INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 



the remembrance of knowledge, not to enable the young to 

 prate about objefts of which- they are really ignorant. It 

 is well known to our mathematical readers that there arc for- 

 mulae of eminent utiUty, in the remembrance of which the 

 judgment can have little fliare, an^in which readinefs and ac- 

 curacy of recollection are the chief objedls ; for inilancc, 

 Napier's celebrated canons for the folution of right-angled 

 fpherical triangles. Here the (hort fentence, " the rectangle 

 of the radius and the fine of the middle part, is equal to 

 the rettangle of the tangents of the extremes conjunct, or, 

 of the cofmes of the extremes disjunct, " enables the calcu- 

 lator to folve with the greatelt eafe every cafe of right-angled 

 fpherical trigonometry : but in the recollection of this com- 

 prehenfive canon, the iinderftanding affords little, if any 

 afiiftance ; it is a technical formula, in which there is no op- 

 portunity of exercifing the perception of truth, except by ob- 

 ferving the truth of every clafs of proportions which may be 

 derived from the application uf it ; when the truth of ihefe lias 

 been demonflrated, all we have to do is to remember the canon. 

 In this and many other inllanccs in the mathematical fciences,a 

 ready and accurate recollection of figns of ideas is of great 

 lervice ; and we cannot have hefitation in maintaining, even 

 from fuch cafes alone, that it is defirable to train the memory, 

 among other objects, to the recoUeiStion of words, always 

 indeed as figns of ideas, or abbreviated figns of thofe which are 

 immediately figns of ideas, and, as much as circumftances will 

 allow, with an expUcit exercife of the underftanding, but 

 ftill fo as to make the exercife of the memory in tl.efe in- 

 ftances the primary conUderation. The occaiional utility of 

 the recollection of fuch abbreviations we have already fuffi- 

 ciently adverted to ; and we will only add one fpecimen of 

 the advantage even of the abbreviated ftatement of thele ab- 

 breviations. The formula of Napier is readily fuggettcd 

 to the mind by the memorial words Tan con, Cot-D'ts ; and 

 •when thefeare well fixed in the memory, and connected with 

 the more expanded ilatement of the canon, it is almoil im- 

 poffible that the mind fnou'd ever be at any lofs in the re- 

 •coUeftion of the canon itfelf, or at leall of the import 

 of it. 



In cafes where verbal recolleftion is found to be an ob- 

 ject of importance, the fimplell and moll correct modes 

 of exprcffion Ihould be employed ; and, when they are re- 

 peated, it (hould conftantly be done without variation in 

 the order or felection of words. If we can refort to the 

 underftanding to check or fugged the words, this is not 

 of fo much confequence ; but wherever the ready recol- 

 lection of words is delirable, for purpofes of difpatch and 

 accuracy, this precaution will be found of great moment. 



We do not m.enn to charge the later writers on education 

 with being the fole caiife of that neglect of the exercife 

 of verbal recoUeftion, which, a few years agu, was prevalent 

 and fafliionable at leall in domeftic educaj^ion, and which 

 made its way into Ichools beyond what experience has ftiewn 

 to be ufeful ; but the unqualified hnguage which has been 

 ufed by perfons of intelleClual eminence, aimed, perhaps 

 in fome cafes exclufively, againll burdening the memory 

 with founds unmeaning to the learner, and almoil ufelefs if 

 they were underllood, has in many inllaiices been extended 

 to all cafes of exaft verbal recollection, and has caufed great 

 difficulties in the fubfequent periods of education as well 

 as in the purfuits.of life. We tliink that Mifs Edgeworth 

 (lands chargeable with contributing to and fupporting tiiis 

 frror, not perhaps directly, but by the low ellimation in 

 which (he teaches us to hold the memory, and by the too 

 unqualified n.anner of her generally excellent obfervations 

 />n the culture of it, and the fubjeCtion of it to the judg- 

 sieiit ; and wc will not deny that we have been led much 



farther than we otherwife intended, by our opinion as ta 

 the imprefTion which 



ed from her i 



on the fubjeCt. Her own writings (liew that (he lierfclf 

 pofiefles a judicious memory ; but without more attention 

 to the cultivation of the rccoUedlion of words than ihe en- 

 courages, we feel perfuaded that few will obtain one ib 

 ferviceable. There is in that chapter a great deficiency in 

 precifion and clearnefs ; and it has confequently been the 

 fource of much error, or at leall countenanced it : and the 

 principle is often obvious, that exertion Ihould be exafted 

 only by being made intereiing. Her conclufion, " that 

 memory is chiefly ufeful as it furniflies materials for inven- 

 tion," is one of thofe extraordinary politions which can 

 only miflead perfons who can implicitly bow to authority, 

 and who prefer quiet acquiefcence to the trouble of think- 

 ing. It has not unfrequently occurred to us, that it is happy 

 for mankind that the human intelleft is not generally to be 

 moulded by thcorills ; and we have no doubt that in the 

 common walks of life great numbers, not abfolutely ilh- 

 terate, may be found, who, though they poffefs a tolerable 

 fhare of good fenfe and judgment, never have had the m.erit 

 of forming one new combination of ideas for themfelves, 

 and who yet, by the aid of mem.ory, guided, we allow, by 

 the underltanding, contrive to pafs through life with credit 

 and utihty. Viewing Mifs Edgeworth's pofition as limited 

 to fcience and literature, the fubferviency of the memory 

 to invention is only one, and that not the moll important 

 department of its exertions ; taken as we find it, without 

 any reftridiion or explanation, the pofition is as unfounded 

 as it is injudicious. 



It is difficult, in education, to lay down any generally 

 applicable rules, efpecially if they require the fpecification 

 of ages ; but we (liould be inclined to divide the fourfc of 

 intellectual education into three periods, the firft extending 

 to about feven or eight ; the fecond to about twelve or 

 thirteen ; and the third to the time when diredl inftruflion 

 ceafes. In the firlt, the exercifes of the memory .niould be 

 conftantly and directly fubfervient to the culture of the 

 underftanding, and ihould not be employed but where they 

 can be made intelligible. In this period the chief objeft 

 is to produce ideas, and to conncft them v.ith words, Eo 

 cultivate the obfervation and the judgment, and to ftore 

 the memory with ideas without much regard to phiiofo- 

 fophical principles of arrangement. Some notion of caufation, 

 however, begins verj' early in children ; and where it can 

 be brought into exercife judicioully, there appears no reafon 

 why it ihould be neglected ; but the common bond of union 

 will be conneAion in time and place, and it is by thefe links 

 of affociation principally that recollection will be firft pro- 

 duced. In the fecond period, though the exercife and cul- 

 ture of the judgment fiiould go on as ever, and even be- 

 come a more prominent objeft of attention, yet the memory 

 of words fliould now be particularly cultivated. In the 

 third period, the exercife of verbal recollection ffiould, we 

 imagine, conftitute a very fubordinate object. The primary 

 aim mull then be, to ftrengthen the judgment, to exercife 

 the operations of reafoning, to cultivate habits of correct 

 generalization and claffification ; and, as the mind expands, 

 to lay the foundation of that judicious felcdion and ar- 

 rangement of the objects of the mem.ory, which will make 

 this faculty of the utmoft utility in every valuable employ- 

 ment of the underftanding, and indeed make every operation 

 of the memory itfelf an important exercife of the judg- 

 ment. 



yill. We now proceed to a few remarks on the cnlti- 

 vation of the Under/landing. AVe employ this general term 

 (though in reality it may truly be faid'to comprehend all 



the 



