» wiS mi y^i m m l\ '\ ,4 l|l'l''lli. ' ,1"' 1 s i!!iiiiiiiii:w'r'''r/,„s.\A'S Pi^?:*W#'''i fii/if'itrr.v,^ THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. By CHARLES BRAY. SECOND EDITION. Hontron : LONGMAN. BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1849. (bl GENERAL PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Most of what was valuable in the" first edition of this little work, relative to the management of children, I owed to a friend, the greater part of whose life had been devoted to home education. She is now no more ; and owing to my own small experience in the active training of children, it does not enter into my design in this republication to add materially to the few practical hints which her experience suggested. The observa- tion of the last ten years has brought me to the con- clusion, that no very definite rules can be laid down for the management of the young, — all children requiring different treatment according to the difference of their dispositions, — and that there is but one great rule unvary- ingly applicable — viz., to be ourselves what we would wish our children to be. Precept, without this, is comparatively useless ; children's minds are fed and formed by the mental atmosphere which surrounds them ; if we are selfish, they will become so too ; if our morality and religion are little more than deference to public opinion, we must not expect that any higher feeling than love of applause will be developed under our guidance. We may more easily 201594 11. PREFACE. deceive ourselves in the knowledge of our own hearts, than we can deceive children, who, with their bright, un- sophisticated vision, early learn to distinguish between truth and shams. Immediately children are entrusted to us a kind of second education commences in ourselves : all that we say, do, and even feel, is imitated — we see the reflex of ourselves in others, and, startled into conscious- ness by the fac simile, frequently for the first time begin to inquire what we are, and what we ought to be. In the course of our own early training, our immature powers were incapable of reflecting upon the nature of the dif- ferent feelings which influenced us ; but now, when we have to direct others, we feel that above all things a correct analysis of the heart is necessary. The object of this present edition is not so much to assist in the direct education of children, as in this second education of our- selves; to aid self-knowledge and self-development, and to enable us to distinguish clearly the higher from the inferior or selfish feelings. Education goes on through life, and whether the object be the education of ourselves or children, it is desirable that we should know clearly what we would do, and what we would not do. Without a systematic knowledge of the human feelings and faculties this is impossible, as the object of all training is the developing and perfecting of all the faculties which make a PREFACE. 111. complete man. xA.s an illustration of the necessity of such a knowledge let us take the compound nature of love. The love of sex, of children, of friends, of mankind, have all a different source in the mental constitution : each requires different management ; the consequences of such manage- ment are distinctly marked in after life, and no error could be more serious than that which should confound the sources of these diverse primitive feelings under the general term of love. The time seems now to have arrived when education, as a science, must be inseparably blended with mental philoso- phy. Custom and tradition no longer rule men's minds, and it is to the dictates of our highest moral faculties — to the moral law written by God in our hearts, that we must look for a more definite ruler in their place. Religious sects are more and more divided, and therefore cannot be trusted for a correct interpretation of God's will, and we are called upon diligently to compare their dogmas with the revelation he has given of Himself in his works. If we would ascer- tain the purposes for which God has formed us, let us study the nature of the faculties with which he has endowed us, and by making use of each faculty in the direction for which its nature shows it was evidently intended, we shall best fulfil His end and aim. Rosehill, September 3, 1849. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/educationoffeeliOObrayrich CONTENTS. CHAP. I. PAGE. MENTAL CONSTITUTION 1 CHAP. II. The Education of each Feeling Considered Separately. THE SELF-PROTECTING FEELINGS :— Appetite -6 combativeness ------. 13 Destructivness ---___. 19 Secretiveness -----_. 22 Acquisitiveness -------28 Constructiveness ----.__ 32 Cautiousness ---..__ 35 Love of Life ------. 38 THE SELF-REGARDING FEELINGS :— Self-Esteem -------39 Love of Approbation - - - . _ 43 THE SOCIAL AFFECTIONS:— Amativeness ---____. 55 Philoprosenitiveness _____ 57 Adhesiveness -----._ 64 VI. CONTENTS. PAGE. THE MORAL FEELINGS:— conscientiodsness - 68 Benevolence 80 Conscientiousness and Benevolence - . - 90 THE ^ESTHETIC FEELINGS:— Ideality ___>_.__ 93 THE RELIGIOUS FEELINGS :— Veneration . - - _ ._ _ _ . loj Hope 110 Wonder -------- 113 FEELINGS WHICH GIVE CONCENTRATION, POWER, AND PERMANENCE TO THE OTHERS:— Concentrativeness and Inhabitiveness - - - 118 Firmness 122 Imitation ----_.__ 127 The Feeling of the Ludicrous 131 Authority and Obedience - - . - - -136 Temper ----_---. 137 Punishment ---_-_._- 140 Manners -----.-__ 143 Example ---.-_-_- 145 Conclusion - - - . . - - 151 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. CHAPTER I. MENTAL CONSTITUTION. The education of the feelings, or formation of the disposition, is a part of education which, up to the present time, has been comparatively neglected ; not so much because its importance has been unrecognized, as because the too general want of definite knowledge con- cerning the affections and the moral springs of action, has prevented its being pursued systematically. The object of this branch of education is the cultiva- tion, by exercise, of those feelings which make us wish to do that which we ought to do. The mere knowledge of our duty, without the disposition to perform it, is of little use, or at most, but one small step gained ; and yet, educa- tion, conducted as a system, has commonly stopped short at this point. Food is absolutely necessary to support life, but it is a question whether the mere knowledge of this, would always be sufficient to induce us to take nourish- ment, if Nature had not endowed us with a strong desire to eat when requisite. The wants of our moral nature being less obtrusive, the laws which govern them are not so well understood ; and yet it is equally certain that, with respect to religion and morality, that is, our duties to God and our neighbour, the Creator has not been 2 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. satisfied with merely telling us what we ought to do, but has also implanted feelings — such as love and reverence towards Himself, the moral sense, benevolence — which make us desire to perform the duties which His laws have pointed out to us. With this difference, that while the animal appetite is a full grown instinct from the first, these incipient germs of our higher nature may lie undeveloped, without watchful culture. The cultivation of the feelings, or moral training, will be found to bear the same relation to happiness, as the observance of the laws for the due regulation of the bodily system, bear to health ; and for the proper management of the feelings it is quite as necessary to know what they are, as it is to know the functions of the different organs of the body ; and as important to treat each mental faculty separately, as to distinguish the heart from the lungs, the lungs from the liver, so that we may not apply our reme- dies to one organ when the disease is in another. It is the province of mental philosophy to show what are the functions of the mind, to explain the manner in which they act, and their adaptation and relation to ex- ternal objects. No such analysis of our mental constitu- tion has yet been generally received, neither is it yet commonly understood that such is essential in education. But if education be a method of treatment of the mental faculties, how can it possibly be adapted to their direction when we know not the nature of these faculties, or what their mode of action? Experience may have enlightened us a little here and there as to the best method of treating some of them ; but the character of this knowledge has hitherto much resembled that of the quack practitioner, MENTAL CONSTITUTION. 3 who having discovered a remedy for one disease, although ignorant of the nature of both remedy and disease, applies it to the cure of all. The little light that has been gained from experience, can never be properly systematized and applied to education, until the nature of our mental constitution be made known. A parent is apt to think that the knowledge he possesses of his own heart is sufficient for the guidance of the affec- tions of his children ; but dispositions differ so widely, that we frequently cannot have a falser guide, than to judge of others by ourselves. The precept "know thyself," is very partially obeyed, and the knowledge of self which is attained is generally far too imperfect and indefinite to be applicable to the systematic training of the feelings. Natural Philosophy has of late made rapid strides, and vastly augmented the power of man over the physical world ; but because mankind have hitherto been unacquainted with the relation that such results bear to the nature of mind, education is very much as it was before all this light shone upon us ; consequently, the happiness of the world has not increased, in a corresponding proportion with the multiplication of our comforts and conveniences. The clearest analysis of the mental constitution, and the most practical, is that presented by Phrenology. This is admitted even by metaphysicians, who are not disposed equally to admit that each mental faculty is in connection with separate parts or organs of the brain. Phrenology assumes. First: That the brain is the organ of mind. Secondly : That it is not a single organ, but a congeries or bundle of organs, manifesting a plurality of faculties ; and 4« THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. Thirdly : That vigour of function bears a relation, ceteris paribusy to the health and size of the organ. It results from this that the mind and body are so inti- mately related, that it is quite impossible to separate moral from physical training. Nevertheless, the greater part of our remarks will be found independent of the truth or otherwise of the phrenological propositions. The mental constitution may be thus divided. The feelings consist of THE SELF-PROTECTING. Appetite for Food. Comb ATivEN ESS. Destructiveness. Secretiveness. Acquisitiveness, constructiveness. Cautiousness. The Love of Life. THE SELF-REGARDING. Self-esteem. Love of Approbation. THE SOCIAL. Amativeness. Philoprogenitiveness. Adhesiveness. THE MORAL. Conscientiousness. Benevolence. THE AESTHETIC. Ideality. THE RELIGIOUS. Veneration. Hope. "Wonder. Concentrativeness"J these Firmness J-facul- Imitation ) ties may furnish equal aid to all.) The Feeling of the Lu- dicrous. Of course it is not intended to assert that each of these faculties, or set of faculties, act separately in forming states of mind, but only that they constitute the principal MENTAL CONSTITUTION. 5 ingredient — many of the other feelings necessarily mixing with them. "We must add to them the intellectual faculties, consist- ing of The External Senses. The Perceptive Faculties, and the Reflective. "We are sorry to use technical language which may be all hut unintelligible to some readers, but the terms must be considered as mere signs to which we shall endeavour to attach ideas afterwards. Everyone possesses these faculties more or less developed, and their different combi- nation in different persons constitutes the difference in individual character. Thus some are brave, some timid —some firm, others yielding — some proud, others modest, according as some faculty, or group of faculties, predo- minates. "We shall treat of each feeling separately, showing its use in the mental constitution, and also its abuse, so that in moral training we njay know what to aim at, and what to avoid. We shall then speak of the faculties in groups, in order to appreciate the relative strength desirable for each to attain. CHAPTER II. THE EDUCATION OF EACH FEELING CONSIDERED SEPARATELY. THE SELF-PROTECTING FEELINGS. APPETITE. Appetite appears to belong more properly to physical than to moral education, but it bears too strongly upon the latter, both in its use and abuse, to be omitted mention here. The pleasures of taste are amongst the first sensations which a child receives ; they assist materially in forming the bond which unites it to its natural guardian and in- structor, and from childhood to age, by their direct and reflected influence, add largely to the stock of human enjoyments. Let it not therefore be expected that child- ren can be made to despise that which Nature points out as a good ; they cannot, and they will not. Rather let us endeavour to secure to them in the indulgence of the propensity all the gratification which Nature so bountifully bestows. In the satisfaction of a healthy appetite with wholesome food this end will be attained. The body must be refreshed and invigorated, in order that the mind may be in a fit state to exert its powers, and only in so far as it accomplishes this, does the animal gra- tification accord with the intentions of Nature. These intentions are that the lower propensities shall give impulse and strength to the higher. Any indulgence of them beyond this point she fails not to punish. Let then attention to this rule be a point of conscience with children. Let them be instructed to discriminate APPETITE. t between their feelings after a wholesome, moderate, but sufficient meal, and those which follow excess either in quantity or quality. Let a feeling of shame and self- reproach be associated with the suffering which results from over-eating, or from improper food. Let them be commiserated for the wrong they have committed, not for its consequences ; and let it be shown how future privation must follow present indulgence. It is better for them thus to learn to judge wisely for themselves, than be restricted to a certain allowance, which not even the most careful parent can at all times apportion to their real requirements. Nature will do this if her indications be attended to ; and children must be taught to understand and obey them. Never let it be forgotten that in this, as in all cases, it is the object of education to teach a child to decide wisely for himself, not only when under the con- trol of parents and instructors, but in all circumstances, and in all places. Who has not admired the well-trained child, following the dictates of parental wisdom when beyond its reach ? — Hungry, yet patiently waiting his turned to be served — though it be the last ; quietly taking what is set before him, or, if allowed to choose, selecting that which he thinks his parent would approve ; modestly, but firmly resisting the injudicious kindness of " Oh, you must have a piece more ! Only a little piece, there's a dear!" " This cannot hurt you, I am sure!" To insure a healthy appetite, children should enjoy fresh air, and bodily exercise in plenty; not only by regular walks out of doors, but by active cheerful play within ; they should have a place appropriated to their use, where they may jump, and skip, and exhale the ex- 8 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. uberance of their spirits, without annoyance to the sober members of the family. Their meals should be regular, and not too far apart ; their diet nutritious, simple, but not too unvaried. A constant sameness of food produces a distaste which, of itself, causes a longing for forbidden food, from the craving of nature for variety. Children do not require the stimulants which in more advanced age may be beneficial, and to them they are pernicious, but within wholesome limits it is desirable that their palates should be gratified in the choice of food for them ; their inclinations will not then be so readily excited to improper indulgence. It should never be permitted to a child to eat but at meals, with very slight exceptions, which a wise mother will know how to make ; such as a piece of bread or biscuit, dividing the time between breakfast and dinner if it be too long. How frequently do we see this rule, one of the simplest for the preservation of health, broken, and digestion continually disturbed by the interruption of fresh food ! A child cries — it is pacified with something eatable. Sometimes the child, more sensible than its nurse, turns away its head, and resists the unseasonable offer, until coaxed into overcoming its natural reluctance, for — " it is so nice." Having shown what is best for children, in the gratifi- cation of appetite, we may now repeat, that the very same means will make it subservient to higher, i. e., to moral and intellectual pleasures. For the state of bodily ease and enjoyment which accompanies the former, is precisely that which leaves the mind more free to enjoy the latter. The attention, therefore must not be suffered to dwell upon the means, but must be carried forwards to the end. APPETITE. Conversation, rational, instructive, and interesting, should be promoted at meal-times ; cheerfulness and good temper should preside ; contrary to the practice of some families, where every word spoken at dinner, that does' not relate to what is eaten, seems irrelevant to the important matter in hand. As little as possible must eating and drinking be made a matter of importance, for children will soon catch the tone of feeling of those with whom they associate, in this as in other matters. The common practice seems to be to make the enjoy- ment of eating the end, and the exercise of the moral and intellectual faculties, the means. It is held out as the strongest inducement to " behave well ;" it is the promised reward of obedience ; it is the convenient resource of the nurse " to keep the child quiet ;" it is the bribe of the friendly visitor to gain the child's attention ; it must furnish occupation to the child, when its restless attempts to acquire a knowledge of things around it, are trouble- some. The very infant's tears are assuaged by anticipa- tions of the " nice pudding" that is coming, its own impa- tience is heightened by the affected impatience of the nurse, who excites, instead of allaying, the eagerness for selfish gratification. If, in addition to all this, children continually see their elders taking anxious " thought what they shall eat, and what they shall drink," can it be won- dered at, that they think eating of importance, though frequently and formally assured to the contrary ? Sweetmeats and other delicacies are, indeed, a common reward for the good deeds, and the denial of them a common punishment for the sins of childhood. The only mischief arising from this is not the training up of children to be 10 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. gluttons and epicures, which nevertheless it must infal- libly do by making the gratification of the palate of such paramount importance ; a greater evil is to be dreaded — the weakening of the moral sense, by supplying an unwor- thy and temporary motive to obedience, when a higher one alone can be adequate and permanent. An example may illustrate this. " Mrs. — is very anxious (as every right- minded mother must be,) that her child should be religious, and no pains are spared to make him so, as will appear by what follows. The boy (not four years old,) was brought down to the dessert. In due time nurse came in to take him to bed, when this conversation ensued : Mamma — ' Say your prayers, my darling.' Boy — * I won't.' M. — * Oh, yes — now be good. Show Miss such- an-one how prettily you can say your prayers. (Silent, pouting lips.) M. — *Come now, you don't know what Grandmamma has for you.' Boy — 'What ?' M. — 'An orange.' Grandmamma — * There's Shamrock (the dog,) now, make haste, or we'll get Shamrock to say pretty prayers.' M. — * Yes, dear, now do — because of the orange, you know.' Will it be believed that this chattering had the desired effect upon the boy ? Worked upon by greediness and vanity, he lisped the Lord's Prayer in a ' sulky, muttering manner, was called a good boy, and went to bed, but without the orange. When he asked for it, * to-morrow' was the answer. Here were lessons in plenty ; here, in five minutes, were inculcated impressively, greediness, stupid surrender of the understanding, vanity, lying, and hypocrisy."* Lessons— little needed, for where from original constitution or from early mismanage- * Monthly Repository. APPETITE. 11 ment the selfish feelings are strong, they will produce such fruits in abundance, unless counteracted by assiduous moral culture. The constant recurrence of the tempta- tions to the abuse of appetite, render it in such cases difficult to manage, but that well-educated children can and do control it by opposing to it the moral feelings is daily proved. Such an one have we seen choose the smallest orange, the least rosy apple, the most uninviting corner of cake, and leave for his companions the nicest piece, the finest fruit — and this unconscious of any observing eye. We do not like to see, neither do we think it right, that very young children, under the age of five or six, should be obliged to keep silence at meals, and not ask for what they want. " Sit still ; do not ask, and you will have what is proper for you," is very well at a more advanced age, when children are able to judge of, and to appreciate the propriety and justice of such restrictions, as applied only to themselves and not to those about them. In young children let everything be expressed, let the mind be clear as crystal. What they shall eat is necessarily an object of great interest to children, and they cannot but look with eagerness and longing curiosity on the dishes before them. Let the child say his wish aloud, as soon as it arises, and by your immediate refusal or acquiescence^ put him out of all suspense about it as soon as possible. It is much easier to refuse what is improper at once, than after- wards, when you know the child has been many minutes looking and longing, a refusal then frequently excites a sense of injury and injustice, which, had it been given at first and at once, it would not have done. Much more atten- 12 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. tion is due to dieting, that is, to a varied and wholesome food, in proper quantities, than is ordinarily paid ; and when we consider how much the benevolent designs of Nature are frustrated in the perversion of this propensity, the waste of life, and happiness, and the amount of suffering it occa- sions, we may be held excused for dwelling so long upon its due exercise and restraint. Dr. William Sweetser judiciously observes, " That there exists a corresponding action between the moral feelings and the viscera ; that the particular condition of the former may either deter- mine, or be determined by, that of the latter. Indiges- tion, for example, is well known to be sometimes the conse- quence, and sometimes the cause, of an irritable and unhappy temper. A sour disposition may either occasion, or result from, a sour stomach. Thus, in some instances, we sweeten the stomach by neutralizing the acerbity of the temper, while in others we sweeten the temper by neutralizing the acidity of the stomach. Who but must have felt his digestion improve under the brightening of his moral feelings ? And who but must have experienced the brightening of his moral feelings under the improve- ment of his digestion ? The reason will now be manifest why those children who are so unfortunate as to be indulged with cakes, pastry, sweetmeats, and the like indigestible articles, other things being the same, require the rod so much oftener than such as are restricted to more plain and wholesome food. Indeed, an exclusive diet of bread and milk, united with judicious exercise in the open air, will oftentimes prove the most effectual means of correcting the temper of peevish and refractory children." The loss, physical and mental, resulting from the absurd APPETITE. 13 habit of upper-class society with respect to the table ; — by the three courses, and late dinners — the over-eating and drinking — will perhaps be better considered after it is determined what a man ought to be when all his higher powers are fully trained and developed. COMBATIVENESS. The word Oppositiveness, perhaps, better points out the inherent feeling to which the above term is applied, namely, the opposition which rises in the mind when any obstacle presents itself to its desires. The world is full of difl&cul- ties and dangers, and the pathway to all that is really excellent so beset with obstacles, that in addition to moral courage and intellectual force, there needs an instinct to do battle — a pleasure in overcoming for its own sake — to enable a man to attain eminence in any direction what- ever. The attitude of defiance which the mind assumes, by means of this faculty, harmonizes it, so to speak, with a rugged and difficult world. The feeling then requires directing rather than restraining. The judicious educator will not be so anxious to check the disposition to contend, as to provide it a legitimate field of action ; he will endea- vour so to interest the other feelings and the intellect in pursuits high and excellent, that the whole force of the combative propensity may be brought to bear on the difficulties which must here necessarily be encountered. In early childhood the deficiency of Oppositiveness is felt to be a happy circumstance ; the child is docile and tract- able, takes a suggestion immediately, does as he is bid, has no will of his own. Cause for congratulation, however, 14 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. lessens every year. The least trifles discourage ; at lesson-time you are wearied with the constant whining, "I can't do it;" and at play-time you are mortified to see one pursuit after another abandoned at the slightest diffi- culty. The boy wants energy, force, and manly spirit, to encounter and overcome. The love of contention and opposition for their own sake, constitutes the abuse of the faculty ; the proper management of it, therefore, when in excess, evidently consists in exciting its direct manifestation as little as possible. By the force of sympathy, the manifestation of Combativeness in one person immediately arouses the feeling itself in another : in children especially, the outward expression from ano- ther's mind is reflected as in a mirror. In correcting a child this fact should never be lost sight of. If our tone be harsh and captious, the child's feelings will be arrayed against the reproof, instead of softened into contrition. "You are so quoss T a little boy said, pouting to his mother, who asked him to do something which did not fall in with his humour at the time. " Am I cross ?" replied she, in a tone the perfection of sweetness and gentleness. The child's temper melted immediately, and he stood silent and abashed, under the sense of his own unreasonableness. On the other hand, the reflection from our own com- bativeness is so instantaneous, that it is sometimes hard to say on which side the discipline is first and most needed. A mother sees her child doing something wrong ; in a sharp angry tone she desires him to desist immediately. The child's disposition to oppose is roused by the tone of the reproof, and he still persists ; upon which the mother repeats the command still more sharply — perhaps adding a COMBATIVKNESS. 15 threat, by way of enforcing it. But this also is disre- garded, as is every succeeding attempt to proeure obedi- ence, because the child's oppositiveness is sure to be excited in proportion to the mother's. The warfare perhaps terminates by the mother's giving way first, whilst she satisfies her conscience by declaring, that " Papa shall know all about it when he comes home, and will be sure to punish you," thus showing very evidently her own in- capacity, and making Papa a bugbear. If, as is often the case, the mother magnanimously perseveres, enforces obedience, and punishes the resistance, almost equal mischief is done. "Whilst she is exulting within herself upon her proper display of authority, and boasting that she knows how to manage her children with firmness, she little thinks that by her own injudicious conduct, she her- self was the cause of disobedience in her child ; and that instead of having gained she had lost considerable autho- rity, by having lost in the child's esteem and affection. He will do the same thing again when his mother is not present, because he has no motive but fear to deter him. A child never fails to perceive if the punishment be in- flicted in a spirit of combativeness or in sorrow and aflFection, and the remembrance of this, when calm is restored, makes the whole difference as to whether the fruits of the lesson be good or evil. If, however, in the first instance, the mother had laid down her command in a perfectly kind, gentle, yet firm manner, the child must have been ill-trained beforehand if he did not obey imme- diately. Even without positive harshness, there is often an indescribable somewhat in our manner or intonation which never fails to excite to rebellion. Some teachers of 16 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. good sense and quick sympathy have excellent tact in perceiving to a nicety the tone which will ensure obedience : to others this perception could never be conveyed, owing to certain deficiencies in their own organization, and these latter are often puzzled to account for their powerlessness. We smile at the lamentable ignorance of cause and effect on the part of the poor mother who has no remedy for the rebelliousness of her young urchins but a box on the ear ; but the utter want of tact and common sense is often as obvious in many a polished lady, who corrects her child in most elegant English, but with a manner and emphasis irritating to the last degree. It is to be feared that the Golden Rule is not much heeded in the management of our children, as there is mostly a lurking persuasion, when the tvro wills come into collision, that it is theirs to endure, and ours to inflict ; otherwise the precept, " Do as you would be done by," w^ould throw light on many a dilemma of this kind, and suggest the right course in multitudes of cases where no other general rule can be applied. Put yourself as much as possible in your child's place. Picture to yourself the kind of admonition that would have the most power over your own mind ; the tone of voice and manner that could least excite passion, and rouse opposi- tion, and adopt that. Do not attempt to drive, but always to lead. When a child is interested in some object of his own, do not, by a sudden command, interfere with it, but rather allow him a few minutes' grace, and gradually divert his attention from one thing to another. Do not unneces- sarily thwart your children in their little objects ; for how- ever insignificant they may appear to you, they are all-im- portant to them, and pursued with proportionate eagerness. COMBATIVENESS. 17 The temper of no child is proof, or ought to be proof, against the frequent, useless intermeddling of some parents and nurses, by whom he is allowed to bring nothing to an end, and obliged to relinquish all his little projects uncom- pleted. The more a child possesses of the spirit of oppo- sition, the more uniformly kind and considerate should its instructors be. The feeling is still more unmanageable in advanced childhood, when it becomes associated with false notions of honour and glory; boys will fight with one another for the sake of eclat in the eyes of their companions, just as silly children of a larger growth, will shoot one another in submission to the world's opinion. It is said that this love of fig*hting was thus managed in an academy of note. By a regulation of the school, one boy may, if he choose, challenge another, but the fight must take place apart from all the schoolfellows, in the presence of the master, before whom the parties have carte-blanche to pummel each other as much as they please. One boy challenged another ; a rumour of it reached the master's ears — he immediately ordered the parties into his study, and told them he understood they wished to fight, — he had not the least objection to it, and therefore begged them to shut the door and begin. The two lads looked very foolish, eyed each other and the ground sheepishly for some time, whilst the master stood gravely waiting for the onset. It was in vain, the combat was stripped of its chief fascination, the wonder and admiration of the bystanders, the ardour of the combatants was extinguished, and they had no inclina- tion left to strike a blow. The laws of fighting being 18 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. regulated after the above precedent, scarcely another match has been known to take place. The most important thing to be inculcated in the direc- tion of this faculty is, that it should never be exercised but in connexion with the sense of duty ; so indissoluble should be the association between them, that the disposition to contend and dispute should never arise, without the voice of conscience urging the question, " Is it consistent with the rights of others, with truth and justice, to contend this point ?" The minds of many persons are kept in a continual ferment by the predominance of this feeling, and of self- , esteem, which leads them even to resent as an offence on the part of others, conduct in which not the slightest offence was intended. At a single word construed by them into an 4 indignity, or into a disposition to injure them, the feeling is in arms, all comfort and equanimity of temper is destroyed, and the unhappy individual suffers far more mentally, than he could have done from the offence, had it been real instead of imaginary. The conduct of the inferior animals might afford many a useful lesson to man on this point, as on many others, if he would but receive it. An invalid lay watching a kitten which took possession of a chair, and laid itself comfortably down to sleep in it. It was rudely disturbed, — it quietly resumed its nap. Half-a-dozen times was this repeated, and as many times 'it composed itself to rest again. " Now," thought the observer, " the kitten is wiser than I should have been ! I should have been too much irritated by this time to sleep at all." But we must not only control and guide the feeling, but COMBATIVENESS. 19 where it is deficient take means to stimulate and strengthen it. Constantly encourage the child to meet and overcome obstacles without your aid, and never let him rest satisfied to leave anything half-finished. Dangers and difficulties must he daily created. Riding, climbing, and for some children, even shooting and hunting may be resorted to for this purpose. We must not hide danger, or always guard children from it by our power and experience, but teach them to meet it boldly. Let them know the conse- quences to be incurred, and the pain to be borne, and teach them to bear it. Courage consists in meeting danger, not in blindly overlooking it. DESTRUCTIVENESS. Nature bestows no qualities which are not intended to conduce to the good of the individual, and to his fellow- beings ; this endowment, though most mischievous in its abuse, in its right application exerts a beneficial effect upon the character and conduct of man. It is supposed to give the inclination to destroy ; perhaps we may better define it to be, in its use — 'the power and energy to inflict pain for wise and benevolent purposes; in its abuse— the desire of inflicting pain for the sake of giving pain. As, in this world, we must cut down the briars and thorns before we can plant the flowers and fruit, — as we must often probe the wound we wish to heal, — the value of the principle which urges us to the work, is beyond dis- pute. To check its action when it passes the limits of benevolence, should be the aim of education. 20 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. This aim will be better understood, if we reflect, that the feeling in its proper state helps to produce energy of cha- rater, boldness of execution, indignation against wrongs and, as above expressed, resolution to inflict necessarjf pain ; but uncontrolled by the superior faculties, — anger, passion, revenge, cruelty, the love of tormenting. These latter manifestations of destructiveness often make their appearance very early. Some young children have a strange propensity to torture and kill flies, and other little animals within their reach ; which pro- pensity entirely disappears in after life, when other feelings have combined to temper the pure destructive instinct. It is obviously expedient never to excite the faculty, by allowing a child to witness any act of destruction whatever ; as little as possible to make allusion to killing and cruelty of any kind; and always to avoid associating the animal food eaten at table with the lambs, pigs, or poultry he meets with in his daily walks. The charge of favourite animals will have the best tendency to counteract the propensity, by creating a habit of kindly feeling towards living creatures. If parents or teachers have unfortunately a constitutional repugnance towards some species of animals, they will do well to con- ceal it, and, like a lady of our acquaintance, allow her lap to be filled with black beetles, rather than communicate a shudder of disgust ; since the feelings of dislike and fear in young children are seldom unaccom- panied by those of anger and cruelty, although they may be in ourselves. The expression of it in petty revenge is often foolishly encouraged by nurses, "Did the naughty stick fall down DESTRUCTIVENESS. 2 1 and hurt baby ? — beat naughty stick !" and even if a brother or sister are the offenders, the same amiable spirit of retaliation is impressed. We once trod inadvertently on the toes of a little cherub-faced girl ; she pursued us like a fury, and would not be appeased till she had stamped on our toes in return. Parents themselves fre- quently punish their children on the same principle, for an involuntary error, provided its consequences be vexatious to themselves. The tone of correction, in general, par- takes too much of passion and the spirit of revenge rather than of sorrow and of love. Whilst this is the case, we cannot expect children to learn to subdue the irritation of temper they feel, when anything displeases them, and the habit once formed of giving way to it, will be most difl&cult of subjection in after life. When, united with an excess of this feeling, there is a considerable love of opposition in a child, the temper becomes extremely difficult to manage, and perhaps the only way to succeed, is to avoid as much as possible all occasions of exciting it, that the feeling may decrease for want of exercise ; whilst at the same time we cultivate diligently the moral and reasoning powers to oppose it. Even in the cradle the discipline should be begun ; everything that is liable to excite the temper, to rouse the irascible feelings, should as far as possible be avoided, and when once excited, instead of leaving the child to cry and wear its passion out, its attention should be diverted and its feelings changed. From want of proper caution in small instances like this, a child frequently commences life with a bias in the temper and disposition, not easily to be remedied. Sometimes, when the outward burst of passion is con- 22 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. quered, the feeling which dictates it finds vent in spiteful actions, ill-natured words ; in more advanced life, in bitter sarcasm, cutting inuendos. Let the young be taught, that the amount of pain which is given to others under the in- fluence of such a feeling, is the measure of the offence committed, whatever may be the tone or gesture which accompanies it. The love of mischief seems to arise partly from this propensity, and partly from the want of proper occupation for a restless, active spirit. Let children have plenty of useful and innocent employment found for them, and they will not be so fond of exercising their faculties to the destruction of things around them. The feeling, like all others, is most readily caught from sympathy. An atmosphere of passion and destructive feeling may be created, and, as we have seen, an ordinarily mild, kind, and polite people, breathing and stimulated by such an atmosphere, may become cruel and ferocious, and live in a sea of blood. Benevolence, kindness, justice, best control this faculty. SECRETIVENESS. The mind requires a covering as much as the body, and this faculty furnishes the desire to conceal thoughts and feelings which are better not exposed. It is true that " the truth must not be told at all times," that true wisdom and benevolence often forbid the utterance of the thought which is in our hearts ; that it is better to suppress an unworthy feeling or idea, than by publishing it to excite corresponding ones in other minds ; but, however valuable OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SECRETIVENESS. 23 secretiveness, or the tendency to conceal, may be in ma- tured life, as assisting in the formation of proper reserve, prudence, and that " better part of valour — discretion ;" the instinct requires less notice in early childhood with respect to its use, than its abuse. It is necessary clearly to see the young mind in all its inmost workings, as well as outward manifestations, in order to direct it aright. A child should therefore re- pose unlimited confidence in one or both of his parents ; and that he may be encouraged to this, fear should be banished from the intercourse ; the child should learn to look upon them as sympathizing friends, who will enter into all his feelings, and enjoyments, and to whom he may freely communicate his thoughts upon all occasions. They will thus be able to give the right direction to the feelings and propensities, and uproot error before its growth shall have injured, as all error must do, the truths already planted. It is scarcely credible to those who have not minutely observed it, to what a train of errors one false perception will give rise in the mind of a child. A French author justly observes on this subject, " Error, dangerous in itself, is still more so by propagation : one produces many. Every man compares more or less his ideas to- gether. If he adopt a false idea, that united with others produces such as are necessarily false, which combining again with all those which his memory contains, gives to all of them a greater or less tinge of falsehood." Again he says, " A single error is sufficient to degrade a people, to obscure the whole horizon of their ideas." These errors can only be properly removed at their source, which is not easily discovered unless children are in the habit of con- 24 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. liding closely in their instructor ; if he be a judicious one he will not despise their little ideas, nor ridicule their mistakes, or simple misapprehensions. A child who was very literal in his ideas, had often heard the passage of Scripture read, "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered," and received from it the idea, that a figure denoting its particular number was inscribed on each hair. One day his brothers and sisters were amusing themselves with a microscope, and called him eagerly to look through it at a few hairs placed underneath. He looked at it earnestly for some time, and then muttered, " I don't see the number !" His compa- nions laughed at the absurdity of his exclamation. He was abashed at their laughter, and did not explain, but the idea remained in his mind that the Bible had said some- thing that was not true. It is the duty of parents to qualify themselves in every way for answering the questions of their children ; who, when satisfied of their willingness to do this upon all subjects they can understand, will rest contented to leave others unfitted for them, to be explained at a future period. If parents are not at liberty, or are not able to answer to the call for information from their children, let them not repulse them angrily, or by prevarication, but, if possible, depute some one to the office who has time, and is properly qualified. Where such confidence as we have described exists between parents and their child, there is little danger to be apprehended even from a naturally secretive disposition, because they will be able to see its workings, and counteract them where they are tending to evil. They will encourage SECRETIVKNESS. 25 the confession of faults by leniency, and prove to the offender that openness is more advantageous than con- cealment. When a child with such a disposition is treated with severity or indifference, when his thoughts and feel- ings, if he does utter them, are disregarded, when the avowal of a fault draws down the chastisement instead of averting it, what can we expect but that he should use cunning to attain his washes, and falsehood to evade punishment ? If deceit and lying be made his interest, he will practise them. The summary modes of punishment still in frequent use, such as corporal punishment, solitary confinement, or tasks for all species of misconduct, have a strong tendency to call the propensity we are speaking of into exercise. Children not seeing the connexion between the penalty and the offence, naturally enough conclude, that to avoid the former, they have only to conceal the latter. The proper punishment for a fault which God himself has ap- pointed for us, is the natural consequences of the error. We should, therefore, in order to correct a fault, allow these natural consequences to fall upon the child, who will thus generally see the connexion between them, and ab- stain from its commission in future ; but when these con- sequences are not plainly discernible, or are too remote to operate sufficiently, the punishment should have reference to the offence. For example, he is permitted to play in a garden upon condition that he wilfully damage nothing ; he tramples down the young and tender plants to reach the unripe fruit, which he plucks — the natural consequence is the loss of the flowers and fruit in their season. But he has also broken the condition on which he was admitted 26 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. — the punishment for this is exclusion from the privilege, until a sincere conviction of his error vouches for his better fulfilment of it. Or, in a fit of passion, he may- have hurt or injured his companions — the natural punish- ment is the being left by them, until the state of mind which induced the commission of the fault is changed, and he seeks their society and forgiveness, sensible of his own error in alienating the kindness of those whose companion- ship is necessary to his happiness. The only proper and effective remedy for error is to show why it is error, and to excite the desire to correct it ; merely to forbid it under certain penalties, without this conviction of the understand- ing, rather induces the child to commit it, when he can do so with impunity. As motives to obedience, the selfish feelings should be appealed to as little as possible, even in early childhood ; and when the moral feelings have been cultivated and strengthened, not in any case. Thus we should not appeal to a child's appetite, or his fear, to his desire of applause, or pride ; but to his sense of right, his desire to make us happy, his love and veneration for God, from whom, as he may soon be taught to perceive, all his enjoyments proceed. Whilst we deprecate most earnestly the abuse of the faculty under notice, we must not omit entirely its use, even in childhood. Under the guidance of the moral powers, it gives rise to some valuable qualities of mind, to a prudent reserve, and in after life to a judicious tact and management, to a proper regard for time, place, and cir- cumstance. It will put a bridle on the tongue, and enable us to conceal those feelings which the deceit or selfishness of others would take advantage of,— for we must not ** wear SECRETIVENESS. 27 our heart upon our sleeves, for daws to peck at." Children under this influence will suppress the outward indication of the selfish feelings, that they may not interfere with the enjoyment of others. They will bear pain without com- plaining, tha;t they may not give pain to those around them ; they will prefer to keep their uneasy sensations to themselves, rather than oblige everybody near to partici- pate in them. They will be modest and unobtrusive, not demanding for their ideas, their concerns, first attention, but repressing their impatience until their turn for notice arrives. An open, frank, ingenuous disposition is the most lovely of all, and that to which we can the soonest attach our- selves ; but it does not always follow that a child of re- served temper is disingenuous ; love of truth, candour of spirit, and a warm affectionate disposition may dwell under the natural reserve. Kindness and trust will cherish and draw forth the best feelings of such a nature, while severity and suspicion will act upon it with most baneful influence. We should always avoid all double dealing, or even double meaning. Let us never make any profession before children which we do not mean, — profess, for instance, to be glad to see people whom we are not glad to see, and whom immediately before we were speaking against. If we ever wear two faces, children will soon learn to imi- tate us. Magna est Veritas et prevalebit. If we can but early instil a sound faith in this maxim, cunning and roundabout courses will be avoided, and never be thought worth the trouble. The love of truth and candour can never be cultivated 28 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. with success whilst children see a disregard of it in others. If it were universal, if the light of truth were permitted to shine upon our characters and conduct, how much bet- ter should we feel ourselves obliged to be, what a different race should we become ! Thousands of actions which are now performed because we think no one sees them, or will find out the motives that induced them, would be replaced by such as would bear the daylight. A sound writer ob- serves, " There is nothing that we ought to reject with more unalterable firmness, than an action that by its con- sequences reduces us to the necessity of duplicity and con- cealment. No man can be eminently respectable, or amiable, or useful, who is not distinguished for the frank- ness and candour of his manners. This is the grand fascination by which we lay hold of the hearts of our neighbours, conciliate their attention, and render virtue an irresistible object of imitation." ACQUISITIVENESS. The love of acquisition is so widely spread in the world, that, as in the case of the last-mentioned faculty, we have far less occasion to advert to its use, than to its abuse. We mtist accumulate, to provide against want, both for our own sakes and for that of our offspring, who for years are unable to provide for themselves, — and this is its use ; but to its almost universal abuse, and to the want, in general, of clear ideas as to the nature of real happiness, are owing most of the prevalent evils of society at the present day. It is this faculty which induces individual accumulation. ACQUISITIVENESS. 29 and upon which the law of property is based. This law may have well served an infant world, but the consequence of it now is, that the world, and all that is in it, is appro- priated, and those who come into it with nothing but their labour for their support, are allowed to labour only upon such terms as will barely furnish the necessaries of life ; and if that labour is not wanted, for all that they who are in possession care, they may go back to the place from whence they came, if such place can be discovered. " We must live," says one : " We do not see the necessity," says the other. Boys are brought up to consider the acquirement of pro- perty as almost the chief end and aim of their existence; and if not the letter, this is at least the spirit of the instructions they receive : business must be attended to before every- thing else, and all other duties are to give place to it. In this faculty we have an illustration of what may be done in the cultivation and strengthening of the feelings, for we continually meet with instances in which it has become so strong by constant action, that the whole life is spent in its exercise, from the mere love of acquiring, without reference to the end for which acquisition is made. More frequently, however, persons amass all they can with the object of purchasing with it, not any addition to the happi- ness of all around them, but what they conceive to be a higher place in the scale of society, by means of a larger establishment, horses, carriages, a luxurious table, and a magnificent appropriation of every animal gratification; and in the midst of the most lavish expenditure, acquisitive- ness is in full activity, heaping up luxuries round about the centre, self. 30 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. How different from this the beautiful spirit of Chris- tianity! "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." "Take no thought saying, what shall we eat ? or what shall we drink ? or wherewithal shall we be clothed P But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you." To feed the hungry and clothe the naked, to befriend the friendless and to raise fallen worth — these are Christian uses of wealth. From whom do we receive our life, and health, and strength, and intellect, our capacities for acquiring ? — from God : we derive nothing from ourselves ; let our acquisitions, therefore, be spent in his service — in furthering the ends of creation, the development of mind, and the perfection and happiness of being. Let the dictates of the moral feelings and intellect be obeyed first, let us satisfy the demands of religion and benevolence, and we shall find that our own immediate interest has been prospering meanwhile the utmost possible, although that interest cannot perhaps be measured by pounds sterling. A child should be taught to set no value upon anything, except in proportion to its utility to others as well as to himself. The two ideas — the thing, and its use, should never be disjoined. The disposition to hoard, to collect a number of things together for the mere sake of being possessed of them, of calling them " mine," should in every instance be repressed, and they should only be valued as the means of giving pleasure to others. "What more common ground of nursery strife than the love of possession ? The child tired of its plaything, throws it carelessly aside, until his little brother takes it up ; the feel- ing rises, — he instantly snatches at it, and cries, " Johnnie ACQUISITIVENESS. 31 shan't have it ! It is mi'm ! Papa gave it to me /" Johnnie thinks present possession a good title, and holds it fast. A struggle, and perhaps fight ensues, until nurse settles the question between justice and benevolence, as she best can, with very confused notions on the subject- most likely by an angry shake, or box on the ear of the elder combatant. It is not intended that children should not be taught to respect others' rights, but merely that they should learn to yield their own, when the happiness or good of others requires it. Many well-intentioned persons in whom the propensity to acquire is strong, from its having been in constant exercise all their lives, foster selfishness and avarice in their children, while they think only that they are engen- dering a proper spirit of economy. Many wise saws are employed for this purpose, such as " a penny saved is a penny gained," &c. If we blame the selfish hoarding of that which might be made most beneficial to others, the waste of it is still more reprehensible ; the needless waste of one particle which would be serviceable to others, is a dereliction of right. The frugality which avoids this is so distinct in its nature from covetousness, that it may safely be insisted on with children without fear of making them miserly. As the abuse of Secretiveness leads to lying, so the abuse of this faculty leads to theft ; but both feelings must be badly trained indeed, ever to lead to such low and disreputable vices. Avarice and covetousness also arise from the undue activity of Acquisitiveness. But we suspect that other abuses of this feeling will be found 32 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. besides these which lie so evidently upon the surface. If a man consumes more than he produces, it certainly must be at some other's expense. What a man re- ceives for his labour now, in no way depends upon what he produces, but upon laws of supply and demand, and laissez-faire — a species of jugglery, called political econo- my — by which nine-tenths of humanity are kept in bondage to the other tenth. CONSTRUCTIVENESS. As the last faculty gives the desire to acquire and ac- cumulate, so this gives the desire to construct, to make machines, and to use tools to enable us to do so. At first sight it may seem to have little to do with moral educa- tion, but if employment be necessary to the health of both body and mind, it is very desirable to cultivate that power which disposes us to seek it. In some children its development is so remarkable that it cannot remain unnoticed. Their little fingers are always trying to execute the designs shadowed forth in their imaginations, and though the fair image is apt to look very clumsy and ill-proportioned when it is embodied, the young operatives acquire manual dexterity in their re- peated attempts to accomplish their ideas, until the well- rigged boat, the freely-working steam-engine, stand forth in miniature perfection to reward their perseverance. In such cases the faculty will, unless checked by peculiar ob- stacles, go on developing itself, until it leads to success in some branch of science or the arts which requires mecha- CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 33 nical skill;* but in few children is the propensity so deficient that they might not always employ themselves profitably in its cultivation, if materials were afforded them, and if the usual prohibition were not laid upon " making a litter." Persons who teach music, the piano for instance, know how desirable it is that their pugils should begin early to use the keys, as their fingers then acquire a facility which cannot be attained in after life ; in the same manner children, under the instinctive impulses of this propensity, if properly assisted and instructed, gain a mechanical dexterity of infinite service to them in almost all the pur- suits of life, and which might very much lessen the neces- sary term of apprenticeship to any manual employment. "When this facility in the use of the fingers is not acquired early, and when the natural disposition to it is deficient, it can seldom be afterwards attained, and an inaptitude for all manual operations will be conspicuous through life. Building houses, bridges, &c., with wooden bricks, or with cards, joining dissected maps, cutting figures in paper, drawing, are all exercises of this faculty, and therefore useful in-door amusements ; but it should be borne in mind that children are always happier, when a pleasant employment to them, is also of use to their elders, and they will work with great alacrity at it, if their attention be not confined too long. As boys grow older, the juvenile workshop will become an excellent school for the propensity. * It might seem unnecessary to point out the absurdity of com- pelling such, children to enter into a line of profession, quite at variance with this natural taste, if we did not so often see it committed. F 34 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. In all ranks, power and skill in the use of the hands are most desirable. Vacant minutes and hours may then be filled up with useful and agreeable occupation, which would otherwise be devoted to listlessness and ennui, and the mind refreshed for renewed exertion. When the mind has been over-excited or disturbed, manual occupation tranquillizes it, and restores its equilibrium, when study would only increase the evil. In the tedium of sickness its assistance is invaluable, by gently drawing off the atten- tion from the languid and uneasy bodily feelings, which accompany the lighter degrees of suffering. The needle and its kindred labours are the never-failing resource of the one sex ; and where the faculty of con- structiveness has been properly educated, the pencil, the tool-box, the chemical apparatus, and many other imple- ments of art or science, will furnish the other with useful and interesting employment, in the intervals of more im- portant avocations, or of mental labours. CAUTIOUSNESS. Combativeness gives the desire to meet and to repel danger — Cautiousness, on the contrary, to avoid it. Here is one of Nature's frequent parodoxies ; but the result of the two feelings equally strong, would be caution, prudence, circumspection. A disposition in which this quality is super-abundant, will present some of the same difficulties in its manage- ment as those proceeding from a secretive temper. A dread of the consequences of speaking the truth may have the same effect as a disposition to hide it. When these original tendencies are found united, it will require a strong CAUTIOUSNESS. 35 exercise of the superior powers of the mind for the main- tenance of truth and sincerity on all occasions. Without, however, any disposition to deceit, we sometimes see children of a naturally timid temper guilty of falsehood under the strong dominion of fear. It does not follow ne- cessarily, that the character will prove false, for with the cultivation of the moral powers, moral courage will grow, until falsehood is feared more than truth, coupled with any consequences. The constant and earnest effort of the instructor must be to inspire the moral courage which shall dare to act uprightly, whatever may be the immediate consequences ; and also to put the prudence and circumspection which re- sult from a cautious disposition, under the guidance of benevolence, so that they may lead to watchful care and consideration for the interests and well-being of others, rather than to an over-anxiety for those of self. If the natural share of cautiousness be too small, in order to fortify the mind against rashness and precipita- tion, the understanding must be exercised in calculating the consequences of actions, and led to discern the mis- chiefs which may arise from hasty, ill advised conduct. How much pain and trouble often originate in one incon- siderate step, a few incautious words ! Cautiousness must be also considered in the relation it bears to physical, as well as to moral excitements. Before children understand the nature of the objects around them, they have reason to be cautious, and there- fore in them the feeling usually predominates. Education must step in to prevent caution from degenerating into timidity, and its deficiency from giving rise to heedless- 36 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. ness. If a child be heedless, the most effectual method of cure, when it can be adopted without serious mischief ensuing, is to let him perceive by experience the conse- quences of his rashness. If he will put his hand too near the fire, let him be burnt ; if he will over-balance himself, let him fall down ; if he will teaze the cat, let her scratch him ; and these self-taught lessons will make a more last- ing impression, than many a prudent warning or angry admonition. On the other hand, children who are natu- rally timid, are frequently made cowards by the injudicious care and attention of those around. For example, the child in attempting to run alone, tumbles and falls down ; the whole family starts up alarmed ; anxious enquiries and ejaculations are poured into the child's ears, until he begins to find out, what he would scarcely have known otherwise, that he has been hurt. Then commences a roar, and then are redoubled the expressions of commise- ration, and meanwhile the child thinks to himself " What a perilous adventure ! What a little hero I was to tumble down !" A thousand unheeded bruises would do him less harm than the ill-timed sympathy. From having every trifling mishap made a matter of such prodigious import- ance, he will soon learn to consider pain a mighty evil, and his own pain especially to be lamented and guarded against, and in all probability will grow up one of those selfish, calculating persons, who never can persuade them- selves to do a good action, without being first morally certain that not the slightest inconvenience will be thereby entailed upon themselves. We do not mean to say that children are to be treated with unkindness and neglect ; but it is truer kindness to render the mind superior to pains and trials, than to deliver it up to them in bondage. CAUTIOUSNESS. 37 We may hope that the time is almost gone by, when the fears of children are purposely excited by imaginary objects of terror, when superstition is engendered for life, in order to enforce temporary obedience ; — the folly, the cruelty, the wickedness of this practice, becomes more and more obvious as the world advances in intellect ; but there is still another fear which is sometimes too much im- pressed upon the minds of children, and this is — the fear of death. The representations of death itself in pic- tures, and in pictures too that are given to children for their amusement, are of a hideous and revolting kind. The accompanying circumstances of death, church- yards, sepulchres, and coffins, are associated in their minds with dreariness, gloom, and superstitious hor- rors. "A child came running into its mother's room one day, sobbing violently, 'Mamma, Mamma, I don't like to die ; all the dirt will get into my eyes !' and thus it is we spoil the wise arrangements of Providence I intro- ducing them to the childish mind before it can take any but the most partial possible view of them. The child will probably never lose the impression which he that day had received from his maid ; perhaps will never feel the charm which there is in the thought of that gentle sleep, which dissolves our mortal body, and perhaps reposes the spirit, intervening between its earthly and heavenly career."* There is more to be feared from excessive timidity than from too great rashness ; we should, therefore, be careful to give this faculty as little stimulant, as little exercise as possible — for every faculty is strengthened by exercise, and weakened by inactivity. Children can no more help * Monthly Repository. 38 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. feeling afraid than they can help feeling the tooth-ache. It is absurd, therefore, and very injudicious only to laugh at their fears, unless a cheerful laugh will help to dispel them, and restore confidence. We ought to protect children as much as possible from imaginary fears, until they are of an age to see their groundlessness, and until other feel- ings have acquired sufficient strength to supply moral courage. Feelings are aroused more by sympathy with others, than by precept and lectures ; particularly is fear caught from what is seen of the feeling manifested by those about us. Richter says, " One scream of fear from a mother may resound through the whole life of her daugh- ter ; for no rational discourse can extinguish the mother's scream."* Early fears have nothing to do with reason, and are to be treated as we would treat a bodily ailment. However unreasonable their fears, do not force children to bear them : show their groundlessness, if possible, and accustom them to objects of terror by degrees. Never let us judge of their state of mind by our own. We say this equally with reference to all the feelings, for in no case are the feelings of a child and of a grown-up person alike. This too common mistake of judging child- ren by ourselves is productive of infinite error and wrong. Timidity, over-caution, indecision, arise from the excess of cautiousness, and such weaknesses are incompatible with greatness, or even with success in any high object. LOVE OF LIFE. This faculty produces an instinctive wish to preserve life for its own sake, independently of the pleasure or pain * Levana, or The Doctrine of Education. LOVE OF LIFE. 39 with which it may be accompanied. It induces men to cling to life in circumstances in which otherwise existence might not be thought desirable. This instinctive feeling it is which perhaps, more than reason or principle, pre- vents men escaping from temporary suffering by suicide. It is this feeling, assisted by Hope and Wonder, which has, in all countries, unaided by a supernatural revelation, ori- ginated the idea of a future state. Little can be said here with reference to the education of the feeling, although much mischief results from the too common mode of treat- ing the subject of death. The consequence of the injudi- cious representations so frequently made, is the great dread of death that sometimes embitters the whole of life. The only antidote to which feeling is the faith which casteth away fear, whereby we are enabled to place our ultimate fate, with unbounded confidence, in the hands of our Father who is in Heaven. THE SELF-REGARDING FEELINGS. SELF-ESTEEM. Self-esteem must not be confounded with selfishness, which belongs to all the lower feelings of our nature, al- though when naturally powerful, or when undisciplined by the superior faculties, it fearfully increases their activity. Self-respect or esteem of ourselves, when associated, as it ought to be, with the moral sentiments, is a powerful in- strument of good. It is absolutely essential to decision of character, and to the maintenance of a straightforward 40 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. course in the path of rectitude ; for as we can without it have no reliance upon ourselves, no faith in our own judg- ment, we shall be continually liable to swerve on one side or the other, under the influences of opposing opinions. It is better perhaps, upon the whole, to have too much rather than too little of the feeling. Of those who have put themselves prominently forward in the world, either for good or for evil, few have been deficient in it. The fear of self-degradation is a powerful aid in the resistance against temptation. Honour, which is in most cases ano- ther name for self-esteem, when properly founded, cannot allow its possessor to descend to meanness, to improper pursuits or companions, and it will do much to prevent the debasing indulgence of the inferior propensities. Richter says, " Do not fear the rise of the sentiment of honour, which is nothing worse than the rough husk of self-esteem, or the expanded cover of the tender wings which elevate above the earth, and its flowers. But to raise and ennoble that honour of the individual into honour of the race, and that again into honour of the worth of mind, never praise him who has gained a prize, but those who rank below him ; give the honourable title, not as a distinction for the steps which have been mounted, but as a notification of neighbourhood to what is higher : and lastly, let your praise afford more pleasure because it shows that you are pleased than for the distinction it gives." And what is a proper foundation for self-respect ? The consciousness that our feelings and conduct obey, in the main, the dictates of duty and benevolence, and that these latter reign too powerfully in our minds, to permit any unworthy passion to acquire dominion over us. If, instead SELF-ESTEEM. 41 of this ground for self-respect, we value ourselves upon possessions, external advantages, or accomplishments, upon anything whatever which appeals to our inferior nature, self-esteem will degenerate into self-importance and pride. In children we continually see the faculty called into ex- ercise by objects that should never be allowed to excite it ; they are noticed for being "nicely dressed," or for their good looks ; for their activity and cleverness in some par- ticular way ; for being able to recite fluently a number of words with which their memory has been loaded, without much thought of their meaning ; and for numberless things which have no excellence in themselves, but which produce an abundant crop of conceit. We have some times thought that at a very early age, the feeling of self-importance is unduly excited in children, even under the most enlightened management. The soli- citude which they observe in all around them for their comfort and enjoyment, the watchful care which even anticipates their wants and wishes, the immediate sym- pathy which all their feelings receive, conspire to give them ideas of their own importance, destined to be cruelly upset when the attractions of infancy are over, if indeed, these ideas do not produce a lasting impression on the character. If a child has naturally a large share of the disposition under consideration, reproof, unless very judiciously ad- ministered, and still more contempt or ridicule, will be apt to increase rather than to subdue it. Instead of engen- dering humility, they will urge on the feeling to its perver- sion, self-sufliciency, and create perhaps a moroseness and 42 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. closeness of temper, which beyond anything else shuts up the mind from happiness and improvement. "When the feeling is in excess, there will be a constant use of **I," and " Myself." Everything will centre in or move round this " I, myself," and everything be regarded only as it has reference to this important first person singular. Such children will constantly require to be kept back. The charm of modesty will always be wanting in their character. They will commence a conversation with strangers on terms of perfect equality, like a young ac- quaintance of ours, whose comments upon his mother's education of his younger brothers and sisters, show how far more capable of the task he conceives himself to be ; or like another little friend, sit like a Sovereign Princess on her throne, to receive, with complacent dignity, the adulation of her admirers. In early management, it will be better not to notice this self-worship and self-exaltation ; to be careful not to repeat the child's sayings and doings, and above all things to endeavour to excite an interest in things themselves for their own sake. Interest children all day long in their studies, pursuits, calling, or occupa- tion, and give them no time to think of themselves. Of course we do not mean by this, to exclude self-knowledge, of all knowledge the most desirable in such a case. If children are made to feel how all that we possess of real beauty and excellence, whether in body or mind, is the gift of God, without any merit on our part, — how much more of excellence and beauty we might possess, had we used due diligence, — how great are our faults and defi- ciencies, compared to that excellence of which we can con- ceive, — it is almost impossible but that it must engender SELF-ESTEEM. 43 humility, and prevent them from thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to think. The feeling may be too weak, and then it must be stimulated. The abuses of this feeling are very numerous. In childhood its excess gives rise to pettishness and wilful- ness, to impatience of control, and rebellion against authority, and to an extreme sensitiveness and readi- ness to take offence. Later in life, it produces pride, arrogance, conceit, love of power, dogmatism, insolence, tyranny ; everything is over-rated connected with self; in common language, " the geese are all swans." The only effectual check to all abuses of this feeling, is the principle which should be implanted in children from their earliest years, viz., that they must esteem themselves only in proportion to their usefulness, and to the happiness they occasion to others ; not on account of what they pos- sess, but on account of the manner in which they make use of their possessions. LOVE OF APPI10BA.TI0N. The desire of standing well in the estimation of others, is one of the most powerful motives to human action, and as public opinion generally takes the side of virtue, is a strong check upon the predominance of the selfish passions in society ; nevertheless, being but a secondary motive, it must be carefully confined within its proper bounds, and the feeling will then only induce so much regard for the approval of others, as is consistent with the dictates of the 44 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. moral sense. So guarded, it becomes the source of one of our purest pleasures — the sympathy and approbation of the wise and good. Under proper culture, children in early infancy will look to the approbation of their parents as their chief reward, and to their disapprobation as their chief punishment. The sentiment is, therefore, one of high importance in the first stage of existence, and the more it is exercised in that direction, to the exclusion of all other rewards and penalties, the better. But as the intellectual and moral powers grow in strength, its importance will proportion ably decrease, until it attains its just rank amongst the other instincts. This craving for admiration is, however, so rarely managed judiciously in childhood, that we seldom see it in mature years subservient to the higher powers, "When other feelings have arrived at sufficient strength and maturity, it would be as well to drop the appeal to this altogether. Let the motive be love, or respect, or conscience, or kindness, not praise. Praise, the ap- proval of others, is continually substituted as the incen- tive to good conduct, for those higher motives to which we have before alluded — the satisfaction which results from having done right, and of having assisted to make others happy. " Let Miss Such-an-one hear how well you can say pretty prayers," is a case in point. The lesson some- times takes a w^orse form. " Do so and so, my darling, and then Mamma will love you better than brother Harry." It would be well if the pleasure of parents in good conduct took oftener the character of sympathy than of approbation, that the expression should not be so much in the form, " You have been good to-day, and Mamma loves LOVE OF APPROBATION. 45 you for it," as, " because Mamma loves you, she is glad with you that you have been good to-day." It is not intended that praise should not accompany right conduct, but that the pleasure thus excited should be kept subordinate to the higher one. When the higher: one appears to be a sufficient motive, a wise parent will be careful how he add the lower one, lest it should be the means of weakening instead of strengthening the power of the former. He will make his child understand, that the world frequently condemns what is right and approves of what is wrong, and therefore to enable himself to persevere in the path of duty, he must learn to feel the conscious- ness of self-approval a sufficient reward. Self-respect is necessary to this end, and with such a view the feeling which excites it must be cultivated, if it appear to be naturally deficient. Richter says, " The desire to please with some good quality which rules only in the visible or external kingdom, is so innocent and right, that the opposite, to be indifferent, or disagreeable, to the eye or ear, would even be wrong. "Why should a painter dress to please the eye, and not his wife ? I grant you there is a poisonous vanity and love of approbation ; that, namely, which lowers the inner kingdom to an outer one, spreads out sentiments as snaring nets for the eye and ear, and degradingly buys and sells itself with that which has real inherent value. Let a girl try to please with her appearance, and her dress, but never with holy sentiments ; a so-called fair devotee, who knew that she was so, and therefore knelt, would worship nothing save herself, the devil, and her admirer. Every mother, and every friend of the family, should keep a care- 46 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELIXGS. ful watch over their own wish to praise — often as danger- ous as that to hlame — which so easily names and praises an unconscious grace in the expressions of the heart, in the mien, or in the sentiments, and thereby converts it for ever into a conscious one ; that is to say, kills it." In some children, little girls especially, this appetite for admiration is so keen and insatiable, that not a word, look, or action escapes untinctured by some covert design upon the admiration of bystanders, and childhood loses entirely its two greatest charms, simplicity and impulsive- ness. It is most unfortunate when a mother is unconscious of the strength of this propensity in her child, and de- ceives herself by mistaking the goodness on the surface for real excellence, and fosters the weakness every minute by indiscriminating praise. Two children may be seen, the one with large love of approbation, the other with small. The latter will sit complacently eating her sweet- meats, without offering any to her companions, nothing disturbed by their longing looks, and the half injunctions of the elder bystanders to be a good, generous child, and give some away. The other child, with perhaps an equal love of eating, will eagerly, and somewhat ostentatiously, share all with her playfellows. The difference in the degree of virtue in the two children is not so great as that one should be reproached as a little selfish glutton, and the other extolled as a pattern of generosity : the difference is simply, that the one likes sugar-plums better than praise, and the other likes praise better than sugar- plums. Nevertheless, in nine cases out of ten, the dispo- sition of the latter is very much to be preferred, since the desire for approbation is a much higher feeling than the LOVE OF APPROBATION. 47 mere animal pleasure of eating ; and a generous action, done even from an imperfect motive, opens the heart, and renders it more fit for the reception of better influ- ences. The greedy child is hardened more and more after every act of greediness, and still more if it is chided, and made to dislike its companions, by being placed in odious comparison with them ; but a sunshine will be reflected into the breast of the little giver from the happy, grateful faces of the other children, which would be quite sufficient reward, if not overlaid and extinguished by an eulogium. Commendation in words is more likely to foster vanity than a kiss or look of affection. Comparisons with other children should be carefully avoided, and all that induces self-consciousness. For this reason, tales for their entertainment should be more about good children, that is, children who are naturally good, without any parade, than about good and bad children. Let us now speak of this faculty in its abuse. The love of dress exists in the present age in great excess, but let us be careful not to run into an opposite extreme. Beauty of body is desirable as well as excellence of mind, and in checking too great a display of personal vanity in our daughter, we must not inflict upon society an ill-dressed, ungraceful, slatternly blue, who values only mental superi- ority, to the entire neglect of the equally legitimate mode of pleasing by the person. Richter says, " While man finds a cothurnus on which to raise and show himself to the world in the judge's seat, literary rank, the professor's chair, or the car of victory, woman has nothing save her outward appearance whereon to raise and display her inner nature ; why pull from under her this lowly footstool Of THt \ UNIVERSITY J 48 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. of Venus ? * * We will now pass to the clothes-devil, as the old theologians formerly called the toilet. * * The preachers do not sufficiently bear in mind, that to a woman her dress is the third organ of the soul, (the body is the second and the brain the first,) and every upper garment one organ more. * * * Woman's love of dress has, along with cleanliness, which dwells on the very borders between physical nature and morality, a next-door neighbour in purity of heart. Why are all girls who go out to meet Princes with addresses and flowers, dressed in white ? The chief colour of the mentally and physically pure English woman is white. Hess found white banners used most in free countries ; and I find States all the more modest the freer they are. I will become no surety for the inner purity of a woman who, as a counterpart to the Dominicans, who wear white in the cloister, but black when abroad, only puts on the colour of purity when walking in the streets." * * * With reference to the over-love of dress, he says, " Animate the heart, and it no longer thirsts for common air, but for ether. No one is less vain than a bride. * * Ascribe to cleanliness, symmetry, propriety of dress, and all the aesthetic re- quisites of beauty, their brilliant and true worth ; so a daughter, like a poet, forgets herself in her art and in her ideal, and her own beauty in what is beautiful." * * * Finally, he says, " Woman's body is the pearl oyster ; whether this be brilliant and many-coloured, or rough and dark from the place of its birth, yet the pure white pearl within alone gives it value. I mean by this thy heart, thou good maiden — thou who expectest not to be appre- ciated, but only to be misunderstood '/' LOVE OF APPROBATION. 49 The ordinary modes of school-education tend to foster the excess. To stand above his schoolfellows is too much the object of the schoolboy's ambition, and he is naturally tempted to rejoice at their want of success which keeps them below him, rather than in their advance together with himself. The meanness and unworthy passions which often enter into the contest for a prize, are faithful types of those which the world displays on a larger scale. Envy and jealousy spring out of the love of approbation in excess, when uncontrolled by superior feelings, and all methods of education which tend to excite them are to be condemned. Zschokke says, "It is treason to the holy nature of childhood to address ourselves in the management of children rather to the covetousness of sordid self-interest, than to the innate consciousness of the true and the noble. The charlatanry of public school examinations was ba- nished from my seminary. They may sometimes prove the merits of the teachers, but never those of the pupils."* Childish vanity, another of the signs of this excess, should never be treated as a crime ; in some instances it might be advisable to let a child learn by experience the paltriness of the enjoyment arising from its gratification. For example, " C. was very vain of some jewels, the gift of an injudicious relative ; or as she emphatically called them, her do-ills. Day after day she asked to wear them ; day after day her mother said ' No,' but finding that to refuse was of no use, she was puzzled what course to adopt, until it occurred to her to let one fire put another out. Accordingly the next time C. applied to her for permission * Autobiography. H 50 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. to wear her do-illsy she answered, * Certainly, wear them if you please ; but you know these things are valuable because your Mamma's dear friend gave them to you; they must neither be lost nor spoiled. If you have them on, you must remain in this room, and even I think I should say, upon this chair, in order to be sure they are safe.' C. consented to the terms, and joyfully bedecked herself with her finery, and then stationed herself upon a chair. It was a fine evening in August, and the other children were out ; however for two hours C. persevered in sitting on the chair. At length she begged to have them taken off, and from that time to this (two years) the do-ills have never been mentioned but with an uncomfort- able feeling and a blush. The plan here adopted answered very well to check vanity in that direction ; but against vanity about dress and all other things, there is but one real remedy, the substitution of love of excellence for the love of excelling ; the development of the intellect also will bring about a just appreciation of the value of dress, &c., when weighed against mental superiority."* Bashfulness arises from an excess of the love of appro- bation, and modesty is ordinarily connected with a mode- rate self-esteem, but it has been well observed, " Bashful- ness and modesty, although so frequently confounded, have yet no necessary connection or relationship, and either may exist without the presence of the other. The former, or shamefacedness, as it is often called, is a weakness not unfrequently belonging to the physical constitution, and of which every one would gladly be relieved. It may be a quality of those even who are most impure in their feel- * Monthly Repository. LOVE OF APPROBATION. 51 ings, and when unrestrained, most immodest in their conversation. Modesty, on the other hand, pertains especially to the mind, is the subject of education, and the brightest, and I had almost said, the rarest gem that adorns the human character. That awkward diffidence, so frequently met with in the young of both sexes, is of a nature, too often, very little akin to modesty." However useful the desire of estimation, the love of ap- plause, fame, or glory may be, yet it must be admitted that the feeling from which these legitimate uses spring, is far too strong in the present day ; for it is this feeling which gives to public opinion and to fashion their power. How much is done from the fear of the folk, and of what Mrs. Grundy will say, instead of from the fear of God, or of doing wrong ; and who dares to be unfashionable, al- though fashion may cost him all real good ! Much, if not most, of what we regard as virtue in the world, is merely the tribute which vice pays to virtue — it is merely the seeming which this faculty puts on in deference to society, and to gain the name and the wages of virtue without its reality ; it is not real gold, only counterfeit. This feeling is essentially selfish in its nature, and its characteristic is to love distinction, not the excellence by which alone dis- tinction ought to be acquired ; it is satisfied with appear- ing to be, without being. And herein is the difference between the higher sentiments and this : that these act, the other only talks ; and yet it is very difficult for most people to distinguish between the counterfeit virtue and the real — to distinguish between what is done for applause and out of deference to the opinion of the society in which we live, and what is done from a real sense of rectitude. 52 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. People are even very apt to deceive themselves in this par- ticular. They have all their lives been wearing the clothes of virtue, and talking virtuously, and seeming virtuous, and even doing many virtuous acts ; and they wonder at the end of their lives that they are esteemed so lightly. But let such persons examine themselves carefully and honestly, as to whether there has not been more seem- ing than doing, and whether they have not taken care to get paid in applause for even what they have done. So- ciety, in consequence, instinctively feels that it owes them nothing. They have blown their own trumpet before them— they have let their right hand know what their left has done, and they have had their reward. That too many work for thanks and gratitude, and not from real benevolence or a sense of duty, is evidenced by the too common saying, " What is the use of helping such people, you get no thanks for your pains," or " What is the use of attempting to do good, you meet with nothing but ingratitude for your trouble," &c. ; whereas, had they been virtuous for virtue's sake — from a sense of duty or benevolence — no thanks or gratitude, which is only praise in another shape, would have been expected. The guinea which is extracted from us in our passage between the plates held by two fashionable or titled ladies, — do we ever think of it afterwards, or watch its application ? which we should do, if the good of the cause for which it was given was our object, instead of the payment of a tax to public opinion, and the fear of the folk : many subscriptious, and much Church-going, emanate from love of approbation alone. There are other minor abuses, such as flattering others, LOVE OF APPROBATION. 53 that they may praise us — sacrificing truth and sincerity rather than give ofifence; but their notice comes more properly under another head. If conscientiousness be naturally strong and well cultivated, there is no fear of the love of praise leading to insincerity and meanness. But society is too much given to follow in the beaten track of public opinion and fashion, and a greater inde- pendence of both than at present generally exists is most desirable. The study of the mental faculties, and the legitimate objects to which they point, will show us that mankind have set up false gods — that they worship golden calves — that the true end and aim of life is sacrificed to these idols, and that if we can but free ourselves from an undue thraldom to custom and habit and fashion, we may be much happier, and attain all that is worth living for, at a much less cost, and at a much less sacrifice. To achieve this emancipation, we must be early taught not to fear the world's dread laugh ; we must be prepared " to stand ap- proved in sight of God, though worlds judge us perverse." Let children then be early taught to set a true and just value upon public opinion. Show them how the world has always treated its greatest men — how it has stoned its Prophets, crucified its Saviours, martyred its Apostles. Show how fickle, how indiscriminating it is to this day — how ignorance speaks with the same confidence, or even with more, than knowledge, — how the heights and depths of the greatest minds are measured at once by the conceit of the smallest. Show how hard it is for people to praise, how easy to blame. Call the attention of the young to the kind of criticisms current of both men and things in this much- 54 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. dreaded society, and let them say, if they really seek excellence, whether they ought to value such criticism. When they have mastered any one subject, let them listen to the flippant, trivial, conceited, shallow judg- ments of the world of their acquaintance upon it, and let them learn from that to appreciate the worth of public opinion, and judge whether the desire of fame, based upon such a public opinion, is worth striving for, or ought much to influence their motives to action. To appreciate a great man, requires, if not one as great, still a great man, and the judgments of the world there- fore must be either borrowed or erroneous — more fre- quently the latter, as self-conceit usually supplies any deficiency of talent, — " Whatever Nature has in worth denied, She gives in large recruits of needful pride." Upon whom does Fame bestow her rewards ? Rarely upon those who most deserve them. Does conscience ap- prove the judgment even of the most intimate friends with respect to our characters ; how then can we expect the world, or posterity, to do justice ; and praise or blame that is not discriminating and just, who would value ? The originators of useful reforms are generally persecuted, they who really work, and in the modest quiet of their studies gradually prepare the world for new truths, are unnoticed and neglected ; but he who becomes the mouth- piece of this public opinion, who has brains enough to appreciate, but not to originate, and who can talk, this is the man whom the world pays, and fame immortalizes. THE SOCIAL AFFECTIONS. AMATIVENESS. This feeling produces love between the sexes. It is not developed in early life, and the period of its development is different in different constitutions. At the time of its coming into activity all the moral feelings also acquire greater strength, and become more active ; but of this fact, and of marriage to which this feeling leads we shall speak when we consider, in a subsequent chapter, the effects of the union of the mind with organization. Be- fore the period at which this feeling is developed, the boy or girl will have been instructed in the physiology of both mind and body — in the use and abuse of all their facul- ties, and there is no fear when all the other feelings have been properly trained, that this one will be abused. The mystery usually made to surround this subject, in no way furthers the promotion of true modesty, and ordinarily lets loose upon the mind much misdirected feeling, dis- turbing its balance, and unsettling its object. They whose experience is intended to guide the young should recollect that the object of their instruction should be to refine and idealize this propensity, and to associate it always with the higher feelings ; for when the feeling is constitutionally strong, it may act irrespective of all but itself. An all- absorbing feeling of love may co-exist with a perfect knowledge that the object of this passion is altogether unworthy of it. Never forget, therefore, " that a man has choice to begin love, but not to end it." 56 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. Love, based upon this faculty, becomes a passion and is undoubtedly the strongest feeling in our nature. While it exists it absorbs all other feelings, or at least is made the centre round which all other interests and feelings re- volve. It changes the whole nature, frequently giving force and power and brilliancy to the dullest clods of earth. But under its scorching influence, the homely, every-day duties of life, are dried up and become taste- less and insipid. It is a temperature in which the com- mon virtues cannot exist, they pale and die. Love, as a passion, therefore, is not intended to be a common state of mind, or ever to last long. Probably our first love ought ever to be our last, for its commencement, in all "well-regulated minds, being always controlable, it ought to be indulged only when it can lead to matrimony, and the use of so intense a heat of feeling is then to fuse two individual souls into one for life. Having answered this purpose of making two people one for life, the feeling cools down, it is no longer an all-absorbing passion, but takes its place among the other feelings in due relative propor- tion to them, first as love, and then as affection. Infinite mischief is done by that class of writers, principally of the French school, whose works tend to weaken the influence of the marriage tie, representing it as less sacred and less binding by nature than it is by custom ; who make a plaything of love, and whose heroes and heroines indulge a succession of little passions, not thinking the afi'ection which remains when passion is dead good enough for Buch exalted souls, whether the object of that affection be husband, wife, betrothed, or what not. This getting up a passion for one object after another, under the plea of PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. 57 sympathy of soul and intellect, superiority to convention, &c., may be a circumstance of much interest and plea- surable excitement in the pages of a novel, and even interwoven with much beauty of thought and sentiment. But in real life such principles are false, dangerous, ruin- ous. If love has been allowed to expand into passion at a proper time and upon a proper object, and if marriage has resulted, what were two people before, become so thoroughly one, that none of those cross loves take place afterwards which form the staple of the works of the writers we have characterized, and are the sole source of their absorbing interest. Marriage, under any circum- stances, without love, being opposed to all the laws of our nature, no writer fcan paint too strongly the evils which result ; but it is only in fiction that these evils are mitigated by casting away the duties which marriage always brings, and instead of seeking peace from friend- ship and conscience, filling the heart with miserable, selfish cravings. PHrLOPROGENITIVENESS. The love of offspring is what this term implies, but in the absence of children, its legitimate object, it is capable of taking a variety of other directions. It is sometimes manifested by children in a remarkable degree. In them it is generally directed towards the lower animals, and many are the good feelings and habits of mind which it excites and encourages. The child who loves his pet dog, his pet bird, supplies its wants, and protects it from danger ; he pays attention 58 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. to its habits, and learns how to make it happy. This love for his favourite may, and most likely will, extend itself to the whole sensitive creation. The knowledge he has thus acquired even of one individual, and the habit of tending it, will prevent him from showing cruelty to animals in general ; for cruelty more frequently originates in ignorance and thoughtlessness than in natural dispo- sition. The manifestation of this propensity is not confined to the animate creation — the inanimate claims a share. The little girl loves her doll, she dresses it, she puts it carefully to bed, she soothes its imagined distresses, she teaches it the lessons she has herself been taught, and exhorts it to obedience, in th# tone and manner to which she is most accustomed from her own instructor. The knowledge we communicate we fix more deeply in our own minds, and so strongly is the desire of having some- thing to teach, and something to take charge of, implanted within us, that we have known a little girl who had no companions, repeat her lessons, and the instructions given to herself, to a favourite rose-bush. No doubt that in this case, as well as in that of the doll, the child metamor- phoses in imagination the inanimate into a sensitive being. Some mothers have prohibited dolls to their children, under the idea that they excite love of dress, love of power, &c. ; and no doubt if these dispositions prevail, they will be manifested in this as in other modes ; but we are in- clined to think that when the feelings are in course of right training, a child's love for its doll will contribute to their proper exercise ; and that the delight most children take in these humble, and sometimes, headless, repre- PUILOPROGENITIVENESS. 59 sentatives of our race, is not only natural but beneficial. A feeling truly paternal is often shown by the elder branches of a family, either in the tendance of a baby brother or sister, in which the young nurse already learns the mother's lesson of watchful and active helpfulness, of fortitude, and self-denial, or in assisting the young com- panion through the difficulties of task-learning which they have themselves overcome. We think nothing can be more beneficial than this early habit of aiding the more feeble either in body or mind ; it gives root and nourish- ment to the great principle that all advantages are valu- able in proportion as they can be imparted to others, and be made to promote the general welfare. The care and attention of which children are the objects are liable to induce a selfish feeling of their own importance ; the best and most enlightened education only gives a more refined character to this selfishness, if its end be allowed to remain in itself. Let the improvement of their own minds be regarded as a means of doing good to others, and the feeling of which we are speaking is one of those which renders doing good to others pleasing. We need not fear that this guidance of those beneath them will foster self- esteem ; it may, on the contrary, teach children their own deficiency, and make them humble. So much for the cultivation of this feeling in early edu- cation ; its restraint belongs to a later period of life, and is a subject less frequently enforced. It is not often con- sidered that philoprogenitiveness is a mere extension of the directly selfish feeling ; that the overweening fondness of parents for their own children, as their own, is a branch of selfishness, and a powerful check upon the benevolent 60 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. feelings. A most ridiculous manifestation of this feeling is its transference to friends and visitors, and the showing- oflf of children before them. Aided by its strong light, a mother sees a thousand endearing characteristics in her offspring ; but such attributes are exactly those which cannot or ought not to be displayed. If it is a little red baby or a very young child that is expected to be admired, then the visitor is the victim ; if an older child is expected to show off its pretty ways, its unconscious prettiness or virtue is transformed into a conscious one, and the child is then no longer pretty or virtuous. It is singular that all parents can see this mistake in others, and yet so many practise it themselves, forgetting that philoprogenitiveness, which is the love of our own children, does not necessarily extend in a like degree to other people's. A more serious abuse of the faculty is where the father of a family toils to provide for his children, urges forward their interest in every possible way, spends his health, his life, in securing for them a favourable station in the world, and so thinks all his duties to society fulfilled — when the mother satis- fies her conscience in withdrawing from benevolent exer- tions, in relinquishing her place in the affections of her friends, because—" she has her family to attend to" — neither of them considering that the most valuable part of their children's education should be the witnessing of their efforts for the good of others, for the improvement of society, and promotion of general happiness. The children follow in the same course as the parents, and so the world makes little progress ; nor can it be ex- pected to make any whilst the main object of parents in the education of their children is— not that they may be PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. 61 happy -themselves in making others so — but, that " they may get on in the world." Much has been said and written about spoiling and pampering children, but we are disposed to think that there is more to fear from the opposite extreme of neglect and harshness. The great object in the management of children is to make them happy, to keep them constantly cheerful ; to allow no angry passion, no depressing feeling, no fears to take possession of the mind, but to keep the perpetual sunshine of hope and love always bright and clear. This can only be done by constant occupation, not in eating, but in well-selected bodily and mental pursuits. Kindness and gentleness shown towards child- ren, beget the like in them. If anger be shown towards or before children, it arouses the same feeling in them. Firmness, not anger, is required in controlling them. Dr. Combe, in his work on the Management of Infancy y says, — " Let us then not deceive ourselves, but ever bear in mind, that, what we desire our children to become, we must endeavour to be before them. If we wish them to grow up kind, gentle, affectionate, upright and true, we must habitually exhibit the same qualities as regulating principles in our conduct, because these qualities act as so many stimuli to the respective faculties in the child. If we cannot restrain our passions, but at one time over- whelm the young with kindness, and at another surprise and confound them by our caprice or deceit, we may, with as much reason, expect to gather grapes from thistles or figs from thorns, as to develop moral purity and simplicity of character in them. It is vain to argue that, because the infant intellect is feeble, it cannot detect the incon- 62 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. sistency which we practise. The feelings and reasoning faculties being perfectly distinct from each other, may, and sometimes do, act independently, and the feelings at once condemn, although the judgment may be unable to assign a reason for doing so. Here is another of the many admi- rable proofs which we meet with in the animal economy of the harmony and beauty which pervade all the works of God, and which render it impossible to pursue a right course without also doing a collateral good, or to pursue a wrong course without producing collateral evil. If the mother, for example, controls her own temper for the sake of her child, and endeavours systematically to seek the guidance of her higher and purer feelings in her general conduct, the good which results is not limited to the conse- quent improvement of the child. She herself becomes healthier and happier, and every day adds to the pleasure of success. If the mother, on the other hand, gives way to fits of passion, selfishness, caprice, and injustice, the evil is by no means limited to the suffering which she brings upon herself. Her child also suffers both in dispo- sition and happiness ; and while the mother receives, in the one case, the love and regard of all who come into communication with her, she rouses, in the other, only their fear or dislike. The remarkable influence of the mother, in modifying the disposition and forming the cha- racter of the child, has long been observed ; but it has attracted attention chiefly in the instances of intellectual superiority. "We have already seen that men of genius are generally descended from, and brought up by, mothers dis- tinguished for high mental endowments. In these cases, the original organization and mental constitution inherited PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. 63 from the parent are no doubt chiefly influential in the pro- duction of the genius. But many facts concur to show that the fostering care of the mother in promoting the development of the understanding, also contributes power- fully to the future excellence of the child ; and there is reason to believe that the predominance of the mother's influence upon the constitution of the offspring, in such cases, is partly to be ascribed to the care of the child devolving much more exclusively upon her than upon the father, during this the earliest and most impressionable period of its existence." Again, the Rev. C. Anderson, to the same effect, says, "In the laudable anxiety of their hearts, two parents, with a family of infants playing around their feet, are heard to say, * Oh ! what will, what can best educate these dear children ?' I reply. Look to yourselves and your circumstances. Your example will educate them ; your conversation with your friends ; the business they see you transact ; the likings and dislikings you express : these will educate them ; your domestics will educate them ; the society you live in will educate them ; and whatever be your rank or situation in life, your home, your table, and your behaviour there — these will educate them. To withdraw them from the unceasing and potent influence of these things is impossible, except you were to withdraw yourself from them also. Some parents talk of beginning the education of their children the moment they are capable of forming an idea. Their education is already begun ; the education of circumstances — insensible education, which, like insensible perspiration, is of more constant and powerful effect, and of far more consequence to the 64 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. habit than that which is direct and apparent. Its educa- tion goes on at every instant of time — you can neither stop it nor turn its course. Whatever these, then, have a tendency to make your children, these, in a great degree, you, at least, should be persuaded they will be." ADHESIVENESS. The tendency to attachment which is expressed by this term, aids in the formation of society, and is the source from whence arises the particular friendships found there. It constitutes what is called " an affectionate disposition," and causes children to nestle in their mother's lap, or sit down and lay their little heads together. It is a mental attraction of cohesion which causes human beings to cling together and form themselves into compact bodies, acting only upon such individuals as are brought into sufficiently close contact by similarity of con- stitution and circumstances as to fall within its sphere. Its first and closest bond is family union, the love of brothers and sisters, and all who are in close household companionship, gradually extending to schoolfellows, neigh- bours, and more distant acquaintances. It is a disposition always seeking to be near its object, mentally as well as corporeally; making the infant restless when removed from its nurse, and the school girl hurt if her daily corre- spondent does not tell her every thought of her heart, and the grown man offended if his friend hold a different opinion to his own. The habits of the mind are as infec- tious as those of the body, and by this close contact the sentiments and principles of the beloved object are liable ADHESIVENESS. 65 to be imbibed, similar tastes formed, and a similar course of life desired. It is, in consequence, extremely important that it should be allowed to exercise itself, solely according to the dictates of justice, benevolence, religion, — for those whom we love we try to please, and those whom we wish to please we try to be like ; if, then, our chosen friends be unworthy of our imitation, our attachment to them must have injurious effects. For this reason, as well as from the power of sympathy in causing us to take the tone and direction of our associates, the choice of them becomes highly influential upon our own disposition. " Tell me a man's companions, and I will tell you what he is." Children necessarily attach themselves most strongly at first to those who administer most to their comfort and gratification; (pity that parents should so often resign this advantage into other and ill-qualified hands !) but, as they become older, they must be led to associate this feel- ing with those who are most deserving of its exercise, and in whom the moral feelings and intellect predominate, and who add most to the general happiness as well as to their own. Unless the young be taught thus to discriminate, they will naturally, under the guidance of this propensity, make choice of such persons for friends who have most feelings in common with themselves, or who most gratify their own feelings. Thus they may attach themselves to those who gratify their pride, or vanity, or appetite ; their prodigality or senseless prejudices. When this bond of union is dissolved, and these feelings are no longer admi- nistered to, the attachment is alienated — for it is only on the basis of the moral sentiments that friendship can be permanent — but the ill effects remain. K 66 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. How few school friendships are formed on a better principle than vanity and self-love ! And yet the feeling may, by judicious management, be so directed and regulated in the young as to render it im- possible that they should, at any period of life, exercise it upon an unworthy object. Under such regulation nothing can be more amiable than the manifestation of a warm affectionate disposition, although the want of it in early childhood need not perhaps be the source of much anxiety. A great difference is ob- servable in children as to the proportion of this feeling in their constitution. One child seems as if he could not be happy for a moment without his accustomed companions ; if he goes to play, they must go too ; if he learns, he will do it best when they learn with him. "We have known one twin brother commit the same trivial fault for which the other was suffering punishment, that he might share the penalty with him. Another child will pursue his studies and his sports alone, seemingly quite contented and happy without the sympathy of others. Some children, especially boys, will always repel caresses, and for many years wound the heart of mother and friends by an utter indifference to their affection. And yet, if the mind be well constituted in other respects, and the child happily circumstanced, better-founded affection will spring up, and supply the vacuum felt in childhood. A son's love for his mother often grows out of the respect which an insight into her mind and appreciation of her character produce ; consequently it is a love deeper in its nature and more capable of growth than the innate, half- animal affection which adhesiveness generates. Hence ADHESIVENESS. 67 this love is often far stronger in the man than in the boy, and probably quite irrespective of adhesiveness. The expression of a child's affection should be met by an affectionate manner in return, but merif should never be attached to its display. When the feeling seems less strong than it ought to be, it should be strengthened and cultivated by the only efficacious mode — kindness. Its outward expression even should be encouraged, as having a tendency to exercise the feeling. This outward expres- sion, however, should never be commanded, neither should it be stimulated, as we have said, by praise, as these modes of exciting its manifestation would be liable to lead to insincerity, and render love itself false. This selfish feeling too frequently, in the present state of society, takes the place and credit of benevolence. A man who, following the dictates of this propensity, is kind to and serves his immediate friends and connexions, con- ceives that he is acting under the influence of the higher moral sentiment, and the world countenances him gene- rally in the idea ; but a much more extended sphere of benevolence is necessary to the happiness of mankind, or even to distinguish man from the brutes ; to whom also this feeling of particular attachment belongs. THE MORAL FEELINGS. All the faculties we have described have for their object the preservation of the individual. They are instinctive impulses aiding the intellect to do that which is necessary to our existence and preservation. "We possess them in 68 IHE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. common with the brute creation. They are the substra- tum upon which everything that is excellent, every- thing that peculiarly distinguishes man as man is built ; since it is evident that we must first take care of ourselves before we can take care of other people. No other person really could take care of us, if the instinctive promptings of these faculties did not induce us to do what was neces- sary for our own well-being. If, as Jeremy Bentham observes, Adam had cared more for Eve than he did for himself, and Eve more for Adam than for herself, the devil might have saved himself the trouble of the tempta- tion, for the race would soon have come to an end. The social affections have still self for their centre, the warmth and glow they excite being exclusively for our own fa- mily, our own friends. We are members, however, of a larger family ; we belong to mankind — to society, and the purpose of the moral feelings is to enlarge our heart, to widen our embrace, and compel us to do that which is right and kind to all. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. It is the office of this feeling to permit the action of each of the faculties so far as is consistent with justice, and with the rights of others. It is the source of the moral sense, or the sense of duty ; its workings are conspicuous in straightforward uprightness of conduct, the nice sense of justice, the love of truth, delicacy of manners and senti- ments, and that general sincerity and openness of character, which produce at once the conviction that its possessor is an honest man. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 69 It manifests itself very early in some children, and often very powerfully. The deep blush, the look of anguish and apprehension which frequently accompanies even the slightest dereliction from duty on the part of a child, testify that the moral principle within has already begun its work of checking every tendency to vice. It has been observed that " no fault is trifling in a child." We may all know by experience that no fault is trifling to a child. The first little sins which children commit appear to them as great in magnitude as the most outrageous crimes that disturb society ; and their feeling of anguish in conse- quence of them is often far more intense than that expe- rienced by the most notorious criminals. If then these little sins are treated with indifference, and regarded according to the mischief done by them, and not accord- ing to the relation which they bear to the character, a blow is given to the conscience which may blunt and deaden it irreparably. Great crimes are execrated and punished, although merely resulting from the same prin- ple, acting in the same manner, which was unnoticed in childhood, because, then, minute in its consequences. A child's conscience tells him that he is much more guilty when he steals a gooseberry out of the garden against positive orders, and eats it hastily for fear of being seen, than when, in the glee of his heart, he tries his new car- penter's tools upon the mahogany table in the drawing- room. We honour the mother who feels truly most concern for the first offence. The rebuke, appealing to the reason only, for the damage to the table, should be very different to the sorrowing remonstrance, perhaps 70 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. punishment, for the theft. The tone of correction should always chime in with the voice ef conscience. The moral sense is not active so early in some children as in others, and we must especially guard against making matters of conscience of very trifling things. With some parents so many things are wrong, according to the temper they are themselves in, or according to the caprice of the moment, and " naughty" is a word so often reiterated, that a child's conscience is without a guide, and becomes com- pletely bewildered. We must be careful not to call a thing wrong at one time and not at another ; a child will soon detect our inconsistency. Unless we ourselves have a clear conscience — that is, clear and definite ideas of right and wrong — and unless our principles are consistent, cer- tain, unwavering and undeviating, it is impossible that we can properly guide the conscience of a child. That of which we ourselves have any doubt let us never make a question of conscience with a child. Let us avoid making too many direct appeals to the conscience, for what a child does wrong is not often of much consequence, but when he does wrong knowing it to be so, that is of consequence. In such case the sense of guilt should never be suffered to wear away by time in a child's mind, no acknowledg- ment of it nor reparation having been made. "Never tell a child of a fault without at the same time suggesting some mode of redressing it, which will induce him to put it into practice ; for nothing is more to be avoided than that chagrin and discouragement which are the consequence of mere formal correction."* Above all, a child should never be suffered to go to sleep upon an evil conscience. All * Fenelon. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 71 offences must be repaired and forgiven, and the heart at peace with itself before the eyelids close for the night. The regular habit of effacing from the mind every stain as fast as it is incurred, by genuine penitence and heart- felt intention of amendment, has an influence which can scarcely be attained by any other means. If the conscience of the child be in itself susceptible, the confession will be voluntary ; it will be felt a relief from the anguish of self- reproach, and then the happy task of the mother will be to soothe and encourage — not, be it observed, to flatter by praise of the virtuous feeling of sorrow, and thus obstruct the healthy effect by turning back its current upon itself, but by showing how the salutary pain may lead to blessed results hereafter. If, on the contrary, the sentiment of duty in a child be weak or deficient, it will be the mother's part to lead it on by gentle questioning till the fault com- mitted is brought again clearly before the mind, and being shown in its true colours now that the excitement of passion is passed, it will awaken the consciousness of wrong that was before unfelt. The least conscious fault should be acknowledged, and a painful impression should ever be associated with it. But here we must observe that nothing tends so completely, utterly, to destroy the moral sense as undue severity; let the pain of having done wrong be felt as sufficient punish- ment, if no other were to follow. For children of a more advanced age all outward punishment may be positively injurious. When the power of conscience is strong, the feelings deep, and the disposition retiring, often the less notice that is taken of a fault the better. In such a child the sense of demerit will be far stronger and the repent- 72 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. ance more sincere, if he is treated with the same kind- ness and confidence as before, than if the fault is dragged into public view and he himself in any degree treated as a criminal ; for in that case the wound given to the feelings may be too deep, and good resolves may be turned in a contrary direction. Conscientiousness is a main element of gratitude, in so far as the sentiment consists in the desire to return an equivalent for the benefit received. It may be very early cultivated in the nursery by requiring from children an uniform courteous acknowledgment of the services of servants, and a return of kindness by every means in their power. If an individual possess much conscientiousness and cautiousness and little firmness in his character, he will be painfully susceptible as to the consequences of his actions, and unable to decide upon them without great hesitation and difficulty ; a highly cultivated intellect can then alone prevent the conscience from becoming over- scrupulous and sickly. It is true that the world does not suffer much from over-tender consciences ; but some good may be left undone through an excessive fear of doing wrong, and hence this state of mind becomes a positive evil. But the world does suffer very much from mis-directed consciences. The office of the feeling, as stated before, is to permit the action of each faculty only so far as is consistent with justice. Now justice, or strict regard to the rights and good of others, is that which is recognized to be such by the understanding or intellect, and according as the intellect is enlightened to know what are the rights CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 73 of others, and in what consists their happiness, will the dictates of the moral sense correspond with the laws of God. If the desire of doing right, and consequently what is pleasing to God, be powerful as it ought to be over the mind, how important is it to know what is pleasing to Him ! If conscience, the strong light within, " be dark- ness, how great is that darkness !" The rule for ascer- taining this, and for interpreting any of the laws He has given us is, that right is that which all things considered produces most happiness, and wrong is that which produces unnecessary pain. So confidently may we reason upon this from all that we see and know of God's providence, that if a child should ask, why does He command such and such a thing ? w^e may safely answer, although we may not be able on all occasions to show how, that the good, that is, the happiness of the whole of His creatures re- quires it. Such a rule for calculating what is right may do very well for moralists to establish principles, and to enable parents and instructors to decide between the conflicting claims of the morality of different nations, and of the customs of society ; but children must be taught to have faith in the dicta of their parents. This is right — that is wrong — must be suSicient for them. TV hen an action is to be performed it will never do to calculate consequences ; then all consequences to ourselves and others must be left out of consideration, in obedience to calculations previously dispassionately made, and to what we have otherwise been taught to believe is right. The first and last question must always be. What is right ? and it is the principal object of a good education to enable us at once to answer the question ; for to doubt, when the feelings 74 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. are engaged, is too frequently to be lost. Virtue, before it can be depended upon, must become a habit of doing what is right, instinctively, automatically, at once, and without calculation. If a person is in danger of drowning, it will not do for the person who stands by the water to commence calculating which society can best afford to lose, himself or the one in danger. We have frequent instances of generous minds who have never even stopped to calculate whether they can swim or not. To tell the truth is always right, and in this instance as in thousands of others equally clear, children should never be allowed to hesitate for a moment, and to think not only whether they can save themselves, but even whether they can save others, by telling what is false. The principle of truth is more valuable than the good of any individuals or even of nations. To put it paradoxically, it would be better that a nation or even a generation should be destroyed rather than save it by a lie. Again, if beggars do exist, children must be allowed to pity and relieve them ; to set them calculating that relieving beggars does more harm than good, by generating a miserable class — that it is the beg- gar's own fault, with divers other political, wise, and pru- dential considerations, greatly injures the moral sense. And the instincts of children are right, whatever political economists may say ; if society makes and tolerates a class dependent for support upon the sympathies of their fellows, it is right for each person according to the best of his light and ability to relieve them, either by giving to them, or otherwise by actively doing all in our power to change the institutions that make and allow beggars. If the natural development of the moral sense be defi- CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 75 cient, besides employing every means to strengthen it directly, we must endeavour to aid and support it by a strenuous cultivation of the religious principle. We must always bear in mind, however, that in our educational treatment each faculty, or rather class of faculties, must be appealed to separately. It is a common error to sup- pose that in exercising the religious feelings, we necessarily cultivate the moral sense, for it is quite certain that the former may exist in considerable proportion in a character with a very imperfect development of the latter. Hence we sometimes find piety and zeal in the exercises of reli- gion, accompanied by indifference as to the discharge of other and important moral duties. "While health and peace of mind reward obedience to the dictates of this faculty, the sense of guilt, repentance, and remorse, are the pains which punish opposition to them. It is needless, surely, to say that these latter feelings are not virtuous in themselves, and that they are good only in so far as they lead to amendment. The mind should never be permitted to dwell in a sense of demerit, but the feeling of having done wrong should be invariably associated with the endeavour to repair it, and the determination to amend the faulty disposition which induced it. The pains of wounded conscience, the severest man can know, are only attached to evil for the purpose of its cure. The feeling which we are considering is the most im- portant of all, because it regulates the proper action of all the others, by confining them within the bounds of what is right. It makes us desire " to do to others as we would they should do to us," and to love truth and sincerity above 76 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. all things. It is painfully evident to all who think upon the subject, how much the world needs the proper cultiva- tion, exercise, and direction of this faculty. It is dis- heartening to contemplate the vast area which " Vanity Fair" occupies, in which each acts a part, each wears a mask, each endeavours to deceive his neighbour by passing for something more or less than he is, and each is satisfied with mere seeming, without being or doing. Love of ap- probation is the prime mover ; the craving for distinction not excellence — to appear, not to be. Praise is the grand desideratum, and as to be virtuous is often too difiicult or too troublesome, the semblance is assumed of whatever will best secure the approbation of society. The develop- ment of a large conscientiousness can alone counteract this wide-spreading and infectious tendency. "We must strengthen the love of truth, of sincerity, of candour, in our children, and begin early to make them feel heartily ashamed of taking credit which is not strictly their due. Never neglect an opportunity of showing how mean, how dishonest it is. But how can the love of truth be best implanted, and the dishonesty of society counter- acted ? First, with reference to speaking the truth. The truth is not merely a literal representation, it is that which does not deceive. In early childhood it is much more easy to teach a child not to deceive than to tell the truth. A child in trying its new and first acquisition, its faculty of speech, says so much with no other purpose than the pleasure of talking, mixes so much nonsense and pure imagination with the truth that it is vain to attempt to discriminate between fiction and falsehood, and as useless as vain. We must be very careful, therefore, how CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 71 we accuse children of falsehood ; we must be content to wait till they can themselves discriminate between one and the other, and in the meantime, when their statements are very wide of facts, let us merely say, " Oh, that is non- sense, that is only fun." But as soon as we can, as soon as the proper age will permit, let us train a child on all occasions scrupulously to tell the literal truth, and teach him how to do it. This species of teaching is one of the best exercises the mind can possibly have. Language, although it is too frequently the medium of concealing our thoughts, was not given for that purpose — on the contrary, we should always endeavour that our speech should, as near as we can make it, correspond exactly to our thoughts and feelings. How little is this practised ; one half of what almost every one says is false, that is, it does not correspond to the real state of thought and feeling, but is said rather in obedience to the dictates of kindness or politeness, or the desire to please ; whereas the dictates of truth ought alone to influence us, and if we may not speak the truth let us at least say nothing. How often is the language of grief upon the tongue with joy sparkling in the eye, and how easy does it seem to compose almost perfect sentences expressive of condolence, of joy, or sor- row, without any feeling whatever in the heart. We must learn to value truth above all things, and to do without this inconvertible currency of mere words, of less value even than French assignats. Let us carefully discard the double comparatives and superlatives that now so much disfigure the language of society, and tolerate no exaggeration whatever. How much of what is false arises from the want of not knowing 78 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. really how to tell the truth, and how much from the dis- honest wish to make important what we have to tell. Accustom children, therefore, to the strictest accuracy as to the when, where, how, and wherefore, and teach them that it is best and most becoming to hold their tongues when an event is not of sufficient importance in itself to mention, and that when it is, the object to be arrived at is not a brilliant relation, but a faithful, clear, and intelligible one. To give a leaning in our speech to the side we wish is almost as bad as direct falsehood, and we should certainly discourage special pleading, and as far as possible teach children to state fairly both sides of the question. Be especially careful that servants do not teach children deceit by inducing them to keep secret what they see and hear in the nursery. Always help a child to tell the truth, for a wilful lie, when detected, must be treated as the most heinous of offences — as the meanest, the vilest, the greatest, the one never to be looked over without punishment. But we must be as careful not to act a lie, as not to tell one. It will be impossible to teach truth and candour to children unless we are truthful and candid ourselves. "We must avoid all kinds of double-dealings, double-meanings, reservation ; we must never express pleasure at seeing a person, and the reverse behind his back. We must never join in uncharitable opinions of our neighbours. If we are accused we must meet the spirit of the accusation, and not hide behind some little flaw in the indictment ; we must not show some little immaterial circumstance to be untrue, and on that account retort upon our accuser, as if the whole charge were false. If we argue, we must not, as CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 79 is too frequently the case, set up some scarecrow, some dummy of our own, and having shown its unreality, triumph in consequence over our adversary. Above all, we must not deceive by telling the truth, this is the worst lie of all — it is betraying with a kiss. "We must never pro- mise what we cannot or do not intend to perform. We must always keep our promise, whether for reward or punishment. We know how difficult it is on all occasions to decide upon the claims of truth, and in what way and how far such claims can be best supported. It is true that much discretion must be used in supporting what we be- lieve to be the truth, and as so much of error mixes with all subjects, allowance must be made for this, and due modesty used in expression ; but if, even when we know what is the truth, it is still not to be spoken at all times, yet on no occasion must we say what is not true or coun- tenance any kind of deception. But conscientiousness requires honesty as well as truth; dishonesty, however, may be said to be an acted lie. We have got so far in a moral code as an acknowledgment from the world that " honesty is the best policy ;" but the world is slow to act even upon this tardy admission, and it generally gives to its honesty a most limited interpretation. Honesty is not merely the negative of robbing and stealing, but the giving to every man strictly his due. We must not rob others of their time, by want of punctuality in keeping our appoint- ments, or by suffering them to call again and again at our door, when we might have attended to them at once. We must admit every claim that we know to be just, whether in relation to property, character, or intelligence. We must not detract from another's merit, and steal or even 80 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. withhold his praise. We must give a candid and fair examination to views opposite to our own, before we allow ourselves to speak decidedly upon them. And above all, in measuring out what is due to others, we must never be influenced by what others may do to us, by their opinion of us or their conduct towards us. "We are to do as we would be done by, not as we are done by ; and if others do wrong it is an additional reason why we should more carefully endeavour to do what is right. In thus regulating our own conduct, we are using the most direct means of cultivating the principle of right in our children. All rules and methods are at best but small adjuncts to the teaching by example, and without that example worse than vain. BENEVOLENCE. The object or final cause of Creation seems to be the happiness of created intelligences. The wisdom of the Creator is evidenced in the design displayed in the uni- verse. Design means the adaptation of means to a par- ticular purpose or end, and we must know what that purpose is before we can say that the means used to carry it out are adapted to the purpose, that is, before we can say that there is wisdom displayed in the arrangement. We must make up our minds, therefore, upon the objects of creation before we can say that wisdom is displayed in them. If it be denied that the final cause of creation is happiness, we ask what other object can there be ? It|is said, " the glory of God ;" but a world without conscious- ness, or with a miserable consciousness, would be no glory to God. It is also said the object of creation is " action," BENKVOLKNCE. 81 and the " development of mind ;" but mere action could as well exist in a world devoid of all spirit or consciousness, and we cannot conceive of any use in increased develop- ment of mind, unless it led to increased happiness. If it led to misery such increased development of mind would be worse than useless, if to indifference it would be the same as a mere increased development of matter only. In fact, it appears to us that the existence of God is proved by the evidence of design — that is, that Nature, in carrying out her endless purposes, is working towards a particular object, and that that object is happiness. " That God willed the happiness of his creatures is indisputable, and He has made it impossible that they should not endeavour to obtain it. To this end he has given them every faculty they possess, and to no other."* Here is evidence of the benevolent intentions of our Creator, and the means He adopts to carry out His intentions show a power and wisdom far surpassing our comprehension. What more is requisite for a rational faith ? God wills the happiness of his creatures, and He has power and wisdom to accomplish his wishes. May we not therefore safely trust in Him — may we not safely leave our fate, where beyond our own control, whether it relates to coming into this world or going into another, in His hands ? Happiness we believe to be " our being's end and aim," and it is the faculty of benevolence which places us in harmony with this principal object in creation, and which makes us desire the happiness of others, and gives us a lively sympathy with the enjoyment of all created beings. In this, at least, it is our privilege to be made in the likeness of God; and as an humble instrument in * Bentham. M 82 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. aiding Him in producing happiness, and in our sympathy with it will be found our own highest enjoyment. This feeling has received various names : it is called love of mankind, goodness of heart, good nature, &c., and joined to conscientiousness it constitutes that charity so beautifully described by St. Paul in the thirteenth chapter of Corin- thians. As its object is to produce happiness in others, so whenever the feeling is strong in any mind, it produces happiness to its possessor, diffusing a genial warmth and sunshine through the mind, which all the frosts and clouds of life cannot dispel. In consequence, as it is so powerful a diffuser of happiness to ourselves and others, it is most important that we should attend to its early cultivation. Each propensity, sentiment, and intellectual faculty should be put under the guidance of this desire for uni- versal good, for the great object of moral training is to strengthen benevolence, and to place the other feelings under its influence. And let us not mistake the love which proceeds from adhesiveness, which might more properly be called affection, for this feeling ; the one relates only to individuals, the other regards the whole human race, or rather the whole sensitive creation. Education, if rightly understood, is that mode of treat- ment which will teach an individual to feel, to think, and to act, so as to produce most happiness to himself and others. He must not only know how, but he must also be disposed to act. Now the disposition to act for our own good is already strong enough, as all the propensities tend to that end ; but the disposition to act for the good of others depends upon the feeling of benevolence : hence it is the first and the last that requires our care. BENEVOLENCE. 83 As an instinct it is held by some to be possessed, in a de- gree, by many of the inferior animals ; however this maybe, its manifestations in man are often simply instinctive. It then forms the character of the good-natured man, who is impelled by it to gratify the wishes of everybody around him, if it be in his power, even at the expense of their future good. He cannot say " No," and he therefore yields to the importunities of the idle and dissolute that which perhaps is due in justice to claims which are, at the moment, out of sight. He spoils his children, gives to their entreaties what he knows to be improper for them, because, " bless their little hearts," he cannot bear to see them cry. If he threatens, he cannot find in his heart to perform ; if he does punish, he tries to make amends for it, and to conciliate them by lavishing upon them extraor- dinary gratifications and luxuries. To diffuse immediate happiness upon those near at hand, without reference to future and more permanent good, is the short-sighted object of the uncultivated feeling of benevolence. When cultivated, but with a wrong direction, its opera- tion is still of the same kind, but more mischievous as it is exerted through a wider sphere. Many of the wide- spread charities of the present day furnish exatnples of this. They seek to remedy a present evil, to relieve a present suffering, by means which multiply for the future these pains and sufferings many-fold. A late writer on the principles of Charitable Institutions remarks, that they are more numerous, that more exertions are made for the relief of the poor now than at any former period — yet poverty and crime are on the increase. What is the reason of this ? The writer alluded to goes on to prove 84 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. that it is to be found in the fact, that remedies are often applied without discriminating between the different causes which produce these evils, and therefore perpetuate and increase them, or at best only palliate them. But the real cause of this want of discrimination and consequent failure is the fact that it is not real benevolence at work, but a something between the seeming of love of approbation and a bargain to get as cheaply as possible to heaven. People wish to stand well in the opinion of their neighbours, and they have likewise heard that " he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord," and they approve of the security and invest a small sum, but never more than they can conve- niently spare ; to do that would be imprudence. They do their charities, that is, give annual guineas, the press generally blowing a trumpet before them ; but they neither watch the spending of the money or care much what becomes of it, — consequently, the more remote the sphere of operation — if to build a Church at Jerusalem for con- verted Jews, or to make Christians of Caribs — the more liberal the donation. Children should be early taught to distinguish between seeming and real benevolence — between generosity that costs nothing, that is, involves no self-sacrifice or even self-denial, and that which proceeds from love and duty. When the higher classes are really in earnest about raising the condition of the lower — when they cease to consider them as mere objects to perform their charities upon, as convenient stepping-stones Xo heaven, as so much raw material out of which they are to work their own salvation, as the poor " whom we are always to have with us," and therefore are to be kept poor, or at least in their present position,— then there will be BENEVOLENCE. 85 found little difficulty and certainly no natural barriers to their success. A little well-directed effort to do good is better than a large and expensive beneficence on a wrong principle. If we allow then the unspeakable importance of the feeling when properly disciplined, it remains next to con- sider how this may be effected. Only by cultivating all the other faculties as subsidiary to this leading one. If — to recapitulate what has already been said in the notice of each feeling — if our families, our relations, our friends are dear to us, we must not sacrifice to their interests those of that larger family, of which we are "members one of another." If we would contend and oppose, let it be in the cause of the many whose happiness is sacrificed to that of the few. If we would acquire property, let it be to have the means of doing good. If we would esteem our- selves and gain the approbation of others, let it be for the exercise of this disposition to spread happiness around. If we would be cautious, let it be of wounding the feelings or in any way injuring those with whom we are brought into connexion. If we would be conscientious, faithful, honest, let it be because these qualities tend in the highest degree to the promotion of happiness. If we would culti- vate our intellectual faculties, let all our acquirements have the same object, and be all directed to the same end — the good of our fellow-creatures; and last of all, if we would love and venerate our Maker, let us give the best proof of our love by doing all we can to increase the enjoyment of every creature that he has made. God needs not anything that man can do for him, and he can be served acceptably in no other way. 86 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. Thus in proportion as the faculties are unfolded under its direction, will benevolence become strong and efficient ; selfish feelings must of necessity predominate in the earliest stage of existence, but it must be the care of those who have the charge of the young mind, to watch that the development of its powers be accompanied by the growth of benevolent feeling. Sympathy here also must first lend its aid. The " law of kindness" must dwell on the lips, as well as in the hearts of the guardians of infancy. If a child be accustomed to the tone of unkindness, whether towards himself or others, he will acquire the same tone, and the tone will arouse the feeling ; whereas, if harshness and ill-temper are never placed before him to copy them, he may never find them out for himself. Let him dwell in an atmosphere of kindness and charity. Let him not suspect that the meanest creature, the most loathsome insect ought, or can posibly excite feelings of contempt and enmity. Antipathy should not be allowed to get the start of the knowledge that everything has its use, and that a benevolent use, and that there is not a living being in the universe which has not a claim on his fellow-feeling and kindness. To increase the sum of happiness should be made the leading principle of action with the first dawnings of reason, and a child should not only do all he could to promote that end, but he should restrain not only every action, but every word, which could occasion unnecessary pain. That which is commonly called charity, the succouring and aiding of distress, is but a limited exercise of benevo- lence ; but that which Paul denominates charity — " Though I should give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not BENEVOLENCE. 87 charity, I am nothing," — that charity which " loveth all things"' and which strives to add to the enjoyment of every living creature within its reach. If a child he introduced to the instances of benevolent design throughout the universe, he cannot but perceive that the purpose of its Creator is the production of the largest possible sum of enjoyment, that the apparent exceptions to this arise from our limited knowledge, and that earth, air, and sea are full of innumerable creatures all practically praising their Maker, by their sense of this enjoyment He has given them; and a child's natural sympathy with what is good and beautiful will soon excite the desire to use his own little powers to the furtherance of the same object. The desire will grow with its indulgence, and with the development of these powers, until he will have no idea of happiness except as associated with the happi- ness of others. Thus, if we wish to create in our child a large heart, extended sympathies, a loving disposition, " identify him, then," says Richter, " with the life of others, and give him a reverence for life under every form : teach him to consider all animal life as sacred." * * "You may teach a higher than Ovid's Art of Love, by requesting your child to do something without commanding, or rewarding performance, or punishing neglect ; only depict beforehand, if it is for another, or afterwards if for yourself, the pleasure which the little actor's attention to your wish affords. You excite the benevolence of children less by pictures of people's necessities than of the joy produced by relieving them. For the little heart conceals so great a treasure of love, that he is less deficient in willingness to make sacrifices 88 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. than in the certainty that they would give pleasure. Hence, when children have once hegun to make presents they would never cease giving. The parents may give them the reward of certain happiness hy a gladly praising approval ; an educational lever whose power has not been sufficiently estimated. For children accustomed only to parental bidding and forbidding, are made happy by per- mission to do some extra service, and by the recognition of their having done it. This affectionate acknowledg- ment of pleasure renders them neither vain nor empty, but full — not proud, but warm." " It does the poor man, or dog, or whatever it may be, good, or harm ! These few words, said in a proper tone of voice, are worth a whole sermon : and fie ! said to a girl will abundantly fill the place of half a volume of Ehrenberg's Lectures to the female sex." " Moreover, the author does not attempt to hide from the police, that in the presence of his children he has fre- quently given to beggars ; first, because the appearance of cruelty cannot be removed by any political reasons, nor is attempted to be ; and secondly, because a child's heart, excited by compassion for suffering, should not be chilled." " Yet a few fragments within the fragment ! Do not apprehend too great danger to the affections from children's quarrels. The circumscribed heart of children, their in- capacity to place themselves in another's position, and their Adam-like innocence of belief that the whole world is made for them, not they for the world ; all these things combine to raise the inflated bubbles which soon break of themselves. They may speak harshly, or even fly into a passion with one another, but must not continue it ! OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BENEVOLENCE. 89 You must do many more things to be hated than to be loved by children : hated parents must themselves have hated for a long time. Advancing years rarely awaken a repressed or dormant love ; the individual's own selfish- ness doubles that of others, and this again redoubles that ; and so layer upon layer of ice is frozen. You falsify love by commanding its outward expression; — kissing the hand for instance. Such things, unlike kind actions, are not the causes, but only the effects of love. Do not in any instance require love : among grown-up persons would a declaration of affection, if commanded and prescribed by the highest authorities, be well received ? It may be again repeated without deserving blame, that the quickest alternation between punishment or refusal and previous love is the true, though (to the fair sex) a difficult art of educating the affections. No love is sweeter than that which follows severity ; so from the bitter olive is sweet, soft oil expressed." " And finally, ye parents, teach to love, and you will need no ten commandments ; teach to love, and a rich winning life is opened to your child ; for man (if this simile be permitted) resembles Austria, which increases its terri- tory by marriage, but loses its acquisitions by war ; teach to love, in this age, which is the winter of time, and which can more easily conquer everything than a heart by a heart ; teach to love, so that when your eyes are old, and their sense almost extinguished, you may yet find round your rich couch and dying bed no greedy, covetous looks, but anxious weeping eyes, which strive to warm your freezing life, and lighten the darkness of your last hour 90 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. by thanks for their first. Teach to love, I repeat ; that means — do you love !" Conscientiousness and Benevolence. But how recon- cile these two sentiments ? The claims of justice and mercy would appear irreconcilable, since the exercise of mercy is usually considered to be the renunciation of the strict demands of justice. This notion of their incompatibility is founded on the common idea respecting the nature of justice, but a closer analysis will show it to be errone- ous. A fault that has been committed is a something in the past ; Power Almighty itself could not prevent it. Any punishment for that fault, therefore, would be only so much gratuitous suffering — that is, suffering without an end, aim, or object. Suffering without any corresponding good can never be just ; it is simple vengeance or revenge. All punishment, to be just, must be prospective, never re- tributive. It must have for its object the prevention of error or crime for the future ; it must be for the good of the party sinning, and every degree of suffering beyond what is requisite to deter from crime for the future is unjust. To be guilty of crime or even of error is to sin against our own interest ; punishment, therefore, inflicted with the intention of bringing us back into the path of rectitude, is benevolence — that is to say, the highest good which can be conferred upon us. God's laws were made for the good of his creatures, and true happiness is incom- patible with their infraction, and with sin and crime, and He makes us suffer here in order to advise us of this truth and to lead us back into the path of holiness. If such be the law of retribution here, can we suppose it destined to be BENEVOLENCE. 91 reversed in an hereafter, and to become revenge ? and that more punishment will be decreed than is required for our purification, and ultimate happiness ? For one person to suffer for another's fault is not only unjust, but it would thwart the ends of the highest benevolence also, as the suffering or punishment that attends sin is always for the good of the sinner. Who then can make atonement for another's fault ? and who would not suffer infinitely rather than throw upon the innocent the burden of his sin ? Let us not fear to listen to our higher feelings, for when fully developed, they are a revelation which God has placed for our guidance in the hearts of all, and let us believe that to be a false interpretation of His Will or of His Word which contradicts their highest dictates. Thus we cannot suppose that evil exists, in the common sense of its mean- ing, and affirm that God created all things, without affirm- ing that He is not good ; we cannot say that He sanctions another's bearing the sin and its consequences of which we have been guilty, without affirming that He is not just. We have no belief that it is ever necessary that one person should suffer as an example to others, simply because it is unjust, and impossible that society can ever permanently benefit from injustice, since the world has been organized upon an opposite principle. If we go a little below the surface we shall find this to be the case. Society has fallen into a great error in thinking to deter from crime by the example of suffering. It has been a bungling ex- pedient, resorted to to save the trouble of enquiring into the causes of crime, and it has been attended with but very partial success. The only successful way to check crime is to discover the cause, and remove it. But this hitherto 92 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. has been thought too costly ; undoubtedly a false economy. If these views be correct, it follows that Capital Punish- ment is an error, and much of our penal code is based upon injustice. It is one of the happiest features of the times we live in that on all sides there are signs of the world's becoming aware of this, and that we see consequent improvements in education and in the treatment of the criminal, and eve-n of the insane. Justice and mercy will be found to be more powerful in the improvement of our race than violence and severity. This Christ proclaimed eighteen centuries ago, and it has formed part of our national creed, but we have never practically believed it. It is said by them of the present time as well as by them of old time, " an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth ;" and the exhortation to " bless them that curse us, to do good to them that hate us," is still believed to be more christian than reasonable. Nevertheless, the world is destined one day to see the extremest philosophy meet and coincide with the simplest Christianity. The philosophy which separates the sin from the sinner, alone makes possible Christ's law of love, and " They know not what they do" is the sum and substance of this philosophy. "We may hate the sin at the same time that we love the sinner. If our enemy do us wrong, how much more pleasure must it give us to do right to him. To show kindness to those that curse us and hate us, is the way to make them feel ashamed of continuing to do so, and is the conduct most of all likely to work a reparation, and perhaps even make them our friends. Even the philosophy of self-interest would counsel the same, for " a soft answer turneth away wrath." To love is happiness, to hate is IDEALITY. 93 misery ; why then give any individual so great a power over our peace as to oblige us to hate him ? If our happi- ness requires that we should feel at peace with all men, why allow ourselves to be made angry ? — and why not, as the highest policy even, obey the commands of Christ. If bad men will continue our enemies, let us not hate them or contend or quarrel with them, but simply keep out of their way, and revenge ourselves upon them by doing them all the good we can in the distance. THE iESTHETIC FEELINGS. By the j3Ssthetic is meant the sense of the beautiful and sublime, the love of art and poetry, the feeling of the spiritual element in all the various forms of art, the desire of the soul for the perfect. Ideality is the only sentiment we have placed under that head, not because it is alone essential to the formation of the aesthetic character of mind, but because it constitutes its foundation. IDEALITY. t It is difficult to say what is the primitive function of this faculty ; it is easier to say what are its results in combina- tion with other faculties — that is, what it leads to. Viewed philosophically, man must not be regarded as a mere pre- sent individual, but must be looked at in his relation to the past, the present, and the future. From the past he has received the results of the experience of by-gone ages, and is a recipient in consequence of the benefits of an ad- 94 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. vanced civilization ; in the present he is called upon to perform his little part in the chain of causation, but in doing this it behoves him not to rest satisfied with the material comforts and pleasures which past generations have pre- pared for him, but to do also his part for the future ; he is bound to leave the generation which is to follow him as much benefited by his existence, as he has been benefited by the one preceding him. That he may do this, it is essential that he should not rest satisfied with the perfec- tion that breathes around him, but that he should always aspire to something higher and better, and aim to give it being. Ideality gives the desire to do this, and upon this feeling is based the progressive character of man's existence, and the perfectibility of his nature. Nature seems to aim here at the perfection of the race, not of individual man. He is the mere temporary receptacle of high spiritual attributes — of mental manifestations. The individual passes away, but youth and beauty and delight are immortal ; as the poet says, "For them there is no death nor change." Through a series of generations mind is developed, great principles are worked out, and become more strongly marked — truth and goodness and holiness and beauty have a larger and stronger and more forcible existence, although the material organizations by which this development has been efi'ected have passed away like the leaves in autumn. Ideality, then, is the desire for and the consequent striving after an ideal perfection — that is, a perfection greater than we find existing ; it is a dissatisfaction with the present and the actual, and a yearning after a fiiture state in which everything will be perfect. The mode in IDEALITY. 95 which this feeling manifests itself of course depends upon the other feelings and intellectual faculties with which it is al- lied; as we have said before, it gives rise to the aesthetic part of our nature, to poetic feeling, and to the love of the beau- tiful. We have heard those in whom the feeling has been strong, say that it seemed to give to everything a double existence — to what would otherwise be mere material things with material uses, high and spiritual attributes. For instance, to a person without this feeling, the Venus de Medicis would be a mere " stone gal," as the American called it, while to another differently endowed it would be the ideal or the perfection of physical beauty. If we examine in what real poetry consists, we shall find that it is the addition of this spiritual attribute of beauty and perfection to material existences. Thus poetry is principally made by adjectives, characterizing and qualifying and idealizing and beautifying the noun. For example : " The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowlg bed." And again : " I have bedimmed The noontide sun, called forth the mutinmis winds, And 'twixt the green sea and the azure vault Set roaring war." We know every one has his definition of poetry, and every one his own idea of what is poetry. It is said to be the language of all the feelings when highly excited, that is, when they approach to passion ; but we cannot say 96 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. that we find much poetry in the natural language of des- tructiveness or combativeness, when highly excited, and the same may be said of many other feelings. It may be said rather to be the language of every feeling when under the influence of ideality, its mode of expression depending entirely upon the various combinations of the intellectual faculties. Ideality is not the same as imagination or fancy, imagination being merely a mode of action — a degree of activity of the other faculties ; ideality may excite imagina- tion and fancy, but of itself it is a feeling, sentiment, or wish ; a love of perfection for its own sake, in the same way as there is also a fove of knowledge for its own sake. It has always a refining tendency, and gives an innate shrinking from all that is low and vulgar and coarse. The beautiful everywhere is its food, is that which calls it into activity, and constitutes its enjoyment. God has made everythinig so beautiful here that the abuse of it consists in looking only to another world for its gratification. Ideality gives not only soul to poetry and romance, but to the prosaic concerns of every-day life. It may be called an additional sense, and no station in life necessarily debars us from its pleasures, which like those of the other senses, ought to be common to all, and be cultivated and improved by all. Wherever there is Nature, there is beauty — wherever there is man, there should be the faculty to admire ; the "privileged classes" have secured to them- selves many of the means of its gratification, but they cannot monopolize "the glory in the grass, the sunshine on the flower." In order to cultivate the faculty, it is not necessary to fill the mind with the false associations and colouring of IDEALITY. 97 romance, or to study the models of classical antiquity ; but to " go forth into Nature's school," and there it will educate itself, amidst flowers and fields, among the hills, and by the river-side. In towns and cities the lessons of Nature are more faint and few, but even here, her sunbeams gild the tops of the spires, and sparkle on the flood which reflects, as it passes by, the crowded habitations ; here too the taste may be more readily nurtured upon the beautiful in art and science. " Children are often very poetical. ' Are you glad that God has made it all so beautiful ?' said a child to me as I was watching the sun sinking into the waves at B. The mind of another child of between four and five years old is not less imaginative. During a walk on a fine Decem- ber day, it was delightful to see how happy and observing he was, stooping to look at the mosses, and to gather spe- cimens of the few remaining plants, and talking all the way — 'Look at those rainbows on the hills!' cried he, pointing to the diff'erent shades of trees, blended in the mists. He gathered a beautiful little piece of moss, and called it his forest ; and took up the idea with delight, when it was suggested, that in that forest all « the lions and tigers and wolves should play with the lambs, and little children should lead them,'-—* And the little baby- boys,' he added, * should be nursed by elephants, and the lions should put brass upon their claws, for fear of hurting the lambs.' He was told that they could make their paws soft when they liked,— -so he carried his jungle full of ele- phants and tigers carefully home, in his little cold hand. The first-mentioned of these children, when four years old, 98 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. while walking in the wood at , wished to gather some flowers for his mamma, who was going away. * There is no time now,* said some one present, ' but you can send her a nosegay in a few days.' * They will hang their heads,' said he, * when mamma goes — they will cry — they will all wither and waste away !' One evening, while watching the sunset, he said, * The sun sinks behind the deep hills.' When four years old he would amuse himself for hours by drawing lines, and making stories about these lines ; for example, * Here is a steam-boat, and here is a little boat, and it goes wave, wave, wave.' But there is no good thing on this earth which may not be per- verted, by excess, into bad ; his imagination often leads him into untruth. "When three years old he said, so very gravely, that had you only looked at his countenance, and not heard his words, you would have felt sure he believed the truth of what he was speaking. * Do you know, just now I saw a pig walking along the road with a bonnet on.' Every day about this time the habit of telling falsities of this kind grew upon him. Probably he did not wish to deceive ; the images passed through his mind, and he wished to communicate them, and knew not yet how to do so but by saying, * I saw,' * There was,' and the like forms of expression. However, had he meant to cheat, it is a fearful thing to begin with a child upon the subject of untruth, and the plan we pursued from the beginning was not to take the slightest notice of these effusions. To laugh at them would have been fatal, to frown on them scarcely less so ; therefore there was no other course left than to remain deaf to them. Tempted on by his imagination, he still tells stories of this kind ; but surely these stories are IDEALITY. 99 of a very different nature from those which are uttered to screen the teller from punishment."* If the taste be nurtured upon the beautiful objects and elevated subjects which Nature presents to it, there will be no danger of its becoming sickly and distorted, by being permitted to indulge in the delights of fiction. A pure natural taste will repel all which is incongruous, and assi- milate nothing but what is pure and simple as itself. But if children in the midst of the glorious and beautiful crea- tion around, "seeing" have not been led to "perceive," — " hearing," have not been taught " to understand," there is danger that if the imagination be awakened by the reading of romance, they may become indisposed to the study of realities, which will seem flat and insipid to them. "When they ought to be engaged in useful occupation, they will be indulging in idle reveries which leave the mind dissipated and enfeebled, or in building castles in the air, ever baseless, ever changing. Some children, however, have a favourite castle in the air to which they resort for weeks, months — perhaps years. The false expectations too, which they are led to entertain concerning life, often materially affect their future destiny. Ideality is a strong guardian of virtue, for they who have tasted its genuine pleasures, can never rest satisfied with those of mere sense. But it is possible, however, to cultivate the taste to such a degree as to induce a fasti- dious refinement, when it becomes the inlet of more pain than pleasure. Nor is the worst of over-refinement the loss of selfish gratification; it is apt to interfere with benevolence, to avoid the sight of inelegant distress, to * Monthly Repository. 100 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. shrink from the contact of vulgar worth, and to lead ns to despise those whose feeling of taste is less delicate and correct than our own. If the beautiful and the useful be incompatible, the beautiful must give way, — as the means of the existence and comfort of the masses must be pro- vided before the elegancies which can only conduce to the pleasure of the few. Selfishness though refined is still but selfishness, and refinement ought never to interfere with the means of doing good in the world as it at present exists. It is not desirable to appeal early to this feeling, or per- haps ever directly to cultivate it. If the other faculties are well developed and properly cultivated, this will attain sufficient strength of itself. The beautiful is the clothing of the infinite, and in the contemplation of the beautiful, and the love of perfection, not in churches, we seek our highest and most intimate communion with God, and draw nearer and nearer to Him. The fine arts — painting, sculpture, music, as well as poetry — ought all to minister to ideality. The proper use of painting, for instance, ought to be to represent every- thing that is beautiful in the present, and to recal all that is worthy of remembrance in the past. To give body to those spiritual pictures of ideal beauty and perfection which ideality forms — to give a faithful representation of the great and good that have departed, and to put vividly before us those actions and scenes, those pages from uni- versal history which have a tendency to refine, to exalt, and to enlarge the soul, — this is what painting ought to aim at. To paint, however perfectly, horses being shod, deer being hunted, the agony of poor animals in traps. VENERATION. 101 bread and cheese, and lobsters, and foaming ale, is but an abuse and a perversion of one of the highest gifts and attainments, which a more civilized age will repudiate. A pig-stye, however perfectly painted, still but recals the idea of a pig-stye ; and if it excites any feeling, it is one of regret that such wonderful art should be so misapplied. THE RELIGIOUS FEELINGS. VENERATION. This feeling originates the disposition to respect and revere whatever is great and good, and superior to our- selves ; that is, what we are brought up to consider great and good, and worthy of honour. According to these im- bibed notions, it may be directed to rank, titles, ancestry, wealth, particular creeds and customs, laws and institu- tions ; or it may be attached to those objects, persons, and institutions, most worthy from their real greatness and goodness to excite respect and reverence. Hence its right direction is highly important, for whatever may be its objects, it is very difficult in after life to break the asso- ciation between them and the feeling, though reason may plainly point out the absurdity of the connexion, and the small inherent claim they may possess to our respect. The feeling is an important auxiliary in moral training ; " it is the chief ingredient in filial piety, and produces that soft and almost holy deference with which a child looks up to its parents, as the author of his days, the protector of 102 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. his infancy, and the guide of his youth."* It constitutes part of the charm of social intercourse, as the source of the honour we pay to age, to talent, to virtue, and it con- nects us by a pleasing chain with all that is, or has been, great and good in the moral and material world. In education the feeling has generally been drawn upon too largely, as it has been the means of attaching undue importance to antiquity and authority, considered inde- pendently of their real claims to respect : but it must not be undervalued because it has been abused, and if it be deficient in a child, it must be cultivated by directing his attention to what is really worthy of his reverence ; at the same time showing that we also venerate the objects which we would have him honour, for the influence of example is particularly strong over this faculty. Nothing is more chilling to this feeling than derision and ridicule ; that which a child hears laughed at by others, he can never respect, so that it is necessary most carefully to exclude all such associations, with what should be held by him in esteem and reverence. As the love we bear to our fellow-creatures is the same sentiment which with a higher direction we entertain to- wards our Creator, so this feeling of veneration not only originates respect to human superiority, but is the source of the disposition to the worship and adoration which is paid to the Great First Cause. It is expressed by the sacred writers in their injunctions to " Fear God," which allude to the exercise of this sentiment of deference or venera- tion towards Him. Thus it constitutes a large proportion of the Religious Feelings. It is on this subject that most * Mr. Combe. VENERATION. 103 anxiety has been felt by parents, and on which the greatest mistakes have been committed. The idea that the religious feelings proceed from supernatural influences only, and the consequent neglect of their natural culture, have occa- sioned a great want of success in their development and guidance. We ask for " daily bread," but we do not ex- pect that it will be given, without the exercise of the means which God has appointed to obtain it. Why then when we pray that His " kingdom may come," do we not study the natural means appointed no less to bring it about, but sit down contented with the idea that the "kingdom of God in the heart" is only to be established by his direct influence upon it ? If we examine into the nature of our constitution we shall see that certain feelings are given to us, upon the strength of which will depend the sense of religion, and the disposition to perform religious duties. The most direct means to inspire a proper sense of religion, and the means which God himself has pointed oat, is the strengthening of these feelings. This is the soil from whose insufficient cultivation so much of "the seed" which is sown brings forth no fruit. It has been from the neglect of these means, of the like natural means which we take to procure our " daily bread," that the spirit of religion so little prevails, — that religious teachings, in general, tend to the spread of fanaticism and mere sectarianism, or to leave the mind in indifference. Precepts alone, as we have formerly observed, have no direct tendency to strengthen the feelings, nor are they more effectual to this end in the shape of creeds and cate- chisms. Previous moral training is necessary to render religious instructions availing. If the feelings to which 104 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. the hopes and fears of religion are addressed, and on which the love and fear of God and the christian virtues depend, be already cultivated, then, and only then, will its appeals be successful. From the want of this cultivation, though the cry of religion is heard on every side, the world is still in bondage to those evils, which it seems to have been the special object of Christianity to remove. The grades of society are perhaps even more marked, the want, wretched- ness, and consequent vice of the masses as prevalent, whilst the direct and plain precepts of Christ are disre- garded, or explained away to suit the low standard of moral feeling. It is sometimes a matter of much difficulty with thought- ful parents how to deal judiciously with the tender germs of religious perception ; how to strengthen, without in- juring by false and unworthy association. It is a question whether it be safe to present any definite idea of God to the infant mind — whether the name, and all that tends to individualize this mightiest conception of the mature mind should not be kept back until such time as the heart and understanding demand this back-ground and solution of the world without and the world within. That God is, is the one fixed idea which sustains our humanity — the dor- sal column, to which, consciously or unconsciously, are firmly knit the hopes and fears, sense of security, faith in results, which are inherent to the thinking being. What God is, is a question that fashions itself according to each man's mode of thought at the time being. The impres- sions in childhood being especially vivid, there is danger that degrading images stamped then on the mind may long hamper and infect it. A child can never rest in VKNK RATION. 105 an abstract idea or sentiment ; he immediately personifies ; and in this case, for any human intelligence to personify is to falsify. As the spiritual nature advances, the exist- ence of God is capable of becoming a reality to us, through his attributes, and the idea of person is less and less necessary to our conception of his being. Is it wise then to suffer a child to cloud his young brain and sully his imagination with wild and puerile fancies which in after years will be so much dust and cobwebs before his mental vision ? Notice the kind of impression which the religious teaching of the nursery often makes upon a child from two to five years old. He talks and asks about God in the midst of his gambols without the slightest reverence, and with a mischievous gusto because it makes nurse look mys- terious and shocked; his prayers are a sort of game, till nurse makes them a most irksome task by re- quiring him to look grave and keep still while he says them. Soon this prankishness may be subdued, and the child become outwardly decorous, and parents who believe religious education to consist in saying prayers and catechisms, behaving well at Church, reading the Bible and being quiet on Sundays, may feel quite satisfied. Meanwhile, if children could give correct utterance to their fancies it would be curious to know the various pic- tures of God which such teaching forms in their minds. Often the notion is of a colossal human being, sitting on a throne, with his eyes constantly fixed on them. In one child it was an uninviting old man, perpetually employed in making men, women, and children out of dust, throwing them down to the earth, as soon as they were done. In another, it was a great eye, blue and glassy, ever pursuing p 106 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. her ; another child used to imagine an eye looking fixedly at her through a crack in the ceiling. It is related of Dr. Doddridge that his mother taught him the Old and New Testament from the Dutch tiles in the chimney, and ac- companied her instructions with such wise and pious reflec- tions as made a lasting impression on his heart. We fear the dutch-tile association often outlasts the wise reflections. Zschokke remarks, " Nothing in the Christian world has so greatly contributed to the decline of Christianity as the reigning practice of imparting the higher ideas of religion to children at an age when their memory only, and not their understanding, is capable of receiving them ; and in which a solemn and touching office has been de- graded to a merely social custom, mechanically partaken of from habit and decorum." Much depends in religious teaching on the natural con- stitution. In children of a loving nature and poetical temperament, the idea of the Father in Heaven may be very early introduced ; but to one of a timid, cold, and literal nature, we should be very cautious in the use of any image whatever to convey a notion of the Divine Being : such a child should be led to its Creator gradually, and through the medium of the understanding : the great idea should grow with its growth. The sense of a God may exist in the mind before the idea takes name and shape, and the germ of holy affiections accompany the love of nature, the love of fellow-beings, and the principle of right. In a child's introduction to the natural world everything should form a lesson, tending to raise and strengthen the feeling of love to nature's God. The order, the properties, the beautiful adaptation of all things to our VENERATION. 107 happiness should be explained, and in proportion as these are seen and understood, it is impossible but that the feel- ing of love must grow in the mind of a child to the Author of all the good, and the source of all the comforts and hap- piness which he enjoys. The mind thus daily, hourly exercised, there can be no difficulty in making the idea of the kindest and best of Beings the most interesting and de- lightful a child can entertain. A lively child of scarcely five years old, in whom this idea has been so implanted, associates it with all his pleasures and enjoyments, as well as his duties. He receives with avidity every sentiment connected with the great name, which is frequently on his lips, but seldom uttered louder than a whisper, and in a tone of affectionate reverence. He seems to have no idea of God but as a Father, who interests himself in our happiness, and protects us from harm. Oh one occasion he was sitting with his arm hanging over a chair. Some one present pretended to cut it off. "You cannot," said he with perfect composure. " Oh yes, I can ; here is a knife, and I can just cut it across." " No, you cannot.** " Why ?" "Because God would mend it on again." The ordinary mode of introducing the idea of God differs much from the above. It is forgotten that a child cannot love, unless the object be of such a nature as to excite his affection, and unless his heart be open to the sentiment. " The impressions made upon the minds of children con- cerning the Deity are generally painfiil, for His power is much more dwelt upon than His goodness, and they are more liable to be affected by the former than the latter.'* The time and the manner also, in which the idea is com- monly presented to the minds of children, tend greatly to 108 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. increase the sensation of fear, and to exclude the feeling of love. Whenever they have done wrong, and conse- quently are wretched and uncomfortable, they are told that God sees them and will punish them. Here is their ter- ror excited by the ideas of His omniscience and power, but no love. Whenever religious subjects are mentioned before them, they are reminded that they must be serious, which, when required, is always irksome to children, and not laugh and play about, because He is such an awful Being ; hence they conclude that He does not like to see them happy, and that His service is a restraint. And again, it is made an imperative duty to thank Him for the past day, and to ask His protection for the night, when they are tired and sleepy, and perhaps shivering with cold, and the idea of devotion is necessarily associated with irksomeness and fatigue.* Their attendance is required at long religious services not in any way adapted to their feelings and capacities, and therefore far more wearisome than profitable to them ; and whilst the day chiefly devoted to these is, or ought to be, a season of peace and refresh- ment to their elders, to children it is too often one of tedium and dulness. They cannot long be inactive and happy, and it cannot be the intention of Him who gave them their buoyant restless energies, that they should fret * The abuse of an excellent custom is here alluded to, not the custom itself, which is one of the happiest that the affection of a mother coiild devise for the cultivation of the highest and best feelings in her child. The association of bodily comfort should be made with that exercise of the mind, which reviews the blessings of the past day towards itself and others, whilst it renews its aspirations after improvement. VENERATION. 109 against each other or become torpid, for want of proper exercise, under the idea of serving Him. Painful sensations are much more powerful than plea- surable ones, and therefore if fear be excited, great care should be taken that there be sufficient love to balance it. Hence if children be reminded of God when they are faulty and uncomfortable, much more should they be re- minded of Him when they are good and happy, and, if possible, let the first impulse of devotion spring up spon- taneously from the gratitude of the heart. Miss Hamilton tells us that she remembers, when a very young child, thanking God fervently for the pleasure she had had in dancing at a children's ball ; and a little friend of ours, on finding a cherished doll which had been searched for anxiously many hours, clasped her little hands together, and with the most grateful fervour exclaimed, " Good God, I thank thee !" No matter the occasion of the feel- ing, the feeling itself in both these cases puts to shame the so-called prayers which many children are made to repeat parrot-like night and morning, under the superintendence of the nursemaid, and associated with nothing but what is chilling and disagreeable. If parents were really as anxious that their children should love God, as that they should love themselves, they would use the same means for exciting this love ; they would not so much enforce it as a duty that He should be loved and thanked, as lead the child to do so of his own accord ; they would endeavour that He should be associated in their minds with every idea of cheerfulness and enjoyment, and thus lay the foundation for a pure, rational, and efl&cient religious principle, the only source of permanent happiness. 1 10 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. HOPE. It is the privilege of the inferior animals to suffer no pain beyond that of the present moment, to anticipate no evil ; it is the higher privilege of man to look forward in present ill to future good, to feel during the fury of the storm the influence of the coming sunshine. Religion, philosophy, poetry, have united to class Hope amongst the higher principles of our nature, as the support to piety, the element of cheerfulness, the balm of human woes ; but we must not confound that exercise of the feeling which is purely instinctive, and directed towards a determinate object, distinct and bright, though distant, with that arising from its cultivation as a moral feeling. The former will create a sanguine and cheerful temper, prone to rise when the immediate pressure of suffering is taken off, — and this is in a measure valuable ; but the latter alone will enable the mind to seek out for objects of consolation in the midst of pain and distress, to turn the attention from what has been taken away, to what is left, and to remember that " though sorrow may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning." It is only, then, when cultivated, that the natural feeling of hope, which gives vigour and animation to the season of childhood and youth, can become a per- manent and elevating principle of mind. The first practical lesson which a mother can give to her child on this subject, is her own habitual cheerfulness ; long before it can be understood in words it can be felt by sympathy ; her cheerful tone and manner will often dispel the infant's rising tear, and convert it into a smile, HOPE. Ill and their influence is not less powerful with its growing years. A mother who is sensible of this will never indulge in a discontented repining tone, whatever may be the vexations she may have to encounter ; neither bodily nor mental suffering will lead her into peevishness or fretfiil- ness. She will teach her children by her own example to look on the bright side of everything, to feel, whatever may happen, that " The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away." She will show them how to find some good even in what at first appears vexatious and disagreeable, and that what seems to be a misfortune often proves to be quite the re- verse. If it be a misfortune, still she will lead them to make the best of it. If they be disappointed of one pleasure, she will point out to them those that are still within reach, and that all is not lost because the desired object is unattainable. The anticipations of children with regard to future pleasure are apt far to exceed the reality, and we ought to allow for them, and sympathize in them, not making our cool and experienced feelings the measure of theirs, nor expecting them to estimate the value of their anticipated enjoyment by our standard ; but if these longings for hap- piness in store leave the mind restless and disinclined to present duties, they are hurtful and should be checked. A child will soon perceive that pleasure is increased by the consciousness of having omitted nothing that is right to be done, for its sake. If excessive anticipations of good be injurious, the habit 112 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. of anticipating evil is much worse. This should never be indulged in by young or old. Many of the dreaded evils never come to pass, and if they do actually come upon us, they are not the less severely felt for having been suffered in prospect. Let us not throw away present blessings in fears for the future, but let us take every means in our power to avert the threatened ill, then leave the success of our efforts to wiser disposal than ours. Hope is essential to perseverance. If a child, after making one or two ineffectual efforts to accomplish some- thing which he ought to do, or which it is desirable he should do, gives up the attempt despondingly and says, " I am sure I never can do it," we should urge upon him the juvenile lesson — " All that other folks can do, Why, with patience, should not you P Only keep this rule in view. Try again. For if you will persevere. You will conquer, never fear, Try, try, try again." "We should assist him to find out the best way of over- coming the difficulty, and at the same time show him that success rarely fails to reward perseverance, if the object proposed be a rational one. The pleasure of having sur- mounted one difficulty will stimulate him to the encounter of another. It is a general idea that there are times and seasons when we ought not to be cheerful, when' our feelings ought to assume a saddened hue, and when we should rather en- courage the feeling of gloom than endeavour to dissipate WONDER. 113 it. Perhaps there is truer wisdom in opening as soon as possible the mind, in affliction, not only to religious sources of consolation, but to the influence of all alleviating cir- cumstances. A great philosopher and good man used to say, that by long habit he had brought his mind to look upon present trouble as he knew it would appear to him afterwards. If we can realize this, if in sorrow we can reckon the comforts that we have left, and consider the multitudes who are happy with even less ; if we are thank- ful to God for what remains, and console ourselves with the reflection that if time cannot replace our loss, yet every day and every hour will tend to reconcile us to it ; if we endeavour to enter at once into the state of mind which a week, a month, a year will bring — then shall we be worthy of the lesson of cheerfulness, which all Nature joins in giving, with the Apostle Paul — " Rejoice always." WONDER. Wonder expresses the superlative degree of the function of this faculty ; the feeling connected with it is simple Faith or Belief. The world, as we conceive of it, is created in our own minds, by our own mental faculties, and the sense of its reality is the result of this feeling. Certain impressions made upon the senses produce within us cer- tain sensations, to which we give names as to objects without ourselves, and we believe in their existence as re- presented by the mind. Mill says truly, however, " that we know nothing of objects, but the sensations we have from them j" and again, Hume says, " we may observe 114 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. that it is universally allowed by philosophers, and is be- sides pretty obvious of itself, that nothing is ever really present with the mind but its perceptions or impressions and ideas, and that external objects become known to us only by these perceptions they occasion. Now since nothing is ever present to the mind but perceptions, and since all ideas are derived from something antecedent to the mind, it follows that it is impossible for us so much as to conceive or form an idea of anything specifically different from ideas and impressions, Let us fix our ideas out of ourselves as much as possible ; let us chase our imaginations to the heavens, or to the utmost limit of the universe ; we never really advance a step beyond ourselves, nor can perceive any kind of existence but those perceptions which have appeared in that narrow compass." Elsewhere, in writing of this faculty, we observed, " The intellectual faculties give ideas, each after its own peculiar mode or form of intelligence ; but the practical belief at- tending the action of such faculties is altogether a different thing. Without such a sentiment ideas would pass over the mind like images over the surface of a mirror, reason would be paralyzed, and we should act like the brutes, only when impelled by instinct, and not from faith. The excess of Hope produces immoderate expectations of felicity not founded on reason ; and the excess of Wonder, that is, of this faculty of Faith, produces credulity. The pleasure and wonder expressed by children and adults who have a con- siderable development of this faculty, at the relation of marvellous stories, miraculous and improbable fictions, proceed from their extra power of belief, from their giving to such tales a reality in their own minds which to others WONDEB. 115 they do not assume."* Dr. Thomas Brown has shown that what we call Cause and Effect is mere Antecedence and Consequence, and that there is no reason really why any one cause should produce any one effect more than another, except that it always has done so — that is, the antecedence and consequence has heen observed to be invariable, the belief of a necessary connection be- tween cause and effect is produced by this faculty. It results from this that one thing is not more won- derful to young children than another : they believe all things with equal facility. There is no real reason why one thing should follow another in the relation of cause and effect, except that it does follow it, and there is equally no real reason why one thing should not follow another, however absurd the expectation that it will do so may appear to our mature experience ; consequently child- ren believe equally in all things, — in the most monstrous prodigies of romance as well as in the most simple and common events, until experience or their teacher has given a proper direction to their faith, and taught them the difference between accidental and invariable antece- dence. Neither is this kind of faith peculiar to childhood : almost every one's religious creed contains mysteries, fre- quently contradictions, which are believed equally with the simplest articles of faith. Children easily believe — they have to be taught to disbelieve. They personify everything, and live in a world of their own creating, which is as real to them as our world is to us. Anything, from a cushion to a boot-jack, makes into a doll, and the doll is a living person — animals talk, trees hold council, and flowers have * Philosophy of Necessity. Vol I., p. 58. 116 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. affections. The extreme eagerness with which children listen t5 " a tale," particularly if it appeals to the wonder- ful, points this faculty out as a most valuable vehicle for instruction, and for the exercise of our best feelings. "While all the faculties of the mind are bent with earnest attention upon the story, they are open to receive the lessons it may convey, and the vivid association of interest will stamp them lastingly upon the memory. No accom- plishment is more useful to a mother or teacher than a facility in the power of throwing instruction into the shape of a tale ; if this be not naturally possessed, it w^ill become easy by practice. It has been adopted in the Infant School system, but to embody correct principles and good taste in an extempore tale, requires more cultivated minds than ordinary teachers possess, and we have heard a tale given in this manner in an infant school, ingenious and well- told, but of which the moral was false. It does not follow that every tale we tell to children must have a moral, and we should be sorry to banish all the old nursery tales which have been the delight of many and many a genera- tion, except such as offend against right principle and good taste. The introduction of supernatural horrors to child- ren's minds has been already deprecated, as far as can now be necessary. The proper use of this faculty, and the direction we ought to endeavour to give to it in our children, is faith in ourselves, and in those upon whom their guardianship depends: faith whose fruit is confidence and obedience. In childhood all is mystery, doubt, and ignorance ; let the child then lean upon its parent with that trust which pro- duces hope and love. And if a child be properly trained, WONDER. 117 the feeling in mature age will be readily transferred from the earthly to the Heavenly Father. Ignorance and Mys- tery must still exist, but there can be no Doubt. God has planted within us moral instincts, affording a natural reve- lation of His Will, and their dictates must not be disre- garded, in obedience to what fallible man may elsewhere proclaim as another revelation. Those in whom such faculties are fully developed, and who have received other- wise a good education, must believe that God wills the good of his creatures ; that He will not allow any of them, either wilfully or in ignorance, to injure themselves irre- trievably; that if He punishes them^ it is for their good; that they have but to learn His Will and do it, to secure their happiness and well-being ; that on all occasions having done what He commands, we may safely leave the result to Him ; that He knows on all occasions what is best for all, that we may safely, therefore, place ourselves in infinite confidence in His hands ; that evil and all things will be made to work together for good, and to pre- pare the way for the reign of the true and the beautiful even upon this earth. The feelings of which we have now to treat, are good or bad according to the other feelings with which they ally themselves. They may be equally the servants of all the faculties : thus Attention, Perseverance, Firmness, Imitation, may belong equally to the murderer as to the philanthropist. They are notvirtues in themselves, but they give concentration, power, and permanence to the other faculties. 118 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. CONCENTRATIVENESS AND INHABITIVENESS. Man is the creature of habit; most of his actions are not the result of volition but of habit, and the great object of the training of the feelings is to produce virtuous habits, for they only can be relied upon ; with them only is " the soul's calm sunshine." Much of the exercise which the mind is required to go through is valuable frequently from no other result that attends it but the formation of habit. If nothing else follows order and system and application, we ought to be satisfied with that. Habits of industry, of attention, of self-subjection, of self-denial, are more valuable than intellectual acquirements, and how we learn is of more consequence in childhood than what we learn. The continual dropping of water will wear away the hardest stone, and attention and perseverance will over- come the greatest difl&culties. The object of the above faculties seems to be to aid in forming habits. Much has been written by mental philosophers upon the power of association, and perhaps the importance of the subject has not been over-rated. Concentrativeness gives the desire to retain emotions and ideas, an instinctive love of dwel- ling upon them when present, until an association is formed between certain feelings, and also between such feelings and particular intellectual states. Inhabitiveness dwells with as much satisfaction upon places as the other upon states of mind, producing attachment to home and the love of country. Upon Concentrativeness mainly depends the " power of Attention," which has been so deservedly dwelt upon by CONCENTBATIVENESS AND INHABITIVENESS. 119 writers on education, as indispensable to the culture of the intellect, and also of the moral nature ; for without it the efforts of the instructor would be fruitless as the attempt to construct an edifice of sand. It is, probably, less frequently- deficient than is imagined ; for the attention of the mind to its internal ideas is often the cause of the apparent inatten- tion to those presented from without. Its right direction depends upon the development of the superior faculties, and if they be weak, the lower ones will seize possession of it, and occupy it for their own ends. "Where this is not the case, and the higher powers hold their rightful supre- macy, one of them may predominate over the rest so much as to fix the attention of the mind, to the exclusion of others more seasonable ; it should be the endeavour of the teacher to ascertain this leading faculty, and to coun- teract its undue predominance by exciting the others. The direction of this disposition will therefore depend upon the prevailing feeling, unless checked by the moral sense, which teaches that it is right to give the whole mind to the present duty. If, for instance, a child who has an inordinate love of eating, be receiving a lesson, an incidental allusion in the course of it to the beloved subject, may fill his mind with ideas of good things in reversion ; the same lesson may, from another association, send a second roaming in ima- gination through the fields and woods; a third, to revel in the regions of romance — whilst the instructor marvels that his useful lesson makes so little impression. And all this with no deficiency, but merely a misdirection of the feeling of which we are speaking. A child of four years and a-half old, whose teacher had tried to explain to him the 120 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. necessity of self-control on this point, showed that he was not too young to understand it. The next time he was occupied with his lesson his favourite playmate entered the room ; in a tone of command he addressed himself, " Me, don't look up when Annie comes." "Where there is no original want of this feeling it is often much weakened by injudicious management in infancy, as many excellent writers have observed. The active, im- patient nurse will not suffer the child's attention to attach itself undisturbed to the object which takes its fancy. No sooner does he grasp the new substance, fix his eyes in- tently upon it, begin to consider what it is like, and what it is for, than she snatches it hastily away, and attracts his notice to something else: thus preventing the little philosopher from making his own experiments, and draw- ing his own deductions. By a constant repetition of this treatment the mind becomes incapacitated for patient and continued thought. We must remember also that many " children have, in common with weak men, an incapability of instantaneous cessation from what they are doing. Often no threatening can stop their laughter : remember the converse in their crying, in order to treat their weakness as a physician rather than as a judge."* If, on the contrary, this faculty be constitutionally weak, we must be careful to make the subjects upon which it is exercised as interesting as possible, in order that the pain of giving attention may be outweighed by the pleasure it will occasion. A celebrated author well remarks, " there * Bichter. CONCENTRATIVENESS AND INHABITIVENESS. 121 is no memory without attention, and no attention without interest." Perhaps the excess of this faculty is less common than its absence, but this excess has sometimes to be corrected. It is possible to pay too much attention to a study or pur- suit, excellent and important in itself, and to suffer the mind to be engrossed by it, to the exclusion of more ex- tended and general information, until we become partial and contracted in our views, and incapable of estimating the true value of our own department of knowledge. We may sometimes trace the prevalence of the feeling, in a minor degree, in the tenacity with which some persons cling to a subject in conversation, and the pain which they appear to feel when compelled to turn their attention to something else. "When a child seems absorbed so much in one particular mental occupation, as to take no interest in anything else, it is desirable that he should be shown how all the branches of knowledge are connected with, and throw light upon each other, and how he cannot even know all relating to his favourite subject, without enlarging his acquirements. It occasionally happens that a child appears to be haunted by a particular set of feelings and ideas ; they follow him through the day, and form his dreams by night. This, perhaps, is owing to some morbid state of the sys- tem, as well as to an excess of concentrativeness ; but in either case the mind should be gently led away to oppo- site ideas, and both mind and body receive as much relaxation as possible. 122 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. FIRMNESS. Firmness gives strength and efl&ciency to every virtue and qualitj of mind. Constancy, fortitude, determination, perseverance, which are its manifestations, are essential to force of character and consistency in action. The cha- racter may be amiable, the wish to do good sincere, but without unity of purpose and perseverance in execution, even virtuous efiforts will produce small fruits. The Apostle says, " He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed." We have more cause to fear the want of the feeling than its predominance, for what in childhood may show itself in stubbornness and obstinacy, will, if the proper cultivation of all the other faculties be attended to, be displayed in manhood in the virtues of perseverance, fortitude, patience. A child who is deficient in firmness will be prone to yield to the impulses of any feeling that may predominate at the moment ; he will be apt to procrastinate, to shrink from doing anything disagreeable, however necessary. If a tooth must be drawn, or a bitter medicine taken, or a tedious sum worked again, the evil moment is put ofi", if possible. Undertakings will be continually begun, and continually thrown aside uncompleted, in favour of new schemes. Good resolutions, formed when the mind is fresh and active, will give way when the stimulus is withdrawn, or when temptation presents itself. Where this weakness is observed, the force of habit must be brought to bear against it. Regular and constant ap- plication must be enforced, and kept up by the assistance FIRMNESS. 123 of the best feelings ; but only for short and certain periods. No disinclination, no idle excuse, must be permitted to postpone the performance of a present duty. The plea- sure of conquest over self in submitting to a present pain, thereby avoiding a future greater one, besides all the pains of irresolution, must be made clear and enhanced ; and whenever any degree of self-conquest or perseverance is shown, it should be encouraged by sympathy and assistance. If it happen that the feeling of firmness is stronger than the intellect, it will take the form of obstinacy, because in that case the judgment is not always capable of determin- ing when firmness is misplaced. This frequently occurs, and very delicate management is required to prevent occa- sional obstinacy from settling down into a habit of perverse- ness. Some parents and teachers have themselves the love of authority so strong, that they would actually prefer that a child should do right because they command it, than of its own accord ; it requires a stretch of magnanimity of which all are not capable, to be satisfied that their child should judge and act wisely without interference from them. Their aim seems to be less that of teaching a child to walk alone, than to strengthen the leading strings which attach it to themselves. But let them remember that they thus gratify their own propensities at the child's expense. It is a common notion that the first thing to be done in training a child is to " break its will." Are parents sure that this does not arise from the love of power in themselves ? Little do they imagine the evils generated in the harsh process ! T here are few children who would not obey from motives of affection and duty, if they were made to feel that 124 THE EDUCATION OP THE FEELINGS. nothing was required of them but what was right and reasonable. Implicit obedience should rarely be enforced, unless the confidence and affection on the part of the child be strong enough to counteract the violence that such a requirement must do to his feelings. Of course this does not refer to very early childhood when obedience must fre- quently be required without rendering a reason, plainly because the reasoning power is not developed to receive it, — but even then the command itself must be reasonable. The word obstinacy is applied to the conduct of children, when in reality very different feelings come into play, all producing similar external manifestations. A child may be directed to do something which he thinks involves an injury to himself, — his natural firmness will assist the feeling of oppositiveness in resisting the command ; it may include something which he imagines to be wrong ; — his firmness will then be supported by his sense of right ; or he may not really understand what the injunction means ; or may oppose it from the mere superabundance of firmness itself, which last alone is obstinacy, strictly speaking. Now all these cases we are apt to call cases of obstinacy, and treat them in the same manner, whereas they proceed from totally different sources, and require dealing with ac- cordingly. In the last instance we must be sure that the command is necesscary before it is given, and kindness must unite with determination in exacting obedience. But all occasion for combats of this description should be studiously avoided ; it would be almost wiser never to give a command than to give too many. There is a passage containing some excellent remarks in the Monthly Repository, touching this subject, although FIRMNESS. 125 it does not bear exactly upon the feeling under notice, as the obstinacy which proceeds from resistance to a supposed injury is, as above said, not a case of the genuine feeling. " Nothing fosters obstinacy like contention. It has been said, and there may be some truth in the idea, that it is right to do battle once with an obstinate child, and by overcoming it, make him aware of his habit, and also convince him of his power and yours to conquer it. But it is very questionable whether these victories do not leave behind them a resentfulness and soreness which it takes years to efface. However this may be with regard to habits already formed, certain it is that one should try to prevent the formation of the habit, a thing only to be done by analyzing the feeling. What is obstinacy but the resistance to a supposed injury ? Is there any other cure for it than a conviction in the child of the lovingness and good sense of its conductor ? Is that conviction likely to be wrought by the tortures by which people usually seek to conquer a fit of obstinacy ? Would obstinacy ever spring up under an intelligent guidance ? Must it not have been engendered by a loss of confidence, caused by a quantity of useless requisition on the part of the educator ? Here comes in that principle of action which meets us at every turn, viz., to wait pa- tiently till experience shall have tutored the will. No one will obstinately resist that which he sees to be his good ; it is for this seeing that the parent must so often be con- tent to wait. Too great care cannot be taken likewise that we do not call that obstinacy which is often stupidity on the one hand, or firmness of principle on the other." " To be very careful not to tax a child unjustly with ob- 126 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. stinacy, to be very careful not to engender it by ill-advised demands, and to be content when it exists, to let it melt away gradually under the influence of growing affection and sympathy : such should be the course adopted towards the obstinate. Nor should one ever lose sight of the fact that all wrong is but excess of good, and that that which under the name of obstinacy looks so hideous, springs from the very principle of our nature, which, well directed, we should all venerate under a thousand lovely forms, such as firmness, fortitude, liberty, decision, &c." Again, therefore, we say avoid, if possible, doing battle with obstinacy ; to resist the feeling only strengthens it. Employ patience, kindness, reasoning ; threats and punishment only increase the evil. Of course there are times and occasions when commands must be given, and when this is the case they must be obeyed always^ and under all circumstances; but such instances should be very rare. No eminence is ever reached without continued effort; nothing valuable is ever attained without perse- verance : let us, therefore, carefully cultivate this faculty. Endure hardness, says the preacher — and a large proportion of that which is disagreeable must enter into our every- day life ; this faculty will mainly help us to bear it, will put us in harmony with it, and even furnish a kind of pleasure of its own in the fortitude and endurance called for ; — " Into life's goblet freely press The leaves that give it bitterness," To do only that which is pleasant soon engenders a state of mind altogether at variance with steady ap- plication and continued effort ; it makes self-sacrifice IMITATION. 127 hard and duty difficult. Self-denial must be practised on small as well as on great occasions, and those whose habits are self-indulgent will be weak, irresolute, and easily overcome by temptation. As a gladiator trained the body, so must we train the mind to self-sacrifice " to endure all things," to meet and overcome difficulty and danger. We must take the rough and thorny road as well as the smooth and pleasant ; and a portion at least of our daily duty must be hard and disagreeable ; for the mind cannot be kept strong and healthy in perpetual sunshine only, and the most dangerous of all states is that of constantly recurring pleasure, ease, and prosperity. Most persons will find difficulties and hardships enough without seeking them ; let them not repine, but take them as a part of that edu- cational discipline necessary to fit the mind to arrive at its highest good. IMITATION. The natural language of every feeling is more or less marked on the person and in the countenance, and no doubt there is a faculty which at once recognizes and sym- pathises with this natural language of the feelings. Through this unknown faculty we gain an instinctive knowledge of character, as through it we enter at once into the mind of another, and for a time may be almost said to become a part of that other mind. From its un- usual development in such men as Bacon, Shakspeare, and Scott, is probably owing their deep insight into human nature. It is not yet to be found in the list of 128 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. phrenologists, but we believe that many of them now admit its existence. As this instinct induces sympathy of feel- ing, so imitation produces sympathy of action, and copies the manners and gestures of others. Every spirituality or idea, before it can be born into the world, and become manifestable to others, must take some bodily or material form. Imitation copies only that material form, and where the feeling is strong it is sometimes very difficult to dis- tinguish the mere imitation of an idea or feeling from the genuine feeling itself. Imitation has avery powerful effect in forming and fashion- ing our minds and habits. It is owing to this feeling, added to the force of sympathy and association already spoken of, that, imperceptibly to ourselves, we take the direction of our feelings and the tone of mind and manners from the age and society to which we belong, and it is not without a strong effort that we can break through the spell which binds us to think, to feel, and to act with all around us. It is intended to make the members of the social body more harmonious. It influences us equally in less im- portant concerns ; our gestures, our modes of speech, our habits of life, the regulation of our mutual intercourse. Our dress, — all follow the models which the fashion of society sets before us. Owing to this copying propensity, each nation has its peculiar characteristics ; the European and the Chinese have each different degrees only of mental faculties, but so great is the diversity in their external habits that we might readily believe them to belong to separate planets. Boerhaave relates, "that a schoolmaster near Ley- den being squint-eyed, it was found that the children IMITATION. 129 placed under his care soon exhibited a like obliquity of vision." This faculty seems to be given as the great help in edu- cation, but it is a help which throws an immense respon- sibility upon parents and teachers. The vices and evil habits of parents descend by its means from generation to generation, — but through the same means none of their excellencies can be wholly lost. Thus a good system of education may do much when aided by a good example, but nothing whatever without it. Powerful as is the ope- ration of this feeling, and therefore of example, we must be careful lest children do from the mere imitation of those with whom they associate what ought to proceed from a better feeling — from a higher principle. They who are not in the habit of looking minutely into motives, frequently mistake the instinctive action of this feeling for one ori- ginating in a higher source. This is a dangerous error, for where imitation alone is the source of good conduct, that good conduct obviously has no root in itself, and will cease as soon as the example is withdrawn. The influence of example, therefore, in order to be asafe, must be a silent one. We must be careful never to say to children. Do so and so because your parents and instructors, those whom you respect and love, do so, but because it is right, it is kiud, it is wise. Whilst we gather around children not only circumstances, but persons who will contribute to mould their characters, their manners, and their habits to the standard we approve, we must sparingly, if at all, present them as models ; for besides, that as there are im- perfections even amongst the excellent of the earth, a child will probably imitate the errors which are associated s 130 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. with the virtues, — the mind will also be led to be satisfied with referring to an outward tribunal of right, rather than to the inner one of duty. To place^the companions and equals of children before them, as examples, is more dan- gerous still, from the risk of exciting envy and jealousy instead of the wish to emulate. At the same time that we aim at opening the mind to receive all the good which radiates from the examples around, we must infuse into it a principle, which shall enable it to repel the emanations of evil which are also widely diffused. Singularity is to be avoided if it can be consistently with reason and justice, but when it cannot, then it becomes us to resist the promptings of the feeling which impels us to do as others do — to dare to be singular when the world is wrong ; and when we become cognizant of the actual requirements of true humanity, in its full development, the amount of time, wealth, and happiness — of the good, true, and beautiful, now sacrificed in the world of fashion, — we shall see that it is no small part of the instructor's duty to give this faculty a wise direction, and to check its instinctive manifestation. There are many obvious abuses against which we shall have to guard in the education of such a propensity. The habit of indiscriminate mimicry tends above all things to the depression of veneration, and worse than this, imita- tion is capable of becoming a powerful ally of love of approbation, in seeming to be virtuous instead of really being so. FEELING OF THE LUDICROUS. 131 THE FEELING OF THE LUDICROUS. Man has been defined as " a laughing animal," and his dignity need not reject the definition, for it would scarcely compensate him for the loss of the characteristic. When the progress of years and the cares of life have somewhat sobered the spirits, who does not look back with regret to the joyous mirth of his childhood, and if he cannot return to those happy days when he himself was " tickled by a straw," delight in the hearty merriment of those with whom they are not past ? One of the happy effects of the mix- ture of all ages in society, is the enlivening influence of the light-heartedness and gaiety of those in whom life is young, upon those whose animal spirits are no longer as buoyant as theirs. "Laughing is good for digestion," as the old saw hath it, and "he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast," but " there is a season for all things under the heaven." In very young children laughter is little more than the ex- pression of a sudden feeling of happiness; in time it becomes, in addition, the outward sign of the sense of the ludicrous, which often shows itself to a degree which demands re- straint ; those know how to deprecate its effects who have tried time after time to gain a child's serious attention for five minutes, but have failed as often, on account of their pupil's finding at every turn, something that excites this feeling. When this happens, the teacher must studiously avoid any word, tone, or look, which can awaken a ludicrous association, and pass over without the least notice the child's attempts to break into witticism, until the work requiring ,132[ THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. attention shall be concluded. Another method was tried with a child whose mirthful mood was quite incompatible with attention to his lesson — he could not help laughing, he said. He was advised to jump up, run into a corner of the room, and laugh as hard as he could. He very readily obeyed, and ran laughing to his post, followed by his adviser, who, laughing herself, exhorted him to perse- Tere, — " Oh that is not half long enough, try again." He did his best, but a few minutes were enough to bring him to his sober senses, and he returned to his lesson quite cured of his risibility. There may be a strong sense of the ludicrous without the power of exciting it in others, which last is wit, and depends upon the combination of this sense with other mental faculties and peculiarities. In proportion to the degree of intellectual cultivation which accompanies it, will the pleasure it gives be more or less exquisite. Child- ren therefore can seldom enjoy the higher species of wit, because their knowledge is too limited to enable them to understand it ; but whenever they can they are quick to appreciate it. They are generally, however, most pleased with humour, drollery, play upon words, and the inferior kinds of wit which depend upon the power of imitation, and their own efforts at wit are for the most part of this class. The sayings of children may be accidentally witty to those who can perceive an incongruity, or an unexpected relation, which is quite hidden to the children themselves. The laughter thus excited will abash a child of a timid dispo- sition, and add to its natural reserve, while another of a dif- ferent nature will be emboldened by it to the utterance of iresh conceits, or perhaps to the repetition of the same, over FERLIN& OF THE LUDICROUS. 133 and over again, not doubting that the same effect of sur- prise and laughter will follow as at the first. When we laugh at such things we should explain to children why we do so, and not leave them with a vague impression on their minds that they have said something wrong, or else very clever. The remarks of an intelligent child of quick percep- tion often contain, unconsciously to himself, the elements of wit. When the child, Charles Lamb, asked his sister in the churchyard, after reading the epitaphs on the tombstones which memorialized the virtues of each of the departed underneath, " and where do the naughty people lie .P" he did not know that there was wit in the inquiry. There is so great a charm in the sportive play of fancy and wit that there is no danger of their being neglected and undervalued, or that the native talent for them will remain undeveloped ; our chief solicitude must be to keep them, even in their wildest flights, still in subjection to duty and benevolence. We must not allow ourselves to be betrayed into an approving smile, at any effusions of wit and humour which are tinctured in the slightest degree by ill-nature. A child will watch the expression of our coun- tenance, to see how far he may venture, and if he find that he has the power to amuse us in spite of ourselves, we have no longer any hold over him from respect, and he will go rioting on in his sallies until he is tired, and seek at every future opportunity to renew his triumph. Wit undirected by benevolence generally falls into personal satire — the keenest instrument of unkindness; it is so easy to laugh at the expense of our friends and neighbours — they furnish such ready materials for our wit, that all the moral forces require to be arranged against the pro- 134 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. pensity, and its earliest indications checked. We may satirize error, but we must compassionate the erring, and this we must always teach by example to children, not only in what we say of others before them, but in our treatment of themselves. We should never use ridicule towards them, except when it is so evidently good natured that its spirit cannot be mistaken ; the agony which a sensitive child feels on being held up before others as an object of ridicule, even for a trifling error, a mistake, or a peculiarity, is not soon forgotten, nor easily forgiven. When we wish, therefore, to excite contrition for a serious fault, ridicule should never be employed, as the feelings it raises are directly opposed to self-reproach. The love of the ridiculous often becomes so excessive, that the mind is incapable of the effort of being serious for long together, even upon the most serious subjects. It is continually darting off in search of the ludicrous and the absurd, and the associations thus formed are most detrimental to the progress of mental and moral improve- ment. A peculiar gesture, the disarrangement of a collar or a cravat, the mis-pronunciation of a word, are enough to mar the effect of the most instructive and eloquent discourse. We attempt to reason, and are met by a jest, a pun, a quibble. To turn everything into ridicule is as profitless as it is wearisome. But wit should sparkle amongst the solid endowments of the mind which is fully competent to educate — there should be the power of amusing as well as that of instructing. The influence which a playful wit has over children is shown by the preference which they display at a very early age towards persons who possess it, and that which it exerts not only FEELING OF THE LUDICROUS. 135 over them, but over all, whose minds are able to appre- ciate it, proves it to be, when instructed by the intellect, elevated and refined by ideality, and warmed by benevo- lence, one of the choicest gifts to man which Nature has bestowed. Such are the Feelings which by phrenologists are termed established, and although it by no means can be considered a complete list, yet all must admit that it contains the principal elements of our mental nature. Some of the feelings, as they are now delineated in the works of phre- nologists, are no doubt too complex in their function, and will be resolved, as the science advances, into more simple elements : but still, as the uses and properties of atmos- pheric air were the same before it was found to consist of oxygen and nitrogen as after, so any future division or sub-division of the mental faculties will not falsify our present deductions concerning their uses and properties which we have obtained from a consideration of them in the aggregate. It is also beyond a doubt that there are some primitive feelings which are not included in the above list ; but enough is not yet known of them to speak decidedly of their education : such are, the Love of Know- ledge, the Love of the Past, Sympathy, &c. As there is a love or desire of property, so also is there a desire for mental acquirement — a love of knowledge for its own sake ; and a certain diversity in the mode in which persons men- tally connect themselves with the events of life, — some always living in the past, never in the present or the future— others never looking back, always forward, — point 136 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. to some elemental difference for which the faculties we have named are not sufficient to account. But incomplete and imperfect as the phrenological classification of the feelings may be, yet, being true as far as it goes, the exposition of the principles of our nature which it furnishes is invaluable in education. To give the use of each faculty, point out the abuse of which it is susceptible, and show in what that abuse consists, must greatly aid a judi- cious person, practically acquainted with the management of children, and in the habit of applying principles to practice. By the assistance of a clever practical phreno- logist, or by close attention to natural disposition, the proportion in which each feeling is possessed may be ascer- tained, and tolerably correct data obtained on which to form our system for the restraint of some feelings and the strengthening of others. It must be admitted that the faculties seldom act alone, but usually in combina- tion with others, and some qualities of mind are of so complex a character that they could not properly be in- cluded under any of the separate heads ; but still if each feeling be trained aright, the virtue which is the compound result will be certain to show itself in full strength. The following subjects could not be properly treated under any of the mental faculties taken separately: — Authority and Obedience, Temper, Punishment, Manners, Example : — Authority and Obedience. — It is desirable to leave a child as much at liberty as circumstances will conveniently admit, and to give as few commands and prohibitions as possible. Let the child's limbs and affections have full AUTHORITY AND OBEDIENCE. 137 play and free scope, and let our endeavour be to assist the natural growth and enter fully into his mind and spirit. But if a command must be given, give it at once, as that from which there can be no appeal ; the reasons for it are better given afterwards, when there can be no interested motives to prevent the child from seeing them in their proper light. Obedience must always be enforced. The penalty of disobedience must be as certain as the pain which follows the putting the hand in the fire ; for a child must be taught what he will find through life— that there is a law controlling his free will for his own good. As much as possible let a child's conduct be the result of his own free will, by a judicious arrangement of circumstances about him J rather than of positive command, for what a child can be led to do of himself is much more valuable in its after result than that which is regulated by another's will. There is much in choosing just the right instant for making a demand ; to stop in the midst of any interest- ing pursuit is always painful. Allow for infirmity of temper, and as much as possible let all feeling subside before com- mands are given. We may as well command a child not to feel the tooth-ache as not to feel anger and irritation. Never forget what a child must be — that is, what belongs to childhood, and exercise authority as little as possible with regard to those things which a child must necessarily grow out of in a few years. Temper. — Bad temper is oftener the result of unhappy circumstances than of an unhappy organization ; it fre- quently, however, has a physical cause, and a peevish child often needs dieting more than correcting. Some children are more prone to show temper than others, and T 138 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. sometimes on account of qualities which are valuable in themselves. For instance, a child of active temperament, sensitive feeling, and eager purpose, is more likely to meet with constant jars and rubs than a dull passive child, and if he is of an open nature, his inward irritation is imme- mediately shown in bursts of passion. If you repress these ebullitions by scolding and punishment, you only in- crease the evil, by changing passion into sulkiness. A cheerful, good-tempered tone of your own, a sympathy with his trouble, whenever the trouble has arisen from no ill conduct on his part, are the best antidotes; but it would be better still to prevent beforehand, as much as possible, all sources of annoyance. Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good afTections grow — the whole- some warmth necessary to make the heartblood circulate healthily and freely : unhappiness the chilling pressure which produces here an inflammation, there an excres- cence, and worst of all, " the mind's green and yellow sickness — ill-temper." Make a child unhappy by con- tinually thwarting him, chidinghim, and punishing him, and ten to one he will soon show an evil temper of his own, and a distortion of his moral nature. The friction of trial and disappointment maybe very well afterwards, when the character has acquired a degree of elasticity and tough- ness, but in tender childhood it is purely destructive. The trials of childhood do not prepare for the trials of manhood. That man is stronger to endure and overcome whose childhood has been happy and unruffled. A cheer- ful temper is the best friend we can set out in life with, and we have a heavy charge to bring against our mothers TEMPER. 139 and nurses, if by their petulance and mismanagement, they have made us part company. The virtues of self- denial and self-control are better fostered under happy than under unhappy influences ; children will delight to make little sacrifices for those they love, if asked to do so in a pleasant tone, and the moral feeling will grow apace under the kindly interchange of good offices between elders and youngers ; whereas, the dictatorial mannerwhich those in authority sometimes assume, immediately gathers the frost about the young heart, and transforms every good feeling into an irresistible desire to be naughty. Bad temper, oftener than we imagine, proceeds from a lurking spirit of revenge for something ugly in our own tone or manner. Fear restrains the child from open resistance or passion ; so he takes refuge in sulkiness and a general determination to be disagreeable and perverse. Many persons have a most unfortunate intonation when giving a command, injunction, or reproof — whether to their servants or children— which worse than nullifies all the good they intend. If a mother suspect this defect in herself, we be- seech her to ponder over the mischief of letting this associa- tion gain strength of herself with the wrong, resistance with the right ; and carefully tutor herself till every grain of evil is excluded from her method of reproving. If a mother be positively ill-tempered, the children have but a poor chance ; it is next to impossible that they should not catch a malady so infectious ; but only those persons who have much to do with children can know how difficult it is to control the temper at all times, and how important. Honour be to the governess who makes the daily tasks pleasant and profitable by her cheerful voice and manner. 140 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS, and overcomes the listlessness or fretfiilness of her pupils by a happy mixture of briskness and gentleness ; when perhaps, meanwhile, her own poor heart is far away, and burthened with many a sad thought. And also, honour to the mother who can bear the noisy overflow of her child- ren's high spirits, when her own are under par, and return gentle answers to their constant importunate queries, when suffering from bodily weakness or mental anxiety. Punishment. — The wholesome administration of punish- ment demands the most delicate skill and clear-sighted- ness, with undeviating rectitude of purpose. It is a medicine which, by too frequent use, would not only lose all its efficaciousness, but would injure and tend to destroy the natural functions of the mind. The mind of a young child, in a healthy state — that is, with well-balanced feel- ings and propensities — is naturally disposed to love good- ness, and hate wrong-doing, and has a sufl&cient rectifying power in itself to recover from slight deviations, which is only disturbed and perverted by external interference. If the undue excitement of some selfish inclination has led it into naughtiness, the aid of the parent may be required by gentle reprimand, and the contagion of kindly feeling, to restore the balance of moral perception ; but this done, no more is needed : the re-awakened conscience will inflict its salutary pain, aided by the humiliation of virtuous shame. "Whenever these precious guardians per- form their part, punishment would be only injurious. The love of goodness is restored — only encouragement in the return to it is required. Let the child feel that its parent only wishes him to be good, and let him feel that as soon as he is good he has a right to be happy. As soon as PUNISHMENT. 141 ever the naughtiness subsides, and the desire for goodness returns, let there be no fear of punishment to check it ; let the affectionate smile be waiting to greet its first appearance, and no grave lecture recal the sullenness that is past. This winning of children out of their infant foibles is quite different from the weak indulgence which spoils them : clogging their moral stomachs with most deleterious sweets, and destroying their appreciation of healthy food — the bread of life. There cannot be too strict vigilance on the part of parents to keep chOdren from vice, and to draw them from it by unceasing patient efforts, when they have once relapsed. However small the sin — however eYenj)retiy the naughtiness may appear in its miniature proportions, let them remember it is great to them ; its deadly nature is the same, and will infallibly develop itself in time. Let there be no indulgence here, let their displeasure attend every fault, but let their cordial approbation immediately accompany virtue. So that we should say, as a general rule, let there be no punishment — by which we mean the express external infliction of pain, either mentally or bodily — after a fault is over, while the child is yet so young as to be merely under the government of instinct and impulse, that is, perhaps, till the age of five years. There are, indeed, sometimes cases in which a child appears fixed in a state of sullen- ness or passive rebellion, from causes that are mainly physical, and refuses to obey chiefly from the difficulty of rousing itself out of its sluggish inertness of body, too naughty to take the refreshing run in the garden which would restore its healthy action. It may then be well to rouse the physical energy by a vigorous shake, or even in very 142 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. stubborn cases by a blow ; at all events this would be much better than serious remonstrance and lecturing, where there is no capacity or inclination to listen to it — a beating down of the mind, a moral drubbing, which may give satis- faction to the provoked inflictor, but does irremediable mischief to the bewildered victim. After reason has become so much developed as to be an habitual guiding power, when transgression has become deliberate, it may be profitable to detain a child more or less in a state of mental suffering, or deprivation of happiness : it may do it good to ponder awhile over its folly and its consequences. It will feel that it has deserved pain ; it will acquiesce, or may be led to acquiesce, in its own punishment. "Without this acquiescence punishment can never be otherwise than injurious. It will appear merely as a tyrannical power and vengeance, and will stimulate all angry and revenge- ful feelings in return. As soon as the parent appears in this light of a tyrant, his moral power is lost. Rebellion, or, worse still, slavish, cowardly obedience, will ensue. He must be recognized by the child as only the adminis- trator of the Divine law of retribution, which is written upon his own conscience, and then no evil feeling will result — no permanent evil feeling, even though the human infirmity of the parent should lead him to undue severity. Of the kind and degree of punishment the parent or his representative must be the sole judge ; he alone can ap- portion it to the constitution, mental and physical, of the child. His authority is absolute, and without human ap- peal; but it can hardly be far abused, while exercised under the intimate sense of responsibility to Him by whom it was conferred — the Father of himself as well as of his children. MANNERS. 143 Manners. — Few persons in these days are so cynical as to maintain that manners are of no consequence. Though they are but the external surface of character, and there- fore not of the vital importance which belongs to the inner heart and root of it, still it would be absurd to deny that the qualities of that surface do very much concern the happiness both of the individual and of society. If beauty alone were in question, (but in fact beauty is closely allied with moral health,) the outward grace of manner would deserve and repay much sedulous care. The gardener's labour is not spent in vain when he cherishes into bloom merely the brilliant- tinted flower. The wise cultivator of the human plant, however, will bear in mind the analogy of nature, and will not think he can produce that beauty by painting the surface. If art can add a tint to the flower, it must be by laying no pigment on the petal, but by infusing a. new chemical element into the soil, which must ascend through the pores of the stem, and be elaborated in its secret glands. And so to cultivate manners that will be really attractive, we must labour from the heart and soul of man outwards, and they in their turn will re-act upon the heart, and aid the growth and development of virtuous character, as those flowers and leaves with their polished surfaces, imbibing the sun and air, give back nourishment to root and stem. Good manners should be cultivated because, first, they are good ; they are beautiful, suitable, proper ; they gratify the artistic perception in ourselves ; a refined mind would prompt to elegant action in a solitary wilderness ; — in the second place, because they are agreeable to others, and to give pleasure is no mean branch of benevolence. Let the 144 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELIN&S. best motives be present to the mind of the teachers and the taught, and the work will be incomparably best performed. Let children be trained to sit quietly, to talk gently, to eat with nicety, to salute gracefully, to help another before themselves, because it is proper, it is kind, it is becoming to do so, not because Mrs. Grundy will stare at them, and think them naughty, if they do otherwise. It is best of all to behave prettily, because it is pretty ; it is well to behave prettily, because it will please Mrs. Grundy ; the lowest motive, which leads to merely artificial and coun- terfeit elegance, is to behave prettily because Mrs. Grundy will think it pretty. Politeness, which Johnson describes to be " the never giving any preference to oneself," frequently we know lies all upon the surface ; still this is better than the absence of it ; for, as we have already intimated, the habitual regard to observances which are prescribed upon the principles of benevolence, which is at the root of all polite- ness and good manners, will lead by degrees to the love and practice of benevolence itself. And when it is consi- dered how contagious are all the feelings of our nature, whether good or evil, — how the frown will excite an answering frown, as smiles will kindle smiles — how the rude jest will provoke the insolent reply — how he that always takes care of number one, will find himself jostled by a host of equally independent units, whose bristles are roused in emulation of his own — it is evident that the well- being of society is affected in no slight degree by the regard which is paid to the outward decencies and ameni- ties of life. Manners (mores) may not now mean morals, but they are the best possible substitute. EXAMPLE. 145 Example. — "We must here again repeat the great rule in education — Be yourself what you wish your children to he ; or to express it more practically, Be yourself under the guidance of the same principles as those by which you would guide your children. There may be natural reasons why a parent cannot in all things be a pattern for his children — infirmities and deficiencies over which he has no control ; besides which, they may be differently constituted, so that the rule which is right for him may not be applicable to them. In the striving, then, after excellence, rather than in any condition of being actually attained, he must be an example to his children, and never, through any false idea of maintaining his authority, in- spiring reverence — in short, humouring his own pride, attempt to concentrate their view on himself as their beau ideal, and so heap a weight of responsibility on his own head which he is naturally incapable of sustaining. At the commencement of life, as well as through all its stages, this may be the secret guiding rule, " Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect," and the glorious mys- tery of our humanity begin to do its work even in the child's heart, by which a perfection hopeless of attainment and infinite in distance becomes an actual aim of the soul — a true centre which, by its constant attraction, indicates the right direction to our doings and desires, and causes every tangential movement to be attended with compunc- tion and pain. The duty then of parents in the matter of example is twofold. To make right principles living realities, by their own obedience to them, and to gain such an attractive V 146 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. power over the minds of their children, that they too shall be brought into the same subservience. It does not necessarily follow that children should imitate their parents or instructors ; they will invariably imitate those who most forcibly fix their attention. A mother or governess may be most wise, most virtuous, most everything, but if there happen to be in the nursery or neighbourhood any who will amuse their fancy with marvellous stories, answer all their questions, and invent fascinating games, these geniuses will be, in the child's judgment, authorities of a much higher order than the keepers of the law in the parlour. Superiority of mind in itself, and the tendency to quietness and reflection which the possession of knowledge gives, often add much to the indisposition of grown-up persons to amuse children in their own way ; and a romping nursemaid will therefore soon obtain a hold over them, which the mother fails to do. Whoever can make children the happiest, will have the most influence over them, and it is much easier to make them happy by exciting their animal spirits than by inte- resting them mentally. Persons of coarse, uneducated minds, generally appeal directly to these animal feelings, in their efforts to amuse children, and will draw away affection and influence from the careful instructors who try to make way by delicate and less exciting means. Parents, then, must learn the art of inspiring interest in the pursuits which they themselves direct, and there must be such happy associations with all the intercourse between them and their children that no gratifications which can be procured from other sources shall really have a coun- teracting charm. EXAMPLE. 147 It is piteous sometimes to see what a dull place the drawing-room is made to a child, and how it must soon learn to hate the society of its parents and their friends. So long as it sits quietly and makes no noise, and looks like a little block of wood, it is called a good child, and perhaps overwhelmed with kisses,— that is to say, commended for being inanimate and indolent, and for making no use of its faculties. But as soon as it begins to grow restless, to pull about everything within reach, and to urge eagerly, and perhaps noisily, oft-repeated questions concerning the nature and reason of this thing and that ; — the bell is rung, the child is considered a nuisance, and given to the servant, and while its little heart is bursting with shame and disappointment, which it can only express by cries and sobs — "naughty child" is reiterated, and it is again banished to the nursery. It is in fact punished for being happy — for employing its powers — for making] its own best efforts for expanding its little mind ; and precisely at the moment when the faculties are in the best possible state for receiving right impressions, they are checked, — bad feelings are excited, and it is sent amongst those who may perchance misunderstand its wishes, and thwart, perhaps punish, its anxious desire to know and to improve ; leaving the poor child with a deep and bitter sense of unjust treatment. It is granted that children must not talk and be trouble- some in company ; but the proper use of a nursery and gar- den is to prevent this. There they may have full play to work off the animal effervescence in active games, and bodily exercise of all sorts, and the quieter amusements should be reserved for the parlour. A supply of little occu- 148 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. pations, adapted to his capacity, and made interesting by the explanation and occasional participation of his elders, are the best preventives to the restlessness which makes a child troublesome. And whenever a child can amuse himself without interfering with the comfort of others, it seems to us a pity that he should be kept to the nur- sery. The little creature is constantly imbibing, sideways, so to speak, a portion of all he hears and sees, and his character is fed every instant by the atmosphere of habits and ideas around him. Can we then be too cautious with whom we place the child in contact ? Surely not ; and yet must we not say that, in ordinary cases, nurse- maids, grossly ignorant, and with selfish feelings decidedly predominant, are the chief companions of the young in early childhood ? Easy, indolent mothers think themselves for- tunate when they have a nursemaid who amuses the children well, and keeps them happy all the day long without any trouble to herself: it is so much burden off her shoulders. She is a little annoyed, certainly, to dis- cover that they have caught the nurse's grammar and accent, and perhaps sets herself to work to correct this with much vigilance. She does not consider that when she has succeeded in laying a fine coat of varnish on the surface, the tone of thought and feeling which has been imbibed deeper down, lies perfectly untouched. In fact, in proportion as the children are made happy out of her sight, she must be careful to watch over their moral growth, because, as we said before, a child's heart opens immediately to receive impressions from any one who makes him happy. But if it be granted that our nursemaids are inefficient, EXAMPLE. 149 do we find that mothers, even among the higher classes, are usually adequate to their office ? If we look but to the edu- cation, the training, which young ladies commonly receive, — to their course of life at that period of existence, when they ought to be qualifying themselves for the important trust which may hereafter devolve upon them, — the question answers itself. What part of their studies or pursuits bears any direct relation to the responsibility they take upon them- selves ? They come to the task, ignorant of the anatomy, the physiology, the mental constitution of the young being whose charge devolves upon them, and of all the most import- ant provisions for insuring its health and happiness. En- gaged in the frivolous pursuits of the world, introduced into society at an early age, dressing, dancing, visiting— when they are called to the most momentous duties, they are obliged to rely upon an ignorant nurse, to trust to old women's tales, for what ought to have been correct know- ledge. It is a fortunate circumstance in this case, if the mother has sense enough to know her own unfitness, and to delegate the office to some one who is qualified ; but if she has true reason to believe that she possesses the gift of making children happy, and of guiding and governing them well at the same time, it ought only to be strict necessity that prevents her being their chief and almost constant companion. Those children are much privileged who believe their mother to be a treasure of all excellence as well as their own best friend, and if she can gain, by fair means, such a compliment as a little girl of three years old paid her mamma, " You are the bestest and beautifullest of all," she will rejoice at it, and turn the 150 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. conviction to good account, whatever hallucination there may be in the matter. Teaching by bad example we believe to be a fatal error. It is often maintained that young people — that is, boys or young men — should be made acquainted with the world and its wickedness, in order that they may avoid it : as the Spartans exposed their drunken Helots to teach so- briety. This is a very dangerous experiment. Custom and example have always a tendency to become stronger than morality and principle. Under strong temptation, the mere knowledge that a thing has been done, or is done, weakens resistance, and the first step in vice is thus made more easy. After the first step, the road presents few obstacles. Keep the mind pure, and in ignorance of the ways and wickedness of the world, in early life at least, until the principles are fixed, and the vision clear enough to see distinctly where the road leads to. CONCLUSION. We have in this little work endeavoured to associate the rules of practical education with the principles of what we believe to be the truest philosophy of the human mind that has yet been obtained. Phrenology, it is true, is yet an imperfect science. In its details it has yet to undergo many corrections ; it needs much of expansion, and much of simplification. We believe, however, that its delinea- tion of the powers of the mind, as we have given it, is so faithful and comprehensive, that we have not gone far wrong in making it the basis of a system of education. And we are most desirous of communicating our own strong conviction that the main doctrine of Phrenology — namely, that the mind is connected with the organization of the brain, and is strong, both in intellect and feeling, in propor- tion as the brain is perfect, and that, consequently, the mind can only be improved by improving the cerebral organiza- tion — is essential to a right understanding of the work of education. This work can never be effectually performed till every one of the faculties of the mind receives its distinct exercise and cultivation ; the knowledge of the anatomy of the mind is as necessary to every parent and instructor as that of the body to the physical operator. It is of little use to treat vaguely of the metaphysical subtleties of the Will, the Memory, the Imagination. We must penetrate to the elements of which the human character is consti- tuted, that we may afford to each th,at peculiar kind of nourishment and exercise by which alone these individual 152 THE EDUCATION OP THE PEELINGS. functions can be developed. If human beings were all born according to the type of perfect humanity, one rule of educa- tion would apply to all — the same spiritual food would be assimilated by each, and nourish him to the full measure of his mental stature. But we know that since first "man fell," the serpent's blight has been upon him. Infants are born with the miserable consequences of their progenitors' sins stamped upon their constitution. Minds are crippled and distorted as well as limbs, and as it would be of no use urging a child to walk if he were lame, or to see if he were blind, it is equally useless to preach righteousness, to instil the beautiful doctrines of Christian piety and benevolence, where there is no intellect to comprehend, nor heart to feel them. There are indeed the elements of that comprehension and feeling in every human being, but they may be so small as to be incapable of healthy action. Must we, then, cease to preach righteousness to them ? By no means ; give them every chance, by placing the spiritual food within their reach, in case the stimulus of extraordinary circumstances should quicken their powers to the capacity of assimilating it ; but we must, at the same time, act upon their lower natures by direct means of repression and encouragement adapted to the separate requirements of each of their superabundant or defective organs. If there be but one portion of the brain in excess, or greatly deficient, there w^ill be a mysterious difficulty in education, for which an experienced phrenologist will account at a glance : and surely artificial aid can be ren- dered more efiectively with a clear knowledge of the evil than by working in the dark. Small, indeed, is the aid that can be rendered, and it is another great use of phre- CONCLUSION. 153 nology to prevent the discouraging disappointment which attends so many benevolent but ill-directed eflforts to improve mankind. It seems to many degrading to the mind to speak of material action upon it ; but how can that be if it is em- ployed by the Divine Creator ? We have only to watch and endeavour to imitate His mode of operating, and not intrude our prejudices, which are the fruits of ignorance. It is seen through the whole analogy of nature that higher forms of being are developed out of lower ; mind appears as the crown of creation, only associated with the greatest perfection of material organization. We do not say God could not have given a soul to a stone, but He has given it only to a substance of the most delicate and intricate construction. The more perfect that construction, the more perfect is the mind. What the mind is, we yet know not, nor of what development it is capable ; but we know that it can grow, it can advance to higher stages of being, only through the perfect action of all its present functions, as exercised through, and by means of, its material organs. In the Education of the Feelings, as well as of the In- tellectual Faculties, the different periods of their develop- ment must not be lost sight of. The selfish or animal feelings and the perceptive faculties, come first to matu- rity, — next the moral feelings, — and last of all, the reasoning powers. Great and serious mischief has arisen, and is constantly arising, from the neglect of this law, and from ignorance of the gradual steps by which our faculties are unfolded, — it should be our effort to assist and not to force their growth by giving them more exercise than their immature state will bear. w 154 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. Dr. Caldwell, in his valuable little work on Physical Education, observes, " Parents are often too anxious that their children should have a knowledge of the alphabet, of spelling, reading, geography, and other branches of school learning at a very early age. This is worse than tempt- ing him to walk too early, because the organ likely to be injured by it is much more important than the muscles and bones of the lower extremities. It may do irrepara- ble mischief to the brain. That viscus is yet too imma- ture and feeble to sustain fatigue. Until from the sixth to the eighth year of life, the seventh being perhaps the proper medium, all its energies are necessary for its own healthy development, and of that of the other portions of the system. Nor ought they to be directed, by serious study y to any other purpose. True — exercise is as essen- tial to the health and vigour of the brain, at that time of life, as at any other ; but it should be the general and pleasurable exercise of observation and action. It ought not to be the compulsory exercise of tasks. Early prodi- gies of mind rarely attain mature distinction. The reason is plain : their brains are injured by premature toil, and their general health impaired. From an unwise attempt to convert at once their flowery spring into a luxuriant summer, that summer too often never arrives. The blossom withers ere the fruit is formed." Parents, then, must be satisfied to wait for the effects of the best-regulated system of training until all the faculties are matured, [f a child of early age be selfish, it is not a sufficient reason for its continuance in selfishness after the period when the moral feelings, owing to greater physical advancement, act with greater strength ; — neither if a CONCLUSION. 155 child be dull and stupid intellectually considered, is it necessary that he should remain so after the period when the reasoning powers are fully developed. "We cannot look for the full fruits of judicious mental cultivation until after fifteen or sixteen years of age, when all the feelings and mental faculties will generally have attained their natural growth and strength. The strength of feeling and of intellect is strong in proportion to the health, quality, and size of the material organ ; let our efforts, then, be first directed to growing a healthy body and hi3iin^ mens sana in sano corpore — and when we have a healthy and strong organ, then will be time enough to set them seriously to work. It will be better that what is usually called " schooling" should not commence before ten years of age, and that there should be no steady continu- ous application before twelve. From twelve to fifteen or sixteen years of age, a boy will learn much better' all that is required from him at school, than if his faculties^had been previously tasked when they were yet in a weak and immature state. Keep children healthy and happy up to that age, and we need have no solicitude about their learning. The process of training we advocate for children may not be so easy as the consigning them early to school ; but if parents can resolve to undertake so much present trouble, they may reckon upon a harvest which in future years shall recompense their cares a hundredfold. It will be seen that by Education we mean something very diff'erent to what is often understood by it. It is usually thought to be that which will best enable a person to get on in the world, which will make him a good man 156 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. of business — clever in his profession — to the end that he may obtain wealth, and place, and the consideration in society of which they are the means, without regard to the relation which these things bear to real happiness. Our object, on the contrary, is the development and proper direction of all the faculties, and especially to give the predominance to those that distinguish us from the lower animals. In proportion as our system shall tend to the advancement of the higher humanities, shall we secure the happiness of the pupil. Happiness derived solely from the propensities is not above that which the brutes enjoy. The majority of mankind seek wealth. This is their poetry and their religion; for what a man really worships, what he most reveres — is, in fact, his god. We may have all that wealth can bestow, yet, under the dominion of the propensities and merely self-regarding sentiments, we shall be constrained to confess with Solo- mon that all is vanity. That there is still so much misery in the world is owing to this fact, that our aims are misdirected, and that we seek our happiness in the wrong direction. We must ascend step by step towards the development of our higher nature, and as we rise we shall become mor>e and more independent of wealth and of the world. From the selfish and self-regarding feelings we rise to a sense of what is due to others ; the requirements of our moral nature come into play ; we have pleasure in our duty, and in doing that which is right and kind. The next step is towards the ^Esthetic ; but in order to cultivate the poetry of our nature, to have a full sense of the beautiful, we must be temperate in all things, especially in mere animal gratifications ; we must emanci- CONCLUSION. 157 pate ourselves from the dominion of the propensities; for we must avoid all passion and disturbing influences, and this is impossible so long as any of the lower feelings predominate. Through the Moral and the -Esthetic we reach the last step in our progress — a strong and well- directed Religious feeling. "We become convinced that God is our Father, and that we have but to learn and to obei/f and thence comes a Faith, equal to all trial, — a Faith amounting to certainty that under the Providence of God all things must work together for good. The great secret of happiness is constant and well- directed occupation. Enjoyments based upon the selfish feelings, are always liable to fail, but when dependent upon our higher feelings, if deprived of one thing we can always turn to another, a hundred other sources of happi- ness being open to us. The enjoyments from the selfish feelings grow weaker and weaker with each repetition — those from the higher stronger and stronger, and each year thus adds to our capabilities of enjoyment. The happiness from the higher feelings is always cheap ; like air and water it everywhere surrounds us, for it is what we are, not what our circumstances are, upon which it depends. It is true the estate may not be ours, with the care and trouble which its management entails, and the pride and vanity which its possession gratifies, but the landscape is ours, and we are spiritually in possession if not materially. As Emerson says, " The charming land- scape which I saw this morning is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon 158 THE EDUCATION OF THE PEELINGS. which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their land-deeds give them no title." " If solid happiness we prize, Within our breast the jewel lies, And they are fools who roam." If we would be happy it must be in the alternate ex- ercise of all our faculties upon their legitimate objects, and the Creator has placed this source of the highest happiness more within the reach of all, than they who imagine it to consist in wealth, or what mere wealth can bestow, would at first suppose. It must be confessed that we rate the civilization of the present age as still low and barbaric . The great mass of mankind are still in ignorance, and poverty, and slavery. It is true they are emancipated from the slavery of man to man, but they are no less the slaves of the greatest of all taskmasters — their necessities ; and the majority of both rich and poor are still under the dominion of their propensities, and trusting to the selfish feelings alone for their happiness. From ignorance of their physical and organic structure, they are continually pushing the indulgence of such feelings beyond the bounds of health, and thus entailing numerous evils upon them- selves, society, and their offspring. From the inordinate pursuit of riches, and the senseless desire of that distinc- tion to which they give birth, arise a vast load of the evils which afflict them ; and in order that a few may obtain these objects of ambition, thousands slave out a miserable existence. But everywhere we see the dawn of a better day. On CONCLUSION. 159 all sides are the signs of rapid development. It has taken thousands of years to arrive at our present stage, and it may perhaps take thousands more to bring man to the perfection of which his nature is capable ; but hundreds will probably be sufficient to place him in a very advanced position to any which he has hitherto occupied. Let us not, however, be too sanguine, for we have to await pa- tiently the growth of the material organs upon which the strength of the higher mental feelings depends. If all things were favourable to this growth, it must still take many generations in the mass of mankind. It is not aristocratic or democratic institutions, neither mo- narchical nor republican, that measure progress, but this growth of the higher mental faculties. The civilization of antiquity was the advancement of the few and the slavery of the many — in Greece 30,000 freemen and 300,000 slaves — and it passed away. True civilization must be measured by the progress not of a class or nation, but of all men, God admits none to advance alone. Individuals in advance become martyrs — nations in advance the prey of the barbarian. Only as one family of man can we progress. But man must exist as an animal before he can exist as a man ; his physical requirements must be satisfied before those of mind ; and hitherto it has taken the whole time and energies of the many to provide for their physical wants. Such wants have spread mankind over the whole globe — the brute and the savage have disappeared before the superior race — the black blood of the torrid zone has been mixed with the white of the temperate, and a superior race, capable of living and labouring under a zenith sun, has been formed, and we seem to be preparing for a united 160 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. movement onward. The elements have been pressed into our service, the powers of steam and electricity would ap- pear boundless, and science has given man an almost un- limited control over nature. The trammels which despotism have hitherto imposed upon body and mind, have been thrown off, and constitutional liberty has rapidly and widely spread. The steam-ship and railway, and mutual interests in trade and commerce, have united nation to nation, and the press has given one mind and simultaneous thought to the whole community. Power there is in plenty for the emancipation of the whole race ; since the steam- engine and machinery may be to the working classes what they have hitherto been to those classes above them. All that is wanted is to know how to use these forces for the general good. The powers of production are inexhaustible : we have but to organize them, and justly to distribute the produce. But this cannot take place under the direction of the selfish feelings. While we are scrambling only for individual good, physical science may advance, and our power over nature may increase, but mankind can make little progress. It is from within now that we must look for change, for when education, based upon correct know- ledge of our constitution, shall have raised the man, there will be found no impediment to the advance of the whole race to all that is necessary for the enjoyment of the highest pleasures of which his nature is susceptible. In proportion as the higher feelings of our nature gain strength and predominate, and the law of universal brotherhood is written on the heart, and not merely upon the tongue — in proportion, in fact, as real Christianity prevails, — the petty distinctions of a savage age, which CONCLUSION. 161 form the present scale of society, will disappear, and we shall no longer seek to be distinguished by mere wealth and external advantages, gained at the expense of the ex- cessive labour of others, but for the supremacy in us of all that distinguishes us from the brutes; for all that saves toil, instead of increasing it, and that affords time to every man for the development of high moral and intellec- tual power. Distinction will be based upon worth alone, and we shall bow to an aristocracy of nature, of which the present is but the symbol. If God gives us supe- rior abilities, we shall not glorify ourselves, but Him, and hold them in trust for the good of mankind ; and wherever superior worth and talent is recognized, there will be acknowledged the future Noble — his badges not stars and garters, but the unmistakeable expression of nobility which habitual obedience to that which is true and good and beautiful invariably bestows. Everywhere in the history of the race do we trace the finger of God. In the early ages of the world man's men- tal state required to be fitted to his physical condition. He had the world to people and subdue ; he had to compel the stubborn earth to yield him sustenance ; he had to defend himself from the attacks of, and to prey in his turn upon, the animal tribes who were its original occu- piers ; and it was necessary, therefore, that great activity should pervade the self- preserving organs. Hence the excess of selfishness and what is called human depravity. It would have been worse than useless to have given high moral, aesthetic, and intellectual aspirations, when the sweat of the brow through the livelong day was required to supply the wants of the physical nature. Such aspira- 162 THE EDUCATION OF THE FEELINGS. tioas ungratiiied could thea as now only be a source of misery and discontent. As geologists show the formation of the earth to have been gradual, layer after layer being added, more perfect plants, and animals of a higher order of feeling and intelligence appearing, as the world was prepared for them, so has the mind of man been de- veloped, region added to region, as preparation has been made for its activity and legitimate exercise. And who shall say that even the best specimen of mankind has yet reached the last development which our race is to attain even upon this earth ? There appear to be rudi- mentary organs sufficiently developed in some individuals, when excited by mesmerism, to point to a higher order of intelligence than man has yet attained. They appear to put us in relation with the general mind of mankind ; so that when steam and machinery shall have annihilated material space and time, and when also we shall have made a great moral advance, it may be that these, at present, undeveloped faculties, will enable us to become all-knowing and intelligent as regards what then exists, or ever has existed in the mind of man. But even if this be speculation, all history and experience — noting, as they do, an actual advance notwithstanding much seeming local retrogression, — confirm the hope we should indulge from the nature of man himself, and point to a time when, the faculties he now undoubtedly possesses being fully developed, and the powers of nature being brought to their greatest possible subservience, the earth shall become the scene of a happiness such as the imagination has hitherto conferreH upon heaven alone. The very nature of mia's' reason, the necessity that exists for his CONCLUSION. 163 choosing good and eschewing evil, all must act as uner- ringly towards his advancement as the laws of gravitation to keep the earth together. Whatever is opposed to the just and good must disappear, and the kingdom of God — the empire of the true and beautiful — in the end, universally prevail. PRINTED AT THE HERALD OFFICE, COVENTRY. ?. RETURN TO the circulation desk of any . University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 99^ JUL 5 1995 FEB 2 8 200B r 20.000 (4/94) FORM NO mA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SE^i^iCf^ l-UKM NO. DD6 BERKELEY, CA 94720 I / ^d UOJ fO CQ31125ai5 01 -^04 ywm §