INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION, 



trouble, to pifture to tlie mind's eye the ftatements of the 

 gofpel hillorians, will not have his judgment fuitably affefted 

 with the reahty of the fadls which they record, nor will his 

 afFedions be warmed as they ought to be by the contempla- 

 tion of the charadier wliich, with the moft artlefs fimplicity, 

 they pourtray. 



Like the memory, though in a different way, the imagi- 

 nation fliould be made a fubfervieut faculty ; and the early 

 cultivation of it muil depend upon the tendency which we 

 perceive to the exercife of it, and the degree in which it is 

 likely to gain ground among the intellectual faculties. If 

 the conceptions are very lively, and we perceive a tendency 

 to dwell upon them inllead of the objects of perception, our 

 aim mull be to invigorate the obfervation, to cultivate the 

 judgment, and, as much as pofTible, to turn the efforts of the 

 imagination into the channel of philofophical invention. If, 

 on the other hand, as is fometimes the cafe, either from early 

 iiegleft of the obfervation, or a want of what may perhaps 

 be properly called phylical fenfibility, the conceptions are 

 very dull, and the mijid fcems unable to enter into any thing 

 which cannot be made the objedl of perception or abftraiS 

 reaioning, it is perhaps defirable, with caution, to llimulate 

 the imagination : and in this view the following remarks of 

 Mifs More appear to us to deferve the attention of alj who 

 are concerned in education. 



" I would not however prohibit fuch works of imagina- 

 tion as fuit this early period. When moderately ufed, 

 they -ferve to flretch the faculties and expand the mind ; 

 but I (hoiild prefer works of vigorous genius, and pure, 

 unmixed fable, to many of thofe tame and more affetied 

 moral flories which are not founded upon Chrillian prin- 

 ciple. I iliould fuggeil the ufe on the one hand of original 

 and acknowledged hctions ; and on the other, of accurate 

 and fimple facts ; fo that truth and fable may ever be kept 

 feparate and diilinet in the mind. There is fomeliiing that 

 kindles fancy, awakens genius, and excites new ideas in many 

 of the bold ficlions of the Eail. And there is one peculiar 

 merit in the Arabian and fome other oriental tales, which 

 is that they exhibit ftriking, and, in many rcfpeds, faithful 

 views, of the manners, habit?, cufloms, and religion of their 

 refpedtive countries ; fo that fonic tincture of real local in- 

 formation is acquired by tlie perufal of the wiKlcll fable, 

 which will not be without its ufes in aiding the future affo- 

 ciations of the mind in all that relates to Eallern hiflory and 

 literature." 



The imagination fliould early be employed in what is its 

 peculiar field, invention. We do not of courfe mean, that 

 which has for its object to foni . .m ' '.:■: ;i,ri^ with the fole 

 vievvof pleainig the fancy or ; . >; 'n tafte ; but that 



which has in view contrivanc-. s lo :.k 'nat the purpofes of 

 life, and the acquifiiion of fcience.; We by no means willi 

 to be underftood, that in the early part of education, (and 

 itill lefs in the later,) the imagination rtiould never be aftively 

 employed on works of fancy and tafle ; but in a general 

 yray it fliould be laid down as a principle, that the folid and 

 Vifeful qualities of the mind fhould be cultivated firft, the 

 ornamental ;is a fecondary object. The ingenuity and little 

 inventions of children fliould be encouraged ; and where fuf- 

 ficient fcope is given for the play of the faculties, and there 

 ifi no phylical caufe to prevent aclivity of mind, not a day 

 ■ v'ill pafs, .f ven at a very early age, without fome employ- 

 nient in which the inventive power of the imagination is con- 

 ferried. The inventions of children generally arife, in the 

 l^rfl inilance, from neceflity ; but, in their little diveriions, 

 they often difplay, (of courfe, in a low degree,) the ex- 

 .^rcife of thofe qualities by which the moft important cora- 

 '^iiistions and iiivcntions have been effedtd. As they advance 



in mental culture, this exercife of the imagination fhould b? 

 more and more fubmitted to the guidance of the judgment. 

 Many of the literary and fcientific purfuits to which the 

 young are direded, have a tendency to cuhivate a philofo- 

 phical imagination ; and they furnifh numerous opportunities, 

 w-hich a judicious inftrudor will carefully employ, of calling 

 forth and exercifing its moft important operations. 



Some young perlons, we muft be contented to allow to 

 pals through life, fatisfied if we can make them comprehend 

 the combinations and inventions of otkcrs ; but it is very 

 feldom, where the mind isadtiveand unfliackled, and has been 

 properly IHmulated and employed by the ufual objeds of 

 mental purfuit, tliat it will reft here. Either in the manner 

 in which it attains to its condulions, or in which it tries and 

 applies them, or in the conclufions themielves, it will leave 

 the track which may have been beaten by others, and fliew 

 the exercife of invention Novelty ought never to be our 

 objed, but truth ; but it is pleafant to fee any indication of 

 ingenuity ; and it fliould be remembered, thai combinations 

 and inventions which are not abfoliitely new, may be fo to the 

 inaividual. 

 . We fliall now finifti this head with a few more remarks 

 from Mr. Stewart, which may ferve as a reftraining check 

 upon the irregular or excefiive exercife of the imagination ; 

 and may lead the judicious parent to the conclufion with 

 which Mifs Edgeworth ends her chapter on the imagination, 

 that it is a good fervant but a bad mailer. 



" It was undoubtedly the intention of nature, that the 

 objeds of perception fliould produce much ftronger impref- 

 fions on ihe mind than its own operations. And, accordingly, 

 they always do fo, when proper care has been taken in early 

 life, to exercife the different principles of our conftitution. 

 But it i« poifible, by long habits of folitary reflediion, to 

 reverfe this order of things, and to weaken the attention to 

 feniible objeds to fo great a degree, as to leave the condud 

 almofl wholly under the influence of imagination. Removed 

 to a diltance from fociety, and from the purfuits of life, 

 when we have been long accuftomed to couvcrfe with our own 

 thoughts, and have found our activity gratiiied by intel- 

 Icdual exertions, which afford fcope to ail our powers and 

 afTedions, without expofing us to the inconveniences ve- 

 fulting from the buftle of the world, we are apt to conti'ad 

 an unnatural prediledion for meditation, and to lofe all in- 

 tereil in external occurrences. In fuch a fituation too, the 

 mind gradually lofes that command which education, when 

 properly conduded, gives it over the train of its ideas ; till 

 at length the mofl extravagant dreams of imagination ac- 

 quire as powerful an influence in exciting all its paffions, a8 

 if they were realities. , 



" When fuch diforders of the imagination have been long 

 confirmed by habit, the evil may perhaps be beyond a re- 

 medy ; but in their inferior degrees, much may be cxpeded 

 from our own efforts ; in particular, from mingling gradually 

 in the bufmefs and amufements of the world ; or, if we have 

 fufiicient force of mind for the exertion, from refolutely 

 plunging into thofe adtive and interelling and hazardous 

 fcenes, which, by compelling us to attend to external cir- 

 cumftances, may weaken the imprefGons of imagination and 

 ftrengthen thofe produced by reahties. 



" When a man, under the habitual influence of a warm 

 imagination, is obliged to mingle occafionally in the fcenes 

 of real bufinefs, he is perpetually in danger of being miflcd 

 by his own enthufiafm. What we call good fenfe in the 

 condud of life, confilts chiefly in that temper of m.ind which 

 enables its poffoffor to view at all times, with perfcd cool- 

 nefs and accuracy, all the various circumftances of his fitua- 

 tion ; fo tJiat each of them may produce its due imprciTioii 



