INTELLECTUAL EDUCATIO^T. 



ti-,f mberiiig Xfords, and of recollefting them, without under- 

 fluiidiiig them, is once begun, there is afterwards a very- 

 great diRiculty in cultivating the underftandingj and in mak- 

 ing the memory, what it ought always to be, however im- 

 portant in itfelf, a fubfervient faculty. 



In the early exercifes of the recolleftion, we are to be 

 fully fatisfied with correflnefs, however deficient it may be 

 in fulnefs. Correftnefs (we of courfe do not niian in the 

 repetition of words, but in the rccolleifiion of ideas) fliould 

 always be aimed at. The imagination will not lofe by this ; 

 for the correft recollection of conceptions and notions tends 

 to fix them more upon the mind ; and thcfe are the mate- 

 rials upon which the imagination is to be employed. Mod 

 certainly the underftanding will be a gainer ; for the objeft 

 of the underftandiiig is truth ; and truth cannot be found 

 by that mind which has been trained up to falfehood by 

 early habit of inaccuracy. AVe have no objeftion for the 

 little imagination early to work upon the conceptions which 

 have already been treafured up in the mind, under thofe 

 limits which continual attention will neceffarily fet upon 

 the operations of the imagination ; only let a child be 

 habituated, in detailing its inventions, to detail them as 

 fuch ; arid when recolleding the paft objefts of obfervation, 

 to give a faithful outline of them, however imperfeft it may 

 neceffarily be. We have known an inftance in which a child 

 riot above four or five years of age, whofe imagination 

 was lively, and whofe recoUeftion (and perhaps obfervation 

 alfo) had unhappily not been trained to accuracy, frequently 

 told his friends circumftances which had no exiftence ex- 

 cept in his own mind, with the regularity, and much of 

 the confiftency of real facts, and, probably, by degrees 

 did not know whether he was fpcaking of the creations 

 of his fancy, or of things which he had aftually feen and 

 heard. Such cafes mull excite our regret for the pall, and 

 our apprehenfion for the future. 



Great difficulty often exifts, efpccially in the minds of 

 perfons whofe conceptions are vigorous, and who have not 

 been habittially careful to cultivate accuracy of perception 

 and corrednefs in the relation of recollections, to know 

 whether the trains of ideas prefented by the affociative 

 power are to be referred to the memory or to the imagina- 

 tion. Such perfons, feizing only the outline of a fadt or 

 feries of occurrences, owing to habitual inattention to their 

 fenfations, are, from readincfs of aflbciation, able to fill up 

 tlie tranfcript, fo as to make it appear plaufible to thcm- 

 felves ; and by once or twice detailing it without minute 

 regard to accuracy, except in thofe leading features, they 

 give a degree of vigour to the ideas, and of clofenefs to the 

 affociation of them, which at laft leads to the full conviftion 

 that the whole is recollefted. Cafes of this fort are very 

 frequent ; and they often leave upon tlie minds of others, 

 the belief that fuch perfons intentionally depart from truth ; 

 whereas the fact fometixes is, that part of their error arifes 

 from a defue to give the whole truth v,-hen they have ma- 

 terials for only a portion of it in their minds. However, 

 the fault is one which n;ould be carefully guarded againft, 

 particularly in the early part of life, by making young per- 

 fons of lively imagi::ation habitually attentive to the minute 

 as well as to the lead-ing parts of their imprefiions. 



Recolle6tion fhould often be exercifed dircftly : but the 

 main objeft, after all, is, to acq-iire the power of bringing 

 forwards our ideas when they arc wanting ; and it ftiould 

 therefore be often exercifed indire^ly, by leading to it for 

 thofe various purpofes of life, in v.'hith the young are fome- 

 rimes capable of being ufeful, and ftill more, by encourag- 

 fng the liatement of pafl ideas as they arc called up by prc- 

 fent obj?£ls, efpeciaU^ v<hen the connection ii! natural and of 



a kind likely to be ferviceable. This fpecies of recollect ioa 

 obvioufly depends upon the manner in which the aflbciative 

 power is exercifed ; and in faft it is itfelf an excrcife of 

 that power, to which the young (hoidd be led in every prac- 

 ticable way ; in the period of childhood bv free communication 

 with their friends on their various p'urfnits and occupations, 

 and afterwards, in addition to thefe means, by compofition. 

 Continual opportunities occur in almolt every department 

 of inftrnftion, for the advantageous recollection of related 

 ideas which have been before received ; and it is only by their 

 being brought into employment, and alfociated with other 

 ideas and trains of thought, that they can be expected to be 

 permanently retained in the mind, or, if retained, to be at 

 its command. 



The recollection of ideas is greatly aided by the con- 

 neftion of words both with thern, and with the original im- 

 prefiions ; for words being, from the conltant ufe of Ian- 

 guage, familiar to perfons of modcrrate mental culture, even 

 in Various combinations, they are eaiily retained, and molt 

 materially affilt in producing the recurrence of the cor- 

 refponding ideas. And thus, when a perfon is relating a 

 part fact, the ideas in fome cafes fuggclt the words, and in 

 others the words fuggell the ideas. Hence illiterate perfons, 

 other things being equal, do not remember nearly fo well as 

 others. Hence alfo the importance of teaching the young 

 to remember words as well as things ; for in nioft cafes, as 

 words ferve as the bond of ideas, ideas will be loofe and 

 floating in the mind unlefs connefted with words. 



After what we have faid refpcctmg the memory, we 

 (hall not be mifunderftood when we fay, that the cultivation 

 of it fhould conltitute a very eflential object in the early pe- 

 riods of intelleftual education. Without a doubt there are 

 original diverfities in the capabilities of the mind ; and it 

 fhould be one grand objeft in mental culture, to excite thofe 

 which are weak, and to curb and regulate thofe which are 

 exceflive. With refpeft to the memory, fome young perfons 

 appear to retain words, and even ideas, with a degree of facili- 

 ty which aftonifhes and perhaps delights the partial friend, 

 while at the fame time it furnifhes fome ground for alarm, left 

 that which ought always to be made fubfervient fhould have 

 the afcendancy, and prevent due attention to the cultivation 

 of the judgment and reafoning powers. Others are flow 

 in acquiring, but retain for a long time. Others again are 

 diftinguilhed by the readinefs with which they recollect, and 

 the eafe and aptitude with which they bring forwards what 

 their m.emory has Itored up ; and if the memory has been 

 judicioufly employed, and the principles of affociation have 

 been fuch as are advantageous to the judgment, this is all 

 which can be withed for. With refpeft to thofe who pofTefs 

 great facility of retention, it fliould be the aim of the in- 

 ftruftor to encourage, as much as pofTible, the fourid exer- 

 cife of the judgment, and the long retention and fuitabk 

 recollei£tion of ideas, rather than the eafy acquilition of 

 words, even if properly underftood. Durability of retention 

 depends in a great meafure upon the manner in which ideas 

 are atfociated in the mind, and upon the caft of the ideas 

 which have already been received and retained ; but this fa- 

 cility of retention, though depending in part upon exercilc, 

 feems to arife in no fmall degree from corporeal organization. 

 It is valuable only as made the foundation of a good memory : 

 it often leads to ncgleft thofe exercifes of the underflanding, 

 to which it fhould only he auxiliary, becaufe they are 

 more difficult ; and the confequence, in innumerable in- 

 ftances, has been, that while apparently the mental pro- 

 grefs is going on very rapidly, the judgment, and the rea- 

 foning powers, are almoll dormant, <^jid the whole of the 

 mental llore of the individual conliiU in the words, or at molt 



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