standing its nature, he observes that it is generally deficient in strength; incapable of accomplishing its noblest task-that of ruling over the wishes of the heart, it submits at present to external influence. Hence arises the necessity of two opposite modes of treatment: for in order to accustom children to restrain their passions, they must be subjected to an exact discipline; and at the same time they must be allowed in some degree to act independently, or they will never acquire decision of character. Yet this discipline and this liberty may exist together, provided their respective limits be well defined.

But the will must not only be strengthened, but directed. How are these two objects to be attained? Is the aid of reason sufficient for this purpose? In the examination of this question, the instructor perceives that reason acts only by the instrumentality of such inclinations as are already formed; that it regulates movements, but does not cause them; and consequently that it becomes necessary to cultivate in children those disinterested feelings which alone will be able to counteract the energy of their selfish instincts. During the course of a too exclusively intellectual education, the heart remains unexercised; and thus self-love is cherished, and the passions are left unrestrained.

Here, then, the value and importance of religion is felt. If we wish to bestow energy on the will, we have in religious feeling a powerful and universal motive, deeply rooted in our nature, and tending more than any other to what is good; and if we wish to moderate the will, the morality of Christianity is more pure, more strict, and better suited to the wants of human beings, than any philosophy. The whole system of our duties might be easily conceived by the intellect, without our feeling any wish to apply the results to ourselves. But what particularly distinguishes religion, and displays its divine energy, is the power it possesses of purifying and regenerating the heart. The only source of hope which can revive the soul, sinking beneath the weight of its sins, is the pardon on which it is taught by faith to rely; a pardon applicable to all; for a tender conseience will always find some subject of selfreproach.

Whatever path, then, the instructor may follow, he must continually return to that point to which every path leads:- God, the first cause of every thing, is the object towards which an education, embracing every thing relating to man, must ever be directed. But, though a future life is the ultimate object of education, it has another and nearer object, in the right conduct of the present life. The pupil is taught

not only to know the world, but to admire it, he is taught that every thing great or good which it contains is of divine origin. Innocent pleasures, knowledge, the general enlargement of the faculties, are all allowed and encouraged by his education; while, at the same time, a dangerous degree of enthusiasm, particularly unnatural in children, is repressed. In short, it seems to be the part of education to sanctify human life; and to discover and bring into action those heavenly agencies which are spread abroad in this terrestrial world by its divine Creator.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

ON THE MEANS OF IMPROVING THE ART OF

EDUCATION.

Ir has been asserted by a celebrated philosopher, that we are not naturally endowed with any instinct of which we can make use as a guide in education; but that it is an art, which must be carefully studied. And this is no doubt perfectly true. While all other animals constantly bring up their young in the same manner, man follows no invariable rule. How many different customs may be observed among savage nations! Some, as soon as their children are born, plunge them into cold water; some flatten their heads between two boards; others leave them in cradles, suspended to the branches of trees; and some, again, swathe up their limbs in tight bandages. affection, the most universal of all feelings, has allowed such barbarous customs to be introduced; and even her love has not been enlightened enough entirely to abolish them.

Even a mother's

Civilised people have felt and reflected more on the subject; and amongst them, therefore,

we find but little remains of such revolting customs. Yet they have not been able to fix on any determined principles of education. Towards the middle of the last century much attention was bestowed on the subject; its extreme importance was acknowledged; the greatest talents and the most eloquent writers were employed in its cause: yet the more they reflected and reasoned on the subject, the less do they seem to have understood it. What, then, is the great desideratum in this important art? That, to which we seldom have recourse so soon as we ought experience. We want such numerous and minute observations as can alone afford a solid foundation for our reasoning.

In the valuable work on this subject, by Miss Edgeworth and her father, (where all that is treated of, makes us only the more regret what is omitted), they have observed that education is an experimental science: yet, even they have published the result of their observations, instead of the observations themselves. But every one knows how many different conclusions may be drawn from the same facts; and that in writing on any science, it is not enough to mention results; the circumstances which have led to those results should also be stated. And the experience of a single family, highly gifted as that family may have been, is far from being sufficient for the end we have in view.