358 



EDUCATION. 



V i n. th e best means of confirming those which are laudable, 

 correcting those which ore faulty. Te-acliing us 

 duly to appreciate the real excellencies of the uiiiul, it 

 guiele* u* in our efforts for tht-ir attainment. And 

 hewing us how our h.ippinejs is affected In different 

 modes nf conduct, and by hat mc.ui- i-i-.r excellence 

 i* promoted or MnMteO, it enables us to form the 

 raont judicious pl.m- r,.r tlic regulation of our future 

 life. 



Huton-. Al\er In-ing initinte<l in the philosophy of the human 



mind, our pupil will enter w itli peculiar advantage* on 

 Uie study (.(' history, which will introduce to his obser- 

 v.ition. the passiems, pro; uid tiieulties of man- 



kind, acting on the ample tlie.itre <it' the world. To 

 person who has made him>clf aeeiuainte-d with the 

 general properties of human nature, the study of history 

 U peculiarly edifying. While it exhibits man in ail 

 po*il>le circumstances, it enables him to refer to their 

 true cause all the diversities of human character ; and, 

 . aniidrt the almost boundless variety which obtains in 

 the sentiments and mode* of action that prevail in elif- 

 liiviit communities, he lenrns to discriminate those 

 which originate in the native and universal fei lin-s of 

 mankind, from those which are the result of local or 

 national contingencies. He reaps the advantage of the 

 accumulated experience of all nations and ages ; and in 

 the progress of states and their decline, can trace, with 

 unerring precision, the causes of their prosperity and of 

 their ruin. He sees the operations of Providence dis- 

 played here on the most magnificent scale; and while 

 he compares the end with the beginning of the import- 

 ant transactions which history records, he obtains the 

 most exalted and comprehensive view of those grand 

 principles, which regulate the moral government of the 

 Great Ruler among the nations. His ideas of society 

 are enlarged, and he escapes from those illiberal pre- 

 judices, which the love of country, amiable as it is in it- 

 self, is too apt to excite against those who live under 

 different governments, and in other climes. " There is 

 scarce any folly or vice," says Lord Bolingbroke, " more 

 epidemical among the sons of men, than that ridiculous 

 and hateful vanity, by which the people of each coun- 

 try are apt to prefer themselves to those of any other, 

 and to make their own customs, and manners, and 

 opinions, the standard of right and wrong, of true and 

 false." This vanity is effectually removed by the en- 

 lightened study of history. He who is accustomed to 

 contemplate the transactions of other nations, to view 

 them in their mutual dependencies and connections, and 

 to take a warm concern in all their interests, learns to 

 consider the community to which he belongs as only a 

 part of a still greater community ; and without neces- 

 sarily becoming indifferent to its prosperity and its 

 fame, is enabled to discern the value of opinions and 

 practices of foreign growth. To every student, how- 

 ever, the history of his own country is by far the most 

 interesting. To trace the origin of those laws and in- 

 stitutions, to which, in common with his fellow citizens, 

 he ii subject, and of those customs and establishments 

 by which the character of the nation is at once indica- 

 ted and determined, is an employment no less pleasing 

 to curiosity, than it is improving in its tendency. To 

 the native of Britain, the study of the history of his 

 own country i, in this respect, particularly important 

 and gratifying. In no country have all the great \ irtun 

 been more eminently displayed; no where- has the 

 struggle for civil privileges been carried on with more 

 perseverance and success; liberty has here advanced 

 through many vicissitudes and successive revolutions, 



tn the most ]x-rfect triumph .she ever obtained ; protec- EilucaUo 

 t"l l>\ MM Mi-urity which wisdom can eltv Nc ; and ^"V^ 

 iiee-eunpanicel with all tile blessing which usual! . 

 low in her train, art - . . pure region, 



and enlightened toleration. 



With the rending of liiston, should be combined the Plel 

 study of political e-conomy, ami of the (H-culiar laws of cconom 7- 

 emr ceiuntry, in MI far as to enable us to u, 

 c\,-u tly the ( \tt nt of emr respective rights ami privi- 

 lege's, .--.11(1 the tenure by which they are lit Id. 



While the student is engaged in the acquisition of Compori- 

 the-se ,u-i oinplMime'iits. let him be c-u'ctully trained to t: ""' 

 the practice of Composition. The bcnelici.d ellee-ts of 

 this practice are tin) many to lie here enumerate d, and 

 more extensive than we can easily calculate. Tl c pi r- 

 fect command which it will give him of his eiwn lan- 

 guage, anel the facility of communicating to othci 

 sentiments anel ideas, are perhaps among the K 

 its advantages. In whatever study he may lie enga- 

 ged, his progress will be more accelerated li\ the | 

 tice of composition, than by any other means. This 

 will accustom him to think on every subject for him- 

 self; to ascertain exactly the exte-nt of his aUaintnieiits ; 

 and thus to advance with a steady progress tou 

 proficiency. To write one page from his ow n reflec- 

 tions, will give him a nu.re perfect knowleelge of his 

 subject than to read a volume. The habit of com-el 

 composition almost necessarily proeluces precision in 

 our ideas, and perspicuity in our reasonings ; and by 

 obliging us to think closely, prevents us from resting 

 satisfieel with vague and supe-rficial notions. The im- 

 provement of our taste is another effect of the practice: 

 of composition, scarcely less valuable than those which 

 we have enumerated. He who has learneel to relish 

 the beauties, of nature and of art, has access to die most 

 inexhaustible sources of enjoyment. It is of the last 

 importance, therefore, to the future happiness of our 

 pupils, to imbue their minds with an early relish for 

 the pleasures of taste. Nor is it more essential to their 

 happiness, than it is conducive to their excellence. A 

 taste for what is great and beautiful is favourable to the 

 growth of many virtues, and sanguine hopes may be 

 entertained, that they whose minds have this ele-gant 

 and liberal turn, will become conspicuous for the elis- 

 charge of all the higher anel more important duties of 

 human life. There are, ineleed, few gexxl expositions 

 of any kind with which thf- improvement of taste is 

 not in seime degree connected. It increases by frequent 

 exercise, the sensibility of all our tender and benevolent 

 feelings; while, on the other hand, by impressing us 

 with a deep sense of propriety, it tenels to weaken all the 

 fierce anel violent emotions. To be devoid of taste, is 

 justly regarded as an unpromising symptom in youth, 

 inelicating their propensity to leiw gratifications, and 

 their incapacity for any tiling but what is vulgar and 

 illiberal. 



Such are the attainments which constitute a liberal 

 education ; and such is the oreler, according to winch, 

 in our opinion, they ought to be acquired. I>ut small 

 is the proportion of mankind, whose circumstane-es en- 

 able them to cultivate their faculties by se> cxtcnsh , 

 education. A numerous class of men, elestineel for par- 

 ticular professions and employments, receive only such 

 an education as se<cms necessary to quality them for the 

 .situations which they are to occupy in society; and a 

 still more numerous class, eloomeel to toil, almost from 

 infancy, for a scanty subsistence, receive little eir no 

 education at all. Fortunately, men may become good 

 and respectable members of society, without any very 



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