EDUCATION.

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pleased, or displeased with us, on his approbation, hence thennothin? can he of such importance as these instructions which shewour obligations to the Deity, and the way to please him. Henceit is clear that these subjects cannot be too soon and too carefullyimprest cd on the minds of children, provided the induction beconveyed in terms and by examples &c. suited to their years andunderstanding. We find in general that children are ingenious,a^id ready to believe whatever is told them, they do not naturalivseem to manifest a suspicious temper. And on this account wecannot help taking notice ot a very general error—(or rather wemay say crime,) committed in the education of most children, byroomers, grand-mothers, nurses, servants, and almost all othersabout tnem, w ho, upon every trivial occasion impose upon theiringenious credulity, by telling them the most gross and palpablefalsehoods. There is not indeed a more common, or perhaps amore dangerous blunder than this, in the management and edu-cation ol children. It is attended with various had consequences.It undermines the first principles of virtue. The child, as -oou asit begins to exercise its idea, upon the objects around it, finds itlias neen told many falsehoods. Hence it begins to suspect false-hood in every thing, and the lessons it afterwards receives fn.m itsparents and teachers against lying come rather too late. Besideshow cruel it is to impose upon this ingenuous readiness of childrento believe whatever they are tolJ, by tolling them falsehoods fromfair very birth upwards? It is thus'tliat we teacii them falsehoodand deceit, and then blame them when we liud them afterwards at-tempting to deceive us. Ifpon the subject of expressive indul-gence we have 10 observe that win a a child evidences a strong de-sire tor any thing, we ought to judge immediately 01 the proprietyof complying wiln, or refusing it. When a refusal is once given itought to be absolute and ii revocable. On this head the sentimentsof M.Rousseau, couta n some very just bservations. “Rut, above all(says he) beware ot teaching your child the ceremonious jargon ofpoliteness, a set of phrases which he employs, like magic syllables,to subject to bis pleasure every one that comes near him/ and toobtain upon demand whatever he desires. In the mode of edu-cation adopted by the rich, their children never fail of being ren-dered politely imperious, by being instructed to make use of suchexpressions as nobody chooses to resist. Neit'ier in voice normanner have they any thing suppliant about them : on the con-trary, they are as arrogant, if not more so, in their requests, than intheir commands, inasmuch as they are always more certa.n ofbeing obeyed. One sees immediately, that their, If you please,mean-', It is l please ; and that their, pray, stands for do. Admira-ble politeness this, which teaches them onlv to pervert the mean-ing of words, and not to lie able to speak otherwise tlun with theair of command ! Surely it is a less evil that a child snould proveclownish than insolent, and we had much rather hear him say in asuppliant lone, Do so or so, than make use of a dictatorial Pray,il you please. It is not the words lie makes use ol that are of somuch consequence, hut the acceptance he annexes to them. Ex-cessive severity, as well as excessive indulgence, should he equallyavoided. It you leave children to suffer, vou expose their health,endanger their lives, and make them actually miserable; on theother hand, if you are too anxious to prevent their being sensibleof any kind of pain and inconvenience, you only pave their wavto feel much greater; you enervate their constitutions, m ike themtender and effeminate ; in a word, you remove them out of tnei-situation as men, into which they must hereafter retn-n in spite o,all your solicitude. In order not to expose them to the lew < vii<nature would indict oil them, you provide for them manv which,they would otherwie never have sulf'ered. Would you knowthe most infallible wav to make your child miserable? It is fo !accietom him to obtain every thing he desires: for, those de: ires ist:':l increasing from the facility of gratification, your incopacit vto satisfy them must sooner or later reduce you to the necessity ofare.uv.l; and that refusal, so new and uncommon, w dl give himmore trouble than even the want of that which lie desires. Fromwanting your cane he will proceed to your wateli ; he will nextwant tlie bird that tiles in the air, the star that glitters in the firma-ment ; in short, every tiling lie sees; nothing less than omnipotem e would enable you to satisfy it. It is natural to mini to re-gard every thing as his own, which he has in his power. CouldWe increase with our desires the means of gratifying them, everyone would conceive himself the lord, over gilt, 'i lie child, therefore, who needs only desire a thing to obtain it, is led naturally

to imagine himself the proprietor of the universe ; he looks uponall mankind as his slaves; and when any thing is, at length, re-fused him, he, who conceives not the impossibility of executingany ol his commands, esteems such refusal as ail act of rebellion :all the reasons that can be given him at an age incapable of reason-ing, appear to him only pretexts. He sees your ill-will throughthe whole: the sense of an imaginary injustice sours his disposition ;he begins to hale every body ; and, without ever thinking him-self obliged by their complaisance, is enraged at their contradic-tion. I low is it possible that children, thus subject to be madethe prey of the most irascible passions, can ever be happy ? Theirdesires, irritated by the facility with which they have usually beengratilied, are bent on impossibilities, whilst they meet on everyside with nothing but contradictions, obstacle. 1 , sutf'erings, and sor-row. Always grumbling, fractious, and passionate, they pass theirtime amidst perpetual tears and complaints, ilow can these besupposed happy in their situation * I mbecillity and authority united,generate only folly and misery. But if these notions ot tyrannyand command make men miserable in their infancy, how muchmore will they do so as they grow lip, when the relations tlievstand in to others become more numerous and extensive! Accu.-(omed to see everv tiling give wav to their desires, how will theybe surprised, in entering on the world, to see every tiling resisttheir will, and to tin 1 themselves oppressed by the weight of thatuniverse, which they imagined they could move about at pleasure ’How ever the lawful and reasonable desires of children, being suchas arc calculated to make them happy, should be readily compliedwith. And in everv tiling tliev demand, the motive which excitesthem to make such demand, ought con-tantly to engage ourattention, and determine our conduct with regard to the indulgingor deny ing of their request. While the child is preserved fromimmoderate and improper desires and indulgences the principlesof justice and benevolence should he engrafted, the ideas of rightand wrong and those of kindness should be instilled with great careinto his mind, presenting him with the choicest examples. Parti-cularly'by our own conduct,. which a child alw ays observes, w eshould inculcate these principles. Tliev may also be incited tobenevolence, by being encouraged to give something, which theypossess and esteem, to relieve or accommodate others. But as M.Rousseau justly observes, we ought net to encourage this to hi*done, “ by returning to children immediately whatever they*give;” for, this tends only “ to render a child liberal in appearance,and covetous in fact and can only “ teach them the liberalityof an usurer, who gives a penny for a pound” in return. No pe-cuniary rewards ought, therefore, to he given for acts of charityand generosity. The child should rather, on such occasions l eled to reilect on the great good lie lias done to a poor old man orwoman, or to a helpless family of infants, who perhaps, but tor hisgenerosity, w ould have had nothing to^at ; and w hen such scenesof distress (as are alas! too common) are properly represented toins feelings, the child may then lie asked, whether lie lias not moresatisfaction in thus supph ing their necessities out of his pocket-money, than lie could liave had by laying it out upon tin: finesttraits, or the iucpsI dainties which the confectioner’s shop coulda fiord. 'I'inis he will be taught, and will soon begin to feel, thatthe exercise of such virtue is in reality its own reward. In short,we are fully persuaded, that to breed up children in the principlesof virtue and morality, they must lie taught these principles aseaiiy as possible; and that to inure them to the practice throughMV, they cannot loo early begin. While the heart is young amitender, il is susceptible of every fine feeling and of everv good im-pression ; which by habit will afterwards take such linn root asnever to lie afterwards eradicated. But if we wait till the socialvirtues spring up spontaneously, as M. Rousseau advises, withoutever attempting to jlant or cultivate them, it is to lie feared wemay wait in vain, ami discover when too late, that the whole soilis over-run with the weeds of self-love;—a principle, which, how-ever necessary, ai the chief spring of action and preservation inevery individual, requires nevertheless our utmost exertions to keepit within due bounds, without which, indeed, it becomes the ori-gin of every vice, that disgraces human nature. Mr. Pope in hisEssay on Mm, lias been at great pains to prove, agreeably to illsfriend Lord l’olingbroke’x opinion, that

“ All self-love and social are the sameBut Zenith and Nadir are not more opposite ; the one being thefountain of all that Is good, and the other, when cot under due re-straint,