PREFACE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. AMONG the most useful gifts which those who have mastered the difficulties of learning can bestow, is the composition and publication of such treatises as may reveal to younger aspirants for knowledge, both the difficulties in the path to eminence, and the best mode of surmounting them. The experience of mature scholars is, indeed, valuable to themselves, but a judicious record of it becomes even more valuable to those who are beginning a student's life. For, although nothing can take the place of personal application and perseverance, there is, nevertheless, substantial aid in the encouraging voice of those whose application has been rewarded with success, and whose perseverance has terminated in distinction. Among works which may be properly regarded as the tribute of an elder to a younger scholar, is the following essay on study. It is the production of a Flemish philosopher and mathematician of the sixteenth century, whose German name was Sterck, and whose Latin appellation was Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius. He appears to have been skilled in va rious arts and sciences. He did not begin the study of Latin till his seventeenth year, but his progress was rapid; and, although his Latinity is regarded by critics as defective, yet he excelled, in spirit and vivacity, most of the Dutch and German writers of his age. He was skilled in the Greek, and seems to have been so ardent an admirer of Homer, as to have committed his poems to memory from beginning to end. As will be perceived by a perusal of his treatise on Study, Ringelbergius was a perfect enthusiast in the acquisition of knowledge, combining some eccentricities with his devotion to learning. The whole of his works were published at Lugd., 1531; Bas., 1541, 8vo.; and again at Lugd., 1556, 8vo. The most esteemed are-Sphæra, sive Institutionum Astronomicarum, lib. iii., Basil, 1528, 8vo.Liber de Homine, Basil, 1529, 8vo.-De Ratione Studii, Antwerp, 1529.-Dialectica, et Tabulæ Dialecticæ, Leyden, 1574.-De Conscribendis Epistolis, lib.-Rhetorica, et quæ ad eam spectant;-Sententiæ; -Cosmographia;-Optica-Chaos Mathematicum.— Arithmeticum. It is believed that the present treatise is now printed in this country for the first time; and it has been undertaken, not only because the book was highly esteemed by the scholars of past ages, but also in the hope that, notwithstanding various defects in style, it might prove useful to stimulate the ambition, and encourage the industry of students. The strongest testimony to its value is given by the learned Erpenius, Professor of Arabic and Hebrew at Leyden, in the year 1619. This celebrated man “ac knowledges himself originally indebted to it for all his acquisitions. He met with it at the age of sixteen, and in consequence of its suggestions, though he was then totally averse to a studious life, and had made no proficiency in learning, yet he afterwards became a distinguished scholar. The treatise had become scarce, and Erpenius generously printed a new edition, that others might partake of the benefit which he had himself enjoyed. He published it with the title of Liber vere Aureus, or the truly Golden Treatise."* Vicesimus Knox, whilst criticising severely Ringelbergius' over-ardent literary enthusiasm, still, does not hesitate to say "it contains many passages which tend to encourage the scholar in his pursuits, and to inspire him with an ardor and enthusiasm like that excited in the soldier, by the drum and trumpet, as he is marching on to battle." De Quincey, in his "Letters to a Young Man, whose education has been neglected," notices this production as characterized by "its extraordinary tone of passion and frantic energy, and at times of noble sentiment eloquently expressed." It may be proper to add, in this connection, the views of the English translator. "It is the intention of the following translation to rouse the dormant energies of the young student, during the period usually allotted to academical instruction, that he may thereby acquire that knowledge which will be an ornament to him here, and by the acquisition of which he may be enabled to render a good account of his time hereafter." * For Erpenius' account of his appreciation of this treatise, see Appendix No. I. The English edition of Ringelbergius de Ratione Studii was published in 1830, having been translated by Mr. G. B. Earp, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; and inscribed, by him, to the under-graduates of Cambridge, Oxford and Dublin. His translation is quite a free one, for which he assigns the following reason: "No one would have thanked me had I rendered a mass of uncouth Latin with the fidelity which the translation of a classic author would have necesşarily demanded. I have, therefore, omitted whatever appeared to me irrelevant to the purpose of the work, or of too enthusiastic a nature to be consistent with good sense and sound learning. In order to fill the vacuum thus necessarily occasioned, I have also made such additions to the original as seemed best calculated to preserve the connection of the text." up Mr. Earp must, therefore, be held responsible for the English garb in which Ringelbergius appears, although it may admit of question whether a more faithful version would not have done more justice both to the Flemish and the British scholar. In one instance the American editor has taken the liberty of omitting a portion of Mr. Earp's "additions," having, in this reprint, excluded from chapter xvii. an unnecessary critique on the men of modern Italy and an unbecoming attack on the religion of that country. Whatever opinion may be entertained of the justice or injustice of Mr. Earp's judgment on the above points, it is quite sufficient for the scholar to know that Ringelbergius is not the author of them. In the Appendix, the American editor has collected a few extracts tending to develop the general design of Ringelbergius, and to apply his principles to the studies of particular professions. For the permission granted him by an eminent surgeon of Philadelphia to make an extract from his unpublished MS., which will be found in the Appendix, as also for the consent of the Right Reverend, the Bishop of Pennsylvania, to make an extract from his "Hand-book for Students"-the editor here returns his acknowledgments. The danger of being charged with presumption, for even editing this work on Study, has been risked in the hope of furthering the good design of Ringelbergius, and of moving to generous emulation in the pursuit of knowledge the young American student. "Certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate, Philada., 1846. |