is the natural state, he makes his model child an orphan, and hands him over to a governor, to be brought up in the country without companions.

The Art of Being Ignorant. This governor is to devote himself, for some years, entirely to imparting to his pupil these difficult arts—the art of being ignorant and of losing time. Till he is twelve years old, Émile is to have no direct instruction whatever. 66 At that age he shall not know what a book is," says Rousseau; though elsewhere we are told that he will learn to read of his own accord by the time he is ten, if no attempt is made to teach him. He is to be under no restraint, and is to do nothing but what he sees to be useful.

Freedom in Childhood. Freedom from restraint is, however, to be apparent, not real. As in ordinary education the child employs all its faculties in duping the master, so in education "according to Nature," the master is to devote himself to duping the child. "Let him always be his own master in appearance, and do you take care to be so in reality. There is no subjection so complete as that which preserves the appearance of liberty; it is by this means even the will is led captive."

"The most critical interval of human nature is that between the hour of our birth and twelve years of age. This is the time, wherein vice and error take root without our being possessed of any instrument to destroy them."

First Education Purely Negative. Throughout this season, the governor is to be at work inculcating the art of being ignorant and losing time. "This first part of education ought to be purely negative. It consists

neither in teaching virtue nor truth, but in guarding the heart from vice and the mind from error. If you could do nothing and let nothing be done; if you could bring up your pupil healthy and robust to the age of twelve years, without his being able to distinguish his right hand from his left, the eyes of his understanding would be open to reason at your first lesson; void both of habit and prejudice, he would have nothing in him to operate against your endeavors; soon under your instructions he would become the wisest of men. Thus, by setting out with doing nothing, you would produce a prodigy of education."

Exercise the Body; Keep the Mind Inactive. "Exercise his body, his senses, faculties, powers, but keep his mind inactive as long as possible. Distrust all the sentiments he acquires, previous to the judgment which should enable him to scrutinize them. Prevent or restrain all foreign. impressions; and in order to hinder the rise of evil, be not in too great a hurry to instill good; for it is only such when the mind is enlightened by reason. Look upon every delay as an advantage: it is gaining a great deal to advance without losing anything. Let childhood ripen in children. In short, whatever lesson becomes necessary for them take care not to give them to-day, if it may be deferred without danger till tomorrow."

"Do not, then, alarm yourself much about this apparent idleness. What would you say of the man, who, in order to make the most of life, should determine never to go to sleep? You would say, The man is mad: he is not enjoying the time; he is depriving himself of it: to

avoid sleep he is hurrying toward death. Consider, then, that it is the same here, and that childhood is the sleep of reason."

The Ideal Boy. Such is the groundwork of Rousseau's educational scheme. His ideal boy, of twelve years old, is to be a thoroughly well-developed animal, with every bodily sense trained to its highest perfection. "His ideas," says Rousseau, "are confined, but clear; he knows nothing by rote, but a great deal by experience. If he reads less well than another child in our books, he reads better in the book of nature. His understanding does not lie in his tongue, but in his brain; he has less memory than judgment; he can speak only one language, but then he understands what he says; and although he may not talk of things so well as others, he will do them much better. He knows nothing at all of custom, fashion, or habit; what he did yesterday has no influence on what he is to do to-day; he follows no formula, is influenced by no authority or example, but acts and speaks just as it suits him. Do not, then, expect from him set discourses or studied manners, but always the faithful expression of his ideas, and the conduct which springs naturally from his inclinations." Furthermore, this model child looks upon all men as equal, and will ask assistance from a king as readily as from a foot-boy. He does not understand what a command is, but will readily do anything for another person, in order to place that person under an obligation, and so increase his own rights. distinction between work and play. this list of wonders, I may add that

He knows also no

As a climax to his imagination

has remained inactive, and he only sees what is true in reality.

An Impracticable Scheme. The reader will probably have concluded, by this time, that no child can possibly be so educated as to resemble Émile, and, perhaps, further, that no wise father would so educate his son, if it were possible. A child who does not understand what a command is, and who can be induced to do anything for another only by the prospect of laying that person under an obligation; who has no habits, and is guided merely by his inclinations-such a child as this is, fortunately, nothing but a dream of Rousseau's.

The Wisdom of the "Émile." But fantastical as Rousseau often is, the reader of his " Émile" is struck again and again, not more by the charm of his language than by his insight into child-nature, and the wisdom of his remarks upon it.

The "Émile" is a large work, and the latter part is interesting rather from a literary and philosophical point of view, than as it is connected with education. I purpose, therefore, confining my attention to the earlier. portion of the book, and giving some of the passages, which a great deal since said and written on educatio has been a comparatively insipid decoction.

"All things are good, as their Creator made them, but everything degenerates in the hands of man." These are the first words of the "Émile," and the keynote of Rousseau's philosophy.

"We are born weak, we have need of strength; we are born destitute of everything, we have need of assistance; we are born stupid, we have need of under

standing. All that we are not possessed of at our birth, and which we require when grown up, is bestowed on us by education."

The Threefold Source of Education. "This education we receive from nature, from men, or from things. The internal development of our organs and faculties is the education of nature: the use we are taught to make of that development is the education given us by men; and in the acquisitions made by our own experience on the objects that surround us, consists our education from things." "Since the concurrence of these three kinds of education is necessary to their perfection, it is by that one which is entirely independent of us, we must regulate the two others."

Now "to live is not merely to breathe; it is to act, it is to make use of our organs, our senses, our faculties, and of all those parts of ourselves which give us the feeling of our existence. The man who has lived most is not he who has counted the greatest number of years, but he who has most thoroughly felt life.”

The aim of education, then, must be complete living.

Ordinary Education Sacrifices Childhood to Acquisition of Knowledge. But ordinary education (and here for a moment I am expressing my own conviction, and not simply reporting Rousseau), instead of seeking to develop the life of the child, sacrifices childhood to the acquirement of knowledge, or rather the semblance of knowledge, which it is thought will prove useful to the youth, or the man. Rousseau's great merit lies in his having exposed this fundamental error.