The Delphin Classics

The Delphin Classics were a series of editions, with notes, of the Latin classic authors. These works were prepared by thirty-nine of the best scholars in France, being ordered by Louis XIV. for the education of his son, the Dauphin, in Latin Delphinus. The books were described as "In usum Delphini," or "For the use of the Dauphin;" hence the term Delphin Classics.

The Delphin Classics a century ago, and long afterward, were used in all American academies. They were the darlings of school boys, for the ordo in the margin of every page gave them the words fitly arranged for construing, while a clavis at the end of each volume showed the meaning of every vocable on every page and at every line. This system was so good that it was good for nothing. It demanded no judgment, no thought, but reduced classical study to mechanical drudgery.

The name Dauphin was formerly a title of the Lords of Dauphine. The last of these, dying childless, bequeathed his possessions to Charles, grandson of Philip VI. of France, on condition that the eldest son of the king of France, on condition that the eldest son of the king of France should always bear the honorary title of the Dauphin. The heir apparent to the throne of France continued to be called the Dauphin until the title was abolished in 1830, after the memorable "Revolution of July," which placed Louis Philippe on the throne as "King of the French."

The Dauphin for whom the Delphin Classics were prepared never came to the throne; both he and his eldest son dying in 1711, the succession devolved (1715) upon the great-grandson of Louis XIV., who came to the throne of France as Louis XV. at the age of five years.