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Rh then cultivated in the college, rather than to devote it exclusively or eminently to any one, and evidently actuated more by the love of excellence than by the desire of excelling. For this happy disposition he seems to have been indebted next to his own gracious nature to the peculiar character of his education, which while it had employed higher motives with good effect, had rarely brought into action the principle of competition, so generally resorted to in colleges and schools; and the consequence was, that he read in a better spirit, reflected more freely and more usefully and acquired more general information than any of his contemporaries. Under this view, it is difficult to suppress a wish that the persons appointed to the important task of superintending education, could be induced to apply this stimulus of emulation with more caution and restraint: at all events, that they would exercise some discrimination in its use, and especially that they would accompany it with frequent and cogent memorials, that there are other things in the world in store for diligence and virtue, and of higher value, than worldly emolument or applause.

To exclude emulation indeed altogether from our means and instruments would be as impracticable as the attempt would be unwise; it is a natural remedy for the natural evils of our youth, indolence and the love of pleasure, and the advantages are as obvious and immediate as they are comprehensive; nor can it be denied that an impulse upwards is often given by it to sluggish minds which afterwards continued under better auspices, leads to great acquirements, and enables them to look down with indifference upon the vantage ground from which the spring was taken. But generally speaking it is otherwise: the course of a youth chiefly actuated by this stimulus, is irregular and uneven, and at the best liable to frequent crosses and disappointments;