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The other day I paid a visit to a gentleman with whom, though greatly my superior in
fortune, I have long been in habits of an easy intimacy. He rose in the world by
honourable industry; and married, rather late in life, a lady to whom he had been
long attached, and in whom centered the wealth of several expiring families. Their
earnest wish for children was not immediately gratified. At length they were made
happy by a son, who, from the moment he was born, engrossed all their care and
attention. -- My friend received me in his library, where I found him busied in
turning over books of education, of which he had collected all that were worthy
notice, from Xenophon to Locke, and from Locke to Catherine Macauley. As he knows I
have been engaged in the business of instruction, he did me the honour to consult me
on the subject of his researches, hoping, he said, that, out of all the systems
before him, we should be able to form a plan equally complete and comprehensive; it
being the determination of both himself and his lady to choose the best that could
The first thing to be considered, with respect to education, is the object of it.
This appears to me to have been generally misunderstood. Education, in its largest
sense, is a thing of great scope and extent. It includes the whole process by which
a human being is formed to be what he is, in habits, principles, and cultivation of
every kind. But of this, a very small part is in the power even of the parent
himself; a smaller still can be directed by purchased tuition of any kind. You
engage for your child masters and tutors at large salaries; and you do well, for
they are competent to instruct him: they will give him the means, at least, of
acquiring science and accomplishments; but in the business of education, properly so
called, they can do little for you. Do you ask, then, what will educate your son?
Your example will educate him; your conversation with your friends; the business he
sees you transact; the likings and dislikings you express; these will educate him;
-- the society you live in will educate him; your domestics will educate him; above
all, your rank and situation in life, your house, your table, your pleasure-grounds,
your hounds
You are sensible of the advantages of simplicity of diet; and you make a point of
restricting that of your child to the plainest food, for you are resolved that he
shall not be nice. But this plain food is of the choicest quality, prepared by your
own cook; his fruit is ripened from your walls; his cloth, his glasses, all the
accompaniments of the table, are such as are only met with in families of opulence:
the very servants who attend him are neat, well dressed, and have a certain air of
fashion. You may call this simplicity; but I say he will be nice, -- for it is a
kind of simplicity which only wealth can attain to, and which will
I would not be understood to inveigh against wealth, or against the enjoyments of it; they are real enjoyments, and allied to many elegancies in manners and in taste; -- I only wish to prevent unprofitable pains and inconsistent expectations.
You are sensible of the benefit of early rising; and you may, if you please, make it
a point that your daughter shall retire with her governess, and your son with his
tutor, at the hour when you are preparing to see company. But their sleep, in the
first place, will not be so sweet and undisturbed amidst the rattle of carriages,
and the glare of tapers glancing through the rooms, as that of the village child in
his quiet cottage, protected by silence and darkness; and moreover, you may depend
upon it, that as the coercive power of education is laid aside, they will in a few
months slide into the habitudes of the rest of the family, whose hours are
determined by their company and situation in life. You have, however, done
There is nothing which has so little share in education as direct precept. To be convinced of this, we need only reflect that there is no one point we labour more to establish with children, than that of their speaking truth; and there is not any in which we succeed worse. And why? Because children readily see we have an interest in it. Their speaking truth is used by us as an engine of government -- "Tell me, my dear child, when you have broken any thing, and I will not be angry with you." "Thank you for nothing," says the child; "if I prevent you from finding it out, I am sure you will not be angry:" and nine times out of ten he can prevent it. He knows that, in the common intercourses of life, you tell a thousand falsehoods. But these are necessary lies on the important occasions.
Your child is the best judge how much occasion he has to tell a lie: he may have as
great occasion for it, as you have to conceal a bad piece of news from a sick
friend, or to hide your vexation from an unwelcome visitor. That authority which
extends its claims over every action, and even every thought, which insists upon an
answer to every interrogation, however indiscreet or oppressive to the feelings,
will, in young or old,
I do not mean to assert, that sentiments inculcated in education have no influence;
-- they have much, though not the most: but it is the sentiments we let drop
occasionally, the conversation they overhear when playing unnoticed in a corner of
the room, which has an effect upon children; and not what is addressed directly to
them in the tone of exhortation. If you would know precisely the effect these set
discourses have upon your child, be pleased to reflect upon that which a discourse
from the pulpit, which you have reason to think merely professional, has upon you.
Children have almost an intuitive discernment between the maxims you bring forward
for their use, and those by which you direct your own conduct. Be as cunning as you
will, they are always more cunning than you. Every child knows whom his father and
mother love and see with pleasure, and whom they dislike; for whom they think
them-
Education, it is often observed, is an expensive thing. It is so; but the paying for
lessons is the smallest part of the cost. If you would go to the price of having
your son a worthy man, you must be so yourself; your friends, your servants, your
company must be all of that stamp. Suppose this to be the case, much is done: but
there will remain circumstances which perhaps you cannot alter, that will still have
their effect. Do you
In the exploded doctrine of sympathies, you are directed, if you have cut your
finger, to let that alone, and put your plaster upon the knife. This is very bad
doctrine, I must confess, in philosophy; but very good in morals. Is a man
luxurious, self-indulgent? do not apply your
What then is the result? In the first place, that we should contract our ideas of
education, and expect no more from it than it is able to perform. It can give
instruction. There will always be an essential difference between a human being
cultivated and uncultivated. Education can provide proper instructors in the various
arts and sciences, and portion out to the best advantage those precious hours of
youth which never will return. It can likewise give, in a great degree,
Do we see a father who is diligent in his profession, domestic in his habits, whose
house is the resort of well-informed intelligent people -- a mo-
Are children then to be neglected? Surely not: but having given them the instruction
and accomplishments which their situation in life requires, let us reject
superfluous solicitude, and trust that their characters will form themselves
But the education of your house, important as it is, is only a part of a more
comprehensive system. Providence takes your child where you leave him. Providence
continues his education upon a larger scale, and by a process which includes means
far more efficacious. Has your son entered the world at eighteen, opinionated,
haughty, rash, inclined to dissipation? Do not despair; he may yet be cured of these
faults, if it pleases Heaven. There are remedies which you could not persuade
yourself to use, if they were in your power, and which are specific in cases of this
kind. How often do we see the presumptuous, giddy youth, changed into the wise
counsellor, the considerate, steady friend! How often the thoughtless, gay girl,
into the sober wife, the affectionate mother! Faded beauty, humbled
self-consequence, disappointed ambition, loss of fortune, -- this is the rough
physic provided by Providence to meliorate the temper, to correct the offensive
petulancies of youth, and bring out all the energies of the finished character.
Afflictions soften the proud; difficulties push forward the ingenious; successful
industry gives consequence and credit, and develops a thousand latent good
qualities. There is no malady of the mind so in-
States are educated as individuals -- by circumstances: the prophet may cry aloud,
and spare not; the philosopher may descant on morals; eloquence may exhaust itself
in invective against the vices of the age: these vices will certainly follow certain
states of poverty or riches, ignorance or high civilisation. But what these gentle
alteratives fail of doing, may be accomplished by an unsuccessful war, a loss of
trade, or any of those great calamities by which it pleases Providence to speak to a
nation, in such language as