130 MORAL FEELINGS PROPER TO 



sum to the amount of his past achievement; and 

 whilst this engages his mind by the supply of no- 

 velty, and the surprise of accumulating success, it 

 frees him from the contemplation of a field too 

 large for adventure, and of leaves more numerous 

 than his eye can survey. 



The principle in this case is not unlike that 

 which prescribes small and separate tasks for a child, 

 or portions of study, adequate to an hour, for one of 

 riper years, without telling the one that the whole 

 book must be read, or showing the other all the circle 

 of science which his pathway surrounds. It is thus, 

 when the acquisition is not oppressive, but such as 

 to confer the pleasure which arises from progress, 

 that the next step, without reference to the com- 

 pleted circle is taken with desire and delight, in 

 like manner as the worldly, though they aim not 

 at gaining the whole world, do not weary, all life 

 long, in laying field to field. It is to be presumed, 

 however, that in furnishing such a motive to the 

 diligence of your boy you have some dependence on 

 his truth; for nothing could be more easy than, in- 

 stead of killing his hundreds, to make his work 

 look well by repeating more notches on his stick. 

 Nevertheless the motive, true in nature, is calcu- 

 lated to work well; and if there be not truth, which 

 remains to be considered in the Appendix, the want 

 will be found in more ways than one, and the bad 

 working will not be amended by any motive that 

 either your head or heart can devise. 



But whilst the writer is concerned for the morale 



