Stephenson: The Ettrick Shepherd 99 



should punish. ... I should promote in them the habits of industry, 

 the bowels of kindness, and the virtues of patience and humility; and 

 in every step of their progress I should teach them to love God for His 

 goodness to the fallen race of Adam, to walk in his ways, and to under- 

 stand his word. 



Hogg was a great stickler for education ; yet he says : 



I know it will be regarded by many as total want of experience 

 and discernment; but, as a pupil of nature, I must speak out my senti- 

 ments, I have a great aversion to college education; indeed, I hold it 

 in utter contempt — and sorry am I that it should be regarded as neces- 

 sary towards the entering on any of the learned professions; for why 

 a young man who, by private tuition and diligence, has rendered him- 

 self, on examination, equal to or superior to any of the collegians, is 

 not considered capable of performing the same duties, it is above my 

 capacity to comprehend. 



His reasons are summed up by the phrase, 

 I never saw any young man the better for it. 



And he adds, 



The whole parade of college education is a mere jumble of con- 

 fusion. 



In the breeding up your children in the way they should go, then, 

 the first thing I most strenuously recommend is, the setting them a 

 good example, and training them up in the fear, nurture, and admoni- 

 tion of the Lord. Teach them to know the value of a good education, 

 and be grateful to those who are spending their time in the improve- 

 ment of their minds and morals; to correct all the irregularities of 

 their temper by the sweet influence of Christian Charity; to be respect- 

 ful to their superiors, kind to their inferiors and equals, and benevolent 

 to all mankind; and both the blessing of the Almighty, and the respect 

 of their brethren of mankind, will accompany them all the days of their 

 lives. 



For upwards of twenty years I have mixed with all classes of so- 

 ciety, and as I never knew to which I belonged, I have been perfectly 

 free and at my ease in them all. 



It is true the occupation of the legitimate reviewer is gone, and has 

 devolved entirely on the editors of newspapers; while the old estab- 

 lished reviews are merely a set of essays, such as these sermons of 

 mine are. 



It is no wonder it should be so, considering the woful want of 

 candour, and miserable political party spirit, which have pervaded the 

 whole of their lucubrations, from the highest to the lowest; and he 

 who was long accounted the highest, was, in this respect, the worst of 

 them all. 



You, then, who handle the rod of literary correction, attend to one 

 who has been both a reviewer and reviewed. Eead and judge for your- 



