Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Leland, Charles Godfrey, 1824-1903
We went to Princeton, where I presented my letters of introduction,
passed a by no means severe examination for the Freshman's class, was
very courteously received by the professors to whom I was commended, and,
to my inexpressible delight, found myself a college student. Rooms were
secured for me at a Mrs. Burroughs', opposite Nassau Hall; the adjoining
apartment was occupied by Mr. Craig Biddle, now a judge. George H. Boker
was then at the end of his Sophomore year, the term having but a few days
to run. He had rooms in college and lived in unexampled style, having
actually a carpet on his floor and superior furniture, also a good
collection of books, chiefly standard English poets. He at once took me
in hand and gave me a character.
Princeton College was entirely in the hands of the strictest of "Old
School" Presbyterian theologians. Piety and mathematics rated
extravagantly high in the course. The latter study was literally
reckoned in the grades as being of more account than all the rest
collectively. Thus, as eventually happened to me, a student might excel
in Latin, English, and Natural Philosophy--in fact, in almost everything,
good conduct included--and yet be the last in the class if he neglected
mathematics. There was no teaching of French, because, as was naively
said, students might read the irreligious works extant in that language,
and of course no other modern language; as for German, one would as soon
have proposed to raise the devil there as a class in it. If there had
been an optional course, as at Cambridge, Massachusetts, by which German
was accepted in lieu of mathematics, I should probably have taken the
first honour, instead of the last. And yet, with a little more Latin, I
was really qualified, on the day when I matriculated at Princeton, to
have passed for a Doctor of Philosophy in Heidelberg, as I subsequently
accurately ascertained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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