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A modern princess, who had taken considerable pains in the education of her son, made both herself and him ridiculous by her anxiety upon his introduction into the world. She travelled about with him from place to place, to make him see every thing worth seeing; but he was not to stir from her presence; she could not bear to have him out of sight or hearing. In all companies he was chaperoned by his mother. Was he invited to a ball, she must be invited also, or he could not accept of the invitation; he must go in the same coach, and return in the same coach with her. "I should like "extremely to dance another dance," said he one evening to his partner, "but you see I must go; my mother is putting on her cloak." The tall young man called for some negus, and had the glass at his lips, when his mamma called out, in a shrill voice, through a vista of heads, "Eh! My son no drink wine! My son "like milk and water!" The son was at this time at years of discretion.

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CHAPTER VI.

On Temper.

We have already, in speaking of the early WE care of infants, suggested that the temper should be attended to from the moment of their birth. A negligent, a careless, a passionate servant, must necessarily injure the temper of a child. The first language of an infant is intelligible only, to its nurse; she can distinguish between the cry of pain, the note of ill-humour, or the roar of passion. The cry of pain should be listened to with the utmost care, and every possible means should be used to relieve the child's sufferings but when it is obvious that he cries from ill-humour, a nurse should not soothe him with looks of affection; these she should reserve for the moment when the storm is over. We' do not mean that infants should be suffered to cry for a length of time without being regarded; this would give them habits of ill-humour: we only wish that the nurse would, as soon as possible, teach the child that what he wants can

be obtained without his putting himself in a passion. Great care should be taken to prevent occasions for ill-humour; if a nurse neglects her charge, or if she be herself passionate, the child will suffer so much pain, and so many disappointments, that it must be in a continual state of fretfulness. An active, cheerful, good-humoured, intelligent nurse, will make a child good-humoured by regular affectionate attendance, by endeavouring to prevent all unnecessary sufferings, and by quickly comprehending its language of signs. The best-humoured woman in the world, if she is stupid, is not fit to have the care of a child; the child will not be able to make her understand any thing less than vociferation. By way of amusing the infant, she will fatigue him with her caresses; without ever discovering the real cause of his woe, she will sing one universal lullaby upon all occasions to pacify her charge.

It requires some ingenuity to discover the cause and cure of those long and loud fits of crying, which frequently arise from imaginary apprehensions. A little boy of two years old used to cry violently when he wakened in the middle of the night, and saw a candle in the room. As children are more apt to cry when they waken in the dark, pains were taken to discover the cause of his uneasiness: it was observed that

the shadow of the person who was moving about in the room frightened him, and as soon as the cause of his crying was found out, it was easy to pacify him; his fear of shadows was effectually cured, by playfully shewing him at different times that shadows had no power to hurt him.

H. about nine months old, when she first began to observe the hardness of bodies, let her hand fall upon a cat which had crept unperceived upon the table; she was surprised and terrified by the unexpected sensation of softness; she could not touch the cat, or any thing that felt like soft fur, without shewing agitation, till she was near four years old, though every gentle means were used to conquer her antipathy: the antipathy was, however, cured at last, by her having a wooden cat covered with fur for a plaything.

A boy between four and five years old, H-, used to cry bitterly when he was left alone in a room in which there were some old family pictures. It was found that he was much afraid of these pictures: a maid, who took care of him, had terrified him with the notion that they would come to him, or that they were looking at him, and would be angry with him if he was not good. To cure him of his fear of pictures, a small sized portrait, which was not amongst the number of those which had frightened him, was

produced in broad day-light. A piece of cake was put upon this picture, which the boy was desired to take; he took it, touched the picture, and was shewn the canvass at the back of it, which, as it happened to be torn, he could easily identify with the painting: the picture was then given to him for a plaything; he made use of it as a table, and became very fond of it as soon as he was convinced that it was not alive, and that it could do him no sort of injury.

By patiently endeavouring to discover the causes of terror in children, we may probably prevent their tempers from acquiring many bad habits. It is scarcely possible for any one, who has not constantly lived with a child, and who has not known the whole rise and progress of his little character, to trace the causes of these strange apprehensions; for this reason, a parent has advantages in the education of his child which no tutor or schoolmaster can enjoy.

A little boy was observed to shew signs of fear and dislike at hearing the sound of a drum; to a stranger such fear must have seemed unaccountable; but those who lived with the child knew from what it arose. He had been terrified by the sight of a merry-andrew in a mask, who had played upon a drum; this was the first time that he had heard the sound of a drum; the . sound was associated with fear, and continued

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