EDUCATION. and precision in proportion as progress is made in a correct system of mental philosophy. TILL within the last few years, the idea commonly entertained with respect to general elementary education, comprehended only certain branches of instruction While fully acknowledging the difficulty under which familiarly known by the terms reading, writing, and every candid writer on education must lie, the present arithmetic. A liberal' education added ancient and would humbly endeavour to make the nearest approach modern languages and mathematics. Such formed to a correct system which his views of the natural chathe entire round of accomplishments which were sup-racter of the human being will admit of. He considers posed, with the accident-directed moral training of the the race as exhibiting a definite mental constitution, in domestic circle, to be sufficient to fit the youth of all its parts harmonising with the surrounding universe. even the highest classes for entering upon the varied He considers this constitution as embracing a variety duties of life. Nor was this scanty education thought of faculties, for sensation and action, which it is the requisite for all. A vast class was allowed to exist business of the educator to awaken, strengthen, and without the least tincture of school learning of any regulate, so that each person may arrive at the best kind, as not being supposed to require any knowledge condition of which his character is susceptible, and beyond that which immediately fitted them for the labo- most thoroughly fulfil the design of his being in all its rious duties by which they earned their bread. various respects. He views, in the first place, the faculties of the physical frame as requiring to be duly exercised, so as to bring them to the utmost limit of their native power and health. Of the mental system, he views those faculties which constitute the intellectual powers as requiring to be drawn out, exercised, and instructed, so that they may operate readily and efficiently for all the various purposes which they are designed to serve; and those, again, which constitute the moral feelings as calling for the exertion upon them of all external moral influences-at the head of which stands the revealed will of God with regard to human destiny-in order that the best possible state of feeling may be attained with regard both to the affairs of the present and to a future state of existence. Upon these views of man's character a scheme of education may be founded, which rational persons, as yet unprepossessed by other notions, will, he thinks, generally acknowledge as accordant with common sense, however unprepared they may be to trace it to its foundation. He will therefore, without further preface, proceed to describe such a scheme, adopting the appropriate divisions into physical, moral, and intellectual, and combining, as far as his space permits, practical directions with what may be called the philosophy of the subject. The active period which has elapsed since the conclusion of the last war (1815), has been distinguished by nothing more than by the enlargement of our ordinary ideas with respect to education. It may be said to be now universally acknowledged that all-all, from the peer to the peasant-ought to be educated, however there may still be differences of opinion as to the means of educating, and what education should consist of. It is also generally admitted that reading, writing, and arithmetic, even when effectually taught, constitute but a branch of education, being merely instrumentary accomplishments, the acquirement and cultivation of which tend in a certain degree to improve the intellect. The study of the ancient classical languages, while still admitted by candid persons to be also a means of improving the intellect, is now no longer upheld, excepting by a few, as the grand instrument of liberal education, the character in which it was generally regarded a few years ago. It is now seen that this study gives to the youth of the middle and upper classes but a portion, and in many instances not the most requisite portion, of what they should know on entering the world. The old elements of education may therefore be said to have sunk from their former character of all-sufficiency, and to have now taken their place as only parts of a complete education. The primary meaning of the term educate, from the Latin educare, to lead or bring out, does not ill express the first great principle of the science. It may be held to assume that the human being is naturally in a comparatively rude and inert condition, and that external forces must be applied to draw forth his faculties into their full activity and power, and bring them to their highest degree of refinement and nicety of application. This is, in reality, a large part of the business of education, taking even the widest view of its purposes. A full definition would further include the regulation and discipline of those moral feelings on which our actions are mainly dependent, and also the communication of such sections of knowledge as the circumstances and prospects of individuals may render necessary. Before correct views can be entertained with regard to education, or proper steps can be taken for working it out in practice, it is obvious that a distinct notion ought to be attained as to the character of the being to be educated. Man is this being; but the question what is man?' is one to which science does not yet enable us to give an answer that all would acknowledge as right. For this reason it is totally impossible for any writer to present a theory of education which would be generally received as a perfect science. The subject must needs partake of the obscurity and uncertainty which as yet rest upon at least the mental character of man; and it will only advance in clearness No. 86. PHYSICAL EDUCATION.. The object of physical education is to insure, as far as possible, that sound and vigorous frame of body which, while all must feel it to be one of the greatest of blessings, appears to be an essential concomitant of a sound condition of the mind itself. Physical education comes into operation before any other department, for one of its first concerns is to take care that the human being shall be brought into the world in the enjoyment of a perfect organisation. The mother is here the educator. She is required, during pregnancy, to order her life, with respect to food, dress, and all other habits, according to certain rules, found to be conducive to the welfare of her future offspring. Judicious medical men recommend that at this time the food taken should not greatly differ from what is taken at other times. The dress should be loose and easy. Moderate exercise should be regularly, as far as possible, indulged in; and it is of the greatest consequence, that while ordinary duties are attended to, a quiet, cheerful, and easy state of mind should be maintained. Departure from these rules, indulgence in late or otherwise irregular hours, and exposure to the excitements produced by violent passions, or the frivolities of fashionable life, are calculated to occasion deplorable effects on the being yet to be brought into the world. INFANCY.-The physical education of an infant involves simply the means of keeping it in health. For this purpose nature has made one signal provision, in 561 the tenderness which she has infused into the female | aired nursery, and occasional walks out of doors, proheart-a feeling which insures an unfailing kindness tection from all injuries through the medium of the towards the young. But something besides kindness is nurse and otherwise, and the muscular exercise of required to rear children successfully. It is necessary which its system is capable. (1)* that those who have the duty of nursing the young, whether mothers or substitutes for mothers, should have some knowledge of the physiology of the infant body, or at least be acquainted with the rules of management which result from such a knowledge. The sad effects of ignorance on this subject are sufficiently conspicuous; for we cannot doubt that, of the great mortality of the young (about four-tenths of them dying under five years of age), much is owing to erroneous methods pursued in the nursery. CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, AND MANHOOD.-Physical education ought to be continued till the body is brought to the utmost degree of perfection, in all its functions, of which it is capable. The improvement of all the systems and functions of the body may be called the education of these systems and functions; hence recent writers on the subject speak of the education of the skin, the education of the lungs, of the digestive organs, of the muscular frame, of the brain. In a former number of this work-that on the PREHere the leading rules only can be indicated. An SERVATION OF HEALTH (No. 45)—most of the matters infant should never be plunged into cold water, or which fall under Physical Education are carefully exposed in any other way to cold, because, the circu-treated. By reverting to that paper, the reader will lation being comparatively languid in the infant sub- find of how much importance must be the formation ject, he can less endure cold than grown-up persons; of habits of bodily cleanliness, seeing that the skin is and an attempt to produce hardiness may only under- a system which only can have a healthy function when mine health. It is of the greatest consequence that an it is thoroughly free from impurities, and that nothing infant should be kept constantly clean and dry, that is more indispensable for general soundness than the its hours be early and regular, and itself be as far as particular health of this part of our frame. In the same possible habituated to a periodic recurrence of all its paper, the value of a due supply of pure air for the wants. The mother's milk is the most appropriate health of the respiratory organs is insisted on; as also food; next, that of a nurse about the same time con- the proper regulation of the appetite for food. The fined; next, cow's milk warmed and diluted. Farina- education of the muscular system implies a competent ceous, or any other kind of solid food, is unsuitable to knowledge of the structure, attachment, and conditions the stomach of an infant under six months old. A child of action of the muscles; the operation of arterial blood ought, if possible, to be nursed about eight months, and and nervous influence on the muscles, and other matters, somewhat longer if weakly, or when the period of eight for which we refer to our number (8) entitled ANIMAL months terminates in the dead of winter. After weaning, PHYSIOLOGY-THE HUMAN BODY. the food should be farinaceous-that is, of substances composed of grain, potatoes, arrowroot, &c. Animal food should be avoided till the period of infancy may be considered as nearly at an end, and even then it should be of the tenderest fibre, and administered in very simple forms and moderate quantities. The food and general habits of the nurse are of great and direct importance. The child is immediately dependent in all respects upon the person who suckles it; thrives with that person, and also declines with her; suffers when she suffers, and is well when she is well. So remarkably is this the case, that an act so simple on her part as the taking of a hasty draught of cold water, will probably give the infant a stomach-ache within two hours. It is therefore of the greatest consequence to the welfare of the young, that those from whom they draw their sustenance should observe all the rules proper to their condition. A nurse should live a quiet and regular, but not inactive life, using simple wholesome diet, avoiding stimulating drinks, and preserving, as far as possible, a cheerful mind. Fermented liquors, as porter and ale, are only to be resorted to when her strength would otherwise sink under exhaustion of her system. In ordinary health, a light beer is perhaps the most suitable beverage. For the due development of the muscular system of an infant, its dress should sit light and easy upon its person, and its limbs should be allowed free play on all possible occasions. The restless movements of an infant, the tossing about of its head, arms, and limbs, are to be considered as merely impulses of nature, directing it to exercise, and consequently strengthen, its muscular system. These movements should therefore be rather encouraged than repressed. Care should be taken that it is not too soon allowed to bear its own weight, as the natural consequence is bending the as yet soft bones of the legs, which may thus become deformed for life. Whenever a child of proper age is unable to bear its own weight, or walk without this effect following, we may be sure that its general health is defective; and it is a more immediate and pressing duty to take measures for remedying this defect, than to attempt to keep the limbs straight by mechanical appliances. Under this branch of physical education falls all the science of exercise-walking, riding, running, leaping, swinging, skating, dancing, fencing, cricket, ball-play, &c. The importance of these to health, in the full development of the muscles and improvement of the frame, has long been known, and by some nations steadily practised. The perfect forms of the Greeks and Persians were the result of this branch of educa tion receiving a large share of national attention. Ample provision for such exercises should be made in all seminaries of education, infant and more advanced. What are strictly called gymnastics are more violent and trying than any we have mentioned, consisting of climbing poles, leaping bars, swinging by the hands, and maintaining difficult positions. These require much caution in the watchful educator, and should not be allowed in slender and weakly boys. They ought not to be overdone by any youth whatever, seeing that, even in the robust, strains and ruptures have been occasioned by them. (See GYMNASTICS, No. 95.) MORAL EDUCATION. The training of our moral nature for the due performance of our part as members of society, is that branch of education which the great majority of those who have reflected on the subject consider as by far the most important. It is a great mistake to suppose that this is a branch which the advocates of improvements in education have generally overlooked. As far as we have observed, all but a small sect of this class of philanthropists acknowledge its paramountcy. This is the part of education which, in a national system, would call for the most attention, because, while degrees of intellectual attainment are proper for different classes of men, there is no class of whom it can be said, that a right and perfect moral development is not of the utmost consequence both to themselves and the society of which they form a part. Beside such a benefit, that of an acquaintance with the mere elements of literature sinks into insignificance. There is no need, * The numbers introduced in this manner refer to volumes of Chambers's Educational Course, according to a list (as far as The general health of an infant may be described, in published) given at the close of the section Intellectual Edua word, as to be secured (supposing a good constitution cation.' It will be understood that the volume referred to either at first) by food appropriate to its organs, warmth, treats that department of the theory and practice of education cleanliness, regularity in sleep and other wants, a well-fully, or is a school-book in which the subject is embodied. however, to exalt any department of education at the expense of another. It may be true that intellectual development is not expressly moral development; but it must be clear to every candid person that the refinement and expansion of mind obtained from intellectual culture are favourable to the moral nature. A thinking man is not on that account likely to be the less a virtuous man; else much of our common observations of life must be a blindness and delusion. We would therefore say, let no department of education be considered as calling for exclusive or disproportionate cultivation; but let all go on in harmony together. Moral education can have no definition from us but the development and regimen of the moral nature of those who are to be educated. Of the perplexity which attends this part of our being, it is unnecessary to speak. Let us only see if we can settle upon any principles by which it may be beneficially affected. It appears to include a variety of native feelings, of various strength and tendency to activity in every different person, yet all of them liable to be acted upon by appropriate external means, to good as well as to evil. In a mind totally untrained, the good dispositions are not without some energy; but generally, where there is a want of regulation of the feelings, and of certain principles to which the character of emotions and actions may be referred as to a standard, the moral being is a scene of deplorable confusion-the more so, of course, in instances where there is a considerable natural endowment of the inferior feelings. We have then the coarse, sensual, and selfish conduct which has been the mark of the rude and uneducated throughout all ages. On the other hand, we cannot doubt that many natures, not originally of a high cast, thrown under influences which tended to check the less worthy tendencies, to strengthen and develop the good, and to induce regularity over all, must have been thereby enabled to pass through life in a creditable manner, if not with some higher result less open to observation. One principle thus strikes us at the outset as of very great consequence-namely, the circumstances, or, so to speak, the moral atmosphere, in which the being to be educated is placed. It is but matter of every-day observation, that a child reared amidst gross scenes, where no restraint is imposed upon any of the feelings by those around him, will prove, in all likelihood, a very different being from one brought up amidst virtuous and gentle people. Such a difference, we cannot doubt, would exist even where no attempt has been made by the latter parties to fashion the moral character of the young creature committed to their charge. It is exactly a difference of this nature which exists between the youths native to the vale of the Missouri (or those of the not less savage classes which social circumstances produce in most great cities) and those of civilised countries in general: circumstances decide the one set to be barbarians, and the other to be tolerably wellbehaved persons. This education of circumstances, though so powerful, is unfortunately not always within the command of well-meaning parents. Individuals are here generally able to do little of themselves, if the persons by whom they are necessarily surrounded be not of the character that is desirable. Thus it often happens that a poor though well-disposed man is obliged to live in a part of a city where his children can only breathe moral contamination; and we can scarcely imagine a greater hardship. Yet these are just reasons why every effort should be made to promote a universal improvement of society; and it must rarely happen that some arrangements cannot be made, of a character likely to operate favourably on the young persons who are the objects of care. We would here impress the importance of removing temptation as much as possible out of the way of young persons. There is a notion amongst some that a little temptation is not amiss, as a means of training the young to withstand greater assaults. But this is, we are convinced, an ill-founded doctrine, and most fatal policy. It is of the nature of every one of our feelings to be awakened into activity by the presentation of its appropriate object; and it is the equally natural result, that the frequent activity promotes the power and the tendency to activity of those feelings. By presenting, then, what are called temptations, we are taking a direct means of educating and strengthening the inclinations towards error. On the contrary, a feeling allowed to lie dormant, loses in power, and becomes always less and less liable to act. There is perhaps a confusion of ideas at the bottom of the objectionable theory. The true plan seems to be to remove all actual temptation, but to give the intellect and the moral feelings proper warning against all such dangers, and thus prepare them for resistance when the time of unavoidable trial arrives. We would say, then, do not allow the young to see or touch evil things, or even to be in company where such things are to be spoken lightly of, from an idea that they are thus to be hardened against temptation. Be content to inspire a salutary horror of such things by your own report, if you only are so fortunate as to be able to keep your young charge exempt from positive contact with what is discommendable. An error may of course be committed in speaking too strongly against what you disapprove of, in which case the young person no sooner discovers the exaggeration, than, from a principle of contradiction, he is inclined to embrace the vice. But discretion will save from this mistake. Upon the whole, it may be set down as a most important rule in education, to reduce temptation within the smallest possible bounds. Nearly connected with the education of circumstances is the education of example. Here personal conduct in the educating party is all in all. Children are remarkably disposed to imitation. They imitate instinctively, without having necessarily any discrimination of the character of the act which they are imitating. The general nature of their conduct is therefore ruled very much by the nature of the conduct presented to their observation. So much is this the case, that if a child be carefully watched, he will be observed to contract a tendency to scolding and beating, from that very discipline by which, most erroneously, an endeavour is made to correct his errors. It must obviously, then, be of the greatest importance that the demeanour and general actions of the educator, and of the family in which a child is reared, should be models of all that is proper. Just the more amiable and correct in all respects that this conduct is, so will the young be the more likely to form those habits which their best friends could wish. We will not pause to consider the effect which a positively vicious course of life is calculated to have on such of the young as witness it. The kind of bad example which we have here a chance of helping to abolish, is that which shows itself in acts far within the circle of positive vice. Such are the use of offensive and uncivil language, wranglings, domineering, low and sordid habits of all kinds. If parents and the other grown-up members of a family do not restrain themselves from all such acts in the presence of children, there cannot be a doubt that the children will likewise be addicted to them. It may be a somewhat startling doctrine, but we nevertheless declare our full conviction that there is not the least need for ever using, in the presence of or towards children, any language which might not be addressed by a well-bred person to a perfect equal. All ordering, dragooning, scolding, and, much more, all violence, exerted for the purpose of managing, or punishing a child, are unmitigated errors and evils. A child has feelings to be wounded and roused up into contradiction by harsh usage, as well as any grown-up person; and it is well known that such means are not serviceable for gaining any end with our fellow-creatures. A civil request, if reasonable, will succeed with a child as with a man. Gentle and respectful language gain as much upon an uncorrupted child's nature as upon a man's. Such treatment can have no chance of spoiling a young person: it will only tend to his advancement as a rational well-bred being, instead of making him a wrangler or a tyrant. The preceptive part of moral education, though the lowest in power, is not to be overlooked. A good maxim or a sound advice, well-timed, and made thoroughly intelligible and thoroughly acceptable, will rarely fail to have a good effect. Even supposing it to be little regarded at the time, it may remain in the memory, and come into play on some future occasion, when perhaps more necessary than now. In such moral seeds there is a vitality like that of the seeds of plants, which may have been buried too deep for germination for thousands of years, and yet, when placed in the proper circumstances, visited by sap and heat, will send up as goodly specimens of their kind as if they had been shed from a parent stem of last year's growth. It will therefore be proper, from time to time, to inculcate moral lessons appropriate to the capacity of the child. This may be done directly, by giving good maxims to be learned by heart; but it will be done better by means of narratives showing the virtues in action. This is because a child much more readily apprehends a series of incidents than an abstract truth. It will also be well to allow the simple narration, in the first place, to be received into his mind, and then to allow himself, if possible, to make out the moral. Call his own moral feelings, as far as may be, into judgment upon the case, and only tell him whether he is right or wrong, till he fully comprehends it in all its bearings. Thus his own good feelings, as well as his judgment, are brought into exercise, and thus a far deeper impression is made than if the whole case, including the moral, were merely related to him. (7) It is a duty of preceptive education to warn against and check evil, as well as to inculcate good. When anything wrong is done, we but imperfectly correct it by saying, Don't do that,' or inflicting censure or punishment. It is necessary that we should convince the understanding and move the feelings of the child to a sense of the impropriety of his conduct. This may be done by mild argument and illustration, calling upon himself ultimately to say whether such conduct is commendable or not, and whether it ought to be repeated or avoided. He thus becomes judge upon his own case, and is forced to condemn himself, where, if condemned by others, his opposive feelings might have only presented resistance and defiance. At some schools, including those for infants, it has been found possible to impress such lessons by means of a kind of trial, the school fellows being the jury. The case is stated to the assembled children: they are asked to say if such conduct is right or wrong. They invariably give a sound decision, and the effect is most powerful. Obdurate natures, to which a reprimand from master or parent would at the moment be as nothing or worse, are found unable to resist the force of the public opinion of their own society -as is every day found to be the case with grown-up people, such being, in fact, a law of human nature. Circumstances, example, precept, are all inferior in effect to Training, which is more particularly the novel feature of modern education. This principle may be said to have its natural basis in the law of habit. It is indicated in the text, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it;' and in the maxim, 'Just as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined.' We are so constituted, that when accustomed to do anything, we do it almost without the governance of our will or judgment. We do it easily, and generally well. If accustomed, for instance, to a particular class of intellectual operations, we acquire a facility in going through them which generally strikes others with wonder. If accustomed to the exercise of a particular class of feelings, be they good or bad, they in time awake unprompted, and we become their almost passive instruments. To habituate the feelings to the exercise and regulation which is productive of the best results, constitutes moral training. * The Moral Class-Book, here referred to, supplies a variety of narratives, showing the virtues in action, together with a selection of moral maxims from Scripture and other sources. The feelings are of very various character. Proceeding upon Dr Gall's description of them, which seems to us to be the best, we find the first class described as selfish, yet necessary for the preservation of the individual and the species; others directed to objects apart from self, yet as liable also to misdirection and abuse. It seems altogether a strangely-mingled web, yet not without a certain definiteness of constitutional arrange. ment and of purpose. Here it may be at once admitted, as a fact not less obvious from philosophical inquiry than from revelation, that perfection in the complicated operations of our moral nature is not to be looked for. It is equally certain, however, that there are influences which may act advantageously in regulating, directing, and harmonising these operations. The selfish or lower feelings are the first in the individual to call for attention, and they may therefore be first treated in this place. That early developed instinct which regards food is so liable to be over-indulged by a mistaken kindness, that we feel particularly called upon to give a warning with regard to it. The unavoidable effect of such over-indulgence is to produce pampering and fastidious habits, equally degrading to the moral as they are dangerous to the physical system. The food of the young should never be otherwise than simple, if we were merely to regard their health; still more should it be so, if we would preserve in them manly and hardy habits. On the rare occasions when a little treat is afforded, care should of course be taken that it is of a nature in all respects harmless. Comfits should be few and far between, if ever given at all; and rewards and punishments should never have reference to edible things. As to liquor of any kind, such as men are themselves but too much accustomed to indulge in, certainly one drop should never enter the lips of a young person on any pretext whatever. There are few sights more distressing to a reflecting mind, than that of parents handing the so fatal winecup to their children. The quantity of food given to the young should never be stinted from penurious or ascetic motives; but it is very certain that great errors are committed in giving too much and too frequently. Eating is altogether much a matter of habit, and that with regard to quantity as well as quality. The amount actually required for the efficient support of the system is, under natural circumstances, not great: it is generally much exceeded. There is therefore room for a judicious restriction, within the range of common practice. It is but a result of the general law, that a systematic moderation at this period of life will lead to an easily - maintained temperance in future days, and thus be productive of the greatest blessings. The combative and destructive dispositions of chil dren are also early manifested. The great activity of these faculties in boys is particularly remarkable, being shown as much in a wild spirit of adventure, for innecent objects, but often leading into danger, as in any direct form of violence. The superabundant vitality of this period of life seems to be a cause, or at least a necessary accompaniment, of the energy of these faculties. No peril intimidates; little compunction is felt in dealing with either man or beast. In all this there is no doubt a good end in view; but it still remains for the educator to regulate these dispositions. The contendative spirit may be directed to the overcoming of difficult tasks, the taking of energetic exercise, and the visiting of places and objects the examination of which may be useful. The other feeling, instead of being allowed to show itself in rage, passion, and resentment, to inflict pain on harmless animals, to torture or oppress companions, or take delight in defacing and destroying inanimate and perhaps ornamental or useful objects, may be trained to reserve actual manifestations of its energy for objects clearly noxious. It is to be lamented that education, as heretofore, and still in many places, conducted, rather tends to foster than to regulate or moderate this propensity. The old notion, that to be able to fight is essential to a youth, still, we fear, in some measure guides directors of education, at least so far as to induce their taking | improved principles, where the most lively mutual conlittle pains to prevent scenes of outrage where only youthful good-humour and kindness should prevail. The oppressive system of fagging is also still, to the disgrace of our age, allowed in some of our public seminaries. It is well, no doubt, that he who is to find life a thorny and difficult path, should not enter it with too gentle or timid dispositions; but surely it is not impossible to draw a distinction between quarrels, blows, and tyranny, and the encouragement of a spirit sufficiently manly and energetic for all the common needs of our social existence. The first object of the educator with regard to these feelings, ought to be to impress the lesson that their exercise is good or bad just as they have good or bad objects in view-that they must in all cases be under the guidance of the moral sentiments and judgment. The pupils should be trained to check every impulse of these feelings which they are conscious has not a legitimate object in view, and only to allow them any freedom when careful reflection has satisfied them that such a course is entitled to the entire sanction of the moral law. Particular regard should be paid to the suppression of the spirit of wanton cruelty, of malice, of revenge, of uncharitableness. And one important means of working out these ends will be to allow no example of harshness, cruelty, or quarrelsomeness ever to appear before the eyes of the young. It is very desirable that those who conduct schools in which the children of the humbler classes are educated, should address themselves particularly to the formation of habits favourable to humanity. Large sections of the humbler classes, particularly those who have anything to do with animals, are habitually cruel. Much might be done to mitigate this distressing characteristic by carefully impressing at school the wickedness involved in every description of cruelty to animals. fidence exists between the masters and their pupils, and on the part of the pupils towards each other, with the best effects on all hands. Honour is thus so habitually observed, that the desks containing the little property, letters, &c. of the pupils need no locks. There is much evil in families from children being brought up in non-confidential habits with their parents and with each other. The family parlour and table should be a scene where all can unfold their ordinary thoughts without fear of censure or ridicule. It is the best means of insuring that the young people will act with the concurrence of their parents, when they come to take any of the more serious steps of life. The acquisitive feeling requires much more educational care than it has usually received. We need not detain the reader with an exposition of the legitimate use of this faculty, which prompts man to accumulate or store up the goods of life, for regular instead of precarious use. To this impulse capital owes its existence, without which there could be no civilisation. The Author of our being has stamped importance on this faculty, by the strength of the propensity. None more requires modification, regulation, and right direction. It is often too strong for conscientiousness, and is the source of by far the largest amount of crime. But, besides this, it is even with the honest too much manifested in abuse. Its objects are made the paramount pursuit of life, and in its intense selfishness it withers to dust every generous and kindly feeling of the heart. In a commercial country like our own, it deeply degrades a large proportion of the community, and leads to much individual and social suffering. These evils are the consequences of the natural strength of this feeling, the absence of regulating education, and the presence of positive mis- education. Selfish and exclusive appropriation of desirable things, either to eat or hoard, is a lesson taught the youngest, both by precept and example; and there is none more easily learned. Here bribery operates, till infant morality becomes mere matter of barter, and good conduct and attentive study are estimated by the infant merchant by what they will bring. Perhaps we err in so soon introducing children to the use of money; it is at least desirable that they should not be accustomed too soon, or at any time, to an engrossing sense of its value and importance. It is well to accustom them to take care of anything that is their own, but not to set too great store by their little possessions, or to be too exclusive in the use of them. A habit of scrupulous regard to the distinction between mine and thine, is one which cannot be too early formed, at the same time that children are accustomed to make a generous use of whatever is their own. Self-esteem and love of praise or approbation are early awakened feelings, and the more call for regulation that they are so liable to be called into exercise by the procedure of education itself. Here it is parti The secretive disposition calls for a large share of attention from those who would bring up a child well. This tendency of our nature appears to have a legitimate operation in dictating such a reserve as may be necessary for the restraint of our ordinary feelings, where their expression would be disagreeable or mischievous; but it is liable to great abuse, and particularly amongst the young. The first impulse of all unregulated minds, young and old, is to conceal the truth, if such expedient seem calculated to save them any harm or inconvenience. It is only when the greater evil of lying is thoroughly understood that this tendency ceases. It becomes, therefore, of great consequence to check the first instances that are observed in the young of a disposition to conceal the truth for selfish or base purposes, and to seek to establish principles and habits of a contrary character. For this end nothing is so necessary as a mild and just treatment of children under all circumstances, seeing that when severity or injustice is to be apprehended, a direct and far too great temptation is given for secretive conduct. It is difficult to legislate between the evils of blab-cularly important to keep in mind what are the legitibing, and the equally notorious evils of a habitual system of conspiring for the concealment of truths which conscientiousness would direct being told. There can be little doubt that the 'don't tell' practices of the nursery and school are calculated to implant and foster the seeds of disingenuousness in the youthful mind. Yet it is not less true, that to encourage a tale-bearing habit would be destructive to all manly and honourable feeling. Here caution, judgment, and a careful discrimination of cases, must be the chief guides of the educator. We would for our part deem it a duty to lean as much as possible to the principle of having the truth told at all hazards. The educator may do much by a rigid system of inspection, and omitting no opportunity of breaking up all confederacies against the truth. As he never will allow shirking, if he can help it, so also he will never, on his own part, be guilty of the meanness of winking. The more open and candid his own conduct in all his relations towards his pupils, the better will it be for them. There exists a school on mate uses of these feelings. A well-regulated selfesteem obviously gives that confidence in ourselves and our powers which is necessary for all our efforts in life; while a moderate regard to the opinions of others is useful in prompting to such efforts, and in restraining us from many displays of caprice and absurdity to which we should otherwise be liable. It will of course be well to encourage these feelings, as far as they tend to give necessary confidence, and to maintain a decent regard for character in the world, but no further. Their vices, pride and vanity, too much reliance upon self, and too abject a regard to the world's opinion, are to be sedulously guarded against. In the procedure of education, they are so readily available as means of stimulating to exertion, and encouraging good (that is, not troublesome) behaviour, that it is not surprising that they are so extensively made use of for those purposes. The whole system of place-taking, prizes, medals, &c. is founded on them. It cannot be doubted that educators are thus guilty in many instances of |