404 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION. 



famers of the fciences ! Let them deplore in the 

 midft of defarts, or of uncultivated, favage na- 

 tions, the crime of having endeavoured, 

 though in vain, to degrade the fciences, the 

 arts, the laws and manners of mankind-, let 

 them there lament the misfortune of being 

 pofieffed with a paradoxical fpirit. In giving 

 a general idea of Erudition, we think therefore 

 we mould defcribe the outlines of all thole ad- 

 mirable foundations for the cultivation of the 

 fciences, which do fo much honour to huma- 

 nity. 



III. Schools are either public or private efta- 

 blimments for the inftruftion of the youngeft 

 pupils in the firft elements of knowledge , in 

 the rudiments of their native language, and fome- 

 times in Latin; in the firft principles of reli- 

 gion, &c. In fome fchools of Germany the 

 French language is likewife taught. Parents, 

 to be free from the care of their children, fre- 

 quently fend them to fchool while yet too young. 

 They (hould remember, that at fo early an age 

 the iprings of the brain are too delicate to be 

 continually ftretched by attention ; and all that a 

 child acquires by the faculty of his memory is 

 at the expenfe of his genius, fpirit, judgment, 

 and frequently even of his health. There is at 

 Berlin a grand fchool which they call Real, where, 

 to the languages and the principles of religion, 

 they join inftru&ions for drawing, the firft ele- 

 ments of hiftory, of the polite arts, mechanics,! 



andj 



