a 
1800. ] 
tory, if he has fuch knowledge, mutt, ac- 
cording to the books he has read, have al- 
ready given him a prejudice on the one 
fide or the other ; fo muft the occafional 
converfation he has been witnefs to, the 
=ppellations he has heard ufed, the tone of 
voice with which he has heard the words 
monk or prieft pronounced, and a thoufand 
other evanefcent circumftances. It is 
likewife to be obferved, that every queftion 
of any weight and importance has nume-, 
rous dependencies and points of connexion 
with other fubjects, which make it impoffi- 
ble toenter upon the confideration of it with- 
out a great variety of previous knowledge. 
Tere is no object of inveftigation perfect- 
ly infulated ; we muft not conceive there- 
fore of a man’s fitting down to it with a 
mind perfectly new and untutored; he 
mutt have pafled more or lefs through a 
courfe of ftudies, and, according to the co- 
lour of thofe ftudies, his mind will nave 
received a tincture, that is, a prejudice.— 
But it is, in truth, the moft abfurd of all 
fuppofitions that a human being can be 
educated, or even nourifhed and brought 
up, without imbibing numberlefs preju- 
dices from every thing which pafles around 
him : a child cannot learn the fignification 
of words without receiving ideas along 
with them; he cannot be impreffed with 
affection to his parents and thofe about 
him, without conceiving a predileétion for 
their taftes, opinions, and practices. He 
forms numberlefs affociations of pain or 
pleafure, and every affociation begets a 
prejudice ; he fees objects from a particu- 
lar {pot, and his views of things are con- 
tracted or extended according to his po- 
_fition in fociety : as no two individuals 
can have the fame horizon, fo neither can 
any two have the fame affociations; and 
ditferent affociations will produce different 
opinions, as neceffarily as, by the laws of 
perfpective, different diftances will pro- 
duce different appearances of vifible ob- 
jects. Let us confefs a truth, humiliating 
perhaps to human pride ; a very {mall part 
Only of the opinions of the cooleft philofo- 
pher are the refult of fair reafoning ; the 
reft are formed by his education, his tem- 
perament, by the age in which he lives, by 
trains gf thought direéted to a particular 
track through fome accidental affociation 
in fhort, by prejudice. —But why after 
all fhould we with to bring up children 
without prejudices? A child has occafion 
to aét long before he canreafon. Shall we 
leave him dettitute of all the principles that 
fhould regulate his condué rill he can dif- 
cover them by the ftrength of his own geni- 
Us? If it were poffible that one whole ge- 
MONTHLY MAG, NO. 56, 
The Enquirer, No XX. 
TAi 
neration could be brought up without pre- 
judices, the world muft return to the in- 
fancy of knowledge, and all the beautiful 
fabric which has been built up by fucceffive 
generations muft bebegun again from the 
‘very foundation. Your child has a claim 
to the advantage of your experience, which 
it would be cruel and unjuft to deprive 
him of. Will any father fay to his fon, 
‘© My dear child, you are entering upon a 
world fullof intricate and perplexed paths, 
in which many mifs their way, to their final 
mifery and ruin. Amid{¢t many falfe fyftems, 
and much vain fcience, there is alfo fome 
true knowledge ; there is a right path ; [ 
believe L know it, for ] have the advantage 
of years and experience, but I will initil 
no prejudices into your mind, I fhall there- 
fore leave you to find it out as you can; 
whether your abilities are great or {mall, 
you muft takethe chance of them. There 
are various fyftems in morals; I have ex- 
amined and found fome of a good, others 
of a bad tendency. There is fuch a 
thing as religion; many people think ft 
the moft important concern of life; per- 
haps Iam one of them: perhaps I have 
chofen from amidft the various fyftems of 
belief, many of which are extremely ab- 
furd, and fome even pernicious, that whicla 
I chevith as the guide of my life, my com> 
fort in ali my forrows, and the foundation 
of my deareft hopes: but far be it from 
me to influence you in any manner to re- 
ceive it; when you are grown up, you 
muft read all the books upon thefe fub- 
jects which you can Jay your hands on, 
for neither in the choice of thefe would I 
prefume to prejudice your mind 4 converfe 
with all who pretend to any opinions upon 
the fubjest ; and whatever happens to be 
the refult, you muft abide by it. In the 
mean time, concerning thefe important 
objeéts you muft keep your mind ina per~ 
fe& equilibrium. It is true you want 
thefe principles more now than you can 
do at any other period of your life, but I 
had rather you never. had them at all, than 
that you fhould not come fairly by them.’” 
Should we commend the wifdom or the 
kindnefs of fuch a parent? The parent 
will perhaps plead in his behalf, that it 1s 
by no means his intention to leave the 
mind of his child in the uncultivated {tate 
Ihave fuppofed. As foon as his under- 
ftanding begins to open, he means to difs 
cufe with him thofe propofitions on which 
he wifhes him to form an opinion. He 
will make him read the beft books on the 
fubje&t, and by free converfation and ex- 
plaining the arguments on both fides, he 
does not doubt but the youth will foon be 
aE enabled 

