barbarous a perversion of terms.
For the word philosophy, which implies the love of wisdom, is now
become the ornament of folly. In the times of its inventor, and for
many succeeding ages, it was expressive of modesty and worth; in
our days it is the badge of impudence and vain pretensions. It was
formerly the symbol of the profound contemplative genius, it is now
the mark of the superficial and unthinking practitioner. It was once
reverenced by kings and clothed in the robes of nobility; it is now
(according to its true acceptation) abandoned and despised and
ridiculed by the vilest plebeian. Permit me, then, my friends, to
address you in the words of Achilles to Hector:

"Rouse, then, your forces this important hour,
Collect your strength and call forth all your pow'r."

Since, to adopt the animated language of Neptune to the Greeks,

" . . . On dastards, dead to fame,
I waste no anger, for they feel no shame,
But you, the pride, the flower of all our host,
My heart weeps blood, to see your glory lost."

Nor deem the exhortation impertinent, and the danger groundless:

"For lo! the fated time, th' appointed shore,
Hark, the gates burst, the brazen barriers roar."

Impetuous ignorance is thundering at the bulwarks of philosophy
and her sacred retreats are in danger of being demolished, through
our feeble resistance. Rise then, my friends, and the victory will be
ours. The foe is indeed numerous, but at the same time feeble; and
the weapons of truth in the hands of vigorous union, descend with
irresistible force, and are fatal wherever they fall.

---

[Transcriber's notes: I have made minor changes to the punctuation
and the format of the notes. I have also made the following spelling
changes:

"powerfully attacts" to "powerfully attracts"

"converses only with plantoms" to "converses only with phantoms"]

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