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, eapable 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. 
