on the examination
day, when I had the happiness of being present.

On the morning of the exhibition, the streets leading to the College
were lined with carriages, for humanity has here made a convert of
fashion, and directed her wavering mind to objects from which she cannot
retire, without ample and consoling gratification. Upon the lawn, in
front of the College, were groups of the pupils, enjoying those sports
and exercises which are followed by other children, to whom Providence
has been more bountiful. Some of their recreations required calculation,
and I observed that their intercourse with each other appeared to be
easy, swift, and intelligible. They made some convulsive movements with
their mouths, in the course of their communication, which, at first, had
rather an unpleasant effect. In the cloister I addressed myself to a
genteel looking youth, who did not appear to belong to the College, and
requested him to shew me the way to the theatre, in which the lecture
was to be delivered. I found he took no notice of me. One of the
assistants of the abbe, who was standing near me, informed me, he was
deaf and dumb, and made two or three signs, too swift for me to
discriminate; the silent youth bowed, took me by the hand, led me into
the theatre, and, with the greatest politeness, procured me an excellent
seat. The room was very crowded, and in the course of a quarter of an
hour after I had entered, every avenue leading to it was completely
filled with genteel company. The benches of the auditors of the lecture,
displayed great beauty and fashion, a stage, or tribune, appeared in
front, behind was a large inclined slate, in a frame, about eight feet
high, by six long. On each side of the stage the scholars were placed,
and behind the spectators was a fine bust of the founder of the
institution, the admirable de l'Epee.

The abbe Sicard mounted the tribune, and delivered his lecture with very
pleasing address, in the course of which he frequently excited great
applause. The subject of it was an analysis of the language of the deaf
and dumb, interspersed with several curious experiments upon, and
anecdotes of his pupils. The examination of the scholars next followed.
The communication which has been opened to them in this singular manner,
is by the _philosophy of grammar_.

The denotation of the tenses is effected by appropriate signs. The hand
thrown over the shoulder, expressed the past, when extended, like the
at