140 



the dog does no harm; and he takes especial 

 care, therefore, to put an instant extinguisher on 

 every troublesome attempt at such expansion. 

 Oh ! but it hath been with grief of heart that 

 I have beheld a noble young creature, all life, all 

 gayety, perception, and promise, beaten down 

 into a very cipher ; and, at the peril of a hedge- 

 stake, which I have longed to make a juster 

 application of, over the shoulders of the ignorant 

 brute who was misusing it, compelled to keep 

 dodging on at the tail of some " old trotting 

 Bob;" before whose steadier* nose the fellow 

 made more certain of produce from his unerring 

 shot. 



I trust that, in delivering my sentiments with 

 freedom on the plan of education generally pur- 

 sued in these academies, and in pointing out 

 the effects of necessity produced, in limiting 

 the character of the pupils that are brought up 

 in them, I shall not be considered as entertain- 

 ing any design of treading on the toes of the 

 important persons who preside over them, or 

 of disturbing their feelings with any alarms of 

 reformation. Let them continue to make up 

 their pointers in their own way : their qualifi- 

 cations will, I doubt not, be found to be fully 

 adequate to any notions of excellence possessed 

 by those for whose amusement they are ulti- 



