ART. II.-THE UNIVERSITY OF OTHO AND EDUCATION IN GREECE.

MORE than thirty years have elapsed since the independence of Greece was secured by the combined arms of her patriotic soldiers and of foreign sympathizers; about forty years since the struggle which led to this auspicious result was initiated. This period, short as it is compared with the whole lifetime of the nation, has witnessed an extraordinary change in the intellectual culture of the portion of the Hellenic race that has been subjected to the influence of the new economy. At the commencement of the present century, and for the two decades succeeding, a state of deplorable ignorance prevailed not in Greece alone, but on the islands, and wherever representatives of the Greek race were established. We need not for proofs of this peruse the pages of Leake and other observing travelers, who visited those regions less for the purpose of studying the character and manners of a degraded people than for that of making themselves familiar with the works of art of which they were the unappreciative possessors, and the sites of cities now. fallen into ruin. Native writers, distinguished above their countrymen by superior talents and thirst for erudition, have left us the same testimony, with this difference, that their picture of the mental and moral depression of the masses is more minutely studied and darker in its leading traits. The clergy, the traditional conservators of learning during the Middle Ages, had almost to a man lost all taste for literature. From the cloisters of the monks came no report of diligent, though misapplied exertions. There were no more such students as those who, in the fifteenth century, issued from their retreats to spread through western Europe the knowledge of letters and the fine arts. The denizens of the numerous monasteries perched on the sides of Mount Athos, or "Hagion Oros," "the holy mountain," as it was more commonly called, were scarcely less noted for their ignorance and sloth than for the reputation of sanctity in which they were held by the common people. While scientific explorers from the West were examining and rifling their rich libraries of the most valuable of their manuscripts, the fat abbots felt no other

solicitude than lest they might part with these useless treasures for a sum too much below that which a little additional haggling might have secured from the avidity of the mad Frank. The secular clergy were equally ignorant. No learned commentator comparable to Eustathius could be pointed out as occupying an archiepiscopal see. The prelates of Constantinople employed the advantages afforded to them by their superior station and revenues to dabble in politics, and, to do them justice, no more skillful intriguers could be found in all the Fanar.

Such being the dimness of the light issuing from the centers of influence, the darkness enveloping the lower orders of the population was appalling to the few who had reached such a point of cultivation as to be able fully to appreciate it. Their exertions for its removal were, we must admit, deserving of all commendation. Schools had been established in many places, although the lack of educated teachers too often compelled parents to intrust their children to incompetent instructors, such as Coraes was wont to deride and deplore in his works addressed to his countrymen. Even with such poor instruments, however, the work of enlightening the Greek mind was steadily advancing year by year, and the aged were already fond of contrasting the dawn, which greeted their dying eyes, with the thick darkness in which their childhood had been passed. The amelioration was most apparent in the islands, and those cities which, situated on the seaboard, were affected by the liberalizing influences of commerce and an intercourse with foreign nations. From their less sedentary population, a larger number of young men had visited the West for purposes of traffic, or had taken up their abode at the German, French, and Italian universities, to qualify themselves for stations of respectability and trust. These, on their return, in their personal intercourse, and even before their return, through their letters, communicated such glowing descriptions of the superior civilization of the great European nations as caused even those who remained at home to desire to rival their intelligence and power. Undoubtedly this had much to do with the eagerness with which the masses espoused the cause of Grecian independence, even when the burden of the Turkish administration was not felt to be oppressive; for to the loss of freedom they attrib

uted their present degradation, and felt confidence that its recovery would bring in its train a repetition of their days of ancient glory. While this desire of intellectual progress was making itself felt among many of the more active and enterprising, others became absorbed in the pursuit of wealth, for whose acquisition unusual opportunities were afforded to the commercial communities of Chios, Hydra, Spetzia, Ipsara, and other conveniently situated ports.

We will not say that all the dreams of the patriots, founded upon the success of their struggle for independence, even those relating to education and literary distinction, have been realized. But it may be asserted, with strict conformity to truth, that of all their undertakings the measures of the Greeks to secure the advantages of free and ample public instruction to themselves and their children have proved by far the most successful. While the brief attempt at self-government under republican institutions was in no wise satisfactory, on account of the turbulent spirit of faction manifesting itself in the people, and the ambitious designs of the executive, and while the present monarchy has secured respect neither at home or abroad, those who have traced the development of the educational system of Greece cannot deny that it justly deserves the admiration of the world.

During the first few years that succeeded the conclusion of peace between Greece and Turkey all the efforts made to instruct the youth were the result of voluntary exertions. Among the first schools were those established by Rev. Jonas King and Rev. John H. Hill at Athens, and Rev. Messrs. Leyburn and Houston among the mountaineers of Maina. The results of the labors of these devoted missionaries were by no means inconsiderable, notwithstanding the hostility which the government was not slow in evincing to all institutions whose object was even suspected to be the introduction of a purer form of religion. As the means of instruction provided by the government increased, the schools founded by individuals became less indispensable to the literary development of the nation; but the American schools were not closed until, by the enforcement of a regulation making it obligatory upon the teachers to allow the catechism of the Oriental Church to be made a text-book, the very aim of their establishment was apparently frustrated.

Not a few of the pupils of the American missionaries are, however, at this moment occupying stations of influence, while the girls' school of Dr. Hill has continued to send out yearly a large number of highly accomplished graduates.

The present educational system of the Hellenic kingdom comprises a complete series of schools, commencing with those in which the merest rudiments of knowledge are imparted, and culminating in the university, which, framed on the model of the great academies of Western Europe, is designed to furnish the most thorough acquaintance with the arts and sciences. The superintendence of this extensive department is committed to the Minister of Public Instruction, who holds a seat in the king's cabinet. To his functions is very unwisely superadded the management of the bureau of ecclesiastical relations, and from this circumstance has arisen much of the bigotry which has characterized the management of the inferior schools. On the other hand the connection has not been effectual in giving a more liberal tone to the clergy.

It may be remembered, that among the questions which divided the Greek statesmen of the period immediately succeeding the independence of their country, was the selection of a site for the future capital. Ægina, Corinth, and Athens were prominent in the rivalry; and Nauplia, with its strong fortress, the Palamede, put forth no slight claim to this distinction. Finally, the beautiful position of Athens, "the eye of Greece," supported by the undying glory of its ancient history, secured the prize, and the commercial advantages of Corinth and its ports on either sea were disregarded. We must acknowledge that no scholar would have been gratified by any other decision, although, had the choice been left to men of practical views, we fear that the material importance of Corinth would have outweighed all the fame of the city of orators and poets.

The removal of the capital from its temporary to its permanent situation led at once to the concentration of the literary men and of educational establishments at the same point. Until this time the greatest facilities for the prosecution of study had been found on the island of Ægina, where a gymnasium had been for some time in existence. That faithful and patriotic teacher, Neophytus Doukas, was among its most successful, as

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he was certainly among its most self-sacrificing instructors. The government determined at once to organize an academic institute of the highest grade, which, in honor of the present king of Greece, was named "the University of Otho." It was believed that this establishment, attracting to itself not only the most distinguished of Greek scholars, but also many from abroad, would in the course of time obviate the necessity of a long and expensive sojourn in foreign lands, as well as furnish a training more in accordance with the requirements of the present condition of the country. In carrying this plan into execution the projectors of the university resolved to follow and reproduce, as far as practicable, the most successful of the systems prevailing in Europe. The German origin of the monarch, as also of most of his constitutional advisers, induced them to discard the "collegiate" system which has absorbed the university" proper at Oxford and Cambridge, and the detached professional schools, which, scattered over France, constitute but one university for the entire kingdom, and to adopt the German plan, in which, while the various departments are distinct from each other, and present a separate curriculum of study, they are combined in one local institution, governed by a single council and rector. A healthy situation at the base of the lofty hill Lycabettus, which commands the Acropolis from the north-east, was chosen for the purpose of erecting an edifice sufficiently spacious to furnish lecture rooms for a large corps of professors, and halls for an extensive library, and the various museums necessary for instruction and research. The limited resources at the command of the government long delayed the completion of the building, of which for many years but one wing was ready for occupation. This contained not more than four or five lecture-rooms, in which over two hundred hours of instruction were weekly given by forty professors, on the various subjects allotted to their chairs. One single hall, in which the numerous lectures of the school of philosophy were chiefly delivered, was occupied uninterruptedly during the winter session from seven o'clock in the morning until eight in the evening. When the more distinguished and popular professors occupied the platform, it was an ordinary occurrence that three or four hundred persons were crowded in this ill-ventilated chamber. But since the whole building has