Part 4 (1/2)

THERE is another reason, which proves this mental cultivation to be more important, as well as more difficult, than any other part of education

In the usual fashi+onable accoetting forwards, and one difficulty is conquered before another is suffered to shew itself; for a prudent teacher will level the road his pupil is to pass, and sress

BUT in reat object constantly kept in view) the talk is far more difficult The unruly and turbulent desires of the heart are not so obedient; one passion will start up before another is suppressed The subduing Hercules cannot cut off the heads so often as the prolific Hydra can produce them, nor fell the stubborn Antaeus so fast as he can recruit his strength, and rise in vigorous and repeated opposition

IF all the accole virtue, the purchase would be infinitely dear! And, however startling it , true, that the labours of a good and wise hter's most important interests, will _seem_ to be at variance with those of her instructors

She will doubtless rejoice at her progress in any polite art, but she will rejoice with tre:--humility and piety form the solid and durable basis, on which she wishes to raise the superstructure of the accomplishments, while the accomplishments themselves are frequently of that unsteady nature, that if the foundation is not secured, in proportion as the building is enlarged, it will be overloaded and destroyed by those very ornaments, which were intended to embellish, what they have contributed to ruin

THE ulated, or they will be in danger of putting to flight thevirtues, which cannot safely subsist before the bold eye of public observation, or bear the bolder tongue of impudent and audacious flattery A tenderthose excellencies in her daughter which deserve applause, but she will also shudder at the vanity which that applause may excite, and at those hitherto unknown ideas which it may awaken

THE master, it is his interest, and perhaps his duty, will naturally teach a girl to set her iht SE FAIRE VALOIR is the great principle industriously inculcated into her young heart, and seems to be considered as a kind of fundamental maxim in education It is however the certain and effectual seed, froerous doctrine (which yet is not without its uses) will be counteracted by the prudent mother, not in so many words, but by a watchful and scarcely perceptible dexterity Such an one will be hter _cultivated_ than _exhibited_

ONE would be led to iine, by the common mode of female education, that life consisted of one universal holiday, and that the only contest ho should be best enabled to excel in the sports and games that were to be celebrated on it Merely ornamental accomplishments will but indifferently qualify a wohly proper she should possess them, in order to furnish the _ae a portion of life without so? A lady es in a theatrical tone, play and sing, have her dressing-roos, and her person covered with her own ta, have been very _badly educated_ Yet I a to depreciate the value of these qualifications: they are , but often indispensably necessary, and a polite education cannot be perfected without them But as the world seems to be very well apprised of their importance, there is the less occasion to insist on their utility Yet, though well-bred young wo, recite and draw, the end of a good education is not that they ers, players or painters: its real object is to ood ood christians The above qualifications therefore are intended to _adorn_ their _leisure_, not to _employ_ their _lives_; for an a better to value herself on, than these advantages, which, however captivating, are still but subordinate parts of a truly excellent character

BUT I am afraid parents themselves so Do they not often set a higher value on those acquisitions which are calculated to attract observation, and catch the eye of the multitude, than on those which are valuable, permanent, and internal? Are they not someti their children, than about the real advantage and happiness of the children themselves? To an injudicious and superficial eye, the best educated girl ure, as she will probably have less flippancy in her manner, and less repartee in her expression; and her acquirements, to borrow bishop Sprat's idea, will be rather _enamelled than eed by all who couish It will be understood and admired by the man, whose happiness she is one day to overn, and whose children she is to educate He will not seek for her in the haunts of dissipation, for he knows he shall not find her there; but he will seek for her in the bosom of retirement, in the practice of every domestic virtue, in the exertion of every amiable accomplishhten the endearing pleasures of social intercourse, and to ehts To this a lady will dedicate hertheirls, who have htly figure in conversation But this agreeable talent for entertaining others, is frequently dangerous to theed very early in life This i, which will produce its effect in ination is touched sooner than the understanding; and effects are more rapid as they are more pernicious Conversation should be the _result_ of education, not the _precursor_ of it It is a golden fruit, when suffered to grow gradually on the tree of knowledge; but if precipitated by forced and unnatural means, it will in the end become vapid, in proportion as it is artificial

THE best effects of a careful and religious education are often very remote: they are to be discovered in future scenes, and exhibited in untried connexions Every event of life will be putting the heart into fresh situations, and rity, or its piety Those whose business it is to form it, can foresee none of these situations; yet, as far as human wisdom will allow, they must enable it to provide for them all, with an humble dependence on the divine assistance A well-disciplined soldier h he does not knohat service his leader may command him, by what foe he shall be attacked, nor what reat art of education consists in not suffering the feelings to beco, nor too obtuse by the want of exertion The former renders them the source of calamity, and totally ruins the temper; while the latter blunts and debases them, and produces a dull, cold, and selfish spirit For the h, will lose its sweetness, and if not enough strained, will abate of its vigour

HOW cruel is it to extinguish by neglect or unkindness, the precious sensibility of an open teenuous soul, and to quench the bright flaher worth than all the docues, which can be derived from the most refined and artificial mode of education

BUT sensibility and delicacy, and an ingenuous teue--they are reducible to no class--they co neither to languages nor to music--What an error! They _are_ a part of education, and of infinitely more value,

Than all their pedant discipline e'er knew

It is true, they are ranged under no class, but they are superior to all; they are of e of the heart, and thepassions Yet this sensibility is, incultivated, that it is not uncoacity, cast a senerous, or enthusiastic te; as much as to say, ”they will know better, and will have more discretion when they are older” But every appearance of amiable simplicity, or of honest shame, _Nature's hasty conscience_, will be dear to sensible hearts; they will carefully cherish every such indication in a young female; for they will perceive that it is this temper, wisely cultivated, which will one day make her enamoured of the loveliness of virtue, and the beauty of holiness: froion, and a spirit to perform the duties of it

And those ish totemper, and seek to dispossess her of it, will, it is to be feared, give her nothing better in exchange But whoever reflects at all, will easily discern how carefully this enthusiasm is to be directed, and how judiciously its redundances are to be lopped away

PRUDENCE is not natural to children; they can, however, substitute art in its stead But is it not irl should discover the faults incident to her age, than conceal them under this dark and impenetrable veil? I could alin the very errors of nature, where they are undisguised, than in the affectation of virtue itself, where the reality is wanting And I aies, that I am extremely apt to suspect them; and am always infinitely better pleased with Nature in her more common modes of operation The precise and preh to assuerous tendency than any of their natural failings can be, as it effectually covers those secret bad dispositions, which, if they displayed the virtues which are not inherent in the heart, prevents the growth and disclosure of those real ones, which it is the great end of education to cultivate

BUT if the natural indications of the tenostics, by which the state of the s, who did nothing in vain, doubtless intended thee of the diseases of the heart; and it is impossible diseases should be cured before they are known If the stream be so cut off as to prevent communication, or so choked up as to defeat discovery, how shall we ever reach the source, out of which are the issues of life?

THIS cunning, which, of all the different dispositions girls discover, isso much as by fear If those about theer at every trivial offence, it will always promote this temper, and will very frequently create it, where there was a natural tendency to frankness The indiscreet transports of rage, which ht occasion, and the little distinction they make between venial errors and premeditated crimes, naturally dispose a child to conceal, what she does not however care to suppress Anger in one will not remedy the faults of another; for how can an instruirl is kept in a state of perpetual and slavish terror, she will perhaps have artifice enough to conceal those propensities which she knows are wrong, or those actions which she thinks are most obnoxious to punishe those propensities, and to commit those actions, when she can do it with io but a very little way, unless they are confirood _principles_ And this cannot be effected but by a careful course of religious instruction, and a patient and laborious cultivation of the irls should not be treated with unkindness, nor the first openings of the passions blighted by cold severity; yet I a feree of restraint The natural cast of character, and the arded, even in childhood That bold, independent, enterprising spirit, which is so much admired in boys, should not, when it happens to discover itself in the other sex, be encouraged, but suppressed Girls should be taught to give up their opinions betimes, and not pertinaciously to carry on a dispute, even if they should know theht I do not mean, that they should be robbed of the liberty of private judged to contract a contentious or contradictory turn It is of the greatest importance to their future happiness, that they should acquire a sub spirit: for it is a lesson which the world will not fail to make them frequently practise, when they come abroad into it, and they will not practise it the worse for having learnt it the sooner These early restraints, in the li an effect of cruelty, that they are the most indubitable marks of affection, and are the more meritorious, as they are severe trials of tenderness But all the beneficial effects, which a mother can expect from this watchfulness, will be entirely defeated, if it is practised occasionally, and not habitually, and if it ever appears to be used to gratify caprice, ill-humour, or resentht to be extremely patient: it is indeed a labour of love They should reflect, that extraordinary talents are neither essential to the well-being of society, nor to the happiness of individuals If that had been the case, the beneficent Father of the universe would not have hty Creator to produce a Newton, as an ordinary man; and he could have made those powers common whichconsider as wonderful, without any miraculous exertion of his omnipotence, if the existence of many Newtons had been necessary to the perfection of his wise and gracious plan

SURELY, therefore, there isto improve the talents which children actually have, than in la that they do not possess supernatural endowe of Lord Bacon's furnishes an ad to carry the arace of charity to its farthest extent, instead of indulging an over-anxious care for more brilliant but less important acquisitions ”The desire of power in excess (says he) caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall; but in charity is no excess, neither can er by it”

A GIRL who has docility will seldoh for all the purposes of a social, a happy, and an useful life