producing in every station a sound mind, the giving that good sense, which, in morality, religion, and politicks, guides to what is most reasonable, and which, in all the affairs of common life, leads to the establishment of good character and permanent prosperity. Edgeworth's Town, Jan. 1811. PRACTICAL EDUCATION. CHAPTER I. Toys. WHY don't you play with your playthings, my dear? I am sure that I have bought toys "enough for you; why can't you divert yourself "with them, instead of breaking them to pieces?" says a mother to her child, who stands idle and miserable, surrounded by disjointed dolls, maimed horses, coaches and one-horse chairs without wheels, and a nameless wreck of gilded lumber. A child in this situation is surely more to be pitied than blamed, for is it not vain to repeat, "Why don't you play with your playthings," unless they be such as he can play with, which is very seldom the case; and is it not rather unjust to be angry with him for breaking them to pieces, when he can by no other device render them subservient to his amusement? He breaks them, not from the love of mischief, but from the hatred of idleness; either he wishes to see B VOL. I what his playthings are made of, and how they are made, or whether he can put them together again if the parts be once separated. All this is perfectly innocent; and it is a pity that his love of knowledge and his spirit of activity, should be repressed by the undistinguishing correction of a nursery maid, or the unceasing reproof of a go verness. The more natural vivacity and ingenuity young people possess, the less are they likely to be amused with the toys which are usually put into their hands. They require to have things which continually exercise their senses or their imagination, their imitative, and inventive powers. The glaring colours, or the gilding of toys, may catch the eye, and please for a few minutes, but unless some use can be made of them, they will, and ought to be soon discarded. A boy who has the use of his limbs, and whose mind is untainted with prejudice, would in all probability prefer a substantial cart, in which he would carry weeds, earth, and stones, up and down hill, to the finest frail coach and six that ever came out of a toy-shop: for what could he do with the coach after having admired, and sucked the paint, but drag it cautiously along the carpet of a drawing-room, watching the wheels, which will not turn, and seeming to sympathise with the just terrors of the lady and gentleman within, who appear certain of being overturned every five minutes. When he is tired of this, perhaps he may set about to unharness horses which were never meant to be unharnessed; or to comb their woollen manes and tails, which usually come off during the operation. That such toys are frail and useless may, however, be considered as evils comparatively small: as long as a child has sense and courage to destroy his toys, there is no great harm done; but, in general, he is taught to set a value upon them totally independent of all ideas of utility, or of any regard to his own real feelings. Either he is conjured to take particular care of them, because they cost a great deal of money; or else he is taught to admire them as miniatures of some of the fine things on which fine people pride themselves. Instead of attending to his own sensations, and learning from his own experience, he acquires the habit of estimating his pleasures by the taste and judgment of those who happen to be near him. 66 "I liked the cart the best," says the boy, "but mamma and every body said that the coach was the prettiest; so I chose the coach."Shall we wonder if the same principle afterwards governs him in the choice of "the the toys of age." A little girl presiding at her baby tea-table is pleased with the notion that she is like her |