EDUCATION. 



355 



Education, contemplation of those pure and exalted standards 

 > p P Y"*' which were produced in the flourishing days of Greece 

 and Rome. It is thus that we recognise in the " Pa- 

 radise Lost," the fire and sublimity of the Maioniau 

 bard ; that the " Pleasures of the Imagination" recal to 

 us the sonorous harmony of Lucretius, the lofty con- 

 ceptions, and the magnificent eloquence of Plato ; that 

 the " Seasons" delight us with the same beauty of de- 

 scription, the same rural elegance, the same discursive 

 fancy, which we admire in the Mantuan swain ; that in 

 the enchanting verses of Pope and of Campbell, we 

 see renewed that exquisite felicity of expression, that 

 magic melody of numbers, that delicacy of sentiment, 

 and graceful ease of manner, for which the poems of 

 Horace have been so justly admired ; that the pages of 

 Addison reflect the sweet but simple grace of the Me- 

 morabilia ; and that our three great historians have 

 restored to narration, the beauty, the dignity, and the 

 animation, which impart such interest to the histories 

 of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Livy, Tacitus, 

 and Sallust. It were of itself a sufficient recommenda- 

 tion of classical learning, that our admirable country- 

 man, Dr Robertson, when visiting, as Principal, one of 

 the literary classes of the University of Edinburgh, de- 

 clared, for the encouragement of the young men in the 

 prosecution of their .studies, that if he had acquired any 

 tame as a historian, he owed it entirely to his ac- 

 quaintance with the historians of antiquity. " To all 

 Mich then," we borrow the words of Dr Blair, " as wish 

 to form their taste, and nourish their genius, let us 

 warmly recommend the assiduous study of the ancient 

 classics, both Greek and Roman : 



A'ofturna reflate annu, vcrsate diurna. 



Without a considerable acquaintance with them, no man 

 can be reckoned a polite scholar, and he will want 

 many assistances for writing and speaking well, which 

 the know ledge of such authors would afford him. Any 

 one has great reason to suspect his own taste, who re- 

 ceives little or no pleasure from the perusal of writings, 

 which so many ages and nations have consented in hold- 

 ing up as objects of admiration. And it will be found, 

 that in proportion as the ancients are generally studied 

 and admired, or are unknown and disregarded in any 

 country, good taste and good composition will flourish 

 or decline.'' 



Other itu- Great, however, as, in our estimation, the advantages 

 dies not to of classical acquirements are, we are far from wishing 

 be neglect- that, in any -t:n_r of education, they should be the sole 

 ed for the object of attention. The enthusiasm of pedants, who 

 maintain that every thing valuable in knowledge is con- 

 tained in the treasures of ancient literature, and the ab- 

 surd custom which that enthusiasm has established in 

 of our public seminaries, of making the ancient 

 languages, for seven or eight years, the exclusive study 

 of jouth, have done moie, perli;;p, than any otlirr 

 cause, to retard the progress of science, and to bring 

 classical learning into discredit. Kven where the par- 

 tiality to the Grtek and I'oman languages !., less ex- 

 travagant, we are afraid that a very undue proportion 

 of time and attention is devoted to thiiu. Aware .-is 

 we are of the difficulty of acquiring these languages, 

 we maintain, and we are sup|x>rtcd by experience in 

 maintaining, that at least one half of the time usually 

 spent in studying them, might, without retarding the 

 progress of the pupil, be saved for the acquisition of 

 other branches of knowledge. The Attention, when ex- 

 ercised long upon one subject, Incomes fatigued and 

 languid: ami it is not the least important, or the least 



li'-i. -. 



difficult duty of those to whom the education of youth Education. 



is entrusted, so to regulate their studies, that in the "T"" 



hours of labour, their minds may be kept on the 



stretch, without being overstrained, and that every mo- 



ment employed in business may be employed to advan- 



tage. With two hours a-day of assiduous preparation, 



and an equal portion of time spent under the direction 



of an able teacher, a boy of ordinary capacity would, we 



are confident, advance more rapidly in classical know- 



ledge, than if he were doomed to drudge eight or ten 



hours daily at the same study. This would leave a 



great proportion of his time vacant for other studies ; 



and would thus remove one of the strongest objections 



which have been urged against a classical education. 



But though it would be wrong to confine the pupil's The pnp'.r 



attention exclusively to the classics, to distract it with attcnt1 



. /> i iii ^-11 not to be 



too great a variety of objects would be still more im- Distracted 



proper. A change of subject is always a relief to the by too great 

 mind ; but if the subject be too often changed, the at- variety of 

 tention will become unsteady, and the memory will be objects. 

 bewildered. Neither ought the different subjects of 

 study to be entirely homogeneous. A person who is 

 engaged with two or three subjects of a similar nature, 

 will be more apt to be confused, than one whose atten- 

 tion is occupied with a greater number of objects per- 

 fectly distinct. Thus, whoever has attempted to learn 

 several languages at the same time, must have found, 

 that while his memory was perpetually confounding 

 them, each was an incumbrance to retard his progress 

 in the other. 



In varying the studies of our pupils, we should en- 

 deavour to adapt them, as much as possible, to the 

 different powers of the mind, that they may all be in- 

 vigorated by their proper exercise. With the study of Arithmctii. 

 language, which improves the memory, let arithmetic 

 be joined, which affords more exercise to the reasoning 

 powers, than any branch of learning to which the at- 

 tention of a child can be directed. An early and ac- 

 curate acquaintance with arithmetical notation and nu- 

 meration, is peculiarly calculated to impart habits of 

 precision, arrangement, and classification. Notation, 

 originating in the operation of necessity on the powers 

 of the human mind, is an object worthy of the atten- 

 tion of the philosopher ; while, at the same time, from 

 its distinctness anu simplicity, it serves as a most im- 

 portant exercise to the juvenile understanding. Arith- 

 metic, according to the usual modes of teaching it, is 

 little more, indeed, than an exercise of memory ; but, 

 if taught judiciously, with a constant reference to the 

 principles on which its rules are founded, it will contri- 

 bute more than any other department of early educa- 

 tion, to the vigour and acuteness of the powers of the 

 understanding, and will give a tendency to order and 

 method, which will be of the most essential importance 

 in every mental oj>eration. To the teacher who wishes 

 to make the rules of arithmetic conducive to the im- 

 provement of the reasoning powers, there cannot be a 

 more valuable assistant than a little posthumous work 

 of Condorcet, entitled, Moi/en d'apnrendre a Complcr 

 cl aitc Fticilite. The first thing, astheFrench 



editor justly remarks, which distinguishes these ele- 

 ments of arithmetic, is, that they are, at the same time, 

 the elements of the art of reasoning. By a clear ex- 

 planation of the principles on which every rule is found- 

 ed, the learner is prepared for that which is to succeed 

 it ; and, when he has attained to the utmost height of 

 the science, he sees, by one retrospective glance, the 

 successive steps by which he has been conducted. Thus, 

 while he acquires a precision in his operations, which 



