Vlll 



PLAN OF STUDY. 



to fill his memory with the terms of a system. It is, indeed, 

 greatly to be regretted that the study of things is so much thrown 

 into the back ground, by the almost exclusive attention now 

 bestowed upon words. These ought to go hand in hand, for 

 nothing can be more preposterous than compelling a boy to store 

 up a number of words in his memory which he does not, and 

 cannot understand ; while, on the other hand, he cannot be sup- 

 posed to retain a distinct or lasting recollection of things and 

 facts without names and words, — the only sort of pegs upon 

 which they can be permanently hung. Upon this principle it is 

 surprising at how early an age children can be instructed in the 

 most interesting parts of Natural History; a subject beautifully 

 touched by Coleridge in his verses to the nightingale — 



" That strain again ! 



Full fain it would delay me ! My dear babe 

 Who, capable of no articulate sound 

 Mars all things with his imitative lisp, 

 How he would place his hand beside his ear, 

 His little hand, the small fore finger up, 

 And bid us listen ! And I deem it wise 

 To make him nature's playmate — 



And if that Heaven 



Should give me life, his childhood shall grow up 

 Familiar with these songs, that with the night 

 He may associate joy." * 



Besides the pleasure which always results from the attention of 

 youth to natural objects, a habit of distinguishing between things 

 of different, or of similar forms, colours, and characters, is ac- 

 quired, and may be made the foundation of an accuracy of judg- 

 ing, of high value as an intellectual endowment. It is probable 

 that it may be exceedingly difficult for persons arrived at man- 

 hood to acquire this power of discriminating objects, whose 

 general similarity of appearance deceives a common observer 

 into a belief of their identity; though a little care on the 

 part of a parent or a teacher, will render it comparatively easy. 

 The training up young people in this mode of observation, is 

 of much more importance to them, than exercising their memory 

 exclusively upon books, which is the usual routine procedure. 



* Sibylline leaves, 209. 



