EDUC 
ignorance, when he attempts to exhibit his (kill. Much 
time and much attention mult not therefore be bellowed, 
in the contracted fpace of human life, on objedts which 
afford no permanent pleafure, and no real advantage of 
any kind to the individual, or to forietv T*■ : , ~ J 
jar better to coniume time in employments merely inno¬ 
cent, than in vice or in malignant adtions: but true, per¬ 
manent, and heart-felt, happinefs is to be derived from a 
benevolent conduct, and from ufeful exertions. Orna¬ 
mental qualifications, and amufing attainments, may 
pleafe, indeed, during a (liort period of youth ; but, 
alas! the old age, which has no more than thefe to fup- 
port and recommend it, would be ridiculoufly contempti¬ 
ble, if it were not truly pitiable. Men are too little in¬ 
clined to look fo far before them, and to provide for that 
period, which, if it is deftitute of rational amufement, 
and of folid improvements, mull be (pent either in a (late 
of ftupid infenlibility, or in wretchcdnefs. If the ante¬ 
diluvian duration of life (till continued, what nccomplilh- 
ment is there at which an ingenuous mind would not 
afpire ? But to fpend the grealeft portion of threefcore years 
and ten, in trifling or ufelefs purfuits, is pitiable folly. 
Introducing boysfinto company, and infilling too much 
on the Aiming and external accomplilhments, is a falhion- 
able error with many parents. When lefs attention was 
paid to thofe .exterior accompli fitments which qualify 
young men to bear a part in the converfation of their fe- 
niors, when they were kept clofe at fchool, and were fel- 
dom brought into company, or at lead allowed to lay but 
little in company, fo that they had but little fociety ex¬ 
cept with their parentsand fchool-fellows, they contracted 
a balhfulnefs, which, by difqualifying them from appear¬ 
ing to advantage in what is called polite company, made 
them rather Hum it. By this means a great deal of very 
valuable time was faved ; and having no road of ambi¬ 
tion open to them, but that of excelling in their {Indies, 
they of courfe applied their time, and bent their appli¬ 
cation, that way ; fo that they were pofielfed of the un- 
derfianding, and had acquired the knowledge, of men, 
when they exhibited nothing but the appearance of boys. 
Of thefe two extremes, bringing them too early and too 
much into mixed company, or keeping them entirely out 
of it, we rather prefer the latter than the former ; becaufe 
external accomplilhments are certainly of lefs value than 
internal ones, and becaufe the former can he acquired 
when the latter cannot. The elements of knowledge 
can only be acquired to any good purpofe in early life, 
becaufe they depend chiefly on memory, which is pecu¬ 
liarly quick and retentive in youth, and the excrcife of it 
is peculiarly irkfome in riper years. 
At a very early age, the pupil Ihould be introduced to 
a knowledge of geography. The life of maps Ihould be 
familiarly explained ; and then the pupil will be well 
able to inform himfelf of the fituation of principal places, 
and of fuch as occur moll frequently in reading the dailies 
and the Roman hiftorians. Ancient geography ihould at 
firft engrofs his attention. The fame method Ihould foon 
after be ufed, to introduce him to a general idea of the 
modern. -The facility and the life of this fcience, will 
induce the judicious ftudent to make a great progrefs in 
it. He will therefore ftudy modern geography, even with 
more accuracy than the ancient. Frequent and attentive 
infpection of maps will avail him molt in this purfuit, 
throughout all its parts. There is a great abundance of 
treatifes on this ealy fcience. Cellarius flionld be given 
to the fchcol-boy as a guide to ancient geography ; and 
Pinkerton as a guide to modern. In that new and accu¬ 
rate compilation he will find a great number of particu¬ 
lars, not merely geographical, which ought to be known 
to every individual. Though d’Anville’s Geography is 
feldom ufed in fchools, yet the fcholar ought to be in¬ 
formed, that his maps are held in the higheft efteem. 
Their price alone prevents them from being univerlally 
received. Mathematical geography, or that part of it 
which is connected with aftronomy, may be deferred till 
Vol. VI. No. 347. 
A T I O N. eGi 
the pupil arrives at a maturer age, unlefs he difplays a 
very early genius and inclination tor mathematics. The 
drawing of maps, and other minute labours in the purlutt 
of geofranlm —— - * periOn xvho is de- 
lor lome employment connected with furveymg 
or navigation, but are an unnecellary toil to the liberal 
fcholar. 
With refpedt to mathematical fcience, and thofe which 
depend upon it, they cannot often be purfued at clafiical 
fchools, confidently with other fiudies more immediately 
neceflary in early youth. Perhaps they ought to be at¬ 
tended to at the univerfity, rather than at fchool. Aftro- 
nomy, and natural and experimental philofophy in all 
its branches, will alfo he more properly comprehended 
in the courfe of academical fiudies. The laws of Eng¬ 
land mud alfo be comprehended among the academical 
purfuits. The excellent inftitution of the Vinerian pro- 
fefibrfitip is a noble acquifition to the glories of Oxford. 
But Blackftone’s Commentaries, the firft fruits of that 
eftahlifhment, have almoft rendered fubfequent lectures 
unnecellary. Thefe well read will he quite fufficient for 
the liberal fchglar, who ftudies not the fubjedt with a 
view to qualify himfelf for a practical profcfiion. The 
ledtures read in the univerfities on mathematical fub- 
jedts, are admirably well fitted to accomplifh the inge¬ 
nious pupil in thefe delightful and improving fciences. 
In thofe places-, a large and coftly apparatus is always at 
hand, and the profefl'ors who read ledtures, are, for the 
ntoft part, men of great and folid merit, with little often- 
tation. Yet if a boy has a peculiar turn for mathema¬ 
tics, it Ihould be early cultivated; as, indeed, Ihould all 
very predominant tendencies to peculiar excellence. In¬ 
tervals may be found, in a courfe of claftical ftudy, for 
improvement in mathematical knowledge ; and Euclid’s 
Elements will very fuccefsfully prepare the way for a 
future progrefs in the univerfity. Thefe elements, it has 
been well obferved, conftitute the heft introduction to 
rational logic, or the art of reafoning juftly and accu- 
curately in life and in learning. As matters of tafte, they 
all'o form molt delightful fubjedts ; for intellectual truth 
is the molt beautiful objedt which the mind can contem¬ 
plate. 
But it mult he remembered, that the mod important 
views in education are to open the mind for the recep¬ 
tion of general knowledge, and to prepare it, in particu¬ 
lar, for the reception of that fpecies and degree of know¬ 
ledge which is required in the fphere deliined for the 
exertion of its adlivity. It is not the bulinefs of the 
fchool to complete, but to prepare. Thofe inftrudtors 
therefore do well, who point out the various avenues of 
learning, and, by leading their pupils into each, enable 
them to proceed alone in the years of maturity. As many 
avenues as can well be comprehended, without impeding 
the progrefs of the fcholar, rnuft he opened for his view, 
and for his admiflion. Among thefe, hiftory is with great 
propriety included. But it is a molt extenlive field; and 
great care muft be taken left the boy Ihould be dilcou- 
raged and confufed by the immenfity of the profpedt. 
HiS attention Ihould be confined to the more ftriking parts 
of ancient hiftory, and to that of his own country. But 
particular regard Ihould be paid to the Greek and Roman 
hiftories, not only for the neceifary and ornamental know¬ 
ledge which they furnilh, but alfo for the noble, manly, 
and generous, fentiments which they tend to infpire. He 
who, in his early age, has been taught to ftudy and re¬ 
vere the characters of the fages, heroes, ftatefmen, and 
philofophers, who adorn the annals cf Greece and Rome, 
will neceflarily imbibe the molt liberal notions. He will 
catch a portion of that generous enthufiafm, which has 
warmed the hearts, and directed the condudt, of the be- 
nefadtors and ornaments of the human race. 
There has long been a juft complaint that men, whofe 
attainments in learning have rendered them highly re- 
fpedtable, have not been ablp to difplay their knowledge 
with any great credit to themfelves, or advantage to others, 
3 X from 
