Double the knowledge in half the time is not a 

 tithe of the probability ; but if even this were accom- 

 plished, the time and the capacity gained would give 

 more than double effect and enjoyment to every 

 body. 



All abuses of things naturally good derive their 

 inveteracy from individuals gaining a profit at the 

 public expense, and from these individuals being able 

 to act with a degree of concert and combination, which 

 a great and free people neither can, nor will exercise. 

 Hence the difficulty of all reforms. There are, how- 

 ever, comparatively few obstacles to a reform in 

 the mode of instruction. Here there is no " heavy 

 body," to be started into motion, to be guided, and 

 constantly tending to recoil. The motive force is in the 

 thing moved ; and there is not (at least there should 

 not be) a single clog on its energy : the natural 

 desire for knowledge has only to be preserved alive, 

 enticed by that which is pleasant, and kept in the 

 way of that which is useful ; and all will learn, not 

 only voluntarily, but in spite of opposition. 



That such would be the case, if the young were 

 not sickened with mechanical trifles in which there 



