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argument against using violent motives to excite attention; such motives frequently disturb and dissipate the very attention which they attempt to fix. If a child be threatened with severe punishment, or flattered with the promise of some delicious reward, in order to induce his performance of any particular task, he desires instantly to perform the task: but this desire will not ensure his success; unless he has previously acquired the habit of voluntary exertion, he will not be able to turn his mind from his ardent wishes, even to the means of accomplishing them. He will be in the situation of Alnaschar in the Arabian Tales, who, whilst he dreamt of his future grandeur, forgot his immediate business. The greater his hope or fear, the greater the difficulty of his employing himself. To teach any new habit or art, we must not employ any alarming excitements; small, certain, regularly recurring motives, which interest, but which do distract the mind, are evidently the best.

The ancient inhabitants of Minorca were said to be the best slingers in the world; when they were children, every morning what they were obliged to eat was slightly suspended to high poles, and they were obliged to throw down their breakfast with their slings from the places where they were suspended, before they could satisfy their hunger. The motive seems to have been here well proportioned any great misfortune to the effect that was required; it could not be to a boy to go without his breakfast; but as this motive returned every morning, it became sufficiently serious to the hungry slingers. It is impossible to explain this subject so as to be of use, without descending to minute particulars. When a mother says to her little daughter, as she places on the table before her a bunch of ripe cherries; "tell me, my dear, how many cherries are there, and I will give them to you;" the child's attention is fixed instantly; there is a sufficient motive, not a motive which excites any violent passions, but which raises just such a degree of hope as is necessary to produce attention. The little girl, if she knows from experience that her mother's promise will be kept, and that her own patience is likely to succeed, counts the cherries carefully, has her reward, and upon the next similar trial she will from this success be still more disposed to exert her attention. The pleasure of eating cherries, associated with the pleasure of success, will balance the pain of a few moments prolonged application; by degrees the cherries may be withdrawn, the association of pleasure will remain. Objects, or thoughts that have been associated with pleasure, retain the power of pleasing; as the needle touched by the loadstone acquires polarity, and retains it long after the loadstone is withdrawn.'

The authors extend the consideration of this part of the subject, by noticing the effect of varying the means of producing attention; and the great influence of high esteem and love for a tutor or a parent, in exciting the pupil or child to great mental exertions. In the subsequent part of the chapter, they proceed to apply the different excitements already enumerated to the characters of different pupils; and here they enter considerably into the detail of the management of these excitements, as ap

plicable

plicable to the timid or the presumptuous, the slow or the vi vacious pupil. Throughout this chapter, much good sense and sound judgment are manifested; and the necessity of a perse vering and long-continued attention, without which nothing great can be attained, and to which scarcely any human attainment is denied, are strongly inculcated.

Chap. 4th. SERVANTS. After having enumerated the various evils resulting to the mind, manners, and dispositions of children, from the society of servants, the authors propose to remedy these evils, either by having persons properly educated for the purpose of attending on children, or by excluding the latter altogether from the company of servants. While we acknowlege the justness of the reasoning here employed, and the propriety of the injunctions on this head, we cannot but lament that the state of society should present so many To have a obstacles to the execution of so laudable a plan. person properly educated to attend on children is within the reach of the affluent alone; and we fear that most of those parents, whose means do not allow of such a substitute for themselves, would deem a constant attendance on their chitdren too great a sacrifice of their own enjoyments.

Chap. 5th. ACQUAINTANCE. The authors enter on this chapter by ridiculing, with some humour, the absurd language and behaviour of visitors, who begin to talk nonsense to children as soon as they are introduced, to flatter their vanity by praising their pretty shoes, or pretty looks, and, instead of setting an example of proper enunciation, whine out an imitation of the child's half-formed sounds. After having noticed the folly of introducing children who may be thought clever, for the amusement of the company, and condemned the practice of attempting to try their capacities with quibbles and silly puzzles, the writers warn parents against the interference of friends and acquaintance in the education of their children; advising them to pursue, steadily, their own plans, without endeavouring to adapt their system to every fashionable change in opinion. Above all, it is recommended to the members of the family to agree entirely, if not in their sentiments, at least in their conduct towards the children under their care.

Chap. 6th. TEMPER. This chapter contains many excelJent obsérvations on the propriety of attending early and constantly to the management of the temper; and it is interspersed with several little anecdotes, illustrative of the prin ciple on which the authors would advise the nurse, the parent, and the tutor, to proceed.

Chap. 7. OBEDIENCE.' Here the authors insist on the necessity of creating habits of obedience; and that this is best

accom

accomplished by endeavouring to associate pleasure with those. first acts of obedience which we require of children; or, in other words, by commanding them to do such things as are agreeable to them; and, in the next place, by extending ourcommands to such things only as, we are certain, they are able to do since perseverance in enforcing our commands is essential towards creating habits of obedience:

SO.

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The means which have been pointed out for teaching the habit of obedience, must not be depended on for teaching any thing more than the mere habit. When children begin to reason, they do not act merely from habit; they will not be obedient at this age, unless their understanding is convinced that it is for their advantage to be Wherever we can explain the reasons for any of our requests, we should now attempt it; but whenever these cannot be fully explained, it is better not to give a partial explanation; it will be best to say steadily, "You cannot understand this now, you will perhaps understand it some time hence." Whenever we tell children; that we forbid them to do such and such things for any particular reason, we must take care that the reason assigned is adequate, and that it will in all cases hold good. For instance, if we forbid a boy to eat unripe fruit, because it will make him ill, and if afterwards the boy cat some unripe gooseberries without feeling ill in consequence of his disobedience, he will doubt the truth of the person who prohibited unripe fruit; he will rather trust his own partial experience than any assertions. The idea of hurting his health is a general idea which he does not yet comprehend. It is more prudent to keep him out of the way of unripe gooseberries, than to hazard at once his obedience and his integrity. We need not expatiate farther; the instance we have given may be readily applied to all cases in which children have it in their power to disobey with immediate impunity; and, what is still more dangerous, with the certainty of obtaining immediate pleasure. The gratification of their senses, and the desire of bodily exercise, ought never to be unnecessarily restrained. Our pupils should distinctly perceive that we wish to make them happy; and every instance, in which they discover that obedience has really made them happier will be more in our favour than all the lectures we could preach. From the past they will judge of the future; children who have for many years experienced, that their parents have exacted obedience only to such commands as proved to be ultimately wise and beneficial, will surely be disposed from habit, from gratitude, and yet more from prudence, to consult their parents in all the material ac tions of their lives.'

Obstinacy of temper is, in the opinion of the authors, almost wholly the creature of improper education; and therefore, though it be very difficult to cure this fault, it is very easily prevented. We frequently command a child to do that which, from not having acquired the full use of his limbs, he is unable immediately to execute; then, the efforts which he makes are painful to him. If we continue to importune or

force

force him to exert himself, the pain attendant on the exertion will be associated with the commands of those who govern him; and the child will thus be taught obstinacy. To correct this habit, the authors think that patience and good temper in the tutor will be more efficacious than any severity of corporal punishment, which is the remedy prescribed by Mr. Locke, and the use of which is confined by him to the case of obstinacy.

Chap. Sth. On TRUTH.' This chapter commences with some very sensible remarks on the impropriety of the method recommended by Rousseau, and others, for teaching truth by falsehood; and on the necessity of parents setting strict examples of truth in all their conversation, in public and private. The various causes are enumerated, which give birth in children to a propensity to falsehood, and the various means which are best calculated to create habits of truth. Among the former, the most prevalent and efficacious is fear. The influence of this passion, in disposing the mind to dissimulation, cunning, and falsehood, is exemplified in a few anecdotes respecting the Irish peasantry, (who are much exposed to oppression,) and in the conduct of the negroes in the West Indies. Particular caution, therefore, should be used by parents, in avoiding to call forth fear in opposition to the dictates of truth. For this reason, the authors adopt the recommendation of Rousseau, never to question children in any circumstances in which either fear or interest would lead them to deceive.

"We should at least," says he, "treat children with the same degree of wise lenity, which the English law extends to all who have arrived at years of discretion. No criminal is bound to accuse himself. If any mischief has been committed, we should never, when we are uncertain by whom it has been done, either directly accuse, or betray injurious suspicions. We should neither say to the child I believe you have done this, nor I believe you have not done this; we should say nothing; the mischief is done, we cannot repair it; because a glass is broken, we need not spoil a child; we may put glasses out of his reach in future. If it should, however, happen that a child voluntarily comes to us with a history of an accident, may no love of goods or chattels, of windows, of china, or even of looking-glasses, come in competition with our love of truth. An angry word, an angry look, may intimidate the child, who has summoned all his little courage to make this confession. It is not requisite that parents should pretend to be pleased and gratified with the destruction of their furniture; but they may, it is to be hoped, without dissimulation, shew that they set more value upon the integrity of their chil dren, than upon a looking-glass, and they will" keep their temper still though china fall."

For similar reasons, all injudicious restraints on eating, drinking, and exercise, should be avoided; as the tempta

tions

tions to break through these are frequently too strong for children to resist. Another temptation to falsehood is afforded to young minds by their love of praise; for they will frequently be tempted not only by the hope of obtaining well-earned praise, but by the desire of obtaining praise without the trouble of earning it-the best remedy for which is to inspire children with a generous contempt for flattery, and to teach them to judge impartially of their own merits. This part of the subject is illustrated by two or three anecdotes of children, who, from mere habits of truth, have rejected the praise which they did not deserve, but which they might have received.-The necessity of creating habits of truth is best proved by the great difficulty of curing habits of falsehood. In respect to the me thod of curing these habits, the authors slightly touch on the principles to be observed; the mode and means of their application must be left to the discretion of the tutor; it would have been an endless and an useless task to have entered into the detail of the subject in the present publication.

Chap. 9th. REWARDS and PUNISHMENTS.' This chapter commences by discussing the nature of punishment in general; and then applying it to the government of children. The authors consider the application of juvenile punishment, as directed almost altogether by the same principles which operate in the government of society. All writers on criminal law have insisted on the utility of immediate punishments. With respect to children, however, they are much more necessary than with respect to the offender against the laws of society; for, though with the latter the effect of punishment is weakened in proportion to the time which elapses between the commission of the crime and the conviction of the criminal; with children, the effect is wholly lost unless it be immediate; for it is impossible that they should understand the connection between the offence and the punishment, unless the one be immediately consequent on the other. The present authors likewise contend that, in order to render punishment intelligible to children, it must not only be immediately but repeatedly and uniformly associated with the actions which we wish them to avoid.-Another distinction to be observed in the nature of punishment, when applied to men in society, or to children in the nursery, is this; that, in the one, the object of punishment is simply the reformation of the offender; in the other, it is to afford an example to deter others from the commission of similar offences. In society, therefore, though ever so long an interval should occur between the commission of the offence and the conviction of the offender; and though, during that time, such a change should take place in the character of the offender, as would render him incapable

of