8 INTRODUCTION. [No. 



necessary to support the government and defend the 

 country, he has no reason to complain. If the large- 

 ness of his family demand extraordinary labour and 

 care, these are due from him to it. He is the cause 

 of the existence of that family ; and, therefore, he is 

 not, except in cases of accidental calamity, to throw 

 upon others the burden of supporting it. Besides, 

 "little children are as arrows in the hands of the giant, 

 and blessed is the man that hath his quiver full of 

 them/' That is to say, children, if they bring their 

 cares, bring also their pleasures and solid advanta- 

 ges. They become, very soon, so many assistants 

 and props to the parents, who, when old age comes 

 on, are amply repaid for all the toils and all the cares 

 that children have occasioned in their infancy. To 

 be without sure and safe friends in the world makes 

 life not worth having ; and whom can we be so sure of 

 as of our children ? Brothers and sisters are a mutual 

 support. We see them, in almost every case, grow up 

 into prosperity, when they act the part that the im- 

 pulses of nature prescribe. When cordially united, 

 a father and sons, or a family of brothers and sisters, 

 may, in almost any state of life, set what is called 

 misfortune at defiance. 



10. These considerations are much more than 

 enough to sweeten the toils and cares of parents, and to 

 make them regard every additional child as an addition- 

 al blessing. But, that children may be a blessing and 

 not a curse, care must be taken of their education. 

 This word has, of late years, been so perverted, so 

 corrupted, so abused, in its application, that I am al- 

 most afraid to use it here. Yet I must not suffer it to 

 be usurped by cant and tyranny. I must use it: but 

 not without clearly saying what I mean. 



11. Education means breeding up, bringing up , 

 or rearing up ; and nothing mom This includes 

 every thing with regard to the mind as well as the 

 body of a child ; but, of late years, it has been so used 

 as to have no sense applied to it but that of book-learn- 

 ing, with which, nine times out of ten, it has nothing 

 at all to do. It is, indeed, proper, and it is the duty 



