INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 



Mnnce?. The ccmparifons of judgment may be flow ; 

 tliofe of wit muft be rapid. The fame power of attention 

 in children may produce either wit or judgment. Parents 

 mull decide in which faculty, or rather, in which of thefe 

 habits of the mind, they wifh their pupils to excel ; and 

 they muft condiift their education accordingly. Thofc who 

 are dcfirous to make their pupils witty, mull facrifice fome 

 portion of their judgment to the acquiiition of the talent for 

 wit ; they mull allow their children to talk frequently at 

 random. Amongft a multitude of hazarded obfervations, 

 a happy hit is now and then made: for thtfe happy hits 

 children who are to be made wits (hould be praifed ; and 

 they muft acquire fufficient courage to fpeak from a curfory 

 view of things ; therefore the millakes thoy make from fu- 

 perficial examination mud not be pointed out to them; their 

 attention muft be turned to the comic rather than to the fe- 

 rious fide of objeCls ; they muft ftudy the different mean- 

 ings and powers of words ; they {hould hear witty converfa- 

 tion, read epigrams and comedies : and in all company they 

 fhould be cxercifed before numbers in fmart dialogue and 

 repartee. 



" When we mention the methods of educating a child to 

 be witty, we at the fame time point out the dangers of this 

 education : and it is but juft to warn parents againft expeft- 

 ing inconfiftent qualities from their pupils. Thofe who 

 fteadily prefer the folid advantages of judgrr.cnt to the tran- 

 fient brilliancy of wit, (hould not be mortified when they fee 

 their children, perhaps, deficient at nine or ten years old in 

 the fhowy talents for general converfation ; they muft bear 

 to fee their pupils appear (low ; they muft bear the contraft 

 of flippant gaiety and fober fimplicity ; they muft purfue 

 exadlly an oppolite courfe to that which has been recom- 

 mended for the education of wits ; they muft never praife 

 their pupils for hazarding obfervations ; they muft caution fly 

 point out any miftakes that are made from a precipitate fur- 

 vey of objefts; they ftiould not harden their pupils againft 

 that feeling of fliame which arifes in the mind from the per- 

 ception of having uttered an abfurdity ; they ftiould never 

 encourage their pupils to play upon words ; and their admi- 

 ration of wit ftiould never be vehemently or enthufiaftically 

 exprefled." 



XII. Imagination refpecls the thoughts and the feel- 

 ings. Confidered in reference to the conceptions and trains 

 of thought, it properly falls under the head of Intellcdual 

 Education : confidered in reference to pleafure and pain, it 

 comes under the head of Moral Education. How the ima- 

 gination affecls the moral judgments, and what influence its 

 pleafures and pains have upon the happinefs of life, how 

 they are to be cultivated, and how regulated, will probably 

 be the fubjecl of fome remarks in a iubfequent article : our 

 bufinefs in this will be very brief. 



Confidered as an intellectual faculty, as affilling to raife 

 the mind above mere fenfation, as prefenting to the mind 

 conceptions, or trains of conceptions, which are not imme- 

 diately derived from fenfation, (though of courfe compofeJ 

 of the elements which fenfation furniflics,) as forming new 

 combinations of ideas, or as fuggefting the grounds of rea- 

 foning, the operations of the imagination are very import- 

 ant, and indeed not only powerfully aid the exercife of the 

 judgment, and the purfuits of philofophy, bu: are even emi- 

 nently fubfcrvient to the caufe of morality. Mr. Stewart 

 furniilies us with many admirable obfervations, which will 

 afiift in ftiowing the point to which we ftiould endeavour to 

 raife the imagination, as well as the limits which we ftiould 

 aim to prefci ibe to it ; and from thefe we fliall feledl the 

 following, as immediately bearing upon our objeft : 



«' P'jinv out to two men," fays this elegant and interefting 



writer, ".iny objedl of compafTion ; — a man, for example, re. 

 duced by misfortune from cafy circumftanccs to indigence. 

 The one feels merely in proportion to what he perceives by 

 his fenfes. The other follows, in imagination, the unfortu- 

 nate man to his dwelliug, and partakes with him and his fa- 

 mily in tlieir domeftic diftrelTes. He liftens to their conver- 

 fation while they rccal to remembrance the flattering pro- 

 fpeCls they once indulged; the circle of friends they had 

 been forced to leave; the liberal plans of education which 

 were begun and interrupted ; and pitlures out to himfelf all 

 the various refourccs which delicacy and pride fuggeft, to 

 conceal poverty from the world. As he proceeds in the 

 painting, his fenfibility incrcafes, and he weeps, not for 

 what he fees, but for what he imagines. It will be laid, 

 that it was his fenfibility which originally roufed his imagi- 

 nation ; and the obfervation is undoubtedly true ; but it is 

 equally evident, on the other hand, that the warmth of hi* 

 imagination increafes and prolongs his fenfibility. 



" The foregoing obfervations may account, in part, for 

 the effecl whicli exhibitions of fiftitious diftrefs produce on 

 fome perfons who do not difcover much fenfibility to the 

 diftrelTes of real life. In a novel or a tragedy, the pifture 

 is completely finifticd in all its parts ; and wc are made ac- 

 quainted, not only with every circumllance on which the dif- 

 trefs turns, but with the fen'.iments and feelings of every 

 charafter with refpeft to his fituatlon. In real life we fee, 

 in general, onlv detached fcenes of the tragedy ; and the 

 impreffion is fiight, unlefs imagination finifhe;; the characters, 

 and fupplies the incidents that are wanting. 



" It is not only to fcenes of diftrefs that imagination in- 

 creafes our fenfibihty. It gives a double ftiare in the pro- 

 fperity of others, and enables us to partake, with a more 

 lively intereit, in every fortunate incident that occurs either 

 to individuals or to commiinities. Even from the produc- 

 tions of the earth, and the vicifiitudes of the year, it carries 

 forward our thoughts to the enjoyments they bring to the 

 fenfitive creation, and by interefting our benevolent affeftions 

 in the fcenes we behold, lends a new charm to the beauties 

 of nature. 



" I have often been inclined to think, that the apparent 

 coldnefs and felfiftinefs of mankind may be traced, in a great 

 meafure, to a want of attention and a want of imagination. 

 In the cafe of misfortunes which happen to ourfelves, or to 

 our near connexions, neither of thele powers is neceftary to 

 make us acquainted with our fituation ; fo that we feel, of 

 neceffity, the correfpondent emotions. But without an un- 

 common degree of both it is impoflible for any man to com- 

 prehend completely the fituation of his neighbour, or to have 

 an idea of a great part of the diftrefs which exifts in the 

 world. If we feel therefore more for ourfelves than for 

 ethers, the difference is"; to be afcribed, at leaft partly, to 

 this, that, is the former cafe, the facls, which are the found- 

 ation of our feelings, are more fully before us than they- 

 poffibly can be in the latter." 



The power of foniiing vivid and accurate conceptions is. 

 an important acquifition ; but the true fovmdation of it is 

 only to be hid in clear diftinft perceptions ; and if the ima- 

 gination early gain fuch influence as to call off the mind 

 from obfervation, the moft injurious effcfts may be expefted 

 to fclljw. The exercife of the imagination, (including, as 

 is generally done, what Mr. Stewart denominates the con- 

 ception,) is neceftary to enable us to enter into the reafonings 

 of the philofopher, where thefe refpecl individuals, as well 

 as into tlie piftures of the poet, and the details of hiftory. 

 In reference to this laft head, we may be allowed here to 

 mention, that the conception aids the caufe even of religions 

 truth : for he who is not able, or who doe.s not take the 



trouble, 



