INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION^. 



Me tTiem to fucceed bell in the iifual employments of life. 

 Of courfe we (hoiitd prefer the cultivated judgment, with 

 great helitation of memory, to the moit fluent memory 

 without judgment : but fluency in memory maybe acquired 

 without fuciihcing the judgment ; and who would then de- 

 fpife it ? One leading object of the work, of inllriidtion, in 

 the middle period of it, (perhaps from the age of eight to 

 twelve or farther,) is to give by practice that facility of re- 

 colleftion which, if not acquired before the underflanding is 

 become fomewliat m:tture, will feldom be acquired at all ; 

 and which, though always to be regarded as a fubfervient 

 quality, is of ahnoll indifpenfable utility in the concerns 

 of life, and even in the employments and refearches of 

 fcience. 



The remarks in the laft paragraph were fuggefted by 

 what we are advancing on the memory of words, and chiefly 

 " refer to it. Vs'ords continually ftand for many thoughts ; 

 j and (hort combinations of them frequently imply trains of 

 reafoning : but it is often fufficient, for the purpofes of ed;u 

 ' cation, and indeed all that is defirable, that the memory 

 I fliould fuggetl fuch combinations, and afford the impredion 

 of their accuracy, without the exercife of the underltanding 

 to (hew the truth of them. Two inllances will illiiilrate 

 our meaning. The common rule of algebraic mv.ltiplica- 

 tion, " Like figns give plus, and unlike figns give minus," 

 is in itfelf confidered almoii; without meaning, and under- 

 ftood literally involves an abfurdity ; and we would never 

 teach it to a boy, without firil tliewing him that it is a con- 

 venient abridgment of a number of operations in algebraic 

 multiplication, all of which are well-founded : but when he 

 has once feen the univerfality of its application, we would 

 then lead him to employ it without hefitation, and even with- 

 out thought as to its meaning : of courfe, however, recom- 

 mending that he fliould never reafon from it, but rcfort to 

 the fafts themfelves as the foundation of inferences refpefting 

 the nature and combinations of algebraic quantities. But 

 to take a more familiar inltance ; in common multiplication, 

 where the multiplier confilts of fcveral digif:, we :-.re di- 

 refted to place the firlt figure of each product under the 

 digit by wiiich we ir.idtiply. Nothing can be cafior, when 

 the effect of multiplication by lo, loo, &c., and the nature 

 of our numeration are well underllood, than to n:iderlland 

 the reafon and meaning of the direction ; but we fhould not 

 wifh that the pupil fhould continually revert to this explana- 

 tion ; it is fufficient if he remember the facl diftinctly, and 

 at the time when it is wanted ; and it would oidy ferve to 

 embarrafs, if the rationale were to be conflantly brought into 

 view. ■ 



Leaving out of confideration all the intercourfes of life, 

 in which the ready recollection of words is often tlie fonrce 

 of fo much interetl and delight, there is Hill another point of 

 view in which we feel the importance of the habit of recol- 

 Jefting words readily and accurately. Ideas fade from the 

 memory much fooner when they are not connected with 

 words. In fickrefs, and ofttn in old age, tlie reafoning 

 powers become languid ; and ihe vigour of th? mind, whi^h 

 would fupply a fuccelfion of ii.terelling thoughts, is lo!l un- 

 der the prclfure of difeafe or gr; dual decay. In fuch circum- 

 fiances the mind dwells upon tlie prefent impr.fFions of pain, 

 or weaknefs, and can fcarcely raife itfelf above tiiem ; but 

 if the memory have been well llored, in the early part of 

 life, with ufcful and interelling combinations of words, they 

 will often recur, at fueh periods, without an effort, and 

 without fatigue, and furnifh objects of thoughts which will 

 footh and even cheer. Thofe who are fubjeft to any degree 

 of me ital deprcflion, difabling them from active efforts, to 

 point out a channel for their thoughts, often find fuch fug- 

 6 



gellions of the memory an important relief to them. And 

 we need not fay to tliofe of our readers who have a reli- 

 gious turn of mind, that thefe remarks are peculiarly appli- 

 cable to tliofe devoti;)nal compolltions and exprefTions, which, 

 where they iiavebeen early. and deeply iniprelfcd on the mind, 

 occur at the call of aflbciation to lupport, to ilrengthen, 

 and to comfort ; and which, thus fu^gellcd hy the memory, 

 have in innumerable inllances allayed the emotions of pafTion 

 and defire, or poured balm into the wounded heart. 



Wliether the memory fhould ever be exercifed on words 

 which convey no idea to the mind, we do not ventnre to de- 

 termine ; but as far as our own experience goes, we fliould be 

 led to conclude that fuch a cultivation of the memory can be 

 of little fervice in a rational memory of words. We have at 

 lealt obferved, that where a boy has poflcffcd ^'reat facility in 

 committing to memory paffages from the claiTics, without 

 finding it neceflary fully to underiland them, (fo that the 

 recital of them went on with little if any aid from the under- 

 ilanding, but was effected by the mere dint of verbal recol- 

 lection, ) he has ufually found it much more difficult tore- 

 member paffages from Englifh writers, in which the meaning 

 is obvious, though the modes of expreflion are out of the 

 common rounds. It appears to us, therefore, that exercifes 

 of the memory, in which the memory alone is employed, 

 fhould feldom be reforted to, iince it does not tend to pro- 

 duce th:it recoUedlion of words which is fubfervient to, and 

 indeed accompanied with a recollection of notions and feel- 

 ings. The firil llage of recollection fhould be accompanied 

 with the direct exercife of the underftanding : the formula 

 of words may, by habit, ceafe explicitly to excite the ideas 

 which on reflection it would convey ; but it lliould not be at- 

 tended with a feeling of vuimeaningnefs or unintelligibility. 



The only cafe (ieparate indeed from the rudiments of 

 language) in which it appears particularly expedient to exer- 

 cife the memory upon words alone, is where, though they have 

 no ufual conneftion with certain facts or truths, they ferve, 

 by an artificial connection, to bring thofe fa6ts or truths to 

 reco'ledtion ; and even here there is the feeling in the mind . 

 that they are merely abbreviated reprefentations of a more full 

 combination of word.s, which is itfelf at once intelligible. 

 We refer principally to fuch contrivances as tiiolein Grey's 

 Memoria Tcchnica. Of courfe we would by no means re- 

 commend the employment of his method to any thing like 

 the extent which he propofes ; but if it be of importance 

 (as we are perfuaded it is) in the reading of hillory, that a 

 few leading dates Ihould be well fixed in the mind, his mctliod 

 will be fou':d of great utility by funiilhing an additional aid 

 to the memory ; and the mere tranllation of his technical 

 words, affills materially in the permanency of the recol- 

 lection. Cafes may occur, though not very frequently, in 

 which it will be very ferviceable to bear in mind with 

 minute exactnefs the latitude and longitude of places ; and 

 here alfo, the Memoria Technica may be found of conliderable 

 fervice : bu; for the general purpofes of geographical know- 

 ledge, there can be no doubt that much more benefit will be 

 derived from forming in the mind a clear idea of the relative 

 fituationof places, bv means of a familiar acquaintance with 

 the globe, or even with maps. Little advantage can be ex- 

 prCted from the extenfion of this method to a'.tioiiomy, and 

 other branches of phylical fcience; but if any circumilances 

 render it defirable to retain with accuracy the fixe of the 

 plar.ets, their diilances from the fun, &c. or the fpecitic gra- 

 vity of different bodies. Greys contrivance will be louiid a 

 uteful aid, though we can never i\'Commend the employment 

 of it in fcience, without a full previous accjuaintance with tlic 

 facts to which it relates, and a frequent explicit reference to. 

 them ; in (hort it fhould alwiv^'S be cmpfayed merely to aid 



the 



