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THOUGHTS 
 
 DOMESTIC EDUCATION, 
 
 RESULT OF EXPERIENCE. 
 
 BY A MOTHER. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "ALWAYS HAPPY," " CLAUDINE," " HINTS ON THE 
 SOURCES OF HAPPINESS," &C. &C. 
 
 If a mother has any skill in any accomplishment, she will, for the first 
 years of her daughters' life, be undoubtedly the best person to instruct 
 them. Edgeworth: 
 
 BOSTON : 
 PUBLISHED BY CARTER & HENDEE 
 
 1829. 
 
 L. 
 

 PRINTED BY PEIRCE AND WILLIAMS. 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 The Author of the following work once asked the 
 father of a numerous family, if he had read the admirable 
 publications of Miss Hamilton and Miss Edgeworth on 
 Education ? 
 
 He dryly answered, " I would read them, were they 
 the compositions of a Mrs. Hamilton and a Mrs. Edge- 
 worth." 
 
 As he was a man of sound judgment and considerable 
 experience, his remark made a deep impression, and first 
 elicited the idea of a maternal work on the subject. The 
 Author immediately commenced her memoranda of all 
 she tried and all she effected. The following pages are 
 the result of twenty years' experience in a family of six 
 children, three sons and three daughters. 
 
 As the composition of a Mother on the subject of 
 Education, perhaps this work stands alone ; and may 
 prove useful to the young Governess as well as to the 
 young Mother. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Preliminary Remarks ----- 9 
 
 Reading ...... g6 
 
 Writing ....... 43 
 
 Arithmetic .....'. 48 
 
 Dancing - - - - - - -54 
 
 Music - - - - - - 57 
 
 Drawing and Painting - - - - - 69 
 
 Grammar ...... 75 
 
 Geography -------81 
 
 Languages ; — Latin — French — Italian ... 84 
 Housewifery -------89 
 
 Course of Education: — Books - 96 
 
 Plan for Juvenile Diary ..... 103 
 
 Scheme for the Distribution of Time ... 106 
 
 French Books for Children • - - - - 107 
 
 Italian Books for Youth .... H8 
 
 English Books for Youth - - - '- - 122 
 
 Self-Tuition - - - - - - 127 
 
 Arrangement of Time ..... 131 
 
 Apparent Inaction - - - - 135 
 
 Mental Recreation ------ 140 
 
 Virtue the only mean of Happiness - - - 144 
 
 On Arguing ------ 149 
 
 On Silence ------ 152 
 
 On Associates and Friends ----- 154 
 
 On Study ------ 158 
 
 On Benevolence ------ 160 
 
 On Virtue its own reward - - - - 161 
 
 On Ignorance ..-_.- 163 
 
 On Positiveness ------ 165 
 
 On Female Inaccuracy ----- 167 
 
 On the Value of Money ----- 170 
 
 On the Value of Time - - - - - 175 
 
 On Modes of Conciliation .... 177 
 
 On Patience in Sickness .... - 178 
 
 On Charity ------ 181 
 
 On Truth 190 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 The principal business of education seems to 
 consist in suppressing the power of the passions, 
 and extending the powers of the intellects. 
 The less that human beings are under the 
 guidance of the former, the more they are under 
 the guidance of the latter ; — which is likely to 
 prove the better guide, it is not difficult to 
 determine. Who shall deny the preference 
 due to reason rather than to impulse, in forming 
 not only a wise but a worthy character ? 
 
 In pursuing this conquest of passion — this 
 enlargement of the mind, — the essential requi- 
 sites, in a preceptor, are patience, gentleness, 
 and firmness ; in a pupil, obedience and atten- 
 tion. 
 
 " Have but few rules, but let those few be 
 definitive," was the precept of one whose judg- 
 ment and virtue were equally preeminent ; a 
 child accustomed, from infancy, to pay a prompt 
 and implicit obedience, will be saved from the 
 2 
 
10 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 commission of innumerable faults,— will be res- 
 cued from suffering a variety of vexations. A 
 parent accustomed to a system of mild but 
 steady decision, will be preserved from much 
 irritability of her own feelings, and from the 
 necessity of using coercion. 
 
 But let not commands multiply on commands, 
 prohibition follow prohibition. In trifles, and 
 matters of small moment, let no restraint shackle 
 the sportive pupil. But, as soon as possible, 
 let us habituate the child to depend on his own 
 discretion, to govern himself without the 
 repeated warnings of "Don't do that" — "Let 
 that alone." Let him be early taught what he 
 ought to do, and what he ought not to do. 
 Let him be early taught to put precept into 
 practice, to reflect on the propriety of actions, 
 and act according to the decision of his own 
 reflections. 
 
 Let a mother, in her turn, reflect ere she 
 pronounces the irrevocable mandate ; but, once 
 pronounced, let nor tears nor caresses draw her 
 to revoke her command. Let her not deceive 
 herself with the mistaken conception, that, be- 
 cause the request is respecting some trifle, 
 her yielding to it is unimportant. It may be 
 a trifle whether the child has an additional 
 apple, or sits up a quarter of an hour later than 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 11 
 
 usual, but it is not a trifle to have her will dis- 
 puted. If she yield it respecting small matters, 
 she will have it disputed on points of conse- 
 quence. Besides one victory over her resolu- 
 tion will encourage the child to make further 
 attempts to shake it, until every order will be 
 contested, and every command opposed. What 
 then follows, but that, wearied out of her pa- 
 tience by continued disputes and sullen com- 
 plaints, she becomes angry, and resorts to vio- 
 lence for extorting obedience. 
 
 Mothers revoke their commands from tender 
 love of their children — from an affectionate de- 
 sire to promote their happiness ; but let them 
 see to what this unwise indulgence inevitably 
 leads, and let them, in kindness, he firm. 
 
 It is surprising that what is so easy to prac- 
 tise, is so seldom practised. This error must 
 arise from a false view of the system, and inat- 
 tention to its true results. That she who offers 
 it acknowledges she very infirmly practised it, 
 is more a just censure on her own weakness, 
 than any proof of the inexpediency or impracti- 
 cability of the measures recommended. This 
 is not a solitary instance in which she feels her 
 precept and her practice are at variance ; let 
 her add, this is not a solitary instance in w T hich 
 the enforcement of the precept by reasoning, 
 
12 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 awakened her own mind to acknowledge its 
 justice, and resolve upon its adoption. 
 
 If the motive for giving a certain order be 
 stated after the order has been obeyed, two 
 points will be gained. The child will see that 
 the mother acts from rational motives, and his 
 mind will be awakened to the reflection that he 
 also must learn to act from reasonable motives ; 
 hence he will be more disposed to yield obe- 
 dience in future, and less inclined to attempt 
 any alteration of commands which he finds so 
 well founded. 
 
 Habits of prompt obedience will assist in 
 calling forth and fixing the attention. The im- 
 portance of possessing a strengthened power of 
 attention is too obvious to be enforced. With- 
 out attention to receive the proffered instruc- 
 tion, what will it avail that it was offered? 
 Without attention to understand it, what avails 
 that it was heard ? Without attention to fix 
 and preserve in the mind the given knowledge, 
 what will it avail even if it was heard and 
 understood. Attention is essential to the de- 
 velopement of the faculties. However short 
 the period for which it can be fixed, that brief 
 period, rightly improved, will do more towards 
 mental illumination, than lengthened hours of 
 listless and careless study. Ten minutes of 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 13 
 
 attention is worth more than ten hours of labor 
 without attention. 
 
 It is not more certain that obedience can be 
 inculcated, than that obstinacy and falsehood 
 are artificial vices, induced by early bad man- 
 agement. So many able writers have proved 
 and established this fact, that it were idle for 
 weaker reasoners to discuss it. Bad manage- 
 ment often causes error, by supposing its exis- 
 tence when it did not exist. A child unjustly 
 charged with a fault, finds himself not only 
 unworthily suspected, and thereby loses that 
 purity and honor of mind that have been 
 hitherto his best safeguards against vice, but, 
 by seeing what he might have done, his power 
 of doing wrong is made known to him, and an 
 error of which he never dreamed is actually 
 inculcated. 
 
 When an action has been performed to which 
 a good and a bad motive may, with equal fairness 
 and probability, be assigned, it is injudicious to 
 assign the bad motive. If it be true that the 
 unjust assignment of a bad motive may lead to 
 the inculcation of error, the assignment even 
 when undeserved, of a good motive, may lead to 
 the inculcation of goodness. Where all is un- 
 certain, it is evidently safer to run the latter than 
 the former risk. When children find goodness 
 2* 
 
14 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 is expected from them, they will more eagerly 
 strive to be good ; when a power of virtue is 
 developed to them, their minds will most earn- 
 estly desire to think and act virtuously ; — at all 
 events, it is better to rouse the amiable than 
 the evil propensities of human nature. 
 
 Let not mothers fancy they have not time for 
 educating their children. In the gayest and 
 busiest life some portion can be at command, 
 and, in the disposition of time, can any claim be 
 more imperative. 
 
 Let not mothers fancy they are not capable 
 of instructing their children. Let them look 
 at the list of what is to be taught. Let them 
 remember that a well-grounded initiation is the 
 chief business claimed. Let them recollect 
 how many excellent books can be found to 
 assist their efforts. Let them be aware that, 
 as they proceed in teaching, they will advance 
 in learning ; and, above all, let them deeply 
 feel that, in the elementary part of education, 
 none other can do so well. 
 
 Fenelon thus briefly sums up the qualities 
 necessary to form a good preceptor : — " Let 
 him have at least a correct moral sense, an agreea- 
 ble disposition, and a true fear of God; " quali- 
 ties very common, and very attainable. Mo- 
 thers need not regret that they can only teach 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 15 
 
 the rudiments of learning. In some walks of 
 life, that, followed by the after efforts of the 
 pupil, will suffice. Where higher excellence is 
 demanded, masters must be called in. Few, if 
 any individuals are so highly gifted as to under- 
 stand all things. The teacher who bounds his 
 study to one art, must teach that art with more 
 skill than he who engages in many. 
 
 Let not mothers fear the result of their labors ; 
 if patience, perseverance, and unremitting at- 
 tention have been exerted, it will assuredly be 
 favorable. A mother best knows the powers of 
 her children, and can adapt her demands upon 
 their attention accordingly. She can explain 
 herself appropriately to the capacity of each of 
 her pupils ; her love will teach her modes of 
 instruction unknown in schools ; her solicitude 
 will guide her to instil what is u wisest, discreet- 
 est, best." 
 
 Children rationally educated often appear 
 to make a slower progress than those taught 
 at schools. The fact is that they are funda- 
 mentally taught. That building will stand the 
 most firmly, the foundations of which are the 
 deepest, but it will rise the most slowly from its 
 profound and secure basis. 
 
 As some encouragement to mothers desirous 
 of being the first preceptors of their children, it 
 
 / 
 
16 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 will be as well to state, that a lady, after having 
 given the rudiments of learning to the elders of 
 her family, partly in the wish of making an ex- 
 periment, and partly in the hope of benefiting 
 the younger members, gave up their initiation 
 to masters. After the lapse of a reasonable 
 time, she found, on inspecting the progress of 
 her pupils, that it was by no means so advanc- 
 ed, as in those she had herself initiated, at the 
 end of the same lapse of time. Having kept 
 memoranda of dates, ages, &c, she was enabled 
 to be very exact in making her calculations and 
 inferences. The masters she employed did not 
 appear to have been deficient, but perhaps it is 
 not easy for a superiorly gifted teacher to stoop 
 to the drudgery of initiatory instruction. What- 
 ever the cause, such was the fact. And be it 
 remembered, that the mother's is a daily lesson, 
 that of the master twice or thrice a week, or 
 perhaps only weekly. 
 
 Some mothers have a custom of working, 
 knitting, &c, whilst hearing the lessons of their 
 children ; under any circumstance of fortune, 
 this is a saving of time badly. A divided atten- 
 tion too often causes a certain degree of irrita- 
 bility, which is prejudicial to both pupil and 
 preceptor. With very young pupils, this custom 
 is peculiarly mischievous, because they more 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 17 
 
 particularly require patience and vigilant atten- 
 tion. Nor is time actually gained by the 
 arrangement, for, by the occasional necessary 
 attention of the mother to the occupation of 
 her hands, the attention of her head to the les- 
 son of her child is disturbed ; mistakes are un- 
 wittingly passed over uncorrected ; the pupil 
 rapidly and imperfectly runs through her rou- 
 tine of study ; or, arrested by the occasional 
 vigilance of her mother, pauses, repeats the 
 words, confuses the sentences, and, after em- 
 ploying double the time, drawls through her 
 lesson more fatigued than instructed. Thus 
 more minutes are lost than gained by either 
 pupil or preceptor. 
 
 A vigilant and concentrated attention is pecu- 
 liarly necessary in teaching as well as learning, 
 especially to very young children. But, at all 
 ages, mothers will find themselves amply repaid 
 for a zealous and entire devotion, whenever 
 they are acting as instructers ; when more ad- 
 vanced age and improved ability demand only 
 maternal superinte?idence, of course a less severe 
 attention will suffice. 
 
 It is as delightful, as, to those who first try 
 it, it is surprising, to find the many opportunities 
 for instilling improving remarks, which occur 
 in the course of giving a lesson in any branch of 
 
 
18 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 education. In reading, besides the subject mat- 
 ter, how many occasions for judicious observa- 
 tions present themselves. The elegance or 
 inelegance of the style, a word or phrase appro- 
 priate, obsolete, or vulgar. The idiom of one 
 language as compared to that of another, &c. 
 &c, besides the numerous ramifications spread- 
 ing out of the conversation arising on the word, 
 or phrase, or idiom ; — these gently leading to 
 the developement of some trait of biography, 
 or fact in natural history, or to the inculcation of 
 some maxim, or the inference of some moral ; 
 these are precious opportunities for pouring into 
 the awakened mind important truths, and no 
 mother who has felt their value, will for any 
 petty calculation of saving time, forego the de- 
 lightful advantages they offer. 
 
 In the apparently dry study of geography, 
 how much can be interwoven most refreshing 
 and improving ; — history can be called in aid to 
 affix the relative position of states and empires, 
 whilst the varieties of climes can be impressed 
 by agreeable descriptions of their several pro- 
 ductions and habits ; in short, the dullest lesson 
 and the dryest study are not without occasions 
 which a vigilant mother can turn to some profit. 
 It is surprising how soon children, accustomed 
 to regular tuition, acquire the habit of turning 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 19 
 
 to it spontaneously and methodically. Thus, 
 after the first years of pupilage, a mother will 
 find her trouble (if she ever think it one) much 
 diminished, till at last it will gradually fade 
 away. The zealous and vigilant preceptor 
 passes insensibly into the quiet yet attentive 
 superintendent, and lastly becomes the pleased 
 and unembarrassed associate. 
 
 Until the child reach the age of eight, the 
 mother has much to do ; for then like the gar- 
 dener, she has many tender seeds to plant, and 
 many small weeds to root out ; — after ten, the 
 mind, like the plant, shoots forth more vigor- 
 ously, the seeds are beginning to take root, and 
 show bud. An overlooking eye, a guiding hand, 
 sees what nurture is needed, and carefully 
 applies it. The pruning knife must not be 
 spared at this period ; every crooked spray or 
 cankered leaf must be extirpated : 
 
 " By degrees 
 
 The human blossom blows ; and every day, 
 Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm." 
 
 At what age children begin to delight in study, 
 and voluntarily devote themselves to it, must 
 depend on a variety of circumstances, as charac- 
 ter, situation, &c. At four years of age, a child 
 has been fond of reading and working ; at ten, 
 
20 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 the study of natural and experimental philo- 
 sophy has been understood and relished ; and, 
 at twelve, permission to peruse Rollin's Ancient 
 History has been asked as a very great favor ; 
 and these are memoranda of children, not by 
 any means superiorly gifted, and the pupils of 
 a mother whom sorrow, sickness, and limited 
 ability rendered a very common place instruc- 
 tor. 
 
 But really it is not so much on the superior 
 talents, as on the patience, perseverance and 
 common sense, of the mother, that success in 
 education depends. This is a consoling consid- 
 eration, for these three requisite qualifications 
 are pretty generally possessed, and, if not pos- 
 sessed, may be very easily acquired. 
 
 Madame de Genlis, in her excellent work, 
 " Theatre a PUsage des Jeunes Personnes," 
 has thus drawn a sketch of what she wishes a 
 pupil should be : — " J'ai voulu qu'elle eut des 
 talens, non pour les afficher, mais pour son 
 amusement et celui de ses amis." 
 
 Those who educate children, have found by 
 experience, that, in pupils of various tempers 
 and various abilities, all, at some time or other, 
 appear to make, or do make, a full stop in the 
 career of improvement. That this halt so fre- 
 quently happens — that it occurs in the prose- 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 21 
 
 cution of every branch of education — strongly 
 argues that it arises from the conformation of 
 the human mind. Let not its occurrence, 
 therefore, alarm the preceptor, or cause him to 
 take any violent or harsh measures to forcibly 
 press forwards the benumbed pupil. Nature 
 generally cures the ailments she causes. The 
 halted faculties, if left to their own operation, 
 will gradually recover their tone and vigor. 
 
 Of this fact many instances might be given, 
 to calm the fears and allay the anxiety of in- 
 structers ; but one shall suffice : — 
 
 A young girl, passionately fond of music, and 
 exhibiting an excellent conception of good time 
 and correct touch, after acquiring with facility 
 the rudiments of the art, all at once seemed to 
 lose, not only the idea of time and delicate fin- 
 gering, but actually the power of striking the 
 keys. 
 
 Her mother tried in vain to revive her for- 
 mer proficiency. Well assured not an iota of 
 obstinacy tainted the temper of her child, she 
 resolved to resort to a simple mode of man- 
 agement ; she prohibited her daughter's touch- 
 ing her pianoforte for a few days. At the end 
 of that period, the little girl resumed her lessons 
 
 in music ; and, to the joy of her listening pa- 
 o 
 
II PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 tents, played with her pristine accuracy and 
 grace. 
 
 This plan has been adopted on various other 
 occasions, and has been found beneficial in all. 
 If a bad habit of reading, a confused recol- 
 lection of arithmetic, an awkward mode of 
 dancing, or any such common discouragement 
 has intervened, it has been tried with success. 
 It is pleasant to offer so mild and so efficient a 
 mode of conduct. Parents may, by its adoption, 
 be saved much anxiety, and all the pain of una- 
 vailing severity. Children will not only be 
 rescued from unmerited suffering, — they will 
 also be rescued from the evil of viewing the 
 branches of learning clothed in terrific forms, 
 and associated with punishment and reproof. 
 
 " II sera toujours beau, de gouverner les 
 hommes, en les rendant heureux." — Montes- 
 quieu. 
 
 It has been often remarked, that the hour of 
 seven is the best hour for rising. In England 
 it is well suited to the period of daylight ; for, 
 in the shortest days, it is easy to quit the pillow 
 soon after seven o'clock in the morning. Chil- 
 dren and youth need more sleep than adults ; 
 for the latter, eight hours of nightly repose is 
 deemed generally sufficient. A much smaller 
 portion can be made — has been made — sufficient 
 to preserve existence in healthful activity. But 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 23 
 
 to make the arrangement on the most indulgent 
 scale, let us allow eight hours of sleep to the 
 adult. By retiring to rest at eleven at night, 
 it can be enjoyed, and the pillow quitted at the 
 hour above stated. 
 
 In childhood the foundation of future habits 
 can be efficaciously laid, and no habit is more 
 valuable than that of regulating time. Dignity, 
 usefulness, and knowledge are not more de- 
 pendant upon it than is happiness. It is not 
 for sloth and self-indulgence that we are crea- 
 ted. " Believe me, Torquatus, we are born 
 for nobler and more exalted purposes," was the 
 energetic response of Cicero to such a proposi- 
 tion. 
 
 Children can be early made to feel and under- 
 stand that they can do nothing without time, and 
 that to make the best of time, it must be regu- 
 lated. Beginning with short periods of study 
 and occupation for very young children, let 
 such periods be lengthened annually, until six 
 or eight hours are daily apportioned to useful 
 and improving employment. If possible, by 
 twenty, let the appropriation of eight hours to 
 business, mental or bodily, be fixed into a habit. 
 
 Adults will be struck with the suggestion of 
 mental improvement continuing to almost the 
 close of life, not finishing at the best period of 
 
24 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 mental vigor. Before twenty, the rudiments of 
 all knowledge can be most efficiently kid, but, 
 after twenty, the intellects are most capable of 
 the highest and noblest efforts. Hence we see 
 the necessity of early inculcating a desire for 
 knowledge, and a conviction of its usefulness ; 
 since only after the period of usual pupilage, is 
 the mind in its best vigor, and is then, there- 
 fore, only to be advanced by voluntary study. 
 
 A truly well-educated young woman ought 
 to form some such standard as the following for 
 the result of her studies : — 
 
 To read well, and write a good hand ; to 
 have a thorough knowledge of all needle-works, 
 of arithmetic, of geography, of the French 
 language. 
 
 To possess considerable acquaintance with 
 general history, a closer intimacy with that of 
 her own, and to be familiar with the best poetry, 
 travels, essays, &c. 
 
 To acquire an improved skill in any one 
 branch of painting or drawing ; as excellence 
 in " painting flowers," or " drawing land- 
 scapes," or " sketching heads." 
 "To attain a moderate execution of music, 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 25 
 
 with correct time and pure taste, so as to please 
 others and amuse herself. 
 
 Also some insight into the Italian language, 
 botany, natural history, and all the branches of 
 natural and experimental philosophy, as astron- 
 omy, &c. 
 
 Perhaps a peep into mathematics and the 
 Latin language. 
 
26 READING. 
 
 READING. 
 
 At what precise age children can be taught 
 their alphabet it is not easy to determine ; but, 
 by six years old, every child can be made to 
 read with facility, and that age is soon enough 
 to have attained this essential knowledge. 
 Many games have been invented to teach 
 amusingly the rudiments of every branch of 
 education, but it has been found, by experience, 
 that such games serve better as reviving in the 
 memory the acquired knowledge, than benefi- 
 cial in impressing it primarily. 
 
 In games, children look simply for amuse- 
 ment, and most facilely attain, and most perma- 
 nently remember, the rules, forfeits, rewards, 
 of the game, — not the instruction it is intended 
 to bestow ; hence very little knowledge is thus 
 obtained ; — as refreshers of memory they may 
 be useful and agreeable. We can all bear wit- 
 ness that it is a very pleasant mental operation 
 to search the memory for its hoarded stores ; 
 
READING. 27 
 
 indeed all mental labor is delightful. Even in 
 the humble intellectual effort of solving an 
 enigma or discovering a puzzle, how much gra- 
 tification is experienced. How otherwise can 
 we account for the eagerness with which many 
 people, especially young people, amuse them- 
 selves with riddles of all kinds. 
 
 If we are right in deeming mental labor de- 
 lightful, we should be kind to give our children 
 an extended power of mental exertion ; we 
 should be solicitous to multiply, not diminish, 
 the calls for intellectual operations. Besides, 
 if it is the mind that is to be advantaged, can 
 it be essentially benefited but through the me- 
 dium of its own powers, and, therefore, the 
 sooner those powers are aroused into action, 
 and strengthened by exertion, the better. 
 
 The faculty of attention is so valuable, that 
 it is in the hope of awakening and strengthen- 
 ing that faculty, that early tuition is recom- 
 mended. Five, ten, fifteen minutes of attention 
 daily, will not only suffice to teach a child to 
 read, between the years of three and six, but 
 will induce habits of regular attention and sys- 
 tematic study for the residue of life ; the early 
 part of the morning, immediately after break- 
 fast, is assuredly the best hour for tuition for 
 the child, the adult, and the student ; the body 
 
28 
 
 READING. 
 
 is not more refreshed than is the mind by a 
 night of repose ; the very senses are invigora- 
 ted by the refreshment of sleep. It was often 
 observed by one, anxious to make all her hints 
 subservient to the welfare of her fellow crea- 
 tures, that she enjoyed all her senses with most 
 acuteness in the morning : a morsel of fruit 
 never tasted so sweet, the verdure of the lawn 
 and foliage never looked so brilliant, the breath 
 of herbs and flowers never scented so sweet, as 
 in the dawn of day ; let reflection and experi- 
 ment prove how far she was fanciful in this 
 opinion. 
 
 There are many first books for children ; 
 Miss Edgeworth's, and Mrs. Barbauld's, are all 
 excellent ; deeming the little works of the latter 
 too abounding in hard words, a short introduc- 
 tion , to them has been published ; how far it 
 answers that object, experience must decide. 
 
 It has been often declared, that children, for 
 their early reading, prefer tales and stories ; the 
 fact is, they can understand no other ; tales and 
 stories must therefore be provided for them, 
 conveying whatever instruction it is likely can 
 be understood. But certainly every effort 
 should be made to cause children to relish, as 
 soon as possible, books of instruction and infor- 
 mation ; indeed the first step of education, is to 
 
READING. 29 
 
 inspire children with a love of learning, and a 
 desire for information on the principle of its 
 usefulness and agreeableness ; this desire once 
 implanted, and books of instruction would be 
 eagerly demanded, and not sedulously shunned. 
 
 But how is this desire to be implanted ? 
 The question is not so difficult of reply as may 
 be deemed ; let parents suggest and exhibit the 
 benefits occurring from knowledge ; this may 
 be done in a variety of ways. Biography offers 
 numerous instances of the happiness and use- 
 fulness dispensed by the wise and the learned ; 
 biography is pleasant reading, and therefore, it 
 may be presumed, mothers often resort to it for 
 amusement ; let them select from it whatever 
 may forward their views ; can any one read the 
 lives of Demosthenes, of Aristides, of Alfred, 
 of Reynolds, of Franklin, and a hundred other 
 departed worthies, without meeting with abun- 
 dant matter to instil the value of improved tal- 
 ents into the minds of children ? If she had no 
 selfish pleasure in reading such histories, could a 
 mother think her time lost in obtaining useful 
 information for her offspring ? 
 
 The course of life and daily observation af- 
 fords no limited number of interesting incidents, 
 to demonstrate the benefits accruing from a well 
 informed mind ; how many neighbors and 
 
30 
 
 READING. 
 
 friends do not we perpetually notice sinking 
 into misery from their own folly, or rising into 
 respectability by their own merit. In the tone 
 of pity, not of satire, should these fallings from 
 happiness be noticed, for never let us risk mak- 
 ing the heart hard, in the pursuit of making 
 the head wise ; let us inspire no other senti- 
 ment but that of commiseration for the unfor- 
 tunate ; let children be early led to distinguish 
 between hatred of the crime, and pity of the 
 criminal ; guilt must be always detestable, but 
 a thousand reasons may be urged to excuse the 
 guilty ; and this, without any fear of causing 
 the child to suppose that in his turn, he may 
 commit sin with a prospect of extenuation. 
 
 One plain assertion will do this effectually ; 
 that every crime or folly held up to them for 
 reprobation, they cannot fall into from igno- 
 rance of its direful nature, as probably did the 
 erring persons they are therefore bid to pity. 
 
 To speak of the merits of the wise and virtu- 
 ous requires no such precaution ; although on 
 this, as all other subjects, exaggeration should 
 be studiously avoided, not only for the sake of 
 good morals, (as exaggeration, being a depart- 
 ure from truth, is only a form of falsehood,) but 
 
READING. 31 
 
 because our precepts will not be efficacious 
 unless drawn from just premises. Children 
 are very shrewd in their reflections. If they 
 once detect a mother shaping her story to her 
 moral, they will cease to believe that her moral 
 ever springs from her story. 
 
 In respect to books of science and general 
 knowledge, a few of the best written may be 
 agreeable to a child after nine years of age, 
 but seldom before. If a parent be desirous that 
 some insight into such knowledge should be 
 earlier gained, she had better read the book 
 herself, and give her children the information 
 it contains in her own words. Much valuable 
 instruction may be thus inculcated in very 
 early life, and if parents are attentive to seize 
 every opportunity of giving useful knowledge, 
 every occasion when curiosity awakens inqui- 
 ry, and the ductile mind is peculiarly fitted to 
 receive information, it is impossible to say what 
 bounds could be put to the improvement of the 
 youthful mind. Children would not only gain a 
 daily accession of information, but be fitted to 
 understand future instruction — be disposed to 
 desire it. 
 
 It is generally advised that children should 
 be made to spell every word, from the com- 
 
32 READING. 
 
 mencement of their reading lessons, until a per- 
 fect knowledge of pronunciation* renders it un- 
 necessary. After some consideration of the 
 subject, and an experiment of another mode, 
 namely, of spelling and pronouncing the words 
 for them, it has been judged that the former 
 is the better plan. In reading, no difficult word 
 should be passed over without explanation, and 
 repeated explanation, till its meaning is clearly 
 and firmly remembered. Clever children very 
 often make use of difficult words. For this let 
 them not be praised, for praise would inspire van- 
 ity, — vanity, the great obstacle to future im- 
 provement. A child proud of her ability, is not 
 likely to remember how limited that ability — 
 how much remains to be learned ; but invariably 
 ask the young speaker what she means by the 
 difficult word she has just used. To make these 
 explanations, at first give a little assistance, and, 
 by degrees, a child will soon learn to find words 
 to express her own explanation. If her concep- 
 tion of the meaning of the word is just, and she 
 has used it judiciously, tell her she is right, and, 
 as she understands the sense of the word, she 
 may use it again. If she has mistaken the 
 meaning, explain her error to her, and warn her 
 
 * Mr. Lindley Murray advises that children be made to aspirate 
 the II strongly when learning to read. 
 
READING. 33 
 
 to avoid a similar one. But do not laugh at 
 her ; if you do, you not only raise very unplea- 
 sant — it may be, very unamiable — feelings in 
 her breast, but you intimidate her from using 
 difficult words another time. Many ideas can 
 only be justly expressed in abstruse terms, and 
 if we prevent their use, we seem to diminish 
 the power of abstruse thinking ; for words are 
 the instruments with which the mind, even to 
 itself, carries on its operations. 
 
 As the reading of history forms an essential 
 part of good education, it must be commenced 
 as early as the mind is fitted to relish it. That 
 the first impression should be just in relation 
 to the period of events, and that a clear idea of 
 universal history, its grand outline, should be 
 understood previous to entering upon its minute 
 divisions, " True Stories" were written. Chil- 
 dren of six, seven, and eight years have read it 
 with avidity and benefit. It comprises a chro- 
 nological sketch of events from the creation of 
 the world to the battle of Waterloo. Until a 
 better work of the kind appears, it may, per- 
 haps, be found useful. 
 
 This little work, or some one like it, should 
 be frequently perused ; in short, until the 
 greater part of the information it contains is 
 impressed on the memory. It is a good plan, 
 
34 READING. 
 
 where two or three children, nearly of an age, 
 are together under tuition, to let each go 
 through it in turn, so that, with the trouble of 
 a single reading, each couple will twice go 
 through the work. 
 
 " Evenings at Home" is an admirable publi- 
 cation, though it must be conceded that Miss 
 Edgeworth's strictures on some of the pieces 
 are perfectly just. The moral — (can it be so 
 called) — of the tale of " Order and Disorder" is 
 positively mischievous, and has been noticed as 
 such by very young readers. 
 
 Children seldom relish these volumes until 
 the age of eight. Mrs. Barbauld's beautiful 
 prose hymns are delightful to youth and age. 
 
 " The Parent's Assistant" early pleases chil- 
 dren, and excellently answers to its name, for 
 every rational mother must feel assured her 
 views of right education are forwarded, when 
 any volume from Miss Edgeworth's powerful 
 pen is in her children's hands. 
 
 It is hardly possible to give a list of all the 
 books that have been found amusing and in- 
 structive to young people. An attempt at such 
 a notice will be found in another part of this 
 volume. But it will be right to suggest, in 
 this place, that the juvenile library should not 
 contain many books ; a few, carefully selected, 
 
READING. Ob 
 
 will suffice. Children will hence be compelled 
 to repeated perusal, and more knowledge is 
 gained from the repeated perusal of a few books, 
 than the desultory single reading of numerous 
 volumes. 
 
 The practice of giving the morning to stu- 
 dious pursuits should be as early as possible con- 
 firmed into habit, and girls, who have complet- 
 ed the course of education, should be urged 
 regularly to devote a few hours to useful stud- 
 ies every morning, as soon after breakfast as 
 possible ; not only thereby to avoid the risk of 
 interruption, but to give the powers of the 
 mind, undistracted by other claims of duty or of 
 pleasure, to the service of the mind. 
 
 It is a question whether making memoranda 
 of what is read is beneficial or not. The act of 
 writing it down may indeed assist to fix the 
 desired information in the recollection, but does 
 not the benefit stop there ? How seldom is 
 the paper of memoranda looked into ? Besides 
 which, when it is written down, it seems un- 
 necessary to load the memory with the passage, 
 so that it is forgotten without effort to retain it. 
 Now, if knowledge is only desirable as far as it 
 is useful, it should be hoarded where it is most 
 accessible. The book of memoranda cannot be 
 always carried about with us, but our memories 
 
36 READING. 
 
 are unalienable. It were better, then, not to 
 write memoranda, but to fix a few clear recol- 
 lections in the memory. So much may not 
 be attempted to be recollected, but what is re- 
 membered will be remembered clearly, and the 
 information will be always with us ready for 
 use. 
 
 Reading aloud is recommended, as giving the 
 united assistance of the eye and the ear to the 
 memory. But this advantage can only accrue 
 to the reader, and therefore young persons 
 should never be satisfied with hearing a book 
 read, unless it is some slight work, not demand- 
 ing thought nor deserving recollection. The 
 mother ought always to be present at the read- 
 ings, and as much as possible assist in explain- 
 ing difficult passages, and be prompt in com- 
 menting judiciously on the sentiments or events 
 pourtrayed. In reading history,* a well in- 
 formed parent may thus render incalculable 
 benefits, not only in explaining the relation of 
 events to one another, but in leading the young 
 mind to reflect on actions, and comment on 
 characters. 
 
 When any improper book has fallen into the 
 
 * " In reading, point out the facts most worthy of attention and 
 remembrance." — Stewart. 
 
READING. 31 
 
 hands of young people, it is not advisable to 
 hastily demand a surrender of the pleasing mis- 
 chief ; such conduct would only serve to endear 
 it, and awaken keener longings for the perusal ; 
 it were better to remove it, without comment, 
 as soon as it can be done quietly, and to engage 
 the youthful attention by some other equally 
 amusing, but less pernicious, composition ; 
 hence it will be speedily forgotten, the parent 
 will be saved the pain of giving pain, and the 
 child be rescued from the risk of disobedience 
 or disrespectful murmurs. 
 
 In explaining two words which, though spelt 
 nearly alike, or pronounced nearly alike, have 
 very different meanings, it has been found ad- 
 visable to explain only one of the terms at a 
 time, to avoid a chance of confounding the re- 
 collection of the explanation ; thus suppose, 
 counsel, and council, are the words under con- 
 sideration ; explain counsel, fully and precisely, 
 and, when it is clearly understood, merely let 
 the pupil know there is another word of similar 
 sound, but different meaning, which shall be 
 explained another time ; the same plan has been 
 found to answer in the explication of terms of 
 a diametrically opposite meaning ; — for instance, 
 export and import, Zenith and Nadir, &c. &c. ; 
 let one of the two be accurately explained, then 
 
38 READING. 
 
 observe, that the one not explained has an op- 
 posite meaning ; " Export — to take out of a 
 country — Pray remember that word — export — 
 to carry out of a country ; there is another word 
 which means to bring into a country, but I will 
 tell you of it another day." * 
 
 It has been found highly beneficial to ask a 
 child, after her reading lesson, to describe what 
 she has been reading about ; the expectation of 
 this question, induces a closer attention, and 
 thus lays the foundation of a habit of attentive 
 reading. A judicious mother may also grad- 
 ually lead her pupils to form rational opinions 
 on what they read ; at first, some small helps 
 may be given to the young reasoner, but, by 
 degrees, she will acquire fluency in describing 
 events, and an increasing power of reasoning 
 upon them ; we may be assured the more we 
 urge children to use their intellectual faculties, 
 the stronger will those faculties become. 
 
 Indeed the best aim of education is to teach 
 children to think for themselves; parents are 
 too apt to save them this exertion, and to think 
 for them ; those children who are early thrown 
 on their own mental resources, generally be- 
 
 * It is hoped the putting the advice recommended into express 
 terms will not be deemed presumptuous ; advice cannot be too 
 much explained and simplified. 
 
READING. 39 
 
 come clever men and women. It would be no 
 difficult matter to guide the thoughts of chil- 
 dren imperceptibly to just conclusions ; thus, in 
 reading De Foe's admirable story of Robinson 
 Crusoe, the young reader might easily be led 
 into a familiar chat respecting the conduct of its 
 hero, and if himself incapable of pointing out 
 the merits or failings depicted, a consciousness 
 of them could be insensibly awakened in his 
 mind ; thus the industry, the ingenuity, the re- 
 signation displayed by Crusoe might be noticed 
 and praised. 
 
 Sandford and Merton is a work generally read 
 with earnestness, and offers many incidents and 
 traits for reflection ; when Tommy and Harry 
 are lost in the wood, on a cold winter's day, it 
 is natural to observe how superior the sensible 
 clown to his fine gentleman companion, first, in 
 keeping up his spirits, and thereby lessening 
 the mournfulness of their situation, and, second- 
 ly, in having sense to add dry wood to the fire 
 accidentally found ; it were well to add a re- 
 mark on the advantage that would have accrued 
 to both, had either little boy known how to 
 produce a fire. 
 
 As childhood passes into youth, a graver 
 strain of reasoning may be indulged, and though 
 memoranda from books are not advised, written 
 
40 READING. 
 
 remarks of our sentiments upon them are high- 
 ly desirable ; thus, as soon as a work is perus- 
 ed, let some notice of its contents and of our 
 opinion of them be inserted in a book kept for 
 the purpose ; the more concise these observa- 
 tions the better. 
 
 These remarks, as the testimonials of early 
 study, and the expression of youthful reflection, 
 will always be read with pleasure, and will 
 serve a double purpose, to restore to the mind 
 the tone of its first impressions, and to mark 
 how often the opinions of adolescence differ 
 from those of maturity. The inference to be 
 drawn from the last conviction, would confer a 
 further benefit ; it would show how inferior the 
 reasoning of the boy to that of the man ; how 
 rashly youth praises or censures what manhood 
 more calmly disapproves, or more soberly ap- 
 plauds ; — to give a better chance of judicious 
 criticism, a work should be read more than 
 once before it is revised, and, at the close of 
 every volume, its contents should be looked 
 over. 
 
 It is a contested point, whether compelling 
 children to resort to dictionaries for the expla- 
 nations of words is preferable to giving them 
 the explanation ; an intelligent friend, smiling 
 at the question, asked " whether the act of 
 
READING. 41 
 
 turning over the leaves of a dictionary was sup- 
 posed to imprint the information more effica- 
 ciously ? " What may not the ingenious ridi- 
 cule ? Certainly the mere act of turning over 
 the leaves of a dictionary is " a hindrance rath- 
 er than a help ;" but if a child knows he has no 
 other way of obtaining an explanation, will he 
 not be earnest to save himself future trouble, 
 bv faithfully and accurately remembering the 
 information thus obtained, lest he be compelled 
 to a second investigation ? Whereas, if the 
 mother be always ready to save him this search, 
 by giving him the desired explanation, he will 
 take less pains to remember it, ever assured of 
 prompt and easily obtained information. 
 
 When an abstruse term is clearly compre- 
 hended by the child, the mother may frequent- 
 ly use it in addressing him, as the best mode of 
 impressing its meaning indelibly, 
 
42 WRITING. 
 
 WRITING. 
 
 At six years of age writing has been taught 
 with success. Half a page at a time is suffi- 
 cient, three times a week. The pupil should 
 be told to write very slowly. The celebrated 
 metaphysician, Mr. Locke, recommends " that 
 the pen be held by the thumb and two fore-fin- 
 gers, the third finger to be folded inwards, and 
 the little finger to rest on the paper." This 
 plan has been tried, and found excellent. 
 Writing masters advise that the letter m be 
 frequently written, as best conducive to give 
 the hand the right mode of holding the pen. 
 
 Might not writing-copies be made the me- 
 dium of much useful information, as convey- 
 ing, in some pithy sentence, historical or scien- 
 tific knowledge ? — as thus — 
 
 " Leonidas and his Spartans fell at Thermopylae." 
 
 " Jupiter has four satellites." 
 
 " Alfred founded the University of Oxford." 
 
WRITING. 43 
 
 A young girl once lamented the triteness of the 
 unheeded maxims given as writing-copies, she 
 observed how many useless lines she remem- 
 bered, as " Comparisons are odious," &c. &c, 
 and wished that, instead of these phrases, some 
 beneficial knowledge had been imprinted on her 
 memory. 
 
 The idioms of any language might also be 
 taught in this way. In the commencement of 
 this branch of education, of course simple Eng- 
 lish words are preferable, for all the mental 
 powers are then concentrated in the mere act 
 of learning to hold the pen and form the letters ; 
 but, after some progress has been made, im- 
 proving copies might beneficially supersede the 
 old, oft-repeated, and therefore uninspected, 
 maxims. 
 
 It is a question of considerable importance, 
 whether these maxims do not lose their impres- 
 sion by being introduced in this form. The 
 only comfort is, that few of them deserve con- 
 sideration. How often we see boys and girls 
 laughing at the truisms they are doomed to 
 copy— 
 
 " Improve in learning," 
 " Avoid wicked deeds," 
 " Virtue is amiable," 
 
 and a hundred other such self-evident truths. 
 
44 WRITING. 
 
 Writing exercises in French,* or any other 
 language, is highly prejudicial to the attainment 
 of elegant penmanship ; for such business is 
 generally transacted in a hurry, and the atten- 
 tion is too much occupied with the right man- 
 agement of the sense, to trouble itself with the 
 form of the letters in which that sense is word- 
 ed. Preceptors must decide whether the benefit 
 gained is equivalent to the evil incurred. If 
 children write their exercises under the eye of 
 the parent or tutor, the evil may be avoided ; 
 but, in such cases, the parent or tutor must take 
 especial care not to assist in the mental labors 
 of the pupil whilst superintending the mechani- 
 cal operation of writing. 
 
 Madame de Genlis, in her able work on edu- 
 cation, " Adelaide et Theodore," among many 
 excellent precepts and many impracticable di- 
 rections, speaks of the benefits arising in orthog- 
 raphy and mental expansion, by requiring a 
 child to write letters to absent friends. Is not 
 this a mischievous forcing of the young mind ? 
 Few children like to write such letters, and 
 fewer still write them well. We have repeat- 
 edly observed that boys and girls, who are dull 
 
 * In writing French, the forming- the various marks and accents 
 induce an awkward holding of the pen, and is injurious to good 
 penmanship. The French are generally thought to write a cramp- 
 ed and inelegant hand. 
 
WRITING. 45 
 
 at such productions, wrote excellent letters as 
 men and women. Can there, then, be much 
 good gained by this system ? Is not a great 
 evil thereby risked ? By chance a child may 
 write a clever epistle or a clever sentence ; he 
 is most probably praised for it with undue 
 warmth ; — what permanent emotions of vanity 
 may not be thus, in a moment, planted ? — how 
 little effort for improvement may be thereafter 
 anticipated ! 
 
 The favorite system of writing pieces of poe- 
 try and pretty prose, as exercises in writing, 
 seems of small value, if not positively mischiev- 
 ous. Girls are too fond of poetry and pretty 
 prose to have the preference strengthened by 
 making such extracts, and we see no use in a 
 languishing damsel mourning over pathetic 
 verses. The true charm of poetry is felt with- 
 out any inculcation. 
 
 To write for the express purpose of improve- 
 ment, one only mode can be adopted ; a line 
 must be written, and re-written, repeatedly ; 
 every fault noticed and amended ; the mind 
 must dwell on the writing, not on the words 
 written. It is only because such repetition of 
 copying impresses the sentence on the memon , 
 where it may be for ever afterwards hoarded, 
 that we would desire to have the sentence con- 
 5 
 
46 WRITING. 
 
 vey something worth remembering. But, in 
 writing for improvement, the act itself should 
 be the object of attention — the sentence writ- 
 ten a matter of secondary importance. It is 
 obvious, the shorter the copy, the more likely it 
 is to be remembered. 
 
 In writing a single line, for instance — 
 
 " Jupiter has four satellites," 
 
 the undivided attention may be given to the act 
 of writing, and yet the line written be remenl- 
 bered. Not so with long pieces, where a con- 
 stant succession of fresh words keeps the atten- 
 tion fixed to the passage transcribed, the good 
 penmanship of which must be a point of secon- 
 dary, instead of what it ought to be, of primary, 
 consideration. 
 
 The small writing machines now used have 
 been found very useful, in more than one way. 
 They have not only excellently served to teach 
 the first principles of writing, but, in advanced 
 pupils, they have corrected a bad hand, and 
 rendered it clear and even elegant. As writing 
 is entirely an imitative and mechanic art, prac- 
 tice is the only means of obtaining any degree 
 of excellence in it ; these machines, at little ex- 
 pense of time, trouble, or money, fully answer 
 the purpose : for with a common degree of at- 
 
WRITING. 47 
 
 tention, it is easy to copy accurately the lines 
 or words placed under the ground glass. By 
 doing this repeatedly, the habit of writing a 
 good hand must be inevitably obtained. Care 
 should be taken that the style of penmanship 
 adopted is a good one, and that all the copies 
 imitated are in one style. Without attention 
 to these two points, the benefit accruing can- 
 not be so great or decisive. 
 
 These machines may be also used for teach- 
 ing the rudiments of drawing, and thus furnish 
 quiet and varied amusement for children. To 
 innocently occupy children is one of the great 
 desiderata of good education, and if, with harm- 
 less occupation, any improvement is blended, 
 a double service is performed. 
 
ARITHMETIC. 
 
 ARITHMETIC. 
 
 The great usefulness of a thorough acquain- 
 tance with arithmetic is now so very generally 
 allowed, that the higher branches of the science 
 of numbers are not unfrequently taught, even to 
 the softer sex. We have seen a very pretty 
 and a very modest girl, who was studying ma- 
 thematics, on purpose to obtain a better power 
 of reasoning ! 
 
 At six years old, both boys and girls can 
 commence arithmetic ; for the first initiatory 
 lessons into this science, it is important that 
 the pupil should be taught to associate ideas of 
 things, with numbers. Let not figures convey 
 abstract ideas ; but as much as possible let 
 their meaning be understood ; in the smaller 
 amounts this may be easily done. The figure 
 to be accompanied with the number of objects 
 it denotes ; count six marbles, or six of any 
 other article, and then, writing the figure, in- 
 
ARITHMETIC. 
 
 49 
 
 form the child that is the mark which denotes 
 the number he has just seen counted. Miss 
 Hamilton has published an ingenious tract on 
 this subject, and, judging by her other works, 
 no doubt it is excellent. Pestalozzi also re- 
 commends the association of things with ideas, 
 in the initiation into arithmetic ; a basket of 
 dried beans, or the mother's box of card-coun- 
 ters, would well suit the purpose ; and each of 
 the four first rules of arithmetic, may be thus 
 rendered intelligible to the conceptions of chil- 
 dren ; but these initiatory lessons must be given 
 gradually, and frequently repeated ; because the 
 preceptor easily and clearly understands the 
 question, he is too apt to think his pupil does 
 so too ; a fatal mistake, which, by causing irri- 
 tation in the instructer, and alarm in the pupil, 
 produces vexation to both. 
 
 We cannot too much simplify the first steps 
 to knowledge, we cannot too variously explain 
 each difficulty, or too sedulously repeat each 
 point ; as the aim is to inform — till that aim 
 is gained, let not our efforts relax ; the fault 
 is as often in the mode of conveying instruc- 
 tion, as in the dulness of the instructed. In 
 giving an explanation, let us not be satisfied 
 that it has been given in the express words 
 adopted by the best writers on the subject ; 
 *5 
 
50 ARITHMETIC. 
 
 but let us steadily watch the countenance 
 of the young auditor, and, until the bright ex- 
 pression of intelligence, the enlightened eye, 
 the smiling lip, denote the mind within illumin- 
 ed, let us not cease our exertions ; let us put 
 the explanation into another form of language, 
 perhaps some word ill understood has rendered 
 the first speech unintelligible. 
 
 As far as a hundred may be easily counted 
 with visible objects, as marbles, beans, &c. ; 
 then place the beans in parcels of various num- 
 bers, and calculating the amount of all the par- 
 cels, gives a lesson in addition. Some other 
 day, (for no two rules, in fact no two branches 
 of knowledge of any kind, should be taught 
 closely following each other, lest confusion of 
 ideas should ensue,) some other day, let a 
 smaller heap of beans be collected, and a cer- 
 tain number be picked from it one by one, and 
 this operation be performed with various num- 
 bers, till a clear idea of subtraction is impres- 
 sed. 
 
 Let the child be now informed that he is 
 acquainted with the whole secret of arithmetic, 
 that the two rules he has learned are the funda- 
 mental principles of the science of numbers ; 
 suggesting at the same time that the endless 
 variety of calculations, and the inconceivable 
 
ARITHMETIC. 51 
 
 amount of numbers, to be expressed and work- 
 ed by these simple rules. 
 
 Next explain that multiplication is but another 
 form of addition — division another form of sub- 
 traction ; — and, continuing as much as possible 
 to associate the idea of things with abstract 
 numbers, slowly proceed to develope the beau- 
 tiful science of arithmetic. 
 
 Boys may perhaps make a more rapid pro- 
 gress, but if girls begin arithmetic at six years 
 old, and have an hour's lesson in it, three times 
 a week, in four years, that is, at ten years of 
 age, they will be well versed in the four first 
 rules, and capable of proceeding to the higher 
 branches ; how far they should proceed, is a 
 point to be decided by the parent. If studying 
 it largely and deeply bestows the power of ju- 
 dicious reasoning, most important should be the 
 study ; Mr. Gibbon expresses his happiness, 
 that he had given up the study of mathematics, 
 " before his mind was hardened by a habit of 
 rigid demonstration, so destructive of the finer 
 feelings of moral evidence." But few are the 
 minds capable of the abstruse and profound ra- 
 tiocination of that of the erudite historian of 
 Rome. 
 
 Without entering into it so deeply as he 
 seems to have done, might not a disposition for 
 
52 ARITHMETIC. 
 
 proofs and demonstration be extensively useful 
 in a moral point of view ; women are generally 
 reprobated for the irrational facility with which 
 they credit and repeat rumors ; now such care- 
 lessly believed and disseminated reports are 
 very commonly the foundation of almost all the 
 dissensions and heartburnings that embitter so- 
 ciety ; would a predilection for proofs and de- 
 monstrations tend to prevent this irrational be- 
 lief, and this careless repetition ? If it would, 
 a moderate study of the first books of Euclid 
 would be a most indispensable branch of female 
 education. 
 
 When the four first rules are pretty well un- 
 derstood, a mother should take all opportunities 
 of reducing the knowledge to practice ; every 
 time she makes a purchase, she should call 
 upon her little scholars to calculate its value ; 
 every bill she pays, she should bid them audit ; 
 she should never lose an opportunity of impres- 
 sing on the young mind, that knowledge is only 
 desirable because it is useful ; that children are 
 not instructed because it is according to estab- 
 lished custom, but because it is to render them 
 serviceable to themselves and their fellow crea- 
 tures ; that they are taught accomplishments, 
 not to obtain admiration, but to diffuse pleasure. 
 
ARITHMETIC. 53 
 
 The more their acquirements are rendered sub- 
 servient to their comforts and their usefulness, 
 the better will this principle be impressed, and 
 in no attainment more than in that of arithmetic, 
 can practice sooner follow to elucidate precept. 
 
54 DANCING. 
 
 DANCING. 
 
 It is difficult for rational observers to con- 
 sider dancing in any other light than as an 
 amusement ; yet great pains seem to be taken 
 to render it a study demanding much close and 
 serious attention. Healthy children, accustom- 
 ed to enjoy the free use of their limbs in the 
 open air, will want little tuition to become good 
 dancers — will not need collars, stocks, remon- 
 strances, and reproofs to teach them to hold up 
 their heads and turn out their toes. By run- 
 ning, jumping, skipping in gardens and fields, 
 moving their feet and their hands without re- 
 straint, and looking freely about them up to 
 trees and stars, and around to flowers and play- 
 fellows, they will too often stretch the sinews 
 of their legs, and bend the joints of their ancles, 
 and draw up their necks and heads, to run the 
 risk of moving heavily and clumsily, and of car- 
 rying themselves ungracefully. 
 
DANCING. 55 
 
 As, however, in civilized countries, certain 
 movements constitute the grace and elegance 
 of dancing, children had better be early taught 
 the most common steps in vogue. A twelve- 
 month of tuition, say from seven to eight, will 
 suffice to give the prompt little pupils a good 
 notion of time and regulated motion. After 
 that, they may go on dancing to their mother's 
 pianoforte, whenever she pleases to indulge 
 them with a country dance or Scotch reel, and 
 be as merry and as graceful as they please. At 
 twelve or fourteen years of age, another year or 
 two of tuition may fit them to join in the dan- 
 ces then in vogue. As the fashion is continually 
 changing, this instruction to the girl just bud- 
 ding into the young woman may be useful and 
 agreeable. 
 
 But if dancing has one preeminent charm, it 
 is the charm of artlessness. Can this charm 
 exist, if the dancer's thoughts are absorbed in 
 the desire of self-exhibition ? No ; then let 
 not self-exhibition for one instant creep into the 
 mind of the young dancer. By conversation, 
 by example, by every possible medium, incul- 
 cate that we dance to amuse ourselves, not 
 to exhibit ourselves. Do not even let us praise 
 a child, without remembering this aim. Let 
 us not say, " You dance prettily ;" let us say, 
 
56 DANCING. 
 
 " You dance very merrily." Let not the fond 
 mother exclaim, " Come, let me see you dance ;" 
 but, " Come, will you have a dance ?" 
 
 It is this principle that reconciles us to the 
 disuse of that most elegant movement, the 
 slow minuet ; for can there be a more positive 
 self-exhibition than that of standing up to dance 
 a minuet ? If dancing is a mirthful recreation, 
 how can it be enjoyed with a gravity of a fu- 
 neral march, and to the time of a funeral dirge ? 
 Or how can a solitary pair expect to taste it in 
 all its hilarity ? Surely only in festive bands 
 can it be thoroughly relished ; for then socia- 
 bility gives zest to the amusement, the smile of 
 glee flies contagious through the group, an awk- 
 ward movement adds but to the general gaiety, 
 and the act itself is found a sufficient gratifica- 
 tion without the aid of applause from flattering 
 spectators. 
 
music. 57 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 The acquirement of this art, or rather the 
 attempt to acquire it, by all classes of young 
 women, is a folly that has in some degree been 
 laughed out of fashion. The daughters of 
 shopkeepers, and farmers, and poor gentry, are 
 no longer (without exception) taught to play 
 on the pianoforte ; a more rational system of 
 education is beginning to pervade all ranks of 
 society, and mothers are now very generally 
 heard to assert their pretensions to common 
 sense, by declaring their girls shall only learn 
 what is adapted to their stations and abilities. 
 One mischievous sentiment yet -remains to be 
 expunged, the common declaration that children 
 should only learn what their genius directly and 
 peculiarly marks out, as a natural impulse. " I 
 do not intend that my daughters should be 
 taught music and drawing, unless they show a 
 decided genius for it," is an assertion that is 
 6 
 
58 music. 
 
 perpetually heard. Many writers of acknow- 
 ledged ability have successfully proved, that such 
 peculiarity of talent is rarely, if ever, possessed ; 
 and how few of those, volubly talking of genius, 
 could give any description of their conception of 
 it, if indeed they possess any conception of it ; 
 were parents primarily to reflect what are the 
 rational motives which urge their rendering 
 their children accomplished, they would not 
 need to harass themselves with any metaphysi- 
 cal disquisitions on the subject ; with or with- 
 out a genius, their children could be made to 
 acquire whatever they would desire. 
 
 It ought indeed to be ever present to the 
 minds of parents and instructers, that the right 
 aim of education is to produce happy and use- 
 ful members of society ; whatever tends to pro- 
 mote that end is valuable, all else is worthless. 
 
 The wealthy classes of society have abun- 
 dance of leisure ; if that leisure is without oc- 
 cupation, much misery, it may be much error, 
 selfish and social, is propagated and diffused. 
 To avoid as much as possible this misery and 
 this error, employment ought to be provided 
 for the anticipated leisure, and as the wealthy 
 can choose their occupation, not only various 
 but agreeable employments ought to be plac- 
 ed within their reach ; hence, the study of 
 
MUSIC. 
 
 59 
 
 the languages, the arts of music and drawing, 
 seem almost necessary to the felicity of the rich, 
 since, without their aid, the worst enemy of 
 man, indolence, would curse them with its 
 torpor, or with the vacant leisure, which, in 
 active minds, gives birth to foolish and vicious 
 thoughts. 
 
 Men of all classes have duties and pleasures, 
 independent of the elegant accomplishments, 
 but as women should look for their joys chiefly 
 at home, they must have resources for domestic 
 and lonely enjoyment. Without therefore talk- 
 ing of genius or taste, mothers must simply con- 
 sider what chance of future leisure they may 
 anticipate for their daughters ; as wives or single 
 women, the probability of living on a small in- 
 come will suggest the full occupation of life, by 
 the right discharge of every domestic duty ; for 
 those, therefore, who have small fortunes, or 
 are likely to marry in a humble walk of life, it is 
 worse than useless, it is injurious, to waste 
 time on the acquirements of drawing and music. 
 The hours so devoted would be much more 
 profitably spent in the attainment of the useful 
 branches of education — writing, arithmetic, and 
 needlework. 
 
 Let not mothers harass themselves with the 
 objection that their daughters may marry, or 
 
60 MUSIC. 
 
 become wealthy, beyond sober calculation. 
 Such chances are rare, and, when occurring, a 
 knowledge of the useful arts will go much to- 
 wards finding agreeable and rational occupation. 
 How many young women, who are considered 
 adepts in music and painting, from preference 
 occupy their leisure with their needles. This 
 should not surprise us, when we reflect on the 
 endless variety of elegant and useful labors the 
 needle can supply. 
 
 Where an inherited handsome independence 
 is possessed, it is wise assuredly to have girls 
 taught accomplishments, that, to married or 
 single women, may prove graceful and appro- 
 priate ; — to mothers, as giving the power of in- 
 structing, or better superintending the instruc- 
 tion of their children — to single women, as 
 bestowing the means of pleasingly occupying 
 leisure. It cannot be too often repeated, that 
 the more resources a woman has for domestic 
 and lonely employment, the more she will love 
 her home, the less she will be disposed to enter 
 into habits of dissipation and extravagance. 
 
 It seems, then, that it is easy to determine 
 whether or not our daughters ought to learn 
 music. The next point to be determined is, 
 how shall it be best attained ? For, if we desire 
 it to be practised, we must take care that it is 
 
MUSIC. 61 
 
 acquired to some degree of excellence. Few 
 people choose to do often what they cannot do 
 well. 
 
 Now it seems that music may be deemed a 
 mechanical art, an art that cannot be attained to 
 any perfection without long and incessant prac- 
 tice. Can this length of practice be crowded 
 into a few devoted years ? We think not, for 
 it is a very progressive art, and early applica- 
 tion best fits the hand for its most delicate ex- 
 hibition. The pliant fingers of childhood much 
 more easily adapt themselves to the movement 
 and ever-changing position, than the less flexi- 
 ble joints of the adult. Hence, therefore, if 
 this charming art is to be taught, the younger 
 the pupil is initiated into its rudiments the bet- 
 ter. Some instructers assert that nature marks 
 the period when the child may be placed before 
 the pianoforte ; namely, when its little hand can 
 extend to an octave. But is this a judicious 
 suggestion ? How different is the size of the 
 hand in different children of the same age ; one 
 can stretch over eight keys at the age of 
 seven, whereas another cannot at nine. The 
 mental expansion, the power of understanding 
 instruction, seems a better criterion ; for what 
 is understood by the head, if not instantly per- 
 formed by the hand, will urge to more earnest 
 *6 
 
62 music. 
 
 efforts of attention and application. The head 
 may improve the hand ; the hand will not so 
 certainly improve the head. 
 
 If the age of seven is recommended as a good 
 period for commencing lessons in music, let not 
 the skilful arithmetician hastily begin to calcu- 
 late the probable number of hours to be devo- 
 ted to this pursuit, and sigh at the immense sum 
 total. Upon the broad principle, that the atten- 
 tion of pupils ought never to be wearied, be the 
 art or science they study what it may, a very 
 short lesson in music is recommended ; but it 
 must be a daily lesson.* For the first six 
 months, one quarter of an hour ; — for the sec- 
 ond six months, half an hour ; — after the first 
 year, two hours daily ; this arrangement, has 
 been tried, it has succeeded beyond the hopes 
 of the projector. 
 
 For the first year it is not advisable for the 
 young pupil to practise alone, since many bad 
 habits in the manner of sitting, moving the 
 hands, &c, may be thereby acquired, as also 
 playing in false time ; but, after the first year, 
 the labors of the instructer may be greatly di- 
 minished, by the pupil practising half of the 
 
 * Sundays of course excepted ; for, in spite of the high authority 
 of " Practical Education," we never desire to see Sundays loaded 
 with working-day duties. We would ever wish to see it it a Holy- 
 day, and a holiday. 
 
music. 63 
 
 hour alone, and the other half with the pre- 
 ceptor. 
 
 One of the present modish plans of teaching 
 music, is for the pupil to be engaged, for one 
 year, in solely learning to read music ; where 
 this plan is adopted, the tuition of the art may 
 very well commence at six years old ; experi- 
 ence can alone determine how far this is the 
 better plan ; it is not easy to comprehend its 
 advantages. For of what avail is the theory of 
 music, without the power of putting that theory 
 in practice ; instrumental music is not an ab- 
 stract art, it is a positive mechanical operation ; 
 let a child read music ever so well, she knows 
 little of it, unless she can play the notes as rea- 
 dily as she can read them ; after she has learned 
 to read, she must learn to play; after she has toil- 
 ed to understand the marks on the book, she must 
 toil to understand how those marks relate to 
 the ivory keys of her pianoforte ; she first 
 attains the theory, and has afterwards to reduce 
 it to practice ; on this plan she serves two ap- 
 prenticeships to the art. Were it not better to 
 make one initiation suffice ? to let reading the 
 notes and teaching the keys be taught together ? 
 Would not time and labor be thereby saved ? 
 Would not a dry, wearying study, be converted 
 into a cheerful, pleasing amusement ? These 
 are questions to be answered by experience. 
 
64 music. 
 
 If it be proved that the twelvemonth's initiatory 
 reading, ensures a more excellent exhibition 
 of this accomplishment, it is a course most 
 worthy to be pursued. 
 
 It were well, as a first music lesson, to open 
 the pianoforte, and give the pupil some idea of 
 its internal mechanism ; some conception may, 
 at the same time, be instilled of the manner in 
 which sound is propagated and hushed, render- 
 ed loud and soft, &c. In teaching any art or 
 science, too much pains cannot be taken to give 
 its fundamental rules and principles ; to be well 
 grounded is much more essential than is gene- 
 rally supposed, for after excellence is thereby 
 more likely to ensue, and even moderate profi- 
 ciency thereby rendered more valuable. 
 
 There is a golden rule in practical education, 
 that every mother should study, — " whatever 
 young women learn, let them be taught accu- 
 rately." " The knowledge of the general prin- 
 ciples of any science is very different from 
 superficial knowledge of the science ; perhaps, 
 from not attending to this distinction, or from 
 not understanding it, many have failed in female 
 education." — Chapter on Female Accomplish- 
 ments. 
 
 There are several excellent introductory 
 works to aid a mother in teaching the elements 
 
music. 65 
 
 of music ; — the " Guida Musica" of Hook, 
 though old fashioned, has been found very effi- 
 cient. 
 
 It has proved very beneficial to write down 
 on small pieces of paper, the different por- 
 tions of the gamut, one portion to be learned 
 at a time ; thus, the names of the five treble 
 lines may form one lesson ; the four treble 
 spaces another ; then the five bass lines ; and 
 next, the four bass spaces ; and so on, till all 
 the names of the notes are learned to be read 
 in the books, and their places on the instrument 
 pointed out ; as thus, "Treble Cliff:" — 
 
 First line, E. 
 Second line, G. 
 Third line, B. 
 Fourth line, D. 
 Fifth line, F. 
 
 It is a common complaint that pupils are dis- 
 posed to look clown on their fingers, and are 
 with difficulty brought to look up on their books. 
 How can it be otherwise ? By repeatedly 
 sounding the different keys, their relative places 
 on the instrument can only be known; some 
 time must be required to gain this knowledge ; 
 until it is gained, how can a child ascertain 
 whereabouts she is to place her finger to strike 
 
66 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 a certain note ? Let not, then, instructers 
 harass themselves and their pupils with prema- 
 ture attempts to do, what time and practice can 
 alone enable them to do ; much wrangling and 
 vexation may be thus avoided. At the end of 
 a twelvemonth,* (but seldom before,) children 
 begin to know the places of the keys, and can 
 look at their books whilst they play. 
 
 The study of music may be divided into four 
 parts, or progressive steps : — 
 
 First, to know the notes in the book and on 
 the instrument. 
 
 Second, to sound every note in the piece. 
 
 Third, to play in time. 
 
 Fourth, to play with execution and taste. 
 
 Each of these steps must be attained in the 
 order they are noted, and each well attained be- 
 fore the following one is attempted. Most 
 especially should children be informed, that 
 every note of the piece they are practising 
 must be sounded, or no degree of excellence 
 can be attained. Is this observation sufficient- 
 ly inculcated ? 
 
 It is generally recommended to practise the 
 third and fourth fingers, those fingers being little 
 
 * It is well known, that even adults, and persons advanced in 
 life, require some months' tuition, ere they can read music as they 
 play it. 
 
music. 67 
 
 used in other mechanical operations, are usually 
 weak and untractable. In playing, they are 
 often called into action, and therefore must be 
 strengthened by use for the probable demand. 
 
 Care should be taken that the pupil sits in a 
 good posture at the pianoforte, and this not 
 upon the principle of avoiding ungenteel and 
 unfashionable attitudes, but upon the more ra- 
 tional principle of avoiding a much more impor- 
 tant evil, the risk of growing crooked. It is 
 the incurring of this deplorable calamity that 
 precludes very young girls learning to play on 
 the harp ; the position demanded for the touch- 
 ing of that instrument usually producing some 
 degree of deformity in growing children. It 
 ought, therefore, never to be attempted until 
 girls have ceased to grow. 
 
 Above every other consideration, the great- 
 est pains should be taken to inspire a right mo- 
 tive for the acquirement of music as an accom- 
 plishment — proper feelings to attend its exhibi- 
 tion. By most human beings it is considered 
 as the most delightful art ; for its own charms 
 let it be cultivated, for its power of pleasing let 
 it be displayed. Impress strongly on the young 
 mind that it is for the pleasure her performance 
 bestows, not for the applause she receives, that 
 she ought to be anxious ; — that it is not how 
 
68 music. 
 
 well she plays, but how much she gratifies, that 
 is of consequence. It has been elsewhere said 
 that " the performer who can be thinking of 
 the applause of listeners, instead of the harmony 
 of her performance, may fancy herself possessed 
 of science and of taste, but can have little of 
 the true musical tact." 
 
 Some parents object to boys learning music, 
 as a knowledge of this art may draw the atten- 
 tion from more useful studies, and lead the pu- 
 pil into pernicious society. Music has, how- 
 ever, been found to be an amusement that has 
 presented agreeable home resources for young 
 men, and has assisted to withdraw them from 
 love of public gaieties and indiscriminate socie- 
 ty. Circumstances must, therefore, determine 
 when music is a desirable attainment for youths. 
 
 Let it be carefully instilled into pupils of 
 either sex, that a moderate knowledge of music, 
 with accuracy and taste, produces more gratifi- 
 cation to the listener, as well as to the perform- 
 er, than the greatest brilliancy of touch and 
 rapidity of execution without taste and accura- 
 cy. A girl of very moderate musical talent may 
 play and sing to please relatives and friends, the 
 only persons she ought to desire for auditors. 
 
DRAWING AND PAINTING. 69 
 
 DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 For boys, some knowledge of drawing is 
 useful in many professions and situations be- 
 sides that of an artist, as soldiers, sailors, and 
 manufacturers. To girls, this charming art is 
 an accomplishment highly desirable, as being a 
 quiet, a domestic, and an elegant amusement. 
 Whatever endears home, or renders it agreea- 
 ble, is worthy of female attention and study. 
 We cannot too much multiply the power of 
 home occupation, since the incapacity for such 
 occupation too often leads to habits of public 
 amusement and exhibition, idle gossiping, and 
 the long train of follies to which the indolent 
 and vacant minded resort for dissipating ennui. 
 
 The pencil and the pallet offer a recreation 
 that may be enjoyed at almost any time, and 
 that, without infringing on the comforts of the 
 other members of the domestic circle ; advan- 
 tages that music does not possess, the noise of 
 7 
 
70 DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 instrument and song being sometimes incommo- 
 dious, and the instrument itself a less portable 
 article than the paint box and the portfolio. 
 Even by the bedside of a sick friend, the kind 
 attendant may while away the hour by cheer- 
 ing conversation, and, at the same time, employ 
 herself with the quiet and unoffending pencil. 
 
 Drawing and painting bestow the power of 
 producing many an elegant and inexpensive 
 gift, and leave permanent mementos of industry 
 and taste, to arouse or encourage the efforts of 
 those who come after us in the career of life. 
 At almost any period of existence can these 
 charming arts be pursued and enjoyed. 
 
 By causing a close observation of the works 
 of nature in flowers, fruits, animals, and land- 
 scapes, may it not often induce a warmer glow 
 of gratitude and veneration to the Creator of all 
 things ? 
 
 It seems, then, that drawing, though a less 
 desired and less shining accomplishment, may 
 prove the more truly valuable attainment. Let 
 it be taught (as is recommended in every branch 
 of education) fundamentally. Let the pupil be 
 early told that all its excellence consists in 
 the faithful delineation of objects ; that painting 
 must not be attempted until drawing has been 
 well attained, for no beauty of coloring can 
 
DRAWING AND PAINTING. 71 
 
 compensate for deformity of outline, no just 
 light and shade can exist where a false perspec- 
 tive appears. To sketching the simple outline 
 of objects should the attention be primarily de- 
 voted and long confined ; how long, must be 
 determined by the proficiency made by the 
 young pupil. 
 
 Perhaps the age of nine years is as soon as 
 the hand is capable of firmly holding and guiding 
 the pencil. The first lesson should be given from 
 natural subjects. Let the child gather a leaf, an 
 acorn, a stone, a shell, or any other thing easy 
 of observation and delineation. Let the parent 
 or preceptor slowly and carefully draw the out- 
 line of the object before the young pupils, and, 
 giving what instructions may be necessary, put 
 the pencil into their hands, and bid them imitate 
 what they have just seen executed. Patience 
 in effacing bad strokes, and perseverance in 
 repeating the efforts, should be inculcated in 
 various forms of gentle and intelligible admoni- 
 tion : — " Yes, that is badly done. I drew just 
 as badly myself when I began learning to draw ; 
 but you see I draw tolerably well now. Well, 
 I have gained my moderate skill by continued 
 and long practice, by doing the same sketch 
 over and over again. You often hear of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds and other clever painters ; I 
 
72 DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 dare say, when they first took a pencil into then- 
 hands, they managed no better than you do 
 now. Almost every art can be attained by pa- 
 tient and unremitting perseverance" 
 
 It would be beneficial to explain the nature 
 of the several articles used in drawing and paint- 
 ing: the paper, pencil, India-rubber, colors, &c. 
 
 Flowers are generally considered as the 
 easiest subjects; next landscapes; then, ani- 
 mals ; and, lastly, the expression of the human 
 countenance, as its various passions are depict- 
 ed in historical painting. A couple of hours oc- 
 casionally, in the middle of the day during the 
 hot weather of summer, or during the evenings 
 of winter, when, in both cases, in-door occupa- 
 tion is desirable, would suffice to bestow a 
 moderate proficiency. Three or four times a 
 week, from nine to eighteen years of age, two 
 hours each lesson, even allowing for intervals 
 of sickness or other incidental interruptions, 
 would give abundance of time for a rational at- 
 tention to this elegant accomplishment, and a 
 very tolerable proficiency in it might be thereby 
 fairly anticipated. 
 
 When the pupil has obtained a thorough con- 
 viction that it is nature which is the great origi- 
 nal of all drawings, he may improve his hand by 
 copying from the drawings of good masters; let 
 
DRAWING AND PAINTING. 73 
 
 him be told, a copy can have only one excellence, 
 the fidelity of imitation; that, therefore, he must 
 accurately copy the original, faults and all ; for 
 if he can faithfully copy a drawing, he will bet- 
 ter understand faithfully to copy the original 
 object ; and it is to acquire the art of accurate 
 delineation that he learns to draw. His eye, 
 by practice, will become more prompt in ob- 
 serving the peculiar form, color, and shades of 
 objects ; as his hand, by practice, will become 
 more skilful in delineating what his eye beholds ; 
 thus, though the works of masters may be given 
 as subjects of study, the first lessons, in each 
 branch of the art, should be given from nature. 
 As, 
 
 First, leaves and flowers, sketched. 
 
 Second, a cottage — a ruin — a landscape. 
 
 Third, the features separately, of a living 
 subject — the nose — the mouth — &c. 
 
 Fourth, the colors and tints of objects. 
 
 Fifth, lights and shades — and, lastly, perspec- 
 tive. 
 
 The branches of the art are here named, as 
 they are considered more or less difficult ; but, 
 as each branch offers a boundless field for study 
 and occupation, it cannot be wise to attempt 
 the knowledge of more than one. Those pain- 
 ters who have shone most conspicuously, have 
 
74 DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 concentrated their efforts on one branch of their 
 art. 
 
 Let the pupil make her own choice, guided 
 by the advice of those who know her talents, 
 and understand in what they are most likely to 
 excel ; but, the choice once made, let all future 
 efforts be directed solely to the chosen study, 
 be it flowers, landscape, or figures. It is better 
 to paint the smallest weed, excellently, than 
 the largest historical piece, indifferently. Even 
 an excellent pencil sketch of any object in na- 
 ture, is more valuable than the most labored 
 painting of moderate merit. Without concen- 
 trating our labors, no degree of excellence can 
 be attained ; and unless some degree of excel- 
 lence be attained, the art will lose its power to 
 beguile and amuse ; for, as we advance in years, 
 the taste naturally refines and improves, and if 
 our productions do not, in some degree, keep 
 pace with our improved perceptions, assuredly 
 we shall soon throw aside an occupation which 
 offends our matured judgment. 
 
 In the cruel scarcity of modes of exertion, by 
 which a female can gain a respectable sub- 
 sistence, in case of the vicissitudes of life com- 
 pelling her to earn her daily bread, excellence in 
 any branch of drawing or painting seems to stand 
 preeminent. 
 
GRAMMAR. 75 
 
 GRAMMAR. 
 
 The rudiments of grammar may be taught 
 as early as seven or eight years of age, and, 
 once acquired, a weekly lesson of half an hour 
 will serve to preserve them in the memory. 
 Perhaps not before twelve or fourteen can its 
 delicacies and intricacies be clearly understood. 
 
 Let this branch of education, as well as every 
 other (the precept cannot be too often repeat- 
 ed,) be fundamentally taught. Let us begin 
 with the number of letters in the alphabet — 
 their division into vowels and consonants — the 
 nature of sounds and syllables — diphthongs, &c. 
 
 Let us next proceed to name the parts of 
 speech, and, when the pupil can recite them all, 
 go on to explain each of them in turn, being 
 careful to let the first be understood before we 
 proceed to the second, and so on. A small ini- 
 tiatory grammar will be useful to refer to, that 
 the eye may assist the ear ; but the several ex- 
 
16 GRAMMAR. 
 
 planations had better be given in the form of 
 conversation, and the pupil required to give 
 his conception of the subject in his own words. 
 
 At first, the simple meaning of each part of 
 speech is all that is to be taught, as — there are 
 only three articles — a — an — the. A noun 
 denotes the name of a thing — an adjective sig- 
 nifies the quality of a thing, &c. 
 
 When this is well understood, go back to 
 each part of speech, and more fully expatiate 
 on each ; — as, 
 
 There are two kinds of articles, definite and 
 indefinite. 
 
 A and an, indefinite — the, definite. 
 
 Indefinite means any thing. 
 
 Definite means a particular thing. 
 
 But it is presumptuous to suppose farther 
 hints are necessary. A sensible mother will 
 easily develope, and put into execution, the sys- 
 tem here suggested. 
 
 Though French is advised to be taught prac- 
 tically, yet some knowledge of grammar must 
 aid practice. To be able, therefore, early to 
 learn French, the pupil must be early conver- 
 sant with grammar. 
 
 It is a common remark, that women, who 
 know nothing of grammar, seldom offend against 
 its rules. The justness of this remark cannot 
 
GRAMMAR. 77 
 
 be disputed, as little can it be doubted whence 
 this propriety arises : — the communication with 
 well-educated persons, and the reading of well- 
 written books. But though it may be deemed 
 that women seldom offend against grammar, yet 
 that they do so sometimes is incontrovertible, 
 and the Reviews sufficiently expose how many do 
 so often. — The rising generation will, doubtless, 
 be free of this defect, and, not from accidental 
 imitation, but from acquired knowledge, write 
 and speak with accuracy and elegance. 
 
 Of the errors most necessary to be exploded, 
 are the improper use of the adverbs and adjec- 
 tives — the participles — and prepositions. — Ma- 
 ny grammarians have commented on the false 
 appropriation of the active verb, " to lay," and 
 the passive verb, "to lie." The one being 
 commonly used for the other ; as also adjec- 
 tives supplying the place of adverbs. On these 
 several points, therefore, very precise notions 
 ought to be inculcated ; — a duty easily per- 
 formed, whilst the admirable treatises of Lind- 
 ley Murray are within the reach of the anxious 
 mother. 
 
 Greatly as the females of the present day 
 have improved upon the orthography of their 
 grandmothers, there are yet too many words 
 falsely spelt in their epistolary effusions. Wo- 
 
78 GRAMMAR. 
 
 men, indeed, generally write so swiftly, that 
 they often insensibly fall into the errors of bad 
 spelling, but if they possess, by rote, rules for 
 orthography, they will be less liable, even in 
 haste, to trangress in this way. 
 
 And here, perhaps, is the right place to sug- 
 gest the propriety of learning off by heart (as it 
 is called) the several rules of syntax. It is, in- 
 deed, with the intention of preserving the 
 memory vigorous and unincumbered for useful 
 impressions, that we do not wish to have it 
 loaded with unintelligible poetry, and long pas- 
 sages of badly-understood grammar, geography, 
 &c. Let whatever can be fixed on the memo- 
 ry, through the aid of the understanding, be in- 
 culcated by conversation, assisted by the read- 
 ing of books. 
 
 But some parts of knowledge cannot be so in- 
 stilled ; such, for instance, are the tables of 
 arithmetic, the rules of grammar, the dates of 
 history, and the propositions of science. These 
 must be learned in precise terms ; and such pre- 
 cision can only be obtained by repetition of the 
 terms until they are fixed in the memory. It 
 is very long before, by the association of ideas, 
 and the rapid calculation of numbers, we acquire 
 the power of answering arithmetical questions 
 by reflection. A child must, therefore, learn to 
 
GRAMMAR. 79 
 
 doit by rote. An adult can tell that four times six 
 is twenty-four, because he knows six is the half 
 of twelve, and twice twelve is twenty-four ; or, 
 because he knows, four sixpences make two shil- 
 lings, and two shillings is twenty-four pence. 
 But a child, before he can make this apparently 
 long, but really rapid, calculation, has often to 
 answer the question, and must give the result, 
 without entirely understanding how it is such. 
 For this purpose he learns the arithmetical tables. 
 
 The rules of grammar are necessary to be 
 learned from another principle ; viz. that by the 
 precise words of the rules recurring to the re- 
 collection, the sense they convey may be always 
 ready for use when wanted. On the same 
 principle, the precise terms in which the propo- 
 sitions of science are worded should be known 
 by rote ; such as " the three laws of motion," 
 the rule to discover " the celerity with which 
 bodies fall," &x. &c. 
 
 But though the tables of arithmetic may be 
 learned before they are understood, the rules of 
 grammar, and the propositions of science, must 
 not be committed to memory till their meaning 
 is perfectly intelligible, or their repetition will 
 not serve to restore to the mind the informa- 
 tion of which they are the concise expression. 
 Twelve or fourteen will therefore be quite 
 young enough for these latter acquisitions. 
 
80 GRAMMAR. 
 
 In history, the certain recollection of a few 
 dates of prominent epochs, with a knowledge 
 of their relative position to events before and 
 after occurring, will be found more useful than 
 avast profusion of dates unconnectedly remem- 
 bered. Indeed, all defined knowledge must be 
 ever more valuable, than desultory recollections 
 and partially-understood information. 
 
 It was the opinion of the celebrated Fenelon, 
 the successful instructer of the then heir of 
 France, the young Duke of Burgundy, that the 
 rudiments of grammar were sufficient for the 
 generality of pupils, and that conversation was 
 the best mode of instruction on most subjects. 
 See his admirable tract — " De PEducation des 
 Filles." 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 81 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Although it is desirable that a knowledge of 
 the situation of countries should accompany a 
 knowledge of the events that have occurred in 
 those countries ; in other words, that history 
 and geography should be studied together ; yet 
 it is likely the young mind can much ear- 
 lier understand the former than the latter sci- 
 ence. 
 
 At six years old children have been seen to 
 relish history ; at nine, they have been found 
 incapable of studying geography ; perhaps, 
 however, even at the age of six, some notion of 
 the form of the globe, its principal divisions, and 
 the relative places of the most celebrated em- 
 pires, and most renowned cities, may be incul- 
 cated sufficiently for the purpose of carrying 
 along in the mind the knowledge of events, 
 with the situation of the places where they 
 occurred. Before, therefore, opening the first 
 8 
 
GZ geography. 
 
 books of history, open a book of geography ; — 
 let us point out the form of the world ; — the 
 four quarters of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Ame- 
 rica. The countries and cities named in an- 
 cient history; Egypt, Babylon, Jerusalem, 
 Greece, Rome, Macedonia, Carthage. The 
 countries and cities conquered by Rome ; Gaul 
 (France,) Britain, Germany, Spain : — the vast 
 empires of India and China. 
 
 After these few leading points of geography 
 are clearly understood and well impressed on 
 the memory, (which may be done in two or 
 three lessons of a few minutes each,) the book 
 of history may be opened, as also a good map 
 of the world ; indeed, history should never be 
 read without an open map for reference at hand. 
 
 As every town or country is spoken of, let 
 the child be shown its position on the map, and 
 when, from practice, become familiar with the 
 situation of places, let him be required to point 
 it out. 
 
 Thus, each study will forward an acquain- 
 tance with the other. History will lead to a 
 knowledge of geography, and geography assist 
 the recollection of history. 
 
 At nine years of age, a deeper insight into 
 geography may be commenced ; a lesson of 
 half an hour, twice or thrice a week, will suffice 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 83 
 
 for this study ; a good globe, and clear large 
 maps, will be indispensable, as also a well writ- 
 ten initiatory work on the subject ; many of 
 these abound ; dissected maps have been found 
 particularly useful ; and the geographical games 
 of Abbe Gaultier have proved more serviceable 
 than games of instruction commonly prove. 
 
 The memory may be beneficially exercised, 
 (and we never would have it exercised unless 
 in some beneficial effort,) by learning the 
 names of capital towns, rivers, &c. &c. in 
 every state or kingdom ; blank maps can be 
 given to the pupils, to be filled up by them- 
 selves ; but there is no need to expatiate fur- 
 ther on this branch of education ; it is generally 
 taught in a very intelligible manner, and the 
 books on the subject sufficiently explain the best 
 mode of inculcating it. 
 
 In some branches of learning, we must begin 
 with generals, and descend to particulars ; in 
 others, we must commence with particulars, and 
 ascend to generals ; in geography, for instance, 
 as perhaps also in history and astronomy, we 
 first explain the general principles and the out- 
 line of the science, and then proceed to the 
 particular parts of it ; whilst in arithmetic, 
 music, and the other arts and sciences, we first 
 teach the rudiments, and then go on to the 
 higher points. 
 
84 LANGUAGES. 
 
 LANGUAGES. 
 
 LATIN— FRENCH— ITALIAN. 
 
 Many parents, mothers especially, are very 
 apt to complain of the many years lost in the 
 acquisition of the dead languages. But are the 
 hours so devoted wasted ? To answer this 
 question, let us put down what are the advan- 
 tages likely to be gained by the study of Latin 
 and Greek. 
 
 It must be allowed that a thorough acquain- 
 tance with our native tongue is indispensable. 
 
 It is known that our language is indebted for 
 a vast portion of its words to the Latin, and 
 that almost all our scientific terms are derived 
 from the Greek. In one glance, then, is seen 
 the extended power of accurate and elegant 
 speaking and writing, conferred by a study of 
 the dead languages. 
 
 In studying Latin and Greek, pupils become 
 familiar with the writings of the most celebra- 
 
LATIN FRENCH ITALIAN. 85 
 
 ted philosophers and poets, and early history is 
 laid before them in the precise words in which 
 cotemporaries and living historians noted down 
 the facts they witnessed, and the actions de- 
 scribed to them, perhaps, by the actors them- 
 selves. Are these worthless pleasures — trifling 
 benefits ? 
 
 Children are trained to application and habits 
 of attention, from the early demand made on 
 their patience and perseverance by their Latin 
 grammars and dictionaries. How precious the 
 inculcation of such habits let parents and tutors 
 decide. If these are the natural consequences 
 of a study of the dead languages, the time de- 
 voted to their acquirement cannot be deemed 
 lost. So extensive, indeed, seem the benefits 
 they confer, that one can hardly help wishing 
 that girls should have some insight into them. 
 Latin, especiall}*, is so assistant in forwarding 
 the attainment of all other languages, even in 
 causing a more correct acquaintance with our 
 own, that some knowledge of it must be singu- 
 larly valuable. In fact, on a consideration of 
 the matter, it may be pronounced, " that no 
 person can be extensively learned, or profound- 
 ly skilled in any science, without a knowledge 
 of Greek and Latin." 
 
 Boys of six years of age may begin the acci- 
 
86 LANGUAGES. 
 
 dence at home ; a mother will find it as easy as 
 it is pleasurable to superintend this initiatory 
 study ; she may thereby save her son from 
 much annoyance of school discipline. 
 
 The study of the French language is now 
 almost indispensable, as all persons of a genteel 
 rank in society are supposed to be acquainted 
 with the language of Europe. It is impossible 
 not to wish, with Mr. Eustace, that Italian held 
 that honorable preeminence, but we must bend 
 to necessity, and submit to a decision custom 
 has too long imposed for it ever to be easily 
 subverted. 
 
 Mr. Locke — (what he recommends, writers 
 may safely propose and mothers safely adopt) 
 — Mr. Locke suggests the plan of teaching 
 children the French language, at eight years of 
 age, through the medium of conversation. This 
 great metaphysician thus gives his powerful 
 support, with that of many other learned wri- 
 ters, for a practical mode of teaching languages. 
 It is now, indeed, generally preferred, and the 
 able work of M. Dufief * will be found admira- 
 bly to assist the labors of the practical instruc- 
 ter. Indeed so amply and so minutely does it 
 develope the system to be pursued, that to re- 
 
 * Nature Displayed, in her mode of teaching Language to Man, 
 adapted to the French. By N. G. Dufief. 
 
LATIN FRENCH ITALIAN. 87 
 
 commend that 'work, is to give full and com- 
 plete instructions of the best method of teach- 
 ing the French language. 
 
 It is fair to add, that a girl, nine years old, 
 who had learned from this work, under the tuition 
 of a mother very moderately acquainted with 
 the language, in fifteen months could read 
 Madame Cottin's " Elizabeth," with so much 
 fluency, and translate it as' she read with so 
 much ease, that, to use her own words, " it 
 seemed to her like reading English ;" a positive 
 proof that she clearly understood what she read. 
 
 Probably, when Mr. Locke talked of begin- 
 ning to learn French practically at eight years 
 old, that was deemed a very early age for the 
 attempt ; at present, we see children beginning 
 at six. 
 
 The different abilities of children prevent very 
 decisive rules on this, as on most other branches 
 of education ; but one thing must never be lost 
 sight of — children must not begin French, or 
 any other language, till they can distinctly pro- 
 nounce, and fluently read, their own. 
 
 Though M. Dufief has published a much im- 
 proved French pronouncing Dictionary, yet, 
 perhaps, there is no mode of learning the just 
 pronunciation of a language, but from the lips 
 of a native. It may be added, that there is no 
 
88 LANGUAGES. 
 
 assured way of learning to speak it fluently, 
 but by residing in the country where it is 
 spoken. A short residence in France, for this 
 purpose, would be easily managed by most peo- 
 ple of genteel or independent stations, and the 
 present peace subsisting among the nations of 
 Europe — (may it long continue !) would render 
 such a sojourn easy of attainment and pleasant 
 in realization. 
 
 When French is well understood, Italian may 
 recreate the leisure of the young girl, and open 
 to her new sources of delightful home amuse- 
 ment. Most young women desire the acquire- 
 ment of this elegant language, and the smallest 
 insight into its graces, and the smallest ac- 
 quaintance with the exquisite poetry of Ital- 
 ian bards, will account for this universal predi- 
 lection. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, a 
 few months' application will suffice to attain 
 considerable proficiency in this language. 
 
 It has been found advisable to allow a child, 
 well advanced in French or Italian, to study a 
 dictionary of those languages. In this course, 
 the words before accurately understood may be 
 passed over, and the attention be devoted to 
 unknown terms and phrases, in the order in 
 which they succeed each other. The idiomatic 
 expressions of every language are worthy partic- 
 ular study. 
 
HOUSEWIFERY. 
 
 89 
 
 HOUSEWIFERY. 
 
 To that middling class of life, to which 
 these thoughts are principally directed, there is 
 no female accomplishment more valuable than 
 housewifery. By that class is it sufficiently 
 prized as an accomplishment ? or wisely incul- 
 cated as a necessary branch of education ? It 
 is feared not. Few girls are regularly initiated 
 into the various household duties ; yet, to all 
 girls, the knowledge of them is essential, since, 
 as wives, daughters, or sisters, all will proba- 
 bly have households to superintend. How 
 extensive the mischiefs caused by ignorance of 
 housewifery, we every day hear and see pain- 
 ful instances. The misery endured by the 
 helpless untaught individual, in feeling her ig- 
 norance, and seeing the varied form of evil that 
 ignorance produces, must be most severe. Let 
 not mothers wilfully condemn their daughters 
 
90 HOUSEWIFERY. 
 
 to sorrow, disgrace, and error, from which it is 
 so easy to rescue them. 
 
 The duties of housewifery being generally 
 of an active and desultory nature, are usually 
 very agreeable in the performance to active and 
 variety-loving young people. They will, there- 
 fore, be cheerfully attempted and pursued, and 
 we shall enlarge the pleasures of girls, by the 
 same encouragement with which we prosecute 
 their improvement. 
 
 But there is one caution that must be unde- 
 viatingly regarded. In pursuing the superin- 
 tendence of housekeeping, girls must act as the 
 mild but respected directors of servants, not as 
 their associates, confidantes, and playmates. 
 This rule can be easily enforced. Children 
 should be taught to regard servants as fellow- 
 creatures* as beings like themselves, prone to 
 error, but capable of virtue. At the same time, 
 they should be taught that, whilst they may 
 love and pity those beneath them, and respect 
 those above them, it is always most wise to 
 choose their companions and friends, as much 
 as possible, in their own rank : — on this prin- 
 
 * In the Life of Mr. Edgeworth, published by his daughter, it is 
 gratifying to read the retraction of some of that gentleman's severe 
 strictures on servants. 
 
HOUSEWIFERY. 91 
 
 ciple, namely, that they may not learn to 
 domineer over mean associates, nor cringe be- 
 neath great ones. 
 
 This premised, the first lessons of house- 
 wifery should be practised under the eye of the 
 mother. At fifteen years of age, a girl will 
 know enough of arithmetic to be ready at ac- 
 counts, and will have sufficient judgment to 
 reason fairly on what she observes. At that 
 age she may occasionally attend her mother in 
 her daily visit to the kitchen and the larder. 
 Let her behold the arrangement of household 
 business — the manner of giving directions — the 
 plan of furnishing supplies ; — she will thus grad- 
 ually imbibe a clear conception of all such 
 matters — she will understand the usefulness of 
 method — she will find out the usual consump- 
 tion of a family ; — she may be taught, by exam- 
 ple, to censure with mildness — to listen to 
 reasonable excuses — to be peremptory in just 
 orders ; — to know what to expect from the 
 industry, and what to pardon to the frailty, 
 of domestics. 
 
 To avoid a dangerous association with me- 
 nials, it would be advisable to bound the exer- 
 tions of the youthful housekeeper to superin- 
 tendence. Unless urged by imperious neces- 
 sity, let not girls assist the labors of servants. 
 
92 HOUSEWIFERY. 
 
 It is money badly saved to make them perform 
 any humble business, which, for a few shillings, 
 could be performed by a hireling. The mother 
 had better do it herself, if she cannot afford 
 those few shillings, or dispense with smart 
 clothing for herself or her child, to meet the ex- 
 pense, or be present when her child is so oc- 
 cupied. 
 
 It is not from a sentiment of pride that this 
 point is so earnestly recommended, but it is from 
 a desire to check the dissemination of error. 
 When a young lady and her maid are engaged 
 together in some occupation, they must enter 
 into conversation ; now, of what nature must 
 that conversation prove. The maid would not 
 understand the wisdom, nor relish the morality, 
 of her polite associate, but both maid and miss 
 could understand, and, we fear, both would 
 relish, the retailed news of the day — anecdotes 
 of neighbors and petty scandal. By this pow- 
 er of communication both maid and miss are 
 contaminated. The menial is encouraged in 
 habits of espionage and scandal, and the mind 
 of the young lady is irreparably vulgarized and 
 poisoned. It were better she should perform 
 the whole labor in the parlor or her own cham- 
 ber, than that such a fearful risk should be run 
 by association with a servant. 
 
HOUSEWIFERY. 93 
 
 The management of the breakfast and tea- 
 table, will induce some knowledge of perform- 
 ing the honors of the mistress of a house. 
 Occasionally, the whole arrangement of the 
 house may devolve on the young housekeeper. 
 At sixteen she may be invested in all the rights 
 and duties of household superintendence. The 
 mother may sometimes interfere with advice, 
 but let the whole responsibility rest with the 
 daughter, that thus, being thrown on her own 
 powers, she may early learn judiciously to 
 exert those powers. We have seen girls of 
 sixteen very judiciously conduct household 
 affairs ; and, when mistakes occur, as occur 
 they must to beginners, in all the offices and 
 businesses of life, it is better they should occur 
 under the paternal roof, where partial relatives 
 are prompt to excuse and remedy ; than in the 
 first days of bridal management, when the 
 agitated mind is full of the variety and novelty 
 of its duties, and new friends and new kindred 
 are less disposed to pardon and correct. 
 
 Great pains are taken to instil knowledge 
 into the youthful mind ; the memory is loaded 
 with facts and morals, and the various branches 
 of learning, in arts and sciences, are carefully 
 taught. But, with this knowledge, and with 
 this learning, it is necessary, at the same time, 
 9 
 
94 HOUSEWIFERY. 
 
 to inspire a resolution, and to induce a habit of 
 bringing the acquired information into use. By 
 reflecting on the traits of character, and the 
 facts recorded in biography, many excellent 
 maxims could be drawn for the conduct of life, 
 and even our skill in any of the fine arts, and 
 our familiarity in any of the abstruser sciences, 
 might be made subservient to the purposes of 
 domestic duty. A young lady, acquainted 
 with the general principles of chemistry, could, 
 with increased intelligence and precision, direct 
 many of the domestic operations of a house- 
 hold ; and some knowledge of the laws of 
 nature (as developed in natural and experimen- 
 tal philosophy,) would tend to many useful 
 results in the business of private life. So far 
 from thinking it a degradation to use the infor- 
 mation, obtained from lofty sources, to the pur- 
 poses of household and domestic matters, it 
 should be impressed on the young mind, that 
 learning and wisdom are only valuable inasmuch 
 as they are useful ; and, as women have few 
 opportunities of being assisting in the higher 
 walks of science, they will have little chance of 
 being serviceable, except in the humble, and 
 often not less important, labors of domestic 
 life. Nor must they, like the hoarding wife, 
 
HOUSEWIFERY. 95 
 
 so ably depicted in the Idler,* store up their 
 treasures, without plan or prospect of bringing 
 them into daily use, whilst anticipating a 
 future demand for the accumulated stock. 
 
 " 1 do not inquire how much you have read 
 and studied on the human powers ; but I ask 
 how you exert those powers ?" This is one of 
 many powerful passages in Epictetus, as ren- 
 dered to us by Miss Carter. 
 
 * No. 35. 
 
96 FIRST COURSE. 
 
 FIRST COURSE— TWO YEARS. 
 
 FROM FOUR TO SIX ; ONE HOUR DAILY. 
 
 At three or four years old, the alphabet may 
 be learned ; half an hour daily, immediately 
 after breakfast, to be regularly devoted to this 
 duty, that habits of attention and application 
 may be as early inculcated as possible. 
 
 At five, the lesson to be lengthened to an 
 hour daily, and a needle may be put into the 
 hands of girls. 
 
 One hour being daily devoted to reading and 
 the needle, by six years of age the pupil may 
 be able to read tolerably well, and girls com- 
 plete plain work, neatly ; spelling to be learned 
 according to the ability for learning it. 
 
 Books. — The mother's First Book. An In- 
 troduction to Mrs. Barbauld's Lessons, by a 
 Mother. Nursery Rhymes. Miss Edge worth's 
 
SECOND COURSE. 97 
 
 Early Lessons. Watts's Hymns. Mrs. Bar- 
 bauld's little Books. 
 
 N. B. The reading had better bo confined to a few books, that 
 they may all bo repeatedly read ; and a shelf to hold them should 
 be placed within reach of the child, that sho may recur to them 
 when sho pleases. 
 
 SECOND COURSE— TWO YEARS. 
 
 FROM SIX TO EIGHT ; TWO HOURS DAILY. 
 
 At six it is presumed the pupil can read 
 fluently, and may daily employ two hours : — 
 half an hour in reading, spoiling, and grammar ; 
 half an hour writing and arithmetic alternately ; 
 one hour in needlework, which may now ex- 
 tend to the more difficult stitches. 
 
 The multiplication table learned. If each 
 division of this table be written on a separate 
 card, one of these cards may be given at a time 
 to the pupil, till all be perfectly learned which 
 will not be done much within a year. 
 
 Books. — Fabulous Histories, by Mrs. Trim- 
 mer. Nursery Morals, as containing useful 
 tables for the young arithmetician. Original 
 *9 
 
98 THIRD COURSE. 
 
 Poems. Mrs. Trimmer's Introduction to the 
 Knowledge of Nature. The Psalms. Mrs. 
 Barbauld's Prose Hymns. 
 
 Let the first reading of a book be to the mo- 
 ther, that she may explain what is difficult, and 
 point out what is best worthy of observation. 
 
 After this reading, the book to be placed in 
 the child's library, for perusal at her pleasure. 
 No book to be given to the child before it has 
 been read by the mother. 
 
 THIRD COURSE— TWO YEARS. 
 
 FROM EIGHT TO TEN ; THREE HOURS DAILY. 
 
 French and music may now be commenced. 
 
 One hour music ; half an hour French ; half 
 an hour English reading and grammar ; half an 
 hour writing and arithmetic ; half an hour 
 needlework, marking and fancy-work. Danc- 
 ing as an afternoon amusement. 
 
 Books. — Parent's Assistant. Rosamond. 
 Frank. The Proverbs ; and parts of the Bible, 
 
FOURTH COURSE. 99 
 
 as a favor occasionally. L'Ami des Enfans.* 
 Son of a (J cuius. 
 
 FOURTH COURSE— TWO YKARS. 
 
 FROM TEN TO TWELVE j — FOUR HOURS DAILY. 
 
 Half an hour English reading; two hours 
 music ; one hour French, exercises, dictation, 
 &:c. ; half an hour writing and arithmetic. 
 
 Drawing m;iy occupy a couple of hours, 
 three or lour times ;i week, in the afternoon ; 
 and dancing, the afternoons not employed in 
 drawing. 
 
 Geography and needlework may alternately 
 beguile the evenings of winter. 
 
 To acquire the power of good spelling, and 
 
 * There are abundance of admirable stories written for children 
 in France. Ducray Dumeslin haa composed an endless variety, 
 besides many other author*. Hut. rery attentively should a mother 
 peruse a French book ere she- hands it to her children. Much false 
 sentiment pervades too many of them, and the best writers aro 
 occasionally tainted with worse errors ; witness the " Alphonsine" 
 of the Otherwise justly celebrated Madame de Genlis. in juvenile 
 French stories, a display of sentiment, and feeling is too often sub- 
 stituted for the performance of good actions. 
 
100 FIFTH COURSE. 
 
 skill in arranging sentences, translating French 
 into English, and vice versa, has been found 
 very useful. 
 
 Books. — Evenings at Home. Magasin des 
 Enfans. Moral Tales, by Miss Edgeworth. 
 True Stories. Almoran and Hamet. Vicar of 
 Wakefield. And, at twelve years of age, Con- 
 versations on Natural and Experimental Philos- 
 ophy ; and, as hereafter noticed, all the works 
 of this able and intelligent author ; also Miss 
 Edgeworth's last admirable work, " Harry and 
 Lucy, concluded." 
 
 FIFTH COURSE— TWO YEARS. 
 
 FROM TWELVE TO FOURTEEN \ SIX HOURS DAILY. 
 
 One hour English reading ; two hours music ; 
 one hour French ; two hours drawing, or needle- 
 work ; — dancing as occasional amusement. 
 
 For these two years, or for the last four 
 years, namely, from ten to fourteen, according 
 to situation and circumstances, masters can be 
 called in to aid the mother, not supersede her 
 
SIXTH COURSE. 101 
 
 labors ; for her superintendence must never 
 relax. Astronomy in the evenings. 
 
 Books. — Goldsmith's Greece. Goldsmith's 
 Rome. Goldsmith's England. Millot's France. 
 Le petit La Bruyere. Madame Cottin's Eliz- 
 abeth. Vertot's Revolutions Romanics. Ver- 
 tot's Revolutions de Portugal. Vertot's Revo- 
 lutions de Suede. Rollin's Ancient History. 
 Plutarch's Lives. 
 
 SIXTH COURSE— SIX YEARS. 
 
 FROM FOURTEEN TO TWENTY; EIGHT HOURS DAILY. 
 
 Two hours reading, grammar, geography ; 
 two hours music ; one hour French or Italian ; 
 one hour mathematics or astronomy ; two hours 
 needlework. 
 
 By this appropriation of time, eight hours 
 are given to occupation, eight may be yield- 
 ed to sleep, and eight to meals and recrea- 
 tion ; — an arrangement that can be preserved 
 to the end of life. 
 
102 SIXTH COURSE. 
 
 Books. — Tales of Fashionable Life. Gri- 
 selda. Conversations on Chemistry, Botany, 
 Political (Economy, &c. &c. Gordon's Histo- 
 ry of Ireland. Robertson's Scotland. Robert- 
 son's Charles Fifth. Chapone's Letters. Adams' 
 Spain, &c. &c* 
 
 Dr. Franklin having conceived the idea of 
 " Moral Perfection" assiduously strove to at- 
 tain to it. For this purpose, he noted down the 
 virtues he deemed essential, and tried gradually 
 to practise them. His plan was, to attend to 
 the practice of each virtue separately, devoting 
 a week to self-observation respecting the prac- 
 tice of one virtue. By thus giving his undivi- 
 ded attention to one point, he more readily dis- 
 covered where he failed, and more easily taught 
 himself to avoid future defection : at the end 
 of thirteen weeks, he had gone through a reg- 
 ular course of self-observation, and commenced 
 another,' and so on, until he found himself pretty 
 well established in good habits : after which, 
 he says, a course once a year, or once in two 
 or three years, sufficed to keep him in the right 
 path. 
 
 The rules and precepts of Dr. Franklin, ex- 
 
 *As valuable new books are daily appearing for juvenile read- 
 ers, mothers will have continually an extended power of selec- 
 tion. The works that have been found most useful, are named, 
 from a feeling of gratitude to the enlightened writers who have eo 
 powerfully assisted the author in her labors. 
 
PLAN FOR DIARY. 103 
 
 cellent as they were for his age and sex, are, of 
 course, little adapted for youth and girlhood. 
 The following scheme, or one something like it, 
 may, perhaps be found better calculated for the 
 use of mothers and children. Even an occa- 
 sional reference to such a plan has been found 
 beneficial in the great work of education. 
 
 The twelve Virtues to be practised, with the rules 
 to enforce their practice, from Franklin and 
 others. 
 
 Obedience. — Obey promptly, that you may 
 learn and deserve to command. 
 
 Application. — Without application, the finest 
 talents are worthless ; with it the humblest are 
 valuable. 
 
 Truth. — Speak the truth, or be silent. 
 
 Resolution. — Resolve to perform what you 
 ought ; perform, without fail, what you resolve. 
 
 Order. — Let everything have its place — let 
 every business have its order. 
 
 Obligingness. — Be courteous, be pitiful ; in 
 honor preferring one another. 
 
 Justice. — Omit no duty ; commit no unkind- 
 ness. 
 
104 PLAN FOR DIARY. 
 
 Humility. — Think of yourself humbly. 
 
 (Economy. — Waste nothing ; — neither time, 
 nor talents, nor money. 
 
 Passion. — Master your passions, or they will 
 master you. 
 
 Temperance. — Eat not to dulness ; drink not 
 to elevation. 
 
 Cleanliness. — Keep the body perfectly pure, 
 as indicative of the purity of the mind within. 
 
 Any small ruled book would serve as a diary. 
 It may be daily, or weekly, introduced at the 
 breakfast table. Each person to have a sepa- 
 rate book or separate page ; and make a mark 
 to denote on what day any virtue was not prac- 
 tised. 
 
105 
 
 THE JUVENILE DIARY. 
 
 First Week. 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thu. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 Obedience . 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Application . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Truth . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Resolution . 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 Order . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Obligingness 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Justice . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Humility 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Economy 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Passion . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Temperance 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleanliness . 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total faults ) 
 each day ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — ■ — -4 
 
 The asterisk denotes when the virtue under that line 
 was not practised. 
 
 10 
 
106 
 
 SCHEME 
 
 FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OP TIME. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 To rise, all the year round 
 1 Dressing, washing, bathing - 
 1 Prayer and study 
 
 1 Breakfast and conversation - 
 4 Studious occupation - 
 
 2 Walking, riding, or dancing - 
 1 Light reading or drawing - 
 
 1 Dinner - 
 
 2 Music, needlework, or reading 
 
 Tea and conversation 
 
 Dancing, music, needlework, or 
 
 reading 
 
 To be in bed by 
 8 Sleep 
 
 o'Clock. 
 
 7 A. M. 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 2 p.m. 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 11 
 
 7 A. M. 
 
 Occupation, one third of life or 8 hours. 
 Meals, exercise, company, ditto ditto. 
 Sleep, ditto ditto. 
 
 The last question before going to sleep — What 
 good have I done to-day ? 
 
FRENCH BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. 107 
 
 AMUSING FRENCH BOOKS FOR 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Une Annee de Bonheur ; par une Mere. Le 
 Jeune Henri ; traduit par M. Lambert. Petite 
 Bibliotheque des Enfans. Recreations Fran- 
 caises ; par Madame de Troux. Estelle. And 
 all the works of Florian. Elisabeth ; the only 
 work of Madame Cottin recommended. Fables 
 de la Fontaine. Le petit la Bruyere ; and many, 
 but not all, of the works of Madame de Genlis. 
 Magasin des Enfans ; par Madame de Reau- 
 mont. L'ami des Enfans. L'ami d'Adoles- 
 cence ; par M. Berquin. Paul et Virginie ; de 
 M. de St. Pierre. Numerous excellent stories, 
 by Ducray Dumesnil. 
 
 The French Novels and Romances, whether 
 original, or (as is often the case) translations 
 from the German, are, with few, very few, 
 exceptions, tainted with a misleading senti- 
 mentality, and a false and dangerous morality ; 
 if that can be called morality, which deludes 
 
108 FRENCH BOOKS 
 
 and confounds. Young ladies, fond of poetry, 
 might perhaps be cured of that passion by being 
 set to read French poetry ; for most English 
 people must be ready to exclaim with Boileau : 
 
 " Et pour faire gouter son livre a. 1'univers, 
 Croit qu'il faudrait en prose y mettre tous les vers !" 
 
 A list of French books for adolescence is, 
 perhaps, not so easily made as one for child- 
 hood. 
 
 The beguiling tales and dramas of Berquin, 
 Florian, De Genlis, Dumeslin, &c, are in every 
 body's hands ; but increased caution must be 
 exerted in recommending books for a more 
 advanced age. How few are the novels and 
 romances free from some defect of morals, or 
 of story ? So few, that having named the Eli- 
 zabeth of Madame Cottin,* and the works of 
 the authors enumerated above, nothing remains 
 to be recommended under the head of novels. 
 Even the " Atala," and " Rene," of Chateau- 
 briand, must not appear on the list, with what- 
 ever satisfaction one may speak of the remain- 
 ing portions of the " Genie du Christianisme." 
 
 * It is curious that the other novels of Madame Cottin are as 
 defective in purity and simplicity, as this one is remarkable for 
 these qualities. 
 
FOR CHILDREN. 109 
 
 One ought indeed to be a good Catholic entirely 
 to relish that work, yet even protestant readers 
 must admire such passages as the following : — 
 " Voltaire a done brise lui-meme la corde la plus 
 harmonieuse de sa lyre, en refusant de chanter 
 cette milice sacree, &c." Of Voltaire himself, 
 few works can be recommended but his charm- 
 ing dramas. His Universal History being pretty 
 generally considered as failing in accuracy and 
 truth ; his Life of Charles XII. of Sweden, 
 and his Siecle de Louis XIV., are perhaps his 
 only two other productions fit for the perusal of 
 youth. The other celebrated dramatists of 
 France may safely be placed in the juvenile 
 library ; Racine and Corncille are especially 
 safe and agreeable, and even Moliere may harm- 
 lessly beguile an idle hour; except some dia- 
 blerie in " Le Festin de Pierre, ou Don Juan," 
 there is little of dangerous reading in his pages. 
 The misnamed "Moral Tales" of Marmon- 
 tel, also his "Tales of an Evening," and indeed 
 most of his short pieces, must be noticed only 
 to be disapproved and avoided. The poetic 
 works of Delille are pleasing and innoxious ; 
 in his " Homme de Champs," there are many 
 beautiful imitations of our exquisite bard, Gold- 
 smith ; as the following specimens demonstrate. 
 Speaking of his village curate, he says : — 
 *10 
 
110 FRENCH BOOKS 
 
 " Souvent dans ces reduits oii le malheur assemble, 
 Le besoin, la douleur, et le trepas ensemble, 
 II parait — et soudain le mal perd son horreur, 
 Le besoin sa detresse, et la mort sa terreur." 
 
 And again of the rustic schoolmaster : — 
 " Voyez, pour gagner temps, quelles lenteurs savantes, 
 Prolongent de ses mots, les syllabes trainantes ! 
 Tout le monde l'admire ; et ne peut concevoir, 
 Qui dans un cerveau seul, loge tant de savoir ! 
 
 As every reader is familiar with the Deserted 
 Village, the original of these imitations will be 
 instantly recalled. " Les Jardins " is a general 
 favorite, and abounds with faithful and refresh- 
 ing descriptions of rural scenes, and natural 
 objects ; the address to Melancholy is tender 
 and graceful. 
 
 " Viens — Je me livre a toi, tendre Melancbolie, 
 Viens, non le front charge des images affreux, 
 Dont marche enveloppe, le chagrin tenebreux. 
 Mais l'ccil demi-voile, mais telle qu'en automne, 
 A travers de vapeurs, un jour plus doux rayonne, 
 Viens, le regard pensif, le front calme, et les yeux, 
 Tout prets a s'humecter de pleurs delicieux." 
 
 The translation of the " Georgics" of Virgil 
 is thought to be his chef d'eeuvre ; and even 
 English readers must read with pleasure his 
 version of *Pope's " Essay on Man." 
 
 * We have seen a very happy imitation of the " Universal 
 Prayer," in French verse, by M. de Lally Tolendal. 
 
FOR CHILDREN. Ill 
 
 Montesquieu has given two charming com- 
 positions, full of information and high mental 
 gratification ; " L'Esprit des Lois," and " Sur 
 les Romains," which the young will peruse with 
 avidity and pleasure. 
 
 The essays of Montaigne, printed, according 
 to his will, in the old French, v/ill present the 
 juvenile student with a curious specimen of that 
 language in the sixteenth century, when the 
 great Henry held the reins of government.* 
 Among innumerable passages worthy to be ex- 
 tracted, we may call the attention of youth to 
 such as the following : — 
 
 " Qui apprendrait les hommes a mourir, leur 
 apprendrait a vivre." 
 
 " C'est le jouir, non le posseder, qui nous 
 rend heureux." 
 
 " L'ame, qui n'a point de but etabli, elle se 
 perd, car, c'est n'etre en aucun lieu que d'etre 
 partout." 
 
 How profitable it is to start in the mind such 
 an idea as that of " reading to become more 
 wise, not more learned" so happily expressed 
 by Montaigne. It reminds one of the admira- 
 ble advice of Cicero, '* to read with intention 
 as well as attention" What a train of awaken- 
 
 * Of course only a judicious selection from the Essays of Mon- 
 taigne is here meant to be recommended. 
 
112 FRENCH BOOKS 
 
 ing reflections may be aroused by a single sen- 
 tence — a single word. 
 
 If the enchaining " Memoirs of Sully" are 
 read soon after the essays of Montaigne, each 
 may serve to impress the other on the memory. 
 
 Of Rousseau's works one must speak with 
 considerable caution : yet there are two of them, 
 which, perhaps, the most careful mother may 
 venture to present to her offspring ; — " Le Con- 
 trat Social," and " Les Pensees," dc J. J. 
 Rousseau. Both these are full of noble ideas, 
 clothed in the most bewitching simplicity of 
 language. No author surely, not even our own 
 chaste and elegant Goldsmith, more charmingly 
 illustrates the position of La Bruyere : — " Les 
 plus grandes choses n'ont besoin que d'etre dites 
 ^implement, elles se gatent par l'cmphase." 
 
 How sublime are the opening thoughts on a 
 Deity ! On some subjects, how just — on others, 
 how noble — on all, how eloquent ! Surely we 
 ought not to quarrel with a writer who adorns 
 his page with sentiments like these : — 
 
 " Les preceptes de Platon sont souvent tres- 
 sublimes, mais combien n'erre-t-il pas quelque- 
 fois, et jusqu'a ne vont pas ses erreurs ? Quant 
 a Ciceron, peut-on croire que sans Platon ce 
 rheteur eut trouve ses offices ? Ucvangile sad 
 
FOR CHILDREN. 113 
 
 est toujours sur, toujours vrai, toujours unique, 
 et toujours semblable, a lui-meme."* 
 
 The better taste of the rising generation will 
 detect and despise the sophisms with which 
 the other compositions of this author are dis- 
 figured. " Heloise" has ceased to beguile and 
 delude, for young girls have been already seen 
 to turn with disgust from its once applauded 
 sentimentality ; and " Emile" has its grain well 
 winnowed from its chaff, by every reading 
 mother. 
 
 Condillac offers an extended and varied field 
 of amusement and instruction, and the student 
 can turn to his pages assured of being pleased 
 and informed. From his voluminous produc- 
 tions, how much of value can be extracted, to 
 suit every age and every taste ! 
 
 La Bruyere, celebrated for his own maxims, 
 and for his able translation of those of Theo- 
 phrastus, is an author to be occasionally looked 
 into. The continued perusal of short maxims 
 is as fatiguing as it is injudicious and unprofita- 
 ble ; for one maxim may give birth to a long 
 train of beneficial meditations, as a single seed 
 may throw out many stems. Too many to- 
 gether of the one or other might choke up each 
 
 * " Que la religion Chretienne etait la seule qui eutdes preuves," 
 was a saying of Fontenelle. 
 
114 FRENCH BOOKS 
 
 other. It is, however, to be questioned, whe- 
 ther the profound and too just view of human 
 character, developed in these maxims, is friend- 
 ly to the growth of benevolence — is favorable 
 to the desire of self-improvement ? How much 
 of weakness and error is laid open, to cause 
 unkind opinions of our fellow-creatures, to damp 
 the hope of our own amendment ! The same 
 objections have been, with equal justice, urged 
 against the maxims of Kochefoucault. As that 
 nobleman was well known to be of a most mild 
 and amiable character, he could have written 
 with no evil intentions. Must we come to the 
 conclusion, that human nature cannot bear the 
 close inspection of even a benignant mind. If 
 so, it were better to keep young people from 
 reading authors who give this scrutinizing and 
 disheartening disclosure. For children should 
 think, with Rousseau, " Tout est bien, sortant 
 des mains de PAuteur des choses, l'homme est 
 naturellement bon." The longer they preserve 
 this opinion of their fellow-creatures the better ; 
 some candid spirits carry it with them to the 
 grave, and, by doing so, prove their benevolence 
 and candor, whilst they preserve their peace 
 and happiness. Those whom experience, or a 
 sterner temperament, lead to a harsher belief, 
 should, at least, stop short of the utter condem- 
 
FOR CHILDREN. 115 
 
 nation of human beings, and, if they cannot 
 think with Rousseau, let them, at least, believe 
 with Machiavel, a keen and scrutinizing obser- 
 ver, " Che gli uomini non sanno essere, ne del 
 tutto buoni, ne del tutto cattivi." 
 
 The " Lycee" of M. de la Harpc,* though 
 extending to fifteen volumes, will probably be 
 always read with avidity, even by the young ; 
 for it is full of variety in matter and grace in 
 manner. It is valuable, not only as the most 
 able work in criticism ever published in France, 
 but as making the reader familiar with the lite- 
 rature and the literary cabals of that country. 
 Though at first friendly to the Revolution, yet, 
 when he saw the monstrous excesses to which 
 it was likely to lead, M. de la Harpe quickly 
 deserted the cause, and whenever, in the pro- 
 gress of his work, he touches on the subject, 
 the extraordinary force of his. language is most 
 delightful and animating. 
 
 A memory of ordinary tenacity must retain 
 a thousand agreeable notices from a perusal of 
 the " Lycee," and a thousand beneficial hints 
 must enrich the judgment. Many superior 
 compositions and many fine writers are made 
 known to the reader, of whom, probably, he 
 
 * Also his " Correspondence Litteraire." 
 
116 FRENCH BOOKS 
 
 would never otherwise have heard, and he be- 
 comes acquainted with the career of literary 
 talent and its highest efforts. Much of morality 
 as well as learning may be gathered from La 
 Harpe, as when he encourages perseverance, 
 by telling us that M. Villoison studied Greek 
 fifteen hours a day ; and that, at the age of 
 seventy, PAbbe de Boismont produced his chef- 
 (Pceuvre, a sermon on charity. 
 
 How cleverly does he ridicule the conceited- 
 ness of ignorance, when he gives this quotation 
 from M. Lemiere :■ — 
 
 " Croire tout decouvert est une erreur profonde, 
 C'est prendre l'horizon pour les bornes du monde." 
 
 Shall we not thank the writer that gives diffu- 
 sion to the sublime apostrophe of the Abbe 
 Poulle, who, in speaking of sceptics, thus ex- 
 claims : — " Les malheureux ! sur le point de 
 se plonger dans le gouffre effrayable de la de- 
 struction ils appellent le nkint ! L'Eternite 
 leur repond." 
 
 After reading this awakening sentence, it 
 seems impossible to continue further extracts 
 or remarks ; all must be, more or less, flat and 
 unprofitable. Indeed the Author has already 
 wandered far beyond her intended limit, which 
 was merely to give a few hints on the collection 
 of a library of French books for youth. As 
 
FOR CHILDREN. 117 
 
 that language is now familiar to all persons of 
 a certain rank, these hints, in a work on edu- 
 cation, seemed to be imperatively demanded. 
 If the reading and observation of many years 
 enable her to guide the youthful student to 
 what is good, and preserve her from what is 
 evil, her various memoranda will acquire a value 
 which she little anticipated when they were 
 penned. That many admirable authors* yet 
 remain to be noticed, pupils, as well as precep- 
 tors, will at once perceive ; but, fearful of hav- 
 ing already said too much on this subject, she 
 forbears saying more ; merely suggesting that 
 the works of the true French philosophers — 
 (as they are termed by La Harpe, in contra- 
 distinction of the innumerable sol-disant petty 
 philosophers) — that the works of the true phi- 
 losophers, Descartes, Buffon, Fenelon, Montes- 
 quieu, and Condillac, should enrich the juvenile 
 library. 
 
 * Le Sage, St. Pierre, Massillon, Boileau, &c. &c. 
 
 11 
 
118 ITALIAN BOOKS 
 
 ITALIAN BOOKS FOR YOUTH. 
 
 The plays of Goldoni have been long recom- 
 mended to the Italian scholar as presenting easy 
 reading, with, at the same time, very good 
 specimens of the colloquial language. A modern 
 writer has recently composed a work equally 
 useful and agreeable. The dramas of Alberto 
 Nota are now acting in Italy, and will, proba- 
 bly, be much read in England ; for he not only 
 introduces many English personages into his 
 pieces, but he also gives them amiable and 
 honorable characters. He writes in an agree- 
 able and chit-chat style ; his sentiments are 
 chaste and moral, and no indelicacy tarnishes 
 his pages. As a specimen of his language, the 
 concluding sentence in La Donna Ambiziosa 
 may be given; a moral worthy an English 
 stage : " Lontana da ogni fallace illusione nel 
 seno della mia famiglia, tra le cure della domes- 
 tica economia, trovero quella vita tranquilla, da 
 
FOR YOUTH. 119 
 
 cui nasce la pace costante dell' animo, l'armonia 
 degli onesti affecti, una vera et durevole feli- 
 cita." 
 
 An admirable piece of advice is put into the 
 mouth of the wise Physician, in L'Ammalato 
 per immaginazione : 
 
 " I remedj morali sono il farmaco migliore 
 pe mali della immaginazione ; si ottiene Pin- 
 tento coll' allontanar l'animo dalle gravi cure ; 
 col frenar Pira e ogni altro affetto disordinato, 
 col consiglio di buoni amici, coll' aiuto della 
 retta ragione." 
 
 The short stories of Francesco Soave are 
 very popular, and generally recommended to 
 foreigners, as are also the Letters of Bentivog- 
 lio and Ganganelli. The latter work is pecu- 
 liarly adapted for juvenile readers, and is a rich 
 storehouse of moral and mental instruction. 
 The Letters to a young Nobleman, recalling 
 him to virtue, are beautiful specimens of simple 
 eloquence, sound sense, and judicious advice. 
 
 The plays and prose writings of Alfieri* are 
 also very valuable. His Panegyric of Trajan is 
 an elegant and spirited composition ; and his 
 Observations on princes and Letters, are mas- 
 terly performances. 
 
 * It is remarkable, that the works of Alfieri are as free from 
 improprieties, as his life is reported to have been sullied by them. 
 
120 
 
 ITALIAN BOOKS 
 
 The tragedies of Monti are as celebrated as 
 the comedies of his brother bard, Nota ; and 
 many other dramatists enrich the modern stage 
 of Italy. Maffei and Metastasio offer high treats, 
 as do the several far famed poets of that illus- 
 trious land, Boiardo, Tasso, Ariosto, Guarini, 
 Dante and Petrarch. The first of these was 
 the precursor of Ariosto, and has a Branda- 
 mante, Angelica, &c. in his Orlando Innamo- 
 rato. The last of these is an author to be put 
 with caution into the hands of girls just bud- 
 ding into womanhood. 
 
 Guicciardini and Davila are the favorite his- 
 torians of Italy ; and if girls, in acquiring that 
 delicious language, were restricted to them, and 
 the other prose writers of that country, they 
 might escape some of the romance, that a too 
 indulged reading of Italian poetry is apt to in- 
 duce. Not but Guarini and Tasso are suffi- 
 ciently moral, and Ariosto and Dante sufficiently 
 grave ; indeed, now that we have so splendid 
 a translation of the latter bard, that of Mr. 
 Carey, he will probably be read, with most 
 advantage and pleasure, in the English version; 
 for though Dante is not found difficult to be 
 translated, he is found very difficult to be un- 
 derstood. 
 
 The art of translating from one language into 
 another, is no trivial mental exertion, and atten- 
 
FOR YOUTH. 121 
 
 ded with commensurate advantage. It obliges 
 the student to think, — an operation, how bene- 
 ficial to intellectual expansion, preceptors and 
 pupils can best decide. 
 
 Those learning a foreign language, have found 
 much profit in perusing able translations of En- 
 glish books. The peculiarities of idiom in each 
 language is thereby acquired, and much insight 
 into the phrases and grammatical construction. 
 Among many elegant versions of English books 
 into Italian, there is not one that does more 
 credit to its author, than a translation of Rasse- 
 las, by an English lady. Men of talent, con- 
 versant with the Italian language, speak of it 
 in the highest terms. 
 
 *n 
 
122 ENGLISH BOOKS 
 
 ENGLISH BOOKS FOR YOUTH. 
 
 There seems to be no necessity for giving 
 any list of English books best adapted for young 
 people ; the good sense and discrimination of 
 mothers can make the selection. It is, there- 
 fore, only intended to make here a few obser- 
 vations that may prove useful. 
 
 The productions of ancient authors of Greece 
 and Italy can be seldom perused by females but 
 in their translated form. In this splendid cata- 
 logue, perhaps, no book is more eminently con- 
 spicuous than " Tally's Offices." Full of a pure 
 morality, and free from the bewildering* soph- 
 isms so common in the reasonings of ancient 
 philosophers. This dissertation on the Duties 
 of Man, displays the powers of Cicero to the 
 
 * The stoics assert that pain is no evil, yet call those circum- 
 stances, in which it is felt, harsh, troublesome, detestable and 
 shocking to nature ! — one of a thousand ancient sophisms ! Again ; 
 to die, is only to heave one heavy sigh ; and who fears to sigh ? — 
 Marc Jintonine. 
 
FOR YOUTH. 123 
 
 highest advantage, as being most useful to man 
 — simple, awakening, instructive. This work, 
 and that of Epictetus, appear so ably and so 
 fully to comprise all that can be said on morals, 
 that their free circulation would seem to super- 
 sede the necessity for any modern writings on 
 the subject. 
 
 In reading the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, 
 one cannot help wishing that youth of both 
 sexes, especially young men, should be inti- 
 mately acquainted with its pages. This model 
 of the excellent world of an excellent man, 
 might, by being familiar to the mind in its first 
 developement, when opinions are forming, and 
 thoughts and projects germinating, cause the 
 the inspiration of ideas, that, expanding and 
 strengthening with advancing age, might elicit 
 views and schemes highly beneficial to the wel- 
 fare of mankind. But that such effects should 
 follow from this, or any other didactic work, it 
 must be repeatedly perused and attentively 
 studied, and the reader's library must be a very 
 limited one, that the attention may be concen- 
 trated. It would be an acceptable service to 
 preceptors and pupils, would any man, compe- 
 tent to the selection, propose the most compres- 
 sed list possible of valuable instructive books. 
 Indeed, it should seem, from facts drawn from 
 
124 ENGLISH BOOKS 
 
 biographical notices, that concentrated attention, 
 even to inferior works, is more frequently pro- 
 ductive of high intellectual excellence, than 
 the too extended study of superior compositions. 
 The reason of this is, perhaps, easily found in 
 the better understanding what is read, and in 
 the consequent reasoning and meditation of the 
 mind so enlightened. Necessity not only in- 
 duces a closer observation, but also leads to a 
 more extended reflection ; for, having nothing 
 new to consider, the thoughts, after making 
 themselves intimate with what little is proposed 
 to them, as a recreating novelty, indulge them- 
 selves in pursuing the reasoning, and reflecting 
 on the doctrine. 
 
 This conclusion brings one to infer, that the 
 best works on morals should be accompanied 
 by the best work on metaphysics, for it would 
 be well to know what are the powers of the 
 mind, of what they are capable, and how they 
 can be governed, at the same time that we are 
 learning what are the best uses to which they 
 can be directed. Clear, powerful, and pene- 
 trating must be the judgment that can decide 
 which is the best tract of metaphysics. 
 
 To forward a most profitable course of read- 
 ing, young people should be early taught to 
 distinguish between books that must be studied, 
 
FOR YOUTH. 
 
 125 
 
 and books that may be read ; giving to the for- 
 mer a limited period of severe study — appro- 
 priating to the latter the broken and number- 
 less hours of leisure ; — the first, the aliment 
 of the mind ; the last, its refreshment ; both 
 equally necessary and equally acceptable. 
 
 Having placed on the shelf devoted to 
 amusement, poetry, essays, biography, travels, 
 and works of fiction, the way is much cleared, 
 and the business of selection much facilitated. 
 
 The subjects that remain are ethics, history, 
 metaphysics, and the sciences. However im- 
 mense their importance, a small number of 
 books would suffice for these themes. In say- 
 ing this, of course a clear outline of history, 
 and the general principles of the other three 
 abstruse subjects, is all that is proposed. Few 
 young men, and fewer young women, need, or 
 desire, much more. 
 
 Whilst suggesting that only a few books de- 
 manding study should be read, it must also be 
 suggested, that only a few pages of these 
 should be read at any one time ; a single page 
 may sometimes form a morning's study. 
 
 Nothing has been said of religious and de- 
 votional books, because piety is more the 
 duty of the heart than the head, more a feel- 
 ing than a study. In showing how the mind 
 
126 ENGLISH BOOKS FOR YOUTH. 
 
 shall be enlightened and elevated, we are open- 
 ing the bosom to the purest and loftiest senti- 
 ments of religion, and we need only the simple 
 and beautiful language of the Scriptures, to 
 arouse our belief, to sustain our faith, and to 
 inspire our worship and our praise. 
 
 Note. — May it be suggested, with becoming diffidence, that the 
 Church Catechism, should not be taught so early as it generally is, 
 because, by being learned when it is not understood, it is only a dull 
 and fatiguing lesson, and, by being repeated from infancy to youth, 
 (which it must be, to preserve it in the memory,) it becomes a mere 
 matter of course, a duty of fatigue. The children of the poor, in- 
 deed, may learn it soon, because they are not likely to have leisure 
 for acquiring it after the first years of childhood, but the offspring 
 of the better classes, having a power of choice, can delay the 
 acquisition for some years. If it is understood before it is commit- 
 ted to memory, the maxims and commands it contains may have 
 their due weight, and this cannot well be before the age of twelve 
 or fourteen. Is there not something of impiety in compelling chil- 
 dren to repeat the holy laws and creed of their religion as a task — 
 as words of course, which, like parrots, they utter without the 
 smallest idea of the immense importance of what they are saying ? 
 This is a momentous question, more especially when the prema- 
 ture acquisition renders it, perhaps, a mere verbal acquisition to 
 the end of life, for as is the first impression, so, often, is the last. 
 
SELF-TUITION. 127 
 
 SELF-TUITION. 
 
 At fourteen the pupil, if rightly managed, 
 will begin to take upon herself the office of 
 arranging the hours of study, and deciding what 
 are the accomplishments she wishes more fully 
 to cultivate. Perhaps Italian will be desired ; 
 and, if so, this is the age to learn it ; all the 
 other branches of education can be more pro- 
 foundly studied. 
 
 But the most important part of self-tui- 
 tion, during the precious years intervening be- 
 tween the ages of fourteen and twenty, is the 
 reading of well-selected books, and the study of 
 the abstruser sciences. It cannot be deemed 
 necessary for all women to be profoundly learn- 
 ed ; but a general acquaintance with the rudi- 
 ments and principles of arts and sciences will 
 be as becoming as it will prove useful and agree- 
 able.* Experience and observation fully prove 
 
 * Montaigne happily says, " we ought to read to become more 
 wise, not more learned;" a just and beautiful distinction. 
 
128 SELF-TUITION. 
 
 that clever, well informed women are valua- 
 ble members of society in every relation of 
 life. Knowledge being more extensively dif- 
 fused, its possession does not raise its possessor 
 so much as it did formerly above the general 
 crowd. A learned lady has ceased to be a 
 term of reproach, for we have seen ability per- 
 petually coupled with virtue. The biography 
 of departed talent supplies numerous instances 
 of this union. Mrs. Carter's letters bespeak a 
 mind as amiable as it was learned. Miss Ham- 
 ilton's life was as rich in domestic duty as in 
 public usefulness. Mrs. Chapone, Miss Talbot, 
 Mrs. Trimmer, and many other names, might 
 be enumerated to swell the catalogue. 
 
 The assertion, true or untrue, respecting the 
 jealousy of clever men towards clever women, 
 has ceased to be repeated. Men have found 
 out, or perhaps they never doubted, the folly of 
 such jealousy. 
 
 From a variety of causes, a clever woman 
 must be always inferior to a clever man ; she, 
 therefore, can never be an object of jealousy 
 but to ignorant men, to such as are her inferiors 
 in knowledge. Those of the manly sex who, 
 therefore, express ungenerous and sarcastic sen- 
 timents of female talent must be inevitably in- 
 cluded in the latter class. 
 
SELF-TUITION. 129 
 
 To men of superior abilities, a woman of 
 cultivated understanding must be acceptable 
 society, and for these reasons : — 
 
 It will be soothing to his vanity to address 
 one who can appreciate his powers. 
 
 It will be grateful to his benevolence to im- 
 prove an inquiring mind. 
 
 It will be pleasant to his feelings to deserve 
 and receive the thanks of one he has taught 
 and obliged. 
 
 It will be ever present to his conviction, that, 
 though his fair hearer is wise, he is unquestion- 
 ably much wiser. 
 
 The unpardonable folly of women sneering 
 at superior knowledge and talent in the gifted 
 portion of their own sex, is as vulgar as it is 
 ungenerous and unwise. In the present en- 
 lightened age, information is so widely spread, 
 and intellectual ability so judiciously cultivated, 
 even among the fair sex, that almost all are 
 sufficiently intelligent to feel the true worth of 
 mental wealth. Hence such sneers are now 
 less common, for only folly or malevolence can 
 mock at wisdom. Mrs. Chapone and Mrs. H. 
 More have both skilfully censured this species 
 of female folly ; and Miss Edgeworth, with her 
 usual skill, his cleverly satirized it in the fol- 
 lowing passage in her " Tales of Fashionable 
 Life :"— 
 
 12 
 
130 SELF-TUITION. 
 
 " Ignorant silly women may be allowed to 
 sneer at information and talent in their own sex, 
 and, if they have read them, may talk of ' Les 
 Pricieuses Ridicules? and ' Les Femmes Savan- 
 tesj and may borrow from Moliere all the wit 
 they want to support the cause of folly." — 
 Manoeuvring. 
 
 Indeed, when one considers the extensive 
 influence of woman in the various relations of 
 life — as giving the first rudiments of morals, 
 manners, knowledge and religion to children — 
 as kindly and wisely ruling domestics and de- 
 pendents — as judiciously employing and bene- 
 fiting mechanics, tradesmen, and artists — as 
 benevolently superintending the claims of the 
 the poor, and gracefully and conciliatingly ad- 
 justing the courtesies of social communion — 
 one cannot but acknowledge the importance of 
 talent, and learning, and virtue in women ; and 
 the lines of the celebrated Condillac seem to 
 set the seal to womanly worth : — 
 
 " Les vertus domestiques 
 
 Decident les moeurs publiques." 
 
 It has been well said, that women are up in 
 arms to defend the whole sex should an indi- 
 vidual of it be attacked ; whereas men quietly 
 admit the errors of their fellow-men. 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF TIME. 131 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF TIME. 
 
 In giving hints for the arrangement of hours 
 and studies, it must be suggested, that great 
 care should be taken not to let any one occu- 
 pation be pursued to fatigue ; nor to let the 
 different studies follow each other without 
 pause and relaxation. Even the short lessons 
 of the earliest age must be divided by brief 
 periods of amusements : a few minutes play, 
 or a little lively chat, or a run on the lawn. As 
 pupils advance in years, longer periods of atten- 
 tion may be demanded from them. The morn- 
 ing business, after ten years of age, may be 
 prolonged for three or four hours without inter- 
 vening repose; but to study more than four* 
 hours at a time, would be injudicious for a wo- 
 man at any age. A walk, a ride, a visit paid 
 
 * And not even four hours successively on one subject ; change 
 of occupation is recreating; two hours on one subject is, perhaps, 
 quite enough. 
 
132 ARRANGEMENT OF TIME. 
 
 or received, would happily employ a couple of 
 hours, and then occupation would be again ac- 
 ceptable. But, after fourteen, it is very advis- 
 able that a habit of employing eight hours daily, 
 in useful or improving occupation, should be 
 acquired. 
 
 It is not necessary that such occupation 
 should be wholly selfish ; — an elder sister may 
 instruct a younger, and thus be reviving her 
 own knowledge at the same time that she is 
 benefiting another ; — a girl, without brother or 
 sister to teach, may give instruction to the chil- 
 dren of her poor neighbors. There is always 
 something useful to be done for ourselves, or 
 others ; either as informing the ignorant, or 
 relieving the poor, or serving the friendless, or 
 pleasing the rich ; in short, whatever occupa- 
 tion is serviceable in any way to any human 
 being, may be, in fairness, noted, as an occupa- 
 tion worthy to be classed in our eight hours of 
 busy life. 
 
 However desirable and necessary some de- 
 gree of order in the arrangement of time, yet 
 even this laudable regularity may be carried too 
 far, and then, of course, it must become perni- 
 cious. A mind, too much hampered with rules 
 and limitations, finds itself agitated and em- 
 barrassed should occurrences break into the for- 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF TIME. 133 
 
 mal routine of its engagements ; and as inci- 
 dental circumstances are continually crossing 
 the most tranquil course of life, such interrup- 
 tions should be anticipated. Otherwise, be- 
 cause a certain business cannot be executed at 
 a certain time, it will not be executed at all ; 
 because the precise moment devoted to a par- 
 ticular study is not arrived, in waiting for that 
 moment, the intervening minutes, it may be 
 hours, are lost in indolence and wearying ex- 
 pectation : thus, habits of languor and idleness 
 may be imbibed in the very pursuit of a far dif- 
 ferent object, and we are never so much in 
 danger of evil as when it attacks us in the 
 mask of good. Sir Joshua Reynolds, in one 
 of his discourses, very ably comments on the 
 mischief arising from a too strict attention to 
 rules and regulations in the disposition of time, 
 and instructers must profit by his remarks. 
 Dr. Johnson,* also, very pleasantly ridicules an 
 overweening regard to method in the character 
 of a lady, " whose great principle is, that the 
 orders of a family must never be broken ;" she 
 will not walk at the hour appropriated to the 
 needle, nor sit up stairs that part of the day 
 which she is accustomed to spend in the parlor 
 below. Whilst her husband is reading to her 
 
 * Idler, No. 100. 
 
 *12 
 
134 ARRANGEMENT OF TIME. 
 
 she keeps her eye on her wateh, that when the 
 precise moment of departure arrives she may 
 retire, &c. &c. ; and he goes on thus sketching 
 insignificant bustle and aimless regularity, the 
 regularity of the body merely, which, like 
 chains impeding the freedom of the captive's 
 limbs, most effectually fetter the powers of the 
 mind. 
 
APPARENT INACTION. 135 
 
 APPARENT INACTION, 
 
 That idleness is an enemy to virtue and 
 happiness, we can all feelingly allow ; but it is 
 not therefore certain that all occupations are 
 friendly to virtue and happiness. Without of 
 course alluding to any form of vicious occupa- 
 tion, there are many frivolous ones that are 
 more pernicious than a state of perfect inaction. 
 We should not therefore be too earnest to fill 
 up every moment of the busy day ; let a cer- 
 tain portion be steadily devoted to improve- 
 ment and usefulness, but let intervening half- 
 hours of repose, and moments of reflection, pass 
 as periods also favorable to mental expansion. 
 
 If, when engaged in reading or needlework, or 
 any other employment, the young pupil pauses, 
 and seems absorbed in contemplation, let not 
 the intellectual abstraction be disturbed ; per- 
 haps some ingenious inquiry is engaging the 
 expanding thoughts. The questions which often 
 
136 APPARENT INACTION. 
 
 follow such a pause prove that the mind has 
 not been idle, that it has on the contrary been 
 eliciting truth, or pursuing inquiry. How much 
 better that such intellectual labor should finish 
 its wholesome course, and that the mind should 
 not be prematurely called away from its healthy 
 workings. No forced exertion can bear any 
 comparison with such free thinkings. It is not 
 difficult to discover, by the glance of the eye 
 and the play of the features, when the pause 
 proceeds from mental reflection ; a countenance 
 thus impressed bears a very different expression 
 from one marked by vacuity of thought, or the 
 languor of indolence. More than moments may 
 be allowed to be thus spent. A little girl of 
 eight years old has been discovered alone, 
 stretched before an open window, apparently 
 in a state of utter listlessness ; yet, when asked 
 why she remained there so long inactive — " I 
 have been watching," she replied, " the sun 
 setting behind those beautiful gold and purple 
 clouds." 
 
 Many of the frivolous employments that 
 sometimes engage young people, are more pre- 
 judicial to mental expansion than a state of 
 total inaction ; for the mind is tainted by the 
 paltry occupation of the, hands, and, whilst tin- 
 
APPARENT INACTION. 137 
 
 sel, and colored paper, and tasteless drawings 
 are absorbing the thoughts, how can any useful 
 or rational ideas be elicited or cherished. It is 
 not meant to censure the selection of ingenious 
 and elegant works to speed some of the hours 
 of life ; but let them be really elegant, or really 
 graceful, or really ingenious, and not mere daubs 
 in coloring, nor tasteless specimens of some ill- 
 understood and ill-executed fashionable novelty. 
 Let what is done, be done well, or let it not 
 be attempted. 
 
 Though "games" of science and learning 
 have not been found assistant to rational educa- 
 tion, there are many occasions in which the 
 gratification of children may be made the source 
 of their improvement. To inculcate a pure 
 taste in painting, occasional visits to celebrated 
 galleries of pictures and prints will be found 
 very availing, and every walk amid fields and 
 woods, and every stroll in the garden and the 
 shrubbery, may offer occasions to advance a 
 knowledge in perspective, and in the real form 
 of natural objects ; and thus induce habits of 
 accurate drawing and faithful coloring. 
 
 The various exhibitions in the several branches 
 of natural history present most delightful means 
 of information. Les Jardins des Plantes at 
 
138 APPARENT INACTION. 
 
 Paris, is a rich and inexhaustible field of pleas- 
 ure and instruction to all ages and all classes.* 
 
 Even musical and theatrical entertainments 
 may be made helps to mental illumination. Let 
 the pupil go to these places with a mind pre- 
 pared to reflect on the delightful humor or skill, 
 there to be displayed in the charming singer or 
 the excelling actor, — in the ingenious composer 
 or the celebrated poet. " We will go to the 
 oratorios to night, to hear the beautiful compo- 
 sition of Handel performed with due excel- 
 lence, so hereafter you will be able to judge 
 what a mighty mind can compose, and great 
 talents execute." 
 
 " Next week you shall see Talma, in one of 
 the celebrated Racine's best tragedies, which 
 will enable you to judge of the power of French 
 poetry and French acting." 
 
 Such remarks deciding the amusement to be 
 intellectual, will give it its due rank, and awaken 
 the mind to bend its powers to its true enjoy- 
 ment. A girl so addressed is more likely to pass 
 an hour of the morning in playing Handel's 
 music, or reading Racine's plays, than in con- 
 triving a dress, or anticipating a conquest ; all 
 
 * Nothing can be more beautiful than the various states of the 
 silkworm as it passes from the egg to the moth, as arranged in one 
 of the apartments of this noble Institution. 
 
APPARENT INACTION. 139 
 
 risk of thoughts of self-exhibition is probably 
 avoided, and the gown and coiffure to be worn 
 are, at least, not the sole objects of attention. 
 
 In the proportion in which we call forth and 
 exercise the better faculties, we keep back and 
 benumb the weaker propensities ; whilst we 
 keep the intellects healthfully busy, we have 
 little to fear from any excesses of vanity or 
 levity. 
 
140 MENTAL RECREATION. 
 
 MENTAL RECREATION. 
 
 Natural history offers a varied source of 
 intellectual gratification, pure, enlivening, and 
 boundless. One cannot help feeling how much 
 more agreeable is the study of the volume of 
 nature than that of history. Unharrassed with 
 the appalling traits of artifice, hypocrisy, and 
 malignity, the careless mind wanders refreshed 
 amid woods, and wilds, and plains, searching 
 their beauteous or curious tenants ; and, whilst 
 making itself acquainted with the habits and 
 instincts of the several inhabitants of sea and 
 land, it meets with order, and beauty, and per- 
 fection, as freshly issued from the hand of the 
 Great Creator. Instead of dwelling upon im- 
 ages of treachery and fraud, of violence and 
 injustice, the spirit reposes, in grateful and un- 
 disturbed tranquillity, amid scenes rich in vege- 
 table wonders ; and the imagination wanders 
 unwearied in landscapes, bold, beautiful, or tran- 
 
MENTAL RECREATION. 141 
 
 quil. Hence the study of the many branches 
 of natural history has a moral and a pious use, 
 and purifies, whilst it soothes and enlightens 
 the mind. Its apparently humblest division, 
 entomology, is, in reality, a most splendid dis- 
 play of the infinite variety of forms, into which 
 the Creator can call his creations into existence, 
 gifted to enjoy and to serve. 
 
 In reading Buffon and the writers of his day, 
 the pupil must remember the lapse of time 
 that has intervened, and the endless discoveries 
 that have been made, and that are daily making, 
 in the pursuits of natural history. We have 
 long heard of the value of the reindeer to the 
 shivering Laplander ; we are now told that 
 the ox is equally precious to the Canadian ;* 
 and every year brings to light some before un- 
 noted or unknown wonder. Thus curiosity 
 seems kept alive only to be gratified, and ad- 
 vancing knowledge silences pertinacious adhe- 
 rence to obsolete opinions, and gives proofs to 
 dissipate ancient doubts. 
 
 In botany, a science singularly adapted for 
 female study, how many subjects for surprise 
 and admiration are continually appearing. One 
 cannot open a volume of travels, but some shrub 
 or plant is made known to us, peculiarly adapted 
 
 * Mr. Henry's Travels in Canada. 
 
 13 
 
142 MENTAL RECREATION. 
 
 to the clime. Bounding our views to one ob- 
 ject, let us see what nature has done to meet 
 the wants of man and animals in hot countries, 
 where the heat, by evaporating moisture, causes 
 thirst. 
 
 In the Brazils a cane is found, which, on being 
 cut below a joint, dispenses a cool, pleasant 
 liquid, which instantly quenches the most burn- 
 ing thirst; and Prince Maximilian, when travel- 
 ling in America in 1816, quenched his thirst by 
 drinking the water found within the leaves of 
 the bromelia. 
 
 Mr. Elphinstone says the water melon, the 
 most juicy of fruits, is found in profusion amid 
 the arid deserts of western Asia ; and adds, 
 " that it is really a subject of wonder to see a 
 melon, three or four feet in circumference, 
 growing from a stalk as slender as that of a 
 common melon, in the dry sand of the desert." 
 
 Mr. Barrow thus describes that curious vege- 
 table, the pitcher plant : — " To the foot stalk 
 of each leaf is attached a bag, girt round with 
 a lid. Contrary to the usual effect, this lid 
 opens in wet and dewy hours, and, when the 
 pitcher is full, the lid closes ; when this store 
 of moisture is absorbed by the plant, the lid 
 opens again." Of course the thirsty traveller 
 can take advantage of this beautiful provision 
 of nature. 
 
MENTAL RECREATION. 143 
 
 The stapelia is a singular plant found in Af- 
 rica, and, from its containing water amid the 
 severest drought, has been called the "Camel of 
 the Desert." 
 
 Travellers cannot be too exact and minute 
 in their description of what they see, especially 
 of objects in natural history ; for nature, the 
 more she is developed, the more sources she 
 offers of high intellectual gratification — of grati- 
 fication eminently united with the noblest and 
 purest feelings of the human heart, the feelings 
 which raise the spirit from the creature to the 
 Creator, in all the varied emotions of love, 
 gratitude, and awe ! 
 
 Through various channels — books, museums, 
 conversations — the young mind can be enriched 
 with an insight into natural history; and simple 
 tastes can be thus early inculcated, that may 
 give a relish in after life for simple pleasures 
 and scientific pursuits, and, by so doing, elevate 
 the soul above coarse and vulgar enjoyments, 
 and rescue it from languor and sloth. 
 
144 VIRTUE THE ONLY MEAN 
 
 VIRTUE THE ONLY MEAN OF 
 HAPPINESS. 
 
 The cheerful minds of children will facilely 
 receive and believe the doctrine that human 
 beings were created for happiness. All that 
 they see around them in the natural world, all 
 that they feel in their own bosoms, conspire to 
 assure them that felicity was the proposed des- 
 tiny of all created things. Very little further 
 observation and reflection will convince them, 
 that the happiness which we are gifted to 
 possess is only lost by the unwise use of the 
 powers bestowed upon us ; is only lost by the 
 false indulgence of the passions given to us for 
 the best purposes : in other words, that folly 
 and vice are the destroyers of human felicity. 
 
 Such a conviction, early implanted, might do 
 much towards inspiring cheerful views of life ; 
 a temper friendly to mental equanimity, might 
 do much towards inspiring a just detestation of 
 vice ; an emotion favorable to the encourage- 
 ment of virtue. 
 
OF HAPPINESS. 145 
 
 " Happiness our aim, and virtue our means," 
 is the creed of the Christian and of the heathen 
 philosopher, of the sages of antiquity and of 
 the learned of modern days, of wise men of 
 every clime and every age. Were the opinions 
 of all these on the subject to be culled from 
 their works, a small and useful manual might 
 be compiled, very assistant in the moral educa- 
 tion of youth. The opinions of our fellow 
 creatures have a great influence on our actions 
 and sentiments ; the opinions of our celebrated 
 and applauded fellow creatures must, of course, 
 act with increased influence. Such combined 
 testimony that virtue is the only medium of 
 happiness, must fix this truth with indelible 
 impression on the heart and mind ; and this 
 impression indelibly made, a guiding principle, 
 sustained by every selfish and social passion, 
 would ever after be the rudder of the reason 
 and the affections. 
 
 Does not the frequent perusal of books which 
 expatiate on the powers and means of happi- 
 ness, and the ameliorations of sorrow, tend to 
 form a manly and cheerful character? This 
 sentiment was elicited on reading Epictetus, 
 whose opinions have much similarity to the 
 tenets of Christian morality, and whose senti- 
 ments enforce a brave acquiescence in the trials 
 *13 
 
146 VIRTUE THE ONLY MEAN 
 
 and vicissitudes of life. Where all is good, it 
 is difficult to extract select passages ; we will 
 confine ourselves to one or two : — 
 
 " What is to be done ? Make the best of 
 what is in our power, and take the rest as it 
 naturally happens ; and how is that ? As it 
 pleases God." 
 
 " Whenever you are angry, be assured that it 
 is not only a present evil, but that you have 
 increased a habit, and added fuel to a fire." 
 
 Very early in life, we discover which are the 
 books that calm our feelings and fortify our 
 virtue, and to those books we should resort, as 
 to mental food and medicine. Miss Edge- 
 worth's works have this effect in a very singu- 
 lar degree, and very young children are seen 
 perpetually recurring to her pages. Probably 
 those compositions which exercise the judg- 
 ment rather than the imagination, are most 
 favorable to mental amelioration and mental 
 tranquillity ; hence the rational productions of 
 Miss Edgeworth become popular, and we should 
 do wisely to guide young people to discriminate 
 what is the reading that yields the most lasting 
 gratification. The Rambler and the other works 
 of Dr. Johnson may be found on this list ; also, 
 the poems of Cowper, and, in fact, all books 
 
OF HAPPINESS. 147 
 
 where powerful reasoning is united with a pure 
 morality, expressed in a language simple and 
 perspicuous. 
 
 When reasoning with young people on mo- 
 rals, one fact " is worth a thousand homilies." 
 Thus a mother can, in conversation, make many 
 powerful impressions by relating facts, gathered 
 from authentic statements or from personal 
 knowledge. That " Virtue is its own reward," 
 is an axiom, the truth of which cannot be 
 doubted, but the force of which is seldom felt. 
 Could we enforce this text by facts, our hearers 
 would more strongly feel its truth. Among 
 many incidents that could be culled for this pur- 
 pose, perhaps none would be more efficient than 
 a little private history told by La Barpe : — 
 
 M. Thomas was a professor of law T , of con- 
 siderable attainments, well known to M. La 
 Harpe, and, at one time, very popular in France. 
 When a very young man, and when he ought 
 to have been solely devoted to the study of the 
 arduous profession he had chosen, he began to 
 show a taste for writing, and devoted much of 
 his time to the fascinating charm of literature. 
 His mother, alarmed at his dereliction of legal 
 studies, warmly remonstrated with him on the 
 
148 VIRTUE THE ONLY MEAN OF HAPPINESS. 
 
 subject. The young man, aware of his danger 
 and her kindness, collected his various writings, 
 and threw them into the fire. " II n'a jamais 
 fait de sacrifice qui lui ait autant coute," says 
 La Harpe, " mais il dit, que le souvenir de 
 cette action avoit ete, pendant toute sa vie, le 
 plus delicieux de ses souvenirs." 
 
 What a happy illustration is this of the con- 
 fession* of Rousseau : — " Je sentis, et j'ai sou- 
 vent senti depuis lors, en y repensant, que si 
 les sacrifices qu'on fait au devoir, et a la vertu 
 coutent a. faire, on en est bien paye par les doux 
 souvenirs qu'ils laissent au fond de cceur." 
 
 * Would that all his confessions were as blameless, or, rather, 
 as laudable. 
 
ON ARGUING. 
 
 149 
 
 ON ARGUING. 
 
 There is a barrier to mental improvement 
 that cannot be too speedily removed. The bad 
 habit of arguing wholly to convince others, with 
 little, if any disposition to be convinced our- 
 selves ; not to say anything of the unamiable 
 feelings often generated by this mode of argu- 
 ment, the incalculable loss of mental and moral 
 improvement thereby incurred, cannot be con- 
 sidered without deep regret. In all arguments, 
 the one party are generally much the wiser, and 
 the sooner the more ignorant discovers his in- 
 feriority, and listens with intention to profit by 
 the reasoning of his sager opponent, the more 
 likely he will be to become himself, in future 
 arguments, the more sagacious reasoner. 
 
 In childhood, a habit of rational and candid 
 attention, of arguing for self-improvement, not 
 for victory, can be most easily and efficaciously 
 laid; in early childhood, then, let parents incul- 
 cate this invaluable disposition. 
 
150 ON ARGUING. 
 
 In all arguments, but especially in arguments 
 relating to morals, if we enter upon them with 
 minds as well as ears open to conviction and 
 information, even the wiser reasoner may pro- 
 bably gain some instruction, but the more igno- 
 rant must be extensively benefited. In dis- 
 coursing with their elders, the chances are, that 
 the young are the feebler and more ignorant 
 reasoners ; the young therefore are peculiarly 
 called upon to enter on an argument in search 
 of knowledge and conviction. 
 
 To all, especially to the young, it is more 
 profitable to prepare to hear, rather than to 
 speak, to reflect on the reasons given, rather 
 than lose time in seeking for reasons to give ; 
 whilst judiciously reflecting on what their oppo- 
 nents advance, if a fair objection rises in their 
 minds, let that objection be candidly stated, 
 and if clearly invalidated, let it be as candidly 
 withdrawn. 
 
 Such a mode of argument is the only way to 
 elicit truth ; and is it not to elicit truth that 
 arguments ought to be pursued ? 
 
 People identifying themselves with the sub- 
 ject of their argument, think the honor and 
 truth of both must fall together ; but let the 
 right motives for argument be deeply and firmly 
 
ON ARGUING. 151 
 
 implanted in early life, and this common mis- 
 take will cease to be common. 
 
 People will see that they can only preserve 
 their honor and truth by advocating the right 
 side ; and if they are on the wrong side, they 
 must forfeit all pretensions to common sense 
 and common integrity if they persist to advo- 
 cate what is palpably fallacious. 
 
 " It is better to know what is true, than what 
 is said." — Butler 's Analogy. 
 
152 ON SILENCE. 
 
 ON SILENCE. 
 
 C'est une grande misere que de n'avoir pas assez d'esprit pour 
 bien parler, ni assez de jugement pour se taire. La Bruyere. 
 
 To be able to speak judiciously seems the 
 grand aim of tutelage. Perhaps it is a more 
 desirable power to be able to be silent. Speak- 
 ing dissipates mental wealth ; silence increases 
 the store. As the young can comparatively 
 have but small store of mental wealth, it be- 
 hoves them to be of the class of listeners, till, 
 by silence, they shall have accumulated enough 
 of wisdom and of learning to become, in their 
 turn, judicious speakers. 
 
 The following remarks were collected from 
 various authors, to enforce the value of that 
 valuable power — the power of being silent : — 
 
 Bien ecouter et bien repondre, est une des 
 plus grandes perfections qu'on puisse avoir dans 
 la conversation . — Rochefoucault. 
 
ON SILENCE. 153 
 
 We often repent of speaking too much, but 
 seldom of having held our peace. — Xenocrates. 
 
 It is safer to be silent than to speak. — Epic- 
 tetus. 
 
 Be chid for silence, but never taxed for 
 speech. — Shakspeare. 
 
 L'on se repent rarement de parlerpeu, tres 
 souvent de trop parler ; maxime usee et triviale, 
 que tout le monde sait, et que tout le monde ne 
 pratique pas. — La Bruyere. 
 
 L'arte di tacere e una gran virtu ; felice colui 
 che non dice che quel che si deve ! — Ganga- 
 nelli. 
 
 Pour savoir parler, il faut savoir ecouter. — 
 Plutarch. 
 
 II ne faut pas toujours dire tout, car se serait 
 sottise ; mais ce qu'on dit, il faut qu'il soit tel 
 qu'on pense, autrement c'est mechancete. — 
 Montaigne. 
 
 On fait plus pour la verite en edifiant, qu'en 
 disputant pour elle. — Fenelon. 
 
 Ho per costume il dir la verita, o tacere. — 
 Alberto Nota. 
 
 In talking, we only show a desire to be ami- 
 able ; but in listening we are so in reality. — 
 Kotzebue. 
 
 Celle qui toujours parle ne dit jamais rien. 
 — Boileau. 
 
 14 
 
154 ON ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS. 
 
 ON ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS. 
 
 Although the choice of associates for chil- 
 dren is always a matter of considerable impor- 
 tance, yet, after the age of fourteen or fifteen, 
 it becomes one of incalculable consequence. 
 About that age, girls are rapidly expanding in 
 mind, and are forming habits and opinions that 
 may decide their future character and fate. Let, 
 then, a mother watch with redoubled vigilance, 
 at that period, over the conduct and language of 
 those w T ho associate with her children. They 
 are much better without society, than with 
 society of uncertain principles. How many 
 girls have been ruined in manners, in morals, 
 and in fate, by pernicious companionships, mis- 
 called friendships ! 
 
 By kindness, frankness, and forbearance, a 
 mother can obtain the confidence of her chil- 
 dren, and gradually and imperceptibly become 
 the trusted friend. Had girls no other, from 
 
ON ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS. 155 
 
 fourteen to twenty, the fate of many of them 
 would wear a more smiling aspect than it too 
 often does, when youthful confidantes share the 
 heart and fancy. Intimates and social compan- 
 ions may be selected for them, in as great a 
 number as the mother can judiciously encour- 
 age. Perhaps, by having numerous associates, 
 the risk of forming a sickly sentimental friend- 
 ship is avoided. Mystery and secrecy cannot 
 subsist among numbers, and mystery and se- 
 crecy are the corner-stones of sentimental con- 
 nexions. By enlarged communion, more lib- 
 eral feelings are induced, and the glow of affec- 
 tion, so natural and so delightful in youth, runs 
 no hazard of being chilled by being diffused. 
 Surely the more we mingle with our fellow 
 creatures, the more warm and kindly are our 
 feelings. The system of confidential letter- 
 writing is, perhaps, the most pernicious indul- 
 gence which a young lady can allow herself 
 with a friend of her own age. The length and 
 frequency of these epistles form their principal 
 charm and their chief merit. They are not 
 written because there is something to be said, 
 but something must be said because they are 
 to be written. In youth, the imagination is the 
 most busy of our faculties, and furnishes the prin- 
 cipal supply for these missives. Girls of ordinary 
 
156 ON ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS. 
 
 character fill the page with idle gossipings, and, as 
 life seldom yields sufficient variety of anecdote 
 and character for these indiscriminating observ- 
 ers, fancy is called in aid, and facts are mingled 
 with fictions, " after what flourish their nature 
 will." Hence the mischiefs of false represen- 
 tation and petty scandal are propagated and 
 prolonged ; and the mind, tainted in its prime, 
 loses its delicate distinction of truth and false- 
 hood. With girls of superior talent, the ima- 
 gination is equally busy and equally hurtful, 
 though in a different way ; for these, soaring 
 above the incidents and personages of real life, 
 indulge themselves in all the hyperbole of ro- 
 mance, the refinements of feelings, and the 
 wild and deluding visions of irrational hope. 
 With such as these, everything is exquisite or 
 detestable, loved or hated, lauded to the skies 
 or trampled to the earth ; a medium is un- 
 known, for the very word moderation is ex- 
 punged from their vocabulary. The mischiefs 
 arising from such mental dereliction can be 
 easily imagined though not easily calculated ; 
 rather than risk so fearful a hazard, a young 
 lady had better never write a letter during her 
 minority.* To think a little wildly and fan- 
 
 * Writing at too early an age is mischievous, and to others be- 
 sides minors. Few but highly gifted minds are capable of writing 
 
ON ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS. 157 
 
 lastically is natural to youth, but, as thoughts 
 perish, the evil is, as a summer cloud, slight 
 and fugitive. But when these idle fancies are 
 committed to paper, a sort of permanency is 
 given to them, and a feeling of pride is genera- 
 ted on reperusing the high-sounding period ; 
 add to which, thoughts are brief and changea- 
 ble ; a vision of fancy may be succeeded by a 
 reflection of good sense ; but, in writing, the 
 fugitive fancies are fixed, and dilated, and pur- 
 sued, so that, out of one passing folly, many 
 branch forth ; truth and common sense are put 
 aside, and the taste for romance is cherished, 
 and the distaste for reason is augmented. 
 
 for publication before forty. Of those who publish before that age, 
 probably the nine-tenths regret their immature productiona. 
 
 u 
 
158 ON STUDY. 
 
 ON STUDY. 
 
 In a life of Madame de Stael, written by 
 Madame Necker de Saussure, it is said, that 
 that celebrated female advised, " L'etude inde- 
 pendamment de succes, la bonte independam- 
 ment de la reconnaissance." Advice highly 
 useful to every age, and which a mother may 
 inculcate into youthful minds. 
 
 For really knowledge is valuable enough to 
 be desired for its own worth, without that ex- 
 pectation of exhibition and superiority which 
 too commonly attends the pursuit ; and the less 
 the mind is looking abroad for the reward of 
 its labors, the more secure it is from disappoint- 
 ment, and the more likely it is to select the 
 useful rather than the glittering branches of 
 learning. Montesquieu happily says, " II ne 
 s'agit pas de faire lire, mais de faire penser ;" — 
 and Cicero* remarks, " that men lose their hap- 
 
 * Fifth Tusculan disputation. 
 
ON STUDY. 159 
 
 piness by acting to obtain popular praise, rather 
 than the approbation of their own conscience." 
 Boileau also very happily satirizes this common 
 infirmity : — 
 
 " C'est la de tous nos maux, le fatal fondement, 
 Des jugemens d'autrui nous tremblons follement, 
 Et Chacun, l'un de l'autre, adorant Ies caprices, 
 Nous cherchons hors de nous, nos vertus et nos vices." 
 
 If a mother has collected many sayings of the 
 wise, and extracts from the witty, she may find it 
 assisting to make her young pupils familiar with 
 them. An anecdote timely quoted, a line ap- 
 propriately repeated, may make a powerful and 
 beneficial impression on the ductile minds of 
 listening youth. 
 
160 ON BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 ON BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 It is equally rational to pursue " la bonte in- 
 dependamment de la reconnaissance." There 
 is really too much talk about gratitude and in- 
 gratitude : do accusations of ingratitude come 
 well from a benefactor? Do we so nicely 
 poise the worth of our benefits as to know, to 
 precision, the quantum of gratitude due to us ? 
 This is all very humiliating, and very unworthy 
 the spirit of genuine benevolence. Let us 
 teach our children to do good, as their duty and 
 their pleasure ; let no paltry feeling of a re- 
 turn, even of gratitude, mingle in the pure 
 emotions of kindness. The art of obliging and 
 serving is abundantly repaying in the soothing 
 consciousness of having served and obliged, and 
 those who want further recompense, are mak- 
 ing a matter of barter, of mere buying and sell- 
 ing, of the otherwise most delightful of our 
 duties. As it is too often managed, gratitude 
 is rendered the most heavy debt imposed on 
 misfortune. 
 
VIRTUE ITS OWN REWARD. 161 
 
 ON VIRTUE ITS OWN REWARD. 
 
 To hold out to the young, either in books or 
 conversation, that all virtue meets with a com- 
 mensurate reward, is a doctrine as fallacious as 
 it is mischievous. It may lead the child to act 
 from self-interest ; — it will direct him to false 
 and untenable views of life ; — it is, in either 
 case, a cruel and unjustifiable deception. Who 
 that has had the slightest experience of events, 
 will assert that good deeds are always follow- 
 ed by equivalent rewards ? Wherefore then 
 inculcate a belief which must be found falla- 
 cious, the moment the young reasoner begins 
 to notice and reflect upon the incidents that 
 happen around him ? It is much safer to tell 
 the simple truth, that virtue is seldom reward- 
 ed as it deserves ; but that virtue is its own 
 reward, since the whispers of an approving 
 conscience are more precious than all the 
 wealth and the honors of the world. 
 
 A child who has been taught to believe all 
 good deeds are recompensed, will be in the 
 
162 VIRTUE ITS OWN REWARD. 
 
 way to deem the unfortunate as criminal ; a 
 belief that must strike at the root of all candor 
 and all benevolence. 
 
 But though virtue seldom meets its due re- 
 ward in this world, yet that it always obtains a 
 certain ^degree of respect and homage, even 
 from the most vicious, is a doctrine that may 
 be safely and beneficially upheld. Of the pow- 
 er of virtue over mankind, biography and histo- 
 ry furnish abundant instances ; and these, when 
 well authenticated, may be quoted with con- 
 siderable advantage. M. La Harpe records a 
 very interesting proof of this nature : — at a sit- 
 ting of the French Academy, a spirited ode was 
 recited on the Death of Prince Leopold of 
 Brunswick, and the audience was warmly in- 
 terested. In the course of the same sitting, the 
 prize of virtue was awarded to an aged and faith- 
 ful female servant, the recompense of many years 
 of fidelity and duty. Though this reward was 
 bestowed with only a simple detail of her merits 
 and her claims, unadorned with the flowers of 
 rhetoric or the graces of poetry, its effect on 
 the assembly was electric ; tears and murmur- 
 ing plaudits spoke the irresistible claim of vir- 
 tue ; and talents, greatness, and glory were for- 
 gotten in the higher swell of feelings with which 
 the untaught, lowly, and modest candidate was 
 hailed and lauded. 
 
ON IGNORANCE. 163 
 
 ON IGNORANCE. 
 
 On n'est jamais si ridicule par les qualites, que Ton a, que par 
 celles, que l'on affecte d'avoir. Rochefoucault. 
 
 Children should be early taught to acknow- 
 ledge their ignorance. Many pupils, from fear 
 of displeasing their instructer, will say they 
 understand what is wholly unintelligible to 
 them. This is a serious weakness, for it not 
 only arrests improvement, but is one of the 
 Proteus forms of falsehood. A child who, from 
 fear or any other motive, affects to be wise 
 on a subject on which she is ignorant, must be 
 in the way to prove very superficial, and to 
 suffer many humiliations. Let us inculcate the 
 certainty of this last consequence with force, 
 because it sometimes happens that a fear of 
 humiliation causes the assumption of know- 
 ledge. We may point out that the wisest men 
 have not been ashamed to confess their igno- 
 rance, and that, even in these enlightened days, 
 
164 ON IGNORANCE. 
 
 there are many branches of science unexplored, 
 and many phenomena the causes of which are 
 utterly unknown. " ' Cela ne se peut,' est un 
 mot qui sort rarement de la bouche des sages, 
 ils disent plus frequemment, ' Je ne sais,' " is an 
 admirable observation from the pen of the elo- 
 quent Rousseau, which ought to be learned by 
 heart and by rote, by all young persons. Miss 
 Edgeworth, with her usual skill and felicity, 
 has inculcated the same sentiment in one of 
 her excellent little works : — 
 
 " How does yeast set beer a working, papa?" 
 
 " I do not know," answered his father. 
 
 " How did they get yeast for the first beer 
 that was made^ to ferment ?" 
 
 " I do not know," answered his father. 
 
 " Why, papa, 1 thought you knew every- 
 thing." 
 
 " Indeed, my dear, I know very little, and I 
 never pretend to know more than I do. The 
 older people grow, and the wiser they become, 
 the more they feel that they are ignorant of a 
 number of things." — Vide Frank. 
 
 " Mais je trouve en effet, que le plus fat est 
 le plus satisfait." — Boileau. 
 
ON POSITIVENESS. 165 
 
 ON POSITIVENESS. 
 
 To preserve the young from habits of posi- 
 tive assertion, they must be made to understand 
 that they incur the charge of falsehood, if what 
 they have positively asserted prove untrue. 
 Now, on every subject, there is so little rational 
 proof for certainty, and there are so many 
 causes that mislead, confound, and deceive, 
 that the wisest generally assert with the most 
 diffidence. 
 
 As an amusing instance of the variation of 
 opinions and conclusions, on a very simple sub- 
 ject — the etymology of a word, the following 
 memoranda may be noticed to youthful readers 
 and talkers : — 
 
 Moors. A corruption of Medes. — Sallust. 
 Moors, or Berbers, coming from Barbary. — Gibbon. 
 Moors ; as originally from Mauritania. — C. P. Briand. 
 Moors; from the Hebrew word Mohurim (west). — Bochart. 
 
 No doubt many other derivations for this 
 term could be given by the learned and inqui- 
 sitive. 
 
 15 
 
166 ON POSITIVENESS. 
 
 Even this little display of contradictory opin- 
 ions among the wise and learned on a mere 
 matter of fact, must inspire the young and un- 
 learned with just dread of false assertion. This 
 healthy conviction may be further enforced by 
 the acute remarks of La Bruyere, on the pre- 
 sumption of ignorance : — 
 
 " C'est la plus profonde ignorance qui inspire 
 le ton dogmatique. Celui qui ne sait rien, croit 
 enseigner aux autres, ce qu'il vient d'apprendre 
 lui-meme ; celui qui sait beaucoup pense a. peine 
 que ce qu'il dit puisse etre ignore, et parle plus 
 indifferemment." 
 
 We have heard a lady of some attainments 
 declare, when upwards of forty, that she was 
 beginning to have some hopes of herself, as she 
 now had some idea of her ignorance, although 
 not yet wise enough to know its full extent, and 
 being very far short of the intelligence that en- 
 abled Socrates to confess, " That all he knew 
 was, that he knew nothing." 
 
ON FEMALE INACCURACY. 167 
 
 ON FEMALE INACCURACY. 
 
 Women are accused of a want of precision 
 in giving details and descriptions, and a defi- 
 ciency of accuracy in expressing opinions and 
 feelings. This is a heavy charge, and one that 
 has too much appearance of being just. With- 
 out attempting to excuse, let us simply endea- 
 vor to prevent the further continuation of so 
 disgraceful an accusation, by accustoming girls 
 to think and speak with precision. We can 
 tell them that we ought to try to excuse inevi- 
 table errors only, and that this is an error easily 
 avoided. We can tell them, however polite and 
 moderate the words in which this censure is 
 conveyed, the simple meaning is a charge of wil- 
 ful falsehood. This plain statement must arouse 
 every mind to shun the too common weakness, 
 but to this may be added the important results 
 to the mind habituated to it. " Nothing," says 
 Sir Isaac Newton, in his Principia, "Nothing is 
 
168 ON FEMALE INACCURACY. 
 
 more destructive of clear reasoning, nor more 
 injurious to the reception and diffusion of know- 
 ledge, than the habit of speaking vaguely, or of 
 using loose expressions." Thus positive evil to 
 the mind is incurred, in addition to disgraceful 
 comments on the character. We can easily 
 urge children to be earnest and precise in their 
 little details, and, by questioning them on the 
 exact meaning of the words and phrases they 
 use, we can gradually lead them to a consider- 
 able degree of accuracy and clearness in think- 
 ing and speaking. 
 
 The use of a comprehensive phrase, or of a 
 perfectly appropriate word, is the mark of an 
 enlarged and enlightened mind. As such, let 
 us name any of our acquaintance so distin- 
 guished as the model for youthful imitation. 
 Perhaps there is not much risk of a too close, 
 or rather of an affected regard to truth. Should 
 however, the smallest tendency to this infirmity 
 be discovered, it must be suppressed as vigi- 
 lantly as its opposite defect, for affectation is 
 but another word for falsehood, and every form 
 of falsehood must be mischievous and contemp- 
 tible. 
 
 The often ridiculed exaggeration of travel- 
 lers appears, in a great measure, to have dis- 
 persed that folly ; and wit has now principally 
 
ON FEMALE INACCURACY. 169 
 
 to attack the exaggerated description of feel- 
 ings and fancies. We are not yet, indeed, ar- 
 rived at that unstinting display of our exquisite 
 emotions, in which our neighbors on the conti- 
 nent fearlessly indulge. " Je suis trop sensi- 
 ble," — " J'ai trop de sensibilite," are terms in 
 the mouth of every buxom femme de chambre. 
 Let our pupils be taught that feelings are to be 
 felt, not exhibited, and that irritability is too 
 often misnamed sensibility ; for though, in phy- 
 sics, both these terms may mean nearly the 
 same, yet, in morals, the difference is immense. 
 In the description of things or events, which 
 pass the usual course of nature, it would be 
 well to bear in mind the advice of the great 
 Italian bard : — 
 
 " Even to that truth 
 Which but the semblance of a falsehood wears ; 
 A man, if possible, should bar his lip ; 
 Since, although blameless, he incurs reproach." 
 
 Cary's Dante, L'Infekno. 
 
 15 
 
170 ON THE VALUE OF MONEY. 
 
 ON THE Y r ALUE OF MONEY. 
 
 As many mischiefs arise from ignorance of 
 the value of money, in every rank of life, young 
 people should be taught, as soon as possible, 
 the true worth of pecuniary resources. Much 
 useful advice, and many guiding hints, can cer- 
 tainly be given on the subject, but on this, as 
 on many other points, perhaps experience is the 
 best teacher. Girls of twelve and fourteen can 
 be allowed a regular supply to meet their little 
 wants and wishes, but to render this arrange- 
 ment useful, the allowance must be limited and 
 judiciously apportioned to the present and fu- 
 ture prospects of the young person : an unlimit- 
 ed and uncertain supply leads to habits of care- 
 less and profuse expenditure, for what is unde- 
 fined and irregular cannot be calculated upon, 
 and consequently cannot be judiciously appro- 
 priated. But when it is known a certain sum 
 will be received at stated times, the wants and 
 
ON THE VALUE OF MONEY. 171 
 
 wishes are regulated to the amount and the 
 period, and habits of management are gradually 
 formed. Should profusion have too soon dissi- 
 pated the fund, the necessity of waiting for the 
 next payment, ere money is again possessed, 
 will induce a more careful expenditure in fu- 
 ture ; there is little fear that parsimony will 
 ever be the result ; for youth is so buoyant, 
 so gay, so disposed to enjoyment, that what- 
 ever requires self-denial and restriction is too 
 little agreeable to be very severely practised. 
 Perhaps indeed the early power of spending 
 money, and the early pleasures enjoyed thereby, 
 may not only at the time, but for ever after, 
 prevent the growth of avarice in the breast. 
 Those who know how to enjoy money wisely, 
 seldom desire to hoard it foolishly. 
 
 Without restricted funds, young people can- 
 not taste the pleasure of bestowing, either in 
 charity or in gifts of kindness. A child who 
 implores her mother to let her relieve the wan- 
 dering beggar, shews that the germ of compas- 
 sion is budding in her young heart ; but, as she 
 grows older, this tender feeling should be ex- 
 panded and strengthened by mental guiding ; 
 the heart should be ruled and directed by the 
 head. Charity should no longer be an impulse, 
 but a duty, and a duty to be performed even at 
 
172 ON THE VALUE OF MONEY. 
 
 the price of self-denial ; we cannot be properly 
 said to give what is not our own, therefore 
 children should have some wealth entirely at 
 their own disposal, to taste the pleasure of giv- 
 ing, be it in chanty or kindness. The very 
 acts of self-denial, to which a desire of bestow- 
 ing may urge the young economist, must in- 
 duce beneficial influence ; and the weighing of 
 one claim with another, of pondering on the 
 choice of a duty or a pleasure, are all servicea- 
 ble intellectual operations. A girl of fourteen 
 has been observed for many weeks to hoard all 
 her allowances, and steadily deny herself the 
 smallest indulgence, until a sum was collected, 
 sufficient to purchase a pretty gift for one dear 
 to her ; just as the sum was collected, she 
 heard her parents speaking of a scene of want 
 and poverty, the sufferers in which were well 
 known to them ; she did not hesitate to prefer 
 the duty to the pleasure, and before any one 
 was aware that she had even heard the conver- 
 sation, her piece of gold was sent to be applied 
 to the relief of distress. 
 
 The business of domestic life is but a con- 
 stant balancing of our several duties, and happy 
 are they who come to the task with reflecting 
 and well poised minds ! 
 
ON THE VALUE OF MONEY. 173 
 
 When young people are beginning to be ac- 
 customed to the expenditure of money, it is a 
 favorable moment, perhaps, to impress most 
 powerfully the several claims of justice and 
 generosity ; or, rather, this is the time to bring 
 more fully into practice the various remarks on 
 the subject, which, from infancy, they shall 
 have imbibed. 
 
 In Lord Kaimes' Sketches of Man, he makes 
 a just and clear distinction between these two 
 virtues, and the terms in which he expresses 
 himself are so comprehensive, that each sen- 
 tence may serve as a moral maxim, from which 
 even a young reasoner may deduce much and 
 important matter. 
 
 "Justice is a primary virtue." 
 
 We repeat these words, and feel and under- 
 stand that all other claims must bend to justice, 
 the paramount and guiding duty of public and 
 private life ; in other words, that it is a neces- 
 sary and imperative virtue. 
 
 " Generosity is a secondary virtue." 
 
 We utter these words, and they teach us that 
 generosity may or may not be exerted, as our 
 will and power permit ; and that, however 
 graceful and agreeable, it is neither necessary 
 nor imperative. 
 
 The corollary is simple and obvious — that 
 
174 ON THE VALUE OF MONEY. 
 
 justice must precede generosity, the one the 
 pillar, and the other the ornament of character 
 — that, in short, there can be no generosity 
 where there is no justice. We may be gener- 
 ous, but we must be just. 
 
 Those who speculate on human feelings may 
 decide whether the reason that generosity is 
 unduly lauded and upheld is, because it is a 
 more voluntary and unnecessary quality. But 
 let us make no mistakes ; where justice is over- 
 looked, the term generosity is a misnomer, and 
 the word to be then used is extravagance or 
 profusion, or (may we say it, and not be mis- 
 understood,) selfishness. 
 
 He who lets his creditor want, or his relative 
 starve, whilst he indulges himself in making 
 splendid or even compassionate gifts, is an illus- 
 tration that will save us from the imputation of 
 having misused the word selfishness. 
 
 The excellent maxim of La Bruyere seems 
 admirably to define the true merit and the true 
 meaning of generosity : — 
 
 "La liberalite consiste moins a donner beau- 
 coup, qu'a donner apropos." 
 
 It is not extending the maxim too much, to 
 consider what is apropos for the giver as well 
 as the receiver. 
 
ON THE VALUE OF TIME. 175 
 
 ON THE VALUE OF TIME. 
 
 " I have lost a day !" 
 
 This often quoted exclamation of Titus can- 
 not be too early or too deeply impressed on the 
 minds of children ; and great pains should be 
 taken to explain whence it arose, under what 
 circumstances it was uttered, and by what ex- 
 cellent conduct it was preceded and followed. 
 
 It would be highly beneficial, and certainly 
 very practicable, to lead children to act upon 
 the model of excellence bequeathed to us by 
 the Roman emperor. As soon as possible, let 
 them accustom themselves to revise every even- 
 ing their conduct through the day, and let them 
 be taught to consider that "day lost," in which 
 they have not served, nor obliged, nor pleased 
 a fellow-creature. 
 
 Those who have not made the experiment 
 are little aware how many occasions daily occur, 
 in every life, of conferring benefit or pleasure 
 on others. Those who have not investigated 
 their own conduct in this particular, will be 
 surprised to find how seldom a day passes with 
 
176 ON THE VALUE OF TIME. 
 
 them, unmarked by some act of kindness or 
 compassion. 
 
 A lady, living in a retired situation, possessed 
 of moderate wealth and very limited influence, 
 resolved to bring to the test of demonstration 
 how often she lost a day, fully expecting the 
 number would be sadly preponderating. Con- 
 tinuing her usual habits and plans, she kept, for 
 many weeks, a faithful account of every chari- 
 table deed and social service she performed. 
 Great was her astonishment when she discov- 
 ered that, instead of one benefit or donation per 
 diem, many days were marked with two, three, 
 four, friendly actions, scarcely one day in a 
 month being a blank. 
 
 But it was not with public subscriptions, nor 
 splendid gifts, nor heroic acts, that the page 
 was gilded. It was with the unobtrusive at- 
 tentions to the wants of the poor, to the com- 
 forts of the rich, to the accommodation of the 
 suffering, to the relief of the sick ; and who is 
 without relatives to please, friends to oblige, 
 neighbors and dependents to benefit and serve? 
 Even children can almost daily be led to per- 
 form some generous, some charitable, some dis- 
 interested action ; and never can they too soon 
 begin performing those neighborly deeds and 
 sociable services for which they were created. 
 
ON MODES OF CONCILIATION. 177 
 
 ON MODES OF CONCILIATION. 
 
 Do good to friends to keep them friends, and to enemies to make 
 them friends. Cleobulus of Lindus. 
 
 Dr. Franklin being opposed, and apparently 
 disliked, by a gentleman of fortune and educa- 
 tion, took the following method of obtaining 
 his good opinion. Instead of paying servile 
 court, or humbling himself to flattery, he po- 
 litely and frankly requested a favor of him — 
 the loan of a scarce and curious book. The 
 gentleman instantly sent the volume, and, 
 pleased with the opportunity of pleasing, per- 
 haps proud of the power of obliging, ever after- 
 wards acted graciously and kindly towards Dr. 
 Franklin, who adds these comments to this 
 story : — "It shows how much more profitable it 
 is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, 
 and continue inimical proceedings. He that 
 has once done you a kindness will be more 
 ready to do you another, than he whom you 
 have yourself obliged." This anecdote is rich 
 
 in hints for those educating youth. 
 16 
 
178 PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 
 
 PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 
 
 By precept and by example it must be sug- 
 gested, that it is one of our positive duties to 
 bear sickness with patience, and even with 
 cheerfulness. The healthiest habit of body, 
 the most robust frame, are liable to ailments 
 and accidents : hence, if a spirit of complaint 
 and lamentation is indulged, the most pros- 
 perous families must be perpetually gloomed 
 with sadness, since rarely can all its members 
 be wholly free from some form of bodily suf- 
 fering. 
 
 To endure pain with calmness and patience 
 is well known to lessen its pangs ; but this is a 
 mere selfish, though no trifling consideration. 
 The more disinterested the motives of conduct, 
 the more virtuous and repaying they must 
 prove, — the more surely they must obtain the 
 approbation of surrounding friends. The love 
 and esteem of friends are so necessary to hap- 
 
PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 179 
 
 piness, that nothing ought to be considered in- 
 significant that may increase or diminish such 
 love and esteem. If patience and fortitude 
 under suffering augment attachment, doubtless 
 murmurs and plaints diminish respect and des- 
 troy affection; thus, by the very efforts made to 
 obtain pity, we are sure to lose it, and in the 
 very moment when compassion is most needed, 
 it is least deserved. 
 
 The complaining and exacting begin by los- 
 ing the esteem of friends, and wearying out 
 affection ; by being burdensome to duty, and 
 solely indebted to it for those kind offices 
 which compassion bestows when every other 
 emotion is exhausted. Let us stop ere we take 
 the first step in this melancholy course. Whilst 
 youth and vigor render ailments temporary and 
 light, let children learn to suffer without lamen- 
 tation. We owe it to ourselves to acknowledge 
 indisposition, that gravity or dulness may not 
 be misunderstood ; we owe it to those who 
 surround us not to let more than the acknowl- 
 edgement of suffering be intruded on the social 
 circle. Some ailments can be borne with that 
 gentle cheerfulness which imposes no surround- 
 ing gloom, and therefore commands no seclu- 
 sion : other maladies need helps and enforce 
 moans which demand retirement; in such cases 
 
180 PATIENCE IN SICKNESS- 
 
 it is wise and kind at once to quit the social 
 mirth which our presence, instead of enliven- 
 ing, must destroy, and with as little parade as 
 possible to seek the quiet of a lonely chamber ; 
 but even there let no selfish feelings intrude. 
 Let not duty — even that of a menial, " be 
 wearied to its utmost date." Let not affection 
 be taxed beyond its tenderest sympathy ; mere 
 necessary aid obtained, let us dismiss the pity- 
 ing domestic, cheer the anxious relative ; — let 
 us encourage their return to the usual busi- 
 ness and the usual amusements of life ; — let us 
 encourage their forgetfulness of our condition, 
 and express satisfaction in hearing sounds of 
 cheerfulness, in being informed that every other 
 duty, as well as the one to us, is performed ; 
 even under such circumstances, let not self 
 absorb every thought and every feeling of our 
 own, or be expected to absorb every thought 
 and every feeling of all around us. Example 
 is here beyond all precept, — and therefore by 
 example it is suggested to be inculcated. 
 
ON CHARITY. 181 
 
 ON CHARITY. 
 
 In respect to charity, we must inculcate it 
 by precept and example as one of our social 
 duties, and direct the annual appropriation of a 
 portion of money for its claims. When a case 
 of distress is presented to us, it must not be a 
 doubtful question whether we will or will not 
 relieve it — we must meet it with feelings dis- 
 posed to fulfil the claim of benevolence as 
 promptly and as effectively as any other of our 
 duties. The only point of hesitation is, whether 
 it is a case of real distress ; to ascertain this 
 point, we must consider it also as a positive 
 duty, and one that we cannot decline. That 
 some trouble attends the investigation is no 
 reason why it should not be made ; to the young, 
 and ardent, and enterprising, the^ trouble or 
 rather the exertion, will be agreeable, and with 
 the hope before them of its leading to benevo- 
 lent results, the effort will be delightful. Ex- 
 *16 
 
182 ON CHARITY. 
 
 perience unhappily has too long demonstrated 
 that, of the numerous claims made on compas- 
 sion, by far the greater number are deceptions ; 
 but that all are not so, experience has equally 
 proved. When the very existence of a fellow 
 creature is at stake, it is not surely too laborious 
 to take measures for ascertaining whether the 
 mournful petition be true or false ; for though 
 poverty, and sickness, and sorrow often retire 
 to obscurity, and perish complaining and un- 
 known, yet there are minds worthy of pity and 
 not too lofty to ask and accept it, who make 
 their sorrows known. It is common for con- 
 versation to fall on the topic of detected frauds 
 on benevolence, and such conversation is not 
 without its use, as exposing the artifices of the 
 cunning, and arousing the vigilance of the in- 
 experienced; but it is a duty we owe to virtue, 
 to recollect and relate at such times, those in- 
 stances of real distress which we have met 
 with. No one but can remember, be it only a 
 solitary case, in which he was not deceived; in 
 which his efforts were crowned with success ; 
 in which he rescued a human being from suffer- 
 ing, and saw hope and gladness take the place 
 of despair and grief. Such a detail would serve 
 to awaken kindly feelings in the listening cir- 
 cle ; would counterbalance the bitterness of any 
 
ON CHARITY. 183 
 
 misanthropic emotions caused or encouraged by 
 the frequent repetition of tales of fraud ; would 
 embolden the compassionate to continue the 
 efforts of benevolence ; and would " make man 
 feel for his fellow man." 
 
 That real sufferers too often retire into holes 
 and corners and die un pitied and unnoticed, is a 
 melancholy truth that ought to act as a stimu- 
 lus to the exertions of the humane ; many of 
 these sufferers so retire, because from their 
 knowledge of human nature and human life, 
 they expect no attention to their petitions and 
 representations. Were it generally understood 
 that a more gracious and liberal system per- 
 vaded society, were it known that people in- 
 quired into facts before they rejected petitions, 
 many who now die in hopeless misery might 
 come abroad and make known their wants and 
 their wretchedness. Should it be asked how 
 the adoption of this better system could be pro- 
 mulgated, the answer is ready, — by precisely 
 the same means as the present system of suspi- 
 cion and incredulity is known. The servants 
 attending behind our chairs catch the tone of 
 their masters, and, either as adopting or cen- 
 suring it, publish it among the lower classes. 
 The better ranks of tradespeople who often 
 advocate a cause they can no otherwise be- 
 
184 ON CHARITY. 
 
 friend, when they encountered patient attention 
 and calm investigation, instead of the usual ab- 
 rupt refusal or cynical reply, would not be tardy 
 in spreading abroad the welcome change. The 
 sufferers themselves, too often hurled from a 
 station of affluence and importance, would re- 
 call the newly kindled spirit they perhaps helped 
 to awaken, and fly to be known and assisted. 
 
 To say you will inquire into the truth of a 
 statement, if graciously announced, will alarm 
 only the fraudulent ; they will give false infor- 
 mation, and cease to importune. The real suf- 
 ferer, if of a refined class, may feel a momen- 
 tary indignant sensation at the suspicion of his 
 word ; but a recollection that the discovery of 
 his truth will ensure his relief and assert his 
 honor, will quickly turn the glow of anger to a 
 warmth of a more gratifying nature ; and, after 
 all, how large a portion of the wretched are 
 without any of these nice and fastidious feel- 
 ings — some never having had them, others hav- 
 ing them blunted down by trials and vicissi- 
 tudes. 
 
 Not to relieve distress without ascertaining 
 its nature and extent, is, in reality, the corner- 
 stone of social benevolence. On such a foun- 
 dation, a noble and extended structure of effi- 
 cient charity might be raised ; without it, the 
 
ON CHARITY. 185 
 
 most splendid gifts and most generous efforts 
 may be valueless, nay mischievous. 
 
 Deciding that no claim is to be regarded 
 without investigation, we shall perceive the im- 
 mense superiority of private to public charity ; 
 but, as there are many who, from age, infirmi- 
 ty, or occupation, can only give their money — 
 as there are still more who, from indolence, 
 selfishness, love of amusement, &c, will only 
 give their money — public charity is a necessa- 
 ry medium of dispensation, the managers mak- 
 ing, for the subscribers, the necessary inquisi- 
 tion. Those who are willing to give time as 
 well as money, will do well to be themselves 
 their own almoners. Those who have much 
 leisure and little wealth must take care the lit- 
 tle they have to give is given wisely. 
 
 By allotting a certain portion of annual in- 
 come to charity, there will always be a fund 
 ready for the claims of distress ; such claims 
 will be met without effort, and benevolence 
 will be, what it ought to be, a regular and con- 
 tinually flowing stream. 
 
 That charity begins at home is an adage 
 censured as selfish, but if viewed rightly, will, 
 perhaps, be found worthy of approval and adop- 
 tion. Does it not mean that we must not, by 
 folly and extravagance, reduce ourselves to beg- 
 
186 ON CHARITY. 
 
 gary ? Does it not mean that we must first 
 take care of our immediate family and connex- 
 ions ? If this is the true meaning, we cannot 
 do better, than act upon it ; — by accuracy and 
 foresight avoid the chance of throwing our- 
 selves on the funds of the benevolent ; — by at- 
 tention and exertion rescue our relatives and 
 friends, as much as is in our power, from being 
 burdensome to society ; — feeling ourselves as 
 the centre of a circle, extend around us, accord- 
 ing to our means, the rays of benevolence ; — 
 apportion our little fund, first to the demands of 
 kindred, next of friends, next of those known, 
 lastly of strangers. Sometimes a gift is most 
 serviceable in money ; oftener in food, cloth- 
 ing, and other necessaries. A little labor and 
 ingenuity will serve to bestow a most useful 
 present at small expense of money. It is won- 
 derful how much can be done with a trifling 
 sum judiciously expended. It is incalculable how 
 much comfort is often dispensed by the smallest 
 donation, even by a few kind and cheering words. 
 Hope is awakened, the sense of desolation and 
 friendliness is mitigated, courage is given to en- 
 dure, or spirit aroused to act. In summing up 
 the helps received, those unacquainted with the 
 depth and variety of human misery would star- 
 
ON CHARITY. 137 
 
 tie to hear what small aids are counted by the 
 poor as important benefits. It is almost impos- 
 sible for those enjoying all the comforts of life, 
 to form any idea of the extremity of want to 
 which numbers of their fellow-creatures are 
 reduced. A lady once entered a hovel, which 
 contained a mother, her daughter, and three 
 young children. It was in the depth of win- 
 ter, but there was no fire, and the floor being 
 below the level of the street, was damp with 
 the moisture continually draining on it. A log 
 of wood was the only seat, another smaller log 
 the only table ; a worm-eaten chest held the 
 few ragged garments not in use ; a mattress, 
 decayed by damps and age, was the only bed ; 
 — amid such destitution, the value of the small- 
 est gift may be easily divined. 
 
 Let the most prosperous recall the hours of 
 sadness, which, however prosperous, they must 
 have experienced — the hours when friendship 
 failed or enmity assailed, when distant evils 
 threatened or present pains afflicted, when mel- 
 ancholy bodiugs opprest or actual trials gloom- 
 ed. How mournful in such hours are all re- 
 flections and anticipations, how fearfully is eve- 
 ry event watched, how despondingly is every 
 circumstance viewed. If to them, so compara- 
 
188 ON CHARITY. 
 
 tively little tried, if to them, at such hours, the 
 voice of cheerfulness and kindness is precious 
 and reviving — the interference of affection and 
 sympathy is welcome and consoling—can thought 
 image the vast, vast worth of pity, and ad- 
 vice, and bounty, to the utterly destitute. 
 
 Compassion is so natural and agreeable to 
 the youthful bosom, that these remarks are not 
 to awaken so much as to guide it. The worst 
 men are capable . of pitying their fellow-men, 
 though many, by injudicious and misapplied 
 acts, render the intended good a positive evil. 
 Hence it is not enough to pity, we must, study 
 how best to serve ; and this cannot be done 
 except by understanding the full extent of the 
 evil to be remedied, an observation which 
 brings us round to the beginning of this discus- 
 sion : — give no relief till the truth and nature 
 of the sufferer's situation has been ascertained. 
 
 Such investigation may need much time. It 
 is better to do one thing well than many indif- 
 ferently ; to concentrate our exertions to one 
 claim, and slacken not till all in our power has 
 been done. The efficient relief of one object 
 may swallow up all our resources ; be it so ; it 
 is better effectually to benefit one than ineffi- 
 ciently to succor many. Let us illustrate this 
 opinion ; — you have only a certain sum to give ; 
 
ON CHARITY. 189 
 
 you share it among many, each of whom is 
 transiently, not permanently, served ; each of 
 whom is, therefore, compelled to continue de- 
 pendent on casual help. You have a certain 
 sum ; you expend it carefully and judiciously for 
 the service of one, and, by so doing, you place 
 that one out of the reach of continued want, and 
 in the way of future self-exertion. When an 
 individual has been thus rescued from ill, then 
 turn to another, but not before. During your 
 life you may hence relieve few cases ; but those 
 few shall be effectually relieved. 
 
 Such remarks as these, timely addressed, and 
 sustained by practice and example, may early 
 guide the awakening compassion of childhood, 
 and induce habits of active and judicious charity 
 to the end of life. 
 
 17 
 
190 ON TRUTH. 
 
 ON TRUTH. 
 
 Were it asked which virtue is most condu- 
 cive to human felicity, would not the answer 
 be truth? Were it asked which virtue is most 
 friendly to the growth of human virtue, would 
 not the answer again be truth ? Were it ask- 
 ed which virtue is most assisting in the extir- 
 pation of vice, would not the answer once more 
 be, truth ? 
 
 What is truth ? 
 
 The accurate description of things and events. 
 
 The precise expression of our thoughts and 
 feelings. 
 
 The four preceding lines comprise a clear 
 definition of this virtue ; and, if steadily and 
 invariably acted upon, would ensure the perfect 
 exhibition of truth. To enumerate and depict 
 the numerous deviations from that strict recti- 
 tude so essential to the existence of this virtue, 
 deviations which, unhappily, from a variety of 
 causes, dishonor the purest minds, would be no 
 
ON TRUTH. 191 
 
 contemptible service. It is impossible not to 
 acknowledge the prevalence of habits of loose 
 and careless expression which disgrace the lan- 
 guage of common life, and may be detected in 
 the conversation of even the wise and the good. 
 Undoubtedly many of these deviations from 
 veracity are unintentionally and unconsciously 
 uttered, and, it may be, are sometimes (as far 
 as any form of error can be) innoxious. But, 
 however harmless vague and careless phraseolo- 
 gy may sometimes prove, it should be observ- 
 ed, that it can never be creditable, and that the 
 wise and the good must sink just so much in the 
 respect of their hearers as they have condescend- 
 ed to diverge from truth. That deviations 
 from veracity are insensibly expressed is a fact 
 that ought to arouse the energy of every honor- 
 able mind to the most vigilant self-observation. 
 No doubt the seeds of this evil are sown in early 
 childhood, when the young mind is infected by 
 the pernicious example of the old. In early 
 life, then, a system of correct and accurate ex- 
 pression can be best inculcated. But how in- 
 culcated ? Not by abstract reasoning and dry 
 maxims ; — no, if the mischief is caused by ex- 
 ample, by example alone can it be prevented. 
 Parents and instructers, who would desire their 
 children and their pupils to acquire an accurate 
 
192 ON TRUTH. 
 
 and precise regard to truth, must begin by prac- 
 tising what they desire to teach. In no other 
 way can it be done ; for the simplest and 
 clearest logic, the shortest and plainest pre- 
 cepts, will have little effect, however earnestly 
 enforced by words, if the example of the pre- 
 ceptor be not in unison with the doctrine he 
 would inculcate. 
 
 Dr. Johnson said, with that force and good 
 sense so eminently displayed in all his didactic 
 remarks, that a child, in describing a fact, 
 should not be allowed to make the smallest 
 alteration in any of the particulars, and if he 
 were to say an incident happened at one win- 
 dow, when it had occurred at the other, he 
 should be required to rectify his mistake. This 
 nice precision should be equally regarded by the 
 teacher as the pupil. Perhaps, in commenc- 
 ing so close an adherence to bare facts, many 
 persons will be surprised to find how much they 
 have to guard their speech, and how prone they 
 are to commit trivial misstatements. There 
 is no doubt but those, deemed, by themselves 
 and by their associates, persons of singular ac- 
 curacy, would detect themselves perpetually 
 infringing on the laws of truth, and, with great 
 effort, be restrained to simple and precise rep- 
 resentation. 
 
ON TRUTH. 193 
 
 In expressing love or aversion, fear or sur- 
 prise, how do the most sober exaggerate in the 
 description of their feelings ! In detailing 
 events, what unaccountable misstatements arise. 
 Without alluding to the hyperbole of the enthu- 
 siastic, or the intentional misrepresentation of 
 the cunning and the base, it would confound 
 ingenuous and close observers to rectify the 
 numerous errors in themselves and their asso- 
 ciates, detected by vigilant attention. As every, 
 the smallest, deviation from truth must be im- 
 moral, on that single principle, were there no 
 other, the slightest approach to falsehood should 
 be sedulously shunned. But when it is proved 
 that every such deviation is pregnant with mis- 
 chief, not to individuals alone but to society in 
 general, the strongest possible incentive is offer- 
 ed to avoid so pernicious a custom. Let us 
 analyze some of the smallest and most frivolous 
 derelictions of this nature, for even these, trivial 
 as they appear, may, like the tiny poppy seed, 
 send forth a large and noxious ramification. 
 
 Why should the vague style of delineation — 
 " There were two or three of us " — " Some 
 five or six " — " A dozen or two," &c. &c. be 
 so continually in every body's mouth ? Why 
 not say the precise number ? There were two, 
 or there were three. It is impossible that we 
 *17 
 
194 ON TRUTH. 
 
 have forgotten, why therefore should we not 
 state the exact number ? If it amount to scores 
 or hundreds, an uncertain amount may be given, 
 but when within countable quantities, why not 
 mention the number ? When any particular is 
 really forgotten, let the forgetfulness be expres- 
 sed as an apology for inaccuracy ; but let not 
 a general habit of negligent delineation be wil- 
 fully contracted and indulged. 
 
 There is another caution also to be urged, — 
 let there be no affectation of forgetfulness as- 
 sumed, as a cover for untrue representation ; 
 no pretending that memory is treacherous, and, 
 therefore, that a tale may be given in negligent 
 terms : such affectation is little better than de- 
 liberate falsehood ; it is in short, the most paltry 
 and contemptible species of voluntary misrep- 
 resentation, since it assumes an unknown defect 
 to veil intentional error. 
 
 It has been frequently remarked that there 
 are some deviations from truth which custom 
 has so long sanctioned that they may be used 
 without incurring censure. Such are the usual 
 modes of polite address and epistolary subscrip- 
 tion, and the phrase " not at home." 
 
 Now there is an evil risked by the practice of 
 these terms, the observation of which has appa- 
 rently escaped due attention, — the effect that 
 
ON TRUTH. 195 
 
 such deviations from truth have on the minds 
 of servants and children. It is impossible to 
 suppose that the frequent repetition of a direct 
 falsehood does not act on vulgar minds with 
 mischievous power, and imperceptibly under- 
 mine the principles of truth ; and that servants 
 ordered to speak, and children accustomed to 
 hear, positive untruths, do not begin to lose their 
 high regard for veracity, and finding falsehood 
 occasionally commanded by their elders, learn to 
 believe that it is allowable whenever it is expe- 
 dient. In the overstrained courtesy of compli- 
 mentary address, the same kind of evil conse- 
 quence is hazarded. The servant who ushers 
 in the guest, and the child who is present during 
 the visit, hear the most polite and often warm 
 expressions of regard and approbation ; the visi- 
 tor retired, the attending domestic and observant 
 child not (infrequently detect the very differing 
 mode in which guests are spoken of, and spoken 
 to. Again, must ideas injurious to truth be 
 generated ; and again, must the conviction that 
 dissimulation is proper and laudable, find en- 
 trance into the ignorant and the youthful mind. 
 From such small beginnings dispositions to false- 
 hood are induced, and the menial betrayed into 
 deception of one kind, more easily falls a prey to 
 wicked suggestions in other branches of error, 
 
196 ON TRUTH. 
 
 and with a habit of falsehood acquires a temp- 
 tation to dishonesty. The child that ceases to 
 abhor every form of deception finishes by losing 
 a reverence for truth; and deeming the infringe- 
 ment of her laws allowable, hesitates not so to 
 infringe whenever convenient or desirable. 
 
 If such pernicious consequences do arise — if 
 such pernicious consequences may arise, why 
 should the cause be considered of little moment ; 
 why should not a mode of expression be ex- 
 ploded so palpably pregnant with mischief, so 
 little tending to benefit. It would be paying 
 an ill compliment to the mental resources of the 
 present enlightened age to suppose substitutes 
 could not be found for phrases of acknowledged 
 insignificance, and the meaning of which (if 
 they have any meaning) is only courteously to 
 deceive. But why is it necessary to deceive ? 
 It were better to go to the root of the evil, to 
 the heart, to purify the feelings, and by incul- 
 cating a spirit of genuine benevolence, to render 
 the language of social life kind, at the same 
 time that it is sincere. Let all hyperbole be 
 discarded, and let the lips be accustomed to utter 
 only the sentiments of the heart ; if that heart 
 has been rightly attuned, there is no fear that it 
 will dictate expressions unworthy of utterance ; 
 and where sincerity will not justify a cordial 
 
ON TRUTH. 
 
 197 
 
 and conciliating address, a resource is ever at 
 hand to rescue the sincere from every form of 
 simulation. Where kindness cannot be uttered, 
 silence may be resorted to ; and thus, while 
 sentiments that would offend are concealed, 
 every risk of deception is avoided. 
 
 The common mode of denial, "not at home" 
 though spoken to deceive, seldom, if ever, does 
 deceive ; and hence the charge of falsehood is 
 incurred without the end of falsehood (it is im- 
 possible to say the advantage, for falsehood can 
 never bestow advantage) being gained. What 
 folly then to persist in a mode of expression so 
 nugatory ? But if it be argued that the phrase 
 is not uttered with any intention, or any expec- 
 tation of hiding the fact, it may be asked, why 
 is it uttered at all ? Why is not the simple truth 
 spoken ? Would it sound inhospitable to deny 
 a guest on any other cause but that no one is at 
 home to receive the intended visit ? Granted ; 
 but then let us limit ourselves to the simple fact 
 — it could only sound inhospitable, it would not 
 be so any more for the truth being divulged than 
 for the truth being concealed, or rather affected 
 to be concealed. Now here is another error 
 induced, that demonstrates the mischiefs accru- 
 ing from attending to what seems rather than 
 to what is. It might sound inhospitable — it 
 
198 ON TRUTH. 
 
 might seem inhospitable — but we contend it 
 would not be a whit more inhospitable to deny 
 the visit of a guest in one form of words than 
 in another. The true motive for the denial 
 whatever it were, might be courteously expres- 
 sed, — " my mistress is sorry that she is so par- 
 ticularly engaged that she cannot see her friends 
 to-day." What person of common sense would 
 be offended at such a denial ? A lady was once 
 much delighted with the honesty of a country 
 boy, newly invested in the office of a footman, 
 "yes, madam, my mistress is at home, but she 
 is so busy, she cannot see you ;" the integrity 
 of the boy was charming, and if it could be 
 supposed his lady had given him an order so to 
 reply, there was a sentiment of respect instantly 
 felt for the good sense and veracity of the mis- 
 tress. 
 
 Do not let us go on fancying that these small 
 matters are unworthy attention, and that in 
 such trifles a licence of expression or deviation 
 from truth, is allowable ; it cannot be — it is ut- 
 terly incompatible with good morals that any 
 modification of vice can be admissible in the 
 intercourse of human beings. We have seen 
 to what results the petty trifling with truth too 
 generally allowed may tend ; and that it actual- 
 ly does tend to such results, no one can be liar- 
 
ON TRUTH. 
 
 199 
 
 dy enough to deny. Children as well as ser- 
 vants are accused of a disposition to falsehood ; 
 this is pretty generally asserted by all those 
 who have well considered the subject. Are we 
 sure that this disposition to falsehood is not 
 generated by the system of frivolous dissimu- 
 lation that is upholden in our families, — in the 
 common conversation of the home circle, in the 
 arrangements of every-day life. It would be 
 easy, it might be very profitable, and it must be 
 conclusive, to try, by a new mode, how far the 
 present mode is conducive to this tendency to 
 falsehood, detected in servants and children. 
 Where no cordial or glowing attachment is felt, 
 let none be expressed ; and the risk of contra- 
 dicting in one place what is said in another is 
 instantly avoided. Let no order for speaking 
 falsely be directly or indirectly given, and the 
 hazard of inculating a spirit of deception, of 
 breaking down the sacred barriers of truth, of 
 familiarizing the mind to falsehood is eluded. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be observed, as one among 
 many proofs of the advance of intelligence in 
 the world, that memoirs and travels are becom- 
 ing increasing favorites with general readers, 
 and greatly supersede the demand for novels 
 and romances ; — in other words, that composi- 
 
200 ON TEUTH. 
 
 tions founded on facts— on truth — are preferred 
 to those of mere fancy and fiction. 
 
 There is an endless and appalling list of wil- 
 ful falsehoods, which, under the unmeaning 
 title of "white lies," is unblushingly resorted 
 to and enlarged by almost all descriptions of 
 talkers. How the mere addition of the word 
 " white" is instantaneously to take from a lie 
 all its criminality, is an enigma of very difficult 
 solution. We confess ourselves unequal to the 
 explication ; but we feel irresistibly inclined 
 to combat the propriety of resorting to any modi- 
 fication of lying. There can be no wit in such 
 subterfuges, for an enlightened mind would 
 disdain to use disgraceful means for the play 
 of its thoughts ; perhaps, indeed, all the wit 
 of the speech, or the trick, consists merely 
 in its bold or covert departure from veracity ; a 
 matter little worthy of self-applause or social 
 encouragement. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the habit of 
 telling " white lies" will induce such a confu- 
 sion of ideas, as eventually to make it difficult 
 to distinguish between allowable (foolishly so 
 called) or unallowable falsehood. We have 
 known persons who have so long indulged 
 themselves in framing fanciful delusions, that 
 they have often fabricated a series of events, 
 
ON TRUTH. 201 
 
 which they have detailed as facts, presuming 
 (it is to be supposed) that the common sense of 
 their hearer would divine that the whole was a 
 fiction. If the auditor, as was sometimes the 
 case, was too dully honest, or too little aware 
 of the license of speech taken by the narrator, 
 and has implicitly believed all he has heard, and 
 if — worse than all — he has repeated the strange 
 detail, serious mischiefs have ensued, — to say 
 nothing of the abasement of the convicted in- 
 ventor of falsehoods. 
 
 To avoid a disagreeable engagement, to elude 
 an unpleasant partner at the card-table or in the 
 ball-room, or to escape any other small incon- 
 venience, recourse is had to a "white lie." 
 But so far from small inconveniences warrant- 
 ing such deception, not even great evils can 
 justify them. They are themselves the greatest 
 evil, for they familiarize the mind and the lips 
 to falsehood, and taint social communion with 
 doubts and suspicion. 
 
 In a little tale, written by Kotzebue, the evils 
 caused by these misnamed " innocent untruths" 
 are skilfully and feelingly portrayed. Four 
 very amiable characters are plunged into misery 
 by a series of petty falsehoods, such as, how- 
 ever, are daily pronounced, but which, not lead- 
 ing to equally fatal consequences, are not equally 
 18 
 
202 ON TRUTH. 
 
 noted and deplored ; — that they might tend to 
 produce sorrow and guilt is surely reason 
 enough why they should be discontinued. 
 Nurses are shamefully guilty of implanting in 
 the pliant mind of childhood the disposition to 
 conceal or to misstate facts. The terrible — let 
 us say the wicked — " Don't tell your mamma," 
 without, in so many words, desiring the child 
 to lie, indirectly compels it to do so ; for 
 if the truth is not to be spoken, what follows 
 but that the maternal questions are answer- 
 ed by prevarication and falsehood. If mothers 
 are obliged to resign their children to the care 
 of servants, and if they have any reason to 
 doubt the integrity of those servants, their 
 safest plan is, not to question their children on 
 subjects upon which it is possible they should 
 resort to deception. It is better for a mother 
 to be ignorant of the actions of her children 
 when they are absent from her, than to run the 
 smallest risk of drawing them to a single false- 
 hood. Where a nurse has once been detected in 
 an untruth, she ought immediately to be dis- 
 missed ; no present inconvenience can for a 
 moment be put in comparison with the mo- 
 mentous risk incurred by keeping about chil- 
 dren a person convicted of deliberate falsehood. 
 The dismissal of such a one, on such motives, 
 
ON TRUTH. 203 
 
 would act as a salutary and impressive lesson 
 on children and menials. If it were easy — 
 if it were possible — to obtain domestics of 
 assured veracity, the dismissal of any one mere- 
 ly suspected of dissimulation ought to be rig- 
 orously enforced. But if modes of decep- 
 tion are so common in the most polished 
 and respectable part of society, it cannot be 
 deemed astonishing that the lower classes, with 
 very few exceptions, are completely subjected 
 to the dominion of falsehood. 
 
 The bad example and the mismanagement of 
 servants is a serious obstacle to the right educa- 
 tion of children. One would therefore coun- 
 sel, that children be allowed to remain as little 
 as possible under the care of servants. To 
 rear a family without the aid of menials, how- 
 ever desirable, is utterly impossible. 
 
 The claims of society, the wishes of the hus- 
 band, the unavoidable intervals of maternal 
 helplessness, from sickness and other causes, 
 must all operate to draw the mother from daily 
 and nightly attendance in her nursery, and 
 without daily and nightly attendance, how can 
 her nurslings thrive ? 
 
 It has been remarked that, too often, the 
 principles are formed by circumstances rather 
 than by culture, — that truth and honesty are not 
 
204 ON TRUTH. 
 
 inculcated with the attention and precision so 
 necessary to their just, developement. This is 
 a serious accusation, and must render parents 
 and instructers on the alert not to incur so heavy 
 a censure, by close and early attention to im- 
 plant the most clear and indelible impressions 
 of those virtues, which form the bases of every 
 other. 
 
 M. Rousseau, with that ingenuity and flow 
 of eloquence which render his works so attrac- 
 tive and delightful, is too apt to involve himself 
 in sophisms, and entangle himself in a flowery 
 net of his own weaving. How curiously does 
 he manage his discussion of the principles of 
 truth, in the Fourth Walk of his Reveries of a 
 Solitary Wanderer ! He takes infinite pains to 
 puzzle himself with the question whether truth 
 ought to be spoken at all times, and whether it 
 should be spoken when the speaking of it may 
 prove injurious to others. Assuredly in such a 
 case, silence is allowable ; but if silence be im- 
 possible, as surely no circumstances can render 
 falsehood, direct or indirect, allowable. In short 
 it may be safely asserted, that falsehood is in 
 itself a greater evil than any which its adoption 
 can prevent. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine a situation in which 
 silence is not possible, when plain speaking 
 
ON TRUTH. 205 
 
 would prove prejudicial. The misfortune is, 
 that silence accords not with the tattling pro- 
 pensities of many human beings ; and to be 
 mute is found too painful an alternative. But if 
 a just detestation of falsehood has been cher- 
 ished, the pain of silence will be found consid- 
 erably less severe than the mortification of in- 
 tentional deception ; and the mind that is so 
 benevolently disposed as to desire to avoid 
 causing misery or exposing error, will find itself 
 easily guided to nobler efforts, and will cheer- 
 fully consent to self-privation in order to pro- 
 mote social good. 
 
 Is it not remarked by Rousseau, in his Emi- 
 lius, that all children are naturally inclined to 
 lying ? We hear many persons continually ad- 
 vancing the same opinion ; if numbers, there- 
 fore, demonstrate the probability of just deduc- 
 tions, this sentiment of the generous philosopher 
 is likely to be correct. But, allowing that very 
 young children have a tendency to misstate and 
 to deny facts, did they constantly observe a 
 different system acted upon by those around, 
 there is little doubt this original defect would 
 be soon remedied ; they would imperceptibly 
 and rapidly acquire a habit of accuracy and 
 truth, even before they could understand or 
 reason upon the value and propriety of correct- 
 *18 
 
206 ON TRUTH. 
 
 ness and veracity. Thus a very assured and 
 easy method of eradicating this infantine defect 
 is within the reach of parents and instructers. 
 But if, unhappily, this certain remedy is not 
 applied, and the child, from what it sees and 
 hears from its elders, is confirmed rather than 
 shaken in its early propensities, — if it persists 
 in its evil inclinations, — with tender vigilance, 
 let its cure be attempted by gentle measures. 
 Children must inherently possess a smaller or 
 greater degree of dread for their elders ; the 
 very consciousness of their inferiority in bodily 
 strength must induce a sentiment of fear. What- 
 ever increases this fear must tend to urge inge- 
 nuity to elude its dominion ; hence children 
 strive by what little skill they possess to shun 
 the displeasure of their parents and governors. 
 Falsehood occasionally offers ready means to 
 escape the severity of punishment ; hence chil- 
 dren fly to it as a refuge from chastisement. It 
 follows, that severity can only act as an incen- 
 tive to deception and cunning, and cannot there- 
 fore be the weapon with which we ought to 
 attempt the cure of a propensity to falsehood. 
 Mild and simple reasoning on the heinousness 
 of the crime, with a concise but spirited sketch 
 of the sorrow and the guilt to which it must 
 ever lead, should be first addressed to the young 
 
ON TRUTH. 207 
 
 culprit. The crime itself should be made its 
 own punishment. A child who tells lies should 
 be informed that what he says can never be be- 
 lieved, until it is plainly seen that he has cured 
 himself of this despicable vice. No questions 
 of any sort should be asked him, — and for this 
 given reason, that, as his word cannot be relied 
 upon, it is in vain to look to him for explanation 
 or reply. Many petty vexations and mortifica- 
 tions would inevitably arise to wound the young 
 offender, out of the very arrangements which 
 his own errors had rendered necessary. He 
 would see children, younger or of humbler rank 
 than himself, more respected, and their word 
 taken respecting transactions, on which no one 
 deigned even to address him. He would soon 
 begin to pant for equal regard and reliance; 
 and if seen to persevere in resolutions of adhe- 
 rence to truth, he should be at last deemed 
 worthy of trust ; then would he speak with 
 veracity, and begin to feel the advantages re- 
 sulting therefrom. He would experience a sen- 
 timent of conscious dignity, and find how much 
 easier as well as pleasanter it is to speak truth, 
 love truth for the pleasure and the honor it be- 
 stows, and hate falsehood for the trouble and 
 the shame it causes. Bring a child to such a 
 point, and there is very little chance that he 
 
208 ON TRUTH. 
 
 will ever again desert the sacred path of truth 
 for the disgraceful and bewildering labyrinth of 
 falsehood. 
 
 Severity, on the contrary, instead of curing, 
 seems to be the means of confirming, the evil 
 propensities of the }^outhful criminal. If fear 
 is the cause of falsehood, how can fear be its 
 cure ? The threat of punishment is but giving 
 birth to the emotion of fear in the young and 
 unballasted mind. The very earnestness of 
 angry questioning produces a sense of apprehen- 
 sion, which induces such confusion of thought, 
 that very often falsehood is spoken in the mere 
 hurry and distraction of the moment. Once 
 spoken, fear again intervenes to prevent retrac- 
 tion ; and many a trembling lip that has been 
 surprised into the utterance of an unintentional 
 lie, is urged to persist in error from the severe 
 remonstrance that is spoken to warn from lying. 
 
 While a child appears agitated and alarmed, 
 it is cruel and unjust to address him ; wait a 
 few minutes, let the perturbed spirits be calmed, 
 let the harassed thoughts have time to recover 
 themselves, and then calmly and kindly put the 
 several queries. The chances are, that, with 
 such management, an honest answer will be 
 given. 
 
 It should ever be announced that all persons 
 
ON TRUTH. 209 
 
 have a right to be believed, until they forfeit 
 that right by having deceived. After being 
 detected in falsehood, they can have no claim 
 to ready credence, and then nothing remains for 
 them, but to reestablish a right of confidence 
 by giving repeated proofs of veracity and hon- 
 esty. That it is possible to recover a character 
 for sincerity should be always held out to chil- 
 dren, and they should be quietly and intelligibly 
 informed by what measures they may regain 
 the good opinion of their friends. Every in- 
 stance of accuracy and truth should be approved 
 and praised with rather more than' due approba- 
 tion and praise, in consideration of the greater 
 difficulty there is in returning to virtue, than in 
 merely keeping firm in virtuous habits. As in 
 the Scriptures it is declared, " There is more 
 joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, 
 than over ninety and nine just persons that need 
 no repentance." 
 
 The gratification induced by receiving praise 
 from respected friends, from friends who have 
 before dispensed merited censure, must be pe- 
 culiarly felt by those unaccustomed to applause, 
 and the touched bosom must hence be sensible 
 of a new and lively incentive to well doing. 
 Children will desire a repetition of the agree- 
 able, and to them novel, sensations caused by 
 
210 ON TRUTH. 
 
 praise from the lips of those they love and 
 honor, and will, therefore, with more ardor, 
 strive to render themselves worthy of approval. 
 The effect of judicious praise on young minds 
 we must all have had frequent occasion to re- 
 mark. How does it show itself in the several 
 efforts made by children, to acquire knowledge, 
 or to perform acts of unwonted courage, pa- 
 tience, and perseverance. It is the desire of 
 praise that makes the infant invalid swallow 
 the nauseous draught, endure pain in silence, 
 pursue duty with alacrity ; it is the desire of 
 praise that urges the young pupil to attention 
 and application, and bears him through the dif- 
 ficulties of initiation into knowledge. This 
 sentiment may indeed be carried too far, and 
 ought not, in advancing years, to form the sole 
 incentive to study ; for, at a certain age, learn- 
 ing and virtue may be desired from a conviction 
 of the worth of learning and virtue. But very 
 young children cannot understand the propriety 
 of doing well and wisely upon abstract princi- 
 ples; and yet must be put into the way of doing 
 well and wisely long before they can reason 
 upon the propriety of so doing. At a very early 
 age, therefore, there can be no danger in offer- 
 ing the stimulus of praise to animate the en- 
 deavors of the child, and, as the reason opens, 
 
ON TRUTH. 211 
 
 other and better motives can be gradually in- 
 culcated. In weaning from error, the pleasing 
 influence of judicious approbation, if it can be 
 effectively applied, is surely more desirable 
 both for the instructer and the instructed, than 
 the stern measures of severity and reproof. 
 Perhaps in no baby frailty, may it be more ben- 
 eficially substituted than in the prevention or 
 the cure of habits of falsehood. Cowardice is 
 the real source of this vice ; brave and manly 
 tempers are seldom convicted of it. Harshness 
 and coercion, therefore, must increase rather 
 than lessen the motives for deception : in short, 
 harshness and coercion may have been the ori- 
 ginal cause of this defect, and will most assu- 
 redly tend to prolong its existence. 
 
 But why should not rational creatures be 
 governed without stripes and blows,* and cor- 
 poral punishment ?f Irrational creatures may 
 be so ruled and subjected, because, in some 
 cases, there is no other mean of curbing or in- 
 structing them ; though even brutes are often 
 found more easily directed and controlled by 
 
 * Happily, as intelligence advances, the system of stripes and 
 blows, once the disgrace of schools and masters, is rapidly yielding 
 to more rational management. 
 
 t No severer punishment can be contrived for the liar than the 
 one which he creates for himself — to be disbelieved, even when he 
 speaks truth. 
 
212 ON TRUTH. 
 
 gentle than by harsh measures. But is it not 
 disgraceful to human reason, that man cannot 
 govern man without the aid of the same meas- 
 ures with which he governs his horse and his 
 dog ? Is human ingenuity incapable of discov- 
 ering modes of higher government ? Is the 
 human mind shut up from the capacity of being 
 convinced and directed through its mental 
 powers, that it can only be touched and awak- 
 ened through its bodily sufferings? Keally this 
 is a question deserving mature deliberation ; 
 and the age must not boast of its illumination 
 and its refinement, until it has discovered the 
 means by which the mind can govern the mind 
 with no other weapons but those itself supplies 
 — reason and feeling. 
 
 Praise may be more safely used as the reward 
 of veracity, than for any other moral purpose ; 
 and for this reason — that the speaking of truth 
 sometimes demands a painful sacrifice of self- 
 love and vanity. The speaking of truth not 
 very rarely incurs the exposition of error, and 
 therefore requires a considerable effort. As a 
 stimulus to other virtues, praise should be very 
 sparingly used, especially for acts of benevo- 
 lence and generosity. Here it is a dangerous 
 reward, for it incurs the risk of changing the 
 motives of future actions — of implanting a de- 
 
ON TRUTH. 213 
 
 sire for applause, for the pure emotion of kind- 
 ness and liberality. A child performs a civil or 
 a kind action from a genuine sentiment of cour- 
 tesy or benevolence. Judicious approbation 
 may be expressed ; but if the child is unduly 
 and unwisely applauded, the next time it will 
 perform similar actions, its feelings will be less 
 pure, it will be calculating upon the probable 
 meed of praise it may receive. Thus a mean 
 selfish feeling — (are not all selfish feelings 
 mean ?) — will mingle with the more honorable 
 emotion, and will, in time, wholly supplant 
 it. These are inevitable consequences, and 
 whoever has studied the human heart will ac- 
 knowledge that they naturally result from the 
 causes here named. We need not fear, by too 
 limited approbation, to chill the warmth of be- 
 nevolence in the young mind. The deeds of 
 courtesy and compassion are so aiding to gene- 
 ral welfare, that the heart of man has been 
 constituted to be peculiarly disposed to perform 
 them ; and it may be asserted, that no efforts 
 are so repaying as those which compassion and 
 kindness inspire. 
 
 Among the many unnoted causes that lead 
 
 to a disregard of veracity, is the attention paid 
 
 to appearances rather than realities, and the 
 
 advice to regard what may seem wrong or right 
 
 19 
 
214 ON TRUTH. 
 
 — what may sound wrong or right — rather than 
 what is wrong or right. This error has so gen- 
 erally crept into conversation and conduct, that 
 habits of dissimulation are insensibly formed, 
 and a system of deception perpetually inculcat- 
 ed. Children are continually counselled not to 
 do this or the other act, because it would seem 
 so rude, so vulgar, so ignorant, so ill-humored. 
 Hence they become more studious to acquire 
 polite manners, and pleasing looks, and cour- 
 teous phrases, than to possess benevolent feel- 
 ings and improved minds ; and early learn to 
 disguise their real sentiments, to speak what 
 they do not think, to profess what they do not 
 feel, — in short, to wander from truth and sin- 
 cerity. 
 
 Grown up persons of the best dispositions 
 and best abilities, allow themselves to use the 
 same lax and careless mode of expression in 
 speaking of their own actions and intentions : 
 — " I would do so and so, but it would seem 
 so odd" — " 1 should like to say that, but it 
 would sound so strange." If the action is ec- 
 centric, why not say so ? " It would be odd, it 
 would be strange," are words which much bet- 
 ter preserve both the letter and the spirit of the 
 laws of truth. The popular method has another 
 attendant objection. Words and deeds do not 
 
ON TRUTH. 215 
 
 convey the false meaning they are supposed to 
 convey ; they are generally clearly intelligible : 
 what seems rude, has been most likely intended 
 to be rude ; what appears unkind, has most 
 probably been meant to be unkind. No advan- 
 tage has therefore been gained — (when indeed 
 can advantage be gained by any species of 
 falsehood ?) — but a very serious evil is incurred. 
 Children accustomed from the first dawning of 
 their reasoning faculties to hear such a mode 
 of expression, to be admonished and directed 
 by language so misguiding, are early taught to 
 associate ideas of dissimulation and deception 
 with what they observe to be said and done ; 
 and to imbibe the habits of deceit and hypoc- 
 risy in what they say and do themselves. To 
 appear amiable and attractive, they affect feel- 
 ings and express sentiments very different from 
 those which are really passing in their hearts 
 and minds. Hence arise the warm professions 
 of admiration, the hyperbolical expressions of 
 attachment, that burst from youthful lips, but 
 which do not emanate from the youthful bosom. 
 Thus the fine bloom of truth is destroyed at 
 the very entrance into life ; what wonder then, 
 that her purity is afterwards so wantonly vio- 
 lated ! It would be really an acceptable service 
 to morality, if all words which denote seeming, 
 
216 ON TRUTH. 
 
 and which are expressive of the shadow, instead 
 of the substance, were to be considered obsolete. 
 Their use is little in comparison of their abuse. 
 Some persons so wholly confine themselves to 
 vague, inaccurate, deluding language, that their 
 hearers must often be disposed to call them 
 back to a sense of the system of illusion they 
 are practising, by exclaiming, in the words of 
 Hamlet : — 
 
 " Seems — nay it is— 
 I know not seems." 
 
 Let not these remarks be censured as frivo- 
 lous ; the mode of expression reprobated is very 
 common, and a little reflection will discover 
 that, the consequences represented as arising 
 from it, do so arise. However small then the 
 cause, the effect is great and important ; and 
 since nothing can be more easy — (and what 
 form of truth is not more easy of adoption than 
 falsehood ?) — why not ever prefer the true to 
 the false, the reality to the semblance ? 
 
 Let the worst occur, it is better to be found 
 sincere with awkward manners or uncourteous 
 phraseology, than to be detected in artifice and 
 deceit, however elegantly veiled with polite 
 speeches and affected demeanor. It can never 
 be too frequently repeated that, every form of 
 falsehood and dissimulation is, sooner or later, 
 
ON TRUTH. 217 
 
 exposed ; and that, therefore, upon the principle 
 of kindness to others and regard for public ap- 
 pearance, it is best to be honest and true; — for 
 can any pain to others, caused by bluntness and 
 sincerity, equal the vexation inflicted on them 
 when they shall find themselves the dupes of 
 flattery and cunning ? Can any reprobation of 
 ourselves for uncourteous language and unpol- 
 ished maimers, equal the censure that must be 
 lavished on detected insincerity and adulation ? 
 
 Thus, upon every form of reasoning, it is 
 better to reverse the popular mode. To strive 
 to be agreeable, obliging, and intelligent, — and 
 to let what we seem, be resigned to chance ; — 
 not to seek, to seem pleasing, civil, wise, — and 
 let what we are, be deemed of secondary in- 
 terest. Not but that it must strike every reflect- 
 ing mind, that, if right feelings are possessed, 
 the chances are as one hundred to one, that 
 right conduct and language will ensue ; — so 
 that the same end will be obtained by habits of 
 sincerity, as the precepts of a Chesterfield in 
 courtesy would desire to have obtained. 
 
 But it is curious that while inculcating a 
 doctrine inimical to truth, the respect, the reve- 
 rence due to truth, never ceases to be acknow- 
 ledged ; we might venture to say, never ceases 
 to be felt. This universal respect and reve- 
 *19 
 
218 ON TRUTH. 
 
 rence would powerfully act, to excuse any 
 harshness which a due regard to sincerity and 
 accuracy might cause. The blunt would be 
 forgiven for the oddness of their ideas or eccen- 
 tricity of their deeds, in consideration of the 
 love of veracity and contempt of artifice, which 
 induced any departure from the rules of polish- 
 ed society. It is difficult to appropriate a sen- 
 timent of scorn and disdain to those, who, how- 
 ever awkwardly, are speaking honestly and act- 
 ing artlessly ; indeed it is probable that a feeling 
 of respect and admiration would so overwhelm 
 every baser emotion, that the most unpleasant 
 truth would meet with a kinder reception than 
 the most agreeable falsehood : for there is al- 
 ways an implied compliment to the good sense 
 of the auditor in the artless sincerity of the 
 speaker, which is very gratifying ; and which 
 makes amends for any incivility the speech may 
 express. 
 
 Thus, after even this slight consideration of 
 the subject, we are in the way to establish that 
 more pleasure is felt, more pain avoided, more 
 good dispensed, by even a clumsy adherence to 
 the laws of truth, than can be attained by the 
 most finished courtesies that are insincere and 
 heartless. In short, truth has a grace of her 
 own, which sets off whatever she dictates, and 
 
ON TRUTH. 219 
 
 the deeper we investigate her precepts, the 
 more fully we shall ascertain that, perfect po- 
 liteness is compatible with perfect sincerity. 
 
 We do not see why, in the intercourse of 
 social life, a system of hypocrisy should be so 
 commonly upheld. Why must every body visit 
 every body, be the characters, tastes, and habits 
 ever so dissimilar ? Pointed attention is paid 
 to the rank and the fortune of the selected as- 
 sociate ; but how little, if any, regard is had to 
 the peculiar temper, opinions, or moral and in- 
 tellectual qualities of the chosen intimate. This 
 injudicious plan of indiscriminate acquaintance, 
 is assuredly the cause why so few intimacies 
 ripen into friendship, — why such trifles dissolve 
 connexions so lightly and unwisely formed, — 
 why, in short, so little pleasure is experienced 
 from social communion, and so much scandal 
 and ungenerous feeling is said to originate amid 
 the social circle. It is deliberately exposing 
 ourselves to the risk of dissimulation, to throw 
 ourselves into familiarity with persons, whose 
 qualities may rouse our disgust and disapproba- 
 tion ; yet whom the established rules of polite 
 life will compel us to treat with tokens of at- 
 tachment and admiration. A spirit of general 
 benevolence, indeed, inspires a disposition to 
 think kindly, and act graciously, to all human 
 
220 ON TRUTH. 
 
 beings : but may there not be some, who can 
 be more kindly treated the less they are known ? 
 Besides there are people, who may have many 
 estimable qualifications, and be therefore very 
 deserving of our good opinion and good offices, 
 on the abstract principle of general philanthropy; 
 but who, in the closer intimacy of frequent in- 
 tercourse, will develope habits and dispositions 
 very opposite and very obnoxious to ours. The 
 feeling of distant admiration we could sincerely 
 give them ; but we cannot as sincerely profess 
 the warmth of kindness, the glow of esteem, 
 which the rights of courtesy and hospitality de- 
 mand. Thus, by forcing ourselves into such 
 circumstances, we constrain ourselves to prac- 
 tise one of the Proteus forms of duplicity, — we 
 gratuitously condemn ourselves to depart from 
 truth. 
 
 We approve of the benevolent doctrine that 
 inculcates courteous and obliging manners to 
 all with whom we associate. We w 7 ould only 
 desire this courtesy, this obligingness, to be 
 sterling, to spring from the heart, to be dictated 
 by feeling ; not to be the mere cold, heartless 
 jargon of set phrases and movements. There- 
 fore is it, that we would recommend a due con- 
 sideration of the peculiar character and general 
 sentiments of every stranger, we would desire 
 
ON TRUTH. 
 
 221 
 
 to make our acquaintance. No blame is at- 
 tached to those who minutely inquire into the 
 station and revenue of persons before they visit 
 them, even when such inquiries induce a delay 
 inimical to the established laws of society ; why 
 therefore, should any censure fall on those, who 
 investigate the temper and habits of the un- 
 known ? The first make their examination to 
 avoid the risk of disproportionate fellowship — to 
 elude the hazard of being introduced to the 
 poor or the lowly— for fear of contamination 
 from vulgar manners and unpolished conversa- 
 tion ; — -and is it no le^s important that minds as 
 well as fortunes should be similar ; that tem- 
 pers as well as rank should be consonant ? 
 
 And what follows the decision that results 
 from the arrangements of the former ? The 
 rich visit the rich, the great associate with the 
 great, and every lower class is pushing on to 
 enter the class above it. What heterogeneous 
 communion ensues ! Tempers the most oppo- 
 site, habits the most dissimilar, manners the 
 most diverse, are all joined together in close con- 
 tact. Each member of such parties must meet 
 the other with ardent expressions of delight 
 and urbanity — all are dear creatures, charming 
 friends, agreeable companions — what bowing, 
 what courtseying, what shaking of hands, what 
 
ON TRUTH. 
 
 interlacing of arms — every act is a favor, every 
 speech is an honor. Who would think that a 
 system, founded on benevolence, should, with 
 all these external signs of the christian principle, 
 be devoid of one particle of the genuine spirit ? 
 Yet, is it not so ? Does not 
 
 " She who invites her dear five hundred friends, 
 Contemn them all, and hate their coming 1" 
 
 And why should it be so ? Was there ever 
 found — can there ever be found — a reason for 
 falsehood ? 
 
 In the highest circles of life, (to which man- 
 kind concur in ascribing the necessity and the 
 continual presence of dissimulation,) the system 
 of large and extended association may inevita- 
 bly* induce indiscriminate intimacies. But in 
 the lesser communities of domestic and private 
 stations, not even the worldling will proclaim 
 an unlimited intercourse necessary, however it 
 may be deemed (in the cant of modish phrase- 
 ology) proper and prudent. In private life, 
 then, some bounds may be set to visits and in- 
 vitations ; and, if the foregoing remarks have 
 been just, it may be more prudent and proper 
 
 * We say inevitably, because that is the common epithet in such 
 cases, but we must positively assert we do not see the inevitability 
 of injudicious association, even in courts and among courtiers. 
 
ON TRUTH. 223 
 
 to confine, than to enlarge, the convivial assem- 
 blage. 
 
 Who will be so hardy as to deny that since- 
 rity and truth are prudent and proper ; yet how 
 can sincerity and truth be practised, if intima- 
 cies are indiscriminately formed ? 
 
 Let not a hasty view of these opinions lead 
 to the inference that narrow and ungenerous 
 sentiments are sought to be inculcated. If it 
 be true that the human heart cannot love many 
 with so much ardor as it can love a few ; it 
 must follow that, to the limited circle the bosom 
 would glow with more warmth, than if its fer- 
 vor were dissipated through an extended one. 
 Hence purer, more glowing emotions of affec- 
 tion, friendship, good will, would circulate ; and 
 from the associating of those of most congenial 
 minds and manners, many small, but united and 
 attached connexions would arise out of the 
 polite, but indiscriminate and heartless masses 
 of human beings, that are at present misnamed 
 sociable parties. 
 
 As more real affection and esteem would be 
 felt, the delightful expressions of love and at- 
 tachment would be as sincere as frequent. No 
 laws for regulating emotions would be needed ; 
 the glowing bosom would spontaneously pour 
 forth its benevolent effusion ; as much, if not 
 
224 ON TRUTH. 
 
 more, of courtesy would subsist, but it would 
 all be genuine ; — it would be sterling gold, not 
 fineered and hollow gilding ! 
 
 Who is it that remarks, that once, in endea- 
 voring to acquire information of a recent fact, 
 he questioned two eye witnesses of it, and they 
 gave him the most contradictory account of the 
 transaction ? It is thence argued what little 
 reliance is to be paid to historical details, when 
 the actual spectators of an event differed so 
 essentially in their report. May not this curious 
 uncertainty and variance arise from the habits 
 of vague representation and careless observa- 
 tion too commonly encouraged. Miss Hamilton 
 thinks that the misstatements and mistakes so 
 perpetually occurring spring from a deficiency of 
 attention, and there is much reason to believe 
 she has very truly developed one of the causes 
 of inaccurate delineation. We perfectly agree 
 with her that " the lie of the day" is seldom 
 the offspring of malignity, or circulated from 
 malicious motives. Some of the most fruitful 
 causes are idleness and vacuity of mind ; — the 
 want of something to do, the want of some- 
 thing to say — that restless desire for occupa- 
 tion, and that total absence of all wish for ra- 
 tional employment, that mark the lives of a 
 certain class of females, and, it may be added, 
 
ON TRUTH. 225 
 
 of a certain portion of men, which the fancied 
 necessity of a constant routine of visiting and 
 indiscriminate association tend to encourage 
 and disseminate. 
 
 Nothing could be more amusing, or more 
 likely to elicit the most laughable and most 
 novel trains of thought and fancy, than the 
 sober and regular tracking of the progress of 
 rumor. Beginning at the grand finale — at the 
 latest edition of the story, and as closely as 
 possible retracing it, step by step, to the fact. 
 Poetry and the drama could not fix on a subject 
 more rich in scenes and eclaircissemens of the 
 most humorous and ridiculous description ; and 
 it is surprising that wit and talent have not 
 more frequently chosen the theme for a display 
 of ability, and a field for moral instruction. 
 
 The exposition of the systematic liar has 
 been brought on the stage ; originally in Spain 
 by Lopez de Vega, then in France by Corneille, 
 and lastly in England by Mr. Garrick. But the 
 shameless and gross habits of falsehood, wittily 
 enough ridiculed in the above pieces, are not 
 very common — we really think we might say, 
 are very rare. The benefit of thus holding it 
 up to public contempt and detestation is there- 
 fore not so extensive ; indeed we feel disposed 
 to observe, that it is a subject more fit for tra- 
 20 
 
226 ON TRUTH. 
 
 gedy than comedy ; since, with little fear of 
 contradiction, it may be asserted, that to per- 
 sist in habits of falsehood, must eventually lead 
 to deep guilt and misery, and to a tragic catas- 
 trophe. To give it, therefore, an opposite con- 
 clusion is to depart from probability — is to im- 
 press a false moral. We would also ask, if 
 making positive vice laughable, is the way to 
 make it detestable ? — whether the audience 
 who have laughed at the effrontery, the inge- 
 nuity, the ultimate good fortune of " the liar," 
 have left the theatre with increased disgust of 
 the vice of lying ? Whether the vice has not 
 rather been associated with wit and talent in 
 their minds, and (robbed of its proper deformity) 
 been afterwards more complacently viewed ? 
 
 It is not, therefore, the vice of intentional 
 falsehood that we propose as a theme for poetry 
 and the comic drama. It is the unintentional 
 departure from truth, the exposition of the con- 
 sequences of careless and loose phraseology, of 
 exaggeration, of misstatement, misconception, 
 and the long et cetera of mischiefs and mistakes 
 that every day arise in private and social life. 
 An inexhaustible fund of subjects is here pre- 
 sented, on which humor, wit, satire, and rail- 
 lery might be advantageously pointed ; and by 
 dragging into view the varied forms in which 
 
ON TRUTH. 227 
 
 mankind condescend to depart from truth, and 
 to assume the garb, the semblance, the words, 
 the looks, the acts of falsehood, some of them 
 might be laughed out of practice. After having 
 admired the just and skilful developement of 
 the career of inaccurate chit-chat ; after having 
 felt the propriety of the censure, acknowledged 
 the probability of the result, and joined in the 
 loud mirth that at once condemned and ridicul- 
 ed the weak system disclosed and burlesqued ; 
 it is very likely that the mind may be awakened 
 to new and just views of what before it deemed 
 trivial and unworthy of reflection. It is very 
 unlikely that the mind so awakened will return 
 to practise or to encourage the reprobated and 
 satirized system. People, to avoid being them- 
 selves the object of jesting and detection, may 
 begin to think before they speak — may seek to 
 be accurate in what they say, and sedulous to 
 correct any mistakes unintentionally promul- 
 gated. 
 
 Thus may poetry and the comic drama be 
 made the vehicle of the most important moral 
 instruction ; and wit perform its legitimate of- 
 fice — to make mankind laugh folly out of fa- 
 shion. Mr. Sheridan's " School for Scandal " 
 presents an exquisite specimen of this kind of 
 writing ; and Shakspeare, in the character of 
 
228 ON TRUTH. 
 
 Falstaff, has ably and spiritedly depicted the 
 union of cowardice and falsehood — (a union, 
 by the by, that always subsists.) The exag- 
 gerating manner in which Sir John describes 
 his pretended combat with the men in buckram, 
 is delicious. It is only to be regretted, that 
 what ought to be solely contemptible, is solely 
 entertaining, for FalstafPs humor is made the 
 apology for his falsehood. Many admirable 
 scenes in novels forcibly expose the meanness, 
 — the mischiefs of duplicity. The powerful 
 pen of Miss Edgeworth in one of her Fashion- 
 able Tales — "Manoeuvring" — has ably portray- 
 ed the no uncommon system of double dealing 
 and artifice, which some people adopt in every 
 event of their lives. Mrs. Beauchamp is a 
 character true to nature — alas, for nature, that 
 it is true ! 
 
 Perhaps it is impossible to delineate any vi- 
 cious character without detecting falsehood as 
 forming a necessary part of it. Indeed what 
 vice, in its developement, does not call in the 
 aid of falsehood ? The traitor, the coward, the 
 seducer, the bully, the sharper, the thief, the 
 murderer, with all the hideous train of malevo- 
 lent passions they exhibit, all demand the assis- 
 tance of falsehood. Lies are the current coin 
 of the wicked, the medium through which they 
 
ON TRUTH. 229 
 
 negociate their dark deeds, and forward their 
 nefarious projects. 
 
 Of the minute and almost imperceptible 
 shades of covert dealing among companions and 
 friends, the list is endless. It will be impossi- 
 ble for the most honest to anticipate the count- 
 less multitude of delusions he is daily sending 
 forth ; yet a quiet and steady reflection will 
 soon discover many of them. The light of 
 truth will guide us to detect the smallest of 
 these, as the beam of the sun discloses the 
 motes that otherwise dance unseen in the air. 
 
 With very upright feelings, and with a sup- 
 posedly strict regard for veracity, a very positive 
 system of duplicity is hourly practised. One 
 man is offended with the conduct of his neigh- 
 bor ; his sentiments are consequently greatly 
 changed from what they were before the of- 
 fence ; but he does not generously explain this 
 change, and the reason of it, (which might be 
 done with a tempered and courteous earnest- 
 ness) and thereby give the offender an opportu- 
 nity of vindicating or excusing himself; — no, 
 he is silently indignant; — he will not discuss 
 the matter : not because he humanely seeks to 
 avoid dissension and wrangling ; but because he 
 would not be supposed to be ruffled by so insig- 
 nificant a matter ; he would not have it conjec- 
 *20 
 
230 ON TRUTH. 
 
 tured that he thought the offender of sufficient 
 consequence to be offended with. He volun- 
 tarily, therefore, plunges into dissembling man- 
 ners ; and continues the same friendly mode of 
 address and demeanor as that with which he 
 before greeted his associate. This is no rare 
 course of error, yet it abounds in every sort of 
 evil ; — first, in the spontaneous desertion of 
 truth, a selfish blemish and a selfish sorrow ; and 
 next, in the dissemination and prolongation of 
 suspicion and distrust, asocial defect and a social 
 vexation. 
 
 Ninety-nine out of a hundred of the petty 
 transgressions that disturb or destroy the re- 
 pose and the confidence of neighbors and friends, 
 may be safely pronounced to be unintentionally 
 and heedlessly committed. The erring party, 
 therefore, not knowing that they have sinned, 
 cannot take any steps to explain or extenuate 
 the sin ; and should they know it at first, or 
 discover it afterwards, if the subject is never in- 
 troduced, — if it is sedulously eluded, — they in 
 vain seek an occasion for coming forward with 
 apology or explication ; and, it may be, are de- 
 ceived into the belief that the offence has not 
 been seen or felt, and that, therefore, excuse 
 and exposition are unnecessary. 
 
 fSo we go on deceiving ourselves, and " the 
 
ON TRUTH. 231 
 
 truth is not in us ;" so it is that we taint exis- 
 tence with self-created sorrows ; and, in the as- 
 sumption of well-doing, are nourishing in our 
 bosoms the frailty that is to punish — the ser- 
 pent that is to wound. To be silent respect- 
 ing transgressions of magnitude that deeply 
 wound and afflict us, is a system of behavior 
 derogatory to ourselves, and dishonorable to 
 the offender; and no generous disposition 
 would condescend to adopt it. We will not 
 pause to remark how often it is adopted by per- 
 sons who fancy themselves very liberal and 
 very frank ; w r e will not pause to recapitulate 
 the inevitable mischiefs (it may be calamities) 
 that thence ensue ; broken friendships, — viola- 
 ted confidence, — the wreck of unanimity and 
 quiet ; — but we will follow the course of events 
 that must result from the common, yet faulty 
 system, pursued in trivial affronts. The un- 
 conscious offender, with more propriety, be- 
 comes in turn the offended ; and having palpa- 
 ble and visible cause for displeasure, (for we 
 have already said that the nicest art cannot 
 make falsehood look like truth — cannot give 
 hypocrisy the semblance of sincerity,) is soon 
 greatly incensed. The smothered sparks of 
 anger burst forth into a blaze in the bosom of 
 the first aggressor, and thence spread to light a 
 
232 ON TRUTH. 
 
 flame in the glowing breast of his irritated 
 neighbor. The torch of discord thus kindled, 
 what breath of man shall extinguish it ? In 
 one way only can this be effected, — by giving 
 utterance to the words of truth. But, alas ! 
 where shall be found the self-command, the 
 patience, the candor, to govern the contending 
 spirits ? Where shall be found the firmness, 
 the perseverance, the good sense, to imbue the 
 mediator ? Easy as might be the effort for all 
 parties, were the business rightly managed, yet 
 human infirmity gives birth to so many and 
 various obstacles, that seldom is it attempted, 
 still seldomer is it effected. 
 
 But we have traced the career, and find that 
 its close can only be rendered pacific by a re- 
 course to truth — truth, the preventive and the 
 cure of discord. Let us now see what would 
 have been the result, had truth been resorted 
 to in the first instance. 
 
 The person who supposes himself injured, 
 frankly and temperately informs his neighbor of 
 the grievance. We must insist that such a 
 disclosure (however irritating the transgression 
 may have been) can be expressed in mild and 
 pacific terms. The irritating, vexing qualities 
 affect only the offended party ; and, if by him 
 not unbecomingly urged, will not appear, by 
 
ON TRUTH. 233 
 
 many degrees, so annoying to the supposed of- 
 fender. The charge proves groundless, the 
 deed was never done, the words were never 
 spoken, all animosity is at an end ; a little 
 moralizing on the folly of hasty judgments, a 
 little laughing at the ridiculous mistakes con- 
 tinually occurring, conclude the mighty affair. 
 
 But the words were spoken ; the deed was 
 done ; with uplifted hands and eyes, the accus- 
 ed declares with how different an intention ! 
 he explains, demonstrates; and peace and union 
 are restored. 
 
 But the words were spoken; the deed was 
 done ; with blushes and confusion the accused 
 acknowledges, with no benignant purpose. We 
 do not mean to say that, by words, the ill in- 
 tention would be confessed, but silence and 
 agitation would give a tacit assent. If the ac- 
 cusation has been judiciously enforced, the 
 chances are that contrition will succeed convic- 
 tion, and that the offender will extenuate and 
 apologize : — 
 
 " Who by repentance is not satisfied, 
 Is nor of heaven nor earth." 
 
 But suppose the worst possibility ; — we will 
 not say probability, for we think the probability 
 is, that one of the foregoing terminations would 
 
234 ON TRUTH. 
 
 finish the matter ; — suppose the worst possi- 
 bility. The transgressor, who wilfully trans- 
 gressed, is not ashamed, and will not excuse. 
 The parties are then at open warfare ; — they 
 are avowed, instead of concealed, enemies ; — 
 their ire is limited to a certain point, not stretch- 
 ed out indefinitely, and without bounds. May 
 it not be presumed that it will therefore sooner 
 be exhausted ? for, where the precise offence 
 is not known, the mind wanders to many ; and 
 fresh ones arise as the hackneyed ones fade 
 away. Whereas at the worst — the smallest of 
 many chances — the bare possibility against 
 many probabilities — things are only as they 
 would have been on the close of the first nam- 
 ed arrangement. 
 
 The whole system recommended must, to 
 succeed, be judiciously developed. This is only 
 saying, in other words, that good sense and 
 amiable qualities can alone ensure success ; and 
 who shall offer or expect the rewards, without 
 the practice, of virtue ? 
 
 Very affectionate motives sometimes lead to 
 a voluntary departure from truth. Amiable cha- 
 racters, who scorn every other form of falsehood, 
 unhesitatingly and perpetually recur to varieties 
 of deception, in the performance of their social 
 and relative duties. To save the feelings of a 
 
ON TRUTH. 235 
 
 friend from present infliction, — to postpone the 
 utterance of painful or disagreeable news, to 
 delude with unfounded hope the miserable, — 01 
 to alarm with groundless terrors the misguided, 
 — the wise and benevolent continually adopt 
 the language of deception ; and actually applaud 
 themselves for the skill with which they can 
 deceive. Well-intentioned persons so erring, 
 (and unhappily it is the kindest and best hearts 
 that do so err) have only to watch the conse- 
 quences of their well-meant dereliction, to 
 cure themselves of their ill-judged propensity. 
 However successful the first impression of 
 the delusion, does it ever last long ? Is not 
 every such kind fraud eventually detected, and 
 the real facts disclosed? What, then, can 
 compensate for the degradation incurred, since 
 the end in view is not gained ? For that end, 
 the otherwise honorable mind has essayed 
 the contaminating course of falsehood, has 
 paid the penalty of iniquity, but has not reap- 
 ed the advantage for which the sacrifice was 
 made. Again, again, and again, be it asserted, 
 that no advantage can ever be gained by false- 
 hood. There is only one situation in which 
 deviation from truth can be even excusable ; 
 we mean when the abrupt information of severe 
 calamity may endanger the life or the senses of 
 
236 ON TRUTH. 
 
 the enfeebled or diseased mourner. The ad- 
 mirable Lady Rachel Russell, the widow of the 
 interesting young nobleman who was brought 
 to the scaffold in the licentious reign of our 
 second Charles, gave many instances of a very 
 rare fortitude, and power of silent endurance.* 
 It is recorded that, after the murder of her hus- 
 band, and the premature death of her only son, 
 the Duke of Bedford, one of her daughters died 
 in childbed ; and that, going to visit her other 
 daughter, then in a state of pregnancy, she used 
 a form of words that, though true to the fact, 
 deluded the anxious sister. Lady Russell had 
 just seen one beloved daughter placed in her 
 coffin, and said to the survivor, " I have seen 
 your sister out of bed to-day." What singular, 
 what inimitable self-possession ! The wretch- 
 ed survivor was indeed rescued from the in- 
 stant shock of this tremendous calamity ; by 
 which suspension, perhaps, she was saved much 
 bodily peril ; and, therefore, most allowable was 
 the artifice of the bereaved mother ; but the 
 truth must have been eventually known. How 
 far the calamity was embittered by the previous 
 
 * Letters of Lady Rachel Russell, a book that ought to be in 
 every body's hands ; — in those of women, as instructing them in 
 their best duties — in those of men, as leading them more justly to 
 appreciate a sex of which this lady formed so inestimable a mem- 
 ber. 
 
ON TRUTH. 237 
 
 state of joy and security, it were mournful to 
 investigate. But when we assert that it is only 
 under such peculiar circumstances as the above, 
 that any shade of deception is pardonable, we 
 would enforce that, in all other cases, the in- 
 creased suffering induced by the deception 
 should be fairly and closely ascertained ; and 
 we have no doubt it will be discovered, that so 
 much suffering is added to the misery of the 
 mourner by these delusions and procrastina- 
 tions, that whoever seriously and candidly re- 
 flects upon the subject, will, on the principle of 
 benevolence, discontinue these well meant but 
 mischievous illusions. 
 
 It is the desire of appearing what we are not 
 — in other words, it is a system of feigning* — 
 that conducts to the destructive habits of show 
 and expense which ruin many respectable, and 
 embarrass many opulent, families. 
 
 Were we content to seem what we are, no 
 occasion for artifice or dissembling would occur. 
 But all of us desire to wear the semblance of 
 wealth, however the reality may be wanting 
 It is for this, that the housewife limits her 
 charities and scants her domestics ; adopts at 
 home mean attire and niggard measures, that 
 
 * " To feign. — To do upon some false pretence; to dissemble; 
 to conceal ; to relate falsely,'' &c. — Sheridan. 
 
 21 
 
238 ON TRUTH. 
 
 abroad she may make the show of liberality and 
 munificence. It is for this, that the matron 
 educates her daughters for belles and her sons 
 for beaux, that they may seem of genteel birth 
 and suited for genteel alliance. It is for this, 
 the calculating father indulges his heir in aping 
 the follies and the vices of his superiors ; that 
 so he may seem as one of them, fitted by lineage 
 as by conduct, to rank with wits and lordlings. 
 Not only is folly imitated, that the imitation 
 may delude spectators to think all are of equal 
 rank who are of equal daring ; but even vice is 
 copied, in the desire of renown. For this, the 
 temperate quaff the mantling bowl, though 
 every drop disgusts, — that they may attain to 
 the celebrity of being thought convivial and 
 jolly. For this, the prudent rattle the change- 
 ful dice, though every shake alarms, — that the 
 glorious praise of spirit and dash may be ob- 
 tained. For this, the timid drive the whirling 
 car, or urge the flying steed, — that they may 
 seem to deserve the acclamations of gaping 
 crowds. 
 
 These are of the ways in which the false is 
 assumed for the true, the fictitious for the real ; 
 and the invariable results ensue, — peace and 
 dignity are wrecked, character and fortune are 
 lost. 
 
ON TRUTH. 
 
 239 
 
 It is a stubborn, but disgraceful fact, that the 
 good sense which scorns to bend to this grand 
 levelling principle — that dares to appear only 
 what it is — that assumes no undue honors — ar- 
 rogates no pomp or privilege — is not respected 
 as it merits, is met with pity instead of esteem, 
 with contempt instead of reverence ; — whilst 
 persons known to be living beyond their income 
 — known to be contracting debts which they 
 are not able to pay — to be dissipating the re- 
 sources of their children and their old age — are 
 courted, honored, and approved. But are man- 
 kind aware what they are about by this unjust 
 arrangement ; are they aware that they are ef- 
 fectively discouraging virtue, and encouraging 
 vice ? The profusion of the extravagant does, 
 indeed, minister to the luxuries and pleasures 
 of companions and associates ; — but at what 
 price ? At the expense of the duties of justice 
 and honesty. Small tradesmen are ruined, and 
 opulent shopkeepers embarrassed, by the non- 
 payment of their just demands. The spend- 
 thrift himself becomes in time a burden on the 
 circle, which, by false praise, has lured him to 
 destruction ; his connexions are harassed by his 
 afterwants ; his children are deprived of their 
 inheritance. Such is the usual end of that 
 system of delusion, too common in society, too 
 
240 
 
 ON TRUTH. 
 
 much excused, too much applauded. Were not 
 this the end, (which, ninety-nine times in a 
 hundred it is,) the folly, the sin of such wilful 
 delusion would be the same. A brief reflec- 
 tion will convince us, that to adopt a style of 
 expense, be it in dress, be it in equipage, above 
 our resources, is not only positive falsification, 
 but must tend to positive dishonesty. 
 
 It is very unbecoming to illustrate truth by 
 fiction ; yet it is difficult, if not impossible, to 
 develope its properties, its career, and its bene- 
 fits from facts. Truth, though the foundation 
 of every other virtue, and itself a virtue of the 
 first rank, is of so unobtrusive and undazzling 
 a nature, that its influence is more felt than 
 seen, more profound and pervading than appa- 
 rent and describable. The page of history and 
 biography is occasionally gilded by a brilliant 
 example of truth and fidelity ; but their exer- 
 tion through the course of life, their daily, hourly 
 exhibition, form a subject not sufficiently varied 
 and splendid for the pen of the historian and 
 biographer. The path of truth is straight and 
 undeviating, furnishing little occasion for inci- 
 dent or showy action. May it be said, that the 
 full exhibition of this virtue is so rarely seen 
 and known, is so rarely practised, that materials 
 are wanting for a true history of its regular and 
 
ON TRUTH. 241 
 
 perfect display. The often quoted remark of the 
 unfortunate but noble minded king of France, 
 John, the prisoner of the gallant Black Prince, 
 by being so quoted and so extolled, tacitly an- 
 nounces the singularity of the sentiment : — " If 
 truth is nowhere else to be found, it ought to 
 be found in the bosom of monarchs." 
 
 Of the mournful consequences of a departure 
 from truth, of the miseries caused and inflicted 
 by falsehood, it were easy to find evidence. 
 The cruel misfortunes entailed on the family of 
 Calas, the tortures inflicted on himself, were 
 all the work of misconception and misrepresen- 
 tation. The fame of M. de Voltaire is more 
 gilded by the judicious and persevering efforts 
 made by him, in the advocation and rescue of 
 the surviving members of this ill fated man's 
 family, than by the most splendid of his literary 
 labors. How just is the decree, that rates vir- 
 tue above genius ; and let us all remember that 
 virtue, the more intrinsic and more applauded 
 possession, is to all attainable, though genius is 
 bestowed on few. 
 
 The horrible detail of the sufferings of Urban 
 Grandier, the victim of falsehood and artifice, 
 is powerfully delineated in the " Looker on." 
 Both these unhappy men were sacrificed to the 
 vice of others ; we could record the names of 
 *21 
 
242 ON TRUTH. 
 
 some who have suffered by their own. But it 
 is not pleasing to describe wretchedness, more 
 especially when that wretchedness, springing 
 from guilt, is not contemplated with pity. It 
 may, however, be suggested, that the life of 
 Rousseau, as portrayed in his Confessions, de- 
 velopes some of the vexations and calamities 
 attendant on habits of falsehood. We may 
 presume that veracity guided his pen, since it 
 is difficult to believe, that a man would avow 
 himself guilty of faults of which he was in- 
 nocent. It is sufficiently incredible that he 
 owns sins which he actually committed. So 
 intimate and thorough an insight into character 
 was, perhaps, never before, and will never again, 
 be attempted. Were they common, and were 
 they sincere, how many hideous and instructive 
 sketches might we not have to peruse ? Let 
 us benevolently prognosticate that, in such case, 
 many charming developements of a life of un- 
 spotted truth and honor might be also disclosed, 
 in a more delightful way, enticing to virtue by 
 the exhibition of the pure delights to which 
 virtue fails not to conduct her votaries. 
 
 Exaggeration is only another word for un- 
 truth, for it implies going beyond the fact, say- 
 ing more or less than ought to be said ; yet 
 who does not sometimes exaggerate — aye, and 
 
ON TRUTH. 243 
 
 glory in exaggeration ? The warm and gene- 
 rous bosom is led into this error by the enthu- 
 siasm of its feelings ; and yields itself to the 
 sweet but faulty excess of saying what it likes 
 rather than what it believes. Hence what over- 
 drawn characters of favorites and companions ! 
 — some adorned with more than human virtue, 
 others debased by more than demoniac vices. 
 
 What various evils may result from such ex- 
 aggeration. The falsely applauded, viewed 
 through the representation partially sketched, 
 are found, on closer inspection, undeserving of 
 the splendid coloring bestowed upon them ; 
 and, from having too much expected from them, 
 are likely to be, finally, as much undervalued 
 as they have been overrated. The jackdaw, 
 in the fable, passed uncensured, until decking 
 himself in the gay plumage of the peacock, he 
 affected the airs of grace and beauty. Then 
 when each brilliant plume was plucked away, 
 his native blackness seemed more black, by a 
 contrast with the false colors he had worn. To 
 exaggerate defects is yet more faulty ; for this 
 more directly courts censure on the maligned, 
 and thus unites malevolence to falsehood. To 
 exaggerate our own feelings is not only a breach 
 of honesty, but it is basely taking advantage of 
 the confidence and generosity of our auditor. 
 
244 ON TRUTH. 
 
 It is imposing on sympathy and good temper ; 
 and taking credit for refinement or ardor beyond 
 our due desert. 
 
 To exaggerate in describing places is palpa- 
 ble falsehood. So many travellers have talked 
 untruly, that the evil consequent to falsehood 
 now attaches to whoever speaks of what is new 
 or wonderful. The strange and unfounded 
 conclusions into which the deviation from truth 
 in common discourse often works up a very 
 simple incident, are sometimes truly astonish- 
 ing. The well known story of the three black 
 crows, so far from a caricature, falls short of 
 the wonderful mistakes induced by careless ha- 
 bits of retailing news. No individual but has, 
 at some period, traced the course of some re- 
 tailed chit-chat, and no doubt laughed heartily, 
 or sighed heavily, (according as the result was 
 ludicrous or vexatious,) at the wide difference 
 between the facts and the description. 
 
 But unhappily the consequences do not al- 
 ways end with the detection, and with the con- 
 sequent ridicule or lamentation. The story 
 may take a color very obnoxious to the comfort 
 or the repose of individuals and families. The 
 people most interested in the truth may never 
 hear it ; and thus continue to suffer from the 
 garbled account. The feelings of one member 
 
ON TRUTH. 245 
 
 of the social circle may be irritated, (apparently 
 with justice,) against the conduct of another. 
 Distrust and petulance may he implanted, where 
 before only kindness and confidence reigned; 
 and thus, the cheerfulness and tranquillity of a 
 whole society may be sacrificed, by the fatal 
 indulgence of careless habits of misrepresenta- 
 tion. 
 
 Of such talkers many different classes may 
 be noted. First, those who misstate facts from 
 sheer carelessness and inattention to what they 
 hear ; secondly, those who consciously embel- 
 lish the speeches and incidents they relate, to 
 render them more amusing and extraordinary ; 
 and thirdly, those who misstate from prejudice, 
 for or against the persons of whom they speak. 
 The last class is assuredly the most culpable, as 
 too often being excited by harsh and unamiable 
 motives. 
 
 Flattery indicates falsehood ; for it implies 
 undue praise, a departure from truth, the say- 
 ing what we do not think. Every degree and 
 every species of flattery are, therefore, forms of 
 falsehood. This is a base vice, the offspring of 
 cunning. An honorable mind would scorn to 
 adopt the language of adulation. Wisdom can- 
 not stoop to the use of artifice so flimsy and 
 palpable. 
 
246 
 
 ON TRUTH. 
 
 There is a servility inseparable from flattery, 
 that speaks it derived from base lineage ; not 
 base, in the sense of poor and humble in estate, 
 but vulgar and ignoble of mind. It is often too 
 conspicuous in the most elevated stations ; and 
 though a courtly qualification, may yet be 
 be tracked to the meanest hovels of squalid 
 want. The highest and the lowest ranks have 
 each the credit — (can the word be so used?) 
 — of a greater indulgence in flattery than the 
 middling classes. The poor flatter the rich, in 
 the expectation of profit from their praise, — 
 the great flatter each other, to be repaid in kind. 
 Indeed the ears of greatness are so familiarized 
 with the tone of adulation from servants and 
 dependents, that they have no relish for the 
 sober address of honesty and truth. The cour- 
 tier himself, loving the smooth speech, and the 
 blandishment of exaggerated praise, expects to 
 make himself agreeable by assuming the lan- 
 guage and the manners that are pleasing to 
 him : hence the great and the little vulgar, be- 
 come, upon different principles and in a differ- 
 ent manner, equal adepts in flattery. For the 
 courtier not to flatter would be a greater phe- 
 nomenon than for the clown not to deceive. 
 We call falsehood a vulgar vice, when it shows 
 itself in low life ; but what do we call it when 
 
ON TRUTH. 247 
 
 peeping forth amid the great ? Yet surely the 
 poor, dependent as they are on the rich, have 
 more excuse for deception than the independ- 
 ent wealthy. Why cannot the courtly be cour- 
 teous, without stooping to the meanness of flat- 
 tery and of falsehood ? For falsehood is surely 
 a vice wherever known, even when the bosom 
 that cherishes it is decked by stars and ermine. 
 We never can believe that sincerity and 
 honesty must inevitably induce rudeness and 
 incivility. If the heart is kind, if the feelings 
 are benevolent, why should the manners be 
 rough, or the language uncouth, — whilst we 
 bear in mind that we may avail ourselves of the 
 reservation of silence, when to be sincere would 
 be to prove ungracious : — and that the principal 
 aim in ameliorating manners, should be amelio- 
 rating the temper and the sentiments. With 
 these concessions, we must contend that the 
 simple and artless expression of feeling, the 
 candid and accurate description of facts, would 
 induce a real improvement in behavior, — would 
 lead to a reformation rather than a deteriora- 
 tion of demeanor. More dignity would be 
 felt and disseminated, more gentleness on themes 
 worthy of gentleness, more energy on topics 
 worthy of ardor. A richer diversity of conver- 
 sation would ensue ; the same monotonous tone 
 
248 ON TRUTH. 
 
 of constrained politeness, the same list of for- 
 mal common-places, would not be heard. The 
 fetters of fashion and flattery, of customs and 
 rules, would be snapped ; and the enfranchised 
 heart would freely and frankly indulge its best 
 emotions. 
 
 People meaning well will not fear to speak 
 what they mean. Persons thinking kindly will 
 not dread to utter what they think. The hu- 
 man mind would freely develope itself; many 
 iatent good qualities would peep forth ; and, if 
 a necessity for the union of veracity and benev- 
 olence were universally admitted, many latent 
 ill qualities would be crushed, to elude their 
 disgraceful publication. 
 
 Equivocation is, if possible, more base than 
 direct falsehood ; for it is the assumption of 
 virtue in the actual commission of vice. Equiv- 
 ocation implies a mode of ambiguous expression, 
 that conveys a double meaning — that " keeps 
 the word of honor to the ear, but breaks it to 
 the sense." Every crime encouraged, every 
 virtue injured, every happiness destroyed by 
 falsehood, are all equally affected by equivoca- 
 tion. Children should be taught to detest it, if 
 possible, more than absolute falsehood. Its 
 hideous deformities should be strongly marked, 
 and deeply impressed on the young mind ; and 
 
ON TRUTH. 249 
 
 a look, a word, approaching to its semblance, 
 should be noted with disgust and horror. 
 
 Equivocation may be defined, a calm and 
 covert departure from truth, under the veil of 
 expressions so ambiguous as to bear a double 
 meaning ; but the meaning most obvious and 
 intelligible is not the true delineation of the 
 fact or sentiment affected to be represented. 
 Equivocation, then, seems only another term 
 for hypocrisy. Every body detests hypocrisy ; 
 but how many resort to equivocation ! This is 
 an incongruity well worthy serious reflection. 
 Does it not arise from the too common error of 
 not giving things their right names ? The re- 
 finement of this polished era excludes all coarse 
 and vulgar words and phrases from the vocabu- 
 lary of the well-bred classes ; but, unhappily, 
 with the terms, the things they denote are not 
 included. It, therefore, becomes necessary to 
 call them by other names; by appellations more 
 suited to " ears polite." Hence misnomers 
 thickly enamel conversation ; hence words, ori- 
 ginally only denoting errors, are appropriated 
 to denote crimes; and thus the crime, under its 
 new and gentle title, is carelessly spoken of, 
 and unblushingly committed. 
 
 The giving unappropriate names to things is, 
 in fact, but one of the multitudinous forms of 
 
250 ON TRUTH. 
 
 falsehood ; and consequently can tend only to 
 mischief. In writing these few cursory remarks, 
 how industriously have we sought to avoid re- 
 peating the proper name of the vice, the defor- 
 mities of which we seek to hold up to reproba- 
 tion. With what cowardice have we shunned 
 the hideous word — lie. Would that mankind 
 were but as sedulous to shun the crime ! 
 
 Prevarication is a form of falsehood which 
 so palpably and quickly exposes itself, that one 
 would imagine no person of common sense 
 would ever attempt to prevaricate. It certainly 
 is a vice pretty much confined to the very vul- 
 gar, and the very young ; and, as it is singu- 
 larly easy of detection, it ought never to pass 
 with impunity, nor without severe and marked 
 reprobation. 
 
 Prevarication, in contradiction to equivoca- 
 tion, implies an agitated and palpable disregard 
 of veracity ; and one can never hear the term, 
 without thinking of trembling lips, blushing 
 cheeks, and restless limbs. But what say our 
 dictionaries ? — 
 
 Prevarication, s. Shuffle — cavil. 
 
 Equivocation, s. Ambiguity of speech — double meaning. — 
 Sheridan. 
 
 Dr. Johnson gives the same explanation of the 
 above words, and adds the name of Addison for 
 
ON TRUTH. 251 
 
 the authority of the former, and that of Smith 
 for the propriety of the latter explication. 
 
 Perjury, the most hideous form of falsehood, 
 — to what depth of guilt, to what complication 
 of misery, does it not lead ! It is asserted that 
 no human mind ever at once plunged into hein- 
 ous criminality ; the gradations have been pro- 
 gressive, from small beginnings moving to great 
 ends. What were these small beginnings that 
 most probably induced this appalling result ? 
 The petty deviations from veracity, the habits 
 of er/ery day untruths, which, imperceptibly 
 contaminating the mind, confounded its ideas, 
 and finally debased it to a state, in which it 
 could so impiously and shamelessly violate every 
 law of God and man, as deliberately to call 
 upon the Deity, before assembled men, to hear 
 and attest a lie ! 
 
 We turn from the sickening image ; — but to 
 what do we turn ? To another crime, of less 
 turpitude indeed, but conducting to abasement, 
 ignominy, and death, — to the dissolution of 
 social confidence and social honor — forgery ! 
 What is forgery but a written falsehood ? and 
 would any hand thus sign away honor, reputa- 
 tion, and personal safety, without the dictating 
 mind having previously lost all regard for truth, 
 — without having its ideas of right and wrong 
 
252 ON TRUTH. 
 
 deplorably confused and subverted ? The origin 
 of thoughts so deluding and so disordered, may 
 be traced, from the observation and the practice 
 of petty untruths, of those little falsehoods, that 
 every day, every hour, deform private life. 
 
 We proceed to smaller crimes, but crimes of 
 high and positive degrees of guilt. 
 
 A breach of promise is but one of the forms 
 of falsehood ; it is engaging to do what is never 
 done ; and it should be remembered, that a 
 charge of culpability is attached to a breach of 
 promise respecting the most trivial affair. -The 
 act engaged to be performed may be trifling, 
 but the non-fulfilment of the engagement is 
 important. Not to do, what it has been gravely 
 declared should be done, is speech belied by 
 action. 
 
 A breach of trust is another modification of 
 deception. It is deceiving confidence ; it is the 
 non-performance of what, tacitly or positively, 
 has been undertaken to be performed ; it is 
 making the honorable reliance of the trusting, 
 the victim of its own virtue, the dupe of our 
 
 vice. 
 
 The disclosure of a secret is again false- 
 hood. It is saying what it has been agreed 
 (perhaps with many protestations, perhaps with 
 many vows,) should not be said. If a fact has 
 
ON TRUTH. 253 
 
 been promised to be concealed, only by a sim- 
 ple affirmation, the voluntary disclosure of it is 
 a fault of no small magnitude ; if unintention- 
 ally developed, severe shame must attend the 
 consciousness of such neglect, or deep abase- 
 ment follow the conviction of the mental weak- 
 ness thus exposed. But if, with solemn adjura- 
 tions, profound secrecy has been vowed, the 
 after disclosure wears a darker hue of guilt ; 
 and may be ranked as one of the most heinous 
 acts of deception. 
 
 In the stronger and blacker forms, each of 
 these deviations from truth meet with just, 
 severe, and universal reprobation ; but in the 
 less obtrusive modifications, in which domestic 
 and social intercourse is dishonored by their 
 recurrence, they too often pass unnoted and 
 uncensured. 
 
 But when we reflect that the impunity with 
 which private faults are committed only tends 
 to render them more frequent of commission in 
 public, — when we reflect that the mind, con- 
 taminated by the indulgence of error at home, 
 is thereby more prone to frailty abroad, — that 
 those who, to domestic ties, and amid domestic 
 scenes, violate the small but sacred laws of 
 decency and propriety, are more likely to talk, 
 to feel, and to act improperly where the greater 
 
254 ON TRUTH. 
 
 rules of duty are concerned, — we shall cease to 
 think the smallest error innoxious or unimpor- 
 tant, — we shall cease to allow the most trivial 
 failing to pass without its due comment, and its 
 due reprobation. 
 
 Perjury induces the most alarming and dis- 
 tressing injustice, and saps all law and good 
 government at their very foundation. For, if 
 false testimony is given, the judge and jury 
 may be drawn to pronounce the most iniquitous 
 sentence, to award the most unjust decree. 
 The innocent then suffer for the guilty, and 
 the most dreadful abuse of law and equity must 
 ensue. 
 
 Public faith is sustained by truth ; — where 
 the word of the statesman is not to be relied 
 on, — where the promise of the sovereign is not 
 sacredly fulfilled, all national honor is annihi- 
 lated. 
 
 Every social contract is founded on a regard 
 to truth. Where deception is allowed to creep 
 in, to defile the intercourse of social life, like a 
 worm polluting the fairest blossoms, and tearing 
 asunder the entwining tendrils that hold the 
 weaker to the stronger plant, so falsehood acts 
 upon communities, defiling the sweet charities 
 of life, and snapping the fine bonds that unite 
 together the members of the circle. 
 
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