IV
PROFESSORSHIP IN BROWN UNIVERSITY AND EDITORSHIP OF THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
I WAS twenty-four years of age when I entered on the duties of my professorship. I was the youngest member of the Faculty. Most of the professors had been my teachers. Professor Robinson P. Dunn, who had recently been called to the Chair of Rhetoric and English Literature, was only a few years my senior. He became at once my intimate companion and a most congenial associate in my studies. I was well aware that my preparation for my special work was less adequate than I could have desired. I purposed to return to Europe for further study as soon as I had liquidated the debt I had incurred in my sojourn in Europe. I was particularly desirous of studying the Italian language and literature. I had become deeply interested in tracing the influence of the leading European literatures on each other. I soon wrote articles for the North American Review, under the encouragement of its scholarly editor, Dr. Andrew P. Peabody, pointing out to some extent the interaction of the French, German, and English literatures. I cherished the hope that on a visit to Europe I might write a book of some worth on the reciprocal influence of the chief literatures on each other. Like many another dream of early years that has remained only a dream. But, in my teaching, which was necessarily elementary, since most of my students began the study of the modern languages with me, I strove and not without fair success, I hope, to imbue them with some enthusiasm for the study of the great authors to whom I introduced them.
It was an interesting period in the history of the University when I entered upon my official connection with it. President Wayland, who was a pioneer in the reform of our traditional collegiate system, had induced the Corporation to make important innovations. As early as 1842 he had published a small book entitled "Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System in the United States," in which he had pointed out what he regarded as some of the defects in that system. He maintained that the colleges were not furnishing the education which was needed to meet our wants, especially that they were not training men in science and its applications to life. The book attracted some attention, but not so much as it deserved.