ings of some of these, will have the happiest effects in elevating their genius. Let this stately edifice be crowned with logic and rhetoric. This would unite the advantages of an Athenian and a Spartan education: for the pupils should be taught the exercises of wrestling and fencing, and the whole military discipline:' Such are the sentiments of our admired poet on education-a plan to be expected from one who was an enthusiastic admirer of the sciences, arts, and institutions of Greece and Rome; and who, at the same time, from his religious and political principles, was no friend to the universities.

The name of Locke is almost equally calculated to excite the attention of every reader. He was capable of thinking for himself; but, unlike Rousseau, more desirous of rendering himself useful, than of being admired for singularity: he had examined without prejudice the effects of those modes of education of which he disapproves. To render himself useful to mankind, he could descend from the heights of science to the humble task of translating Esop's Fables.

Mr. Locke, in his Treatise on Education, proposes the two great objects, of preserving and strengthening the bodily constitution; and informing the understanding with useful knowledge, while we cherish good dispositions in the heart. In his directions on the first of these heads, he recommends plain fare, simple and light clothing, with abstinence from strong liquors, and as much as possible from medicine, together with temperance and early rising. In one thing, however, few parents will be willing to comply with Mr. Locke's advice. He not only directs that children's feet be frequently bathed in cold water; but even wishes that their shoes were always kept in such a condition as to admit water freely. This he thinks likely to fortify the constitution in such a manner, as to render them less liable, in the course of life, to such diseases as arise from any unusual exposure to wet or cold. Whatever may be thought of this advice, his method of cultivating the understanding, and forming the dispositions, deservedly claims the attention of parents and preceptors. With a virtuous indignation he reprobates that folly by which we generally corrupt the heart and spoil the temper of children, in infancy; so as to render them incorrigible as they advance in life. On the other hand he reckons it neither necessary nor prudent to treat them with harshness or severity. Let them be formed to obedience from their earliest years: let them be accustomed to submit implicitly to the direction of those on whom they depend. But beware of souring their tempers, and depressing their spirits by harshness; as well as of accustoming them to neglect their duty, except when allured to it by the hopes of reward. Inspire them with a sense of shame, and with a generous thirst for praise, Caress and honor them when they do well; treat them with neglect when they act amiss. This will produce much better effects than if you were at one time to chide and beat them; at another, to reward them with a profusion of foolish indulgencies.

Mr. Locke does not approve of forming children at too early an age, to that politeness and

propriety of manners which should distinguish them when they become men. This great man was of opinion that a private education is more favorable than a public one to virtue, and scarcely less favorable to learning. He advises us more particularly to keep our pupil at a distance from evil example; to choose the most favourable seasons for instruction; to enforce obedience strictly, but rarely by blows. If his engagements in life prevent the parent from superintending and directing his son's education personally, let him commit him to the care of a virtuous and judicious tutor, who is rather a man of experience in the world than of profound learning; for it is more necessary that the pupil be formed for conducting himself with prudence in the world, and be fortified against those temptations to which he will be exposed in active life, than that his head be stuffed with Latin and logic. Mr. Locke, although his own mind was stored with Grecian and Roman literature, is against that application to ancient learning, which was then indispensably required in the education of youth. He considers languages and philosophy as rather having a tendency to render the youth unfit for acting a prudent and becoming part in life, than forming him for it; and he therefore insists that these should be but in a subordinate degree the objects of his attention.

Curiosity, he thinks, ought to be industriously roused in the breast of the child, and cherished by meeting the readiest gratification. He should be indulged in play, while he continues to play with keenness and activity; but not suffered to loiter about in indolence. To restrain him from fool-hardy courage, point out to him the dangers to which it exposes him: to raise him above timorous cowardice, and inspire him with manly fortitude, accustom him from the earliest period of life to an acquaintance with such things as he is most likely to be afraid of: subject him now and then to pain, and expose him to danger; but let such trials be judiciously conducted. When, from idleness or curiosity, children treat dogs, cats, birds, butterflies, &c., with cruelty, Mr. Locke advises that they be carefully watched, and every means used to excite them to generous sensibility. Allow them to keep tame birds, dogs, &c., only on condition of their using them with tenderness. He supposes that this unhappy disposition to cruelty is occasioned, or fostered, by people's laughing when they behold the impotent efforts of children to do mischief; and encouraging them in maltreating those creatures which are within their reach. He censures the practice too of entertaining them with stories of fighting and battles; and representing characters distinguished for atrocious acts of inhumanity as great and illustrious. Let such practices be refrained from, if you wish to inspire your child with generous and humane sentiments. Teach him gentleness and tenderness, not only to brutes but also to servants and companions. The enquiries of a child ought to be answered readily, that great man insists, though his questions be put in aukward language. Curiosity is natural, and, if not repressed, he will often be excited by it to the pursuit of knowledge. Let him find

his eagerness in this pursuit a source of applause and esteem. Avoid the folly of those who sport with the credulity of children, by answering their questions in a ludicrous or deceitful manner. When he attempts to reason on such subjects as are offered to his observation, be careful to encourage him: praise him if he reasons with any degree of plausibility; even if he blunders, beware of laughing at him. With regard to amusements; while you indulge him freely in innocent diversions, encourage him to exercise his own ingenuity in constructing them for himself. In virtue, wisdom, breeding, and learning, he comprehends all that is necessary to enable his pupil to act a respectable part in life. In forming a boy to virtue, he advises first to inform him of the relation subsisting between human creatures and a supreme independent Being, and to teach him, that obedience and worship are due to that Being, but beware of impressing his mind with any notions concerning spirits or goblins, which may render him incapable of bearing darkness or solitude. Next labor to impress his mind with a veneration for truth; habituate him to a strict adherence to it; and endeavour to render him gentle and good-natured.

Good breeding forms no inconsiderable part of a good education. In teaching this, Mr. Locke advises, 1st, To inspire a youth with a disposition to oblige all with whom he is conversant; next, to teach him how to express that disposition in a becoming manner. Let boiste rous roughness, contempt of others, censoriousness, impertinent raillery, and a spirit of contradiction, be banished from his temper and behaviour. But beware of leading him to regard the mere forms of intercourse as matters of the highest importance. Teach him that genuine good breeding is only an easy and graceful way of expressing good sense and benevolence in his conversation and deportment.

Mr. Locke advises to initiate the child in reading, as an amusement, without letting him know that he is engaged about a matter of any importance or teach him to consider it as a high honor to be permitted to learn his alphabet; otherwise he will turn from it with disgust. Such books only as are plain, entertaining, and instructive, should at this time be put into his hands. Mr. Locke disapproves of an indiscriminate perusal of the Bible at this period of life; but reckons it highly proper, to cause him to peruse some of its beautiful historical passages, with its elegant and simple moral precepts. He advises next to proceed with writing, and drawing, if the boy be not naturally incapable of acquiring the latter.

The scholar must now begin an acquaintance with other languages. Yet, says Mr. Locke, let none waste their time in attempting to acquire a knowledge of Latin, but such as are designed for some of the learned professions, or for the life of a gentleman without a profession. To these last it may be useful; to others this writer thinks it is wholly unserviceable. But in learning the Latin tongue, he proposes, as a much happier method than burdening and perplexing a boy with rules of grammar, to make him speak it

with a tutor sufficiently master of it for that purpose. He proposes, that if we cannot conveniently have the boy taught Latin by conversation, the introductory books should be accompanied with an English version, to which he may have recourse, for the explanation of the Latin. And he again prohibits perplexing him with grammatical difficulties, as at his age, it is impossible to enter into the spirit of these things

Skill in grammar, says Mr. Locke, may be useful to those whose lives are to be dedicated to the study of the dead languages: and that knowledge, which the gentleman and the man of the world may have occasion to derive from the ancient languages, may be acquired without a painful study of prosody or syntax. As the learning of any language is merely learning words; if possible, let it be accompanied with the acquisition of some real knowledge of things; such as the nature of plants, animals, &c. He insists that the boy be not burdened and tormented with the composition of Latin themes and verses. Neither let his memory be oppressed with whole pages and chapters from the classics. Such ridiculous exercises have no tendency, whatever prejudice may urge to the contrary, to improve him either in the knowledge of languages or of nature.

Mr. Locke, however, wishes that the French language were learned along with the Latin; and these to be accompanied with the study of arithmetic, geography, history, and chronology. Let these branches of knowledge be communicated to the learner in one of the two languages; and he will thus, he thinks, acquire the language with greater facility. We fear, however, the difficulty of acquiring these sciences, particularly the two first, would thus be proportionably increased. One method which Mr. Locke recommends for facilitating the study of language is, to put into the youth's hand, as soon as he has acquired a tolerable knowledge of chronology, some of the most entertaining Latin historians: the interesting nature of the events which they relate will not fail to command his attention, in spite of the difficulty which he must find in making out their meaning. The Bible and Cicero de Officiis will be his best guides in the stud; of ethics. The law of nature and nations, as well as the civil and political institutions of his country, he also recommends as important objects, which he ought to study with the most careful attention. Rhetoric and logic, with all their rules and terms, will contribute little to render him an acute reasoner or an eloquent speaker. Cicero and Chillingworth will be more beneficial in teaching him to reason and to persuade, than all the treatises on those arts which he can peruse, or all the lectures which he can hear.

In every art and science, Mr. Locke prefers practice and experience to rules. Natural philosophy, as contributing to inspire the breast with warmer sentiments of devotion, and serving many useful purposes in life, ought to make a part in the young gentleman's studies. But he prefers the humble experimental writers on that subject to the lofty builders of systems. Mr. Locke does not think Greek necessary for a gentleman or man of the world!

He recommends dancing, as contributing to ease and gracefulness of carriage; with riding and fencing, as necessary branches of a young gentleman's education. He also advises that he should learn some mechanical trade, with the exercise of which he may agreeably fill up some of his leisure hours and insists that he should by no means be unskilled in the management of accounts. Travelling, he thinks, will do more hurt than good to the understanding and morals of the traveller, unless deferred to a later period, than that at which young gentlemen are usually

sent out.

:

Dr. Watts subjoins a Discourse on the Education of Children and Youth, to his excellent Treatise on the Improvement of the Mind. It treats of, 1. Instructing children in religion, which he thinks should be attempted as soon as they begin to know almost any thing:' 2. The improvement of their natural powers: 3. Selfgovernment, which he proposes children to be early instructed in: 4. Reading and writing: 5. An employment: 6. Rules of prudence: 7. Accomplishments in life; among which are enumerated the Greek, Latin, and French languages, logic, mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, geography, astronomy, natural philosophy, history, poesy, music, drawing, fencing, riding, and dancing; in which last accomplishment the Dr. 'confesses he sees no evil,' though he thinks 'mixed dancing has most sensible dangers,' over which a wise parent will keep a watchful eye upon the child. 8. Of evil influences, from terrifying stories, bloody histories, &c. 9. Of sports and diversions. 10 and 11, His two last sections, treat of the proper degrees of liberty and restraint in sons and danghters. Dr. Johnson has said, "Whoever has the care of instructing others may be charged with deficiency in his duty if this book is not recommended.'

In 1762 the celebrated John James Rousseau surprised the public with his Emilius; a moral romance in 4 vols. 12mo. We quote, with very little alteration, the character given of it, by Mr. Heron, in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

"For originality of thought, affecting sentiment, enchanting description, and bold vehement eloquence, this book,' observes this writer, 'is one of the noblest pieces of composition, not only in the French language, but even in the whole compass of ancient and modern literature. The irregularity of his method, however, renders it a very difficult task to give an abridged view of his work. He conducts his pupil, indeed, from infancy to manhood. But instead of being barely a system of education, his work is besides a treasure of moral and philosophical knowledge. He has chosen a path, and follows it from the bottom to the summit of the hill: yet whenever a flower appears, on the right or left hand, he eagerly steps aside to pluck it; and sometimes, when he has once stepped aside, a new object catches his eye and seduces him still farther. Still, however, he returns. His observations are in many places loosely thrown together, and many things are introduced, the want of which would by no means have injured either the unity or the regularity of his work. If we attempt to review the principles on which he proceeds, in

reprobating the prevalent modes of education, and pointing out a new course, his primary and leading one seems to be, that we ought to watch and second the designs of nature, without anticipating her. As the tree blossoms, the owers blow, and the fruit ripens each at a certain period; so there is a time fixed in the order of nature for the sensitive, another for the intellectual, and another for the moral powers of man to display themselves. We in vain attemp to teach children to reason concerning truth and falsehood, concerning right and wrong, before he proper period arrive: we only confound their notions of things, and load their memories with words without meaning; and thus prevent both their reasoning and moral powers from attaining that strength and acuteness of which they are naturally capable. He attempts to trace the progress of nature, and to mark in what manner she gradually raises the human mind to the full use of all its faculties. Upon the observations which he has made, in tracing the gradual progress of the powers of the human mind towards maturity, his system is founded.

'As it is impossible to communicate to the blind any just ideas of colors, or to the deaf of sounds; so it must be acknowledged, that we cannot possibly communicate to children ideas which they have not faculties to comprehend. If they are, for a certain period of life, merely sensitive animals, it must be folly to treat them during that period as rational and moral beings. But is it a truth that they are, during any part of life, guided solely by instinct, and capable only of sensation? Or, how long is the duration of that period? Has nature unkindly left them to be, till the age of twelve, the prey of appetite and passion? So far are the facts of which we have had occasion to take notice, concerning the history of infancy and childhood, from leading to such a conclusion, that to us it appears undeniable that children begin to reason very soon after their entrance into life. When the material world first opens on their senses, they are ignorant of the qualities and relations of surrounding objects: they know not, for instance, whether the candle which they look at be near or at a distance; whether the fire with which they are agreeably warmed may also affect them with a painful sensation. But they remain not long in this state of absolute ignorance. They soon appear to have acquired some ideas of the qualities and relative situation of bodies. They cannot, however, acquire such ideas, without exerting their reasoning powers in a certain degree. Appearances must be compared, and inferences drawn, before knowledge can be gained. It is not sensation alone which informs us of the relative distances of bodies; nor can sensation alone teach us, that the same effects which we have formerly observed will be again produced by the same cause.

But, if children appear capable of reasoning at a very early period, they appear also to be at a very early period subject to the influence of the passions: they are angry or pleased, merry or sad, friends or enemies, even while they hang at the breast; instead of being selfish, they are naturally liberal and social. And, if we observe

them with attention, we shall find that the passions do not display themselves sooner than the moral sense. As it is wisely ordered, that we should not see, and hear, and feel, without being able to compare and draw inferences from our perceptions; so it is a no less certain and evident law of nature, that the passions no sooner begin to agitate the human breast, than we become able, in a certain degree, to distinguish the beauty and the deformity of virtue and vice. The child is not only capable of gratitude and attachment to the person who treats him with kindness; he is also capable of distinguishing between gratitude and ingratitude, and of viewing each with proper sentiments. He cries when you refuse to gratify his desires; but he boldly insists that he is injured when you use him cruelly or unjustly. It is indeed impossible to attend to the conduct of children during infancy, without being convinced that they are, even then, capable of moral distinctions. So little are they acquainted with artificial language, that we and they do not then well understand each other. But view their actions; consider those signs by which nature has taught them to express themselves. Our limbs, our features, and our senses, are not gradually and by piecemeal bestowed as we advance towards maturity; the infant body comes not into the world mutilated or defective: why then, in point of mental abilities, should we be for a while brutes, without becoming rational and moral beings till the fulness of time, be accomplished? all the differences between the phenomena of manhood and those of infancy and childhood may be accounted for, if we only reflect, that, when children come into the world, they are totally unac quainted with all the objects around them; with the appearances of nature, and the institutions of society; that they are sent into the world in a feeble state, in order that the helplessness occasioned by their ignorance may attract the notice and gain the assistance of those who are able to help them; and that they attain not full strength in the powers either of mind or body, nor a sufficient acquaintance with nature, with artificial language, and with the arts and institutions of society, till they arrive at manhood.

'Even Rousseau, notwithstanding the art with which he lays down his system, cannot avoid acknowledging indirectly, on several occasions, that our social dispositions, our rational and our moral powers, display themselves at an earlier period, than that at which he wishes us to begin the cultivation of them.

'But though the great outlines of his system be merely theory, unsupported by facts, nay plainly contradictory to facts, yet his observations on the impropriety or absurdity of the prevalent modes of education are very often just, and many of the particular directions which he gives for the conducting of education are judicious. He is often fanciful, and often deviates from the common road, only to show that he is able to walk in a separate path: yet his views are liberal and extensive: his heart seems to have glowed with benevolence: his book contains much observation of human actions; displays an intimate acquaintance with the motives

which sway the human heart; and, though by no means a perfect system for education, is yet superior to what many other writers had before done upon the subject.'

With those who estimate with an impartial eye the value of the blessings which life affords, the business of education is a most important task. It is the formation of the heart to virtue, of the mind to cheerfulness, of the understanding to wisdom. It is the teaching a child to open his eyes to the circumstances by which he is surrounded; to distinguish virtue from vice; truth from falsehood; beauty from deformity; and happiness from misery: to qualify him to attribute neither more nor less than its proper importance to every acquisition and every pursuit; and, instead of being borne along by the follies and the prejudices of mankind, to raise himself above them to that degree of mental eminence and moral excellence, which will enable him to judge distinctly of the value of all earthly enjoyments, and, by the strength of his own faculties, to select those, and those only, which will contribute to his temporal and eternal good. Education, says Dr. Cogan, when developing its influence upon the passions, introduces to an intimate acquaintance with numberless objects which are totally unknown to the ignorant; and every object possesses some quality of a pleasant or unpleasant nature, proportionably multiplying or diversifying our agreeable or disagreeable sensations. With the ignorant, objects are comparatively few. Scenes before them are of no great extent; and even these are overlooked by the majority, whose years pass away in a kind of sensitive indolence, without apathy or affection. Sometimes, however, a natural acuteness of understanding is observable among the most illiterate, accompa nied with lively sensations and very strong affections; and when they are once aroused, by objects that appear interesting, their passions are most violent. What they know can alone appear important to them-and the very little they possess is their all. Their whole souls are concentrated in that which gives pleasure, and all the powers of body and mind are exerted to repel whatever gives pain. This will indicate the cause of that remarkable strength of passions and affections, both of the benevolent and malevolent kind, so observable in savage nations; and the impetuosity of character so often to be met with among the active and uninformed in every nation.

The cultivated mind, by increasing its acquaintance with innumerable subjects, will inevitably discover some pleasing quality in every object of its pursuit: of consequence, both attention and affections are divided and subdivided into innumerable ramifications; and thus, although enjoyment may upon the whole be augmented by aggregate numbers, yet each individual quality possesses but a moderate share of influence. The young and inexperienced are generally affected by simple objects. The causes of their joy or anger, sorrow or fear, are seldom complex. As the powers of the mind are more enlarged, the affections are both more diversified, and rendered more complicated. Thus, upon the perception of favors and obligation the joy

from good becomes united with gratitude to the author of that good; with love, veneration, and respect for his character; with admiration at the extent of the good, or at some peculiarity in the delicacy and liberality with which it was conferred. Experience introduces the passions of hope and fear, by teaching us the knowledge of good worth possessing, on the one hand, and the accidents to which it is liable on the other. It is observable, farther, that the young and inexperienced, whose habits are not yet formed, and to whom every thing is new, are most apt to be influenced by the introductory emotions of surprise and wonder. This inexperience renders things and events, which are familiar to others, new and strange to them. They are prone to be in ecstasies for acquisitions and advantages comparatively trifling, and to be agitated by small or imaginary evils, because their imaginations have not been corrected by experience. But if these passions, from more simple causes, are frequently stronger in them than in others, it is equally true that their affections are less permanent. A rapid succession of novelties, and the immense variety which increased knowledge introduces, quickly efface the preceding impression. But the extent of this subject enjoins brevity. A whole encyclopædia could scarcely do it justice. The infinite diversity of pursuits, which in this age engage the attentions of an awakened world, are accompanied by an equal diversity of predilections; they present an infinite variety of qualities to the inquisitive mind, which excite their correspondent emotions and affections.

The business of education comprehends much indeed. It includes the circumstances of the child in regard to local situation, and the manner in which the necessaries and conveniences of life are supplied to him; the degree of care and tenderness with which he is nursed in infancy; the examples set before him by parents, preceptors, and companions; the degree of restraint or licentiousness to which he is accustomed; the various bodily exercises, languages, arts, and sciences which are taught him, and the method and order in which they are communicated; the arts of overcoming prejudices, of guarding against evil influences, of conquering temptations, and of governing himself; and it constantly regards, as of the greatest importance, the imbuing the mind with the principles of morality and religion. In different periods of society, in different climates, and under different forms of government, various institutions have naturally prevailed in the education of youth; and even in every different family, the children must be educated in a different manner, according to the varieties in the situation, dispositions, and abilities of the parents.

The modern improvements in education have been great; they are connected with the education of all ranks, but have more particularly concerned our public schools, and the extension of this invaluable blessing, by economical methods, to the poor.

I. First, in order of time, stand Sunday Schools. The excellent founder of them, Mr. Robert Raikes, a gentleman of Gloucestershire

(in which county he was born 1735), seems at first to have had his attention engaged to the general condition of the poor, by observing the miserable moral state of the prisoners confined for less crimes in the county jail. In a letter to a gentleman who had applied to him for the particulars of the nature and origin of his plan, he thus expresses himself:

"Some business leading me one morning into the suburbs of the city, where the lowest of the people (who are principally employed in the pin manufactory) reside, I was struck with concern at seeing a group of children, wretchedly ragged, at play in the street. I asked an inhabitant whether those children belonged to that part of the town, and lamented their misery and idleness. Ah! sir, said the woman to whom I was speaking, could you take a view of this part of the town on Sunday, you would be shocked indeed; for then the street is filled with multitudes of these wretches, who, released on that day from their employment, spend their time in noise and riot, playing at chuck, and cursing and swearing in a manner so horrid, as to convey to any serious mind an idea of hell rather than any other place. We have a worthy clergyman, said she, minister of our parish, who has put some of them to school; but upon the sabbath they are all given up to follow their inclinations without restraint, as their parents, totally abandoned themselves, have no idea of instilling into the minds of their children, principles to which they themselves are strangers.

'This conversation suggested to me, that it would at least be a harmless attempt, if it were productive of no good, should some little plan be formed to check this deplorable profanation of the sabbath. I then enquired of the woman if there were any decent, well-disposed women in the neighbourhood, who kept schools for teaching to read. I was presently directed to four. To these I applied, and made an agreement with them, to receive as many children as I should send on the Sunday, whom they were to instruct in reading and the church catechism. For this I engaged to pay them a shilling for their day's employment. The women seemed pleased with the proposal. I then waited on the clergyman before-mentioned, and imparted to him my plan. He was so much satisfied with the idea that he engaged to lend his assistance by going round to the schools on a Sunday afternoon, to examine the progress that was made, and to enforce order and decorum among such a set of little heathens.

This, sir, is the commencement of the plan. It is now about three years since we began, and I could wish you were here to make enquiry into the effect. A woman who lives in a lane where I had fixed a school, told me some time ago, that the place was quite a heaven upon Sundays, compared to what it used to be. The numbers who have learned to read and say their catechism are so great that I am astonished at it. Upon the Sunday afternoon the mistresses take their scholars to church, a place into which neither they nor their ancestors ever entered with a view to the glory of God. But what is yet more extraordinary, within this month, these little ragamuffins have in great numbers taken it into their heads to frequent the early morning prayers,