Trustees, the reverend Faculty of the College, and you, my young friends, that whilst the desolations of a wicked Rebellion overspread the land, overwhelming so many literary institutions, or crippling their growth and usefulness, Nassau Hall yet stands in the large proportions of her ancient strength, still yielding and adding her annual tribute to the intellectual wealth, patriotic sentiment, and moral glory of the Republic. I am 'not here to-day, young gentlemen, to indulge in that cynical spirit, which advancing age sometimes engenders; to overcast the sunshine of your youth with the shadows of life's trials, life's disappointments, and life's illusions; nor to crush your gushing aspirations by portraying the emptiness Of human ambition and glory. I have rather come to welcome you to life's arena; to bid you God-speed in all your efforts to achieve something worthy of yourselves and your opportunities; to take you by the hand as you are walking out from this camp of instruction, to the severer duties of the field, and to give you such counsels, as a limited observation and experience may suggest, to help you discharge the duties, and meet the obligations, which your peculiar privileges here have imposed upon you.