I well reme oha w eagerly I caught the information, that bells were worn by the leaders of the flock, in most parts of England. The custom was unknown in the part of the country where I passed my childhood, and consequently the first lines of a poetical description which I ardently admired, were to me unintelligible.* The remaining lines presented objects with which I had long been familiar. The simple superstitions of the peasantry were known to me; I had frequently heard their origin explained, and their folly pointed out; but the colours thrown over them by the charm of poetry, presented them to my view in a new and interesting light.

And now, my dear friend, let me refer it to your judgment, (setting all adherence to custom, to theory, and to prejudice, entirely aside) whether a relish for the beauties of poetical description will not be much more likely to result from a lively attention to all the images which are employed by the poet, as they become objects of perception, than by the repetition of words without ideas? A familiar and intimate acquaintance with the objects of nature will not, it is true, be

*The following are the lines alluded to:

"When Blouselind expir'd, the wether's bell
Before the drooping flock pour'd forth her knell;
The solemn death-watch click'd the hour she dy❜d,
And shrilling crickets in the chimney cry'd;
The boding raven on her cottage sat,

And with hoarse croaking, warn'd us of her fate;
The lambkin, which her wonted prudence bred,
Dropp'd on the plains that fatal instant dead;
Swarm'd on a rotten stick, the bees I spy'd,
Which erst I saw when Goody Dobson dy'd."

always sufficient to inspire poetical taste; but without an intimate acquaintance with natural ob. jects, the conceptions of the poet can never be understood; for it is from the material world that all the finest imagery of the poet is derived. From the same source we have all our ideas of the sublime and beautiful. The descriptions of the poet, by calling our attention to these objects, increases the emotions which they have a natural tendency to excite; and thus a taste for poetry enhances the pleasure we derive from contemplating the beauties of nature, while an accurate knowledge of natural objects gives to poetry a peculiar zest.

It is, then, from a cultivation of the perceptive faculties, that we only can attain those powers of conception which are essential to taste; and and without this cultivation, all the beauties of all the poets who have ever written, committed to memory, would do no more towards inspiring poetical taste, than the smell of a rose would do towards giving an idea of its colour to one who had been born blind.

From the tenor of these obvervations on the cultivation of the perceptive and conceptive faculties, the advantages of a country education in the early part of life will appear sufficiently evident. Those who have it not in their power to give this advantage to their children; those whose situation precludes their pupils from the benefit of an extensive and familiar acquaintance with natural objects, ought to be particularly solicitous to make them amends for this misfortune, by seizing every opportunity of directing their at

tention to the natural objects within thei If the vegetable world is shut to their the book of animated nature is open befor If "the various landscape burst not on the the sun, moon and stars may still be seen ought an attentive examination of the wo art to be neglected. In most of these, principles of science are involved. From most simple piece of mechanism ideas n derived; and no source that can furnish the with ideas which are just and accurate, we to overlook.

I have incurred the risk of wearying you on the subject of accurate conception, becau believe that it is but little attended to by th structors of youth; and I would rather tax patience by prolixity, than leave any thing un which could tend to enforce the belief of its portance. That importance will still appear stronger point of view, when we come to c sider the faculty of judgment, which shall be subject of the next letter.

Adie

LETTER VII.

JUDGMENT.

First begins to operate upon the objects of perception.-Necessity of exercising it upon sensible objects-Illustrations. How it may at first be exercised on moral propositions. Party prejudice inimical to its cultivation Observations on this head-The use of history.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

AS all the errors, and many of the vices of mankind, originate in a deficiency or perversion of the faculty of judgment, we are called upon for a very particular attention to its cultivation and improvement. By tracing the progress of its gradual developement in the human mind, we shall perhaps be enabled to exert our own judgment to advantage, in determining on the steps most proper to be taken for the cultivation of this important faculty; while by observing the obstacles frequently opposed to its improvement, we shall perceive the reason of its seldom attaining maturity.

It evidently appears that judgment begins first to operate on the perceptive faculties; and that till the commencement of this operation, the nind is incapable of improvement from the obects of sense. The knowledge that is obtained

of the relative distances of visible object operation of judgment: even in the belie existence of such objects, judgment is con And this consideration ought to make u cularly careful of misleading the tender m infants into erroneous judgments, concerni powers and properties of the objects with they are most conversant.

you

"If y touch that stick, it will be ang beat you," says the foolish nurse. "The s taller than you are," says the more sensibl ther, "and if you bring it upon you it wil you."

It is by means of judgment, that a child is dually made sensible that the presence of ob does not depend upon his perception of t To the infant the object is no longer present it is visible to his eyes. The powers of com tion and judgment must both have exerted influence, before he believes the contrary: by what slow degrees their influence is exe is obvious; as we see children of two or t years of age, who, when they cover their e imagine they are securely screened from ob vation.

If we attempt to force the progress of ju ment at a very early age, we shall only wea its powers; if we are always ready in every li instance to interpose our own, so as to fores the judgments of the child, we shall teach it rest upon authority, and the faculty of judgm will probably be little exerted through life.

It ought, therefore, be our business to lead a to assist the judgment, so as to render it stro