

KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



position of the most interesting truths, have but 

 little power over them. It is example and imi- 

 tation which draw them, which give a grave 

 air, and often a grave character to the son of a 

 magistrate, and the bold countenance to the son 

 of a warrior; which make the Frenchman, Ger- 

 man, Italian, Englishman, Russian; which make 

 slaves, freemen, republicans, &c; but it will al- 

 ways be mediocrity which falls to their share. 

 It is for these men that education is almost every- 

 thing, at least in the relations of social life ; it is 

 for them that institutions must be calculated. 

 Still, it is not admissible to conclude, that their 

 dispositions for receiving this education are not 

 innate. When Helvetius maintains, that if dis- 

 positions were innate in man, education would 

 not be able to change anything in him, nor to 

 give him anything — he takes from the nature of 

 man and of animals all possibility of being modi- 

 fied, and confounds simple modifications with 

 essential qualities and faculties. 



Still, it must not be imagined, that even for 

 this class, the impressions which come from 

 without, have an influence exclusive, absolute, 

 and always equal. If we succeed in introducing 

 in a nation a certain uniformity in regard to cus- 

 toms, opinions, manners, professions, arts and 

 sciences, laws and religion, it is because all these 

 things are founded, not only on positive rela- 

 tions, but also, on natural dispositions. Without 

 denying the influence of institutions, it is still 

 evident that the general progress of civilisation 

 is the result of the organisation proper to the 

 human race. 



In the midst of these positive things, which 

 seem to have been introduced by institutions, by 

 arbitrary inventions, each individual differs from 

 another by a peculiar character, just as he differs 

 by the external form of his body. Such a 

 quality is given to one, and denied to another. 

 Each has a predilection, or a more decided talent 

 for such or such an object. There is, then, in 

 each man, something which he does not derive 

 from education, which even resists all educa- 

 tion. Accordingly, all instructors have expe- 

 rienced, that it is necessary to observe peculiar 

 rules for each pupil, if they would perfect the 

 good qualities and correct the evil ones which 

 belong to him, and put him in a state to employ 

 his powers in a manner useful to society and 

 himself. 



This individuality, this character peculiar to 

 each individual, shows itself in a thousand 

 modes at all periods of life, without education 

 having any part in it. Erom his infancy, man 

 announces the character which will distinguish 

 him in adult age. The moment you exalt his 

 merit on account of some excellent quality, or 

 censure him for a vicious one, he appears to be 

 surprised himself, as by some new thing, of which 

 he acquires a knowledge for the first time. 

 Urge him still more, and he exclaims, " Well, 

 it is in my nature : I cannot do otherwise ; it is too 

 strong for me." Let us follow, then, the exam- 

 ple of Marcus Aurelius, who holds it for a 

 maxim, — that it is not in our power, nor in that 

 of a sovereign, to make men such as they ought 

 to be; but that it depends on us and on the 

 prince, to employ men, such as they are — each 

 according to his talent. 



How can we attribute to education those most 

 decided dispositions and faculties, which are 

 sometimes observed, even in children, and 

 which, consequently, are anterior to all sorts 

 of instruction? Most great men have mani- 

 fested their future greatness in their early years. 

 Achilles, concealed under the robes of Pyrrha, 

 seized a sword from among the gifts which 

 Ulysses brought. Themistocles, when still a child, 

 said, that if they would give him a small town 

 to govern, he would know how to enlarge it and 

 render it powerful. Alcibiades, seeing that a 

 carman was going to disturb his game of coc- 

 kles, throws himself across his path, in the mid- 

 dle of the street, and cries out to him, " Come 

 on, if you dare" Alexander would not contend 

 for the prize in the Olympic games, unless kings 

 were to be his rivals. It was at the age of 

 fourteen years that Cato of Utica developed his 

 great character, and his horror of tyranny ; and 

 Pascal, at twelve, gave evidence of his genius, by 

 publishing his treatise on Conic Sections. 



Experience proves the small power of educa- 

 tion, when we have to deal with energetic dis- 

 positions. Men, endowed with striking charac- 

 ters and superior intellect, push on and raise 

 themselves, notwithstanding the greatest ob- 

 stacles. Moses, David, Tamerlane, Pope Sixtus 

 Quintus, had been keepers of flocks; Gregory 

 VII. was the son of a carpenter; Socrates, Py- 

 thagoras, Theophrastus, Demosthenes, Shaks- 

 peare, Moliere, J, J. Rousseau, were the sons of 

 artisans. These examples, with which history 

 abounds, refute Hobbes, who holds that the dif- 

 ference of talents, or of mental faculties, comes 

 from wealth, power, and the condition in which 

 one is born. 



We even observe that, in spite of the most 

 decided opposition and education, the most hos- 

 tile to the innate character, nature, when en- 

 dowed with energy, gains the victory both in the 

 go'od and the bad. Tacitus justifies the in- 

 structors of Nero. This prince was cruel from 

 infancy, and to all the lessons of humanity 

 which his masters gave him, he only opposed a 

 heart of brass. Philosophers and sages culti- 

 vated the heart and mind of Commodus; but 

 nature triumphed over education, men saw in 

 him a second Nero. The energy of the charac- 

 ter of Peter the Great, could neither be ener- 

 vated by the corrupt principles with which he 

 was surrounded, nor by the pleasures by means 

 of which, at a tender age, it was attempted to 

 lead him into effeminate habits. 



The greatest men, it is true, bear the impress 

 of their age, and cannot entirely defend them- 

 selves from the impression of the objects which 

 surround them ; still we constantly see, that he 

 who possesses a dominant energetic quality or 

 faculty, pursues his route, and seizes with force 

 the object which nature has pointed out to him. 

 Thomas, in writing the eloge of Descartes, did 

 well not to dwell much upon his education. 

 " For," said he, " when the question relates to 

 extraordinary men, we have to consider educa- 

 tion much less than nature. There is an edu- 

 cation for common men; the man of genius has 

 the education which he gives himself, and which 

 consists principally in destroying and effacing 

 that which he has received." Fontenelle, in pro- 



