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STUDY XIV. 35t 



gard to the impreffions which the converfation of 

 another leaves upon our mind, efpecially if it be 

 accompanied with ftriking circumftances. The 

 tone of voice, the gefture, the irefpea: due to the 

 orator, the refleâiions of the company, concur in 

 engraving on the memory the words of adifcourfe, 

 much better than writing does, I fhall again 

 quote, to this purpofe, the authority of Plutarch^ 

 or rather that of Lycurgus» 



*' But it is carefully to be remarked, that Lycurgns 



* would never permit any one of his Laws to be 



* committed to writing; it is accordingly exprefsly 

 ' enjoined by one of the fpecial ftatutes, which 

 ' he calls p/^rpà; (oracular, paEla conventa^ Inftitutes) 

 ' that none of his Inftitutes fhall be copied ; becaufe 

 ' whatever is of peculiar force and efficacy toward 



* rendering a city happy and virtuous, it was his 

 ' opinion, ought to be impreffed by habitual cul- 



* ture on the hearts and manners of men, in order 

 '• to make the charadlers indelible. Good-will is 

 ' more powerful than any other mode of conftraint 

 ' to which men can be fubjefted, for by means of 



* it, every one becomes a Law unto himfelf *.'* 



The heads of ©ur young people fhould nor, 

 then, be oppreffed, in the National Schools, with 



* Plutarch^ Life oi Lycurgus, 



an 



