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LETTER XVI. 
YOU have, I think, frequently been 
prefent when the queftion, " Whether 
private or public education be moft eligi- 
ble," has been difcuffed by men of candour 
and abilities; and probably you recollect, 
that the principal arguments in favour of 
the latter are, that, in public fchools, boys 
become better claflical fcholars; that, mix- 
ing with a greater variety of characters, and 
being, in a greater degree, left to themfelves, 
they are better qualified to mix with the 
world at large. The chief argument in fup- 
port of a more private education, is, that 
in this line, a greater attention is paid to 
the religion and morals of the pupils, and 
therefore, thofe who have been more fuc- 
cefsful in private ftations, are generally men 
who have been privately educated. 
If thefe arguments be founded on truth, 
we may rationally fuppofe, that a young 
man ifluing from a public fchool, comes to 
the Univerfity in a flate of nature; with a 
mind unimpreffed with any fixed principles 
of religion or, morality, and confequently 
under 
