Page:Our Hymns.djvu/274

 254 OUR HYMNS :

pursuit of knowledge. First, at home under his mother, then at the grammar school, and afterwards at Middletown, he pursued his industrious and successful course regardless of the necessity for exercise and recreation. In his fourteenth year he became a member of Yale College, hut for two years his progress was in terrupted, and he was exposed to some dangers from the disor ganized state of the college. Immediately after this period he resumed his habit of laborious study ; and to accomplish as much as possible, he studied very early in the morning by candle-light, thus originating that disease in his eyes from which he suffered during the remainder of his life.

In the year 1769, his eighteenth year, he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and soon after took charge of a grammar- school at New Haven. This office he retained for two years, at the same time pursuing his own studies ; and, in 1771, he was chosen tutor in Yale College, Connecticut, a position he retained for six years. During his period of office, he added new lustre to the institution, and in particular encouraged the study of rhetoric, till then in a great measure neglected. He also carried very far the severer study of mathematics. It was during the earlier years of this tutorship that D wight wrote his &quot; Conquest of Canaan,&quot; an epic poem, in eleven books. It is founded on the history as it is given in the Scriptures, and is the production of poetical powers of a high order. It was finished in 1774, but owing to the unsettled state of the country, it was not published till 1785. As a youth, the author had written some verses and taken a deep interest in sacred music. In the year 1772, he re ceived the degree of Master of Arts. It was on that occasion that he delivered &quot;A Dissertation on the History, Eloquence, and Poetry of the Bible.&quot; This was printed and republished in Europe, and became generally known. About this time, Dwight aggravated the disease in his eyes by close application to study after an attack of the small-pox ; and in order to leave his mind as free as possible, he reduced his diet so low as to undermine his health and threaten his life. This led him to adopt a valetu-

�� �