PARENTAL WISDOM; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL BEARINGS 
 
 EDUCATION, 
 
 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF ITS POWER, 
 
 BY THE AUTHOK OF "THE WKONGS OF POLAND." 
 
 
 
 ; CREAVIT DEUS HOMINEM AD IMAGINEML SUAM." GENESIS. 
 U AD INTELLIGENDUM ET AD AGENDUM." 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET. 
 
 1849. 
 
 * 09 TBOB 
 
$-73 
 
 London : J. Rider, Printer, 14, Bartholomew Close. 
 
TO THE 
 
 PARENTS, GUARDIANS AND PRECEPTORS 
 
 OP 
 
 Srittaft 
 
 AND TO ALL 
 
 WHO TAKE A CORDIAL AND CHRISTIAN INTEREST 
 
 GREAT QUESTION OF EDUCATION, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
UHI73 SIT7 
 
 PREFATORY ADDRESS, 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 REMARKS ON SOME POINTS OF LEADING AND MODERN 
 INTEREST, AND ON THE CHARACTER AND DESIGN 
 OF THE PRESENT WORK. 
 
 EDUCATION is the theme of all ages, and of highest and 
 universal import ; but it is one whose latent merits, and 
 long-sought desiderata, have seemingly evaded research, 
 and baffled the wisdom of man. Volume after volume 
 has appeared, and systems and societies have been long 
 progressing and labouring ; but all, apparently, with so 
 little success, that the main question of ' ' The social and 
 moral training of the human mind," is still the object of 
 anxious inquiry, and has been of late, more earnestly 
 agitated, than at any preceding period, a striking 
 proof of the difficulties with which it is surrounded, 
 and leading us to infer, that either its beneficial agency 
 has been neutralized by insuperable obstacles, or, that its 
 primary essentials, from their occult nature, have hitherto 
 eluded the grasp of reason, remaining to be fully tested 
 by the protracted experience of future ages, or by the 
 intelligence and industry of a happier era ; for, when an 
 agency so extensive has been long operating with 
 
VI PREFATORY ADDRESS. 
 
 so little effect it is a plain indication either of error in 
 mistaking the true nature and root of the evil, and con- 
 sequently of its remedy, or, (which is more probable) that 
 the question has never been taken up with that spirit 
 and energy which are indispensable to success, and 
 which its unrivalled importance demands. 
 
 If books and systems be multiplied a thousand fold 
 (whatever be their merits) they are to be estimated 
 solely by their social result, the amount of social good 
 they effect, the quantum of social evil they remove ; 
 and this test of utility, is the true measure and criterion 
 of their worth. By earlier writers, the main stress was 
 laid on modes and systems of discipline, while those of 
 later date, have taken up the question chiefly with refer- 
 ence to its efficacy, as a measure of national policy ; and 
 in either view, so much to the purpose has been ad- 
 vanced, that little can remain to be added that is at once 
 novel and useful. The professed object of all has been, 
 to make men wiser and better, and consequently happier, 
 by refining and elevating the human character, and 
 opening all the purer springs of rational enjoyment; 
 but, who will contend that this has been done, when 
 those who have the best means of knowing, unhesi- 
 tatingly assert the contrary *? The most intelligent por- 
 tion of the public press men, beneath whose eye the 
 panoramic scene of life, with all that passes on the great 
 social arena, are hourly passing broadly affirm, that 
 nothing has been done; comparatively little perhaps, 
 (in a moral view;) but it is fair to admit, that the quan- 
 tum of present evil might and doubtless would have 
 been much greater, had its co-operation been wholly 
 suspended. 
 
PREFATORY ADDRESS. vti 
 
 Every community, in every age, has its distinguish- 
 ing features, with some evils peculiar to itself; and these 
 social defects it should be the first business of Educa- 
 tion to rectify, by shaping its provisions to the moral 
 exigencies of the times. The futility of half measures, 
 has been abundantly tested by the past ; though it is a 
 censure that by no means fairly applies to the present. 
 
 Public and private sympathy, it is true, has often been 
 appealed to, and as often been partially called forth ; but 
 for the present age was reserved the distinction of nobly 
 grasping the question in all its magnitude, and of dis- 
 criminating aright between the plausible and the sound 
 in theory, by bringing it at once to the proof of a true 
 practical test. All thinking men, of late, rulers as well 
 as the governed, as if newly awakened to a sense of its 
 importance, have been led to co-operate ; and, overlook- 
 ing minor differences, to make common cause in fur- 
 therance of the grand objects of education. Hence, the 
 brightest emanations of intelligence, blending and har- 
 monizing with the best and kindliest social elements, 
 are now happily progressing together, and tending toward 
 the main object in view, as their common focus and 
 centre of good ; nor will (it may be hoped) the generous 
 enthusiasm subside, till its well-directed efforts be 
 crowned with success. Even since the announcement 
 of this volume, popular theory has busily advanced to a 
 broad experiment in the establishment of " The Central 
 Society," under the highest auspices, and for the express 
 purpose of National Education. 
 
 As if by common consent, public men and lecturers. 
 
Vlll PREFATORY ADDRESS. 
 
 societies and books have, of late, treated the subject 
 almost exclusively with reference to national systems ; 
 and as, in the present work, (saving the few following 
 remarks) no mention is made of popular plans, it may ] 
 seem consistent with candour, for the Author to assign 
 a reason for such reserve. In briefly doing so, he will 
 observe, first, that it is not from any strong disapproval 
 of such a measure, or that he deems it of little import or 
 wholly impracticable; neither is it meant to imply that 
 entire acquiescence which is based on a conviction of 
 the necessity for a national system, and a belief that the 
 wisdom which planned and conducts the movements of 
 the Central Society, is such as must ensure its success. 
 
 On the merits and expediency of public plans he pre- 
 sumes not to determine he has not made them his 
 study ; for which reason, perhaps, he does not see the 
 pressing urgency for adopting them. In the view he 
 has taken of the subject, it was not needful to discuss 
 the formal details of plans, nor to weigh the merits of 
 systems, even had not these questions been so fully dis- 
 cussed by others who have given their whole time 
 and attention to them. He could perhaps have wished, 
 in common with many, that it had not been deemed 
 necessary to coerce men in a matter wherein interest, 
 duty, and common sense so plainly direct them, and 
 which may tend, in some cases, to weaken the sacred 
 ties of parental obligation. 
 
 "To climb steep hills," says the ancient adage, "re- 
 quires slow pace at first ;" and the Author, for one, may 
 have thought with Bacon, that it were better " to begin 
 
PREFATORY ADDRESS. IX 
 
 with the calf, ere attempting to carry the ox," viz., in 
 testing a measure of such import as a national plan, to 
 limit it, for a stated time, to a certain county, or to such 
 a selected portion of the kingdom as might present the 
 fairest field for trial : success on a smaller scale would 
 be a guarantee of its efficacy on a larger; for, to widen 
 the sphere of operation in a novel and vast under- 
 taking, is but to multiply untried obstacles; whereas, 
 after having encountered and well mastered a part, we 
 are prepared to grapple successfully with the whole. 
 
 The present may be deemed rather a critical juncture 
 for attempting so wide an innovation on old custom, with 
 its quota of prejudice, and long-cherished prepossessions, 
 from which, with the unsettled temperature of the time, 
 it is likely to encounter many a rough blast. By glancing 
 at the mixed nature of education, for some centuries past, 
 we may in part account for the endless diversity of English 
 character. Society has been so broken up into parties, 
 from political and religious collisions, that the social 
 atmosphere has been, at times, convulsed with the 
 struggle of conflicting elements. So strongly and va- 
 riously has the lion-like vigour of the British spirit been 
 excited, that the liberty of the subject has at times, shot 
 forth into a daring and reckless license. This has indeed 
 settled down into a seeming quiescence, but on which it 
 were not prudent, perhaps, to presume too much, or place 
 too fond reliance. When, therefore, the success of a popu- 
 lar system in Prussia, or elsewhere, is adduced as a proof 
 of its fitness for any class of Englishmen, the urging of 
 so weak a plea would go far to betray the cause it is 
 meant to advocate, had it not other and better support. 
 
X PREFATORY ADDRESS. 
 
 The (morally) mechanical mass of the Prussian popu- 
 lation presents, in its social and political structure, a 
 comparatively passive engine, and a direct contrast to the 
 great class of British operatives, who are commonly as 
 aspiring in mind as humble in station, and, in their own 
 opinion, are wise enough to mend the laws they are 
 bound to observe, nor think themselves the less qualified 
 to command, because born to obey. 
 
 Of the difficulty and deep responsibility of their posi- 
 tion, the able and intelligent men most interested in its 
 success are doubtless apprised, and prepared so to meet 
 as to prove their fitness for the high commission. With 
 a moral courage befitting so bold a design, they seem to 
 have fearlessly resolved to face all obstacles ; and should 
 the success be commensurate with its magnitude, their 
 well-earned meed will be a nation's thanks, while its 
 failure will at least help to solve a problem of no small 
 national import. But this great measure involves grave 
 responsibilities, assuming as it does the power of ' f in 
 tertwining itself with the institutions of the country, and 
 of moulding the youth and forming the manhood of other 
 and distant ages." Well does it behove those who sanc- 
 tion as well as those who guide its movements, to be 
 mindful that in their hands these may prove the main 
 springs of national weal or woe, and shape the future 
 destinies of England. If it be meant to survive many 
 generations, it cannot be too liberal in its views, and de- 
 velopement of broad social principle, but with a zealous 
 and watchful heed to the Christian interests of this great 
 Protestant empire. To give stability to any measure, 
 men must be won to a conviction of its wisdom and 
 

 PREFATORY ADDRESS. XI 
 
 the motto, spirit, and character, of such a system will be 
 "conciliation," for it is idle to talk of plans for the 
 people, unless the people are won to a hearty co-opera- 
 tion; nor should it ever be forgotten, that reforming 
 systems for the lower orders require to be sustained by 
 the reforming example of the higher. 
 
 There is a moral power, a social influence, far mightier 
 than of systems. In applying the term influential to 
 the different orders of society, the inheritors of wealth, 
 rank, and official station may, collectively, be called a 
 most influential class ; and, doubtless, did these, with the 
 bishop in his diocese, the pastor in his parish, magis- 
 trates and heads of establishments, with the many pro- 
 fessedly engaged in education, did all these in their 
 several spheres, aided by the lecturer and the press, labour 
 to further its interests, and to awaken the parental mind 
 to a lively sense of Christian obligation, it would be so 
 good f a national system' that ' formal plans' would be 
 but sinecures ; between the social extremes of the higher 
 and lower lie the middle classes, truly, and in the 
 strongest sense, influential, including by far the greater 
 proportion of the population, wealth, intelligence, and 
 moral strength of the nation. Of these also, there 
 is a large class but one remove above the reach of 
 national systems; these are to be won, for they may not 
 be coerced; but if they be not won, systems will labour 
 in vain, for their wide influence and example is hourly 
 pressing on the class below, as is that of the next above 
 on them, for though silent and unnoted, yet of certain 
 and ceaseless operation is the influence of every class on 
 that immediately below. 
 
Xll PREFATORY ADDRESS. 
 
 Of little use is it to fortify the citadel, if we neglect 
 to secure the out-posts and the passes. The example 
 of all being necessary to the great end in view, the great 
 object of education must be to win all. As a labourer 
 in the same vineyard, though taking the higher ground, 
 and having the same great interests and ulterior object 
 in view, but advancing from an opposite point, he widely 
 differs from those who assume that the main seat of 
 moral disorder lies in the defective education of the 
 lowest class, deeming that as the springs which feed 
 the broadest rivers rise in the loftiest mountains, and 
 widen as they descend to the ocean, so the streams of 
 social good will still rapidly spread and flow with ex- 
 ample, through the community, from the higher classes 
 downward in an ever increasing ratio. 
 
 To those who are in such a sense or in anywise in- 
 fluential, the Author's pages are addressed. His object 
 has not been to analyze the merits of particular systems, 
 still less to determine the eligibility of national plans : 
 rather leaving these beaten tracks, he gladly avails 
 himself of the broad and philosophic ground that lies 
 between, and which to him appears to be the arena 
 of true interest. In this its widest social view, with 
 its branchings and details, its remoter bearings and con- 
 sequences, it presents, perhaps, the most extensive field 
 that human reason can explore, and replete with specu- 
 lation the most exalted, in character as in utility. Of 
 the present treatise, a primary object has been to trace 
 the social evils of the times to their true domestic 
 sources; its ulterior design being to prove that the per- 
 manent moral amelioration of the subordinate classes 
 
PREFATORY ADDRESS. Xlll 
 
 must be preceded by the edifying example of the higher, 
 and that the careful and Christian training of youth of 
 the influential orders is the first necessary step towards 
 the moral elevation of the working population. 
 
 If to the "matter of fact" man the repeated stress he 
 has laid on religious considerations appear to be in some 
 degree unphilosophical, his sufficient plea is the motive, 
 viz. a conviction that a spirit of levity and irreligion is 
 a main source of all social mischiefs, and that the superior 
 and constraining motives deducible from Christian truth 
 are its proper and sole effectual corrective : hence, also^ 
 in style and matter, his work assumes much of a con- 
 templative character; but if he has often diverged from 
 the formal line of logical precision, he has (not without 
 reason perhaps) deemed it prudent to consult the tastes of 
 those most likely to form a prominent class of his 
 readers. To plead the more effectually with the parental 
 heart and to win the acquiescence of that most interest- 
 ing and influential class, "the fair mothers of our isle," 
 (on whom as to earlier and abiding impressions so 
 much depends,) as well as to give all the attraction in 
 his power to a much hackneyed but all-important theme, 
 he has given the rein to contemplative thought, and 
 freely decked his composition with such graces of figura- 
 tive language as might consistently harmonize with 
 and serve to illustrate a subject so lofty in its cha- 
 racter, and so extensive in its application. In this 
 liberty he has but followed the counsel of Longinus, the 
 reputed father and oracle of criticism, who maintained 
 that good thoughts could not be too well dressed, and 
 that there is as much difference in an idea presented to 
 the mind, through the medium of dignified and of com- 
 
XIV PREFATORY ADDRESS. 
 
 mon-place language, as in beholding an object by the 
 light of the sun, or the glimmering of a taper. 
 
 From the tenor of the foregoing observations, the 
 reader will perceive that this " address" is of recent 
 date, and may infer from them the author's motives for 
 this addition to his work, which having now been 
 some months in circulation, has enabled him to collate 
 the opinions of the public press,* as to its "merits 
 and character," which, for the reader's satisfaction, he 
 has now appended to the volume. 
 
 To the reviewers his best acknowledgements are 
 due for their careful and candid criticism of his humble 
 performance, as well as for the handsome terms in 
 which they have been pleased to express their com- 
 mendations. 
 
 * The " critical notices" are placed at the end of the Volume. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 COMPRISING A BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE AUTHOR'S MOTIVES, \vith 
 some cursory remarks of a professional nature ; and a few obser- 
 vations touching some peculiar features in the following Essays . i 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION, deduced from the nature and 
 
 prospects of a human soul, as connected with the obligations and 
 
 motives of Christianity, from its manifest individual advantages 
 
 and direct influence on social order, virtue, and happiness Political 
 importance of rightly forming the youthful character Its influence 
 on national character, prosperity, &c 21 
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY Consequences of indiscriminate in- 
 dulgence Capabilities and sympathies of the infant mind Im- 
 portance of attention to health Premature study subversive of 
 physical and mental energy On the regulation of temper The 
 formation of habits Punishments and rewards The love of praise 
 Its efficacy when rightly improved Concluding suggestions . . 50 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAY III. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY OF EDUCATION grounded on experience 
 
 and the economy of nature ; comprising an estimate of the human 
 character and powers, with an attempt to investigate and apply 
 the progressive principle Comparative view of the merits of 
 modern scholastic establishments, with observations on modes of 
 coercive discipline Youthful emulation the proper agent of 
 improvement Parochial and similar establishments Infant 
 schools Their merits and tendency 87 
 
 ESSAY IV. 
 
 ON THE PREVALENT LEVITY OF YOUTH Its mischievous tendency 
 
 An inquiry into its causes, and the means of counteracting it 
 Containing strictures on the progress of luxury On the ancient 
 languages and literature The questionable and anti-christian 
 tendency of laying an undue stress upon them at our public schools 
 and universities The dangers consequent to youth from unre- 
 strained liberty during the interval between the completion of 
 study and the entering on professional avocations Religious 
 principle the sole efficient check to popular licentiousness, and 
 the only permanent bond of social welfare 131 
 
 ESSAY V. 
 
 TESTIMONY DERIVED FROM ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY illus- 
 trative of the power of Education, and exemplifying its influence on 
 the character and conduct of princes, involving public and private 
 happiness Popular ignorance; or times of universal depravity, 
 and the dark or unlettered ages, synonymous The progress and 
 prospects of knowledge Science and virtue Their comparative 
 influence 189 
 
 ESSAY VI. 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS TO PARENTS On the variety of the youthful cha- 
 racter On the comparative merits of private and public or scholastic 
 tuition Suggestions relative to some essential but neglected 
 branches of a liberal education Ancient national features worth 
 preserving A CONSIDERATION OF THE QUESTION, WHETHER 
 
 RELIGION SHOULD INVARIABLY TAKE THE LEAD IN THE ELEMEN- 
 TARY STAGES OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 241 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To train aright the human mind, as it is the 
 noblest and worthiest of rational objects, so is it one 
 of the strongest indications of political, as well as 
 of parental wisdom ; while to the Christian, who is 
 in earnest about " the things of the future," it stands 
 alone, as it were, in its unrivalled importance. To 
 the philosophic observer of the signs and social move- 
 ments " of the times," it presents a bright and cheer- 
 ing evidence of the good taste' of the age, and the 
 high moral tone of popular feeling, that while so many 
 questions of stirring interest, with so much that is 
 novel and striking in science and art, are hourly 
 pressing on the public attention, the urgent and 
 weighty appeal of Education should have so won the 
 hearts and suffrages of men, as not only to have 
 ranked the highest in estimation, but also, as by 
 common consent, to have taken the lead among the 
 engrossing topics of the day. 
 
 Education, as it involves the best interests of hu- 
 manity, must, at all times, have a powerful claim to 
 consideration, and its appeal will always find a re- 
 sponse and an advocate in every mind that can 
 appreciate its worth ; but the Author rests his claim 
 
11 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 to attention less on the high degree of interest which 
 the subject is so well fitted to inspire, or on the 
 professional experience of thirty years, added to 
 study, and that cordial interest which long and 
 familiar intercourse with youth rarely fails to excite, 
 than on a conviction of the ill tendency of existing 
 errors, which it equally behoves parents, preceptors, 
 and every Christian to assist in eradicating, as also of 
 the extensive amount of good thus to be effected; 
 and, finally, on its growing importance in the public 
 estimation, in consequence of those exciting events 
 which, of late years, have conspired to turn the 
 attention of the intelligent of all classes towards 
 Education, as the great remedy for those social and 
 national evils which have at times assumed so threat- 
 ening a form, as to render it needless to preface, by 
 apology, any appeal to the good sense of the com- 
 munity on a theme of such vital interest. 
 
 Of all the subjects that can engage the mind of 
 man, there are few that may compete with Education 
 in importance, none that more imperatively claim 
 his serious consideration ; in its highest and best 
 sense, which is its true and proper acceptation, in- 
 volving the dearest hopes of mankind as rational and 
 responsible beings. Taking a fair estimate of life, 
 and making a due provision for all that is truly de- 
 sirable in it, its view is then extended beyond the 
 limits of time : rising above the present transitory 
 scene, Education discerns and weighs the future des- 
 tiny of man, and, keeping her exalted end in view, 
 steadily perseveres in the use of all those means which 
 
INTRODUCTORY. Ill 
 
 may best insure its ultimate attainment. As on such 
 a theme, every degree of excitement, when rightly 
 improved, becomes profitable, it is hoped that the 
 present appeal to the hearts and understandings of 
 all who are interested in the welfare of the rising 
 generation, will neither be deemed inappropriate, nor 
 wholly fail of its desired object; viz., a tendency to 
 subserve the great ends of Education, and the best 
 interests of society. 
 
 Not only is this a subject, above all others, calcu- 
 lated to awaken the most powerful sympathies in the 
 parental breast : with equal force and propriety it 
 addresses itself to every class. Its unlimited opera- 
 tion is closely interwoven with every part of the great 
 social system, imparting a tone and vigour to the 
 whole ; and the more we extend and vary our views 
 of Education, the stronger will be our conviction of 
 its high worth and importance, not only as the effi- 
 cient remedy for existing evils, but also as the proper 
 and appointed means of attaining all that we most 
 deservedly prize as men, and as members of one great 
 Christian community. 
 
 Apathy, or even indifference, on such a subject, 
 would argue an extreme of folly, that could emanate 
 only from gross and culpable ignorance ; and scarcely 
 can we point to any age or nation so barbarous as to 
 have been wholly insensible to its claims, or so deaf 
 to the voice of reason, as not to acknowledge them. 
 Increased attention to Education has, indeed, ever 
 kept pace with the progress of civilization ; nor can 
 we gather a surer indication of growing refinement 
 
 B 2 
 
IV INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 and good policy in any people, than in the superior 
 care they have manifested in the training of their 
 3 r outh. In later and more enlightened times, and 
 in our own favoured land especially, Education has 
 elicited from the pen of the moralist, the philosopher, 
 and the divine, much valuable information, bearing 
 the character of general utility ; but probably much 
 more that was peculiarly suited to the exigencies of 
 the times in which they lived, as being obviously and 
 necessarily designed to remedy such errors and de- 
 ficiencies as were then most prevalent. In addition 
 to the honoured names of Locke and Milton, a re- 
 spectable list might be adduced, whose acknowledged 
 abilities sufficed to give a sanction to their sentiments, 
 and who rightly judged it to be a subject worthy of 
 their maturest consideration. The records of their 
 treasured experience are fraught with sage counsel 
 and salutary maxims, affording a rich field to be 
 gleaned at will, by all whose laudable curiosity may 
 lead them into speculations so rational in their nature, 
 and of such manifest utility. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the accession of light thus 
 derived from a series of writers, their very number, 
 while it bears testimony to the importance of the 
 subject, supplies also a strong presumption that each, 
 in succession, deemed it to have been imperfectly or 
 partially viewed by those who had preceded ; for, 
 when many writers follow on the same subject, it is 
 manifest that all, in turn, are actuated by some con- 
 viction of error in those who had gone before, and 
 each anticipates the palm of honour for superior pe- 
 
INTRODUCTORY. V 
 
 netration in discovering and making known the great 
 desiderata in Education, which, though long the 
 object of research, had never been fully revealed. 
 But, after all that has been thus given to the world, 
 Education, as to its moral results, seems to have done 
 but little, retaining, in this respect, nearly its ancient 
 position ; as the guardian of public and private virtue, 
 its past and present efficacy is at least questionable ; 
 and so long as its objectionable features continue un- 
 changed, the leading question must remain the same. 
 The immediate point of interest therefore, is, not 
 what has been said or done, but what more, to the 
 present purpose, can be said, and what has been left 
 undone ; it is with present practice, rather than with 
 past theories, that we have to do ; not what has here- 
 tofore been amended, but what are the existing evils, 
 and how may they best be remedied. 
 
 Education is an inexhaustible theme, and were it 
 not so in itself, the progressive changes in human 
 society and manners would probably render it so ; 
 originating in, and acting upon, the mutable and 
 restless genius of man, which, the higher it mounts, 
 ever aspires the more ; creating a demand for corre- 
 sponding changes in the matter and mode of instruc- 
 tion, adapted to its enlarged and prospective views. 
 The growth of fresh errors must also be arrested, 
 which, in endless variety, are always springing up 
 anew, making it expedient to revise its operation from 
 time to time, and if not to vary its essential forms, 
 at least to renew and confirm its beneficial powers by 
 well-timed provisions. The great and good Locke, 
 
VI INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 who would willingly have made us a nation of 
 philosophers, is, perhaps, as little chargeable with 
 inconsistency as most men ; yet few will maintain that 
 a treatise, penned a century ago, is in all respects 
 adapted to present use, or that his Spartan precepts, 
 for the management of children, and for promoting a 
 vigorous and healthful frame of body (which in those 
 times of comparative simplicity were rarely, if ever, 
 adopted), are likely to find practical advocates among 
 the more sensitive and tender mothers of the present 
 era of studied luxury and refinement. 
 
 Though it be true that Education has seldom wanted 
 advocates, certain it is, that it can never have too 
 many able ones ; its exhaustless interest gives it a 
 never-ceasing claim to attention ; it should therefore 
 be held up to view in every varied form, and arrayed 
 with every attraction of which it is susceptible, to 
 render it the more inviting, and to give it the greater 
 effect. While works of fiction abound, and new fields 
 of imagination are daily opened and explored with 
 avidity, not many, comparatively, are those which 
 bear the stamp of decided utility ; but it would be a 
 libel on the good taste of the age to infer, that because 
 the former find at all times a ready welcome, the 
 latter should at any time lack an equally cordial re- 
 ception. Rarely indeed, it may be presumed, in an 
 age like the present (distinguished alike for just dis- 
 crimination and impartiality), will any well-grounded 
 appeal to the British public be made in vain, or fail 
 to elicit attention in a degree proportioned to its just 
 claims and merits. 
 

 INTRODUCTORY. Vll 
 
 True it is, that in the popular journals and perio- 
 dicals of the day, not a few of which stand deservedly 
 high in the public estimation, much valuable infor- 
 mation may be gleaned by such as avail themselves 
 of the opportunity of profiting by such authorities. 
 Some have even devoted their pages exclusively to the 
 interests of Education, and to the details of its pro- 
 gress and results. That such praiseworthy efforts 
 should have produced so little apparent effect, can 
 be accounted for only by inferring that their circu- 
 lation has by no means kept pace with their merits. 
 There is, perhaps, scarcely a periodical of note, but 
 in turn has taken up this most interesting subject ; 
 yet it would seem, that, because the information 
 treasured up in these literary storehouses is neces- 
 sarily interspersed amongst a variety of attractive 
 subjects, it fails of eliciting due attention, or may 
 possibly lose its effect for want of being condensed in 
 that regular form, without which the best information 
 is by some regarded rather as a cursory view, than a 
 standard of fixed authority : hence such strictures, 
 how excellent soever, attract often but a partial notice, 
 floating awhile, perhaps, on the stream of popularity, 
 and then sinking into unmerited oblivion, which is, 
 not unfrequently, the fate of the best miscellanies 
 when their date has expired. 
 
 There seems to be less want of general and prac- 
 tical knowledge, than of the means of making it 
 available in its application. This is now the great 
 point, and the main difficulty arises from local 
 peculiarities. The system that works well in one 
 
VUl INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 community, will rarely succeed in another without 
 attention to this, which renders it expedient and 
 necessary, in its adaptation, to make due allowance 
 and provision for all such local and national charac- 
 teristics. Of practical matter there is sufficient before 
 the public. The present is a humble attempt to go 
 further, to depict the extent of its influence, to follow 
 out its manifold bearings and details, and to trace 
 existing evils to their domestic sources. The rooting 
 out of error is, in all things, the first necessary step 
 towards perfection ; and the passive sanction of seem- 
 ingly small defects in Education, resembles that too 
 lenient policy, which, by tolerating incipient error, 
 and allowing it to strike root, is subsequently con- 
 strained to witness the gigantic growth of mischiefs, 
 with which it is then doomed, perhaps, in vain to 
 struggle. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no subject of equal magnitude 
 on which public opinion has been more divided, than 
 on Education ; but it may be fairly assumed, that 
 amid this variety of conflicting sentiments, those 
 should seem to merit a prior claim to attention, which 
 have been derived from long experimental intercourse 
 with youth, combined with repeated observation and 
 study of the gradually unfolding character : he that 
 would rightly appreciate it, must familiarize himself 
 with it ; he must descend to its views, and enter into 
 its feelings, and, by so doing, will not fail to discover 
 those endearing qualities, which need but to be fos- 
 tered in order to produce their kindly and abundant 
 harvest. When, therefore, we look around, and mark 
 
INTRODUCTORY. IX 
 
 the striking indications of juvenile levity now so pre- 
 valent, it will be well, perhaps, if, instead of charging 
 nature with the defect, we place it, with better reason, 
 to the account of a faulty Education, whose errors and 
 omissions doubtless are, and ever have been, one of 
 the main sources of human folly, crime, and misery. 
 
 For proof of error in modern Education, we need not 
 go far ; it is too glaring to elude even common obser- 
 vation, every where surrounding us, and meeting us 
 in our daily walks. By its fruits it is known by its 
 visible effects in the current manners of the day, 
 which make it but too apparent that a self-willed 
 and precocious spirit is fast gaining ground in the 
 youthful breast, and making rapid strides towards a 
 fatal ascendancy, from the highest even to the lowest 
 classes of the community. In the humbler walks of 
 life, often are we shocked at the forbidding forms 
 which youthful depravity assumes ; and as we ascend 
 in the social scale towards the more enlightened and 
 opulent circles, commanding every possible advan- 
 tage, and where we reasonably expect to find the 
 salutary effects of Education in a proportion ably 
 higher ratio, there also the evil seemingly prepon- 
 derates ; and we are constrained to resign the bright- 
 ness of anticipation for a conviction of the discouraging 
 reverse. 
 
 The growth of juvenile delinquency is, perhaps, 
 one of the darkest signs of the times, imperatively 
 calling for increased vigilance in the training of youth 
 of all ranks. Never, probably, had Education greater 
 obstacles to contend with, notwithstanding all that 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 has seemingly been done ; never did parental respon- 
 sibility assume a sterner aspect ; never was paternal 
 wisdom more forcibly appealed to, urging all who 
 have the power to combine their laudable efforts, 
 promptly to remedy its obvious defects. 
 
 It is doubtless easier to prove that error exists, than 
 precisely to determine its amount and position, or 
 whether the fault rests chiefly with parents or teachers, 
 or whether it is to be ascribed rather to injudicious 
 or ill-conducted systems. Alternately each comes in 
 for a share of the blame, and in some cases all are 
 perhaps chargeable with failure, in a greater or less 
 degree ; but each is willing to exonerate itself from 
 the censure, and the judgment being commonly 
 biased by circumstances rather than conviction, is 
 at a loss where to attach the omission , ^vhich is then 
 (conveniently enough) ascribed to the fault of nature. 
 
 Among the probable causes of such manifest defi- 
 ciency, the ruling taste for economising may be enu- 
 merated, which, with more zeal than prudence, has 
 been so largely carried into modern plans of Educa- 
 tion. A little reflection may suffice to shew, that, 
 when carried to an extreme, its tendency is decidedly 
 mischievous, and there can be but little question that 
 its operation has been highly injurious to society 
 at large. The very term, cheap, implies inferiority ; 
 and when applied to Education (including, of course, 
 every thing connected with it) is, if well weighed, a 
 very significant hint not to raise the expectations too 
 high. Cheap schools imply cheap teachers, yielding 
 but slender securitv for the essentials of mental and 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XI 
 
 moral qualification ; men of ability are not thus 
 cheaply to be obtained ; none but those who are con- 
 strained by necessity can be willing, for a trifling 
 remuneration, to undertake the monotonous and often 
 irksome round of subordinate school duties. 
 
 Exceptions there are in most cases ; and when the 
 parental means are inadequate to the expense of a 
 liberal education, all that can be done is to make the 
 wisest arrangement that circumstances permit; but 
 where no such impediment exists, indifference on this 
 point may be productive of the worst consequences, 
 and frustrate the parents' hopes in a point where failure 
 is fatal, and where no remedy remains. That the 
 various benefits which the best Education can confer, 
 should be brought within the means and reach of all, 
 is of all things the most desirable ; but till such is the 
 case, the wisdom of economising in so important a 
 matter must be questionable. 
 
 It is but fair to concede, that in some cases even 
 cheap Education may be good, but if so, it is more 
 than can reasonably be expected ; and if it be not 
 good, all parties must suffer. The child, whose best 
 interests are thus compromised, is the chief sufferer. 
 The parent suffers through the child, in disappointed 
 hopes, embittered by a feeling of responsibility ; and 
 the third party, who has (naturally enough) endea- 
 voured to make the best of a hard bargain, is pro- 
 bably a sufferer in reputation, if not (as it sometimes 
 happens) through the humbler medium of the pocket. 
 Even admitting the common advantages of instruction 
 to be on a level, many a promising child has been 
 
Xll INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 spoiled and ruined by being brought into immediate 
 contact and association with incipient vulgarity in all 
 its forms ; one certain result of undue parsimony in 
 Education being to plunge a child into society with 
 a mixed assemblage, perhaps of the very lowest order, 
 whence quickly arise low habits and connections, with 
 a vulgar turn of thought ; and hence that individual 
 is stamped for a low character through life, who, with 
 superior advantages, might have been an ornament 
 and blessing to society. 
 
 But manifest as it is, that in nothing is a rigid 
 economy so ill-timed as in Education, it has obtained 
 to such an extent, that it is now no very uncommon 
 thing for rival candidates for patronage to found their 
 claim to support on the lowness of their terms. This 
 state of things is of some standing, though to less extent 
 than at present, and has been the subject of frequent 
 and just animadversion ; and hence, also, the pro- 
 fession of a teacher, anciently so much respected, has 
 sunk to the level of insignificance, nay, in too many 
 instances, has even dwindled into contempt ; but this 
 is surely as unwise as it is ungenerous, and cannot 
 fail of operating in a manner equally injurious to the 
 pupil and to the preceptor. Its direct tendency is to 
 lessen, in the pupil's breast, that sentiment of respect, 
 which can alone give weight to instruction ; and with 
 the teacher, its effect will be to diminish his care and 
 exertion, in proportion as he becomes conscious of his 
 slender authority and influence, which must greatly 
 abate his self-confidence, even should it not lessen his 
 self-estimation. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. Xlll 
 
 Among all the promoters of Education, to none is 
 the palm so justly due, as to him who conscientiously 
 discharges the self-denying duties it imposes ; who, 
 to the daily sacrifice of his liberty, adds his unremitted 
 exertions, and without whose needful agency, the best 
 intentions of its cordial friends and advocates would 
 be unavailing. To their teachers youth daily and 
 hourly look up for the light of information and ex- 
 ample ; they should therefore possess sufficient per- 
 sonal merit to elicit esteem, and such a measure of 
 authority as may ensure attention : between them 
 there exists a continued and unreserved intercourse, 
 which renders it essential to the best interests of Edu- 
 cation that a spirit of harmony arid friendship be 
 inviolably preserved ; and it is strictly consonant with 
 the plainest reason, that they to whom so high a trust 
 has been confided, ought invariably to be treated with 
 corresponding respect. 
 
 None surely would withhold from Education or 
 its professors so humble a meed of honour, were 
 they fully aware of the continued mental exactions 
 by which it is purchased. Of all professions it is, 
 perhaps, the most trying, nor will even habit suffice 
 to make it agreeable, unless sustained by no small 
 degree of urbanity and forbearance, blended with a 
 sincere regard for youth. He who is in quest of a 
 sinecure, must seek it elsewhere ; neither will am- 
 bition here find the road to worldly distinction ; and 
 avarice must turn to the right hand or to the left. 
 The preceptor must be content to find his chief re- 
 ward in the acknowledgments of a limited circle, and 
 
 
XIV INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 in the satisfaction of conscious rectitude. He who 
 has no cause to be proud of his motives, will have 
 little reason to pride himself upon his profession. In 
 addition to its ordinary duties, which supply ample 
 exercise for the virtue of forbearance, the teacher's 
 path is often rugged, and thickset with trials peculiar 
 to the profession. Misunderstandings arise from 
 causes oft as trivial as they are absurd ; from trifling 
 jealousies, from rivalry, and petty collisions among 
 pupils, and sometimes from disgust at reproof or 
 correction ; hence resentment is engendered in the 
 youthful breast ; and when the wounded feelings of 
 the parent become a party in the cause, rarely will 
 the unwelcome excitement be allayed, till the pre- 
 ceptor has, in some shape, been made sensible of its 
 effects. In cases wherein their own children are 
 concerned, indulgent parents are not easily convinced, 
 and the only course to be adopted is a stedfast ad- 
 herence to the line of duty, with a stoical indifference 
 to consequences ; this will always bear a man through 
 with honour, though it may not invariably crown 
 him with success. 
 
 These are the thorns and briars of the profession, 
 nor are they depicted with a view to discourage the 
 passenger, but to warn him of a little rough ground 
 that lies in his way ; and to the indulgent parent it 
 is respectfully designed to intimate how smooth and 
 pleasant it is in their power to render it, by making 
 natural partiality yield a little to more disinterested 
 motives, in behalf of those to whom the care and 
 mental guardianship of their offspring have been 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XV 
 
 confided. But whatever may be the ascendancy of 
 parental affection in some minds, rarely does it attain 
 to an unjust extreme ; such a measure of mistaken 
 fondness forms by no means a common feature in the 
 character of British parents, who are not excelled, if 
 equalled, by those of any other nation for justness 
 of sentiment, and propriety of conduct in all their 
 domestic relations. In venturing, therefore, upon 
 the language of expostulation, the Author is desirous 
 that it may not be misconstrued ; truth is his main 
 object, and wherever his reasonings may yield con- 
 viction, he would hope that utility may follow. 
 
 Having long devoted his best energies to the service 
 of youth, it is with sincere pleasure that, by this free- 
 will offering, (the first-fruits of his leisure, though not 
 matured without care and study,) he is enabled to 
 give an additional proof of undimiriished zeal in the 
 cause which he has the honour to advocate. 
 
 Touching his allusion to existing errors, as an im- 
 perfect and mutilated exposition of his views might 
 prematurely tend rather to alienate than conciliate 
 those who incline to favour particular theories ; it 
 were better that they should be gathered from the 
 work itself. It may here suffice to state, that he is 
 no convert to new systems ; his opinions are his own, 
 and will be found in unison with his declared senti- 
 ments of the longest date. On the subject of ancient 
 literature, and the years often fruitlessly consumed in 
 the study of the dead languages, time, so far from 
 changing his convictions, has set the seal to their 
 identity, and added to their weight and character : 
 
xvi 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 to his consistency, therefore, on this point, some of 
 his readers will bear testimony. 
 
 On the question of religion, as associated with 
 Education, there will rarely exist much difference of 
 opinion among sincere Christians, as to the propriety 
 and sound wisdom of making its powerful motives the 
 ground and framework of the moral and social obli- 
 gations. To the benign and quickening influences 
 of true religion all are ready to subscribe, and yet, 
 from the very inefficient manner in which its benevo- 
 lent spirit is commonly inculcated, and the apparently 
 slender stress laid upon it in some of our modern 
 systems, it would seem rather to be regarded as a 
 matter of very secondary import, than as a leading 
 and essential feature in the education of youth of the 
 middle and higher classes, amongst whom its influ- 
 ence is more especially needful and important. To 
 omissions of this class doubtless we may look, if not 
 for the principal root of error, at least for one of its 
 main branches, and productive, probably, of the most 
 pernicious fruits. 
 
 In the second Essay, more particularly addressed 
 to parents, some of the opinions advanced may savour 
 rather of novelty, but as they are the fruit of study 
 and observation, they will perhaps gain rather than 
 lose by the scrutiny they invite ; and should his senti- 
 ments at any time assume the language of confidence, 
 the candid reader will, he trusts, impute it rather to 
 a well-meant zeal in the cause he advocates, than to 
 an egotistic or self-sufficient spirit. Having con- 
 ducted, on his account, an establishment during 
 

 INTRODUCTORY . xvii 
 
 fourteen years, averaging above fifty pupils, it will 
 be conceded that he is less indebted to theory than 
 practice for his convictions : impressed with serious 
 views of life, it was always his primary care to form 
 and strengthen the moral and religious principle as 
 the safest and truest basis of character ; and to this 
 endeavour he chiefly ascribes the success and appro- 
 bation that rewarded his efforts. It were, indeed, 
 hardly consistent with right reason, to suppose that 
 any system should be more satisfactory than that 
 which, in the common course of things, tends to 
 conciliate the respect both of parents and of pupils, 
 and to the beneficial operation of which, the writer, 
 for one, can testify having repeatedly had the satis- 
 faction of witnessing its salutary effects in the good 
 conduct and consequent success in life, of many who 
 4iad been thus tutored ; and, doubtless, every pre- 
 ceptor of youth who has made the cause of truth and 
 virtue his first care, has also, by the event, been con- 
 vinced of the wisdom of his decision. 
 
 To profess to do full justice to such a theme in the 
 present advanced state of society, and in all its com- 
 plicated bearings, would be an assumption of superior 
 intelligence, that would ill become the author of these 
 Essays ; but, conscious as he may be of his own weak 
 merits, he trusts, that right motives will atone for 
 casual defects; and though he may not bring to his 
 subject an unerring judgment, he would approach it 
 in a straightforward spirit of impartiality, encouraged 
 in his arduous but honourable task, by a conviction 
 of the good always to be effected by renewing the 
 
XV111 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 attention, and stimulating afresh the laudable efforts 
 of the powerful and the wealthy, on whose fostering 
 aid and co-operation, success in this, as in every useful 
 design, chiefly depends. Should he succeed but in 
 imparting additional interest to the leading features 
 and details of his subject, by setting them in a stronger 
 or more varied light, he will not have cause to regret 
 the loss of time, or the misapplication of talent. 
 
 To persuade is but the means ; to profit is the end. 
 Every work is justly estimated by its tendency, and 
 its best character and strongest recommendation is 
 utility ; but this choice fruit is of most uncertain 
 growth, depending not so much on the degree of in- 
 trinsic merit any work may possess, as on its use and 
 application by others. Many a treatise, designed to be 
 practical, shares the fate of a theory it is read, ap- 
 proved, perhaps, and then laid aside, where its feeble 
 call is unheeded amid the thousand daily claims on 
 the attention ; but, without its practical application, 
 the best theory is but as reflected light, destitute of 
 vital heat, and unproductive ; and thus, for want of 
 its practical use, has many an elaborate production 
 of genius been lost to the world as to its intended and 
 beneficial results. With many pains, conviction is 
 brought forth to the doubtful existence of an hour ; 
 the day that dawns on its brightest birth, oft closes 
 not till it has been buried in oblivion. Little, how- 
 ever, does it avail to search for the weeds of error, if, 
 when discovered, they be not rooted out to make room 
 for the salutary growth of truth. 
 
 Utility is the design of the following pages, and, 
 

 INTRODUCTORY. XIX 
 
 in commending the fruit of his studies to the consi- 
 deration of all who are interested in the welfare of 
 youth, he doubts not but that it will be appreciated 
 with the impartiality the subject deserves. The pa- 
 tronage he would elicit is that which centres in a 
 cordial approval of its design and tendency. In the 
 truly enlightened mind, Charity ever stands at the 
 right hand of Judgment, extending her willing co- 
 operation to every laudable purpose. The approba- 
 tion of such is an ample and honourable reward ; but 
 he that would gain it, must approach the heart by 
 the understanding, and his surest passport will be a 
 worthy and beneficial object. 
 
 The reader will readily discern the contemplative 
 character of the work before him, in the spirit and 
 style that pervades it, and which has been adopted 
 as most congenial with the serious and elevated view 
 the author has taken of the subject. For a similar 
 reason, he preferred essays to lectures, as being the 
 least formal medium for giving publicity to his opi- 
 nions, and as better suited to that freedom of style, 
 which forms, perhaps, the best channel for the un- 
 reserved flow of sentiment and feeling. 
 
 In conclusion, he will be content if the reader, 
 while accompanying him in his researches, will gather 
 such fruit as he may find worth taking, and store it 
 for use ; and may the Author of all good, in whose 
 hand the weakest instruments become available for 
 the highest purposes, further, by His divine concur- 
 rence, an imperfect but sincere endeavour to promote 
 his gracious design, whose supreme will it is, that all 
 
 c 2 
 
XX INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 his rational creatures should participate in his perfec- 
 tion and felicity. May every parent and guardian 
 of youth, while seeking to so humble a source for 
 information, realize all the benefit that its most judi- 
 cious application can bestow. May they, in addition 
 to the satisfaction of an approving conscience in the 
 right discharge of their sacred trust, enjoy the plea- 
 sure that is most grateful to the parental heart, in 
 seeing their offspring at once dutiful and happy, and 
 their virtues increasing with their years. 
 
fewH^ 
 
 IMPORTANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 
 EDUCATION-ITS IMPORTANCE DEDUCED-FROM THE NATURE, RELATIONS, 
 AND PROSPECTS OF A HUMAN SOUL, AS CONNECTED WITH THE MOTIVES 
 AND OBLIGATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY FROM ITS MANIFEST INDIVIDUAL 
 ADVANTAGES, AND DIRECT INFLUENCE ON SOCIAL ORDER, VIRTUE, 
 AND HAPPINESS POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF RIGHTLY FORMING THE 
 YOUTHFUL CHARACTER-ITS INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL CHARACTER, 
 PROSPERITY, &c. 
 
 To every intelligent and reflecting mind, so evident is the 
 importance of Education, that any attempt to prove its neces- 
 sity by argument, might well be deemed superfluous, did all 
 avail themselves of the knowledge within their reach, and did 
 they possess the requisite leisure and judgment rightly to im- 
 prove and apply it. It is, indeed, one of the few great truths 
 which have been sanctioned by the unanimous consent of man- 
 kind in every age, and we should be disposed even to question 
 the sanity of the individual deliberately professing a contrary 
 opinion. But the admission of this truth, so far from super : 
 seding the expediency of reviewing a subject, at all times so 
 interesting, will rather stimulate the judicious to investigate it 
 for themselves, and thus, by the aid of reason, dissect anew 
 the root of a sentiment, doubtless as just, as it is universally 
 prevalent; for, in questions of general import, though all 
 
2 EDUCATION. 
 
 mankind may agree as one, in voice and opinion, yet, in the eye 
 of judgment, they must ever comprise two distinct classes, the 
 considerate and the unthinking ; and in her scale, the prepon- 
 derance belongs as exclusively to the former, as numerical 
 superiority does to the latter. 
 
 Between these two classes of mankind there will always be 
 this difference, that while the latter are content to be unre- 
 sistingly borne along by the broad current of popular influence,, 
 because sanctioned by custom, the former, though willing to 
 admit the due weight of evidence thus derived, will yet, in 
 questions of vital interest, assume the right of thinking for 
 themselves, with the nobler few, whose prerogative it is to build 
 their opinions on the rock of conviction alone ; the only sure 
 foundation of reason, and proof against the innovating hand of 
 Time, whence the mind, as from her tower of strength, looks 
 calmly down upon the conflicting waves of doubt and uncer- 
 tainty below. 
 
 Among the many attractive fields of elegant and useful re- 
 search that lie open to the inquiring portion of the intellectual 
 world, rich and varied are the sources of utility and pleasure ; 
 and the mind, while exploring them in quest of information, 
 is animated and strengthened by so congenial an exercise of 
 her powers; fading impressions are renewed, and the nearly 
 obliterated steps of evidence retraced, by which he formerly 
 gained the vantage-ground of Truth, yielding a purer atmo- 
 sphere, and commanding a wider horizon: by such mental 
 excursions a healthful and vigorous tone is imparted to the 
 intellect, and the higher the interest and authority that call for 
 them, the oftener should they be repeated ; for so is man con- 
 stituted by nature, that conviction itself is rarely permanent, 
 unless wrought, as it were, into the soul by continued repe- 
 tition. With travail, often we ascend ; we gain, perhaps, the 
 summit, and for awhile enjoy, with contemplative eye, the 
 bright imagery of truth in our awakened perceptions ; suddenly 
 comes across some low mist or vapour, which intercepts our 
 
EDUCATION. 23 
 
 mental view, and the brief vision is no sooner eclipsed, than its 
 fleeting form is forgotten. 
 
 Even in sacred things, which are ever the most affecting, 
 how soon are the strongest impressions effaced, and how tran- 
 sient the firmest resolves ! Even the solemn warnings of heaven, 
 like the voice of its thunder, is forgotten, as it dies away in the 
 distance ; and should the rude hand of Death tear from us our 
 dearest friend, or set his terrors in array against ourselves, yet 
 is he remembered only " as a guest that tarrieth but a day." 
 If it be true, that we are thus prone to forget, the inference is 
 plain, that the consideration of such a subject as Education, 
 involving the interests of all men, and fraught with the most 
 vital consequences to each, can at no time be unseasonable or 
 unprofitable. 
 
 There is no subject which involves considerations more 
 affecting to humanity, none fitted to awaken a deeper interest 
 in the heart of a being gifted with the faculties of reason and 
 reflection. As an intellectual engine of superhuman power, 
 Education is mighty to achieve either good or evil, shaping 
 the destiny of man in time and in eternity, and influencing his 
 virtue and his happiness in every stage of his existence, and in 
 every step of its progress ; but though the claims of Education 
 are thus imperative, and its obligations so universally binding, 
 as to be weakened by no change of time or circumstance, yet 
 the social aspect of the times may be such as greatly to enhance 
 their weight and authority ; and such, confessedly, is the pre- 
 sent era, in which Education assumes a degree of importance, 
 far surpassing that of any preceding period. 
 
 It is not possible, perhaps, by any combination of language, 
 adequately to define Education; yet the simplest definition 
 that can be given, is sufficient to impress every thinking mind 
 with an indelible conviction of its magnitude and importance : 
 much ingenuity has been employed to define it aright, but the 
 difficulty of thus doing full justice to it, obviously arises from 
 its complicated nature, doubtful operation, and uncertain 
 
24 EDUCATION. 
 
 l***^ 
 
 effects. Were Education a system of arbitrary impressions ; 
 were the mind wholly a passive principle, and the will always 
 an obedient agent, the results of Education might be accurately 
 determined, and its definition would be easy ; but as the very 
 reverse of this is sometimes the case, such attempts, how in- 
 genious soever, can only be received conditionally : that many 
 favourable coincidences are essential to success, is obvious, 
 from instances of failure ; but though the power of Education- 
 is seemingly abridged by such casual miscarriages, they, in 
 fact, augment its importance, by more strongly evincing the 
 necessity for increased vigilance to prevent their recurrence. 
 
 Nor will exceptions of this kind ever weigh materially against 
 the unerring testimony of experience, by which the power of 
 Education has, in every age and nation, been sufficiently at- 
 tested, so that not only its beneficial agency is universally 
 admitted, but its known efficacy is such as to warrant, at 
 least, general conclusions as to its probable results ; and the 
 advocates of Education may rest satisfied, that it now possesses 
 all the requisite means for influencing the youthful mind, and 
 directing its aspirations aright. As the great agent of virtue? 
 its operation is universal, and may be rendered available for 
 all the rational purposes of life, whether social, religious, or 
 political. 
 
 Education means a right discipline, and implies that exercise 
 of the mind whereby its powers are led progressively towards 
 perfectionT;~and that which it is able to. effect affords a sufficient 
 criterion of its high worth and importance. As a professio; 
 Education is entitled to an elevated rank ; in utility and im-^ 
 portance, it is surpassed by none ; therefore, in degree, it is 
 inferior to none ; but the honour of its distinction consists in 
 its power and privilege of moulding the human mind and cha- 
 racter at will. As the vehicle of science, it is estimable ; as 
 the means of wisdom and happiness, it is inestimable : it com- ^ 
 prises all that is essential and becoming; whatever can expand 
 and ennoble the mind, or purify the heart, with the readi 
 
 

 EDUCATION. 25 
 
 means of imparting all desirable knowledge, with the love of 
 virtue, and an abhorrence of vice. 
 
 The proper business of Education is to elicit and mature 
 the mental faculties ; to foster every sentiment of moral recti- 
 tude, and every seed of social virtue ; to form the temper, and 
 regulate the habits; and, by storing the mind with needful and 
 available knowledge, to qualify the individual for his future 
 station in society ; above all, to implant in his breast the prin- 
 ciples of a rational piety, sustained by the ennobling truths of 
 revelation; briefly, in other words, to impress the youthful 
 mind with such a sense of duty towards God and man, as may 
 produce a corresponding course of life, whose steady current 
 may resemble the clear stream that " goes rejoicing on its 
 way, and whose tranquil bosom distorts not the objects that 
 it reflects in its passage." Education is but, as it were, the 
 sowing of the seed; what the increase may be, defeats the 
 powers of calculation. In this mental harvest none would reap 
 sparingly, nor is any motive wanting, that wisdom can suggest, 
 to induce all to sow liberally in these bright fields of hope and 
 promise. 
 
 Important as Education manifestly is in every point of view, 
 and in all its bearings, moral and social, yet, as connected with 
 the weighty interests of religion, and as the means of imparting 
 the knowledge of Divine truth, and of inculcating the sublime 
 spirit of Christianity, it possesses claims which must ever be 
 paramount to all other considerations. Nor will there be much 
 need of human eloquence to enforce this with the enlightened 
 Christian, who has the heavenly oracles for his guidance, and 
 on whose heart this truth has been engraven by the finger of 
 Deity. There should seem to be little call for the feeble aid 
 of reason here, or that human wisdom should weary itself in a 
 formal round of argument to prove that which has so little 
 serious opposition to encounter. 
 
 A few, and those the plainest and most obvious arguments, 
 grounded on the weighty and affecting motives of religion^ ' 
 
26 EDUCATION. 
 
 may amply suffice for the present purpose, and, combined 
 with the reflections they suggest, supply abundant matter for 
 evidence on this point. Such are the reasons that may be 
 deduced from the nature, relations, and prospects, of the human 
 soul, endued with progressive capacity, subject, in this mixed 
 and transitory state, to trials for the exercise and probation 
 of virtue, and destined for a state of endless duration, where 
 perfect happiness will be the reward of talents rightly im- 
 proved; and where also remorse and shame await the wilful 
 neglect and wanton abuse of them. 
 
 If the familiar maxim be true, that Education forms the 
 mind, then it is evident that its well-being, in time and in eter- 
 nity, depends chiefly on the manner in which it is formed ; and 
 thus its importance appears commensurate with the highest 
 concerns of the soul, which it must necessarily influence 
 throughout the countless ages of eternity. How needful, then, 
 its wise and careful direction, and how desirable its salutary 
 discipline ! Of this, little doubt can exist in the mind that 
 contemplates the dangers that beset her path in every stage of 
 her earthly pilgrimage. 
 
 That human life is a warfare, is a truth that carries its own 
 evidence, and finds a ready witness in every breast : how then 
 shall the youthful champion be prepared for the encounter? 
 Were he permitted to enter the field naked and defenceless, 
 how shall he stand when the experienced and the mighty often 
 fall ? To assign him the station of honour without armour of 
 proof to defend it (which religion alone bestows), would be to 
 place him as a victim at the post of danger, and sacrifice him 
 to almost certain destruction. Without this armour of Divine 
 truth and Christian virtue, how may he withstand the shock of 
 calamities, or repel the shafts of infidelity; how should he 
 resist the allurements of vice, or surmount, with magnanimity, 
 the manifold obstacles that will constantly be rising to check 
 his progress ? 
 
 That heart must be devoid of common benevolence that 
 

 EDUCATION. 27 
 
 could remain unmoved with sympathy and concern at sight of 
 an amiable but heedless youth in peril of death, from flood, or 
 flame, or precipice, or that would forbear to stretch forth a 
 helping hand to avert, if possible, the catastrophe : doubtless 
 the feelings that break forth into tenderness at the appeal of 
 suffering nature, proclaim that humanity, which is at once the 
 ornament and blessing of society ; but, if there be such a thing 
 as consistency, by what criterion are we to estimate the cha- 
 racter that promptly sympathizes with the casualties of time, 
 but subsides into apathy and indifference towards the vital 
 concerns of futurity, where error is fatal, and miscarriage irre- 
 trievable, and where lasting happiness is at stake? In the 
 estimation of such, the fleeting things of sense seem far to 
 outweigh the evidence of things unseen, though attested by 
 the voice of Omnipotence as infinitely transcending all the 
 powers of created thought and utterance. 
 
 In the frequent use of the word Education, I would be un- 
 derstood to mean, rather what it ought to be, in the opinion 
 of the judicious, than what it commonly is in modern practice, 
 or what the term ordinarily implies. In familiar acceptation 
 it has no definite signification, being applied indiscriminately 
 to all those varied systems of restraint, whether beneficial or 
 otherwise, to which the great majority of children are perio- 
 dically subjected, and which seem frequently to have no higher 
 object than the attainment of those branches of human eru- 
 dition, which, though of acknowledged utility, should ever be 
 subservient to the solid acquisitions of moral and divine truth, 
 and those fixed principles of rectitude, which are oftentimes 
 seemingly overlooked, as if they scarcely merited serious atten- 
 tion, or needed not the fostering hand of care. 
 
 But when the comparatively trifling things of time manifestly 
 engross the first attention, it amounts to a tacit declaration 
 that they hold the leading place in our estimation, notwith- 
 standing professions to the contrary. Hence the indispensable 
 
28 EDUCATION. 
 
 means of certain and endless good are deferred till we have 
 secured, as we fondly suppose, the accommodations of the pre- 
 sent time by those common-place acquirements which absorb 
 the time and faculties of children during their prime, and which 
 have avowedly but a temporal aim. This can hardly be deemed 
 the wisdom befitting a responsible Jbeing. If one thing be 
 confessedly needful, and incomparably more so than all other 
 things together, it consists, with the soundest reason, to make 
 it the first acquisition. Human life having no definite term, 
 what is needful to the old, is equally so to the young, and to 
 every intervening age; if it be worldly policy, then it is as 
 short-sighted as it is selfish, and defeats its own end, by for- 
 feiting its claim to the favour of that Divine Being, whose 
 counsel is rejected, and who dispenses alike the blessings of 
 time and eternity. 
 
 Dear to heaven must be the youthful heart, a stranger to 
 guile, whose innocence is emblematic of its own spotless purity; 
 but doubly grateful when in such a mind the early dawning of 
 Christian graces sheds a mild lustre over the character, and the 
 light of truth, with gradually rising power, gives promise of a 
 progressively wise and happy course. To render the young 
 well-pleasing to heaven, is doubtless to insure their happiness 
 by the wisest means possible ; and if the blessing depend on 
 its favour, the seed of virtue that is soonest sown, may be 
 expected to yield not only the quickest, but most abundant 
 increase. In securing to youth the substantial benefits of a 
 pious Education, as in most acquisitions that are truly esti- 
 mable, " before honour is humility," and the enjoyment of the 
 desired harvest must be preceded by the pains of cultivation, 
 which should commence with the dawn of reason, and continue 
 till it attain the zenith of its intellectual strength. Need we 
 an infallible guide, the inspired volume reveals to us the counsel 
 of heaven for our direction : safe and salutary are its admo- 
 nitions, while its plainest dictates bear the impress of a Divine 
 
EDUCATION. 29 
 
 origin. " Train up the child in the way he should go," is the 
 language of unerring wisdom, and the voice of experience has, 
 in every age, borne witness to its efficacy. 
 
 In noticing this familiar and hackneyed precept, it may not 
 be irrelevant to remark, as a peculiar characteristic of the 
 sacred writings, that, although the language of prophecy is 
 inimitably sublime, the didactic is invariably as plain as it is 
 energetic, of which our blessed Redeemer's celebrated discourse 
 on the mount presents a striking illustration ; wherein the sum 
 of religion is briefly comprised, the counsels of Eternal Wisdom 
 revealed, and the means of happiness pointed out, in the most 
 familiar terms. The understanding is irresistibly appealed to, 
 through the medium of the senses; while the surrounding 
 objects, birds and flowers, are made to proclaim the watchful 
 care of Providence; and the force and beauty of phrase 
 throughout, is equalled only by its simplicity. Such is the 
 power and privilege of genuine Truth, wherever she appears 
 we must follow her, and seek her in her retreats ; she is ever 
 to be respected for her own sake, whatever dress she may 
 assume, and whether she approach us smiling or with frowns, 
 she should still be welcome ; her voice is ever the same ; her 
 speech is the language of heaven. 
 
 As it would ill consist with the dignity and character of the 
 Sovereign Ruler of all to dispense his blessings indiscriminately, 
 the faithful discharge of duty, in the diligent use of the ap- 
 pointed means, is required as the proof of sincerity. The 
 advice of the inspired monarch of Israel, to " train the child 
 aright," is the express condition on which the annexed promise 
 is attainable; if rightly weighed, it implies no less than the 
 early and right formation of character, the miniature of the 
 future man; and, when thus trained, Eternal Truth has de- 
 clared, that " when he is old he will not leave it." But heaven 
 may not be slighted with impunity ; and they who disregard its 
 admonitions, may not consider that, in strong scriptural phrase, 
 
30 EDUCATION. 
 
 when the gracious terms of its favour are rejected, the promised 
 blessing becomes awfully reversed. 
 
 The great Saviour and Benefactor of mankind received, with 
 his wonted benignity, those who brought young children to him, 
 and encouraged them, with marked approbation, in the blessing 
 he pronounced, by his declaration, that " of such is the kingdom 
 of heaven." He pointedly intimates, not only the worth and 
 excellence of those meek and innocent qualities, which are 
 characteristic of that tender age, but also the peculiar fitness 
 of the season of childhood, and its spirit of purity and docility, 
 for the right receiving and retaining the impressions of true 
 religion he came to impart; and experience sets the seal of 
 confirmation to the wisdom of this doctrine, which has found 
 an echo in the witness of every age. The Scriptures throughout 
 breathe the same sentiment; the Proverbs, especially, abound 
 with pithy allusions to the same effect, and calculated to carry 
 conviction home to the parental breast. The wisdom and 
 efficacy of timely restraint, and early religious culture, are 
 pourtrayed in the strongest terms, and crowned with the most 
 encouraging eulogiums; while the error and folly of neglect 
 are depicted in the most pointed and striking language. By 
 the ancient Hebrews, aptly were the Sacred Writings termed 
 "" The Law," by way of eminence, as containing the eternal 
 and heavenly rule of right and wrong, and revealing the will 
 and attributes of the Deity. The knowledge of these " lively 
 oracles" was, therefore, esteemed by them as the highest of 
 human acquisitions, and a main part of Education. 
 
 Advancing youth brings with it all the requisites for im- 
 provement, being unprejudiced and docile, and possessing 
 lively spirits with a clear and quick apprehension. At this 
 season the mind is active, inquiring, and retentive ; it is capa- 
 cious, and must be filled ; if its cravings be not supplied with 
 appropriate aliment, it will feed on what is pernicious. The 
 character that is not formed in youth, will need to be reformed 
 
EDUCATION. 31 
 
 in manhood, when all concurrent aid is withdrawn, and when 
 difficulties have increased and multiplied; when the mental 
 soil must be cleared of deep-rooted and obstinate prejudices, 
 from hurtful and long-cherished habits, and the rank growth 
 of appetites and passions, which, like baneful weeds, have pro- 
 bably overrun it. But it may possibly be objected, that youth, 
 how virtuously soever educated, sometimes degenerate to the 
 opposite extreme of vice in manhood. True it is, that virtue 
 ever suffers in the crowd; nor is it surprising that the inex- 
 perienced should be dazzled with the glare of novelty, and 
 yield, in some degree, to the enticing appearances of pleasure ; 
 but few are the instances, it is presumed, wherein the youthful 
 character, duly impressed with a sense of duty, and with the 
 admiration of whatever is great and good, becomes suddenly 
 and wholly obscured by a fallacious influence, which his better 
 convictions must condemn. 
 
 Man, in his youth, is decidedly an imitative creature, and 
 unsuspecting; his passive assent to serious admonition is na- 
 turally less cordial than his acquiescence in the specious and 
 fascinating allurements that strike his senses, and flatter his 
 imagination, while they betray his judgment. How difficult is 
 it for inexperience to draw the line between seeming good and 
 the reality ; add to this, that past conviction, with the young, 
 is rarely proof against present example, whose powerful and 
 corrupt contagion proverbially prevails against good manners. 
 But, notwithstanding these apparent discouragements, the ad- 
 vantage must ever abide on the side of early virtue ; and the 
 well-principled character, though it suffer a transient eclipse, 
 is never totally extinguished. Vice becomes quickly divested 
 of her mask, and when time exposes her deformity, he who 
 has been seduced from the even path of duty, into the per- 
 plexing maze of error and folly, will quit it with disgust, when, 
 beneath the specious bloom of promised joys, he detects the 
 rankling thorns of anguish and remorse. To him, reformation 
 will be the happy return to content ; that restraint, which was 
 
32 EDUCATION. 
 
 the guardian of his youthful virtue, is now exchanged for con- 
 viction, his guide and companion for life ; and happy are they 
 who are thus led from " strength to strength," in Wisdom's 
 safe and pleasant way, animated by the prospect of honour and 
 felicity, which brightens as they proceed. 
 
 The difficulty of amendment always augments in proportion 
 to its delay, and is greatest where the will has been least sub- 
 ject to restraint, and a stranger to early discipline. The en- 
 trance to the path of duty will prove thorny and painful to 
 such as have not been led betimes into it ; and the reproofs of 
 wisdom will ever sound harsh to those who have not early lent 
 a willing ear to her voice ; deaf as the adder to the music of the 
 charmer, the mind, a victim to early neglect, and rendered 
 callous by time, becomes more and more the abode of mischief 
 and misery, and the strong-hold of rebellious passions. In this 
 stage of growing depravity, the ray of departing hope trembles 
 amid the gloom that obscures the mental horizon; human 
 agency becomes impotent, and the voice of conscience is no 
 longer heard but as a whisper in the storm. The fast-gathering 
 clouds of ignorance and vice, blot out the face of heaven from 
 his view, and the hapless victim of early neglect becomes as a 
 wandering star, whose apparent doom is darkness for ever. 
 
 It behoves not the creature, doubtless, to limit the bounty 
 of the Creator ; a ray of divine light may break forth upon the 
 disturbed vision of the most abandoned and perverse, though 
 seemingly confirmed in error, and lost to all that is good. 
 Even in the most hopeless case, Divine agency may work a 
 change, but it must be a change great as of the leopard's spotted 
 skin, or of the Ethiop's complexion ; a change of will, of heart, of 
 affections ; a change which can be expressed only by the strong 
 scriptural and figurative term, regeneration. In the former 
 case, reformation was comparatively easy; in the latter, the 
 painful reverse is too manifest to require a comment. 
 
 In the important article of religion, the children of the poor 
 are, seemingly, better provided for than those of the wealthier 
 
LUUCATION. 33 
 
 classes, though the good policy of such an arrangement is riot 
 very apparent. The poor are shrewd and jealous observers, 
 and prone rather to imitate the example, than profit by the 
 counsel of their superiors. Any shew of neglect, therefore, or 
 indifference towards religion among the wealthy, must tend to 
 weaken its hold on the public mind, and, consequently, to 
 throw open the flood-gates of immorality and popular licen- 
 tiousness; then Education itself is in danger of becoming 
 powerless, when counteracted by prevalent example, and un- 
 dermined by the influence of a too general corruption of 
 manners. 
 
 If Education possessed no other recommendation, its social 
 bearings would stamp it with inestimable value, as the direct 
 means of advancing the temporal happiness of every individual' 
 no less than the well-being of society at large. The hold it 
 takes on the human heart, makes it no neutral power ; either 
 it is a fountain of good, or of evil ; and its influence, whether 
 benign or malignant, is universally felt in its effects, which, 
 collectively, are but the necessary results of its individual 
 operation. From this great source is derived all that adds 
 sweetness to domestic life, or that harmonizes social inter- 
 course ; all that confers intellectual vigour and moral grandeur 
 on the character of man. By promoting Education (implying 
 the strengthening the virtues and powers of rational beings), 
 we may be said to enter into the views of heaven, and further 
 the design of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, by opening those 
 sources of mental enjoyment, which alone stamp a true value 
 on existence, and render human life a blessing. 
 
 Among the many advantages resulting from mental culture, 
 the kindly influence of a taste for literature, on all that is 
 conducive to social happiness in its best sense, is by no means 
 its least recommendation : spreading a rich and perpetual 
 feast for reason, and opening an exhaustless fund of innocent 
 delight and improvement ; invigorating the understanding, 
 purifying the heart, quickening all the springs of rational 
 
34 EDUCATION. 
 
 pleasure, with the relish of refinement, and softening the 
 native asperities of temper. By honourably engaging the 
 mind, and rectifying its views, it exalts the character, excludes 
 every meaner pursuit, and prevents the inferior appetites from 
 gaining that ascendancy which is ever subversive of nobler 
 satisfactions and pursuits, by chaining down the mind to the 
 debasing gratifications of sense, eventually mingling its deadly 
 poison in every cup that nature designed for the solace and 
 refreshment of man. 
 
 As mental pleasures rise in estimation, the sensual neces- 
 sarily recede, for intelligence and virtue are ever closely allied, 
 and from their union the mind gains its truest strength. 
 Without the support of knowledge virtue would languish and 
 expire, and a cultivated intellect is the only proper soil of its 
 vigorous growth ; for virtue consists not in refined and specu- 
 lative sentiment ; nor is it an occasional inclining towards an 
 ideal perfection, the fugitive growth of an hour: it is not 
 within the comprehension, much less within the reach of 
 ignorance. True virtue is the result of many convictions ; a 
 steady and persevering power, uniformly progressing in a long 
 and measured course, with many ascents and difficulties, not 
 to be surmounted but by the energies of a resolute mind : he 
 that would win this race should start early on the course ; he 
 who has to encounter unknown enemies, and untried dangers, 
 should buckle on his armour betimes. The soul that would 
 mount from earth to heaven, cannot commence its ascent too 
 soon. 
 
 Youth is the appointed season for acquiring all that is 
 needful to man; manhood is the time for its use and applica- 
 tion ; for in maturer age, the mind moving in a busier sphere, 
 becomes inaccessible to new and undivided impressions. Thus 
 it has been observed, " The parental relation on God's part, 
 and the filial on ours, may be more effectually impressed in 
 youth, than afterwards ; because, the filial feeling is a senti- 
 ment absolutely present with the young, but with man, who 
 
EDUCATION. 36 
 
 advances into new associations, it is rather remembered than 
 felt." In no instance does it excite our surprise, that a 
 depraved life and character has followed a defective Education; 
 it is rather regarded as the natural consequence of the omission : 
 and if true of the individual, must hold equally in its application 
 to society at large ; simply, by extending the cause and effect, 
 from a single to a multiplied scale. 
 
 The benefits of Education and literature extend to all : to 
 opulence, opening countless channels of utility and pleasure, 
 into which the superfluity of wealth may flow ; humble merit 
 is raised by it to the level of true respectability : the secrets of 
 wisdom are made known to the simple and ignorant : in this 
 soil all the virtues are ripened, and here thrive the social 
 sympathies and Christian charities. Such are the natural 
 results of intellectual culture. When guided aright, it com- 
 prises all the elements of social order and felicity, throwing a 
 heavenly radiance over the darkest periods of life ; enlivening 
 the hours of seclusion, sickness, and suffering, and offering a 
 soothing asylum where the wounded spirit may take refuge 
 from the cares and vexations of the world, and to which virtue 
 may safely and honourably retreat. To man, it exhibits true 
 wisdom, teaching him to found self-respect on self-knowledge, 
 and by convincing him wherein true merit consists, leads him 
 to appreciate it rightly in others ; without its kindly influence, 
 human nature would present but a forbidding picture, and 
 human society would progressively retrograde towards anarchy 
 and pristine barbarity. 
 
 In the regular course of events, the national character 
 necessarily takes a strong bias from the public resorts of youth 
 of the higher classes : here are embodied the embryo of that 
 wisdom and power which are destined to sway the interests of 
 the empire. To these establishments, the nation confides her 
 best treasure : on them she rests her dearest hopes, and she 
 holds them justly responsible for the high and sacred trust. 
 Every seed here sown, will in its time bring forth a hundred 
 
 D2 
 
86 EDUCATION. 
 
 fold. The habits here formed, whether of vice or of virtue, 
 come forth into society, leagued with the authority which 
 wealth and station invariably bestow; each individual becomes 
 the centre of a separate sphere, shedding a kindly or baneful 
 influence on all within the circle of his social movements, and 
 by the power of a privileged example, diffusing good or ill on 
 all around; who, again, in their several stations, influence a 
 humbler sphere ; thus, descending through the various grades 
 of society, widening as it recedes, and transferring the evil or 
 the good, often by a magnified reflection. 
 
 Its capability of perfection is that which stamps the human 
 soul as the master-piece of creation; while its energies and 
 faculties proclaim its high destination : its aptitude also to 
 retain the bias given to it by early impressions, affords the best 
 pledge of success, and surest ground of encouragement ; and 
 to this the assenting voice of experience bears universal testi- 
 mony. In the wide page of history we may trace its operation 
 at leisure. We there behold the justly renowned, whether 
 patriots, princes, or philosophers, alike held up as the glory of 
 their times, and shedding an unfading lustre on the land of 
 their birth; and almost invariably we find such exemplary 
 virtue and mental excellence abounding in proportion to its 
 cultivation and encouragement, especially when strengthened 
 by example ; and the inference is conclusive, resting on a 
 basis, wide as the empire of reason itself. 
 
 The decrees of heaven are absolute, nor may the laws and 
 established order of Providence, in its dealings with men, be 
 reversed by any secondary agency ; and while causes continue 
 to be connected with their effects, as well might we expect a 
 crop from barren soil unsown, or that the shapeless stone should 
 exhibit a model of the human figure in its symmetry, merely 
 from the rude action of the elements, as to imagine that 
 time, unaided by the hand of culture, should invest the imper- 
 fect creature with the semblance of the All-perfect Creator. 
 The sculptor, whose practised hand has attained the confidence 
 
EDUCATION. ' 
 
 of skill, emulous to rival nature in her noblest productions, 
 bids the passive marble gradually assume the Godlike image 
 in his thought; and whether the commanding form proclaim 
 the hero, or softer beauty claim the tribute of admiration, 
 though we contemplate with delight the proof of skill, our just 
 tribute of praise is wholly reserved for the artist. 
 
 As heaven compared to earth, so is mind superior to matter; 
 and equally surpassing is the task of the intellectual artist who 
 designs the production of moral excellence : a work requiring 
 abilities of the highest order. Reason will never expect to 
 trace the characteristics of the Deity where they have never 
 been inscribed, nor a copy of the Divine perfections in an 
 unenlightened mind. Excellence is the choice fruit of well- 
 timed and persevering industry alone, and never the growth of 
 unassisted nature, in itself corrupt, and perpetually prone to 
 evil rather than to good. Until adorned with virtue, endowed 
 with knowledge, and dignified with truth and integrity, never 
 can the human soul present a humble but faithful image of its 
 All-Glorious Maker ; a model of the Great Master Mind. 
 
 True it is that instances may be adduced, of minds that 
 appear to have been by nature noble, and though untutored, 
 have risen superior to every obstacle ; whereas the inherent 
 baseness of others, has even counteracted every advantage and 
 retrograded to the level of the brute creation. But admitting 
 that such exceptions may exist, and have existed, their occur- 
 rence is too rare to form a solid objection, and may well consist 
 with the apparent design of nature, whose works, while they 
 excite our admiration by their endless variety, surprise us no 
 less by the wonderful exceptions they at times display, as strik- 
 ing proofs of her power, and of the undefined operations of her 
 hand. Is man, her noblest work, to be alone excepted? or 
 rather, should we not, in such a field, anticipate the utmost 
 stretch of Divine skill, instanced by variety in all its extremes ? 
 Nor is any argument needful to prove that such is really the 
 'case. Among the myriads of the human race, two cannot be 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 found in all respects alike ; nay, the same individual is often 
 seen to differ from himself, presenting at various periods of his 
 life, and in dissimilar circumstances, a decided contrast of 
 character ; as he who is a prodigal to-day, may possibly be a 
 miser to-morrow; and, be it observed, that such versatility 
 predominates chiefly in weak and uncultivated minds. 
 
 In forming a general estimate of man, we must average his 
 powers, and take his character in the aggregate: exceptions 
 being indefinite, and in their nature fluctuating, to base our 
 reasonings arid conviction upon them, would be to build upon 
 the waves; neither should they occupy too much attention, 
 lest, by perplexing the understanding, they divert the mind 
 from its main object a rational and decisive judgment. From 
 comprehensive views alone, may general conclusions be safely 
 drawn ; exceptions, how great and numerous soever, affect not 
 established laws, nor can create a separation between causes 
 and effects ; but even were it not so, the expediency of nur- 
 turing youth in sound principles and available knowledge, is 
 placed far beyond the reach of possible objections. In this 
 every member of the community is interested, from the monarch 
 to the meanest of his subjects ; it is equally the concern of the 
 nation and of the individual. 
 
 The same reasoning that proves the individual advantages 
 of Education, proclaim likewise its beneficial results in a public 
 view; the same qualities that render a man desirable as a 
 friend, and estimable as an individual, constitute him a good 
 subject, and an useful member of society, for the same sterling 
 ingredients enter into the composition of these various charac- 
 ters. The virtue that illumines the domestic sphere, extends 
 a benign influence beyond its limits, and brightens the social 
 atmosphere around. What constitutes the honour and hap- 
 piness of families, invests the public character with the traits 
 of genuine worth, and tends to consolidate the truest interests 
 of the nation. 
 
 In the wondrous energies of the human mind, we recognize 
 

 EDUCATION. 
 
 no neutral power ; its mighty and restless operation needs the 
 master-hand of a wise control ; if unrestrained, and suffered to 
 run to a wild extreme, fearful would be its results ; like the 
 untameable maniac, no bonds would confine or check its mad 
 career; but, with lawless force, it would break down every 
 barrier, human and divine. The great political importance 
 of Education is obvious to every man of sound judgment and 
 understanding, and its public utility alone would be an all- 
 sufficient motive with him who seeks the welfare of his country, 
 earnestly to promote and extend it. 
 
 Virtue, when nourished in youth, grows up into habit, and 
 then only it attains that ascendancy which marks the consistent 
 character, respectable in itself, and honoured by the society it 
 adorns. Such men form the support of public credit, and the 
 true pillars of national faith and prosperity. They present the 
 only efficient barrier that can check the overflowings of licen- 
 tiousness, and arrest the progress of immorality and crime, and 
 thus become the means of happily preventing those national 
 calamities consequent on popular depravity, and of averting 
 the heavy judgments of an incensed Deity, ever impending 
 where impiety and sinful provocation abound. 
 
 Education is the great root of social order, and the only 
 stock on which religion can rightly be grafted ; of which, Bacon 
 affirms, that it is the main pillar of government, placing it 
 before justice, counsel, and treasure, which he terms the other 
 three ; and it is more than questionable whether the absence of 
 its powerful influences can be countervailed by any measure 
 of human intelligence. A community in which true religion 
 has the ascendancy in the popular mind, must necessarily be 
 more stable than that in which all knowledge abounds without 
 it ; for the society that casts off its wholesome restrictions, will 
 also be destitute of its practical and genial influences. Sir 
 William Jones has well observed, that " man cannot long be 
 happy without virtue; or actively virtuous without freedom; 
 or securely free without rational knowledge;" but this virtue 
 
40 EDUCATION. 
 
 and this knowledge must centre in true religion, or their best 
 support would be wanting, and the implied happiness would 
 be fleeting and shadowy, rather than permanent and solid. 
 
 In common with other subjects of primary import, Educa- 
 tion, at the present eventful period, assumes a character of 
 two-fold weight and importance. The political convulsions 
 that have lately rent the social fabric of Europe, and shaken 
 to its foundation the ancient constitution of the empire, call 
 loudly for inquiry into the causes, latent as well as avowed, that 
 have conspired to mature and bring into so sudden and mighty 
 action, a spirit of insubordination scarcely to be paralleled in 
 the annals of nations.* Never did the collective voice of 
 united multitudes take so elevated and decided a tone ; never 
 was public excitement raised to a more fearful pitch, than has 
 recently threatened the internal peace and stability of the 
 British realms. 
 
 Many, in recent times, have been the advocates of popular 
 combinations, doubtless from a conviction of their expediency 
 as a check to the encroachments of arbitrary power, or as a 
 means of furthering salutary measures ; yet, as a great political 
 engine of doubtful operation, it must ever be contemplated 
 with distrust, and as yielding a dangerous precedent, that may 
 give birth to future and incalculable mischiefs, as a power too 
 precarious to be trusted to the blind impulse of popular frenzy, 
 or to a lawless spirit of arch-republicanism, before whose 
 unhallowed sway all social and sacred obligations might lose 
 their force, and perhaps for ever be annihilated. To Britain 
 the threatening cloud has passed, and the fury of the tempest 
 has subsided ; but the warning echo still vibrates on the ear, 
 like the voice of an angry spirit, calling on the rulers of men 
 to be henceforth doubly wary and vigilant. 
 
 * This was written subsequent to a time of great popular excitement, 
 occasioned by the agitation of political reform ; a question, the merits of 
 which forming no part of these Essays, any attempt on the part of the 
 author to discuss it here, might justly be deemed an ill-timed digression. 
 
EDUCATION. 41 
 
 Among the causes that have indirectly conspired to propagate 
 the seeds of commotion, the indiscriminate spread of informa- 
 tion may, perhaps, be enumerated as one, being unavoidably 
 associated with that restless and jealous spirit of investigation, 
 which forms so leading a feature of the times, and which, aided 
 by the increased facility of intercourse, and the rapid commu- 
 nication of public sympathy (which, desirable as it is in itself, 
 is most pernicious when abused), has been powerfully instru- 
 mental in keeping alive the flame of popular agitation ; yet, as 
 all such external agency must depend for its force and effect 
 chiefly on the predisposed state of the public mind, we must also 
 look for a prior cause, to those prejudices and prepossessions 
 which have been fostered from childhood, and strengthened by 
 the influence of prevalent custom and example ; and this point 
 being conceded, Education comes in for no ordinary share in 
 the great events which, in such rapid succession, have passed, 
 and are still passing, on the political theatre of Europe, in- 
 volving the fate of nations, and proclaiming it to be no less 
 the bounden duty, than the soundest policy of a legislature, to 
 superintend even the humblest forms of Education. 
 
 That there is Education enough, may be true, while it by 
 no means follows that it is wholly of the right sort. As it is 
 obviously easier to make a people knowing than to make them 
 virtuous, it is evident where the main stress ought to be laid. 
 The widest diffusion of knowledge will not alone suffice for the 
 great ends of social existence ; for beneficial as its agency un- 
 questionably is, in furthering the noblest objects, and on the 
 most extended scale, yet modern experience has shewn, that 
 in corrupt hands it is no less active and mighty for the propa- 
 gation of the most baneful and destructive errors. 
 
 Never, perhaps, was there a time more pregnant with interest 
 than the present ; at no period has human society presented a 
 more imposing aspect; and never, probably, were the pro- 
 spective features of any era, collectively, more animating. But 
 while, on the one hand, tifc patriot and the philanthropist may 
 
42 EDUCATION. 
 
 indulge in feelings of honest triumph, while contemplating the 
 aspiring intellect of man, daily progressing amid the irradia- 
 tions of science and the expansion of truth ; yet, on the other 
 hand, it is scarcely possible to repress a feeling of apprehension 
 and deep concern, while constrained to mark the inroads of 
 infidelity, and the growing spirit of reckless licentiousness, 
 which, if not timely checked, seems to threaten the gradual 
 subversion of the most sacred obligations. 
 
 At such a crisis, highly gratifying must it be to every friend 
 of social harmony, and to every lover of his country, to see the 
 most talented and influential spirits of the age standing forth 
 as the avowed champions of truth and virtue, and the steady 
 promoters of all rational improvement; by the brightness of 
 their example, shedding around them a benignant influence, 
 cordially devoting their superior energies to the public weal, 
 and the establishment of national prosperity on the most 
 honourable and lasting basis. 
 
 Ignorance, impiety, and moral corruption, are ever hand in 
 hand, and in proportion as they are tolerated, contaminate the 
 public mind, and prey on the vitals of a state : how steadily 
 soever the political machine may apparently work, and how 
 regular soever its visible movements for a time, there will be 
 no solid ground on which policy may rest the hope of its con- 
 tinuance, when thus undermined. Though all science and 
 talent were blended in one bright phalanx, it would form but 
 a vain support, unless associated with that public worth, which 
 is based on individual virtue. 
 
 To what will a wise and loyal people ever look, even in 
 times of seeming security ? Though no cause of present dis- 
 quiet appear, yet will they bend an eye of inquiring interest 
 on those who are preparing to assume the reins of power, as 
 soon as they fall from the hands of their brief possessors ; they 
 will look, not without reason, to the characters of the rising 
 aspirants of the coming generation, who, in succession, are 
 stepping into authority, as their sires and seniors resign their 
 

 EDUCATION. 4'.\ 
 
 earthly trust. The greatest present advantage has little weight 
 in the estimation of the wise, if he be not able to calculate on 
 its continuance : if the future be darkened by the discouraging 
 clouds of doubt, the present, however bright, will yield but 
 small content. If there be any force in the application of 
 similar remarks to individual cases in private life, how is it 
 magnified when extended to a broad political influence, neces- 
 sarily involving the fate of millions ! and if it behoves the 
 prudent man to guard against surprise and accident, much 
 more does it concern the greatest nation upon earth to antici- 
 pate contingencies, and be prepared for every change within 
 the range of probability. 
 
 The sovereign fiat of " the powers that be," and from which 
 lies no appeal the law's award, the prince's edict, the senate's 
 mandate, these are prime movers in the body politic, essen- 
 tially are they interwoven with the public weal. Sanctioned 
 corruption in any of these leading forms, would be as a moral 
 incubus paralyzing the hopes and best energies of popular 
 virtue. But to whom should such important trusts be confided ? 
 How imperatively needful is it that all which emanates from 
 such constituted powers should be the result of integrity and 
 wisdom, and how worthily ought they to be qualified who de- 
 liberately assume so high a responsibility ! 
 
 He that aspires to more than a mere nominal sway over a 
 free people, must have a hold on the heart as well as on the 
 judgment ; where this is wanting, even a sovereign is but half 
 a ruler. Public trusts are commonly precarious tenures. To 
 render them stable and lasting, something more is requisite 
 than even the energetic and faithful discharge of duty. The 
 manly and honourable character must be sustained by those 
 social qualities, which, as a wholesome leaven, should temper 
 all its operations. These are things that, as Lord Bacon 
 expresses it, " come home to men's bosoms and business." 
 Assuredly those are most likely to win, as well as to retain, the 
 reins of political power, whose names are associated with 
 
44 EDUCATION. 
 
 popular social institutions, and with public objects of whatever 
 kind, whose tendency is obviously beneficial to the community ; 
 hence it becomes apparent that they have the true interests 
 of the people at heart, while cordially co-operating in every 
 laudable design, and promptly seizing occasions of doing good 
 both in a public and private capacity, sympathizing with, and, 
 as far as may be consistent, participating in their views and 
 feelings. Whatever be the statesman's creed, and how wise 
 soever he may deem it (in his political career) to adopt the 
 stoical " fortiter" for his motto, yet, in his social capacity, he 
 will probably act not less wisely, and certainly not fare the 
 worse, by taking the more auspicious " suaviter" as his 
 guiding-star in his round of daily intercourse, walking with 
 men as with members of one great family in the chequered 
 and busy, no less than in the more peaceful paths of private 
 life. A conciliating spirit is a social talisman of virtue, to 
 assuage the bitterness of party, to quell the demon of discord, 
 and to prevent the direst consequences by arresting the progress 
 of evil in its incipient stages, and wisely eradicating it on its 
 first appearance. 
 
 The most refined policy will be found consonant with this 
 plain truth, that to forni aright those characters which are 
 gradually rising into power, is to lay the surest foundation for 
 every national good, and will prove more available than the 
 most sagacious and energetic policy without such precaution. 
 By reason of death, and various accidents, so rapid is the 
 transfer of earthly power, so soon, and often suddenly, is man 
 summoned from his post, that not to anticipate it in a concern 
 of so great moment, is wilfully to close the eyes against ap- 
 proaching danger, and turn a deaf ear to the warnings of 
 common prudence. 
 
 It is the part of wisdom to be most vigilant where she is 
 most vulnerable, and to yield no vantage ground to the common 
 enemy, which, politically speaking, is to put in jeopardy a 
 people's welfare, and counteract, in a measure, the very end 
 
EDUCATION. 45 
 
 of government and judicious policy. So fragile, in state con- 
 cerns, is the bond of union by which the best-formed combina- 
 tions are connected, so liable to be dissolved by unforeseen 
 causes, by dissension, by intrigue, by changes of measures and 
 opinions, fluctuating with the tide of public events, that what 
 is flourishing and vigorous to-day, may to-morrow be broken 
 without remedy. 
 
 The collective wisdom of the national council, its endless 
 and all-engrossing business, the enactment of salutary laws, 
 the enforcing of public measures, all tend to one great aim 
 the interests arid happiness of the millions ; but how important 
 is the trust, and how urgent is the demand for superior wisdom 
 and worth in the right discharge of it ! So destructive an 
 engine is power in corrupt hands, that every preventive means 
 should be adopted, that a judicious foresight can suggest, for 
 its exclusion; and none can possibly be more effectual than 
 that timely provision which strikes at the root of the evil, by 
 the proper qualification of those who, in the ordinary course 
 of events, are destined to take a leading part in the national 
 acts and deliberations. 
 
 Education is the great remedy which wisdom imperatively 
 points out for the counteraction of public as well as of private 
 and domestic evil. To put vice in power, is to distance all 
 virtue, and put it to shame. Corruption is as a cancer in the 
 constitution, strengthening itself by a thousand mischievous 
 roots, corroding the peace and vital stability of the social com- 
 munity, and undermining that sterling and uncompromising 
 integrity which constitutes the nerves of a nation's strength, 
 and whence she derives the commanding features of her cha- 
 racter. From history we may learn that the baneful influence 
 of current corruption is pregnant with speedy ruin; and in 
 proportion as it prevails, the authority of a state must neces- 
 sarily decline, nor can a healthful tone be restored to the 
 vitiated system, until its spreading and multiplying roots be 
 eradicated. 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 The crown of wisdom in all things affecting the great inte- 
 rests of humanity, and of all reasoning on the subject, is, 
 doubtless, that which propitiates the Divine blessing, and is, 
 in Bacon's phrase, " a law of laws." All policy that is merely 
 human in its aim and origin, is distanced by that higher wisdom, 
 whose object and tendency is to secure the favour and protec- 
 tion of the Great Disposer of events, " who changeth the times 
 and the seasons, and at what time He speaketh concerning a 
 nation or a kingdom, to build and to plant it, or to pluck up 
 and pull down, and destroy it, it shall be done." Vain is the 
 arm of earthly power, and the eye of human judgment to 
 direct, without the breast-plate of Heavenly Truth, and the 
 light of that " wisdom which is from above." 
 
 The upright in heart are the chosen instruments by which 
 the favour and blessing of heaven are communicated to man- 
 kind. National counsel must be guided by integrity, and its 
 decrees must be stamped with inviolable faith, if the object be 
 to secure a beneficial course of operation; and hence that 
 grandeur of character which constitutes the glory of a nation, 
 and the true standard of its estimation. Though individual 
 exceptions scarce affect the national character in its collective 
 view, yet it borrows a degree of light or shade from every 
 member of the community. 
 
 So deeply does Education colour the fate and character of 
 a nation, that from either we are enabled to infer the other, 
 by the simple combination of cause and effect. Wherever the 
 rays of knowledge and virtue fall, they shed a lustre, and happy 
 is the government that diffuses them widely; wherever the 
 genial influence of such a light prevails, the profoundest policy 
 may work in safety and at leisure. 
 
 Every man bears a faithful witness in his own breast of the 
 excellence and efficacy of genuine piety. In proportion as the 
 spirit of true religion pervades the public mind, it adds moral 
 dignity and strength to the social character, and gives the 
 impress of stability to all that is fair and honourable among 
 
EDUCATION. 47 
 
 men. Its powerful and animating motives supply the only 
 stimulus that can exalt human virtue to perfection, or render 
 the human character truly consistent and respectable. 
 
 Popular depravity and a spirit of irreligion progress together, 
 and from their inauspicious union are generated all the dis- 
 cordant elements of civil anarchy and moral confusion, waging 
 eternal warfare with all that is great and good. If any be 
 sceptical as to the nature and extent of evil thus derived, let 
 him turn to the revolutionary page, which forms a perpetual 
 stain in the annals of France ; there let him contemplate the 
 melancholy consequences of their ascendancy, inscribed in 
 characters most appalling to humanity ; where, like a sanguinary 
 and many-headed monster, anarchy, in its wild and lawless 
 career, is seen overthrowing every constituted barrier, human 
 and divine, profaning all that is sacred, corrupting all that is 
 lovely, confounding every distinction of right and wrong, and 
 trampling under foot all the decencies and charities of life; 
 scattering around the certain seeds of national ruin, and tainting 
 the moral atmosphere with deadly contagion; transforming 
 man into a fiend, and converting the smiling abodes of inno- 
 cence and domestic peace into scenes of cruelty and wretched- 
 ness, deluged with blood and slaughter, and leaving nought 
 behind, in its murderous course, save the fearful wrecks of 
 desolation, as a warning memento to all succeeding times. 
 
 Whatever may be alleged against Britain by her enemies or 
 rivals, in the shape of failure or defect, she still sits as queen 
 among the nations, and justly is she the pride and boast of her 
 free-born sons, nor can her dearly-purchased honours be tar- 
 nished but by her own connivance. Greater and happier she 
 possibly might have been, had immaculate wisdom at all times 
 borne the sway in her councils ; but perfection is not of this 
 world ; and if from the seeds of past error she has tasted some 
 bitter fruits, they have inspired that wisdom which ripens only 
 by experience, nor can any created power set limits to her 
 increasing greatness and prosperity, so long as she continues 
 
48 EDUCATION. 
 
 to look steadily towards her own true interests, and avails her- 
 self of the means she so abundantly possesses for advancing 
 them. 
 
 Every age brings with it a lecture of wisdom and sound 
 policy, teaching us to do for posterity, what, if previously done, 
 would have benefited us, and disclosing those springs of known 
 good, which it is our duty and privilege to open for the benefit 
 of future generations. To the energetic and well-directed zeal 
 of our ancestors, under Divine Providence, England owes her 
 present elevation : Fame has loudly blazoned her deeds, and 
 the remotest regions of the earth have echoed back the ani- 
 mating sound. Her admirable constitution and legislature, 
 her promptitude and vigour in resolving and acting, her naval 
 and military prowess, the disinterested ardour with which she 
 espouses every cause that is honourable to humanity, with the 
 eminent talents and worth of her public men, have all con- 
 spired to mark her career with characters of unrivalled splen- 
 dour, and worthy to be contemplated by her youth, not with 
 vain glory, but with that generous emulation, which gives birth 
 to patriotic and magnanimous designs. 
 
 How bright and cheering soever the retrospect may be, it 
 is the " unknown future" that remains to be explored, which 
 is to us the object of real and immediate concern. Perpetual 
 change is the character impressed on all sublunary things; 
 nothing that is human preserves an uniform level. The wheels 
 of time, in their continual revolutions, bring to man a daily 
 accession of good or evil, and to nations an increase or dimi- 
 nution of honour and prosperity ; and all who desire to reap, 
 must be careful to sow accordingly. 
 
 The nation's rising hopes are centred in her youth, and she 
 must advance or retrograde as they fulfil or frustrate her 
 expectations; in their rectitude she will ever find her surest 
 bulwark : strength of principle is the soul of great achievement, 
 and the arm of courage, to be invincible, must be strung by 
 the sinews of integrity. Education, in its best sense, is the 
 
EDUCATION. 49 
 
 happy but indispensable means of attaining all that, as a 
 nation, we can anticipate, or can desire as Christians. 
 
 If not wanting to herself, Britain has nothing to fear, and 
 every thing to hope ; and while her excellent constitution, and 
 pure religion (the ancient and venerable pillars of her throne) 
 remain unshaken, though the nations around may totter, and 
 successively fall, she will stand majestic and immoveable, and 
 enjoy the calm triumph of conscious security. 
 
ESSAY II. 
 
 I'A RENTAL RESPONSIBILITY CONSEQUENCES OF INDISCRIMINATE INDUL- 
 GENCE CAPABILITIES AND SYMPATHIES OF THE INFANT MIND 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF ATTENTION TO HEALTH PREMATURE STUDY SUBVER- 
 SIVE OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ENERGY ON THE REGULATION OF 
 
 TEMPER THE FORMATION OF HABITS PUNISHMENTS AND REWARDS 
 
 THE LOVE OF PRAISE ITS EFFICACY MATERNAL INFLUENCE AND 
 
 PARENTAL EXAMPLE CONCLUDING SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 THAT early Education, or the careful training of the infant 
 mind, is a concern of the highest importance in the sight of 
 heaven, will plainly appear by considering the wise provision 
 made to secure it in the established order and connection of 
 society; and in no appointment of Divine Providence are its 
 wisdom arid goodness more conspicuous, than in the obligations 
 which naturally subsist between parents and their children. 
 On their cherished offspring the parental eye looks down with 
 the warmth and partiality of affection ; the heart is drawn by 
 the strongest tie of sympathy, prompting the best feelings of 
 humanity; while innocence, helplessness, and dependence, 
 make their artless but eloquent appeal: and the respondent 
 care of the parent is rightly evinced by earnestly promoting 
 their present and future welfare, by all the means that the 
 tenderest concern and most prudent foresight can suggest; 
 and hence the happiest results may reasonably be anticipated, 
 while affection is subjected to the control of discretion and 
 the guidance of sober judgment. 
 

 l.L)l< ATION. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the beneficial tendency of an arrange- 
 ment so admirably adapted to its benevolent design, it is but 
 too frequently a subject of painful reflection, that hopes of the 
 brightest hue are prematurely clouded and obscured, in con- 
 sequence of that ill-timed indulgence, which, mindful only of 
 present gratification, overlooks the future, and discerns not 
 that such mistaken fondness tends ever to counteract its own 
 aim, by giving undue ascendancy to a selfish spirit. A cor- 
 rupting principle is thus engendered in the mind, by which its 
 tone and constitution are impaired ; a disordered will introduces 
 discontent, and a train of ill consequences naturally follow. 
 {^Every child must ultimately prove, to its parents, a blessing 
 or a curse, for there is no alternative. Though heaven confer 
 the gift, and pronounce it good, yet, as in other gifts, the 
 blessing is made to depend on its improvement. The judicious, 
 by the faithful discharge of the parental trust, secure to them- 
 selves and to their offspring the greatest and most permanent 
 advantages, crowned with that consciousness, which is a never- 
 failing spring of the purest satisfaction ; whereas, on the con- 
 trary, neglect is not only pregnant with present danger, but 
 involves the most awful responsibility, and becomes the bitter 
 source (in addition to temporal mischiefs) of unceasing and 
 unavailing regret. Even to parental affection, then, it is evident 
 that " there is a way that seemeth right, but the end thereof 
 is not good." 
 
 Because evil, in its grosser form, flows not manifestly from 
 so amiable a source, its current is unsuspected ; and thus the 
 wholesome restrictions that prudence may suggest, as pre- 
 ventives of incipient evil, are deemed the intrusive and unwel- 
 come emanation of a mind prone to melancholy or misanthropy. 
 Vigilance is banished as an importunate guest, and hardly 
 does Caution gain access to the domestic circle, lest its presence 
 should cast a shade on scenes whose present aspect is smiling ; 
 yet these are found where wisdom dwells, and by them alone 
 
 E 2 
 
3*2 KUL'CATION. 
 
 the secret mischief is detected, and its course timely arrested. 
 Inadvertence always leaves an open door for the admission of 
 error and folly, and let experience decide whether they be slow 
 to enter. 
 
 Even the becoming gaiety of childhood, innocent and amiable 
 as it is in itself, if wholly unrestrained, is the common prelude 
 to impertinence and ill-timed levity : but whatever degree of 
 restraint prudence may dictate, as a means of enforcing virtue, 
 should, doubtless, at this early season be wholly divested of 
 severity. When reproof is administered with tenderness, emo- 
 tions of sensibility are awakened, and may easily be improved 
 to any beneficial purpose, and the impression thus made on a 
 susceptible mind, will be as lasting as it is salutary. But those 
 chidings of anger, which assume the character of austerity, 
 invariably tend to excite a feeling of irritation and disgust, 
 which, by taking possession of the mind, exclude for the time 
 every better consideration, and, when strengthened by an 
 inherent spirit of obstinacy, become often the provocatives of 
 those very mischiefs, which they were intended to prevent. 
 
 Of the two extremes, it is, perhaps, not easy to determine 
 which is the more pernicious an unlimited indulgence, or 
 an unreasonable severity ; in one point only they correspond, 
 being alike the fertile roots of incalculable evils : equally remote 
 from either lies the golden mediocrity, which, to discern clearly, 
 and pursue uniformly, requires no ordinary share of sagacity 
 and prudence ; but which must ever rise in our estimation, in 
 proportion as it engages our earnest consideration. 
 
 Every day gives birth to manifold deplorable consequences, 
 which, from seemingly trivial neglects during the earlier stages 
 of life, have invaded the peace of society. Startling and 
 almost incredible as the assertion may at first sight appear to 
 such as have not duly considered it, it will, upon investigation, 
 be found probably not to exceed the truth, that, of the vice 
 and misery which unhappily has overspread the earth, by far 
 

 i:m i ATION. 
 
 the greater proportion has, in every age, been derived from 
 this fertile source of error. Nor, for a confirmation of this, 
 need we explore barbarous and besotted nations, ancient or 
 modern. Our own highly-privileged land, the fountain-head of 
 intelligence, the patroness of all excellence, and the promoter 
 of virtue and merit, as she unquestionably is, brings daily 
 confirmation of the unwelcome truth. We have but to look 
 around, and contemplate the youthful multitudes of both sexes 
 heedlessly plunging into the abyss of infamy and ruin, and 
 affording but too sure a conviction of the painful truth ; thou- 
 sands, to whom the light of day has proved a curse, betraying 
 them to error and destruction for want of that better and more 
 needful light of sound and early admonition, to preserve their 
 youthful minds from evil, and to guide their first steps in the 
 ways of rectitude and peace. 
 
 Reason has no just ground to infer that such willing victims 
 of error were by nature inferior to others of their own age and 
 station, who, by the aid of timely mental and moral culture, 
 have attained the summit of earthly comfort and honour : like 
 them, had not their susceptible hearts been left unguarded, 
 they also might have become edifying patterns of youthful dis- 
 cretion, an ornament to society, a comfort to their connections, 
 and the means of blessing to thousands ; above all, they would 
 have escaped the restless stings of self-reproach, sharpened by 
 the chilling blast of adversity, and embittered by universal 
 contempt. 
 
 The wounded feelings of many an affectionate parent bear 
 evidence to the unhappy consequences of an unrestrained 
 indulgence, whence so often may be traced the disappointment 
 of the fondest hopes the parental heart can cherish. By sad 
 experience have they been taught, how rapidly and fatally 
 pride, self-will, and passion, strike their baneful roots, and fix 
 their growing dominion in the juvenile breast, which thus 
 becomes a prey to its own selfish propensities, or, in stronger 
 
54 EDUCATION. 
 
 language, to that natural depravity, which is the fatal and 
 almost certain inheritance of neglected childhood. All doubt 
 on this point would quickly disappear, were it possible to 
 pourtray but a tithe of the mischiefs and miseries, public and 
 private, which have marked the sanguinary course of the pas- 
 sions (violent and ungovernable, because not subdued at that 
 season when only they are manageable) : dreadful to contem- 
 plate would such a picture be; but its terrors would carry 
 conviction into every mind, of the absolute necessity of coun- 
 teracting each rising indication of a selfish spirit, the sure 
 precursor of a cruel and tyrannical temper. 
 
 Self is the great idol of the natural will, and forms the leading 
 characteristic of untutored childhood, with a restless current 
 running towards its individual gratification: discontent and 
 animosity are excited by opposition to its inordinate desires, 
 while indulgence serves only to augment its force, and render 
 it more heedless of the claims of others ; and whatever variety 
 may be observable in the dispositions of children, there will, 
 in this respect at least, be found a resemblance sufficient to 
 exercise the discretion of the most judicious and skilful. 
 The force of such considerations is greatly augmented, when, 
 to the tragical consequences of neglect, we contrast the happy 
 effects of well-timed discipline, by which, as by a miraculous 
 power, the scene is changed, and its forbidding characters 
 reversed; the discouraging perspective of evil disappears, and 
 is succeeded by rising prospects of social order and felicity. 
 
 The prohibition of single indulgences might well be deemed 
 cynical, unless designed to avert the danger arising from the 
 habits to which they give birth. A solitary instance of selfish 
 gratification, of indolence, or of childish intemperance, if not 
 repeated, would scarce merit notice ; but when it is considered 
 how rapidly all habits of sensual indulgence are generated, 
 how greatly they are strengthened by every repetition; and, 
 on the other hand, with what difficulty good habits are formed, 
 

 EIMJ CATION. 
 
 how slowly they are brought to perfection, and how unwelcome 
 the transition from habitual self-will to a habit of self-denial ; 
 allowing to such considerations their due weight, there are few 
 things in which children habitually delight, that can be esteemed 
 as of trivial import. 
 
 Consequences will always be kept in view, by those who 
 have the true interest of their offspring at heart, and wisely 
 pursue it ; for although the body attains to its vigour by slow 
 and imperceptible degrees, the passions, in their growth, out- 
 strip all calculation : even the lisping infant, already spoiled 
 by indulgence, though unable to stand alone, will, if denied its 
 object, often manifest a degree of rage and obstinacy, which, 
 though daily witnessed, it is not easy to describe. 
 
 To indulge children merely because, as helpless and de- 
 pendent creatures, they claim our sympathy, is to increase 
 their natural weakness, and multiply their wants : it is because 
 their reason is weak, they require the guidance of those whose 
 reason is strong ; and if the will of the child be not submitted 
 to the superior judgment of the parent, while it is yet pliant, 
 it is contrary to reason to imagine that it will bend more readily 
 when time has added to its strength. Nor will half-measures 
 of obedience suffice, commonly as they are adopted, and con- 
 venient as they may be on certain occasions : any thing short 
 of an entire submission creates indecision, and if inclination 
 be permitted to plead against duty, it is easy to predict the 
 fate of conscience in so unequal a struggle. 
 
 On the serious consequences of an inordinate indulgence, 
 there is need to lay the greater stress, because it is as preva- 
 lent, and doubtless is as mischievous, in the present as in any 
 past age ; besides, it is one of that class of evils in which even 
 conviction is vain, and seems to bring no effectual remedy ; in 
 a greater or less degree it will prevail, and be a domestic scourge 
 to the end of time. 
 
 Profane history abounds with examples of the folly and 
 deplorable consequences of parental error, wherein the ascen- 
 
56 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 dancy of a blind and besotted fondness has given birth to a 
 series of complicated evils, whose desolating course has been 
 marked, riot only by the wrecks of domestic peace, but also by 
 the fatal progress of sanguinary intestine commotions, by which 
 the most flourishing states have been ultimately subverted. 
 
 At present, it may suffice to limit our attention to two re- 
 markable illustrations, drawn from a higher source; nor will 
 they, on that account, it is hoped, be deemed less appropriate 
 or less interesting. In the sacred writings, mention is rarely 
 made of domestic details. The family of David forms, how- 
 ever, one of the exceptions : in many respects it is a most in- 
 structive record, and peculiarly adapted to our present purpose. 
 Of the sons of David, Absalom and Adonijah are described 
 as possessing superior beauty and personal attractions; both 
 were evidently the objects of their father's fondest affections, 
 and from the intimations given, it may, without exaggeration, 
 be inferred that they were, in the truest sense, both spoiled 
 children. Of these, Absalom was the first-born, and the 
 darling idol of paternal affection : witness the pathetic lamen- 
 tation of David, when apprised of his death. Of Adonijah, 
 also, it is expressly stated, that " his father had not displeased 
 him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?" An 
 all-sufficient latitude this for the sons of a powerful and abso- 
 lute prince. Admired, pampered, and flattered, as we may 
 reasonably suppose they would be under such circumstances, 
 how ill-timed was so unlimited an indulgence, where a salutary 
 restraint was doubly needful, and how impolitic, it may be 
 added, as the fatal result so fully proved ! 
 
 Instigated by pride and restless ambition, these princes 
 successively rebelled against the too indulgent author of their 
 days. Enslaved by evil passions, which had been fostered by 
 indolence and sensuality, they eventually converted their father's 
 flourishing domain into a theatre of intestine strife, rending 
 the state with factions, and remorselessly plunging the kingdom 
 into all the horrors of civil war. Absalom, the elder, took the 
 
EDUCATION. 57 
 
 lead in this unnatural struggle ; but the example of his tragical 
 end failed to operate on the infatuated Adonijah, who madly 
 rekindled the flames of rebellion, persisting, while he was able, 
 in the same impious career of ambition. 
 
 What a lesson is here ! evidently designed as a warning to 
 parents in succeeding generations. David's was not a weak 
 or common mind; the lines of his character are strongly 
 marked. Perfection is not a human attribute; but in noble 
 qualities, befitting a prince, he certainly excelled. Magnani- 
 mous and brave, prudent in counsel, and resolute in action; of 
 a masculine piety, so pure and elevated, as to obtain for him 
 the title of " a man after God's own heart ;" an honour which, 
 in the earlier part of his reigri, at least, he seems to have 
 merited. If such a man could fail in the essential duty of a 
 parent, who may deem themselves infallible? It is, in fact, a 
 serious memento to the wisest to take heed and beware. The 
 fault of David, as a parent, lay chiefly in relaxing all the 
 wholesome restraints of discipline, or rather in imposing none, 
 at the season of life and under circumstances wherein rank, 
 beauty, and adulation, combined with the heedless spirit of 
 youth to render them needful in a seven-fold degree. 
 
 But how faulty soever David's conduct as a father might 
 have been, it was expiated by the severity of his sufferings 
 and punishment. Wounded to the heart by the hand he had 
 fondly cherished in his bosom chased like a fugitive in his own 
 dominions, and by his own thankless offspring his domestic 
 establishment disgracefully invaded and broken up humbled, 
 and forced for a season to vacate his tottering throne ; and all 
 this in addition to the stings of self-reproof, and the bitterness 
 of a wounded spirit. 
 
 It is not by these deductions implied, that " the head and 
 front" of David's offence lay in his paternal error; he had 
 previously incurred the Divine denunciation, that " the sword 
 should not depart from his house ;" that the judgment might 
 be fulfilled, David was permitted, or rather appointed, to fall 
 
58 EDUCATION. 
 
 into error, which, in its consequences, brought upon him the 
 punishment originally denounced against his family for his 
 unworthy conduct in the matter of Uriah. This explanation 
 seemed needful to break the force of objections, because it is 
 plain that the error was itself the effect of the Divine indig- 
 nation, and that the mischievous consequences that ensued 
 were the natural effects of parental misconduct. 
 
 A still more pointed illustration of parental error, and its 
 attendant evils, is supplied by the brief narrative of Eli and 
 his sons. Eli was so distinguished by the Divine favour, as to 
 leave no doubt of his being an amiable and upright man. In 
 his patriarchal capacity, combining the office of high-priest 
 with that of a secular prince, he judged Israel, we are told, 
 forty years. His two sons having attained to manhood, shared 
 with him the priesthood and the power; how shamefully they 
 abused their authority, we are informed. That he was indul- 
 gent to an extreme of folly, and that they, in an equal degree, 
 were disobedient, is plainly intimated : " His sons made them- 
 selves vile, and he restrained them not." This, in any instance, 
 would have been culpable; but in Eli's case it was a most 
 unworthy dereliction of every just principle and motive. 
 
 Eli was the guardian of Jehovah's chosen people : invested 
 with so great honour, great was his responsibility. He was 
 the immediate servant of Him who styles himself " a jealous 
 God;" whose language is, " Them that honour me, I will 
 honour ; and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed." 
 Exalted thus, and blessed with an overflowing measure of 
 temporal good, he was bound by every tie of gratitude to be 
 jealous for the honour of his Heavenly Benefactor; but he 
 " honoured his sons above God ;" and wherefore ? They were 
 men of the most licentious and abandoned character, whose im- 
 pieties had grown to so enormous a height, that " men abhorred 
 the offering of the Lord." Their father tells them that he 
 hears of their evil dealings by all the people ; but he takes no 
 steps to eject them from the sacred office, which they daily 
 
EDUCATION. 59 
 
 profaned, nor to banish them from the altars of the Most High, 
 which they daily polluted. It appears that they were not even 
 suspended, for they were in possession of the ark of the covenant 
 till the day of their death. 
 
 Eli presumes on the indulgent forbearance of God till it is 
 exhausted, and the fatal blow is struck, which he receives with 
 resignation, as conscious of fully deserving it. To add to his 
 punishment, his condemnation is pronounced by the infant 
 Samuel. A stranger also accosts him, as the bearer of God's 
 awful denunciation : " Thine arm, and the arm of thy father's 
 house, shall be cut off;" and speedily was it accomplished to 
 the very letter. This, it must be owned, is an awful and no 
 common case ; the whole range of history contains nothing that 
 more strongly depicts the danger and folly of protracted neglect, 
 or omission in the discharge of parental duty. Such gross 
 violations of it in characters so distinguished, lead us naturally 
 to infer that such errors are attended with a kind of moral 
 infatuation, as in contracting a habit which, by yielding to its 
 first impulses, we become less and less able or willing to resist, 
 because, with every repetition, it gains an accelerated impetus, 
 till we cease to resist its power. We may therefore infer, that 
 it is in the early stages of error that the danger chiefly lies, and 
 that to arrest its progress betimes, is one of the strongest indi- 
 cations of parental wisdom. 
 
 In order, however, to avoid a dangerous error, a careful 
 distinction should be made between indiscriminate indulgence, 
 and such as is needful and rational ; for the one is, doubtless, 
 as friendly to virtue, as the other is inimical to it. To subject 
 a child to continued self-denial, would be as absurd as it is 
 unfeeling, and not only useless, but decidedly pernicious. 
 There is nothing that wins more upon the affections of the 
 young than well-judged kindness ; and if the heart be not won, 
 half the labour of Education will be lost. 
 
 The prevalence of error in the early training of children, is 
 an old complaint, and so manifestly injurious is its operation, 
 
GO EDUCATION. 
 
 that wherever it exists, it is plainly discernible in its effects, 
 however concealed its roots may be; and the first effectual 
 step towards checking its future growth, will be to examine the 
 noxious seed itself, and also the nature of the soil by which it 
 is nourished. Its origin is, doubtless, in the infant mind, 
 springing from the incipient corruption inherent in a dege- 
 nerate nature, but its progressive strength and increase are 
 unquestionably the result of mismanagement, though not in 
 every case, perhaps, exactly proportioned to it. 
 
 On a question of such universal import, and so complicated 
 as Education, embracing in its operation all that can influence 
 the happiness and virtue of intellectual beings, the more we 
 contract our views, the greater space we leave for the esta- 
 blishment of error. The survey should be broad and uncon- 
 fined, in order that no room for mistake may remain ; otherwise 
 a partial and undue regard to some favourite object might 
 operate to the exclusion of others equally desirable, and induce 
 principles, specious in theory, perhaps, but wanting solidity, 
 and ultimately subversive even of its own design. If, for 
 instance, the zealous advocate for mental discipline should 
 adopt and rigidly adhere to a chosen system, seemingly well 
 calculated to facilitate the attainment of the desired knowledge, 
 but overlooking the casualties of health, temperament, &c., it 
 might, in three cases out of four, do more harm than good, 
 unless judiciously varied in individual instances, to meet the 
 peculiarities of genius, taste, and habit, which in different con- 
 stitutions are almost endlessly diversified. 
 
 The powers of the body, as well as of the mind, their sym- 
 pathizing connection and mutual dependence, ought to be 
 duly weighed; nor should, in any case, the present peace and 
 comfort of a child (with which its health and virtue are nearly 
 connected) be sacrificed to the future and doubtful advantages 
 of science. As a map should we spread before us the probable 
 contingencies of life, and make choice of that route which, 
 upon the whole, will be the safest and pleasantest, keeping 
 
EDUCATION. . 01 
 
 always in view its felicitous termination as the great end of 
 existence. 
 
 When and in what manner should Education commence, is 
 a question in which every parent is deeply interested, for its 
 first influences, like the first steps in active life, often determine 
 the fate and prospects of man; and it is doubtless of equal 
 consequence to decide aright as to the most eligible course to 
 be pursued during the incipient stage of instruction, which 
 may comprise the first six or eight years of childhood. In one 
 sense, Education may be said to commence from the cradle, 
 for the operations of the mind begin with the dawn of obser- 
 vation. Knowledge has been aptly compared with light, as 
 ignorance implies mental darkness. Light, the first and best 
 natural gift of heaven, is imparted with the sense of seeing, 
 and the mind's eye, doubtless, should be illumined as soon as 
 it has the power of intellectual perception : good impressions 
 cannot be made too soon; on this point all agree, but the 
 mode of imparting them is a question on which the wisest of 
 men have differed. 
 
 Some who have entered deeply into the subject, and whose 
 opinions seem to carry considerable weight, have concluded 
 that the first business of Education should have little or nothing 
 to do with books, or with any thing in the shape of formal 
 study, which, when imposed too early, produces no good effect, 
 but may be, and often has been," the cause of much harm . 
 There are, it is true, in the present day, publications in abun- 
 dance, well adapted for children, and wherein knowledge is 
 admirably blended with entertainment ; and such only should 
 be adopted during the earlier process of instruction. The most 
 needful knowledge, however, is not always that which is derived 
 from books ; and children, often at the expense of their peace, 
 acquire a little with difficulty, which, naturally causing disgust, 
 is soon forgotten, and consequently useless. 
 
 By that premature tuition which is here deprecated, is 
 meant, the enforcing of study and habitual confinement, ere 
 
(>*2 EDUCATION. 
 
 the bodily health and the faculties are sufficiently strong to 
 bear the discipline. Nothing preys on the infant constitution, 
 and undermines its stamina, so much as that absurd restraint 
 which checks the natural flow of animal spirits, at the same 
 time subjecting the delicate mind to a continual weight of 
 apprehension. Health is assuredly the foundation-stone on 
 which the stability of the whole superstructure depends. The 
 duties, as well as the enjoyments of life, the acquisition of 
 knowledge and wisdom, all rest upon it. Of all the predis- 
 posing causes of debility and decay, mental and bodily, none 
 are more fatally certain in their operation than the secretly 
 destructive habits of sedentary application too early imposed. 
 The very temper and disposition depend much on the health, 
 and with these the pleasurable progress of Education is essen- 
 tially connected. 
 
 If it be demanded, is a child to remain idle ? it is replied, 
 what is idleness to a mind matured, is not so to the infant; 
 rather, it is a needful liberty, by which its tender faculties are 
 nourished. With the child, observation is perpetually on the 
 wing; every thing wears the attractive charm of novelty; 
 curiosity is continually excited, and the active mind is always 
 craving new information : to confine the attention at this age 
 is to impose a painful restraint upon the mind, and to contract 
 the proper field for its exercise which nature has provided, 
 and in which it delights to range at large. 
 
 During these first years of childhood, nature demands a 
 lenient hand, and the nourishing intercourse of affectionate 
 endearment, rather than the austerity of control, excepting 
 only what relates to the temper, which, from its first indication, 
 should be watched and regulated. But seclusion and mental 
 abstraction at this tender age invariably tend to impair the 
 health, by checking the growth and vital spirits at the very 
 time, perhaps, that the mind is put upon a stretch above its 
 powers; a two-fold mistake by no means uncommon, though 
 often most injurious in its consequences. It is the error of 
 

 EDUCATION. 
 
 overrating the capacity, that gives birth to the worse error of 
 overtasking it, and is a fallacy into which parents are betrayed, 
 less, perhaps, from blind partiality, than from mistaking the 
 cunning and caprice, and strong passions of children, for marks 
 of maturing intellect, and thus making a false estimate of their 
 mental powers. But if strong passions were indeed indications 
 of mind, it would be easy to prove that the wisest of mankind 
 are far surpassed by the brute creation. The reverse is so far 
 true, that even with these, the noblest are among the gentlest ; 
 and in judging of men, we rationally conclude that to be the 
 weakest mind, in which passion has the greatest ascendancy. 
 To suppose, therefore, that as soon as a child evinces strong 
 sensibilities, it is capable of proportionate mental exertion and 
 habits of application, would be as absurd as its operation would 
 be subversive of that chief of earthly blessings, " a sound mind 
 in a sound body." 
 
 What, then, is to be inferred, as the end and main business 
 of elementary Education ? Not to impart knowledge, but 
 rather to strengthen the faculties of the mind individually, 
 previous to their being exercised collectively; to prepare the 
 various springs and separate movements of the machine, prior 
 to its being set in full operation. A healthful frame is the 
 seat of an active mind and a cheerful temper; these are objects 
 of the first concern, and to be secured at any price : habits of 
 order and obedience may also gradually be formed from 
 infancy. The seeds of the generous and social virtues may 
 now be cherished, with an inviolable regard to truth and justice ; 
 the errors and inadvertencies of childhood may be rectified; 
 colloquial and pleasing information may be imparted ; and the 
 sublime truths of religion, with its practical duties, inculcated, 
 as far as they can be made intelligible to the understanding. 
 To accomplish this will hardly admit of a misapplication of 
 time ; and if done (as it surely may) with little aid from books, 
 must in many cases prove an additional recommendation. 
 Should the first years of a child's life be thus disposed of, it is 
 
64 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 not easy to conceive in what manner they could have been 
 more profitably occupied, either as respects the true interests 
 of Education, or the solid happiness of life. 
 
 This first or preparatory stage of Education, may be likened 
 to its fountain-head, which, if foul and bitter, all that flows 
 from it will partake of its noxious qualities; but, if purified 
 and sweet, its remotest streams will proclaim their salutary 
 source. From the sentiments advanced above, let it riot be 
 inferred that their author is unfriendly to books, though opposed 
 to the premature and indiscriminate use of them. Children 
 are apt to imbibe a strong antipathy to books, when inju- 
 diciously put into their hands, and this early disgust, once 
 rooted in the mind, is seldom, if ever, wholly eradicated, and 
 opposes a bar to the future improvement to be derived from 
 them. No feeling of disgust should mingle with infantile 
 instruction, nor should books be familiarized to the mind of a 
 child, but as connected with the idea of something very good, 
 profitable, or pleasant. That elementary books should be 
 amusing, all are agreed; many of this laudable character are 
 excellent in themselves, and would be invaluable, did their 
 effects correspond to their scope and contents, and were an 
 even line always drawn between the use and abuse of them ; 
 for even such as are diverting, may become hurtful in the 
 contrary extreme, by fostering a spirit of levity, and giving too 
 trifling and volatile a turn to the mind. 
 
 Were things to be estimated by their actual consequences, 
 the nursery would be deemed a place of considerable import- 
 ance : few parents connect the idea of danger with it, yet, if 
 it be true that first impressions are lasting, it follows, that the 
 copious seeds of good or evil are implanted in the breast long, 
 perhaps, ere the child is removed from its paternal roof. It 
 is here that virtue and vice, truth and error, strike their first 
 roots ; and if at this seed-time of the mind it be not diligently 
 weeded, it will soon become an unprofitable waste. To the 
 nursery, often, may be traced the wrong bias of temper and 
 
EDUCATION. 05 
 
 the first growth of irregular passions. The newly-expanding 
 faculties are there enlightened by the first rays of intelligence, 
 or dimmed by the mists of error and ignorance. In many a 
 well-regulated family, due care is doubtless taken (an important 
 precaution) to provide the superintendence of persons possessing 
 the needful qualities of good sense and good nature, who can 
 listen with patience, and kindly reply to infantile curiosity; 
 who know how to derive advantage from trifles, and to render 
 passing occurrences subservient to the great end of improve- 
 ment. 
 
 During this interesting period, which may determine, in a 
 great measure, the future character and destiny of man, the 
 danger of omission is increased seven-fold, where the parental 
 authority is withdrawn, or periodically transferred to dependents. 
 A parent is by no means released from responsibility by re- 
 posing confidence in others, for experience proves that the 
 most sacred trusts are often betrayed, and admonishes all, in 
 matters of high moment, to depend solely, or at least chiefly, 
 on themselves. There will be little cause for surprise, and 
 less for well-grounded complaint, at the refractory and vicious 
 conduct of children, who may have been often left, and for 
 many months together subject, perhaps, to the caprice and 
 tyranny of ignorance, and consequent mismanagement in its 
 worst shapes. Too often, alas ! has parental inadvertence been 
 thus the means of opening those baneful springs, whose dark 
 current has followed them through life, mingling bitterness 
 with reflection. 
 
 In the nursery, it is presumed, that books are first put into 
 the hands of children ; to this, there can be no objection, if 
 well selected and judiciously used; it requires, however, con- 
 siderable address and intelligence to superintend aright this 
 domestic department. It is an opinion, not unsupported by 
 reason, that a child should be less indebted for its first ideas 
 to books, than to nature : a book commonly carries with it an 
 idea of abstraction, little congenial to the infant mind, that 
 
66 EDUCATION. 
 
 loves to expatiate amid those objects of creation, which most 
 powerfully strike the imagination, and is animated with wonder 
 and delight while exploring the blue and boundless expanse of 
 heaven ; the moon walking in brightness amid the starry hosts ; 
 the splendour of the rising and setting sun, with all the varied 
 magnificence of nature. Though to childish thought all is 
 mystery, yet it has received the impress of grandeur, order, 
 and beauty, and feels a kindred glow, which identifies it, as it 
 were, with the scene. But the ever-flowing current of thought 
 needs a wise control, and is in danger of running swiftly to 
 waste, if it be not directed into its proper channels. As the 
 infant cannot distinguish the antidote from the poison, so it 
 rarely can discern good from evil ; but if it behoves the parent 
 to provide nutritious food for the body, much more is it ex- 
 pedient that the immortal spirit be supplied with that, on 
 which its growth and sustenance depend. 
 
 So diversified are the human character and capacity, that it 
 is not easy to determine the precise time when any particular 
 branch of instruction should commence. Nature is here the 
 safest guide ; the light she offers will rarely mislead : curiosity 
 seems to be her appointed signal for the communication of 
 knowledge, and should ever precede that which is desirable 
 and important, as the means of more effectually impressing 
 it on the memory ; and when curiosity is dormant, it may be 
 excited by a disclosure of such interesting particulars, as may 
 induce a desire for more information. In the abstruser studies 
 of a more advanced age, additional stimuli may be imparted, 
 by a display of the advantages, honour, and utility, attending 
 it, with a well-contrasted picture of the disgrace and disadvan- 
 tages of ignorance. 
 
 Fill and cram the infant mind with knowledge, seems to be 
 the order of the day; whether it have power to digest it aright, 
 is another and after consideration : the child must read as 
 soon as it can lisp, and must, of course, learn every thing it is 
 able to read. To the followers of such doctrine, it may sound 
 
EDUCATION. 67 
 
 rather strange to assert, or even to suggest a doubt, that they 
 are beginning at the wrong end ; but they will concede that a 
 good foundation ought to be laid where a superstructure is 
 designed; which, in Education, is equivalent to its first or 
 preparatory stage of training. The question is, whether this 
 is best accomplished by imparting knowledge, storing the infant 
 memory with miscellaneous information, or, by a preparatory 
 course of discipline, rather to prepare the infant mind and 
 faculties for the profitable reception of it ? 
 
 Supposing, by way of illustration, that a child has been 
 entrusted to the care of a person, who, during this early stage 
 of instruction, has on all occasions, and on every subject, 
 imparted all possible information; the consequence is, that 
 a multiplicity of ideas, in rapid succession, has passed through 
 the mind, or rather glanced on the imagination, of which no 
 distinct trace remains ; the infant mind being too weak and 
 imperfect a medium to arrange or select its thoughts, rarely 
 retains any thing but what has forcibly impressed the imagina- 
 tion, and which is, probably, the very thing we would obliterate 
 from the memory : the result in this case would be, that, in- 
 stead of the mind being duly prepared for making progressive 
 advances in learning, it would rather resemble a confused chaos 
 of ideas, without any definite character, and of knowledge (if 
 it deserve the name), without its useful application; add to 
 this, that a negative evil has been incurred, by confining the 
 attention within false and artificial limits, thus excluding it 
 from its more congenial and improving field of exercise. 
 
 But, supposing that we vary our plan, and make it our aim 
 not to fill the mind with ideas, but to enable it to make itself 
 master of one before it admits another ; rather to impart the 
 habit of fixing the attention, than to distract it by an endless 
 variety ; so to task the tender intellect, as may timely nourish 
 the budding faculties ; not to let the memory lie dormant, but 
 so progressively to exercise it, as with a view rather to strengthen 
 it for its future acquisitions, than for any present object ; thus 
 
 F2 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 gradually eliciting the powers of the mind, so as to prepare it 
 for the right reception and digestion of the knowledge which, 
 in its educational career, it is destined to receive. 
 
 If there be any quality which, from its immediate connec- 
 tion with human happiness, is entitled to a superior degree of 
 estimation, it is a cheerful and well-regulated temper; and 
 childhood is unquestionably the proper season for its cultivation. 
 To promote this happy frame of mind, no pains should be 
 spared, no care omitted ; it is, in effect, the universal panacea ; 
 the great charm and antidote to the multiplied evils and vex- 
 ations of the world, which are ever magnified and distorted by 
 a contrary disposition, and is the only ingredient of power to 
 infuse an uniform sweetness in the mixed cup of humanity. 
 This " sunshine of the soul" brightens all within its cheering 
 influence"; nor is there any social or individual comfort that is 
 not, in a great degree, dependent upon it : it enters into every 
 action, shapes the happiness of every hour, and gives colouring 
 and expression even to the ordinary train of thought. 
 
 Man is distinguished from man, no less by his temper and 
 social disposition, than by those striking traits of character, 
 arising from the more solid endowments of the mind. Genuine 
 benignity has its seat in the heart, and inspires that urbanity 
 of manners, which is a passport to universal favour ; without 
 its cordial influence, virtue would lose half its charms, and 
 merit would lack its chief recommendation : its needful presence 
 can alone render wisdom engaging; it is more available than 
 force, and more persuasive than eloquence; it is the main- 
 spring of social harmony, by whose kindly operation, the mind 
 is prepared for the reception of all that is great and good. 
 
 If an amiable disposition be not in itself a virtue of the 
 highest rank, it gives light and colouring to every noble quality, 
 and is nearly allied to that " charity," so justly extolled by St. 
 Paul, as superior to all other acquisitions in the sight of heaven, 
 and without which, all human wisdom, knowledge, and power, 
 are accounted as worthless and vain. Such are among the 
 
EDUCATION. 69 
 
 advantages attending a spirit of Christian benevolence, and 
 the exercise of the social affections ; and hence it appears that 
 this amiable quality, like godliness, is " profitable for all things," 
 and no less essential to virtue than to happiness. By some, this 
 happy temperament has been regarded as the partial gift of 
 nature alone ; but reason and experience equally show that it 
 may be acquired, and that then only it assumes the character 
 of a virtue, and becomes a principle of steady and uniform 
 operation. 
 
 What is termed an easy temper, may sometimes be consti- 
 tutional ; and when stimulated by a concurrence of favourable 
 circumstances, may pass for an habitual flow of good humour. 
 When, by mismanagement, severity, and bodily infirmity, a 
 child's mind is depressed and soured, it is deemed the unhappy 
 inheriter of a bad temper; whereas the contrast is owing to 
 circumstances alone, and in most cases, could we investigate 
 the real cause of such difference, it would be found to originate 
 in common coincidences, rather than in constitutional defect 
 or peculiarity. That superficial gaiety which is dependent on 
 animal spirits, ever fluctuates with its fortuitous support, and 
 vanishes at the approach of privation and sickness, or the shock 
 of disappointment ; and is not to be compared with that cheerful 
 and even temper, which is the effect of culture and discipline, 
 based upon principle, and strengthened by reason, whence only 
 it can derive true stability and worth. 
 
 If any thing were wanting to enhance the value of a good 
 temper, it would be found in the contemplation of the unhappy 
 effects resulting from a dark and malignant disposition, the 
 bane of society, and the never-failing source of misery and 
 crime. To suppose that any child is born with a confirmed 
 evil bias, would be to accuse Heaven of injustice and cruelty ; 
 and so far is it from being true, that a perverse and corrupt 
 temper is inherent in the infant breast, that we almost inva- 
 riably find it susceptible of every good impression, and that 
 
70 EDUCATION. 
 
 we have power to bend the pliant feelings of childhood at 
 pleasure. So elastic is the infant mind, that it quickly recovers 
 its tone, even after the severest suffering; nor is it till after 
 protracted endurance, that perverseness becomes a confirmed 
 feature in the character. 
 
 The all-wise Creator pronounced all his works to be good : 
 he adapts the soil to the seed, and endows the human mind 
 with its needful properties, but the means of improvement 
 are with man ; and in both cases the increase corresponds to 
 the use of them. Why are children interested and delighted 
 with the appearance of virtue, but because they have that 
 moral principle within, that prompts the perception and love 
 of it ? How lively are their emotions, and how earnest their 
 competitions ; how quick their sense of praise ; how joyous at 
 success, and how sorrowful at shame and reproof; how affec- 
 tionate their endearments: how grateful for kindness; arid 
 what natural eloquence in their artless appeal ! Thus beau- 
 tifully is nature reflected in the infant mind, and thus liberal 
 is her provision for improvement ! Of such costly materials, 
 how goodly a fabric may be reared ; on such a foundation, how 
 noble a superstructure may be raised ! 
 
 A good temper depends much on a sound and vigorous state 
 of the faculties, which constitutes the health of the soul, and 
 on which its pleasurable operation depends ; hence the wisdom 
 of inspiring a taste for such recreations as are most conducive 
 to bodily and mental improvement. Truly has it been ob- 
 served, that health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other, 
 so close is the sympathy between them. By teaching children 
 to " place their happiness where their praise is," an edifying 
 source of pleasure is opened ; and by connecting the idea of 
 duty with that of happiness, Education gains a powerful aux- 
 iliary in the youthful breast. In proportion to the desire for 
 approbation, will be the pleasure arising from it ; consciousness 
 of desert gives birth to that satisfaction which is founded in 
 
EDUCATION. 71 
 
 reason, and in strength and purity surpasses every other. By 
 multiplying the sources of rational delight, we not only widen 
 the sphere of happiness, but exalt its character, and impart to 
 the mind that intellectual bias, which is the surest means of 
 making it permanent. 
 
 The gaiety inspired by the gratifications of sense, though 
 sparkling, is but shallow; flowing with an uneven and inter- 
 rupted current, and failing most in time of need; but the 
 well-formed temper resembles the reservoir, whose healthful 
 spring yields an unfailing supply for hourly use and refresh- 
 ment. As the mighty river flows in the direction first imparted 
 to it by the humble rill, so does the social current of life take 
 its course from the early development of temper ; and hence 
 the necessity of controlling betimes those seemingly innocent 
 but really important symptoms, that manifestly indicate its 
 uture direction. 
 
 The main ingredients of human felicity are of the social 
 kind ; in the intercourse of the friendly affections are centred, 
 not only the truest satisfactions, but in the greatest variety, and 
 such as most powerfully and pleasurably affect the human heart. 
 The words social and cheerful, have become synonymous, the 
 quality of temper necessarily depending much on the state of 
 the social affections ; and hence the wisdom and importance of 
 attention to them in their earlier stages : every social principle 
 and tendency, every kind and generous affection, now cherished, 
 becomes both the means of present happiness, and the surest 
 pledge of its increase and continuance. 
 
 That first impressions are lasting, is an ancient and popular 
 maxim; but, like many favourite truisms, though strictly 
 true in a particular sense, is not equally so in its wider ac- 
 ceptation. Childish experience is commonly nothing but a 
 series of impressions a succession of ideas passing through 
 the mind, whereof the last obliterates the former: it is open 
 to all, but not capacious enough to retain many at once ; and 
 so long as it is free to choose, will naturally entertain such only 
 
72 EDUCATION. 
 
 as are most agreeable. Such impressions as are habitually 
 confirmed, and have been fixed in the mind by repetition, will 
 be proportionably lasting ; and in this sense it is, that " manners 
 (implying habits) make the man." 
 
 The power of habit is sufficiently known : that " custom is 
 a second nature," is a sentiment common to all times, and 
 proclaimed in every language ; its wonderful effects are daily 
 seen in every possible variety: aided by perseverance, it is 
 seemingly equal to all things, and conquers difficulties appa- 
 rently insurmountable; hence the perfection of the manual 
 arts, and excellence in all accomplishments : it is witnessed no 
 less in those feats of agility that excite our astonishment, than 
 in the nobler flights of intellect that kindle our admiration. 
 
 The wisdom and efficacy of applying such a power to the 
 purposes of Education, are too obvious to need any argument : 
 to get habit betimes on the right side, in matters of improve- 
 ment, is to render all comparatively easy and pleasant. A 
 good habit, early acquired, will extend its beneficial influence 
 to the latest period of existence; but it must be perfectly 
 formed, and grafted, as it were, into nature by continued 
 repetition, or it cannot be strictly termed a habit. Repetition 
 is, in effect, the grand arcanum of all solid improvement, 
 without which, first impressions are no more tasting than cha- 
 racters traced on the snow, which the first sunbeam or the 
 passing breeze may efface. 
 
 A retentive memory is a great help to knowledge, and, in 
 the acquisition of languages, may be termed " the one thing 
 needful." This is rarely the gift of nature, and is attainable 
 only by the repeated exercise of its powers ; but it is a faculty 
 that amply repays the care bestowed on its cultivation ; being 
 wonderfully progressive, and if led at first by easy and well- 
 timed degrees, will attain to great strength ; whereas, by over- 
 tasking its first efforts, the energetic tone of the mind will be 
 paralyzed, and its future exertion discouraged. Practice is 
 the sole means of perfection, and by perseverance alone is 
 

 EDUCATION. 7'J 
 
 endeavour crowned with success ; but in every case it should 
 be well-timed, and wisely measured, otherwise disgust and 
 failure will probably ensue. 
 
 The longer a habit is delayed, the more difficult its acqui- 
 sition becomes, and the more uncertain its operation. The 
 formation of new and strange habits in after life, is a sort of 
 violence to nature, that she seldom fails to retort by a reaction, 
 returning with increased force to assert her supremacy, and 
 resume her wonted dominion over the mind ; hence the expe- 
 diency of securing the powerful aid of habit betimes, in all 
 those attainments whose utility renders them indispensable, or 
 whose engaging qualities make them desirable. I shall close 
 my remarks on this head by earnestly recommending the habit 
 of early rising a habit that is worth a hundred maxims, and 
 connected with every thing that is estimable in life a habit 
 which, in early life, is as easy to acquire, as it is difficult at any 
 subsequent period ; and, probably, is more conducive to health, 
 mental energy, and cheerfulness, than most other habits com- 
 bined, where this one is wanting. 
 
 The mind of a child being, of itself, unequal to any great 
 effort, needs a stimulus to rouse its powers to exertion : for this 
 purpose, the passions are useful: hope and fear are ruling 
 motives, and though opposite in their nature, may be made 
 instrumental to the same end, but under very different cir- 
 cumstances. The hope of reward, associated as it is with the 
 desire of praise (inherent in every breast), supplies the most 
 animating and rational of all motives, and is commonly suc- 
 cessful ; whereas the depression of mind, caused by the dread 
 of punishment, excites a painful struggle of the feelings in the 
 accomplishment of the object, and is followed by an impression 
 of disgust, which is not easily effaced. By the influence of 
 hope, all the faculties of the soul are harmonized; by the 
 ascendancy of fear, they are perplexed and deranged. 
 
 Nature, reason, and experience, combine to prove that kindly 
 measures arc ever the most salutary. Among the sages of 
 
74 EDUCATION. 
 
 ancient as well as of modern times, we find none to advocate 
 coercive measures, but as a final remedy when other means 
 have failed. Punishment can be good, only as it remedies 
 evil, and if it have not this its proper effect, is itself an evil ; 
 nor does the necessity for it justify indiscriminate severity : in 
 every case it is requisite that the nature and degree of the 
 punishment should be accurately measured to the offence. 
 
 There are few faults in which the mind has not a principal 
 share, and the greater part are wholly its own ; which is one of 
 many reasons for mental, rather than corporal, correction. In 
 ordinary things, the child whose reason is yet weak and de- 
 fective, may be, experimentally, made sensible of its error ; as, 
 if it take delight in wantonly inflicting pain, it may, by the 
 feeling of bodily pain, be made conscious of the wrong it has 
 done; whereas the child of cunning is better chastised by 
 superior cunning, and thus being outwitted, may be made to 
 see the folly while suffering the consequences of duplicity. In 
 common cases of indolence or negligence, encouragement 
 should first be held out in every inviting form ; when kindness 
 and persuasion fail of their effect, stronger measures become 
 requisite to enforce obedience, but only in cases of extreme 
 contumacy or duplicity, and when other means have been tried 
 and found unavailing. 
 
 When corporal punishment becomes indispensable, the effect 
 is destroyed by delay : a child should also be made to under- 
 stand the nature and magnitude of its fault, and the penalty 
 justly attached to it ; by comparing of which, with that inflicted, 
 it may plainly appear to have been dictated by a lenient spirit, 
 and not by severity : a well-timed idea of mercy thus intro- 
 duced into the mind, will be seasonably cherished ; and in all 
 cases, to insure the good effects of reproof, it should be blended 
 with the show of regret rather than of anger. Different minds 
 are not equally affected by similar motives ; but while a spark 
 of generous passion exists in the breast, the proper stimulus 
 cannot be wanting; and so long as gentle measures have any 
 

 EDUCATION. 75 
 
 power, not only humanity, but reason and justice, decide in 
 their favour. 
 
 Supposing that, within a stated time, a child has a task to 
 accomplish, in which, as is often the case, it feels little or no 
 interest, it might be doubted whether a threat or a promise 
 would be the best means of kindling the requisite exertion; 
 and, in deciding on this point, many would be guided in their 
 opinion (and with reason) by the pupil's disposition. There is, 
 however, another consideration, too weighty to be overlooked; 
 viz. the state of the mind and feelings during the allotted 
 period, whether long or short : to ascertain this, we need only 
 consult our own breasts. If the effect has been produced by 
 fear, how forced and unnatural appears the effort, and how 
 unhappy the condition of a mind exerting itself under its agi- 
 tating influence ! every pleasurable idea has been eclipsed 
 by the dark-boding threat, which, like a spectre, has haunted 
 it ; disgust strikes deep its baneful root within, and the thorn 
 of discontent long rankles in the heart. 
 
 Turn we to contemplate the more pleasing portrait of the 
 youth applying himself with alacrity to the performance of his 
 duty ; the animating pleasure held out to him is doubly sweet 
 as a reward ; and he is stimulated by the delightful anticipation 
 of honour and success : the laudable ambition thus fostered in 
 his breast, elicits his best endeavours, and, having surmounted 
 the difficulty, he enjoys the triumph of conscious merit. By 
 such means the mind is trained to honourable enterprise; 
 and even where indolence leaves little room for reward, by 
 rewarding that little, a desire for greater reward will be in- 
 duced, and superior desert will be the consequence. Success 
 is inspiring, and renders exertion delightful ; and Hope is its 
 handmaid, invigorating all the active faculties of the soul, and 
 stimulating such as are dormant. 
 
 Whatever a child receives in the shape of reward, should 
 have something better than surface to recommend it some 
 character of utility, which should be explained as the true 
 
76 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 ground of its estimation. The inexperienced mind cannot be 
 too early taught to discriminate between realities and appear- 
 ances: childish admiration being readily excited by what is 
 merely superficial, its worthlessness should be so plainly de- 
 picted, that contempt may take place of the false impression. 
 The beneficial tendency of thus rectifying the reason betimes, 
 is obvious; for so admirable is the structure of the human 
 mind, that if the judging faculty be warily guided in its first 
 essays, its innate energy will be as wings to aid its rising power ; 
 and having commenced its ascent, it will continue to rise till it 
 attain to its meridian height. 
 
 * Of all the means provided by nature for rightly training 
 the infant mind, maternal influence is, doubtless, the kindliest 
 and best ; and few, if any, were they fully aware of its nature 
 and extent, 'would be found to adopt any plan which prema- 
 turely draws a line of separation between the mother and the 
 child : if well weighed, it appears to be a violation of one of 
 the most sacred laws of Nature, and an outrage on common 
 humanity; depriving a human being of that privilege, which 
 is his birthright, and on which his virtue and happiness in a 
 great measure depend. By the adoption of means so unnatural, 
 the parent would indeed be disburdened of a temporary yoke, 
 which the wisdom of Divine Providence has seen fit to impose, 
 which, while it presses with a weight of responsibility and care, 
 operates at the same time with a secret but forcible charm 
 on the parental heart, thus bringing its own reward. In all 
 matters of a social bearing, and in this especially, good heed 
 is requisite, lest, by rending the ties of natural sympathy, we 
 innovate on the plans of Heaven, and, by a dangerous experi- 
 ment, interrupt the established harmony of society. 
 
 With a child, maternal influence is the sweetest and most 
 
 * These remarks are not pointed at infant schools, which are designed to 
 remedy a social evil, and for the accommodation of the working classes, 
 whose time and attention arc wholly occupied ; thus rescuing their children, 
 in many cases, from the fatal consequences of inevitable noglcct. 
 
EDUCATION. 77 
 
 constraining power, the first and best means of improvement ; 
 between the mother and her child there exists so holy a union, 
 that of them it may truly be said, " What God hath joined 
 together, let no man put asunder." With infants, we should 
 be most careful not to impair the first susceptibilities of nature, 
 but rather to cherish them as the close allies and guardians of 
 the social virtues. Were infants deprived of this maternal 
 influence, humanity would certainly be no gainer, either as 
 respects parental or filial affection; the heart, in both cases, 
 would want the sweetest corrective of its bitterness, and the most 
 potent charm to counteract its native asperity : the child, whose 
 heart was thus estranged from the exercise of its best feelings, 
 and so untimely weaned from its kindliest support, would 
 secretly pine its loss, and a restless discontent would fill the 
 aching void. Neither would the mother, in most cases, fare 
 better, whose truest happiness is centred in her duty, whose 
 purest delight consists in tending and cherishing her offspring, 
 whose endearing and innocent society is the sweetest solace in 
 the hour of affliction, and has power to calm all the tumults of 
 the breast. Exile the infant from its home, and the domestic 
 charm is gone ; what then becomes of those bright and blame- 
 less hours, and of that endearing intercourse ? Will the present 
 or future happiness of the parent or the child, be in any wise 
 promoted by the separation; or rather, must not the experi- 
 ment be detrimental to the virtue and happiness of both ? 
 
 The premature separation of a child from the family circle, 
 which is, as it were, its natural stock, may possibly tend to 
 greater inconveniences than can be foreseen : it may with 
 reason be suspected, that the early initiation of the human mind 
 into formal and uniform systems, would occasion a corresponding 
 identity of character ; * but should it even tend to impair its 
 individuality and peculiar characteristics, such an effect might 
 not work well in society. 
 
 * Alluding to establishments for the reception of infants of the wealthier 
 classes. The merits of infant schools are discussed in the following essay. 
 
78 EDUCATION. 
 
 A diversity in tastes, character, and pursuits, is essential to 
 the well-being and good order of the community ; and whence 
 arise these peculiarities? If not inherent, they have their 
 birth in early associations and impressions; and if they are 
 inherent, it is by these alone that they are nurtured and ma- 
 tured, arid it is, doubtless, from these that the pliant mind 
 receives its ruling bias. Most families are distinguished by 
 some prevailing qualities, which are often observable even in 
 the youngest members ; and whence that similarity of taste, 
 which induces rivalry and excellence in favourite pursuits, if 
 it be not communicated during the unreserved intercourse 
 that reigns in the domestic circle, which is doubtless the fittest 
 school for the susceptibilities of childhood, if it be desirable to 
 preserve family characteristics entire. 
 
 What is termed a family likeness, extends further, perhaps, 
 than is commonly suspected : many and remarkable have been 
 the instances of peculiar mental qualities distinguishing the 
 same family for many generations ; but allow the tender scion 
 to be severed from the parent stock, and the surrounding 
 branches among which it flourished ; remove it from its natural 
 and vital support, and let it be grafted on a foreign stem ; its 
 nature, and the quality of its fruit, will necessarily be changed, 
 and the original design of nature be frustrated: much more 
 will the human fruit be changed and degenerate, that is trans- 
 planted from its native bed, to languish in a strange soil ; and 
 thus is broken a charm of nameless power, while no equivalent 
 is insured. 
 
 In the bosom of its family, a child is in the centre of affec- 
 tion, and is, as it were, the focus of goodly impressions: it 
 looks around with confidence and delight, is greeted on every 
 side with smiles, and animated by the endearments of those 
 whom it loves, and whose tastes and manners it naturally 
 imbibes. Another advantage connected with home, is, that 
 what is there presented to its observation, is peculiarly adapted 
 to its improvement; nothing low, disgusting, or too puerile, 
 
EDUCATION. 79 
 
 is to be apprehended in a well-conducted family ; where also a 
 gradation of ages commonly presents a progressive series of 
 examples ; wherein the young may take pattern from the next 
 in seniority. A child naturally profits from familiar intercourse 
 with companions of superior age and information : in the 
 domestic circle the youngest is an object of interest with every 
 member of it ; and all are ready to impart the needful counsel 
 and instruction. How worthy of a wise and benevolent Pro- 
 vidence does such an arrangement appear, and how admirably 
 adapted to the gradual development of the human powers ! 
 
 To maternal influence succeeds parental example, completing 
 what has thus been happily begun; for the good impression 
 of the former will either be confirmed or cancelled by the 
 latter. Parental example perpetually sways the mind of a 
 child ; from the dawn of observation it has been a guiding-star, 
 whose influence is irresistible, and cannot, without violence to 
 nature, be averted ; it is rooted in the heart, and lives in the 
 memory, when it has faded from the view. The brightness of 
 conviction that shines in the example of a parent, is a sacred 
 and inextinguishable light; powerful when present, and elo- 
 quent when absent ; nature approves and seals it with a charm 
 that time may not dissolve : even when visibly withdrawn and 
 eclipsed by the shades of death, it is fresh in the recollection : 
 mingling with the tenderness of regret, and embalmed by the 
 holiest affections of the heart, its image will be doubly dear 
 and doubly cherished. 
 
 The best precepts will insure no durable impression, till 
 called into operation by the agency of example. We may 
 indeed, at will, transfer in a great measure our sentiments and 
 feelings to the youthful mind ; we may select and arrange our 
 thoughts with wisdom, and communicate them in language the 
 most persuasive and in the most engaging manner ; we may even 
 make the desired impression, and full conviction may attend 
 it ; but by such means to fix it, transcends our skill : if unsup- 
 ported by example, it will share the common fate of juvenile 
 
80 EDUCATION. 
 
 convictions, and, after its brief date, be consigned to oblivion. 
 Nor is it to be expected that it should terminate otherwise : 
 man, from his birth, is an imitative creature, and though counsel 
 may give direction to his present thoughts, he must be stimu- 
 lated to action by example, whose silent but powerful appeal 
 he spontaneously obeys, and which alone can perfect what 
 precept has begun. The one may conduct him within sight 
 of virtue ; but the other must put him in possession of it. As 
 Gideon of old, who said not to his followers, Behold the enemy- 
 go and conquer ; but, " Look on me, and do likewise :" so 
 must it be done with youth, for it is the leading propensity of 
 their nature to look on the present example of their parents 
 and guardians, arid unhesitatingly make it their guide. 
 
 The good example of a father is as a guardian angel to his 
 son; while a corrupt one, like an evil genius, becomes his 
 betrayer. By action alone, the hidden counsels of the heart 
 are revealed ; the true test of character is to be found in con- 
 duct ; and virtue must be habitual before it can be exemplary : 
 but, if the language of the lips be found at variance with the 
 sentiments of the heart, the thin disguise of professions will 
 be wholly unavailing : unsupported by any visible evidences, 
 they will but yield the stronger proof of insincerity, and 
 eloquence will serve only to magnify inconsistency. 
 
 The judgment of youth, in common intercourse, is often 
 little inferior to that of their seniors ; and the best counsels, if 
 mixed with deceit, will, sooner or later, meet the merited con- 
 tempt that follows detection of imposture: suspicion, a most 
 dangerous guest, will take possession of the mind, and confi- 
 dence will for ever depart. The cause of truth is not thus 
 easily betrayed ; nor will deception long escape the observant 
 eye of youth, jealous of its own inexperience, and eager to 
 repel imposition. Vainly shall we lecture them on the obli- 
 gations of religion, if they see us negligent of the duties it 
 enjoins ; or descant in measured terms on the vanity of earthly 
 things, while our aims and desires manifestly run towards them. 
 
EDUCATION. 81 
 
 iat avails it to tell them of the faithful care of a gracious and 
 beneficent Providence, while at the same time, with a super- 
 fluous anxiety we are anticipating its bounty, and labouring 
 for the supply often of unreal wants, as earnestly and painfully 
 as if we believed it not; thus openly setting the seal to our 
 own duplicity ! 
 
 Nature, that does nothing in vain, imparts to every human 
 breast some ruling bias or propensity, which, like the finger of 
 Heaven, seems to point out its destined path: by obeying 
 its direction, we further the unerring plans of Providence; 
 whereas, by disregarding it, and tracing an opposite line of 
 action, we abuse the power confided to us, and in some measure 
 counteract the plain intention of heaven. But, notwithstanding 
 the manifest absurdity of predetermining the pursuits and 
 course of life of a child whose mental bias is yet undeveloped, 
 how common is it for men, in their aerial speculations, to chalk 
 out an imaginary career, such as ambition or worldly policy 
 may suggest, even for heirs unborn ! The motive may be 
 amiable, but its aim is misdirected ; the fate, therefore, of such 
 visionary schemes, must often be miscarriage : to errors of this 
 nature many have had serious cause to ascribe the ill success 
 that has followed them through life. 
 
 It is doubtless the disinterested affection of the parent, that 
 prompts the plan for the honour and happiness of the child; 
 but the laudable intention is frustrated by omitting the re- 
 quisite means, without which the best motives may be produc- 
 tive of the worst effects. The generous heart has need of the 
 judging head; and the stronger the affection of the parent, 
 the greater is the need of prudence for its guidance : equally 
 amiable in design, though more unhappy often in its conse- 
 quences, is the undue solicitude of parents, to make such pro- 
 vision for their offspring, as may place them above the reach 
 of want and dependence. The motive is praiseworthy, and 
 even assumes the shape of a sacred duty ; but the great question 
 is, how may it best be accomplished ? Will it be by crowning 
 
82 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 them with fortune ; by making their circle of indulgences as 
 wide as possible, and securing to them, as far as we can, all 
 the means of sensual and selfish gratification ? This would be 
 to render them dependent in the truest sense of the word, by 
 subjecting them to a thousand artificial wants and imaginary 
 distresses. Every habitual luxury becomes as one of the 
 necessaries of life, and rises in demand upon every gratifi- 
 cation : and thus are the votaries of indulgence enslaved by 
 imperious necessities of their own creating, and plagued by a 
 multitude of disgusts unknown to others, who, from choice or 
 necessity, have learned to submit to the restraints of tem- 
 perance. 
 
 Self-centred indulgence ever ministers ready food to the 
 passions, and the affluence that insures a constant supply, 
 proves often an active and powerful agent in the service of 
 those arch-betrayers of human peace and virtue. Who, indeed, 
 is able to foretell the gigantic growth of vice, habitually 
 nourished, or to compute its ultimate consequences ? Man is 
 too frail a creature, especially in youth, to be trusted with the 
 dangerous power of self-guidance and unlimited gratification, 
 which might at once subvert his integrity, and frustrate the 
 purpose of his being; wisely, therefore, is it withheld, or dis- 
 pensed in sparing measure, and rather as a seasonable refresh- 
 ment than as a substantial good, or as his allotted portion in 
 his probationary state. Lawful pleasures, as they are freely 
 given, may doubtless as freely be enjoyed, so long as the line 
 of distinction is preserved between the use and abuse of them ; 
 for although it be true that no innocent pleasure is in its own 
 nature hurtful, yet, blended as it is with human frailty, it too 
 frequently proves so, as experience can sufficiently attest. 
 
 The mind of man is speedily corrupted by continued enjoy- 
 ment ; the faculties, benumbed by sloth and sensuality, quickly 
 lose all relish and perception of that superior delight, which 
 active virtue can alone impart. Acquired wealth Js the proper 
 reward of vigorous and virtuous exertion ; but inherited fortune, 
 
EDUCATION. 83 
 
 >y removing the main stimulus to laudable efforts, must tend, 
 in some measure, to counteract the intention of heaven. The 
 oracles of truth declare that it is good for a man to bear the 
 yoke in his youth, or till experience and reflection have matured 
 his judgment; and well has this inspired precept been approved ; 
 it has stood the test of protracted ages, and claims the strong 
 support and concurrent testimony of history, ancient and modern, 
 sacred and profane. 
 
 From the ample record of the past, we gather the richest 
 truths, and the brightest examples, to nourish and fix our 
 wavering virtue. Our convictions of right and wrong are con- 
 firmed by the view of their practical operation in the conduct 
 and affairs of men, as we weigh and compare them at leisure ; 
 and take example at the well-earned fame of wisdom, or the 
 marked retribution of folly. Among the brightest names there 
 registered, we find those who were disciplined in the school of 
 adversity, who perseveringly surmounted the steep ascent of 
 virtue, and successfully contended with their adverse fortune, 
 ere they were crowned with honour, who had learned and 
 practised the art of self-government (the first lesson of wisdom), 
 and commenced their career of triumph with the conquest of 
 their passions. 
 
 If such considerations had their due weight in the parental 
 breast, much needless anxiety might be spared, arid many 
 would be less enamoured of schemes so fallacious as those 
 must ever prove, that make the chief good of life, and their 
 highest duty, to consist in a plentiful supply of fortune for their 
 offspring, to whom it may, in the event, be a snare rather than 
 a blessing, unless they have been pre-endowed with moral 
 courage, sufficient to withstand the thousand dangers and 
 temptations that follow in its train. From errors of this class, 
 how has society, in every age, been burdened with useless and 
 unhappy members ! for not only is the possession of superfluous 
 wealth the bane and ruin of the pampered and ignorant ; the 
 
84 EDUCATION. 
 
 best principled and best disposed, are but too often ensnared 
 and betrayed by its seducing influence. 
 
 In this age of refined levity and boasted freedom, not very 
 common is the juvenile stoicism that is temptation-proof, and 
 that can look with a cold indifference on the varied attractions 
 that surround it, and at a time when exemplary virtue is as 
 rare as vice is current and fashionable; yet to such is the 
 command of fortune intrusted, ere they have acquired the 
 more needful command of themselves. Such errors, with thfeir 
 attendant evils, are the common fruit of that short-sighted 
 wisdom, which is ever prone to overreach itself, in its vain 
 endeavour to remove the restraints which, for salutary purposes, 
 a higher wisdom has imposed. 
 
 At a time like the present, far excelling all others in the 
 diffusion of evangelical truth, did practice keep pace with 
 profession, little need would there be to hold up to our youth, 
 as motives to emulation, the heroism of heathens, and the 
 virtues of times long gone by, or to recapitulate the weighty 
 arguments that crowd upon us, in favour of an early and 
 genuine spirit of piety, and of the many and solid advantages 
 resulting from it, both to the individual, and to society at large. 
 The necessity for a more decided attention to religion, is but 
 too apparent in the converse and deportment of the rising 
 generation, whose notions on the subject, generally speaking, 
 it would be rather difficult to define. 
 
 To whatever cause the religious defection of our youth is 
 owing, certain it is, that the evidences of a true piety are not 
 among their leading characteristics: seemingly they either 
 know or care little about the matter, and generally appear to 
 be total strangers to its spirit and power : we may sometimes 
 trace its form, but it is the shadow rather than the substance ; 
 mostly it is but a confusion of ideas, floating in the imagina- 
 tion ; or if rightly conceived in the head, rarely does it sink 
 to the heart, where only it can take root and flourish ! The 
 
EDUCATION. 85 
 
 paucity of practical zeal commonly evinced in so good a cause, 
 adds little to our characters as Christians, as fathers, or as 
 men. 
 
 In this sublunary scene of blended show and deception, 
 where our senses are so closely allied to the perishing objects 
 that surround them, an absent religion has great need of a 
 present advocate in the breast of the young to counteract their 
 ascendancy. Not only is the homage of the youthful heart 
 the most acceptable incense to Heaven ; the genuine piety of 
 innocence is claimed as its prized and peculiar tribute, its 
 sacred and inalienable right. 
 
 Could the parental eye pierce the veil of futurity, and 
 anticipate the change in their estimate of things, when a few 
 years, with their cares and burdens, have revolved and passed 
 for ever away, how would the seemingly mountainous vanities 
 of the present time melt away and disappear at the presence 
 of truth ; and how would realities brighten in the view ! 
 conviction, arising like the sun, would show every thing in its 
 genuine hue and form, and stamp it with its true character 
 and value ; delusions would vanish as dreams, and nought, 
 save the imperishable things of eternity, would remain. The 
 perfection of wisdom would then appear in that parental care, 
 which, in its estimate of things temporal, looks to their remotest 
 consequences, and, rising superior to present motives, conse- 
 crates its best talent to the cause of religion and virtue. 
 
 The human soul, in this its state of exile and darkness, 
 buried, as it were, amid the countless vanities that flesh is heir 
 to, and surrounded by defilement, may be compared to the 
 diamond in the mine, where it is fashioned by the secret and 
 wonder-working hand of nature : its intrinsic worth and beauty 
 are not impaired by the grosser matter that surrounds it ; but 
 its lustre proclaims its destination. When brought to light, 
 and polished by the skill of man, it ranks with its brilliant 
 rivals, and graces its appointed sphere ; enhancing the splen- 
 
86 EDUCATION. 
 
 dours of royalty, and revelling in the varied reflection of a 
 diadem. Its earthly state is to the human soul, what the mine 
 is to the gem, with this grand distinction, that the stone, how 
 costly soever, may lie hidden and neglected till the end of 
 time; whereas the immaterial spirit, no created power can 
 conceal, nor can aught arrest its progressive career: at its 
 appointed time it must ascend to its native element, and take 
 possession of its unfading inheritance. 
 
ESSAY III. 
 
 A PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY OF EDUCATION, GROUNDED ON EXPERIENCE 
 AND THE ECONOMY OF NATURE; COMPRISING AN ESTIMATE OF THE 
 HUMAN CHARACTER AND POWERS; WITH AN ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE 
 
 AND APPLY THE PROGRESSIVE PRINCIPLE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF 
 
 MODERN SCHOLASTIC ESTABLISHMENTS; WITH ACCOMPANYING RE- 
 FLECTIONS ON THE YOUTHFUL TEMPERAMENT OBSERVATIONS ON 
 
 MODES OF COERCIVE DISCIPLINE EMULATION THE PROPER AGENT OF 
 
 IMPROVEMENT PAROCHIAL AND SIMILAR ESTABLISHMENTS INFANT 
 
 SCHOOLS THEIR MERITS AND TENDENCY. 
 
 WHATEVER difference of opinion may have existed among 
 mankind with respect to modes and systems of Education, 
 there has, in every age and nation, been but one prevailing 
 sentiment as to its expediency; and this general conviction, 
 while it loudly proclaims its utility, makes it the duty of all to 
 promote it according to their ability ; and, doubtless, it behoves 
 all who make reason and religion their guide, all who profess 
 to be actuated by the worthiest motives, whether private or 
 public, cordially to concur in so beneficial and patriotic a 
 design. The numerous scholastic establishments which now 
 form so conspicuous a feature in the system of British Educa- 
 tion, manifestly owe their increase to the liberal spirit with 
 which they have been supported, and afford the strongest indi- 
 cation of popular opinion, as to the propriety and necessity of 
 adopting such decided and effectual means, as may best secure, 
 both individually and to society at large, the many and solid 
 advantages derivable from such a source. 
 
88 EDUCATION. 
 
 Whether the beneficial result be adequate to the just ex- 
 pectation of a generous and confiding people, is questionable 
 one thing, howev r, is certain, that if it does not work well, 
 the failure is a proof of defect in the system, and it is to that 
 the remedy must be applied. It is a serious, though not a new 
 nor uncommon cause of regret, that Education, which is the 
 proper and appointed means of eradicating whatever is evil in 
 human nature, and of cherishing all that is good in it, should, 
 by any mismanagement, not only fail of its desired effect, but 
 give birth to error and strengthen prejudices, which are always 
 the more pernicious for being sanctioned; it is, however, a 
 charge but too well founded; and hence it so frequently 
 happens, that, upon reviewing and comparing what it has done, 
 with what it has left undone, the emotions excited in the 
 parental breast, are as painful as they are unavailing. 
 
 The season for Education, once lost, is never regained: to 
 sacrifice lightly, therefore, the youthful prime, is as cruel and 
 unjust, as it is costly defrauding a human soul of its natural 
 right and most valuable privilege, by the ignorance or error of 
 others. If there be any one period of life which surpasses 
 every other in worth and importance, it is unquestionably that 
 which has a direct influence upon, and shapes the well-being 
 of, the whole; and such is the time allotted for Education, 
 which, if wisely improved, is the happy means of all that we 
 can rationally desire ; but when misused, becomes the prolific 
 source of incalculable mischief. 
 
 The right instruction of his children is, therefore, a work in 
 which a wise man will be so much in earnest, that the means 
 he adopts may be assumed as a striking commentary on his 
 character: above prejudice, he deems nothing unworthy of his 
 consideration that has a professed connection with it ; but will 
 rather examine and try it in its various views and bearings, 
 well knowing its import to be such, as to entitle it to the most 
 comprehensive and impartial survey. 
 
 Rightly we form our estimate of Education, as of a tree, by 
 
EDUCATION. 89 
 
 the fruit it yields ; we readily approve what is choice and ex- 
 cellent, and commend the tree which produces it, but it is on 
 the supposition that all the fruit it bears is of the like quality ; 
 but should three-fourths of the fruit be sour, we reserve our 
 praise, regarding the effect but as a forced or partial effort of 
 nature, and set but little value on so uncertain a production. 
 The same reasoning applies equally to plans of tuition; for 
 wherever excellence is found in proportions so rare as to seem 
 exceptions to, rather than the necessary result of the system 
 adopted, it lends colour to a suspicion that it is essentially 
 defective, and reason will naturally look around for a remedy. 
 
 So complicated is Education, as it now exists in this country, 
 that it would be difficult for the most intelligent observer to 
 reduce his ideas on the subject to any definable shape. In 
 almost every establishment, the principal adopts a system of 
 his own. Grammar-schools, and a few others, may form ex- 
 ceptions ; but with the great majority this is actually the case. 
 Every one being at perfect liberty to model a system after his 
 own mind, naturally avails himself of his prerogative; and, 
 deeming himself not less intelligent than his professional rival, 
 shapes it in compliance with his particular views, and prides 
 himself most on those peculiar features, which, in his opinion, 
 constitute its chief merit, while they serve also to distinguish 
 it from every other. 
 
 Hence it appears that Education, in its collective sense, 
 cannot with any propriety be denominated a system, as it evi- 
 dently comprises a greater diversity of forms, or systems, than 
 can possibly be enumerated ; not only differing from each other, 
 but changing, often, their individual features with every new 
 professor. Among so great a variety of plans, some will suc- 
 ceed, and others fail; some may be highly meritorious, and 
 others partially defective ; consequently, to level any indiscri- 
 minate censure at the many, for the demerits of the few, would 
 be a manifest injustice, tending to confound all distinction 
 between right and wrong : candour and caution are therefore 
 
90 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 highly requisite in forming a judgment ; for it is quite evident 
 that since the best derived information can apply only to a 
 limited extent, therefore no general criterion can be justly 
 deduced from it. 
 
 Keeping in view the design proposed, it will be needful, for 
 the present, to waive further discussion on these points. In 
 taking a broad and philosophical survey of the subject, de- 
 tached and partial considerations ought, in fairness, to follow, 
 rather than precede, the investigation of general and leading 
 principles. In the solution of vital and important questions, 
 it behoves the inquirer after truth, to ascend first to its highest 
 sources ; he will seek to nature and philosophy, and take counsel 
 of religion and experience, and avail himself of the light de- 
 rivable from all, for the more certain guidance of fallible reason. 
 For this end, it will be desirable to take a brief but rational 
 estimate of the nature, character, and powers of man, as also 
 of those fixed laws of nature to which he is subject, and to what 
 extent he is influenced by their operation: all philosophical 
 reasoning on the subject pre-supposes a clear knowledge of 
 these primary points; whence, by a gradual descent through 
 its minor details, less room will remain for the intrusion of error. 
 
 To delineate man's nature, as exemplified by facts and ex- 
 perience, is but to draw a picture of that frailty, which enters 
 into every part of its composition: whatever be his rank or 
 fortune, this is his certain inheritance : whatever gifts he may 
 receive from nature, this will ever accompany them. The 
 honourable and the base are, in this respect, on a level ; nor 
 has the greatest monarch any pre-eminence above the meanest 
 slave. Wisdom and knowledge, no less than ignorance and 
 folly, are subject to its power; nor does that earthly virtue 
 exist, that can bestow exemption from it. Wealth but adds to 
 the wants of man, rendering him more dependent on the will 
 of others for his hourly accommodations. From the beginning 
 to the end of time, all flesh is heir to frailty; and from the 
 cradle to the tomb, it is man's inseparable companion, 
 
EDUCATION. 91 
 
 The mind, by habitually sympathising with its frail yoke- 
 fellow, partakes of all its discouraging imperfections; hence 
 its noblest designs are often sullied, and their progress and 
 operation" constantly impeded. Man's Godlike attribute his 
 rational and independent will is perverted often by his innate 
 irresolution; his firmest resolves are speedily shaken; and 
 hence, for lack of constancy, his best intentions terminate in 
 failure ; and even were he possessed of all the virtues in per- 
 fection, they could not insure his success, nor place him beyond 
 the reach of accident. One hour we behold him puffed up with 
 a vain and towering hope, and the next cast down and grovel- 
 ling with as vain despair. He maintains no virtue without a 
 contest; nor can subdue a vice without a long and painful 
 struggle ; and thus his mind is the seat of perpetual warfare. 
 He oft abuses his reason, and is deceived in turn, mistaking 
 the counterfeit for the true. Instead of conquering his passions 
 by the aid of reason, he allows her to be taken captive by each 
 in turn ; and oft employs the latter part of life in retracing the 
 steps of the former. 
 
 Such are the common indications of human weakness, and 
 its attendant consequences, which it is the business of Educa- 
 tion to counteract, by discipline, by habits of reflection, by 
 strengthening the mind, and rectifying its views ; for in pro- 
 portion as ignorance prevails, it gives the lead to passion, and 
 marks the character with inconsistency. The contemplation 
 of human frailty would indeed be humiliating, were we not to 
 extend our view to the ulterior design of Providence, in making 
 human weakness the bond to which society chiefly owes its 
 stability. In this mixed state of good and ill, it is evidently, 
 on the whole, the best and wisest arrangement, opposing the 
 only effectual barrier against the fatal inroads of the wild and 
 destructive passions : pride and arrogance are humbled, and 
 the mad career of guilt arrested by it. But if, notwithstanding 
 this wise provision, it is still found that evil and mischief bear 
 oft a preponderating sway, what would be the consequence 
 
92 EDUCATION. 
 
 were this well-timed restraint removed? Could villany act 
 unchecked, and, hardening in its own strength, protract its 
 schemes for ages, with impunity, presumptuous vice and folly, 
 with giant strides, would overrun the earth, arid peace and 
 virtue would find no resting-place under the sun. Visibly 
 then, in this appointment, we may trace the divine and over- 
 ruling Hand which operates in all, and is ever deducing real 
 good from seeming evil. 
 
 From the consideration of the natural constitution of man, 
 we turn to that of his character, which, to depict aright, re- 
 quires not, perhaps, the colouring and skill of a master-hand. 
 Doubtless we must begin by placing inconsistency in the 
 foreground, as it seems naturally and necessarily to grow out 
 of his frailty as its root, and prevails commonly in much the 
 same degree. In every gradation of human society, the incon- 
 sistency of man appears in striking and legible characters ; it 
 runs through the whole tenor of his life, misleading him in 
 his views, and marring often his best actions and designs. We 
 find that he may possess every sentiment of virtue, and yet 
 hardly be exempted from a single vice. Alternately we see 
 him hasting to contrary extremes: at one time, bent on the 
 most exalted views, and pursuing them by the most honourable 
 means ; at another, adopting the most sordid measures in the 
 prosecution of a disgraceful object ; serious about trifles, and 
 trifling about serious things ; and, from a mistaken selfishness, 
 even sacrificing future and momentous considerations to a 
 fleeting gratification, that mocks his present sense. 
 
 Aptly has man been termed the creature of circumstances : 
 borne unresistingly on the tide of popular and prevailing vanity, 
 whirled about by all its eddies, and the constant sport of its 
 restless current how strong is his infatuation ! His heart, 
 that warmly responds to the call of truth, he rashly offers up at 
 the altar of passion ; while between his words and his deeds, 
 his convictions and his conduct, there is a perpetual warfare. 
 To-day he prizes life above all things ; his heart and affections 
 
EDUCATION. 93 
 
 seemingly centre in its avocations; and on its probable con- 
 tinuance he builds his fondest hopes: to-morrow, disgusted, 
 he cuts it short, or defrauds it of half its term, by a reckless 
 intemperance; what his heart approves, he often relinquishes 
 for the sake of that which his conscience condemns ; and pays 
 external homage to the majesty of religion, yet turns his back 
 on her at the beck of sensuality. When contaminated by vice, 
 though conscious of the frailty, he assumes the self-importance 
 of virtue; and sensible of the deformity of guilt, sedulously 
 conceals its features beneath a thick veil of artifice. Feelingly 
 he deprecates the horrors of war, and, with the same breath, 
 eulogizes perhaps, as a patriot, the arch-destroyer, who immo- 
 lates his fellow-men by thousands at the polluted shrine of 
 ambition : so true is the maxim, that " to err is human ;" and 
 such a medley of contradictions do we discover in the charac- 
 ter of man. 
 
 These striking traits of inconsistency are rendered but too 
 familiar by daily experience ; and in the public journals, no 
 less than in history, we have a never-failing fund. Such is 
 man even in civilized and Christian states ; in polished society 
 the base coin becomes current, and passes for sterling because 
 it is richly gilt : vice there receives a gloss and an edge that 
 renders it doubly mischievous ; and it is a humiliating truth, 
 that known and detected profligacy is even surpassed by those 
 darker shades that elude our search, and lie deeply concealed 
 within the foldings of the heart. Neither are such errors in- 
 voluntary : man's unhappiness is commonly wilful ; he chooses 
 to wander in darkness, and closes his eyes against the friendly 
 light of religion, deliberately preferring his own crooked and 
 slippery ways, to the safe and peaceful path, which the wisdom 
 and goodness of the Great Redeemer of mankind has com- 
 passionately marked out for him. 
 
 Amid these wild growths of inconsistency, the mind would 
 be endlessly perplexed, were not the prospect seasonably re- 
 lieved by an agreeable contrast, in those bright exceptions of 
 
94 EDUCATION. 
 
 eminent worth and goodness, that in some measure dispel the 
 gloom, while they exalt, no less than they adorn and bless, 
 humanity. The heights of virtue, as well as the depths of vice, 
 lie within the extremes of human conduct; and the mental 
 eye reposes with unalloyed pleasure on the " excellent of the 
 earth," whose virtues claim the homage of the heart, and 
 whose intelligence and usefulness have graced their names 
 with honourable and merited distinction. Such examples, 
 while they point out to the youthful aspirant the road to true 
 glory, show the prize in its fairest colours, and, by first winning 
 the heart, more effectually stimulate its ardour, and influence 
 its affections. Such admirable natures may be rare, in com- 
 parison with the bulk of mankind, but they are to be prized 
 accordingly ; resembling the isolated oases in the Eastern de- 
 serts, those bright spots of verdure, that appear like enchanted 
 isles in the sandy waste, surprising the traveller with their 
 fertility and beauty. 
 
 Though it be true that human society often presents a dark 
 and doubtful aspect, yet it would be easy to show, that this 
 seeming chaos of moral confusion is pregnant with all the 
 principles of order, not the mere necessary result of a proba- 
 tionary state, but of the highest and indispensable utility, 
 being essentially conducive to that varied and constant exercise 
 of the active and passive virtues, without which the character of 
 man could never arrive at perfection; consequently it forms 
 the necessary part of a wise and universal plan : the mind is 
 set upon its guard, and all its energies are roused into action 
 by the doubtful nature of that human agency with which it is 
 identified, and of those various circumstances by which it finds 
 itself surrounded : man is thus disciplined to all wisdom, and 
 learns, experimentally, that uniform peace depends on uniform 
 integrity ; that all vice contains the seeds of unhappiness ; and 
 that, eventually, in the constituted order of things, " whatsoever 
 a man soweth, the same shall he also reap." 
 
 As the weary adventurer, disappointed in his fruitless wan- 
 
EDUCATION. 95 
 
 derings, warned by past escapes, and apprehensive of the storms 
 and dangers that still threaten his path, turns to the first humble 
 shelter, as a welcome refuge from the gathering tempest; so 
 the erring votary of worldly interest and pleasure, after escaping 
 the poison of the one, and the precipices of the other, at length 
 seeks the asylum of content in the safe, though humbler, path 
 of virtue, there finding wisdom, and enjoying long-lost repose, 
 he desires to wander no more ; disgusted with the inconstant 
 round of heartless pleasures and pursuits, he becomes consis- 
 tent ; and this consistency having taken deep root in conviction, 
 is of a nature not easily to be eradicated. Thus it is that man 
 is disciplined by needful experience, which is least painful and 
 most beneficial to such as are duly prepared for the part they 
 must sustain, by a sound and enlightened education, which 
 rises in our estimation in proportion to our conviction of the 
 weakness and instability of the human character. 
 
 We now come to the consideration of the intellectual powers 
 of man, to the contemplation of a field of boundless extent, 
 and varied aspect, although the generous nature of the soil 
 is strongly attested by the success which follows the active 
 hand of culture. Here we view with admiration those bright 
 and towering eminences, that impart a grandeur to the pros- 
 pect, reflecting the light of science in countless rays of utility 
 and glory ; here, un satiated, we may contemplate the splendid 
 array of talent in its diversified forms, and survey, with honest 
 pride, those master-spirits of their times, who, rising superior 
 to their inherent frailty, have left behind them a well-earned 
 and deathless fame ; whose mental vigour rendered them 
 superior to material nature ; and though health, and even 
 life, became the forfeit, it was a pure and costly sacrifice, a 
 generous self-devotion, possessing all the merit of a free-will 
 offering at the shrine of truth and virtue. Nobly intent on 
 higher objects, they heeded not the premature decay of their 
 earthly tabernacles ; their sole aim and ambition centering in 
 
 L..V J 
 
96 EDUCATION. 
 
 the applause and esteem of their generation and of posterity, 
 as the end and reward of their valuable labours. 
 
 Gratifying as it is to the philanthropist to dwell on the 
 pleasing side of the human character, truth bids us turn our 
 view awhile from these glittering heights, which lie scattered 
 amid the broad wastes and barren levels that fill the space 
 between, presenting an unsightly contrast, and sufficiently 
 humbling to human vanity. Capacious as are the powers of 
 the human mind, when duly elicited, yet, where the agency of 
 this needful culture is wanting, they are often apparently dor- 
 mant and powerless ; and such is plainly the case with by far 
 the greater portion of the human race. In taking a fair esti- 
 mate of the amount of human intelligence, all partial and 
 flattering deductions are to be avoided; nor is the judgment 
 to be biased by individual excellence, instanced in men gifted 
 with great natural powers, strengthened by a judicious culti- 
 vation. Such advantages falling, comparatively, to the lot of 
 few, afford no just criterion for the many, though they yield a 
 manifest proof of the human capabilities, and a powerful argu- 
 ment for their diligent improvement. 
 
 When we contemplate the map of the world, comprising in 
 one view the entire human species, how comparatively insig- 
 nificant appears that portion of it which we term civilized ; and 
 of the population of these highly-favoured spots, how scanty a 
 proportion enjoy a competent share of that knowledge, by which 
 human nature is truly ennobled and made rationally happy ! 
 If we turn our view to the vast and densely populated regions 
 of the torrid zone, the boundless plains of the East, and the 
 savage tribes of the Western world, we behold, for the most 
 part, a heathen and barbarous population, degraded by an 
 absurd and debasing superstition ; the habitual slaves of sen- 
 suality and its concomitant evils sloth, ignorance, and inhu- 
 manity. The picture is not flattering, but in it we see our 
 superiority, and learn to appreciate the intellectual advantages 
 
EDUCATION. 97 
 
 we enjoy ; while reason may find salutary exercise in tracing 
 the causes that combine to produce so wide a diversity. 
 
 In some highly-favoured parts of the globe, man seems, 
 occasionally, to be scarce less than angelic in his nature and 
 attainments; in others, we see him differing little from the 
 brutes, save in his stature and his vices ; cunning only to devise 
 mischief, and ignorant of the simplest elements of knowledge ; 
 satiating his brutal rage, and yet more brutish appetite, in the 
 blood of his fellow-man. Between these extremes we may 
 observe the human powers varying and keeping pace with the 
 progress of civilized intercourse, and the consequent spread of 
 information ; and hence arise the strongest arguments in favour 
 of Education, and the universal dissemination of all useful and 
 rational learning. 
 
 Truly has it been remarked, that vice and ignorance prevail 
 most where the pure light of Christianity has never penetrated ; 
 and it may, by the way, be observed, that the conviction of 
 this truth, which has often kindled the zeal of Christians for 
 the advancement of truth and the promotion of happiness, has 
 repeatedly failed of its well-meant and praiseworthy object 
 from error in the means, and been rendered ineffectual, because, 
 to use the words of scripture, it was a " zeal not according to 
 knowledge." Civilization should, doubtless, be permitted to 
 take the lead, or at least progress hand in hand with religion ; 
 the savage mind should be softened by social intercourse, and 
 thus gradually prepared for the permanent and profitable re- 
 ception of a system of truth and virtue so sublime. Christianity 
 is the crown of civilization; but vain, surely, must be the 
 attempt to graft a pure and spiritual religion on the wild and 
 degenerate stock of unpruned barbarism, which would, indeed, 
 resemble the folly of casting pearls before swine. 
 
 They who have studied the rude character of the uncivilized 
 pagan, will readily concede the necessity of beginning the work 
 of reformation, by gradually removing and eradicating his 
 
98 EDUCATION. 
 
 numerous and obstinate prejudices. In the untutored heathen 
 we find strong animal passions unused to control, confirmed 
 habits of vice, and inveterate prepossessions. Is a mind thus 
 enslaved by the grossest sensuality, and blinded by ignorance, 
 the fit receptacle of a religion, whose leading requisites are 
 a sound faith and a sincere holiness, things which he has 
 neither ideas rightly to comprehend, nor words properly to 
 express? or can it, in other words, be deemed reasonable to 
 send Christianity into such a wilderness, without a messenger 
 to prepare the way before it without the previous requisites 
 for its right reception without such a preparation as may insure 
 it a welcome, and perpetuate its establishment? Naturally, 
 however, as these suggestions seem to spring out of the subject, 
 to pursue them further, in this place, would be only protracting 
 a digression. 
 
 From this brief and imperfect sketch of the nature and 
 powers of man, and of the imperfection that pervades every 
 part of his character; having seen how prone he is to error, 
 how defective in knowledge, and how inconsistent in conduct, 
 and so continually at variance with himself, that even his actions 
 afford no direct clue to his motives ; it obviously becomes the 
 main business of Education to counteract this characteristic 
 frailty, which forms so universal and leading a feature in human 
 nature, by discipline, by habit, and, above all, by bringing the 
 weighty motives of religion to bear on the conduct ; for it is 
 evident that, without this, the mere cultivation of the mental 
 powers would but give additional strength to inconsistency, and 
 render human frailty and folly more striking. 
 
 For a solution of the seeming difficulties that grow out of 
 the human temperament, we must, of necessity, look to a 
 higher source. For that steady light which leads to the know- 
 ledge of man, we must look above man; for a true insight 
 into his frame and constitution, we must first look abroad into 
 that of nature : reason must ascend to the regions of philosophic 
 
EDUCATION. 99 
 
 truth, and search among the known and immutable laws of the 
 universe for some surer clue to guide her steps through the 
 human labyrinth. 
 
 Philosophy, as with vigorous eye she explores the wonders 
 that surround her, is, at the first glance, struck with the bold 
 characters of Omnipotence that arrest her attention ; and the 
 longer she gazes, the brighter appear the evidences of Divine 
 Wisdom : these it is not needful to dwell upon ; they are topics 
 on which all are eloquent, and are not denied even by those 
 who are ready to question the equal prevalence and extent of 
 the Divine bounty ; but it is this last which, to dependent beings, 
 is the grand point, involving their interests, their hopes, and 
 their happiness ; it therefore behoves every being, gifted with 
 reason, to solve all doubts on this head, and not to rest satisfied 
 with any thing short of a clear and unquestionable evidence. 
 
 To the sickly and distempered in mind or body, discontent 
 finds ready access, and tinges every object with its own gloom ; 
 but to him who possesses " a sound mind in a sound body," 
 the face of nature presents an extended picture of benevolence, 
 and every sense becomes the avenue to an innocent delight. 
 In the blue expanse of heaven, with its splendid phenomena ; 
 in the wide and fathomless world of waters ; in the bright 
 verdure of fragrant and blooming nature, gilded by the fresh 
 glow of the morning, or crowned with the splendours of the 
 setting sun ; the character of ineffable goodness is legibly in- 
 scribed : every form of grandeur, every scene and object that 
 has power to charm, bears the impress of beneficence and 
 power, conspiring, with silent eloquence, to proclaim their all- 
 bounteous Author; while, from the animate creation, countless 
 voices of joy and gratitude arise in ceaseless harmony. 
 
 Among the animating features of goodness and intelligence 
 which every where fill up the majestic outline of Omnipotence, 
 none is more conspicuous or more delightful to contemplate, 
 than the admirable order which pervades the entire system of 
 nature, taking in its minutest parts, and producing perfect 
 
 ii 2 
 
100 EDUCATION. 
 
 harmony even from seeming confusion. Order implies the 
 exclusion of evil, which is, in effect, its proper end and meaning, 
 and constitutes the true measure of its estimation ; and as it 
 constitutes the supreme law of nature, supplies at once the 
 most complete and satisfactory evidence of the Divine benevo- 
 lence, and of its universality in operation and design. The 
 general harmony is, indeed, maintained by the agency of 
 diverse and even discordant principles, continually operating 
 to the same end, though in diversified modes; and order is 
 the invariable result. 
 
 The earth, and all that it contains, is subject to the great law 
 of mutation, which is perpetually urging a revolution in every 
 visible object. Matter, in every form, all creatures, whether 
 animate or inanimate, have within them the active seeds of 
 change ; the principle is uniformly powerful, but subject to 
 an apparent reaction, and, consequently, to a change in its 
 form of operation : it is first progressive, leading every creature 
 to the perfection of which it is capable ; and then, secretly but 
 inevitably, working its decay. How far the great laws of 
 progression and mutation bear upon man, and how they may 
 be available for his improvement, are questions of rational 
 interest ; nor can it be deemed an idle speculation so far to 
 follow their operation, as to determine their physical and moral 
 influence on the human constitution. In going to the fixed 
 and immutable laws of nature, we rise to the highest and 
 purest sources of truth; whence are derived those sure prin- 
 ciples, which are not only the soundest in theory, but the 
 safest for general application. 
 
 From the constant vicissitude that reigns around him, man 
 claims no exemption; nor could the universal harmony be 
 maintained without the operation of causes always consistent 
 and uniform. The material part of man forming but a link 
 (how distinguished soever) in the animal economy, he must of 
 necessity be physically subject to the same laws as the inferior 
 creatures : his intellectual superiority confers no pre-eminence 
 
EDUCATION. 101 
 
 in this respect but what is strictly conditional; it may, and 
 ought to be, made the means of greater good, but is more 
 commonly the means of greater evil. If man were perfect in 
 knowledge, and in the practice of wisdom, great indeed would 
 be his advantages ; for even the laws of nature, though irre- 
 versible in themselves, are controllable in their operation ; and 
 though man, in the great essentials, is subject to nature, yet, in 
 matters of expediency, nature is made subservient to man. 
 
 Man, though endowed with the Godlike attribute of reason, 
 finds his true superiority, not in the mere possession, but in 
 the right use of it; as, by its abuse, he is subject to a much 
 greater share of evil than any other creature; unless he 
 avail himself of the wisdom and foresight it inspires, he can 
 neither avert any evil, nor secure any good, but becomes the 
 prey of his own folly, error, and intemperance ; hence also the 
 agitation of irregular passion and mental excitement, by which 
 he is rendered obnoxious to many and serious inconveniences, 
 from which the inferior creatures are exempted. 
 
 The superiority of man being manifestly seated in his mind, 
 to that alone can the progressive principle beneficially apply, 
 by connecting it with his rational powers, leading them in a 
 perpetual advance from strength to greater strength. The 
 faculties of the brute are comprised within a narrow sphere, 
 and the swifter they advance, the sooner they retrograde. The 
 human soul, knowing no period, and having no definite bound, 
 the farther and swifter she flies, the greater is the knowledge 
 and strength she gains, while her evergrowing energies keep 
 pace with her progress. In matter, this principle revolves; 
 in the inferior creatures, animate and inanimate, it effects a 
 revolution, rising to a certain point, and then descending ; in 
 these it forms, as it were, a circle ; but in man it is an ascending 
 line of infinite extent. 
 
 The farther reason carries her research, the stronger and 
 more urgent appear the motives for imparting the needful 
 stimulus to the mind, and nurturing the youthful intellect 
 
102 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 betimes. In youth, the intelligent principle works with vigour 
 and activity, and the habits and virtues then grafted on it 
 attain to a consistent strength, leading progressively to mental 
 and moral excellence ; but if this season pass unimproved, and 
 the first generous ardours of the youthful mind be permitted to 
 subside for want of proper and congenial exercise, the attempt 
 to renew the alacrity of its powers may be ineffectual; nor, 
 perhaps, among the countless arguments for education, is there 
 one of any weight but which expressly points to, or implies > 
 its timely adoption. 
 
 The perpetual approach of created intelligences towards the 
 great standard of perfection, opens to the human soul a field 
 of sublime contemplation. In this principle of endless im- 
 provement, we recognize that all-inspiring energy which the 
 Omnipotent Creator has diffused throughout his works the 
 vital and essential power that sustains the whole; nor can 
 human language pretend to do adequate justice to a theme so 
 exalted. In this lower world, we see a wondrous and all- 
 affecting agency, which, from inert and sluggish matter, has 
 called into being a system of order, beauty, and variety, such 
 as no finite being can sufficiently admire or appreciate; the 
 structure of the meanest visible object transcending the most 
 cultivated understanding. Well may we, then, ask, where is 
 the stretch of created intellect that can rise to any credible 
 estimate of the working and effects of this Divine agency in 
 the invisible and eternal world, which is the appointed home 
 of the rational spirit, and on the bliss and intelligence of those 
 superior natures, who inhabit the celestial mansions ? 
 
 The fiat of Omnipotence, " Increase and multiply," applies, 
 doubtless, to the invisible, no less than to the visible creation ; 
 equally to the intellectual, as to the material world. The 
 Divine Bounty had, with the same word, pronounced that all 
 his works were good; in either case, therefore, to make an 
 exception, would be a gross impiety ; and if so, the powers of 
 the human mind arc destined to progress perpetually. All 
 
EDUCATION. 103 
 
 nature obeys the irreversible decree ; the incessant growth of 
 vegetation, the successive generations of men, and the ceaseless 
 progression of all things, bear witness to the truth, while they 
 attest the power of the Divine word. By direct analogy, it is 
 inferred, that the progress of the human soul, both in its powers 
 and acquisitions, is by the same law so fixed and determined, 
 that any attempt to impede the operations of the mind by 
 physical force or restraint, must be not only vain and inefficient, 
 but will have the contrary effect by causing a reaction, and 
 thereby accelerating the mental activity. 
 
 We may imagine, for instance, a thinking being deprived of 
 sight and of speech, loaded with chains, and immured in a 
 solitary dungeon ; but will the mind be fettered, or its percep- 
 tions darkened? So far from suspending or deadening the 
 mental vigour, this would be to kindle and quicken its ardours 
 by the most powerful stimulus: abstracted from intercourse 
 with objects of sense, and thrown back upon her innate re- 
 sources, all the energies of the soul would be aroused. The 
 effect, it is true, would vary in different minds. The captive 
 may pine and die, and weak spirits are broken by violence; 
 but in such cases the mental conflict has been too great, the 
 suffering has been an over-match for the fortitude, the effect 
 has been produced by over-excitement, not by the absence of 
 it. That the mind, at such a season, should remain dormant, 
 is hard to conceive ; but it is quite natural to suppose that it 
 would be wound up to the highest pitch of excitement. History 
 supplies abundant examples of heroic minds, conscious of worth, 
 and indignant at their wrongs, who have yet been superior to 
 the malice of their persecutors, and have gloried in their self- 
 possession amid their severest trials. 
 
 The endurance of privation and physical restraint, while it 
 exercises, proportionably strengthens the powers of the mind ; 
 and hence the perfection of the passive virtues, which are no 
 otherwise attainable ; hence, to gain credit for their panegyrics, 
 writers, who have endowed their heroes with mental qualities 
 
104 EDUCATION/ 
 
 of a higher order, have been constrained to lead them through 
 a previous course of privation and needful probationary 
 discipline. As we cannot set bounds to the aspirations and 
 operations of the mind, so, in many cases, we can neither keep 
 pace with nor compute its progress. Often when its collective 
 energies have been directed to one chosen object, not only has 
 it outstripped all calculation, but even excited the highest 
 admiration, by its almost superhuman flights in some favourite 
 science, or by exploring those intellectual regions which were 
 previously unknown. 
 
 An illustrious and all-sufficient proof of what this progressive 
 agency can effect, will never be wanting while the annals of 
 literature are graced by the names of a Newton and a Bacon, 
 in whom this principle was so powerfully developed, and which, 
 aided by a strong and persevering genius, enabled them to 
 scale the towering heights of science, which were inaccessible 
 to ordinary minds; while, in the vigorous and determined 
 pursuit of their exalted object, they successfully grappled with 
 every difficulty that obstructed their progress, arid finally suc- 
 ceeded in solving the most abstruse and sublime mysteries of 
 nature. 
 
 On the boundless sea of metaphysical discussion, the author 
 of these pages has no desire to embark ; " philosophical theories" 
 he deems little worth but as they bear on " matter of fact." 
 Amid the troubled waters of speculative controversy, he would 
 not venture his bark, nor willingly encounter the rough waves 
 of that fathomless abyss, where the farther we launch, the more 
 fearful are the storms to be weathered ; he would merely cruise 
 near the shore, far from its hidden rocks, its quicksands, and 
 its breakers, which to many a gallant first-rate has proved fatal. 
 The application of the preceding theory is obvious : applied to 
 the fresh and lively energies of the youthful mind, it yields the 
 fairest ground of hope, and strongest pledge of a successful 
 progress in every acquirement to which its powers are steadily 
 directed; hence the mental and moral strength of character. 
 
EDUCATION. 105 
 
 and hence that proficiency in science, which is the fruit of 
 persevering study. 
 
 This principle applies, not only to knowledge, but to virtue 
 also; with this distinction, that there being no inseparable 
 union between them, so there is no necessary correspondence 
 either in their progress or duration. With respect to know- 
 ledge, the mind must, in one sense, necessarily progress ; for 
 the result of all experience is knowledge in some kind or degree. 
 Advances in virtue may be more rapid, but are less certain in 
 possession. Acquisitions in science must be gradual, but are 
 more permanent; for the mind cannot, at will, recede in its 
 acquired ideas. Virtue is perpetually deviating to the right or 
 the left, and in some weak minds may progress and retrograde 
 alternately, a d infinitum : sometimes she soars and gains upon 
 the mind with a kind of electric volition ; whereas knowledge, 
 on every advance, has a fresh eminence to climb. 
 
 The result of all goes to prove the importance of giving 
 betimes a right bias to the mind ; for commonly it is by re- 
 peated and painful effort alone that the mind attains to a moral 
 strength of character. Nor must it be forgotten that vice is 
 also progressive, offering an easy and alluring descent, wherein 
 the youthful mind, under the influence of captivating passions, 
 is urged from stage to stage in a fearfully accelerated ratio. 
 
 There is nothing to which the human soul can aspire, nothing 
 that the bounty of Heaven has in reserve for it, but what 
 Education may be instrumental in promoting and securing; 
 we need therefore be under no apprehension of overrating its 
 importance; the danger lies wholly on the other side. The 
 present advantages of a good education, though evidently great, 
 are the least conferred by it ; its remote and lasting benefits 
 cannot be fully known till the veil of time be withdrawn ; but 
 a sound judgment, aided by reason and experience, are all- 
 sufficient to prove its efficacy for all the rational purposes of 
 human existence. 
 
 Education finds man helpless and ignorant, mentally blind. 
 
106 EDUCATION. 
 
 and intellectually poor; she imparts to him the light of know- 
 ledge and truth, and the strength of wisdom and virtue. On 
 the darkness of error, and the natural chaos of moral confusion, 
 she commands the light of truth to arise, and causes order and 
 consistency to appear : all things conspire to prove its import- 
 ance, and to proclaim its necessity and universal obligation. 
 The prince who is moved by sound policy, and a regard for 
 the welfare of his people, is bound to promote it ; the patriot 
 must surrender his title and character if he refuse to promote 
 it; the philosopher, from conviction of its expediency; the 
 philanthropist, from motives of humanity ; the parent and the 
 guardian, from natural affection, and a sense of duty, will 
 combine to promote it ; the merchant and the trader know too 
 well the worth of probity not to promote it; and, finally, all 
 who favour the cause of virtue and true religion, will not fail 
 to promote it ; and every one who does effectually promote it, 
 deserves well of his country, and is not the least among the 
 benefactors of the human race. 
 
 On the main question, the advocates of Education are agreed; 
 all would adopt the best system, but what that system is, yet 
 remains to be defined, being now, as heretofore, a matter of 
 endless opinion arid dispute ; and were it possible to hit upon 
 a plan so perfect as to exclude all error, and secure every 
 advantage, it would not content all, because, in their notions of 
 what constitutes error, or produces benefit, men widely differ ; 
 hence most establishments are distinguished by some pecu- 
 liarity, and every innovation finds its partizans. Amid such 
 various pretensions and merits, where can a standard be fixed, 
 or to which shall the palm be assigned ? It is evident that no 
 rational estimate of modern Education can be formed, without 
 taking these diversified plans as parts of a general system ; a 
 fair inference can be drawn only from the combined effects of 
 the whole, and without such a collective view, no determinate 
 judgment can be formed. 
 
 Public schools lie more open to scrutiny, and less diversity 
 
EDUCATION. 107 
 
 obtains among them than in such as are conducted after private 
 plans. Among these, many, doubtless, are admirably regu- 
 lated for every desirable purpose, whose aim and tendency is 
 to make good men as well as apt scholars; to cultivate the 
 heart not less than the head, and thus render knowledge sub- 
 servient to social happiness. But it must be owned there are 
 establishments, neither few nor unfashionable, whose celebrity 
 rests on science alone, and whose chief claim to popularity 
 consists in a facility of rendering youth expert in the obsolete 
 languages, often to the great prejudice of health, as well as the 
 exclusion of things of much greater utility and importance; 
 but candour forbids partial deductions, and bids the unpre- 
 judiced inquirer direct his observation rather to the general 
 results of Education, as manifested in the youthful manners of 
 the day. 
 
 As we have no fixed criterion to judge by, reason must 
 supply its place, by comparing the qualities we admire and 
 approve, with the youthful character as we find it: we must 
 look, then, to the conduct and habits of youth just entering 
 on the busy world, whose term of Education being completed, 
 we reasonably expect to find in them those endowments and 
 qualities of heart and mind, which are the surest passport to 
 honour and happiness. In their internal character, no less 
 than in their external deportment, we look for a pleasing proof 
 of the efficacy of that course of discipline under which they 
 have been formed, and for those fair lineaments that bear 
 witness to the power and beauty of Christian graces, blended 
 with and tempering the native ardours of youth : in proportion 
 as these becoming traits are wanting, there exists an obvious 
 cause, at least, for the suspicion of omission or neglect. 
 
 Never has there been an age so favourable to all improve- 
 ment as the present, in which science seems to assert her 
 meridian power, copiously shedding the clear light of intelli- 
 gence on the sons of men. In this, her harvest-time, reason 
 
108 EDUCATION. 
 
 may well rejoice, and justly anticipate the fairest fruits of 
 Education, now also that ingenuity has been nearly exhausted 
 to provide all the requisite means for facilitating its objects : 
 in every department of literature, concise and able treatises 
 abound ; the diversified channels of information being cleared 
 of their ancient obstructions, the streams of knowledge may 
 henceforth flow in an uninterrupted course. 
 
 The complicated interests of society require that forms of 
 Education should vary, to suit the views and avocations of 
 individuals; hence, those branches of knowledge that are 
 merely subservient to secular objects, will be variously esti- 
 mated, according as they fall in with their designs ; each will, 
 of course, lay the greatest stress on such requisites as are most 
 nearly connected with success and eminence in his particular 
 calling ; and as such differences of opinion relate only to minor 
 considerations, it is but reasonable that every man should, in 
 these respects, be at perfect liberty to judge for himself; and 
 so long as men have the power of thinking and acting freely, 
 and are swayed by self-interest and self-opinion, so long will 
 these motives enter into their schemes, and shape their plans. 
 
 Education has ever a two-fold object in view; the needful 
 knowledge it imparts is of two kinds the one adapted to man's 
 temporal need, the other essential to his future happiness ; the 
 one subservient only to sublunary interests, fluctuating and 
 terminating with them ; the other fixed and immutable as truth 
 itself, which forms its proper basis. For the neglect of this 
 primary object the rectifying and exalting his virtue and his 
 reason no eminence of science, no earthly interest, can atone ; 
 but this being secured, Education becomes all things to all 
 men, and may be varied at will to promote any private or 
 public object. 
 
 Whether a neglected or an erroneous Education be the greater 
 evil, must always depend on the kind of error, and the degree 
 of neglect ; but a cultivated mind, though it may be clouded 
 
EDUCATION. 109 
 
 by prejudice, is, at least, more accessible to the conviction of 
 truth than the Egyptian gloom of ignorance, which, could it 
 admit the same light, has not the same power to use it aright. 
 Ignorance opens the door to every specious error, entangles its 
 victim in a labyrinth of evils, and if it accompany any virtue, 
 it commonly betrays it : from vice it affords no protection, but 
 is rather the signal for its assaults. A prejudice has seldom 
 more than one foe to contend with; but ignorance can at all 
 times number a host. 
 
 Even to the well-disciplined youth, life, at the outset, is 
 thickest with perils, but hope sickens at the prospect it offers 
 for the untutored. No sooner does man emerge into the world, 
 than he is surrounded and engrossed by objects and cares that 
 put all his powers in action, and is subject to the ceaseless 
 importunity of restless passions, each demanding its own grati- 
 fication. Interest, pleasure, and ambition, are ever pulling 
 him in contrary directions, and in this distraction of mind the 
 forward vices will often find a more cordial welcome than the 
 modest and retiring virtues: without discrimination and self- 
 command, in no common degree, he will be deceived by the 
 mask of artifice and falsehood, and yield at length to the fatal 
 influence of irregular desires, even should he have courage to 
 resist their first attacks, 
 
 Though errors enter singly into the mind, they ever follow 
 in a train, and one introduces another, till their combined 
 power has usurped the throne of reason, and blinded the judg- 
 ment. Wisdom and instruction will then be too late ; all the 
 avenues to the mind, which should have been secured, will 
 now be closed against their approach. Amid the clamour of 
 the conflicting passions, their call will be unheeded, and virtue, 
 doomed to wander defenceless and bewildered among the 
 thousand tracks of error that intersect her path, will lie pros- 
 trate at the first attack of overpowering temptation. Neglect 
 is not, indeed, a definite error, but it is more ; it is the great 
 source whence every disorder flows, being at once the parent 
 
110 EDUCATION. 
 
 of ignorance and disobedience, and of all that is base and 
 degrading in the human character. 
 
 But, it may be asked, what power or authority can restrain 
 the headstrong youth, who obstinately follows the bent of his 
 irregular inclinations, in defiance of advice, admonitions, and 
 threats ? Much, it is to be hoped, may be done if he be not 
 mad outright. Nature demands intervals of repose, and in 
 such seasons reason will resume her dominion, and suggest 
 better things. Nature, it is known, possesses a wondrous 
 though secret power, whereby the noblest virtues are some- 
 times grafted on and supersede the rankest passions; and 
 characteristic vigour, when turned from its wild and lawless 
 course, works oft with an efficacy unknown to innocence itself. 
 
 In the calm period of reflection that must often intervene, 
 even in the most dissipated and licentious pursuits, could the 
 virtuous and dignified Socrates, with his persuasive eloquence, 
 affectionately propose a few of his impressive and heart- 
 searching interrogations, how would our thoughtless adventurer 
 be perplexed and abashed ! In the vain endeavour to excul- 
 pate himself, all the powers of thought would be aroused, and 
 if but a spark of reason remained, would rekindle the slum- 
 bering embers of virtue : from self-conviction he could not 
 possibly escape; the enchantment would at least be broken, 
 and he must either attempt a reformation, or wage perpetual 
 warfare with an alarmed conscience, a contest far too unequal 
 for nature, unless utterly abandoned and depraved. 
 
 Notwithstanding the superior information, and the many 
 advantages that time and experience may justly be expected 
 to bring with them, it does not appear so plainly as could be 
 wished, that either the present, or coming times, promise an 
 adequate increase of wisdom and happiness. Not without 
 cause we congratulate ourselves on the pre-eminence we enjoy 
 above our ancestors : great is our superiority in all science and 
 literature, and in the arts of luxury and refinement ; but are 
 we equally their superiors in individual worth and sterling 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 virtue ; or is not the falseness that mingles with our refinement 
 rather put to rebuke by the sincerity that was blended with 
 their simplicity ? 
 
 If the manners of youth present always a faithful index to 
 the spirit of the times, those of the present day will yield but 
 slender occasion for boasting. What, it may be asked, are the 
 qualities that chiefly distinguish our youth? Are they filial 
 piety, exemplary deportment, a love of study, and an honour- 
 able thirst for knowledge ? Are they actuated by the ruling 
 desire of becoming useful members of the community ; or do 
 not their motives seem to centre, almost exclusively, in selfish 
 interest alone, apparently making the world, with its vain circle 
 of pleasures, the supreme idol of their hearts ? A sweeping 
 censure would be cynical and unjust; but if there be cause to 
 suspect a preponderance of the latter qualities, the fault must 
 surely be ascribed rather to error and mismanagement than to 
 nature. 
 
 But neglect, though a manifest and frequent source of mis- 
 chief, is by no means the only one. The evils that flow from 
 an undue and ill-timed seventy, though less common, are 
 equally pernicious, and the misuse of discipline is often worse 
 even than the want of it, and more difficult to remedy, by its 
 giving birth to those alienated and bitter feelings, which are 
 most adverse to the ends of Education. The youth who thinks 
 he has just cause to regard the severities imposed on him in 
 the light of oppression and injustice, cherishes a spirit of de- 
 termined hostility, urging him to throw off so troublesome a 
 yoke, and, on the first opportunity, to show his contempt and 
 abhorrence of all arbitrary restraint, by a line of conduct 
 diametrically opposed to it ; and thus does a too rigorous dis- 
 cipline frustrate its own end, in addition to other serious 
 inconveniences, that too often result from the injudicious 
 exercise of it. 
 
 To these considerations is to be added the undeniable fact, 
 that multitudes, of the most promising genius, have been 
 
112 EDUCATION. 
 
 sacrificed, and many consigned to an early tomb by coercive 
 methods of prematurely developing the powers of the mind, 
 by which its rising energies are overstrained and broken ; for 
 such is the natural and too common effect of all undue mental 
 exactions on a delicate constitution. 
 
 It is not needful to consult medical science in order to be 
 convinced that a sound and healthful frame is as essential to 
 mental excellence as to bodily comfort ; and that a broken and 
 dejected spirit is the constant companion of a decaying consti- 
 tution. In every state of Education, the body claims its due 
 share of attention : in infancy and extreme age, the mind seems 
 often to be wholly dependent on it ; and even in the prime of 
 manhood, it is only when the bodily health is good, that the 
 mind can act with ease and vigour. This subject having been 
 treated of in the preceding essay, it is here merely touched 
 upon, from a conviction of the folly and danger of affecting an 
 indifference for all such things as are not in themselves purely 
 intellectual. Errors of this class clearly arise from ignorance 
 of the physical structure of man, and of the close and mys- 
 terious union of matter and mind in his constitution ; for how 
 spiritual and intellectual soever we would persuade ourselves 
 or others that we are, the flattering theory is ill supported, or 
 rather is manifestly discountenanced, by our daily experience. 
 
 Severity being in some degree an evil, can be eligible only 
 as the means of counteracting a greater evil, such as a con- 
 firmed refractoriness ; in such cases it is available as an ultimate 
 remedy, when other and milder expedients are hopeless; but 
 though no argument can recommend it as an approved means, 
 or necessary for improvement, it still finds advocates in some 
 of our grammar-schools, and similar establishments. The great 
 number of pupils in some of these is a plea for coercive measures 
 as being the most summary and decided ; but corporal punish- 
 ments are now justly on the decline, and harsh methods are 
 fast yielding to more rational and effectual means. To some, 
 who can look back for half a century, the remembrance may 
 
EDUCATION. ll;j 
 
 still be fresh, of the repulsive features then more common in 
 Education than at present ; when the now exploded system of 
 austerity was enforced with the rigour of monkish discipline ; 
 and deplorable was the condition of the youth whose generous 
 nature was subject to a system so slavish and ignorant ; 
 whatever might have been the fate of his head, his heart was 
 little consulted, and the best feelings of his nature were con- 
 sequently alienated in disgust. 
 
 Many a worthy man has looked back with indignation on 
 the hateful system of mental drudgery by which his youth was 
 oppressed ; not an imaginary ordeal, but a positive purgatory, 
 in which the memory was surcharged with indigestible mate- 
 rials, the spirits exhausted by continued exertion, and the 
 mind kept on a perpetual stretch, rendered more painful by 
 the dread of the impending penalty that awaited a failure. 
 The most enterprising spirit is unequal to such discourage- 
 ments, but to the delicate mind they are overwhelming, and 
 may be fatal ; and even should such means occasionally suc- 
 ceed, it would be incurring a certain evil in pursuit of a pre- 
 carious good: peace of mind is sacrificed, innocent pleasure 
 excluded, the temper probably soured, and health impaired by 
 an ill-judged course of unmerited suffering; but nature will 
 always revolt at so unequal a struggle, and, sooner or later, a 
 reaction will be the certain consequence. 
 
 Severity is also as absurd as it is unnatural, when employed 
 for the attainment of things of secondary import; but how 
 greatly is the absurdity and cruelty increased, if, in reality, 
 there is no occasion for it, and if it fail to effect what kindness 
 might readily have accomplished ! Nature, always consistent 
 with herself, has made ample and wise provision for the growth 
 and culture of every excellence, by the quick sense of honour 
 and shame, the strong desire of praise, and the rooted aversion 
 to disgrace, implanted in every breast : on these every virtue 
 may be engrafted ; by them every fault may be supplanted ; 
 even the love of pleasure, which all admit to be universal, 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 supplies more effectual stimulants to exertion, and better 
 correctives of indolence, than all the powers of force and 
 threatening combined. 
 
 In favour of kindly motives, it is also to be remembered, 
 that in the effects they produce, the mind is always a willing 
 agent and an interested party ; and they who have to do with 
 youth, must know, and ought to consider, that what is not 
 willingly done, is rarely, if ever, well done ; whereas, by making 
 the desire of praise and reward the motive, not only is im- 
 provement promoted, but a cheerful temper also, which is 
 connected with many solid advantages, preserving the proper 
 tone of the mind, and conducing to bodily health ; which are 
 main ingredients in Education, as well as in happiness. 
 
 On a lively sense of honour and shame, every desirable habit 
 may be formed and perfected ; whereas compulsion can effect 
 but little, and nothing well, because it runs counter to the 
 will: actions never ripen into habit by a forced repetition; 
 inclination must be gained over, without which all reformation 
 is insincere and imperfect. A youth may be constrained to 
 study eight or ten hours a day, and for any length of time ; he 
 may thus become accustomed to it ; but give him his liberty, and 
 it will quickly appear whether it possess the strength of a habit 
 or not : if it has not been a voluntary effort on his part, his 
 habits will immediately assume a different form, and side with 
 inclination, running to the extreme, perhaps, in a course dia- 
 metrically opposed to their former current. 
 
 From such considerations it would appear, that systems of 
 discipline, founded in error, may be productive of consequences 
 scarcely less injurious than such as arise from positive neglect ; 
 and hence we gather an additional proof of the necessity of a 
 right judgment in matters connected with Education, in order 
 to discern and obviate the difficulties that beset it ; but skill 
 and patience can work miracles, and possess the secret of ren- 
 dering even the meanest passions in some way subservient to 
 the great end of improvement. 
 
EDUCATION. 115 
 
 Among the diversified plans of modern Education, their 
 very general failure leads to a suspicion that the systems and 
 the pupils were not very well matched. One grand defect 
 appears to be, that in many (otherwise excellent) plans, boys 
 seem to have been considered as beings purely rational and in- 
 tellectual, whereas the proper business of Education is to make 
 them such; and it is more than probable that the most ingenious 
 theories, how faultless soever in themselves, will ultimately 
 avail nothing, unless framed with immediate reference to the 
 true and natural genius of youth. Some, it is true, are studious 
 and obedient, but many are the reverse ; and it is the office of 
 wisdom, in working a cure, to adapt, as well as to apply, the 
 remedy to the disease. 
 
 But, it may be asked, are not boys rational beings ? That 
 many are imperfectly so, may be admitted ; but the majority 
 can advance but a slender claim to this high character, till 
 experience and discipline have taught them to reflect. The 
 few who are by nature of thoughtful and retired habits, form 
 exceptions, and may, with comparative safety, be left to them- 
 selves: Education has chiefly to do with the indolent, the 
 sportive, the refractory, and the heedless: these are to be 
 won, convinced, and reformed ; and either the system must be 
 adapted to these youthful needs and defects, or youth must be 
 prepared for the system (an absurdity even in idea), or there 
 will be no permanent agreement between them. The error 
 of many projectors is, perhaps, a too great refinement, which 
 will not stoop to that simplicity, which would have formed, 
 probably, the best feature in most of the systems where it 
 has been omitted. 
 
 Frequent are the complaints of the ignorance of youth, espe- 
 cially of such as have completed their education ; and to the 
 parent it is a serious grievance, though, to a certain extent, 
 attributable often to themselves. Protracted vacations may 
 be assigned as one cause of the deficiency; it is certainly no 
 extravagant arithmetic to affirm, that most boys will forget in 
 
 i2 
 
116 EDUCATION. 
 
 six weeks what they have been three months in acquiring, and 
 if it be so with the diligent, much more with the idle. 
 
 The early suppression of curiosity (often in the nursery) is 
 among the leading causes of ignorance, whereby the spirit of 
 inquiry is damped, which is nature's first signal for information ; 
 opening and preparing the mind for the reception of those 
 intellectual treasures, which from time to time are to be stored 
 up in the memory. The right use of reason is a sovereign and 
 indispensable good, and a right use of the means is essential 
 to its acquisition ; but to repress childish curiosity is to dry up 
 the springs and sources of knowledge at the outset, and a weak 
 and defective judgment is the natural consequence. 
 
 Voluntary acquirements are, doubtless, more lasting than 
 such as are the result of forced exertion ; but the chief cause 
 of ignorance is often seated in the character of youth, in that 
 natural indolence and aversion to studious habits, which it is 
 so difficult wholly to eradicate. To effect this, emulation must 
 be roused, and an interest excited : the susceptibilities of youth 
 are wakeful ; ignorance and indolence are quickly put to shame 
 and rebuke by the praises bestowed on merit and intelligence ; 
 nothing will more effectually put negligence to the blush, than 
 a well-timed comparison, or well-managed satire, which has 
 power often to kindle a spirit of resolution in the most indif- 
 ferent. Wounded pride becomes a powerful auxiliary, and 
 will often stir the mind to a course of honourable exertion; 
 whereas the adoption of harsh measures, as a remedy, often 
 increases the evil, and has been known to occasion an incurable 
 apathy and disgust towards all subsequent means of improve- 
 ment. 
 
 In extreme cases of obstinacy, dissimulation, or of any gross 
 breach of morality, corporal punishment may be advisable, as 
 the most summary and effectual; but in all that pertains to 
 intellectual culture, reason is not only the most proper, but 
 the most powerful corrective ; and he who has not ability to 
 make it thus available, must be deficient in skill or temper 
 
EDUCATION. 117 
 
 both essential qualifications of a teacher. The higher British 
 authorities, including Locke, are unanimous in support of ra- 
 tional and gentle measures; and, among foreigners, Fenelon 
 and Montaigne may be noticed, whose writings are celebrated 
 throughout the lettered world. The latter has left it upon 
 record, that he was educated without any mixture of severity ; 
 a signal proof of the efficacy of lenient methods. One thing is 
 evident, that these superior geniuses never had their spirits 
 broken, nor their tempers soured; but severity might have 
 done both, and so have deprived mankind of the noble legacies 
 they bequeathed to the world. 
 
 To assert that, in England, due attention is not given to 
 Education, would be a groundless and unmerited aspersion on 
 the truly enlightened and Christian spirit of the age. It may 
 be that in some, nay, in many instances, perhaps, much valuable 
 time is absorbed by things of little worth, to the exclusion of 
 others of primary importance ; such objections, however, apply 
 but partially, and chiefly affect the wealthier and middling 
 classes. If, in the education of their own children, the rich are 
 occasionally chargeable with tolerating, in some degree, either 
 error or abuse, they at least possess the redeeming virtue of 
 excluding it with care from all the systems they have planned 
 for the benefit of their inferiors : this is especially the case in 
 the religious instruction of the children of the poor. As it 
 respects this important branch of juvenile tuition, they may 
 be said to have dealt better with their dependents than with 
 themselves; for it is generally observable that, in schools of 
 the humblest description, the greatest stress is laid on the 
 knowledge and practical duties of Christianity. 
 
 The wonderful increase of charitable establishments of every 
 description, and for the purposes of Education in particular, 
 may well challenge the admiration of the enlightened foreigner ; 
 and should the rapid growth of such institutions be, in some 
 cases, attributable to a spirit of emulation among differing 
 sects of Christians, rather than to the pure and unmixed motive 
 
118 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 of charity, yet of all rivalry it is the most beneficent and the 
 most happy in its effects. Ambition, flowing in so honourable 
 a channel, assumes the character of heavenly wisdom, and 
 becomes powerfully instrumental towards the perfecting of the 
 virtue and happiness of the human race. 
 
 The wise and liberal provision for rightly educating the poor, 
 now forms a proud national feature, reflecting the highest credit 
 on its promoters ; and though the origin of these schools may 
 often be traced to other and better than worldly motives, yet 
 the most sagacious policy could never have laid a surer foun- 
 dation for national prosperity. Many being of a recent date, 
 their social operation cannot yet be fully appreciated ; but time 
 and continued support will, doubtless, manifest their beneficial 
 tendency, and realize the hopes of their philanthropic friends. 
 
 In every nation, but more especially in a great commercial 
 state, the labouring classes necessarily comprise a considerable 
 part of the entire population ; and it is of vital importance to 
 the great trading interests, that these be trained to habits of 
 industry, temperance, and fidelity. They compose the wheels 
 and springs of the constitutional machinery, and if they be out 
 of order, all must go wrong. To these humble but sterling 
 qualities the greatest empires have owed their rise : with public 
 virtue they grew and flourished, and with popular corruption 
 they again sank to their pristine insignificance. There is. 
 perhaps, no medium of public Education less open to objec- 
 tions than the parochial charity schools; nor does their sim- 
 plicity constitute their least perfection ; nothing is taught but 
 what is deemed indispensable ; and one valuable feature which 
 they have in common, viz. schools where the children are 
 lodged and boarded, is the exclusion of evil from outward 
 contamination a negative merit, perhaps, but combined with 
 more solid advantages than many a prouder system can confer. 
 But this is their least praise; religion is properly taught and 
 attended to, forming a prominent part of the daily routine, 
 and is thus made the solid and consistent basis on which the 
 
EDUCATION. 119 
 
 whole social and moral superstructure is raised. As these 
 plans include only such acquirements as are decidedly useful, 
 and they being but few, the attention is not so divided but 
 that they may be thoroughly attained, which is rarely the case 
 when the mind is at once engaged in many pursuits. 
 
 Another obvious benefit to society, from the adoption of such 
 establishments, is the suppression of numerous day-schools of 
 the lowest description, where, for a trifling weekly pittance, the 
 children of the poor were crowded together, in a scene, often, of 
 continued noise and confusion. Economy, or rather necessity, 
 being the parents' motive, they were not entitled to expect 
 much either from the master or the pupils ; and as small gains 
 must be averaged by increased numbers, hence may be inferred 
 the anarchy likely to prevail among so mixed and numerous 
 an assemblage of undisciplined boys. The preceptor's policy 
 in such trying circumstances would naturally be to get rid of 
 his daily annoyance on as easy terms as the nature of his 
 engagements would permit. 
 
 The injurious operation of such a system needs no comment ; 
 it is evident that such receptacles for unruly children must 
 ever tend to increase, instead of counteracting, the evils which 
 abound in crowded and indigent neighbourhoods. Happily 
 these disorders are fast receding before the spirit of Christian 
 philanthropy which now pervades the empire; the wants of 
 the needy are every where anticipated by the bounty of the 
 rich ; and the solid advantages of Education are now proffered 
 nearly to all, without money and without price. 
 
 It would argue no small defect of judgment, to suppose that 
 the good resulting from such benevolent exertions will be 
 reaped exclusively by the poor. All who patronize, will be 
 indirectly and ultimately gainers ; and should not its salutary 
 effects, in full measure, be witnessed by its present promoters, 
 they have the true satisfaction of knowing that, ultimately, 
 their posterity and the nation at large will not fail to parti- 
 cipate in the happy fruits of the seeds thus wisely sown. 
 
120 EDUCATION. 
 
 The working portion of this great empire (not merely in a 
 commercial view, but effectually and in the strictest sense) is a 
 vast and influential body, whose interests are closely interwoven 
 with the national honour and welfare. The whole political 
 superstructure rests on the labouring millions; in them are 
 centered the main roots of national prosperity and national 
 power ; the adoption, therefore, of means essentially conducive 
 to their moral and intellectual improvement, while it strengthens 
 industry, and adds intelligence to individual utility, collectively 
 enhances the dignity of the public character; hence also the 
 national prospects will necessarily expand and brighten with 
 the spread of intelligence and moral worth among the operative 
 classes. 
 
 Well-conducted establishments are now every where to be 
 met with, whose professed object is the advancement of true 
 piety; these all owe their rise and support to that spirit of 
 Christian benevolence, so honourably characteristic of the 
 times. Public gratitude is also due to the promoters of 
 Sunday-schools, whereby a reproachful gap in Christian morals 
 has been eligibly filled. The habitual profanation of the sab- 
 bath, a prolific root of crime, and which had grown into one 
 of the worst features of juvenile delinquency, has thus been 
 laudably arrested, and may eventually, it is to be hoped, wholly 
 be excluded from this most favoured land. The Christian 
 sabbath is thus made, happily, instrumental towards the high 
 and benevolent design of its primitive appointment. The 
 respectful observance of the day, with the orderly deportment 
 of the children in these schools, merit the warmest encourage- 
 ments ; the beginnings of licentiousness are thus checked, and 
 its overflowings prevented ; while to the children of want arid 
 labour are secured that innocence and integrity, which consti- 
 tute their best portion and sole earthly inheritance. 
 
 The formation of schools for infant tuition, presents a recent 
 feature in our public Education ; and the rapidity with which 
 this new system has grown into popular favour, renders it an 
 
EDUCATION. 121 
 
 object of increasing interest and importance. As the adoption 
 of infant-schools is now becoming general, they will probably, 
 at no very remote period, form a national feature of considerable 
 magnitude; it therefore becomes the imperative duty of all 
 who are active and influential in forwarding them, to ascertain 
 not only their positive merits, as grounded on present expe- 
 diency, but also the probable consequences that may result 
 to society from their future operation, supposing them to be 
 generally adopted : this, it is evident, should be done with a 
 view to obviate the unforeseen inconveniences that might 
 otherwise creep in by degrees, and gather strength with their 
 growth. The wisest plan in such cases, if there be the least 
 room for doubt, is to meet and invite, rather than to shun, 
 objections; to investigate, rather than reject, whatever may, 
 with seeming reason, be urged against them. By thus sub- 
 mitting their merits to the severest test, the surest foundation 
 is laid for their permanent success. 
 
 The strongest current of popular favour constitutes no suf- 
 ficient and unerring authority for the guidance of individual 
 judgment. If, indeed, sudden and extensive patronage were 
 an infallible sign of true desert, these schools would claim an 
 unlimited support ; but as it cannot be denied that this general 
 plan for infant education (how excellent soever) introduces a 
 social innovation of no small magnitude, it ought, doubtless, 
 to be well scrutinized in all its points and bearings; and its 
 best advocate is he who timely discovers any abuses to which 
 it may be liable, in order that they may be the more effectually 
 excluded. In all questions nearly affecting the public weal, 
 or involving its future interests, a hearty concurrence should 
 be preceded by the most perfect conviction attainable. 
 
 There seems, also, to be a greater need for caution in cases 
 where a direct appeal is made to the heart ; because benevo- 
 lence is apt to take the lead of judgment, and thus reason is 
 often thrown off her guard. The manifest design of infant- 
 schools is so highly creditable to humanity, that there is ground 
 
122 EDUCATION. 
 
 to suspect that the kind and laudable intention may operate in 
 many minds as a veil upon the understanding, and elicit a 
 cordial support, independent of the consideration of their real 
 merits and tendency. In addition to the ingenious and plau- 
 sible theories employed by the advocates of the new system for 
 infantile tuition, the warmth of parental feeling is elicited in 
 behalf of the most helpless and interesting portion of the com- 
 munity: it presents itself to the mind as the cause of pure 
 humanity, and the appeal is irresistible, from the sympathy it 
 naturally excites. But amiable and laudable as this may be 
 upon individual occasions, yet in matters of general import, 
 forming a public precedent, and involving, it may be, serious 
 considerations, it is at least prudent to deliberate ere we 
 determine. 
 
 From the sentiments laid down in the preceding essay, 
 touching the error and danger of subjecting the infant mind 
 to undue restraint and application, it might be inferred that 
 the author's opinions are at variance with a system whose 
 primary object apparently is the culture of the human intellect 
 from its very dawn. Should his reasonings on this interesting 
 topic have suggested objections that are applicable to any part 
 of the plan, yet be it remembered, that all general theories 
 are liable to partial exceptions, and that necessity may justify 
 a departure from an approved rule, when the object is to secure 
 a greater good. But even such an objection does not aptly 
 apply here; these schools owe not their origin, singly, to a 
 conviction of the expediency of cultivating the infant mind, or 
 as a means of raising the human intellect to higher degrees of 
 perfection ; but rather, and with better reason, were designed 
 as a timely check to a serious and wide-spreading mischief. A 
 manifest evil existed, and to a great extent ; to root out this 
 social grievance, and plant liberally, in its place, the seeds of 
 future good to society at large, was the praiseworthy motive ; 
 and should the success be answerable to the merits of the 
 design, its friends can have nothing to fear. 
 
EDUCATION. 123 
 
 Whether these schools are fully adapted to remedy the evil 
 complained of, remains to be proved; but there can be no 
 doubt of their beneficial tendency in all populous and manu- 
 facturing districts ; in many parts of the metropolis, and other 
 great cities ; and, in short, in all crowded and indigent neigh- 
 bourhoods, where their manifest utility entitles them to the 
 warmest support. In all cases wherein the time and attention 
 of the parent is necessarily engrossed by their daily occupation ; 
 to all who are constrained to absent themselves from their 
 homes and families at stated periods, and perhaps for the entire 
 day, it offers a protecting asylum, where their children find 
 proper tendance and instruction, who otherwise might be left 
 to pine amid the ill consequences of neglect. Thus are they 
 rescued from a train of evils, and fitted to become a blessing 
 to their friends and to society : these most pleasing results may 
 be justly anticipated from the steady operation of a system in 
 which intelligence and humanity are thus happily combined. 
 
 Great, however, as are the general benefits which infant- 
 schools seem to indicate, they may, in particular instances, lie 
 open to objections never contemplated by their first promoters, 
 who could discern nought but what is laudable in a system that 
 promises so fair. Such may, perhaps, deem it rather cynical 
 than wise to harbour a suspicion of error, or anticipate abuse, 
 where appearances are so prepossessing. The facts, however, 
 of every day, force upon our notice such painful proofs of 
 human frailty, as to render vigilance and caution indispensable 
 in all plans of a social and general bearing, and doubly so in 
 whatever bears the stamp of novelty or innovation ; for, un- 
 happily, so it falls out, that wherever there is the means, there 
 seems commonly to be the will also to pervert even the best 
 and most praiseworthy intentions. This perverse spirit is 
 known to prevail among the lower orders to such a degree, as 
 in a measure to counteract the designs of their truest benefac- 
 tors; and hence the necessity of proceeding on the surest 
 
124 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 ground, and of guarding every avenue against abuse and en- 
 croachment. 
 
 The real merits of every new system must be decided by 
 experiment, rather than by theory ; its operation should, there- 
 fore, be limited till its good effects be well defined. Whatever 
 degree of estimation may be attached to infant-schools, it must 
 be regulated, chiefly, by three considerations, involving their 
 consequences to society, to the children, and to the parents. 
 All the advantage the public may expect to derive, must be 
 by means of the benefits conferred on the children and their 
 parents, and will be in proportion to the amelioration of so 
 large a class of the community. It is evident also that, the 
 children being wholly dependent on the will of the parents, 
 the success of the plan will, in a great measure, rest with them, 
 depending on the manner in which they may choose to avail 
 themselves of the advantages thus freely proffered. Could they 
 readily be induced to take a right view of their best interests, 
 so as cordially to co-operate with their benefactors, the system 
 could hardly fail to work well. 
 
 As the success of these establishments will greatly depend 
 on their management, it is obvious that none should be in- 
 trusted with this charge, unless duly qualified ; discretion and 
 ability must combine to give weight to their endeavours, and 
 enable them to improve opportunities for making a favour- 
 able impression on the minds of the parents, with whom they 
 will have a principal part to sustain. In order to produce this 
 desirable effect, it is necessary that they should acquit them- 
 selves respectably. Were other motives wanting, curiosity 
 would naturally lead the parents to see and converse with those 
 who have the care of their children ; to them they must apply 
 on all ordinary occasions, and consult on every emergency : 
 from this intercourse will necessarily result a favourable or 
 unfavourable impression ; and a good or evil report will be the 
 certain consequence. 
 
EDUCATION. 125 
 
 A disposition to canvass the merits of new and popular 
 pretensions, is a well-known characteristic of the subordinate 
 classes ; it is therefore the soundest policy to conciliate oppo- 
 sition, and secure the good opinion of all : this may best be 
 effected by the selection of persons of suitable intelligence and 
 experience to superintend these schools, who, by keeping a 
 watchful eye over their interests, might be enabled to check 
 the beginnings of abuse. Good sense and good nature are not 
 more needful to win the affections of the children, than dis- 
 crimination and firmness to give weight to their authority with 
 the parents. Were the least infringement of the rules tolerated, 
 they would soon be violated with impunity, and a corrupt pre- 
 cedent would be held out for the imitation of others. Much 
 attention and perseverance may at first be requisite to bring 
 parents and children into due training and regularity ; but such 
 vigilance at the outset will produce the happiest results, and 
 obviate much after inconvenience. To insure a ready circum- 
 spection on the part of the master or mistress, they should not 
 be burdened with a too numerous and extensive charge, whose 
 pressing and immediate duties would not leave sufficient leisure 
 to detect encroachments, which, if not timely prevented, would 
 creep in and multiply apace. 
 
 Few objections can be urged to the mode in which the 
 children are actually occupied in these establishments ; varied 
 amusement and exercise are happily blended with familiar 
 and colloquial instruction a system infinitely better fitted to 
 nourish the infant mind, than any possible plan of formal 
 restriction. The absurdity of professing, as some have done, 
 to " make little children clever," would form the worst part of 
 the system, no less prejudicial than ridiculous, requiring the 
 imposition of such ill-timed restraint, as could not fail to beget 
 an insuperable distaste towards all subsequent discipline. In 
 the training of young children, it is manifestly unwise to enforce 
 any plan of instruction that might have a tendency to sadden 
 the temper, and undermine the health, by checking the animal 
 
126 EDUCATION. 
 
 growth and spirits at that tender age. The school-rooms, also, 
 should be spacious, well aired, and not crowded ; none should 
 be admitted at too early an age, neither should any be expelled 
 without some show of form and ceremony for example's sake. 
 
 What has been here advanced in favour of infant-schools, 
 applies exclusively to those neighbourhoods where there is an 
 absolute call for them, and where, under Divine Providence, 
 they may prove an incalculable blessing to the industrious 
 poor ; for, notwithstanding all that has been urged on the sub- 
 ject, I should forbear to recommend their universal adoption, 
 till time has shown more of their fruits. The test of experience 
 can alone solve those doubts which the author has shared in 
 common with others who have exercised their thoughts on this 
 subject. Safely may they be recommended on the score of 
 local utility ; but to advocate their unlimited establishment, as 
 an approved medium for the education of all classes of children 
 indiscriminately, is quite another thing, involving many inte- 
 resting considerations. 
 
 But, it may be asked, what is the mischief to be apprehended, 
 supposing that infant-schools were erected in every parish in 
 the empire, and that the middling and wealthier classes should 
 universally adopt them for the incipient stage of education, as 
 the most eligible medium for moulding the infant mind, setting 
 aside the considerations of wealth, station, &c., as secondary 
 motives ? We have, as yet, hardly sufficient experience of its 
 results to warrant so fixed an estimate of its collective merits, 
 as to apply them to so novel and complex a scale, which cannot 
 be fully and fairly done till the experiment has been tried on 
 such a plan as may solve every conjecture as to the wisdom 
 and good policy of allowing it to spread without any assigned 
 limit. The question is fairly before the public, and its merits 
 or demerits will, in the event, most effectually plead for or 
 against its further extension ; and it is surely wiser and safer 
 to proceed gradually, than to urge it forward on so wide a plan, 
 while its ulterior tendency remains questionable. The doubts 
 
EDUCATION. 127 
 
 which reflection suggests are commonly based on reason, and 
 it has been often found, that human wisdom, by ingeniously 
 seeking to refine upon natural and established usages, has 
 incurred the danger of running to extremes, and thereby 
 leading its votaries to encounter errors, that to their visionary 
 philosophy had not been revealed. 
 
 It is evident that a perfect approval of infant-schools, on the 
 ground of local utility, may very well consist with strong doubts 
 as to the good policy of adopting them universally. It may 
 be advisable thus to dispose even of all the children of the poor 
 indiscriminately; but there are serious objections against their 
 extension to those classes of society which are not constrained 
 by any necessity to adopt the plan. Such a proposal would, no 
 doubt, find advocates; some might be led to countenance it 
 in compliance with the prevailing spirit of the time, and others 
 might lend it a partial support upon trust, which would be as 
 quickly withdrawn on the failure of its promised efficacy. The 
 stronger the current of popular favour, the greater is the danger 
 of a reaction, where promise and performance keep unequal 
 pace, and where high and plausible pretensions are not followed 
 by their corresponding fruits. 
 
 But supposing this infant system to be thus generally 
 adopted, it is at least questionable whether its ulterior opera- 
 tion might not be injurious; whether its tendency might 
 not be gradually to weaken the authority of the parent and 
 the obedience of the child, by prematurely drawing a line of 
 separation between them ; whether it might not loosen the bond 
 of reciprocal affection, and so endanger the most holy and 
 beautiful of social ties, at least in the infant breast; whether 
 it might not render the poor less provident, or the rich less 
 mindful of the parental charge; whether such an uniform 
 system of training might not induce, in some degree, a same- 
 ness and insipidity of character, tending ultimately to impair 
 those individualities and characteristic distinctions, which are, 
 
128 EDUCATION. 
 
 perhaps, essential to social order ; are questions that at least 
 furnish matter for consideration ; and it is more than probable 
 that, in particular cases, some such results would follow. 
 
 But the strongest objections, perhaps, that can be urged on 
 this head, are such as are grounded on the nature and efficacy 
 of maternal influence. To enlarge on this point, would be to 
 enumerate all that has been advanced on this subject in the 
 preceding essay, to which it may suffice to refer the reader, 
 who is actuated by a desire of entering more closely into the 
 merits of this part of the question. 
 
 In the most approved plans for infant tuition, simplicity 
 very properly forms the leading feature, and is, perhaps, the 
 most meritorious part of the system. In whatever relates to 
 the training of the infant mind, every departure from simplicity 
 is a manifest defect; when, therefore, certain advocates for 
 infantile education speak of infallible modes of teaching chil- 
 dren to reflect ere they can give distinct utterance to their 
 thoughts, both reason and nature incline us to question the 
 wisdom and efficacy of the attempt: supposing it were even 
 practicable, it is very doubtful whether it would be advisable ; 
 and those who profess to do such wonders with infants, are far 
 more likely to injure than to benefit them. Such means may, 
 in forward minds, produce a precocious and brittle wit, but 
 this is directly opposed to a solid and rational one. A super- 
 ficial cunning might thus be superinduced on the mind, which 
 with an ignorant few, perhaps, might pass for superior intelli- 
 gence; but the discerning mind would reject the absurdity, 
 suspecting, with good reason, that the right digestion of such 
 knowledge far exceeded any powers of the infant mind. 
 
 It is more than probable that a child imbibes nobler ideas 
 and more lasting impressions from its own free observation, 
 than from any artificial guidance. Reason bids us follow 
 nature closely, but forbids us to force her in the first operations 
 of the mind. Nothing great or grand was ever yet a forced 
 
EDUCATION. 129 
 
 ind hasty production ; all that is most estimable in nature, is 
 of slow and steady growth. The child of the peasant, reared 
 in simplicity and solitude, who at the age of seven or eight 
 years probably knows not its letters, is by many deemed an 
 object of commiseration ; but it may be questionable whether 
 the advantage be not on his side, although compared with the 
 town-bred child, who at the same age has, perhaps, made 
 considerable progress in elementary science ; not that a rustic 
 simplicity is in itself desirable, but because we not uncommonly 
 find it accompanied with a freer and bolder turn of thought, 
 with faculties fresh and lively, and that constitutional stamen, 
 which gives the fairest promise of a vigorous, though slowly 
 maturing, intellect. A sound and healthful bodily frame is, 
 of all things, most desirable in a child, and as needful to its 
 virtue as to its happiness. The hardy plant of the soil can 
 better brave the storm than the flowering-shrub of the hot- 
 house ; and being the unforced production of nature, will 
 continue to flourish, while the other is endangered by every 
 exposure, if not doomed to a speedy decay. 
 
 Having endeavoured briefly, but impartially, to discuss the 
 merits of this interesting question in its various bearings, the 
 result manifestly leads to this conclusion, that infant-schools, 
 judiciously regulated and confined to their proper sphere of 
 operation (viz. all manufacturing, crowded, and indigent dis- 
 tricts), are calculated to become eminently useful, by counter- 
 acting a great social evil, and as tending to ameliorate the 
 character and condition of the great body of the people. 
 Having also plainly stated the reasons which, apparently, form 
 a just ground of objection to the general adoption of such a 
 system for all classes of children, it may be further observed, 
 that should some of these apprehensions be groundless, others 
 doubtless are founded in truth, and many considerations, 
 perhaps, remain behind, that have hitherto evaded inquiry. 
 More reasons might, perhaps, have been urged, but of this we 
 
 K 
 
130 EDUCATION. 
 
 may rest assured, that time will disclose all that is needful, and 
 place their merits and demerits in the proper point of view. 
 
 Let, then, the patrons of infant-schools carefully watch their 
 progress, guided in their judgment rather by the plain evidence 
 of utility than by that fleeting popularity, which is oftener 
 elicited by novelty than proportioned to true desert: while 
 conducted in the spirit of Christian charity, keeping in view 
 their social bearing, the advancement of rational piety, and the 
 great design of the beneficent Redeemer, who said, " Suffer 
 little children to come unto me." Under the influence of such 
 motives, they cannot fail to promote, in a humble degree, the 
 glory of the great Creator, and the best interests of a portion 
 of his intelligent creatures ; tending thus to lighten the common 
 burden of human frailty and suffering, and to augment the 
 general stock of happiness, their friends and supporters may 
 confidently anticipate the Divine concurrence, on which the 
 efficacy and success of all human institutions mainly depend, 
 and without which created wisdom is impotent, and its designs 
 unavailing. 
 
ESSAY IV. 
 
 ON THE PREVALENT LEVITY OF YOUTH ITS MISCHIEVOUS TENDENCY 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO ITS CAUSES, AND THE MEANS OF COUNTERACTING 
 
 IT CONTAINING STRICTURES ON THE PROGRESS OF LUXURY ON 
 
 ANCIENT LITERATURE, AND THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN TENDENCY OF LAY- 
 ING AN UNDUE STRESS UPON IT IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, UNIVER- 
 SITIES, &c. ON THE DANGERS CONSEQUENT TO YOUTH, FROM AN 
 
 UNRESTRAINED LIBERTY, DURING THE INTERVAL BETWEEN THE 
 COMPLETION OF EDUCATION, AND THE ENTERING ON PROFESSIONAL 
 AVOCATIONS, &c. SUPERIOR EFFICACY OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE, 
 
 THAT times of national prosperity are ever most favourable to 
 the progress of science, literature, and the liberal arts, is the 
 plain dictate of reason, and fully confirmed by experience. It 
 is when courted and encouraged by the smiles of opulence, 
 the invitations of leisure, and the animating prospect of honour, 
 that the human intellect shines forth with renewed lustre and 
 energy, displaying the vastness of its powers by the grandeur 
 of its conceptions and designs, and the dignity of its nature by 
 its lofty aspirations still looking on to perfection as its ulti- 
 mate object, while ardently pressing forward in its bright and 
 honourable career. But how gratifying soever such indications 
 of man's divine original, and the ever-growing faculties of his 
 mind may prove to the philanthropist, yet, to the natural pride 
 of the human heart, it must always be a humiliating reflection, 
 that the dearly-prized arts of refinement and luxury, those 
 social fruits so seemingly fair and flourishing, so congenial to 
 civilized life, so palatable to sense, and so flattering to worldly 
 
 K2 
 
18*2 EDUCATION. 
 
 vanity and ambition, should invariably bring with them the 
 active seeds of moral degeneracy and national decay. 
 
 To dwell upon the unwelcome evidences of the weakness 
 and folly of human nature, when thrown off its guard by pro- 
 tracted success and enjoyment, is needless ; the humbling truth 
 is sufficiently attested in the annals of every empire, and in 
 the records of every age ; arid is fully corroborated by an 
 intimate knowledge of the human heart, and of its manifold 
 inherent corruptions. Many of these may lie apparently dor- 
 mant in seasons of adversity, but are invariably active in times 
 of high prosperity; which, by the experienced of all ages, 
 have been considered as most dangerous to the virtue of man, 
 gradually, but fatally, undermining that moral excellence in 
 which his true superiority is centered. 
 
 History is replete with instructive lectures on the fate of 
 nations. She teaches us, that as the patriotic and self-denying 
 virtues are the. sure precursors of national honour and exalt- 
 ation, so are popular levity and licentiousness the too certain 
 indications of public humiliation and approaching ruin. She 
 points out, in legible characters, the transitory nature of all 
 sublunary glory, and the instability of all that centres in worldly 
 wisdom : we here trace the natural and easy gradations by 
 which the mightiest states traversed the wide extremes from 
 a virtuous simplicity to a total degeneracy; the hardy and 
 frugal virtues are seen leading to power; wealth becomes 
 tributary, and luxury is introduced ; to intemperance profligacy 
 is allied, and vice, in every form, at length becomes familiar ; 
 even the arts then turn mercenary, serving but to render more 
 palatable the poisoned bowl of sensual pleasure. 
 
 Salutary and striking as are the admonitions of experience, 
 yet such is the common infatuation of mankind, that past 
 warnings become powerless when opposed to the present cur- 
 rent of popular contagion, augmented by prevailing passions 
 and prejudices, and swelled by a thousand streams of luxury, 
 all flowing from superfluous wealth as from their fountain-head ; 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 18:3 
 
 and while it continues to pour forth the tempting abundance, 
 so long will the passions quaff the intoxicating draught, and 
 run to proportionate extremes of riot and excess. 
 
 But it may be objected, that if such were the inevitable 
 consequence of bestowing on man the power of self-gratification, 
 all reasoning on the question would lead to this brief conclusion, 
 that, in order to effect the desired change in man, we must 
 either deprive him of the means of luxury, or wholly change 
 his nature, by annihilating his sensual appetites and desires. 
 The observation is well founded, and by admitting it in its full 
 force, the arguments in favour of a timely check will derive 
 the ablest support; for, granting the defect to be rooted in 
 nature, yet it is by habitual indulgence alone that it attains to 
 a fixed and fatal ascendancy. The wound that at first is easy 
 of cure, is rendered desperate by long neglect; and in like 
 manner the diseases of the mind, which become obstinate and 
 incurable by delay, may doubtless, in almost every case, be 
 arrested in the incipient stages by the influence of moral cul- 
 ture and religious truth, which are most effectual when earliest 
 applied. 
 
 As much as the diseases of a moral nature exceed in com- 
 parison such as are merely physical, by so much weightier is 
 the obligation to employ a timely remedy; but, to justify the 
 hope of success in this instance, the attempt must be seconded 
 by strenuous and well-timed exertions; for wherever luxury 
 has the ascendancy, the best education will hardly avail to repel 
 its influence on the heart and manners of the young. Though 
 a youth should be formed as a model of virtue, and trained to 
 the relish of whatever is fair and good ; yet, on emerging into 
 the world, he must, to a certain extent, comply with the reigning 
 modes. A change commences, and gradually gains ground, 
 till at length the metamorphosis, in most cases, becomes com- 
 plete ; nor can it be reasonably expected that the single and 
 pliant virtue of youth should long be able to withstand the 
 combined influence of the refinements and elegancies of life, 
 
134 EDUCATION. 
 
 ministered to by all the blandishments of art, and countenanced 
 by universal example. 
 
 To the man whose matured judgment can trace the con- 
 nection between consequences and their causes, in the chain 
 of human events, there will appear but little room for surprise 
 at the modern indications of youthful levity : rather, weighing 
 the natural susceptibility of that heedless age, and the power 
 of those objects that act upon the imagination, such effects 
 will seem to him but as the native, though wild growth of a 
 luxuriant and unweeded soil. Whatever be the cause, the 
 effect is manifest ; in every direction levity meets the view, and 
 under a thousand diversified forms some apparently harmless, 
 but all bearing a latent poison; while amongst its more 
 reckless votaries, such as are " worn and hackneyed in the 
 ways of men," even its thin disguise is thrown off, and it stands 
 confessed in its most appalling form, often setting at defiance, 
 with heartless impunity, the laws of God and man. 
 
 This is, indeed, its worst stage, but appears to be the ultimate 
 destination of the greater portion of those who heedlessly enter 
 on this broad path of error : many are the ways, and easy of 
 access, that lead to it, and all-inviting to the sanguine tem- 
 perament of youth. Idle time and idle company are the Scylla 
 and Charybdis, by which the fragile bark of youthful virtue is 
 threatened : to steer safely between them, exceeds the pilotage 
 of inexperience ; and, without superior discretion at the helm, 
 that which escapes the rock, will speedily sink in the whirlpool. 
 
 Amid the dangers and temptations of surrounding dissipation, 
 sanguine youth is commonly content with no better guide than 
 its own blind presumption, though a known betrayer, and the 
 most deadly foe to its virtues and its hopes a moral upas, 
 whose poison is the more surely destructive, as being least 
 suspected. Among the chief springs of juvenile folly, not a 
 few may often be traced to parental weakness; many take a 
 manifest though mistaken pride in that precocity of sentiment, 
 and affected manliness of deportment, which the young are 
 
EDUCATION. 135 
 
 >ut too prone to assume ; nor is it surprising that, when thus 
 encouraged by the visible sanction of the parent, the liberty so 
 imprudently given, should, at that thoughtless age, be pushed 
 to an absurd and ridiculous, if not to a culpable, extreme. 
 
 There is abundant reason to suspect that we are attempting 
 a too forward game with the rising generation. Can it be 
 deemed wise thus to make them men in mind, while they are 
 yet children in stature ? In the present forward state of society 
 it is, perhaps, not easy to conceive a more prolific root of 
 degeneracy; and even were it not so, no advantage, surely, 
 could result from thus inverting the order of nature. Our 
 ancestors of some centuries back were as brave and virtuous, 
 and perhaps as wise, for the ordinary purposes of life, as the 
 present or coming generation are likely to prove, with all their 
 advantages ; but they, in their youth, were wisely kept in the 
 back-ground, and thus the passions were not brought into 
 operation till they verged upon manhood; so that judgment 
 acquired solidity ere virtue was exposed to the attacks and 
 impressions of vice. They, indeed, were men robust of limb, 
 and of corresponding mental vigour; but there is assuredly 
 greater need of caution in training youth at a time when luxury 
 and sensuality have so industriously multiplied temptations, 
 and gilded every object of desire. Good cause have we to 
 beware, lest, while divesting youth of their simplicity, we 
 deprive them of innocence, and, in lieu of sterling worth, endow 
 them with the base, though current, coin of dissimulation and 
 corruption, and lest the knowledge we give them degenerate 
 to cunning, by thus sapping the foundation of wisdom, and 
 bringing the passions into play long before the proper time. 
 
 But, exclaims the anxious parent, are our children really 
 beset by these manifold dangers ? Is it, indeed, true that they 
 are thus environed by a host of seductions, and their virtue 
 exposed to perpetual assaults ? Apparently it is, and the more 
 so as we ascend in fashionable life ; and the question naturally 
 follows, By what means does parental wisdom endeavour to 
 
136 EDUCATION. 
 
 counteract an evil of such extent and malignity ? Possibly the 
 advocate for youthful liberty may contend that such a measure 
 of precaution is superfluous ; that society is well-ordered, and 
 the world goes on as it was designed ; consequently, that such 
 ideal representations should be regarded as the over-wrought 
 colouring of a cynical imagination, and an exaggerated picture ; 
 but let him who professes to think thus, steadily contemplate 
 the scenes and occurrences that are hourly passing in review 
 on the busy stage of life, and then let unprejudiced truth decide. 
 
 With more reason it may be urged, that youthful liberty is 
 the natural parent of levity and lawless pleasure; and that 
 sensuality is the arch-betrayer of virtue and manly excellence, 
 and the common grave of early merit. But is she not, in our 
 times, enthroned in state ; and do not all ranks bow in homage 
 at her shrine ? Have not the arts combined to array her in 
 attractions not her own ? Is she not officiously decked with 
 all the counterfeit comeliness of virtue; and is not man the 
 willing captive of her borrowed fascinations, too often surren- 
 dering the empire of reason to her base usurpation, almost 
 without a struggle ? And if manhood be thus over-matched, 
 how shall inexperienced youth prevail in a trial so dispropor- 
 tioned to its powers ? 
 
 Youth naturally look up to their seniors for light and example; 
 but how often is man the seducer instead of the guardian of 
 innocence, by openly enlisting under the banners of luxury, the 
 common enemy of his virtue and religion, and strengthening 
 her power against himself by so dishonourable an alliance ! 
 In every age vice has slain her thousands, but thus reinforced, 
 she numbers her ten thousands among the daily victims of 
 sensuality. When vice is common, and luxuries have become 
 necessaries, avarice assumes an universal sway ; all are then the 
 vassals of wealth ; even the muses become venal, and worship 
 the golden image which the foe of God and man has set up : 
 while general corruption, like a flood, bears away all in its 
 current. 
 

 EDUCATION. 137 
 
 Where, in such modish times, shall unassuming worth find 
 favour and acceptance ? Where, among the sons of folly and 
 fashion, shall modest virtue, attired in the plain garb of diffi- 
 dence and simplicity, find a welcome or a home ? The noble- 
 minded youth, who boldly maintains a strict adherence to truth 
 and virtue, will find a solitude in the fashionable crowd, and 
 stand alone in the brilliant circle, the jest of youthful levity, 
 the sneer of envy and malice, and the butt and scorn of pride 
 and infidelity: all the malignant passions will be leagued 
 against him as their common enemy ; and he who perseveringly 
 guards the post of honour, resolutely proof against their united 
 assaults, must possess more than Spartan fortitude, more than 
 human virtue. 
 
 Moral courage of so high a grade is indeed a rare quality 
 a heroism of the first order ; but where is it to be found ? The 
 high motives of religion can alone inspire it; the well-taught 
 Christian only can furnish the bright example ; the fixed pur- 
 pose of such a mind only can rise superior to the terrors of the 
 world: his armour is of heavenly proof; arid the powers of 
 darkness are in vain arrayed against him. What parent would 
 not glory in a son of such a stamp, and thus nobly endowed ! 
 Yet how slender is the provision commonly made to secure an 
 object so truly desirable ! how sparingly is the sublime spirit 
 of Christianity infused into the minds of youth ! Even serious- 
 ness and humility, those old-fashioned but sterling qualities, 
 are almost obsolete, or at least rarely enforced in these times 
 of competition and ostentatious display, although it is evident 
 that such a frame of mind is the proper and only soil in which 
 true religion can take root. But, lest the author should be 
 suspected of a design to weary his reader by a protracted strain 
 of invective, savouring rather of zeal than of knowledge, he 
 begs to adduce the testimony of a late eminent theologian and 
 philosopher on this subject ; and a more respectable authority 
 than Paley it would perhaps be difficult to cite. 
 
 Tho writings of this celebrated author of " The Evidences 
 
138 EDUCATION. 
 
 of Christianity," are peculiarly distinguished for strength of 
 argument and reasoning. In the many excursive flights of his 
 vigorous intellect, few glaring inconsistencies were likely to 
 escape his comment; his shrewd penetration could not fail to 
 mark and animadvert upon the defective state of Education in 
 certain essential points. The following quotation is from a 
 sermon on religious seriousness ; and as it fully coincides with 
 the view here taken of the subject, the author deems he cannot 
 better advocate his cause than by transcribing the passage 
 literally. 
 
 The doctor proceeds thus : " The general course of educa- 
 tion is much against religious seriousness ; even without those 
 who conduct it, forming or intending any such effect. Many of 
 us are brought up with this world set before us, and nothing else. 
 Whatever promotes this world's prosperity, is praised ; whatever 
 hurts, obstructs, and prejudices, this world's prosperity, is 
 blamed. Mankind are every where seen in motion and action, 
 but they are all directed to earthly objects ; and the same of 
 conversation. The views that are continually placed before 
 their eyes, regard this life alone, and its interests. Can it 
 then be wondered at that an early worldly-mindedness is bred 
 in the heart, so strong, as to exclude heavenly-mindedness 
 entirely ? In the contest that is always carrying on between 
 this world and the next, it is easy to perceive which has the 
 advantage; and thus it is that the world pre-occupies the 
 mind, and gets the first hold and possession. Childhood and 
 youth, left to themselves, are necessarily guided by sense ; and 
 sense is all on the side of this world. Meditation brings us to 
 look towards a future life, but then meditation comes afterwards; 
 it only comes when the mind is filled and engaged, nay, crowded 
 and surcharged with worldly ideas. It is not only, therefore, 
 fair and right, but it is absolutely necessary, to give to religion 
 all the advantage we can, by dint of education ; for all that can 
 be done will not suffice to set religion upon an equality with 
 its rival, the world." Such were the sentiments of this able 
 

 EDUCATION. 139 
 
 divine. The censure is just, without severity; delivered in 
 plain and familiar terms to his country congregation ; but it is 
 probable that his language would have been more strongly 
 pointed, had he been addressing a fashionable audience; for 
 luxury, it seems, was little known at Bishop- Wearmouth. 
 
 If the doctor be right (and to prove that his sentiments are 
 wrong would probably be neither an easy nor a wise attempt), 
 in how strong a light do they place human inconsistency ! for 
 never was there an age so pre-eminently distinguished as the 
 present for all the ostensible fruits of Christian faith. A spirit 
 of universal and unrivalled benevolence seems to have antici- 
 pated the various claims of indigence and human suffering in 
 every possible form : the superabundance of wealth seems to 
 be divided, as it were, by contract between the opposite de- 
 mands of charity and sensuality; but, for the spiritual wants 
 of the "young, sparing and precarious still is the provision, 
 notwithstanding the praiseworthy efforts of Christian philan- 
 thropy. A modern writer thus expresses himself with some 
 truth, but with, perhaps, too great severity : " There is," says 
 he, " a carelessness, an apathy, in most of the upper classes, 
 which is scarcely short of marvellous. When do they take a 
 direct or indirect mode (the latter is perhaps the better) of 
 bringing before their sons' minds the beauty of kindness and 
 generosity ; the advantages, in every sense, personal, social, and 
 eternal, of virtue ? When do they ever strive to form the juster, 
 the nobler, the kinder feelings, into principles ?" A censure 
 so sweeping, it is to be hoped, is unmerited, as, doubtless, it 
 admits of many honourable exceptions, though its application 
 may hold good to an extent by no means limited. 
 
 Were youth taught habitually to think and reflect on what 
 falls within their observation, nature would do much towards 
 forming their better affections into fixed principles of conduct ; 
 which few teachers will be at the pains of doing, but which, 
 assuredly, must well repay the labour, as the mind would then 
 possess within itself a voluntary repellant to every extreme of 
 
140 EDUCATION. 
 
 folly and absurdity. Some parents may suppose that, while 
 secluded from the world nine months out of the twelve, their 
 children are, at all events, secured from a continued series of 
 hurtful impressions ; but, granting that the mind, while engaged 
 in a course of studies, is comparatively dead to that worldly 
 excitement, which might endanger their virtue and hinder their 
 improvement, yet, in order to gain a fair and complete view 
 of the case, it will be needful to push the inquiry somewhat 
 further. Every school forms within itself a little commonwealth, 
 where the busy and the idle, the studious and the loquacious, 
 are promiscuously blended ; where credulity and duplicity, in 
 their various- incipient forms, are incessantly active ; and where 
 all want prudence, because none possess experience : from such 
 a medley of the passions, what inconsistencies must arise, but 
 for the timely control of a skilful master-hand ! There is also 
 to be taken into the account the constant ingress of new comers, 
 each, doubtless, bringing a quota freshly imported from the 
 gay and busy world, to allay the thirst of juvenile curiosity ; 
 and thus it is that folly contrives to furnish a feast, even within 
 the precincts of a school. 
 
 But, granting that no great mischief ensues, or even that all 
 goes on well during the months allotted to study ; the vacation 
 meanwhile approaches, and with what feelings of exultation 
 it is hailed, we need not enquire. The young are thrifty 
 managers when time is their own, and pleasure is in the scent ; 
 they soon contrive to strike a balance with the world, and so 
 make up for what they deem lost time; with avidity they identify 
 themselves with every cheerful companion, and familiarize 
 themselves with every society that apparently proffers delight ; 
 ever restless in quest of novelty, roaming from scene to scene, 
 and still planning for the morrow, they make ample amends 
 to themselves for the temporary suspension of their favourite 
 pleasures; and fail not to reap (if not wisely restrained) an 
 abundant harvest of vanity. On returning to school, each has 
 a fund of anecdote and adventure to recount, which is thrown 
 
KUUCATION. 141 
 
 into the common stock, and serves as food for the craving 
 imagination, till the happy season returns, when the same 
 round of frivolity is repeated, and levity, increasing levity, is 
 the spontaneous result. 
 
 The judicious parent, aware of all this, wisely counteracts 
 these beginnings of mischief, by assigning to every day its duties, 
 as well as its needful recreation ; much is thus in the parent's 
 power, and good cause is there for its prudent exercise. In 
 the adoption of such precautionary measures, there is a two-fold 
 wisdom : the youth whose holidays are a mere blank waste of 
 indolence, will probably lose in one month what he has been 
 three in acquiring : whereas by a mixture of study, not only is 
 improvement insured, but a higher zest is added to enjoyment, 
 which then only is truly relished as a seasonable refreshment, 
 and imparts a tone and vigour to renewed exertion, by no other 
 means attainable. The external pomp and glitter attendant on 
 public amusements, easily captivates the heart and betrays the 
 judgment, which in youth is commonly as weak, as prejudice, 
 arising from imposition on the senses, is strong: this is the 
 real point of danger, and is always augmented by an unguarded 
 and premature access to the flattering scenes of worldly gaiety. 
 On this vulnerable side of youthful virtue, it therefore behoves 
 parental care to concentrate all its force, ere an irreparable 
 breach shall have been effected. 
 
 If the great design of Christianity be to wean us from the 
 things of this world, and if its transient vanities are, to youthful 
 optics, magnified into realities, it is equally the duty of the 
 parent and the teacher to correct betimes so fatal a delusion, 
 by rectifying the false standard of estimation, or, rather, by 
 substituting in its place a sound practical discrimination : either 
 this must be gradually done, or the gracious intention of Heaven 
 will be gradually subverted. The youthful heart is hourly 
 open to new impressions, and is, unhappily, most susceptible 
 of such as are most fallacious ; it behoves us, therefore, to get 
 the start of the world, and make the better impression first. 
 
142 EDUCATION. 
 
 Impressions may be made in three ways by appealing to the 
 heart, to the senses, or to the understanding : the last is evi- 
 dently the most difficult ; for it is easier to win the heart than 
 to convince the reason ; and to captivate the senses is the work 
 of a minute. It is manifest that, in point of influence, the 
 world has every way greatly the advantage, by means of its 
 sudden and vivid impressions ; while to operate effectually on 
 the understanding, is often a slow and difficult work. All the 
 powers of Education, precept, and example, combined, are not 
 a match for the fascinations of sense, unless the heart be first 
 won, and so made a party in its own cause : the best and only 
 means of rendering the victory complete, is by thus early 
 engaging all the youthful energies on the right side. 
 
 The youthful mind continually needs a stimulus, and should 
 always have a direct object in view; to select that object, and 
 to engage them earnestly, as well as to guide them aright in 
 pursuit of it, is the parent's privilege, wisdom, arid duty. It 
 is an ancient maxim, that when the arch-enemy of man finds 
 him idle, he sets him at work ; the same may truly be affirmed 
 of youth and the world. To the youthful heart there are a 
 thousand avenues ; the world commands them all ; and if one 
 be left unguarded, it is ready to enter and take possession. 
 Against this formidable adversary, it behoves all who have the 
 guardianship of youth, especially in these times of peril to their 
 virtue and happiness, to " up and be doing," and timely seize 
 the vantage-ground ; for the beginnings of levity and irreligion, 
 as Solomon affirms of the beginnings of strife, resemble the 
 breaking forth of water, which, if not timely stopped, becomes 
 an overwhelming flood, whose course is marked by spreading 
 ruin and devastation. 
 
 Though the term classical applies with equal propriety to 
 authors of every tongue and nation, provided their merits 
 entitle them to the distinction of being placed in the foremost 
 rank of literature ; yet, by the too partial sanction of custom, 
 the word has by many been almost exclusively applied to the 
 
EDUCATION. 143 
 
 ancient Greek and Roman writers, whose languages have been 
 termed " the learned," by way of pre-eminence ; whereas many 
 a truly classic British author comes in but for a secondary 
 degree of estimation. The words ancient and classical, as 
 applied to literature, have thus become nearly synonymous ; 
 with many parents, at least, this is the case in reference to 
 Education ; hence nearly every establishment for youth assumes 
 the title of classical, and founds its claim to it on these ancient 
 languages, which now almost invariably take the lead in schools 
 of all degrees. The effect of this undue partiality, or prejudice 
 rather, is so remarkable and so general, that however perfect a 
 system of Education may be, how well soever adapted to enrich 
 the mind with wisdom and science, and to ennoble it with 
 truth and virtue, yet if it include not also the dead languages, 
 it must not assume the title of classical ; though to youth of 
 the middling classes, at least, these, as it will appear, more 
 frequently prove a hinderance than an advantage. As errors, 
 however, of all kinds, and of the longest standing, are now 
 happily receding before the fast-progressing power of intelli- 
 gence, and as the strongest interest is awakened in the public 
 breast on every thing connected with Education, there is suf- 
 ficient ground, at least for the hope, that whatever is essentially 
 erroneous will be gradually rectified. 
 
 The energetic spirit of inquiry is abroad every where, freely 
 disseminating the seeds of truth, and rendering the human 
 mind superior even to the power of long-cherished prejudices : 
 merit is appreciated wherever it is found ; and whether it be 
 the produce of a heathen or a Christian soil, is, doubtless, 
 equally worthy of its honour and reward. But why should 
 Englishmen be so fond to fill the high places of literature with 
 the names and works of aliens and foreigners, to the exclusion 
 of many of their equally talented countrymen, who are suffered 
 to remain undistinguished in the crowd ? Among those who 
 possess the requisite information, there are, perhaps, few so 
 partial as to deny that, for every Greek or Roman writer of 
 
144 EDUCATION . 
 
 deserved celebrity, some dozen or score (and in some cases, 
 perhaps, the plural of these numerals might be used) of equal 
 merit might be produced, and all the genuine fruit of British 
 genius. 
 
 It is but justice to admit that, among the ancients, some have 
 well earned, by the wisdom and virtue that shine in their pages, 
 all the praises that posterity could bestow; but so great has 
 been the veneration paid to the memories of this chosen few, 
 that there is reason to suspect that some of their less worthy 
 cotemporaries have been viewed through a partial medium for 
 their sakes ; for much the same reason that we treat all the 
 members of a family with kindness for the sake of the parents, 
 whom we know and esteem. As familiarity of intercourse is 
 supposed to beget often a similarity of sentiment (among phi- 
 losophers particularly), it is perhaps taken for granted, that 
 men who enjoyed fellowship with those master-spirits, must 
 have imbibed somewhat of a like elevation of soul and grandeur 
 of sentiment, with the like felicity of expression, imparting 
 to their writings the reflection, at least, of that intellectual 
 superiority, whose brightness must have been fresh in their 
 minds; hence, out of respect for a few who are deservedly 
 admired, some degree of estimation has been extended even 
 to such as would seem to deserve the censure rather than the 
 applause of posterity, were their merits and moral tendency 
 impartially weighed. 
 
 That these oracles of pagan wit and refinement should, in 
 the darker ages of ignorance, have been looked up to as the 
 sole standards of taste and erudition, cannot raise our wonder ; 
 but that they should retain an equal ascendancy in the most 
 enlightened and Christian times, ministers food for some inte- 
 resting and serious speculation. 
 
 This ruling taste for heathen wisdom and philosophy can 
 alone be assigned as the cause of that unreasonable stress 
 which for so many ages has been laid on the acquisition of 
 these idolized languages ; which, should it prove to be an error, 
 

 EDUCATION. 145 
 
 is, and has been, one of no common magnitude, by the great 
 waste of time and talent in the (often imperfect, and conse- 
 quently useless) attainment of them. To withhold from these 
 ancient tongues their due meed of consideration, would be 
 absurd and vain ; nor will they want advocates while wit and 
 learning are in vogue; neither will he who stands forth as a 
 champion for the prior claims of native genius, want opponents. 
 His plebeian taste arid presumption in raising his standard 
 tigainst such a patrician array of talent, might furnish an all- 
 sufficient theme for animadversion, and a most formidable 
 literary phalanx he would probably have to encounter. 
 
 All will allow that Latin and Greek are good in their place, 
 and rank deservedly high in the republic of letters ; but in the 
 education of youth of British and Christian youth it is the 
 dictate of common prudence to assign to them their stated 
 bounds ; and better were it, doubtless, had it always been said 
 to such monopolists of time, as to the sea of old, " Hitherto, 
 but no further shalt thou come." If the ancient mounds of 
 separation, fixed by nature's law, were broken up, the en- 
 croaching element would, instead of fertilizing, again deluge 
 the plains; and in a moral sense the analogy will, perhaps, 
 hold true between Christianity and heathenism ; for they often 
 breathe not the same spirit, but it is obvious to which we, as 
 Christians, ought decidedly to give the ascendancy. 
 
 The high-born and affluent, it may be said, are at liberty to 
 choose their own studies ; but even with those who have time 
 wholly at command, it seems unreasonable that the obsolete 
 tongues should take precedence of all other acquirements, how 
 needful and important soever, either as respects the present or 
 a future existence. Did the life of man comprise two or three 
 centuries, instead of three or fourscore brief years, the sacrifice 
 of time might not signify much for the acquisition of languages 
 spoken two thousand years ago; but, when we consider the 
 short and uncertain date of man's life, and seriously contemplate 
 his future destiny, how great will appear the sacrifice of his 
 
146 EDUCATION. 
 
 freshest years and youthful bloom for such an object ! Will 
 poring over a page of Greek inspire his frame with vigour to 
 rival the athletic Spartan ? or did the Athenian sages thus lay 
 the foundation of their national power ? Are the subtilties of 
 heathen fables so superior to the simple majesty of truth ? or 
 is the morality of Horace, or Ovid, as well adapted to improve 
 the heart and morals of youth, as the inspired oracles, the 
 emanations of Eternal Wisdom ? 
 
 When learning was in its infancy, ere the invention of print- 
 ing, or before the appearance of those excellent translations 
 which now abound, the inquiring student had a sufficient plea 
 for mastering the original tongues, it being then the only 
 medium of access to the stores they contain, and of deciding 
 questions relative to ancient and disputed authorities : but no 
 such necessity now exists, that youth should be made to toil and 
 drudge for what, in some cases, has proved worse than useless, 
 to the at least partial exclusion of the truly valuable branches 
 of education. Such remarks, however, do not pointedly apply 
 to the universities, nor to those professions wherein a knowledge 
 of these tongues is deemed indispensable. It is in the abuse, 
 and not in the discreet use, of ancient literature, that the danger 
 lies. No reasonable man would object to Latin and Greek 
 for their own sakes; but when they become the vehicle of 
 mischief, and give birth to crying evils, such abuse becomes 
 the subject of just animadversion. 
 
 " Non vitae sed scholae discimus," said Seneca; and the 
 sentiment has been echoed by the wise and thinking in almost 
 every age. Montaigne and others have reprobated the con- 
 tinental system ; and the venerable Locke repeatedly gives vent 
 to his disgust in strong and pointed terms, at the absurdity 
 of all ranks agreeing to educate their children in the dead 
 languages. To these authorities might be added some of the 
 leading names in the list of British worthies, who have expressed 
 themselves to the same effect ; but the ridicule and the censure 
 attach chiefly to those who can neither give their children 
 
EDUCATION. 147 
 
 fortunes, nor hardly allow them a sufficient time for the full 
 attainment of the more useful and indispensable branches of 
 education ; and yet, because it is the reigning mode, will have 
 them absurdly trifle away their time with grammars and gra- 
 duses, collecting words rather than information, and perplexing 
 their wits without increasing their knowledge. Even in some 
 schools of higher pretensions, where the pupils attain to a 
 moderate proficiency in ancient lore, how often does there 
 appear to be an undue omission of things essential, for the sake 
 of studies which promise little advantage, and certainly ensure 
 none that can be deemed equivalent to the cost ! If Homer 
 must be read, we have Pope's masterly translation ; or Virgil, 
 we have it in the finished language of Dryden; and greatly 
 superior in each, it is presumed, to the most laboured conception 
 of the youthful student, even after many years of drudgery and 
 toilsome research amid tomes, grammars, and lexicons. 
 
 It has been the opinion of some, that, of the ancient authors, 
 not a few have gained, rather than lost, by the skilful hands 
 through which they have passed. Pope was no bare translator ; 
 his rich, inventive genius, embellished whatever he took in 
 hand ; to the beauties of his author, he added his own strength 
 and colouring ; and even Homer has cause, perhaps, to be 
 much obliged to our bard for the stately dress in which he is 
 now arrayed, though it be of British manufacture. Obscurity, 
 say the critics, and with reason, is a source of the sublime, and 
 doubtless the ancients have reaped the full benefit of it. That 
 sentiments, couched in a language and idiom long obsolete, 
 should be perfectly clear in literal English, is not always to be 
 expected ; the superior sense of a passage, therefore, not being 
 quite apparent, it is supposed to comprise some hidden beauty, 
 some unveiled mystery ; so that what, in reality, may have been 
 a defect, comes to be lauded, perhaps, as an uncommon stretch 
 of thought. It is not meant to detract from the known merit 
 of works that have stood the test of ages ; but the lapse of time 
 is rather a magnifying medium, than a perspective that is true 
 
 L2 
 
148 EDUCATION. 
 
 to nature. At all events, wherever we find the semblance of 
 error, or even a cause of doubt, in any wise connected with 
 the all-important concern of Education, it is the province of 
 reason to scrutinize and rectify it, aided by a thorough know- 
 ledge of the human character, which experience tells us is, in 
 its essentials, the same in every age. 
 
 If, by the inordinate stress laid on the ancient tongues in 
 modern education, it is designed to evince the prevalence of 
 a correct taste, and show that we duly appreciate the spirit 
 and genius of the ancient lords of our hemisphere, it is by no 
 means equally apparent that we emulate their domestic policy. 
 By our mode of training youth, it would seem that we have 
 quite a different way of thinking on the subject of Education. 
 Though they were in immediate intercourse with many nations, 
 with them the maternal language was all in all ; nor can there 
 exist a doubt in any thinking mind, that the cultivation of the 
 mother tongue is to Englishmen, if properly weighed, both in 
 a public and private view, an object of the very first import- 
 ance, and closely connected with eminence and success in 
 secular, no less than in philosophical and intellectual pursuits. 
 Such has been the improvement of our language, by the ability 
 and industry of successive master minds in philological science, 
 that in copiousness and richness it is now surpassed perhaps 
 by none, whether ancient or modern ; and so abundant, 
 within the last century, have been the contributions, and 
 so progressive the labours, of native genius, as to raise it to 
 that distinguished pre-eminence in the republic of literature, 
 which bears as flattering a testimony to British talent, as it 
 does to the powers of the human intellect, affording a most 
 gratifying proof of what it can effect when its energies are 
 guided by skill, and seconded by perseverance. 
 
 Great Britain has no less reason to be proud of her sons, 
 than had ancient Greece or Rome : she can produce examples 
 equally ardent and aspiring after whatever is great and good, 
 as are to be found in the annals of those ambitious common- 
 
EDUCATION. 149 
 
 wealths. In noble deeds they are unrivalled ; in the fine arts 
 unsurpassed; in the best qualities of heart and mind, perhaps 
 unequalled: with generous emulation have they successfully 
 contended for the prize of fame in every path that leads to 
 honour ; evincing the genuineness of patriotism by the universal 
 diffusion of knowledge, and the true quality of their philan- 
 thropy, by the zealous dissemination of truth. In our own 
 excellent language we possess all that is needful to instruct and 
 delight; all that science has heaped together during a long 
 course of ages ; all that religion can require ; all that can edify 
 the mind in its search after truth. 
 
 In our maternal tongue we have, as it were, an intellectual 
 and well-stocked garden, in which neither cost nor labour has 
 been spared to render it worthy of our reception, and within 
 whose ample bound we may range at will amid all that is 
 admirable or estimable, which is here collected and arranged 
 in the most perfect order. In this mental paradise, far sur- 
 passing the sensual, we find whatever is pleasing to the mind's 
 eye, or good for intellectual food : here, in addition to our own 
 native fruits and flowers, we number the choicest productions 
 of every foreign soil ; but all that is of home growth, combined 
 with all that is hither transplanted, is, it seems, judged insuf- 
 ficient for the nurture of British youth, or deemed too plebeian 
 to be fashionable. 
 
 Why do we allow our youth to pluck so sparingly the 
 nourishing fruits of native genius, that are ever soliciting ac- 
 ceptance, and need but to be gathered in order to be enjoyed ? 
 We bid them explore other intellectual regions; we make 
 them toil in strange paths, oft amid thorny and wearisome 
 tracks, where they must ascend many a steep and rugged 
 height, in quest of that wisdom and knowledge which is ever 
 at hand, and with ease procured at home. Rarely is wisdom 
 found by heedless youth in the wild and trackless, though often 
 beautiful, mazes of heathenism, where, probably, the forbidden 
 fruit is the first they seize, and where what is evil is oft most 
 
150 EDUCATION. 
 
 prized, because most grateful to the sense. After long travel 
 and fatigue among those heights of difficult approach, they may 
 perhaps discover the proud domes and fanes of heathen deities, 
 the erring, though dazzling, haunts of human wisdom and phi- 
 losophy blending good with evil, and the towering Babels of 
 pagan pride; but for the brighter vision of truth, they must 
 take a more heavenly wisdom for their guide, and follow the 
 humble but peaceful path of Christian virtue. 
 
 If the right formation of the youthful mind and character 
 be indeed the grand object of all education, it is, doubtless, 
 attainable singly by that wisdom, which consists in pursuing 
 the best ends by the best means; but by the circuitous and 
 beaten route of many a modish system, the pupil, it may be 
 presumed, but rarely arrives at so desirable a point, or if he 
 does, it must be by an indirect and painful progress, seemingly 
 little connected with the end in view. There ought to be 
 some very good and sufficient reason for dragging a youth 
 through a cheerless and almost endless maze of grammatical 
 intricacies and perplexing technicalities, in order to introduce 
 him into an heterogeneous medley of wisdom and absurdity 
 in authors, where occasional fine thoughts are mixed up with 
 the pollutions of false morals, dark prejudices, and gross idolatry, 
 and where the brutish, and even fiendish, passions are often 
 speciously and pompously tricked out, and held up as fit sub- 
 jects for honour and applause. Whether such be deservedly the 
 chosen and approved means of forming the heart and morals, 
 directing the views, and of rectifying the judgment, of Christian 
 youth in the nineteenth century, the witness in every thinking 
 man's breast may best determine. 
 
 To the more zealous among the admirers of the ancients, 
 such sentiments may seem to be somewhat cynical and sweep- 
 ing; but having already done justice to the honourable excep- 
 tions, which are deservedly esteemed by all who can appreciate 
 genuine merit, the remainder, if viewed collectively and im- 
 partially, will appear to be, at least, comparatively insignificant, 
 
EDUCATION. 151 
 
 )th on the score of merit and of morals, and so greatly inferior 
 in wisdom and purity to the sublime doctrines of Christianity, 
 as to justify the most pointed language, when the subject under 
 consideration is Education; for whose all-important ends the 
 pure and dignified morality of the gospel, with its animating 
 motives, is as superior to the cold and formal theories of ancient 
 philosophy, as the sacred Person from whom it emanated 
 excelled the ancient discordant sectarians in consistency, sound 
 wisdom, and practical purity. 
 
 A chosen few, indeed, among the ancient sages, seem to 
 have been raised up by Heaven in times of prevailing dege- 
 neracy, as if to show mankind to what a degree of excellence 
 human nature could attain by the force of its native energies, 
 when directed to a noble end ; and, it may be added, that such 
 examples form, by contrast, a tacit reproof to many in later 
 times, who, with infinitely greater advantages, are yet far behind 
 them in available wisdom, and in the practice of the social 
 duties. But while it is true, on the one hand, that from the 
 hives of ancient Greece and Rome a variety of intellectual 
 sweets may be extracted, yet how often, alas ! are they mixed 
 with an alloy of strong, though latent, poison ! The ardent 
 temperament of youth is but too susceptible of the moral 
 infection, and, unhappily, the youthful passions are too readily 
 kindled into an unhallowed and consuming flame by their too 
 specious fascinations : such is not the manna that Heaven has 
 provided for the nurture of Christian souls, for the growth of 
 Christian virtue ; for this, if we seek at all, we must go to a 
 better source than mere human wisdom could ever attain. 
 
 The loss of time and misapplication of talent, though often 
 great, and even irreparable, is not the sole cause of regret, or 
 the only loss sustained, by an over-devotion in youth to the 
 study of the profane authors : false notions of honour, of virtue, 
 and of wisdom, are often indelibly impressed on the mind, 
 while the pure light of truth is darkened and mystified. In the 
 moral and mental field of Christianity the wheat is alone pure 
 
152 EDUCATION. 
 
 and unmixed ; but in those heathen pastures, the tares of infi- 
 delity commonly find a soil but too congenial to their growth. 
 And wherefore, it may be asked by the plain Englishman 
 who loves his country, and is jealous for the honour of his 
 religion why must Britain yield the palm of honour to Rome : 
 and wherefore should she be so fond to proclaim the superiority 
 of her pagan, though noble, rival, by thus seeming to deify her 
 philosophy, and making her wisdom the oracle and standard of 
 Education? whereas its assumed or affected dignity is as far 
 surpassed by the majestic simplicity of true religion, as man is 
 superior to the lower animals, or as the angelic nature surpasses 
 the human. 
 
 Why, it may be asked, should perpetual homage be paid to 
 a name or to a nation, because, for one bright but transient 
 period, she spread her empire over the nations by dint of 
 superior valour and policy, or because Divine Providence, in 
 its mercy to the souls of men, besotted by sense, and perverted 
 by the errors of a blind idolatry, kindled among them, from 
 time to time, a few bright intelligences, in order to temper the 
 moral darkness, till the Sun of Righteousness, in full splendour, 
 should arise to chase away the clouds and darkness of heathenism 
 for ever? 
 
 With many, the stamp of antiquity is an all-sufficient pass- 
 port to favour, and whatever bears the rust of ages, carries 
 with it the spell of a talisman ; hence a specious kind of analogy 
 gives birth to an erroneous standard of estimation, by which a 
 weak judgment is liable to be led captive. We naturally asso- 
 ciate the idea of wisdom with age, because many years imply 
 long experience, and the older the man, the wiser we infer he 
 ought to be ; but by this rule the deduction will be the converse 
 of the vulgar and abject notion, which attaches the highest 
 degrees of wisdom, worth, and excellence, to times the remotest 
 from our own; whereas the present are truly and manifestly 
 the ancient times, mature in science and in every social im- 
 provement. Ours are the collective treasures of all preceding 
 

 EDUCATION. 
 
 153 
 
 times, the outpourings of genius of every age and nation, and 
 to us are opened all the springs of knowledge, which to them 
 were sealed. The farther we recede from our own times, the 
 nearer we approach to the infant state of society, and to those 
 rude and semi-barbarous ages, which had little, save their 
 primitive simplicity, to recommend them. What is it, then, 
 but an unworthy surrender of our own high privileges, a re- 
 nunciation of our manifest superiority, to pay undue homage 
 to times long past, becattse a few master-spirits shed a halo of 
 light on the age and the land of their birth? or to concede 
 that, because one gifted age or people outshone many, it must 
 therefore outshine all, and having once attained the first rank, 
 must continue to possess it till the end of the world ? 
 
 As a nation progresses in power and refinement, its domestic 
 and popular institutions necessarily assume a higher and more 
 influential character ; their sphere of utility gradually widening, 
 and proportionably enhancing the public character; mutually 
 supporting and supported; promoting while participating in 
 the national honour and prosperity, thus blending their highest 
 wisdom with their noblest privilege. Evidently of such a nature 
 is the reciprocal relation and obligation that subsists between 
 Great Britain and her popular domestic institutions, among 
 which her public literary establishments stand foremost, as 
 giving shape and body to the taste and genius of the nation, 
 and a sanctioned and abiding impress to the morals and lite- 
 rature of the age. 
 
 Every Englishman of sense and reflection who prizes his. 
 native soil as the seat of rational freedom, to whom the land of 
 his fathers is the home of his heart, who is zealous of its true 
 honour, as associated with home-bred worth, will regard the 
 British universities and public schools as objects of no secondary 
 import, of no common interest; he will regard them as the 
 great moral agents of the nation, active in operation, and 
 mighty in effect, to work either social weal or woe. 
 
 Were the author of these pages privileged by superior infor- 
 
154 EDUCATION. 
 
 mation, derived from extensive personal observation, to discuss 
 the merits and details of the general system on which these 
 establishments are conducted, he would gladly forbear the vain 
 and needless task of recapitulating what has been so often and 
 so ably done by those who have preceded him on this beaten 
 track ; nor would he willingly adopt the language of invective, 
 by indulging in current terms of reprehension as to any measure 
 of imputed error or abuse : this has been done, and overdone. 
 Rather in the spirit of candour, taking a more liberal view, he 
 would hail the progress of improvement, and anticipate the 
 period when nothing truly objectionable shall remain : better 
 to aid in ameliorating what is apparently amiss, than to kindle 
 a needless hostility, which being in itself an evil, as a means, 
 can be productive of little good, if good in any degree can 
 result from recrimination and censure. What chiefly remains, 
 or at least all that can here be attempted, must be on the 
 broadest principle, and in a Christian spirit, by giving fearless 
 and honest expression to such convictions as are well and 
 rationally founded, and to such general sentiments as may be 
 consistent with a correct view of the subject, a strict adherence 
 to truth, and the faithful discharge of a high social duty. 
 
 A glance at the greatness of Britain will suffice to show the 
 influential position and bearings of her domestic and literary 
 institutions. Crowned with honour and peace, and enriched 
 by an indulgent Providence, with all the blessings that follow 
 in the train of national prosperity, Britain justly claims a dis- 
 tinguished rank among the nations of the earth, not only in 
 her power, but in the philanthropy and energy of her public 
 spirit, in the intelligence that sways her councils, in that 
 indefatigable spirit of enterprise and industry, which are 
 among her most striking characteristics, and in that bold and 
 uncompromising rectitude in sentiment and act, which rational 
 freedom can alone inspire, and which is so peculiarly her 
 own in all these she stands unrivalled ; while her prowess in 
 war, and her prudent policy in times of peace, combined with 
 
EDUCATION. 155 
 
 the many and solid advantages which Englishmen inherit from 
 the virtue and valour of their forefathers, whose patriotic 
 exertions and generous sacrifices, co-operating with the over- 
 ruling hand of heaven, have raised her to the merited pre- 
 eminence, which is the glory and birthright of her sons. 
 
 Such are among the splendid features that mark the present 
 great and happy state of Britain ; but her truest glory is the 
 manifest interposition of the Divine arm, that has been stretched 
 out to shield and to crown her with favour, honouring her as 
 the champion of Christianity, the guardian of its sacred oracles, 
 and the chosen instrument of its bounty, investing her with 
 the high commission to cheer the benighted heathen with the 
 light of the everlasting gospel, by publishing the glad tidings 
 of human redemption to the remotest regions of the earth. As 
 the vicegerent of heaven she sits as judge among the nations ; 
 her sceptre is over the sea, her fame fills the east and the west, 
 and the lands acknowledge her might. Where her word is, 
 there is power; she commands, and it is done; with winged 
 zeal the ministers of her will bear her mandates afar ; her favour 
 is refreshing to the nations as the breath of heaven ; her frown, 
 like the blackness of the rising tempest, is the herald of de- 
 struction ; and, under her sure protection, the sorrowing chil- 
 dren of oppression find refuge and consolation. 
 
 The genius of British freedom walks through the breadth of 
 the earth, and slavery and superstition flee at her approach. 
 Do the sable nations groan in bondage ? she bids them be free ; 
 the shouting myriads cast away their chains, and the wailings 
 of anguish and despair are converted into songs of triumph. 
 Thus her throne is established in righteousness, and her name 
 is repeated with blessings; her land also is covered with the 
 monuments of her piety, and beautified with the temples of the 
 Most High ; even her soil is consecrated with the blood of her 
 patriots and the ashes of her saints ; and her past annals are 
 filled with the names of her worthies, and the praises and deeds 
 of her heroes. 
 
156 EDUCATION. 
 
 The commanding position that Britain assumes at the pre- 
 sent era is not a sinecure ; nor is the virtue that earned it an 
 heir-loom. The majestic ascendancy she claims as her right, 
 cannot be sustained without a conflict, and the continued 
 struggle of the same high principles that have cemented her 
 power against the multiform encroachments of corruption. Her 
 greatness is the well-earned meed of her worth, the guerdon 
 of protracted cares, and of repeated toils. She wears no 
 honour that she has not fairly won ; and the halo of glory by 
 which she is encircled, is the result of the favour and blessing 
 of Heaven. Great as is her honour is the character she has at 
 stake ; equal to her majesty and power is the weight of respon- 
 sibility that presses upon her. This responsibility is shared 
 in common by the various orders of the state, and divided 
 between her public men and public institutions; the main 
 weight being necessarily transferred to her leading domestic 
 establishments, as possessing a permanent and uncontrolled 
 social and moral influence of extensive operation, and so far as 
 they become instrumental in forming the characters of men 
 intrusted with the reins of political power, their influence may 
 be said to pervade, indirectly at least, the whole, their respon- 
 sibility augmenting in proportion. 
 
 Among the striking proofs of her enlightened policy may 
 be ranked the British Universities and public establish- 
 ments for the protection and promotion of learning, and the 
 encouragement of merit, especially of native growth; these 
 much-favoured domestic institutions she has fostered and 
 cherished through a long succession of ages, and protected in 
 all her reverses. With the dawn of her power they had their 
 birth; they have grown with her growth, and strengthened 
 with her strength; richly endowed, and nobly supported, en- 
 joying the nation's unlimited confidence, they may be said to 
 possess an influence (directly and indirectly) greater than is 
 implied in any definite and recognized authority an intellec- 
 tual power over the human mind, superior to, and independent 
 

 EDUCATION. 157 
 
 any physical force, bounded by no localities, but extending 
 to the hearts and understandings, wills, and convictions of all 
 men. 
 
 To her domestic seats of learning, as her great moral agents, 
 the nation transfers the chief weight of social obligation. 
 Theirs is the sacred trust to form the minds and characters of 
 the rising aspirants for power or fame, who may be shortly 
 called forth to wield the destinies of the empire; the main 
 social and moral springs that operate at large upon society, 
 giving impulse to the national character, and entering deeply 
 into its composition, are here regulated and set in motion; 
 here the national features are moulded into form, and here the 
 embryo character receives its early and abiding impress ; here 
 the nation deposits the elements of her future worth and 
 wisdom, and here the seeds of her future greatness are gra- 
 dually developed and matured. 
 
 These ancient and venerable seats of literature, rendered 
 doubly interesting by their associations, are the national re- 
 positories of all that is sacred and valuable in literature. The 
 great patrons of native worth, and of all that bears the genuine 
 impress of merit, set apart from whatever is debasing and 
 corrupting, exempted from the drudgery and the cares of the 
 busy world, and from the contamination of its gaieties, inhaling 
 a purer atmosphere, and unassailed by the passions that agitate 
 the minds of men moving within the sphere of its seductions ; 
 the nation naturally expects that the minds of men, enjoying 
 these advantages, should rise above the common level of 
 excellence in rectitude of sentiment, and moral strength of 
 character, no less than in the abstruser sciences, and the various 
 branches of human erudition. To these chosen resorts she 
 looks for characters of sterling worth and superior merit, and 
 for exemplary models of true piety ; and hence, with reason, 
 she deems them admirably adapted for the purposes of Edu- 
 cation, and for the guidance and guardianship of inexperienced 
 
158 EDUCATION. 
 
 youth : she therefore patronizes thefn as the fittest nurseries 
 of knowledge, rational and divine. 
 
 In glancing at the merits of human institutions, it is an 
 easier and far more pleasing task to delineate them after the 
 flattering model of perfection we have erected in our own 
 minds, than with the pencil of truth to depict them as they are, 
 with their incidental defects and homely realities about them. 
 The first step towards perfection, doubtless, is the exclusion of 
 evil, and the importance of this rises in proportion to the nature 
 and worth of the interests at stake. In the great work of 
 Education, these being of a social, moral, and religious kind, 
 and consequently of primary importance, in every point of 
 view, proportionably augment the necessity of securing the 
 good, and precluding the evil, by all practicable means. It 
 becomes, therefore, the imperative duty of all who are influ- 
 entially connected with the public resorts of British genius, to 
 banish whatever may be truly objectionable from these vener- 
 able establishments, expressly founded for the laudable purpose 
 of training youth to all that is fair and manly in character and 
 conduct, or excellent and valuable in acquirement. 
 
 Imperfection, in a greater or less degree, will necessarily 
 obtain in extensive and complex systems ; and the more diver- 
 sified their operation, the more numerous will be the avenues 
 for the intrusion of defect. Perfection is, in no case, the proper 
 result of human agency, even should the subject of its operation 
 be merely passive and obedient ; much less can it be required 
 as the result of educational systems, operating on materials 
 always mixed and doubtful, and often contradictory, which 
 (when wayward youth, instead of obediently co-operating with 
 the plan, become refractory) rather resembles two opposing 
 systems, the one so resisting and counteracting the operation 
 of the other, as to neutralize its proper effect. Much allowance 
 must here, in fairness, be made, as the evil that has its birth 
 in the heart, cannot by any system be excluded : this can only 
 
EDUCATION. 159 
 
 be suppressed by depriving it of the stimulating food on which 
 its growth and existence mainly depend ; but an evil bias may 
 be counteracted by imparting a contrary bias ; and the heart 
 may be won from a pernicious pursuit, by giving it a new and 
 better object of pursuit, and engaging the mind briskly in quest 
 of it. 
 
 As to portray even a juvenile society without a moral taint, 
 would be an exaggerated and flattering picture, so the design 
 whoUy to exclude what is objectionable, must prove a Utopian 
 scheme. Vice is not so easily expelled ; either it is so hidden 
 as not to be detected, or so disguised as rarely to be recognized ; 
 but since it is equally certain that it may be excluded in some 
 degree, and that degree (as reason tells us) proportioned to the 
 care and watchfulness of the superintending agency, we are no 
 more free to set limits to the effect than to the cause ; for, as 
 the means of prevention, being dependent on the will of the 
 directing power, may be more or less, that there will be a 
 corresponding result is manifest, simply by connecting the 
 cause with the effect. 
 
 Were unerring wisdom and indefatigable vigilance the attri- 
 butes of humanity, and did they invariably preside over the 
 interesting circle of gay and busy youth, banishing from its 
 social arena every thing evil, and all immoral tendency, how 
 beautiful a vision might be realized ! The ardour of emulation 
 and rivalry would be tempered by the cordial sympathies of 
 friendship, and the spirit of envy by the glow of social feeling ; 
 every malignant impulse would be arrested and absorbed in 
 the fraternal intercourse of love and kindness; merit and 
 excellence could never be wanting in a youthful fraternity thus 
 innocent and happy, exhibiting an edifying picture of human 
 society in its incipient approaches to divine a Christian com- 
 munity in miniature, that philanthropy might contemplate 
 with increasing delight. 
 
 Aptly have Oxford and Cambridge been termed the eyes of 
 the nation ; as such it behoves them to sedulously watch over 
 
160 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 the sacred interests confided to them, and (if the analogy hold 
 good, of the single and the evil eye) it may be added, that in 
 proportion as the intellectual organ of vision is perfect or 
 defective, so will moral light or darkness, social harmony or 
 confusion, prevail. It is assuredly no common good nor com- 
 mon evil, either in kind or degree, that emanates from these 
 high sources ; the mischief is of a deadly .nature, and the good 
 vitally healthful, operating on the heart and influential part of 
 the social system, and circulating to its remotest parts, as the 
 medicine or poison, mingling with the life-blood, flows to the 
 extremities of the body ; and thus, in the moral state of society, 
 vice or error, however modified, will, under cover of such a 
 sanction, extend to every part, and wheresoever the evil prevails, 
 the good must necessarily recede. 
 
 Great as Britain is, in every point of view, as the focus of 
 intelligence, the patroness of the arts and useful inventions, 
 and the great mart of the commercial world, little would her 
 celebrity avail, were it not sustained by corresponding excel- 
 lence in the great essentials that confer true dignity, and 
 ennoble human nature : these also she possesses with a com- 
 manding influence in the wide empire of letters. Great as is 
 her political sway, the intellectual power she now wields is far 
 greater. The former has limits, the latter none. Potentates 
 may check the progress of earthly power, and appoint the 
 boundaries of states ; but the forces of the east and west com- 
 bined, may not stay the rapid advances of intellect, nor say to 
 knowledge, " No farther shalt thou come." Having once 
 gained a glorious ascendancy, she laughs at physical force, and 
 goes on her way rejoicing, conquering and to conquer: her 
 empire is over the human mind, and she bends it to her pur- 
 pose. To the joint power of truth and knowledge all things 
 must eventually yield; theirs is an evergrowing empire, and 
 an everduring existence. 
 
 As a nation, Britain has nothing at stake more worthy to be 
 prized (humanly speaking) than the character she sustains in 
 
EDUCATION. 161 
 
 the eyes of the world, and which necessarily presents a variety 
 of aspects, social, religious, and moral, literary, mercantile, 
 and military, but all fluctuating and perpetually subject to 
 change, by reason of the imperfection inseparable from the 
 nature and condition of man ; and hence the vanity of looking 
 for stability and consistency in the human character under any 
 of those modifications which form the main features of society 
 in an advanced stage of civilization. What is termed national 
 character, lies open also to the further vanity of being subjected 
 to the partial and erroneous judgments that spring out of the 
 peculiar prejudices by which, in some degree, the wisest of 
 men are liable to be influenced ; and as every mind erects for 
 itself some chosen standard of estimation, it naturally follows 
 that what one may approve, another will condemn. 
 
 The different grades and classes which form the component 
 parts of every community, have each some peculiar bent of 
 mind or incidental bias, arising from social habits and connec- 
 tions, or professional pursuits, which will often strongly colour 
 their sentiments, and even enter largely into their estimate of 
 national character. The shrewd politician will sagaciously track 
 the steps of diplomacy, thread its mazes and meanderings, and 
 scan with scrutinizing eye the foreign and domestic bearings of 
 national policy: in these he will find ample ground for his 
 commendation or censure, and will pronounce accordingly. 
 
 The sapient civilian, who builds his fame arid fortune on the 
 broad basis of jurisprudence, will traverse the round of legal 
 science, thread its labyrinthine intricacies, and scrutinize its 
 enactments and bearings ; a wisely-planned system of legislation 
 he regards as the highest stretch of human intellect, and an 
 indication of the most perfect wisdom ; he will survey the seats 
 of judgment, and note the law's award, the eloquence of 
 pleaders, and the erudite decision of the judges: assuming 
 these as all-sufficient data, his conviction and estimate will be 
 grounded on them. 
 
 The military hero, whose sanguine temperament gives a 
 
 M 
 
1G*2 EDUCATION. 
 
 colour to his sentiments, will regard the dauntless soul and 
 conquering arm as the noblest test of merit and manly virtue ; 
 in his too partial eye all earthly glory is eclipsed by the 
 splendour of gallant achievement and successful prowess ; the 
 sword will be to him the criterion of power and the symbol of 
 authority. In judging of a nation, he will survey her military 
 attitude, offensive and defensive, and her resources, in the spirit 
 of a true son of Mars ; will number the laurels she has won in 
 the battle-field, and the port and bearing of her warriors : 
 when these are in accordance with his mind, he will not with- 
 hold his approbation, nor be disposed to question the existence 
 of merit, in his estimate, of a subordinate and inferior kind ; 
 rather he will contend that mental qualities of the first order 
 are the essential supports of a high military character. 
 
 In every polished society, the literati form an influential 
 body, whose suffrages are not to be won by any secondary 
 degree of merit. To covet the estimation of these, is to aim 
 at a worthy and noble mark : in the scale of public opinion 
 their voice will have weight sufficient to give a current impress 
 and value to the sentence they pronounce : for a just criterion 
 of national character, they will look to the character and moral 
 bearings of the popular literature of the day. Rightly they 
 will infer the ruling taste of the community from the style 
 and character of the press, and from the sanctioned fruits of 
 this legitimate medium of communication. The truly judicious 
 and excellent among these, and, it may be added, the wise 
 and good of every class, will concur in their judgment of things 
 most essential to the well-being, as well as to the good fame, 
 of society at large. The glory of martial achievement will be 
 to them as the evanescent meteor of an hour, and the fleeting 
 and faithless, though high-sounding, voice of Fame, but as the 
 passing echo of the desert. Rare examples of high worth, and 
 solitary instances of grandeur of character, may claim the 
 tribute of esteem and admiration for the individual, but show 
 no rule for extending it further. The passport to favour that 
 

 EDUCATION. 163 
 
 individual merit brings, is singly the property of one, and 
 cannot be assumed as the right privilege of many, till such 
 merit become so general, as to form a fair sample of collective 
 or national character. 
 
 With the truly wise and enlightened, no superficial views, 
 no partial deductions, will suffice ; they will seek beneath the 
 surface, even to the root : aware of the reciprocal influence of 
 literature and education, and conscious that their combined 
 powers give form and direction to the popular taste, they will 
 regard literary men and literary institutions as the main re- 
 sponsible guardians of a nation's social character. Should 
 it appear that a sober zeal for truth and the great interests of 
 religion have been eclipsed by a vain ostentation of learning, 
 by the subtilties of erring reason, founded on pride of intellect, 
 or compromised by a time-serving spirit, causing men to 
 wander, and interposing the dark cloud of scepticism between 
 the Christian and his hope ; they see in such fatal indications, 
 not the harbingers of sure decay and ruin alone, but the wild 
 growth of error also, which, by neglect, have spread their roots 
 deep and wide in a soil naturally generous. If recreant genius, 
 in the venal spirit of infidelity, be seen bending at the shrine 
 of a false and mundane philosophy, giving the right-hand of 
 fellowship to the enemies of truth, openly enlisting under the 
 banners of besotted mammon, and prostituting its energies in 
 the service of the powers of darkness, or basely perverting its 
 talents for the sole purpose of entangling the minds of men 
 amid the bewildering mazes of sophistry ; all such indications 
 of popular vice, all that darkens the face of society, and degrades 
 its character, will, by the deeply judging, be referred to their 
 primary causes, as, in fairness, must also the contrary bright 
 and edifying manifestations of public virtue, worth, and merit, 
 by which society is no less benefited, than its character is, in 
 the truest sense, exalted. 
 
 But it may be said, the press, as the great medium alike of 
 good and evil, is a monster over which literary men and literary 
 
 M2 
 
164 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 institutions have little or no direct control. True it is, that 
 among many good things it brings forth sundry strange births, 
 and monstrous too, if this word be synonymous with mischievous; 
 but men who live (as it is termed) by their wit, might seem to 
 want common prudence, did they, instead of consulting their 
 purses and the taste of their customers, only consult their own 
 hearts, and having felt the pulse of the former, and shrewdly 
 guessed what would bo palatable, neglect to supply it. There 
 seems to be no alternative for the dependent portion of the 
 press : if they stop short, they starve ; if they please not, they 
 starve. The cook must please the palate; and if his guest demand 
 a strange dish, the poor fellow whose necessity bids him supply 
 it, is not the party to be condemned. The error or fault is in 
 the depraved appetite, and so it is with the popular taste when 
 corrupted and vitiated; till this be improved and rectified, 
 hands will never be wanting to minister ample food for its 
 vicious gratification. 
 
 Education, literature, and legislation, form a kind of moral 
 triumvirate, sharing between them the guardianship of the 
 great social interests and the social character. Men of influence 
 and talent, whether statesmen or men of letters, who, looking 
 beyond private considerations, heartily concur in promoting 
 the public good, are among the chief benefactors of mankind ; 
 and as not many can appreciate the labours of mind and its 
 exhaustion by intense and protracted thought, they consequently 
 can form no adequate estimate of the obligations under which 
 they lie to men in high official stations, who thus generously 
 devote their energies to the best interests of their fellow-men ; 
 but all the laudable endeavours of such must be futile without 
 the co-operation of literature arid education. The legislator 
 may guard the outworks, he may control the external indi- 
 cations of social and moral disorder; but over its internal 
 workings he has no power : to counteract these hidden springs 
 of evil, he must call in the aid of literature to diffuse a moral 
 light, to rectify the public taste, pursuits and recreations, 
 

 EDUCATION. 165 
 
 d to enrich it with the varied stores of useful knowledge, 
 thus turning it from sensual to intellectual objects, from the 
 grossest to the most refined pleasures. 
 
 To education and literature men of discrimination will always 
 refer the prevalence of vice or virtue, of moral good or ill, 
 and with reason conclude that, effectually to check the current 
 of mischief, it must be arrested at its sources. Even public 
 amusements are subject to the influence of popular literature. 
 The drama, which with a large class is influential in no 
 mean degree (and in great cities permanently so, as being 
 the favourite medium of recreation), quickly catches the 
 spirit and tone of the literature of the day. For these and 
 similar, as well as for weightier reasons, thinking men will 
 look to the great seats of erudition ; in them the nation con- 
 templates the foundation on which her fairest hopes are 
 built, the key-stone of her greatness, the basis on which the 
 column of her future worth is to be erected. The patriot, with 
 jealous eye, will watch over them as the sacred depositories of 
 the nation's choicest treasure ; and the Christian, who sees his 
 holy faith assailed by the enemies of truth, and the besotted 
 legions of infidelity impiously trampling under foot the sacred 
 ensigns of redeeming love, substituting anarchy for harmony 
 and peace, and rearing their proud banners where the standard 
 of the cross alone should stand, will turn an eye of anxious 
 hope towards these goodly towers of Zioii as to the strong- 
 holds of Christian truth, where its leaders are marshalled, 
 and its forces trained and sent forth divinely armed, to en- 
 counter the powers of darkness, and where, of old, so many 
 able champions, animated by a spirit of holy zeal, went forth 
 conquering and to conquer; where also Christian youth, from 
 age to age, are taught the wonders of redeeming love, and 
 learn to consecrate their talents to the Saviour's service. But 
 should a faithless and recreant spirit here prevail ; should 
 religion, by neglect, be brought into contempt, and her rival, 
 the world, be set in high dignity: betraying their high tru&t, 
 
166 EDUCATION. 
 
 should they pour forth bands of wayward and vitiated youth to 
 burden and distract society, all voices would join to condemn, 
 every Christian nation would rise in judgment against them. 
 
 The spirit of the times bids us hope for better things ; but 
 it is, perhaps, not possible to lay too great stress on interests 
 of this nature. Defects there always will be, but in looking at 
 consequences, when Education is the theme, it may be wisdom 
 to invert the moral maxim, and view the evil rather through 
 a magnifying medium, the better to anticipate and avert its 
 effects; but this has sometimes been overdone. While some 
 have sated their spleen with invective, and in thundering 
 philippics have denounced, others in more plaintive jeremiads 
 have deplored the abuses or evils which their apprehensions 
 have distorted. The intemperance of zeal is a mighty magni- 
 fier, and the mountainous evils have sometimes shrunk to the 
 size of mole-heaps when viewed by the clear light of reason. 
 Wherever the sons of the wealthier classes are permanently 
 congregated, there doubtless will the strongholds of youthful 
 vanity be erected; and there entrenched, under the covert of 
 numbers, all the forces of wit and ingenuity will be put in 
 requisition to strengthen and fortify them. With ardent and 
 volatile youth the spirit of enterprise and bold adventure has 
 resistless charms; the youthful temperament has ever a keen 
 relish for all that savours of novelty, is reckless of consequences, 
 and always emboldened by success. 
 
 This is unquestionably a time of real danger to youthful 
 virtue ; wherever a laxity of discipline, by opening a prospect 
 of success, flatters their wanton presumption, invention will 
 then be stimulated, till, by progressive advances, all proper 
 deference to authority will probably be swallowed up in a 
 determined spirit of resistance to discipline and wise control. 
 Doubtless every father who designs his son as a candidate for 
 collegiate honours, has sufficient reason for prudent precaution 
 to shield his child from those corrupting influences, which to 
 many a hopeful youth have proved fatal. Some degree of danger 
 
 
EDUCATION. 167 
 
 all inevitably arise from close contact and communion with 
 lose pampered and giddy scions of fortune, who being set 
 loose from the restraints of home, and at a distance from the 
 paternal eye, for the first time their own masters, hail their 
 liberty with a wild determination to enjoy it after their own 
 wanton fashion, in fellowship with kindred spirits as hopeful 
 as themselves, and who scruple not to make the same wise 
 resolution : these, having no definite object in view, and guided 
 solely by their own rash and vain caprice, are dangerous 
 companions, being as indifferent to improvement as they are 
 hostile to subordination, and as vicious, commonly, as oppor- 
 tunity will permit them to be. 
 
 The vigilance of an argus is here needed to watch the hal- 
 lowed precincts of genius, and the hundred gates by which 
 juvenile folly and levity gain access to the temple of knowledge 
 and virtue, to guard the hill of science from the intrusion of 
 riot and impertinence, and to preserve from profanation those 
 favourite haunts of the muses, the sacred arena of truth, and 
 the seat of Attic inspiration. 
 
 In these classic grounds, so famed and so favourable for 
 mental culture, the nation has oft culled the choicest fruits and 
 flowers. She here surveys the fair plants of knowledge which 
 her own hands have reared ; to which she has been a shadow 
 from the heat, a refuge from the storm ; and to them she looks for 
 the plentiful increase of intellectual sustenance, for the mental 
 growth and edification of her children. Rightly she judges 
 that where the efforts of genius are sustained by ease and inde- 
 pendence, there social harmony and moral excellence will most 
 happily blend, offering the fairest field for the production of 
 virtue and the development of genius. 
 
 The idle votaries of dissipation should not be allowed to 
 invade the arena of study, nor to disturb the calm that so well 
 befits these classic retreats, sacred to science and literature. 
 The noise of wanton revelry should here be hushed, nor suffered 
 to break in upon the soothing stillness of seclusion, so congenial 
 
168 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 to contemplation, and so favourable to the efforts of genius. 
 Here the mind, collecting its scattered thoughts, and reassuming 
 its energies, holds communion with the highest order of intel- 
 ligences. Here philosophy, in sequestered shades, revolves 
 the past, explores the future, and weighs the event of all ; or, 
 deep musing in the studious walks of Attic lore, with vision 
 undisturbed, a clear horizon, and a cloudless sky, takes its 
 broad survey, feeding high thoughts, and sending reason forth 
 to cruise the mystic sea of speculation ; or, with true wisdom 
 and sublimer aim, labours ardently in search of the supreme 
 good, aspiring to be blest in its possession. 
 
 The pensive student here, in quest of great example, turns 
 the historic page, revolving in his mind heroic deeds, and minds 
 of noblest stamp, till, glowing with a kindred flame, he burns 
 to win an equal meed of glory ; amid a galaxy of brightest 
 names that swell the annals of old Greece and Rome, selects 
 the worthiest as his model, bravely counts the cost, and eagerly 
 anticipates the day that shall give him to the world, put his 
 generous purpose to the test, and prove his patriotic, fixed 
 resolve to serve and bless mankind. 
 
 Here, also, the embryo senator, smitten with the powers and 
 charms of rhetoric, is first seized with divine enthusiasm by the 
 graceful and nervous strain of Roman oratory, or fired by the 
 masculine eloquence of the indignant Greek, as he pours forth 
 his manly soul in a torrent of masterly invective, shaking the 
 senate with the thunders of his eloquence, and publicly de- 
 nouncing the wily Macedonian prince labouring to subvert the 
 state, and overthrow the liberty of Greece ; or deploring the 
 degeneracy of his countrymen, strives to rouse their slumbering 
 energies against the oppressors of their country, and to rekindle 
 the patriotic flame, that in ages past had burned with quenchless 
 ardour in the Athenian breast; with eloquence exhaustless as 
 his theme, resistlessly appealing to every passion in its turn, 
 he enlists them all in the glorious cause of freedom. 
 
 Low and debasing associations, of whatever kind, but ill 
 
EDUCATION. 169 
 
 accord with feelings and pursuits so laudable and so peculiarly 
 becoming to youth; still less is it befitting that the wanton 
 spirit of license should profane the privacy of the youthful 
 theologian, who with holy purpose devotes his talent and his 
 time to the Author of his being and his hopes, and who, with 
 firm allegiance to the Saviour's cause, makes man's redemption 
 his high and endless theme, and his unvarying object. Worldly 
 vanities shut out, he here retires to weigh the import of eternal 
 things, lifting his thoughts from earth to heaven, and holding 
 fellowship with sainted names, emulates their heavenly wisdom 
 and their zeal, and with the vigorous eye of faith surveys their 
 glorious triumphs and rewards. 
 
 Lastly, not always least, soul-moving poesy here oft essays 
 its first impassioned thoughts, catches the spirit of her infant 
 strain, and takes the hue that colours all her themes. Whether 
 with pure intent she tune her numbers to a moral lay, touching 
 the finer chords of human hearts, or meanly bent to please the 
 wanton taste of grovelling sense ; whether, with blended grace 
 of thought and language, she recreate and charm the soul, or 
 mid the day-dreams of creative mind, in all the luxury of 
 thought, she weave, in sportive mood, her fairy wreath of 
 fiction's brightest flowers ; whether to paint fair deeds and high 
 emprise, and by their rich reward to lure the steps of virtue to 
 sublimer height, or touched with fire seraphic, caught from 
 the hallowed page, she make creative power and redeeming 
 love her rapturous theme, painting the heavenly home of saints, 
 their triumphs and rewards, in seats of endless bliss : the gifted 
 muse, virtue's bold champion, and truth's firm ally, is the 
 nation's prize ; but when venal and vicious, is the bane of inno- 
 cence, the nation's curse, and shames its literary annals with 
 a blot. Not mean is the task or influence of the enlightened 
 bard, whose better office is to deck the brow of merit with a 
 living wreath, and plant the unfading laurel on its tomb; to 
 forth vice to light; to crown the memories of the good 
 
170 EDUCATION. 
 
 and brave with lasting trophies, leading mankind, in hopes of 
 winning equal praise, to emulate their worth. 
 
 In juvenile communities, whatever be the bent of individual 
 genius, the reigning spirit, whether good or ill, that pervades 
 the whole, will gain access to every part, influence every mind, 
 and give a colour to its pursuits and operations. Why a college 
 career has so often terminated unhappily, is a question that 
 may be best solved by the parties chiefly interested, and to 
 whom the experiment has proved fatal. True it is, that of the 
 excellent among British worthies, not a few have here laid 
 the foundation of their eminence and usefulness; but the 
 great question is, What proportion does the good bear to the 
 evil ; the instances of success to those of failure ? The former 
 cannot be hidden, nor can the latter, alas ! be fully known. 
 Success will court distinction, but failure ever shuns observa- 
 tion ; nor will any proclaim his own disgrace. 
 
 Such are the powers of the human mind, that they will often 
 break forth and shine under any system, even, perhaps, the worst 
 that could be contrived; its innate energies and mysterious 
 workings will aid it to rise even against the greatest opposition. 
 If, then, success and merit be rare, there will be less ground for 
 praises than censure ; for it cannot be doubted that the youthful 
 mind comprises not only the elements of every excellence, but 
 also the seeds of every virtue, when shielded from those debasing 
 influences that undermine their innocence and pollute their 
 minds. The means and opportunities for vicious indulgence, 
 are the ruin of youth, and where the current of dissipation has 
 begun to flow, it is hard to stay its course ; but where it has 
 been long flowing with increasing, though secret, force, it is 
 perhaps scarcely possible to restrain its current. Nothing is 
 so communicative as mind, nor so tenacious of its privileges ; 
 equally in boyhood as in manhood, when these (of which 
 pleasure is ever most prized) are threatened, all will readily 
 combine and make common cause. 
 
EDUCATION. 171 
 
 As to the degree of liberty that it is proper for youth to 
 enjoy, there always will be a difference of opinion. A certain 
 writer, touching on this subject, has observed, " By one party 
 it is said, a university student cannot be subject to those pro- 
 hibitions and restraints which abridge the liberties of the 
 school-boy." " The student ought to understand that he must 
 act and think for himself; he is not to be for ever watched, 
 checked, and controlled, till he fancies every thing right which 
 is not forbidden." Such a theory is plausible enough, but how 
 does it work ? Another thus comments : " Who that considers 
 the extensive scope afforded to this liberty of thinking and 
 acting by the operation of a vile system of credit, can feel 
 surprised at the ruinous expenditure of a college life ? It is 
 not asserted that this is tolerated by collusion or connivance, 
 but that its influence is most pernicious on an unsuspecting 
 class of generous youth, who exercise certain powers without 
 fully feeling their responsibility, and are continually exposed to 
 the seductive temptations of overreaching knaves." Of the 
 mischievous tendency of such license there can be little doubt, 
 and to the friends of these institutions it must be a subject of 
 regret that such reasonable ground of complaint should be 
 allowed to exist. If there be a remedy within the reach of 
 reason, its prompt adoption must be most desirable. 
 
 With respect to the course of studies, the order and selection 
 properly belong to those who have the chief direction of them, 
 who are doubtless as willing as they are fully competent to fix 
 on what is best. Touching the rival pretensions of Latin and 
 Greek versus logic, or other branches of study, they have their 
 able champions in the field, with all-sufficient umpires to decide : 
 little need here be advanced on these points, though doubtless 
 they involve considerations by no means undeserving the serious 
 attention of the parties interested. 
 
 Logic, doubtless, has its merits, and may be a formidable 
 weapon in the hand of a master spirit, but whether it is 
 needful to lay any great stress upon it as a separate study, is 
 
17*2 EDUCATION. 
 
 questionable : the greatest wits have perhaps been least indebted 
 to it ; and, probably, had the genius of such been cramped at the 
 outset by its formalities, their names might never have been 
 heard of. Whether a general exercise of its powers be not 
 more congenial and improving to the mind of man, and whether 
 reason unfettered and free does not attain to greater strength 
 of comprehension, are questions ; for if freedom of thought be 
 favourable to expansion of mind, logic will gain little by the 
 argument. The world is a great logician, and he who has 
 much intercourse with it will want neither wit nor strength of 
 argument : the sound mathematician is also a first-rate logician. 
 The question of merit seems to turn chiefly on this, that if 
 the ends of logic are attainable by other studies, and without 
 treating it as a separate study, there will be evidently a clear 
 gain of so much time. If one youth be put to logic, and 
 another to Latin, for twelve months, and if the study of Latin 
 grammar, with the right application of the rules of syntax, 
 supply, as some are of opinion, full and equally improving 
 exercise to the reasoning faculties, their merits on the score of 
 reason will be on a par ; but the acquisition of Latin will have 
 given this the start of the other by the whole year ; but this is 
 assumed rather for argument sake than as matter of fact. 
 
 Logic has, however, this redeeming feature, of begetting a 
 habit of fixing the attention, and concentrating the powers of 
 the mind, thereby enabling it more effectually to grapple with 
 its subject. Setting aside its merits as a science, and viewing 
 it rather as a medium, it may, perhaps, be rendered far more 
 subservient to the aim of education than any science that can 
 be named, by making it the vehicle of information, employing 
 it on chosen themes and essential points of knowledge, by 
 bringing them under the pupil's consideration, and leading him 
 to a right understanding on subjects of vital importance, and thus 
 most effectually advancing the great interests of religious and 
 moral truth. One reason, perhaps, why logic should have due 
 limits assigned to it is, lest by habit it might beget a podantu- 
 

 EDUCATION. 
 
 173 
 
 spirit, and, by the food it ministers to argumentation, it should 
 induce a disposition or tendency in the youthful mind to dispute 
 on trivial arid ordinary occasions. 
 
 Heathen literature, wherever it is in vogue, is but too apt 
 to gain an ascendancy in the youthful breast; some solid 
 medium of truth may therefore be needful to rectify and coun- 
 teract false notions and erroneous prepossessions; for where 
 so much that is admirable is inseparably blended with much 
 that, to say the least, is, in a Christian view, reprehensible, the 
 good but serves more effectually to give currency to the evil. 
 Small blame attaches to men whose chief error was want of 
 light, but the indiscriminate reading of the pagan writers must 
 have a questionable influence on a youthful society ; for error is 
 immutable, and ere the Christian dispensation was vouchsafed, 
 its reign was boundless ; the most popular and refined theories 
 being often the most repugnant to the Christian doctrine. The 
 childlike simplicity, the meek and self-denying spirit of the 
 one, is diametrically opposed to the hectoring spirit of the 
 other, and strikingly contrasts with the attributes that enter 
 into the composition of their favourite heroes, whose gods even 
 were notorious rather as examples of revenge and lust, than as 
 the patrons of virtue. 
 
 Whatever forms a stated part of youthful study, is deeply 
 imbibed and tenaciously retained, especially when arrayed in 
 the attractive garb of fable, and couched in impassioned lan- 
 guage fitted to captivate the heart of open, unsuspecting youth. 
 Whether will he who has been wantonly sporting his imagination 
 with the levities of Ovid, turn with a feeling of welcome or 
 disgust to the sober dictates of his Bible ? How far the spirit of 
 heathenism and the spirit of Christianity will coalesce ; how and 
 in what measure they may be consistently blended and made 
 to co-operate beneficially in the same mind, are questions for 
 the consideration of those whose abilities have raised them to 
 the direction of these establishments, who, from practical ob- 
 servation, are best informed as to the nature and bearings of 
 
174 EDUCATION. 
 
 whatever may exist in the shape of error or omission, who 
 alone have power to apply the remedy where it may be wanting : 
 theirs is the privilege to direct, and with them also rests the 
 responsibility. Most desirable it is that in the nurture of 
 Christian minds, the wheat should be carefully separated from 
 the chaff; and the best friends of such establishments are 
 doubtless those who would see them, if possible, so free from 
 defect, that no just ground of objection should remain. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no period of human life more interesting, 
 either as it respects youth, or their friends, or society at large, 
 than that wherein Education resigns her charge to the world, 
 and sends him forth, big with anticipation, to mingle in the 
 busy or pleasurable scenes of life ; when emerging from youth 
 to manhood, he prepares to enter on that probationary career, 
 which is to crown him with honour, or to brand him with 
 infamy ; which is to realize the fond aspirations of his friends, 
 and the just expectations of his country ; or which must consign 
 his name to lasting ignominy, or disgraceful oblivion. If it be 
 desirable that the course of life should terminate happily, it 
 is essentially so that it should begin auspiciously; for the 
 wisdom or folly that guides the first steps of life, commonly 
 shapes its future progress, extending its influence even to the 
 latest period of existence. 
 
 Between the expiration of the time limited for education, 
 and the entrance on a settled course of occupation, there 
 almost invariably intervenes a season of leisure, a vacant and 
 unemployed portion of time, during which youth are commonly 
 though injudiciously indulged in the dangerous liberty of self- 
 guidance, both in the choice of their amusements and the 
 disposal of their time; and notwithstanding the obvious ill 
 tendency of such a practice, we find it continued and sanctioned, 
 in a greater or less degree, by parents of every class by the 
 humbler classes only partially, perhaps, from circumstances of 
 necessity ; but in the higher walks of life, where its operation 
 is pregnant with mischief, it seems to be almost universally 
 
EDUCATION. 175 
 
 authorised : the consequence is, that youth are most exposed to 
 evil at the most unguarded and critical period of their lives. 
 Doubtless there are parents, and not a few, who wisely an- 
 ticipate and provide against many dangers which threaten the 
 virtue and happiness of their children, and of such timely 
 precaution there is abundant need; for so varied are the 
 seductions by which youth are beset in the polished circles of 
 society, that the wisest provision will rarely suffice to counteract 
 their baneful influence, or secure them from such evils as neither 
 human penetration could foresee, nor human wisdom avert. 
 
 But, among parents, a numerous class appear to have no 
 apprehension of danger to their offspring at this critical junc- 
 ture, and little concern for its consequences; but so strange 
 an infatuation, though it may not argue a want of natural 
 affection, implies either a very limited knowledge of the world, 
 a want of common prudence, or of a solid understanding. 
 Such indifference on the part of parents evinces not only 
 ignorance of the youthful character, but forgetfulness of their 
 own responsibility, and a manifest insensibility to their own 
 best interests, which are closely interwoven with those of 
 their children. It were not reasonable to expect that strong 
 precautionary measures should be adopted by those who do 
 not see the need of them ; nor will it be supposed that parents, 
 who manifest such a feeling of indifference, will enforce those 
 restrictions and salutary measures which may be requisite to 
 repress the beginnings of evil, by effectually guarding the minds 
 of the young against its insidious approach. 
 
 There is another description of parents whose error on this 
 important point arises from an amiable source, or weakness 
 rather, who suffer their judgment to be imposed on by the 
 natural benevolence of their disposition, which raises them 
 above suspicion of evil where there are no indications of its 
 approach ; who leading, probably, a life of domestic seclusion 
 and tranquillity, are unconscious of the wide prevalence of evil 
 around them, and consequently of the necessity of abstracting 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 youth from the sphere of its contagion. Indulgence is the 
 hurtful extreme to which this kindly nature tends, but which, 
 in this case, forfeits all claim to its name and character. 
 Continued indulgence is ever most hurtful to a child, from its 
 unhappy influence on the temper ; but to youth ripening into 
 manhood, it assumes the character of error of the worst kind 
 and most fatal tendency. Far more cruel in its consequences 
 is that liberty which allows them to sport on the brink of a 
 precipice, where a false step may be fatal, than the apparent 
 severity which forbids access to the danger, and, by denying 
 the means and opportunity of seeking temptation, averts its 
 consequent penalty and misery. 
 
 It might be useless, even were it possible, to define the 
 various views and sentiments that individually prevail amid 
 the great diversity of the parental character ; but it would seem 
 (omitting the minor shades of difference) that the majority of 
 parents in the present age are content rather to be passive 
 spectators of, the agitated current of events, than active and 
 interested agents in what most nearly concerns their own 
 reputation,, as connected with the welfare of their offspring. 
 Though few in the present enlightened time can be charged 
 with ignorance, yet many appear unwilling to entertain a serious 
 view of things, or to believe that their children are doomed to 
 encounter perils so formidable, either as to their number or 
 magnitude. The real evils of life are by such supposed to 
 have been greatly magnified by the apprehensions of feeble 
 and timid spirits, but to have little foundation in reality ; hence 
 it too often happens that unguarded youth (in its own expe- 
 rience) is fated to forego the solid advantages of life, while its 
 evils are incurred to their greatest extent. 
 
 Unbiased by sanctioned prejudices or prevalent opinions, 
 it behoves the sincere inquirer for truth rather to search dili- 
 gently for himself, and by adhering to plain and incontrovertible 
 facts, to derive thence those rational conclusions, which are 
 equally proof against the power of error and the delusion of 
 
EDUCATION*, 377 
 
 sophistry. In adopting this straightforward mode of investi- 
 gation, the first question to be determined is, whether or not 
 the condition of youth, at the period alluded to, be one of such 
 immediate danger; also the real nature and extent of the 
 danger by which he is threatened. A decided conviction of 
 his perilous state is the leading point; for if this be plainly 
 proved, the necessity of providing against it becomes obvious ; 
 and the only remaining question will be, as to the most efficient 
 means of counteracting the evils that set themselves in array 
 against his peace, his virtue, and his character. 
 
 Who that retains the feelings which the sacred name of parent 
 should ever inspire, can be an unconcerned spectator of the 
 unequal contest between the frailty of youth and the power of 
 worldly temptation, or witness unmoved the vain struggle of 
 half-formed principles and unconfirmed virtue against the 
 fascination of debasing pleasure, to whidi it is often an almost 
 unresisting prey, a sad and early victim ? And how must such 
 feelings be embittered in the case of that parent who is con- 
 strained to acknowledge, in the premature fate of his own child, 
 the manifest consequences of his neglect ! How strongly do 
 such considerations urge the necessity of parental care, and of 
 a right j udgment in things connected with the welfare of those 
 who are so dear to them, and for the sake of preserving a clear 
 and approving conscience in a concern so momentous and 
 irretrievable, wherein the opportunity of timely shielding them 
 from harm, if lost, is lost for ever, and though it must ever be 
 regretted, yet can never be recalled ! 
 
 Whether among youth some be of a gayer turn than others, 
 or whether some may have enjoyed the advantage of a superior 
 education, or whether, after finally quitting school, some may 
 abide under the paternal roof for a longer, others for a shorter 
 term, yet will our argument be in nowise affected by such 
 accidents ; because, under every change and variety of circum- 
 stance, the youthful character, in its essentials, remains un- 
 changed, and as it ever has been the same, so must it continue 
 
178 EDUCATION. 
 
 to the end of time ; because at this period the season Of trial 
 begins to every individual, but terminates only with life. 
 Whether at home or in a distant land, the same passions will 
 operate, and commonly to an extent proportioned to the power 
 of temptation. Every rule admits of variations, but in a general 
 view a plain course must be adopted, and the youthful character 
 must be taken as we find it in the aggregate a compound of 
 gaiety and heedlessness, a love of pleasure, and contempt for 
 its consequences: here they stand on a level, and singularly 
 happy is the parent who can claim an exception in favour of 
 his own child in any of these particulars. 
 
 The most regular mode of proceeding in our inquiries will 
 be first to ascertain the actual state of the youthful mind, when, 
 bidding adieu to scholastic seclusion, it enters upon the wide 
 theatre of life, mingles in its busy and festive scenes, and first 
 tastes the mingled cup of sublunary hopes and cares. The 
 first points to be determined are, the mental and moral ac- 
 quirements of youth at this period, also their peculiar feelings 
 and susceptibilities, and, finally, their views and motives ; after 
 which it will be profitable to ascertain, as precisely as we can, 
 the manner in which youth are commonly permitted to spend 
 this time, as also the most rational and profitable manner of 
 employing it, briefly touching on the most obvious arguments 
 for enforcing the obligation that parents and guardians are 
 under to improve the opportunity thus afforded them for the 
 better promoting and securing the desirable objects of life. 
 
 It will commonly be found, that when scholastic discipline 
 has done its utmost, much will remain to be done ere youth be 
 fitted for the world ; the knowledge which it imparts is not only 
 very limited in extent, but often of very secondary importance. 
 Even in those branches which are chiefly available for the 
 business of life, there is, in most cases, a manifest deficiency ; 
 whether the undue attention directed to one branch may have 
 been the means of defrauding another of that portion of time 
 which its superior importance may demand, as is the case when 
 
EDUCATION. 179 
 
 languages, comparatively of little use in the concerns of life, 
 are allowed to consume that time which might be more pro- 
 fitably occupied in acquisitions of a humbler name, perhaps, 
 but of decidedly greater utility. In every case omissions may 
 be found, nor can it indeed be well supposed that it should 
 be otherwise, considering the heedless temperament of youth, 
 and how greatly the attention is divided by the diversified 
 objects of modern education ; whatever be the cause, the effect 
 is certain, and the inference obvious. 
 
 In glancing at the moral progress of the youthful mind at 
 this period, and its acquisitions in the knowledge of Divine 
 truth, we are entering upon very doubtful ground, and much 
 delicacy is requisite in order to avoid imputations, which, if too 
 general, might seem to strike a mark at which they aimed not. 
 The happiest exceptions are to be met with ; that they are not 
 more common is to be regretted. Sound practical information 
 on these most essential points, so desirable in itself, so exalted 
 and honourable in its aim, has long been unaccountably, and, 
 till recently, almost universally neglected. Here it must be 
 confessed that youth appear to stand on one common level of 
 ignorance, whatever be the measure of their other acquire- 
 ments ; and what renders this general deficiency of youth the 
 more remarkable is, that every preceptor is at full liberty to 
 frame and improve his own system at will, and so embody in 
 it that measure of moral and Divine knowledge which is most 
 consonant with his views and convictions, with the readiest mode 
 of imparting it to the youthful mind.* 
 
 Were it practicable, it would, perhaps, not be advisable, to 
 investigate the minutiae and details of scholastic deficiencies ; 
 but it is evident that modern Education is decidedly at fault 
 on many primary points of Christian knowledge, as connected 
 with a proper estimate of men and things. Can it be deemed 
 no indispensable part of a father's duty to inquire whether his 
 
 * In many establishments, public and private, religious instruction is 
 becoming an object of primary attention. 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 EDUCATION* 
 
 son has gained that knowledge which is needful for his safe* 
 guidance in the world, to rectify his views of the end of hi& 
 existence, and to lead him to discriminate between the solid 
 and the superficial, preferring the former, however plain, to the 
 latter, however dazzling ? Are his hopes rationally grounded, 
 and has he learned the dubious nature of that success which 
 is grafted on the precarious favour of the world ? Has Education 
 taught him an inviolable regard to truth and rectitude, and 
 shown him the beauty and dignity of virtue ? Has he learned 
 the uncertain tenure of life, and the right occupation of his 
 talents, with a due sense of his own frailty, and hourly depend- 
 ence on the Author of his being ? And does he understand his 
 relation and obligation to the Son of God, the great Redeemer 
 of mankind ? Does he honour his parents in the spirit of love 
 and meekness? In brief, has Education given him a right 
 view of his best interests, with motives and means to direct 
 him in pursuit of them ? We are told, perhaps, that Education 
 does not profess to do all this it cannot be expected that it 
 should; but has it endeavoured to do it? or rather, in the 
 majority of cases, has the attempt been made, under the fixed 
 conviction of its forming an essential part of scholastic edu- 
 cation ? 
 
 With few exceptions, it has seemingly not been deemed 
 needful to lay any positive stress on knowledge of this kind, 
 which is rather left to be experimentally gleaned at some 
 indefinite period in the world, and, at all hazards, in promis- 
 cuous intercourse with society. But if there be a knowledge 
 of power to shield the young from the delusions of error, it 
 will be difficult to give a satisfactory reason why it is to be 
 thrust aside and superseded by acquisitions which, however 
 desirable for the temporary advantage they confer, must ever 
 sink into insignificance when compared with that knowledge 
 which is subservient to the noblest ends to which man can 
 aspire. How lightly soever a truly religious education may 
 be appreciated by the vain and frivolous, they may be assured 
 
EDUCATION. 181 
 
 that, without it, all other acquirements will prove comparatively 
 worthless. 
 
 With reference to modern Education, on these points let 
 the unprejudiced parent declare his convictions in the case of 
 his own children, or those that happen to come under his 
 observation, and he will not unfrequently, perhaps, find youth 
 finished, as it is termed, without one well-regulated affection, 
 without one principle rightly fixed in the breast. How rarely 
 can we trace in modern youth the rise of Christian graces ! 
 Even that amiable docility and ingenuous modesty which are, 
 or ought to be, so peculiarly their own, are often so little 
 apparent, that their growth would seem rather to have been 
 checked than forwarded. Humility is certainly not the charac- 
 teristic of youth of the present day ; and yet it must be confessed 
 that the want of it affords but a slender promise of a truly 
 Christian character in manhood. 
 
 Though more might perhaps be advanced relative to this 
 part of our subject, enough, it is presumed, has been adduced 
 to prove the insufficiency of scholastic attainments for the 
 purposes of life, and if so, no additional argument will be 
 needful to urge the necessity of devoting the ensuing period to 
 serious application, not only to remedy actual defects, but to 
 shield the youthful mind from present dangers, and also to arm 
 it against approaching trials. 
 
 No parent can reasonably expect that mere scholastic tuition 
 should even aim at so comprehensive a scheme of Education, 
 much less that it should fully succeed in accomplishing a design 
 of such worth and magnitude, which the volatile constitution 
 of youth renders as arduous as it is desirable. In few instances 
 that meet our observation does it appear to have been attempted, 
 or even contemplated, on so lofty a scale, at least the result is 
 apparently a decided failure ; but admitting that in many cases 
 the failure had been but partial, it would not weaken the ne- 
 cessity of using all possible means of rectifying deficiencies which 
 might be fraught with dangerous, if not fatal, consequences. 
 
182 EDUCATION. 
 
 That education which does not prepare a youth to sustain his 
 allotted part (how contrary soever to his views and wishes) with 
 patience, firmness, and integrity, which neither forewarns nor 
 forearms him against the wiles and delusion of the world, is 
 assuredly defective in the most essential point. 
 
 If ripening youth be indeed the time of peculiar peril, 
 nothing that has hitherto been advanced will, it is presumed, 
 be deemed superfluous, and every prudent parent will concede 
 that he has an aim of primary importance to compass, when 
 the child of his future hopes, and heir of his fortunes, bidding 
 a final adieu to the seclusion of studies, looks up to him for 
 light and parental counsel, which the doubtful path of life, now 
 opening before him, renders so needful and salutary. 
 
 If it be asked, When does youthful virtue need the strongest 
 guard? the obvious reply is, When exposed to the greatest 
 danger ; and such, in every age, has been the season we allude 
 to ; but in the present age the power of temptations is doubled 
 by the blandishments of modern luxury. Never was there a 
 period when the virtue of youth was exposed to so many and 
 such powerful assaults as now, when shameless vice borrows 
 with impunity all the exteriors of elegance and refinement. 
 
 Some parents there are who seem disposed to treat such 
 apprehensions as rather visionary than real ; they discern but 
 little need for abridging the liberty of their offspring, and 
 denying their own indulgent dispositions. They of course will 
 not be at the pains of obviating, by timely precaution, those 
 dangers which they know only by report, or seem unwilling to 
 credit ; but such, ere they rashly decide, will do well to bestow 
 a little consideration on a few interesting questions connected 
 with the future welfare of their children. 
 
 Supposing, then, that by an equal mixture of indulgence 
 and imprudence, youth are at this critical juncture left to 
 their own guidance, as is too frequently the case, must we not 
 enumerate, among the certain evils resulting from such an 
 error, the loss of time, which at this age is above all price, 
 
EDUCATION. 183 
 
 involving, as it surely does, the loss of talent, and of all the 
 advantages derived from it; the probable loss of innocence 
 and of virtuous habits; and may we not add, at least, the 
 partial loss even of what had been previously acquired during 
 the term of instruction ? Few, it is presumed, can look upon 
 such consequences with apathetical indifference, as mere trivial 
 occurrences ; a little reflection must suffice to produce a con- 
 trary conviction. Does not such ill-judged liberty leave youth 
 at the mercy of a thousand false impressions, and in danger of 
 a thousand false steps, where each may be fatal ? Have they 
 who absurdly contend that there is no necessity for imposing 
 so heavy a yoke on the free agency of the youthful mind, 
 entered into its views and feelings, and duly appreciated its 
 romantic and sanguine temperament ? Hope's ready pencil is 
 at hand, and, guided by the magic of youthful fancy, lends all 
 the charms of fiction to what is unknown and unexplored. The 
 void of inexperience is quickly filled with the vivid colourings 
 of extravagant anticipations ; all the pomp and parade of am- 
 bition and pleasure are made to pass in splendid review, and 
 imagination luxuriates in the prospect; ever prone to quit 
 the plain form of substantial happiness, and as ready to court 
 its vain shadow in the regions of novelty ; but the corrupting 
 influence of error, and the dangers that threaten youthful virtue, 
 are greatly multiplied when, by parental indulgence, in addition 
 to the too prevalent spirit of levity and irreligion, the natural 
 giddiness of the young is stimulated to the intoxication of folly, 
 and its headlong propensities put in play without a check. 
 
 No previous education, how excellent soever, will be found 
 available in such cases to arrest the wayward progress of a 
 wanton will, that has been permitted to overleap the bounds 
 of temperate restraint, and to range the pathless wilds of 
 licentiousness. Education wisely commenced, if it be thus 
 foolishly terminated, resembles the careful guidance of the 
 helpless when dangers are at a distance, and leaving them to 
 
184 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 encounter, single-handed, the assaults of enemies when they 
 are multiplying and encamping around them. 
 
 The transition from a course of study and seclusion to the 
 power of absolute self-disposal, creates a vacuum in the restless 
 mind of youth, and throws it upon its own weak resources. 
 The void will consequently be supplied in such a manner as 
 may seem to promise the greatest share of present satisfaction ; 
 abstract principles and half-formed resolutions will lose their 
 force, and quickly fade away before the exciting impressions of 
 present pleasure. From the humblest to the most exalted 
 station youth are thus exposed to peril ; for their passions are 
 the same, and the briefest period is commonly found long 
 enough to generate those pernicious impressions, which con- 
 tinued liberty can hardly fail to perpetuate. 
 
 There are some parents who think, and with apparent reason,, 
 that it is as well to allow youth a little liberty for experience' 
 sake, and to put their discretion to the test, deeming it advisable 
 they should begin to think and act for themselves, in order 
 to gain that incipient experience and insight into the move- 
 ments of society, which is thought to be the sole medium of a 
 becoming confidence in the juvenile enterpriser; and youth 
 are themselves the willing advocates of a doctrine so flattering 
 to that self-sufficiency of which, whatever they may lack in 
 other matters, they seldom fail to bring home an ample stock. 
 In doubtful cases reason ever recommends the safer side ; and 
 it is pretty well ascertained that the mischievous consequences 
 arising from keeping youth under too tight a rein have been 
 exceeded a thousand-fold by the incomparably worse evils 
 resulting from the contrary extreme of liberty : the rein can. 
 scarcely be held too firmly till it can be relaxed with safety; 
 and the more gradually youth are emancipated from restraint 
 the better, for at this critical period it often proves the best, if 
 not the only safeguard of innocence. 
 
 Some parents hold the opinion, that by giving their children 
 
EDUCATION. 185 
 
 an expensive education (which, in fact, ought to be equivalent 
 to a good one), and then fixing them in that profession or pursuit 
 which has been judged most eligible, they have conscientiously 
 fulfilled the parental charge, and that consequently no further 
 responsibility can attach to them ; but even such may possibly 
 be undeceived by the event, as others have been; and well if 
 it be not too late. Never let it be again repeated, should 
 paternal authority and parental counsel be prematurely with- 
 drawn by those who really estimate their own peace of mind, 
 or the happiness of those whom a wise Providence has rendered 
 dependent on their care and protection. 
 
 It is doubtless in many cases desirable, and even requisite, 
 that youth should spend two or three years beneath the paternal 
 roof ere they launch into the world, and this opportunity may 
 by every prudent parent be turned to good account. The kind 
 and degree of knowledge acquired may be fully ascertained; the 
 social affections may be fathomed; the strength of the moral 
 principle and the mental stamina will be tried and known. 
 Now or never errors and deficiencies must be remedied ; now 
 also is the time to impart that needful knowledge which is not 
 learned in schools, but without which the whole range of litera- 
 ture is of mere nominal worth a wisdom superior to the 
 world, combined with a shrewd insight into men and manners, 
 without which virtue itself will often serve but to betray its 
 possessor. 
 
 Parental weakness has ever been one main source of juvenile 
 folly ; hence also this inestimable opportunity is often consumed 
 in indolence, or dissipated in trivial pursuits, tending only to 
 impair that dignity and purity, which, when duly cherished, is 
 as natural as it is becoming to the ingenuous character of 
 youth. But presumption is of rapid growth when fostered by 
 the excessive liberty of a too indulgent home ; youthful frailty 
 then runs to every foolish extreme by turns, and easy it is to 
 predict the contemptible character of the future man, from the 
 frivolous occupations of the youth. On the other hand, as 
 
186 EDUCATION. 
 
 plainly can we foresee the honourable career of a worthy 
 and talented mind, whose mental and religious culture has 
 been the laudable object of paternal solicitude. Nor is the 
 subsequent period less perilous to youthful virtue, when home 
 is relinquished for professional pursuits; on the contrary, to 
 many this is the crisis of danger, of new and multiplied seduc- 
 tions. Whether their destination be the army or the navy, 
 the seats of learning, the inns and courts of law, or to attend 
 the medical establishments of the metropolis, in each of these 
 walks will be opened a wide field of temptation, strengthened 
 by the example and persuasion of those who have previously 
 run the giddy round of excitement. Emerging from com- 
 parative seclusion, and probably for the first time released from 
 all control, with time and money at their disposal, it is no 
 wonder that, in the struggle between vicious inclinations and 
 virtuous resolves, so few return victors from the conflict ; and 
 it would argue a voluntary ignorance or self-delusion in any 
 parent to expect that, without the requisite and previous care, 
 his child should be found among the number of those who 
 have honourably acquitted themselves in the rugged path of 
 duty. 
 
 Among parents of a serious and reflecting turn, not a few 
 have been disposed to ascribe, in part, the corruption of 
 youthful morals to the innovation of foreign manners. Since 
 the increased intercourse between Britain and the continent, 
 doubtless this may be assumed as a secondary cause ; but the 
 extent of such influence being doubtful, candour will forbear 
 the imputation as ungenerous, so long as a probability exists of 
 tracing the mischief to a less doubtful or extraneous source. 
 Whatever be the cause, it is evident that the traits of dis- 
 similarity are (in certain circles of society) fast wearing away, 
 partly, perhaps, in consequence of the great influx of strangers 
 of late years, and chiefly from the shores of modern Gaul ; but 
 though among these many may be of doubtful standing, as 
 to their moral grade, the mischief is, perhaps, chiefly to be 
 
EDUCATION. 187 
 
 apprehended from a very different quarter, viz. from the crowds 
 of British youth whose ambition or curiosity leads them to 
 make the tour of Europe. 
 
 What can be expected of youth having time and money at 
 command, and impelled by the desire of seeing the world on 
 both sides (a knowledge they have perhaps often heard lauded 
 at home), to whom a continental tour is little better than a 
 wild chace after novelty, hurrying from place to place (limited 
 time forbidding sufficient delay for solid purposes of utility, or 
 for the cultivation of desirable connections), and exploring the 
 public resorts, contriving to make the most of a short time? 
 They consume it, perhaps, in the leading haunts of dissipation, 
 where the worst portion of society is promiscuously congregated. 
 Few who frequent the high places of profligacy escape without 
 a taint of corruption : where licentiousness is decked out with 
 inviting attractions, its seductions are overpowering often to 
 strong minds ; much greater is the danger and folly of suffering 
 heedless youth to plunge into the worst vortices of dissipation. 
 To make matters worse, the time thus spent is considered as 
 a sort of holiday, in which some extra liberty is quite allowable ; 
 but since vice of every kind being rapidly contagious (how new 
 or foreign soever its nature), and blending readily with social ex- 
 citement, too readily captivates the youthful heart ; and because 
 those virtuous characteristics, which are peculiar to a people, 
 are by no means so easily communicable, the consequence to 
 the inexperienced and sanguine may easily be inferred. 
 
 Young men of a generous turn, who hold it as a mark of 
 good breeding to show a deference to strangers, are therefore 
 prone to enter the more warmly into their sentiments and 
 habits, and are proud of thus evincing that they are superior 
 to the influence of narrow prepossessions ; but in their haste to 
 throw off the semblance of illiberal prejudice, there is danger 
 lest they wholly divest themselves also of that sedate moral 
 demeanour, which forms the best safeguard of their virtue. 
 The probable event of such a tour will be, that a youth has 
 
188 EDUCATION. 
 
 rapidly skimmed over the surface of the worst part of society 
 in all the great capitals of Europe; and if such travellers 
 increase in number and activity, we may ere long search in 
 vain among British youth for any trace of the plain but sterling 
 qualities by which the old-fashioned English character was 
 sustained and dignified. 
 
 Having endeavoured to trace the various sources of juvenile 
 folly, whether originating in a faulty education, in parental 
 error, or the natural frailty of the youthful character, as well 
 as the dangers peculiar to the season of incipient manhood ; 
 having thus attempted to depict the evil and to detect its 
 origin, with a view to its cure, it only remains for the author 
 to avow his settled conviction (in which many, he trusts, will 
 concur,) that a truly enlightened religious education alone 
 supplies the sovereign remedy we are in quest of, and is found, 
 by those who make the experiment, to be as easy and natural 
 as it is efficacious. Few will contend that the sacred scriptures 
 are not admirably adapted to instruction, and, as the proper 
 and authorised medium of truth, most worthy to take the 
 lead in Christian education. From happy indications in the 
 spirit of the times, the honest-minded Christian may freely 
 indulge the hope that the auspicious era is not remote when 
 the vain but too fashionable idols of scepticism and infidelity 
 shall wholly succumb to the purity and majesty of Divine 
 truth ; and a happy omen will it be for Britain when its heart- 
 improving and soul-elevating oracles are unanimously received 
 as the criterion of character in every station, and the test of 
 education for all ranks and professions. 
 
 Purposing in a future essay to treat the question of religious 
 instruction at large, and in a manner befitting its importance, 
 no apology can be needful for having thus briefly alluded to 
 this interesting subject in concluding the present essay. 
 
ESSAY V. 
 
 TESTIMONY DERIVED FROM ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY, ILLUSTRATIVE 
 OF THE POWER OF EDUCATION, AND EXEMPLIFYING ITS INFLUENCE ON 
 THE CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF PRINCES, INVOLVING PUBLIC AND 
 
 PRIVATE HAPPINESS POPULAR IGNORANCE; OR TIMES OF UNIVERSAL 
 
 DEPRAVITY, AND THE DARK AND UNLETTERED AGES, SYNONYMOUS 
 
 THE PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OF KNOWLEDGE THE OPERATION OF 
 SCIENCE AND VIRTUE COMPARED. 
 
 IN addition to the many and weighty reasons in favour of a 
 sound Christian education, the experience of every day brings 
 home to the heart its ready tribute of conviction ; while, from 
 the valuable records of the historian and the biographer, we 
 derive a mass of evidence that is at once satisfactory and con- 
 clusive. Well-authenticated history has ever been regarded 
 as a manual of true practical wisdom a moral treasury, con- 
 taining the collective experience of all preceding times ; and to 
 it the philanthropist and the statesman have been ever indebted 
 for their most available knowledge. While the biographical 
 portions chiefly attract the attention of the philosopher, the 
 politician marks the fluctuation of public events, with the view 
 of exploring their latent causes ; to him it is a political chart, 
 delineating the rocks and shoals which have proved fatal to 
 princes, and on which the prosperity of empires has been 
 wrecked. 
 
 Nothing can be more instructive and interesting than this 
 favourite study of the sage, whence alone he may derive a 
 faithful estimate of human nature in all its varied conditions 
 
190 EDUCATION. 
 
 and circumstances. Characters are here displayed in their 
 true light, and their secret springs of action developed by the 
 connection of events. Worldly policy, with its short-sighted 
 plans, its selfish passions and objects, may here be duly appre- 
 ciated ; while ambition is seen wearying itself in the pursuit of 
 things worthless in themselves, and often destructive in their 
 consequences. The Christian here discerns the movements 
 of the Almighty hand, that changes times and seasons, and 
 appoints to each its period : here also the brief triumphing of 
 the wicked is made fully apparent. 
 
 To youth, history holds the best mirror of instruction, by 
 giving them rational and enlarged conceptions of all that can 
 laudably interest their minds; while the manly virtues pour- 
 trayed in their native strength and genuine colour, can hardly 
 fail to inspire them with corresponding sentiments. 
 
 In taking a comprehensive view of mankind, the mind is 
 Forcibly struck with the infinite diversity, not merely of local 
 customs, of individual genius and pursuits, but also of those 
 marked distinctions of national character peculiar to each. 
 Nation is less distinguished from nation by language, or by 
 the natural boundaries of seas and mountains, than by those 
 peculiar characteristics, which form often a decided contrast 
 between bordering states, even when socially connected by 
 motives of policy, or the reciprocal interests of commerce. 
 The polished inhabitants of the various European states, as 
 well as the numerous uncivilized tribes of Africa or America, 
 bear each the indelible impress of the land of their fathers. 
 Asiatic distinctions are well known; and the gravity of the 
 Spaniard, the levity of the Frenchman, and the phlegm of the 
 Dutchman, have long been proverbial. Englishmen have their 
 known peculiarities ; and the generous but sanguine tempera- 
 ment of the sons of the sister isle, exhibits often as marked a 
 dissimilarity to the calculating prudence of the Caledonian, as 
 may well be conceived. To follow such distinctions throughout 
 their minor details would be fruitless were it practicable ; it is 
 
EDUCATION. 191 
 
 sufficient to note, that such diversity obtains, and has always 
 existed, even among the earliest constituted societies of man- 
 kind. By whatever theories some may attempt to solve this 
 characteristic problem, certain it is, that so long as we attribute 
 to Education a power of moulding the human character, we 
 must also impute to its influence, not the mere shadings of 
 character, but chiefly also, if not exclusively, the most exalted 
 and honourable distinctions by which humanity is ennobled 
 and adorned. 
 
 History, in reference to Education, is a plain and practical 
 illustration of its power, and wherever its beneficial agency has 
 been wanting, habit, example, and prejudice, have supplied 
 its place, to which Education itself is scarcely superior* 
 Though the history of any particular era may suffice, in some 
 measure, to develope the foldings of the human character in 
 its variety and versatility, yet the motives of conduct lie more 
 open to observation in the earlier stages of society, ere the 
 mental bias had been swayed or disguised by the complicated 
 influences and artificial systems of society, so widely prevalent 
 in modern times ; consequently we see them pourtrayed in all 
 their native energy and strength in the once mighty common- 
 wealths of Greece and Rome, ere the reign of corruption had 
 commenced ; hence the instructive records of those interesting 
 epochs have been at all times the favourite reference of the 
 moral philosopher, as supplying a code of practical wisdom for 
 all succeeding ages, applicable not merely to our own times, 
 but in all probability equally available till the final consum- 
 mation of probationary existence. The springs and movements 
 of the intellectual machinery are here plainly discernible, and 
 the passions that alternately agitate the private and the public 
 mind, stand out in bold relief. 
 
 The strong hand of Time, which has subverted the power 
 and grandeur of Rome, has yet preserved and handed down 
 to us the story of her wondrous elevation, and of her still more 
 rapid decline and disgrace. In her rise we view the proper 
 
192 EDUCATION. 
 
 fruit of superior virtue ; in her fall, the direct consequence of 
 her subsequent corruption and degeneracy. At leisure, we may 
 contemplate her in the sunshine and in the storm : emerging 
 at first from obscurity, then towering and exulting in the zenith 
 of her power, and trampling under foot the thrones and domi- 
 nations of the earth; awing the nations with her voice, and 
 sending forth her victorious eagles to receive the homage of 
 mankind. The treasures of the east and the west were poured 
 into her lap, princes were her subjects, and her citizens were 
 as kings ; till, intoxicated with pride, and enervated by licen- 
 tious arts, all public and private virtue became gradually 
 eclipsed by an all-pervading spirit of degeneracy, which, pro- 
 phetic of her fall, fatally paved the way for an easier conquest 
 to the barbarous and invading hordes that so rapidly overran 
 the empire, spreading dismay and devastation amid those 
 smiling and happy seats which had been so dearly purchased 
 by the virtue and valour of the sires, and thus shamefully 
 forfeited by the folly and infatuation of their sons. 
 
 In the plenitude of their grandeur, both Greece and Rome 
 were the native seats of eloquence and of patriotism ; the arts 
 and the virtues were equally matured in the stimulating soil of 
 a generous rivalry. Both owed their rise to the temperate 
 virtues, to the contempt of danger, and the desire of honour- 
 able fame, which was early instilled into the minds of their 
 youth; and, till wealth introduced luxury and corruption, 
 disunion and decay, the career of each was marked by the like 
 energy and splendour. But although Rome may display as 
 ample a field as Greece for the exhibition of every noble and 
 manly talent, yet the history of the latter is, perhaps, more 
 replete with instruction, as being divided into numerous small 
 and independent states, not unfrequently pursuing different 
 and even opposite lines of policy, producing that collision of 
 interests, by which the motives and characters of men are ever 
 most strongly developed. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to conceive a more decided contrast 
 
tha 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 n is exhibited in the different systems of policy adopted 
 by the rival states of Athens and Sparta, or Lacedsemon ; a 
 cursory view of each may assist the judgment in its solution of 
 the striking difference evinced in the genius and manners of 
 those rival aspirants for fame and power; it will also supply a 
 strong instance of the efficacy of that mode of training, which 
 in so short a time produced so remarkable a dissimilitude 
 between two neighbouring cities of one common origin and 
 language. On the one hand, we see Athenian liberty de- 
 generating into license ; on the other, we behold the Spartan 
 discipline assuming the sternness of slavish restraint. The 
 favourite Spartan maxim, that " Those only are safe who are 
 strong," seems to have been the main actuating principle by 
 which every thing among these militant Greeks, whether of a 
 private or public nature, was regulated. 
 
 With Lycurgus originated an entirely new form of govern- 
 ment, and wholly of a martial character, which, whatever were 
 its defects, was shrewdly adapted to the exigencies of the times, 
 subsequently obtaining for Sparta that preponderance among 
 the Grecian states, it would otherwise never have acquired. 
 The great revolution he singly and speedily effected in the 
 government and manners of such a people, affords a manifest 
 proof that the energies of his mind were of no common order, 
 enabling him effectually to quell the popular discontents, and to 
 combat successfully the violent factions of the leading men in 
 the state, who, from powerful motives of private interest, were 
 decidedly inimical to his designs; but, dauntless himself, all 
 that emanated from him breathes the like resolute spirit ; hence 
 we see him rising superior to every obstacle, and gathering 
 fresh strength with opposition. 
 
 The laws of Lycurgus made no distinction between rich 
 and poor, but subjected even the king to the control of the 
 senate, which he first instituted as a barrier between democracy 
 and despotism, checking alternately the encroachments of the 
 prince and the people. By his vigorous arid skilful policy, he 
 
194 EDUCATION. 
 
 brought about an equal distribution of lands and goods, so 
 that distinctions and honours were attainable only by superior 
 merit. In order to reduce fortunes to a level, he instituted 
 iron money in lieu of gold and silver, the use of which he 
 abolished. The coin was so weighty, that the value of a few 
 shillings was scarcely portable, and carts and oxen were em- 
 ployed to transport a few pounds, which was so bulky, as nearly 
 to fill a Spartan cottage. This money was of little use, not being 
 current among the other Grecian states; they were ashamed 
 of the ridicule it excited, and thus learned to despise it. Diet, 
 diversions, exercise, every thing was prescribed by law; and 
 the life of the citizens was a system of discipline. The city 
 resembled a camp every hour brought its appointed duty, 
 and to have affected a choice, would have incurred public 
 punishment; hence alternate abstinence and exercise was the 
 order of the day at Lacedsemon. 
 
 Private luxury was abolished by a law ordaining that all 
 meals should be taken in public, to which every citizen con- 
 tributed his monthly supply; and so strictly was it enforced, 
 that Agis, their king, returning victorious, was severely repri- 
 manded for having eaten with his queen in private. To the 
 youth these meals were a school of temperance ; nor was any 
 conversation tolerated that bordered on levity. Among the 
 more wealthy, as may be supposed, many were refractory, and 
 frequent tumults were excited ; but the wisdom and moderation 
 of Lycurgus at length subdued this spirited people. 
 
 Fully aware of the influence of early habit, the education of 
 the Spartan youth was a primary object with the legislator, 
 and, as might be expected, was a system of unremitted sub- 
 jection, self-denial, and fatigue. Plutarch asserts that they 
 would rather die than flinch, and, in confirmation of it, relates 
 the well-known fact of a boy who, having stolen a fox, and hid 
 it under his coat, suffered the animal to tear his bowels, rather 
 than disclose the theft ; and this single well-attested anecdote 
 strongly exemplifies the Spartan policy. Their unrivalled 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 bravery has become proverbial ; nay, so much did they depend 
 on their personal prowess, that, contrary to the usage of those 
 warlike times, the city was without walls ; and so rigid was the 
 discipline within, that the camp and war were to them, com- 
 paratively, a refreshment, because they there enjoyed greater 
 liberty. Their courage, however, was not without an alloy of 
 wanton barbarity towards their slaves (Helotes), numbers of 
 whom were, at times, inhumanly massacred. Thucydides 
 relates that two thousand disappeared at one time. On such 
 occasions, it appears, the youth were permitted to conceal 
 themselves in the woods by day, and at night slaughter all they 
 could find, by way, it should seem, of exercising their martial 
 prowess, and putting the quality of their mettle to the proof. 
 
 The polite arts, and even knowledge, were, in a manner, 
 banished from Sparta; oratory, poetry, and philosophy, were 
 discountenanced ; and sculpture and painting were forbidden, 
 as tending to enervate the public mind ; even music was limited 
 to certain instruments and to national songs. One man was 
 banished for professing to discourse a whole day on a given 
 subject ; and another had his harp nailed up for stretching one 
 string beyond its usual pitch. By a selfish and Chinese kind 
 of policy, narrow and jealous, free intercourse was interdicted, 
 lest vice should be imported into a city where novelty was a 
 crime. Their sphere of observation, as well as of action, being 
 thus confined, all genius was damped by uniformity ; nor were 
 the social passions allowed proper room for play. Their sole 
 idea of virtue centered in bravery; by it all honours were 
 engrossed, and all private ambition directed into one public 
 channel of heroism and military exploits, in which they mightily 
 excelled. Remarkable for austerity of manners, forbidding to 
 strangers, their youth were at this period as reserved as statues, 
 and almost as dumb. All were virtuous, but it was from 
 necessity, and the power of habit, rather than from the pure 
 and abstract love of goodness : virtue they affected^ but its 
 great essential, benevolence, was wanting. 
 
 o 2 
 
1 96 EDUCATION. 
 
 The Athenian policy was in all respects the reverse : po- 
 pular restraints were few ; wealth and an indulgent government 
 favoured luxury and licentiousness; but a virtuous nature, 
 having a larger scope, attained to sublimer heights. An ancient 
 writer has remarked, " The Athenians who were virtuous, were 
 transcendantly so, being truly and unfeignedly good, without 
 necessity or constraint;" but it may also be gathered from 
 their history, that such as were rogues and traitors, were 
 pre-eminently so, equally a disgrace to their country and to 
 humanity. But Athens is to this day justly celebrated as 
 having been the seat of politeness and the liberal arts, as well 
 as the fountain-head of philosophy. The Athenians were also 
 as distinguished for their amiable and social qualities, as the 
 rival state was reputed for their contraries: the universal 
 benevolence inculcated by the one, seems not to have entered 
 into the conception of the other. 
 
 The wide range of history cannot, perhaps, supply a more 
 instructive lesson, nor a more striking illustration of the power 
 of education or training on the human mind, than that by 
 which the genius and manners of a people so noted for their 
 characteristic energy, were changed, and, as it were, moulded 
 anew at the will of a single individual. Education, in the 
 hands of Lycurgus, was an engine to produce a physical effect 
 for a political purpose; his first great object was to render 
 them an invincible and conquering people, rightly judging that 
 this was the leading requisite towards attaining and preserving 
 a supremacy in Greece. His whole policy appears to have 
 been subservient to this sole aim; and the end was fully 
 answerable to his design, insomuch that Sparta, or Lacedaemon, 
 which, with its dependent territory, contained a population of 
 not more than forty thousand at its most flourishing period, 
 yet, with this handful of men, it long gave laws to Greece. 
 Lycurgus reaped in measure as he sowed; his cherished ex- 
 pectation was accomplished, but it was unaccompanied by 
 those advantages which would have flowed from more liberal 
 

 EDUCATION. 197 
 
 and enlightened views. The best feature in his system was, 
 perhaps, the abolition of wealth, by which he may be said, 
 virtually, to have banished avarice, luxury, fraud, and corrup- 
 tion, with their attendant evils, from the state. 
 
 Athens was certainly faulty in the other extreme. Had the 
 ascetic discipline of the one been blended with the harmonizing 
 refinement of the other ; had the elegant but erring genius of 
 Athens been tempered with a wholesome leaven of Spartan 
 discipline, the good of both might have been ensured, and 
 the alternate calamities of each would perhaps have been 
 obviated : for if erroneous systems be so mighty to effect their 
 object, what noble fruits might not a liberal and well-digested 
 plan of instruction have in due time produced, in a mental 
 soil of such a quality, and in which, though labouring under 
 such manifest disadvantages, it could so rapidly attain to an 
 unrivalled and unprecedented pre-eminence ! 
 
 It would be easy to multiply examples from history, wherein 
 national peculiarities may be traced to modes of education, 
 and such a conclusion is perfectly consonant with the plainest 
 reasoning, for whatever affects the component part, propor- 
 tionally influences the whole ; and as it is granted that Educa- 
 tion forms the individual character, and as the aggregate or 
 national character is composed of individuals, it will manifestly 
 be influenced in exact proportion to the number so trained. 
 On the supposition, therefore, that three-fourths of a com- 
 munity be well instructed, it seems but fair and reason- 
 able to infer that the diffusion of so general an example 
 would very materially influence the character of the remaining 
 portion. 
 
 To how great an extent the individual character is swayed 
 and modified by Education, has been already considered in 
 a former essay; but were the proofs of rational argument 
 wanting, it would receive abundant confirmation from the 
 biographical portions of history, where we almost invariably 
 find Education producing its intended result, notwithstanding 
 
198 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 it may, like every thing else, be subject to exceptions in some 
 striking instances, wherein the ruling passion has been too 
 powerfully excited, and not unfrequently by the intervention 
 of alluring objects of ambition, rivalry, or desire. 
 
 Observations of this kind may apply to such characters as 
 Alexander and Alcibiades, both pre-eminently distinguished 
 for their rank and superior natural endowments, and who 
 each enjoyed also the more solid advantages resulting from the 
 precepts, example, and counsel, of the most celebrated phi- 
 losophers of their times. The former, who has been dignified 
 with the title of Great, and who has figured so conspicuously 
 among earthly conquerors, is a remarkable instance of the 
 noblest qualities and virtues finally perverted by unbridled 
 licentiousness. Formed from infancy to manhood by Aristotle, 
 the great master of rhetoric, aided by the counsel and martial 
 example of Philip, his father, a wise and politic prince; fa- 
 voured by such a conjuncture of auspicious circumstances, in 
 addition to the most excellent gifts of mind and body ; he was 
 sanguine, but not refractory, and as fondly devoted to the study 
 of philosophy as attached to his preceptor, in allusion to whom 
 he used to say that he was indebted to Philip for his life, but 
 to Aristotle for living well. Morality was his favourite study 
 when young, and his progress kept pace with his advantages. 
 At an early age he comprehended the connexion between strict 
 virtue and sound policy ; and so solid was his education, that 
 its salutary impress influenced his conduct during the greater 
 part of his triumphant career, maintaining an ascendancy over 
 his passions, and guiding even his ambition ; till, intoxicated by 
 continued success, this descendant of Hercules, as redoubtable 
 as his reputed progenitor, fell an untimely sacrifice at the 
 shrine of the syren excess, by whose fatal power he was 
 precipitated from the highest pinnacle of earthly glory to a 
 premature and dishonourable grave, in the very prime of his 
 manly vigour. 
 
 In Alcibiades we recognize the like mental energy blended 
 
EDUCATION. 199 
 
 with a corresponding ardour of passion : equally favoured by 
 nature, and enjoying, it may be, even greater advantages in 
 the guidance and friendship of Socrates, the faithful counsellor 
 of his youth, we yet behold all these advantages eventually 
 neutralized by the fatal ascendancy of the ruling passion. 
 Virtue was the early and engrossing idol of his soul, nor was 
 it surrendered without repeated struggles ; often, indeed, was 
 its brightness partially obscured, and as often did it regain its 
 wonted splendour, ere it was finally and totally eclipsed. In 
 the intervals of calm reflection, when the violence of passion 
 had subsided, reason and virtue quickly reassumed their em- 
 pire in his generous heart ; but, in the vortex of public or private 
 excitement, and amid the tumult of conflicting passions and 
 desires, the mild and sapient accents of the great and good 
 Socrates were unheard and unheeded. 
 
 As Education is to be estimated by the good that it effects, 
 and the evil it prevents or counteracts, its importance must 
 vary with its application, and rise in proportion to the degree 
 of power and influence attending the superior stations in 
 society ; for, supposing the prince and the -peasant to be equally 
 well instructed, no one will contend that they therefore possess 
 equally the means of benefiting their fellow-creatures, because 
 the privileged station of the former confers on him the means 
 of doing good or evil on an incomparably greater scale than 
 the latter; the inference therefore is obvious, and receives 
 abundant confirmation in the details of history, ancient and 
 modern. 
 
 Ample is the list that has been transmitted to our times, of 
 such as have been invested with power, by a wise and good 
 Providence, for the benefit of mankind; and equally numerous, 
 perhaps, are the names of that class, equally noble by birth, 
 but base and degenerate by nature, and unimproved by culture, 
 whose names have been consigned to infamy, and to whom 
 succeeding ages have pointed the finger of merited scorn, who 
 apparently were raised up by the hand of incensed Deity as 
 
'200 EDUCATION. 
 
 the scourge of their offending fellow-creatures ; but in either, 
 and in every case, Education leagued with power supplies the 
 mightiest of human means to work its effect, whether baneful 
 or beneficent. 
 
 It is not needful, in quest of illustration, always to explore 
 the antiquated page of sometimes questionable authenticity, 
 while the well-attested records of our native land, and in recent 
 times, lie open to the scrutiny of the candid inquirer. In the 
 annals of Britain we discern no era more remarkable than that 
 of the Reformation, whether we contemplate the chief actors or 
 the leading events during that interesting period, exhibiting 
 sudden and total changes in the internal policy of the realm, 
 giving a new aspect to the face of affairs, both foreign and 
 domestic, controlling the destiny of millions, and pregnant 
 with consequences which will probably extend to the remotest 
 generations. 
 
 In glancing at the protracted tyranny of Henry VIIL, 
 especially during the latter years of his sanguinary adminis- 
 tration, what a picture does England present ! The accu- 
 mulated horrors of the period are too generally known to 
 need a recapitulation. Himself the slave of ungovernable 
 desires, his mind was a wretched chaos of internal disorders, 
 and the stronghold of rebellious passions, which, armed with 
 despotic power, were like the beasts of the forest, ever rushing 
 forth to destroy not an unapt emblem of the anarchy that 
 raged throughout his dominions. 
 
 There is reason to believe, from the early biography of this 
 prince, that had he, instead of being pampered and flattered, 
 been " trained" from childhood " in the way he should go," 
 the picture might have been reversed; but, unhappily, his 
 education was (for a prince) defective in the main point, for 
 he was not taught the needful art of self-government; and 
 whatever were his other acquirements, moral principle or 
 virtue, properly so called was certainly not conspicuous among 
 them. The natural seed of vice, which it should have been 
 
EDUCATION. 201 
 
 the business of Education to root out from his mind, was quickly 
 matured in the rank soil of the times, eventually choking the 
 better feelings and sentiments of a heart naturally generous, 
 but fatally perverted by the ascendancy of a pampered and 
 arbitrary will. Remarkable, when young, for personal beauty, 
 his passions, which needed restraint, were without doubt fos- 
 tered by selfish and designing sycophants, (the terrse-filial 
 breed, some of whom are to be found in every court where 
 corruption finds place and favour,) and, confirmed by habitual 
 gratification, naturally became impatient of control, tending to 
 consequences subversive ultimately of his own peace, and of 
 the welfare of his subjects. 
 
 But, even supposing the errors in his education to have been 
 neither many nor great, we are then led to the conclusion that 
 they were greatly nourished and multiplied by subsequent ill 
 counsel and example, to the corrupting influence of which we 
 must look for the source of those polluted streams of violence and 
 misery, that deluged his kingdom, and disgraced his sceptre. 
 
 By extending our view to Mary and Elizabeth, the daughters 
 of Henry, we find more ample illustration, and more conclusive 
 evidence ; nor is it easy to conceive a more decided contrast, 
 whether as regards the individuals, or the different effects of 
 their administration. The austerity and bigotry of Mary, 
 which subsequently produced such bitter fruits to the nation, 
 were the natural results of the illiberal prejudices, early and 
 artfully infused into her mind. Her ominous accession was 
 the signal for superstition to unfurl her blood-stained banner, 
 and kindle the torch of persecution at the altar of Rome: 
 bigotry, arrayed in terrors, with giant strides stalked through 
 the land ; while the black train of fiendish passions followed in 
 the rear, trampling under foot the sacred and social rights of 
 humanity. The distracted nation was thus rent by discordant 
 factions, which, like the sanguinary beasts of the desert, preyed 
 upon its vitals with uncontrolled malignity. Such were among 
 the ill consequences of Mary's education : from the single seed 
 
202 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 of error planted in her breast, sprang this dire harvest, \vith 
 all its deadly consequences. 
 
 But it may here justly be remarked, that the superstition 
 and its attendant calamities, having one common origin, and 
 flowing in the same channel, should rather be imputed to 
 Rome, their true source, than to Mary, the unconscious agent 
 of its sinister designs. It may be added, that the fate of Mary 
 claims commiseration rather than censure, as being the victim 
 of superstition, an instrument moulded by, and subservient to, 
 a crafty papal policy, which however, in this instance, was so 
 short-sighted as to over-reach itself, or rather, was wisely over- 
 ruled by a retributive Providence. With the ancient Christian 
 teacher we may exclaim, " Behold how great a matter a 
 little fire kindleth !" and the following suggestions naturally 
 arise in the mind : of how dangerous and deadly a nature is 
 error, when blended with religious zeal ! how easily does it 
 gain access to the mind ! and how fatally does it subvert all 
 its powers, and subject them to its dark dominion ! 
 
 The charge of error against Rome, here applies chiefly to 
 her corrupt and intriguing policy during that gloomy and 
 lengthened era which forms so foul a stain in the annals of 
 Christendom. Happily for mankind, the dark reign of per- 
 secution has passed : to ignorance, intelligence has succeeded, 
 and its light is now too widely diffused to be in danger of a 
 second eclipse. The virtuous and inquiring portion of mankind 
 are daily advancing in all knowledge, and are every where 
 meeting on the broad level of truth ; the friends of genuine 
 Christianity, it is to be hoped, have therefore little to fear; 
 but even were it otherwise, religious controversy is by no 
 means the object of the present design. 
 
 But though the merits or demerits of the Romish creed and 
 doctrine form no part of the present discussion, yet the papal 
 policy having been so blended with religious influence as not 
 to be separated, renders it impossible to impugn the one, without 
 in some measure implicating the other. In touching, there- 
 

 EDUCATION. 203 
 
 fore, on such an epoch, the remarks offered will of course apply 
 generally, without regard to minute distinctions, as it would be 
 fruitless to attempt to separate what, by an intriguing spirit 
 and a grasping ambition, has been so closely interwoven. 
 
 Ere the period alluded to in British history, the oppress- 
 ive tyranny of Rome had grown to an unprecedented height. 
 Mankind, as if wearied with her ceaseless aggressions, and 
 indignant at the sense of their wrongs, seemed to be seriously 
 anticipating some glorious struggle. A stern and restless 
 spirit of inquiry was abroad, stirring up the minds of men 
 to assert their rights and assume their liberty by emancipating 
 themselves from its galling fetters, even in the teeth of its 
 sanguinary denunciations. Luther had already gone forth as 
 a champion in the cause of truth, and many were his followers : 
 the alarm had been sounded, the watch-word was given, and 
 the zealous were buckling on their armour, in preparation for 
 a spiritual campaign. The wily agents of Rome, ever on the 
 alert, aroused by the earliest indications of a growing defection, 
 were therefore prompt in urging every expedient to secure 
 their waning power. 
 
 The entire subjection of Britain to papal rule, would 
 doubtless have been regarded by the pontiff as the brightest 
 jewel in the triple crown ; to attain and confirm this ascendancy, 
 no art nor pains was spared, no stratagem omitted, that pro- 
 mised success. Having been disgracefully foiled by the father, 
 the daughter is fixed upon as the means of repairing the breach. 
 Scarcely had the remorseless Henry been invested with the 
 flattering title of " Defender of the Faith," than he most un- 
 courteously repaid the fulsome adulation by trampling under 
 foot the authority of the holy see, and annihilating every 
 vestige of papal supremacy ; hence, unhappily for Mary, she 
 was selected as the sole probable means of healing the deadly 
 wound which her capricious sire had inflicted. 
 
 The multiform ills and abuses that found shelter beneath 
 the broad wing of papal sanction during the unhappy era, 
 
204 EDUCATION. 
 
 emphatically termed the dark ages, were fraught with conse- 
 quences to the Christian world, ever to be deplored, but never 
 to be palliated. Nor will the consistent advocate for papacy 
 attempt to veil or deny its past errors, when, like a moral 
 upas of gigantic growth, it covered the breadth of the earth, 
 wrapping the nations in gloom, and tainting the social atmo- 
 sphere with death ; flourishing in ignorance, and spreading its 
 roots in error, its branches became necessarily corrupt. Mary 
 was grafted into the evil tree, and produced its fruits unspar- 
 ingly, during the brief but stormy day of her power. She who 
 might have been a ministering angel to her people, became as 
 a spirit that troubled the land. She had been told that the 
 tree of life was planted in Rome she ate of its fruit to the 
 full, and was perverted ; in ignorant security she reposed in its 
 shade, she dreamed not that to her it would be as the shadow 
 of death. The time that most exceeded in darkness (and of 
 which the palpable Egyptian gloom forms a significant emblem), 
 was doubtless that in which the light of truth was eclipsed by 
 the iniquitous priestcraft and carnal policy of Rome, too aptly 
 figured by her own ^Etna and Vesuvius, the terrific phenomena 
 of her soil, and appropriate types of her mischievous power 
 at one time obscuring the face of heaven with her fulminations, 
 at another spreading desolation around by the overflowing 
 streams of persecution. 
 
 While touching on the times of papal supremacy, whose iron 
 sceptre so long weighed down the energies of the human mind, 
 it is scarce possible to forbear pausing to contemplate the 
 nature of her mysterious dominion, to which no parallel is to 
 be found. That the collective reason and intellect of mankind 
 should be led blindfold, as it were, into a voluntary captivity, 
 embracing those fetters which were forged by a domineering 
 and ambitious priesthood, would be incredible, were it not so 
 well authenticated. 
 
 The period in question is one that presents to the speculative 
 mind the most wonderful moral and political problem in the 
 

 EDUCATION. 205 
 
 als of the world, and not to be solved by the application of 
 any social principles of ordinary operation. By the deep gloom 
 that pervades it, much is hidden from view, and of what is 
 seen, much is distorted ; but this rather serves to augment the 
 interest awakened by the contemplation of a time so pregnant 
 with mysterious event. From the dearth of intelligence, and 
 its dire consequences, we learn also to appreciate the superior 
 intellectual and religious advantages now freely enjoyed by all 
 who are willing to seek and apply them. 
 
 At the period when papal Rome had reached the meridian 
 of her ambitious aims and hopes, and was basking in the pleni- 
 tude of her power, wealth almost boundless was poured into 
 her lap by a thousand tributary streams, as the acknowledged 
 head and arbitress of the Christian nations : to raise her to this 
 pre-eminence many causes had co-operated, in addition to the 
 many political engines she so artfully and successfully plied. 
 The nature of the spiritual dominion she assumed, gave her an 
 advantage, of which she too well knew how to avail herself, by 
 grafting superstition on ignorance, and working on the religious 
 fears of men, thus bending even the mighty to her will ; while 
 the bounty and bequests of catholic princes, the contributions 
 of blind zeal, and the multiform exactions of an avaricious and 
 usurping priesthood, all contributed to her temporal aggran- 
 dizement. Raised to the summit of earthly ambition, to 
 strengthen and confirm her unwieldy dominion then became 
 the great object of papal sway ; and hence a crafty and sinister 
 policy became needful to support her manifold usurpations. 
 Wielding with giant grasp the double sceptre of a spiritual and 
 a temporal dominion, the great interests of vital religion 
 were sacrificed or basely compromised, and its sacred authority 
 assumed for the furtherance of its ambitious designs, making it 
 little better than an engine subservient to the inordinate lust 
 of worldly power. 
 
 No single mind, however gifted, could grapple with so com- 
 plicated a system, in which glaring and gross absurdity was often 
 
206 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 blended with rapacious tyranny, and backed by unlimited and 
 irresponsible power : every man was not a Luther, and he had 
 need of all his wit to elude its vengeance ; even the means of 
 knowledge, then so rare, were mostly locked up from the world, 
 and as it were, buried and entombed in convents and monas- 
 teries. Universal ignorance is, therefore, the only supposition 
 that can yield a solution to the enigma : in such a soil, and no 
 other, might superstition with impunity thus spread and flourish 
 like the Indian banyan, multiplying itself by striking new roots 
 even from its remotest branches ; and had the evils of this cor- 
 rupt system been multiplied a thousand-fold, and extended to 
 as many generations, still the root is one, whether the original 
 error be traced to one master-spirit of ambition or blind zeal, 
 or to the united prejudices of arbitrary and ignorant minds 
 acting in concert. This blindness of Rome, time made wilful ; 
 and she whose wealth, power, and dominion, were founded in 
 darkness, became jealous of, and inaccessible to, the truth, 
 because its light would have revealed the mystery of her iniquity, 
 and the axe would probably have been laid at the root of her 
 usurpations. She had therefore her Argus, ever watchful to 
 prevent the sowing of the seed of a sound Christian education, 
 and her Briareus, every where active to eradicate and sup- 
 press the first growth of rational information, well knowing 
 the peril of a house divided against itself, and equally conscious 
 of the sandy foundation on which her Babel had been erected. 
 That so gross and arbitrary a system should so suddenly 
 have sprung up, and so widely prevailed in a soil which had, 
 but a few ages before, been the area of refinement, the seat of 
 all that is high-minded and noble, appears less surprising when 
 it is remembered that the modern Italians are not the genuine 
 descendants of the ancient Romans. Among that spirited 
 people, even in the days of their decline, such a system could 
 not probably have maintained its footing, much less have ac- 
 quired an undisputed and absolute ascendancy. Ere this was 
 attempted, the moral and social aspect of Italy had been wholly 
 

 EDUCATION. 207 
 
 changed ; the rapacious and destroying hordes of barbarians, 
 by their continual invasions, had repeatedly ravaged the empire, 
 exterminating the inhabitants, and extinguishing the last re- 
 mains of the ancient Roman spirit. So complete was the 
 wreck, that the language which had been current in a hundred 
 states, ceased to be the medium of speech in any. The uni- 
 versal anarchy and ignorance that succeeded, naturally paved 
 the way for despotism, producing that mixed and incongruous 
 state of society, which yields most plentifully the needful 
 materials for superstition to work upon. On such a foundation 
 was erected a system, by which, for successive ages, the human 
 mind was kept in darkness and in spiritual bondage. 
 
 In no portion of history is more strikingly exemplified the 
 utter prostration of the human mind when besotted by igno- 
 rance, and bowed down beneath the yoke of a superstitious 
 despotism ; and hence arises a question of deep interest, as to 
 the possibility of again reducing the mind to the like state of 
 degradation. The light of ancient Rome was extinguished by 
 overwhelming floods of barbarism ; if the intelligent spirit of 
 Britain be doomed at some future period to suffer an eclipse, 
 it must be by a very different kind of invasion : the under- 
 standings of men must now be totally blinded, their collective 
 knowledge effaced, and the means of communicating it cut off, 
 ere their wills can be led into such a captivity. Within the 
 range of possibility it may be, but from one quarter alone can 
 the remotest danger be apprehended : should a despotic power 
 ever arise and rule in Britain; should intolerance thus gain 
 a hateful ascendancy, controlling and crushing the freedom of 
 the press, and suppressing Education, then indeed, in a few 
 generations, the bulk of society might retrograde to a state 
 of ignorance, and the great barrier being thus broken down, 
 the persecuting fiend might once more be unchained, and 
 bigotry might again rage with impunity. 
 
 From certain doubtful and gathering indications of a hostile 
 kind, that have recently darkened the horizon of the religious 
 
208 EDUCATION. 
 
 world, many a zealous protestant is alarmed for the fate of our 
 reformed institutions ; some even are ready to predict a coming 
 struggle between the rival powers of popery and protestantism. 
 The protestant cause, and that of Education (in its present 
 enlightened form), are doubtless one together they must stand 
 or fall. The bare probability, therefore, of such a collision, is 
 of too serious a nature to be passed over in silence ; but though 
 it is a question that remotely bears on Education, and may, in 
 the opinion of some, even begin to assume a portentous aspect, 
 the most that can be expected or attempted here is very briefly 
 to notice a few of the leading facts, on which such apparently 
 premature forebodings are founded. 
 
 In this nation, so long the chosen and happy seat of the 
 reformed religion, it appears that the Roman catholics are 
 rapidly increasing in numbers, activity, and zeal; but since 
 it is fully conceded that the great body of catholics, strictly 
 English, are not inferior to any class of British subjects in 
 liberality, intelligence, and humanity, it is plain that not the 
 flock, but the shepherds, are the grand object of alarm ; some 
 of these, it would seem, lie under the imputation of as ambi- 
 tious and intolerant a spirit as their persecuting predecessors, 
 lacking only the fitting occasion to throw off the thin disguise 
 assumed from motives of policy. If in spiritual matters, and 
 in times of commotion, catholics are, as it is stated, not their 
 own masters, nor may judge for themselves, being bound to 
 their spiritual leaders by penalties far stricter than those of any 
 martial law, it is inferred that even the peaceable, at the will 
 of their superiors, may be converted into a formidable engine 
 for any political purpose ; hence, that the catholics of England 
 should gain a numerical ascendancy, might, on such grounds, 
 be viewed with misgiving as an ominous result. 
 
 That among so very numerous a body as that of the Romish 
 clergy, not a few should be of an intolerant character, is but the 
 natural effect of the uncompromising doctrines which, most 
 unhappily, that church has always sanctioned and promulgated. 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 If, as it has been asserted by those who profess to know, the 
 popish creed is precisely what it ever has been, and that the 
 unjust and arbitrary decrees for the extermination of (Chris- 
 tians too noble to bend, and too honest to dissimulate, miscalled) 
 heretics, even the most bigoted and cruel edicts of the darkest 
 ages are, up to the present time, in full force (though, for good 
 reasons, not in actual operation), it yields seemingly a fair 
 ground for the inference deduced, that they are tenaciously 
 kept in store till occasion may call them forth. 
 
 Apparently does it not savour rather strongly of a double- 
 dealing policy in the Romish dignitaries, to refuse to abrogate 
 and abjure these obnoxious statutes and inquisitorial edicts 
 which they themselves are so forward to disclaim ? and does it 
 not behove the protestant to be on his guard against a church 
 of so temporising a spirit, armed with a power so unreasonable 
 and so fatally mischievous, and whose sole pledge of amity 
 centres in bare professions ? In such a case he can only judge 
 rationally of the future by the past, and anticipate, in the event 
 of her exaltation, a renewal of the wanton barbarity which has 
 so often proved the scourge of the Christian world; and if matters 
 are really thus, protestants have no sure guarantee for their 
 peace and safety, save in their own timely precaution. Painful 
 is the fact, that the creed and doctrine of one great body of 
 Christians should be so intolerant as to interdict any sincere 
 or lasting amity with another and numerous body of fellow 
 Christians, followers of the same Saviour, and forming, of 
 all Christian churches, the most tolerant. Between one Chris- 
 tian and another, though connected perhaps by the tenderest 
 ties, a most absurd arid unchristian line of separation is drawn, 
 the effect of which can only be to perpetuate disunion and 
 discord, by distracting religious communities, arid rending in 
 twain the Christian world. 
 
 Whether, as some predict, a bitter cup is preparing for the 
 protestant church, time will show; but should such coming 
 events cast their shadows before, yet, as shadows are commonly 
 
210 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 magnified, and fitted rather to scare children than to daunt 
 the manly mind, it behoves the true Christian still to hope the 
 best. Although the present comparatively quiet aspect of 
 things be, as some think, merely assumed, and faithless as the 
 calm that precedes a storm, the calm may continue long, nor 
 need we be in haste to anticipate a tempest. True it is that 
 in Spain, and elsewhere, after a protracted series of the most 
 inhuman outrages, the abhorred inquisition has been suppressed, 
 but this is no pacific sign, but the effect of a popular movement, 
 that iniquitous engine of cruelty having by main force been 
 compelled to succumb to the spirit of the times. A solemn 
 truth, alas ! it is, and sealed by the blood of martyred hosts, 
 that wherever the inquisitorial power has reared its hydra form, 
 there social happiness has fled the troubled land, and the sacred 
 bequest of the Redeemer to all his followers, " Peace on earth," 
 has been sacrilegiously cancelled. But for the baneful opera- 
 tion of so tyrannic and hateful a spirit, how often and how 
 happily might the great fraternity of Christians have blended 
 as one family, loving and beloved, striving only in offices of 
 kindness, and united in one heavenly bond of lasting peace and 
 harmony ! Love is the great test of the Christian character, 
 and constitutes its perfection ; it is the end of all command- 
 ments, the centre and circumference of all vital religion. 
 Assuming such a principle, the Christian carries in his own 
 breast a light that will never mislead him, either in forming an 
 estimate of his own character and pretensions, or in appreciating 
 truly those of another. 
 
 In the opinions of some, perhaps, the foregoing remarks may 
 appear to savour of undue severity; but let such pause ere 
 they pronounce, and ascertain from history whether or not they 
 are corroborated by facts ; for as surely as the tree is discernible 
 by the fruit it bears, so may a religion be appreciated by the 
 effects of its operation during a lengthened course of years. 
 
 Among the nations of Europe, none perhaps have been more 
 completely or longer subject to papal sway than Spain and 
 
I.UUCATION. 211 
 
 Portugal ; we have therefore a right to expect in those countries 
 a fair specimen of what that religion is able to effect, when 
 aided by a combination of the most favourable circumstances. 
 What then, we may inquire, has Rome done for those once 
 flourishing countries ? She found them industrious, wealthy, 
 and happy ; but to what a deplorable condition have they been 
 reduced by the continued oppression and exactions of the 
 Romish clergy ! 
 
 Scarcely more than three centuries have elapsed when Europe 
 boasted no country more prosperous, no people more enter- 
 prising. The ships of Spain and Portugal were to be seen in 
 every part of the globe ; and to them chiefly are we indebted 
 for all our great discoveries. Their fleets first led the way to 
 the distant shores of America and of India. While those of 
 Ferdinand explored the west, those of Emmanuel discovered 
 the then unknown regions of the eastern hemisphere, and the 
 treasures of a new world were poured into their laps. Morally 
 and politically, they then were a great people ; and it is only 
 from the ascendancy of Rome that we can date their decline ; 
 to the insatiable cupidity and spiritual tyranny of the popish 
 hierarchy they owe their almost irretrievable ruin. Gradually 
 they have sunk under the incumbent weight, until they have 
 become the reverse of what they once were, impoverished and 
 degraded, as nations and as men : beneath the galling yoke of 
 papal usurpation, they have been bowed even to the dust; 
 whereas, had they never submitted to its impositions, they might 
 now have ranked high among the nations of the earth. 
 
 These unhappy states have indeed been surfeited with the 
 sour grapes of Rome ; from them nearly all their ancient and 
 honourable distinction of character has now passed away ; but 
 whatever cause there may be for regret, for surprise there can 
 be none; while apparently even her legitimate offspring, the 
 children of her own soil, have fared no better. Modern Italy 
 itself presents a scarcely less striking contrast to what might be 
 expected as the proper fruit of advantages (professedly, so 
 
212 EDUCATION. 
 
 far superior to what any other nation could boast) which for so 
 many centuries they have enjoyed; but though so long the seat 
 of refinement, and quaffing at the fountain-head those vital and 
 purifying streams that no other church or government might 
 presume to bestow, of such lofty pretensions, what has been 
 the result? But lest digression should overstep its limits, it 
 will be proper to resume the thread of British history, leaving 
 the dark and troublesome though short reign of Mary, and 
 entering upon the more pleasing contemplation of a better era, 
 commencing with Elizabeth, her sister and her rival. 
 
 Elizabeth had the advantage of an education suitable to a 
 princess who was destined to reign over a free and intelligent 
 people : her temporary seclusion favoured the habit of reflec- 
 tion, and doubtless tended to mature the energies of her mind ; 
 hence that vigour and decision of character which she brought 
 to the throne, and which ever after marked the splendid career 
 of the virgin queen. Her authority was sustained by her personal 
 merit; her courage and constancy so far surpassing the standard 
 of her sex, constrained an obedience founded on the sincerest 
 respect ; and her principles were firmly fixed on the solid basis 
 of religion, while her primary motive was ever the same the 
 prosperity and happiness of her people. 
 
 The name of this princess stands high in the national annals; 
 and her vigorous policy, with its happy results, seem to give 
 her a just claim to the admiration and gratitude of posterity. 
 Her character has, however, been variously depicted : by her 
 friends, and such as favour her policy, her memory has been 
 crowned with the warmest eulogiums; while, by the enemies 
 of her political principles and her creed, opprobrium has been 
 heaped on her name; and of late it seems to have become 
 fashionable to criticise her conduct with undue severity, and 
 without a fair allowance for times and circumstances : hence, 
 to the least popular features of her rule the worst motives have 
 been attached ; but when her sex is considered, the suddenness 
 of her elevation, the almost unlimited extent of her power, 
 
EDUCATION. 213 
 
 the narrow bigotry of the times, and the hostility she had to 
 encounter, her steady patriotism, and the strength of principle 
 by which she surmounted all opposition; when all these are 
 duly weighed, those who will not leave her fair fame unsullied, 
 will at least give her credit for upright intentions, notwith- 
 standing a few eccentricities and weaknesses. To the gratitude 
 of Englishmen she has a powerful claim, nor does it well con- 
 sist with their known character to join with her adversaries in 
 aspersing her memory, especially when in the list of her ad- 
 miring panegyrists we find the names of some, not only of the 
 first merit and distinction, but who, from personal knowledge 
 and long observation, possessed ampler means of forming a 
 true estimate of her character than any modern biographer 
 can possibly pretend to. 
 
 The helm of authority was consigned to Elizabeth during 
 the swellings of the storm, and she was aware of the peril 
 of her situation; her skilful guidance was to counteract the 
 threatening gloom that veiled the horizon of her hopes. Young, 
 yet seemingly equal to the task, she stood with the serenity 
 and confidence of virtue, still looking upwards with the ani- 
 mated eye of faith, and the prayer of integrity prevailed; 
 light sprang up in the darkness, and the raging of the tempest 
 gradually subsided, the restless waves of political tumult were 
 hushed, and the sun of the reformation " arose with healing 
 in its wings ;" the clouds of superstition were dispersed by the 
 winds of heaven, which favoured her prosperous course as she 
 triumphantly steered her kingdom into the secure and delight- 
 ful haven of peace and truth. 
 
 It was the happy talent of this princess, not only to discern 
 and reward merit, but also to render it subservient to the 
 general good, by assigning to it its congenial sphere of action : 
 with an even hand she preserved the balance of the state ; and 
 neither individual influence, popular currents of opinion, nor 
 specious party zeal, nor even that strong sense of prerogative 
 (which, if a foible, was in her a harmless one), of which -lw 
 
 TY 
 
214 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 appeared at times so tenacious, were ever licensed to disturb 
 its equilibrium, which was, perhaps, the better confirmed by 
 the weight of opposing interests, subjected to a judicious control. 
 Thus she became the faithful guardian of the constitution, 
 seeking the truest interests of her people, and judiciously em- 
 ploying her uncommon power to give them a durable character. 
 Perfection is not a sublunary attribute ; but when the unusual 
 length of her administration is considered, how little do we 
 find to censure, how much to applaud ! 
 
 The birth, education, and spirit of Elizabeth, were all Eng- 
 lish, and few British hearts will withhold a tribute of gratitude 
 to the memory of a princess who was the great champion of 
 our faith, and the chosen instrument of Providence in accom- 
 plishing his gracious designs. Had this order of things been 
 reversed by the unseen hand that weaves the destinies of 
 princes and of empires ; had the shorter reign been assigned 
 to Elizabeth, and the succeeding long reign to Mary, what 
 must have been the consequences to England? Humanity 
 shudders, as with trembling hand she draws back the veil; 
 contemplation is baffled, and forbears the vain attempt to 
 pourtray a scene, to the delineation of which the darkest lines 
 of imagination are perhaps inadequate. How many copious 
 springs of national honour and advantage, whose currents, 
 augmented by succeeding ages, have flowed down to us, would 
 have been dried up in their source, or diverted from their 
 proper channels ! Many of the blessings we prize and cherish 
 as a free people, sprang up and flourished beneath the fostering 
 hand of Elizabeth; but had Britain then been suffered to 
 plunge headlong into the abyss of error, with the millstone of 
 papal domination about her neck, nothing short of a miracle 
 could apparently have arrested her downward progress, or have 
 averted the nation's final ruin. 
 
 In taking a retrospect of those eventful times, how does the 
 heart of the patriotic Christian burn within him as he sees 
 " the counsel of the froward carried headlong !" To the crafty 
 
EDUCATION. 215 
 
 decrees of Ahithophel the seals of folly were plainly affixed ; and 
 to the eye of faith " the arm of the Lord was openly revealed." 
 With mingled emotions of pious gratitude and honest triumph, 
 the contemplative Christian traces the operation of a Divine 
 hand throughout, and beholds the attributes of truth, power, 
 and goodness, inscribed in characters of light, which he that 
 runs may read. The zeal, fidelity, and heroism of the noble 
 band of martyrs, ascended in bright phalanx before the throne 
 of Jehovah, and the breath of praise and triumph, from the 
 lips of dying saints, was wafted to heaven as an offering of 
 sweet incense, acceptable to the Most High. The powerful 
 appeal prevailed, and by terrible things in righteousness was it 
 answered ; a regenerating spirit, and mighty to save, was sent 
 forth : like the pillar of old did it guide the faithful, arid was 
 to them as a wall of defence ; but as a fire troubling the host 
 of their enemies : safely did it lead them through the sea of 
 affliction ; but to their persecutors was as a destroying whirl- 
 wind, and as the sea returning in its strength, and overwhelming 
 them with a mighty reaction ; their chariot-wheels were taken 
 off the despisers beheld, and wondered, and perished; and 
 a shout of the faithful was heard, saying, How are the mighty 
 fallen ! 
 
 Among the greatest and wisest of earthly potentates, it must 
 be conceded that some have been, in one sense, comparatively 
 uneducated ; and in the early ages many have been wholly so. 
 The education of the Saxon prince Alfred, justly surnamed 
 the Great, seems to have been much neglected; and similar 
 instances might easily be multiplied. Should we revert even 
 to the time of the ancient Hebrew dynasty, the same fact is 
 illustrated in the character of David, who in the more striking 
 kingly requisites surpassed those who preceded and followed 
 him ; but it cannot be supposed that his distinguishing qualities 
 were derived from any formal code of instruction. From the 
 early history of almost every nation the like examples may be 
 adduced, wherein the human mind seems to have attained. 
 
216 EDUCATION. 
 
 comparatively speaking, to the summit of greatness without 
 the aid of any artificial system of education. But the admission 
 of this, to its full extent, by no means affects the arguments in 
 favour of Education ; for it should be weighed, that such cases 
 apply to times of greater simplicity, and that the want of 
 Education has commonly been, in such instances, more than 
 counterbalanced by the stern but salutary discipline of adver- 
 sity, and by that true practical wisdom which is ever best 
 acquired in the school of experience ; when native strength 
 of mind is joined to natural goodness of heart, it will need 
 no better culture, neither will it attain to equal perfection by 
 means of any artificial system, without some such discipline. 
 
 It should also be borne in mind, that although in times of 
 greater simplicity characters of the greatest merit are to be 
 found, yet in point of numbers, at least, they bear no com- 
 parison with those of more enlightened ages ; they rather form 
 striking exceptions to their times, as having been gifted by 
 nature with a rare and seemingly intuitive excellence, for the 
 purpose of furthering the benevolent designs of Heaven. 
 Meteor like, they contrast beautifully with the surrounding 
 darkness, but may not compare with the general spread of 
 worth and talent which, like the sun-light, is diffused to all, and 
 which Education is the legitimate, proper, and only probable 
 means of securing. 
 
 No extraordinary degree of penetration is requisite to enable 
 the student of history to detect many of those fatal springs, 
 whence have arisen the frequent miscarriages of princes, and 
 the consequent train of calamities in which their dominions 
 have been involved. Often will they be found to have ori- 
 ginated in a characteristic want of self-government, combined 
 with an inordinate lust of dominion; if therefore the great 
 desideratum be the happiness of the millions, whose destiny 
 has been confided to the will of one, and controlled at the 
 arbitrary pleasure of the individual, we may safely conclude 
 that to be the most eligible feature in princely tuition which 
 
EDUCATION. 217 
 
 strikes at the root of those dangerous and besetting foibles of 
 kingly minds. The errors of the ruler, and the oppression of 
 the governed, are equally the fruit of an inordinate ambition ; 
 nor perhaps will any human means avail to check its growth, 
 where its root has been once allowed to strike. Early, if 
 effectually, must it be counteracted, by rectifying the judg- 
 ment, by imparting sober and rational views of life, and of 
 the social ends of civil government, and by rendering sacred 
 the bond of mutual obligation, by which the various classes 
 of mankind are indissolubly connected. To give their due 
 ascendancy to justice, humanity, and habits of temperance, in 
 the princely character, is more effectually to serve the cause 
 of virtue and happiness, than a thousand Howards or a host 
 of philanthropists can effect in a private sphere. Nor is it, 
 perhaps, too much to affirm, in praise of such training, that 
 even among the arch-destroyers of old, had they been so disci- 
 plined, many might, and doubtless would, have ranked with 
 the chief benefactors of the human race. 
 
 Temperance is the proper and most needful adjunct of 
 power, and should ever go hand in hand with knowledge, in 
 order to render it available ; for as no virtue, unless sustained 
 by the former, can be truly estimable, so without the latter it 
 cannot be fully effectual. Temperance imparts strength and 
 beauty to every nobler quality ; not without good reason, there- 
 fore, the ancient Persians laid so great a stress on it in the 
 education of their youth ; nor probably can a finer illustration 
 of its power be adduced than in the amiable character of Cyrus, 
 which may well contrast with that of Alexander, who certainly 
 has been celebrated no less for his mental endowments, than 
 for heroism and the extraordinary success of his arms. What- 
 ever may have been the intellectual attainments of the Persian 
 prince, the ascendancy of this single virtue sufficed to cast an 
 undying lustre on his name, which may justly rank with the 
 most honourable in those times. 
 
 This essential and all-important, though noiseless virtue of 
 
218 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 self-control, by which Cyrus was so happily distinguished, was 
 probably the only one in which Alexander was fatally defective ; 
 in other respects his acquirements were apparently superior. 
 But supposing the character of this hero, with this exception, 
 to have comprised every possible perfection, yet in consequence 
 of this one defect of intemperance, do we see all his shining 
 and noble qualities eclipsed and neutralized; for it is most 
 evident, that for want of this one qualification, humble as it is, 
 he stumbled and fell in the midst of his majestic and proud 
 career ; whereas Cyrus, by the timely aid of this most requisite 
 talent, held on his course to the end with uniform honour and 
 rectitude. It has been seen what temperance did for Sparta ; 
 and should we, by descending to later times, enlarge the sphere 
 of our observation, we should witness a similar and sure corre- 
 spondence between the cause and its effect. 
 
 Among modern European nations, Switzerland, which by its 
 geographical position (excluding it from the advantages of com- 
 mercial intercourse), seems doomed to the perpetual inheritance 
 of comparative poverty, has, notwithstanding, derived from its 
 characteristic simplicity, which is the proper soil of the tem- 
 perate virtues, the most solid benefits ; hence they have 
 maintained their liberty entire, while more refined and 
 flourishing states have alternately succumbed to the galling 
 yoke of successful ambition. The once flourishing Venetian 
 territory, with its superabundance of wealth and power, sus- 
 tained by unrivalled commercial advantages, was unable to 
 preserve its liberty entire, not because the wealth and refine- 
 ment of the Venetians were necessarily hostile to the main- 
 tenance of their freedom (these, aided by their intelligence, 
 might have strengthened the cause of liberty, and for a long 
 season did so) but because voluntarily betrayed by their super- 
 fluity into the vices of intemperance, a fatal and inextinguishable 
 spirit of factious rivalry was generated even in the heart of 
 their public councils. The zealous theologian might probably 
 suggest a weightier reason, in the remarkable difference between 
 
EDUCATION. 219 
 
 the religious characters of the two republics that of the Swiss 
 being serious, sound, and practical, while that of their southern 
 and more assuming neighbours comprised an abundance of idle 
 and ostentatious ceremonies, blended with little of the pure 
 and vital spirit of true Christianity. 
 
 But, notwithstanding all that has been or that might be 
 advanced in praise of temperance, how highly and justly soever 
 it may be extolled, it is yet to be regarded rather as the nurse 
 of all the virtues, and essential to the perfection of each, than 
 as a detached and single excellence; it can therefore never 
 supersede or rank above that needful knowledge, for the want of 
 which there is no earthly equivalent. The temperate virtues 
 constituted the strength and sinews of Rome; but superior 
 wisdom and science were its sceptre and glory. Spartan valour 
 was the sword of Greece; but Athenian philosophy was its 
 crown. 
 
 Knowledge has been aptly termed power : every degree of 
 intelligence advances its possessor in the scale of rational being ; 
 but to render it subservient to the best interests of mankind, 
 it must be perpetually subject to the dominion of virtue, and 
 to the guidance of wisdom. Experience tells us, that without 
 such a controlling principle, mere human knowledge is apt to 
 run wild ; for wisdom and knowledge are not one, neither are 
 virtue and knowledge synonymous, although there be a strongly 
 implied connexion between them. Human wit has of late 
 been exhausted in eulogiums on what is significantly termed 
 " the march of mind," the triumphs of intellect, &c., with 
 many a splendid apophthegm of similar import, and the " ne 
 plus ultra" of complimentary language has been lavished as 
 incense at the shrine of human self-sufficiency. Many of these 
 fine sayings would no doubt be quite appropriate were they 
 quite intelligible, and did they yield a clear and definable idea, 
 or applied solely to abstract knowledge in its perfect state, 
 divested of those clogs and impediments with which it is bur- 
 dened, and which, unluckily for the pride of mortals, are 
 
*220 EDUCATION. 
 
 neither few nor trivial, being inevitably blended with error, 
 and sometimes fraught with mischief. Nor can we in this 
 imperfect state expect to find it in the human mind without that 
 alloy of passion, doubt, or prejudice, which has its existence 
 in the erring judgment and frail constitution of man. 
 
 So comprehensive in its nature is knowledge, and so diver- 
 sified are its forms, that no single definition can convey to the 
 mind an adequate idea of its essential quality and operation. 
 There is an actual knowledge resting on conviction, and an 
 habitual knowledge depending on the memory; there is a 
 mathematical, a philosophical, and an historical knowledge : 
 the first determines the relative proportions of number, figure, 
 and extent ; the province of the second is to search out the 
 reasons of things; and the third and last applies to known facts, 
 and collects its wisdom from the records of the past. There 
 are degrees of knowledge that may so influence our opinion, as 
 even to demand our faith without amounting to positive con- 
 viction. There is self-knowledge a leading essential in true 
 wisdom a knowledge of relative obligations; and another 
 knowledge of duty, in its fullest sense, comprising within its 
 ample circle every Divine and human obligation. What is 
 termed experience, is, probably, of all knowledge the most 
 useful, revealing what reason alone cannot teach, and im- 
 parting that wisdom which is available for all purposes, appli- 
 cable to all times, and within the reach of every social being. 
 Experimental or inventive knowledge, resulting from mental 
 activity, also differs widely from the sedate and passive, imply- 
 ing the intellectual acquisitions that have been stored up in the 
 mind. 
 
 Thus complicated in its nature is knowledge : the mere term 
 therefore, in common acceptation, implies no more than that 
 general spread of information, which is the result of progressive 
 improvement, and of increased facilities for the communication 
 of whatever is essential to the well-being of society; in this sense, 
 indeed, it seems almost to merit the warmest eulogiums that 
 
EDUCATION. 221 
 
 have been lavished upon it. There is, however, a knowledge 
 of a transcendantly higher order, and of a Divine character, 
 and to which belongs the exclusive power of rendering the 
 mind of man, on worthy arid befitting occasions, superior to 
 terrestrial motives and to the accidents of time, by directing 
 its aspirations to things of an enduring and celestial nature ; 
 and to such knowledge alone does unqualified estimation per- 
 tain ; for all else that bears the name being but comparatively 
 good, and falling short of a perfect standard, can advance no 
 just claim to unqualified eulogy. 
 
 The sublimest objects of creation all that is great and 
 grand that is fair and goodly in nature have been called in 
 to aid analogy, in order to impress the mind with adequate con- 
 ceptions of the benefits of knowledge, and the high degree of 
 estimation due to it by civilized man : it is called intellectual 
 food, and mental light ; it is likened to the glorious luminary 
 of day, and to a tree of life, whose fruits are divine ; yet, should 
 the flattering simile be pursued, it might carry the sanguine 
 panegyrist far beyond his original design ; for all human know- 
 ledge being derived, may with more truth be compared to the 
 borrowed light of the lunar orb, whose brightest radiance is but 
 a reflection. Nor may it be affirmed even of the solar influ- 
 ence, that it is invariably beneficial; for the sunbeam that 
 matures the generous grape, the various fruits, the grain, and 
 healthful plant, multiplies also the baneful weed, and taints the 
 atmosphere with pestilence and death. The ray that illumes 
 the path of " charity, intent on gentle deeds," and guides 
 the steps of philanthropy in its " labour of love," also throws 
 its radiance around the tiger's lair, and lights the monarch of 
 the forest to his den, points the ravenous wolf to his unoffend- 
 ing prey, gives animation to the venomous serpent tribes, and 
 multiplies the noxious reptiles of the desert. 
 
 Well had it been for the world if, in this its forbidding ex- 
 treme, the parallel did not hold equally true with its more 
 grateful converse : the application is, however, too evident to be 
 
22*2 EDUCATION. 
 
 mistaken, in its reference to the eccentric and wayward agency 
 of that knowledge which, by ministering to private interests and 
 prejudices, is subject to endless perversion. It is a high and 
 flowing fountain, but its head is divided, sending forth diverse 
 currents, and the bitter are oft mingled with the sweet ; even 
 its more salutary streams become infected by the corrupted 
 channels through which they flow, and tainted by the poisonous 
 weeds of error which border their courses. For as there is a 
 knowledge whose province is to exalt and to bless a Divine 
 philosophy, whose heavenward flight is second only to the 
 " wisdom from above," and whose dictates are as the oracles 
 of truth : so is there a counterfeit and worldly craft, that vainly 
 arrogates to itself the name a short-sighted spirit, moving 
 within its own narrow circle of cunning a slave to evil passions 
 and designs even kindling its unhallowed taper at the altar 
 of infidelity, and endeavouring to extinguish the sacred light 
 of Christianity by the corrupt agency of an apostatizing and 
 delusive spirit. 
 
 It is curious, and somewhat amusing, to observe the contra- 
 dictory opinions that have obtained, among the most know- 
 ing of men, on this inexhaustible theme, which has had the 
 opposite extremes of estimation alternately awarded to it. 
 There being no settled standard by which human knowledge 
 can be appreciated, in the vague use of the term, every one 
 seems determined to avail himself of the liberty, and exalts or 
 vilifies it in compliance with his humour or turn of thinking. 
 While some have professed to regard every thing in the shape of 
 human erudition with unqualified contempt, as a mere shadow, 
 as pompous indeed, but wanting substance, or as a kind of 
 ignis fatuus, misguiding the too credulous traveller into bogs and 
 quagmires ; there are others who affect an homage little short 
 of idolatry, exalting their divinity to the spheres, and ranking 
 her among the celestial powers: by these she is extolled as 
 the supreme earthly good ; by those she is loaded with oppro- 
 brium, as the arch-betrayer of man's reason, and the subverter 
 
EDUCATION. 223 
 
 of his innocence ; as a wandering star of malign aspect, rather 
 than as a heavenly orb of uniform course, and of benign influ- 
 ence. But though human knowledge may at times, and often 
 has, resembled the sudden meteor, that dazzles, surprises, and 
 disappears for ever, yet must we own that her origin is Divine ; 
 under whatever form she appear, she is still a luminary; for 
 that which emits not light, is not knowledge, however it may 
 be designated. 
 
 In its primary sense, knowledge may well be termed power ; 
 for without it, virtue itself is both lame and blind : in its 
 secondary sense it is also power ; but being limited to secular 
 objects and second causes, its utility becomes the sole criterion 
 of its estimation; for though it be the avowed and proper 
 instrument of good, yet is it equally available for every mis- 
 chievous purpose. 
 
 To the statesman, political knowledge is power, and sub- 
 serves all his designs equally, whether tending to the public 
 weal or disadvantage. The profound knowledge of jurispru- 
 dence, which constitutes the able lawyer, becomes in his hand 
 an instrument of power ; but how often has it been perverted, 
 and made subservient to the most fraudulent designs ! To the 
 merchant, commercial knowledge is power; and theological 
 learning is to the divine that goodly talent which blends the 
 eloquence of truth with the animation of zeal, adding the force 
 of conviction to the graces of language : yet, how oft has 
 polemic skill in theology been prostituted as the weapon and 
 shield of apostacy; and that Divine science whose is the 
 prerogative and the power to purify the heart, and exalt its 
 affections to heavenly things, been perverted by the utter 
 prostration of truth, plucking her from her eternal sphere, and 
 arraying her sacred form in the loathsome garb of imposture ! 
 
 Thus potent is knowledge to work its effect, whether its 
 agency be that of a ministering angel, or a spirit of darkness ; 
 whether exalted as an intellectual divinity, or degraded as the 
 slave of iniquity: and of every avocation and profession it 
 
224 EDUCATION. 
 
 may equally be affirmed, that to every man, in his peculiar 
 calling, knowledge is power, for if it includes not perfection 
 in the chosen pursuit, it implies that excellence which is pro- 
 gressing towards it. 
 
 A suggestion here naturally arises in the mind, springing 
 from a conviction of the weakness and limited operation of the 
 human intellect, forbidding us to expect the union of many 
 excellences in the same mind. Nor does it excite our surprise 
 to find them so rarely allied; we rather take it for granted 
 that perfection in any one engrossing pursuit must have been 
 purchased at the partial, and in some cases the total, exclusion 
 of other acquisitions. Distinguished and varied excellence, 
 combined, lie but rarely within the compass of any single 
 mind, and he must possess extraordinary talent and mental 
 energy, who, in quest of general information, proposes to him- 
 self perfection even in the different branches of useful science ; 
 for although eminence in one kind of knowledge by no means 
 implies ignorance of another, yet the undivided attention which 
 excellence demands, opposes an obstacle to the free admission 
 of other studies requiring mental abstraction, which few minds 
 are sufficiently comprehensive to surmount. The student of 
 medicine, of the mathematics, or of languages, may each, by 
 exclusive attention, ensure a steady progress towards pre- 
 eminence ; and by a sedulous improvement of talent, the artist 
 and the musician may arrive at that point of perfection which 
 fits them to shine with distinction, each in his professional 
 sphere; but rarely are transcendant acquirements attainable 
 through any medium, save of continued perseverance; and 
 there can be little doubt, that were the most celebrated pro- 
 fessors of the day constrained to exchange avocations for a short 
 time, the metamorphosis would be sufficiently perplexing to all 
 parties. 
 
 That men of superior understanding should so often select 
 for disputation those subjects on which they are comparatively 
 uninformed, in preference to those on which extensive infor- 
 
EDUCATION. 225 
 
 mation has qualified them to decide, is rather a cause for 
 regret than surprise. Superior knowledge and judgment on 
 any contested point is too apt to generate that pride of intel- 
 lect which presumes to determine with equal confidence on 
 other matters, even when little conversant with them. Such, 
 probably, is the knowledge alluded to by St. Paul, as that which 
 " puffeth up;" and to this same egotistic pride of understanding 
 may probably be attributed those great errors into which even 
 the best-intentioned have sometimes fallen ; to thousands of 
 an opposite stamp it has often proved a seducing spirit, leading 
 them through successive stages of impiety, from presumption 
 to profligacy, from pride of intellect to the daring extremes 
 of a reckless profanity ; while to multitudes of a less violent, 
 but not less unstable character, it has proved the rock on which 
 they have made shipwreck alike of their reason and their hope. 
 Thus viewed, knowledge may be likened to Nebuchadnezzar's 
 visionary tree, whose branches spread wide, and whose top 
 reached to heaven, but whose roots sank deep into the earth ; 
 and in which was food for all, for the evil and the good ; and 
 wherein not only every clean fowl, but every unclean beast 
 also, found shelter and lodging: or it might be compared to 
 the mystical antediluvian plant which graced the centre of 
 the blissful garden, whose inspiring fruit was pregnant with 
 supernal virtue, till rashly plucked and polluted by the hand 
 of disobedience, whose unhallowed touch infused a mysterious 
 venom, that changed the coveted blessing into a curse. 
 
 Even now is there a knowledge in the world, whose anti- 
 chrislian fruit is of the like deadly nature a too current spirit 
 of apostacy writing bitter things against that goodly faith which 
 has been the rock of ages, and the sure and tried hold of the 
 Christian's hope ; undermining to its very foundation that truly 
 catholic church, of which all protestants are members ; a faith 
 that has received the homage of the wisest and best of man- 
 kind, and of which the national church of England forms so 
 grand and venerable a feature; a church which (whatever 
 
 Q 
 
226 EDUCATION. 
 
 abuses may have crept into it) has ever been a sure sanctuary 
 and bulwark for the truth, and a shadow from the heat of 
 persecution, the generous advocate of universal toleration, and 
 receiving under its protecting wing all the true members of 
 Christ, and which has been the common parent and protectress 
 of protestants of every denomination. 
 
 Allied to such a spirit is that superficial and inflated know- 
 ledge which presumes to challenge the authority of the Jewish 
 lawgiver, because the notions of astronomy imbibed by him 
 in Egypt were conformable to the popular prejudices of the 
 times (that sublime science being then in its infancy), as if he 
 was thereby disqualified as a fit instrument in the providential 
 dispensations of Jehovah, or rendered unfit to be the judge 
 and leader of the posterity of the faithful Abraham. Omitting 
 to discriminate with candour and judgment, they seem not to 
 be aware that in no instance does revelation interfere with 
 men's opinions in questions of science : it has nothing to do 
 with it, having avowedly and uniformly one object in view the 
 perfection and happiness of mankind. In matters of secondary 
 and secular import, mankind have been left wholly free to 
 exercise their own ingenuity and speculations, 
 
 St. Paul was equally under the influence of the Divine 
 Spirit, and as eminently gifted as any among the primitive 
 Christians; in his public ministry, therefore, we, as Christians, 
 are led to believe that he was under the immediate guidance 
 of the same Holy Power ; yet this sacred influence did not quit 
 the sphere of its dignity by descending to trivial things, or Paul 
 would not have forgotten his cloak and parchments which he 
 left at Troas, and was obliged to send for: in the common 
 transactions of life he was doubtless left to himself, and there- 
 fore liable to the same mistakes as other men. It is by such 
 sinister attacks, and by absurdly confounding the inspired parts 
 of the sacred oracles with the mere human narratives of minor 
 import connected with them, and attaching the same charac- 
 teristic importance to both, that the most unjust and illiberal 
 
EDUCATION. 227 
 
 conclusions have been deduced; and on this its apparently 
 weak side, when misunderstood or misrepresented, Divine 
 revelation has ever had to combat the most injurious aspersions 
 of malignity. 
 
 As the desire and rational pursuit of knowledge is honour- 
 able in itself, so the pleasure it affords is of the noblest kind, 
 weaning the mind from less worthy objects and meaner gratifi- 
 cations, and fixing its desires on things of highest and perma- 
 nent worth ; and hence the Divine principle in man gathers 
 renewed strength, and rises to its proper level of dignity. The 
 moral tendencies of s'cience depend indeed on its application, 
 but when rationally directed, knowledge adds stability to virtue, 
 and true greatness to character. For the honour of literature, 
 history can show her thousands, and biography her ten thou- 
 sands, who, by the sole energy and splendour of talent thus 
 elicited, have emerged from obscurity into merited distinction ; 
 and with whatever degree of admiration such examples may be 
 regarded, they are no more than the proper fruits of judicious 
 mental culture ; and though rare, the rational inference is, that 
 their rarity is owing to some fault or omission of education, 
 unless it be imputed to a defective structure of the mind, 
 which is wholly an unwarrantable conclusion. 
 
 Although a superficial information on weighty subjects is 
 commonly allied to error, yet as every acquisition is a pro- 
 gresssive advance towards perfect knowledge, in no stage or 
 degree does it lie open to censure ; for if the stability of virtue 
 depend on the right exercise of the judgment, on habits of 
 thought, arid on the strength of the reasoning faculty, all these 
 are brought into action in the attainment of knowledge, and 
 indeed are the very terms and sole condition on which know- 
 ledge, properly so called, is to be acquired. It must, however, 
 be conceded, that the mind may be so intently fixed on specu- 
 lative knowledge, as wholly to abstract the needful attention 
 from those every-day duties and home concerns, whose claims 
 are ever imperative and indispensable; by so indirect a bias 
 
 Q2 
 
228 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 the moral equilibrium is also disturbed, and consequent dis- 
 order introduced into the mind. 
 
 Progressive knowledge, though it does not constitute pro- 
 gressive virtue, is yet one of the leading forms of wisdom, and 
 essential to its growth and perfection ; and though it be not 
 indispensable to individual happiness, yet collectively, neither 
 happiness nor perfection could subsist without it. By many 
 have the benefits of knowledge been questioned ; nor are 
 those wanting by whom all systematic education is lightly 
 esteemed; but even such might have better appreciated it, 
 had they looked with an eye of closer scrutiny into those times 
 that have been destitute of its needful agency and training, 
 wherein we see the human character alternately assuming each 
 absurd extreme, and every form of inconsistency springing, as 
 it were, spontaneously from the mixed and wild growth of 
 blended vice and virtue. The untutored mind being subject 
 to the perpetual illusion of specious appearances, becomes the 
 willing slave of irregular impulse, and the senseless dupe of 
 every fallacious impression. 
 
 Whatever merit the writers of ancient history possessed,, 
 they are not always distinguished for the accuracy of their 
 details. In the annals of the primitive nations we often detect 
 a mysterious tissue of truth and falsehood, imposing on the 
 credulous judgment by an illusion which, for want of a clue to 
 guide her through the labyrinth of conjecture, reason herself 
 is oft unable to dispel. On the history of some there rests a 
 cloud of impervious darkness; while that of others is so 
 blended with fiction, and so obscured by fables and legends, 
 that the acutest penetration is at a stand, and we are con- 
 strained to receive with doubt and hesitation, nay, even with 
 contempt, the exaggerated narrative as an egotistic effusion of 
 the too partial or strangely credulous historian, rather than as 
 a fair and honest sample of the character and intelligence of 
 the times they relate to. Imposing examples are held up for 
 admiration and applause, while the true picture of human 
 
EDUCATION. 229 
 
 nature, in such of its circumstances and details as are best 
 calculated to excite a rational interest, from the comparative 
 simplicity of the times, is often withheld from our view. 
 Even among the better attested records of later times, of 
 which we have a nearer and a clearer view, we are often in 
 danger of an erroneous bias ; when all that is patriotic, noble, 
 and striking, is displayed with the partial zeal of a national 
 vanity, and the humiliating reverse, if not omitted, is disguised 
 and partially suppressed ; so that a true estimate of the human 
 character in its various relative positions and progressive stages 
 of improvement, too commonly eludes our historical research 
 those who figure most in its pages being not only exceptions 
 to the great bulk of their species and of their contemporaries, 
 but have probably soared above themselves in those splendid 
 traits which had been called forth by some sudden emergency, 
 and subsequently have subsided to the level of insignificance. 
 
 In taking historical views, therefore, it is well to use the 
 author's perspective, and look as narrowly as possible through 
 the medium of his prepossessions. Rarely is an author willing 
 to exhibit a portrait whose homely features might seem de- 
 grading to human nature, revolting to the cultivated taste of 
 his reader, and offensive to the national prepossessions of his 
 countrymen, and it may be added, by no means gratifying to 
 the writer, whose vanity is often a party concerned ; but all 
 such omissions are a hiding of truth, and of that steady light 
 by which alone we can appreciate rightly the character of man, 
 and the actual state of society, intellectual and moral, in their 
 different grades and eras. 
 
 Such a plain map of man in each successive age would be 
 invaluable, as a standard by which remote times and nations 
 might be brought together and compared, the progress of 
 knowledge in connexion with moral advancement ascertained, 
 and the collective character of mankind, from the earliest 
 to the present time, determined. Here, then, is a void which 
 every man's judgment must fill a moral blank which reason 
 
230 EDUCATION. 
 
 and experience must supply; these are always at least safe 
 guides, and invariably will they be found to repeat the same 
 truth that to abstract knowledge from the social world, would 
 be like extinguishing the sun in the natural system, without 
 whose needful influence the unbridled elements would speedily 
 return to their primitive chaos and confusion. 
 
 Ages there have been whose widely-pervading gloom has 
 been scarcely broken by a single ray of intellectual light; 
 some on which a veil of thickest darkness seems to have rested, 
 pierced at intervals by the beams of a few bright scattered 
 lights, apparently struggling with the surrounding obscurity. 
 The number and splendour of these luminaries have increased 
 with the course of time, successively rising and setting, like 
 intellectual stars, reciprocally communicating and reflecting 
 their benignant influence, keeping up a kind of mental twilight, 
 emanating from minds rarely gifted by nature, and improved 
 by self-culture, supplying the want of systematic instruction. 
 Without these intervening lights the intellectual atmosphere 
 would have thickened to Egyptian gloom, and the moral world 
 would have degenerated to a chaotic anarchy. Happily know- 
 ledge increased, bringing an accession of light, though often 
 questionable in its nature and of doubtful influence, like the 
 pale and clouded light of the waning moon, by whose partial 
 rays the benighted traveller is beguiled, and thus has the seeker 
 for truth been led to wander among the dark mountains of error, 
 or entangled amid the sophistical mazes of a specious phi- 
 losophy, into which his unwary steps have been betrayed. 
 
 To this long intellectual night succeeded the gradually 
 increasing dawn of intelligence, diffusing its bright and steady 
 influence around the horizon of the rapidly civilizing world. 
 To the nations of modern Europe has the day-spring of know- 
 ledge arisen with solar strength and radiance, extending its 
 quickening irradiations to the ends of the earth. The 
 brightness of its future revelations are hidden from human 
 research ; nor is it given to human speculation to compute its 
 
EDUCATION. 231 
 
 meridian altitude and splendour; nor may created intellect 
 conceive the wondrous births that shall arise and ripen in its 
 solar strength, when at some future and perhaps far distant 
 age, it shall have reached the zenith of its power (if to its pro- 
 gress a period be appointed) ; but already may reason discover 
 beneath the partial raising of the veil, some distinct traces of 
 those excellences which are destined " to shine more and 
 more unto the perfect day ;" already we behold the indelible 
 impress of those perfections which invest the mind of man 
 with a superhuman character and dignity, superior and foreign 
 to the fading and fluctuating things of time and sense. The 
 greatness of its conceptions, the vigour and variety of its opera- 
 tions, its lofty aspirations, and insatiable thirst for higher 
 attainments, are so many Divine features that bespeak the 
 worth and dignity of the mind, the bright and heavenly in- 
 dications of its glorious destination. 
 
 True it is, that in this great nursery of souls, the fading 
 flowers of fiction are profusely blended with the better fruits 
 of knowledge ; but in all that surrounds us we discern the 
 hand of cultivation, and the fertility of the soil ; and although 
 the cynic may with seeming reason rail thereat, yet must even 
 the cynic confess that such a prospect is preferable to the 
 savage wild, and that the richly covered heights of science, 
 though intersected with the weedy and wild growths of folly, 
 are far more grateful to the philosophic eye, than the blank 
 uncheering wastes of ignorance, presenting nothing that is 
 " pleasant to the sight, or good for food," nothing either to 
 admire or to applaud. The present age is as if the powers of 
 the human mind, which had been comparatively slumbering 
 for centuries, were roused with collective energy, " as a giant in 
 his strength," bearing down all the barriers which prejudice 
 and long custom had interposed, exploring the hidden wonders 
 of science and the mysteries of nature, and making all sub- 
 servient to its own vast and magnificent designs. It were as 
 easy to stay the rapid wheels of the Creator, and bid Him lay 
 
232 EDUCATION. 
 
 aside the golden compasses, as to circumscribe the intellectual 
 powers of man, and say, No farther shall ye come. 
 
 If talents are brightened by use, there is little cause to fear 
 that many are now in danger of contracting rust for want of it : 
 to bury the talent is certainly not the order of the day ; every 
 man who has one seems to have made a vow to keep it in per- 
 petual motion, and to have pronounced upon it the doom of 
 Macbeth that " it shall sleep no more ;" and this may be right, 
 for thus the talents of each become available for all. The 
 overflowings of intellect may need restraint, its wild growths 
 may need pruning, and much that is current may be counter- 
 feit, yet there is no lack of what is sterling, nor is aught that 
 is useful or pleasurable in art or in science neglected. 
 
 It is rather the froward petulance of a child than the reason 
 of a man to cavil at what is in its nature good, from a suspicion 
 of the partial evil that may result from its abuse. Knowledge, 
 as the true and proper corrective of error, strikes at the main 
 root of evil, though in common with all that is called good it 
 lies open to perversion by malice and guilt. Ignorance is to 
 knowledge as decrepitude to health and vigour, as the impo- 
 tency of childhood in leading strings to the free and healthful 
 use of the limbs and faculties in manhood. 
 
 Let him who questions whether the increase of knowledge 
 tends to the promotion of virtue and happiness, contemplate 
 the splendid and triumphant career of science in the present 
 distinguished era, with its countless train of happy effects, 
 ministering to the hourly wants and accommodations of civi- 
 lized man, and daily adding to his list of comforts, ever forming 
 new channels of industry by which the superabundance of 
 wealth is carried off, and turned to the most profitable uses; 
 and let him contrast this animating picture with the cheerless 
 prospect presented by the annals of many a remote and 
 benighted period. But it may perhaps be doubted by some 
 whether the unlimited diffusion of knowledge may not ulti- 
 mately be productive of unforeseen and perhaps irremediable 
 
EDUCATION. *233 
 
 mischiefs, from the combination of mental power with the 
 stimulus of irregular motives and passions ; but were it not 
 wiser and even safer to deduce more certain conclusions from 
 reasoning founded on fact, than to indulge apprehensions 
 which, if not wholly fictitious, have little better foundation 
 than the uncertain fluctuation of speculative opinions ? 
 
 In the pages of ancient history there intervenes many a 
 blank, many a moral void, barren of incident and instruction, 
 many a long and eventful period also of which scarcely any 
 thing can now with certainty be known ; and should we call 
 reason and analogy to our aid, they will but very defectively 
 supply the omission, but the current annals of every nation, 
 notwithstanding, present many a field in which evidence may 
 be richly gleaned by a diligent hand. In the blank and 
 unillumined periods that intervene between these striking 
 epochs which serve as the moral landmarks of antiquity, 
 reason and experience judiciously combined may in part supply 
 the absence of conviction resting on facts, and though they can 
 but darkly reveal what is obscured by the lapse of ages, they 
 may by analogy substitute at least the forms of truth for the 
 shadows of uncertainty. Though the historian may be mute, 
 reason is ever eloquent ; she tells us in no ambiguous terms 
 that those tempestuous eras of barbaric ignorance were neces- 
 sarily subjected to the iron sway of a blind and cruel despo- 
 tism. She tells us that times of darkness and confusion are 
 necessarily pregnant with all the complicated vice and wretch- 
 edness that the disordered passions of a savage nature can 
 engender. In such benighted and besotted eras it was that 
 anarchy spread the reign of terror and injustice in their most 
 oppressive forms. Then it is that crime attains to a gigantic 
 growth, assuming every shape that is appalling to nature and 
 disgraceful to humanity. In the security of concealment and 
 disguise, guilt rears his crimson and shameless front with 
 tenfold impunity amid the surrounding corruption ; and when 
 leagued with power, assumes its most aggressive forms and 
 
234 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 deadliest weapons, destructive alike to peace and virtue, and 
 mocking the Majesty of heaven with reiterated provocations. 
 
 Could the suppressed and hidden portions of history be 
 brought to light, and faithfully depicted, they would present a 
 picture, true perhaps to nature, but by no means flattering to 
 human vanity. Concealment ever challenges suspicion, and 
 from what is known, much that is suppressed may be inferred 
 many a blank in the earlier records even of our own favoured 
 isle may thus partially be filled, and the veil that covers many 
 an eventful period in some degree removed; but were it 
 possible to obtain a clear and comprehensive view of all that 
 transpired during those eras of confusion and civil commotion 
 that have at times convulsed the land, how would it cast into 
 the shade those fancied virtues, which by many are supposed 
 to belong almost exclusively to the ages of primeval simplicity ! 
 What a revolution would such a view create in many a mind 
 unduly prejudiced, and as fond to eulogize the past as to 
 decry the present ! 
 
 Happily many a generation has arisen and passed away since 
 Britain was rent by those brutal and sanguinary factions, 
 which, like the monsters of the desert, so oft infused their 
 deadly venom into the heart of domestic peace, destroying the 
 healthful current of the social system. Such times there have 
 doubtless been, when Britain in her turn has drained the cup 
 of trembling to the very dregs ; times wherein ignorance, error, 
 and violence have divided the land between them, confounding 
 every vestige of moral order, and neutralizing its vital and 
 physical energies ; times of feudal anarchy, when licensed and 
 lawless oppression alternately devoured the land ; times when 
 education was at its lowest ebb, and wherein the collective 
 intelligence and morality of the people were such as might 
 naturally be expected, wherever its genial influence is wholly 
 unknown. 
 
 On the one hand, we contemplate the face of the country in 
 many parts overspread with pathless forests, and entire counties 
 
EDUCATION. 235 
 
 scarcely intersected with cross-roads, the woods affording shelter 
 and concealment to numerous hordes of banditti, composed 
 of men of desperate fortunes and dissolute characters, whose 
 number and boldness were augmented by the confusion of the 
 times; many who, having been stripped themselves, and reduced 
 by violence to beggary, retaliated, and in turn became the 
 plunderers of others ; many who, having neither the means nor 
 the hope of obtaining an honest subsistence, were ready enough 
 to plead necessity as an excuse for increasing the bands of 
 spoilers. 
 
 Of the villany and inhumanity perpetrated in secrecy in 
 those strong-holds of brutality, scarcely a memorial remains ; 
 and reason can but draw a faint outline of the wanton injustice 
 and cruelty that must by habit have become familiar to the 
 ruffian actors in these dens of infamy. To augment the evil, 
 the complicated wrongs that such a state of insubordination 
 gave rise to were without remedy or redress. Who might 
 explore the forest bandit's secret haunt, or who disclose its 
 nightly horrors ? Could spies have been found for so dangerous 
 a service, how were they to elude discovery? and should they 
 succeed and escape, where were the couriers to spread the 
 intelligence? How should their safety be guaranteed, when 
 direct communication was impracticable, and when the few 
 rude cross-ways were even more dangerous than the pathless 
 woods? And supposing the possibility of surmounting such 
 formidable obstacles, where were the daily journals to record? 
 or who should transmit the information, when printing was 
 unknown, and when it was a rare accomplishment to write ? 
 But this view, dark and revolting as it is, comprises but a part 
 of the horrors that reigned in those days of feudal anarchy : to 
 complete the picture we must turn and behold the nation 
 groaning under the yoke of a worse, because licensed form of 
 oppression and outrage, and cruelly fettered by the chains of 
 an authorised system of tyranny. 
 
'236 EDUCATION. 
 
 Of the feudal barons, whose proud castles were reared in 
 every part of the island, by far the greater proportion were 
 rapacious tyrants, exercising a petty sovereignty, and extending 
 their despotic rule over the surrounding country, bent on self- 
 aggrandizement, and increasing their power by all available 
 means, whether fair or unfair, giving loose alternately to the 
 wilful and malignant passions which their pride, avarice, rivalry, 
 or revenge, suggested ; whose vassals and adherents, acknow- 
 ledging no higher law than the will of him to whom their 
 necessities had bound them, were the ready slaves and tools of 
 those designs, in which also their own interests were involved, 
 as sharers in the success or disgrace of their haughty chieftains. 
 None save the guilty and wily confidant had power to reveal 
 the intrigues of lordly despotism ; for who might dare to pierce 
 the towei-s, the strong and dreary keeps, and vaulted recesses, 
 which formed so prominent a feature in the proud fastnesses 
 of the times, where the wretched victims of oppression oft 
 pined away their hours in solitary despondence ? Who were to 
 be relied on as the trusty organs of such secrets ? and whither 
 should they go for redress ? 
 
 Were it possible to obtain an accurate statement of the 
 numerous outrages that in those times might have been per- 
 petrated in the short space of a week, it would present a cata- 
 logue, compared to which, for length and diversified horrors, 
 the list of crime that but too often disgraces our modern 
 journals, would sink into comparative insignificance. But, in 
 drawing a fair parallel, there is also to be taken into account, 
 in favour of modern times, the great increase of population, 
 the multiplied wants that luxury has introduced, the present 
 complicated and widely-extended intercourse between men and 
 nations, social, professional, and commercial, and the facilities 
 thus afforded to fraud and ingenuity, which were then unknown, 
 but which now currently assume endless forms of deception. 
 Giving their due weight to these considerations, it will appear 
 
EDUCATION. 237 
 
 that, assuming a fair average, there now exists, probably, not 
 a twentieth part in proportion of the vice and misery that oft 
 prevailed during those feudal times. 
 
 The speedy publicity, and almost certain detection, that 
 now follow every species of crime, cannot fail to operate as a 
 powerful check to its commission ; whereas in those ages, crime 
 and impunity were twins, strangers equally to fear and to re- 
 straint. To such as close not wilfully the eyes of their under- 
 standing, conviction based on facts like these appears in 
 no questionable form. The caviller at knowledge may well 
 pause at the contemplation of a portrait which delineates human 
 nature, when unenlightened and unsubdued, in a form so for- 
 bidding, wherein mental ignorance and moral turpitude are 
 seen hand in hand, and both in their extremes; and were 
 candour allowed to draw her unbiased inference from facts, 
 the force of prejudice must yield to more just and liberal 
 sentiments. 
 
 The sceptic too, in this imperfect sketch of the human heart, 
 in a state of rude ignorance, blinded and perverted by unsocial 
 passions, might turn his speculations to profit, and learn to 
 appreciate better the great and solid advantages which Britain 
 has reaped from the auspicious introduction of Christianity in 
 its present improved form. Since the great reformation in 
 religion, a gradual and beneficial change has been effected in 
 national manners and habits ; and from that interesting epoch 
 may be dated the progressive rise of England to the summit 
 of earthly greatness. The social virtues, and science in all its 
 useful forms, have steadily advanced together ; and to separate 
 them, if it were possible, would be to make a deadly breach in 
 the social constitution. Mere abstract knowledge, without 
 such connection, might be worthless, and even pernicious : it 
 is solely under the sanction and guidance of true religion that 
 it attains to its highest estimation, and is rendered available 
 for the best interests of humanity. 
 
 The general spread of intelligence, on public and private 
 
238 EDUCATION. 
 
 affairs, is in itself a knowledge that is highly favourable to 
 the advancement of truth and the promotion of popular virtue, 
 its direct tendency being to raise the mind above the narrowness 
 of prejudice and of party views, as well as to strengthen the 
 mental powers by their most congenial and rational exercise. 
 The more conversant men are on all social questions, the 
 greater interest will they naturally take in all that is passing 
 around them; the more just as well as liberal will their 
 sentiments become ; the more excellent and pure will be their 
 patriotism. The social spirit will not only move in a higher 
 sphere, but will assume a kindlier form, and take a far wider 
 range; and though the selfish principle be not eclipsed, yet, 
 being less concentrated, it will lose much of its colour and 
 strength. Hence the rights and liberties of all become equally 
 respected ; and wherever merit is found, it meets with appro- 
 bation and reward. 
 
 Greatness, indeed, whether national or individual, owes its 
 origin to virtue rather than to knowledge, yet attains not to its 
 maturity without it, as history can testify. With the rise or the 
 fall of Rome knowledge had little to do ; though, in the pleni- 
 tude of her power, it constituted the imperial diadem that gave 
 dignity and sanction to her universal dominion ; but it was to 
 physical rather than to moral force, that she owed the begin- 
 nings of her unprecedented rise. Her power was raised and 
 consolidated by physical strength, founded on the temperate 
 virtues, and not by superior intelligence. By the hardy valour 
 of her citizens she arose, and with the subsequent decline of 
 frugality and bravery she fell from a height and power which 
 had awed the world, and which she had fondly deemed would 
 continue the sceptre of her unbounded rule to her sons, even 
 to the end of time. As luxury advanced, virtue receded, and 
 with it knowledge and good government also declined. The 
 majestic empire had become the seat of corruption long before 
 it was the theatre of devastation ; it was a prey to internal 
 anarchy ere it was overrun by the hordes of invading barbarians. 
 
EDUCATION. 239 
 
 Thus indelibly do earthly power and human glory, even in 
 their highest forms, bear the impress of vanity. To the retro- 
 spective eye of reason, as she scans the broad stream of time, 
 they appear but as evanescent and glittering bubbles floating 
 upon its current. Rome, like the mighty empires that pre- 
 ceded her, has for ever passed away, leaving scarcely a vestige 
 of her ancient splendour, save in the treasures of literature 
 and philosophy which she has bequeathed to the world ; adding 
 another and more striking illustration of the instability of 
 sublunary greatness, when unsustained by Divine truth, and 
 uncemented by Christian virtue : the unwieldy fabric wanted 
 the great corner-stone of vital religion ; it was founded in the 
 dust, and it fell. 
 
 It is not easy for man, in the present civilized age, to com- 
 pute the full extent of his obligations to Christianity: to its 
 goodly influence he is indebted, not only for improving and 
 rectifying his virtue, but also for the increase and refinement 
 of his knowledge ; nothing short of its pure and potent light 
 could clear his moral atmosphere, strengthen his mental sight, 
 and rectify his views and aims: its benignity and splendour 
 alone could, and did, expel the mists of idolatry, and free the 
 mind from the slavish bondage of heathenism. Since the dawn 
 of heavenly light, knowledge has been as active in breaking 
 asunder the servile chains of superstition, as in the darkness of 
 ignorance she had been busy in forging them, and now pro- 
 gresses hand in hand with truth, vindicating the Majesty of 
 heaven, while she proclaims the just prerogative of man. 
 
 Most edifying it is to the contemplative mind to witness the 
 auspicious union of Christian virtue with useful science ; hence 
 great things may be anticipated, and the best and fondest hopes 
 of philanthropy may be happily realized. Religion and know- 
 ledge were never meant to be separated ; by no law, Divine or 
 human, has a divorce been ever pronounced between them; 
 absurd indeed would appear the inference, that because man 
 may, and sometimes has, retrograded in wisdom as he advanced 
 
240 EDUCATION. 
 
 in philosophical knowledge, he must needs therefore recede 
 from virtue as he approaches to science. 
 
 True it is that science loves the aspiring eminence, and 
 virtue oft prefers the humbler vale ; but their confines meet, 
 nor is it wisdom's province to build a wall of separation between 
 them, for truth admits of no arbitrary distinctions. The 
 detached heights of science, when viewed alone, are sometimes 
 barren and unproductive, rather flattering the imagination 
 than fruitful in themselves, and the many springs that descend 
 from their summits are often lost in the sandy wastes of spe- 
 culation; but when blended with the rich streams that flow 
 from virtue and religion, their course is marked by all that is 
 fair and flourishing, nor can the most sanguine and gifted mind 
 predict the many and great advantages, public and private, 
 that may, and doubtless shall, flow with them to future gene- 
 rations. 
 
 It must be confessed, after all, that honourable and esti- 
 mable as knowledge unquestionably is, yet, considered alone, 
 it bears no comparison with the endearing and enduring graces 
 of virtue and moral goodness : the lack of science renders few 
 miserable; the want of virtue makes millions wretched. A 
 benevolent heart is better than a learned head : the one is to 
 each a centre of happiness in itself, and a source of it to all 
 around; the other, alone, can give no security for individual 
 content, nor for universal esteem. 
 
ESSAY VI. 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS TO PARENTS ON THE VARIETY. OF THE YOUTHFUL 
 
 CHARACTER ON THE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC 
 
 OR SCHOLASTIC TUITION SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO SOME ESSENTIAL 
 
 BUT NEGLECTED BRANCHES OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION ANCIENT 
 NATIONAL FEATURES WORTH PRESERVING A CONSIDERATION OF THE 
 QUESTION, WHETHER RELIGION SHOULD INVARIABLY TAKE THE LEAD 
 IN SYSTEMS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 
 
 ON doubtful and important questions it is the prerogative of 
 reason to decide ; but it is the character of reason to pause and 
 investigate ere she determine, to inquire and deliberate ere 
 she fix; and the higher the object she contemplates, the more 
 careful will she be wisely to adapt the means to the end in 
 view. Thus critically are parents circumstanced with respect 
 to education ; and the like prudent course they are bound to 
 pursue, as the safest and the best. To every worthy and con- 
 siderate parent education necessarily becomes the cause of 
 deep and heartfelt solicitude, because such alone are fully 
 sensible how greatly the future welfare of their offspring de- 
 pends upon, and is, as it were, interwoven with it. Nor is the 
 question, as to the most effectual means of insuring its advan- 
 tages, a point that may often be easily decided; on the 
 contrary, it is in many cases beset with doubts and difficulties 
 sufficient to exercise, if not to perplex, the acutest under- 
 standing. 
 
 Amid the endless variety of pretensions and claims to 
 patronage set forth by modern systems, the parent oft finds 
 
242 EDUCATION. 
 
 himself in a labyrinth, wherein his judgment is bewildered 
 and without a guide, and where the numerous paths that pre- 
 sent themselves are equally dubious as to their termination; 
 and reason is appealed to in vain, for she is unable to reveal 
 their hidden course of operation, or to predict any certain 
 result from vague and untried professions. 
 
 Experiment alone can determine the relative merits of con- 
 tending systems ; and this, in the case of education, is an 
 experiment much too costly for the conscientious and affec- 
 tionate parent lightly to hazard. What augments the difficulty 
 is, that such conclusions as are derivable from reason, being 
 general, will not apply to particular cases, but are unavoidably 
 subject to numberless exceptions, arising from the diversity of 
 genius, temperament, and disposition by nature inherent in the 
 very constitution of human beings. The same marked variety 
 of shades and extremes that chequers the characters of men 
 whose powers are matured, and their passions exposed to worldly 
 excitement, doubtless obtains in due proportion also in the 
 youthful breast, though the embryo may be latent for want of 
 suitable objects to develop and call it into action. Youth is 
 a true miniature of manhood ; its character presenting the 
 same features, passions, and antipathies in their minor pro- 
 portions ; and the stronger the light in which it is placed, the 
 more clearly may we trace the resemblance. 
 
 This diversity in the youthful character is self-evident, and 
 so universally acknowledged, that formally to insist or enlarge 
 upon it is needless. As a universal axiom it requires no laboured 
 demonstration ; and the more we extend our observation of 
 the youthful character, the stronger will the conviction be : 
 whether we look into the domestic circle of private, or emerge 
 into public life, the same striking variety every where meets us. 
 Nor does it excite our surprise as a rare occurrence, even when 
 we behold the most decided and unaccountable contrast in 
 different members of the same family, where reason, unaided 
 by experience, would expect to find at least something like a 
 
EDUCATION. 243 
 
 similarity in the tastes and pursuits of such as are connected 
 by the ties of kindred, and of habitual companionship. 
 
 By the inscrutable, but doubtless wise appointment of 
 Heaven, this diversity is found to obtain universally ; it is 
 coeval with the world, and will prevail while the laws of nature 
 continue to operate. In childhood its first manifestations 
 appear in a continuous round of puerile predilections and in- 
 consistencies ; with the growth of years it strengthens, taking 
 a more decided form and a wider range, until the ruling bias 
 of the mind is developed in bold relief, enabling us often to 
 pronounce with confidence on the leading features of the 
 future character from particular indications of genius, taste, 
 habit, and disposition. From the youth that is bold, enter- 
 prising, and impatient of control, we often turn to contem- 
 plate one who is, in an equal degree, meek, timid, and retiring. 
 By nature some are ever active,, contentious, and bustling; 
 others are altogether as studious, sedentary, and pacific ; while 
 presumption and artifice, diffidence and simplicity, seriousness 
 and levity, magnanimity and meanness, by turn appear in their 
 genuine colours; and from this singular medley of contradictions 
 in the youthful character arises the main difficulty of adjusting 
 formal systems to principles of action so contradictory. 
 
 Were the youthful mind a consistent agent, and uniform in 
 its operation, instead of being what it often is, a compound of 
 unaccountable and uncontrollable irregularities, the main diffi- 
 culty would disappear, and it would be easy to form systems 
 comprising ample provision for the few incidental casualties 
 and varieties that would remain : to the faculties severally 
 their due proportion of aliment and exercise would be effectually 
 assigned, and the actual improvement of the mental powers, 
 with their individual and collective attainments in every de- 
 partment and in every stage of education, might be readily 
 ascertained. The reverse, however, being the fact, we are 
 constrained to relinquish all Utopian schemes of perfection, and 
 be content to avail ourselves with the solid realities within our 
 
 R2 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 reach. But if we cannot embrace perfection as a whole, we 
 can command its parts, and make them individually subservient 
 to our general design, and hence may reap, in succession, all 
 the various advantages that the most perfect system could 
 produce. " Take care of the pence, and the pounds will 
 take care of themselves," is an old and trite maxim, that 
 holds equally true of education; and the parent who covets 
 for his child the greatest amount of benefit, may insure it by 
 wary attention to its progressive steps, marking each by its 
 degree of improvement, securing its benefits one by one, and 
 seizing every advantage that offers. 
 
 Supposing that it were possible to frame a system so com- 
 prehensive as to comprise all that is desirable, and so compli- 
 cated as to descend to the minute and endless ramifications of 
 character, it would follow that the very application of such a 
 system would demand the most consummate wisdom and in- 
 cessant vigilance to carry it into proper effect, and make it 
 fully available ; for unless upheld by the agency of superior 
 sagacity, energy, and industry, the most wisely-contrived sys- 
 tems fall soonest to the ground, and avail no more than the 
 ingenious but useless mechanism of a watch, where the main 
 spring of the machinery is wanting to insure its proper operation. 
 
 To discern and cherish the first tendencies to good, to detect 
 and counteract the beginnings of evil, are primary objects; 
 but they lie not within the pale of systems, requiring the 
 exercise of superior penetration to measure the evil and the 
 good, and, by means best suited to the occasion, to stimulate 
 the one, and neutralize the other. Systems are but forms; 
 their whole operation is therefore formal ; they suffice to smooth 
 the path of science, and facilitate its acquirements ; externals 
 they may regulate, habits of order they may enforce, but 
 cannot reach the heart, or influence its affections : here reason 
 must timely interpose with her appeals, her motives, and her 
 convictions, dispensing her salutary aid as exigencies may 
 require. Hence we may safely adopt Pope's maxim on 
 
EDUCATION. 245 
 
 governments, which, whether or not it consist with true policy 
 in the sense of the poet, will fully apply to systems of youthful 
 discipline ; for the best-framed plan is but a dead letter until 
 enforced in such a manner as to produce its intended effect, 
 which obviously and wholly depends on the mode of conducting 
 it; and this necessarily depends on the individual merit of the 
 party to whom its direction is confided, whose constant and judi- 
 cious aim it should be to excite that cordial co-operation of the 
 youthful 'mind, which in every system is so essential to success. 
 
 With the well-informed, the character and qualifications of 
 the preceptor will always be the leading consideration, and 
 the system a secondary one. Since systems have no deter- 
 minate operation, they depend solely for their effect on the 
 instrumentality of a casual agency ; and whatever stress may 
 be laid on a chosen system, and however the preceptor may 
 profess to be swayed by it, yet it is presumed that few entertain 
 so very humble an opinion of their own understandings as to 
 put it into leading-strings. No man voluntarily surrenders 
 the right of exercising his private judgment whenever it is 
 appealed to ; on the contrary, it might be deemed rare indeed 
 were he not to give it the ascendancy over all stated forms and 
 rules, subjecting them in every step of their operation to the 
 control and guidance of his own mind; and hence, should 
 even the same system be enforced in a hundred different 
 instances, its application would be found to vary in each, in 
 consequence of that marked dissimilarity of character, which 
 obtains equally among preceptors as among their pupils. 
 
 To the ever-varying temperament of youth must, in part, 
 be referred that difference of sentiment that has ever prevailed 
 on the comparative merits of private and public or scholastic 
 instruction; but though it may not be easy to pronounce 
 decidedly and in general terms on their relative excellences, 
 because the eligibility of either depends on its aptitude to the 
 peculiar bent of the individual, yet it is a question that offers 
 a fair and open field, presenting no difficulties beyond the 
 
246 EDUCATION. 
 
 grasp of reason, aided by clear views of the advantages and 
 disadvantages connected with each, which, combined with a 
 due insight into the juvenile character, and a right estimate of 
 its. power, will in most cases furnish an all-sufficient clue to 
 determine its peculiar fitness for either mode in preference to 
 the other. Premising that the glance we have taken at the 
 fallibility of systems may have sufficed to prove that personal 
 ability, independent of systems, is preferable to any system 
 without such agency, we come to the separate consideration of 
 the positive and probable benefits of private and public tuition ; 
 also, the disadvantages and inconveniences incidental to each, 
 in connection with their course of operation. 
 
 Among the leading advantages of private instruction may 
 be enumerated its being decidedly favourable to the formation 
 of those habits of study, which form the surest basis of a steadily 
 progressing improvement, and greatly facilitating every intel- 
 lectual acquisition. The mind being subject to few interrup- 
 tions that would divide the attention, is enabled to fix itself 
 steadily on its object; and that contemplative turn of mind, 
 which has ever been deemed the nurse of wisdom, is thus 
 effectually promoted. When earnestly engaged in the pursuit 
 of knowledge, the mind should be left at liberty, the better to 
 command and arrange its thoughts, and to connect and review 
 its operations at leisure ; for the force of conviction depends 
 much on that vigour of thought which, by a habit of 
 close investigation, attains to a full and clear comprehension. 
 Strength of reason is generated by the regular and undisturbed 
 exercise of its powers ; and without some such provision, know- 
 ledge will rarely strike any deep root, and may be said rather 
 to pass through the mind than to fix its abode in it. 
 
 When in a state of perfect liberty, and set free, as it were, 
 from all fear of interruption, the mind collects all its energies, 
 and concentrates them at will ; she is then enabled successfully 
 to grapple with difficulties, and, with the aid of perseverance, 
 gradually to surmount every obstacle that would impede her 
 
EDUCATION. 247 
 
 progress ; thus ultimately accomplishing the highest designs to 
 which the intellect of man can aspire. Nor are the retired 
 habits of a private education less favourable to moral virtue 
 than to mental culture ; and though it may be a soil adapted 
 rather to the growth of the passive than of the active virtues, 
 yet it is but fair to concede that virtues of the first rank, and 
 by way of eminence termed cardinal, exclusively belong to the 
 former class : it also gives the best security for docility of 
 manners, and offers, perhaps, the surest safeguard for innocence 
 and integrity, by shielding the passions from the contagion of 
 corrupting examples, and from the seductive influence of 
 temptation. During the critical season of youth, the absence 
 of evil amounts to a positive good, and may, in many cases, 
 be accounted a main desideratum. The seeds of many virtues, 
 though planted with care, yield oft but a scanty harvest ; while 
 the growth of one neglected vice will outstrip calculation, 
 and choke the increase of many rising virtues. To prevent 
 one vice from taking root, to eradicate one of the traces of 
 evil in the spring-time of life, avails more in the cause of truth 
 and virtue, than much pains to promote them without such 
 precaution ; for in every seed of vice that is early crushed, a 
 long train of ever-multiplying evils is, in effect, at once and 
 for ever annihilated. 
 
 Weighty, however, as such considerations are, and powerfully 
 as they seem to plead in favour of a private education, they 
 are not in themselves directly conclusive; for it is evidently 
 from its most excellent forms alone, when conducted in the 
 wisest manner, that such desirable and happy effects may rea- 
 sonably be expected : in all other cases it becomes a doubtful 
 question, involving many considerations vitally connected with 
 the best interests of manhood as well as of youth. An impar- 
 tial view of its effects alone can, in any case, determine its real 
 merits; and the only unerring test of superior excellence must 
 be sought in the superiority of the advantages it confers, and 
 these necessarily depend on the wisdom and intelligence thai 
 
248 EDUCATION. 
 
 plans a course of operation, and governs its particular move- 
 ments. 
 
 It must be admitted that private education is by no means 
 exempt from its share of serious inconveniences, which, when 
 not effectually guarded against by a well-timed precaution, 
 are often pregnant with mischief, and have not unfrequently 
 assumed a form and character so forbidding, as to yield ground 
 for serious objections. We may safely proceed a step further, 
 and assert, that ill-judged and ill-managed private plans are 
 far more objectionable than the most faulty among systems of 
 a more social character, which at least have the merit of 
 exercising the affections while they stimulate the passions, of 
 sharpening the wit, and of supplying constant food for the 
 needful growth of common sense. 
 
 Wholly to immure a being so sensitive as man in the spring- 
 time of his life, would be, in effect, to crush many of the seeds 
 both of happiness and virtue, by repressing the first generous 
 ardours of his spirit. So little congenial to the active tem- 
 perament of youth is a state of abstraction, that although habit 
 may partially reconcile him to it, yet a private education, 
 enforced in its strictest sense, would militate against itself, by 
 depriving the spirits of their healthful play, and prove detri- 
 mental alike to health and to mental exertion. The moral 
 principle, it is true, might be uncontaminated, yet, being 
 inert, it could hardly be said to possess a healthful tone; 
 having been but little exercised, its strength and stability could 
 not be relied on. If the social and moral principles and affec- 
 tions be progressive, as they unquestionably are, it follows 
 that by a regular exercise and gradation alone can they attain 
 their proper growth ; and to impede their incipient operation, 
 would be to sever the first links of a mystical chain, which, 
 when broken, may never be repaired. They, therefore, who 
 adopt a system of private education on the ground of its pecu- 
 liar advantages, would do well to have an eye to its manifest 
 inconveniences, which it will ever be needful to temper and 
 
EDUCATION. 249 
 
 counteract by timely provisions of a social kind. It is evident 
 that, when too rigidly enforced, habits of protracted seclusion 
 are apt to engender a sickly sensibility, which is the certain 
 prelude to a wide sphere of real or imaginary distress; not 
 only does the social principle languish while the passions are 
 abridged of their proper and congenial action, but that ex- 
 perimental wisdom, which is perhaps worth all besides, and 
 which is only acquired by social intercourse and interchange of 
 sentiment, is wholly superseded, and perhaps irretrievably lost ; 
 and to this often must be added the formation and growth of 
 uncouth and eccentric manners and habits, which are the too 
 common consequence of a discipline as injudicious as it is 
 unnatural. 
 
 One obvious advantage that scholastic tuition possesses, is 
 that of not being subject to the inconveniences arising from 
 undue mental abstraction, and to which all plans of private 
 education are more or less exposed. But this negative merit 
 by no means constitutes the chief recommendation of public 
 tuition, as it comprises many features equally important and 
 beneficial, and which may be regarded as exclusively its own. 
 Its very frame and constitution being wholly of a social cha- 
 racter, it necessarily brings into active operation all the latent 
 springs of the mind, elicits the social principles and affections, 
 and applies the spur of emulation to all the intellectual energies. 
 Competition, while it gives a charm to exertion, stimulates to 
 excellence by the prospect of honour and praise : as the field 
 of contest widens by increased rivalry, so the prize of fame and 
 applause that crowns the successful aspirant rises in attraction 
 and estimation ; and the youth who has once tasted the lively 
 pleasure attendant on success, is inspirited to redoubled ex- 
 ertions, which thus become the stepping-stone to those lofty 
 and honourable aspirings, which confer true dignity on the 
 character in advanced life. By such repeated efforts being 
 put frequently on the stretch, the rational powers acquire a 
 vigour and elasticity, by no other means attainable. 
 
250 EDUCATION. 
 
 For the perfecting of the intellect, two things appear to be 
 essentially requisite a strong and active mental discipline on 
 the one hand, relieved by a seasonable and lively recreation 
 on the other, viz. such a pleasurable refreshment, as may 
 speedily and perfectly recruit the exhausted spirits, and thus 
 preserve the tone of the mind. It is evident that such relax- 
 ations must necessarily partake largely of the social character ; 
 it will therefore be the part of wisdom by all rational means to 
 secure an object so needful and desirable. 
 
 A well-ordered juvenile society may be likened to an 
 initiatory world divested of its evils, and stored with all the 
 requisite means of mental and moral culture : the mind, 
 placed as it were within a sphere of ever-varied but congenial 
 excitement, and encircled by a crowd of enterprising spirits, is 
 put on its guard, and early taught the necessity of vigilance, 
 and soon calls into exercise those hidden powers, which, without 
 such stimulus, might languish and decay. There is doubtless 
 a principle in the mind (though dormant oft for want of a 
 sufficient impulse), which on the appearance of difficulty or 
 danger ever rises with the occasion, collects its internal forces, 
 and is roused to an exertion suited to the exigence, and thus 
 is she enabled to compete with the varied opposition she is 
 fated to encounter ; and as this temper and quality of mind is 
 of the greatest utility in advanced commerce with the world, 
 it can scarcely be too early exercised and put to the test. 
 
 The friendly and generous affections, the primary incentives 
 to virtue, here find their proper objects and their aliment; the 
 leading features of the mind are developed, and its springs 
 and motives detected, on whose right direction the health and 
 vigour of character chiefly depend. Youth are by nature gifted 
 with an observant, eye, a susceptible heart, and a quick per- 
 ception of right and wrong ; an aptitude to embrace what is 
 fair and comely, with a lively antipathy and disdainful rejection 
 of whatever bears the taint of meanness and disgrace. In a 
 youthful community, like a miniature republic, circumstances 
 
EDUCATION. 251 
 
 will rarely be wanting to display both the amiable and the 
 odious qualities in their genuine characters. The glow of 
 youthful enthusiasm gives force and colouring to all that en- 
 gages the attention, or creates an interest in the mind ; virtue 
 stands confessed in her native loveliness, and vice assumes her 
 natural deformity. In the formality of precept, design may 
 be suspected, but in ordinary occurrences none : from the 
 instructive portraiture the mind draws its own conclusions ; 
 the salutary lesson is carried home to the heart ; the impression 
 therefore is the more vivid and abiding. 
 
 Nothing teaches like the living example : he who sees 
 another caressed by his comrades, for his courage, generosity, 
 or other estimable quality, infers that the possession of it is 
 necessary to command esteem, and straight endeavours to 
 acquire it. By witnessing the contempt lavished on a school- 
 mate for some unsocial or unamiable peculiarity, he hastens 
 to divest himself even of its appearance, lest he should incur a 
 similar mortification ; and thus may a predisposition to pride, 
 parsimony, profuseness, or indolence, be counteracted: being 
 ashamed of those features which they see thus reflected in 
 others, it is their early care to reform them. By seeing that 
 distinction is conferred on merit alone, youth are taught im- 
 partiality and a noble scorn of flattery, and thus learn to pay 
 respect only where it is justly due. The best wisdom being 
 experimentally derived, requires those practical helps, which 
 none but a social system can supply. By continued and fami- 
 liar intercourse with a diversity of character and talent, the 
 mind attains to a liberality of sentiment, and an expansion, 
 that render it superior to the narrowness of prejudiced views. 
 
 It is one, and not the least, part of Education to rectify the 
 mental bias ; ambition will develop it, but by emulation only 
 can it be rightly directed. Wherever the love of praise takes 
 root in the mind, it will aspire to excel, and when foiled in 
 one pursuit, will attempt another. The checks it may receive 
 are as salutary warnings to change its object and vary its 
 
252 EDUCATION. 
 
 course, till rewarded with better success. By such experi- 
 mental discipline the mind arrives at a knowledge of its own 
 powers, and learns to adapt them to their proper objects; and 
 such self-knowledge forms the basis of the most profitable 
 wisdom. Many and great are the advantages connected with 
 well-conducted social plans of education, comprising all that is 
 desirable for incipient probation, favourable alike to knowledge, 
 truth, and virtue, and supplying abundant exercise for the 
 strengthening of the reasoning faculty, and the production of 
 a manly and magnanimous spirit; and, to crown the whole, 
 the cordial co-operation of the youthful mind accompanies it 
 throughout, seconding its design, and forwarding its accom- 
 plishment. 
 
 It must here, however, be conceded, that the connexion 
 between theory and practice (which in reason should progress 
 together) is so fragile and precarious, that the one, instead of 
 being the counterpart and illustration of the other, presents 
 ofttimes a singular and unhappy contrast ; and this observation 
 is sometimes remarkably verified in modern education. In 
 looking at the working of our public systems, rarely can we 
 trace their beneficial results so visibly and generally as to 
 justify such warmth of eulogium, or even keep pace in any 
 degree consistent with the anticipations which many have been 
 led to cherish ; and judging from the effects in the aggregate, 
 it seems almost questionable whether the good or the evil 
 preponderate, though it would perhaps be neither safe nor 
 satisfactory to attempt an isolated solution of so complicated a 
 problem. Many concurrent causes, both hidden and obvious, 
 conspire to involve it in doubt and perplexity. Among the 
 more obvious reasons of failure, imperfect and faulty, or mis- 
 conducted plans, may be assigned, wherein the headstrong 
 current of youthful impulse takes its own wilful course. Certain 
 it is that a public education, while it offers greater facilities 
 for improvement, is inevitably exposed to a greater variety of 
 dangers, requiring the careful eye and guiding hand of a 
 
EDUCATION. 253 
 
 guardian spirit to shield the vulnerable points of the uncon- 
 firmed character from the hourly assaults to which it is exposed. 
 
 Hence it appears that the superior advantages which public 
 tuition holds out are, in no small degree, counterpoised by the 
 perilous and hazardous position in which it places probationary 
 virtue. The extension of greater liberty, while it opens an 
 enlarged sphere for the exercise of talent, allows a wider scope 
 to the irregular passions, and supplies them with stronger and 
 more frequent excitement. A stricter and more guarded rein 
 is therefore desirable, if not indispensable, without which even 
 its best features would be liable to distortion. Emulation 
 itself, without a judicious guidance, instead of begetting a 
 generous enthusiasm, might degenerate to envy and malice, 
 and introduce a train of low passions, whose malignant influence 
 would taint the moral atmosphere, spreading the infection from 
 breast to breast, clouding the mind, and disturbing its opera- 
 tions; for reason and experience equally testify that any 
 ascendancy of the unsocial passions involves not merely the 
 loss of time, but, in proportion as it obtains, is fatal to virtue 
 and detrimental to improvement. 
 
 As in private tuition, the tribute of unmixed approbation is 
 due only to its best and most efficient form, so in a rational 
 estimate of public systems are we to be guided rather by their 
 positive effects than by any inferred or supposed merits, and limit 
 our cordial commendation to such as are manifestly beneficial 
 in their ordinary and hourly operation. Either a private or a 
 public course of education may merit our censure or praise, 
 accordingly as it is administered. Each has its redeeming 
 points ; and objectionable ones are common to both. It is 
 therefore by the preponderance of good in particular cases that 
 the scale of judgment must be turned. Wherever the fruits of 
 virtue and knowledge best flourish and abound, they supply 
 the plainest evidence of the soil and culture. 
 
 Private tuition is apparently more favourable to innocence 
 and moral purity of character, involving often those mild and 
 
254 EDUCATION. 
 
 endearing qualities, that sweeten the private sphere of domestic 
 life ; nor is it less eligible for the proper inculcation of those 
 primary truths and principles which require to be digested and 
 deeply engrafted on the memory, or for the culture of those 
 high mental endowments which constitute the character of the 
 sage, or for the speedier and more certain attainment of its 
 object in deep researches, or in any one engrossing pursuit. 
 We may add, that the mind, when long shielded from error, 
 and conversant only with the forms of truth and moral beauty, 
 is rarely accessible to evil ; its perception of and disgust at 
 moral turpitude is quickened and rendered more acute, en- 
 abling it the more readily both to detect fallacies and to 
 confute them. 
 
 Public tuition is unquestionably better adapted for the 
 acquisition of those popular and manly talents which are 
 associated with public spirit and independence, to which we 
 may add, those social arts and accomplishments which, if not 
 essential to success among men, are greatly instrumental to- 
 wards it. These advantages, however, cannot always ensure 
 their object, nor atone for the frequent innovations that inter- 
 rupt a course of scholastic study and check improvement, 
 the attention is hourly drawn aside. The living example 
 makes the stronger impression, but whether better or worse 
 depends wholly on the nature of the example. Fully to pro- 
 duce its effects, that which is presented to the observation of 
 youth should at least equal in worth and excellence those 
 which biography has selected and reserved for the purposes of 
 instruction. Without being invidious, it may be conceded 
 that such living examples are rare whither then shall we point 
 the attention of youth, but to the dead who have most excelled 
 in virtue? 
 
 Thus public and private tuition have each their character- 
 istics, to which we may look for a fair criterion of their merits. 
 The one nourishes the mind by training it to habits of studious 
 contemplation ; the other kindles genius by the spark of emu- 
 
EDUCATION. 255 
 
 lation. This yields the best security for moral dignity of 
 character; that supplies the mind with a fund of available 
 talent. The one best inculcates the current wisdom of this 
 world ; the other is rather allied to science in the abstract, and 
 to wisdom of a higher order, whose aspirations are often foreign 
 to, and incompatible with, sublunary pursuits. 
 
 How, then, shall the parent choose, since it appears that by 
 adhering closely to either, some real advantages will be lost, 
 and also a certain amount of evil or danger incurred? But 
 by what law, it may be asked, is the parent bound to make 
 any election ? or rather, if reason be a law, does it not plainly 
 suggest the remedy, by alternately adopting either as occasion 
 may require, with a view to combine and secure the advan- 
 tages derivable from each, at the same time obviating the evils 
 that might arise from too partial adherence to either? 
 
 If in the complex nature of modern education occasionally 
 to vary its form be thus desirable, as comprising a twofold 
 benefit, it appears somewhat surprising that it should not have 
 met with more strenuous advocates, and that its practice should 
 not have been more frequently enforced ; but some are always 
 ready to start objections to every apparent innovation, on the 
 alleged ground, that progress is ever retarded by any deviation 
 from a settled course of study ; but be this as it may in the 
 estimation of some, every sensible parent will, in the case of 
 his own child, find a better guide in his own judgment than in 
 that of all others united. Some, while admitting it to be de- 
 sirable, will affect to deem it impracticable ; but if it promise 
 sufficient utility to recommend the experiment, the futility of 
 such objections may easily be proved. Periodically to vary the 
 plan of tuition is surely not less practicable than other cus- 
 tomary changes in domestic arrangements, of late years so 
 common. We see, as a matter of course, family establishments 
 broken up, and alternately transferred from town to country, 
 or to the continent, from prudential motives of health, plea- 
 sure, or convenience, or as the season may prompt a change of 
 
256 EDUCATION. 
 
 residence, or it may be merely for fashion's sake. If in such 
 secondary matters the will and the judgment go hand in hand, 
 how much rather in education should the parent be swayed by 
 reason alone, independent of all systems; and even though 
 acknowledging perhaps a decided predilection for one, yet not 
 surrendering reason as a captive to any, but rather by her 
 agency making all, as far as may be, subservient to the one 
 desirable end. 
 
 The ancients seem generally to have entertained a preference 
 for private tuition, hence their princes and nobles were anxious 
 at any cost to obtain the most celebrated philosophers of the 
 times as tutors to their sons; and thus were formed many of 
 those characters, the splendour of whose talents and virtues are 
 the ornament of history. But granting exceptions, and ad- 
 mitting that such partiality was not always founded on the 
 conviction of its superior efficacy, it yet seems perfectly natural 
 and reasonable, considering that the needful facilities for the 
 acquirement of knowledge (now so common as to be within 
 the reach of all) were in those days wholly unknown; such 
 means as existed being limited to a favoured few. In fairness, 
 however, it should be observed, that what is now designated 
 private tuition, has few features in common with that course of 
 discipline by which those sage and heroic characters were 
 modelled. With them education was not a formal system of 
 books, terminating with the season of youth ; and on languages 
 little or no stress was laid. Its avowed and immediate object 
 was the acquisition of manly accomplishments, and popular 
 mental endowments blended with general intelligence. Mag- 
 nanimity and fortitude of mind were held to be primary and 
 indispensable qualifications ; eloquence and rhetoric were cul- 
 tivated for the sake of the personal superiority they conferred ; 
 nor was any talent omitted that might command respect or 
 conciliate affection. The philosophic tutor was at once a coun- 
 sellor and companion, a paternal guardian and a bosom friend ; 
 hence the happiest results might well be anticipated. 
 
EDUCATION. '257 
 
 The eligibility of any mode of tuition in every case ob- 
 viously depends, not so much on its abstract merits, as on its 
 peculiar fitness and adaptation to that mind which is to be the 
 object of its influence and operation ; hence the wisdom and 
 expediency of well consulting the natural genius and disposition 
 of youth : guided by such knowledge, which may be termed 
 the true light of nature, the parental judgment will rarely be 
 betrayed into error. 
 
 Such is the variety of the youthful genius and temperament, 
 that rarely does a likeness obtain in any two minds, even in their 
 leading traits, much less in the minuter gradations of shade and 
 colouring. Whether the ruling bias be strongly marked, and 
 early developed, or whether it be latent, so as almost to challenge 
 detection, there is unquestionably in every mind some inherent 
 peculiarity, and it behoves the judicious parent to watch its 
 growth and progress even from its earliest indications ; hence 
 the judgment may safely determine when a change of discipline 
 may be eligible, as also the nature and extent of it. The too 
 pliant, no less than the inflexible temper, may need a counter- 
 action. The fragile mind may sink without timely support; 
 the robust may incur danger from the opposite extreme of 
 presumption. The lively genius of one, perhaps, makes him 
 the centre of every convivial circle ; the timidity of another 
 will scarce allow him to venture within its limits : and in the 
 many paths of study so rare is literary companionship, that 
 should any two agree in the choice of a track, seldom will they 
 keep pace together, so as to persevere in it for any length of 
 time. 
 
 The qualities of different minds are as diversified as the 
 hues and properties of gems : some chiefly shine by their in- 
 herent lustre; others please most by contrast or reflection. 
 The native vigour and vivacity of one mind is analogous to 
 the innate splendour of the ruby ; while the unobtrusive merit, 
 which charms in another, resembles rather the mild and 
 chastened attraction of the emerald; but in none are the 
 
 s 
 
258 EDUCATION. 
 
 opposite perfections combined. The borrowed light, which 
 displays to advantage the brilliancy of the diamond, serves but 
 to dim the lustre of the pearl, which appears best by the sober 
 light diffused by the orb of day. Doubtless, the latent talent 
 with which every mind is imbued, may be superseded by mis- 
 directing its energies. To avert, however, the danger that 
 might spring from error on this point, it will be desirable to 
 discriminate well between the counterfeit quality and the true. 
 What is rightly termed mental bias, should be a genuine and 
 uniform impulse, a steady bent of mind towards excellence in 
 some chosen and rational pursuit. That which is sometimes 
 mistaken for it, is rather an acquired predilection, often par- 
 taking largely of passion and caprice, and consequently ever 
 liable to change or terminate with its object : in the one it is 
 a partial and temporary excitement, in which some passion 
 takes the lead ; in the other it is a permanent and progressive 
 principle, superior to, and wholly independent of, passion. A 
 sufficient illustration of this is found in the characters of many 
 who are justly celebrated for pre-eminence in some favourite 
 branch of knowledge to which they devoted their time and 
 talent. Such literary champions have (mostly from choice) 
 commenced early the path that led them to fame, and have 
 ever been crowned by a steady perseverance in it. In the 
 abstruser sciences and sublimer studies, as also in the elegant 
 arts, how many have attributed their extraordinary proficiency 
 to an innate and insuperable impulse, urging them onward, 
 superior to discouragements, and seemingly gaining an acces- 
 sion of strength with every step in its progress. 
 
 Such examples are, however, comparatively rare in a general 
 view of mankind. The character of man in the aggregate has 
 uniformly borne the same impress ; from the hidden springs of 
 the human heart the like passions have flowed from age to 
 age, swelling and agitating the eventful tide of human counsel 
 and action, impelling, with seemingly resistless force, the 
 successive generations of men ; neither is it by genius of an 
 
EDUCATION. 259 
 
 ordinary grade, nor by a mediocrity of moral energy, that the 
 strength of the current has at any period been effectually 
 resisted. 
 
 In the moral, as in the natural world, the same conflicting 
 elements have struggled from the beginning, being compounded 
 alike of those discordant principles which are essential to their 
 established operation. The multitude are ever swayed by 
 present impressions, by the like ambition in manhood, and the 
 same love of pleasure in youth, in their diversified forms and 
 attractions; all are borne along by the fleeting impulse of 
 passion, whether it be a thirst for novelty or enterprise, or the 
 inordinate lust of wealth and power, or of rivalry in its many 
 forms, which may commonly be traced to a movement of 
 pride ; and in all these passion takes the lead. Thus martial 
 ardour, or a thirst for military glory, is oft no more than an 
 acquired passion, wherein the imagination has been dazzled, 
 arid the heart captivated, by the glowing narrative of heroic 
 exploits ; but how soon is the infatuation at an end, when 
 the fallacy is unmasked, and the painful reality made known 
 by experience, dearly bought, and when, perhaps too late, 
 sober reason and reflection have stripped the enchantress 
 delusion of her flattering veil ! 
 
 A strong and original bias is a rare gift of nature, an indi- 
 cation of some future excellence, common only to minds of 
 the first order, enabling them to preserve a uniform course 
 in pursuit of the chosen object : the main distinction appears 
 to be, that in strong and choicely-gifted minds reason gets the 
 mastery of passion ; whereas in weaker minds passion, by a 
 continued struggle, obtains the ascendancy. It is plain, that 
 when the reasoning powers are feeble, motives and actions 
 must fluctuate ; every new and striking aspect is then sufficient 
 to turn aside the current of thought and influence the conduct : 
 aptly may this be termed instability ; and probably in the whole 
 round of what is called genius, the feature most to be prized 
 
 s2 
 
260 EDUCATION. 
 
 is that general ability which guarantees success by perseverance 
 on whatever object it may be exercised. 
 
 The most civilized periods have always been the most pro- 
 ductive not only of those highly-prized talents which command 
 success, but also of the more estimable qualities of the heart ; 
 whereas times of prevailing barbarism present a picture of 
 human degeneracy, in which the leading features are few, but 
 repulsive. In every community the least cultivated portion is 
 apparently the least distinguished for that virtuous elevation of 
 character, which is the true crown of humanity. Nature, 
 wholly unillumined, is doomed to wander oft without a direct 
 path or settled motive among the mazes of ignorance and 
 sensuality, wherein the imbecility of advanced age is but a 
 protracted childhood despoiled of its innocence. 
 
 In the effeminate and half-civilized nations of the east, the 
 mind rarely exhibits strong and manly traits, or even a decided 
 bias of character, but, chamelion-like, takes its present hue 
 from what is nearest to it, and is rather the sport of accident, 
 and the creature of circumstance, than the seat of intelligence. 
 As the aid of the polisher is requisite to produce the latent 
 vein in marble, so is the hand of culture needful to develop 
 aright the bent of genius. In the pliant age of childhood, 
 when the will needs direction, and seems to exist but to obey 
 it, a bias may perhaps be imparted to a mind of ordinary 
 stamp ; but the opportunity neglected, leaves a vacuum in the 
 mind, to be filled by indiscriminate associations, by which its 
 weakness is flattered, and its errors confirmed. It is a currently 
 received opinion, that early predilections supply the truest 
 indication of the pursuit in which the individual is destined to 
 excel, and that by fostering it we are seconding the wise intent 
 of Providence ; but though grounded in reason, this, like other 
 theories, lies open to many exceptions. 
 
 To concentrate the varied powers of a vigorous intellect on 
 one point, must necessarily contract their natural sphere of 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 261 
 
 action ; and when superior genius is coupled (as it often is) 
 with a sanguine temperament, the ardour of passion will mingle 
 with and colour all its operations, tending to a hurtful extreme 
 even in what is laudable ; and hence the frequent and lament- 
 able self-sacrifice of genius from over-devotedness to its all- 
 engrossing object. It has at all times been the too common 
 fate of great talent, especially of a literary stamp, to consign 
 its possessor to a premature grave by inducing an extreme 
 in studious application, ruinous alike to health of body and 
 mind; and when the impetuosity of passion is added, and 
 brought to bear on the ruling impulse, its ascendancy must 
 destroy the equilibrium of the mind, and counteract the very 
 intention of Education, whose province is to regulate the 
 passions by controlling the stronger and bringing the weaker 
 into proper operation ; for there is no passion so weak but it will 
 (if stimulated to excess) speedily run to an injurious extreme. 
 
 Among the various considerations by which parents may be 
 influenced, who choose to educate their children under their 
 own eye, those of greatest weight probably arise from a con- 
 viction either of the time consumed by the undue stress often 
 laid at schools on things of comparatively little use in after 
 life, or the not laying a sufficient stress on things of indispen- 
 sable and acknowledged utility in worldly affairs, and in daily 
 commerce with mankind. In the established forms of school 
 systems the pupils are of course, without distinction, expected 
 to comply, and over this order of things the parent, though 
 the party chiefly interested, has no control. Private tuition, 
 then, recommends itself as not lying open to such objections, 
 and the sole points of inquiry will be, as to what qualifications 
 are really most desirable, and next, as to the best and most 
 efficacious means of securing them. 
 
 In conformity with the sentiments laid down in a former 
 essay, and to avoid the ill consequences of putting the intellect 
 too soon upon the stretch, the author would suggest the pro- 
 priety of devoting the first period of education to attainments 
 
262 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 requiring the least mental exertion, such as may fully engage 
 the mind without wearying its faculties ; for it is repugnant to 
 reason to begin by taxing the tender intellect of a child, and 
 loading its memory with dry and abstruse technicalities, and 
 the grammatical structure of ancient tongues, and subsequently 
 occupy the mind (when the faculties are stronger) in the 
 mechanical drudgery of writing, and of other occupations 
 equally simple, which, though admirably fitted for childhood, 
 must often be taken up unseasonably, because not acquired 
 when they should have been. 
 
 Few, it is presumed, will deny the expediency of beginning 
 with the plain but sterling arts of writing and reading, not 
 only from their eminent utility, and because their simplicity is 
 well suited to the childish capacity, but because excellence in 
 these is conducive to higher attainments, and because excel- 
 lence in either depends on timely cultivation. As by early 
 practice the free command of the pen is best acquired, so is a 
 natural and graceful delivery best ensured by the same means. 
 The mind cannot, perhaps, be too soon familiarised with the 
 first principles of calculation and English grammar, nor can 
 colloquial exercise by catechisms be too much recommended. 
 Scarcely is there a branch of science that is not now brought 
 down to the level of the weakest intellect : many and admirable 
 treatises abound in the various branches of elementary know- 
 ledge, in which rational information is happily blended with 
 moral truth, divested of formality, and blended with attractions 
 which smooth and adorn the path of learning, converting what 
 was formerly an irksome task into a comparative amusement. 
 
 Order in study is the wisest economy of time and labour, by 
 so regulating its course that its various branches may follow in 
 succession as their difficulty augments. The equal progress 
 may also be greatly facilitated by making present pursuits 
 subservient to future attainments. It is, in most cases, easy 
 to make one study the means of improvement in others : elo- 
 cution and composition may be thus blended, and the practice 
 
EDUCATION. 263 
 
 of both made subservient to historical or other knowledge, as 
 it is evident these talents may be exercised on any subject 
 within the range of literature. By committing to writing, 
 portions of geography, grammar, &c. designed to be learned, 
 the memory is greatly assisted by fixing the attention, while 
 freedom in the style of writing, with a readiness of expression 
 and a habit of precision, are insensibly acquired. 
 
 It is doubtless as essential that the mind be prepared for 
 the right reception of knowledge, as that proper knowledge be 
 imparted to the mind; it must therefore be a desirable and 
 leading object in all preparatory education, so to expand and 
 strengthen the understanding, that it may convert to its proper 
 nourishment what it receives. By prematurely and indis- 
 criminately crowding the weak intellect with information, the 
 operation of its rational energies will be retarded ; and that 
 which impedes the growth of reason can add but little to the 
 stock of knowledge. In the order of education those studies, 
 perhaps, should take the lead which afford the fairest field for 
 the progressive exercise of the reasoning faculties ; and by this 
 rule mathematical science may take precedence of languages, 
 because proficiency in these is chiefly attainable by the force 
 of memory; whereas the other depends solely on rational 
 investigation, in which every step is, in fact, an advance of 
 reason, and a higher evidence of intellectual power. 
 
 The first part of Education is too frequently marked by a 
 total absence of that order and method which reason suggests, 
 and which, like a ray of light, should extend throughout ; not 
 but that it may, in particular cases, be eligible to deviate from 
 the formality of plans in compliance with striking traits of 
 genius : wherever the indications of a rare or rich intellectual 
 vein are apparent, it is wisdom to follow its direction. The 
 right use of reason has, it is true, been reduced to a science, 
 but its eligibility as such must be doubtful, if it appear that 
 the same end is better effected by engaging the mind in the 
 pursuit of knowledge, which is the fittest exercise of reason, 
 
264 EDUCATION. 
 
 and progresses with it ; whereas years may be devoted to dry 
 and formal systems of logic, with little advantage beyond the 
 arrangement of words and arguments. 
 
 A liberal education necessarily embraces a competent know- 
 ledge of geography, the main features and outlines of astro- 
 nomy, and of all the leading facts of history, ancient and 
 modern, with a graceful and easy elocution, and a natural and 
 correct epistolary style : these are talents needful to all, and 
 being attainable by all, no plea of excuse remains to justify 
 ignorance. But desirable as these talents are in the trans- 
 actions of business, as well as for their hourly use for all the 
 purposes of rational intercourse, very rarely are they cultivated 
 in a degree proportioned to their just claims. 
 
 The ancients, in these respects, were wiser than the moderns, 
 who fail to imitate while they profess to admire them. With 
 them the many and obvious advantages of eloquence had full 
 weight, as the certain means of conferring superiority, and 
 creating a wider distinction between man and man than any 
 difference of rank, or even, perhaps, than the more solid 
 qualities of the heart. They regarded it as the crown of human 
 abilities, as an intellectual engine superior to any physical 
 force, by moving the passions of the public mind at will, and 
 thus swaying the destinies of empires. Rome was even mightier 
 in eloquence than in arms : there was nothing great or won- 
 derful but it attempted and achieved, turning the tide of war, 
 humbling the tyrant and the conqueror, and laying corruption 
 prostrate in the dust : minor distinctions were eclipsed by its 
 splendour and power; without it the patrician was a cipher; 
 with it the plebeian gave laws to the world. 
 
 As its native element rhetoric comprises all that is great and 
 grand, but descends from the sublimest heights to the humblest 
 offices of life ; through the endless gradations of intercourse, 
 forming at once the charm of social converse, the bond of 
 friendship, and the sweetener of affection ; adding grace and 
 dignity even to the oracles of heavenly truth, and vindicating 
 
EDUCATION. 265 
 
 the right and majesty of human laws; blending the powers 
 of persuasion, in the senate, with harmonizing attractions, and 
 making graceful delivery the effectual organ of wisdom, and 
 the surer means of rational conviction. It can penetrate the 
 inmost recesses of the heart, and awaken its finest sensibilities ; 
 nor is there any period of time, nor any circumstance of life, 
 from which its agency and influence are excluded. 
 
 Equal in utility, and closely associated with this talent, is the 
 sister art of composition, or the power of condensing and 
 arranging our chosen thoughts, and committing them to writing 
 in the best form of words. Oratory and composition are twin 
 talents, the offspring of the same discriminating judgment, and 
 the like cultivated taste; but each has its distinguishing features, 
 and to each a separate office is assigned ; but that of the latter, 
 though far less imposing, has a much wider range of influence. 
 Oral eloquence is mightiest to effect a present design, but its 
 influence is local, and limited to a circle of auditors ; its noblest 
 strains may be ill appreciated, and their impression rather 
 vivid than lasting. By both, the divine faculties of speech and 
 reason are made subservient to the noblest ends ; but from the 
 tongue, as from a fountain, the richest strains of eloquence 
 might flow in vain, though combining all the energies of truth 
 and language, were there none to record ; and how oft would 
 the effusions of genius have been lost to the world had the pen 
 of the ready writer lain idle ! It is this alone that gives a 
 lasting character to the beauties, and immortality to those 
 excellences, which shall command esteem so long as superior 
 merit and virtue shall be prized among men. 
 
 To this art we are indebted for all our knowledge the 
 accumulated store of ages. By it the arcana of wisdom are 
 transferred from language to language, and disseminated 
 throughout the earth, or handed down to future times; and 
 here are supplied the various channels of communication, by 
 which remotest nations are connected, uniting as one great 
 family all the nations under heaven. Its many advantages are 
 
266 EDUCATION. 
 
 indeed too obvious to need encomium. Desirable, however, 
 as these talents are by the rarity of excellence in either, it 
 would seem that few are willing to be at the pains of acquiring 
 them. So nearly are these accomplishments allied, that pro- 
 ficiency in one implies no small ability in the other, depending 
 on the same operations of the mind, and attainable by similar 
 means. In composition, much of the effect depends on felicity 
 of expression, and in oratory on the mode of delivery ; but in 
 both, the matter must ever be of primary import. Wit and 
 sense must be blended with truth and feeling, and the whole 
 must be sustained by knowledge, to produce a full effect ; for 
 desirable as a graceful style or delivery may be, it constitutes 
 no more than the dress arid embellishment. Wisdom is the soul 
 of eloquence, and it must be embodied in sound and well- 
 digested information, without which all the glitter of external 
 associations will avail but little. 
 
 Among the various plans that have been or may be sug- 
 gested for the acquisition of these talents, there is none perhaps 
 more efficacious than a well-planned course of reading, sup- 
 plying at once a fund of solid information, with ample materials 
 to exercise the thinking and reasoning powers. History seems 
 to be admirably adapted for every purpose, embodying the 
 most valuable intelligence in the best language; but this 
 may take the lead without excluding approved authors in any 
 other department of literature, whose merits and beauties 
 recreate the mind by their variety, and supply the most agree- 
 able food for the imagination. As a commanding elocution is 
 attainable only by varied exercise, the same rule will apply 
 to composition; but preparatory to any successful attempt in 
 the latter, it is needful that the mind be familiarised with its 
 subject ; whereas the former is practicable with less preparation. 
 For pupils who are more advanced, a course of reading may- 
 be so planned as to embrace every species of composition in 
 turn ; but with beginners, the first steps should be rendered 
 encouraging by their simplicity. It is evident that, in every 
 
EDUCATION. 267 
 
 case, none but works of standard merit in matter and style 
 can properly serve as models of taste for youthful imitation. 
 As the progress of reason and knowledge is the main design 
 in all that is connected with education, history comes recom- 
 mended by superior claims, being pregnant in every page with 
 whatever is most interesting to humanity; and thus viewed, 
 historical verity, in its plainest form, is preferable perhaps to 
 the most eloquent strains of genius, or the richest flow of 
 oratory, as supplying an inexhaustible fund of the richest 
 materials for thought and reflection. 
 
 To render the study of history fully available for the pur- 
 poses of rational improvement, it is most advisable to guard 
 against a loose and desultory, but common habit, of wandering 
 from subject to subject, and hovering over the surfaces of 
 things without a determinate plan or object, by limiting the 
 attention to some particular reign or remarkable epoch, till 
 the mind and memory shall have become familiar and con- 
 versant with the leading characters and most striking events 
 of the time in question. Every such section will supply an 
 ample field for the congenial exercise of the youthful under- 
 standing. While tracing the agitated current of human affairs, 
 and the incessant ebb and flow of public and private interests, 
 with the endless conflict of rival passions, the youthful mind 
 may be led to contemplate the watchful eye and retributive 
 hand of Heaven, visibly interposing to interrupt and change 
 their ordinary course, overruling the counsels of men, and by 
 some unforeseen event or sudden impulse, giving a new direc- 
 tion to their aims and energies. 
 
 Historical narrative abounds in the fittest themes for rational 
 comment. Here truth is most powerfully developed, assuming 
 a thousand varied and instructive forms; and here the Divine 
 economy is plainly illustrated. Often are the perverse aims 
 of folly arid presumption visibly frustrated by failure and dis- 
 grace ; while the well-directed counsels of worth and wisdom 
 are matured and crowned with the happiest results. This 
 
268 EDUCATION. 
 
 choice manual of experience supplies such matter for social 
 converse as is best fitted to exercise the judging faculty in 
 every stage of its progress, from things of easy and obvious 
 inference, to subjects of the deepest investigation ; and hence 
 the mists of error and prejudice are most effectually dissipated. 
 Civil and political convulsions; their rise and tendency; the 
 internal and external condition of the realm at different eras, 
 or as compared with neighbouring nations ; the state of learning; 
 the arts; manufactures; the military, commercial, and naval 
 position of the empire with respect to rival powers ; or the yet 
 more affecting detail of private worth and virtue, in the display 
 of exalted heroism, integrity, and patriotism : hence are excited 
 a laudable curiosity and interest, inducing a train of thought 
 and inquiry, leading the mind to take its gratification in fresh 
 supplies of information : thus true knowledge is secured, and 
 the reasoning faculty profitably engaged; while the mind, with 
 its views arid powers, is expanded by the contemplation of what 
 is striking and wonderful. 
 
 Knowledge, it is true, may be imparted, and even the power 
 of reasoning aright, without the talent of embodying the 
 thoughts, and arranging them in an appropriate form of 
 language. The best means, probably, of obviating such an 
 objection, will be to vary the pupil's exercise, by giving him 
 some prose composition, remarkable for freedom and purity of 
 style (from Addison or other standard writer), to copy out 
 correctly : as an occasional, or even as a frequent exercise, this 
 is practicable without interrupting a regular plan of study; 
 and simple as it may appear, is the almost certain means, 
 with perseverance, of attaining a similar style of elegance and 
 accuracy ; at all events, such a method will be found greatly to 
 facilitate every subsequent attempt at composition. 
 
 On the practice and attainment of these arts, little that is 
 original remains to be advanced, save in the shape of recom- 
 mendation, by the review and display of their advantages ; it 
 would seem, however, that they have commonly been regarded 
 
EDUCATION. 269 
 
 and treated as acquisitions, having little or no connexion with, 
 or dependence on, that knowledge which forms their proper 
 basis, and the true criterion of their utility. The acute and 
 lively genius of some boys, indeed, seems to need only a 
 stimulus to put it in act, yet it is questionable whether the 
 strongest genius has not the greatest need to be preceded by 
 progressive advances in knowledge, to curb and give a right 
 direction to its otherwise eccentric flights, and to temper its 
 native ardours: for youthful genius being of an active and 
 roving temperament, without its guiding-star, and yoked with 
 ignorance, would go incontinently astray, tending to alternate 
 extremes of absurdity: not only on the public theatre of the 
 world, but in every private scene of action, untutored genius 
 has dangers to encounter peculiar to itself. 
 
 In closing these remarks, it remains but to offer a few 
 suggestions grounded on the social principle, and the desire 
 of novelty equally inherent and inextinguishable in every 
 human breast, and which, when brought to bear on Education, 
 are most efficacious in promoting its aims. The advantages 
 of companionship in study have been considered; and, with 
 very rare exceptions, even in private tuition, however limited, 
 a class is often desirable, and offers many advantages. More 
 genuine talent will be elicited by a few thus engaged in con- 
 cert, than by many singly occupied. A more lively ardour is 
 kindled, rousing the mental powers to action by the cheerful 
 aspect of social fellowship; a vital charm is communicated, 
 urging the faculties to nobler flights by a friendly competition 
 for the prize of honour. By the free interchange of thoughts 
 and sentiments, brighter sparks of truth are emitted, and the 
 native vigour of genius is harmonized and improved. 
 
 The predilection for what is novel arid wonderful, or that 
 partakes of the character of mystery, being one of the strongest 
 of human passions, the wisdom of making it the vehicle of 
 instruction is sufficiently apparent. Those who have excelled 
 in the knowledge of the human heart, and of the springs by 
 
'270 EDUCATION. 
 
 which it is most powerfully affected, have in every age availed 
 themselves of this predominant taste for the marvellous, as 
 the surest medium of influencing the will, and directing its 
 operations. In the hand of those master spirits it became a 
 weapon of power, and was often successfully wielded in defence 
 of the public weal, or in furtherance of private aims and 
 individual rights. 
 
 From the simplest fable to the sublimest allegory, well- 
 wrought fiction has a charm for every age and station, from 
 the cradle to the tomb, and thus becomes a powerful auxiliary 
 in the cause of Education. It is quite obvious that the impress 
 of truth, when combined with associations of quickening in- 
 terest, will be deeper and more lasting than by any formal 
 course of discipline in which the imagination bears no part. 
 It is when the attention is pleasurably excited, and spell-bound, 
 as it were, that the most lively and indelible impression is 
 produced. By a cynical exclusion of works of imagination 
 from Education, it would be abridged of half its power, and of 
 many solid advantages. Were instruction confined to dry and 
 tasteless exercises, the mental energies would not only pine 
 and languish, but run with avidity to what is pernicious ; for 
 the imagination, if not pre-occupied, will seek its aliment 
 abroad, and glean its own materials among the promiscuous 
 medley of good and ill, by which it is environed ; whereas truth 
 and virtue, in the attractive garb of fiction, are rendered doubly 
 inviting, and their cordial welcome is insured. 
 
 In support of such sentiments, it may be assumed that they 
 are in accordance with that wisdom, which is a peculiar cha- 
 racteristic of the sacred writings. Christianity every where 
 borrows her illustrations from striking and familiar objects, 
 moulding her heavenly doctrine in the form of a parable, and 
 delivering her high mandates in metaphorical language : with 
 success it was wielded in the darker ages, as the weapon of 
 superstition. The oracular responses of the ancient heathen 
 world were couched in the language of mystery, and doubtless 
 
EDUCATION. 271 
 
 owed much of their celebrity to the obscurity in which they 
 were involved : without such ambiguity they had lacked the 
 character of sublimity, for which they were treasured and 
 respected, and which rendered them the more impressive. 
 Ancient authority, both sacred and profane, attest the univer- 
 sality and the power of this principle in the human constitution, 
 and evidently point out the uses of its application to the pur- 
 poses of Education, as giving weight and effect to the counsels 
 of wisdom and virtue. 
 
 One of the worthiest uses of historical research is to make it 
 subservient to the public weal in furthering the great ends of 
 a sound education, arid an enlightened policy. Its rational 
 object is to develop the ancient springs of national good and 
 ill, and to turn to the best account the knowledge thus derived 
 by its prudent application to present exigencies. Among the 
 various causes that have concurred to raise Great Britain to 
 the summit of earthly greatness, her ancient national features 
 obviously claim the priority ; and though it may not be possible 
 to determine precisely the amount of national good hence 
 derived, yet none will deny that England is greatly indebted 
 for her present exalted and commanding position to that 
 inherent and ardent love of liberty, combined with a masculine 
 and genuine piety, a primeval simplicity of manners, and a 
 taste for manly and temperate pursuits, which formed the most 
 striking features of the ancient British character. 
 
 A stern and quenchless spirit of independence was joined to 
 a plain integrity of principle. Loyalty was true-hearted, and 
 zeal for religion was earnest and magnanimous; hence men 
 were firm supporters equally of public and private rights, and 
 faithful guardians of those laws which formed the basis of the 
 constitution, and the bulwark of the state. If to her ancient 
 national features Britain owes so much, it is assuredly her 
 wisdom, and should be her care, to preserve them entire, and 
 to keep unimpaired this ancient foundation of all her solid 
 greatness. That by which she has attained to pre-eminence 
 
272 EDUCATION. 
 
 and power constitutes her best treasure ; and the one proper 
 business of Education is to second the true interests of the 
 nation by cherishing all that is laudable in its pristine spirit, 
 and striving to keep alive the patriotic flame in its ardour and 
 purity. The aspect of the times is, indeed, unfriendly to this 
 object. The present era is confessedly one of multiplied 
 dangers and obstacles, nor can the collective powers of Edu- 
 cation, combined with the efforts of philanthropy, insure success 
 in the unequal struggle against the combination of causes and 
 principles, external and internal, which are gradually perhaps, 
 but nevertheless actively, and doubtless powerfully, working 
 to counteract it. 
 
 To the eye even of the superficial observer, the national 
 characteristics of the ancient British genius are evidently on the 
 wane. The tide of innovation has been long flowing, swelled 
 by various currents, domestic as well as foreign, and gradually 
 undermining the ancient mounds of public and private virtue. 
 Foreign manners, maxims, and prepossessions, have of late 
 been largely imported, and the sterling plainness of the British 
 character has at length assumed a high continental polish. 
 The superficial graces of a specious exterior, and the too current 
 assumption (in the fashionable world at least) of an unqualified 
 tone and spirit of liberalism, have been acquired at the cost, 
 if not of native worth, yet often perhaps of the more solid and 
 sterling qualities, which once formed the essential components in 
 the manly and dignified character of the well-bred Englishman. 
 
 We are told by some that the nation is progressing in re- 
 finement and freedom of sentiment, but it is a position equally 
 tenable, perhaps, that in the general rectitude of our social 
 habits we have been long retrograding. Levity of manners 
 and laxity of morals are twin yoke-fellows, and always found 
 together. The mere gloss of polished manners, how pleasing 
 soever, is but a surface ; when artfully assumed, it may indeed 
 yield a transient charm, but true urbanity is always the native 
 grace of virtue and truth, the unforced emanation of a superior 
 
EDUCATION. 273 
 
 mind, and can only flow from what is amiable and estimable 
 in heart and character. 
 
 The social and moral characteristics which are peculiar to 
 any people, are doubtless most strongly marked in times of 
 the greatest simplicity, and when intercourse with those of 
 other nations, and of different manners, is most circumscribed ; 
 then it is that national traits are strikingly displayed, and 
 local peculiarities most plainly developed, standing out, as it 
 were, in bold relief; whereas in times of high civilization, 
 when general intelligence, refinement, and luxury, blend with 
 extensive and unrestricted communication and converse with 
 foreigners of every class and nation, all the stronger outlines 
 and deeper shades of distinction become gradually softened 
 and modified, till at length they are so blended as to be no 
 longer discernible. 
 
 Times there have been, when so rare was social intercourse 
 between the inhabitants of the British isles and their conti- 
 nental neighbours, that for an Englishman of ordinary grade 
 and occupation to bid farewell to his native shores, and sojourn 
 among those of a strange tongue, and of manners and genius 
 wholly different, would have been deemed a voluntary banish- 
 ment, a renunciation of all that was dear to Englishmen, or 
 that was associated with their ideas of earthly comfort and 
 rational enjoyment. In the present day, however, and since 
 passing and repassing from shore to shore has become as 
 frequent and common as if a bridge had been thrown across 
 the channel, a great social revolution has been silently but 
 steadily progressing in the sentiments and habits of the leading 
 classes. A strong social current has for a long season been 
 perpetually flowing outward, undergoing a change in its 
 course, and as constantly returning deeply impregnated with 
 un-English principles; while largely-flowing currents, from 
 many a foreign source, are hourly setting in, nourishing the 
 seeds and growth of the moral innovation wherever they flow. 
 
274 EDUCATION. 
 
 By such causes has the domestic taste of British society been 
 almost new-modelled. 
 
 Bantered as our countrymen have been for a few harmless 
 peculiarities, and often by men as much their inferiors in the 
 sounder qualities of the heart, as surpassing them in the 
 specious display of meretricious accomplishments: the pride 
 of Englishmen thus appealed to, and brought to bear with 
 power in aid of the effect, has, in many cases, given the 
 finishing-stroke to the metamorphosis ; our ancient nationalities 
 are hence fast verging to decay. To evince such an elevation 
 of sentiment, as effectually to repel the imputation of being 
 swayed by antiquated prejudices, we run to an opposite ex- 
 treme, and by omitting to separate the chaff from the wheat, 
 incur the hazard of forfeiting much that is good, by a too hasty 
 and indiscriminate rejection of what is not an evil, but at 
 most an incumbrance. If British worth be sterling gold, let 
 manners be the chasing the finest gold shows best when 
 richly wrought; but if it be overlaid with a foreign enamel, 
 its intrinsic worth and beauty will be hidden and lost. Ancient 
 notions and manners may in some points be exceptionable, nor 
 are modern innovations wholly wrong; each may lay claim to 
 its peculiar merits, and every man will judge for himself; but 
 in this social interchange and barter it is wise to strike the 
 balance fairly, and, by a right estimate, determine on which 
 side the true advantage lies. 
 
 Some writers on times gone by, have commented on the 
 difficulty of governing the British people, they being always 
 more forward to examine and criticise, than ready to obey the 
 decrees of their rulers ; but to assume this social peculiarity as 
 a ground of censure, argues neither depth of information nor 
 strength of judgment. It implies no more than the ascendancy 
 of that searching and inquisitive spirit, which is the proper 
 medium of a right judgment in all things. From the dawn of 
 reason, curiosity is the key of knowledge, and the investigating 
 
EDUCATION. 275 
 
 spirit in manhood is but the maturer exercise of the like 
 power : when such a spirit widely prevails, popular acquiescence 
 will be founded on a rational conviction; and that cheerful 
 and steady obedience will result, which is the best guarantee 
 for the permanence of public tranquillity. 
 
 Wholly different and immeasurably inferior is the blind and 
 slavish submission of ignorance, passively crouching beneath 
 the iron yoke of a capricious despotism, without knowledge, 
 free-will, or moral courage to vindicate the rights of men as 
 reasoning and moral agents. Authority is to such but a 
 painful restraint, rather endured from necessity than tolerated 
 even in idea; the grand motives to a cordial acquiescence a 
 free agency and a recognised interest are wanting, and 
 hence all the life-sustaining powers of the body-politic become 
 paralyzed ; but when (reversing the position) every individual 
 discerns and feels himself to be a deliberative and responsible 
 agent, whose best interests are identified with the common 
 weal, the popular character is expanded and strengthened by 
 a fraternal union of interests, whereby each is tacitly bound to 
 maintain what has gained the sanction and approval of all. 
 
 Extreme popular ignorance is perhaps the worst ground for 
 an enlightened policy to work upon; the gross distortion of 
 fact induced upon defective knowledge gives a ten-fold weight 
 and stimulus to error, which may then work with impunity on 
 the public mind; whence arise distractions and certain mis- 
 chief. Ignorance ever gives the ascendancy to the gravest 
 errors, necessarily inducing a sickly and disordered state of 
 society; whereas, when intelligence is general, the collective 
 information of the whole being brought to bear on each 
 question of public interest, the eliciting of truth is the obvious 
 and natural effect. An investigating spirit can be formidable 
 only to evil governments. The noble privilege of holding 
 fast what is good, must be preceded by the wisdom of proving 
 all things. Rightly used, it is not an assumption to be feared, 
 but rather to be hailed as an auspicious power, whose tendency 
 
 T2 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 is to strengthen every good measure, and to further every 
 laudable design ; it is associated with that independence and 
 vigour of mind, which results from well-tutored, and therefore 
 well-grounded, self-esteem. It breathes the spirit of men aware 
 of their genuine and legitimate rights, and prepared to sustain 
 the true manly character by resisting corruption in all its 
 forms and degrees, how specious and imposing soever. Where 
 such a jealous and vigilant spirit presides, it may be presumed 
 that every public and legislative act having once successfully 
 passed the ordeal of a searching and general scrutiny, is thus 
 securely fixed on the basis of popular conviction, and placed 
 far beyond the reach of turbulent and senseless innovations. 
 
 All that strikes the mind as grand and imposing in the 
 annals of the political world, or that has been most nobly 
 achieved on the social arena of public or private life ; all that 
 stirs the patriotic breast with rapture, and elicits its applause, 
 challenging the admiration and the homage of the heart, owes 
 its birth to such a spirit. By its aid the greatest empires have 
 arisen from the humblest beginnings; by the concentration of 
 strength and of counsel, the few became formidable to the 
 many ; till at length the union of energy with perseverance 
 was rewarded with the prize of universal empire. 
 
 The most popular among the ancient British princes and 
 worthies owe their celebrity to the like magnanimous spirit. 
 To its ascendancy Britain owes the great charter of national 
 liberty, as well as the various legislative acts that have been 
 pregnant with the greatest benefit to the nation. The barons 
 of old were no less bold to maintain the public rights entire, 
 than watchful to preserve their private interests ; their chival- 
 rous urbanity stooped not to compromise the interests of their 
 country, nor brooked a delusive compact with the avowed 
 enemies of their faith. Magnanimity and honour were the 
 leading features of her nobles; honesty and bravery, of her 
 people. To British hearts true heroism has ever been a ready 
 passport, whether kindled by patriotism or zeal for the truth, 
 
EDUCATION. *277 
 
 and for the honour of the great Redeemer, the all-potent 
 Friend and Restorer of the human race. Popular enthusiasm 
 has too much of an electric attraction to be assumed as a safe 
 guiding-star, yet from the ray which it emits may be inferred 
 the purity and ardour of the flame that burns within. 
 
 If to her ancient national spirit and features Britain owes 
 so much, it is wisdom to preserve them entire, to be handed 
 down to posterity. Foremost among these, we may recognise 
 a genuine patriotism and a true spirit of loyalty, tempered by 
 a watchful regard to civil and religious liberty, a stern decision 
 of character, exalted by perseverance in pursuit of a chosen and 
 worthy object, crowned with the frugal and domestic virtues, and 
 dignified by a serious and manly piety. To such honourable 
 traits every preceptor of youth can point, as to the ancient 
 moral landmarks, the social bounds of distinction between the 
 homes of their fathers and neighbour lands, once the proud foe- 
 man's boast. Every father can call the attention of his child to 
 the deeds of other days, and present before his mind strong and 
 lively portraitures of what is noble in action, and suggest the 
 sentiment that originated, and the wisdom that guided it : he can 
 show that integrity of purpose is the soul of invincible fortitude ; 
 and that sobriety of mind is the only soil in which the social 
 arid manly virtues can properly flourish ; above all, impressing 
 on the youthful heart that such are the only laudable steps to 
 preferment, and that candidates for fame can no otherwise 
 attain to true honour and lasting distinction. 
 
 Whether religion should invariably take the lead in the 
 elementary stages of Education, is a serious and interesting 
 question, and the more so, as having at times elicited a great 
 diversity of opinion among men, not only of refined speculation, 
 but of enlarged views and cultivated minds ; not only the avowed 
 sceptic, but nominal and professing Christians, also have on this 
 
278 EDUCATION. 
 
 point widely dissented. It will be understood that by religion 
 taking the lead, is implied neither more nor less than the 
 gradual and timely inculcation of those great truths and leading 
 principles of Divine revelation, which have gained the general 
 assent of true Christians in all ages : it implies the religious 
 faith of Christians in its broadest sense, without any admixture 
 of partiality, or any inclining to sectarian tenets. It further 
 implies the doing of this in such manner as may be most 
 impressive, giving to Divine truth its due authority, but so as 
 most effectually to win the heart and will, and thence to 
 regulate the conduct and the affections. 
 
 As this is a question deeply involving the happiness of 
 human beings, it merits that close and impartial investigation 
 which may avail with every honest mind to set it for ever at 
 rest, and, as far as possible, to fix it on the basis of a rational 
 and perfect conviction. In order to give the argument its full 
 weight, and put the question in its true position, it will be 
 proper to glance at the characteristics of genuine religion, and 
 to touch on the leading points arising out of or directly bearing 
 on the subject; such as the true nature, character, and ten- 
 dencies of vital Christianity. It is needful that we should set 
 out with a due estimate of its social, moral, and political im- 
 portance, and of its peculiar and very extensive influence on 
 the virtue and happiness of mankind ; for if it can be proved 
 beyond question to be essential to the perfection and felicity 
 of human nature, the remaining part of the problem to be 
 solved, will only be as to the season of life most fitting and 
 proper for rightly and successfully inculcating it. 
 
 Touching the CHARACTER of the Christian religion, candour 
 must allow that it every where breathes the purest and most 
 exalted virtue; that its truths are the most ennobling, and 
 its morality the most sublime ; and the whole sustained and 
 enforced by the strongest motives that can animate the human 
 breast. Its spirit is eminently social, combining all that is 
 truly great with all that is lovely and of good report among 
 
EDUCATION. 279 
 
 men; so many, in -short, and so manifest are its excellences, 
 that the more we contemplate, the more we are constrained to 
 approve and admire. As the visible creation bears the broad 
 impress of boundless beneficence, so in the Christian revelation 
 are strongly reflected the bright characteristics of a changeless 
 perfection. The grand scheme of human redemption, what is 
 it but a pure and perfect system of benevolence, the majestic 
 plan of Divine and wholly disinterested goodness, for man's 
 improvement and felicity, for which he can make no adequate 
 return? nor is any expected, save his acceptance and his 
 gratitude. For every wound that man can feel, the healing 
 balm is freely bestowed ; under every distress it sustains and 
 comforts him, extracting a lasting good from transient ills, and 
 converting the afflictions of life into blessings. 
 
 The grand OBJECT arid DESIGN of religion, what is it but to 
 render men wise and good, to bring glory to the Creator by 
 advancing the happiness of his creatures, leading them to obey 
 and please Him on earth, that they may participate in his 
 glory and perfection hereafter? Answerable to its character 
 and design is the benignity of its INFLUENCE; like its type, the 
 great luminary of day, wherever its renovating power is felt, it 
 calls forth a new creation ; wherever religion sheds its heavenly 
 rays, there will social harmony, peace and love, spring up and 
 flourish : and in proportion as the spirit of a people is imbued 
 with its power, the malignant passions will recede, and every 
 vicious practice will be discountenanced and discarded. Youth 
 will reverence age, and age will cherish and counsel youth; 
 subjects will be loyal, and rulers beneficent and just; and in 
 proportion as it prevails, will human society present a picture 
 of the celestial. 
 
 Religion needs no better advocate than its intrinsic worth 
 and dignity, which are inscribed in characters of light; but 
 what renders it doubly dear to man, is its soothing adaptation 
 to all the wants and frailties of his nature, and to all the 
 incidents of human life, Viewed merely as a political engine, 
 
280 EDUCATION. 
 
 its superior efficacy in restraining the unruly wills and passions 
 of men would suffice to give it a preponderating sanction; but 
 in every view it is more than desirable ; the nature and present 
 state of man render it imperatively needful. For a full assurance 
 of this, as well as of the wisdom and goodness of such a dis- 
 pensation, we need only take an unbiased view of man in his 
 natural condition, the weak and sinful heir of a degenerate 
 nature, in which whatever is evil finds its congenial soil, and 
 too quickly takes root within him : such, in brief, is his darkened 
 and degraded state, that naturally he is prone to all extremes 
 of evil without the counteracting agency of religion, which 
 alone can neutralize its power and baneful effects. 
 
 With genuine religion is associated all that can effectually 
 stimulate a rational and dependent being to the love and 
 practice of duty, all that is fitted to animate and cheer the 
 soul in the path of Christian rectitude. Hence are derived not 
 only the sublimest virtues and firmest principles of moral 
 excellence ; from this perennial fountain of good also flow the 
 grateful and refreshing streams of social affection and sym- 
 pathy, the milder sensibilities and domestic charities which 
 Christianity so warmly enforces, as being peculiarly her own. 
 Amid the ceaseless revolution of events, she alone is unchanged ; 
 the same faithful counsellor and guide in doubts and perplexi- 
 ties, the prime cheerer of the soul in all dangers and distresses, 
 the grand rectifier of error, and the great preservative from 
 evil. All, in short, that is amiable and estimable are hers; 
 and truly helpless and hopeless would man, in any circum- 
 stances, be without her benignant influence. 
 
 Even from this brief and imperfect sketch of the claims and 
 benefits of vital religion, its necessary connexion with social 
 and individual happiness may, it is presumed, be plainly 
 inferred ; and hence the wisdom and expediency of securing, 
 by all available means, the greatest possible measure of good 
 derivable from this heavenly source, will by every unprejudiced 
 mind be readily allowed ; and this leading point being conceded, 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 281 
 
 all that remains to be determined relates solely to the TIME and 
 MODE as the best and wisest means of seconding so worthy and 
 desirable an object. The main point of interest, therefore, 
 on which the question turns, is, whether childhood or manhood 
 is the fittest season for the right and profitable reception . of 
 religious truth; whether its impressive lessons should com- 
 mence with the dawn of intellect, or whether its influence 
 should be withheld during the stages of incipient reason, and 
 deferred till the maturity of manly judgment? 
 
 Strange, indeed, it should seem to the honest and humble- 
 minded Christian, that any, save the confirmed sceptic or the 
 open infidel, could seriously object to what appears to him as 
 the plainest dictate of nature and of the heart, suggested by 
 the most rational and interesting motives, enforced by the 
 highest possible claims, and by more than human authority. 
 Surprise, however, disappears on a broad view of the compli- 
 cated state of society, the mixture of passion and prejudice, 
 and the collision of interests, of sentiment and feeling, ever 
 springing up amid the endless diversity of the human character. 
 From such a medley discordance will naturally result, and this 
 is actually the case with respect to every question of importance ; 
 hence religion, and objects connected with it, (which might 
 justly claim an universal assent,) have been more the subject 
 of contention than any other. 
 
 Indiscriminately to class and put on the same level men 
 who dissent on very different grounds, would be equally unfair 
 and injudicious. Objectors to early religious training may be 
 divided generally into two classes; the first comprising men 
 whose passions, interests, and pursuits, centering and termi- 
 nating in worldly objects, are diametrically opposed to the 
 spirit and dictates of Christianity; men of unprincipled and 
 reprobate character; in short, all whose vices have rendered 
 them obnoxious to its severe but just rebuke, whereby their 
 self-pride is deeply wounded, and their opposition kindled. 
 All such, as a matter of course, so long as they are under the 
 
282 EDUCATION. 
 
 power of so fatal a delusion, will raise their veto against every 
 thing tending to widen its sphere of operation, and confirm 
 its authority : the sentiments of such being evidently swayed 
 by passion, and therefore proof against conviction derivable from 
 reason, have but a slender claim to a serious consideration. 
 
 There is, however, a very different class, composed of men 
 of serious though prejudiced minds, whose scruples and 
 doubts are of a conscientious kind, arising from apprehensions 
 of the effects of religious excitement on tender minds and 
 weak intellects, or from peculiar views of the social constitution 
 and condition of man, tinctured, it may be, with a shade of 
 scepticism on particular points. As honest and rational dis- 
 putants, such are open to conviction, and therefore may be 
 expected to yield to the force of truth. 
 
 Among professing Christians there are not a few who, 
 though in nowise associated with either of the above classes, 
 yet (manifesting a total indifference on such matters, and 
 taking no decided position) may be said to occupy neutral 
 ground, as deeming it not of sufficient import to awaken their 
 serious concern. Such lukewarm allies, when danger presses 
 and foes are active, serve but to betray the cause which they 
 have solemnly pledged themselves to defend : by their seeming 
 desertion they throw contempt on the religion they profess to 
 revere, and are often more dangerous than open adversaries. 
 
 In these days of boasted liberality of sentiment, some there 
 are who, out of a professed zeal for truth, are unfriendly to 
 early religious instruction, under the pretext of its imparting to 
 the mind that superstitious bias, which is often the precursor 
 of the most serious errors ; consequently, they maintain that it 
 should not be infused into the mind till the judgment is suffi- 
 ciently strong to choose and reject, to weigh and determine. 
 
 To all such suggestions it is replied If religion were merely 
 a matter of human opinion, a question of temporal expediency, 
 or of political import; were its influence local and limited; 
 were its merits and authority undetermined ; might its claims, 
 
EDUCATION. 283 
 
 like those of the false gods of the heathens, be determined by 
 the voice of a multitude, or the votes of a senate ; were it 
 amenable, and ultimately referable, to human judgment, many 
 such arguments might stand ; or were such objections restricted 
 to the imparting an indirect bias by the inculcation of preju- 
 diced tenets, dictated by party spirit and sectarian views, they 
 might be urged on consistent grounds. No liberal Christian 
 will contend for the manifest absurdity of perplexing a child 
 with doctrines and dogmas which serve only to cloud the mind 
 and sour the temper. The idea of religion, as presented to 
 the mind of a child, should doubtless consist of broad and 
 philanthropic views alone ; as breathing a spirit of the purest 
 and most exalted benevolence : its sublime and solemn doctrines 
 should be imparted as the leading features in an expansive 
 system of Divine mercy, based on eternal truth. This being 
 fully admitted, further concession is not to be expected. 
 
 The most determined class of opponents consists chiefly of 
 men whose minds are utterly 'alienated from Christianity ; so 
 repugnant to its spirit and its objects, as to be impervious to 
 the force of reasonings grounded on its intrinsic merits : 
 incensed at the plain dealing of a religion by which their 
 loftiness is laid low ; and looking down with haughty scorn on 
 its humble professors, they deliberately close their eyes against 
 the light of conviction. When reluctantly driven from their 
 favourite ground of expediency by the irrefragable proofs of 
 the transcendant merits of religion on this footing also (for in 
 the outset of the argument it was shown to be eminently social, 
 and admirably fitted to promote the virtue and happiness of 
 mankind, and so necessary to the maintenance of harmony, 
 that without it society would quickly be disorganized) ; when 
 foiled and driven from this ground, they take refuge in the 
 specious sophistry of a spurious philosophy, and deeply intrench 
 themselves amid its fatal delusions. With such it is useless 
 further to contend, since they shun all encounter on fail- 
 ground, and will not advance within the bowshot of truth; 
 
284 EDUCATION. 
 
 having, indeed, the wit that can plead for error, but wanting 
 the candour to retract it. 
 
 To the more reasonable objectors, who advance no plea but 
 what they deem to be based on sufficient ground, and who, in 
 the main, are friendly to religious objects, a full and satis- 
 factory reply must necessarily involve all the merits of the 
 question. Very dissimilar are the effects of religion on dif- 
 ferent minds, from constitutional temperament, from different 
 degrees of faith and of knowledge, from local associations, 
 from prejudices of whatever kind; so various, indeed, are the 
 shades arid grounds of dissent, that it would be difficult to trace 
 the many secret springs whence doubts and objections arise ; 
 yet, since here they all bear on the same question, one general 
 reply (after briefly noticing these differences) will, it is pre- 
 sumed, be deemed sufficient. 
 
 Some, from a superficial knowledge of what constitutes true 
 religion, being strangers to its power, are apt to assign to it a 
 speculative character rather than a Divine agency, viewing its 
 exalted morality as its best feature ; and knowing this to be in 
 unison with that of natural religion, they are tempted to regard 
 them as on a level in the main point, forgetting that the latter 
 is wholly wanting in the great essential. It may inculcate 
 similar obligations, but supplies no motive of sufficient weight 
 to enforce obedience : this is the distinguishing prerogative of 
 Christianity, and constitutes its intrinsic superiority. 
 
 Some who are friendly to religion, and seemingly aware of 
 its importance, are fearful of the consequences of over-excite- 
 ment in the tender mind, by exercising it on subjects beyond 
 the grasp of its comprehension, and lest, for want of discrimi- 
 nating power, it should confound truth with error, and so 
 become infected with false prejudices, which at such an age 
 are as easily imbibed, as they are subsequently difficult to 
 eradicate. Others are sorely prejudiced from having witnessed 
 flagrant instances of failure or apostacy among its professors, 
 or are disgusted at the shameless conduct of such as from 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 285 
 
 sordid motives have assumed a pious mask, and claimed the 
 homage due to sanctity and worth. 
 
 Ignorance on religious subjects is, perhaps, the most common 
 ground of doubt and scepticism ; yet indecision is not unfre- 
 quently the infirmity of certain minds of refined taste and 
 sentiment, and even of highly cultivated intellect. Pride of 
 understanding begets a spirit of self-sufficiency, whence too often 
 result a culpable reserve and shyness towards religion. From cer- 
 tain vague and ill-defined notions of the dignity of human reason, 
 viewing it as a heavenly attribute, they deem it all-sufficient for 
 the guidance of man, when doubt or difficulty intervenes. Reason 
 having perhaps decided wisely for them in many a weighty 
 matter, they trust it will never betray them into error. To 
 prepossess the mind of a child with convictions of any kind, 
 appears to them an invasion of the rights of reason's free 
 agency, which they hold to be the birthright of man. Some 
 such will perhaps lay a stress on the fact, that Locke's great 
 plea for the Christian religion was deduced from its perfect 
 agreement with the highest dictates of reason. 
 
 Touching this latter and too prevalent fallacy, it may, in 
 passing, be observed, that the submission of reason to heavenly 
 truth, and to the power of faith, is the first great sacrifice 
 required, as a pledge of sincerity. Christianity, as a Divine 
 and perfect system, never did nor can submit to a test so 
 defective and erroneous as mere human judgment must prove 
 on subjects of which, in herself, she is necessarily ignorant ; 
 the things eternal, of which it treats, being wholly above her 
 sphere. Though few Christians are so ignorant of parental 
 duty as to be at a loss on such points, yet it is to be remem- 
 bered that, with the majority of questioners, the reasons which 
 influence them avail but little; excepting, perhaps, the class 
 of neutrals, some of whom may need but a sufficient stimulus 
 to arouse them from the apathy of indifference, and win their 
 cordial co-operation. Many are apt to regard religion as a 
 melancholy thing, little congenial to the gaiety of youth; it 
 
286 EDUCATION. 
 
 may be, they admit, a cure for the evils of life, suited to times 
 of sickness, and needful to age and infirmity ; but they see not 
 that the children of their religious neighbours are better than 
 their own, and think it needless to abridge the season of youth 
 of its transient pleasures and liberty. In a political view, 
 they allow it great merit as effectually awing the vulgar, and 
 checking such as are to be restrained from mischief only by 
 their fears; but think it will be time enough for the young 
 to seek relief from religion when worldly cares assail, and its 
 never-failing troubles overtake them. 
 
 In reply to those who are influenced by motives so weak in 
 a matter so important, and to all who, from whatever causes, 
 are unfriendly to early religious instruction, or who treat it 
 with indifference, as of secondary import, or would merely 
 postpone it till a more advanced period, the author would 
 submit the following considerations; and then endeavour briefly, 
 but satisfactorily, to pursue the chain of argument to which 
 they naturally lead. 
 
 From the state of the mind in childhood, and the circum- 
 stances in which it is placed, he would infer its peculiar 
 aptitude to receive and retain religious impressions. 
 
 From the pre-occupied state of the mind at any subsequent 
 period (whether of advanced youth or manhood), aided by 
 various concurrent causes, may be inferred its inaptitude for 
 such impressions. 
 
 Childhood and manhood compared. 
 
 The incompatibility of advocating religion for manhood, 
 while withholding its influence from childhood. 
 
 The danger of delay, from the consequences of leaving the 
 mind unoccupied and destitute of religion during its season 
 of greatest leisure, and when its powers are most active, its 
 necessary tendency being to weaken its hold and authority, by 
 alienating the mind from its influences, 
 
 Considerations grounded on the uncertainty of life ; on the 
 
EDUCATION. 287 
 
 authority and express command of revelation; and the con- 
 ditional nature of its benefits. 
 
 Whence may be deduced that to deny religious instruction 
 to youth, is, in effect, to withhold its beneficial influence from 
 manhood, thereby proportionably depriving society of the 
 many and great advantages derivable from it. 
 
 Finally that the general tendency of such a consequence 
 would be ultimately to banish religion from the world, and to 
 bereave mankind of its endless and inestimable benefits. 
 
 By the all-wise appointment of Providence, the incipient 
 stage of rational existence is admirably fitted to receive and 
 retain the instructions needful for its safe guidance in the path 
 of life which lies before it : hence the mind is then pliant and 
 docile, its new-born faculties fresh and lively, unclouded by 
 prejudice and passion, and the seat of innocence and candour. 
 Aptly, therefore, has it been compared to a sheet of blank 
 paper, on which we may inscribe what characters we please. 
 
 Childhood has nothing to do but to receive instruction, and 
 possesses all the requisites for it, with a restless craving for 
 information. A child must, nay, will be taught : curiosity is 
 ever on the wing, and if we timely provide not for it, it will 
 speedily select for itself. The principle, that first impressions 
 are lasting, supplies also a powerful plea for the early inculca- 
 tion of truth, it being the surest means of excluding error. 
 
 In every pressing emergency, it is wisdom to secure first 
 what is of the greatest value ; and doubtless the first serious 
 impressions made on the infant mind should relate to things 
 of the highest worth and import: the fitness and beauty of 
 truth it may not appreciate; but the attractive features of 
 virtue, and the grand outlines of truth, when traced with a 
 skilful hand, will rarely fail to captivate and convince the 
 innocent and susceptible heart. 
 
 As soon as the mind can discriminate, it should doubtless 
 be taught to distinguish right from wrong, truth from falsehood; 
 
288 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 lest, by confounding good and evil, its native candour should 
 but serve to betray it into error. The active thoughts, if 
 not now directed aright, will run to every extreme, and 
 wildly roam, an easy prey to every delusion ; for, congenial as 
 truth and virtue are to the innocent mind, yet in order to 
 give them a lasting ascendancy, they should be pourtrayed 
 in their native loveliness, with all that can charm arid win the 
 uncorrupted heart; equally needful is it that vice be also 
 depicted with form and traits the most disgusting, so as to render 
 it the object of stronger and more fixed aversion. 
 
 The seasons, with their spring-time and harvest, are strictly 
 analogous to the corresponding periods of human life. Seed- 
 time, the first in both, if in either case neglected, the harvest 
 must fail. All reasoning and analogy deducible from nature's 
 laws, tend to favour religious instruction, and to enforce its 
 timely obligation. Early must the seeds of the Christian 
 virtues be sown, to blossom in youth and ripen in manhood. 
 If the mild and heavenly spirit of Christianity be in unison 
 with the human mind at any period of life, it must be in its 
 state of innocence and purity ; the unspotted breast of child- 
 hood is doubtless the fittest and holiest sanctuary for so 
 celestial a guest, wherein the Christian graces may at once 
 enter and abide as their native home. Abundant reason 
 will there be to hope, that thus timely planted in the guile- 
 less heart, they will progress with its growth, and strengthen 
 with its maturity; and that the mind being thus seasonably 
 filled with good, there will be little room for the admission of 
 evil. It is only when thus early kindled, that the flame of 
 devotion may be expected to shine with increasing power unto 
 the perfect day, and brighten to meridian splendour. 
 
 Taking, in the aggregate, that portion of mankind whose 
 education, as it respects religion, has been wholly superficial, 
 principle is apparently powerless against the seductions of the 
 world, and the mind becomes quickly moulded and fashioned 
 to its temper and spirit: hence such have been pointedly 
 
EDUCATION, 289 
 
 termed men of the world ; and a stronger contrast can hardly 
 be imagined than such characters present to the meek 
 docility of childhood, or to that state of mind most proper 
 for the cordial reception of Christian truth. Without the 
 wholesome leaven of a Divine principle to counteract tempta- 
 tion, they become the willing captives of sinful habits and 
 prejudices. So hotly are their desires engaged in the chase 
 of worldly vanities, and so engrossed are all their faculties 
 and affections, that every avenue to the heart is closed ; thus 
 are they whirled in a ceaseless round of excitement, and dis- 
 tracted by alternate hopes and fears, which follow in rapid 
 succession, till at length they are reduced to a state of thraldom 
 almost hopeless and irremediable. 
 
 In minds thus embarrassed, there is a keen disrelish for 
 religion and its serious calls to duty; whence they eagerly turn 
 to the world for relief, and drink deeply of its sensual con- 
 solations, which serve but to alienate their minds yet more 
 from the power of better but " unseen things," which having 
 never felt, nor fully known, they little appreciate: com- 
 punctions may visit, and convictions may assail, but being 
 unwelcome, they will be transient and powerless. Inaptitude 
 to religion, from whatever cause it spring, is an evil of 
 rapid growth, and too commonly strengthens on acquaintance 
 with the world. To start in life with such a bias is an indi- 
 cation so ominous, as to prompt the inference that such a 
 mind is destined to forego its beneficial influence in this life, 
 with the awful possibility of for ever forfeiting the exalted 
 blessings of which it is the sole medium and condition. 
 
 Taking men as we find them, and children as they are sent 
 into the world, they present a remarkable contrast in the 
 qualities and circumstances most favourable to the influence 
 of religion : to the spirit of a child it seems to be as congenial 
 as it is uninviting to worldly men. In childhood the mind 
 is wholly disengaged and free; in manhood the time and 
 faculties are fully engrossed, its energies and affections wholly 
 
290 EDUCATION. 
 
 pre-engaged. In the child, all is candour and openness, and 
 religion easily wins access, and takes an impressive hold on 
 the mind ; whereas manhood is reserved, haughty, and untract- 
 able, and the force of prejudice is oft so strong, as roughly to 
 repel and bar access to its approaches. Childhood has no pride, 
 no motive to resist its power ; whereas in manhood, the mind is 
 the common haunt of passions that rebel against its authority. 
 The docility of childhood is like the gentle stream at its source, 
 that will take any direction we give it; the strong prepossessions 
 and impetuosity of manhood resemble the resistless torrent, 
 or the river broad and deep, flowing with full current in its 
 time-worn channel : the one is a fortress that must be taken 
 by storm ; the other resembles the humble abode of nature's 
 child, whose doors are ever open to the stranger, and beneath 
 whose friendly roof the traveller finds hospitality and welcome. 
 In childhood, all combines to favour; in manhood, to dis- 
 courage : in the one case religion has to encounter a lion; in 
 the other a lamb. 
 
 If inaptitude to religion is a frailty so prevalent in the 
 natural will, and of so rapid growth, we may infer that it takes 
 early root in the neglected mind, and strengthens with pro- 
 gressive years. To delay it, therefore, even till a later period 
 in youth, is to deprive it of half its efficacy ; while to defer it 
 till manhood, may be deemed scarce less than to discard it 
 altogether. Professing to advocate religion on general grounds, 
 while withholding its influence from childhood, carries absurdity 
 on the face of it, and forms one of those striking anomalies, that 
 serve well to betray the weakness of an argument, or the bad- 
 ness of a cause. So much more difficult is the practice than the 
 profession of religion, that its most cordial acceptance will not 
 insure its proper fruits ; nor can it be deemed strange that its 
 power, even when early instilled, should be sometimes eclipsed 
 by the too potent enchantments of the world. 
 
 If to will and to do were the same ; if a man could lay aside 
 and alter his habits, as he changes his dress, he might turn and 
 
EDUCATION. 291 
 
 become religious when he pleased ; but who thus thinks will, 
 perhaps, upon trial, find, to his dismay, that time and habit 
 have done that for him, which, without their united aid, he 
 cannot undo. The premature experiment would beget a 
 perpetual warfare between inclination and conviction; till, 
 weary of the vain struggle, he might be tempted to give up the 
 contest in despair. Few are so ignorant as not to be aware that 
 the benefits of religion are conditional, and that the use of the 
 means must precede the end; but religion, in its full and proper 
 sense, implies so many acquisitions, such victory over corrup- 
 tions, such a reform in the manners and habits, such a renovation 
 of heart and will; in short, so many and weighty are its de- 
 mands, that, assuming life at its longest date, and as a season 
 of uninterrupted leisure, aided by a cordial assent and every 
 concurrent help, it is evident that too much could not even 
 then be done ; and that, commence as early as we may, there 
 will be no superfluity of time, for the highest earthly attain- 
 ment is but comparative excellence, and a nearer approach to 
 the standard of perfection. !* 
 
 The manifold indications of the aptitude of the mind for 
 religious instruction in early youth, and the equally numerous 
 proofs of its subsequent and growing inaptitude (when ne- 
 glected), with the many arguments in favour of early training 
 scattered throughout this volume, with many more that might 
 doubtless be urged, all combine to evince the wisdom and 
 efficacy of leading the mind betimes to sober and enlightened 
 views of religious truth ; and equally proclaim the inconsistency 
 of such as affect to eulogize religion as man's chief good, and 
 as fraught with the most solid and lasting benefits, yet, from 
 weak and ill-founded scruples, persist in withholding its 
 influences from the mind when only it is in a state to imbibe 
 them fully in the spirit of purity and simplicity. ;i 
 
 To exclude religion and revealed truth from elementary 
 education would be to divest it of its most dignified and useful 
 office, and of its most engaging features ; it would be to render 
 
292 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 it an insipid and heartless round of mere formal dicta, de- 
 priving the infant mind of its choicest nourishment, of that by 
 which the heart, with its best feelings and affections, are most 
 powerfully and pleasurably excited. It would deprive the 
 tutor and the parent of the most grateful task in the round of 
 instruction, that of imparting to the innocent and awe- 
 struck mind, the wondrous truths and sublime dictates of 
 revelation. The tutor's pleasure is here enhanced by the 
 sense of performing a high duty, with the assurance of its 
 beneficial results; for all that strikes the youthful mind as 
 eminently great and good, is received with unhesitating and 
 unqualified credence. In the pure and heavenly commerce 
 between the filial and the maternal breast especially, there is 
 a spell of power, a virtue, and a nameless charm, aloof from 
 the world and independent of human reasonings, a holy and 
 effectual compact approved and sealed by heaven. 
 
 In further reply to those who would defer the all-important 
 work of religious instruction till an advanced state of the 
 reasoning faculties, it is asked, What is to supply its place ? and 
 is there no danger in such an experiment ? Are we absurdly 
 to infer that the mind is a mere passive engine, that will remain 
 still at our bidding ? Is the human soul a machine, whose will 
 and operation we can suspend at pleasure? will it at our 
 command continue free from prejudice and error, and from 
 all extraneous influences ? and will it thus remain without a 
 bias of any kind, till the period we choose to appoint shall 
 arrive ? Rather in the interim, the very season of credulity, 
 but wherein all its powers are most active, and when it is 
 most rapid in acquisitions of some kind or other, will it not, 
 for want of being timely pre-occupied by truth, be open for 
 the admission of every error ? Destitute of a controlling 
 principle during its most restless and inquisitive season, 
 left to its own selection, and free to follow its own way- 
 ward workings, it will become the dupe of its own inexpe- 
 rience : in the absence of wisdom folly will enter in, and 
 
EDUCATION. 293 
 
 alternately it will become the victim of every plausible fallacy. 
 The mind, being unguarded, and open alike to influences of 
 every kind, good or ill, will seek only to satisfy its present 
 cravings. The high principles and motives of Christianity 
 having no place in it, there will be ample room and welcome 
 for every folly and flattering delusion. The vigour of health 
 and the exuberance of youthful spirits increase the evil by 
 superadding a glow and a charm to objects of sense, which are 
 but too captivating at all times to the youthful heart. 
 
 Without a strong rectifying principle within, the world too 
 soon acquires an absolute dominion over the lively and suscep- 
 tible temperament of youth, and reigns without a rival. When 
 pampered and become impatient of restraint, will the passions 
 submit to a voluntary yoke, cancel the charter of their own 
 liberty and self-will, and forego their accustomed indulgences ? 
 Rather will not all evil influences be congregated in the mind, 
 gather strength till it become so familiarized and identified 
 with the world and its gaieties, that long ere the judging 
 faculty be fully developed, he will be numbered among its 
 most devoted adherents, even glorying, perhaps, in a reckless 
 profligacy and daring impiety? Such are among the probable 
 and fatal consequences of leaving the youthful mind wholly 
 destitute of a Divine and sufficient safeguard during the time 
 of greatest peril to its virtue. 
 
 To the sensual eye of ignorance the world proffers all that 
 it conceives of good : too soon the heart becomes linked to its 
 vanities by the strong ties of sense, till, pressed into its service, 
 it joins the ranks of infidelity against that religion which is the 
 great censor of vanity and vice, the declared adversary of the 
 spirit and wisdom of the world, which it emphatically de- 
 nounces as the arch-betrayer of man, the great destroyer of 
 his peace. The very simplicity of ignorance but serves to 
 render it helpless, and accelerate its doom. The prey will 
 be quickly'marked by the wily agents of mischief; and their 
 
294 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 nets will be artfully spread around the path of their hapless 
 and too ready victim. 
 
 To the natural will all duty savours of restraint, and, when 
 corrupted, the greatest latitude will scarce suffice to content it. 
 As the relish for the world increases, so the control of the accus- 
 tomed liberty becomes painful ; and the power and the will to 
 appreciate and relish the beauty of holiness, or to love the truth 
 for its own^sake/will utterly/ail. Conviction, if possible, could 
 not be welcome to such a mind ; nor would it meekly bow to a 
 system of doctrine and discipline whose grand object is to 
 sanctify the heart, by crucifying its affections and lusts. A 
 religion, of which such know little or nothing, can present no 
 motives so weighty as to turn them from their smooth and 
 beaten ways into the thorny paths of self-denial. 
 
 The consistently religious character can be the proper result 
 only of principles early and habitually grounded. If a youth 
 enter the world with half-formed and unsettled notions and 
 convictions, it follows, in course, that the little religion he has 
 will quickly be swallowed up and neutralized by more lively 
 and pleasurable excitement. The very fact, of not timely and 
 seriously enforcing it, must tend to destroy its authority ; that 
 on which so little stress has been laid they will naturally deem 
 of little import, which error must also greatly endanger its 
 cordial acceptance at any subsequent period. 
 
 The danger and absurdity of delaying to form the mind to the 
 great views and interests of religion till after it has become 
 moulded to the world, would be like the folly of attempting to 
 shape the clay to our purpose after it has been moulded and 
 hardened in an uncouth and contrary form ; or as yielding up 
 possession of the fortress when in our power, and then attempt- 
 ing to dislodge the enemy by force. 
 
 If we would impart to the stream a healing virtue, we must 
 ascend to the spring, and impregnate the waters at their source : 
 to attempt to infuse a healing quality into the flowing current 
 
EDUCATION. % 295 
 
 at a distance from the fountain head, would be vain and wholly 
 useless; and if we design the stream of life to flow with a 
 wholesome and uniform current, we must go to the source, 
 and betimes imbue the heart with Christian graces, that virtue 
 and truth may flow and increase with the lapse of years : com- 
 paratively futile will be the attempt after the full tide of 
 youthful vanity has set in, and the rapidity of the current is 
 accelerated by a pampered and wayward will. If man be not 
 trained to piety in his youth, whither shall we turn, or where 
 expect to witness its settled influences? What will then become 
 of religion ? In vain shall we look for the fruit in its season, if 
 we have taken no heed to plant in due time. 
 
 If the foregoing remarks be founded in truth, and sustained 
 by facts, the arguments they supply will go far to verify the 
 original proposition, which with its final and fearful deduction, 
 will need no further confirmation. It must then be conceded, 
 that in proportion to the neglect of early religious in- 
 struction, manhood, and consequently society, will be barren 
 and destitute of its influence and benefits; also that the neces- 
 sary result of such a state of things must be gradually to 
 neutralize the power and efficacy of religion, tending ultimately 
 to banish it from the world. 
 
 It is evident that a deduction so sweeping and serious can 
 only apply to religion in its highest and best sense, as super- 
 stition, its counterfeit, could never be wanting. Some sense 
 of religious obligation, however obscured or corrupted, has 
 been indelibly impressed by the Creator on the mind of every 
 thinking being. In the rude idolatry of the most savage tribes, 
 no less than in the extravagant polytheism of the polished 
 nations of antiquity, the supreme rule of a Divine agency has 
 been alike acknowledged. It would therefore be- a gross mis- 
 take to assume that even the entire subversion of genuine 
 religion would be marked by the corresponding absence of all 
 that bears its name, and has been falsely connected with it. 
 Religion, in this view, can never want a substitute. In the 
 
296 EDUCATION. 
 
 absence of the true, the counterfeit would remain : as the one 
 advances, the other must recede. So far is it from true, as 
 ignorance pretends, that Christianity is associated with super- 
 stition and enthusiasm, that, in fact, it is the only antidote of 
 power to neutralize their baneful influence ; it alone can, and 
 does, effectually dispel the delusion and the mischief. A re- 
 ligious impress, whether right or wrong, being commonly the 
 strongest in the human breast, evidently needs the wisest 
 control. Whenever the pure light of truth is veiled and 
 obscured by the mists of ignorance and passion, whereby its 
 beneficial influence is suspended, then invariably do super- 
 stition and enthusiasm spring up in every degrading form, 
 and spread with wild and rapid growth. 
 
 The Christian's Bible is his all-sufficient chart, his infallible 
 guide, wherein each line of duty is plainly traced, and the 
 confines of evil marked out by the master pen of truth. To 
 the paths that end in peace she invites with eloquent and holy 
 zeal, and warns from all that lead aside to the dark mountains 
 of error. Her friendly calls he knows it is his wisdom and 
 happiness to obey : he has experimented her predictions, and 
 seen them realized in the fate of others. To the parental 
 heart she speaks in no doubtful terms ; friendly, but solemn, 
 is her appeal, and her voice is decisive. To high and low, 
 to rich and poor, alike she points to one strait path, and pro- 
 nounces those only happy who obey. Weighing the enduring 
 realities of an endless future against the passing frivolities of 
 time, she strongly contrasts parental wisdom with the fatal 
 infatuation of indifference, and neglect ! In its providential dis- 
 pensations, often has the retributive hand of Heaven been 
 openly displayed in its dealings with parents, making their 
 children a blessing or a curse, the happy medium of lasting 
 and heartfelt satisfaction, or of the severest worldly punishment, 
 doubly embittered by a ceaseless regret ! 
 
 Such even as are most conversant with the oracles of truth 
 can but weakly appreciate the worth and magnitude of the 
 
EDUCATION. 297 
 
 things of religion : its high and changeless character, its compre- 
 hensive nature, its many and important requisitions, the condi- 
 tional nature of its benefits, the weakness of reason and human 
 endeavour, and the uncertain date of life, all concur to press 
 upon the serious mind the indelible conviction of the guilt and 
 folly of omission in a concern so momentous. If religion be not 
 an empty name, it is of greater worth than language can express ; 
 and if so, to close with it at once is the highest privilege that 
 man can aspire to, and his truest wisdom will be to extract 
 from it all possible good for his offspring as well as himself. 
 
 In the early culture of the mind, and in matters of religion 
 especially, extremes are judiciously to be avoided ; as on the 
 one hand it would be reprehensible to taint the uncorrupted 
 mind with a superstitious bias ; on the other, it could be no 
 less blameable, under cover of such a pretext, to keep the main 
 points of religion wholly out of sight. Paternal wisdom must 
 here draw the line ; and, doubtless, it behoves every father to 
 tell his son, that, as a rational being, it is his duty to weigh 
 and investigate for himself, to exercise his understanding in 
 quest of truth, and to take nothing for granted that will not 
 endure the test of a searching and diligent scrutiny, but to 
 place it in the strongest light, and examine it on all sides, la 
 the prudent dictates of paternal affection the filial heart will 
 gratefully respond, and fully acquiesce in the propriety of 
 sentiments which conscience and reason must equally approve. 
 
 By some mismanagement, religion is too often rendered 
 unwelcome to the young, as presenting a forbidding aspect of 
 mingled gloom and austerity, and armed with threats and frowns; 
 but were she uniformly arrayed in her native and celestial 
 graces, decked with the cheering smiles of benevolence, she 
 could not fail of a most cordial reception. Whether it be that 
 a secret consciousness on the parent's part, of undue indulgence 
 and levity at other times, prompts the laying of a more rigid 
 stress on seasons of devotion, in order to counteract the ill 
 effects that might ensue from such laxity ; certain it is that 
 
298 EDUCATION. 
 
 a formal and solemn demeanour is enforced, little congenial 
 with the general habits and sprightliness of youth ; and hence, 
 instead of honouring and greeting the sabbath with Christian 
 cheerfulness, as a season of social refreshment and devout thank- 
 fulness to the Great Author of good, the heavy wheels of time 
 seem to drag an unusual load, and the youthful spirits are 
 oppressed with an unnatural and anti-social gloom. From 
 dealing thus unfairly with religion, results a fatal distaste, 
 which too often ripens into an open and undisguised hostility. 
 
 Religion is not only the vehicle of every good, it is also the 
 sole and sovereign remedy for the worst of existing evils. No- 
 thing less than its pure and potent energy could eradicate the 
 deeply-rooted and long-flourishing errors of superstition, arrest 
 the mad career of idolatry, and quell the rage of enthusiasm and 
 fanaticism, whose deadly vials have so oft been poured out 
 on the nations, infusing a tenfold bitterness into the cup of 
 human suffering no minor power could subvert their fatal 
 dominion, and illumine the dark places of the earth. In the 
 fulness of time Christianity came forth, bearing her high com- 
 mission to raise and restore a fallen world, and to convert 
 anarchy and discord into harmony and peace. She found it, 
 distracted and rent, helpless and hopeless, lying in the shadow 
 of death, its high places defiled by the fanes of paganism, and 
 wrapped in idolatrous gloom but woridrously has she wrought ; 
 and what she has done is a sufficient pledge of what she can 
 and will do, even fulfilling to the letter every word of grace, 
 that has gone forth in the might of changeless truth. 
 
 As the shades of night recede before the clear light of the 
 morning, so surely the spectral gloom of heathenism, whether 
 in its simplest and rudest forms of idol worship, or assuming 
 the fabled romance and extravagance of a more refined poly- 
 theism, is doomed alike to flee and disappear at the searching 
 presence of truth, before whose brighter splendour the false 
 lights of human philosophy grow dim and fade away. 
 
 So Divine and mighty a work as the moral renovation of a 
 
EDUCATION. 299 
 
 world, demanded a more than human agency : here all the 
 forces of reason were powerless and futile. To religion the 
 great task was assigned, and to her exclusively was given 
 strength to fulfil it. Less than a perfect and all-sufficient 
 plan could not emanate from the unerring source of wisdom ; 
 it must therefore prevail and progress in its triumphant career 
 till the end of time, even till death itself, the insatiable arch- 
 foe of man, is finally crushed. With religion alone are the 
 Divine evidences of power and of truth : the perfection of 
 knowledge and virtue are hers, with all the motives that can 
 permanently stimulate so frail a creature as man. But though 
 the best philosophy could ill supply the place of religion, the 
 design of Heaven doubtless was not to supersede reason, but to 
 restore her to her native and original dignity ; yet such is her 
 weakness, compared with Christianity, that she cannot rise 
 even to a perfect conception of the complicated operations and 
 bearings of a scheme so divinely comprehensive. 
 
 Equally strong are the claims of religion to the respect as 
 to the gratitude of man ; the homage of the understanding no 
 less than of the heart is her just tribute. In her manifold 
 struggles with a degenerate world, in all points she has proved 
 nobly superior, and evinced her high descent, by deriving con- 
 stant accessions of strength from oft and vainly renewed oppo- 
 sition. In times of surpassing degeneracy, when wronged and 
 dishonoured, her name branded with reproach, and her august 
 form mutilated, the intelligent and good could, through all 
 disguise, discern and own the majesty of truth. To us she is 
 revealed in all^ her native loveliness and symmetry, arrayed 
 in celestial charms,*[and beaming with cloudless light, 
 shedding freely her benignant influence on all who embrace 
 her: she comes not dowerless to man, but laden with the 
 choicest gifts of futurity and of time, and the guileless and 
 upright breast is her chosen seat, and is a faith all divine, 
 breathing only truth and peace and love : is it such a religion 
 
300 EDUCATION. 
 
 that Christians seemingly impart so sparingly to their children, 
 as if in doubt they halted between two opinions ? 
 
 That heavenly code, whose supreme worth and merits are 
 not fully appreciable by man, cannot be too much prized and 
 eulogized, nor can a sound Christian education be too strongly 
 advocated ; for all that can be done will never suffice to put 
 religion on a footing of equal advantage with its rival, the world, 
 whose present influences are all potent with the youthful heart, 
 whose day-dreams and bright anticipations are wholly of its 
 spirit. The fervid pulse of youth beats only for the plea- 
 sures of that world, whose ascendancy it is the grand object 
 of Christianity to counteract ; that world, which to overcome, 
 nay, to crucify to himself, is the Christian's arduous but 
 glorious and needful conquest, would he give proof of his 
 aspiring to an elevated standard of Christian heroism; a 
 victory this, as unintelligible as it is impracticable to many, 
 perhaps, who have been trained only to the world: but till 
 religion has all the possible advantages that can be given to 
 it, aided by example and endeavour, neither may we expect 
 fully to witness its good effects, nor can its merits and efficacy 
 be fairly estimated. 
 
 Friendly to religion as is the general aspect of the times, 
 and auspicious as are the many indications of Christian zeal, 
 yet much that meets the eye, being associated chiefly with the 
 literature of the day, may, after floating awhile on the surface 
 of society, sink into oblivion, without a more stable support 
 than the popular, and perhaps transient taste of the age ; 
 nor can we hope to give it any permanent social character, 
 without creating for it a standing interest in the breasts of 
 youth, and enlisting the rising generation in its cause. 
 
 To the lasting praise of Britain, she has for ages been the 
 abiding-place of true religion : to the serious and manly tem- 
 perament of Englishmen her spirit has proved happily con- 
 genial, and with them she has ever found a home and a 
 
EDUCATION. 301 
 
 sanctuary. In times of peril they have sent forth able cham- 
 pions in her cause, and among them she still numbers her 
 warmest friends, her true and unshaken adherents ; nor has 
 their well-tried fidelity lacked its reward. To its edifying 
 influence, doubtless, Britain owes no small share of her 
 unrivalled greatness; but whatever be the present state of 
 things, all good with the wise is prospective : rightly to value 
 the means of happiness is not enough ; to lay hold on advan- 
 tages, and claim an interest in what is most worthy and excel- 
 lent, is good ; but far better is it to make that interest abiding, 
 to invest those advantages with the character of perpetuity; and 
 freely to communicate them to all around, is the better and 
 nobler object. 
 
 How essentially the stability and prosperity of these favoured 
 realms are blended with the influences of true religion, and 
 how much these depend on timely culture, are questions of 
 sufficient interest to merit a mature consideration ; but never, 
 till man shall tread the confines of eternity, can he fully 
 appreciate the worth of education grounded on the principles 
 of Christian virtue. When admitted within the golden portals 
 that open to the glories of the unseen future, we become eye- 
 witnesses of its scenes, surrounded by its splendours, and 
 mingling with its celestial society in the full fruition of a bliss- 
 ful immortality, then may we attempt to sum the vast amount; 
 nor in the contrasted fate of the victims of neglect, whose doom 
 so justly involves the authors of their woe, would the heart 
 probably encounter a less forcible appeal. How terrible a 
 secret might the grieving spirit reveal to insensate apathy, to 
 sceptic pride and heartless sensuality ! And with how solemn 
 a warning might its chiding voice arrest the ear of parental in- 
 difference, and chase away the fatal mists of illusion ! When, 
 wittf views and faculties divinely strengthened and expanded, 
 the spirit, from its future elevation, shall revolve the past, and 
 in their final issue weigh the import of all sublunary aims ; in 
 the broad retrospect of time's finished course, what a span will 
 
302 EDUCATION. 
 
 human life appear ! how insignificant its bustle and concerns ! 
 how empty and fleeting its rewards and its honours ! Its vanity 
 alone will be magnified. When its hopes and cares and fears 
 shall be retraced, as a dream that is past, and as a vision of 
 the night ; then will be seen, in their rich and enduring re- 
 wards, the advantages of wisdom, and the worth of truth and 
 virtue ; then will be known, and fully understood, the import- 
 ance of a sound Christian education. 
 
 J. Rider, Printer, 14, Bartholomew Close, London. 
 
EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM THE EARLY REVIEWS OF THE WORK. 
 
 " This book contains very judicious remarks, and a high-toned expression 
 of reverence for religion. The author strongly points out the benefits con- 
 ferred by education, and the evils arising from neglect. He deduces its 
 necessity from the nature and prospects of a human soul, as connected 
 with the obligations and motives of Christianity : he shows it to be ' an 
 intellectual engine of superhuman power, and mighty to achieve either 
 good or ill, shaping the destiny of man in time and in eternity.' After 
 dispassionately viewing consequences, &c., he proceeds to those minor 
 details into which his work naturally branches. Youthful emulation 
 he strongly advocates, but reprobates premature study as subversive of 
 mental and physical energy, (in which numerous instances justify him.) 
 Mr. ANTROBUS'S observations are very pertinent, and are certainly the 
 offspring of deep reflection. His style inclines to the florid, many of his 
 figures are very elegant, and the book is one which we can honestly recom- 
 mend." Church of England Quarterly Review. 
 
 " Mr. ANTROBUS demonstrates that the only true foundation of a good 
 education is to be laid in the Christian religion. His Essays deserve great 
 attention for the principles he so ably maintains ; while his historical illus- 
 trations will be found to bear with powerful interest on his graver argu- 
 ment" Literary Gazette. 
 
 " This volume would be highly attractive, had it nothing else to boast 
 than the polish and elegance of the diction ; but when we add that the 
 materiel is even superior to the workmanship, we shall have said enough to 
 recommend it to the notice of every statesman, every father of a family, 
 and every man to whom the Almighty has dispensed the means to do good. 
 We have rarely ever met with a writer who has combined so much im- 
 pressive earnestness, (amounting almost to enthusiasm,) with so much 
 sound sense and masculine depth of thought. His very soul seems to be 
 absorbed by his subject, on which he thinks depend the happiness of mankind 
 and the peace and stability of empires ; but this intense feeling is per- 
 petually tempered, mastered, and controlled, by a clearly practical know^ 
 ledge of human nature, as well as of the condition of society, so that the 
 reader, although borne away for the time by the impetuosity of the style and 
 the force of the appeal, is continually brought back to a sober view of the 
 question, and is made sensible that the author is no optimist, no Utopian, 
 but one who is apprised of the stupendous difficulties in his way, but still 
 has the address and the vigour to surmount them." Bath Herald. 
 
" This subject is unrivalled in importance, but it is also a very arduous 
 one with which to deal : the interests involved are so manifold, and the 
 questions connected with it so complicated, that it requires a master mind 
 to do justice to it. Mr. ANTROBUS, from his long professional engage- 
 ments, has, we are at least assured, had time enough for coming to 
 deliberate conclusions; and, as we should be led to expect from the 
 elevated views he has taken of his theme, has gone very particularly into 
 the subject, &c. (Here follow extracts and a review of the work.) 
 We unite with him in thinking, that it will be a happy omen for Britain 
 when the heart-improving and soul-elevating oracles of God are unanimously 
 received as the criterion of character in every station, and the test of educa- 
 tion for all ranks and professions. We approve of this book its spirit is 
 strictly Christian" Church of England Magazine. 
 
 " This volume contains much valuable matter. It is written in an ex- 
 cellent tone and temper. The author's remarks, opinions, &c., are sensible, 
 and drawn from right data, &c. &c. It is the work of a man of an amiable 
 and Christian disposition, comprising many valuable suggestions, which, as the 
 opinions of a practical man, are well deserving of consideration." Brit.Mag. 
 
 " We commend Mr. ANTROBUS'S new work to the attention of all who 
 take any interest whatever in the education of youth, &c. &c. We can 
 only add that it is written in a purely Christian and philosophic spirit, ex- 
 hibiting enlarged views of the subject, and is one of those productions 
 which not only the parent, but also the moralist and the statesman, w ill find 
 it of great importance and advantage to be fully acquainted with." 
 
 Evangelical Register. 
 
 " The title-page will show the ramifications of the great question dis- 
 cussed in this volume, with which we have been very much pleased. In 
 presenting to the public this c Philosophical and Practical View,' Mr. 
 ANTROBUS has, we think, furnished an important contribution to the 
 increasing stock of materials for thinking on one of the most momentous 
 subjects which can occupy the attention of man, whether as a parent, a 
 patriot, or a Christian. All who are studying the subject of Educa- 
 tion, whether as domestic or national, will find here some valuable suggestions. 
 We ought to add that Mr. ANTROBUS'S philosophy appears to be thoroughly 
 Christian? Watch man. 
 
 " A volume from the pen of Mr. ANTROBUS, &c., appears, as far as we 
 have examined it, to possess strong and. weighty merits.'' Court Journal. 
 
 J. Rider, Printer, 14, Bartholomew Close, London. 
 

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