120 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



and obferve what are the arts brought there to the 

 higheft perfedion j and you will find that they 

 are thofe for which there is no public fchool, no 

 prize, no academy : fuch as milliners, jewellers, 

 hair-dreffers, cooks, &c. We have, it is true, 

 men of high reputation in the liberal arts, and 

 in the fciences ; bnt thefe men had acquired iheir 

 talents before they were introduced into academies. 

 Befides, will any one venture to affirm, that they 

 are equal to thofe of preceding ages, who appeared 

 before academies exiiled r* After all, admitting 

 that talents are formed in colleges, they would not 

 for that be lefs prejudicial to the Nation ; for it is 

 of inconceivably more importance that a Country 

 fliould poflefs virtue rather than talents, and men 

 happy, rather than men renowned. A treacherous 

 glare covers the vices of thofe who fucceed in our 

 Colleges. But in the multitude who never fuc- 

 ceed, fecret jealoufies, malicious whifpers, mean 

 flatteries, and all the vices of a negative ambition 

 are already in a ftate of fermentation, and ready 

 to burft forth, at the command of their leader, 

 upon the World. 



While depravity is thus taking pofleffion of the 

 hearts of children, fome branches of education go 

 diredly to the perverfion of their reafon. Thefe 

 two abufes always walk hand in hand. Firft, they 

 are taught to deduce falfe confequences. The 



Regent 



