was the Albemarle Academy, incorporated by an act of the Legislature in 1814, among the Trustees of which are found the names of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. This Academy was subsequently enlarged and expanded by the act of February, 1816, into Central College, for which very liberal private subscriptions, amounting to $44,000,,were made, and which was also endowed by the State with the proceeds from the sales of certain glebe lands and church property in the Parish of St. Anne. At length in 1819, before this College was ready for the reception of students, the Assembly passed the act establishing the University of Virginia, and authorising the Governor to appoint commissioners principally to make selection of a suitable site. This proved to be a delicate and responsible duty, on account of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles presented by local prejudices and interests. Inducements of various kinds were offered in different parts of the State, but Central College was finally fixed upon as the site, on the ground of its being nearest the centre of the white population.

The last ten or twelve years of Mr. Jefferson's life were chiefly devoted to the promotion of the great object of the establishment of an institution of a high grade in Virginia. He was altogether in advance of his age, and had to contend with ignorance, and what is perhaps worse, prejudices of the most unyielding character. But he labored on faithfully in every possible mode to enlighten the public mind, until after years of anxiety and toil he finally succeeded in his great

work.

Scarcely less credit is due to Joseph C. Cabell, Esq., than to Mr. Jefferson himself. This gentleman held the place of Senator in the General Assembly of Virginia during the entire period of the pendency of the various schemes for the promotion of education. He was the trusted friend and correspondent of Mr. Jefferson, and became the depositary of his thoughts upon this subject, and he received his advice at every stage of the arduous struggle.

Mr. Cabell possessed a strong, well-disciplined, and liberally cultivated mind; he had spent several years abroad in the prosecution of his studies, and had received from Mr. Jefferson, while President, various offers of honorable employment, all of which he declined. He had a full appreciation of and sympathy with Mr. Jefferson's large views upon the subject of education, and at all times and seasons, under difficulties the most discouraging, and opposition the most violent, zealously pressed forward and advocated the various bills, many of them origi

nated by himself, which had for their object, immediate or remote, the advancement of learning. It would be unjust to Mr. Cabell to regard him merely as the channel through which Mr. Jefferson's ideas upon this subject were impressed upon the legislation of the State. His own independent services were of the most valuable character. An interesting sketch of the life of this gentleman will be found in the introduction to the work we have under review.

The volume of Correspondence portrays in graphic terms the early difficulties and discouraging obstacles with which the friends of the University of Virginia had to contend, at each succeeding step, in the first place to secure the legislative sanction to the establishment of the University, and subsequently, each year, to procure the appropriations necessary for the erection of buildings and the purchase of a library and apparatus. At length, by the unrelaxing energy and perseverance, earnestness, unfaltering courage, and untiring industry of Mr. Cabell, Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Broadnax, and others in the General Assembly, and the great activity of Mr. Jefferson in a private station, all these obstacles were happily surmounted, and the University was opened in the spring of 1825.

The establishment of a great central University was but a part of the plan of Mr. Jefferson, as connected with a general system of colleges and elementary schools, to provide for the intellectual wants of all classes of the community, to fit them, and each individual in his sphere, for the various professions, trades, or other pursuits, which the exigencies of life might render necessary.

As early as 1776, Mr. Jefferson, as a member of a committee to revise the laws of Virginia, had matured a plan of general education, which, though not adopted, he never lost sight of in his subsequent life. At the request of Mr. Cabell, in 1817, he prepared a bill fully detailing this plan, the leading features of which were briefly-1st. The division of the counties into wards, according to a prescribed rule as to population, and the establishment in each of a ward-school, the expenses of which were to be defrayed chiefly by tuition fees, but from which no pupil was to be excluded on account of poverty. In these schools the elementary branches only were to be taught. 2d. The aggregation of counties into districts, of which there were to be nine. In each of these districts a College was to be established, with a limited number of professors, and a course of study to be pursued embracing the ancient languages, the French, Spanish, Italian and German, Mensuration, Use of Globes, Navigation, &c.; the professors to be paid, each, a stated salary, and to be allowed tuition-fees

from students. 3d. The establishment in a central part of the State of a University, where all the branches of a scholastic and professional education, embracing the entire circle of the sciences, arts, and literature, were to be taught in their greatest perfection. (For details see appendix G, p. 413.) The two first features of this wise and liberal plan of education did not receive the sanction of the Assembly, and the third only was adopted.

As in all the preceding steps, Mr. Jefferson's influence had been paramount, so it controlled in the organization of the University of Virginia which, fortunately in this respect, received the deep impress of his large and liberal mind. Nothing escaped his care; even the details of the plan of the buildings, and their admirable arrangement, proceeded from him.

It is not necessary to give a full account of this noble institution; it will suffice briefly to notice a few of its most marked peculiarities.

The first of these, is the division into the following schools, each of which has its own professors and assistants, and is in some measure independent of the others: 1. Ancient Languages, embracing Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. 2. Modern Languages, embracing French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Anglo-Saxon. 3. Mathematics, Pure and Mixed. 4. Natural Philosophy. 5. Chemistry. 6. Medicine, proper. 7. Anatomy-Human and Comparative, Physiology and Surgery. 8. Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 9. Practical Anatomy. 10. Moral Philosophy. 11. Law. To the above has recently been added a school of History and English Literature; the school of Ancient Languages, having also been divided into separate professorships of Latin and Greek Languages and

Literature.

A second peculiarity is the absence of any prescribed curriculum of studies, leaving it optional with the student or his natural or legal guardian to select such a course, scholastic or professional, or both, as will best prepare him for any given speciality, with the condition, in case of minors, of attendance on at least three schools. Academical and professional degrees are conferred by each school separately, and are contingent not upon duration of residence, but solely upon proficiency in studies. Besides these are the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and of Master of Arts of the University of Virginia, to secure the first of which requires graduation in any two of the following scientific schools, viz: Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and also, in addition, graduation in any two of the following literary schools, viz: Ancient Languages, Modern Languages, Moral Philosophy. To secure the second degree, requires graduation in all of the above schools. No honorary

degrees are ever conferred. Although the studies are elective, as above described, yet custom has prescribed a certain course which is pursued in probably the majority of cases.

The examinations, public and private, are of the most rigid character, and the standard of qualification for the honors of the University fixed at the highest point. The public examinations are chiefly conducted in writing, after the manner of English Universities, no text books and no communication of students with each other or other persons being allowed in the recitation rooms. This system is carried out with military rigor, and, as might readily be supposed, thoroughness of scholarship is the result. In no institution are so few permitted to be graduated in proportion to the applicants for such honors. It is a well known fact that even at Harvard and Yale, the only Colleges in the United States which deserve to be noticed in connection with the University of Virginia, the examinations are so lax, and the requirements are so small, that duration of residence is almost the only qualification for graduation. At all events their system is much less exacting, and it is fair to presume that the scholarship imparted is inferior. Harvard and Yale are old institutions, and the University of Virginia is yet in its thirty-second year, and only one generation has been educated there. We may look to the next generation to bring forth the rich fruits of its admirable. system of mental discipline.

Another peculiarity in the organization of this institution is the absence of a President, or other permanent head of the Faculty, a Chairman of the Faculty being annually appointed by the Board of Visitors. Some advantages are supposed to result from this arrangement, the chief of which are, that the system promotes esprit du corps, stimulates the activity, and makes each professor personally more interested in the prosperity, character, and reputation of the institution. When the University first went into operation, the Chair of Law was offered to Mr. Wirt, then Attorney General of the United States, and as an additional inducement for him to accept of it, the office of President of the Faculty was created for his benefit. Mr. Wirt having declined the appointment, the office was discontinued, chiefly on account of the energetic opposition of Mr. Jefferson, and it has never since been revived.

The Board of Visitors of the University, consisting of nine members, is appointed by the Governor of the State, and holds office for a term of four years. This Board elects one of its own number as Rector, who presides over its deliberations and performs its chief executive duties. This office has been held successively by Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Chapman Johnson, and Mr. Joseph C. Cabell. The powers and duties

of this Board are succinctly expressed as follows, in the 6th section of the act establishing the University of Virginia:

"The said Visitors shall be charged with the erection, preservation, and repair of the buildings, the care of the grounds and appurtenances, and of the interests of the University generally; they shall have power to appoint a bursar, employ a proctor, and all other necessary agents; to appoint and remove professors, two-thirds of the whole number of Visitors voting for the removal; to prescribe their duties and the course of education in conformity with the law; to establish rules for the government and discipline of the students not contrary to the laws of the land; to regulate the tuition fees and the rent of the dormitories occupied; to prescribe and control the duties and proceedings of all officers, servants, and others, with respect to the buildings, lands, appurtenances, and other property and interests of the University; to draw from the literary fund such moneys as are by law charged on it for this institution; and in general to direct and do all matters and things which, not being inconsistent with the laws of the land, to them shall seem most expedient for promoting the purposes of the said institution; which several functions they shall be free to exercise in the form of by-laws, rules, resolutions, or otherwise as they shall deem proper."

The government of the students themselves differs both in kind and degree from that of other institutions. In accordance with Mr. Jefferson's views of the capacity of man for selfgovernment, they were subjected at first to fewer restraints than it was afterwards found.necessary to impose, but even yet they are exempted from many of those annoying regulations which are made at other Colleges, seemingly in the mere exercise of the wantonness of power. For instance, day-break attendance at chapel is dispensed with, while it is expected, but not enjoined, that each student will attend divine service, and conduct himself with decorum. The result is, that the students are punctual in attendance at church, and are orderly and respectful to a marked degree.

No official espionage is practised, and the statements of students are received without investigation as true. They are relied upon as honorable gentlemen, and they very rarely disappoint this confidence.

The University of Virginia also differs from other large institutions, in dispensing with the tutorial system of instruction to a great extent, the consequence of which is, that the Professors are subjected to an unusual and an undue degree of toil and mean drudgery, which ought never to be required of them. They are probably the hardest worked body of professors in the country. It would be far better, it seems to us, at least for the interests of literature, to have a well organized corps of tutors, that the Professors might have more of that "learned leisure" from which we might reasonably expect more frequent contributions to the science and learning of the world. The South, cut off in a large measure by her institutions from the sympathy of other nations, has need of the services of all of her sons, who are capable, by the pen, of commanding the attention of the world. Prof. Bledsoe has already rendered