150 Education. [Chap. XXV. 



tremely powerful j that much of the diiference w^ 

 observe m the talents and dispositions of men is 

 to be ascribed to its eilicacy; and that the lovers 

 of knowledge may be expected hereafter to make 

 such improvements in literature, such discoveries 

 in science, and such useful reforms in the plans 

 of instruction, as exceedingly to promote the ge- 

 neral improvement of man. But before the doc- 

 trine of perfectibility can be adopted, the nature 

 of man must be totally changed ; his present ha- 

 bits and wants must cease ; and he must become 

 a being of an essentially different character from 

 that which his Creator has given him. The hus-- 

 bandman, by skilful and patient culture, may 

 highly improve the quality of many species of the 

 vegetable tribes. Pie may cause that which, in a 

 neglected spot, was small, feeble, and unpromi- 

 sing, to become, in more favourable circum- 

 stances, vigorous, luxuriant, and flourishing : in 

 short, it is not easy to say how far, under enlight- 

 ened and vmwearied cultivation, he may carry the 

 improvement of those objects to which he devotes 

 his attention. But to suppose that there are no 

 limits to this improvement; to suppose that under 

 the wisest management a rose might be so ex* 

 panded as to cover a field of many acres, or a 

 stalk of wheat so enlarged as to vie with the oak 

 of the forestj would surely be the height of extra- 

 vagance and folly *. 



The doctriae of human perfectihiUty^ however, 

 is too flattering to the pride of man not to have 

 considerable currency among certain classes of 



* See the 'Esmy on Population before quoted. 



