"that little boy, he is very unhappy. He "has a mother-in-law, who sends him all "day long to look for wood; when he does "not bring any home, he is beaten; when "he has got any, the Swiss who stands at "the entrance of the park takes it all away "from him, and keeps it for himself. The boy is almost starved with hunger, and "we have given him our breakfast.' After "having said these words, she and her companion finished filling the little wallet; they packed it upon the boy's shoulders, "and they ran before their unfortunate "friend to see that he might pass in safety."

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We have read these three anecdotes to several children, and have found that the active friends of the little gatherer of sticks were the most admired. It is probable, that amongst children who have been much praised for expressions of sensibility, the young lady who wept so bitterly at the playhouse would be preferred; affectionate children will like the little girl who stood purple with cold beside her sick mother; but if they have been well educated, they will probably express some surprise at her motionless attitude; they will ask why she did not

try to help her mother to weed the bed of sorrel.

It requires much skill and delicacy in our conduct towards children, to preserve a proper medium between the indulging and the repressing their sensibility. We are cruel towards them when we suspect their genuine expressions of affection; nothing hurts the temper of a generous child more than this species of injustice. Receive his expressions of kindness and gratitude with cold reserve, or a look that implies a doubt of his truth, and you give him so much pain, that you not only repress, but destroy his affectionate feelings. On the contrary, if you appear touched and delighted by his caresses, from the hope of pleasing, he will be naturally inclined to repeat such demonstrations of sensibility: this repetition should be gently discouraged, lest it should lead to affectation. At the same time, though we take this precaution, we should consider, that children are not early sensible, that affectation is either ridiculous or disgusting; they are not conscious of doing any thing wrong by repeating what they have once perceived to be agreeable in their own, or

in the manners of others. They frequently imitate, without any idea that imitation is displeasing; as Locke observes, they only mistake the means of pleasing: we should rectify this mistake without treating it as a crime.

A little girl of five years old stood beside her mother, observing the distribution of a dish of strawberries, the first strawberries of the year; and seeing a number of people busily helping, and being helped to cream and sugar, said in a low voice, not meant to attract attention, "I like to see people "helping one another." Had the child, at this instant, been praised for this natural expression of sympathy, the pleasure of praise would have been immediately substituted in her mind, instead of the feeling of benevolence, which was in itself sufficiently agreeable; and perhaps from a desire to please, she would, upon the next favourable occasion, have repeated the same sentiment; this we should immediately call affectation; but how could the child foresee that the repetition of what we formerly liked would be offensive? We should not first extol sympathy, and then disdain affectation; our

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encomiums frequently produce the faults by which we are disgusted. Sensibility and sympathy, when they have proper objects, and full employment, do not look for applause; they are sufficiently happy in their own enjoyments. Those who have attempted to teach children must have observed, that sympathy is immediately connected with all the imitative arts; the nature of this connexion, more especially in poetry and painting, has been pointed out with ingenuity and eloquence by those whose excellence in these arts entitle their theories to our prudent attention. We shall not attempt to repeat; we refer to their observations. Sufficient occupation for sympathy may be found by cultivating the talents of young people.

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Without repeating here what has been said in many other places, it may be necessary to remind all who are concerned in female education, that peculiar caution is necessary to manage female sensibility; to make what is called the heart a source of permanent pleasure, we must cultivate the reasoning powers

Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses. Dr. Darwin's Critical Interludes in the Botanic Garden, and his chapter on Sympathy and Imitation in Zoonomia.

at the same time that we repress the enthusiasm of fine feeling. Women, from their situation and duties in society, are 'called upon rather for the daily exercise of quiet domestic virtues, than for those splendid acts of generosity, or those exaggerated expressions of tenderness, which are the characteristics of heroines in romance. Sentimental authors paint with enchanting colours all the graces and all the virtues in happy union. Afterwards, from the natural influence of association, we expect in real life to meet with virtue when we see grace, and we are disappointed, almost disgusted, when we find virtue unadorned. This false association has a double effect upon the conduct of women; it prepares them to be pleased, and it excites them to endeavour to please by adventitious charms, rather than by those qualities which merit esteem. Women, who have been much addicted to common novelreading, are always acting in imitation of some Jemima or Almeria who never existed, and they perpetually mistake plain William and Thomas for "My Beverly!" They have another peculiar misfortune; they require continual great emotions to keep them