m EDUCATION. 
Another excellent method of infpiring the pupil with 
an emulation to excel in letters, is to accuftom him to read 
biography. The lives of our great poets, divines, hif- 
torians, and eminent writers of every denomination, 
fhould be f'elefted for this purpofe. The eulogia which 
are ufually paffed on them, and which they deferve, will 
fire a young mind with an ardent defire to tread in their 
footfteps. If the boy can be introduced at a proper age 
to the company of fome celebrated literary chavadter, it 
will greatly contribute to raife and fuftain this definable 
emulation. He fhould be taught to will) for the honour 
of fuch an interview, and to look upon any notice taken 
of him by fuch a perfon, as a noble diftindiion. At the 
revival of learning, it is amazing with what eagernefs 
even the fight of a man of eminent learning was fought 
for by the ftudious. They ran in crowds to meet him ; 
and any attention paid by him to an individual, conferred 
an enviable happinefs. The confequence was, that the 
youth who were devoted to learning, purified it with a 
vigour and perfeverance which aftonifhes the prefent age 
of indolence. It was the honour and the refpedt, in 
which the perfons of eminent fcholars were held, which 
diffufed a generous ardour in the purfuit of letters, and 
produced fhipendous effedts. If that honour and refpedt 
is exclufively paid to rank and opulence, however igno¬ 
rant and undeferving, it is no wonder that the liberal pur¬ 
fuits are found to languifh. After the important point 
is gained, of making the pupil feel the love of letters, 
and an ambition for literary fame, improvement is fe- 
cured. He will make his own way, even under difad- 
vantages ; but with encouragements, afiifiances, and op¬ 
portunities, he can fcarcely fail of arriving at, what few 
reach, diftinguifhed excellence. 
On no account let a teacher excufe the want of clofe 
application. If the pupil has genius, this will improve 
and adorn it ; if he has not, it is confefledly requilite to 
fupply the defect. Thofe prodigies of genius which re¬ 
quire not inftrudtion, are rare phenomena : we read, and 
we hear of fuch ; but few of us have feen and known 
them. What is genius worth without knowledge >. But 
is a man ever born with knowledge ? It is true, that one 
man is born with a better capacity than another, for the 
reception and retention of ideas ; but ftill the mind muft 
operate in colledting, diferiminating, and arranging, thofe 
ideas, which cannot be done eifedtually, without great 
and exemplary diligence. All that is excellent in learn¬ 
ing depends upon it. And how can the time of a young- 
man be better employed r It cannot be more pleafantly; 
for induftry, by prefenting a conftant fucceflion of various 
objedls, and by precluding the liftlelfnefs of inadtion, 
renders life at all fiages of it agreeable, and particularly 
fo in the reftlefs feafon of youth. It cannot be more in¬ 
nocently ; for learning has a connedtion with virtue ; ar.d 
he vvhofe time is fully engaged, will efcape many vices 
and much mifery. It cannot be more ufefuljy; for he 
who furniihes his mind with ideas, and (trengthens his 
faculties, is preparing himfelf to become a valuable 
member of fociety, whatever place in it he may obtain ; 
and he may be likely to obtain an exalted place : the high 
road to which is early riling, and an uninterrupted appli¬ 
cation in the morning. 
Improvement will alfo be greatly accelerated, if the 
fludent can be induced to devote the leifure hours which 
his private tutor, or his mailer at fchool, allows him, to 
private reading. At the age, then,, of twelve or thirteen, 
let a few Englifii books of repute be put into his hands. 
They fhould be entertaining, or they will not at firfi ex¬ 
cite his attention. They fhould at the fame time be 
clafiical, or have fome connection with real and valuable 
knowledge, or they will only diffipate his ideas, and im¬ 
pede his.progrefs in the more effential purfuits. There 
is, however, hardly any innocent book which affords him 
entertainment, which will not, at the fame time, in fome 
refpedt improve him. No book can be more properly re¬ 
commended at firfi, than Addifon’s Spectator. It abounds 
with entertainment, It furniihes a great variety of ideas 
on men, manners, and learning ; and the moral and reli¬ 
gious principles it unfolds, are well adapted to .tincture 
flie young mind with the love of all that is amiable, ufe- 
ful, and innocent. Other books fhould be allowed, at 
the diferetion of a judicious fuperintendant. New books, 
and the works of contemporary writers, are found to at¬ 
tach the mind with peculiar energy.. Hiftorical books 
are highly proper; and poetry fhould likewife be read at 
that early age, when the feelings and the imagination are 
all alive. No young man can fupport with honour his 
character as a clafiical foholar, without an acquaintance 
witli the finefi writers of his own country, who have ri¬ 
valled the moft admired of the ancients. But thefe can¬ 
not be read, confidently with purfuits more immediately 
neceffary, in the fchool, and under the eye of the in- 
ftrudtor. They fhould therefore form the amufement of 
leifure hours, and muft be read from choice. All that 
the mafter and the private tutor can do in this bufinefs, 
if he attends to the more effential points, is to recommend 
private application, and point out tire moft expedient au¬ 
thors. 
When .the boy fhall have arrived at the age of fifteen, 
and at the improvements adequate to the age, it will be 
highly advantageous to prevail with him to read in pri¬ 
vate, not only Englifii, but alfo fome eafy Latin book. 
Time and habit will render it no more difficult than to 
read Englifii; and the improvement in Latin will be foon 
found much greater than that which would be derived 
from reading it only in a fchool, or with a privaie tutor. 
Three things are requilite, whatever Latin book fhall be 
at firfi feledted, viz. a pure didtion, an entertaining fub- 
jedt, and a perfpicuous ftyle. When facility is gained in 
reading Latin, the fludent will of himfelf afeend to Ci¬ 
cero, Terence, Livy, and all thofe excellent writers, 
whom the world has long agreed to admire. When a 
great degree of clafiical improvement is fecured, one or 
two of the bed romances and novels may be read, for the 
fake of acquainting the fludent with the nature of this 
kind of writing. Omnes degujiandi, all authors are to be 
tailed in the courfe of a literary life ; but during educa¬ 
tion, only the bed. To form a found and good judgment 
is of the higheft confequence. Judgment contributes 
more to public and private good than genius. Let the 
boy’s judgment then be exercifed and ftrefigthened by 
being early habituated to the work of feleclion. Let him 
be taught to choofe the belt authors, and always to give 
reafons for his choice. This will improve his judgment 
in the conduit of life ; without which, parts and learning 
often ferve-only to precipitate ruin. 
Amidft the number of facilitating contrivances, and 
the various aids afforded by opulence, the mind is not 
fufficiently allowed to exert its native powers. The 
toil of thinking is too frequently thrown upon the pre¬ 
ceptor and the formal lecturer. Thus it happens, that 
many who attend ledtures wherever they are to be heard, 
and ptirchafc the afliftance of thofe who profefs to afford 
it, are often, after all, lefs learned than others, who, 
without fuch apparent advantages, have forced their way 
up to the moft arduous heights, by native vigour arid 
perfevering afliduity. Indeed, nothing is more abfurd 
than the common notion of inftrudtion, as if fcience were 
to be poured into the mind like water into a ciftern, that 
paflively waits to receive all that comes. The growth of 
knowledge ref'embles the growth of fruit: however ex¬ 
ternal caufes may in fome degree co-operate, it is the in¬ 
ternal vigour and virtue of the tree that muft ripen the 
juices to their full maturity. 
Yet many perfons have palled through a fchool, with¬ 
out exhibiting either inclination or ability for literary 
purfuits, who have afterwards fhone in the republic of 
letters with diftinguifhed luftre. The faculties of their 
minds have expanded at a later period than common, or 
peculiar occafions have occurred to excite their induftry 
and emulation. Others there are, who never were placed 
at 
