‘254 EDUCATION. 
To facilitate the acquifition of the art of reading, va¬ 
rious contrivances have been invented. The letters have 
been made toys, and the whole bufinefs of learning to 
read has been converted into a game at play. The idea 
is plaufible ; but the fuccefs very uncertain. It may 
not perhaps be right to give him a notion that he has 
nothing to do but to play. Rather let him know, that 
lie has bufinefs of a ferious kind ; and, by attending to it 
periodically, let him contradt a habit of application. A 
temporary attention to fomething by no means tedious or 
laborious, but which at the fame time he is not to con- 
fider as play, will make his diverfion more agreeable. 
Indeed viciflitude is necelfary to render diverfions plea¬ 
ting. They become painful bufinefs, when continued 
■without variety. We all come into the world to perform 
many duties, and to undergo many difficulties; and the 
earlier the mind learns to bear its portion of them, the 
lefs likely will it be to fink under tliofe burdens which 
will one day be impofed upon it. To lead a child to 
fuppofe that he is to do nothing which is not conducive 
to pleafure, is to give him a degree of levity, and a turn 
for dillipation, which will certainly prevent his improve¬ 
ment, and may eventually occafion his ruin. It is there¬ 
fore far from rigid to explode thofe fanciful modes of 
inftrudtion which injure, while they indulge, the inex¬ 
perienced pupil. But it would be rigid not to unite the 
agreeable with the ufeful, whenever the union can be 
effected. Books therefore, written for the ufe of chil¬ 
dren, Ihould be rendered pleafing to the eye and to the 
imagination. They fhould abound in cuts, and be adorned 
with every attractive colour. The matter fhould be not 
only intelligible to the weakeft mind, but interefting. 
Fables are univerfally ufed, and with great propriety. 
No one wants to be informed how many, and how va¬ 
rious, are the books in our language adapted to the early 
ufe of children. All corporeal punifhment, and all im¬ 
moderate reftraint, mult be prohibited. Praife, carelfes, 
and rewards, are the belt incitements to application. If 
thefe will not operate, the point mull for a while be 
given up. A more favourable feafon wiil arrive, under 
proper management. Thefe motives, however, will fel- 
dom fail, when applied by the parents, or by thofe who, 
with the real intereft of the child at heart, have alfo in¬ 
tegrity and diligence to promote it. Such qualities are 
certainly more defirable in the fir It inftructors, than learn¬ 
ing and great abilities. 
Much has been faid on the neceflity of ftudying the 
natural propenfity of the pupil, and of directing him to 
thofe peculiar fludies to which he appears particularly 
adapted by nature. But this is a very difficult and un¬ 
certain fpeculation, both in the parent and preceptor. 
The appearances from which they have to judge, are 
often deceitful. A boy, during three or four years con¬ 
tinuance at fchool, will appear fltipid, and will make 
little proficiency. Keep him there another year, and 
perhaps his parts burft forth on a fudden ; his emulation 
becomes ftrongT'y excited : he feels a pleafure in his pro- 
grefs, and foon outftrips thofe who went before him. 
This revolution we often fee take place. On the other 
hand, he who is cried up as a prodigy of infant genius, 
fometimes becomes dull, contracts an averfion to books, 
and finally arrives at no valuable attainment. The men¬ 
tal faculties, in different confutations, difplay themfelves 
earlier or later, according to fome internal organization, 
as difficult to be detected as explained by human faga- 
city. The parent, therefore, fhould follow the dictates 
of common fenfe and prudence in the difpol'al of his 
child, and leave the refult to Providence. 
From the time of Quintilian to the prefent day, it 
lias been a queftion of conliderable debate, whether pub¬ 
lic or private education is the molt conducive to valua¬ 
ble improvement. Thofe who prefer the education of 
public fchools, have to dread the licentioufnefs which is 
too often found in them. The prevailing manners of the 
age, and of the world at large, are apt to infinuate 
themfelves into thofe feminaries ot learning, which, by 
their feclulion from the world, might be fuppofed to be 
exempted from its corruptions. Still, however, the boy 
who is kept at home, cannot be at all hours under the 
immediate eye of his parent or his inftruefor. It mud 
therefore happen, by chance, neceflity, or neglect, that 
he will often affociate with menial fervants, from whofe 
example he will be liable to catch not only meannefs of 
fpirit, but vice and vulgarity. Yet fuppofing him to be 
fortunately reftrained from fucli communication, the ex¬ 
amples he will fee in the world, and the temptations he 
will meet with in an inteixourfe with various company 
at too early an age, will affect his heart, and caufe it to 
beat with impatience for emancipation from that reftraint, 
which mult be removed at the approach of manhood. 
Then will his paftions break forth with additional vio¬ 
lence, as the waters of a (tream which have been long 
confined. The fweets of liberty never before tailed, and 
the allurements of vice never before withftood, become 
too powerful for reliftance, at an age when the paftions 
are ftrong, reafon immature, and experience entirely 
deficient. 
After all the confinement and trouble of a domeftiG 
education, the pupil is yet to be lent to the univerfity. 
There he will affociate with young men who have been 
educated at fchools; and if they have any vices, he'will 
be in much greater danger of moral infection, and will 
fuffer worfe conlequences from it, than if he had not 
been fecluded from boys at a boyifti age. He will appear 
awkward, and unacquainted with their manners ; and 
hence negledted, if not defpifed. His fpirit, if he pof- 
feffes any, will not fuhmit to contempt; and perhaps he 
will imitate, and at length furpafs, their irregularities, 
in order to gain a welcome reception among them. That 
conduct which can acquire dignity and efteem at the uni¬ 
verfity, muft arife from a degree of wildom and experience, 
as well as of moral redfitude, rarely poffelfed by him who 
has been educated in a clofet. And with refpect to lite¬ 
rary improvement, a boy of parts will generally be found 
a better fcholar, if educated at a fchool, than at home. 
In a fchool many circumftances co-operate to force his 
own perfonal exertion, on which depends the increafe of 
mental ftrength, and confequently of improvement, more 
than on the inftruction of the beft private preceptor. 
The arguments in fupport of this opinion muft be com¬ 
mon, for their truth is obvious. Emulation cannot be 
excited without rivals; and without emulation, inftruc- 
tion will be always a tedious, and often a fruitlefs, labour. 
It is this which warms the paftions on the fide of all that 
is excellent, and often counterbalances the weight of 
temptations to vice and idlenefs. The boy of an inge¬ 
nuous mind, who'ftands at the head of his clafs, ranks, 
in the microcofm of a fchool, as'a hero, and his feelings are 
fcarcely lefs elevated. He will fpare no pains to main¬ 
tain his honourable poft ; and his competitors, if they 
have fpirit, will be no lefs affiduous to fupplant him. 
No feverity, no painful confinement, no hariii menaces, 
will be necelfary. Emulation alone will elfedt in the beft 
manner the molt valuable purpofes ; and at the fame time 
will caufe, in the bolom of the fcholar, a pleafure truly 
enviable. The fchool-boy too has the beft chance of ac¬ 
quiring that confidence and fpirit which are necelfary to 
difplay valuable attainments. Exceftive diffidence, baffi- 
fulnefs, and indolence, retard the acquifition of know¬ 
ledge, and deftroy its due effedt when acquired. They 
are the caufe of pain to their poffeffors, and commonl-y 
do injuftice to their real abilities. It is one ci - cumftar e 
in public fchools, which tends to give the l'chokrs a due 
degree of confidence, that public examination or election 
days are ufually eftabliftted in them; when, behdes the 
examination, which, if undergone with credit, inlpires 
courage, orations are fpoken before numerous ami;tors. 
This greatly contributes to remove that timidity, tv Inch 
has lilenced many able perfons brought up for the bar 
and the pulpit, not to mention a fimilar defedl in the im¬ 
portant 
