MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 



889 



end again. If I can, I shall add to 

 it hereafter. 



Yours, W; C. 



LETTER XXVIIi. 



To the Rev. William Unwin. 

 My dear friend, Oct. 6, 1780. 



Now for the sequel. — You have 

 anticipated one of my ar'gumeuts 

 in favour of a private education, 

 therefore I need say but little about 

 it. The foUy of supposing that the 

 mother tonsue, in some respects the 

 most difficult of all tongues, may be 

 acquired without a teacher, is pre- 

 dominant in all the public schools 

 that I have heard of. To pro- 

 nounce it well, to speak and to 

 write it with fluency and elegance, 

 are no easy attainments ; not one 

 in fifty of those who pass through 

 Westminster and Eton, arrive at 

 any remarkable proficiency in these 

 accomplishments ; and they that do, 

 are more indebted to their own 

 study and application for it, than 

 to any instruction received there. 

 In general, there is nothing so pe- 

 dantic as the style of a school-boy, 

 if he aims at any style at all, and if 

 he docs not, he is of course inele- 

 gant, and perhaps ungraramatical. 

 A defect no doubt in great mea- 

 sure owing to a want of cultiva- 

 tion, for the same lad that is often 

 commended for his Latin, frequently 

 would deserve to be whipped for 

 his English, if the fault were not 

 more his masters than his own. I 

 know not where this evil is so likely to 

 be prevented as at home — supposing 

 always, nevertheless (which is the 

 case in your instance) that the 

 boy's parents, and their acquaint- 

 ance, are persons of elegance and 

 taste themselves. For to converse 

 with those who converse with pro- 

 priety, and to be directed to such 

 2 



authors, as have refined and im. 

 provL'd the language by their pro- 

 ductions, are advantages which he 

 cannot elsewhere enjoy in an equal 

 degree. And though it requires 

 some time to regulate the taste, and 

 fix the judgment, and these effects 

 must be gradually wrought even 

 upon the best understanding, yet 

 1 suppose mach less time will be 

 necessary for the purpose, than 

 could at first be imagined, because 

 the o])portunities of improvement 

 are continual. 



A public education is often re- 

 commei^dcd as the most effectual re- 

 medy for that bashful and awkward 

 restraint, so epidemical among the 

 youth of our country. But I verily 

 believe, that instead of being a 

 cure, it is often the cause of it. 

 For seven or eight jears of life, the 

 boy has hardly seen or conversi>d 

 with a man, or woman, except the 

 maids at his boarding house. A 

 gentleman, or a lady, are conse- 

 quently such novelties to him, that 

 he is perfectly at a loss to know 

 what sort of behaviour he should 

 preserve before them. He plays 

 with his buttons, or the strings of 

 his hat ; he blows his nose, and 

 hangs down his head, is conscious 

 of his own deficiency to a degree, 

 that makes him quite unhappy, and 

 trembles lest any one should speak 

 to him, because that would quite 

 overwhelm him. Is not all this 

 miserable shyness the effect of his 

 education ? To me it appears to be 

 so. If he saw good company every 

 day, he would not be terrified at the 

 sight of it, and a room full of ladies 

 and gentlemen, would alarm him 

 no more than the chairs they sit on. 

 Such is the eft'eft of custom. 



I need add nothing more on this 

 subject, because I believe littl© 



John 



