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THE 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING 
 
 PRINCIPLES AND AET 
 
 3 normal aPfcucattnn; 
 
 BRIEF REVIEW OF ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE PRACTICE OF CORPORAL 
 PUNISHMENTS IN SCHOOLS ; 
 
 AND STR1CTUR£S ON THE 
 
 PREVAILING MODE OF TEACHING LANGUAGES. 
 
 By A. R. "CRAIG. 
 
 Ta XP r ? crT ' eirtCTTa^e^a, ovk iKirovovfAev 5e. 
 
 Eurip. 
 
 £econtr IStrttton. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, STATIONERS' HALL COURT; 
 
 AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1847. 
 

 LONDON 
 
 iLACKBURN AND PARDON, PRINTERS, 
 
 HATTON GARDEN. 
 
y 
 
 i " 
 
 MRS. FORBES LEITH, 
 
 OF 
 
 Wfjttefiaugf). 
 
 Deab Madam, 
 
 In dedicating the following work to you, in whose 
 hospitable residence the greater part of it was written, would I 
 thus acknowledge, in some small degree, the many kindnesses 
 received, and opportunities for study afforded, while at that time 
 a guest in your family circle. Nor do I deem, that to any one 
 may such a treatise more appropriately be inscribed — a leading 
 principle of which is intended to illustrate the power of maternal 
 affection as an element in moral training — than to a parent, 
 whose own children have so largely participated in the best 
 fruits of that benign influence. 
 
 Accept then, Dear Madam, in the dedication of these 
 pages, the full tribute of that esteem which such an act has ever 
 been held to imply; and that every happiness may attend you, 
 is the sincere wish of,. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 A. E. CEAIG. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/philosophyoftraiOOcrai 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It must often have occurred to those interested in the 
 question of education, and observant of the form in 
 which it is usually presented to the public, how much 
 more attention is ever bestowed upon its merely external 
 features than its intrinsic nature and properties. Too much 
 has ever been taken for granted regarding a knowledge 
 of the subject itself, while the various modes by which 
 its still undefined principles should operate and manifest 
 themselves have been discussed inflnitesimally. The 
 questions of a national or voluntary endowment — of a 
 combined religious and secular, or an independent system 
 — of a monitorial or simultaneous method — of explanatory 
 modes and intellectual plans, have been the engrossing 
 themes ; and a consideration of them has doubtless elicited 
 many valuable suggestions and improvements. But these 
 all refer to so many mere contingencies surrounding the 
 subject-^adjectives, as one may say, of a substantive 
 
 b 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 whose own qualities must be defined before the former 
 can be shaped into harmonious adaptation to them. 
 The learning to read, to write, and to cipher, with all other 
 branches of school instruction, is in itself but a mode of 
 education ; , the directing of that mode by a staff of moni- 
 tors or an individual master, but a question of conveni- 
 . ence and efficacy in imparting its self- educating means. 
 The explaining of words and better plans of teaching are 
 but organic improvements in the art of applying these 
 means. Even the religious and secular question refers 
 but to the administrative department, while its propaga- 
 tion by national enactment or voluntary efforts, is a 
 question of political and social economy. 
 
 All these adventitious circumstances, therefore, how- 
 ever individually important, are but of secondary moment 
 to a consideration of the great first principles from 
 which they all emanate, and of which they form but 
 a physical apparatus or frame-work. This apparatus, 
 too, must ever vary by circumstances; and however 
 valuable the discoveries made for the better working 
 of its machinery, it should be borne in mind that the 
 whole is but a conventional arrangement, and much 
 of it liable to be superseded or remodelled according 
 as clearer views are developed regarding the funda- 
 mental laws of education itself, which are above all 
 change, and eternal. But certain systems and modes of 
 administering these essential laws have been generally 
 
PREFACE. VII 
 
 assumed as first principles, and whatever improvements 
 have been effected from such data have rather tended 
 outwards from the subject than inwards towards it. The 
 improvements introduced under the Bell and Lancasterian 
 'systems are of this nature. These were at first merely 
 organic changes in the external management of a school, 
 with perhaps better modes of teaching what was taught 
 before. But that which was taught before constituted 
 only a small part of education, and hence little improve- 
 ment in it was thus effected. Nor, for the same reason, 
 -was the adoption of the explanatory and intellectual mode 
 much of an essential improvement. While monitorism 
 arranged and methodized its previous materials, the intel- 
 lectual system improved upon the materials themselves. 
 But neither a better arrangement nor improvement of 
 these instruments was much advance towards a knowledge 
 and practice of their application, or the work to be done 
 by them, much less of that greater and more import- 
 ant part of the work not even subject to their influence. 
 And the reason is, that erroneous systems of belief 
 regarding the nature of that work no less generally pre- 
 vailed than an ignorance of its practice. 
 
 This tendency in the universal mind to deposit, as it 
 
 were, certain systems of belief and practice, which the 
 
 lapse of time equally consolidates, whether erroneous or 
 
 otherwise, is not therefore always beneficial to the cause 
 
 iof truth, but more frequently the reverse. How often, 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 and bow long have the correct principles of science been 
 retarded, in having bad thus to struggle up from nature 
 through the superincumbent framework of a popular but 
 erroneous system of contrary opinions ! The minds of the 
 majority of mankind, trained up beneath such a canopy 
 of ideas, passively receive the stereotyped impression ; while 
 it is only the rare occurrence of some less plastic but more 
 original mind refusing to be thus moulded, that imbibes 
 its convictions of truth from more natural sources. Of 
 this "love of system" as a source of error, specified by 
 Lord Bacon under the allegorical phrase, "The Idol of the 
 Tribe," the Aristotelian philosophy is an instance — though 
 indeed the system of doctrines that became popular under 
 that name was very different from those contained in 
 the genuine writings of the Stagirite. That system was 
 taught in the schools for ages, and a blind submission to 
 its dogmas exacted from pupils. In some universities it 
 was considered scarcely inferior to the Scriptures. It 
 was supported by statutes requiring teachers upon oath to 
 follow no other guide than that of Aristotle, and it was 
 considered a bold innovation when to that philosophy 
 were merely added the writings of Plato, Pythagoras, and 
 the Stoics. Yet the monks and Jesuits, who so loudly 
 denounced that " heresy," as threatening a revolution in 
 the science of mind, might have saved their alarms, had 
 they known that no extension of the same system 
 of reasoning would ever develop sounder views of mental 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 philosophy. It was but adding to a building whose 
 foundation was unsound, and which indeed, in another 
 way than they feared, accelerated the ruin of the entire 
 structure. But the temple of truth arose upon a different 
 foundation, laid deep in nature, and was gradually reared 
 to perfection by materials derived from the same source. 
 Kejecting the logomachies and sophistries of the school- 
 men, a return was made to the natural workings of the 
 mind itself in its examination of nature, and the princi- 
 ples of a system of inductive reasoning drawn from thence, 
 that have revolutionized or modified all former systems, 
 not only of mental but material philosophy. 
 
 In a similar way the theories and fallacious systems of 
 ancient astronomy long retarded an advance of the 
 true principles of that science. Its former data were 
 mostly conjectures, from which facts were attempted to 
 be drawn ; and though many facts harmonized with such 
 data, it did not therefore follow that these were correct as 
 general principles of astronomy. It was building down- 
 wards from heaven to earth by an artificial prop-work, 
 instead of upwards from earth to heaven upon a natural 
 foundation and scaffolding. Yet the consolidating hand 
 of time gave a consistency to these loose principles, which 
 held sway over the human mind for long ages; and as 
 the glimmering of a taper serves but to render the sur- 
 rounding darkness of night the more intense, the dawning 
 light of a Copernicus only revealed the universality and 
 
 b2 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 magnitude of the errors that had been perpetuated under 
 the Ptolemaic system. In addition to his own early 
 belief, however, Copernicus was also a close observer 
 of nature; and finding discrepancies between the two, 
 happily yielded to the evidence of sense, and drew 
 his own conclusions from the latter. From the simple 
 phenomenon, that must have been familiar to every one, 
 namely, the optical illusion that takes place to a spec- 
 tator in a boat moving along the banks of a river, the 
 objects on which seem to move past, he drew the sublime 
 induction, that a similar illusion happens with respect to 
 the heavenly bodies, and thus laid the basis of an entirely 
 different system. But aware of the danger of its coming 
 into competition with the former belief, he neither 
 announced his rejection of the one, nor discovery of the 
 other, till near the close of his life, fifty years afterwards. 
 And another half century elapsed before, by the exertions 
 of Galileo, " it was kindled into so bright a flame as 
 to consume the philosophy of Aristotle, to alarm the 
 hierarchy of Rome, and to threaten the existence of every 
 opinion not founded on experience and observation."* 
 
 To this "love of system" may also be added the danger 
 that threatened for a time the discovery of the great law 
 of planetary gravitation, inductively though each step of 
 the process was gone through ; and had the investigation 
 
 * Playfair. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 been conducted by a mind less original than that of the 
 immortal discoverer, it must have failed, on coming into 
 collision with formerly received opinions. He traced the 
 power of attraction as being not sensibly diminished from 
 the top of a tree, a building, a mountain, and thence 
 inferred its action upon the moon and planets, and by 
 a laborious mathematical calculation found the law of 
 its ratio. But this truth being incompatible with the 
 system that prevailed regarding the concentric circles of 
 the planetary orbits, he was on the point of abandoning 
 it as hypothetical and fallacious! Happily, however, by 
 a collateral discovery, he found that system itself to be 
 erroneous, and his law to be the origin of a new system, 
 destined to overthrow the " vortices" of the Cartesian phi- 
 losophy, and to establish its truths upon an investigation 
 into the laws of matter and motion as exemplified by 
 nature herself. 
 
 No apology is deemed necessary for adducing such 
 instances as illustrative of the subject of education — for 
 no less has that science suffered through ancient preju- 
 dice and conventional system, than the sciences of 
 astronomy and logic. Milton was perhaps the first who 
 suggested a few original ideas on the subject, and pointed 
 out . a more rational course than the systems of his 
 day exhibited. Locke followed in exposing the pedan- 
 tries of what constituted the education of his time. 
 Rousseau and other theorists went still farther. But it 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 was reserved for a mind intellectually inferior to any of 
 these to strike out the only path that can conduct to a 
 right knowledge and practice of the art of mental train- 
 ing. Henry Pestalozzi may in one sense, therefore, be 
 well compared to Bacon, Copernicus, or Newton, in having 
 literally founded a new ' school' of education, and that 
 upon the same natural principles of observation and 
 induction which they pursued. By this plan the minds 
 of children are brought into immediate contact with the 
 objects of nature, instead of looking at them through the 
 obscurities of language and the mysticism of books, in 
 the same way that those philosophers arrived at truth by 
 natural experiment, instead of groping after it among the 
 speculative systems of their predecessors. Time, there- 
 fore, is all that is wanted to carry into effect and conso- 
 lidate these Pestalozzian principles into an organized 
 system, to supersede all former plans and methods not 
 equally founded in nature. 
 
 As an instance of the difficulty of such a task, how- 
 ever, what seems a more hopeless undertaking than any 
 attempt to re-model the present system of classical study, 
 pursued at the endowed universities and grammar schools, 
 or even to depress that study to a secondary pursuit ? Yet 
 most people now admit that the mere study of dead lan- 
 guages ought not to consume so many of the precious 
 years of boyhood and youth. But until lately the same 
 error extended down through the whole apparatus of 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 modern education, and " word-mongering and rote sys- 
 tems" constituted its principal elements. 
 
 The following work is an humble effort to review the 
 entire question in the light of nature and Scripture, — that 
 is, to regard the subject of education as unfettered by 
 system and prejudice, and from the manifestations of 
 nature in a human being, to deduce its essential laws, — to 
 show, not only the analogy of nature in training the 
 inferior creation, but the necessity for building upon that 
 principle as a foundation, and proceeding in a uniform 
 line upwards through the very highest departments of 
 intellect and morals. Man is not only a rational, but an 
 instinctive animal; the latter part of his nature should 
 therefore, be regulated rather than restrained by reason. 
 So far as its legitimate influence extends, its promptings 
 should be attended to by reason, which should assume 
 the reins only when it has dropped them. How many 
 of man's best instincts are lost or dwarfed in their deve- 
 lopment by having their legitimate operations performed 
 by some artifice of reason, or "by that ultra- civilization 
 which strangles the natural feelings !" The promptings of 
 conduct are then not from within, but from without; 
 but it is the inward desires and inclinations that must 
 be attended to, and. gratified by reason, up to that point 
 where instinct fails to supply them — when reason must 
 then not only regulate and gratify, but educe the higher 
 and more spiritual aspirations. 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 The Norma of education must, therefore, be drawn, not 
 only from, hut by, nature ; else, like the addition of the 
 Academic philosophy, to that of the Peripatetics, in monk- 
 ish times, the institution of normal seminaries upon any 
 other basis, will form but an excrescence upon existing 
 systems, rather than any new system. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Subject introduced as a science — Danger of being mixed up with 
 other questions — Analogy — Its universal and conventional appli- 
 cation — Not adapted to most of the present arrangements of 
 society — Its good and evil effects — Agency in improving humanity 
 — Abstract subserviency to religion — Union of schools to churches 
 not a union of education to religion — Intrinsic difference — Parallel 
 drawn — Different influences necessary — Preparatory to religion — 
 Definition — Union of the two only in Christian action — Its social 
 importance — Obstacles to its diffusion — Supremacy of intellectual 
 selfishness — Moral benefits a collateral, not intentional effect of 
 most actions — Polish freedom — Patriotism — Charity — Missionary 
 endeavours — Fancy bazaars — Charity balls — Necessity of educat- 
 ing motives of conduct — Evolution of goodness out of all events. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Rise and progress of education — Parallel to language — Opinions 
 concerning the latter — Capacities of inferior animals — Artificial 
 education a result of language — Its absence in brutes — Resem- 
 blance between the latter and man — In mind — In feeling — 
 Disconnexion between them — Artificial training the source of 
 man's superiority — Egypt — Its hieroglyphics — Analogous to infant 
 education — From concrete to abstract — Expansion of the univer- 
 sal mind by letters — Language worship — Source of mythology — 
 Of superstition — Contrast between the speculative and practical 
 sciences of Egypt — Egyptian errors diffused into other lands — 
 Carthage — Development of her commercial character — Language 
 from Phenicia — Origin of metaphors — Of genii — Baneful effects 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of an overtrained commercial spirit among the Carthaginians — 
 Their character by Cicero — By Livy — Their fanaticism and cruelty 
 — Instance by Diodorus — Influence of religious fear in deforming 
 the social character 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Greece — Native characteristics and foreign education — Patriotism 
 the ultimate good — Spartan education — Its misdirected energies 
 and hardships — Effects upon the maternal feelings — State cruelty 
 to boys — In the marriage of girls — Athens — Supremacy of intel- 
 lect over animalism — Effects of natural scenery — Gymnasia — 
 Music — Custom of Pythagoreans — Effects upon the Arcadians — 
 Philosophers and warriors practised it — Capacity of Greeks for per- 
 fecting every art and science — Their originality of genius — Meta- 
 physics and ethics — Socrates — Similarity of his doctrines to the 
 Gospel — First example of training in him — Incapacity of Greece 
 to sustain her position — Her downfall — Rome — Its infant charac- 
 ter — Military training — Similar to Spartan education — Inaptitude 
 for mental accomplishment — First desire of literature from the 
 Achaians — Discouraged by Cato the censor — Unlike Greece, the 
 animal principle predominant — Selfishness the ruling motive — 
 Perfection of the physical principle — Its reaction and conse- 
 quences 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Parallel between individual and universal education — Necessity of a 
 borrowed light to guide the moral powers — having no natural 
 desire for their own higher gratification — Heathen philosophy bene- 
 volent rather than beneficent — The scriptural principle — Effects 
 counter-worked from a want of training — Religion made an en- 
 gine of worldly power — The crusades — Summary, proving moral 
 training the chief element wanting in all previous systems — The 
 whole man never educated — Necessity of education being made 
 a scientific art — Analogy of a surgeon — Normal instruction a 
 modern phenomenon — Acquired only by practice 61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Nature of the art — Analogy of painting — Training more than teach- 
 ing — Nature of the latter — Analogies — Difference between a 
 trained and untrained master — Character of a moral trainer — Moral 
 
CONTENTS. XV11 
 
 PAGE 
 
 nature depending upon physical, more than mental qualities — 
 Gratitude a natural result of physical gratification — Knowledge 
 of physics necessary to moral culture — Analogy — Morals affected 
 by the manner and antecedent feelings of the gratifier — Whole con- 
 duct governed by feelings — The mother in the place of God — 
 Love to her forms the character — Necessity of a nurse schooling 
 her own temper— Superiority of a mother — Difference in temper 
 of children — The " stubborn" child often an original character— 
 Eradicative influence of school 73 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Origin of reform in education — Sunday schools — Bell and Lancaster 
 — Infant schools — Pastor Oberlin — Oral and object instruction by 
 Pestalozzi — Want of applying its known principles — Normal 
 schools necessary for rich as well as poor — Analogy of photoge- 
 nic drawing — Mental impressions affected by the medium through 
 which they pass — Danger of injury from an ignorant mode — 
 Difficulty of picturing out ideas — A concrete — A precocious intel- 
 lect — Imitation — Necessity of art to guide the conduct naturally 
 — Analogies — Normal school a moral daguerreotype — No provi- 
 sion made for training tutors to the rich, and for grammar 
 schools, &c. — Tutor for the Prince of Wales — Extraneous qualifi- 
 cations — Choice of governesses — Mental training most needed in 
 female education — Sound judgment conducive to a just fancy — 
 Affection increased from same cause — False position between 
 governesses and parents — Female training seminaries 96 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Normal schools a modern desideratum — Influence of custom in re- 
 tarding improvement — Time necessary — Analogies of special 
 training — A physician — A clergyman — A lawyer — A barrister — 
 Physical training necessary to form a technical habit — Analogies 
 — Preceptor for the rich not chosen from a professional fitness — 
 Subserviency of education to divinity and medicine 120 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Principles of Glasgow Normal Seminary — Simultaneous instruction 
 — Sympathy of numbers — Monitorism — Mixed plan — Explana- 
 tory system — Division of the subject into science, art, and method 
 — Improved methods under the auspices of Mr. Kay Shuttleworth. 131 
 
XVU1 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Analysis of method in Reading — Words an index to previous know- 
 ledge — Phonic method — Synthetic — No connexion between names 
 and sounds of letters — Act of memory learning by names of letters 
 — Useless drudgery of " learning to spell" — Instrumentary nature 
 of reading and speaking — Education of the senses — Ideas before 
 names — Danger of mere verbal knowledge — Books a small item 
 of school apparatus — Articulation — Tone and emphasis — Mode of 
 acquiring the habit of correct articulation — Accent and emphasis 
 essentially the same — Etymology — Agglutinating process of 
 spoken language — Mode of analysing and combining a word — 
 Grammar — Incidentally : — Division -into notional and relational 
 words — Their modifications and qualities— Doubt as to theory 
 preceding practice — Imitation — General remarks 141 
 
 ' CHAPTER X. 
 
 Method of -Number — Sensible ideas before reflective' — Visible arith- 
 metic before abstract — The arithmeticon^-Roman Abacus — Latter 
 why more used by Romans than Greeks — Size and distance of 
 objects — Named from. pacts of body — Mental arithmetic — Slate 
 arithmetic — Formation -of Roman numerals — Science based in 
 reason — Method of Writing*— Observation — Education of the eye 
 and hand — Their mutual dependence — Analysis and synthesis of 
 written characters — ^Scientific rules by Mulhauser 166 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Method of Geography — Inductive mode of teaching it — Natural 
 observation — Artificial means, maps, &c. — Extract from report 
 of Training School at Battersea — Method of History — Errors of 
 popular mode — Prejudicial effects — Resemblance to biography — 
 No proper books — Nature of inductive teaching in biography, an 
 example for the same in history — End of analysis of method .... 180 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Nature of the subject to be educated — Analogy of sculpture — Natural 
 condition of man — Science of mind based on physiology — Still 
 obscure — His active and passive nature — Self-training — Parental 
 influence — Guidance of faculties — Physical Training — Extract 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 from Chambers — Mental effects from impaired bodily organs — 
 From external and internal causes — Moral effects — Selfishness 
 from ungratified wants — Incapacity of the instrument — View of 
 the bodily organs — Volition the main-spring of the machine — 
 Negative view of the case — Same imperfection from want of 
 training as derangement of the parts — Bodily suffering entailed — 
 Elements of health — Food — Air — Cleanliness — Exercise — Action 
 a design of the human frame — Instances — Nervous system — Cou- 
 rage — Best kind of exercises — Extract from Prize Essay — Action 
 of the brain — Precocity — Prejudices on the subject — Combina- 
 tion of study with amusement 193 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Intellectual Education — Power of will over the mind — Itself 
 controlled — Modern division of mental science — Perception and 
 reflection— Similar division of education — Observing faculties — 
 Faculty of language — Lessons on objects — Analogy of camera 
 obscura — Pestalozzian principle reduced to art — Higher course 
 by pictures — Miss Mayo V work — Powers of reason — Method in 
 best seminaries — Elliptical mode — Examples of analysis and 
 synthesis — Similarity of effects in mental and bodily exercises — 
 Summary and recapitulation 222 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Moral Education — Analogy from geology — Nature and supe- 
 riority of the moral principle — Ought to govern the intellect — 
 Incipient manifestation in the present age — Want of means for 
 moral training, strictly so called — Sunday and ragged schools on a 
 wrong basis — Sympathy of numbers — Advantages of public over 
 private education — Moral action — Bible training — Development 
 and guidance of the feeling of gratitude — Obedience naturally 
 gained by affection — Made instrumental in forming habits — Na- 
 ture and cultivation of veracity — Anger — Justice — Benevolence 
 — Formation of habits the sum of moral training — Law of kind- 
 ness pervading inferior nature — Social rank of the educator .... 249 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Corporal Punishments in schools — Substituted by a moral influ- 
 ence upon the conscience — Illustrations — Loud talking in school 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 — Scolding — Revenge — Vice its own punishment — Acts repressed, 
 not habits formed — Memory Lessons — Latin and Greek — Inat- 
 tention — Fighting — Falsehood — Influence of fear — Remedies — ; 
 Scriptural warrant considered 251 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Classical Instruction — Its utility considered — Ought to be a 
 special branch — Errors of teaching by grammar — Difficulty and 
 absurdity of such a course — Restoration of the original mode — 
 Objections answered — Locke's system — Double translation — 
 Synopsis of the plan — What time necessary for such a course — 
 Opinions and practice of the masters and founders of earliest 
 grammar schools, and other authorities — Conclusion 324 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 OHAPTEB L 
 
 In soliciting attention to the following pages, the 
 writer begs to notice, in limine, that he is entering upon 
 the investigation of a subject now claiming to be ranked 
 not only as a distinct but most comprehensive science. 
 Closely allied to theology, its discussion by parties of 
 different religious views, has tended hitherto rather to 
 mix it up with the sectarianism of peculiar denominations, 
 than to define its own principles and prerogatives; and 
 though so well calculated to promote the best civil 
 interests of the entire community, it has more frequently 
 been degraded into an instrument for serving the mere 
 purposes of a faction. Thus, in most cases, where it has 
 been made a public question, it has only been dragged 
 into the arena of political and polemical strife, dealing 
 wounds upon society, instead of administering its native 
 healing agency to those already inflicted. The progress 
 of truth, however, is gradually detaching it from such an 
 unseemly warfare, unfolding its own high mission and 
 noble aims, and gaining for it the consideration due to 
 its importance as an essential and distinct element in the 
 social constitution. It cannot, however, be denied, that 
 
 B 
 
2 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 it is the duty of the legislator to regulate and control 
 the general interests of education, or of the ecclesiastic 
 to lend his efforts in promoting the same cause. But 
 the same thing is no less true regarding every private 
 individual to the extent of his personal and official influ- 
 ence, which, indeed, is hut an extension of the same 
 principle that pervades all nature from the inorganic 
 creation upwards. By the law of gravity, the larger 
 masses of matter exert an influence over the smaller, in 
 controlling their operations and movements. A greater 
 degree of heat produces an exuberance of fertility in 
 one climate, and an excess of cold renders barren 
 another. The parent hen fashions the instinctive cha- 
 racter and habits of her brood, by the influence of 
 example, and the language of nature ; and the propen- 
 sities of all animals are modified by coming into contact 
 with others of superior sagacity or a higher order. The 
 senior child of a family is the unconscious instructor of 
 his juniors, by exhibiting his own actions and movements 
 as a model for their imitation ; and even in what he does 
 teach actively, it being the pure impulse of nature, more 
 character is often formed, and intellect evolved, than from 
 the more formal lessons of an experienced adult. The 
 parent is an educator of a higher class, combining a 
 moral influence with the weight of his natural example. 
 The master of a number of workmen has also an edu- 
 cative power attached to his position ; and so, of course, 
 in their respective spheres, have the politician and ecclesi- 
 astic. But in all these different relations, the philosophy 
 of an artificial education is never brought fully to bear 
 upon the general purposes of life. Certain natural prin- 
 ciples exercise an influence upon their legitimate objects; 
 and, whether these operate actively or passively, upon 
 matter or upon mind, a necessary obedience is yielded to 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. d 
 
 their authority. In the inorganic and vegetable worlds, 
 transformation is accomplished by the operation of a 
 physical law ; and in animal nature a similar effect is 
 produced by a principle of instinctive imitation and self- 
 love. Nor even is it when the principles of an abstract 
 education have been generalised from an observation of 
 the preceding laws, combined and digested by the meta- 
 physician into a system of didactic rules, and assumed 
 by sections of society to advance some party scheme of 
 benevolence, that their intrinsic power is fully manifested. 
 The laws of education are designed by Providence to 
 arrange the discordant elements of the entire moral crea- 
 tion, and breathe an immortal existence into the universal 
 mind. Instead of furthering the ends of many human 
 alliances, they are intended to dissolve them, and remodel 
 their constitutions upon a more philanthropic basis, to 
 unloose the several knots that bind sections of society 
 together, that the cords of affection and brotherly charity 
 may be lengthened, so as to embrace- the whole family of 
 man. They are too spiritual in their nature to promote 
 most of the present arrangements of society, based as 
 these generally are upon the superiority of selfish and 
 factional interests. Yet would not this be the case, were 
 our civil and religious institutions inherently and in 
 reality what they profess to be — a means of promoting 
 the essential and universal happiness cf man. Were 
 they even as pure as their principles profess, it would 
 be different; but any religious corporation, so far 
 as the practically moral and physical welfare of the 
 people is concerned in the present life, is either too 
 worldly, or — with reverence be it spoken — too abstractly 
 spiritual for the purpose. It is too worldly, inasmuch as 
 its framework is necessarily established upon a pecuni- 
 ary basis, with an adamantine bulwark of emoluments 
 
 B 2 
 
4 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 around it that narrow and restrict the enterprises of its 
 adherents within these prescribed limits. Besides, every 
 social institution has a peculiar species of selfishness 
 attached to it — a kind of aggregate reflection of the self- 
 ishness of its individual members ; and thus, while the 
 abstract principles upon which any society proposes to 
 act, may tend to a universal good, their operation is 
 often rendered nugatory for this end, by considerations 
 affecting the mere interests of the society. And it is idle 
 to say, that such a feeling pervades churches in any less 
 degree than other civil institutions : while the* selfishness 
 of political partisanship is proverbially notorious. Most 
 religious societies are also too abstractly spiritual for the 
 purposes of a temporal education, since their chief busi- 
 ness is professedly concerned "• with things not of this 
 life." Thus it is that, when any question such as that 
 of modern education comes to be discussed by contend- 
 ing parties of churchmen and politicians, it is treated by 
 each according to the views most conducive to its own 
 separate and social interests. The real merits of the ques- 
 tion are soon merged, and become secondary matters in 
 the unworthy, but all engrossing, struggle for ascendency. 
 Yet of all subjects usually submitted to public atten- 
 tion, it is certainly the best entitled to meet with a calm 
 and dispassionate consideration, and to be discussed with 
 Christian forbearance and courtesy, by people of different 
 views in matters of religion. It is one of the great moral 
 engines that Providence has put into the hands of man 
 for ameliorating and elevating the condition of all ranks 
 of society ; but, in accordance with his usual mode of 
 procedure, it is entirely left to a probationary course. It 
 depends, therefore, much upon the animus and skill of 
 those who set it moving, and upon the objects towards 
 which it may be directed, whether it produce its naturally 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 beneficial effects, or the contrary. If used for party 
 purposes, and for gaining private ends, it will undoubt- 
 edly be tlfe innocent cause of effectuating much evil ; for, 
 being in itself an acknowledged good, the mischief thus 
 insidiously done, like the administering of poison in 
 some palatable viand, will ouly be the more concealed 
 and fatal. And in many cases equally lamentable are its 
 individual effects upon those on whom it has partially 
 and prejudicially operated, giving, -for example, to the 
 intellectual powers the aid of a heavenly light, by which 
 the wicked purposes --of ..the heart may only be the more 
 extensively, and the more fatally executed. Or, on the 
 other hand, if an undue and improper application of it 
 has been made -to the feelings, unenlightened by reason 
 and intelligence, no less pernicious consequences will 
 result. In either of these cases it is putting a sharp 
 instrument into the hand- ; but unless the hand be taught 
 how to wield it, the chances are not small indeed, that 
 pain will only be inflicted upon the operator himself, or 
 upon those around him. 
 
 A rightly directed system of education is a moral 
 power in the universe, second only to that creating Energy 
 that formed and sustains in existence its material frame- 
 work. It is, indeed, a co-operating with the same 
 Divine influence — it is carrying into effect the very laws 
 which the Creator has established for the moral renova- 
 tion and perfection of the species, for admitting it to a 
 glimpse of that intellectual radiance emanating from the 
 " Father of lights," and for opening up, by the magic 
 influences of love and affection, those springs of joy 
 and gladness that have their source in every human 
 heart, and that would flow forth and encircle the whole 
 family of man in one vast flood of blessedness. That a 
 matter of such importance, therefore, should ever be 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 turned aside from its legitimate purpose, and made sub- 
 servient to a paltry spirit of partisanship, is lamentable 
 in the extreme ; and indeed, only one of the effects of 
 that partial education of which we have been speaking. 
 
 Such being the case, there appears a strong necessity 
 for detaching the whole business of education from its 
 connexion with any religious or political party whatever, 
 and making it practically manifest that it is a universal 
 question, involving the highest interests of every indivi- 
 dual, which can only be promoted by a just apprehension, 
 and diffusion of its own abstract principles. It is not 
 necessary to fortify this position against the charge 
 of irreligion in the matter of education, as a perusal of 
 the sequel must show such an attempt to be superfluous. 
 Keligion has to do with everything in life, and of course 
 with education too ; but no less wide is the difference 
 between the pure principles of religion itself, and those 
 that often govern the different societies of religious men, 
 than between the essential laws of education and those 
 religious associations. Education is an abstract sci- 
 ence ; and when religion is also considered abstractedly, 
 in practice the one becomes the handmaid of the other, 
 because religion imposes an obligation upon each to 
 advance the interests of all, and it is therefore a duty, 
 among other means, to promote this end by diffusing 
 the principles of education. 
 
 As most differences on any subject originate in a want 
 of properly defined terms, so the whole of this long 
 agitated controversy seems entirely to hinge upon the 
 want of a clear apprehension of these two questions, — 
 What is a religious, and what is a general education ? 
 The latter of these inquiries forms the chief topics in the 
 following pages; and the former may be answered in the 
 first place negatively, by sayingr, that religion is not 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. i 
 
 confined to the " standards" of any church ; and con- 
 sequently, whatever any religious society, in their corpo- 
 rate capacity, allege, regarding a union of education 
 with religion, must in general he received as a vague 
 and indefinite idea. By the standards of a church, are of 
 course meant those conventional regulations framed for 
 its government and discipline; while the standards of 
 natural and revealed religion, are the Bible and the works 
 of nature. At the present moment the practical applica- 
 tion of this union has been resolved into each separate 
 sect having its separate schools ; and while undoubtedly 
 much good may be done in this way, it is equally 
 certain that a disunion of feeling is perpetuated, not only 
 among these religious bodies themselves, but a sectional 
 bias impressed upon the minds of the children of each 
 respective school. It is a union of certain schools to 
 certain churches, and a conformity of school books to 
 particular creeds ; but it is no more a union of education 
 to religion in the abstract, than the establishment of a 
 factory school can be said to unite education to the 
 science of cotton- spinning. It must be a purely reli- 
 gious feeling, calling to its aid the instrumentality of 
 those lately developed views regarding the training of 
 the young, which apply to the whole family of man, 
 whatever their speculative opinions on religion, politics, 
 or philosophy, and, regardless of these differences, pro- 
 moting their practical welfare, that deserves anything 
 like the name of a union. " Pure religion and unde- 
 filed," was never intended as a mere theological abstrac- 
 tion, affording excitement to critical minds, so often 
 tending to an alienation of the affections, but to lead 
 those under its influence to practise its precepts. Edu- 
 cation is thus subservient to the interests of religion, 
 as the hand is united to the body and becomes the 
 
8 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 servant of the mind ; but this union can at the most be 
 effected in a very partial manner, by its being made the 
 mere instrument of a sect for sectarian purposes. 
 
 Again, as an abstract science, it is a totally different 
 thing from religion. The latter reaches beyond the pre- 
 sent life, and treats of mysteries connected with the 
 immortal spirit ; the former descends to the physical wants 
 and necessities of man, even before he has-been ushered 
 into existence, and from this,. -as a basis, proceeds to form 
 those moral and intellectual tempers and habits that can 
 alone serve as a sure foundation for a religious education. 
 But inasmuch as two different ends are thus sought to be 
 gained, so are the two influences in operation for those 
 purposes two essentially different things. The founda- 
 tion of a building is prepared by other. means and other 
 instruments, than those employed in rearing the struc- 
 ture : the earthly elements of the soiL must be displaced 
 and arranged before the compact materials that raise the 
 edifice to the skies are, called into use. 
 
 A parallel between a religious and a general education 
 may thus be drawn. The latter comprehends certain 
 principles deduced and generalised from an acquaintance 
 with the constitution and character of man. In ascer- 
 taining what this character is, two sources are available 
 ■ — the book of nature and the book of revelation. By 
 means of these it is found that he is a compound being, 
 consisting of separate parts, the two great divisions of 
 which are body and spirit. But as one tree may consist 
 of many branches, so each of these distinct natures has a 
 ramified and complicated existence of its own. The 
 former exists by what are called organs; and, the latter, 
 while in the body, manifests itself by means of faculties. 
 Again, of these faculties there are several varieties, just as 
 the body is composed of different organs, that is, as it 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. & 
 
 appears, several modes by which the soul of man operates 
 upon the body, and is affected by it ; and the two great 
 divisions of these, again, are his mental and moral powers. 
 The latter are said to be passive feelings, the former, active 
 principles ; and a deduction from this is, that the whole 
 nature of man is influenced in two ways,, actively and 
 passively. 
 
 Now, according to this description of the subject to be 
 educated, an obvious inference arises, that a different 
 influence must be applied to the different parts of man's 
 mature. His bodily organs, from the largely developed 
 limbs, to those microscopical and invisible tubes pervad- 
 ing the whole interior of his frame, and from which are 
 derived such incontestable proofs of a Divine mechanism, 
 all demand care and attention of a nature peculiar to 
 themselves. ;Hence is deduced the necessity of a physical 
 education for. the complete development and healthy action 
 of these powers. His intellect, also, requires an educa- 
 tion peculiarly its own. It seems to subserve the spiritual 
 nature in :a manner similar to that by which the stomach 
 administers to the body. The latter requires aliment and 
 exercise ; the former, information and reflection. To 
 afford these in proper abundance, therefore, and of a suit- 
 able nature, is an intellectual education. The moral 
 faculties, again, demand a still different treatment. These 
 being feelings, and consequently passive, must be quick- 
 ened and drawn out into action, or, it may be, blunted 
 and repressed — or, in plain language, good habits formed, 
 and bad ones reformed. And as each of these processes 
 implies external assistance and guidance, the necessity of 
 a moral education is equally deducible. Education, then, 
 divides itself into three great branches, physical, intel- 
 lectual, and moral, each of a different kind, adapted to 
 the different faculties of our nature. 
 
 B 3 
 
10 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 On the other hand, a religious education is something 
 above and beyond all this. The enlightened Christian, 
 however, cannot fail to perceive in the general education 
 of a community an analogous process to that of atmo- 
 spheric action upon the face of nature. The once rocky 
 surface, by the lapse of time and the attrition of thr 
 atmosphere, becomes decomposed and pulverised into tin 
 genial and fertile soil ; the dews and the rains of heaver, 
 fall upon it. and the good seed is cast abroad, bringing 
 forth fruit more or less according to its depth and culti- 
 vation. And a moral and intellectual soil must also be 
 spread over the ignorant and depraved masses of the 
 people, before the seed of the word can be expected to 
 take root and flourish and bring forth fruit. 
 
 Nor, indeed, can this happy result be expected to take 
 place by a mere process of indoctrinating into the prin- 
 ciples of any church, as contained in her formularies and 
 catechisms. The logical and scriptural definition of a 
 religious education must be had, by assuming as data 
 the definitions already laid down regarding the human 
 character, adding, that every spiritual influence affecting 
 the mind and the character is part of a religious educa- 
 tion. And this influence maybe communicated in two 
 ways, each of which may be seen by an illustration. A 
 child brought up under illiterate and mentally ignorant 
 but pious parents, may become habituated into all the 
 duties of Christianity, and thus be brought under the 
 power of vital religion by a kind of practically deductive 
 process ; and another, born of Godless parents, may have 
 his mind enlightened in the knowledge of Christ by 
 means of Sabbath-school instruction, and thus, also, 
 become a practical Christian. Those different influences, 
 however, derive their efficacy from the same source, and are 
 simply the truths of revelation, operating upon the heart 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 11 
 
 and conscience. A religions education is, therefore, a 
 unique thing, having for its object the immortal spirit, 
 and its instrument, the word of God. But almost an 
 equally important question remains yet to he answered: 
 What are those truths, the communicating of which forms 
 a religious education ? And the answer is, The essential 
 doctrines of the Gospel, so plainly revealed, that he that, 
 runneth may read them. Yet as there is no principle so 
 sacred, no doctrine so holy, that may not he perverted to 
 party ends and selfish purposes, so around these truths, 
 in many cases, has been thrown a covering of error, gilded 
 and polished it may be ; but fatal error still ; and to com- 
 municate even truth in this way, is simply the true way 
 to communicate error. 
 
 Our position then is, that, were education more relieved 
 from its present fragmentary and sectional character, and 
 its benevolent abettors combined in practice as in prin- 
 ciple, — were it made a neutral question, and a common 
 ground, upon which men of different sentiments in politics 
 and religion could meet and fraternise, such a scene 
 would exhibit, both in idea and reality, a union of the 
 really homogeneous elements of religion and general 
 education. It would be seen, too, how vast a power has 
 lately been evoked for the welfare of man, but how sadly 
 crippled by his own unseemly divisions. Like the 
 streamlets of a country flowing in different channels, and 
 ready to be dried up at the approach of summer, but, when 
 united, rolling along in an irresistible current, irrigating 
 the lands through which it flows, and carrying health ami 
 comfort along its course, so would the combined efforts of 
 such a Christian union diffuse the blessings of moral 
 health and happiness over the wide extent of the land. 
 
 What is there in life, indeed, that man desires and 
 hopes for, that is not involved in the consideration of 
 
12 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 this question ? Even wealth and rank, with all their fasci- 
 nations, unless the possessor of them has been imbued 
 with correct moral and intellectual principles, pall upon 
 the senses, and often only the more speedily accelerate 
 his ruin ; whereas to the man of cultivated mind and 
 refined habits, a perennial spring of delights is thus 
 opened up. And a far nobler object of ambition is his who, 
 subduing his own selfish desires and feelings, acts upon 
 the impulse of a diffusive benevolence, in promoting the 
 happiness of a community, than that which prompts the 
 warrior or the statesman to aim at wielding the destinies 
 of an empire. But with longing eyes and ardent aspira- 
 tions men still struggle on through life grasping at these 
 vain shadows, and overlooking the solid advantages of 
 moral power and usefulness within the reach of every one. 
 And what forms the true happiness and virtuous ambition 
 of an individual, or of a family,is no less that of the whole 
 of society. What pleasure on earth is so great to a reflect- 
 ing and fond parent, as to see his .children growing up 
 around him intelligent and amiable, forming an atmo- 
 sphere of happiness around his home, and reflecting from 
 their bright faces the joy that gladdens his own heart ? 
 In such a scene it is, that he forgets the exhaustion of 
 his frame, or his mental anxieties in adversity, that his 
 wounded spirit finds a balm, and derives new courage 
 for future exertions, and in the innocence of their unpol- 
 luted minds and affections, that he obtains bright glimpses 
 of a better world. Yet without the operation of a correct 
 system of guidance and control, the same household 
 might become a focus for the concentration of everything 
 repulsive in humanity. 
 
 Now extend an application of the same principles that 
 render home a paradise, to the national family, and what 
 a scene for the contemplation of the philanthropist ! Nor 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 13 
 
 is it a vain chimera, or a Utopian dream, in which educa- 
 tionists indulge, when they anticipate from a realisation 
 of their principles such happy results, as a country living 
 under the influence of a purely moral government. It is 
 hut a question of time. The excellence and. necessity of 
 such a principle are admitted in point of fact, and it is 
 only individual and imaginary interests that stand in the 
 way of its practical consummation. 
 
 The pecuniary and physical advantages of society still 
 hold a preponderance in the consideration of those in 
 power, and while these are adapted to the lower feelings 
 and instincts of humanity, that hold so powerful a sway 
 over the masses, and influence in some degree all ranks, 
 there is still a fearfully indurated surface over the 
 national mind, through which the lender plants of 
 morality and intellect must struggle long ere they attain 
 a pre-eminence. Yet in the struggle they must ultimately 
 prevail; and it is this upheaving of mind above > matter, 
 the substitution of intellect for brute force, andkindness 
 for violence, that will alone effect the final renovation 
 of society. Criminal codes may become milder, and the 
 same vindictive , process of punishments be diluted into 
 the separate, silent, and solitary systems, but the ada- 
 mantine mass- of corruption <and crime will be still un- 
 dissolved. There must be a superstratum of intelli- 
 gence and .morality formed over the infant mind of the 
 community that shall eventually rise upwards, and, by 
 the warmth of a philanthropic affection, burst asunder 
 the rocky surface of vice, and the iron bands of a 
 physical, domination, ere the fruits of virtue appear, to 
 form the last era in the moral geology of the human 
 mind. 
 
 Looking at the history of man, as exhibiting a gradual 
 progress to perfection from a state of animalism to 
 
14 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 spirituality, I should therefore be disposed to say that 
 the present era is that distinguished by the superiority 
 of pure intellect. So far as history informs us, no nation 
 ever yet attained to such pre-eminence either in point of 
 inventive genius or extent of information. The physical 
 strength of armies has been prostrated before this gigantic 
 power ; the waves of the ocean rendered harmless and 
 made the highway of nations ; the violence of storm and 
 tempest turned aside; the everlasting mountains levelled 
 and thrown into the sea; men hurry over the sur- 
 face of the earth with a rapidity rivalling the denizens 
 of air, and. equal to the lightning's speed the very 
 thoughts and emotions of the mind can traverse space 
 and awaken kindred thoughts in distant minds. To say, 
 therefore, that the happiness of mankind is not infinitely 
 increased by this subjugation of matter to mind, and the 
 infusion of a universal spirit into inanimate nature 
 would be obviously erroneous. But, humiliating as the 
 statement may be, truth compels the admission, that it is 
 a happiness resulting more from its own inherent and 
 inseparable connexion with these improvements, than 
 from any benevolent intention in the originators of 
 them. 
 
 To every physical law of nature there is some latent 
 moral benefit attached, and by the discovery and appli- 
 cation of the former the latter is necessarily evolved. 
 The projectors of a railway advocate the claims of a 
 certain district in which they have a pecuniary and com- 
 mercial interest, and if they are men of influence the 
 line is formed, and thousands of other individuals are 
 collaterally benefited. Yet who would say that such 
 men were the moral benefactors of their neighbourhood ? 
 Does a shareholder invest his capital in any scheme that 
 merely promises an advantage to a community, without 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 15 
 
 first considering the dividends likely to accrue to himself 
 from the speculation ? It may as well be asserted, that 
 when Napoleon promised to liberate the Poles fromEussian 
 tyranny, their freedom was his ultimate design. Had he 
 done so, however, they would have been benefited; but in 
 freeing them he merely contemplated the advancement 
 of his own ambitious ends, and he would have deserved 
 no gratitude at their hands even had he given them 
 liberty. The patriot, too, spending his wealth and 
 exhausting his energies in schemes that issue in the 
 substantial good of his country, has too often within his 
 heart of hearts a feeling, that he may even delude him- 
 self into believing an honourable ambition, but when 
 analysed by the test of motives, will be found only a 
 preference of the world's applause to a more sordid 
 selfishness. And how much miscalled charity is there 
 in the world ! Men die and found institutions for re- 
 lieving the distressed, and their names get embalmed in 
 the memories of their countrymen as the benefactors of 
 their species ; but, viewed in the calm light of reason, they 
 may merit no such honourable recollection. The neediest 
 beggar soliciting an alms from the same individuals, when 
 alive, might have failed to move their sympathies to the 
 extent of a sixpence if the world saw not the deed. 
 
 Sorry, too, must every philanthropist be to depreciate 
 the vast efforts made for the Christianisation of the 
 heathen, yet it is somewhat difficult to look upon those 
 vast assemblages annually held in Exeter Hall, and listen 
 to many of the speeches addressed there, more to the 
 feelings than the understandings of an audience, with- 
 out questioning at least much of the moral and practical 
 utility of such exertions. It may be uncharitable to add 
 that, in many of the speakers, the mere glory of being 
 listened to and applauded by thousands, and read by 
 
16 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 tens of thousands in the periodicals of the day, forms 
 the entire secret of their benevolent. zeal; while a high- 
 pressure system of religious fervour is thus created in 
 the minds of- the people, leading their sympathies more 
 in favour of schemes for diffusing , among barbarous 
 nations the mere theology of Christianity, than its prac- 
 tical and essential benefits among the neglected at 
 home. 
 
 ^Equally unhealthy in its nature is such fitful en- 
 thusiasm to that morbid feeling of sentimentality induced 
 upon the minds of many young persons by the repre- 
 sentation of a tragedy or the perusal of a. novel. -Every 
 one knows the spurious nature of such romance-en- 
 gendered sympathy, and its influence even in hardening 
 the mind against real sorrow. People like to have their 
 sympathies awakened by ideal woes: they give a false 
 and intoxicating excitement to the feelings, which, sub- 
 siding into their ordinary, channel, cannot be so easily 
 called forth by the real sufferings of daily life. They 
 will expend money upon books of fiction, because it is a 
 cheaper and more luxurious way of gratifying their 
 feelings than by entering the abodes of misery, and 
 feeding, warming, and clothing the poor: and a similar 
 influence is apparent in many of those who subscribe to 
 foreign missionary enterprises. They pay for the grati- 
 fication of a romantic though a religious passion, as others 
 pay for a box at the theatre or the last new novel. If 
 the objects of their benevolence be not altogether ideal, 
 they form at least a medium between the fictitious heroes 
 of a romance, and the destitute poor immediately under 
 their own eyes. But the idea is much more poetical, 
 and withal more gratifying to the cravings of vanity, to 
 be enrolled as a subscriber to a society whose every deed 
 comes under the eve of the world, than to go forth, and 
 
PHILOSOPHY .OF TRAINING. 1 7 
 
 enter the dense masses of misery and moral desolation 
 witkin a few hundred yards from Exeter Hall, and, 
 without the aid of declamation or the eloquence of 
 poetry, look into the faces of God's creatures starving 
 under the very sound of words that sympathise with 
 the .natives of a distant land, and in the .true spirit of 
 Christian philanthropy alleviate their pressing wants, 
 ** not letting the right Jiand know what ;the left hand 
 doeth." 
 
 Another fashionable mode by -which many are deluded 
 into the belief that . they are acting upon a charitable 
 motive, is the masquerading idea of a bazaar. To 
 walk through , one of these . fancy fairs and examine 
 the various articles of bijouterie exposed for sale, - can- 
 not fail to inspire something like a conviction of the 
 misdirected ingenuity of ,the minds .that have de- 
 vised and the hands that have elaborated them. In 
 such places there is often presented an array of 
 toys for grown-up people, many of them of a .most 
 complicated nature, but of no earthly use, except to 
 afford the indication of a latent energy and genius in 
 the female mind that as, yet have found .no field for their 
 legitimate .development. And in a moral point of view 
 the very excitement caused by such a public display has 
 an effect the very reverse of that contemplated, in 
 drawing away the mind and inclination from the pure 
 feeling and unostentatious practice of. charity. Even a 
 spirit of envious commercial rivalry is often manifested 
 on such occasions, leading the occupants of neigh- 
 bouring stalls to regard each other with a feeling very 
 unlike that " charity which thinketh no evil and is not 
 easily provoked." 
 
 Last in the list of these self- deluding schemes of 
 philanthropy, the very name of a charity ball needs only 
 
18 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 to be mentioned to call up in the mind one of the most 
 incongruous ideas that artificial life has yet presented to 
 the world. An appeal is here made to feelings the very- 
 opposite to those of charity, for a charitable end. The 
 charitable feeling is, therefore, not only not evoked, but 
 deadened: and even if a temporary purpose be served 
 by making people thus impose upon their own con- 
 victions, the true sources of an active and permanent 
 sympathy are dried up. It is holding out a bribe to 
 hypocrisy, and forcing people into the belief that they 
 are giving money to the poor, when they are only sacri- 
 ficing at the shrine of their own pleasure ; or at the 
 best it is adding an unnatural stimulant to produce the 
 fruits of charity, while it permanently injures the soil 
 on which they grow. What a mockery of his sorrows 
 would the poor man feel it to be, were, he to enter one of 
 these gilded ; saloons and gaze upon the rich dresses and 
 sparkling gems of the merry dancers, and be told that all 
 this was done in mercy to him — that these gay revellers 
 were the charitable men and women who felt for his 
 wants, and had compassion on his woes ! Were he to 
 draw a moral under such circumstances he might 
 naturally say, that if such a lever power were necessary 
 to excite sympathy with sorrow, how vain would be the 
 attempt to move such frivolous hearts to a charitable 
 deed by a simple representation of misery itself! 
 
 God forbid, however, that I should here be thought 
 involving in one general charge of selfishness all who 
 are engaged in the benevolent enterprises enumerated. 
 I know there is on earth the existence of a disinterested 
 philanthropy, and often, under favourable circumstances, 
 does it show itself above the dead level of a worldly 
 morality. I know there are men and women who have 
 learned the luxury of doing good, and go about the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 19 
 
 world diffusing happiness from the purest of motives. 
 But a very small knowledge of the human heart and 
 intercourse with the world, is necessary to convince any 
 one that such form the exception, not the rule, of daily 
 life. Neither should I be thought cavilling at those 
 conventional arrangements themselves, many of which 
 have done great good to society. My object has simply 
 been to analyse the .motives originating sueh schemes ; 
 and though it is not the province; of man to decide upon 
 these individually, there is unfortunately too much evi- 
 dence always at hand to inspire a doubt regarding the 
 pureness and disinterestedness of the great majority of 
 them, and to show the necessity of some new moral 
 agency being applied to this part of man's nature, mmnely, 
 a rig/Jut education of the motives sf his conduct. 
 
 In all these instances, too, however selfish may be the 
 impelling motives, the actions themselves invariably 
 educe some moral good ; and while one looks in vain to 
 man to aid in the development of a higher guiding 
 impulse, the inevitable course of events seems tending to 
 a speedy subjugation of the tyranny of reason, and the 
 ultimate establishment of a moral government. It is, 
 therefore, alike the duty and the interest of man to deduce 
 a rule of conduct from this arrangement of nature, in 
 which the ultimate design of every organised being, and 
 of every moral event, is the diffusion of a universal hap- 
 piness, and by acting upon- this principle co-operate with 
 Providence to the same end. Every new discovery in the 
 works of nature proves that the Almighty Mind itself is 
 obedient to the dictates of goodness, and, in the contriv- 
 ance of its most complicated plans, that Omniscience has 
 only a benevolent moral end in view. 
 
CHAP TEE II. 
 
 Taxing a hasty review of the -history of education, with 
 its rise and progress as an art, there is found abundant 
 evidence of its inherent power for good when under the 
 guidance of benevolent motives, but for evil when mis- 
 directed in its objects or partial in its operations. To 
 pursue this inquiry , to its source, is a parallel investiga- 
 tion to that of tracing the rise .and progress of language, 
 for by this alone can we, with any certainty, discover 
 the gradual development of the universal mind. This 
 subject, however, shrouded as it is in the mist of ages, 
 and necessarily extending to a period when no contem- 
 poraneous record existed, is. a ^question regarding which 
 little more than vague conjectures can be formed. 
 It is like one starting from the embouchure of. some 
 mighty river to explore its far distant source amid the 
 wild and lonely desert, or the bosom of some inaccessible 
 mountain range. As the traveller advances, he perceives 
 the parent stream gradually diminishing above the junc- 
 tion of each successive tributary, until it shrinks into the 
 tiny brooklet and the gurgling rill oozing in thread-like 
 currents from the bosom of the earth ; but while he thus 
 gazes upon its visible source, a veil of obscurity hangs 
 over the further progress of his search, and he still 
 remains undecided, whether to ascribe the formation of 
 
FHILO SOPHY OF TRAUHNG. 21 
 
 this fountain to the explosion of subterranean vapours, 
 
 or the precipitation of the rains of heaven. So is it 
 with the literary traveller m quest of the origin of lan- 
 o-uao-e and education. He sees all around him these 
 phenomena now existing in a state of great perfection, 
 and dirxusinsr a flood of intelligence over the earth;, he 
 can track their course far up the stream of time even to 
 their rudest beginnings in the communicating and per- 
 petuating of the simplest ideas, hut., like the origin of the 
 river, he can with no certainty determine whether they 
 have not originated as an invention of man himself or 
 descended upon him as a bright gift from heaven. 
 
 According to Dr. Blair, this inquiry naturally resolves 
 itself into two branches — " First, whether man, being 
 originally endowed with the faculty of speech, or having 
 bestowed upon him that- peculiar organisation by which 
 he is enabled to-articulate sounds, stimulated by a desire 
 for increased social enjoyments and guided by his mental 
 powers, gradually formed language: or whether, in addi- 
 tion to this power, the germs or elements of language 
 were also conferred upon him: these are questions, how- 
 ever, that cannot be answered with any certainty." In 
 support of the former opinion, it is urged that the history 
 of all languages shows a gradual advancement to per- 
 fection from the rudest beginnings, and that at no point 
 of their history are traces wanting of their having existed 
 in a still ruder state — that, in short, the progress of a lan- 
 guage in all cases keeps pace with the civilisation of a 
 people, and that as there was a period when the civilisa- 
 tion of every people began, or that they emerged out of 
 a state of entire barbarism ; so also must have been the 
 course of their language. " This opinion must, therefore, 
 in a great measure, stand or fall according to the truth 
 or error of the latter supposition, namely, that man being 
 
22 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING, 
 
 at first a solitary savage, gradually emerged out of bar- 
 barism, and formed the social union simply from his own 
 perception of its superior advantages, which opinion is 
 not only unsupported by any evidence, but contrary to 
 Scripture, so that the idea of man originally inventing 
 and constructing language seems somewhat difficult of 
 entertaining." 
 
 Nor can one see, if this be the case, why some of the 
 inferior tribes should not also have acquired a degree of 
 artificial language, for it is certain that many of them 
 possess the power of uttering, both in number and variety, 
 a sufficiency of vocal sounds to form a tolerably copious 
 language ; wdiile their mental capacity, in many cases, is 
 anything but inferior to that of the barbarians. What 
 cement or mortar is to the consolidation of the natural 
 building, language is to the moral structure of society. 
 In the former, the materials are prepared previously to 
 their combination by the hands of the mechanic : and the 
 Great Architect of human society appears to have pre- 
 pared for man not only the faculty but the elements of 
 speech, and, having implanted in his nature the desire 
 and necessity of social union, insured the ultimate erec- 
 tion of the social fabric in the diffusion of these self- 
 educating elements among mankind. 
 
 The origin of language, however, is scarcely more obscure 
 than the commencement of an artificial education, for the 
 former being an art, the communicating of it to others by 
 speech or writing, even in its rudest form, must have been 
 necessary to its perpetuity, and, therefore, contemporaneous 
 with its origin. In like manner, whatever other art or 
 science became afterwards known to man would evolve, at 
 the same time, certain modes of communicating it to others. 
 Yet the latter of these could find no channel to flow in, 
 until prepared by the instrumentality of language. Many 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 23 
 
 branches of art may be taught without the aid of lan- 
 guage, but no science can. Hence many rude arts may 
 have flourished long before many families of the human 
 race had acquired even a spoken language; just as we see 
 certain inferior animals imitate others in the construction 
 of their dwellings and modes of procuring their prey ; 
 but science, and even theoretical morality, are the pure 
 offspring of language. 
 
 Among the lower tribes, however, there can be no art 
 properly so called, that is, an art originating in reflection 
 and perpetuated by speech. Their feelings and wants 
 suggest their contrivances aided by that mysterious prin- 
 ciple called instinct, always leading them to act aright 
 whether from the impulse of imitation or necessity. It 
 may, indeed, be difficult to define that wonderful inge- 
 nuity manifested by so many of them in their social and 
 physical arrangements. Yet it cannot be called art, or 
 skill, as these terms are applied to human actions, 
 because there is no progressive improvement in their 
 education, similar to that of man. And if they have 
 none of this artificial skill, much less have they any 
 scientific ingenuity, which entirely depends upon abstrac- 
 tions communicable by speech or writing. Their instinct 
 would almost seem to be the operation of some organic 
 law of the brain, producing in certain aoimals as inva- 
 riable a routine of actions as the chemical law that per- 
 petuates the same disposition of colours in certain species 
 of birds. Like the coral insects of the Pacific, capable 
 only of raising their submarine islands to the surface of 
 the ocean, this animal intellectuality can only rise to one 
 uniform level, since beyond this the scaffolding of an 
 artificial education can find no foundation to rest upon, 
 affording the means of elevating it into the regions of 
 abstraction. 
 
24 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 Yet, after all, man is only a more' rational animal than 
 an elephant, or a dog, a bee, an ant, or a beaver; these, 
 again, only a little superior to others of the lower tribes ; 
 and it is impossible to say, whether it may not actually 
 be the very same principles that combine, in giving intel- 
 lectuality to a brute, that, operating under different cir- 
 cumstances, produce the genius of a Newton, or the fancy 
 of a Milton. The instinct of the inferior animals, and 
 the reasoning powers of man, are merely different names 
 for what seems to be essentially the same thing, only 
 varying in its degrees of perfection and capability of 
 enlargement. The reason that a beast arrives at a- cer- 
 tain stage of perfection which it cannot pass, is, because 
 it receives its full complement of ideas from nature 
 alone. The intellect of a brute may be said to be com- 
 posed of materials less expansive than those which 
 constitute the mind of man, but that they are of the 
 same inherent nature, there can be little doubt. The 
 grand difference seems to be in man's capabilities of 
 availing himself of external resources in the development 
 of his mind. The faculty of speech, and of exchanging 
 ideas with those of his own species, and the other mate- 
 rial means which he has at command in preserving alive 
 the coinage of his brain, have formed a world of thought 
 and' feeling around him, into which the inferior creation 
 can. never penetrate. But, when we consider the supe- 
 riority that one man has over another, and one nation 
 over another, when possessed of the means of acquiring 
 and transmitting knowledge, we have the key to the 
 mystery of his superiority over the lower animals. And, 
 upon the whole, the difference is much greater between 
 an artificially educated person and a savage, than between 
 that savage and one of the irrational tribes. 
 
 And even without the aid of artificial language, to 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING, 26 
 
 what a high pitch of sagacity do many of them attain, 
 displaying a perception of cause and effect, anticipating 
 consequences, and acting upon fixed purposes, that 
 plainly evince then' possession of many faculties strictly 
 akin to those of man ; so that with no more certainty 
 may we conclude that the mechanism of a watch implies 
 the existence of an intelligent contriver, or the works of 
 nature prove the heing of a God, than the mathematical 
 precision of a honey-comb, or the architecture of an ant's 
 hill, demonstrates the existence of that identical design- 
 ing principle which is denominated mind. 
 
 And no less plainly do they manifest the signs of the 
 most acute and sensitive feelings. The patient drome- 
 dary, smarting under a sense of his injuries, from his 
 overtasked powers, sinks, and dies of a broken heart ! 
 The melancholy look, and big round tears of the hunted 
 stag, or fawn-rifled doe, portray the agony of feeling 
 within ! The indication of their loves, their hopes, 
 their fears, their sorrows, their gratitude, their social 
 dispositions, and their resentful propensities, all tends 
 to show, that in the amount of their innate endowments, 
 they are not so immeasurably behind man. Indeed, 
 in many cases, could we imagine them gifted with the 
 single additional faculty of speech, there would be little 
 perceptible mental difference. 
 
 This faculty of articulating sounds, to represent the 
 flow of ideas in the mind, is therefore one of the mighti- 
 est importance in the whole moral economy of nature. 
 Although it seems to be the only disconnecting link be- 
 tween man and the subordinate creatures, it has placed 
 him infinitely above them in the scale of moral and mental 
 excellence. By the interchange of thought and senti- 
 ment effected by this means, and the other mechanical 
 contrivances for immortalising the existence of his ideas, 
 
 c 
 
26 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 he enters within the boundaries of a spiritual world, 
 thus conjured up around him. It is adding wings to his 
 other endowments, by which he soars far above the lower 
 tribes, and rejoices in an atmosphere entirely his own. 
 Upon the whole, therefore, although man, in his • natural 
 capacity and endowments, may be superior, originally, to 
 the lower tribes, it is to his education alone that his dis- 
 tinguishing and peculiar characteristics are to be traced. 
 It is this that makes him altogether what he is ; enabling 
 him to shed a glow of happiness on all around, and 
 affording him the means of indulging in those abstract and 
 lofty contemplations, denied to the less favoured tribes. 
 In his case, the tree of knowledge may have indeed been 
 planted in a more fertile soil; but it is to education, 
 like the genial influences of the sun, and the fertilising 
 showers, that its progress to maturity is chiefly to be 
 traced. To a beast the same capabilities of cultivating 
 and expanding the sentient principles are denied, and 
 hence the limited development of their faculties. 
 
 In generalising a system of artificial education, there- 
 fore, these principles must ever be borne in mind. It is 
 not so much the inherent superiority of man's intellectual 
 endowments, much less of his physical strength, that gives 
 him a pre-eminence in nature, but the application of a 
 course of training to these, unknown to the lower 
 animals. Yet there is no small danger in its application. 
 It should be made instrumental only in assisting nature. 
 Wherever nature points out the way, education should 
 lead ; but the guidance of nature herself should never be 
 overlooked or disregarded. A course of training is a 
 lever power applied to many of the same faculties that 
 we possess in common with the lower animals, for raising 
 them to a higher state of excellence ; but if it be not also 
 applied to the motives of action, it will only be increasing 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 27 
 
 the same aggressive system which animals pursue in gra- 
 tifying their propensities. And if a greater application of 
 it be made to the mental faculties than to the moral and 
 spiritual nature of man, however wonderful may be his 
 discoveries in art and science, they will only become addi- 
 tional means of furthering his own individual selfishness. 
 The earliest indications of mental development are to 
 be found among the Egyptians. It was in Egypt that 
 the means of diffusing and perpetuating knowledge by 
 hieroglyphical writings were first discovered. These 
 writings, as is well known, are simply pictures of objects, 
 each one of which represents some understood idea. In 
 their first stage they only represent objects; next, con- 
 crete ideas; and lastly, abstractions. In this the infancy 
 of the world's literature, showing the gradual unfolding 
 of the universal mind, there is a beautiful analogy with the 
 opening intellect of a child, and from which an admirable 
 lesson of inductive teaching may also be drawn. He 
 sees a tree, and, in its absence, recalls it to memory by 
 some mysterious process of picturing upon the brain. 
 Thus an idea of the tree is formed upon the mind, which 
 may be called the first mental hieroglyphic, analogous to 
 the tree carved upon stone. He sees one object tall and 
 another short, one white and another black, and thus an 
 idea of colour and size is formed, but only in connexion 
 with these objects, which must also be pictured on the 
 memory before the quality of size or colour can be recol- 
 lected — a process entirely analogous to representing the 
 same concrete idea in a symbolic picture. Lastly, the 
 absolute idea of size or colour is formed by abstracting 
 it from particular objects and applying it universally. 
 But while the unlettered mind of a child, or of a savage, 
 may be capable of thus generalising to a certain extent, — 
 and a similar process may, perhaps, even take place in 
 
 c 2 
 
28 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the inferior animals, — the discovery of a mode by which 
 such ideas and their reflections could be materialised, 
 made visible, and perpetuated to remotest ages, was the 
 dawning of a new and an immortal existence upon 
 mankind. 
 
 This was effected, first, by a certain disposition of the 
 pictures ; next, by abbreviations of them ; and then by 
 arbitrary marks that ultimately formed themselves into an 
 alphabet, representing sound, however, not objects. In 
 the same way the ideas of virtue and vice, and all the 
 more spiritual thoughts and emotions, are gradually 
 formed in the mind of a child from the concrete to the 
 abstract. To speak to a child of dishonesty without 
 showing an impersonation of the vice, in the hero of some 
 narrative, is simply to utter so many unmeaning sounds ; 
 but when the goodness or badness of some individual is 
 seen, it can easily be abstracted and applied in other 
 parallel cases. In its progress to a system of abstract 
 terms, the universal mind has taken a course precisely 
 similar. It first depicted animals in which certain quali- 
 ties are predominant, as the representatives of these 
 qualities, afterwards abbreviations of them, — which is a 
 similar process to that in the mind of a child gradually 
 forming its abstract notions, but occasionally referring to 
 some impersonation as a help and illustration, — and 
 finally, the arbitrary letters forming the purely abstract 
 word or name of the idea. A striking inference from 
 this is, that as all ideas are formed in the mind of a child 
 before it knows their names, such should be the proper 
 course of instructing him in every branch of study — that 
 ideas of sensation should be first cultivated, next his 
 reflective faculties, and that the moral virtues and vices 
 should be exhibited in concretion before abstractedly. 
 
 In the increasing copiousness and literalisation of Ian- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 29 
 
 guage. therefore, may be seen the most evident indications 
 of the expansion of the human mind, and the accumula- 
 tion of knowledge. No sooner did the ancient priests of 
 Egypt thus find a vehicle for transmitting their thoughts, 
 than the sciences increased, the arts flourished, and the 
 most just and beautiful conceptions of morals were 
 elicited. But as in their earliest stages these were all 
 wrapped up in symbols, and taught only by the priests to 
 certain classes, their practical benefit in enlightening and 
 moralising the people, was comparatively small. These 
 symbols would be to them as unintelligible as the words of 
 the English tongue are to an unlearned child. While 
 the priests knew the metaphysical truths contained in 
 them, they would only present to the people objects for 
 stupid wonder; and as many of the moral qualities were 
 represented by the pictures of animals, this veneration 
 would naturally attach to their prototypes, and in propor- 
 tion to the importance of particular qualities, would the 
 animals representing them receive veneration and worship 
 by the uninitiated. 
 
 What, then, is this but a similar error in training to that 
 of the present day, in teaching children the mere words 
 of a language without its ideas, — marks without meaning 
 and sound without sense ? And it ought to abate much of 
 our contempt for the superstitious Egyptians in worship- 
 ping their innumerable deities, when we consider the 
 worship we ourselves pay to so many of the mere sounds 
 and words of our own English tongue. With what 
 unmeaning awe and wonder do many persons listen to the 
 hyperboles and inflated metaphors of some popular 
 orator, and to the very sound of certain words, to which 
 they can attach no definite ideas ! And even in the 
 enlightened world, too, how many mere conventional 
 phrases are all but worshipped among men of all ranks ! 
 
30 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 Much of the mythology of all countries must have 
 arisen from this species of language training ; and many 
 superstitions may be traced to it, which have even a hold 
 on the popular mind of the present day. In Egypt, where 
 the people were extending their knowledge of the laws 
 of nature and of abstract truths, without the means of 
 expressing them otherwise than by symbol and personifi- 
 cation, a system of mythology would naturally arise out 
 of such circumstances. The attributes of nature, the 
 passions and feelings of the mind, were always invested 
 with a substantial character, and their influences repre- 
 sented as the acts of living agents ; and though the true 
 sense of these figures might be recognised by the refined 
 and the liberal, the great majority of the people would 
 only regard them as a sort of minor deities, or genii. 
 
 Hence the origin of that error in education that appeals 
 to the venerative faculties without enlightening the judg- 
 ment. The Egyptians were trained up to feelings of 
 mere ignorant wonder regarding morality and religion ; 
 and we are told that, as some cities worshipped certain 
 animals which others disregarded, the most violent 
 battles occasionally took place amongst them — a striking- 
 parallel to the wordy warfare of many of the religious con- 
 troversies of the present day. Besides, in the schools of 
 antiquity it is always the mere teaching of morality that 
 is mentioned, which is but an intellectual exercise, 
 and powerless in regulating conduct. The duties of 
 morality and virtue can only be taught properly in prac- 
 tice ; and then, indeed, it matters little whether a theo- 
 retical knowledge of them be taught or not. 
 
 Among the Egyptians, a striking contrast is presented 
 in the course of their speculative knowledge on morals 
 and religion to that of their physical sciences. The 
 former, at the best, being mere opinions of right and 
 wrong, and a blind enthusiasm regarding divine worship 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 31 
 
 without an application of these opinions to the purposes 
 of daily life, led them ultimately into the most extrava- 
 gant excesses of idolatry and vice. It was simply know- 
 ledge without wisdom which they possessed, the imbibing 
 of an abstract religion into the head, through an implicit 
 faith, without being habituated to its duties, through a 
 previous cultivation of the feelings and habits. Whereas 
 their knowledge of the physical sciences was called 
 into immediate action, and thus the arts nourished. 
 " Every man," we are told, " had his way of life assigned 
 to him, and it was perpetuated from father to son. Two 
 professions at one time, or a change from that which a 
 man was born to, were never allowed. By this means 
 men became more able and expert in employments which 
 they had always exercised from infancy, and every man 
 adding his own experience to that of his ancestors, was 
 more capable of attaining perfection in his particular art. 
 From this source flowed numberless inventions for the 
 improvement of all the arts, and for rendering life more 
 easy and commodious." It was, therefore, to this system 
 of professional and practical training, not to its abstract 
 speculations, that Egypt owed its riches and plenty, its 
 glory and magnificence. It was this linking of art to 
 science, of practice to invention, that opened up those 
 fountains of wisdom which flowed forth into all lands, 
 and of which Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, Lycurgus, Solon, 
 and a host of other sages and philosophers imbibed their 
 earliest draughts. 
 
 Turning from Egypt, as the land on which the artifi- 
 cial light of education first dawned, to other countries, 
 we see in many of them a reflection of the same errors 
 just mentioned, but operating with a more or less bane- 
 ful influence, according to the various habits of the 
 people and their different degrees of intelligence. And 
 in proportion to the ignorance of each country, or its 
 
32 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 distance from the source whence the light of metaphysical 
 knowledge first streamed, does the mere reflection of the 
 light itself become fainter, tending rather to bewilder 
 than enlighten the people. It is like a benighted tra- 
 veller proceeding on his way by the rays of a lamp that 
 iliuiniijate only a small circle around his path, but as an 
 impenetrable wall of darkness lies beyond, he suddenly 
 stumbles into some pitfall, or loses his footing on the 
 brink of a precipice. Had he trusted only to the 
 natural light of the heavens, his vision would have com- 
 manded a wider range, and if it was less brilliant, it 
 would not at least have dazzled and deceived him ; or, if 
 not thus fatal, the glare falling upon surrounding objects, 
 rendering them hideous and distorted to his sight, would 
 only incite his terror and alarm, paralysing his reason 
 and conjuring up to his mind the most uncouth fancies. 
 
 In Carthage, there is a striking instance of the baneful 
 effects of mythological terrorism in the cniel habits it 
 induced among the people, and the mischievous power 
 afforded by the partial light of science, in distorting 
 human nature, when under the influence of selfish mo- 
 tives. The training of a national character is in every 
 respect similar to that of individual education. It is the 
 feelings and affections of the heart which furnish the 
 impulses of conduct ; and whatever be the particular bias 
 given to the former in infancy, the conduct through life 
 will have a tendency in the same direction. Carthage, 
 the daughter of Tyre, the most commercial city in the 
 world, inherited all her parent's propensities for traffic, 
 and these being brought into vigorous activity by means 
 of the wealth of Dido, between her followers and the 
 surrounding inhabitants of Utica, at once stamped a 
 commercial character upon the infant colony. 
 
 The manners, language, customs, laws, and religion of 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 33 
 
 the Carthaginians, were all grafted upon a spirit of com- 
 mercial enterprise, or arose out of it. The people were 
 descended from the Tyrians, whose language they spoke, 
 which was a dialect or collateral branch of the Hebrew 
 and Canaanitish, and they were called Pceni, or Phoeni, 
 because they originally came from Phenicia. Here it 
 was, then, that letters were invented, and the Poenic, or 
 Punic, or Carthaginian language had also its birth. 
 
 Let it be remarked here, that in its first application as 
 a vehicle for diffusing the previous knowledge of a people, 
 literal writing can only be employed in making a trans- 
 lation or decipheration of hieroglyphics. In doing so, 
 the names of the pictures are substituted for the pictures 
 themselves. The relation and position these bear to one 
 another, are thus capable of being explained and eluci- 
 dated by conjunctive and auxiliary words. In symbols 
 this connexion may be understood by the initiated, but 
 cannot be represented except in literal writing. Hence 
 the origin of the metaphor and allegory, which simply 
 arise out of a series of objects deciphered into their re- 
 spective names, their connexion illustrated by additional 
 words, and the whole forming a continuous tale or narra- 
 tive. Thus the ideas originally intended to be conveyed 
 become enveloped in a double vehicle, and their esoteric- 
 sense rendered more obscure. But the exoteric or out- 
 ward meaning of such allegories immediately appeals to 
 the concrete understanding of a rude people, and while it 
 captivates their fancy, finds a ready access to their faith. 
 
 Even at the present day, on looking back through 
 the transparencies of modem literature upon those 
 images and spectral forms that mark its commencement, 
 standing out in bold relief through the long vista of cen- 
 turies, one is apt to smile at the grossness of the writer's 
 conceptions of metaphysical truths, or merely to be 
 
 c 3 
 
34 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 pleased with the beautiful fictions detailed ; but a closer 
 examination often shows that those personifications em- 
 body the most beautiful moral lessons and correct facts. 
 For example, when Homer, in describing the quarrel 
 between Achilles and Agamemnon in the war council of 
 the Greeks, in which the former was in the act of drawing 
 his sword against the " king of men," wishes to show 
 that the prudence of Achilles on second thoughts with- 
 held his hand, he introduces Minerva, who is represented 
 as laying her hand upon the warrior's arm, and whis- 
 pering counsel into his ear. Wisdom, or prudence, is 
 here personified as a goddess interfering in the affairs 
 of men. But while Homer meant to convey no fiction 
 by this mode of expression, it was enough to create or 
 perpetuate a belief in the existence of such a being. 
 In this allegorical form, therefore, was it, that the my- 
 thology of Egypt was transfused into all languages 
 derived from the same source, and would lend a deeper 
 shade to the peculiar characteristics of any people. To 
 an uncivilised or unintellectual people it would evolve 
 a religion of fear, superstition, and cruelty; in a country 
 of higher mental capabilities it would lay the foundation 
 of poetry and romance. 
 
 The genius of the Carthaginian people, it has been 
 said, was entirely commercial, and even its warlike 
 character was but an emanation of the same spirit. The 
 necessity of defending their commerce from neighbouring 
 nations, and of extending it and their empire, led them 
 into incessant wars; but the basis of their common 
 wealth and the grand spring of all their enterprises was 
 their predominant passion for gain. All their talents 
 were directed to this end ; their chief glory consisted in 
 amassing riches, of the use of which, after all, they knew 
 but little. A course of national training such as this, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 85 
 
 could not but meet with its due reward in raising their 
 nation to a high pitch of splendour and glory. But was 
 the happiness of the people increased in a corresponding 
 degree ? or could the pure selfishness of such a grasping 
 principle effect anything hut a demoralisation of their 
 habits ? It was an excessive training of the acquisitive 
 faculty, rendering all the other powers of the mind sub- 
 servient to its gratification. The guiding motive, indeed, 
 was not only self-gratification but a gratification of the 
 most selfish principle in human nature. It was the 
 miser's feverish anxiety to accumulate wealth, without 
 regard to the advantages it confers in promoting the 
 elegances of life, the cultivation of the mind, or the 
 highest of all luxuries, the power of doing good to 
 others. Hence their education was confined to writing, 
 arithmetic, book-keeping, and whatever related to traffic; 
 but polite learning, history, eloquence, poetry, and 
 philosophy, seem to have been little known among them ; 
 so that, in the course of seven hundred years, Carthage 
 cannot boast of more than three or four writers of any 
 reputation. 
 
 Nor did their intercourse with Greece and other 
 civilised nations inspire more ennobling sentiments, so 
 utterly prostrated were all the higher aspirations of 
 the national mind before the sordid and engrossing 
 love of gain. And it is a melancholy but true picture 
 of the tendency of the same disposition in every indi- 
 vidual that Cicero draws, in describing that of the Car- 
 thaginians, when he says, " their distinguishing charac- 
 teristics are craft, skill, address, industry, cunning, 
 (calliditas,) which, doubtless, appeared in war, but was 
 still more conspicuous in the rest of their conduct, and 
 this was joined to another quality that bears a very near 
 relation to it, and is still less reputable. Craft and cunning 
 
36 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 lead naturally to lying, hypocrisy, and breach of faith : 
 and thereby accustoming the mind insensibly to be less 
 scrupulous with regard to the choice of means for com- 
 passing its design, prepare it for the basest frauds and 
 the most perfidious actions. This was also one of the 
 characteristics of the Carthaginians, and it was so no- 
 torious that to signify any remarkable dishonesty it was 
 usual to call it Funic honour, fides Punica ; and to 
 describe a knavish, deceitful mind, no expression was 
 thought more proper and emphatical than this — a Car- 
 thaginian mind, Punicum ingenium."* 
 
 This immoderate thirst after gain generally gave 
 occasion in Carthage to the committing of base and 
 unjust actions. One single example, mentioned by Livy. 
 may prove this. In the time of a truce granted by 
 Scipio, at the earnest entreaties of the Carthaginians, 
 some Roman vessels, being driven by a storm on the 
 coasts of Carthage, were seized by order of the senate 
 and jyeople, who could not suffer so tempting a prey to 
 escape them. They were resolved to get money, however 
 scandalous and dishonourable the means of acquiring it. 
 Even in St. Austin's time, as that father informs us, they 
 showed, on a particular occasion, that they still retained 
 something of their ancient characteristics. 
 
 Such, therefore, was the basis of the Carthaginian 
 character, morally deformed by a course of practical 
 training, but over which was raised a superstructure of 
 religious fanaticism, leading, on the other hand, to prac- 
 tices infinitely more revolting. 
 
 I have said their language came from Phenicia, and 
 in it* as a vehicle, was also imported their ideas of me- 
 
 * Carthaginienses fraudulent! et mendaces, — multis et variis 
 mereatorum advenarumque sermonibus ad studium fallendi 
 quaestus cupiditate vocabantur.— Cic. Orat. 2 in Hull n. 94. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 37 
 
 taphysics. This was, therefore, the atmosphere through 
 which shone upon them the same " dim religious light" 
 that first dawned in Egypt ; hut so gross was now the 
 medium, that the spirituality of that religion was entirely 
 obscured; and as the natural rays of the sun, on entering 
 a gloomy horizon, often reflect objects in a distorted 
 form, so, through the density of this moral gloom, did the 
 objects of Egyptian faith assume to the Carthaginian 
 people the most hideous aspect. Ignorance is the parent 
 of fear ; and as their cupidity gave them no leisure nor 
 inclination to cultivate literature, which might have 
 enabled them to analyse the meaning of their religious 
 allegories, their ignorant fears deduced from them a 
 system of superstition in which all the ties of humanity 
 were torn asunder, and the tenderest feelings of nature 
 trampled upon. And if fear was thus the origin of their 
 gods, no less did it invest them with a character of the 
 most vindictive nature. To appease the wrath of Saturn, 
 the deity of second rank in their calendar, known in Scrip- 
 ture by the name of Moloch, human sacrifices were offered 
 up in multitudes. This custom passed from Tyre to Car- 
 thage, — and hence we may conclude its Egyptian and 
 hieroglyphic origin. Philo mentions, that the kings of 
 Tyre, in great dangers, used to sacrifice their sons to 
 appease the anger of the gods. Particular persons, 
 desirous of averting any great calamity, took the same 
 method, and were so very superstitious, that such as had 
 no children purchased those of the poor, that they might 
 not be deprived of the merit of such a sacrifice. At first, 
 children were inhumanly burnt, either in a fiery furnace, 
 like those in the valley of Hinnom, so often mentioned 
 in Scripture, or in a flaming statue of Saturn. The cries 
 of these unhappy victims were drowned by the uninter- 
 rupted noise of drums and trumpets. Mothers made it 
 
38 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 a merit and a part of their religion to view this barbarous 
 spectacle with dry eyes, and without so much as a groan ; 
 and if a tear or a sigh stole from them the sacrifice was 
 less acceptable to the deity, and all the effect of it was 
 entirely lost. Thus, strength of mind, or rather savage 
 barbarity, was carried to such excess, that even mothers 
 would endeavour with embraces and kisses to hush the 
 cries of their children, lest, had the victim been offered 
 with an unbecoming grace, and in the midst of tears, it 
 should offend the god. 
 
 The Carthaginians retained these barbarous practices 
 until the ruin of their city; and even their great generals 
 yielded to the horrid custom. In an action between 
 Gelon the Syracusan monarch, and Hamilcar, the son of 
 Hanno the Carthaginian leader, which lasted from morn- 
 ing to night, we are told the latter was perpetually offer- 
 ing up to the gods sacrifices of living men, who were 
 thrown on a flaming pile ; and seeing his troops routed 
 and put to flight, he himself rushed into the pile, that he 
 might not survive his own disgrace, and to extinguish 
 with his own blood this sacrilegious fire when he found it 
 had proved of no service to him. 
 
 In times of pestilence they used to sacrifice numbers 
 of children to their gods, unmoved by pity for their 
 tender age. Diodorus relates an instance of this cruelty 
 which must strike the reader with horror. At the time 
 that Agathocles was going to besiege Carthage, its inha- 
 bitants, seeing the extremity to which they were reduced, 
 imputed all their misfortunes to the great anger of Saturn, 
 because that, instead of offering up children nobly born, 
 who were usually sacrificed to him, he had fraudulently 
 been put off with the children of slaves and foreigners. 
 To atone for this crime, two hundred children of the best 
 families in Carthage were sacrificed to Saturn, besides 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 39 
 
 which, upwards of three hundred citizens, from a sense 
 of their guilt of this pretended crime, voluntarily sacri- 
 ficed themselves. 
 
 Seeing, therefore, to what excesses an ignorant fear 
 will lead mankind when the venerative faculties are under 
 its training, it is almost superfluous to notice an equally 
 certain result of its influence in deforming the social 
 character. Hence we are again told, " They had some- 
 thing austere and savage in their dispositions and genius, 
 a haughty and imperious air, a sort of ferocity which in 
 its first starts was deaf to either reason or remonstrance, 
 and plunged brutally into the utmost excesses of violence. 
 The people, cowardly and grovelling under apprehensions, 
 were fiery and cruel in their transports; at the same time 
 that they trembled under their magistrates, they were 
 dreaded in their turn by their miserable vassals." In 
 war, Livy mentions that " ill success was punished as a 
 crime against the state ; and whenever a battle was lost, 
 the general, at his return, was almost sure of ending his 
 life on a gibbet or scaffold. Such was the furious, cruel, 
 and barbarous disposition of the Carthaginians, who were 
 always ready to shed the blood of their citizens as well 
 as of foreigners. The unheard-of tortures which they 
 made Eegulus suffer are a manifest proof of this assertion, 
 and their whole history will furnish such instances of it 
 as are not to be read without horror." To read such a 
 page of history as this is indeed a sickening task, but to 
 the moralist not without profit, as indicating the fearful 
 extent of misery that may be brought upon one man by 
 another, and on one nation by another, when the depths 
 of the human heart are moved by selfish motives, when 
 the moral and spiritual feelings are either under-trained 
 or over- trained, and the mental faculties unenlightened. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 In Greece, there is a striking example how much the 
 foundation of individual, as well as national, character, 
 is formed by the plastic influence of external circum- 
 stances. The mild climate and romantic scenery of that 
 classic land, must have impressed their peculiar character- 
 istics upon its earliest inhabitants. The former would 
 shed a soothing influence over the frame, educing a cor- 
 responding moral temperament, and the latter stamp 
 upon the soul an innate impression of the beautiful and 
 sublime. To these native tendencies of the Greeks, there 
 seemed only wanting an extrinsic guidance in harmony 
 with them, to form the living models of mankind ; but 
 while much of their education was a deduction from 
 nature itself, forming the best foundation for a course of 
 artificial mental and moral training, the latter was 
 derived from a foreign source — it was an exotic planted 
 in their native soil, producing altogether an original 
 fruit. Their writing, commerce, and navigation, came 
 from Phenicia ; the elements of their arts, sciences, reli- 
 gion, and laws from Egypt. In ancient times the country 
 was divided into very small republics, neighbours in 
 point of locality, but differing in their customs, laws, 
 and characters, and of hostile interests. These differ- 
 ences, and their natural desire of aggrandisement at the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 41 
 
 expense of their neighbours, produced incessant skir- 
 mishes and petty wars. Either from ambition or self- 
 defence, they were, therefore, always under arms, and by 
 the constant exercise of war, a martial spirit and indomi- 
 table courage were thus formed in the entire people. In 
 such contests it was, of course, mere animal strength that 
 gained their victories, and the might of the conqueror 
 gave the right of ascendency. 
 
 There is, however, something morally grand and en- 
 nobling in wielding even a physical power for the good 
 of a community ; and debasing in its tendency though 
 the practice of war may be, and wrong as a means, it is 
 not always resorted to for a bad end, and it certainly 
 does not induce an individual selfishness. It is often an 
 entire abandonment of self to the interests of a commu- 
 nity. Still even this motive is inherently the same, only 
 diluted into patriotism, or a family and social selfishness, 
 which seeks to advance the interests of one community at 
 the expense and degradation of others. Knowing, there- 
 fore, no higher power of arbitration in their quarrels, 
 than the physical power and combination of numbers, 
 and the strength and agility of individuals, the early 
 Greeks assiduously cultivated bodily exercises as the only 
 means of gaining a superiority, and a spirit of patriot- 
 ism or love of country as the master passion of their 
 lives. By the constant friction of these animal contests, 
 however, sparks of intellect were occasionally struck 
 out, which ultimately lighted up more artificial modes 
 of warfare, and developed more rational pursuits for 
 ordinary life. 
 
 Looking at the history of Greece metaphysically, it 
 may therefore be said that the long struggle between 
 Sparta and Athens was simply a war between animalism 
 and intellectuality, in which the latter ultimately gained 
 
42 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the supremacy, and for the first time on earth established 
 a dominion over the destinies of man. In Sparta, all 
 that the animal nature of man could do was effected, and 
 that by a course of training of the most arduous kind. 
 " All the laws of Sparta and institutions of Lycurgus," 
 says Kollin. " seem to have had no other object than 
 war, and tended solely to making the subjects of that 
 republic a body of soldiers. All other employments, all 
 other exercises were prohibited amongst them. Arts, 
 polite learning, sciences, even husbandry itself, had no 
 share in their application, and seemed in their eyes 
 unworthy of them. From their earliest infancy, no other 
 taste was instilled into them but arms, and indeed the 
 Spartan education was wonderfully well adapted to that 
 end. To go barefoot, to lie hard, to shift with little 
 meat or drink, to suffer heat and cold, to exercise con- 
 tinually hunting, wrestling, running on foot and horse- 
 back, to be inured to blows and wounds, so as to vent 
 neither complaint nor groan, — these were the rudiments 
 of the Spartan youth with regard to war, and enabled 
 them one day to support all its fatigues, and to confront 
 fill its dangers." The " habit of obeying, contracted 
 from the most early years respect for the magistrates and 
 elders, a perfect submission to the laws from which no 
 age nor condition was exempt, prepared them amazingly 
 for military discipline, which is, in a manner, the soul of 
 war, and the principle of success in all great enterprises." 
 Such a course of training, with a uniform application of 
 it to one end, namely, the aggrandisement of herself, 
 could not fail to raise Sparta to a high eminence among 
 the states of Greece, to make her the formidable rival of 
 Athens, and at last, as her ally, the conqueror of the 
 world. 
 
 Ambition and military fame were thus the ultimate 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 43 
 
 objects of attainment and pre-eminent virtues of the 
 Lacedemonians — to these all the faculties of their minds 
 and powers of their bodies were subservient. 
 
 It must be admitted, however, that much of this phy- 
 sical training would have been an undeniable good, had 
 it been directed to a beneficial end ; the evil was in its 
 misdirection, and being under the guidance of a wrong 
 motive. Self- denial is not in itself a virtue, it is the 
 end which renders such a means virtuous ; and this iron 
 system of sacrificing all the finer emotions of the heart, 
 and the energies of the mind and body, at the shrine of 
 an ideal and imaginary good, was only a continued and 
 positive evil, as it entailed upon its victims a life-time of 
 practical suffering, unalleviated by -any substantial benefit. 
 It was an illustration of the Stoic's doctrine, that virtue 
 consists in the exercise of self-denial and suffering as an 
 end, not as a means, for it was not the consequences and 
 advantages of victory that the Spartans panted after 
 so much as the mere abstract ideas of glory and patriot- 
 ism. They endured real grievances to reap imaginary 
 benefits. 
 
 And if such an education was calculated to harden the 
 body and render it callous to privation and suffering, it 
 no less indurated the affections of the heart, destroying 
 the very soil on which the richest fruits of virtue and 
 happiness grow. Mothers recommended to their sons, 
 when they set out for the field, to return either with or 
 upon their bucklers. They did not weep for those who 
 died with arms in their hands, but for those who pre- 
 served themselves by flight. Many people still admire the 
 courage of these Spartan mothers, who could thus hear 
 the news of their children slain in battle, not only with- 
 out tears, but with joy and satisfaction : but nature never 
 contradicts herself, and no imaginary love of country 
 
44 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 can ever thus swallow up maternal affection. Such 
 exhibitions were, therefore, most unnatural and dis- 
 gusting. 
 
 Yet this kind of Stoicism is, perhaps, the less to be 
 wondered at, when it is considered that the children were 
 taken away from their parents at an early age by the 
 state, and placed under a course of training at the public 
 expense, by which the natural bond of parental affection 
 would be very much loosened. The entire spirit and 
 design of the laws of Lycurgus were to form a martial 
 and robust people ; that each member of the community 
 might bring into the field the greatest possible amount 
 of strength and activity, and be a mere passive machine 
 in the hands of his leader. As soon as a boy was born 
 the elders of each tribe visited him, and if they found 
 him well made and vigorous, he was subjected to the 
 severe discipline mentioned ; but if weakly and delicate, 
 he was exposed to perish. And it is not to be doubted, 
 that the ordinary discipline exercised on many tender 
 children would accelerate their death, for patience and 
 constancy under sufferings were also strictly enjoined. 
 It is said that, in a certain festival celebrated in honour 
 of Diana, surnamed Orthea, the children, before the eyes 
 of their parents, and in presence of the whole city, suffered 
 themselves to be whipped till the blood ran down upon the 
 altar of this cruel goddess, where sometimes they expired 
 under the strokes without the least cry, or suffering even 
 a groan or a sigh to escape them ; and even their own 
 fathers, when they saw them covered with blood and 
 wounds, and ready to expire, exhorted them to persevere 
 to the end with constancy and resolution. Plutarch men- 
 tions that he had seen with his own eyes a great many 
 children lose their lives on these cruel occasions. Well, 
 therefore, might Horace style such a country Patiens 
 Laceda'mon . 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 45 
 
 Enormities of a different, but even more revolting 
 character, were also practised in the education of girls, 
 and in their regulations regarding the marriages of young 
 women, giving rise to the most frightful disorders : and 
 to this may only he added the barbarous treatment of 
 their Helot slaves, who were often tortured and destroyed 
 at the merest caprice of their masters, to fill up the mea- 
 sure of that iron despotism of which they were the volun- 
 tary subjects, and which finds so many admirers even at 
 the present day. No national glory, however brilliant, 
 can ever compensate for a distortion of the natural affec- 
 tions, the want of softened manners, and a polished 
 understanding. Hence it was that, although the parental 
 and social feelings might be thus frozen over by the 
 chilling influence of such an education, there flowed be- 
 neath the hard surface a dangerous flood of passions that 
 often broke out in a "roughness, austerity, and ferocity 
 of temper," that rendered them a disagreeable people 
 even to their own allies. " They were observed," says 
 Aristotle, " to have something almost brutal in their 
 character. A government too rigid, and a life too labo- 
 rious, rendered their tempers haughty, austere, and im- 
 perious." Every one knows also the sad stain that rests 
 upon the national character of Sparta, arising from such 
 an obliquity of morals as could induce her senators to 
 legalise undetected stealing, for the sake of rendering 
 the people dexterous in battle, and skilled in strategy. 
 
 But a brighter picture is presented in the history of 
 Athens, the impersonation of a higher course of training ; 
 the rival and ultimate superior of Sparta. Here it is, 
 for the first time in the annals of the human race, that 
 pure intellect reigns supreme, subjugating many of the 
 animal propensities, and creating an ideal of goodness 
 and beauty worthy of admiration in all ages. In the 
 dedication of their city to Minerva, the personification of 
 
46 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 wisdom, the arts, and sciences, there is a beautiful alle- 
 gory of the supreme place these held in the estimation of 
 the Athenians. All their splendid mythology had the 
 same tendency, and invited their worship only to what 
 was tasteful, intellectual, and sublime. When Homer 
 celebrates the advantages and victories of Greece over 
 Asia, the esoteric sense of his impersonations is simply 
 an ascription of praise to the former for its superior 
 wisdom and virtue, and of reproach to the latter, for its 
 effeminacy and vice. On the side of Asia was Venus, 
 representing the voluptuousness and idle loves of that 
 country ; on that of Greece were Juno, signifying gravity 
 with conjugal affection, Mercury with eloquence, and 
 Jupiter with wise policy. With the Asiatics was Mars, 
 an impetuous and brutal deity, representing war carried 
 on with fury ; with the Greeks, Pallas, or the science of 
 war, and valour conducted by reason. In a word, it is a 
 description of the true genius of the Athenian spirit sub- 
 jecting pleasure to virtue, the body to the mind, and 
 physical strength to reason and skill. 
 
 Nor was it merely the bare practice of these virtues, 
 arts, and sciences which they exhibited, but the very poetry 
 and perfection of them. Born beneath the clear azure of 
 a Grecian sky, and first opening their eyes upon the 
 loveliest scenes of nature, in the gently undulating pas- 
 ture lands, wild rocky shores, and " far resounding 
 ocean," the " soil-sprung " sons of Attica received at 
 their very birth impressions of the grand, and sublime. 
 The natural disposition of every rude people for war, 
 inherent also in them, induced a course of physical 
 training, in many respects similar to that of the Lace- 
 demonians ; but even in this their natural genius for 
 taste prevailed, and threw a charm over all their 
 exercises. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 47 
 
 The principal end which the Spartans had in view in 
 their severe discipline, was to inure their youth to the 
 ' hardships of war, and to render them callous to mental 
 and physical privation and suffering. But the Athenians, 
 in addition to this, had a higher course, that may almost 
 he termed the poetry of physical training. Their Gym- 
 nasium was divided into two departments, the palsestric and 
 orchestric. The palsestric exercises were intended chiefly 
 to accustom the hody to the fatigues of war, navigation, 
 agriculture, and other manual and hodily employments ; 
 in the orchestric were taught such rules of motion ' c as were 
 proper to render the shape free and easy, to give the 
 body a just proportion, and the whole person an uncon- 
 strained, noble, and graceful air." And when we consider 
 the national importance that attached to their games, and 
 the rewards and prizes conferred upon those who excelled 
 in robust exercises, feats of skill, and gracefulness in 
 the dance, it may easily be conceived that every facility 
 was afforded for training a race of men whose physical 
 proportions are still referred to as models of perfection. 
 From copying such living models too, was it, that the 
 imitative arts arrived at such perfection, and the statuary 
 and the painter drew their noblest inspirations. 
 
 To this polishing of the external man, the early 
 Greeks added the cultivation of music, a means no less 
 efficacious in refining the moral nature, than a course of 
 bodily training tends to render the limbs pliant and 
 graceful. That music is the foundation of a correct taste 
 in many mental occupations there can be little doubt, and 
 still less that it is a powerful auxiliary in moral training. 
 The softened harmony of song falling upon the ear of 
 one excited by strong emotions, is like pouring oil on 
 the troubled waters of the soul. The mother soothes her 
 babe to sleep, and calms its fretfulness and irritation, by 
 
48 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 her lulling melodies. Even the savage feels its influence 
 and lays aside his wrathful purposes when the demon has 
 been cast out by its potent agency. But while one kind 
 of music has a relaxing tendency upon the nervous 
 system, inducing a softness of disposition, it is counter^ 
 acted by the sterner airs of a different kind. In short, 
 there is an eloquence in music adapted to every mental 
 and moral condition, and equally calculated to awaken 
 the better feelings, as to subdue the worse. 
 
 Aware of this moral influence in music, it is said to 
 have been a custom of the Pythagoreans, immediately 
 on rising from bed, to sound the lyre to some lively air, 
 in order to rouse the mind and fit it for action ; and 
 before going to rest, to touch it to a softer strain to pre- 
 pare themselves for sleep, by calming the tumultuous 
 thoughts of the day. Polybius also mentions, that it 
 was esteemed necessary " to calm the passions, soften 
 the manners, and even to humanise people naturally 
 savage ;" and he thus draws a contrast between two people 
 of Arcadia, the one beloved and esteemed for the ele- 
 gance of their manners, their benevolent inclinations, 
 humanity to strangers, and piety to the gods ; and the 
 other, on the contrary, generally reproached and hated 
 for their malignity, brutality, and irreligion ; the cause 
 of which, in the former, he ascribes to their assiduous 
 cultivation and practice of music, and in the latter, to 
 the neglect of it. 
 
 Music was thus considered an essential element in the 
 education of all Greeks, and an ignorance of it reckoned 
 a defect. The greatest of their philosophers and warriors, 
 including Socrates and Alexander, practised and often 
 excelled in it, and to illustrate its power in subduing the 
 most savage and cruel dispositions, has given rise to one 
 of the finest allegories in their mythology. When 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 49 
 
 Orpheus, by the sound of his lyre, is said to have drawn 
 after him lions and tigers, changed the course of rivers, 
 and melted the rocks, it is simply a personification of its 
 soul-stirring influence upon the passions and purposes of 
 man. It is, however, strictly a physical exercise, a means 
 for allaying the excitability of the nervous system, whence 
 so many of the moral impulses proceed. It may there- 
 fore be called with propriety, the physical training of the 
 moral faculties. 
 
 Many other circumstances, arising out of the natural 
 and social position of the Greeks, conspired to form the 
 basis of their manly character, to inspire them with 
 exalted and generous sentiments, and, as their freedom 
 and civilisation advanced, to develop their natural genius 
 for taste and refinement. From whatever source derived, 
 and however rude the elements of any branch of know- 
 ledge introduced among them, their talent for bringing 
 these to perfection is ever conspicuous. Colonies from 
 Egypt and Phoenicia taught them literature, the arts, 
 and sciences. But while it was merely the sixteen rude 
 characters of the alphabet which Cadmus imported, a few 
 centuries only had elapsed, when the bard of Smyrna 
 produced by their means, the first and best poem the 
 world ever saw. While the mythology of Egypt, spread- 
 ing into other lands, only inspired terror and alarm into 
 their inhabitants, the intellectual Greeks drew thence 
 some of their sublimest fancies, and the poet, the 
 painter, and the sculptor, again embodied its original 
 figures, thus creating almost a new worship in the admi- 
 ration, by all ages, of their own matchless genius. And 
 if the famous pyramids, the lake Mceris, the labyrinth, 
 the obelisks and temples of Egypt, show with what 
 ardour and success the Egyptians applied themselves to 
 architecture, it is in Greece alone where the art rises into 
 
 D 
 
50 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the very poetry of excellence. In Asia and Egypt, the 
 massiveness and enormous size of many of the buildings, 
 create awe, but not delight. We wonder at the vast 
 amount of labour bestowed upon them, but in the temples 
 of Diana at Ephesus, Apollo at Miletus, Ceres and 
 Proserpine at Eleusis, Jupiter Olympius at Athens, the 
 mausoleum, the city and lighthouse of Alexandria, the 
 beautiful structures erected at Athens by Pericles, the 
 Acropolis and Parthenon, with a host of other buildings, 
 the imagination is captivated by the elegance of their 
 design, their consummate finish, and adornment. 
 
 Nor were they an imaginative people only, but a dej)th 
 of thought and originality of invention are equally their 
 characteristics. Of this there is no better evidence than 
 the writings they have left us on the physical and moral 
 sciences- Of all the ancients, they arrived at the 
 soundest conclusions in astronomy. This science most 
 probably had its origin in Ohaldea, where, in the serene 
 nights, and from the top of the lofty Babel, the people 
 were so fond of contemplating the motions of the 
 heavenly bodies. From Chaldea it passed into Egypt, and 
 thence into Phoenicia, where its speculations were applied 
 to the uses of navigation. It was, then, but these rude 
 elements of star-gazing, which Thales, one of the seven 
 wise men of Greece, brought into his own country, where 
 they were improved upon by a series of philosophers, 
 until at length the penetrating genius of Pythagoras 
 deduced from them that " system" which still bears his 
 name, and the truth of which is as eternal as the heavens 
 themselves. Kejecting the received opinions of the world, 
 and reversing the favourite theory, which ascribed rest 
 to the earth, and motion to the sun, he made that sublime 
 discovery on which the whole basis of modern astronomy 
 is built. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 51 
 
 111 metaphysical and moral philosophy, too, they ex- 
 celled all the other pagan nations of antiquity. In respect 
 to these sciences, indeed, the land of Greece seemed a 
 focus wherein were concentrated all the rays of know- 
 ledge dispersed throughout the world. From Egypt the 
 priests, from Persia the magi, from Babylon the Chal- 
 deans, from India the Brachmans or Gymnosophists, 
 from Gaul the Druids, sent out each so many scattered 
 beams of intelligence, but it was only in Greece where 
 the concentration of that knowledge reflected so brilliant a 
 lustre. The natural talent of her philosophers for abstract 
 and deductive reasoning, evolved from such materials all 
 that the unaided intellect of man seemed able to do. 
 And more indeed than a mere human light seems to have 
 dictated many of their opinions ; for we learn that 
 Pythagoras and others went to Chaldea and Babylon in 
 quest of knowledge ; and, considering the extreme pro- 
 bability of their having seen there Ezekiel and Daniel, 
 it may account for the near resemblance, in much of their 
 philosophy, to the Jewish religion. In the doctrines of 
 the soul's immortality and immateriality; the existence 
 of one Supreme Being, the Author of all nature; that 
 men have only to take pains to purify themselves of 
 their passions and vices in order to be united to God ; 
 that after this life there is a state of rewards and punish- 
 ments for the good and the bad, with a belief in the 
 existence of spirits or angels, there is a system of theo- 
 retical divinity to a great extent the same as that of 
 modern Christianity. 
 
 Besides these merely speculative opinions, it was in 
 Greece, too, where the scattered precepts of morality 
 were first reduced into the form of a science, the 
 abstractions of mental philosophy humanized, and 
 brought to bear upon the duties of life ; and apart from 
 
 D 2 
 
52 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 revelation, the first glimpses obtained of that knowledge 
 which teaches the necessity of elevating the moral senti- 
 ments, and acting under their guidance, to ensure the 
 enjoyment of happiness. Identified with the science of 
 moral philosophy, and as the founder of it, there is also 
 the brightest name and the best man the pagan world 
 ever saw. It was Socrates, according to Cicero, " who 
 first brought philosophy down from heaven, where she 
 had been employed till then in contemplating the course 
 of the stars, established her in cities, introduced her into 
 private houses, and obliged her to direct her enquiries to 
 what concerned the manners, duties, virtues, and morals 
 of life, to render men more rational, just, and virtuous." 
 
 The remark which a woman made to Thales when she 
 saw him fall into a ditch while he was contemplating the 
 stars, was therefore reversed in the case of Socrates, — 
 " How should you know," said she, "what passes in the 
 heavens, when you do not see what passes under your 
 feet?" for it was the light of heaven itself that" the latter 
 rendered available in guiding his feet. His opinions 
 concerning the unity of Deity, the immortality of the 
 soul, and a state of future rewards and punishments, are 
 almost in every respect. the same as those entertained by 
 Christians. His preceptive morality is sublime, and his 
 own life the brightest example of a man living under its 
 influence. He not only proved the reasonableness of his 
 own doctrines, but gave ample evidence of their efficacy 
 in overcoming wrong habits, and establishing correct 
 ones — perhaps the first instance on record of moral 
 training conducted upon intellectual principles. 
 
 Looking back, then, over the history of Greece, from the 
 time of Alexander to Pericles, embracing a period of about 
 two hundred years, it seems as if little had been Wanted 
 in the materials and elements of her education, to have 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 58 
 
 rendered her at that time, a model school for the entire 
 world ; and in many things she ever will remain a model 
 to posterity. But while such was the case, she proved 
 her incapacity to secure the advantages of her exalted 
 position She wanted the animating motives of pure 
 morality. It was the "form without the power" of 
 virtue which she possessed. She was " a whited sepul- 
 chre, heautiful without, hut within full of corruption." 
 Her metaphysics and her moral philosophy were merely 
 mental speculations, formiDg a .gymnasium for training 
 the mind, as the palsestric exercises developed the powers 
 of the hody. And even in the case of Socrates, and 
 other moral philosophers, who themselves acted upon a 
 system of self- training, it was only a knowledge of pre- 
 ceptive morality they taught to others. There was no 
 school for the formation of virtuous and benevolent 
 habits, and for elevating the Grecian character into the 
 higher regions of philanthropy, beyond the mere delu- 
 sions of military fame and patriotism. Athens formed 
 the idol of all Grecian hearts, and her glory became the 
 ruling passion of their lives. To advance these, all their 
 education tended, all their physical, mental, and moral 
 faculties were made subservient ; and if, during the victo- 
 rious reign of Alexander, such a course of training raised 
 them to the very summit of fame, shedding a last bright 
 blaze of glory around their country, it was only the light- 
 ning's flash, that extinguished their very existence, and 
 rendered the long succeeding darkness the more awfully 
 profound. On the death of that conqueror, who had 
 advanced civilization wherever his army had penetrated, a 
 reaction took place among other countries, and the recoil- 
 ing waves of barbarism again swept over their classic land, 
 the melancholy history of which thenceforth tells of nothing 
 but crimes and revolutions, anarchv and slaverv. 
 
54 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 The infant commonwealth of Rome was horn and 
 nurtured in blood. Its founder was a fratricide, and his 
 adherents a hand of robhers. Such habits naturally 
 induced a wildness and ferocity of temper among them- 
 selves, and developed a predominancy of animalism in 
 their descendants, rendering them utterly averse to the 
 humanizing influences of art, and mental cultivation. 
 In time this savage disposition, modified by laws adapted 
 to the spirit of such a community, assumed a rigid 
 severity and sternness of purpose, leading them to rely 
 for success in their enterprises upon their native courage, 
 discipline, and perseverance; and as through all the best 
 part of their history, from Romulus to Augustus, they 
 still retained the same grasping and ambitious character, 
 it was only the increasing extent of their dominions and 
 power that elevated those animal qualities into virtues. 
 The very names were synonymous, and bravery in the 
 field was the highest, moral qualification of a Roman. 
 The cultivation of literature, the arts and sciences, was 
 looked upon as effeminating and useless, especially as 
 they found their own discipline and courage sufficient to 
 give them a mastery over other nations more learned 
 and refined than themselves. Being morally un- 
 disciplined, they knew no higher aim in life, than a 
 gratification of their national vanity, or their own indi- 
 vidual selfishness ; and being mentally unenlightened, 
 they could find no better means of promoting these ends, 
 than by training to their highest perfection those physical 
 endowments which had hitherto gained them so many 
 advantages. And though we are accustomed to look 
 upon the ancient Romans with feelings of respect, to 
 admire their prowess in arms, the masculine energy of 
 their minds, and the deep- toned patriotism of their 
 actions, yet these qualities were no more inherent in the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 55 
 
 uneducated Roman, than the uncultivated Dacian, or 
 the barbarous Scythian, and were only developed by the 
 ^education of circumstances, and formed into habits by 
 long and incessant practice. 
 
 A course of special training of the most arduous and 
 almost incredible nature, was necessary to constitute the 
 Roman soldier. War was the only science he knew. 
 To the improvement of this he bent all his thoughts, 
 and to the practice of it all the energies of his body. 
 To be enabled to carry heavier arms than other nations, 
 the soldiers of Rome underwent a course of perpetual 
 labour that increased their vigour, and of exercises that 
 gave them an ease and facility In using them. They 
 were inured to the military pace, that is, to walk twenty 
 miles, and sometimes twenty-four miles, in five hours. 
 During these marches they carried burdens of sixty 
 pounds weight, and habituated themselves to running 
 and leaping in full armour. In their exercises they made 
 use of swords, javelins, and arrows, double the weight of 
 common weapons, and these exercises were carried on 
 without intermission. In their marches, in addition to 
 their weapons and armour, they also carried provisions 
 for fifteen days, and whatever they should have occasion 
 for in throwing up trenches, fortifying their camps, and 
 cutting their way through forests. 
 
 A system -of individual self-reliance was also inspired 
 into the army by such a course of training, as each one 
 more robust, and of greater experience than his enemy, 
 was sure to gain the advantage of him, or if not, to be 
 vanquished by him. Death was the punishment of any 
 one who deserted his post, or turned his back upon the 
 enemy; and so rigid was the principle of obedience to 
 authority, that a general is found putting to death his 
 own son, for conquering without his orders. Such were 
 
50 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 some of the principles brought into operation in the 
 physical training of Eome ; much of it is after the 
 model of a Spartan education, but having a larger 
 infusion of scientific skill, the inertia of her physical 
 resources was more easily overcome, and the scene of 
 her conquests vastly more extensive. 
 
 Home, indeed, may be said to have arrived at a mature 
 age before she commenced any course of discipline 
 beyond what was necessary in the practice of war ; and 
 though among the conquered Greeks she had the most 
 illustrious of examples and the best of teachers, except in 
 the mere arts of rhetoric and poetry she never exhibited 
 any aptitude for their instructions. She resembled an indi- 
 vidual in humble life, who, by a long course of industry, 
 has amassed wealth, and with all his former desires and 
 habits strong upon him, sets about acquiring an elegant 
 education and gentlemanly manners ; but finding these 
 sit ungracefully upon him he abandons the attempt, and 
 affects to despise them. As long friction, however, will 
 polish, in some degree, the roughest material, her inter- 
 course with Greece had- in time some influence in soften- 
 ing and refining her character, and of throwing at least a 
 surface of intellectuality and taste over the essential 
 animalism of her nature. 
 
 This began upon her undertaking the defence of Greece 
 against Philip of Macedon, in the year of Rome 555, 
 from which pretext she ultimately gained possession of 
 the whole country. But the study of literature and elo- 
 quence was never much cultivated before the arrival of 
 the Achaians in the year of Eome 586. These, among 
 whom was the celebrated Polybius, were sent for out of 
 their own country, where they had been disaffected to the 
 Romans, and dispersed throughout several parts of Italy. 
 Being members of the principal cities of Greece, they 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 57 
 
 brought with them a knowledge of many of the liberal 
 arts and sciences of their own country. In a short time 
 their example and instructions had wrought such a change 
 upon the Roman youth, that the senate became alarmed 
 lest their ancient discipline should by such means be 
 corrupted, and the minds of the people enervated by 
 study. A consultation was therefore held how to put a 
 stop to the diffusion of such knowledge, as threatened 
 to induce habits so contrary to the warlike disposition of 
 their ancestors ; and a decree was passed that no such 
 men as philosophers and rhetoricians should be tolerated 
 at Rome. The tree of knowledge had been planted,. 
 however, and though in a rocky soil and ungenial clime, 
 it struggled its way into existence ; but the fruit it bore 
 ever gave evidence of the chilling influence of the one 
 and the iron hardness of the other. 
 
 Had it not been, indeed, for other collateral circum- 
 stances, it might soon have withered away or been eradi- 
 cated. During the time of Cato the censor, when 
 Grecian literature was beginning to be cultivated by the 
 Roman youth, it happened that the Athenians plundered 
 a city of Bceotia, the inhabitants of which referred the 
 case to the judgment of the Sicyonians, who fined the 
 Athenians in five hundred talents. To procure a mitiga- 
 tion of this fine, certain eloquent Athenians were sent to 
 expostulate with the senate of Rome, whose harangues in 
 favour of abstract justice and right so captivated the 
 Roman youth, that henceforth the study of rhetoric and 
 philosophy began to be assiduously cultivated. But the 
 aged Cato took it so much to heart, lest, as he said, the 
 youth should prefer the glory of speaking to acting, that 
 he dismissed the ambassadors as being "persons who 
 could persuade the people to whatever they pleased." 
 The impressions made upon the minds of the youth, 
 
 P 3 
 
58 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 however, in favour of a more refined education than 
 Home then afforded, were not so easily eradicated ; and 
 we are told they grew every day more enamoured of study, 
 and showed as much diligence in their pursuit of know- 
 ledge as they had ever done in their application to war. 
 
 To the opposition given to these studies by the senate 
 of Rome, may, therefore, be traced the origin of another 
 contest between the pow r er of reason and the might of 
 the sword, between intellect and animalism; but the 
 result was different from that in Greece, in which the 
 former prevailed, and became a guiding principle of 
 action, having its attributes deified and worshipped. In 
 Rome physical strength and bravery were ever supreme ; 
 and however much intellectual pursuits might be culti- 
 vated, they were always subordinated to ambitious pro- 
 jects. The study of rhetoric and forensic eloquence 
 opened up a new profession, and the forum became an 
 arena for the exercise of mind, as the Campus Martius 
 was for that of the body. Still the forum was but an 
 auxiliary to the camp. It was the physical might of the 
 army which gave law to Rome. The most influential 
 senators were generally at the same time the most suc- 
 cessful commanders, whose position and renown in the 
 army gave weight to their opinions in the senate. The 
 two professions were indeed partly blended, but that of 
 arms was much the more honourable. The glories of 
 victory and conquest dazzled the moral sense, as the 
 glittering panoply of the warrior and the long triumphal 
 procession captivated the natural gaze. These were the 
 themes on which the orator and poet expatiated, and in 
 moving the people to any purpose their eloquence drew 
 thence its most powerful persuasives. The ablest talents 
 and consummate wisdom of Rome's wisest senators were 
 thus so many moral levers applied in directing and pro- 
 moting the giant strength of their vast empire. Their 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 59 
 
 city was dedicated to Mars, the personification of animal 
 courage in war ; and before the shrine of that brutal deity 
 all the morality and intellect of Eome fell prostrate, doing 
 homage. 
 
 And when the motive is analysed, for what purpose 
 were all these mighty exertions made but to gratify the 
 lowest feelings of human nature, to gain a dominancy 
 over other nations and keep them in thraldom, to advance 
 the mere dignity and importance of Eome ? In effecting 
 this object, too, what scenes of protracted cruelty and 
 oppression were indulged in ! At the end of the first 
 Punic war the gates of the temple of Janus were shut, 
 having remained open for the preceding five hundred 
 years, during all which period wars, rapine, and plunder 
 were being carried on in every part of the known world. 
 The selfishness and cupidity of Eome thus increased as 
 her inordinate desires were gratified, and her intellect be- 
 came more and more distorted by an incessant perversion 
 of reasoning to justify her motives. The empire rose to 
 a gigantic height, but required in consequence a system 
 of physical domination of equal power, to uphold which 
 among foreign nations the most sanguinary wars were ne- 
 cessarily waged, and at home a spirit of blind subserviency 
 to rulers exacted. To perpetuate this power and prolong 
 this thraldom it was obviously the interest of those in 
 authority to dazzle the minds of the people by represent- 
 ing the glories of conquest, of patriotism, and of Eome, 
 as of paramount consideration. Popular knowledge and 
 freedom generally go hand in hand ; and as it was by no 
 means their policy to bestow too large a measure of the 
 latter upon the people, it was found the more convenient 
 way to withhold it by abridging the former. 
 
 But the human mind has within itself a principle of 
 elasticity which in proportion to the pressure laid upon it, 
 increasingly tends to produce a reaction, and which in 
 
60 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the rebound not unfrequently overthrows the authors of 
 its degradation. An individual warrior at length gained 
 the sole command, subordinating all who had formerly 
 been in power, and at once and for ever crushed the 
 republican liberties of Eome. In Csesar there was an 
 ideal concentration of the same physical control that had 
 previously been diffused among the consuls and senators. 
 He thus became the living representative of Rome's 
 tutelar deity, and an embodiment of his attributes ; but 
 being less immortal than his prototype, was unable to 
 bear the first pressure of so much power, and fell crushed 
 beneath it. Nevertheless out of the disordered elements 
 that succeeded his fall, a political fabric was constructed 
 which seemed the very acme of perfection to which the 
 physical principle could attain, and a social pyramid, of 
 which the young Octavius formed the apex, erected out of 
 the same adamantine material. Looking, then, at the 
 imperial city, now in the Augustan age, encompassing an 
 area of some fifty miles, with its four millions of inha- 
 bitants, and within whose walls were the finest specimens 
 of Grecian art, obelisks and columns from Egypt, the 
 most rare and costly manufactures of Asia, gold, silver, 
 and precious stones from all nations, enriched in short 
 with the spoils of a conquered world ; in these we see only 
 the splendid acquisitions resulting from a long and 
 arduous course of special training. And though one 
 must ever admire the power of that principle, which even 
 partially exerted can effect so much; yet the moralist 
 and the Christian can only sigh over the consequences 
 of such misdirected energy, and no other feeling will 
 arise in a well-regulated mind on reviewing those scenes, 
 than would naturally occur on entering the castle of some 
 bold and successful robber, filled with the glittering 
 trophies of his midnight murders. 
 
CHAP.TEK IV. 
 
 It has been said that the progress of a nation from 
 barbarism to civilisation exhibits phenomena in many 
 respects similar to those of an individual passing from in- 
 fancy to manhood ; but the parallel may equally be applied 
 to the entire world. In the infancy of man appetite 
 and passion are the sole impulses to action, and the gra- 
 tifying of these his chief pleasure. But in the progress 
 of life experience develops higher impulses arising from 
 impressions received from external nature, the gratifying of 
 which affords a still higher pleasure. In time reflection 
 teaches him to distinguish more nicely between objects cal- 
 culated to produce pleasure and those that give pain, his 
 self-love seeking its gratification in the former and avoid- 
 ing the latter. As his intellect becomes more matured 
 and a brighter light is shed around his path, he sees yet 
 higher sources of gratification arising out of abstract 
 views of nature, the desire for which is a purely mental 
 craving, and its indulgence equally a mental pleasure. 
 
 In exact proportion, therefore, as any one is enlight- 
 ened, will he be able to discriminate between the sources 
 of pleasure and pain, so far as his mental and bodily 
 nature is concerned ; and a similar course is taken in the 
 gradual development of the moral affections ; but as these 
 lie still deeper in the nature of man, and are passive 
 
62 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 under the influence of external impressions, they require 
 the assistance of a borrowed light to show them what 
 things to choose and what to reject. 
 
 The inexperienced and unaided intellect of man, indeed, 
 is not quite sufficient to enable him to discriminate be- 
 tween what is good and bad either for his body or his 
 mind, much less for the desires of his moral nature. He 
 may, however, see much of the former either by instinct 
 or reason, and choose or reject accordingly; but he requires 
 almost entirely to be shown or rather guided into a 
 proper selection of objects for the gratification of the 
 latter. If no correct guidance be afforded to the moral 
 affections, they will be taken hold of by surrounding 
 objects, and involuntarily trained into the formation of 
 ruling habits, which will be of course productive of happi- 
 ness or misery according to the bias they receive. It is, 
 therefore, of the last importance that a borrowed experience 
 and reflection be called to aid in guiding the outward 
 tendency of these faculties to proper objects. Though 
 passive and yielding in themselves, when trained to ma- 
 turity and excellence they subordinate the whole faculties 
 of mind and body, rendering them instrumental in pro- 
 moting the highest pleasures of which man is capable ; 
 and if they are of a more delicate nature, and require 
 more careful attention than the mental and animal 
 powers, the fruit they yield amply repays such labour, 
 and is infinitely more valuable. 
 
 So has it been, then, in the progress to perfection of 
 the universal man. In the world's infancy his appetites 
 and passions demanded his first care and attention, and 
 to supply these with greater facility the rude arts were 
 invented. From these inventions a mental desire was 
 created, seeking its gratification in kindred pursuits. But 
 as one want satisfied only creates another, the desires of 
 
PHILOSOPHY OP TRAINING. 63 
 
 his moral nature next sought gratification. The full 
 satisfying of these, however, depending not only upon 
 external objects, but in a reaction proceeding from them, 
 to produce which he had no natural desire, having little 
 sympathy with the objects themselves until enlightened 
 reason showed him the advantages of such a reciprocity, 
 it is easy to suppose that a long period in the history of 
 man would elapse ere the happiness arising from such a 
 gratification of the benevolent faculties would be expe- 
 rienced, and much longer before anything like a correct 
 system of principles could be deduced from such a rare 
 practice. 
 
 Yet. as a desire and capacity for this happiness are 
 inherent in the nature of man, many were the expedients 
 resorted to both by enlightened nations and individuals 
 to gratify them ; but all of which proceeding upon the 
 principle of making self the recipient of pleasure without 
 first communicating it to others, failed in supplying the 
 full measure of enjoyment. The admirable moral pre- 
 cepts deduced by the wisdom and experience of Socrates, 
 Pythagoras, and other heathen sages, merely supplied this 
 moral desideratum up to a certain point. They showed 
 the pleasures of the passive rather than of the active 
 virtues, of refraining from doing evil rather than the 
 doing of good, of benevolence rather than beneficence. 
 
 But as bodily and mental action is no less necessary 
 than occasional rest, so is the outward action of the 
 moral powers as necessary to their gratification as passive 
 indulgence. And as the mere stoical benevolence of hea- 
 .then philosophy had thus within it no principle of reaction 
 and self- diffusion, it was consequently inadequate fully to 
 supply the moral necessities of man. 
 
 A higher light seemed, therefore, necessary than that 
 reflected by the unaided intellect of man to discover the 
 
64 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 seeming paradox, that the true secret of moral happiness 
 consists not in the immediate gratification of self, hut 
 in the reflection of a happiness bestowed upon others. 
 It was reserved for the light of the Gospel to introduce 
 upon earth this new principle in moral science ; and in 
 the simple command, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself," there was implanted upon earth a standard prin- 
 ciple of action and a basis of education destined in time 
 to draw around it all the science and philosophy in the 
 world. 
 
 Yet an erroneous practice from a right principle is 
 much more pernicious than a correct practice from a 
 wrong one. Neither the wisdom of the ancients nor the 
 revelation of the Gospel, though adapted to render man 
 as happy as his nature would permit, effected any imme- 
 diate moral revolution upon earth. These served merely 
 as so many lights pointing out the different paths to hap- 
 piness and to misery, but men were left to choose the one 
 or the other, according to their own will. Another element 
 in moral training was therefore necessary, namely, the 
 education of the will and the habits, and this is also 
 abundantly supplied in the rewards held out to those who 
 keep the Gospel commandments. These do not, however, 
 consist in something beyond , the commandments, but in 
 the keeping of them. This is the allurement held out to 
 commence a course of beneficence, the practice of which, 
 though at first disagreeable, engages the mind, and 
 ultimately bends the will in the same direction. By the 
 repetition of such acts the will and practice at length go 
 together, or rather the former precedes the latter, and 
 hence the inward habit is formed, incessantly prompting 
 the outward conduct. 
 
 These principles with others, that taught the supe- 
 riority of kindness, gentleness, and love, over hatred, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 65 
 
 anger, and violence ; the forgiveness of injuries, and be- 
 stowing of benefits in return ; the doing good to others, 
 expecting no recompense, &c, were in reality so many 
 " lights shining in a dark place;" and though destined 
 one day to irradiate the whole earth, they have often 
 been all but swallowed up in profound darkness. They 
 were left to encounter the same obstacles with which other 
 discoveries in morals and physics have often to contend; 
 and in their progress down to us, as if to show by 
 the most striking examples, not only their inefficacy as a 
 rule of life, but extreme danger when entertained as mere 
 speculative opinions, they have in many cases formed a 
 nucleus around which have been gathered, perhaps, 
 more prejudicial errors, giving rise to more human misery, 
 than all the rites of paganism ever produced. In all the 
 preceding systems of heathen superstition* indeed, we 
 find no parallel in atrocious crime to that perpetrated by 
 papal Borne sanctioned by the name of Christianity. 
 This, however, is but a natural consequence of a mis- 
 directed application of the venerative faculties. Of all 
 others these require the most careful education ; other- 
 wise, if excited beyond mediocrity, and unbalanced by 
 reason, their predominance will lead to superstition and 
 zealotism. The revelations of the Gospel contain abund- 
 ant materials for polemical controversy, to indulge in 
 which, is much more agreeable than to reduce its 
 doctrines into individual practice. The early " fathers" 
 embarked heart and soul in these hair-splitting con- 
 troversies, and by their subtle reasonings only ren- 
 dered the mysteries of revelation the more mysterious. 
 To propagate their favourite dogmas, too, no means were 
 left untried, and the streams of heavenly knowledge 
 became at last so troubled by an intermixture of earthly 
 waters as to prove fatal to all who drank them. The 
 
66 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 few sublime precepts of Christianity first communicated 
 to the world became so obscured by the mists of error, 
 prejudice, and superstition, as to be comparatively pow- 
 erless as a means of moralizing the people. Yet, in 
 proportion as they became inefficacious for this end, did 
 they become serviceable in promoting the political and 
 ambitious purposes of those in power. A false light was 
 thus afforded to the venerative faculties, guiding them to 
 the performance of actions directly opposed to the spirit 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 By training these into excess, therefore, the priests of 
 Catholic Rome had, in the people, the most willing and 
 ready instruments for executing their selfish and brutal 
 desires. Eeligion became an engine of temporal power 
 and a means of gratifying the sordid passions of those in 
 authority ; and again were renewed, but under darker 
 colours, the scenes of ancient Rome in the long war 
 of the crusades, in which Palestine, where the blood of 
 Christ was shed to give peace on earth and good-will to 
 men, became one vast reservoir for the blood of those who 
 fought under the influence of the most malignant passions 
 and fiendish hatred. 
 
 Such, then, are some of the effects of a partial and mis- 
 directed education, both in a national and universal point 
 of view. In all these cases the animal and mental de- 
 sires operating under different circumstances were alone 
 the ruling motives ; while the moral feelings, that ought 
 ever to have the ascendency, were kept in abeyance or 
 entirely perverted. No correct system of guidance was 
 ever applied to these in training them into ruling habits. 
 They were ever left to the chance education of circum- 
 stances, or merely enlightened by the teaching of moral 
 precepts. Thus in ancient Rome and Sparta the animal 
 propensities were educated to excess, and became pre- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 67 
 
 dominant. The habits of those nations were such as in 
 general to repress all the finer feelings by rendering them 
 callous both to their own individual sufferings and to 
 those of others. They were buried under an adamantine 
 soil, above the surface of which they were never permitted 
 to appear ; and whatever rays of intellect were emitted 
 merely illumined the soil without warming and calling 
 them forth into life and energy. In Athens an intel- 
 lectual education was unsustained by a sound practical 
 morality. Taste and refinement were there the master 
 virtues, the cultivation of which was certainly much 
 nearer the objects of a humane and civilizing education:; 
 and when we add the gymnasium of physical training so 
 perfect among the Athenians, we have among that people 
 many models after which we ourselves ought to copy. 
 But still these were only a partial education, a polishing 
 of the external man, to the neglect of his higher powers; 
 while the morality that was inculcated was the mere pre- 
 ceptive instructions of Socrates, and the passive virtues, 
 not the diffusive benevolence of the Gospel. In Egypt, 
 the first dawning of literature, the arts and sciences, 
 elicited feelings of wonder, devotion, and superstition; 
 the demoralizing effects of which were only counter- 
 acted by an almost equal devotion to mechanical indus- 
 try and mental improvement. But while the head and 
 the hands were thus engaged, the feelings of the heart 
 were left unregulated. In Carthage, all the powers of body 
 and soul were engrossed in one pursuit, and that the most 
 selfish in which man can be engaged, — the acquisition 
 of riches ; and it needs not, therefore, be told what were 
 the lam en table results of such an avaricious spirit. In 
 papal Rome the religious feelings were called forth into 
 unnatural excitement, and a fanatical zeal for propa- 
 gating the mere dogmas of Christianity, lighted up in the 
 
68 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 hearts of men the worst passions of which human nature 
 is susceptible. 
 
 Thus, in all these different features of character stamped 
 upon man, either by a system of under or over education, 
 may visibly be traced the origin of nearly all the various 
 forms of human misery under which the world has yet 
 suffered. His whole powers have never, in any instance, 
 had a simultaneous development. The balance has ever 
 been disturbed from one cause or another, and strange it 
 is, that the grossest and most earthly parts of his nature 
 have hitherto been always in the ascendant : like the 
 natural chaos of Ovid, the heavenly fires have never 
 emerged from the confused and superincumbent elements, 
 and chosen a place for themselves in the highest citadel. 
 In some of the instances adduced we. see the bodily and 
 mental powers trained almost to the height of perfection, 
 but in no one instance^any system, in operation for moral- 
 izing the habits. All the assistance that art and science 
 could lend were applied in perfecting the former, and if 
 the science of moral training was not altogether unknown, 
 it was never reduced to practice on any extended basis. 
 There has ever been a vast hiatus between a knowledge of 
 its principles and their application as an art, and from a 
 want of which connexion the fruits of virtue have never 
 yet ripened to maturity in any land. The seeds may have 
 been sown, but due cultivation has never been afforded. 
 
 Similar effects are also produced upon individuals by 
 a course of misdirected education, to those which result 
 to communities. In this country, other influences were 
 at work to counteract the bad effects of the evils enume- 
 rated, in a national point of view ; but upon individual 
 character they have had no less fatal an influence. I 
 stop not at present to inquire how, as in the sequel I 
 shall have abundant reason to show. The only inference 
 intended to be drawn from the instances already adduced 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 69 
 
 is, the paramount necessity of having education reduced 
 to the tangible form of a science, studying it as such, 
 and deducing some systematic mode of procedure in 
 conducting the education of a human being. 
 
 Each one of the faculties must be educated, but it 
 must be by different and peculiar means, and each faculty 
 must be exercised upon proper and legitimate objects, 
 before the whole ma?i can be said to have received an 
 education. And that a knowledge of an " art," of such 
 importance in the moral economy of nature, should itself 
 be carefully studied and practised by all who would 
 undertake such a responsible duty, is, I think, no less 
 clear a deduction. 
 
 Like every other art, however, skill or proficiency in it 
 can only be attained by practice. An easy matter it is 
 for any writer on education to prescribe rules for a teacher 
 to follow, but it is a far different and a much more diffi- 
 cult thing to follow them. The surgeon has a much 
 more difficult task to perform when he comes to inves- 
 tigate the nature of diseases and wounds, and apply 
 suitable remedies, than in the calm retirement of his 
 study or the class room, in acquiring a speculative 
 knowledge of anatomy. His head may be filled with 
 correct principles, which a want of manual dexterity may 
 render practically useless. He must both study and 
 practise before he acquire a sufficiency of skill. And so 
 must the teacher before he get acquainted with the art 
 of communicating instruction. Nor can he attain to 
 proficiency in the art by a process of self- instruction any 
 more than the surgeon. It is necessary that he undergo 
 a course of practical discipline founded upon correct 
 philosophical principles. In his own person he must 
 form a connecting link between the art and the science of 
 education. Enlightened by the principles of the latter 
 eh will understand how he ought to instruct, and prac- 
 
70 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 tising after some model, he will at length become trained 
 to the mechanical art. 
 
 An obvious inference hence arises that as an instru- 
 ment for training others, he must first be trained him- 
 self. An apparatus and materials of a different kind 
 are, therefore, necessary to prepare such instruments 
 from those required in a juvenile education. They must 
 be moulded after a certain form, and properly tempered, 
 burnished, and sharpened for the work they have to per- 
 form. They must be correct models to others, and there- 
 fore modelled upon correct principles themselves. Any 
 school where these principles are in operation is a normal 
 school, that is, an institution for exhibiting the rules 
 according to which teachers ought to practise the art of 
 education ; but it will, not be complete without materials 
 for practising with, and a visible pattern to copy after, 
 namely, a model school. 
 
 Such an apparatus is a phenomenon of modern days, 
 and supplies a desideratum which every candid teacher 
 must acknowledge he has felt on entering upon his duties. 
 Hitherto most writers have merely regarded education 
 as a convenient theme for speculation, and most teachers 
 have entered upon the practice of it trusting to their own 
 resources in arriving at a correct system. But it is of no 
 more avail for a teacher, when he comes to the practice of 
 his art, to have merely read an able treatise on education, 
 than for a surgeon to be only speculatively informed 
 regarding the bodily functions. Indeed, in proportion as 
 the science of mind and morals is more abstruse than 
 that of animal physiology, and its principles established 
 upon a more shifting basis owing to the numberless 
 external causes which affect human character, both know- 
 ledge and experience are infinitely more necessary to con- 
 stitute a teacher than a surgeon. But any general system 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 71 
 
 of training to these qualifications has never yet been 
 established to any extent — means have hitherto been 
 wanting in the foundation of normal and model institu- 
 tions for combining a knowledge of principles with prac- 
 tice, so as to bring the didactic art to any degree of 
 perfection. However w T ell educated an individual may 
 be in himself, and however much he may have read and 
 studied books on education, when once he really puts his 
 hand to the work of instructing others, it is at least long 
 before he can find himself at home in the practice. He 
 will find a want of method in all his procedure, both as 
 regards the form of putting questions, and the kind of 
 questions and exercises to be put, in order not only to 
 inform properly, but to train the intellect and guide the 
 moral powers, which the mere reading of educational 
 works can never supply. Neither is it enough that he 
 may have seen another skilful teacher successfully prac- 
 tising the art, or have attended as a spectator at some 
 well-regulated school. He may continue there for years 
 scrutinising the best systems, examining the best modes 
 of framing questions, and witnessing the superiority of 
 moral influence over physical terror in governing the 
 disobedient, and all the mechanical movements and organ- 
 isation of the classes. But, if he does not throw himself 
 into the work, and with sections of the children practise 
 the same modes, endeavour to acquire the same aptitude 
 for communicating instruction, and developing the intel- 
 lect and moral faculties, and the same means of gaining 
 a moral control, for all practical purposes he might as 
 well never have entered the institution. To undergo 
 some probationary course of this kind, is, therefore, the 
 paramount duty of every one who would undertake the 
 responsible duties of a trainer of youth. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Few persons are really aware that there is any difficulty 
 in conveying instruction to the minds of children beyond 
 the fact of getting that same instruction into their own 
 minds, and still fewer how difficult it is. It has been 
 said to be natural to some people to acquire this aptitude, 
 and it may be so to a certain extent ; but such individuals 
 must form an exception to the general rule. There are 
 grown-up people to whom, from a natural infantile sim- 
 plicity and playfulness of manner, children have a much 
 greater affinity than to others of graver habits. And 
 there are some who from a certain facility in narrating 
 striking incidents, or ordinary incidents in a striking 
 manner, will attach children to them, and make their 
 communications sink deep into the minds of the latter. 
 But such instances are by no means more frequent in 
 ordinary life, than the occasional phenomena of certain 
 individuals exhibiting a natural genius for poetry or 
 painting. In the one case it depends upon a superabun- 
 dance of animal spirits and good humour, and on the 
 other, upon a certain concreteness of intellect and minute- 
 ness of detail, giving the power of so individualising 
 abstractions as to render them visible and captivating to 
 the' young mind. A mother is almost the only grown-up 
 person who can naturally accommodate herself to the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 73 
 
 dispositions of her own children, and to this extent she 
 ought to be a model to the teacher of others. But in 
 order to acquire any measure of this pliancy of manner, 
 the man of a different moral habit must be educated up 
 to it. Above his own natural inclination and habits 
 there must be superinduced an artificial nature similar 
 to those dispositions with which he is expected to sym- 
 pathise ; and equally must a return be made to the sim- 
 plicity of nature in picturing out his ideas, and rendering 
 them visible to the concrete intellect of his pupil, before 
 the latter can derive instruction from him. The opinion 
 expressed by Pope concerning " writing," is equally appli- 
 cable in this case. 
 
 " True ease in teaching comes by art, not chance, 
 As those move easiest who have learned to dance." 
 
 Let us reflect for a moment what is the nature of this 
 art. It is simply a process of painting, or picturing upon 
 the mind of another, the same image that is in our own. 
 All description, as every one knows, is analogous to the 
 art of painting. In the former case, the image is pre- 
 sented to the mind through the ear, and by words ; in the 
 latter, through the eye, and by colours. But the object 
 of both arts is the same, namely, the communicating of 
 ideas; and hence the necessity teachers are under, of 
 resorting to pictures and. diagrams, to aid in their verbal 
 descriptions. From a painting, however, the whole idea 
 rises in the mind at once ; but from a description, the 
 image is slowly unfolded, and only seen by the mind 
 vividly or otherwise, according to the accuracy of the 
 description. If, then, it be a difficult art, and one in 
 which few excel, to transfer to canvas the image of 
 an object in such a manner as to convey to the mind a 
 correct idea of its prototype, it is evidently much more so, 
 
 E 
 
74 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 to call up in the mind ideas of absent objects in a palpable 
 form by means of mere words. It matters not how vivid 
 the impression may be on our own minds ; in endeavour- 
 ing to convey a copy of this to another, we may only 
 make a caricature. Any one, not an artist, may have as 
 correct an impression of a landscape upon his mind as 
 an artist himself; but it is only the latter who can trans- 
 fer a copy of that impression to the canvas, so as to 
 enable others to have the same idea or impression. And 
 so is it with the teacher ; it matters not how learned his 
 own mind may be, how well replenished with ideas, 
 and how vividly soever he sees them — there is a power 
 beyond this necessary to produce copies of these ideas on 
 the minds of others. And the difficulty is increased 
 from the circumstance of a matured intellect receiv- 
 ing its impressions in a different way from that of an 
 immature. The cultivated mind of an adult is like a 
 more highly prepared and sensitive surface, that can 
 catch the impression at once, and even through a dim 
 medium ; the mind of a child must undergo a preparatory 
 process, and be subjected to the most favourable in- 
 fluences, before it can take up the picture. And, in fact, 
 it is just this preparatory process that forms the legiti- 
 mate province of a teacher's operations, rather than the 
 painting. Unaware of this, the unskilful teacher com- 
 mences instructing his pupil by the same means by which 
 he attained his own knowledge. He communicates mere 
 abstractions, that can never lay hold upon the unpolished 
 fabric of the young mind, or at least be retained there 
 any time ; and those terms to which he may be accus- 
 tomed to attach certain ideas in his own mind, can 
 awaken no corresponding train of thought in the mind of 
 a child. They are like unassimilated food in the animal 
 system, communicating no aliment to the frame, and only 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 75 
 
 impeding digestion, or similar to the painter's undiluted 
 materials stuck upon the canvas, instantly to fall off again. 
 For example, what idea can arise in the mind of a child 
 regarding a " rich farmer," if he be represented as an 
 *' opulent agriculturist ?" or of a " falsehood,'"' described 
 as " an act of moral turpitude ?" yet such are the terms 
 in which many teachers delight to revel. They deliver 
 themselves of their ideas lucidly enough, perhaps, if 
 grown people were their auditors ; but a little cross-ex- 
 amination of children after such lecturing would show 
 that it was mere writing upon sand. Perhaps a better 
 illustration of this sort of verbal instruction cannot be 
 given, than by repeating the following anecdote taken 
 from the " American Annals of Education." " A gentle 
 man, not long ago, took up an apple to show a niece 
 sixteen years of age, who had studied geography several 
 years, something about the shape and motion of the 
 earth. She looked at him a few minutes, and said with 
 much earnestness, ' Why, uncle, you don't mean that the 
 earth really turns round, do you?' He answered, 'But did 
 you not learn that several years ago ?' ' Yes,' she replied, 
 i I learned it, but I never knew it before.' " It certainly 
 is very evident this young lady must have had one of 
 these identical learned preceptors of whom I am speak- 
 ing. It cannot be supposed that she would be ignorant 
 of the usual vocabulary of astronomical and geogra- 
 phical names, so fluently reiterated at fashionable schools, 
 but for want of some tangible illustration, some picture, 
 ocular or verbal, of the earth's revolution, her mind was 
 as much a blank on that branch of study as before she 
 went to school. And without a close scrutiny into the 
 matter, any one may deceive himself in this way, A 
 single word beyond the comprehension of a child may 
 nullify a whole description, and irreparably mar the 
 
 E 2 
 
76 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 image that was forming in his mind. Unless, there^ 
 fore, ideas be infused into the mind of a pupil in a con- 
 crete form and associated with some palpable object, there 
 is no guarantee that they will remain there any time. 
 And, unless too, the teacher leave his Latinity of style, 
 and be content patiently to administer instruction in a 
 diluted. Saxon phraseology and simple terms, he will only 
 deceive himself as to the result of his labours. 
 
 But training comprehends much more than this. It is 
 something beyond the mere communicating of informa- 
 tiou. It is a cultivation of the intellect itself, leading 
 it to think and to deduce facts and conclusions from its 
 own resources. Teaching is a process simply intended 
 to enlighten and inform the mind, whatever be the nature 
 of the subject communicated ; but training is an agency 
 that takes cognizance of the whole powers both of body 
 and mind. It is, besides, merely the perceptive faculties 
 that are appealed to in teaching, upon which are im- 
 printed ideas of sensation only, or at the most, reflective 
 ideas through the channel of the senses. These faculties 
 are thus the recipients of materials or data, which the 
 judgment combines and arranges, giving birth to original 
 thoughts of its own. Much, therefore, of course, depends 
 upon teaching, as, according to the number and variety 
 of facts and impressions made upon the intellect, has the 
 judgment more or less the means at command of making 
 its selection, and arriving at sound conclusions. In pro- 
 portion to the vividness of these impressions, too, does 
 the mind become enlightened, and the judgment see to 
 form correct opinions. 
 
 Still, this is only a knowledge without wisdom. With- 
 out a sufficiency of information, in reasoning, conclusions 
 may be drawn from too few premises, giving rise to what 
 are called narrow opinions, or opinions resting upon so 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 77 
 
 slender a basis that they cannot be supported. A person 
 who is thus defectively informed, and whose opinions are 
 so easily overthrown, is said to be of a weak understand- 
 ing, compared with another whose opinions stand upon a 
 broader foundation of facts. But the judgment must 
 also be guided in making a proper selection of materials 
 for this foundation. It is not enough that it sees them, 
 and knows their individual qualities ; it must exert itself in 
 selecting and combining in sufficient number and variety, 
 such as are proper to form a sure foundation of argu- 
 ments for its opinions. And the strength of these can 
 only be tested by bringing them into contact with the 
 opinions of another, in which comparison such as are 
 most strongly supported by the evidence of facts, will 
 prevail, just as, in a physical contest, the stronger party 
 will overcome the weaker. Yet the race is not always to 
 the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is it always 
 the individual having his mind best stored with facts, whc 
 is the ablest reasoner. In wrestling, a slender man, well 
 skilled and trained, may overcome a stronger, if less 
 acquainted with the art, and a mind much exercised in 
 thinking, though less informed, will often arrive at more 
 just conclusions than another highly enlightened and 
 learned individual. Practice, therefore, in the art of 
 reasoning, as well as in all other arts, is the true secret 
 of perfection. There may, also, however, be a right and 
 a wrong practice. Every one reasons in one way or 
 another, and puts forth the powers of his mind into 
 action, as naturally as those of his body ; but as in the 
 physical exercise alluded to, in which certain principles 
 must be acted upon, to ensure skill and dexterity, so 
 must the reasoning faculties be artificially cultivated to 
 develop fully their inherent strength. The inexperienced 
 judgment must have a model by which to compare its 
 
78 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 opinions, and this is afforded in the matured and expe : 
 rieneed judgment of another. It must also have some 
 motives held out to it to allure to the practice of judging 
 correctly, which motives form a sort of leading strings in 
 the process of mental training ; and it is a proper under- 
 standing of these, and skill in using them, that con- 
 stitute the indispensable qualification of a mental 
 trainer. 
 
 Between teaching and training the mind, there is 
 therefore a vast difference, and much more professional 
 art necessary to the one than to the other. The former is 
 simply an implanting of knowledge in the mind ; the 
 latter is calling the mind itself into action, and teaching 
 it a process of self- culture. In gardening, it is a much 
 simpler operation merely to plant a tree, than afterwards 
 to prune, bend, and direct its pliant branches. And as 
 the root of the plant draws nourishment from the soil, the 
 latter must also be cultivated and improved, in proportion 
 to the fertility of which, will be the luxuriance and 
 growth of the plant. So, in training the mind, its own 
 native and artificial powers must be drawn out, and 
 rendered available in cultivating and enriching the tree 
 of knowledge so as to bring forth the fruits of wisdom. 
 
 This is best effected by a peculiar mode of interroga- 
 tion, to be explained hereafter, and it matters little for 
 such a purpose what may be the subject of the lesson. 
 By training the tendrils of the vine in a particular direc- 
 tion, the whole plant will follow in the same course ; and 
 the mind may be as much drawn into a habit of observa- 
 tion and reflection from a well-directed lesson on a pin, 
 as from the science of astronomy. A focus of attraction 
 must be presented to the mind to concentrate its ideas 
 upon a certain point, forming a stronger brilliancy, the 
 reflection of which may develop new thoughts and ideas. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 70 
 
 It requires, however, no ordinary insight into the work- 
 ings of the human mind, thus to perceive upon what 
 subjects it is enlightened, so as to reflect from thence a 
 borrowed lustre upon the more obscure, by means of 
 analogy and illustration. By these, the mind is self- 
 illuminated, and reason shown the right path, and it 
 is making use of certain collateral points of information 
 as landmarks to guide it in its course ; but it also requires 
 the outgoing of the mind itself, to arrive at a right con- 
 clusion. The chief difficulty as well as the principal 
 duty of the trainer is, therefore, to overcome the mental 
 inertia by removing all needless obstacles out of the way, 
 rendering the path smooth and pleasant, and giving an 
 impulse by means of some exciting or alluring motive. 
 If this object be attained, that is, if the mind be made 
 willing to enter upon a system, and follow out a method 
 of inductive reasoning, until a habit of close thinking be 
 formed, it will ultimately do the same thing it was shown 
 to do, and find out right conclusions itself. " Where 
 there is a will there is a way," is a proverb equally true in 
 mental development and self-culture, as in anything else ; 
 and it is the trainer's noblest task so to harmonise this 
 will and practice as to produce habits of correct thinking. 
 To form this frame of mind is, therefore, of infinitely 
 more importance than to communicate mere knowledge. 
 The latter can do little more than impart individual ideas 
 and isolated facts ; the former habituates the reasoning 
 powers to embrace a connected train of thoughts and to 
 arrive at general conclusions. A person will become 
 sooner acquainted with the different streets and localities 
 of a large city, if with a little assistance and his own 
 observation he find his way through them, than by 
 putting himself entirely under the guidance of another. 
 By the latter mode he might reach a certain point sooner, 
 
80 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 and by a shorter way, than if he had to find it out himself 
 but by the former, the general direction of the town would 
 be much more strongly imprinted upon his memory, 
 and a habit of attentive observation more fixed, by reason- 
 ing out the position of an unknown point from certain 
 known ones, and thus reaching it, than by being led to 
 the place, or shown it by another. It might also be more 
 agreeable for the time to be guided thither, but it would be 
 more advantageous for the future, to guide himself. Still 
 some assistance and information might be necessary to 
 point out the intricacies and windings of the town to a 
 stranger, and a similar assistance is necessary to guide the 
 unsophisticated mind into a right train of ideas in form- 
 ing a correct judgment. And herein lies the great differ- 
 ence between a trained and a self-taught master. The 
 latter proceeds at once to tell his pupil all he knows, to 
 store his mind with facts, and dates, and circumstances 
 in the abstract, which the mind itself has nothing to do 
 but to receive. Now, if in the case of teaching a pupil 
 unexplained words, they remain in the memory as so 
 many dead letters, no less do these gratuitously imparted 
 ideas only overload its powers without increasing its 
 activity in administering to the judgment. The strength 
 of the mind, like that of the body, is increased by exercis- 
 ing itself, and by having opportunities afforded for 
 reflection, and taking cognisance of its own thoughts and 
 feelings. To guide it into such a channel, therefore, and 
 to supply it with proper materials for reflection, are not 
 matters that fall naturally in the way of the self- instructed 
 teacher. In short, when we consider the complex mechan- 
 ism of the mind itself, its difficulty of being properly un- 
 derstood by the most profound thinkers, and the nature of 
 those instruments and apparatus best adapted to set it in 
 motion, and give it a right direction, and reflect that 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 81 
 
 hitherto no preparatory instruction to the rash operator 
 upon it was deemed necessary, we need scarcely wonder 
 at anything else. 
 
 These, however, are not the only subjects that demand 
 study and practice. The guidance of the moral and 
 religious feelings is a matter infinitely more responsible 
 and difficult, and without some initiatory training no 
 master ought ever to lay his hands upon that sacred work. 
 While mere abstract knowledge and skill may go far 
 to constitute a perfect mental trainer, a vast deal more 
 is necessary to form a moral one. Patience and unfail- 
 ing kindness are, indeed, indispensable qualifications even 
 in mental discipline, but to train morally, the individual 
 must himself be a pattern of all the virtues that adorn 
 humanity; nor must these virtues be passive, but actively 
 employed as instruments in giving birth to others, and 
 in promoting corresponding sentiments in those under his 
 influence. He will require a peculiar insight into the 
 motives that regulate the tempers and form the conduct 
 of children, to apply these beneficially. He must, in 
 short, become a child himself in playfulness and simpli- 
 city of manner, combined with which he must possess the 
 penetration and experience of a sage. 
 
 Were the human mind, as has been supposed, like a 
 sheet of white paper, the task of the trainer would be 
 comparatively an easy one. He could then impress or 
 write upon it whatever character he chose, and the pupil's 
 character would be an exact transcript of that of the 
 master. Preceptive discipline and example might then 
 do all- that was necessary, as no internal counteracting 
 principle would give the faculties an opposite bias. But 
 the moral nature of man is evolved from the physical, 
 and has its root deeply fixed therein. The seed may be 
 planted by the hand of Heaven, but its innate tendencies 
 
 e 3 
 
82 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 receive no inconsiderable bias from the soil in which it 
 has been sown. It may flourish or decay, may never rise 
 above the surface, or bear luxuriant fruit ; but as much of 
 this will depend upon the nature of that soil from which 
 it receives or is denied nourishment, as the outward culti- 
 vation of the trainer. In a word, the first fruits of virtue 
 and vice depend much upon certain constitutional and acci- 
 dental physical temperaments. Still, though a good tree 
 cannot bring forth bad fruit, nor a corrupt tree good fruit, 
 the native excellence of the one may be infinitely deterio- 
 rated by bad management, and the stunted growth and 
 repulsive qualities of the other trained to a high degree 
 of perfection by proper care and attention, and so may the 
 innate tendencies of the moral being be improved or 
 deteriorated according to the cultivation it receives. The 
 form of the moral character cannot, therefore, be arbitra- 
 rily determined by a trainer, as so much depends upon 
 bodily temperament, and the influence of surrounding 
 circumstances. But many of these can be neutralised if 
 pernicious, and taken advantage of if beneficial in rear- 
 ing to maturity the delicate plants of virtue and goodness. 
 There is a much closer sympathy between the physical 
 and moral powers than between the latter of these and 
 the mental, which have more the character of instru- 
 ments in supplying the wants of the others. It is the 
 bodily wants and necessities seeking their legitimate gra- 
 tification, and being denied them, that first gives rise 
 to ill-temper and peevishness. In the absence of lan- 
 guage to express these wants, they are made known by 
 crying and restlessness; and even should such symptoms 
 be appeased by gentle means, if the producing cause 
 has not been removed, the disappointment still leaves 
 a feeling of unhappiness. This first feeling of unhappi- 
 ness or want of feeling happy is, therefore, a moral want 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 83 
 
 arising from the absence of a natural gratification, and 
 has a prejudicial influence upon the general character. 
 Or, on the other hand, if a child feels that crying pro- 
 cures a gratification of its wants, and resorts to it on 
 every recurrence of them, a spirit of selfishness and obsti- 
 nacy supervenes above the gratification of its natural 
 desires. To gratify these wants in their incipient stages, 
 or rather to anticipate them, is therefore, the foundation 
 of moral training ; but to over- gratify them would merely 
 create other wants arising from bodily disease, the unhap- 
 piness of which would no less have a demoralising ten- 
 dency than that produced by the wants of nature. 
 
 The animal nature must thus be kept equally balanced 
 between these two extremes. It is the surplus, defi- 
 ciency, or unsuitable nature of its gratifications that first 
 deteriorates the moral sensibilities. If its physical wants 
 are not fully attended to and supplied, there is no foun- 
 dation laid for developing the higher aspirations, all the 
 child's energies are then directed to the gratification of the 
 former, and a spirit of mere animal selfishness is fostered 
 and kept alive; or, if these be pampered and over- 
 indulged, the consequent physical ailments debilitating 
 the nervous system, also re-act prejudicially upon the 
 moral powers. But when the natural wants are suitably 
 supplied, the feelings overflow in cheerfulness and good 
 humour. The gratifying of a physical want creates, 
 therefore, a moral feeling towards the gratifier, and this is 
 the first outgoing of benevolence that the moral trainer 
 must regulate. If these budding affections be met by 
 the smiles of love and kindness, they will expand like 
 the rose in a genial atmosphere, but if chilled by cold 
 looks and a repulsive manner, they will as certainly wither 
 and die. The atmosphere of a mother's love is, there- 
 fore, prepared beforehand to receive, nourish, and increase 
 
84 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 these feelings. The smile of the grateful infant is met by 
 the beaming looks of the fond mother, and love grows up 
 apace between them. Yet the child must first feel gratified 
 before grateful. The very words indicate that it must be 
 made so ; and when this is done, the moral feeling of grati- 
 tude as naturally arises as the original desire of being 
 physically gratified. The one is the fruit of the other, 
 which when nourished to maturity, amply repays the 
 cultivator. 
 
 A knowledge of what is necessary for this moral culture, 
 must consequently comprehend an acquaintance with the 
 * organisation of the body. It is not enough that love 
 prompts a gratification of the child's animal wants, for, 
 unless that love be guided by principle, it may as readily 
 educe feelings of ingratitude. There must be an enlight- 
 ened discrimination made between the legitimate wants of 
 nature and certain artificial desires, the gratifying of 
 which is alike injurious to body and mind. If the affec- 
 tion of a parent be so strong as to deny nothing that the 
 instinctive impulses of childhood may demand, this over- 
 supplying of the animal wants will create an artificial 
 appetite, the satisfying of which corrupts the physical 
 nature, and prevents the moral feelings of gratitude from 
 arising. The rank weeds of selfishness will overrun the 
 soil, and choke the delicate plants of an indigenous and 
 spontaneous benevolence. When a child thus perceives 
 that its gratification, and not its advantage, is the govern- 
 ing principle of its earliest attendant, it is ruined. It has 
 then gained the ascendency over her, and simply makes 
 her an instrument in the indulgence of its unregulated 
 desires ; and as most of these can afford no natural plea- 
 sure to the one, neither can the other reap any gratitude 
 in return. Hence the reason is, that pampered and over- 
 indulged children are always disobedient and ungrateful 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 85 
 
 to those having the care of them, and intensely selfish in 
 their conduct to all others. 
 
 Thus it is, that a knowledge of physics is a knowledge 
 of the source of morals too. And this is much more 
 necessary in infancy than in after years, when language 
 comes to aid the child in expressing its physical neces- 
 sities. The cries of an infant are the language of nature 
 seeking some relief from pain, but as these are unintelli- 
 gible in themselves, other means must be taken to ascer- 
 tain the cause of complaint. This must simply be inferred 
 from a general knowledge of the physiology of the human 
 frame, and removed by the application of a remedy 
 derived from the principles of the same science. There 
 must be a sound body and an enlightened mode of cul- 
 tivating its powers, and supplying its necessities, before 
 an atmosphere of pure morality can be thrown around it; 
 otherwise, like the exhalations of a marshy soil polluting 
 the natural air, will the affections become tainted and un- 
 healthy under the influence of physical infirmities. But 
 even should these natural wants be anticipated, and the 
 inherent cause of ill-temper and peevishness removed, the 
 same injury may be inflicted upon a child's moral nature 
 by the ill-temper of its early attendant. If the cause 
 be not inherent, it may be communicated from with- 
 out. The atmosphere may be impregnated by vapours 
 wafted from another clime. 
 
 It is not a little upon the manner in which a 
 child's wants are supplied, that its own manners or 
 morals depend ; according to the mode of its own treat- 
 ment will it treat others, and as others feel towards it, so 
 will it feel towards them. No one can esteem a gift, 
 however valuable in itself, if proffered ungraciously. If 
 one's feelings be hurt by the manner of bestowing it, not 
 only does no gratitude arise towards the bestower, but 
 
86 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 both himself and his gift are regarded with natural aver- 
 sion. The intended recipient may, indeed, he termed 
 ungrateful, and, so far as the individual gift is con- 
 cerned, properly so ; but no fault can attach to him for 
 not feeling otherwise, when no attempt was ever made to 
 gratify that feeling. It was an improper feeling that 
 prompted the gift, rendered apparent to the receiver by the 
 manner in which it was offered, and consequently awak- 
 ened no proper feeling in return. And even should 
 necessity compel a reception of the gift, the moral feeling 
 of gratitude would be nothing increased. That must be 
 called forth by other means not at all depending upon 
 the intrinsic value of a benefaction. If a present of 
 money be given to a needy person amid reproaches for his 
 poverty, he will at once perceive that some sinister motive 
 inspired the gift, and will only despise the hypocrisy of 
 the giver ; whereas the few kind and compassionate words 
 of a poor neighbour might instantly elicit the warmest feel- 
 ings of gratitude. The human heart " leaps kindly back 
 to kindness," in infancy, as well as age ; and though the 
 child cannot reason out the cause of his feelings like the 
 man, they are no less regulated by a similar cause. 
 
 As the general conduct of an individual is made up of 
 particular acts, so is the general character composed of 
 individual feelings. If the majority of his actions be 
 good, he is said to exhibit a virtuous conduct, and if bad, 
 that it is vicious. Again, as conduct is the outward fruit 
 of character, it is inferred that an individual whose gene- 
 ral conduct is good, has a good character, and if bad, the 
 reverse. The conduct naturally flows from the character, 
 however much the manifestation of it may be disguised 
 by artifice. But character is only an aggregate of the 
 feelings matured into habits. It is a condition of the 
 moral being produced by a majority of certain classes of 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 87 
 
 feelings, the union and strength of which evolve a corre- 
 sponding conduct. These feelings, it has "been said, 
 originate not so much in any mere gratification of the 
 natural desires, as in the antecedent feelings that prompted 
 such gratification, an instinctive perception of which is 
 conveyed to a child hy the manner of the gratifier, — and 
 there is a certain manner in which every act is performed 
 to a child by its attendant, which at the earliest dawning 
 of consciousness is perceived and appreciated hy the 
 former. Thus manner is the medium through which 
 impressions are first conveyed to the feelings, and is the 
 language or exponent of morals. The affectionate man- 
 ner of a mother towards her child is that expression of 
 her feelings, by which its moral nature is impressed with 
 similar feelings towards herself. And as in literal lan- 
 guage each word conveys an idea, or part of an idea, most 
 of these natural feelings have this appropriate expression. 
 Thus it is that morality is entirely independent of 
 materialism, though arising out of it. It floats around 
 and above it like the atmosphere about the earth, or as the 
 flame of a lamp may often be seen completely detached 
 from the materials that support it. The moral principle 
 both acts upon the material, and is acted upon by it, but 
 is in itself a distinct essence. The whole conduct is, 
 therefore, in a great degree, governed by feelings, and 
 originates in them, while they themselves are impressed 
 upon the character by the language of the affections. If 
 a preponderance of them be good, the character will be 
 generally so; but if evil, the reverse. The mother's affec- 
 tion is the true source of these impressions, ordained to 
 this end by nature, but more than nature is necessary to 
 regulate the manifestation of that affection. If love^ 
 untempered by reason and morality, impress a character 
 upon the child, the latter will become unreasonable in its 
 
88 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 moral desires, and be guided by the blind instinct of 
 feeling alone. Or, if the bare reason and rigid morality 
 of a nurse without much affection be the source of its 
 impressions, the warm feelings of gratitude and love, 
 which are the primary elements of a good character, will 
 be undeveloped. 
 
 A very young child has no moral character, but acts 
 from the impulse of its individual feelings. Its habits 
 being unformed, it is not individually responsible for its 
 isolated actions, and only knows they are right or wrong 
 from the smile or frown, the warning or encouragement 
 of its mother. It has no moral sense of duty beyond the 
 feeling conveyed by these signs. The mother is its con- 
 science-keeper, and the pain felt on committing a wrong 
 action, arises from a sense of having displeased her, or 
 the satisfaction of a right one from having given her 
 pleasure. 
 
 These impressions of pleasure or pain, however, are the 
 means of educating its own conscience. As intellect 
 ripens, and a mother s injunctions are given to avoid one 
 set of actions and perform another, these stand in the 
 place of herself, and are obeyed for her sake. Love to 
 her will constrain obedience to them, and as conscience 
 quickens, a deviation from such commands, or an adher- 
 ence to them, will equally be followed by a moral pleasure 
 or pain. The child is now acting so far upon a principle 
 of abstract morality, the motive to which is filial love, but 
 it is not an abstraction of reason, at least made by its 
 own reason. The mother is still responsible for its con- 
 duct, as it is her wishes that the child obeys ; and the 
 inherent criminality or merit of the action to which the 
 child is instrumental, is hers also. If it be founded in 
 reason and religion, the child is thus drawn by the cords 
 of love into the obedience of a moral principle, or simply 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 80 
 
 trained to do what is right without knowing the reason of 
 so doing. Love habituates into the practice before reason 
 deduces the principle ; hut when the habit is formed, 
 obedience to the principle naturally follows. The mother 
 is thus to the infant instead of God ; she is a moral law- 
 giver, impressing a character upon her child through the 
 medium of its affections. But a more abstract sense of 
 right and wrong must be experienced, before the child is 
 a moral being, acting upon the convictions of its own 
 reason. The child as yet only feels and acts the morality 
 of parental love. As reason dawns, a deduction must be 
 made from this to the absolute requirements and duties 
 of morality. The happiness of obedience to a loving 
 parent in a right action must be shown to be inherent in 
 morality itself, and an ordination of God ; and as it has 
 been felt in particular actions, the mind and habits are thus 
 predisposed to virtue in general. And as in particular, 
 the happiness of obedience increases the child's affection 
 to its parent, so in general, the happiness of an abstract 
 obedience to morality induces and strengthens an affection 
 towards God, the universal parent. When the nature 
 of this connexion is somewhat felt and seen, the child 
 is to that extent a moral agent acting upon the warnings 
 of his own conscience. When reason tells him he has 
 done right, his conscience will feel gratified, or, if wrong, 
 pained. Yet it depends upon the degree of enlighten- 
 ment he possesses, and the previous education of his con- 
 science, whether it yet performs aright its monitorial 
 functions. His intellect must, therefore, be taught the 
 duties of morality, and a course of preceptive instruction 
 keep pace with the formation of his habits. 
 
 Now when a nurse scolds a child for crying, and 
 afterwards supplies its want, the grateful feeling which 
 would otherwise have arisen is repressed, and an emana- 
 
90 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 tion from her own angry spirit implanted in its stead. 
 This " root of bitterness/' by a repetition of the same treat- 
 ment soon bears fruit, manifesting itself in continued 
 crying and peevishness even after its wants have been 
 satisfied. The original cause of this habit may have 
 been removed, but the moral effect is perpetuated by 
 another cause ; and as time develops more fully the same 
 unhappy temperament breaking out in occasional fits of 
 anger and resentment, more violence of temper will be 
 exhibited by the attendant, only adding fuel to the flames 
 of these passions, and training them into an uncontrol- 
 lable bad temper in mature life. 
 
 The manner of a trainer, therefore, independently of 
 inherent physical causes, being thus grafted upon the 
 moral constitution of a child, will bring forth those 
 fruits upon the good or bad qualities of which will depend 
 the ultimate happiness or misery of that child. How in- 
 dispensable is it, then, that those having the earliest care 
 of children should themselves be morally trained, or, at 
 all events, have their natural tempers so schooled into 
 obedience that no outward manifestation of anger should 
 be exhibited before their charge ! Our ignorance of that 
 mysterious union between mind and matter, morals and 
 physics, is yet so imperfect, that the most intelligent and 
 active trainer may fail to detect the origin of many im- 
 moral tendencies in children, which can then only be 
 counteracted after development. But if the light already 
 afforded by mental science were fully applied in practice, 
 how much could be done in training to almost Godlike 
 perfection the capabilities of a human soul ! 
 
 In this department of training, however, neither know- 
 ledge nor skill, perhaps, is so essential as example. Each 
 is indispensable, but no acted character is perfect ; and 
 however skilfully a trainer may demean himself towards a 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 91 
 
 child, if his conduct before others contradict the general 
 tenor of this professional artificial character, much of his 
 training will be nugatory. There is no simulation in na- 
 ture, — all is reality ; and it is the natural conduct of an 
 attendant that is most naturally imitated by the child. 
 If nature and art thus disagree in a trainer, the child's 
 confidence in him is destroyed. Two different standards 
 are presented, and the child if not kept in ignorance 
 how to act at all, will follow those actions apparently 
 the most natural in his guide. The latter must, there- 
 fore, not only do before the child what he wishes him to 
 do, but he must he to him and to all else the same thing 
 he wants him to be. There are, however, no perfect 
 beings any more than perfect actors upon earth, and the 
 frailties of human nature appear as natural and are as 
 easily imitated as its excellences. A knowledge of some 
 art in disguising many of the natural feelings is, there- 
 fore, indispensable in a trainer. There is much more 
 acting in the world than this, and of a much more 
 questionable character. 
 
 Most people are now aware that moral training com- 
 mences in the nursery, but few indeed act upon the prin- 
 ciple in the selection of their nurse. The very fact of 
 such a person being a hireling and a stranger is inauspi- 
 cious. She may bestow the most unremitting attention 
 upon her charge, and be a paragon of faithfulness and 
 care in all things pertaining to its bodily comfort — thus 
 laying a good foundation for moral culture ; but there 
 must be a superstructure also, and it is the untiring love 
 and affection of a mother that are alone equal to such 
 a task. These cannot be hired or bought with a price. 
 Her affection is the only natural source of moral train- 
 ing, for, however much a nurse may act up to such a cha- 
 racter, it is acting still ; and the worst of it is, the mask 
 
92 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 is more frequently assumed in presence of the mother 
 than of the child. Before the former an affection is 
 often feigned towards the child, from interested motives ; 
 hut alone with the latter, her natural temper regains its 
 sway. The irritahility and fretfulness of the child exhaust 
 her patience, and, being fretted herself, she is utterly 
 incompetent to soothe the temper of her charge. 
 
 Besides, among the qualifications of a nurse are seldom 
 or never reckoned those mental attainments necessary 
 to perceive the first outgoings of the intellect and moral 
 powers, and to guide them to proper objects. It is sim- 
 ply a knowledge of bodily wants that is considered 
 essential; but unless a vast deal more supplementary 
 knowledge be brought to the task of mental and moral 
 cultivation, her duties will be but superficially performed. 
 And if the unwise affection of a mother overdo much by 
 gratifying too fully every desire, little, if anything, can 
 be done where that affection is not. Skill and know- 
 ledge may effect a " counterfeit presentment" of it, but like 
 the barren rays of a wintry sun, however bright, they 
 will produce but a scanty harvest of the moral affections. 
 A mother's love is warm as well as bright, under the 
 genial influence of which alone the affections can be 
 brought to maturity ; and no one but a mother can 
 naturally bestow that love. 
 
 A hired nurse — however qualified for her office, men- 
 tally, morally, and physically — is at the best but an artist, 
 and, in nine cases out of ten, a self-taught one. A 
 mother has the inspiration of nature for her guide, and 
 an enthusiasm in her labours of love that never fails. It 
 is, therefore, unquestionably an evil in the very outset of 
 nursery training when these labours cannot be rendered 
 available, and when a child is thus handed over to the 
 stepmother offices of the very best nurse. It is hardly 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 98 
 
 possible that both should agree in their treatment of its 
 physical wants and ailments ; and how much less in any 
 uniform system of mental and moral education ! It is a 
 similar evil to that which often prevails in the education 
 of after life, when children are hurried about from one 
 school to another and one system to another, the con- 
 sequence of which is, that they frequently receive the 
 benefits of none, but the worst parts of all. The kind 
 and judicious advice of an intelligent mother will be 
 often entirely lost by the exhibition of a contrary prac- 
 tice in the nurse. The example of the former is most 
 seen by the child, and, consequently, more imitated than 
 that of the mother. Much, too, of the child's natural 
 affection for its parent is thus turned aside, and the 
 foundation of filial obedience consequently weakened. 
 
 It has been already said that much of the basis of a cha- 
 racter depends upon internal physical causes. This is the 
 reason why some children, even under the same treatment, 
 often exhibit so great a difference in point of firmness 
 or flexibility of temper, one or other of these tendencies 
 becoming apparent among the earliest indications of intel- 
 ligence, and each of them requiring a peculiar manage- 
 ment. The child of a pliant and impressible disposition 
 is, of course, easily managed ; but from this very facility 
 readily imbibes all the more objectionable points of its 
 nurse's character. In after life, too, it as easily falls a 
 prey to. the prejudices and errors of those with whom 
 it may associate, as their better qualities. Such an indi- 
 vidual is seldom of an original turn of mind, has few 
 habits and ideas of his own, but assumes them at second 
 hand from others. This pliancy of manner is, hoAvever, 
 very gratifying to an attendant, as it saves much trouble, 
 but it is often trouble spared at the expense of much 
 that is necessary in fortifying the character against 
 
94 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 falling into a state of comparative imbecility and help- 
 lessness. In this case means should be taken to induce 
 habits of self-reliance, both as regards the supplying of 
 its own bodily wants, and reasoning out the truth of 
 its own ideas and the principles upon which its feelings 
 depend. 
 
 On the other hand, the firm child often requires a vast 
 deal of trouble to make it obey a single command or adopt 
 the simplest habit. It has a will of its own, which 
 requires to be bent and guided into obedience by the 
 influence of affection, not broken into it by violence ; and 
 proper motives of action should be exhibited, that the na- 
 tural force of its character may be expended in legitimate 
 employments. Were the same trouble that is often taken 
 by a nurse to overcome a fit of obstinacy, and to compel 
 a reluctant compliance with some foolish order for the 
 mere sake of enforcing an abstract obedience, employed to 
 find out suitable means of gratifying this energy of will, 
 much more pleasure would result to the one and infi- 
 nitely more advantage to the other. The self-willed and 
 stubborn child is indeed often as much in the right as its 
 nurse, and, despite of its injudicious treatment, in after life 
 becomes not unfrequently one of the choice spirits of 
 our race. 
 
 Such are only a few of the principles essential to be 
 known in nursery training, an ignorance or neglect of 
 which will be found to have developed habits that must 
 be eradicated when a child comes under the influence 
 of a school trainer, — a process which requires no less skill 
 and patience than the original formation of good ones. 
 This, indeed, is the most ungracious and disagreeable 
 part of his duty, requiring an amount of self-training and 
 self-denial that few men can boast of possessing. And 
 smaller still is the number of those who bring to the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 95 
 
 task any of that artistic skill deemed so essential 
 even in the mechanical professions. The mere artist in 
 painting has a long term of apprenticeship to go through 
 to obtain an acquaintance with the paraphernalia of his 
 art : the science of optics is called in to aid him in the 
 admixture of his colours, the mathematics to assist him 
 in drawing perspectively ; models, and masters, and in- 
 structions, are not wanting to complete his information 
 on every point ; and all this to gratify a mere taste, and 
 to cultivate a very laudable, hut insubstantial pursuit ; 
 while the teacher, the great moral painter, whose works 
 must all endure for eternity, for better or for worse, has 
 yet but scanty opportunities afforded him of arriving at 
 anything like perfection in his art. 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Not half a century has yet elapsed since an idea was 
 very generally entertained in this country, that anything 
 like an intellectual education for the humbler classes was 
 a matter of very doubtful propriety. A monopoly of the 
 higher fruits of intellect, as well as of power, was con- 
 fined to the aristocracy ; and, as knowledge is power, an 
 exclusive possession of the one was equivalent to a 
 retention of the other. It was not, therefore, to be ex- 
 pected that those in authority should have any strong 
 desire to diffuse knowledge among the people. But it 
 poured in upon them from other sources, and, instead of 
 passing downwards to the lower classes, improved me- 
 thods of education, like most other moral improvements, 
 first took root among them, and are every day bearing 
 fruit upwards. When the delusive excitement under 
 which all classes laboured during the Napoleon wars, had 
 passed away with the return of peace, the light of truth 
 and the love of freedom pervaded the minds of the peo- 
 ple, and led them to regard themselves as something 
 higher in the scale of creation than the mere automata of 
 a government. A spirit of moral and religious inquiry 
 was also excited, and more enlarged views of the relative 
 duties between man and man were elicited. In conse- 
 quence of this a desire for knowledge increased, and led 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 97 
 
 the people to suggest modes not only of improving them- 
 selves, but of moralising and enlightening the neglected 
 poor around them. And in the van of this heaven- 
 directed movement, as in all others of any real value, 
 the banner of religion is found unfurled. It was a sense 
 of the moral destitution of the children of the poorer 
 classes, that induced Mr. Eaikes of Gloucester, Mr. Fox 
 of London, and other founders of Sunday-schools, to 
 give the first impulse to that benevolent movement. 
 But their early attempts only served to show the vast- 
 ness of the work they had undertaken. A mass of 
 ignorance was found to pervade the lower orders, that 
 even the rapid spread of Sunday-schools was utterly 
 unable to remove, or to reach. Enough was done, 
 however, to draw down upon the originators of these 
 schools the ire of interested parties. But the more they 
 were persecuted the more the good work flourished ; and 
 a foundation of morality being thus laid, a more intellec- 
 tual edifice arose in the erection of increased numbers of 
 day-schools, and improved modes of instruction. To the 
 formation of Sunday-schools, therefore, may be traced a 
 second revival of letters in this country, and a new intel- 
 lectual era, even as to the Reformation we are indebted for 
 the first, and a new religious epoch. And not unlike the 
 Eeformation in another point, was the persecution these 
 schools sustained at the hands of those opposed to them. 
 The two most prominent names in connexion with 
 popular education, are those of Joseph Lancaster and 
 Dr. Andrew Bell. The former, a member of the society 
 of Friends, and the son of a private soldier, moved by a 
 benevolent feeling towards the neglected children around 
 his father's dwelling in the Borough Road, Southwark, 
 opened a school, and fitted it up at his own cost, and 
 mostly with his own hands, in which he ^assembled about 
 
98 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 ninety children. This was in 1798, a period of public 
 distress as well as of public ignorance ; and as necessity 
 is said to be the mother of invention, in this instance a 
 remarkable invention was certainly the result. He found 
 it impossible to give all his attention to the crowds of 
 children who came in upon him, and he was too poor to 
 hire the assistance of others ; when perhaps some ideas of 
 the " marshalled host" received from his father, suggested 
 the famous monitorial plan, afterwards identified with 
 his name and system of teaching. Soon after this, he 
 attracted the attention of the Duke of Bedford ; and in 
 1805 he had an audience with George the Third, who on 
 that occasion uttered the memorable words, " I wish that 
 every poor child in my dominions may be able to read the 
 Bible." 
 
 From 1807 to 1811, it is said, Lancaster travelled over 
 the kingdom well nigh 7000 miles, and lectured to nearly 
 50,000 persons; and the result of his labours are the 
 very many Lancasterian or British Schools, now esta- 
 blished throughout the country, and the central institu- 
 tion of the British and Foreign School Society, which 
 unites and aids them all. 
 
 Almost contemporaneously with this effort of Lancas- 
 ter, (the priority of which, indeed, has been disputed,) and 
 by way of honourable retaliation, a parallel movement was 
 set on foot, and a convenient organ for the purpose was 
 found in Dr. Bell and the Madras system. Hence arose the 
 National School Society. But such an institution cannot 
 with accuracy be called national any more than the former. 
 It is simply, as every one knows, a well-intentioned 
 scheme to teach the doctrines of religion and morality, 
 with a sprinkling of secular instruction to children 
 belonging to the church. This society, however, 
 though it can never be commensurate with the wants 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 99 
 
 of the country, has also effected, within its own sphere, a 
 vast good. 
 
 The British and Foreign School Society, and the 
 National Society, are therefore the only regularly organ- 
 ised schemes for conducting the popular education of the 
 country ; hut unfortunately they are inherently of so dis- 
 similar a character as to preclude all hopes of their ever 
 acting in concert for one ohject. 
 
 Another and a novel feature of modern education, is 
 the more recent formation of Infant Schools. These 
 seem to derive their origin from the Pastor Oherlin, who 
 appointed teachers in each commune of the Ban de la 
 Roche, and paid them at his own expense. He also pro- 
 cured rooms where children from two to six years of age 
 might he instructed and amused. It is to the honour of 
 Mr. Robert Owen, that, with all his errors, he was the 
 first Englishman to establish an Infant School in this 
 country. Lord Brougham also devoted much of his 
 influence and talents in forwarding the same cause ; and 
 Mr. Wilderspin has laboured more than any other, in 
 advocating and founding such establishments. Mr. Wil- 
 derspin, however, claims too much credit for his improve- 
 ments in these schools ; for, like many other inventors, he 
 has simply introduced old ideas under new names. As 
 an instance of this, he lays claim to the invention of the 
 arithmetic on, an instrument consisting of a number of 
 balls in a frame of wire, for teaching children to count. 
 This instrument was described in a work on arithmetic 
 by Mr. Friend some sixty years ago, and is, in fact, the 
 same in principle as the ahacus of the Romans. 
 
 To no one, however, is the cause of early education 
 more indebted for an impulsive movement, than to the 
 amiable but melancholy Swiss, Henry Pestalozzi. In 
 his case, too, as in that of Joseph Lancaster,, necessity, 
 
 F 2 
 
100 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 that stern instructress, prompted many of his best plans. 
 He was born at Zurich, in 1745, of poor but respectable 
 parents. A deep dissatisfaction with existing modes of 
 education gave a stimulus to his inquiries ; and being 
 himself much a disciple of nature, he reduced his own 
 experience to practice, in the work of instructing others. 
 Having selected about fifty pupils from the very dregs of 
 society, he formed his own house into what might rather 
 be called au asylum than a school, in which these chil- 
 dren were provided with food, clothing, and instruction. 
 His object was national, and he desired to show the 
 State how the poor might educate themselves. His 
 plans, however, were defeated ; but the beneficial results 
 of his experience are still before the world; and his 
 method of oral instead of book instruction, of realities 
 instead of signs, will form part of every enlightened sys- 
 tem of instruction while the world stands. 
 
 Since the days of these pioneers in the cause of popular 
 instruction, and by the improvements of others upon 
 their suggestions, light has been streaming in from many 
 sources ; and philosophic minds have bent to the task 
 of methodising those principles, and reducing them into 
 the tangible form of a science. But while enlightened 
 modes have been thus elicited, and an apparatus formed 
 so adequate for raising the tone of morals and intelli- 
 gence through the country, a vast hiatus yet remains to 
 be filled up, in the practical application of these means 
 to the wants of the community. The best instruction is 
 to be had ; but the people have it not. The sun shines 
 high in the heavens, but darkness broods over the earth ; 
 and the fountains of knowledge are pouring abroad their 
 waters, but the land mourneth and is desolate. 
 
 If the conviction, even at the present day, were uni- 
 versal, that the poorer classes ought to be educated, this 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 101 
 
 anomaly, of course, would gradually disappear. But 
 this is far from being the case. Three classes of opinions, 
 or rather of feelings, seem to pervade the public mind on 
 this point. There is a large, and it is hoped, an increas- 
 ing body, who wish to educate the people for the people's 
 own advantage ; aware that there is no evil that may not 
 be dreaded from a state of ignorance, and no real good 
 that may not be expected from an enlightened commu- 
 nity. Another party proceed to the work of educating 
 the poor by compulsion rather than choice, and who 
 would do nothing of the sort, if without some such effort 
 they could equally retain their station and social influ- 
 ence. And a third party, more honest indeed, but still 
 less benevolent, openly decry every attempt to educate 
 the humbler classes. The existence of this party is no 
 chimera. " It is impossible," says the assistant poor-law 
 commissioner, Edward Twisleton, Esq.; in a late report, 
 " to shut one's eyes to the fact, that a certain portion of 
 the upper and middling classes harbour a rooted distrust 
 
 of any plan for the education of the poor Amongst 
 
 many small farmers, and some of the gentry, unwilling- 
 ness to educate the poor is ppenly defended by argument ; 
 and a merchant of a sea-port town gravely assured me, 
 not long ago, that an agricultural labourer was very little 
 above a brute, and that to educate him would merely 
 have the effect of rendering him dissatisfied with his 
 situation in life." While such a diversity of feeling and 
 opinion exists, therefore, it is plain no united universal 
 effort can be expected, either of a national or social 
 nature, sufficient to meet the exigencies of the whole 
 case. That it may tend, in some small degree, to har- 
 monise these conflicting opinions, by disseminating more 
 widely clear views of what education really is, is a princi- 
 pal end the writer has had in view in committing to paper 
 
102 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the preceding and following remarks. It is as necessary to 
 have an acquaintance with the remedy as the disease ; 
 and before a uniformity of opinion can be obtained 
 regarding certain modes of educating the people, the 
 principle at issue must be analysed and understood. 
 
 There are now several Normal Schools in the country. 
 The Glasgow Normal Seminary; the General Assembly's 
 Normal School at Edinburgh, or Sessional School ; the 
 British and Foreign School Society's Model and Nor- 
 mal School, Borough-road, Southwark; the National 
 Society's Central Model School, Westminster ; the Train- 
 ing School, at Battersea, with others. But before pro- 
 ceeding to say a word or two regarding these, I would 
 beg to call attention for a moment to what must 
 surely have struck many as a remarkable feature in the 
 case. If the object of a Normal School be to set up a 
 standard for a correct mode of teaching and inculcating 
 scientific principles, regarding the best means of govern- 
 ing the minds and habits of the young, such institutions 
 must be necessary for all classes of society, the rich as 
 well as the poor. Human nature is the same in all 
 ranks of life ; and the right government of the intellect, 
 and morals, and physics of our common nature, all de- 
 pends upon the application of the same right principles. 
 But these and all other model schools in the country are 
 designed as nurseries for teachers to the poorer classes of 
 society only ; no similar institution has yet arisen to 
 train masters for the higher schools, and tutors to the 
 families of the rich. Connected with the Glasgow Nor- 
 mal School, indeed, a "private seminary" was instituted 
 some years ago, to which from the highness of the fees 
 children of the wealthier classes only were eligible, and 
 this formed a sort of model school, in which the higher 
 branches were taught upon the same great principles that 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 103 
 
 were in operation in the public schools. But even this 
 was given up, or merged into a preparatory collegiate 
 school having no connexion with the public Normal 
 Institution, except occupying one or two of the halls of 
 the building. At first sight, one should say, the cause 
 of this was, that no such institutions were needed for 
 supplying the superior schools with masters ; otherwise, 
 as a lack of means to support them could not be urged, 
 they would have been in existence. A conclusion is 
 here drawn, however, from only one premiss, for although 
 they are not in existence, it may be easily proved that 
 they are much needed. If teaching be an art, and a 
 difficult one, — and few will deny this, — it must also be 
 granted, that, like every other art, it can only be acquired 
 by practice. But where do our higher teachers and 
 tutors acquire the practice of this art ? Certainly not at 
 Oxford and Cambridge I or any other inferior college or 
 school throughout the country ; and it has already been 
 shown that the mere reading about educational systems, 
 or seeing them in operation, is practically useless. The 
 only conclusion must, therefore, be, that whatever art 
 such instructors attain must be self- acquired, and that, 
 too, at the expense of the moral and intellectual havoc of 
 those juvenile minds upon which they first begin to 
 operate and experiment. Of course, as any person of 
 ordinary intelligence may teach himself an art, and 
 acquire a greater or less degree of dexterity in it, according 
 to his natural abilities and application ; so may any one 
 gain an aptitude for teaching, and the moral governance 
 of children, without attending a Normal School. But he 
 cannot do this without first experimenting upon children, 
 and without the children being mentally and morally the 
 worse for such a process. It might as well be expected 
 that an artist, on his first attempt to paint, would pro- 
 
104 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 duce a correct picture, and never spoil a sheet of paper 
 in his life. The mind of a child, in this respect at least, is 
 a tabula rasa, and the blemishes first made upon it by 
 the experimenting teacher are just about as indelible as 
 the misapplied colouring on the material of the painter. 
 It might rather, perhaps, be called a photogenic process, 
 in which similar surfaces presented to the same object 
 under different influences, will carry off very different 
 impressions of that object. A teacher, in the case sup- 
 posed, is the archetype from whom the impression pro- 
 ceeds ; but it depends not a little upon the nature of the 
 medium through which that impression passes, whether a 
 correct likeness or a caricature may be formed, and, con- 
 sequently, whether the receiving material be improved or 
 damaged. 
 
 But though the human mind is a recipient of im- 
 pressions — and indeed the very terms denoting its capa- 
 city of thus submitting to foreign influences are scarcely 
 metaphorical — it is not always, like wax, to retain fac- 
 similes of them. The perceptive faculties may be 
 morbidly sensitive or callously obtuse, or ranging any- 
 where between an extreme quickness and impenetrability 
 of apprehension. In the former instance, an active 
 fancy will not only catch up its ideas at once, but 
 throwing around them certain embellishments of its 
 own, give to the judgment more than the original 
 thoughts of a teacher. Or his language, the medium 
 through which the ideas pass, may be too dazzling for 
 the mind's eye, thus impressing upon it an equally ex- 
 aggerated picture. The mental vision, through the too 
 much light of fancy, will be dazzled and the judgment 
 darkened. In both cases, there may be a union of the 
 real with the ideal ; some truth and some fiction : there 
 may even be a beautiful picture, but no true likeness; and. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 105 
 
 to form correct impressions, the whole must either be 
 rubbed out or chastened down. 
 
 It is not difficult, therefore, to see that the mental 
 fabric is itself injured in the process. If clear and just 
 conceptions on any subject be not obtained, the judg- 
 ment will draw erroneous conclusions, and, as from 
 these, other opinions will be arrived at equally fantastic, 
 like the bend given to a sapling, this tortuous mode 
 of judging in infancy may, if persevered in, be confirmed 
 into a fatal habit in mature years. The imagination 
 will, in this case, be overtrained, and reason left to grope 
 its way into light through the mists of a romantic 
 speculation. Much easier it is to captivate the fancy 
 than to educate the judgment. The former is generally 
 lively and the latter inert. An exuberance of apprehen- 
 sion must therefore frequently be curtailed, and many 
 loose conjectures set aside before a direct appeal be made 
 to reason. The mind must be denuded of this glittering- 
 tinsel, and an exposed surface presented to catch the 
 rays of truth so as to fix down a true impression. 
 
 . Or, on the other hand, there may be an obtuseness of 
 perception, requiring all the light and colouring of fancy 
 to portray the simplest idea. An artificial surface must 
 then be prepared to quicken the mind's perception so as 
 to retain an impression long enough to sink into the 
 understanding. On such a material, even the broad 
 outlines of a picture can with difficulty be drawn. Its 
 colouring must be stronger than nature, and its dimen- 
 sions exaggerated before it can be perceived. The fancy 
 must be enlightened by the contemplation of some 
 analogous and kindred idea, a reflection of which 
 may illustrate the darker shades of the picture and 
 impress the understanding itself. And if it be thus 
 difficult to delineate a rude sketch from nature, how 
 f 3 
 
106 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 much more art and skill are necessary not only to 
 fill up and give a prominence to the same picture, 
 but to depict the minuter shades and details of an 
 image whose archetype is a mere ens rationis — a creation 
 of the mind ! If, in its absence, it be difficult to describe 
 the size, form, arid proportions of the commonest visible 
 object, how much more so to explain, not only its con- 
 crete qualities and uses, but these abstractedly, and even 
 compound ideas and reflections from them ! Simple and 
 concrete terms must be used, and the description worked 
 into the mind by reiterated efforts to impress an idea of 
 the bare object; while its qualities and reflections, like 
 the perspective and fore -shortening of a print, must be 
 measured and compared with those of other visible objects 
 or known ideas to be apprehended. On such a mind, a 
 knowledge of the uses of many objects can only be 
 impressed by seeing them used, and of their qualities by 
 the other external senses, while it is almost entirely in- 
 capable of being brightened up to anything deserving 
 the name of reflection. The fabric receives no polish, 
 but presents a dull hard surface to the moral painter, 
 often defying all his efforts to imprint a mere outline. 
 
 Yet, impenetrable as it may be to receive just and 
 entire impressions, it is not so to admit erroneous and 
 partial views. If a whole picture is not drawn, some 
 members and lineaments of it may be : and the mind 
 filled with these unfinished fragments can only resemble 
 the pages of some initiatory lesson book in drawing. 
 If the mind cannot embrace general views, it conceives 
 limited and distorted notions ; and as the judgment will 
 form conclusions from any premises, from such partial 
 data, delusive reflections and opinions only can arise, 
 thus multiplying the errors without training the powers 
 of reason. Nature without is misrepresented within ; — 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 107 
 
 the impressions have either passed through a false 
 medium, or the surface has not been properly adapted 
 to receive them, and it had almost been better that no 
 artistic delineation had been thus attempted. A con- 
 crete mind, like the latter, should be as naturally educated; 
 otherwise, like a forced plant, it will only bring forth a 
 spurious fruit. A quick intellect, like the former, should 
 almost be permitted to grow by itself, or even retarded, 
 else the excess of its inherent fecundity may consume its 
 own vitality. The precocity of the mind may exhaust 
 the functions of the body. 
 
 Let no one think this is a wire- drawing of the matter, 
 figurative though it be. Few parents, even with all 
 their anxiety, calculate aright the immense influence, for 
 good or for evil, that a teacher exercises over his pupil. 
 The child's mental and moral character insensibly assimi- 
 late to those of his preceptor ; for the mere power of 
 imitation would impress upon the child a corresponding- 
 character to his tutor's, were no attempt made by a single 
 precept to fashion that character. Whatever might be 
 the model, so, in general, would be the copy, for such is 
 the process of nature. But when a wrongly- directed 
 artificial course of preceptive discipline intervenes, the 
 natural character of the tutor is veiled, and a similar 
 artificial covering thrown around that of the pupil. It is 
 not a transcript of the former's own thoughts and feel- 
 ings which is communicated, but certain abstractions of 
 moral science appealing to the understanding ; and the 
 conduct of the latter is too apt to be the offspring of the 
 mere forms and framework of morality, rather than the 
 warm but well-regulated impulses of the heart. A picture 
 is copied rather than the living original. So that, after 
 all, the great and difficult art in the business of education 
 is simply to become artless , and to return to nature. 
 
108 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 But it may be asked, Of what use, then, is a normal 
 school — an institution professedly for the purpose of 
 inculcating the principles of an art in training ? I reply, 
 that to return to nature, even in our own actions, requires 
 some art, therefore more is required to guide the actions 
 of others naturally. It is often an effort of art to become 
 natural in manners — how much more so in morals ! There 
 must be an acquaintance with the powers of the infant 
 mind to prepare them for the reception of impressions, and 
 the skill of art to make these impressions natural. How 
 many of the laws of nature have been undiscovered, and, 
 so far as man is concerned, useless, until science developed 
 and art applied them ! The art of living well is to live in 
 harmony with the laws of nature ; but these laws must 
 themselves first be ascertained before the art of obey- 
 ing them can be prescribed. The point is, first to dis- 
 cover what nature teaches, and to teach accordingly. 
 She furnishes the science of education, and man deduces 
 thence its art. But though art arises thus out of 
 nature, it is no less its province to guide and assist 
 her developments upon principles entirely artificial. 
 The daguerreotype is an artifice to make nature de- 
 lineate herself; but a knowledge of her laws regarding 
 the properties of light and certain chemical ingredients 
 was first given by nature, and merely guided into action 
 by art. Painting is art imitating nature ; but photo- 
 graphy is nature artificialised : and according to the degree 
 of knowledge she communicates to art as her guide, will 
 be the perfection of her delineations. There is nothing 
 natural in artistic painting, of which it is the highest praise 
 to say it has produced an exact resemblance of nature. A 
 photogenic picture is an emanation from nature herself. 
 It is, therefore, the perfection of art to return to nature, 
 and guide rather than imitate her manifestations. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 109 
 
 In like manner the art of training is a natural 
 art. It is not so much an imitation of nature without, 
 as a guiding and development of nature within. Mental 
 instruction is a process of copying external nature ; but 
 mental training is the art of producing original pictures ; 
 creating a beau-ideal of nature. Moral instruction is 
 the art of exhibiting conduct pictured out in precepts, 
 or examples ; but moral training is the art of guiding 
 and unfolding the natural conduct itself. Teaching is the 
 streaming in of light upon the mind, and filling it with 
 natural images ; but training is a preparing of the mind 
 and placing it in harmony with external objects to enable 
 it to retain and recombine these images. As, therefore, 
 it is necessary to understand and practise the principles 
 of photography to produce correct natural pictures, so is 
 it in training, to train naturally. 
 
 A normal school, then, is a moral daguerreotype, an 
 apparatus for concentrating the scattered rays of know- 
 ledge, regarding the natural and moral laws, and bringing 
 them to bear upon the actual purposes of life. The 
 science of education consists in a knowledge of these 
 laws ; and its art, in practising the best modes of render- 
 ing them efficacious in developing the faculties of a human 
 being. The alumni of such a seminary are, therefore, 
 the students and the artists of nature ; and it is only 
 those who approximate to this standard of simplicity that 
 are in proportion qualified to be trusted with the educa- 
 tion of any one, rich or poor. It is no uncommon thing 
 to hear of the poet, the painter, or the sculptor of nature, 
 and such epithets entitle them to rank among the highest 
 of the profession ; and if it be difficult for them to descend 
 to this simplicity, it is equally so for the teacher* and 
 equally does he excel in his art who is able to do so. I 
 say descend, for it is a descent, though it places the 
 
110 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 artist, or the teacher, himself on a high eminence above 
 his competitors ; and before any one asserts that it is an 
 easy matter to be natural in teaching, let him reflect what 
 is meant by the term. Let him think of the difference, 
 in this respect, there is between the man and the boy. 
 What a highly abstractive atmosphere the former lives 
 continually amidst, while the latter is only emerging from 
 the -darkness of chaotic materialism! With the one, 
 names and ideas, thoughts and fancies, are often more 
 prominent than substantial objects ; conventional customs 
 and social forms more powerful than natural feelings, 
 and manners more important than morals. An artificial 
 character has in a manner become natural to him ; and it 
 is something unnatural to divest himself of it, and return 
 to the concretions and substantialities of nature, but 
 which he must do before he put himself on a level with 
 the boy. 
 
 Now, a knowledge of such principles, with many others, 
 or at least skill in practising them, should be consi- 
 dered indispensable in any one who emerges from a nor- 
 mal seminary to teach the very poorest classes of children. 
 But for such a course of training those who are to manage 
 the education of noblemen and gentlemen's sons and 
 daughters, no provision is made at all. If a scion of one 
 of these families falls sick, the parent calls in the skilful 
 and trained physician, whose reputation has been acquired 
 by a long course of study and practice, having for their 
 object the chemistry of nature in its relation to the 
 human irame. He does not employ the mere chemist, 
 eminent though he be in simples and compounds, analyses 
 and syntheses. It is the medical practitioner, not the 
 chemical philosopher, that he knows is best acquainted 
 with the healing art. But when he wants a tutor for the 
 same son, he applies to Oxford or Cambridge,, and inquires 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. Ill 
 
 of the Eegius Professor, who last carried the highest 
 honours of his college. If he is a Bachelor or Master of 
 Arts, such is reckoned a sufficient qualification to enable 
 him to discharge the duties of a tutorship. Yet though his 
 mind may he fiHed with all the lore of antiquity, and all 
 the science of modern times, he is not on that account one 
 whit the better qualified for the task to which he has been 
 selected. Nay, more, the high eminence he has gained 
 is only a collateral proof that he is less qualified. His 
 own mind, amid the complexities of mathematics, and the 
 subtleties of logic, must be drawn far away from the 
 simplicity necessary to communicate elementary know- 
 ledge to young children, and the distance vast indeed, 
 between his own and the unsophisticated mind of the 
 pupil upon whom he has been chosen thus to experiment. 
 To such a person, indeed, the monotonous drudgery of 
 teaching the mere elements of knowledge is often painful 
 in the extreme. Having no specific knowledge of any 
 art in training, he wants the poiver necessary to break 
 down his own acquirements, and turn them to account in 
 educating children. The labour may be immense, but 
 the result fruitless. He may exhaust his own energy arid 
 patience, but the task be still unperformed. He has to 
 wade through the depths of his own learning before he 
 effects a landing on common ground with his pupil. He 
 forgets the rude condition of the boy's mind, and appeals 
 to it in terms as unintelligible as the ideas he is attempt- 
 ing to explain; and as he can perceive no progress on the 
 part of his pupil, he most probably will relapse into a 
 state of careless indifference regarding his work altogether, 
 ascribing his ill success to the stupidity of his charge, or 
 to anything but a want of method in himself. Besides, 
 as the duties of a tutorship are so often undertaken by 
 collegians from hard necessity, or the hone of gaining 
 
112 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 patronage, they must be but superficially performed. It 
 is made a stepping-stone to something better, and, like a 
 stepping-stone, its duties are trampled upon, while the 
 mind is busily engaged in quest of obtaining a higher 
 and more eligible position in society. They are per- 
 formed rather to please the patron than to benefit the 
 pupil, whose temper and disposition are much less studied 
 than the whims and caprices of the former, or, if studied, 
 it may only be as a means of gaining an ascendency over 
 the mind of the parent. 
 
 The same erroneous principle which is here spoken of 
 guides the selection of masters for all public schools of 
 the better classes. It is the talent of the individual that 
 procures him the situation. If a Latin or Greek master 
 be wanted to teach the mere elements of these languages 
 in a grammar school, the profound scholar is fixed upon, 
 he whose memory is best stored with the customs, laws, 
 and manners of ancient Greece and Rome, the history 
 of their battles and conquests, their superstitions and 
 mythologies, and who can himself best translate and write 
 their beautiful but dead languages. The amount of his 
 own abstract knowledge in ancient literature is taken as 
 a proof of his skill in communicating its elements, and 
 the length of time taken to acquire this knowledge held 
 as a guarantee of his fitness for an art to which he 
 has devoted no time. Or, if a mathematical master be 
 required, the fortunate student at Cambridge is the 
 successful candidate. It is seldom suspected that his 
 high qualities will scarcely ever be needed in the situation 
 he is to fill. His aptitude for imparting knowledge is 
 seldom taken into account, or thought of only as a 
 secondary matter. Now, such qualifications may indeed 
 render him eligible as a professor, where less art is neces- 
 sary in teaching, because he would have to operate upon 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 113 
 
 more matured intellects; but for elementary and juvenile 
 grammar and other schools, the mere attainments of the 
 master are secondary pre-requisites. If he is a person of 
 the most ordinary attainments, and able to communi-, 
 cate all he knows, he is a most successful teacher indeed. 
 The successful prize-taker at Oxford, or senior wrangler at 
 Cambridge, would never, in all probability, communicate 
 half so much.- The abstruse mind of a, deep student can 
 have but little sympathy with the intellectual weaknesses 
 of ordinary humanity, much less with the wayward dispo- 
 sitions and eccentric freaks of light-hearted children. Let 
 any one read Sir W. Scott's "Dominie Sampson," and he 
 will there see no overdrawn picture of a specimen of this 
 class. It is evident, that, with all that individual's kind 
 and affectionate manner, his profound learning, and how- 
 ever much Lucy Bertram excelled in the " tongues," and 
 her lost brother might also have done, the chasm was no 
 less " prodigious" between his own abstract and absent in- 
 tellect and the mind of his pupils, than his unwieldy body 
 was greater than theirs. And Sir W. Scott's example 
 and memorable opinion, in the selection of a governess 
 for his own daughters, is a much better testimony still. 
 A young lady " whose temper and disposition" would be 
 in harmony with the children's, were supreme qualifica- 
 tions in his estimation. He cared little about what were 
 usually called "attainments." 
 
 But the strangest part of the anomaly is, that, from 
 these qualifications alone, coupled with a certain degree 
 of clerical rank, is a tutor often selected to teach the 
 mere rudiments of English, — an example of which, if it 
 be not a merely nominal appointment, was lately given 
 to the world in the choice of a preceptor for a pupil of 
 the highest rank in the country. For such a charge, it 
 certainly was not talent but tact that was wanted ; not 
 
114 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 deep learning, but facility in communicating its elements ; 
 not dignity, but playfulness of manner; not the precepts, 
 but the guidance of morality. A man near sixty, how- 
 ever learned and amiable, can have but little sympathy, 
 either mentally or morally, with a child not six, the 
 formation of whose character will therefore be left virtually 
 to the nursery governesses around him, and the menials 
 who tend his physical wants. However well his manners 
 may be regulated by courtly etiquette, the early develop- 
 ment of his moral faculties will be in the power of 
 servants, and take place most rapidly under the guidance 
 of those whose active duties are of a different kind. 
 Before he can discern the difference in the form of his 
 alphabetical characters, his own character will have 
 assumed a more definite form in the eyes of others. His 
 mental and moral education will then formally commence 
 under the most competent instructors that can be had, 
 but whose moral effect being partly eradicative, will be 
 half useless. An undoing of much must take place, 
 before anything can be done. The best of precepts, and 
 most illustrious of examples, will be exhibited for imita- 
 tion, but if any contrary tendency may have been deve- 
 loped by previous nursery treatment, these will fail entirely 
 to correct it. It ,may be softened by the breath of love, 
 and moulded in a different direction by the most assiduous 
 care, but the elasticity of the habit will cause it ever to 
 return, and though modified, will retain a place in his 
 nature, until the sceptre drop from his hands. 
 
 It is true, neither the political nor moral destinies of 
 the country depend upon the chance character that may 
 thus be formed. Fortified by a bulwark of laws and 
 liberty, the British constitution is not dependent upon 
 the caprice of a sovereign's will, but of how much moral 
 influence is that will the source ! and in the disposition 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING, 115 
 
 and character now forming in the future sovereign of 
 these realms, may already have been implanted, much that 
 may ultimately retard or advance the social happiness and 
 prosperity of his empire. A king is the fountain of 
 honour to all his subjects. How necessary, then, to 
 cleanse and prepare the first springs which compose that 
 fountain, that it may flow forth from the bosom of na- 
 ture pure and unadulterated ! He gives a tone not only 
 to the manners, but the morals of those around him 
 which often vibrates to the lowest depths of society, 
 and if struck in unison with the pure morals of nature, 
 will be caught up and re-echoed universally ; but if pitched 
 upon no higher key than a mere political morality, can 
 only awaken a hollow response in the adamant breast of 
 an interested faction. 
 
 While, therefore, such means are now at command for 
 moulding and bringing to perfection the character of 
 our young prince, and so much depending upon the 
 result, it is to be hoped that no prejudice will stand in 
 the way of bringing to the task all the light that science 
 has evolved, and art can practise, in conducting Iris edu- 
 cation. No want of sympathy would exist between 
 the prince and the peasant, the ruler and the ruled, if 
 all were alike the subjects of a moral government. On 
 this, as a basis, should rest the education of every 
 individual, as well as the laws, institutions, and govern- 
 ment of every country. 
 
 In the selection of governesses, a similar error prevails 
 in judging of their qualifications. Among the higher 
 ranks, it is generally young ladies belonging to decayed 
 families that are preferred. So far, therefore, as forming 
 the manners of the pupil is concerned, this will afford a 
 pretty sure guarantee of their fitness. Adversity often 
 improves the manners, as well as refines the character of 
 
116 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 its victims. Its cold breath may chill the more ardent 
 aspirations of the mind, and strip off many of the mere 
 blossoms of outward accomplishment, but it as often 
 leaves behind the richer fruits of virtue and true refine- 
 ment of soul. As, therefore, gentleness of manner and 
 disposition is indispensable in the governess to educe 
 kindred qualities in the pupil, a young lady whose birth 
 has given her an opportunity of mixing with the 
 aristocracy, has been under a good system of training 
 for her task. Her general accomplishments, too, may 
 almost be taken for granted. And, indeed, the female 
 character is naturally more refined than that of the 
 opposite sex; and, if ordinarily educated, any young 
 woman takes more readily to the duties of instruction, 
 than a man. She has a closer sympathy with the 
 feelings and dispositions of children, naturally gliding 
 into their little ways, and leading them by the soft cords 
 of affection, more than the stern airs of command. Less, 
 therefore, of art may be necessary to fit a female teacher 
 for her duties, so far as moral training is concerned. 
 But this very softness and pliability in herself, render- 
 ing her own character a fitter mould for that of her 
 pupil, requires on that account more mental enlighten- 
 ment to guide the impression. Her patience and better 
 temper may proceed from less mental acumen, and if 
 they form a better disposition in the pupil, it may be 
 at the expense of a vast want of mental development. 
 
 What, therefore, is most needed in this case, is an 
 improved system of mental training for herself, and a 
 higher tone of female education generally. What are 
 called the " accomplishments," consist principally of 
 drawing, music, and one or two foreign languages, all 
 of which, as branches of study, are well enough adapted 
 to the female character. But much more than accom- 
 
FHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 117 
 
 plislrment is required in woman. She has a " reasonable 
 soul," whose wants cannot be satisfied by the gratification 
 of mere taste : more than the desires of the palate must 
 be studied in administering to the wants of the body ; 
 the food must be digestive and nutritious, to communi- 
 cate vigour to the frame, and the perceptive faculties of 
 the mind must imbibe not only ideas of beauty, but of 
 truth, that the judgment may digest an aliment suited to 
 its spiritual wants. Instead of the melody of sweet 
 sound, it desires the harmony of sense ; instead of a 
 delicate ear, a correct understanding ; instead of the fair 
 proportions and beautiful colouring of objects, it desires 
 to examine their structures, properties and uses, and 
 instead of the mere words of a foreign language, to 
 investigate the history and morals of those who speak 
 it. There is a power in the female mind of pene- 
 trating far beneath the mere surface of nature, and 
 a strong desire to do so, beautiful though the sur- 
 face may appear. It need not quite desert the realms 
 of fancy, for an occasional sojourn in the domains of 
 reason. The former may be its native province, but 
 the latter, though a foreign possession, is equally its 
 own, and a much richer inheritance. It need not 
 cease contemplating the beauties of the flower garden, 
 though it sometimes cull the fruits of the orchard. Nei- 
 ther is the imagination weakened, but strengthened, by 
 an improvement of the understanding. Unless reason, 
 indeed, guide its erratic propensities, a false taste is 
 engendered, and foolish notions entertained. As the health 
 of the constitution is the best foundation of external 
 handsomeness, so is the soundness of the judgment an 
 equally sure guarantee for the beauty and justness of 
 the fancy. 
 
 Neither would her affections be diminished, but in- 
 
118 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 creased from the same cause. There is a class of feelings 
 unknown to instinct, and the pure offspring of intelli- 
 gence. A savage mother may regard her child with a 
 passion as intense as a civilised parent; in all the 
 animalism of his nature, may rejoice to see him grow up 
 in strength and "beauty, and excel in feats of bodily skill ; 
 but how inferior is it to that affection which delights to 
 perceive the unfolding of his mental and moral nature ! 
 Without reason, a mother's affection is mere instinct, and 
 in proportion to the cultivation of the one, does the other 
 rise above it. Apart, therefore, from the education of 
 circumstances, it depends upon the manifestation of this 
 feeling whether the child grows up in a state of barbarism, 
 or civilisation, or a being possessing the mingled nature 
 of both. How imperative is it, therefore, that female 
 education should be established upon the principles of 
 reason and nature — that the useful should precede the 
 ornamental, and the rational the imaginative ! But in 
 the tyrant laws that govern society, there must too often 
 be a sacrifice of mental research to mere accomplishment, 
 of feeling to artifice, and of substance to shadow ; so that 
 an education in accordance with these conventionalities is 
 not so much art developing nature, as a thing entirely 
 artificial. 
 
 So little, therefore, of pure nature being required in 
 conducting such an education, the most amiable and 
 intellectual governess is not on that account always the 
 best adapted for the charge. The parent wants her 
 daughter to be a fine musician, a fine drawer, to dress 
 and dance well, to have finished manners, and a fashion- 
 able speech, whatever be her natural genius for any of 
 these acquirements — in a word, not only to be artificially 
 accomplished, but superficially educated. An outward 
 display must be made, at whatever inward sacrifice; and as 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 119 
 
 no power on earth can create genius or taste where it is 
 not, the governess fails to satisfy, and is dismissed. Or 
 the parent's unguided affection in the early years of 
 her child may have induced a disposition as unsuited to 
 the moral guidance of a governess, as its natural in- 
 aptitude for the accomplishments. In either case, whe- 
 ther it he the omnipotence of custom that demands 
 compliance with its laws at whatever cost of nature, or 
 that unreasoning instinct that leads a parent so often to 
 take the part of her child, against the necessary restraint 
 of the governess, the latter is placed in a false and 
 hopeless position. 
 
 This, indeed, is only one of a thousand causes, that 
 operate unfavourably between these parties. My present 
 object in stating it is to show the much greater necessity 
 that exists for improving the character of female educa- 
 tion, than that of the female educator ; that it is not so 
 much a fault of that meek and gentle class of beings who 
 from hard necessity conduct it upon erroneous principles, 
 as in society tolerating the principles themselves. The 
 dawn of a brighter day, however, has here also sprung up, 
 and several institutions are now opening throughout the 
 country for raising the tone of female education. Much 
 they were wanted, and much success may they have. It 
 must therefore be a pleasure to every one to read the 
 prospectuses of such seminaries as those in Glasgow, 
 Edinburgh, and London, for educating females upon a 
 principle that nature herself has taught, and for teaching 
 the art of communicating these principles to others. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, the rich seem much in the 
 rear of improvement in having no fixed principles to 
 guide them in selecting instructors for their children, 
 and a vast field of usefulness is here presented to them 
 in establishing institutions for the purpose of qualifying 
 such instructors. A want of this kind is indeed hut a 
 modern desideratum, which time will doubtless supply. 
 It has arisen out of an advanced state of civilisation and 
 intelligence, but affords a suitable fulcrum for an Archime- 
 dean power in still further developing the universal mind. 
 
 The rise of all the professions — the army, the church, 
 the bar, commerce, literature, and the press — in a similar 
 manner, may be traced to the different wants of society at 
 different periods of the world : each marking a distinct era 
 in the moral history of our race. Like the forming 
 habits of an individual, the separate principles that com- 
 pose these professions were long in being consolidated 
 into a system, so as to guide the universal conduct. But, 
 when formed, society naturally falls back upon them as a 
 bulwark of defence against the physical anarchy of nature. 
 They are thus the breast- works of civilisation and refine- 
 ment; but the march of intellect is aggressive in its object. 
 It carries on an incessant war against the sensualism of 
 nature, and though for a time it may entrench itself 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 121 
 
 behind these barriers, it is ever ready to sally forth and 
 raise a new encampment in the enemy's country. In 
 such a crusade, too, it has more to encounter from the 
 prejudices of half civilisation than the entire barbarism of 
 nature. In the former case it has to fight its way 
 through the mists of error before it can subdue the reason 
 and will, while in the latter it has only to appeal to self- 
 interest to carry the inclinations captive. Thus it is in 
 a country such as this, so much under the influence of 
 early habits, yet feeling the want of a higher state of 
 social happiness, the pioneers who would go forth and 
 establish the outworks of moral improvement, are not so 
 much retarded by the difficulties of the undertaking 
 without, as fettered by those within the time-hallowed 
 precincts of custom. Within these circumscribed limits 
 their operations must be confined, otherwise it matters 
 little how beneficial they may be in themselves ; society 
 will either reject the boon or callously wait until it is 
 forced upon its acceptance. At all events, it gives little 
 assistance in forwarding the work or encouraging the 
 labourers who thus step out of the accustomed sphere to 
 reap such benefit. Each of these must stand alone and 
 brave the difficulties from without and the neglect from 
 within, until he gains a footing for himself, and draws 
 around him some equally- devoted spirits, whose united 
 efforts give their position a commanding aspect. Then 
 it is "that society gives a tardy acquiescence to their 
 plans, and, finding the advantages they confer, at length 
 supports them. 
 
 Such is the case at the present day with regard to 
 normal schools. Their abstract utility is pretty gene- 
 rally acknowledged, and their want felt; but the habit of 
 doing what has always been done is still too strong for 
 the adoption of any new principles, however well founded 
 
 G 
 
122 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 in reason and truth. Time, indeed, lias not yet been 
 given fully to mature these principles, to establish their 
 position as laws, whose existence can be traced through 
 their effects upon society. It requires a stronger faith 
 than the evidence of sight to admit them in practice. 
 The individual understanding may acknowledge their 
 necessity, but the national mind does not yet sufficiently 
 feel it. The latter looks more to results, the former to 
 causes. Yet a want of normal instruction, that is, of 
 training nature in harmony with her own laws, is a social 
 and natural want, and, in proportion as it comes to be 
 felt, will society look about for the best means of satisfy- 
 ing it. It will then be seen that something more than 
 the innate qualifications of an individual are necessary 
 in the training art — that though he may be able to teach 
 himself the most abstruse sciences, he may be unable to 
 communicate to others their simplest elements ; and, 
 although his own moral conduct be unexceptionable, his 
 ignorance of the laws upon which it depends may dis- 
 qualify him for educing the same conduct in others. 
 Nothing but tangible evidence, however, will satisfy the 
 public mind on this point, and no better proof can be 
 afforded than by adducing one or two parallel cases from 
 the other professions. 
 
 A young man intending to study as a surgeon, or a 
 physician, enters college, and graduates, perhaps, in phi- 
 losophy and literature ; but he is not, on that account, 
 deemed the more eligible to practise surgery or medicine. 
 He has a course of special training to go through. He 
 has to attend hospitals and infirmaries, and to witness 
 the experienced operator performing his manipulations ; 
 by-and-by he puts to his own hand, and applies the knife 
 under proper direction and guidance ; lectures, and 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 123 
 
 "books, and subjects, and models, and diagrams, are all 
 at his command ; and, after a proper time spent in such, 
 training, he undergoes a strict examination regarding his 
 theoretical and practical knowledge of the art he is about 
 to profess, and, if qualified — as even some are found not 
 to be, with all these opportunities — he receives his 
 diploma, and becomes a surgeon or a physician. 
 
 The student for the Church graduates in philosophy, 
 but neither is he yet qualified for the pulpit. A special 
 course of theological training also awaits him. His 
 own character for piety must be attuned to the sacred 
 work — his knowledge of church history considerable — 
 his homilies display an acquaintance with the subjects of 
 which they treat — his skill in biblical criticism acute— 
 the style of his compositions adapted to the capacity of 
 the ignorant as Well as the learned — and his usefulness 
 and fitness thus guaranteed as far as human observation 
 can reach. Preaching, however, is but another form of 
 teaching ; and even here there is need of improvement, 
 and many a divinity student has expressed the benefit he 
 has derived in attending a normal school, to study the 
 modes there taught of simplifying instruction, that he might 
 adopt the same principle in levelling his discourse to the 
 understanding of an audience. How many learned words 
 and stereotyped phrases are used in the pulpit, which, to 
 the majority of a congregation, are mere sound ! But, 
 with exceptions, the routine of clerical study is artistic 
 and special, and well fitted to train the novitiate for the 
 practice of his holy calling. 
 
 The lawyer has also a long term of special training to 
 undergo. After studying the theory of his profession at 
 college, he attends the chambers of a judicial pleader or 
 conveyancer to benefit by his conversational lectures. 
 
 g2 
 
124 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 Text books are referred to as records of general principles, 
 which are illustrated by particular cases. The peculiarities 
 of a certain deed or declaration, are pointed out in a model 
 document, and at last the pupil is set to practise what he 
 has learned by drawing up similar documents himself. 
 
 The preparation for the bar is also special. It may 
 be true, that the vast framework of statutes and pre- 
 cedents which this profession has thrown around the 
 maxims of natural justice, may occasionally prove an 
 evil in individual cases, but, on the whole, it is necessary, 
 as a bulwark of defence for life and property. It is 
 therefore the intricacy of these statutory forms, that 
 induces the necessity of a distinct profession, an at- 
 tainment of skill in which involves the equal necessity 
 of an intimate and practical acquaintance with its ma- 
 chinery. It is not the knowledge, but the practice, 
 of law that gives success to the practitioner. In con- 
 ducting a prosecution for the matter of a few pounds' 
 value, what an amount of technical art must often be 
 brought to bear upon it ! To impress conviction being 
 the principal object, an appeal to the understanding alone 
 is studied, and in training for the profession, it is that 
 faculty which is chiefly cultivated. The foundation of 
 success must, therefore, be laid not only in a profound 
 knowledge of abstract law, and a vast stock of general 
 information, but in a certain power of laying hold of the 
 most prominent facts and circumstances of a case, and 
 combining these so as best to strike conviction into the 
 minds of a jury. A counsel is thus also a teacher, 
 and the jury his pupils. He instructs them in the merits 
 of his client's case — lays before them certain points and 
 landmarks to guide their minds in a particular direction, 
 and then appeals to their judgment for a verdict in his 
 favour. His opponent, however, endeavours to gain an 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 125 
 
 opposite verdict, by leading their minds in a contrary 
 direction, so that forensic pleading is a mental encounter, 
 in which, in a doubtful case, victory generally inclines to 
 the best reasoner. In special pleading, it may not, 
 indeed, be always the great object to present an abstract 
 truth in the clearest light, but the general intention of 
 the profession is to elicit truth, and forward the ends 
 of justice; to attain which important ends, equally 
 important means are thus employed, and an arduous 
 preparatory course of mental training is, therefore, indis- 
 pensable. 
 
 But it is not necessary to look so high for examples 
 illustrating the principle of special training, as those taken 
 from the learned professions. No mechanic or artisan, 
 whose professional skill depends upon a mere manual 
 dexterity, succeeds in his business unless he serves an ap- 
 prenticeship to it. And the reason is/the formation of a 
 technical habit is not a thing of intuition, but of action. 
 It is not acquired by merely understanding how a thing 
 is done, but by repeatedly doing it. There is a chasm 
 between these two principles, that practice can alone fill 
 up. The former is a mental impression, and the latter a 
 material operation, proceeding from it by an act of 
 volition. The mind is the teacher of the body, but the 
 body is not always either an apt or an obedient pupil. It 
 must frequently be shown how to do some things, before 
 it can do them once properly ; but when once done they 
 are more easily repeated, and when several times re- 
 peated, the mind ceases altogether to instruct the body, 
 which then performs the actions spontaneously.; A young 
 girl, learning a tune on the piano, must first understand 
 all the notes separately, and see where to plant each 
 finger for each note ; but having repeatedly played the 
 tune, her fingers mechanically fly over the keys, un- 
 
126 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 prompted by the mind, an emanation from which seems 
 almost to become materialised among the nerves of her 
 fingers. But if the nervous system that forms this link 
 between the muscles and the mind, be imperfect or un- 
 sound, the communication will be impeded. In this case, 
 however enlightened and willing the mind may be to 
 perform certain acts, these will be counteracted by a 
 derangement of the appropriate nerves. That system 
 must be in healthy unison with the faculties of the mind, 
 and obedient to their impulse, before either a negative or 
 positive habit can be formed, but when formed, that habit 
 leads captive the mind itself. The reason of a drunkard 
 may show him the danger of his vice, yet his nervous 
 system responds not to the warning, but obeys the 
 impulse of a previous habit. The hand of a paralytic 
 man would equally refuse to be plucked from the fire, in 
 obedience to his mere will, as that of a habitual drunkard 
 to refuse the sparkling wine cup within its grasp. The 
 muscles of the former, uncontrolled by the will within, 
 obeys the law of gravitation without; and when the ner- 
 vous system of the latter has been thus deteriorated, 
 reason ceases to regulate his movements, which just as 
 naturally gravitate towards the means of his own self- 
 destruction, as the hand of the paralytic man. There is 
 thus a sort of magnetism between the material organs of 
 the human frame, and external objects, over which, when 
 cemented by repeated contact, the intellect has but little 
 control. It may, and often does, effect the union, but 
 whether beneficial or not, it is too often powerless in 
 attempting to undo its own work. 
 
 There is also much of mechanism in this part of man's 
 nature. In early life he is formed to certain habits — 
 wound up to run a particular course at a certain speed, 
 and however wrong he may afterwards discover that 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 127 
 
 course to be, he cannot, without doing some violence to 
 his nature, overcome the motal inertia, and take a dif- 
 ferent direction. A carriage fitted for one line of road, 
 must be taken off, and have its wheels refitted, to run in 
 another of a different construction; and a man trained up 
 in a certain course of conduct, is unable to get out of it 
 without some external assistance, and cannot pursue a 
 different line without an alteration of the moving springs 
 of that conduct. Or the attraction of his material nature 
 to a certain course must be overcome, as, however 
 much his mind and fancy may be drawn towards another, 
 this mental desire will be all too light to counterbalance 
 the material — the centrifugal force will be overborne by 
 the centripetal. 
 
 Thus it is, that in training either to a moral or a 
 professional habit, an education of the physical as well 
 as the mental nature is indispensable. There must be 
 the active hand, as well as the planning head — a 
 mechanical aptitude for the art, as well as an under- 
 standing of the science. A person may be theoretically 
 acquainted with every employment, and unable to prac- 
 tise one of them, and that not only in the case of those 
 requiring manual labour, but even such as depend upon 
 an exertion of mind alone. Every profession requires also 
 to be worked by a machinery of art peculiar to itself, and 
 to be able to work that machinery requires the special 
 training of its artisans. Set a watchmaker to construct 
 a cabinet, or a carpenter a watch, — a sailor to manage a 
 war- steed in battle, or a soldier to work a ship in a 
 storm — a physician to conduct a law-suit, or a lawyer 
 to prescribe medicine, and, however much skill each 
 may have acquired in his own profession, it will be 
 found entirely nugatory in conducting any other. 
 Hence it is, that by a special application to the principles 
 
128 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 of one profession, it is itself raised to eminence, and 
 brings up with it a class of men skilled in its practice. 
 
 Such, then, would also be the condition of education if 
 more systematically condensed into a profession. It would 
 only be those who, upon examination, were found quali- 
 fied to practise its principles, that would be tolerated as 
 its professors. While moral character and mental attain- 
 ments would ever command respect on their own account, 
 an additional qualification would be deemed necessary to 
 invest with a professional character. But at present there 
 is no bond of union to connect the scattered elements of 
 its science sufficiently to elicit and bring to perfection the 
 art, and instead of attaining to a knowledge of it by 
 action, it is thought to be entirely gained by intuition. 
 Hence it is, that a preceptor for the rich is an exception 
 to the rule by which the members of other professions are 
 tested. The higher classes do not in general tolerate a 
 lay preacher, call in an empirical doctor, employ an 
 unskilful mechanic ; yet they do worse every day ; at 
 least they regulate their choice of a preceptor for their 
 children, from qualifications as foreign to those most 
 necessary to a right discharge of his duty, as it would 
 be to decide the fitness of a clergyman from his 
 mathematics, or a physician from his Greek, and 
 therefore they can have no guarantee that he will 
 prove anything better. 
 
 It is true, that the individual members of a profession 
 do not always agree in the details of its practice. Two 
 medical men may disagree about the treatment of a par- 
 ticular disease, but the same general principles are 
 acknowledged by all. Nor will their difference, most 
 probably, arise so much from an ignorance of the effects 
 produced by certain remedies as from the peculiar nature 
 of the disease. Special diseases require special cures, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 129 
 
 just as particular tempers require extraordinary treat- 
 ment ; but as the bodily functions are governed by inva- 
 riable laws, a uniform knowledge of these is essential 
 to rectify their derangement, and as the faculties of 
 the moral being are equally uniform in their develop- 
 ment, the same general knowledge is necessary to guide 
 them properly. A lengthened experience, arising from 
 an extensive acquaintance with peculiar cases, will there- 
 fore give an increase of skill, in the practice of any 
 profession, but a foundation of permanent success must 
 previously be laid in a knowledge of its first and general 
 principles. The inference that obviously arises from this 
 position is, that a strong necessity exists for institutions 
 to train men to the profession of education, as it is a 
 profession on which so momentous consequences depend. 
 Every candid individual must admit that the duties of a 
 teacher are at least as serviceable to society as those of 
 the clergyman or physician. Many, indeed, will affirm, 
 that his office is of more importance than either of these 
 individually, as the proper sphere of his duties com- 
 prehends a part of the duties of both, or rather forms a 
 sort of connecting link between them. The physical 
 discipline of education is a preventive of many bodily 
 diseases, superseding, in no small degree, the necessity of 
 a physician in after life ; and without a foundation of 
 moral training in infancy, the labours of a clergyman 
 are too often supererogatory. Therefore to endow, or at 
 least to institute, professorships for cultivating the 
 science and art of education, is as indispensable as it 
 is for divinity and medicine. It would, indeed, prove 
 auxiliary to both the latter. And that education is 
 capable of being reduced to a systematic science and a 
 branch of study, may already be seen, though imperfectly 
 developed, in the institutions of which I am about to 
 
 G 3 
 
130 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 speak. But in those places, the benefits of whatever 
 discoveries are making in the science are all confined to 
 the poor, and though every one must hail these symptoms 
 with delight, it is very evident they would have a much 
 more permanent hold upon society in general, if shared 
 by the wealthier classes, and the great principles of 
 the whole fixed down in some national or public insti- 
 tutions. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 All the schools mentioned are, on the admission of 
 the parties themselves, imperfect in some points. Yet, 
 if a comhination of the plans pursued at each, were 
 adopted in some one institution, it is conceived that a 
 pretty near approach to a correct system of normal 
 training might be the result. So far as schools for the 
 industrious classes are concerned, in point of mental and 
 moral training, the normal school of Glasgow certainly 
 maintains a high rank. By mental training, let it ever 
 he remembered, is meant the discipline and development 
 of mind itself, and teaching it to think. I am not aware 
 of any other school of a similar class, where this is so 
 systematically attended to. The framing of the ques- 
 tions, for the most part, is conducted upon the principle 
 of inductive philosophy, and is as far superior to mere 
 interrogatory and dogmatical teaching, as Lord Bacon's 
 Novum Organum is to the hypothetical philosophy of 
 Aristotle. The mind is led by analogy and illustration 
 to explain its own difficulties. These are not explained 
 gratuitously. The pupil must fight his way to truth 
 from collateral data; and this is a first principle that 
 obtains throughout the Glasgow system in all its de- 
 partments, namely, a training to action and self- helpful- 
 ness in all the faculties of a child's nature. In matters of 
 
132 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 science, he is shown how to reason out his own conclu- 
 sions ; in morality, to do good to others, in order to 
 secure happiness to himself; and to become healthy, to 
 exercise his bodily powers, and live in harmony with the 
 laws of nature. To accomplish these all-important ends, 
 certain means are employed of a nature somewhat differ- 
 ent from those in use in other normal schools. The 
 master's own mind is the immediate source whence all the 
 children are trained, and hence the greater responsibility of 
 his charge, than that of a monitorial master, who deputes 
 the most difficult part of his duties to others. It is 
 much easier to teach others how to train, than to train 
 personally. Nevertheless, it is in this individual training 
 that the great virtue, as well as chief difficulty, of the 
 art lies. 
 
 The peculiar characteristic of this plan, therefore, in 
 its external aspect, is the simultaneous education, by one 
 teacher, of a large number of children assembled in a 
 gallery, and so arranged that each pupil comes imme- 
 diately under the eye of his instructor. A difficulty 
 occurs here, however, in getting together a class of 
 children of an average status in point of acquirements. 
 But when this is done, and the system itself to some extent 
 effects an equalisation of attainment, a vein of sympathy 
 pervades the minds of all, connecting them together as 
 one, which renders the task of the trainer much easier and 
 more effective than if he were instructing a single 
 isolated pupil. 
 
 Nor is this sympathy of feeling less powerful in 
 moralising the conduct and habits. A standard of 
 public opinion is formed by which all their actions are 
 tested ; and this moral agency, the presiding mind of the 
 master, if skilled in his duties, may wield with powerful 
 effect. The outward means and opportunities of training 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 133 
 
 to practical morality are also afforded. The play- ground 
 is not only a theatre for physical exercises and recreation, 
 but the platform of moral action, in which the lessons of 
 the gallery come into practical operation. But neither 
 is this arena perfect without the superintendence of the 
 master. He there watches and encourages the kind 
 deed, and represses the vicious tendency, cultivating the 
 delicate germs of virtue, and pruning the rank shoots of 
 vice. There is also a considerable apparatus for purely 
 physical training, such as the circular swing, &c. ; and 
 the mechanical movements and evolutions of going in 
 and out of school, and to and from classes, are superior, 
 but as most of these are in common with other similar 
 institutions, they do not require particular notice. The 
 chief point of difference in these external arrangements, 
 which affects the vitality of the system, is what has just 
 been alluded to in the simultaneous education of numbers, 
 and the immediate contact that takes place between the 
 mind of each individual pupil, and that of the master. 
 In monitorial schools this is not the case ; for no monitor 
 who is a mere scholar himself, can be expected to train 
 his class. He may teach it, but he cannot develop their 
 minds on any subject; and such is the prevailing system 
 in all the London normal schools, though in these 
 places, simultaneous instruction is also partially com- 
 municated. 
 
 In these institutions, however, the moral control over 
 the children seems perfect. The system itself works the 
 school, while the master seems a mere spectator, and yet 
 the ultimate control is vested in him alone. He holds 
 in his hand the reins of government; but, like an easy 
 and tractable steed, the children never feel them. A little 
 boy with the motion of his finger will regulate the 
 simultaneous movement of five hundred children, manv 
 
134 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 of them no smaller than himself, and be as implicitly- 
 obeyed as the master. The principle of subordination 
 to a system is acknowledged and felt by all. Yet no one 
 can enter a monitorial school, without feeling a doubt 
 whether the master ought to allow himself to be a mere 
 spectator of the scene ; what is the use of his own 
 teaching powers, if he does not give the children the 
 advantage of them in a more effectual way than merely 
 sustaining order and diligence in the classes ? True, he 
 teaches the monitors, and they teach the school, and the 
 discipline of an army is brought forward as an analogy ; 
 but, however good military and physical discipline may 
 be in regulating the organic movements of children, it 
 affects but slightly the intellectual and moral training of 
 their minds. The physical discipline of the British army 
 under the Duke of York, was, perhaps, superior to 
 anything ever exhibited by the Duke of Wellington; 
 but one must look at the campaigns of France and 
 Holland, conducted by the former, and compare these 
 with the Peninsula and Waterloo, before estimating 
 aright the superiority of that moral training the latter 
 so successfully infused into his troops. A question, 
 therefore, arises, to what end is this subordination 
 conducive, and what gives spirit and life to that system, 
 of which monitorism is the body ? Passive obedience may 
 be either a good or a bad thing according to the end to 
 which it is a means ; and a great deal more than com- 
 pliance with certain forms is necessary to establish 
 character, and develop mind. A school of a certain 
 number of boys is sectioned out into so many classes, 
 over each of which a boy presides, and to whom the 
 essential work of teaching is committed. But not one 
 boy out of fifty can have a sufficient knowledge of the 
 laws of mind to propose suitable training questions, and 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 135 
 
 cultivate the reflective powers — or patience and assiduity- 
 enough, or even authority to stamp virtuous habits. He 
 at the best but exhibits a faint reflection of the master's 
 plan of teaching, and a very feeble impression must be the 
 result. He may hear lessons, ask questions, and explain 
 words, but he can do little more — while much more 
 requires to be done, that no one else but a master 
 can do. 
 
 How, then, is this surplus of work to be effected, even 
 by him ? In the industrial schools, large numbers of 
 children must necessarily be assembled, and it is im- 
 possible for a master to give his individual attention to 
 each pupil, in going from class to class, — so that they 
 must either be classified under monitors, and only 
 partially taught, or a very small part of them receive 
 effectual teaching. This deficiency would of itself, then, 
 naturally suggest the gallery system, by which the 
 largest possible number could be taught simultaneously. 
 But neither is one man sufficient for this continued 
 exertion, and he, on the other hand, must have recourse 
 to monitorial assistance, to supplement his deficiency. 
 It seems, therefore, that while both simultaneous and 
 monitorial classification have their defects separately, a 
 combination of the two plans might produce the most 
 satisfactory results. But this, again, entirely depends 
 upon the animating principle of either system, separately 
 or conjoined, — upon the spirit that gives vitality to either 
 "body. 
 
 The Edinburgh Sessional School, considered as an 
 institution for training mind, seems to occupy a middle 
 position between the others. It is likewise monitorial 
 in its organisation, and the chief characteristic of its 
 working principle, the explanatory method. It is much 
 in advance of former mechanical systems of teaching by 
 
136 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 mere rote, but still it is teaching only. The sense and 
 meaning of what is read, if not understood, is endeavoured 
 to be conveyed in different terms. One word is explained 
 by its synonyme, and if that is not sufficient, by another, 
 and the spirit or ideas of the text thus attempted to be 
 unfolded. As most of this duty, however, devolves 
 upon monitors, even were it an efficient mode of instruc- 
 tion, it must still be but imperfectly performed. But it 
 is seldom efficient, even in the best hands. To explain 
 one word by another, where the idea is not given at the 
 same time, is like exchanging one coin for another of 
 the same value, without receiving or even knowing the 
 present use of it. It may increase a stock of words in 
 the memory, but does not communicate an equal number 
 of ideas to the understanding. 
 
 Words are not ideas, much less are they things. They 
 are merely the representatives of the latter. Instead, 
 therefore, of explaining one word by another, in an 
 attempt to get at the idea, and thence a knowledge of the 
 object, the process, as nature herself teaches, ought 
 entirely to be reversed. The presence of an object will 
 impress an idea of it, and when this is received, the 
 name should then be communicated, which being either 
 seen or heard, will, in the absence of the archetype, 
 ever afterwards recall that idea. Now every word has a 
 meaning, in some degree different from another, so that 
 one term can never be fully explained by its cognate. The 
 earth is not a globe, neither is a globe a sphere, but the 
 idea under each term is different from the other. The 
 teaching of synonymes, therefore, refers more to analysing 
 the difference than the resemblance of ideas, and is a 
 study for maturer minds. Hence, by this verbal mode of 
 explanation, instead of giving a clearer idea of one 
 thing by the name of another, there is a danger of only 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 137 
 
 giving two words for one, and no idea at all. The natural 
 course of mental abstraction is upwards, from things to 
 ideas, and from ideas to names. If an idea does not 
 occur by its own name, the object should either be shown, 
 or pictured out clearly, and this many words cannot 
 always do, much less a mere synonyme. This kind of 
 teaching to children, therefore, as has been mentioned, 
 can merely give a variety of expression without clearness 
 of definition ; and while, as a whole, the Sessional School 
 exhibits many excellences, these seem to consist more 
 in improvements upon former modes of teaching, than 
 in having adopted, as a basis, the true principles of 
 training. 
 
 German writers, in their numerous treatises on educa- 
 tion, divide it into three heads — pedagogik, didaktik, 
 and methodik— or science, art, and method. The first 
 comprehends simply a knowledge of its principles; the 
 second, the practice of its art; and the third, certain 
 modes of administering that practice. This seems a 
 just and philosophical division of the subject, as between 
 art and method there is a very necessary distinction, as 
 much so, indeed, as between science and art. Method 
 is as much more mechanical than art, as art is than 
 science. Science is a pure operation of mind; art is that 
 operation physically developed; while method is a certain 
 mode of its development. Without knowledge, art would 
 be imperfect, but, without method, imperfectly manifested. 
 Both art and science are necessary to construct a watch, 
 but two workmen, equally scientific and skilful, may not 
 construct an equally good watch. One may have a better 
 mode of doing certain little things about it, which will 
 consequently be better done, while the same things, done 
 in a different manner, may be worse executed. One 
 artisan, from a certain mode of arranging his instruments^ 
 
138 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 having everything at hand and in its proper place at the 
 proper time, will accelerate an operation that requires 
 speed, and thus do it better than another who has a 
 confused mode of arrangement. There may also, how- 
 ever, be different modes of doing the same thing equally 
 well. As fine a polish may be given to a surface by 
 holding the polishing instrument in one way as in 
 another, and a thing may be as speedily and well 
 executed by one arrangement of tools as by another ; 
 still there must be some correct modes of doing a thing, 
 otherwise it cannot be done correctly. Certain methods 
 of administering the art of education are, therefore, as 
 necessary to efficiency in teaching, as a just knowledge of 
 its principles is to lay a proper foundation for the art. 
 
 Now the organisation of a school, whether simulta- 
 neous, monitorial, or mixed, comes immediately under 
 the head of method; and in the schools just alluded to, 
 much imperfection necessarily exists from the classes of 
 children educated in them. In any one school there are 
 far too many pupils to receive efficient instruction from 
 one master. If he had no more pupils than he could 
 educate himself, he would need no assistance, but when 
 the numbers go beyond his personal management, he 
 must call in some kind of aid. If it be as good as he 
 can give, the work will, of course, be as well performed ; 
 but if not, it must be worse. Now, when that assistance 
 is given by mere boys, it must either be applied to 
 inferior work, or the ordinary work done in an inferior 
 manner. Consequently, monitorism is only the remedy 
 of an evil, which would not exist if each master had only 
 a suitable number of pupils for his own individual 
 management. For this reason, a purely monitorial school 
 can hardly be a proper model-training school, so far, at 
 least, as the intellectual and moral work is concerned ; 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 139 
 
 and unless the head master with companies of the 
 children exhibit, in his own example, a model of the 
 art of mental training, and the students also practise 
 the same model under his eye and directions, even this 
 organic apparatus will he incomplete. So far as the 
 writer is aware, there are no institutions where the 
 monitorial system is carried to such perfection as in the 
 Borough-road Training School, and the National Schools 
 at Westminster. It is saying hut little of these excellent 
 seminaries, however, to cite them as good examples of a 
 mere system of organisation. Many of the best disco- 
 veries in the science and art of training, are there 
 adopted, and they annually disseminate over the country 
 hundreds of well-qualified young men, imbued with a 
 similar spirit of improvement. 
 
 The method of education also embraces the arrange- 
 ment of desks, suitable school apparatus, and all those 
 external appliances, which may differ according to cir- 
 cumstances, but without some proper arrangement of 
 which little good can be accomplished. It also regards 
 the attitude and gait of the master, the command of his 
 features, and the very tones of his voice. From these 
 merely organic arrangements, however, it ascends to the 
 purely intellectual and moral arts of the science, taking 
 cognisance of the best modes of teaching all the branches 
 of study, and of training all the powers of the human 
 being. 
 
 In no school does more attention seem to have been 
 paid to the improvement of method in these latter depart- 
 ments than in the village and training schools at Battersea, 
 near London, established and supported chiefly under the 
 auspices of Dr. Kay Shuttleworth, one of the Poor Law 
 Commissioners, whose benevolent exertions have done so 
 much for the cause of education generally. By way of 
 
HO PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 following up this idea, schools of method have been 
 established in the metropolis, in which instructions are 
 given regarding the best modes of teaching the most 
 essential branches of education. It is not intended to 
 enter into a detail of these branches, or the methods 
 pursued in each; an analysis of a few of them may 
 serve to show the philosophical principles upon which 
 they are based. Of these, the first in order is naturally 
 the art of Reading. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Reading is a process by which, at a glance, the mind 
 acquires a knowledge of events, past, present, and future. 
 It is thus a condensed mode of gaining knowledge, and 
 being necessarily complicated, requires much time and 
 practice to become available for that purpose. It is 
 looking at nature through a symbolical medium, but 
 unlike hieroglyphical symbols, in which objects and ideas 
 were delineated and conveyed to the mind by the sense 
 of sight, the connexion between language and objects 
 must be traced mentally. Certain marks, or groups of 
 marks, represent particular sounds, which again signalise 
 certain ideas, or mental pictures of nature. These sounds 
 and words have a merely arbitrary value, and, like the 
 paper currency of a country, are of no use unless sanc- 
 tioned by authority and representing something of intrinsic 
 worth. To read is, therefore, to look at things through 
 the names of their images, by which the mind obtains 
 a secondary reflection merely, and a very faint miniature 
 of nature ; and if it can thus obtain a greater number of 
 ideas in a smaller compass than from a hieroglyphical book, 
 these are necessarily much more obscure individually. 
 
 The eyes of the understanding must, therefore, be 
 prepared for the task by a maturity of development, and 
 trained to it by much practice. The initiating into 
 
142 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 this process also presumes upon a capacity for retaining and 
 comprehending those ideas of which the names are given. 
 These words or names should serve the mind as an index 
 to its knowledge, hut unless associated with the correct 
 ideas, they will only darken the judgment; or if not clearly 
 connected with any ideas, they are of no more practical 
 use, in a mental point of view, than a forged note or a 
 false picture. To read without understanding the mean- 
 ing, is an act of sensation merely, in which the eye in- 
 forms the ear how certain marks should he sounded, and is 
 a similar process to reading music from notes. Scarcely 
 any mental exertion takes place in this operation, and no 
 "benefit is derived beyond gaining possession of an in- 
 strument whose uses have yet to be learned. As by a little 
 practice any one may read Greek fluently, and not under- 
 stand a word of it, so may a child learn to pronounce 
 all the words in English without receiving any ideas from 
 them, there being no necessary connexion between the 
 one and the other. The Greek reader must appeal to a 
 lexicon for his ideas, and combining these with his Greek 
 terms, thus render these latter vehicles filled with thought, 
 whereas before, they were to him mere empty sounds. 
 And the English student must follow a similar course ; he 
 must look into his words to see what they contain, other- 
 wise they will only serve as an indication how to enun- 
 ciate certain vocal sounds, just as the musician is guided 
 by the disposition of crotchet, and quaver in the modula- 
 tion of his tones and the timing of his song. Ideas should, 
 therefore, be communicated simultaneously, or rather 
 antecedently to their names, both oral and written. 
 
 Again, words are combinations of elementary sounds, 
 the marks or letters representing which are equally arbi- 
 trary, and even of these letters the greater part, namely, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 143 
 
 consonants, are also the marks of combined sounds. The 
 voices, or vowels, are the only true elementary sounds, 
 and of these only three, a, e, o, are purely unmixed. 
 These latter require hut one conformation of the vocal 
 organs to pronounce them, and no motion in the organs ; 
 the other vowels require a double conformation, and are, 
 in fact, a sort of diphthong, requiring two half sounds to 
 make them up, and so on through all the consonants. 
 It is evident that no description of these sounds can con- 
 vey a just notion to the ear, how they should be enun- 
 ciated, neither do the names of the characters representing 
 them afford much indication of this. The living voice 
 must pitch the note, and, as far as possible, in doing so 
 the external organs of speech be exhibited in action. 
 These must be imitated and re-echoed by the pupil before 
 he be able to articulate the same sound. This done, the 
 next step is to present to the eye the mark of that sound 
 upon a black board, and to establish a connexion in the 
 mind between them, so that, on the re- appearance of the 
 same mark in future, the eye may inform the ear what 
 particular sound is to be enunciated. 
 
 As many letters in the English tongue, however, have 
 several sounds, a difficulty occurs in remembering this 
 distinction, which obtains as much between the different 
 sounds of the same letter as between different letters, and 
 which can only properly be overcome by practice when 
 letters are being formed into words. When all the ele- 
 mentary sounds have been thus acquired and remembered, 
 the synthetic process commences, and two or more sounds 
 are agglutinated into one, forming a monosyllable, which 
 should also be presented to the eye. 
 
 By this time the pupil, if he remember the separate 
 sounds of each letter, will be able to combine them him- 
 
144 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 self and pronounce the word. If this word he the name 
 of anything unknown to the pupil, a higher process should 
 now take place, — the object, or a diagram of it, should he 
 exhibited, and a connexion established between the name 
 and the thing. Thus, an object and its written name 
 being seen together and associated in the mind, an idea 
 of the former will afterwards be called up by seeing its 
 name, or the name by seeing the object. A parallel course 
 to this is to make the pupil write or trace the letter him- 
 self on a slate after he has seen it on the black board, and 
 there is nothing to prevent all these operations going on 
 at the same time, and almost in the same lesson, namely, 
 reading, writing, and gaining new ideas. 
 
 This way of teaching the alphabet by the sound or 
 powers of the letters rather than by their names, is called 
 the phonic method, and is coming into very general 
 practice in the best schools. In those of the continent 
 it has been long in operation, and within the last few 
 years Dr. Kay Shuttleworth has been the means of intro- 
 ducing it into England, where a trial was first made of it 
 in his training school at Battersea. It is strictly a mental 
 and training exercise, and proceeding upon a principle of 
 nature. To teach the alphabet by the names of the letters, 
 and thence to attempt to form words out of them, 
 requires a constant system of telling, because there is 
 often no connexion between such names and the sounds 
 wanted. Suppose a child knew the names of a and of b, 
 and were requested to join them by the process men- 
 tioned, what could he say, but that it was a, b, or, perhaps, 
 abe, he would never think of pronouncing it ab. Whereas, 
 if he knew the power of a, and of b, the very enunciating 
 of each letter consecutively, would give the true pronun- 
 ciation of the monosyllable. Or were he asked to join e 
 and / from their names, he would, of, course, call it eel. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 145 
 
 and without giving any reason, the master would correct 
 him by simply telling the right sound. 
 
 Children who are taught to read on this now antiquated 
 mode derive very little assistance from knowing the names 
 of their letters. It is even possible to teach a clever boy to 
 read before he knows one-half of their names. After learn- 
 ing the alphabet, too, almost every succeeding syllable must 
 be sounded and every lesson told to them. Their progress,, 
 therefore, depends entirely upon a process of memory in 
 recalling the sounds of whole words as they have been told 
 them, and not in any acquired power of analysing and 
 recombining their elementary sounds. Every new word is 
 acquired in the same way as an individual letter, and the 
 whole language learned like the entire alphabet, by re- 
 peated efforts of memory. Again, when the process is 
 reversed, and an attempt made to analyse words into the 
 names of their letters, or simply to spell vocally, no as- 
 sistance is gained from the entire sound of the word to 
 discover its individual letters. For example, what phonic 
 connexion is there between the word house and the names 
 of the following letters — h o u s e? When, therefore, a 
 child is asked to spell a word in this way, he never thinks 
 how its letters sound, but the sound of the word recalls to 
 his mind a picture of its appearance as seen in the book, 
 and according to the vividness of his recollection will he 
 spell it correctly or otherwise. 
 
 Hence the enormous drudgery to which poor children 
 are often subjected in what is miscalled "learning to 
 spell," a labour without the slightest possible benefit, 
 either as an auxiliary in learning to read or to spell. The 
 use of spelling is not to learn to read, but to copy reading 
 or to convert it into writing, and in this process no sounds 
 are required. It is simply an act of memory recalling 
 the forms of words and the order of their letters,, and 
 
146 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 arranging them accordingly. Spelling is an imitative 
 art, like painting, and may be commenced at any stage 
 of reading, but it can only be done correctly after the 
 words to be spelt have become familiar to the mind in 
 reading. It follows, that the oftener certain words are 
 read, they will have the better chance of being spelt 
 rightly; so that frequent reading and writing will en- 
 sure correct spelling almost as a matter of course. The 
 pupil's first spelling lesson should be simply an act of 
 copying; next, writing from the dictation of another, and 
 then comparing that copy with the printed original; 
 next, to read over a small piece, shut the book and write 
 from memory, then open and compare the two, and, 
 lastly, the constant practice of writing themes, versions, 
 and other original exercises. 
 
 It should never be forgotten how purely instrumental 
 a part of education reading is. It gives to the mind an 
 additional power to that conferred by oral speech, by which 
 its faculties are carried to a higher degree of spirituality 
 and refinement, but it is still only a more efficacious 
 means to the same end. Both instruments, however, are 
 practically useless until by exercise the mind can employ 
 them and understand the qualities of the objects with which 
 they have to deal. Speech serves the purpose of a hand 
 to the mind, by which knowledge, its appropriate food, is 
 procured and prepared for contemplation. Heading is a 
 more artificial instrument put into the hand for obtaining 
 a larger supply, and of a more recherche description. 
 But both are effective only when the mental organisation 
 is capable of receiving and assimilating such an aliment. 
 They are, then, necessary to aid in a higher process of 
 development than that resulting from mere sensation. A 
 more spiritual nature supervenes upon the sensitive, and 
 becomes a distinct essence from it, but it is, nevertheless, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 147 
 
 based upon the latter, and while its roots derive nourish- 
 ment from that soil, its branches drink in a more 
 ethereal aliment conveyed by speech and reading ; it is, 
 therefore, the higher powers of our mental nature to 
 which these administer. 
 
 But long before a child is capable either of speaking or 
 reading, his intellectual education ought to be commenced. 
 The senses are the only inlets of his earliest knowledge. 
 Objects bearing a relation to these should, therefore, be 
 presented to them, and early habits of accurate observation 
 formed. The physical powers of the senses, and the ner- 
 vous machinery attached to them, being thus cultivated, 
 a healthy mental fabric is preparing to receive more deli- 
 cate impressions. As the eye of a child is unable to cal- 
 culate the shortest distance aright, and, it is said, views 
 objects in an inverted position, until experience corrects 
 the error, so the mind's eye must be trained by observa- 
 tion and tangible evidence to gain its first knowledge, 
 which reflection will ultimately establish as axiomatical 
 truths. But as the range of a child's observation is limited 
 to the few chance objects around him, the educator must 
 increase the supply, and bring other objects before him 
 on which his faculties may be exercised. Where the 
 child cannot go into the world, the world in sample 
 must be brought in to him. Fragments of nature and 
 art must be submitted to his touch to convey ideas of 
 their hardness or softness ; to his olfactory nerves 
 to gain ideas of smell ; his ears must be awakened to 
 catch their sound; his eyes to see their form and colour, 
 and his palate to taste their flavour. Such maybe called 
 the education of the senses, and the impressions thus 
 conveyed are ideas of sensation. Things of different and 
 contrary qualities must next be submitted, and their con- 
 trasts or resemblances perceived, which will be the first 
 
 h£ 
 
148 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 effort of the mind at comparison, and the ideas thus 
 gained will he those of reflection. Again, from a percep- 
 tion that several objects and ideas have the same qualities 
 in common, general 'and abstract notions will he derived, 
 and to each of these separate ideas, as soon as communi- 
 cated, must he attached its respective name, the want of 
 which will then he felt to distinguish it from others. 
 
 This is entirely treading in the footsteps of nature, and 
 analogous even to the progress and formation of language 
 itself. Children, before they are taught artificially, have 
 a much greater stock of ideas than of names. They know 
 the nature and qualities of objects, their differences and 
 resemblances, long before they can indicate or express that 
 knowledge. So in the early stages of language, when it is 
 not commensurate to the knowledge of a people, the same 
 difficulty is felt, but partly met by doubling up terms into 
 metaphors, or forming new words out of the fragments of 
 old ones. Every new principle in art or science must be 
 separately named to distinguish its identity. Words, 
 therefore, are a result of necessity, and will as naturally 
 be sought after by a child to denominate a new toy, as by 
 a philosopher to describe a new planet. 
 
 This desire, then, keeps pace with the extension of a 
 child's knowledge, and should be gratified accordingly; 
 but the supply should never exceed the demand, else a 
 spurious verbal knowledge is communicated, darkening 
 the mind to a clear perception of things. The objects 
 should in themselves be so clearly understood as not to 
 be obscured by the intervention of words. They must be 
 transparent through them. Whereas, if they are repre- 
 sented at first through this medium, either a confused 
 notion of them is obtained, or no idea at all. But, neither 
 must reading be neglected when the mind has acquired a 
 certain growth and comprehensibility. Small portions of 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 149 
 
 words, descriptive of known ideas, must be mingled with 
 other unknown terms, which must also he rendered trans- 
 parent by exhibiting a model, a diagram, or a verbal pic- 
 ture of what they represent. Thus, hand in hand must 
 the knowledge of words accompany an understanding of 
 things, each reflecting light upon the other, and both 
 administering to the growth and strengthening of the 
 mental faculties. This discovery of bringing a child into 
 actual contact with the objects of nature, and educing his 
 powers of observation and reflection before teaching him 
 the nomenclature of knowledge, is due to the justly cele- 
 brated Henry Pestalozzi, the morning star of educational 
 reform. With him necessity prompted the plan. He 
 could not be supplied with books and the ordinary school 
 apparatus, and, in attempting to do without them, dis- 
 covered their comparative inutility. His want of artificial 
 means compelled him to return to nature, and develop 
 the stores of information she herself communicates both 
 to teacher and pupil. His lessons on objects are, 
 therefore, the first principles of a truly intellectual 
 education. 
 
 The art of printing, and the diffusion of knowledge by 
 means of printed books, being still a thing of recent ori- 
 gin, much of that blind veneration and awe that formerly 
 attached to letters, still prevails. And in many cases the 
 mere study of dead literature apart from the knowledge it 
 contains forms the principal pursuit in advanced schools ; 
 while the same feelings lead to the idea that, even in ele- 
 mentary education, books are the only necessary instru- 
 ments. But, in point of fact, they should form but a small 
 item in the apparatus of a well-regulated seminary, and 
 consequently, the learning to read them, a very secondary 
 object of school attendance. The most powerful agency in 
 mental development is the, living voice directed by the 
 
150 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 intelligent mind. A master's instructions should spring 
 from the fountain of his own knowledge, and his voice 
 he the channel of conveying that information to 
 his pupil. A clear articulation, together with a correct 
 accent and emphasis, is, therefore, a principal auxiliary 
 to the same end. It is the correct mode of handling the 
 instrument of speech hy which the same truths are more 
 vividly impressed upon the understanding, than by an 
 incorrect utterance. It may he called the mechanical 
 art of speaking, and is equally necessary to attain skill in 
 teaching, as the use of any material instrument what- 
 ever is to its correct application. If one learning to 
 write hold the pen in a wrong way, his letters will be in- 
 correctly traced, and many of them illegible to the eye ; 
 and from the incorrect utterance of words, equally partial 
 and unintelligible impressions are conveyed to the mind. 
 It is still part of the process of mental picturing. The 
 more distinctly that words are spoken, the more clearly 
 is each member of the picture laid upon the mind and 
 the whole filled up, whereas by an indistinct articulation 
 much of what is said is lost before it reaches the mind, 
 and the picture often curtailed of its most essential pro- 
 portions. Speech, too, is the dress of ideas, but apart from 
 the style of this dress its manner is no less to be regarded. 
 A tasteful dress may be worn in so careless a manner as 
 to lose its effect in pleasing the eye, and the best style of 
 language may be neutralised by an inarticulate and un- 
 emphatic manner of presenting it to the ear. Every one 
 knows how much effect is produced in pulpit and forensic 
 oratory by a deliberate articulation, aided by gesture and 
 intonation. These may be called the poetry of manner, 
 and as they appeal to the feelings before the understand- 
 ing, a more ready assent is given to truths so conveyed. 
 By these extrinsic accidents, therefore, popularity is more 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 151 
 
 frequently gained than by the real merits of an orator's 
 matter. The most trite remarks well delivered become 
 dignified into seemingly original truths ; and weak 
 arguments, from the clearness and force with which 
 they are uttered, strike deeper conviction than the most 
 powerful arguments uttered feebly and indistinctly. As 
 formerly stated, all speaking of this nature is simply 
 teaching of a different kind, and the principle applies in 
 a much higher degree in communicating instruction to 
 children. They are, of course, more apt to be led away by 
 specious appearances than grown people. Their keener 
 perception of the language of manner seems indeed to 
 compensate for their inferior power of discriminating 
 truth. They scan the countenance and motion of their 
 teacher, criticise the inflections of his voice and the 
 energy or feebleness of its tone, and thus often arrive 
 at conclusions which his unaided words would either fail 
 to convey or directly controvert. 
 
 Now the same aptitude in children to perceive this in 
 others, affords a facility to impress upon themselves a 
 similar practice in their own use of speech. A clear arti- 
 culation of each syllable, with an accent and emphasis 
 corresponding to the sense, is as necessary, in order to 
 express and impress that meaning aright, as pronuncia- 
 tion itself. Words may be equally misunderstood by 
 an inarticulate as by a wrong pronunciation; and as 
 they may be read in ignorance of what they mean, they 
 may also be articulated so as to convey no definite 
 meaning to others, or a directly opposite one to their true 
 sense. A negative may become an affirmative or an 
 affirmative a negative, while between these extremes it is 
 tone and emphasis alone that regulate every shade of dif- 
 ference. It is evident, therefore, that the meaning of what 
 is read must be previously understood by the pupil before 
 
152 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 lie can modulate the sound of his voice to the proper 
 expression of that meaning. When an actor studies his 
 part of a drama, he strives to enter iuto the feelings of 
 the character personated and to modulate his tones accord- 
 ing to the language of the several passions; and so must 
 the pupil he guided by the sense of what he reads into 
 the proper manner of reading it. 
 
 The best way to induce a habit of correct articulation 
 is to make the pupil pause sensibly between each word 
 and syllable ; to let the preceding sound die away before 
 a new one be uttered, that no two consecutive sounds 
 may run together, marring the effect of each. These 
 pauses must be of longer duration at first, but as the 
 utterance improves, they should gradually approximate. 
 To borrow the simile of an able educationist, these 
 pauses may represent the long letters of one learning to 
 write, which, by degrees, are shortened into half text 
 and small hand, as freedom and dexterity in using the 
 pen are acquired. When this is accomplished, too, not 
 only are the letters smaller but executed with more 
 rapidity, and in proportion to the care taken in forming 
 the large letters will be the clearness and distinctness of the 
 small hand. So in rapid articulation, a mere confusion of 
 sounds is produced, unless by a previously slow enuncia- 
 tion, the vocal organs have been accustomed to utter each 
 syllable with clearness and facility, as well as rapidity. 
 While, then, a distinct articulation impresses thought 
 -more powerfully upon the mind, a correct accentuation 
 and emphasis render language more pleasant to the 
 ear and grateful to the feelings; They are, indeed, 
 the music of language, and adapted to express the 
 passions and sentiments with many different shades and 
 degrees of qualities that have no adequate terms to 
 -express them, and therefore . as necessary to be ac- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 153 
 
 quired in order to give the full meaning of words, 
 as are the different powers of the same letters to 
 give the various pronunciations of the words them- 
 selves. 
 
 It may here he remarked that accent and emphasis are 
 but modifications of the same principle. The former points 
 out to the hearer or reader the most important syllable of a 
 word, and the latter the important word or clause of a sen- 
 tence. Accent also distinguishes between two meanings 
 which sometimes attach to the same word, and thus serves 
 as a sort of compensatory process for the want of an 
 additional word. When I say August, for example, I 
 mean a very different thing from August, gallant from 
 gallant, desert from desert. And by emphasis alone, the 
 meaning of a whole sentence may be changed, by laying 
 the stress upon a different word. In the following well- 
 known example — "Do you ride to town to-day?" the 
 sense may be changed five times, according as one word 
 or another becomes emphatic. The emphatic word 
 generally conveys the principal idea in the sentence, and 
 the natural law of accentuation lays stress upon the root 
 of the word, but an acquaintance with etymology and the 
 harmony of terminations is necessary to discern the 
 law that regulates their conventional position. According 
 to Mr. Walker, " in words from the Saxon the accent is 
 generally on the root ; in words from the learned lan- 
 guages it is generally on the termination; and if to 
 these we add the different accent we lay on some words 
 to distinguish them from others, we seem to have the 
 three great principles of accentuation, namely, the radical, 
 the terminational, and the distinctive." It may not, 
 indeed, be necessary for every teacher thus to ascertain 
 the nature and origin of accent and emphasis, but he must 
 at least be familiar with their use, and able to analyse 
 
 H 8 
 
154 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 them to his pupils so as to train them into the prac- 
 tice of this much- neglected part of intellectual education. 
 As the pupil advances in a knowledge of what he 
 reads, and the manner of reading it, a still' higher 
 analytical and synthetical process awaits him in that of 
 etymology. He must he able not only to pronounce 
 and know the meaning of his words, but also to see 
 how that meaning is evolved from them, — not only 
 skilled in handling his literary instrument, but able 
 to analyse its component parts. This, however, can 
 only be a comparative analysis, as the tracing of 
 words to their primitive elemental condition is a study 
 too abstruse, not only for the schoolboy, but the pro- 
 foundest philologist. The reason is, that the process of 
 agglutinating sounds into words commences long before 
 these words are transmitted to posterity in writing. The 
 phonic method of teaching to read, by joining into 
 monosyllables the elementary sounds of the alphabet, is 
 precisely the way in which an oral language is first 
 formed. A thorough course of etymology would there- 
 fore require to analyse words into their primitive 
 sounds, for it is certain that all words were at first 
 simple monosyllables — at least, the farther any language 
 is traced up to its source, the more attenuated does it 
 become, and words of a complex sound become the fewer. 
 Thus the whole of a language, in its early state, con- 
 sists of a certain number of these simple sounds, each 
 one having a distinct meaning in itself. It is, therefore, 
 up to this point that the philologist must prosecute his 
 inquiries, but most of which must obviously be conjecturaL 
 Still, an oral would likely follow a very similar course to 
 that of a written language. Let us suppose a language to 
 have some twenty or thirty of these primitive uncompounded 
 sounds, and each of them to be the sign or name of an 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 155 
 
 object, and that some other new idea arose requiring a new 
 name, instead of inventing another sound for the purpose, 
 the most obvious course would unquestionably be, to recur 
 to the sounds already in use, and by joining two or three 
 of these together, form a new component term. 
 
 This is at least analogous to the composition of 
 written words. For example, when a word was wanted 
 to express the new idea and art, of causing nature to 
 delineate herself by fixing down 'rays of light upon 
 certain prepared materials, instead of inventing a new 
 sound and new characters to signify that sound, two 
 old words with a little alteration were joined together 
 into the new term ft photography," which elegantly 
 expresses the science of drawing by light. Of these 
 primitive vocal sounds, then, new combinations would 
 rapidly be formed, as they are in their nature so favour 
 able for running into one another. This process of 
 agglutination, or of gluing sounds together, owes its 
 existence principally to the necessities of spoken lan- 
 guage, and we find, therefore, unwritten tongues as well 
 as written ones, presenting these phenomena of combined 
 elementary sounds. Some of the Indian languages, it 
 is said, are exceedingly rich in all such words as have 
 been formed by this agglutinating process. But as it is 
 nearly impossible to analyse any of these unwritten 
 words into their elemental roots, it is only from the 
 time that a language has been committed to writing that 
 its practical etymology commences. When this takes 
 place, a new process begins, in the construction of words 
 — not by an aggregation of elemental sounds, but a com- 
 bination of the fragments of existing words, though, un- 
 like the former, it is a combination that prevents not each 
 part of the compound term from retaining its distinct- 
 ive character. It depends, therefore, on the state of 
 
15G philosophy of training: 
 
 advancement that a language has made before 'being 
 committed to writing, whether these elementary forms of 
 speech be few or numerous, for this process of agglu- 
 tinating sounds into monosyllables necessarily ceases 
 when a language is fixed down in writing, and that of 
 constructing its literal syllables commences. 
 
 The component parts of words, then, are now the root, 
 prefix, aud postfix; the two last being probably mere 
 fragments of formerly existing words, first used in a 
 relational capacity between words, and latterly to con- 
 nect several ideas into the same word. In proceeding to 
 the study of etymology, it is therefore the teacher's duty 
 to detach these concretions from the stock to which they 
 adhere, and to give their own meaning as well as the pure 
 meaning of the root, separately. Lists of these, with their 
 meaning, should be committed to memory, that the pupil 
 may be able to understand and go along with his master 
 in the analytical process. This being done, suppose such a 
 word as infallible is to be explained : instead of simply 
 telling the pupil that it means not deceivable, the mean- 
 ing of the root /alio is asked and given, together with 
 the separate meanings of in and ible, when, by a very 
 easy process of combination, the above meaning is found. 
 Various forms of the same root are also given as a col- 
 lateral exercise, and some of the parts of speech of which 
 the word is susceptible. The etymological meaning of a 
 word, however, is not always the current one : and this 
 distinction must be attended to and remedied in a process 
 of mental composition. The secondary or metaphorical 
 use of a term is often the more common way in which it 
 is applied. Though radix signifies a root, literally, and 
 eradicate to root out, yet we cannot talk about eradi- 
 cating the weeds out of a garden, though that is the 
 most likely example a child would give as an illustration 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. ] 57 
 
 of the use of the word. Its figurative application to 
 moral ideas is its conventional use, and error is said to 
 be eradicated from the mind. In accordance with a 
 principle of training, therefore, the pupil is asked to 
 form a sentence embodying the word when defined, which 
 not only fixes in his memory the correct sense of the 
 term, but prepares him, in general, to express his 
 thoughts in clear and perspicuous language. 
 
 It is a mistake to imagine it necessary to study Latin 
 and Greek, formally, in order to attain a knowledge of the 
 etymology of English. For all practical purposes, a voca- 
 bulary of Latin and Greek roots and prepositions is quite 
 enough. The more extensive that any one's knowledge of 
 these is, of course, the greater will be his facility in ana- 
 lysing the English terms compounded of them. But very 
 little acquaintance with the construction and syntax of 
 the dead languages is needed to be an English etymolo- 
 gist. It is, therefore, a study accessible to all, and 
 especially necessary in a course of elementary instruc- 
 tion to children. It gives them a power of breaking 
 down words, for themselves, and arriving at the meaning 
 of terms that would, otherwise, require a long peri- 
 phrasis to explain. And how necessary is it, as a key to 
 the meaning of those technicalities connected with the 
 sciences which formerly threw such an air of mystery 
 around many of the simplest facts in nature ! 
 
 In the phonic method of teaching to read by the nature 
 and power of letters, and learning to spell by dictation 
 and writing, the first practical part of Grammar is also 
 acquired collaterally. In like manner this branch of 
 etymology, namely, the derivation and composition of 
 words, forms a very important item in its second division. 
 Much of its higher and more intricate departments may 
 even be taught in the same incidental way. Indeed, a 
 
158 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 knowledge of the whole basis of grammar is an essential 
 concomitant of learning to read intellectually. When 
 words are seen in their true light as the marks or signs of 
 ideas, and these understood to represent certain classes of 
 objects, qualities, actions, relations, &c, it is very easily 
 inferred that the words themselves must be of different 
 kinds or classes. Hence arises the want of names to dis- 
 tinguish one class from another, while the meaning of the 
 word gives a sure indication to what particular class it 
 belongs. The word man is the sign of a different kind 
 of idea from that of white, and, consequently, a different 
 sort of word from white ; but the word horse or tree is the 
 name of a similar kind of idea, that is, it represents one 
 of a similar class of objects, and is, therefore, a word of 
 the same class. All words belonging to this class have, 
 therefore, the same name, and those belonging to a dif- 
 ferent class have a different name. Equally gradual and 
 natural too, must such a process be to that of acquiring 
 a knowledge of the meaning of the language itself, 
 from concrete to abstract terms. The names of sensible 
 objects are first generalised and classed under the 
 appellation of nouns; those of qualities, as being the 
 next obvious, are collected and called adjectives; the 
 names of actions are denominated verbs; of relations 
 prepositions, &c. 
 
 Thus incidentally may a knowledge of all the eight 
 parts of speech be acquired, even according to that divi- 
 sion of them ; but this is far from being a logical dis- 
 tinction, for when we carry out the same investigation of 
 words into their meaning, they can easily be separated 
 into two great divisions. They either resolve themselves 
 into the names of objects or ideas, or into copulatives and 
 relations between these objects and ideas. To say, there- 
 fore, that a noun is the name of an idea is quite correct, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 159 
 
 but when we define the name of its qualities or properties, 
 such as the idea of its greenness, size, or action, by the 
 term adjective, attributive, or verb; of course a different 
 term is applied to the sign of a different kind of idea, 
 which is even made more visible to the mind by such a 
 definition, but large, green, strike, are as strictly the 
 names of ideas, and therefore, as much nouns, as are 
 man, tree, river, names of visible and tangible objects. 
 Yet, as these latter were unquestionably the first parts of 
 speech, and names of qualities, quantities, and action, 
 were next invented, with the view of illustrating some 
 mode or operation of external objects, we cannot so easily 
 recall an idea of the latter without associating them with 
 substantial objects. For example, when the word tree 
 occurs, it is not always thought of as a green object, or 
 as waving in the breeze, because it does not require these 
 accidental properties to render it mentally visible, but the 
 term green is more readily associated in the mind with 
 some object, and the word strike naturally calls up two 
 other objects to which the action has a reference. These, 
 however, are only the names of qualities in concretion ; 
 and when the ideas are generalised, green becomes green- 
 ness, and strike becomes stroke, general terms for what 
 is substantially the same thing. So that adjectives and 
 verbs are simply qualifying nouns, that is, concrete 
 names, or names of one set of ideas that qualify others. 
 Apart, therefore, from the associations which these terms 
 naturally raise in the mind, they as distinctly convey 
 entire ideas or notions as any term indicating a sensible 
 and visible object. 
 
 A more philosophical, though perhaps not so conve- 
 nient way of classifying words, has, therefore, been sug- 
 gested, and that is into sounds or signs, which of them- 
 selves convey a notion, hence called notional, and others 
 
160 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 which convey no notion of themselves, hut showing a 
 relation between others, may he styled relational. Of the 
 former kind are nouns, adjectives, and verbs, and of the 
 latter, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions. Pro- 
 nouns and adverbs, being auxiliary to the former, may be 
 classed under the same head. These are not absolutely 
 necessary as parts of speech, but only for convenience ; a 
 pronoun is a substitute for a noun, and presents a picture 
 to the mind by reflection, and an adverb can easily be 
 diluted into a periphrasis. Nor is this twofold division 
 of words into notional and relational at all impracti- 
 cable, as it may easily be ascertained to what division 
 any word belongs. The mention or sight of a no- 
 tional word, unconnected with any other, calls up a 
 certain picture in the mind, but a relational term leaves 
 the mind as much a blank as before, until the words to 
 which it forms a connecting link have been mentioned. 
 Even these relative words themselves, indeed, are 
 thought to have been originally notional terms, or nouns, 
 forming some of the primitive monosyllabic names of 
 which I have lately spoken — a supposition strictly in 
 accordance with the fact, that in the very earliest forma- 
 tion of a language all its words are nouns, or names of 
 the most palpable objects. 
 
 At all events, whatever classification be made, whether 
 into two or eight parts of speech, a knowledge of this 
 part of grammar can only be acquired by finding from 
 the meaning or application of words to what denomina- 
 tion they belong. Without this the names of the parts 
 of speech will be meaningless terms, and the only ideas 
 that can be formed by committing them to memory will 
 refer but to the shape and appearance of the words 
 themselves. 
 i In like manner the different terms used to denote the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 161 
 
 modification of words must be pictured out before com- 
 municated. It is even injurious to do otherwise, as the 
 mind is so apt to rest satisfied with the apprehension of 
 mere names, and be deceived out of a knowledge of their 
 meaning and import. Of what use is it to commit to 
 memory the statement that " a noun is varied by gender, 
 number, and case," until it be understood what gender, 
 number, and case are, and what is meant by their varying 
 a noun; and when this is understood, what need is there 
 for learning the rule at all ? It becomes then a mere 
 formula, necessary, perhaps, in the abstract science of 
 grammar, but of no use in the practice of its art. The 
 meaning of such terms should be illustrated by familiar 
 examples. The words hoy, girl, and stone are seen to be 
 nouns as belonging to the same class of tangible objects, 
 but having special qualities, a subdivision takes place, 
 and the difference between each is called gender, of which 
 there are three kinds, according to the three classes, mas- 
 culine, feminine, and neuter. So also the words tree and 
 trees denote a difference of another kind, which is styled 
 number, and according as one or more objects are parti- 
 cularised, the number is singular or plural. The same 
 word is also seen with a difference of termination, and 
 expressing its idea in three different characters and rela- 
 tions, and a name is given to each of these contingencies 
 or cases, called the nominative, possessive, and objective. 
 The qualities are also defined by a similar process. The 
 names of these are absolute terms, expressing things the 
 same in kind, but according as one object has a greater 
 or less quantity than another is that difference denoted 
 by the relative terms, positive, comparative, and superla- 
 tive. It may be exemplified thus: three objects, one 
 four feet long, another five, and another six, have all the 
 same absolute quality of height, but when compared with 
 
162 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 one another they are found to have it in different quan- 
 tities. It is the difference, then, in the amount of quality 
 among these objects that requires to he specified by the 
 relative terms mentioned.* 
 
 A very grave question here arises, however, how far it 
 is necessary thus to simplify and inculcate a knowledge 
 of the mere science of grammar to school-hoys, even upon 
 the most natural principles. It is an art as well as a 
 science, the art of speaking and writing according to cus- 
 tom ; and though it is subject to certain fixed rules and 
 principles, yet it is not so much from a knowledge of 
 these that skill is acquired in it, as from a dexterity in 
 practising the custom. It is like the different influences 
 of precept and example in morals, the former exhibiting 
 human actions as in a mirror, but the latter presenting 
 them in living reality ; the one may enlighten the head, 
 but the other more effectually induces the habit. So in 
 grammar, it is not so much a knowledge as a practice 
 of the art that gives the ready habit of correct compo- 
 sition. Of how little advantage would it be to an artist 
 merely to become acquainted with the mathematical rules 
 of perspective drawing, the vanishing point, the visual 
 angle, and the line of beauty, or be so skilled in optics, 
 and the properties of colours, as to compound the richest 
 hues, if he never handled the pencil and the brush in 
 realising this knowledge by a practical imitation of 
 nature ! These alone will not educate his eye and his 
 hand, which must be equally trained with the head. 
 
 So is it in grammar, whether in learning to speak or to 
 write correctly, the first attempts at which are of necessity 
 entirely imitative, namely, the child imitating the diction 
 of its parents. He requires no grammar to prepare him 
 
 * See article on Grammar in Chambers' Information for the 
 People, regarding the same view of other parts of speech. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 163 
 
 for oral composition, or, in plain words, to learn to speak. 
 By a constant practice, and after repeated failures, he first 
 learns to articulate words, and then to combine these 
 into sentences. It depends, of course, entirely upon the 
 model after which he copies, whether these sentences are 
 correct or incorrect, and whether his words and phrases 
 are well chosen or the reverse. Or again, suppose the 
 child brought up under French parents, he will of course, 
 speak the French language, or under English parents the 
 English, according to the model which either exhibits. 
 And in proportion to the purity and elegance, or errors 
 and provincialisms of his parents will his own language be 
 pure or the reverse. "If, then, a boy can compose spoken 
 sentences without a previous knowledge of rules, what is 
 to prevent his forming written ones ? In the one case the 
 instrument of expression is the tongue, in the other the 
 pen ; but the process of combining ideas, and the process 
 of turning these ideas into conventional terms, whether 
 sounds or marks, are precisely the same in both. Where, 
 then, is the absolute need of grammar to teach the pupil 
 to do this ? Might it not as well be argued that he must 
 be taught grammar before being allowed to speak, as to 
 insist on its acquisition before he is permitted to write ? 
 The legitimate sphere of grammar is correction, not 
 suggestion. Language is the foundation, the source of 
 grammar, and the pupil must be practically trained in 
 the former, before the inferences of the latter can be of 
 service. Hence, not only is there no need of forcing one 
 through a treatise of grammar to make him a composer, 
 but it is positively injurious to do so. Eules are results, 
 and sound mental training, whatever be the science or 
 art, consists in leading the pupil up the steps by which 
 these results are attained, so that he is not only interested 
 in the process, but capable of valuing the product. The 
 
164 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 habit thus formed is the great end which, however, can 
 never be attained by reversing the business, or what is 
 still worse, by handing the pupil ready-made rules with- 
 out even a hint as to the mode of their derivation. To 
 learn grammar and syntax, then, in the end instead of in 
 the beginning, is following precisely the course of nature ; 
 it is learning the language analytically, — learning it, in 
 fine, the very way in which the language itself has been 
 formed."* 
 
 This analogy, indeed, obtains, throughout the whole 
 course of a child's education up to manhood. It is be- 
 cause the means of improvement are more condensed now 
 than in the earlier ages of the world, that in the course of 
 a life-time, man arrives at an amount of knowledge that 
 would formerly have extended over several generations. 
 A rude people spend most of their days in discovering 
 the simplest principles of nature. Their successors rise a 
 step higher, and their descendants still further gain in 
 knowledge, until the results of their experience are so ac- 
 cumulated that succeeding generations, before they have 
 attained to manhood, acquire an amount of information 
 greater than the combined wisdom of centuries. Still, 
 the course of an individual's education of the present day 
 ought to be precisely similar to that of a rude community 
 advancing to civilisation. The same steps must be gone 
 over in both cases, though trodden more rapidly in the 
 former, that is, from the concrete to the abstract in men- 
 tal development, and from instinct to feeling and senti- 
 ment in morals. Much depends, therefore, upon an in- 
 dividual's being put upon a right track at his first outset, 
 and being led along by an easy ascent to mental and 
 moral excellence, otherwise much of the ground must be 
 re-trodden, and much precious time irrecoverably wasted. 
 
 * Chanibers. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 165 
 
 In no branch of education is this more necessarv than in 
 learning the English language intellectually. In every 
 stage of learning to read, to spell, and to write his ver- 
 nacular tongue, the child must he led on by induction, 
 his understanding being under the guidance of principles, 
 not rules merely, so that when he begins a systematic 
 study of grammar, his previous knowledge of its basis, 
 will enable him successfully to generalize its more recon- 
 dite philosophy. It will then be a study adapted to the 
 enlarged powers of his mind, and preparatory for entering 
 upon a critical examination of the structure and beauties 
 of English literature. The higher authors may now be 
 read with advantage, and the principles of belles lettres, 
 and the higher departments of composition engaged in. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 In the same way that abstract terms of qualities are 
 derived from a contemplation of real objects, are ideas of 
 number also gained. A blind man has no idea of colour, 
 having never seen any object of which it is a property, 
 and his mind cannot receive such an impression until it 
 be first en stamped upon the retina of his eye, and thence 
 conveyed to the sensorium by the optic nerve. So must 
 a child be mentally in the dark regarding number as a 
 property of objects, unless his understanding has in some 
 way or other been impressed by the fact in numbering 
 them. There can be no reflections without something to 
 be reflected from, namely, ideas of sensation, and there can 
 be no sensations unless proceeding directly or indirectly 
 from sensible objects. Ideas of sense are indeed almost 
 material emanations themselves, but from the myriad hues 
 they reflect by falling under the prismatic influence of the 
 mind, the imagination can realise out of them scenes 
 brighter than any presented by nature, and the judgment 
 construct an artificial world more complicated, but no less 
 real than the natural. Yet the foundation of these thoughts 
 and fancies must all rest on the materialism of nature, 
 else like the " baseless fabric of a vision" they will vanish 
 at the test of reason. The law of gravitation would 
 never have been discovered nor become the source of so 
 many other discoveries and calculations, had not its in- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 167 
 
 fluence been seen in operation in some such familiar in- 
 stances as the cohesion of dew-drops, or the falling of an 
 apple. Such qualities or properties are only known by 
 their effects on material substances ; and if the latter had 
 not been seen, the former would never have been dreamed 
 of. In like manner the student of nature should not take 
 for granted the existence of any such principle until he 
 has abstracted it by his own observation. His faith will 
 rest most securely upon the evidence of sense, and he will 
 penetrate much farther into the unseen world of abstrac- 
 tions by standing upon the eminence of nature. The 
 mind must lay the foundation of its thoughts deep in 
 sense before it can raise a tower of observation high 
 enough to obtain glimpses of things spiritual. 
 
 Thus, then, for a child to be set to count up fifty or a 
 hundred, to add, subtract, multiply, and divide so many 
 sounds and figures, without having first associated these 
 with realities, is an attempt to climb without a ladder, or 
 fly without wings. Unless found to be the names of the 
 numbers of his fingers, balls, marbles, or other familiar 
 objects, the shapes and sounds of the nine digits will be 
 shapes and sounds alone, and their combinations on a 
 slate, or even in mind, as aimless as a French puzzle. 
 The arithmetic of tangible and visible objects should, 
 therefore, be among the earliest and most frequent studies 
 of a child from his entrance into school, as clear notions 
 of number and quantity throw so much light upon other 
 branches, and are so well calculated to train and method- 
 ize the mental faculties themselves. Its first steps, 
 however, should be of the most gradual and easy kind, 
 and each new idea worked into the very constitution of 
 the mind by repeated examples. The elements of num- 
 ber consist of but a very few leading ideas, which it is 
 imperative should be clearly understood at the outset, 
 that all subsequent combinations may be free from that 
 
168 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 perplexity which is the necessary consequence of dealing 
 with principles not arrived at by an inductive process of 
 the mind itself. As the largest volume contains but the 
 twenty-six letters of the alphabet, so the most compli- 
 cated calculations have only the nine digits and a zero, 
 and the most involved process of arithmetical reasoning 
 is merely a ramification of units. The system of decimal 
 progression, upon which so many of our calculations are 
 based, most probably has been suggested by the number 
 of fingers on the two hands, and the natural tendency to 
 employ them in counting. The student, must, therefore, 
 begin at the root of the science, thus, one finger, two 
 fingers, three fingers; two fingers and three fingers are 
 five fingers, and so on ; these must be his first concrete 
 ideas of arithmetic. The objects must be seen in combi- 
 nation, and ought to be given before the arbitrary sounds, 
 one, two, three, &c. Marbles, buttons, apples, oranges, 
 everything that can be seen in combination, may form 
 media for impressing these elementary principles. 
 
 The numerical value of money should also be first 
 proved by tangible evidence, and farthings, halfpence, 
 pence, sixpences, and shillings, seen and handled while 
 added and subtracted. Two halfpence in one hand 
 placed beside three in the other, make the sum twopence 
 halfpenny, and a halfpenny taken out of it leaves two- 
 pence. The superior value of silver to copper, and of 
 gold to silver, should also be shown by a practical exr 
 change. The sum must thus be seen to increase and 
 diminish before an idea of addition and subtraction can 
 be formed, and the idea must be obtained before there is 
 any necessity for giving such names. 
 
 A very appropriate instrument for facilitating visible 
 calculations of this nature, has been brought into use by 
 Mr. Wilderspin, named the Arithmeticon. It is simply 
 
PHILOSOPHY OP TRAINING. 169 
 
 a frame, with a certain number of wooden balls, painted 
 alternately black and white, which move horizontally 
 along the wires on which they are strung. The master 
 combines and arranges these by moving them with his 
 finger, while the children observe and name the different 
 arrangements. Such an exercise gives a reality to the 
 ideas of number which thus attach to palpable and 
 distinct objects. While the eye rests upon the balls, the 
 mind easily calculates the number of them, whereas, in 
 absence of such & point d'apjpui, it cannot grasp the same 
 amount of combination. The intellect has then nothing 
 tangible to compute, and, strictly speaking, computes 
 nothing ; or, if forced to make the attempt, it must first 
 suggest ideas of objects, and calculate these, which is a 
 more complicated process. This principle of object 
 calculation is also akin to that which necessity prompts a 
 .rude community to adopt. Hence we hear of one people 
 musing knotted strings as a calculating apparatus, another 
 notched sticks, shells, and pebbles — calculi, from whence 
 the term calculation is derived; and even among the 
 Roman and Greek mathematicians there was in use an 
 instrument very similar to the arithmeticon itself, called 
 the Abacus, on which they cast up certain accounts. This 
 instrument, of which Mr. Wilderspin seems to claim 
 the merit of invention — or at least the Abacus — was in 
 familiar use, even in Europe, until a recent period. The 
 modern system of notation by the nine digits and a 
 cipher, is believed to have been derived from the Indians. 
 Through them it descended to the Arabians, and was 
 introduced into Europe by the Moors about the begin- 
 ning of the eleventh century. 
 
 The Roman Abacus was a board with parallel grooves 
 placed perpendicularly, along which the balls or counters 
 were moved. The simple value of each ball was one, but 
 
 I 
 
170 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 it had also a positional value, as our common digits have. 
 In an Abacus with a certain number of upright grooves, 
 the one to the right expressed units, that next to it tens, 
 the next hundreds, the next thousands, and so on. For 
 example, the number 31452 would be expressed by two 
 balls on the groove nearest the right hand, five balls 
 on the one next it, four on the next, one on the next, 
 and three on the left hand groove, and any other 
 conceivable number might thus be noted according to 
 the diiferent arrangement of the counters and number of 
 the grooves. It is on the same principle as modern no- 
 tation, by which different degrees of unity are expressed 
 by different marks, and their values changed by posi- 
 tion, and it might approach still nearer to this were 
 differently sized or coloured balls employed to denote the 
 different quantities of 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. 
 
 The Abacus was used by both Greeks and Romans, 
 the latter having borrowed it from the former, and it 
 was employed less frequently by the Greeks only because 
 their system of notation by the alphabet was more per- 
 fect than the figurative notation of the Eomans. The 
 science was indeed but little cultivated among the latter 
 people compared with what it was among the Greeks. 
 Their minds were less adapted to abstract calculations, 
 and hence the necessity of this more palpable mode of 
 computation. This is, therefore, the same reason that 
 renders such means better adapted to the capacities of 
 children than to those more advanced in the science. It 
 appeals to the eye before the mind, and exhibits some- 
 thing calculable before they are required to calculate. 
 The chief difference in point of form between the 
 Arithmeticon and the Abacus is, that the balls move 
 vertically in the latter, and in the former horizontally, 
 and in this respect it more resembles an instrument 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. ] 7 I 
 
 in use among the Chinese for the same purpose, 
 called the Swanpan, the lines of which are hori- 
 zontal like those of the Arithmeticon. But as the 
 science advanced among other nations, it outgrew 
 these simple expedients, and required methods of compu- 
 tation better adapted to facilitate its higher combinations, 
 just as children advance from counting objects to mental 
 and slate arithmetic. 
 
 Besides the numbering of external objects, a child's 
 attention ought early to be directed to their sizes and 
 distances, that he may conceive the elementary ideas of 
 measurement. This is an easy sequence to number, and 
 indeed a practical application of it. He sees one thing 
 longer than another, and by the exercise of his eye and 
 hand, which also gratifies his bodily activity, he finds 
 one thing two or three times larger than another, and 
 two or three things that cannot be brought together 
 equal to one another, by finding them equal to a third 
 or fourth, or by applying a common measure to each. 
 The most natural and obvious means of ascertaining this 
 he finds to be the parts and members of his own body, 
 which he will readily apply in measuring comparative 
 lengths and small distances. 
 
 Here again he takes his departure from the same 
 point that a primitive people do, and we find that, in 
 like manner, the Eomans and many other nations derived 
 the ideas and names of measure from the various parts of 
 the human body. Digitus, a digit, or finger's breadth ; 
 pollex, a thumb's breadth, or an inch ; jpalmus, a hand's 
 breadth, or a palm ; pes, a foot ■ palmipes, a foot and a 
 hand's breadth ; cubitus, or ulna, a cubit, from, the tip of 
 the elbow bent inwards, to the extremity of the middle 
 finger; passus, a pace or double step, five feet; gradus or 
 gressus, an ordinary pace. Then, again, a pole ten feet 
 
 12 
 
172 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 long, decempeda, was called jpertica, a perch, changed 
 from portica, and that from portare, to carry, because 
 carried in the hand for measuring. All these names 
 seem so many literary fossils, indicating the first forma- 
 tion of the science and the rude elements of which it was 
 composed, and also so many finger-posts, pointing out 
 the way in which it ought still to be studied. Real 
 weights and measures, of all kinds, should be exhibited 
 to the pupil ; and linear, square, and cubic inches, feet, 
 and yards, quarts, bushels, ounces, and pounds be pre- 
 sented, that his eye and hand may be familiarised with 
 them, their comparative quantities visibly numbered, 
 and their lengths and distances tangibly measured. The 
 drudgery of committing to memory unexplained tables of 
 all these thus comes to be an entirely superfluous task. 
 At least, the whole of their principles may previously be 
 worked into the mind by familiar illustrations such as 
 those mentioned. 
 
 The next and higher stage beyond this merely visible 
 arithmetic, is more exclusively a mental operation, — -that 
 is, instead of calculating objects, a numerical combina- 
 tion of their ideas takes place. These, however, are 
 only sensible ideas, but the numbering of them is a 
 reflective process. In the former case, the principles of 
 number were gathered from things seen by the natural 
 eye ; in this they are applied to effect combinations of 
 their pictures in the mind. Number is now made by 
 synthesis a property of these ideas, as it was before by 
 analysis separated from their archetypes. The science is 
 not yet a pure abstraction, but requires the aid of ficti- 
 tious representation to become apparent; The mind 
 must see something palpable as the materials of compu- 
 tation, if the eye does not, before the numbering faculty 
 at this stage of development can successfully operate. 
 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 173 
 
 For this purpose, mental questions regarding imaginary 
 transactions ought now to be put, and the imagination 
 interested in some narrative. This is exactly similar to 
 conveying moral instruction by parable and anecdote, in 
 which virtue and vice are seen in action, or in teaching 
 the elements of general science by analogy and illustra- 
 tion. Whereas, to discuss number with a child, in its 
 abstract form, is little better than communicating so 
 many moral dogmas or scientific formularies without a 
 knowledge of their meaning. As, however, in moral 
 instruction, precept and parable should be alternated 
 according to the mental capacity, so in arithmetic, 
 abstract calculations should occasionally intermingle 
 with the concrete,, or rather arise out of them. If I have 
 three nuts in one hand and four in the other, and give 
 away one, how many have I left ? Ans. Six. So then 
 it may be added, three and four, less by one, leave six. 
 Put eighteen marbles into six bags, in equal numbers, 
 how many will there be in each bag ? Three. So six 
 into eighteen, three times, and three times six are 
 eighteen. It is unnecessary to enumerate more examples 
 to illustrate this, as any teacher of the least invention 
 may supply them for himself ad infinitum — but the 
 principle here mentioned should never be lost sight of, 
 namely, that the mind must be withdrawn by the most 
 gradual and easy process from calculating objects and 
 ideas, and trained to the more abstruse computation of 
 •abstractions. 
 
 Many excellent little works have been published to 
 facilitate these mental calculations, but so far as I have 
 seen, there is none in which the principle here mentioned 
 is more fully recognised, than in a small manual by Mr. 
 Mc Leod, master of the Normal School at Battersea. 
 In this work, based on the Pestalozzian method, the pupil 
 
1 74 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 is led by the most natural and easy steps, from the table 
 of simple units up to very complicated questions on 
 simple and compound fractions, proportion of fractions, 
 square and cubic measure, &c„ not one of which but may 
 be solved by boys of ordinary intellect, before they have 
 ever handled a slate or pencil. Nor, indeed, should these 
 be put into their hands until they be thoroughly grounded 
 in mental calculation. Slate arithmetic bears the same 
 relation to mental, that book instruction has to con- 
 versational — the latter of which, in both cases, should, 
 by a long interval, precede the former. Many long and 
 difficult calculations may be made on slate, without an 
 understanding of the principles on which they are based; 
 just as one may arrange the balls of an abacus, without 
 a knowledge of the result of such combinations; or as long 
 passages and compound words may also be read, without 
 yielding any information. The reason is, that figures 
 represent combinations of number, and unless a know- 
 ledge of the simple ideas under each has been previously 
 obtained, their cipher marks will be as unintelligible as 
 unexplained words. The nine digits must therefore be 
 analysed into units — multiplication into addition — » 
 division into subtraction — and all the ramifications that 
 spread out from them traced to their simplest elements, 
 before these are classified, named, and marked in a 
 synthetic process of slate arithmetic, so as to lay a solid 
 foundation for future progress. 
 
 It is, indeed, only when the memory can no longer 
 maintain a process of mental combination, that the 
 extraneous aid of a pencil and slate is necessary. These 
 serve as an artificial memory, enabling the judgment to 
 extend its operations inimitably, just as, in composing an 
 oration, a continuous train of thought must be fixed 
 down in writing, to be again remembered. It is, when 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 175 
 
 the faculty of number has outgrown the memory, that 
 the adventitious aid of ciphering is necessary to supple- 
 ment the deficiency. When a building gets beyond the 
 reach of the human arm, a scaffolding is thrown around 
 it, that the edifice may be carried to an indefinite height ; 
 so the science of arithmetic, by means of arbitrary 
 symbols, has arrived at a height infinitely surpassing the 
 longest human memory. The formation of the Roman 
 characters may exemplify, in some degree, the synthetic 
 process by which even this scaffolding must have been 
 erected, as well as the unity of the material out of which 
 it all evolved. As the number one is the basis of all 
 arithmetical combinations, so is the mark 1, of their 
 symbols. In expressing a large number by repeating the 
 mark for unity, a classification was made into tens, by 
 crossing each tenth mark, which by abbreviation became 
 the representative of the whole number X; this being 
 halved became V, the mark for the half number of ten. 
 C is the initial of centum, a hundred; and M of mille, 
 a thousand; the old form of the Roman M was 010, the 
 half of which was 10, rounded into D, which stands for 
 five hundred; the old form of the Roman C was E, the 
 half of which was L, the mark for two hundred and 
 fifty ; so that from I, the symbol of unity, all the rest 
 were formed thus, I, V, X, L, C, D, M. The principles 
 on which other numbers were denoted by these were, 
 simply by repeating the same character, and placing an 
 inferior character after or before superior ones. Yet, 
 whatever may be the nature of this symbolic scaffolding, 
 whether the Roman character, the Arabic, or the alpha- 
 betic, an abacus, or an arithmeticon, the foundation of 
 the science itself rests on the solid basement of reason ; 
 and whether it be administered to by an artificial or a 
 natural memory, it is only by a combination of the same 
 
176 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 elementary principles, that consistency can be given to ? 
 the fabric. When the memory of the student/ therefore, 
 can extend no farther, he ascends this platform of slate 
 arithmetic, and carries on his work to the higher regions 
 of abstract calculation. Nor, indeed, when he has got a 
 slate and arithmetic book before him, ought the master 
 to intermit his guidance. Many principles must be 
 illustrated, and modes of operation shown, and the pupil 
 must see these with his eyes, in model sums upon a black 
 board, the master not only telling him how certain things 
 should be done, but doing them — not only showing the 
 way, but walking in it. 
 
 Writing. — In learning this mechanical art, little or no 
 reflection is necessary, but much observation. It is a 
 kindred art to that of drawing, if indeed it be not a 
 modification of the same ; in both it is the nerves and 
 muscles of the eye and the hand that must be educated. 
 Simple lessons in drawing should precede those of 
 writing. Being accustomed accurately to regard the 
 form and position of external objects, as straight lines, 
 angles, squares, the pupil should be trained to deli- 
 neate these on paper, that his hand may attain to a 
 degree of pliancy in holding the pencil, before the more 
 delicate operation of guiding the pen. 
 
 This power of observation is in itself capable of vast 
 improvement by exercise. When a child is first born 
 into the world, and opens those "blue pellucid orbs" of 
 his upon the objects of nature, it is only the most pro- 
 minent of these, the outlines of creation, that make an 
 impression upon him. But, by a lengthened survey, 
 minuter things picture themselves upon the retina, and 
 still smaller in proportion to the ardour of his gaze. 
 Now, as the means of such observation are almost 
 infinite, from the rolling planets of heaven to the myriad 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 177 
 
 ghosts of animalcula peopling a drop of water, this faculty- 
 must depend for strength and development upon its 
 direction towards such phenomena, and its continued 
 exercise by the excitement of curiosity. 
 
 Ocular vision, too, is the exact counterpart of mental, 
 and a power of visual discrimination, the source of acute 
 thinking. The intellect of an unobservant person is 
 obtuse, from considering only large ideas, but the wits 
 are sharpened by a minute analysis of thought, as the 
 eye is improved by a close inspection of objects. Neither 
 has a child any idea of distance, until he has tangibly 
 ascertained the fact. He must, in some degree, measure 
 certain distances by feeling the objects that bound them 
 before gaining ideas of such distances ; but having obtained 
 these by touch, he infers others by sight, making in a 
 manner those first ideas measuring rods of other spaces. 
 His ideas of figure are also first gained by touch, and in- 
 ferred by sight ; and it seems pretty certain that the eye 
 at first receives inverted impressions of objects which the 
 experience of touch alone rectifies. Even in mature life, 
 the eye occasionally relies for assistance upon the hand, 
 and also the hand upon the eye. In an exhibition of 
 wax-work one is often tempted to touch certain images 
 to see whether they be not really alive ; while in archery 
 the experienced eye marks out the distance, and the 
 direction of the arrow, before the hand impels it along 
 the same path. So that between these two senses there 
 is the closest sympathy, each materially aiding the other, 
 but also capable of much improvement separately. A 
 blind man has the sense of feeling more acute than one 
 who sees, because it has been more educated; and a 
 sailor can distinguish the character of a distant vessel, 
 that to the untrained eye of a passenger would appear but, 
 a speck upon the horizon. Imagination also assists the 
 
 13 
 
178 PHILOSOPHY OF TIKAXNLHG, 
 
 reason, as by partially seeing an object, the fancy can 
 often portray the rest of the pictured 
 
 It is, then, upon the principle of this mutual obedience 
 of the eye to the hand, and the hand to the eye, that the 
 art of drawing and writing depends, hut the attainment 
 of skill in either must he acquired by practice alone. In 
 the proper direction of this practice, therefore, the same 
 rule holds as in the teaching of every other branch, and 
 that is to simplify the study by analyzing its materials 
 into their elements. In drawing, external objects are 
 analyzed, and fragments of them first submitted to 
 practice, and when proficiency has been acquired in 
 delineating these separately, several parts are drawn in 
 combination, and so on to whole outlines and entire 
 pictures. So in writing, an equally synthetic process 
 is necessary; written characters must be analyzed into 
 their elements, and each slope, angle, and straight line 
 referred to a particular class, and practised separately. 
 In some cases, skeleton diagrams of these are given to 
 be filled up, that the hand may be guided into the right 
 track, and training lines to sustain the right proportions. 
 The pen must be held at the proper angle, and the fingers 
 trained to the right position. The fragments of letters 
 must also be copied large, that their parts and proportions 
 may be better seen, and that the muscles of the hand may 
 gain pliancy in executing them. When facility in form- 
 ing the different straight lines, curves, and angles has 
 been attained, these are next formed into letters, and 
 practised in combination. Letters are combined into 
 words. Large hand diminishes into half-text, and half- 
 text into finished current hand. 
 
 There are of course several modes of teaching these 
 principles, but in all cases a black board, with copybooks 
 to correspond, and a master's hand to form the characters 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 179 
 
 before the eye, are indispensable. The copyist has thus 
 all the means of improvement in writing placed within 
 his reach, and in proportion to his care and diligence will 
 he excel in the art. Some people smile at the idea of 
 teaching writing upon anything like scientific rules, but 
 science and invention both have been necessary thus to 
 simplify its initiatory principles. The honour of such 
 invention is due to M. Mulhauser, of Geneva, whose 
 method has been adopted in Germany, in the chief normal 
 schools of France, and has lately been introduced into 
 the Battersea Training School by Mr. Mc Leod, and 
 is or was taught by him to classes of the metropolitan 
 schoolmasters in the School of Method assembling in 
 Exeter Hall. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Geography. — This science gives a description of the 
 earth and its contents. It is, therefore, a vastly com- 
 prehensive study ; yet its principles can be made both 
 easy and interesting to children when taught naturally, 
 as it affords the utmost facility for inductive lessoning. 
 Every child possesses a certain amount of geographical 
 knowledge before any formal lessons can be given to 
 him. He knows the locality of his own house, the 
 garden or places around it, and the houses and fields 
 beyond. He sees the boundaries and divisions of 
 hedges and walls defining the properties of different 
 individuals. He may have seen a river, a sea, a 
 mountain, and an island, different kinds of soils — such, 
 at least, as a barren field, a pasture field, and a field of 
 corn, with fine weather and stormy, different sorts of 
 animals, manufactures, and commerce, and also different 
 customs and manners among his neighbours. All these 
 circumstances, and many others, gleaned by his own 
 observation and a previous course of mental training, 
 must be familiar to him, and from this existing knowledge 
 all his future discoveries in geography should arise. 
 These are the seeds of the science shed upon his under- 
 standing by the hand of nature, but requiring artificial 
 means to supply them with nourishment, and skilful cul- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 181 
 
 tivation to bring them to maturity. The same principle 
 should animate him that inspires the traveller to visit dis- 
 tant lands. His curiosity should be excited to know what 
 lies beyond the range of his natural observation ; and, as 
 far as practicable, this should be gratified by taking him 
 short excursions around the vicinity of his home. His 
 eye should there be taught to mark the peculiarities of 
 nature, and his mind to reflect upon them. From the 
 top of an eminence he may observe the extent of a 
 parish or a county, with its many natural and artificial 
 intersections and boundaries — " its hills and dales, and 
 woods, and lawns, and spires" — and thence impress upon 
 his mind the first real map of nature. And as he con- 
 templates such scenes, a desire will naturally be excited 
 to penetrate beyond the sensible horizon that bounds 
 his view. His faith in the existence of places beyond the 
 range of vision will also be strong, arising out of the 
 clear evidence of experience, as the farther he goes from 
 home he ever sees new scenes and new objects presenting 
 themselves ; and his clear ideas of number applied in 
 the mental calculation and measurement of distances, 
 will then give him the first general -oppression of the 
 earth's vast magnitude. 
 
 Artificial representation must now supplement the 
 natural : as a telescope is applied to the heavens when 
 the naked eye fails to perceive the distant orbs of space, 
 and magnifies their appearance, so, remote countries are 
 also brought beneath our eyes by the instrumentality of 
 a map or a globe. Yet, that the design of a map may be 
 seen as a delineation of nature and read as a picture of 
 real places, the same inductive method should be con- 
 tinued as before. As the hand of the pupil should, by 
 this time, be somewhat expert in sketching, his first 
 lesson in artificial geography should be the delineation 
 
182 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 of a map for himself. This, like the expansion of his 
 own knowledge, should first be an outline of the simplest 
 and most familiar objects and places beneath his view, — 
 the room in which he sits, the playground or garden out 
 of doors, the neighbouring localities around his dwelling, 
 and so on progressively. He will, by this means, fully 
 see and know the nature of a map as a picture of the 
 earth's surface, as he has formerly been taught the nature 
 of words in a book by their reference to objects. And as 
 words come to represent the ideas of objects that he has 
 never seen but inferred by analogy, so the distant parts, 
 that he has never seen, are thus placed before him in a 
 book of maps. His desire for such information having 
 been previously awakened, he will now gladly avail him- 
 self of such assistance and also be able to comprehend 
 its use. A map of his own county or country should 
 first be placed before him; yet still as a mere outline 
 of its most prominent features, not crowded with names, 
 but giving a general idea of its natural appearance, 
 with its largest mountains, rivers, towns, &c. Several 
 countries should be gone over in the same way by 
 skeleton maps and conversational instruction. From 
 these smaller natural and political divisions, the eye 
 and the mind should gradually expand over its larger 
 features until they embrace a knowledge of the vast 
 continents and oceans of which the entire globe consists. 
 Nor should his physical knowledge be bounded by our 
 own planet any more than his moral ideas circumscribed 
 by temporal considerations. The earth should appear 
 in its proper position as part of the solar system, and the 
 elements of astronomy succeed to a general knowledge of 
 geography, and naturally evolve out of it. Lessons on 
 the globes are a natural sequence to those on maps, and 
 many of these principles may now be taught ; but the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 183 
 
 construction of maps upon correct principles, and the 
 problems on the globes, depend upon a certain know- 
 ledge of mathematics that ought previously to be ac- 
 quired, in order to a systematic study and accurate know- 
 ledge of these branches. 
 
 Besides this inductive method of leading the mind on 
 from place to place until it has embraced the earth's 
 surface, like a traveller starting from home to circum 
 navigate the globe, the same principle must guide the 
 instructor in analyzing any particular locality ; such as, 
 from the natural advantages and resources of a place 
 its wealth and commercial importance may be inferred, 
 or the latter traced to the former. " Physical geography," 
 says Dr. Kay in his report of the Training School at 
 Battersea, " has been deemed the true basis of all instruc- 
 tion in the geography of industry and commerce — which 
 ought to form the chief subject of geographical instruc- 
 tion in elementary schools. The tutor has first endea- 
 voured to convince the pupils that nothing which presents 
 itself to the eye in a well-drawn map is to be regarded as 
 accidental, — the boldness of the promontories, the deep 
 indentures of the bays, the general bearings of the coast, 
 are all referable to natural laws. In these respects, the 
 eastern and western coasts of England are in striking 
 contrast — in appearance, character, and in the circum- 
 stances which occasion their peculiarities. The physical 
 geography of England commences with a description of 
 the elevation of the mountain ranges, the different levels, 
 and the drainage of the country. The course, rapidity, 
 and volume of the rivers are referable to the elevation 
 and extent of the country which they drain. From the 
 climate, levels, and drainage, with little further matter, 
 the agricultural tracts of the country may be indicated, 
 and when the great coal-fields and the mineral veins, and 
 
1 84 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 beds, the depth of the bays and rivers are known, the dis- 
 tribution of the population is found to be in strict relation 
 to certain natural laws. Geography taught in this way, is 
 a constant exercise to the reasoning powers. The pupil is 
 led to trace the natural dependence of facts which, in ordi- 
 nary instruction, are taught as the words of a vocabulary. 
 Geography, taught in the ordinary way, is as reasonable an 
 acquisition as the catalogue of a museum which a student 
 might be compelled to learn as a substitute for natural 
 history. The intelligent tutor should feel himself bound 
 to explain to his pupil the natural dependence of the 
 facts which the map presents to the eye. Thus it is easy 
 to explain why certain tracts are rich pastures, why others 
 are arable ; to account for the climate, productions, in- 
 dustry, and commerce of such a county as Lancashire, 
 and to read its history in the natural features of its hills, 
 valleys, streams, coal-beds, rivers, and western site. Lon- 
 don, originally the outport to Europe, now the outport to 
 the world, presents a great problem equally instructing 
 and useful to work, compared with which the facts of its 
 being the capital of England and situated on the Thames 
 (ordinarily taught,) are as the cipher detached from the 
 numerical power. Its tidal river, carrying vessels into 
 the heart of the land, its position in relation to the old 
 Norman possession of the conquerors of the country, its 
 subsequent position between the commerce of Europe 
 and the richest tracts of England, the facilities which, it 
 affords equally for commerce with the East and West 
 Indies, the resources it derives from the Northumberland 
 and Durham coal-fields, without which its prosperity 
 would suffer a grievous blow from the rivalry of other 
 outports to which coal-beds are readily accessible,- — these 
 and a multitude of other considerations, too numerous to 
 relate in this place, constitute that lesson in geography 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 185 
 
 which the mention of London suggests. Its very place 
 on the map is determined by natural laws of the most 
 positive character, and capable of strict definition. 
 In like manner, but in more general terms, the great 
 streams of our commerce are described and accounted 
 for. The colonies of England form the first step beyond 
 this country, and beyond a general description of the 
 world, and then follow those nations with which we have 
 the most intimate commercial connexion. Thus geo- 
 graphy is examined in relation to the great commercial 
 activity of England and the influence of our industry in 
 the Christian civilisation of the world. For the delivery 
 of this course of instruction, the present books and maps 
 are found exceedingly defective. No good school books 
 on geography exist, and the maps at present in use are 
 mere outlines, neglecting most of the great features of 
 physical geography, which is the basis, first of the 
 geography of co mm erce and industry, and then, in a 
 natural series, of that statistical and political geography 
 which should form a prominent element of the instruction 
 given in schools for the middle classes." 
 
 It will be observed that such a course of geography is 
 entirely of a practical character, and it is the report of a 
 school for the middle classes ; but the very same principle 
 and the same method ought to be followed in every school, 
 up to this point. And even in a more extensive course, 
 and as far as the study is carried, the same view to 
 practical utility and the same principles of induction 
 should be sedulously adhered to. 
 
 History. — Much of this may be taught incidentally, 
 during a course of geography. The latter has, indeed, 
 been called the eyes of the former, as in reading history, 
 unless one sees in his mind, or on a map, the particular 
 places where certain events happened, many of their 
 
186 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 details must be unintelligible. Geography presents to 
 view the theatre and scenery of the world, and history 
 introduces the actors upon the stage. Such is the order 
 of nature, too, for the world was prepared for the recep- 
 tion of man before he was created to enter upon its pos- 
 session. Geography, for this and other reasons, should 
 therefore be taught antecedently to history, and the 
 latter postponed to a maturer age. 
 
 The ordinary way of teaching it indeed, may be 
 entered upon at any age, as it is little more than a mere 
 effort of memory, recalling lists of kings, battles, civil and 
 ecclesiastical rebellions, the overthrow of governments 
 and dynasties, with the rise of new ones, without descend- 
 ing to a nation's social and moral aspect, and deriving 
 thence lessons beneficial for individual and national 
 practice. Such a method, even when understood — which 
 it seldom is — gives the merest outline of a nation's phy- 
 sical character. It is like studying geography by merely 
 looking at the prominent features ,of the earth's sur- 
 face, without considering its internal resources, and the 
 adaptation of these to the service and benefit of the 
 human race ; or expecting to find from the description 
 of an individual's bodily appearance, those mental and 
 moral characteristics that; alone constitute the worth and 
 excellence of man. 
 
 There is much, no doubt, in the narrative parts of 
 history that finds a ready access to the sympathies and 
 understandings of children; — as the excitement of battles, 
 the hardships and perils of armies, the bravery of indi- 
 viduals, and the shock of war. But in a moral point of 
 view, it is very questionable whether such descriptions 
 should be read before the mind has acquired penetration 
 enough to ascertain the causes and necessity of such 
 contests. The combativeness of our nature is easily 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 187 
 
 evoked by such means, and hatred and revenge against 
 another people, whom we call an enemy, are the sure 
 consequences of its undue excitement. These feelings, 
 when much indulged, may be easily abstracted from a 
 hostile nation and manifested towards individuals, on 
 occasion. To commit such reading into the hands of a 
 child, therefore, without explaining the dire necessity of 
 war only in extreme cases, is holding up to him a mirror 
 reflecting the worst features of humanity, and uncon- 
 sciously alluring him to copy such in his own conduct. 
 The terms in which such deeds are recorded, too, have 
 a pernicious tendency in captivating the young mind. 
 Children who have seen a regiment of soldiers, arrayed in 
 all the paraphernalia of dress and equipage, performing 
 their marches and evolutions, amid the glitter of arms 
 and the rolling strains of music, cannot but be delighted 
 with the magnificent spectacle, and have their sympathies 
 favourably enlisted. They cannot penetrate beneath the 
 gilded surface and scan the purpose of so much display ; 
 and when they peruse accounts of battles and victories, 
 couched in equally dazzling terms, the mind is also 
 seduced from the horrors of those scenes that must have 
 previously been enacted, or even led to regard the strife 
 of the combatants with eager delight. But the same 
 principle of animalism would be gratified only in an 
 inferior degree by the details of a pugilistic encounter, 
 or a cock-fight. Such accounts administer fuel to the 
 latent animal passions, and awaken the instinct of imi- 
 tation, prompting to give vent to them on the first oppor- 
 tunity. It is long before a child sees any ulterior end 
 to be gained by such engagements, beyond the mere 
 gratifying of passion; and until he sees them in thek 
 true nature he should not be indulged with many 
 .details of them. He should be taught to look upon 
 
188 PHILOSOPHY OF TEATNING. 
 
 them rather as the terrible effects of misguided passion, 
 avarice, and pride. 
 
 The causes for such a dire necessity as that of war, 
 should be inferred from familiar examples, such as the 
 defence of ourselves and property and the lives and pro- 
 perties of our neighbours, the advantages of social 
 union in cases of danger, the abandonment of self- 
 interest to promote a general good, and, as the highest of 
 all sacrifices, the exposing and laying down of life for 
 the service and benefit of others. Thus may the devotion 
 of an army or navy be seen in a general sense — as the 
 defence of the institutions of a country ; but it is a more 
 difficult task to reconcile most of the individual wars and 
 battles of a nation with the principles of humanity and 
 justice. Too many of these originate in the mere caprice 
 of a monarch, the grasping ambition of a conqueror, or a 
 nation's desire for aggrandisement. 
 
 To read history aright, therefore, it is equally necessary 
 to point out the errors and defects which adhere to a 
 national character, as in biography to show the vices and 
 crimes which blend with the better qualities of an indi- 
 vidual. History is, indeed, but the biography of the 
 universal man, whose vices and virtues are the aggregate 
 vices and virtues of individuals. The morality or im- 
 morality of a nation's acts is, therefore, the same in kind 
 as that of an individual's, though varied in degree accord- 
 ing to the extent and consequences of such acts. But 
 how differently are people accustomed to regard the same 
 action done collectively and individually ! To take away 
 the life of a fellow- creature, even in self-defence, is viewed 
 with considerable disgust ; but when an invading army 
 is cut to pieces, it becomes a theme for glory and exulta- 
 tion. One stands aghast at the perpetration of a single 
 murder, but calmly reviews the carnage of a battle-field, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 189 
 
 where thousands fall ; and while a petty theft or burglary 
 is regarded with due abhorrence, the conquest of a terri- 
 tory is hailed with delight. The individuals who figure 
 in such enterprises, too, are lauded as heroes and covered 
 with rewards and honours, while the private assassin or 
 robber is deservedly execrated and punished. But the 
 principles of virtue and vice are of universal extent, and 
 bend not thus to the conventional policy of nations. If 
 the solitary robber must be amenable to a higher Jaw 
 than the desires and passions of his own mind, in the 
 law of his country, so should the legislators and govern- 
 ment of a country recognise in all their proceedings the 
 eternal decrees of justice and morality. Necessary it is, 
 therefore, in teaching history, to guard against iudulging 
 too much in those details of bloodshed and misery so 
 thickly bestrewing its pages, lest the mind become ani- 
 malised by such representations, and blinded to the 
 fearful criminality of war. 
 
 The question, then, is, how should history be studied ; 
 and that is a question perhaps more easily answered nega- 
 tively than affirmatively. There are no proper school- 
 books of history, and there can be none without giving 
 many a dark picture of humanity. Yet, as in the cha- 
 racter of the basest individual there are generally some 
 redeeming points worthy of our imitation, so in the his- 
 tory of nations, tarnished as it is with so many foul 
 deeds, numberless examples of the highest virtues are 
 yet to be found. It is not, however, among the kings and 
 great men of the earth that such instances most frequently 
 appear ; and a nation's greatness and true glory may as 
 often be traced to the combined operations of the hum- 
 blest individuals of the community, as to those of its 
 governments and rulers. These are but the results of a 
 nation's welfare and prosperity ; the outworks and em- 
 
190 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 battlements thrown around society for its defence and 
 security, but depending no less for their stability upon 
 the skill and industry of those who erected them, than 
 the nature of the materials of which they are composed. 
 
 Now inductive teaching leads the mind to trace 
 consequences to their minutest causes. It does not 
 merely tell of the existence of the vast coral reef, but 
 shows the nature of the insect's operations, and, from 
 less to more, deduces the principles upon which the 
 mighty structure arose. It analyzes the towering oak 
 into the gases and juices of which it is composed, and 
 mentally arranges them into the huge trunk and wide- 
 spreading branches. It also resolves the greatness, wealth, 
 power, talents, and goodness of individuals into the 
 operation of minute causes and the diligent application 
 of the smallest means. It shows the genius of a New- 
 ton expanding by the direction of its incipient energies 
 to the little machines he constructed when a boy, and the 
 keen scrutiny he bestowed upon the commonest occur- 
 rences to find out their causes, and from thence deriving 
 those data upon which future discoveries were based, thus 
 laying the foundation of almost the entire fabric of the 
 modern sciences of optics ; and astronomy. It shows the 
 active benevolence of a Howard receiving its first impulse 
 when he lay a prisoner upon the cold stone floors of 
 his miserable dungeon at Brest, and the sympathy he 
 there felt for his fellow- sufferers carried into action 
 in the representations he made to the English govern- 
 ment, the comfortable cottages and schools he built on 
 his own property for the poor, and the long journeys 
 he undertook to ascertain the state of jails in his own 
 and other countries, till at length an entire reform of 
 prison discipline was effected throughout Europe. The 
 success of individuals in every department of life, may be 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 191 
 
 equally shown to be the result of care and diligence in 
 small things ; and in all such biographical notices, ex- 
 amples are given how we, too, may benefit ourselves and 
 others. So in history, or universal biography, unless it 
 be taught inductively, it cannot become a practically 
 useful study. It gives the experience of the past for the 
 guidance of the future, but unless the causes of a nations 
 prosperity be shown, it cannot afford to us a practical 
 lesson for our guidance. There is little use in teaching a 
 mere number of facts and statistical details of kings and 
 governments, wars and conquests, with the rise and fall 
 of states and dynasties, unless the causes of such events 
 be also shown, and their beneficial or prejudicial conse- 
 quences upon society traced. To teach history in any 
 other way is merely to know a nation as it is or has been, 
 while the true object is to know how it became so, that 
 the same means may be again employed or avoided to 
 gain prosperity or avoid adversity. 
 
 The same illustration of method might be continued 
 through all the other branches of study, as well as the 
 preceding. I have merely taken up these few, as being 
 common to almost all classes of schools : in places where 
 the elements of modern science are taught, improved 
 plans of teaching have naturally followed their adoption. 
 Into a general knowledge of these sciences, however, 
 and the best plans of teaching them, must the student 
 at a normal institution be also initiated. 
 
 But a still further knowledge of his art is necessary, than 
 a mere acquaintance with this its instrumentary practice. 
 He must have, no less, an acquaintance with the object 
 upon which his art has to be applied. He must have an 
 acquaintance with the principles of mental and moral 
 philosophy and physiology, and be a deep student of 
 human character, from his own observation of which he 
 
192 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 must deduce his own principles of guidance, that he may- 
 be able to accommodate and modify his normal lessons 
 to every variety of character presented to him. No 
 teacher is able, nor, if able, ought to tie himself down 
 to carry out the same details of any system in all cases. 
 These must be left to be regulated in an infinity of ways, 
 by the ever-varying circumstances of the pupils. There 
 is no universal gauge for human intellect. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The preceding analysis lias been chiefly confined to an 
 inquiry into the nature of the instruments of education, 
 their fitness for the work, and the manner in which they 
 ought to be applied, or are misapplied. And on the whole 
 it may be subjoined, that, until lately, they were seldom 
 if ever found engaged upon the right part of the work, or 
 if so, adequate to it, which indeed is but an inference 
 from the fact, that the operators themselves were un- 
 taught and inexperienced artists. Let us now shortly 
 examine the nature of the work to be done by these instru- 
 ments, — the subject to be educated by these branches. 
 
 Suppose, then, a sculptor got into his hands a block 
 of marble fresh from the quarry, and that it was his 
 design to operate upon it in forming an image, he would 
 first naturally examine into the nature of the material 
 itself. He would see whether there were any blemishes 
 or deficiencies in the mass. If there were, he would 
 scrutinise the nature of them, and ascertain how far they 
 might be repaired or dressed over, so as not materially to 
 mar the image he had in view to make. He would test 
 the hardness or softness of its grain, and discover its 
 capability of being wrought, and according to the nature 
 of its stamina would he consider what instruments could 
 best be brought to bear upon it; if of a hard and difficult 
 
 K 
 
194 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 texture, he would use keen-edged tools and apply more 
 strength, — if soft, more dexterity of hand. Besides, 
 according to that member of the statue on which he was 
 engaged, would he require a particular kind of instru- 
 ment. To rough-hew the amorphous mass, he would 
 apply the larger and less highly-polished tools : to 
 chisel out an arm, or a leg, differently edged instruments. 
 To carve a neck, a chin, a cheek, and an eye, around 
 which "all the graces might flutter," more delicately 
 polished and finer instruments still; and at this part of 
 the process, his own ingenuity and skill would be taxed 
 to the utmost, in giving a peculiar expression of character 
 and countenance, according to the model of some image 
 he had in his eye. And it need not be added, that not 
 only according to the native excellence of the material,, 
 but the artist's skill, would be the perfection of that 
 character, and the general elegance and grace of the 
 statue. 
 
 This block of marble, then, brought to the studio, is 
 a child sent to school ; the sculptor is the trainer, and 
 the instruments for operating upon him are the different 
 branches of education. It is a human being, naturally in a 
 rude and inert condition ; yet having the germs of all those 
 faculties in perfect existence, each in its degree, by which 
 he may ultimately attain so high a rank in the scale of 
 creation. To call forth these into full activity and 
 energy, and to add grace and refinement to their practical 
 uses, is the office of a trainer. Now, as the external 
 appliances of art were necessary in the case of the statue, 
 otherwise it would still have remained a shapeless mass, 
 so also must care, attention, and proper means be em- 
 ployed, to develop and bring out the latent faculties of 
 the living image. True, these would grow of themselves 
 to a certain extent, and in a certain direction; yet without 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 195 
 
 'extrinsic and guiding influences, they would naturally 
 '■ exhibit the rankness of a wilderness, whereas by proper 
 artificial guidance, they might be compared with the 
 bloom and fertility of a garden. 
 
 Thus much every one admits, and while it is also 
 granted, that " the proper study of mankind is man," it 
 is not so easily decided what man is, what are the 
 separate elements of his constitution, and consequently 
 how that study should be conducted. It cannot, indeed, 
 be said, that the study of man has been neglected. His 
 bodily powers and spiritual faculties have been the 
 subject of investigation almost since time began. But 
 no results, corresponding to such labours, have yet been 
 obtained from the erroneous methods of inquiry ever 
 adopted. Like other sciences, man's nature was examined 
 hypothetically, rather than analytically. Theories were 
 assumed, and attempted to be solved by facts, instead of 
 facts being made the basis of correct opinions ; and until 
 the principles of inductive philosophy were applied in 
 the analysis, but comparatively few sound conclusions 
 were ever obtained. Scholastic logic and metaphysics 
 exhausted their weapons of argument in splitting his 
 thoughts and sentiments, his powers and capacities, into 
 fragments innumerable, out of which many systems of 
 abstract philosophy arose, gratifying, perhaps, to the 
 speculative mind to investigate, but shedding a very dim 
 and imperfect light upon the practical moralities of life. 
 The science of mental philosophy is, therefore, still in its 
 infancy. The late discoveries in chemistry, indeed, with 
 the revelations of anatomy, have thrown much light on 
 the material organs of the body, and an onward progress 
 of discovery is still making with regard to his mental 
 powers. And it is only by a continuation of a similar 
 process, that the anatomy of mind will lead to any sound 
 K2 
 
196 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 results. Man must be regarded as an animal, before 
 examined as a rational being — as a material agent before 
 an immaterial. In anatomy, the student first operates 
 upon the larger features of the human frame, the osseous 
 and muscular systems, and by degrees pursues his 
 inquiries into the minuter ramifications of the nerves 
 and blood, with all their wondrous mechanism and func- 
 tions ; and alike must the mental student first regard 
 the more obvious functions of the mind, and from what 
 is known of these, and palpable to observation, ascend to 
 its more spiritual operations. It seems, indeed, to be at 
 the point where anatomy and physiology fail in the 
 scrutiny for want of data, that mental philosophy, 
 guided by other light, prosecutes the search. Anatomy 
 discovers effects from their causes, functions from their 
 organs, and when no more organs are seen, the investi- 
 gation drops ; but mental philosophy, though equally 
 inductive, traces effects back to their causes, the thoughts 
 to a thinking power, and that power to a bodily organ. 
 The latter science, however, is unquestionably based upon 
 the former, and arises out of it ; consequently, a consi- 
 derable knowledge of the corporeal frame is necessary 
 to ascend into the higher regions of thought and feeling. 
 But in this department of the human constitution, there 
 is still a "terra incognita" over which fancy and conjec- 
 ture alone hold sway. It is, therefore, natural to expect 
 that much difference of opinion will prevail, regarding 
 certain modes of educing those powers and faculties, the 
 separate existence of which is not acknowledged by all. 
 That the mind and the moral powers are affected and 
 controlled by the brain to a certain extent, all admit ; but 
 that each of the mental faculties has a separate section 
 of the brain as its appropriate organ, is a doctrine pecu- 
 liar to phrenology. To take the still popular view of 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 197 
 
 •the- ease, then, there are faculties of different kinds 
 belonging to the whole constitution of man. Many of 
 these, from a similarity in their modes of operation, may 
 be referred to the same origin, namely, that which is 
 strictly called mind; others, having functions also peculiar 
 to themselves, are denominated moral and religious 
 feelings ; while a third class, having reference more 
 particularly to the powers of the body, are styled physical 
 faculties. This triple division of man is now used by 
 all— ^phrenologists and anti-phrenologists, under the terms 
 physical, mental, and moral, and as there is no other com- 
 mon ground on which all parties can meet harmoniously, 
 it is so far a good thing; and it may also be added, that, 
 standing, upon this platform, many an opponent of the 
 science of phrenology has plucked and appropriated 
 much of its fruit, even while denouncing the science itself. 
 Without expressing an opinion on either side, therefore, 
 I shall take the liberty of assuming the same common 
 ground. 
 
 Yet, while the general correctness of this three-fold 
 division may be admitted, it is no less certain that the 
 boundary line between each department is far from being 
 clearly ascertained, and much more obscure is the demar- 
 cation between many of the separate faculties themselves. 
 " Shade unperceived so mingles into shade," that, like a 
 ray of light falling upon a prism, by which the eye obtains 
 a view of its several colours without perceiving a clear 
 distinction between them, this triple view of man, while 
 it in some degree unfolds his separate powers, gives but 
 an imperfect view of his whole nature. And the reason 
 is simply to be found in the absolute unity of that 
 nature, however complicated its organism, and various 
 its faculties. 
 
 Another important division of man is, that of his 
 
198 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 action and passion — feeling and exercise. Man acts and' 
 is acted upon by external causes through all his faculties. 
 The knowledge of a mere opinion existing in the mind 
 of another regarding him, will inflict the liveliest feel- 
 ing of pain or joy, while the outward action of his own 
 mind will produce a corresponding effect upon others.. 
 An east wind will make him fretful and irascible; a 
 cloudy day melancholy and sad; a glow of sunshine 
 will awaken bright hopes and prospects within himself, 
 and prompt to the performance of benevolent actions 
 towards his fellow-men, and this to an extent of which 
 few people are aware. It is, therefore, no untrue state- 
 ment, that " man is the creature of circumstances ;" the 
 proposition only wants conclusiveness by omitting to add, 
 that these circumstances are also the creatures of God. 
 Now, for a grown individual to fortify himself against 
 these and all other contingencies is self-imm'mg, proceed- 
 ing from a knowledge of their nature and effects. But a 
 child cannot know anything of external nature, and is, 
 therefore, a mere passive subject, moulded and modified 
 according to their plastic influences.- Hence the neces- 
 sity of a preventive discipline to ward off their evil 
 effects, and the application of a fostering hand, to bring 
 to perfection those inherent preventive qualities — those 
 antidotes that are in embryo in every human being. And 
 a more beautiful link in the chain of Providence does not 
 exist, than where the affections of a mother are called in 
 at this point to fill up the gap. How unfortunate is. it, 
 therefore, for the well-being of the human race, that these 
 natural affections are so often cramped and turned aside 
 by her own artificial education and habits!; She is 
 nature's own statuary, who alone can throw a sufficient 
 enthusiasm into her labours; for with her it is all a 
 labour of love, and were this love and enthusiasm always 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 199 
 
 directed aright, the statue, in time, would arrive at the 
 acme of human perfection. But to the task of training 
 her offspring she brings the prejudices of her own early 
 nurture; the secret promptings and desires of her heart 
 must he kept in abeyance to the omnipotent dictates of 
 fashion ; her very love and enthusiasm must be moderated 
 =and chilled into coldness, and the image rises under her 
 iands a model of fashionable manners and breeding, per- 
 haps, but as far removed from the simplicity of nature, as 
 a, caricature from a correct picture. And what a false 
 idea it is to imagine that a parent can spoil her child by 
 too much love and affection. It is the very atmosphere 
 the child breathes, and upon which its moral nature 
 depends for life and health — the sunshine of a summer 
 day to a delicate flower, compared with the bleakness of 
 winter ; and the advantages of affection to the former are 
 scarcely less physical than warmth to the latter. Such, 
 indeed, are the appliances by which the moral character 
 of the child first assumes a definite shape — and, like the 
 statuary guiding his hand according to the nature of his 
 material, so must the parent her affections^ but enlight- 
 ened and guided by reason these must be ever at work, 
 to mould and fashion that moral character aright. 
 
 To produce a perfect image in statuary, too, all the 
 members of the figure must be perfect. No leg, nor arm, 
 nor eye, must want its appropriate chiselling. So is it in 
 the compound living image man, who requires an education 
 suited to the development of all his powers — physical, 
 mental, and moral. It is, therefore, the province of the 
 trainer to operate upon each of these in yielding assistance 
 to nature. Figuratively speaking, they must be drawn 
 out, and as the sculptor, out of his previously unshapen 
 material, develops the features of a countenance, so must 
 a character be engraven upon the child by means of 
 
200 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 its own inherent but passive faculties. Each and all 
 of them must receive attention, must be exercised upon 
 legitimate objects, and brought into healthy action, 
 before the whole man can be said to have received an 
 education. 
 
 The pedestal, then, upon which the whole living image 
 is based, and out of which its character and habits all 
 evolve, consists of the bodily powers, and these conse- 
 quently are the first to demand the attentive examination 
 of the trainer. It is not intended here to enter much into 
 the subject of nursery training, as that has been anticipated 
 in a previous part of this work; which, too, is rather the 
 province of the medical than of the scholastic profession ; 
 but unquestionably, with a knowledge of the bodily wants 
 of children, a nurse ought to have some acquaintance in 
 developing the mental and moral dispositions of her 
 charge, otherwise the school trainer will have much to 
 undo before commencing his task. 
 
 The end and object of physical training is simply to 
 secure a sound and healthy body ; but it has other con- 
 sequences depending upon it, for without a sound and 
 vigorous frame, the mind will also assume a correspond- 
 ing tone of unhealthiness. On the mother and the nurse, 
 therefore, devolves this earliest duty. And it is not 
 enough that kindness and affection be brought to the 
 task ; a certain knowledge of the human frame must 
 guide the mother in all her treatment. When it is esti- 
 mated that about two-fifths of young children die before 
 attaining their fifth year, there is a pretty sure indication 
 that some part of the nursery system is wrong in all 
 cases. And in many instances, the most careless observer 
 cannot fail to see the cause of much of this infantile 
 mortality. The pernicious custom of giving children 
 alcoholic drinks, careless exposure to cold and heat, im- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 201 
 
 proper food, and light or improper clothing, are hut a few 
 of these causes. Nor ought the hahits of the nurse to 
 he less attended to, as these are the fountains whence 
 spring so many of the child's hahits, and, like a baro- 
 nieter indicating the state of the weather, the health of 
 her constitution may in a great degree point out that of 
 the child. And whatever injures or benefits the former, 
 has a corresponding influence upon the latter. 
 
 " For the due development of the muscular system of 
 an infant, its dress should sit light and easy upon its 
 person, and its limbs should he allowed free play on 
 all possible occasions. The restless movements of an 
 infant, the tossing about of its head, arms, and limbs, 
 are to be considered as merely impulses of nature, 
 directing it to exercise, and in consequence strengthen 
 its muscular system. These movements should rather, 
 therefore, be encouraged than repressed. Care should 
 be taken that it is not too soon allowed to bear its own 
 weight, as the natural consequence is bending the still 
 soft bones of the leg, which may thus become deformed 
 for life. Whenever a child of proper age is unable to 
 bear its own weight, or walk without this effect following, 
 we may be sure that its general health is defective ; and 
 it is a more immediate and pressing duty to take mea- 
 sures for remedying this effect than to attempt to keep 
 the limbs straight by mechanical appliances. 
 
 <s The work of physical education must go on till the 
 body is brought to the highest perfection of which its 
 powers are capable. For this purpose, the skin, the 
 lungs, the digestive organs, and the muscular system, 
 ought each to have a proper share of attention. There 
 must also be a due supply of fresh and pure air, a 
 regulation of the appetite for food, and exercising of the 
 muscular frame. Under this latter head, falls all the 
 
 K3 
 
202 PHILOSOPHY OF TEAINING. 
 
 science of exercise — walking, riding, running, leaping, 
 swinging, skating, dancing, fencing, cricket, ball-play, 
 &c. The importance of these to health in the full 
 development of the muscles and improvement of the 
 frame, has been long known, and by some nations 
 steadily practised. The perfect forms of the Greeks 
 and Persians were the result of this branch of education, 
 and received a large share of national attention. Ample 
 provision for such exercises should be made in all semi- 
 naries of education, infant and more advanced."* 
 
 But a higher object than mere physical development 
 is gained by such exercises. Every one admits that a 
 certain influence is exercised upon the mind by the body, 
 and the more closely the subject is examined, the con- 
 nexion will appear the more striking. The flame of a 
 candle is, indeed, not more dependent for its strength and 
 brightness upon the volume and purity of the materials 
 supporting its combustion, than the mental and moral 
 conduct of children upon their bodily frames, and pre- 
 paratory physical training. Nor is this at all strange, 
 when it is considered that the mind is not only dependent 
 upon the body for its manifestations, but its acquirements, 
 — not only for fulfilling its desires, but creating them. 
 Every idea communicated to the mind from without, is 
 admitted by one or other of the senses ; and every idea 
 conceived by the mind, passes without, also by the aid 
 of a material organ. It is evident, therefore, that an 
 injury to any one of the senses, will prevent the admis- 
 sion of knowledge to a certain extent ; and to the same 
 extent disintegrate the unity of the mind's operations, 
 lessen its exercise, and weaken its powers. The more 
 
 * Chambers. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 203 
 
 of these avenues of sense that are shut up, the scantier 
 will be the mind's acquirements, and its growth and 
 operations correspondingly retarded. 
 
 Different only in degree is it, then, that an impaired 
 condition of these bodily organs, prevents the mind's 
 growth and development, by presenting to it for reflec- 
 tion, incorrect or insufficient images of external objects. 
 Or the same evil may be induced by a perversion of their 
 uses ; an undue excitement of them, or a neglect of 
 their exercise, Thus, sensations proceeding from ex- 
 ternal causes, may affect the mind disagreeably and 
 prejudicially, from the diseased channels through which 
 they pass. 
 
 But many of our sensations, also, arise from the 
 internal organs as well as external objects, and these, if 
 the organs be impaired or excited, may be as injurious to 
 the mind as the former. When any one drinks a certain 
 quantity of intoxicating liquors, the circulation of the 
 blood is quickened, the vessels of the brain are com- 
 pressed, pleasurable sensations arise, and the mind be- 
 comes more rapid in its thoughts and conceptions; an 
 additional quantity of alcohol will induce upon the mind 
 a temporary madness, or entirely suspend its operations 
 in sleep. The reaction again from such a state of 
 mental activity, is a corresponding listlessness, and slow- 
 ness of conception, equally the result of sensations 
 proceeding from a state of nervous relaxation. These 
 different mental conditions obviously enough proceed 
 entirely from bodily causes, but a vast number of other 
 frames of mind, less perceptible, are equally produced by 
 impressions proceeding from the bodily frame. These 
 states of mind, therefore, may be induced and become 
 habitual either by organic and constitutional diseases, 
 
206 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 to and from the brain and spinal cord, which serve the 
 purpose of communicating motion to the muscles and 
 hones. Still these are hut the messengers or media of 
 conveying the moving power, which itself resides in the 
 spinal cord, a prolongation of the brain. But though 
 that power resides there, the brain is of itself equally 
 inert with the bones, and cannot evoke this influence 
 without an exercise of volition — that mysterious principle 
 of the mind which seems the presiding deity over the 
 whole temple of the body. A natural sequence to this 
 inquiry is, What then influences the will ? and it is affected 
 by foreign causes, but it is not necessary at present to 
 trace the connexion farther. 
 
 Speaking metaphorically, then, when the will desires to 
 accomplish a purpose, it lays an injunction upon the 
 brain, which conveys the order to the nerves, and these, 
 communicating with the muscles, immediately set in 
 motion the particular organ required, or the whole body. 
 Thus it appears that the entire power of muscular action 
 resides in the brain, and is evoked thence by an exercise 
 of the will. And when for a moment one reflects upon 
 the huge masses of matter set in motion externally to the 
 human frame by the same mental impulse, and the 
 mighty power for good or evil thus called into action by 
 a simple desire of the will, the vast importance of that 
 part of education is manifest, which endeavours to antici- 
 pate the direction of that power in infancy by regulating 
 the desires of the will through a proper attention to a 
 child's physical wants. 
 
 The influence mentioned is rendered more obvious from 
 a negative view of the case. If the brain be diseased or 
 unsound, the will becomes isolated, the former being 
 either incapable of transmitting a desire to the nerves, or 
 conveys a false impression, by which some foolish or 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 207 
 
 wrong action is the result, as in some cases of insanity. 
 When a paralytic person loses the use of his arm, it is 
 not because the muscles or the hones are impaired, neither 
 is it because the will has no desire to set the limb in 
 motion, but there is a chasm between the two; the medium 
 of communication is destroyed in some injury done to the 
 nerves. And if the muscles or bones of any organ be 
 wanting or unsound, the mechanical operation cannot be 
 completed, as in the case of an amputated hand, or a blind 
 eye. The mind, therefore, has full control over the body 
 only when its organism is complete, and according to its 
 efficiency or deficiency as an instrument, will be the mani- 
 festation and development of its powers. 
 
 Now this imperfection may also exist from a want of 
 training the bodily organs into a eo- operation with the 
 mind; and this is that vast hiatus in the system that mo- 
 dern education aims at supplying. The mind may grow 
 in knowledge without gaining in wisdom, may speculate in 
 all the sciences without acquiring a single art. It is an 
 education of the body alone that renders a man wise and 
 skilful, virtuous and active. He must do good to be 
 good, paint to be a painter, play to be a musician, 
 harangue to be an orator, write to be a writer; and in all 
 these and every other art, it is by a training of the 
 nerves and muscles of the' appropriate organs that the 
 actions come to be well executed. In a word, if the will, 
 enlightened by knowledge, first guide to the performance 
 of good actions and special arts, it is the performance of 
 them that alone stamps the virtuous or the technical 
 character, and according to the bodily aptitude for such 
 performance will be the perfection of that character. 
 
 But apart from the mental and moral evils resulting 
 from an inattention to early physical training, when 
 one reflects upon the vast amount of bodily suffering 
 
208 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 entailed upon a child through life, and often perpetuated 
 through several generations, . by the same cause, the 
 paramount importance of this fcranch of education is no 
 less conspicuous. - Nor are the-few simple rules of health 
 so difficult to be observed, that much of that misery might 
 not be prevented by proper precautions. The four essen- 
 tial elements of health are food pair, cleanliness, and exer- 
 cise. A certain quantity of nutritious food is necessary to 
 the support, growth, and expansion of the bodily organs. 
 If it be insufficient, either in nutriment or quantity, the 
 blood is deteriorated, and the system languishes. The 
 parent must be guided by medical rules in apportioning 
 the amount of nourishment to. the natural wants of his 
 child. But its appetite must also be regulated.. For 
 this purpose the food should . be supplied at regular 
 intervals, that no extraordinary longings after it, or care- 
 lessness about it, may arise. Simple and natural kinds of 
 food should also lay the foundation of a natural appetite, 
 as artificial -and stimulating meats speedily induce a false 
 one. It is this false appetite that causes children to eat 
 to excess when their food is of a stimulating nature, or 
 when thcTappetite is stimulated by various kinds of food ; 
 the consequences of which are, an oppression of the 
 digestive organs, and a corruption of the blood, laying the 
 foundation of a whole train of special diseases, and per- 
 manently injuring the digestive powers themselves. The 
 same evils result from partaking too frequently or too 
 largely of indigestible substances, as pastry, oleaginous, 
 dried, and pickled food, much fruit, especially the kernels 
 of nuts, &c. ; and of drinks, those containing much 
 alcohol should of course never be taken even in the 
 smallest quantities. 
 
 There are thus two different kinds of evils to be avoided 
 in the regulation of diet, — a pampering and an under gra- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. £09 
 
 tification of the appetite/satiety and inanition. In most 
 cases the one springs from the poverty of the parents, and 
 is thus almost beyond control; the other is generally the 
 result of that blind love of offspring leading a parent to 
 grant his child all its desires without reflecting upon the 
 ultimate consequences ; and this might easily be remedied 
 by a little self-denial, if such parents would consider that 
 nothing so certainly spoils children in every sense of the 
 term as pampering and satiety. 
 
 Air. — No less necessary is it, that this element inhaled 
 into the lungs be pure, than the food taken into the 
 stomach nutritious, as both are -essential to- the composi- 
 tion and purifying olthe blood, and through it of imparting 
 health and vigour to the general frame. The air is only 
 suitable for-supporting life^agreeaHy, when a fifth part of 
 its composition is oxygen-gas. When it has less, it is 
 unable to supply the blood with a sufficient quantity of 
 the life-giving principle, which thus becomes impure 5 
 generating weakness and disease through the system ; 
 and it may still further be contaminated by an admixture 
 of unwholesome gases exhaled from refuse substances in 
 impure localities, which gases taken into the lungs act as 
 a slow poison. Now, in a. crowded room where no con- 
 tinuous supply of fresh air is admitted, the requisite 
 proportion of oxygen is soon diminished, when every 
 breath, that is drawn conveys into the lungs the sure 
 elements of disease. . Hence the greater -necessity of ven- 
 tilation in crowded places? -and especially schools, where 
 children remain so many hours every day. No mental or 
 moral instruction can have much benefit upon children 
 whose frames have become relaxed and languid from 
 sitting in an ill-ventilated and crowded schoolroom. The 
 bodily instrument is out of tune y and responds -not to the 
 voice of the instructor. The system should at such 
 
210 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 times be reinvigorated by a run into the open air, and 
 braced anew by some muscular exercise. 
 
 Impure air is bad to all ages, but doubly pernicious to 
 young children. In grown-up people the system is con- 
 solidated, and the organs formed, and though for a time 
 it may derange their functions, a change of air may again 
 restore these to healthy operation, and the organs them- 
 selves be unimpaired. But it is to the very formation of 
 these organs in children, that pure air is partly necessary. 
 Oxygen gas is the life-giving aliment of the blood, and if 
 it be deprived of a due share of this, the organs formed 
 out of that blood must be correspondingly undeveloped and 
 feeble; not only will their functions be impaired, but 
 themselves arrested in growth. To crowd children into 
 ill- ventilated schools, therefore, is an untraining and a 
 demoralising of them rather than anything else. 
 
 The same principle applies to the vast numbers of chil- 
 dren and grown people huddled together in the lanes and 
 by-streets of large towns and cities amidst accumulations 
 Of filth and every impurity. Not only are the wretched 
 houses of such people badly ventilated, but what air gains 
 admittance to them comes impregnated with the noxious 
 exhalations of the neighbourhood^ carrying the seeds of 
 disease and death into their very presence. No less 
 necessary, then, is some municipal arrangement for pro- 
 viding places of resort in the vicinity of such towns, 
 where the pent-up inhabitants might occasionally breathe 
 the unadulterated air of heaven, and obtain recreation, 
 than a playground and gymnastic exercises for exhausted 
 school children. It would open up a safety valve not 
 only for the physical diseases, but the crimes of a com- 
 munity. These remarks, however, are now trite and 
 cognisant to every one ; the great difficulty is to inspire 
 directors of schools and guardians of a city with a motive 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 211 
 
 sufficient to impel them to action, in carrying such know- 
 ledge into effect. 
 
 The next indispensable element of health is cleanliness. 
 Cleanliness of person, dress, and dwellings, is, like the 
 former, not only healthful hut moralising. If it is not 
 absolutely a virtue, it is, at least, the source of muck 
 virtuous conduct. The skin is an organ for cleansing 
 the body by carrying off the superfluous and waste 
 matter from its internal parts. It is, for this purpose, 
 perforated with innumerable apertures, and when kept 
 clean and the pores open, there is a constant discharge 
 proceeding from them. This may be seen by any one 
 putting his finger inside a clear tumbler, or near the 
 glass of a window, which speedily-gets dimmed from the 
 vaporous exhalations passing through the skin. Now if 
 a free exit be not given to this matter, it is thrown back 
 upon the other excretory organs ; and to get rid of it 
 by other channels these are forced into undue action, 
 producing weakness in themselves and communicating 
 specific diseases to the vessels of the bowels and lungs. 
 Being somewhat of an oily nature, too, this excretory 
 matter naturally leaves a deposit upon the surface of the 
 pores, and if unremoved the. skin would become in a 
 certain degree impervious, not unlike an oilcloth. This 
 organ must, therefore, be kept •■ in a fit state to perform 
 its functions. It must be bathed and cleansed and 
 brushed, that it may be able to effect the same purifying 
 office to the rest of the frame. , It is incalculable how 
 much disease might be prevented by a proper attention 
 to bathing and cleansing the . skin. But how many 
 persons actually live on from year to year, and even pass 
 through life, without a more general ablution than that 
 of the hands and face, and, perhaps, occasionally their 
 feet ! Regular baths may not be accessible to all, but 
 
2-12 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 every one- may have at times an opportunity of .sponging 
 the surface of his hody with water and rubbing it, thus 
 using the means of bracing the system against the 
 attacks of coughs, colds, and other internal complaints, 
 besides many of those cutaneous diseases produced by 
 the accumulated impurities, of the skin's surface. 
 
 The teeth, ought, also, to be kept?' carefully clean, not 
 only for^the sake of appearance but a pressing necessity. 
 Those particles of food left upon their surface and 
 interstices generate, it is said, animalcules of the coral 
 species, which, by raising a crust over .the teeth, cause 
 them to decay, producing the severe pains of toothache, 
 and in the end their entire loss. Nothing more is 
 necessary for cleansing the>teeth than repeatedly brushing 
 them with pure water. A similar attention to articles of 
 dress is necessary. The perspiration of the skin settling 
 down upon the /inner suriace of the clothing and per- 
 vading it, accumulates other noxious gases, and impreg- 
 nates, to a certain extent, the atmosphere around the 
 body. Frequent changes, of dress are, therefore, next in 
 order to .personal cleanliness. ,The. same principle also 
 applies to the interior and exterior of dwellings. Erom 
 the spongy nature of the atmosphere, it draws up exha- 
 lations from whatever impurities may be collected in or 
 about a house, and from the incessant suction of the lungs, 
 these noxious exhalations are almost as certainly, con- 
 veyed thither and deposited as the,seeds of disease. 
 
 Nothing, then, but habits of cleanliness will prevent 
 such .results* and nothing but a course . of training can 
 form such; habits. These may be difficult to acquire 
 in. grown-up persons of opposite habits, and, from 
 that unwillingness of restraint, and recklessness, pecu- 
 liar to children, it may even be to them a troublesome 
 task for a time; but it is a necessary part of the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 213 
 
 civilising process of education to overcome such re- 
 luctance, and implant in their nature a desire for 
 tidiness and cleanliness. This desire would never be 
 eradicated, and would go far to secure its possessors 
 against a vast amount of physical and moral disorders 
 arising from an opposite disposition.- It would make, 
 too, the scanty and even ragged garments of the poorer 
 children less repulsive to themselves and others, their 
 most wretched abodes wear % more smiling aspect; and 
 their self-respect increase— forming the basis of other 
 higher mental and moral improvements accessible, " in 
 some degree, to all. 
 
 Exercise;. — An examination of the mechanical pro- 
 perties of the human frame-at once leads to the conclu- 
 sion, that action was its proper design. Man's body is 
 an instrument, and was therefore intended for use; it 
 was made for labour, and is organised accordingly. If, 
 then, an overtasking of its powers derange their functions 
 and disable them, no less does the rust of inactivity and 
 indolence corrode thenu When, therefore, a certain 
 amount of labour or exercise is performed, they are kept 
 free from disease, and health is the consequence. Unlike 
 other instruments, too, the- body is not liable to wear and 
 tear by moderate exercise; it is even improved by it. 
 A provision which is made to prevent the former is very 
 obvious iu examining the joints; "A limb," says Dr. 
 Paley, " shall swing upon its hinge-, or play in its socket, 
 many hundred times in an hour for sixty years together 
 without diminution of its agility." Now two provisions 
 are made to prevent the wearing down of the joints bv 
 this constant friction ; — first, " by the polish of their 
 cartilaginous surfaces, and by the healing lubrication of 
 the mucilage." But waste substance is also restored by 
 a compensatory process. When a wound is received in 
 
214 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 any part of the body, the blood accumulates there in 
 greater quantities, and by an increased assimilating 
 power repairs the damage. In like manner, when a 
 healthy muscle is exercised, it stimulates the blood and 
 attracts it more towards that part, which thus obtains 
 more nourishment than an unemployed muscle, and 
 increases in size, strength, and pliability. It reaps the 
 fruit of its labours, so to speak, in an increase of substance, 
 while another loses even its natural -inheritance by inac- 
 tivity. Whatever limb is more exercised than another, 
 will also become stronger by an increase of muscular 
 energy ; and, consequently, of two persons similarly 
 endowed by nature, he whose muscular action is the 
 greater will, other things being equal, be the stronger 
 and healthier man. Instances of this are abundant. The 
 skin upon the soles of the feet is in infancy no harder 
 than the palm of the hand, and would continue through 
 life so, were they not used in walking. The difference 
 in mature life arises from the constant pressure of the 
 soles upon the ground ; and it may be added, that the 
 heel and fore part of the foot being more pressed upon 
 than the intervening arch, are harder than that part. 
 Again, the horny palm of a blacksmith was in infancy as 
 tender as that of the finest gentleman, and his strong 
 brawny arm of no greater thickness and solidity than 
 his ; but the grasp and wielding of the huge forge ham- 
 mer make a great difference in manhood. Pugilists, 
 tumblers, and dancers acquire their superior strength 
 and agility by practice alone. The same principle 
 applies to the internal organs. Much of the difference 
 between a sweet voice and a harsh one is often solely 
 attributable to a greater exercise of the vocal organs. 
 Demosthenes is said to have overcome even an organic 
 impediment by severe exercise. And of Adelaide Kemble 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 215 
 
 . it lias also been mentioned, that her present full-toned, 
 mellifluous voice was barely tolerable on her first taking 
 lessons. 
 
 The nervous system can likewise be improved by a 
 judicious exercise, and this is, perhaps, the greatest 
 advantage that physical training can bestow upon chil- 
 dren. It is the true source of courage, without a con- 
 siderable degree of which, in a world of so much 
 temptation, the best moral impulses are soon subdued. 
 Cowardice and timidity result entirely from a weakness of 
 the nerves. Courage, both physical and moral, spring 
 from their strength and tone. In short, all the powers 
 of the man simultaneously improve by corporeal exercise, 
 though this harmony is promoted in a much higher degree 
 by some exercises than by others. 
 
 The mental and moral faculties require an exercise 
 peculiar to themselves, in the same way that the different 
 bodily organs need a specific training. Bodily exercises, 
 therefore, in which the greatest number of the muscles 
 can be called into play, are consequently the best for the 
 body, and, collaterally, for the mind ; but those which 
 engage the mind and feelings, along with the body, di- 
 rectly benefit the whole powers. It is the fault of 
 modern gymnastics, that they afford no excitement to 
 the mind ; and the same objection applies to those 
 solemn walks, rank and file, taken by a company of 
 boarding-school misses, under the inspection of a go- 
 verness. In the latter case the mind is unrelaxed from 
 school discipline, and in the former, not occupied. " The 
 great desideratum in physical education is a series of 
 games of an exciting character, arranged so as to develop 
 the different muscles of the body. The mere exercise of 
 the muscles, while the mind is inert or averse, is, com- 
 paratively, of little value. The efficiency of exercise 
 
216 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 requires the direction of the attention and the muscular 
 effort to the same- point, at the same moment. Most of 
 the common sports of children secure this, hut they 
 seldom require the operation of more than a particular 
 set of muscles. It would he desirable to have games 
 which should at once interest, exercise various muscles, 
 and keep all the players as active as possible. Foot- ball 
 perhaps is one of the best in common use. It keeps a 
 whole field in high excitement and action. Ball in a 
 fives- court is excellent, but can occupy no more than 
 four at the same time. Leap-frog exercises the muscles 
 of the limbs and loins in running and jumping, and the 
 muscles of the loins and back in supporting. The 
 game of battledore- and shuttlecock is excellent for the 
 arms and chest, and should be played with both hands, 
 not only for the development of the left muscles of the 
 thorax, but also for the exercise of the left arm. Cricket 
 is a fine game, but there is little continuous exercise, 
 except for the striker and the bowler. Prison-base, hunt- 
 the-hare, hoops, whipping-tops, are all good, but there is 
 obviously required a set of games which with an interest- 
 ing purpose, would keep; all engaged in them active, give 
 full play to the voice, and call for the exercise of strength 
 and activity in all the different muscles. Whoever shall 
 supply this want will confer a service of no ordinary kind 
 on education."* 
 
 As a means for developing the muscles of the arms and 
 upper portions of the body, many schools have a circular 
 swing in the play- ground, which is a much better appa- 
 ratus than the dumb-bells. Cross-bars and climbing-poles 
 are also getting common; and several other means for 
 
 * Prize Essay by John Lalor, A. B., of Trinity College, 
 Dublin. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 2 1 7 
 
 performing gymnastics are slowly coming into use. All 
 games of chance should be discountenanced, .while those 
 requiring skill and dexterity, and particularly such as 
 promote the kindly and generous affections, courteousness, 
 and forbearance, should be encouraged. The apparatus 
 of games, caps, and books, should each have its appro- 
 priate place, and be rigidly kept. These, with various 
 other details, constitute the physical training of the play- 
 ground, or of the few minutes of relaxation between the 
 hours of study; and it is, therefore, used both as an end 
 and a means. The end for which it is resorted to is to 
 establish and promote health, and, consequently, to 
 invigorate the mind ; but it is also, as has been seen, a 
 very powerful means for aiding in the work of moral 
 training. 
 
 And even during the course of giving lessons its aid is 
 sometimes needed. Suppose the children getting languid 
 over their studies, nothing so much awakens them to 
 their duty as some smart simultaneous bodily movement.. 
 
 " Under this head are also included the training to 
 cleanliness and tidiness of person, to proper modes of 
 walking, and sitting, and running, holding a book or 
 slate, and distinct enunciation, both in reading and 
 speaking. Physical training is, therefore, the handmaid 
 of mental and moral discipline, and is no less necessary 
 in the regulation of a school than marching, wheeling, 
 shouldering of arms,- and other military evolutions, are 
 to the discipline of an army." * . 
 
 Now many of these exercises are not always compatible 
 with the mental and moral routine of ordinary teaching 
 schools; but it is no less certain that others of them 
 ought regularly to alternate with mental studies. Mental 
 
 * Stow. 
 
fc 218 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 exercise is simply a work of the brain, and that organ 
 requires rest and relaxation as well as the overworked 
 arms or legs ; with this difference, too, that the danger 
 of injuring it is much more fatal in its consequences 
 than that of overtasking any other of the physical mem- 
 bers. But a vast deal of prejudice must be overcome 
 on this point. Children of acute minds, and of a turn 
 for study, are eagerly pushed on and encouraged to 
 persevere in every sort of intellectual attainment, and the 
 brain thus acquires a morbid and restless activity, that, in 
 far more cases than people are aware of, hurries its victim 
 to a premature grave. Precocity has many different 
 stages, and many more children require to be kept back 
 in their studies than people think. The sculptor's instru- 
 ment must be gently and dexterously applied to the soft- 
 grained material, otherwise he may not only mar the 
 image, but destroy the material itself. The perfection of 
 a school would, therefore, be a proper blending together 
 and alternating of mental, moral, and physical exercises, 
 in which each of these three faculties should be exercised 
 upon its appropriate objects. But until very lately the 
 latter of these was never thought of as entering into a 
 course of education, and forming a component and neces- 
 sary part of it. And even yet, many people passing a 
 school during some few minutes of relaxation, and hear- 
 ing the merry shout and laugh of the temporarily eman- 
 cipated inmates, go away with conclusions anything but 
 favourable to such an institution. A play- ground or a 
 large hall is, therefore, an indispensable appendage to a 
 training seminary. It is the physical schoolroom, the prin- 
 cipal element there communicated should be the pure air 
 of heaven, and the chief study pursued, how best to expand 
 the muscles and brace the nerves. In the regulation of 
 the plays and amusements of children, no little skill 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING, 219 
 
 and experience are necessary. They are indeed the best 
 judges of what games are best adapted to their own 
 amusement, but unless a superintendent watch the progress 
 of the players, and minutely inspect their conduct towards 
 one another in some of their games, much moral evil may 
 be the result. It is unquestionably here that moral, no 
 less than physical, training has its most powerful influ- 
 ence. The native character of a boy, sitting at his 
 lesson and more formally under the eye of the master, is 
 more veiled, the child is more on his guard. But at 
 play all reserve is thrown aside, and the genuine feelings, 
 whether good or the reverse, are brought into action. 
 Thus many habits and tendencies, both good and evil, 
 are discovered, which could never otherwise be found out, 
 and opportunities afforded for correcting the one, and 
 calling forth the other. But at play how seldom is it, 
 on the whole, that the bad feelings gain the ascendency ! 
 The natural desire is to please and be pleased, and the 
 generous affections are thus called into exercise, and 
 nourished by the natural warmth of their own action. 
 Compared with mere preceptive morality, the virtuous 
 emotions of the heart are as much more improved 
 and awakened by this natural training, as the natural 
 warmth of the body produced by exercise is superior to 
 that obtained by artificial means. 
 
 But to sympathise with children in these sports requires 
 no less an undoing process of a teacher's own staid 
 habits and sedate manners, than to descend to their level 
 intellectually. The buoyant sallies of youth and child- 
 hood are in general far from being in harmony with his 
 own quiet pursuits and tastes, and in order to gratify 
 his ease, a sacrifice must be made too often of those 
 innocent and necessary enjoyments. But it is this unjust 
 restriction, without doubt, that in numberless instances 
 L2 
 
220 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 lays the foundation of premature disease and death. 
 Healthful amusements and bodily activity, even to weari- 
 ness, are as necessary to the preservation of health, as 
 food and air are to the preservation of life itself. At 
 the same time, it is no less indispensable that the 
 exuberant spirits of some children be restrained and 
 softened down, for as certainly as the denying of their 
 innocent gratification will superinduce an unhealthy 
 frame, so will their unguided indulgence luxuriate into 
 acts of mischief and wickedness. But this is just the 
 province of a trainer, whether he be a master or a parent. 
 Many writers and teachers allege the necessity of 
 making instruction altogether a matter of amusement. 
 In support of this idea, too^ much stress has been 
 laid upon what has been conceived to be the original 
 intention of schools among the Komans and Greeks. 
 Pliny indeed uses the phrase ludus liter arius, or a literary 
 amusement, for school ; and the Greek word axoXrj, 
 whence our own word is translated, signifies ease or 
 leisure; but the truth is, there must be a combination of ex- 
 ertion with relaxation in mental pursuits as well as bodily^ 
 to secure a healthy tone to the powers of either. This 
 seems, therefore, to be an idea more pleasant in theory 
 than practical in effect. The acquisition of knowledge as 
 an abstract proposition, is doubtlessly a pleasure ; and 
 every facility for acquiring that knowledge ought to be 
 afforded. But that school studies in all cases can be 
 made a mere amusement is simply impossible. Habit 
 may render them so, but this habit must first be acquired, 
 and a certain amount of moral inertia overcome in most 
 cases, which is anything but a pleasurable task either to 
 the teacher or the taught. The more philosophic view 
 of the matter is simply to initiate the pupil by easy 
 Stages in the business of his education, as an artist 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 221 
 
 or mechanic in his trade. If fair means be then 
 employed, there is no doubt of a sufficiently studious 
 bias being given to the mind; but if study be not relieved 
 by play, or be continued too long at one time, or be 
 of a nature in itself repugnant to the young mind, 
 a taste for it never will be acquired, and never ought 
 to be acquired ; which is just one of the wise provi- 
 sions of nature, in which any process of forcing ever 
 defeats its own purpose. It is not always the best sign 
 of a boy that he is fonder of his books than of his play. 
 The mind may grow at the expense of the body, and as a 
 plant shooting up out of a sterile soil, but under a genial 
 atmosphere, " to-day will flourish and to-morrow die ;." 
 so the mental powers may thus soon spring to maturity, 
 but unless they derive much of their strength and action 
 from a sound constitution, by inhaling too largely of an 
 atmosphere of science and literature, they may not only 
 as speedily decay, but, at the same time, irrecoverably 
 injure the bodily constitution. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The second branch of education according to the pre- 
 ceding division, has a reference to the intellectual nature 
 of man. In tracing the connexion of the moving powers 
 of the body up through the hones, the muscles, the nerves, 
 the spinal cord, and the brain, it was stated that these 
 all depend for action upon the will. It may now further 
 be remarked, that the will presides no less over the 
 actions of the mental faculties than of the bodily; in 
 short, that it governs the whole man. Yet is this 
 will no irresponsible agent, nor less guided in its ope- 
 rations by these same faculties, than are the nerves and 
 muscles by it. It may have the direction of the conduct 
 and movements, but it acts and moves itself by direction. 
 It may be the ruling power, but it must receive power 
 to rule, and that power is vested in the understanding. 
 It is this which suggests motives of action to the will, or 
 moves the will to act. " No man," says Locke, " ever 
 sets himself about anything but upon some view or other, 
 which serves him as a reason for what he does," and this 
 reason must be contained in the understanding. His 
 motives arise, too, from ideas contained in the under- 
 standing ; upon the correctness or incorrectness of which, 
 must his conduct depend for its propriety, or impropriety. 
 These ideas are only of two kinds, those prepared by the 
 mind itself, or reflective ideas, which are again derived 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 223 
 
 from others received by the senses, or sensations. Now 
 as these sensations proceed from objects external to the 
 mind and the body, the whole man, properly speaking, is 
 an agent acting to this extent under the influence of 
 external circumstances. But these circumstances are laws 
 ordained and controlled by Providence, and hence the 
 responsibility of man for his conduct to the Great Creator, 
 as an agent acting under his control and government. 
 During the earliest years of his life, however, a term of 
 apprenticeship must be gone through to qualify him for 
 this agency, and until he be so qualified, he is under the 
 control and direction of a subordinate. That subordi- 
 nate is a parent, or an instructor, whose province it is to 
 guide him into a proper relation to these laws, that by 
 bringing them to bear upon his understanding, it may be 
 enlightened so as to induce the will to perform right 
 actions; and also qualified for judging of the rectitude 
 of these actions when performed. The understanding 
 must be shown in what direction the laws of nature and 
 Providence tend, that the will may be swayed, and the 
 conduct borne along in the same direction ; but if a per- 
 verted view of these be given, the conduct will exhibit a 
 corresponding obliquity. If in physical motion, the desires 
 of the will may be thwarted by organic derangement, 
 so the operation of these natural laws may also be re- 
 fracted, and turned aside, by entering the medium of a 
 perverted understanding. Whatever powers of body or 
 mind, then, the will employs in accomplishing a purpose, 
 it must have had a previous motive communicated to it 
 to do so, and that motive would be a reason produced 
 by the understanding. Any reason would be sufficiently 
 moving to the will, but it must have some reason for 
 moving ; if that reason be an enlightened one, the right 
 path of conduct will be shown and entered upon, but if 
 
&24 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 unenlightened, that path is left in darkness. There is, 
 therefore, no part of education more important in its 
 results than the regulation of the understanding, either 
 as regards its acquirements or manifestations, its know- 
 ledge or its power. 
 
 A general division of the mind into its separate facul- 
 ties may best point out the course that should he pursued 
 in its guidance. Modern philosophy arranges these facul- 
 ties into two classes — feelings and intellect. The former 
 are subdivided into propensities and sentiments, and the 
 latter into powers of perception and reflection. The pro- 
 pensities induce desires, inclinations, and instincts, com^ 
 mon to the lower animals with man. The sentiments are 
 a higher grade of feelings joined to the propensities, and 
 induce upon them peculiar emotions. Some of these 
 sentiments are also common to man with the lower 
 animals ; but what are called superior sentiments are 
 possessed by man alone. 
 
 Again, the intellect is divided into perceptive and 
 reflective faculties. The former perceive the existence of 
 external objects, their qualities and relations, also embrac- 
 ing the faculty of language. This order is the earliest 
 developed, and is limited to the acquisition of knowledge. 
 The reflective faculties are two in number, comparison 
 and reason, and are developed at a maturer age. The 
 former, as its name imports, compares ideas together to 
 show their differences and resemblances, and is the source 
 of wit, oratory, and poetry. The latter, and the noblest 
 power of the mind, is reason, that faculty designed to 
 observe cause and effect, deducing thence principles of 
 guidance for the moral conduct, and those laws upon 
 which the whole material universe depends. Reason is 
 thus not only the distinguishing characteristic between 
 man and the lower animals, giving him a power over their 
 
PHILOSOPHY OP TRAINING. 225 
 
 superior physical strength ; hut it enables him in some 
 degree to turn aside the very course of nature for his own 
 benefit. This branch of the human intellect, too, enables 
 the mind to pry into itself, and examine the laws of its 
 own structure and functions. 
 
 Intellectual education, therefore, resolves itself into 
 two branches according to these two divisions of the intel- 
 lect, the perceptive and reflective powers. A perception 
 of the existence and qualities of objects, is first communi- 
 cated to the mind by the senses. Look at a little child 
 playing in its mother's lap with a toy; it grasps it 
 with its tiny fingers, and gains a sensation of its hard- 
 ness ; gazes upon it, and receives an impression of its 
 form; puts it to its mouth and tastes it; catches by chance 
 its smell ; knocks it against another substance and hears 
 its sound ; and there may be seen a process of education 
 going on, from which the instructor may gain his first 
 lesson in the art of teaching. These are the faculties 
 seeking gratification and amusement, and that is the 
 mode to gratify and amuse them. While awake, the 
 senses of a child are ever open to impressions from 
 external objects, and there is an impulse within con- 
 stantly inciting him to touch, taste, and handle, that he 
 may receive such impressions. 
 
 This is a similar instinct of the mind impelling it to 
 obtain knowledge, to that bodily craving which prompts a 
 child to cling to the breast for its material nourishment. 
 The desire should, therefore, be gratified according to its 
 manifestation ; but as it would act blindly and might 
 lead to the reception of injurious impressions, it must be 
 guided to suitable objects to imbibe proper impressions. 
 These objects must also be in sufficient number and 
 variety to gratify its ever restless appetite for novelty, and 
 at the same time keep its curiosity awake. But the same 
 
 L 3 
 
&26 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 objects must be repeatedly examined, that the mind may 
 gain clear ideas of their identity and characteristics, as it 
 is this which will lead to the formation of clear ideas in 
 general, and even in infancy prevent the mind from 
 becoming the receptacle of a confused mass of imperfect 
 images. It is also the source of clear thoughts and 
 reflections, and the foundation of a correct judgment. 
 These objects should also be presented to a child in a 
 manner to attract his attention, and keep alive his curio- 
 sity until he becomes familiar with their sensible quali- 
 ties. Such an exercise appeals at once to the faculty of 
 perception; and long before any words can be used to 
 convey ideas by representation, these ideas have been 
 gained by observation and have sunk deep into the mind. 
 
 The faculty of language is among the latest of the per- 
 ceptive powers in being developed, and requires even some 
 reflection to aid its manifestations artificially. To gain 
 the name of any object, two things must be presented to 
 the mind, the name and the thing; and the establishing 
 of a connexion between them is a reflective process. The 
 faculty of natural language is indeed a mere instinct 
 common to the lower animals with man, which is developed 
 to a certain extent by imitation; and even the formality of 
 merely pronouncing words without understanding their 
 meaning is little more. It is when language becomes the 
 handmaid of the higher powers, that its instrumentality is 
 fully unfolded. 
 
 In conducting these lessons on objects, therefore, it is 
 necessary that a plan be adhered to, according with the 
 laws of the mind's manifestation. When a child is learn- 
 ing to speak, which it does by imitating its parent, there 
 is an instrument developing itself that must be guided in 
 its application, and directed to a proper end. Each 
 object and quality of which the mind has become 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 227 
 
 cognisant, must receive its appropriate name. And as a 
 repeated view of an object is necessary to fix its identity 
 in the mind, so must its name be repeatedly pronounced 
 in association with the object to identify this connexion. 
 Successive views of the object will then not only call up an 
 idea of that object but its name, and thus awaken the 
 language faculty to exercise and strength. But it is an 
 artificial tendency, so to speak, that is now induced upon 
 the natural faculty, which thus becomes an organ for the 
 language of the mind rather than of the feelings, the latter 
 of which is an instinctive language. To a clearness of 
 apprehension regarding the existence and qualities of 
 objects, there will now be added the commencement of a 
 course of verbal instruction, equally appealing to an exist- 
 ing faculty of the mind. Both powers must, therefore, be 
 educated simultaneously, that each may reflect light upon 
 the other ; but in their incipient stages of development, 
 objects and exercises corresponding to their capacities 
 must alone be submitted. 
 
 The observing faculties of the mind have been fitly 
 compared to a camera obscura, into which the senses are 
 constantly transmitting miniature pictures of external 
 objects. A condensed view of a portion of nature is thus 
 obtained in a small compass. But the camera must be 
 adjusted to the view, its tube directed towards the objects, 
 and its glasses properly arranged; or by a collocation and 
 disposition of the objects themselves, they must be brought 
 to bear upon the instrument, and be adapted to its focal 
 diameter. In the arrangement of lessons for the observ- 
 ing faculties of children, a similar adaptation must be 
 made — the objects must be placed before them so as to 
 attract their attention, and be of a nature suited to 
 their comprehension. This disposition of the object to, 
 the subject of education, is perhaps rather a branch of 
 
228 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 method, already treated of; but it may not be extraneous 
 merely to indicate the course pointed out by Mr. Wilder- 
 spin, in his infant lessons, so well adapted to the observ- 
 ing faculties in their incipient stages of development. 
 
 This is simply the Pestalozzian principle reduced to 
 art, and teaching from objects rather than books; but 
 instead of going into the fields and gleaning know- 
 ledge from things scattered abroad, these are condensed 
 into the focus of a school-room. A large collection of 
 objects or specimens of them are fixed upon a number of 
 boards, and presented to the children in a regular series 
 to be examined and named. These boards are about six- 
 teen inches square, and a quarter of an inch thick, and 
 fitted to slide out and in the grooves of a lesson post. 
 The objects or fragments are glued or fastened to the 
 boards with screws or waxed thread, the children are 
 ranged in front of the board, and the teacher stands 
 beside them, with a pointer in his hand. With this he 
 calls attention to a particular article, and when the chil- 
 dren have examiued it, he names it, and asks them to repeat 
 the name after him — and proceeds so until they can name 
 them all in succession. It is exactly similar to learning 
 the alphabet, and it is, indeed, the alphabet of the book 
 of nature. The order of these lessons is also calculated 
 to induce a habit of induction, and to trace the arts and 
 manufactures from the natural material. 
 
 " The first board contains a small piece of gold in its 
 rough state, a piece of gold in its manufactured state, a 
 piece of silver in both states, a piece of copper in both 
 states, a piece of brass in both states, a piece of iron in 
 both states; a piece of steel in both states, a piece of tinfoil, 
 a piece of solder, a screw, a clasp nail, a clout nail, a 
 hob nail, a spike nail, a sparable, and a tack. 
 
 " The next board may contain a piece of hemp, a piece 
 of rope, string, bagging, sacking, canvas, hessian, Scotch 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING^ 229 
 
 "sheeting, unbleached linen, bleached linen, diaper linen, 
 dyed linen, flax, thread, yarn, ticking, raw silk, twisted 
 silk, India silk, figured silk, white plain silk, dyed silk, 
 a piece of ribbon, silk cord, silk velvet," &c. 
 
 The next board contains cotton in all its varieties, the 
 next all the different kinds of paper, the next a number of 
 wooden animals from the toy warehouses, the next differ- 
 ent kinds of wood, prunings of fruit trees, small articles 
 of ironmongery, and he also suggests the dried leaves of 
 the different kinds of trees, &c. 
 
 From these and numberless other articles, then, the chil- 
 dren carry off a store of ideas and names, and their minds 
 become the repositories of suitable materials for future 
 reflection. It is another link added to the chain of con- 
 nexion between their minds and the world without, making 
 an impression upon their understandings of a part of 
 nature in miniature, that, according to its depth, must in- 
 fluence their mental conduct through life. Such impres- 
 sions, if kept alive, will enable them at once to recognise 
 their archetypes in the world and to name them, or in 
 reading or hearing such names of objects to understand 
 them. 
 
 A higher exercise than this mere oral nomenclature of 
 things, however, is necessary in a course of lessons on 
 objects. The qualities of things cannot all be known by 
 sight, some must be handled, tasted, smelt, and heard; 
 the other senses must therefore be appealed to, and sensa- 
 tions of these different qualities formed by actual contact. 
 All these sensations of qualities, as well as the objects, 
 must be named, first orally, but also in writing on a black 
 board, and thus seen ; not only associating in the mind 
 spoken, but written names, with clear ideas of what they re- 
 present. Pictures of objects that cannot be shown in sample, 
 and particularly of animals, is the next step in the repre- 
 sentation of nature, and these can carry the mind much 
 
230 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 further than tangible objects. As these, however, may 
 embrace things the qualities of which cannot be sensibly 
 perceived, much more verbal instruction is necessary to 
 be given along with them. In both cases, indeed, a con- 
 siderable degree of oral teaching is indispensable. But 
 the verbal knowledge thus communicated, is like mortar 
 to a building, binding together its materials ; as the sepa- 
 rate ideas of objects lying in the mind are thus connected 
 by other minor ideas, and trains of thought established. 
 Much telling is, however, equally bad, as it tends to 
 induce a passiveness upon the mind, which the more it 
 renders the mere reception of ideas agreeable, increases 
 the danger of that supineness of intellect, which prevents 
 the mind itself from acquiring a habit of self-instruction. 
 The best practical exemplification of this great principle 
 of object teaching, discovered by Pestalozzi, may be seen 
 in a well-known little book, by Miss Mayo, entitled 
 " Lessons on Objects." In that manual, the principles of 
 mental philosophy are carefully adhered to, and the lessons 
 well adapted to the gradual development of the perceptive 
 and reflective powers. 
 
 From these four sources, then, — objects, pictures, con- 
 versation, and reading, — stream the first rays of intel- 
 ligence that should enlighten the understanding of a child ; 
 and if a parallel course be continued in extemo, his mind 
 will thus become enriched with a vast store of information. 
 But there is a higher power of intellect to which such a 
 course does not immediately appeal. It is, however, prepa- 
 ratory to it, and unless the mind has undergone this pre- 
 vious alimentary exercise, the superior faculty oireason has 
 but little means of manifesting its peculiar endowments. 
 As the faculty of language is the last in being brought 
 into action among the observing powers, — its office being 
 to help in arranging, classifying, and naming, previously 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 231 
 
 accumulated information, filling up, so to speak; those 
 interstices that may disconnect its several parts, — so 
 that of reflection, by means of language, proceeds now to 
 draw out not only isolated ideas, but trains of thought. 
 Nor only does it call forth single ideas in combination, 
 but combined ideas singly ; new ideas out of old ones ; the 
 ludicrous from the grave, and the grave from the ludi- 
 crous ; the beautiful and sublime from the simple and 
 common; lofty thoughts from the humblest; truth from 
 error; the cause from the effect, and the effect from the 
 cause. In short, from the old world of reality without, a 
 new world of thought and imagination is thus created 
 within the busy brain of man, into which the tired 
 observer of nature can retreat, and enjoy the most delight- 
 ful contemplation. These thoughts form of themselves 
 a world to engage the attention of the reflective faculties, 
 as their archetypes in nature served to call forth the 
 observation of the perceptive. But an external guidance 
 of a different kind must be applied to the former, as 
 much more than a mere dreamy observation is needed 
 for their excitement and gratification. They must not 
 only be engaged as spectators of the information acquired, 
 but as workmen in accumulating more out of it; not 
 only treated to a view of the mind's picture gallery, but 
 initiated into the mysteries of its studio. 
 
 The method pursued in the intellectual department of 
 the best trainiDg seminaries, proceeds upon the principle 
 of taking it for granted that the newly- admitted children 
 of a school know nothing until it has been ascertained 
 by the master. He proceeds to excavate the soil, and to 
 lay a foundation, by inculcating the simplest facts in his 
 own way, whether these facts may have been communi- 
 cated previously or not. There is thus, so to speak, a 
 superstratum formed over the mind's antecedent know- 
 
23£ PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 ledge, affording him ground to stand upon in examining 
 the depths beneath and eliciting further results ; and in 
 a gallery class all are thus prepared to proceed from the 
 same point. The same principle is carried out through 
 every succeeding lesson, though of course in inculcating 
 additional facts, and drawing out additional inferences 
 or lessons. As little, however, is told to the children 
 as possible ; certain facts, indeed, must be stated ; but 
 from these facts as a basis, the children are trained to 
 deduce inferences, and arrive at results, through the 
 exercise of their own minds. When a fact or principle 
 becomes thus impressed upon the mind, it remains there 
 with all the force of a discovery ; the permanency of which 
 is, therefore, much greater in the mind of a child than that 
 of any fact it may have been taught. But this is not 
 the chief advantage. In being told facts, the mind may 
 be gratified, but it can hardly be said to be improved. 
 It becomes, then, a mere passive recipient : in other 
 words, the faculty of perception has only been engaged, 
 and even that but partially, while the judgment is alto- 
 gether inoperative. To receive facts in this way may, 
 therefore, make a child cognisant of many circumstances 
 and events in the abstract ; but out of these materials he 
 will be utterly unable to deduce new and correct ideas, 
 his reflective powers not having been called into play. 
 This can only be done by a mental effort either in the 
 child or the man. It is by contrasting and comparing 
 one set of ideas with another that new ones are produced, 
 and that a judgment is formed upon any subject. Hence, 
 indeed, the very meaning of the word reflection, which 
 signifies a bending back of the mind upon itself, and 
 taking cognisance of ideas previously communicated. 
 In the process under consideration, therefore, the child 
 is not only taught new ideas, but is trained to the art 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 233 
 
 of using these ideas ; or, in other words, is simply taught 
 how to think properly on any subject. The judgment or 
 reasoning faculty is thus called into exercise ; and as 
 certainly as the muscles of the body are developed and 
 strengthened by healthy action, so also will the mind by 
 such an exercise become invigorated and improved. In 
 training, the mind is made to work out for itself, from 
 given materials, what in teaching is gratuitously given ; 
 and in the act of so doing, the habit of reasoning or 
 of tracing effects to their cause, is formed. Teaching, 
 for example, is to tell a child the results of other people's 
 experience and investigation ; but training is to enable 
 him to find out these results by his own experience and 
 research; with this addition, that training, as it includes 
 teaching, both furnishes the mind with facts, and enables 
 it to deduce inferences and conclusions from these facts. 
 
 There are several ways in which the former of these 
 may be accomplished. It is, however, a peculiarity 
 of the normal system at Glasgow, to effect this by 
 speaking to the children elliptically, and allowing them 
 to fill up the gap, and then, by a certain form of cate- 
 chising, eliciting the result. To form an ellipsis, pro- 
 perly, is not by any means so simple a matter as it appears, 
 and that is the reason that in the hands of an unskilful 
 person it looks so very meaningless. It is not enough 
 merely to omit a word or two of a sentence and let the 
 children fill in such as would have occurred as a matter 
 of course. The hiatus must comprehend the conclusion 
 of a proposition, or at least a result which the preceding 
 part of the sentence led to as a rational sequence. It 
 should contain the very pith of the remark, without 
 which the previous words would be unmeaning and un- 
 intelligible ; like the space left for the key-stone of an 
 arch, the whole of which depends for its stability upon 
 
234 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the insertion of the stone. By a proper combination of 
 questions and ellipses, the mind becomes both replen- 
 ished with facts, and enabled by reflection to draw 
 conclusions from these facts. It is in many respects an 
 application of the inductive philosophy to the science of 
 education ; and it may safely be asserted, that the carry- 
 ing out of such a principle would produce no less satis- 
 factory results in that science, than it has done in any 
 other to which it has been applied. By this means, the 
 geologist, from the slender data afforded in the discovery 
 of a few bones embedded in a rock, can trace the structure 
 and habits of many races of extinct animals, and can 
 even describe the appearance of our globe long ere it 
 assumed its present form. The historian, from the 
 single fact that " fine linen existed in Egypt in the time 
 of Moses," can deduce many other facts relative to the 
 state of Egypt, — such as its government, science, and art, 
 at that period. He sees, for example, that fine linen 
 could only be made from fine thread, and fine thread 
 from fine flax ; and that fine flax must go through 
 various acts of preparation, in which many workmen 
 must have been employed before fine linen could have 
 been made. The weaving of fine linen presupposes 
 artists having acquired skill and dexterity in the art by 
 imitation and example. Hence the existence of the art ; 
 and its perfection may also be deduced from the fineness of 
 the fabric. The state of agriculture in the country may 
 also be deduced in the same way. And by the same pro- 
 cess did the immortal Newton, setting aside the theories 
 and hypotheses of the ancients regarding their " cycle 
 and epicycle, orb on orb," demonstrate, from the appa- 
 rently trivial circumstance of the falling apple, that the 
 myriad hosts of heaven revolve around each other by the 
 same law. Nor does this process of inductive reasoning 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TEAINING. 235 
 
 involve any principle which is not clearly intelligible, 
 and easily practised, at an early age. 
 
 The relative duties of a trainer and his pupil in such a 
 course, are those of analysis and synthesis; both of which 
 may he illustrated by a single example from etymology. 
 It is the work of the trainer to analyse a word into its 
 component parts, and show the meaning of these sepa- 
 rately, while that of the pupil is to reconstruct these 
 separate elements into the same word, and show their com- 
 bined meaning. The master analyses, the pupil combines. 
 For example, to tell a pupil that the word "reconstruction" 
 is composed of four different parts, each having a separate 
 and distinct meaning; that "re" signifies again — " con" 
 together — "struc" build, and "tion" the act of — is to 
 analyse the word so far as is necessary ; but when the 
 boy, from this knowledge, combines these meanings, and 
 finds that they signify the " act of building together 
 again," he is proceeding synthetically, and arriving at a 
 correct understanding of the term. He thus not only 
 sees the meaning of the word, but how it comes to have 
 such a meaning. 
 
 It is necessary to call particular attention to this point, 
 for it is to this alone that almost all modern improve- 
 ments in reflective education may be referred ; and it is 
 now coming into universal application in well-conducted 
 schools, from the most elementary knowledge to the 
 highest branches of study. It is by adhering to this 
 mode, from the alphabet upwards, that most schools in 
 Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, are conducted so 
 efficiently and intellectually. And the reason is, that it 
 is entirely the process which nature pursues in develop- 
 ing the mind- — first, by collecting facts, and then 
 gradually comparing, combining, and finally analysing 
 these facts. What is it, indeed, but a process of nature 
 
£36 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 itself in the arrangements of the material creation ? When 
 bodies undergo decomposition and decay, their elementary 
 particles enter into new arrangements and combinations 
 with other bodies. New forms are thus created by syn- 
 thesis. When a piece of wood is heated in a certain 
 manner, it is analysed into water, an acid, several kinds 
 of gas, and charcoal ; and when animal and vegetable 
 bodies are decomposed beneath the surface of the earth, 
 they become assimilated to the soil, enter into the 
 nourishment of other plants and vegetables, and in 
 turn, also form component parts of other animals by 
 synthesis. 
 
 What has of late been so frequently styled the " ana- 
 lytical" method of instruction, is, therefore, only half 
 the required process. It is true that to analyse any sub- 
 ject, and present it to the mind in a clear and popular 
 manner, is intellectual teaching, and a vast improvement 
 it is upon former methods ; but it is by no means intel- 
 lectual training, which is a matter of vastly greater 
 moment. Teaching, or analysis, is to inform a child 
 that atmospheric air is composed of nitrogen, oxygen, 
 and carbon : training, or synthesis, is to lead the 
 mind from a knowledge of the nature and properties of 
 these separate gases, to deduce the ideas, not only of 
 what air is composed, but how balloons float in it, how 
 water rises in a pump, how mercury oscillates in 
 the tube of a barometer, how water boils at different 
 temperatures. Teaching is to show a pupil the cut stem 
 of a tree, with its concentric circles, and to tell him 
 these indicate the age of that tree ; but training leads the 
 mind to observe how the moisture of the soil ascends the 
 trunk, and the nitrogen of the air descends by its leaves 
 and branches, to meet this sap and deposit this annual 
 contribution of matter. Teaching is to say that the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 237 
 
 camel can sustain life in the desert for a number of days 
 without water ; but training shows how it can do so, by 
 mentally analysing the sacs and membranes of its sto- 
 mach, showing the separation of the imbibed fluid from 
 the intestines, from its mixing with the solid aliment, the 
 gastric juice and digestive action of the stomach ; with 
 the singular power of muscle possessed by the animal, in 
 wringing out the fluid from its reservoirs when incited by 
 thirst. Teaching is to tell a child that man is curiously 
 and wonderfully made ; but training enables him to 
 perceive the wonder for himself, from an analysis of the 
 body's mechanism and functions; and teaching, too, may 
 tell of the wisdom and goodness of that body's Creator ; 
 but training leads the mind, by the most infallible steps, 
 to read the sublime lesson for itself in the wonderful 
 adaptation of that body's parts and functions. The 
 former is simply an administering of aliment to the mind 
 without allowing it exercise sufficient to assimilate such 
 knowledge with the mental constitution, the consequence 
 of which is, that, while the memory may be overloaded 
 with information, there will still be a want of that mental 
 elasticity and power of forming a correct judgment, even 
 on trivial matters, that characterise so many of what are 
 called learned men. 
 
 The mind in this respect, indeed, seems to acknowledge 
 the same law that regulates our physical nature Luxurious 
 living, and want of corporal exercise, expand the body 
 to unnatural dimensions, thus rendering it unfit for many 
 of the active pleasures and enjoyments of life; and the 
 mind, when sated with facts and gratuitous intelligence, 
 seems also to grow incapable of bending to the task of 
 eliciting truth by any lengthened train of reasoning. 
 The synthetic or constructive method of teaching affords 
 the means of supplying this desideratum. By analysis, 
 
238 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 materials are only prepared for the mind of the pupil ; 
 "by synthesis, these materials are put together, and that 
 also by a mental act of the pupil ; and it is by thus 
 acting or doing for itself, that the mind acquires that 
 independent self-reliance, that power of discriminating 
 between truth and error, that flexibility and strength, 
 which form the true characteristics of a well- cultivated 
 mind. In accordance with this plan, therefore, instead 
 of loading a child's memory with unexplained rules, he 
 should be taught principles, and left to deduce the rules 
 for himself out of these principles. In teaching arith- 
 metic, for example, instead of telling a boy that the 
 upper figure of a fraction is the numerator, and the 
 under figure its denominator, and leaving him in posses- 
 sion of that bare fact, and these unexplained terms, the 
 meaning of a fraction should be analysed and explained 
 by some familiar illustration, and the names of its parts 
 at last communicated. He will then see the connexion 
 between these names and the principle upon which they 
 are based. And in grammar, instead of making him 
 commit to memory the mere nomenclature of the parts of 
 speech, he should be shown, incidentally from his own 
 reading lesson, that all the words in his book belong to 
 certain classes or kinds, and that every class has a certain 
 name attached to it. And at a further stage, the influence 
 of one word on another should be explained in a similar 
 manner. Last of all, the rules may be committed to 
 memory ; that is, after the principles have been under- 
 stood, when the meaning of the former is easily com- 
 prehended. In order to teach grammar efficiently, it 
 must be first taught incidentally, and then systematically. 
 In the oral lessons, too, ideas are always communicated 
 before the names of these ideas. Nothing can be more 
 strictly in harmony with nature than this. Language 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 239 
 
 being a mere arbitrary and artificial invention, it is long 
 after children have arrived at perfectly correct ideas of 
 many things that they can express these in words. The 
 very infant, unable to articulate a single word, has a 
 certain amount of knowledge, and would continue in- 
 creasing that stock through life, were there no such 
 thing as a language in the world. The intervention of 
 language is only a means for facilitating the acquisition 
 and expression of knowledge. It is, therefore, of 
 secondary importance, and must be communicated after 
 the ideas of which it is the symbol have been received 
 into the mind. 
 
 In conversational teaching, it is not the natural course 
 to ask a child what geography or chemistry means. The 
 science itself must be pictured out, and made obvious to 
 the mind, and after the child sees the meaning, he feels 
 the necessity of the term, should the latter be communi- 
 cated. Thus will the one, ever afterwards by association, 
 call up the other. Whereas, by reversing the process, it 
 is too frequently the case that the word remains in the 
 memory as a mere sound, without any definite meaning 
 attached to it. And not only is this the course along 
 which nature guides children, in acquiring a knowledge 
 of their vernacular tongue, but it is the very process by 
 which language itself was formed, simply from a necessity 
 of terms to express accumulating ideas. In ordinary 
 reading lessons, however, where words must be analysed 
 etymologically, the usual course is adopted, namely, to 
 separate the root from its prefix and postfix, and show 
 how the current meaning is evolved. As a subsidiary 
 exercise to this, mental composition is also practised. 
 This is a very simple process, though as a habit of 
 expressing thought, and a preparatory exercise to written 
 composition, it is of very high importance. When the 
 
240 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING.- 
 
 root of a- word has been brought out with its prefix and 
 postfix, other words from the same root are then required, 
 each child repeating the first that occurs to him. He 
 is then required to give a sentence, embodying the 
 exact word, thus cultivating a habit of thought in giving 
 the term. By forming the word into a sentence, a proof 
 is also afforded that he knows the meaning of it; or if 
 it be used in a wrong sense or ungrammatically, it is the 
 duty of the master to show the proper arrangement. Geo- 
 graphy should likewise be conducted incidentally, before 
 a systematic course has commenced. In tbe ordinary 
 reading lesson, when allusion may have been made to 
 any place, its productions, manufactures, or manners of 
 its inhabitants, and other circumstances will be noticed ; 
 and by such means many geographical facts be obtained. 
 Spelling is also taught subsequently to reading. It is a 
 great mistake to imagine that it is necessary to learn to 
 read by spelling, at least spelling by means of the names 
 of the letters, for between these names and the sound of 
 a word there is not in most cases the remotest connexion. 
 If spelling be used at all in order to facilitate reading, it 
 must be done by means of the sounds of the letters, or 
 phonically. But the principal use of spelling, or correct 
 orthography, is, that one may be able to write properly ; 
 to retrace, upon paper, the relative situation of the letters 
 in a word without misplacing them. It is, in short, a 
 kindred art to that of painting from memory. The 
 painter, remembering the features of an absent object, 
 can transfer these to his canvas each in its order, and 
 thus form a copy of the original ; and the child learning 
 to spell cannot do so by thinking how the word sounds. 
 but by remembering how it looks. It is the eye, there- 
 fore, more than the ear, that must become familiar with 
 the word before it can be readily spelt. Nor should the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 241 
 
 child ever be set to spell the word, until he has become 
 able to read it ; and then, too, if it were possible, instead 
 of spelling it orally, it ought to be written down. The 
 letters of the alphabet are also taught by their sounds 
 instead of their names. 
 
 From all these instances, here shortly recapitulated, it 
 must be obvious that an improved system of modern 
 education is an entirely opposite course to former 
 methods. It is in most cases a beginning where they 
 ended, and ending where they began. Ideas are com- 
 municated before words; principles before rules; the 
 judgment cultivated before the memory; incidental in- 
 formation before systematic ; reading before spelling ; 
 the sound of the letters before their names ; and, on the 
 whole, it may be added, nature before art. 
 
 Education has a double end in view, namely, the 
 preparation of a child for the duties of the present life, 
 as well as for the enjoyment of another; and in order to 
 fit him for a proper discharge of the former, a knowledge 
 of the arts and sciences is indispensable. The period of 
 attending school is obviously the best time for acquiring 
 this knowledge; not, perhaps, all the details and more 
 abstruse points of science, but the general features, or 
 the great and leading principles. From these as a basis, 
 his future reading, or attendance on lectures, or even 
 practical application in the business of life, will be ren- 
 dered infinitely more available. By the present method 
 the two principal obstructions to the diffusion of scientific 
 knowledge are removed; namely, the want of a fixed 
 habit of thinking and investigating cause and effect ; and 
 the difficulty of comprehending the technical terms em- 
 ployed. It has been already shown how a system of 
 training teaches to think, gives an impulse and a right 
 direction to the mental powers, and by means of the habit 
 
 M 
 
242 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 of analysing words etymologically, a key is also afforded 
 to open up the meaning of any term. In giving a scien- 
 tific lesson on any subject, there are three ways of pre- 
 senting it to the mind, either by exhibiting the bond fide 
 object itself, a visible illustration, or a verbal picture' of 
 it. The first of these, or Pestalozzian method, is of 
 course not always practicable ; and even if a specimen of 
 the material object could be always obtained, there are 
 certain qualities, abstractions, and relations, that no com- 
 bination of material objects could ever represent. The 
 second method, for a similar reason, can only give a 
 partial view of the subject. In the training system, 
 however, all the three methods are adopted; the object 
 itself, when possible, or a diagram of it, and the details 
 or abstractions by a verbal picturing out. In the absence 
 of the two former, and where the subject cannot be 
 brought before the eye, analogy and illustration are had 
 recourse to; some analogous facts of which the children 
 are already cognizant are brought forward, and thus from 
 the known are they led on to the unknown ; from the 
 clear to the obscure; until they have received a full 
 comprehension of the whole subject.* 
 
 This, then, being the main principle of the art of 
 training, namely, the cultivation of the understanding, it 
 is applied to all subjects, sacred as well as secular, and 
 for this simple reason, that the religion of the Bible is 
 addressed to the heart through the medium of the under- 
 standing. Our holy religion is a religion of reason as 
 well as of revelation. While it treats of sublime mys- 
 teries, which it is our duty simply to believe, it is no less 
 a reasonable service. In accordance with this view, 
 
 * See Mr. Stow's excellent work on the Training System, for 
 examples of this mode of lessoning. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 243 
 
 therefore, the same method of training the understanding 
 is adopted. Analogy and illustration are here employed, 
 with perhaps more powerful effect than in any merely 
 secular subject. All must have felt the superiority of a 
 preacher who is in the habit of illustrating his subject by 
 a reference to natural objects, over another who contents 
 himself with a simple statement of facts. For example, 
 to assert that the corrupted will is the source of all 
 moral depravity, may fall powerlessly upon the ear, or 
 pass as a kind of truism ; while it is impossible not to 
 be struck with the melancholy fact, when our spiritual 
 nature is pictured out by some such analogy as a watch, 
 the main-spring of which, representing the will, has be- 
 come injured to the consequent derangement of its parts. 
 Or to announce that the doctrines of the Gospel are 
 unwelcome to sinners, may be believed in as true, but it 
 will be seen and felt to be so much more strongly, from 
 some such analogy as the fragrant odour of new-mown 
 hay, which to a person in a healthy frame is delightful 
 and invigorating, while to one afflicted with asthma, it 
 will bring on a paroxysm of his disease — the smell being 
 the same to all, but the capacity of each being different to 
 receive it. Besides, He who spake as never man spake, 
 had recourse to the very same method. A grain of 
 mustard- seed, the flowers of the field, the tares and the 
 wheat, the fig tree, the fowls of the air, the beasts of 
 the field, were all called into requisition to illustrate and 
 enforce the great lessons he taught. And the reason is, 
 that spiritual things being invisible to the natural eye, 
 can only become visible to mental observation, when 
 presented in the frame- work of a material object. There 
 is no fear of the Bible and the book of nature not har- 
 monising together, when taught upon such a principle. 
 The entire Bible may therefore become a text-book, and 
 
 M 2 
 
244 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 be placed in the hands of every child capable of reading 
 it, not as a task-hook for mere reading and spelling, but 
 for moral and religious instruction. When a passage 
 is read, every part of it should be explained separately, 
 the connexion of each part be shown, and the ideas of 
 the children developed from the whole. 
 
 In such a way, therefore, is it, that the seeds of 
 spiritual knowledge are sown, not in the form of ab- 
 struse theological terms, but in the simple language 
 of Christ himself. By this daily exercise, the under- 
 standing is enlightened, and the affections drawn forth, 
 and instead of the reading of that blessed book being 
 looked upon as a task, it comes to be regarded as a 
 pleasure. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the 
 cultivation of the understanding is not here an end, but 
 a means; the teaching of the heart and regulation of 
 the feelings being the sole end in view. Scientific sub- 
 jects are doubtless introduced into many of these Bible 
 lessons, and analysed ; but this is done for the purpose 
 of elucidating some doctrine or moral precept contained 
 beneath such imagery. Suppose the lesson be taken 
 from that passage in the Psalms where David compares 
 himself to the hart panting after the water-brooks ,* the 
 natural history and habits of the hart will be pictured 
 out ; the nature of the climate with its scorching heat 
 and dust ; the great value of water in such a country ; 
 the panting and longing of the thirsty animal for the 
 water-brooks, at which it may have been accustomed to 
 drink, but which are now dried up : then the character 
 of David, with the circumstances in which he was placed 
 at the time, deprived of public ordinances, and at a 
 distance from the tabernacle; and finally, his strong 
 desire of again enjoying these privileges. This latter, 
 however, being the lesson, does not need to be drawn ; it 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 245 
 
 is at once seen. With such a lesson it is impossible for 
 a child not to be delighted. The imagination is capti- 
 vated, and the understanding improved, by the natural 
 picture; the melancholy circumstances of David at the 
 time call forth the best sympathies of the heart; his 
 strong desire to return to his country, and hold commu- 
 nion with his people and his God, is not only seen, but 
 almost felt ; the feeling is admired, and the resolution to 
 copy after it insensibly formed. Strange, indeed, that a 
 book so adapted to our fallen nature as the Bible is — 
 adapted to it also by the unerring inspiration of Omni- 
 science — should not find a more ready response in the 
 bosoms of the most unthinking, and compel their atten- 
 tion to its interesting truths more forcibly than it does. 
 Strange, I say, but only so to one not cognizant of the 
 fact, that the hitherto mechanical processes of teaching 
 it, have, in a great measure, positively neutralized its 
 effects. That heavenly Teacher sent from God has left us 
 in this, as in all his other deeds of humanity, an example 
 of ' didactic' lessoning, the sublime simplicity of which, 
 if applied to the lessons of Christianity and universally 
 acted upon, would give religion a very different aspect. 
 That the natural mind is at enmity with God is, of course, 
 a melancholy truth; but it is also true that religion 
 is adapted to destroy that enmity. Why, then, is it 
 not more generally powerful than it is? It may be 
 answered without hesitation — that, among other rea- 
 sons, one principal cause is, it is not presented to the 
 mind in a sufficiently attractive form, neither is it suffi- 
 ciently addressed to the understanding. It is, in too 
 many cases, more a rhapsody of mere words, than of 
 well-defined ideas; of names and sounds, rather than of 
 heavenly knowledge. And it is because the Bible has 
 been made a book for mere reading and spelling — has 
 
246 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 been conned over and over to -weariness in the committing 
 to memory of its unexplained passages, and not unfre- 
 quently associated in the mind with sobs and tears and 
 bodily chastisement, that most of the dislike and repug- 
 nance which a child entertains towards it have been 
 engendered. Or it may be, that some of its sublimest 
 passages, or of those essential to salvation, have been 
 given to be committed to memory as a punishment for 
 some offence ; an error which has only its counterpart in 
 the penances of the Church of Rome, or the repeating 
 of so many prayers a certain number of times as an 
 imaginary atonement for sin. The Bible contains strong 
 meat for men, as well as milk for babes, with food for 
 those of every intermediate stage. If, then, this natural 
 process be reversed, and abstruse points of theology, with 
 their difficult and unexplained terms, be given to children, 
 it is no more to be wondered at that they should turn 
 away from these, than from that which is disagreeable to 
 their natural palate. But let a proper and judicious 
 selection be made of what doctrines and passages are 
 suited to their capacity, and let them see their way 
 through, and properly understand these, and let them be 
 communicated in the spirit of the Gospel, and there is 
 no fear but they will find a ready access to their affec- 
 tions. The Gospel is the " power of God unto salvation,'* 
 and it is an omnipotent moral lever power; but in order 
 to a proper application of it, it must rest upon the 
 understanding as its fulcrum. 
 
 Another, though an inferior motive, in the inculcating 
 of morality is, to give a greater prominence than is 
 usually done to the temporal consequences attached 
 to a virtuous life. Godliness is profitable for the life 
 that now is, as well as for that which is to come. 
 This is, therefore, a perfectly legitimate motive, and 
 
"PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING, 247 
 
 one which immediately appeals to the child's observa- 
 tion and experience. The happiness of virtue and 
 the miseries of vice are visible on every side of him; 
 and if, in accordance with this, it be shown how great 
 is the actual amount of happiness conferred upon an 
 individual, in the keeping of God's commandments, 
 the understanding at least acknowledges the fact, and, 
 other things being equal, will act upon it. It is, there- 
 fore, the duty of the trainer, as well as the preacher, to 
 appeal to every legitimate motive; in order to gain 
 his end, he must be " all things to all." It is by these 
 means, then, that the foundation of Christian morality 
 must be laid, and in which process the same system is 
 pursued, as in the secular division of the intellectual 
 department ; that is, by analogy, illustration, and pic- 
 turing out, enabling a child to deduce the principles 
 and ideas of Christianity, previously to his being put 
 into possession of its difficult terms. Nor should a 
 single term be employed before it be analysed, explained, 
 and broken down to the level of the child's comprehen- 
 sion. The shell of the nut must be broken, and the 
 kernel presented ; or rather, the casket must be unlocked, 
 and the gems taken forth by the instructor, before the 
 child can either relish the taste of the one, or admire the 
 beauty of the other. 
 
 Let it once be granted that the acquisition of know- 
 ledge is a pleasure, when the mind is trained to observe 
 and reflect, whether that knowledge be secular or sacred, 
 and whether the object of it be the man or the boy; and 
 the cause of both moral and mental ignorance prevailing 
 to such an extent must, in a great measure, be acknow- 
 ledged to be the want of having information sufficiently 
 popularized, and the reasoning faculties properly deve- 
 loped. Our land is filled with universities, and churches, 
 
248 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 and schools; and a liberal provision is made by govern- 
 ment for the support of these ; yet scanty indeed are the 
 offerings laid upon the altar of popular and elementary 
 education ; but without which, much of the machinery of 
 the former is too often found to be superfluous. The 
 grand error has always been to consider children as 
 incapable of reasoning, to have them treated as so many 
 automata, the guidance of whose education any one 
 might undertake. Now it is doubtless true, that children 
 cannot reason so accurately or so extensively as men and 
 women, but neither can they walk so far, nor endure so 
 much bodily fatigue ; and it would therefore be as rea- 
 sonable to deny them the liberty of using their limbs 
 until they arrived at manhood, as the pleasure of exer- 
 cising their reason until a similar period. On the whole, 
 therefore, it seems the more onerous and responsible 
 duty of the two rightly to manage the education of 
 children ; and that it is at least equally the duty of a 
 government to take this department of instruction under 
 its patronage and to make as liberal a provision for 
 it, as for the instruction of adults, is no less obvious 
 than its vast importance in the economy of a nation's 
 prosperity. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 The last division of education is that of the moral 
 faculties of man. In comparing the structure and 
 physical arrangements of the globe with the different 
 kinds and degrees of life pervading nature, a very sin- 
 gular analogy may here be instituted. In the primary and 
 secondary formations, no traces of organic remains are 
 to be found. In the tertiary, fossils of a simple kind 
 only are to be met with ; but as we ascend through the 
 upper strata, these memorials of extinct vitality assume a 
 more elaborated appearance and finished mechanism, 
 until we arrive at the surface, peopled with living tribes, 
 at the head of which stands man, the last but noblest 
 work of the Creator. So is it in the vegetative, sentient, 
 intellectual, and moral worlds. All vegetable nature is 
 pervaded by a living principle of the humblest kind, 
 which may be considered the basis, or primary formation, 
 of life. Higher in the scale, the inferior tribes exhibit 
 a different kind of existence, in their possession of 
 sensation and voluntary motion ; while above this, or in 
 a manner agglomerated to it, and serving as a link 
 between their nature and that of man, they are also 
 endowed with instinct, which in man expands into 
 what is called intellect. But beyond these different 
 strata, and having nothing of mere animalism in it, there 
 
 M 3 
 
250 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 is a higher principle still, as far transcending the 
 vegetable, instinctive, and intellectual existences, as the 
 atmosphere in its ethereal purity surpasses the grovelling 
 attributes of earth. This is a principle of moral vitality, 
 a purely heaven-descended life ; and like the atmosphere 
 resting upon the earth as a basis, but in proportion 
 to its altitude becoming attenuated, and vanishing far 
 into the realms of ether, this moral life, though sus- 
 tained by material elements, yet reaches from earth to 
 heaven, and forms a link between the nature of man and 
 the spiritual existence of the inhabitants of another 
 world. 
 
 It is also found in many stages of advancement to 
 perfection in the human race. In savages it may be 
 called a mere fossil, indicating that, in ages long gone by, 
 it was co -extensive with the existence of the human family, 
 until destroyed and buried under a deposit of grosser 
 matter. In civilised life, much of this superincumbent 
 soil has been removed, and an intellectual vitality being 
 communicated, the plant has sprung to some maturity ; 
 but it is only in the pure atmosphere of Christianity, 
 that it has ever produced its heaven-born fruits. Yet by 
 the light of history, a universal process of redemption 
 from this moral death may no less plainly be seen in 
 operation, than by the light of science may be traced 
 the gradual evolving of that life, and light, and beauty, 
 which now everywhere surround us in the material 
 world. The savage, therefore, in whom this moral 
 principle is extinct or imperfect, is little above one of 
 the lower tribes. The germs of a moral existence may 
 be within his breast, but they cannot pierce the stony 
 soil under which they are deposited. A glimmering of 
 reason may guide him in providing for his selfish 
 wants and appetites, even as instinct guides an humbler 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 251 
 
 animal to the same end. But in the enjoyment of a 
 moral existence, something apart from selfish consi- 
 derations is implied. There is an outgoing of the 
 desires and affections towards our fellow-men, in aspi- 
 rations after their welfare, and a feeling towards the 
 Great Supreme in a desire to promote his benevolent 
 purposes. 
 
 It needs not be added, therefore, that these ought to 
 be the guiding springs of all human conduct. But — alas 
 for this being so ! — at wide intervals only, in point of 
 space, and at long intervals in point of time, do 
 we ever see such principles manifested. Beason, in 
 bondage to the passions, has hitherto almost universally 
 wielded the destinies of man. In gratifying these 
 passions, it may have called to its aid whatever art can 
 devise in supplying the defects of bodily strength. It 
 may have subdued animals more powerful than man, 
 and exacted their services to promote his ends ; and it 
 may have gained a partial control even over the elements 
 of nature itself. Yet, if it has thus bestowed upon man 
 a superiority over the lower animals, of itself it only 
 renders him a superior animal — if it creates him a lord 
 of the universe, it confines his enjoyments to the lower 
 domains of material nature, and without a higher 
 patent of nobility he can never enter into those azure 
 fields of bliss inhabited by purer and nobler spirits. It 
 is by reason of the very strength of this principle, that 
 it should be under a higher control than that of the 
 passions ; else, like the greater strength of a fierce animal, 
 the extent of its power would only be the extent of its 
 danger. It must be morally subdued, that it may seek 
 its gratification in the good of others, and not physically 
 excited, which leads to self- gratification at the expense 
 of others. Until this fact be acknowledged, and acted 
 
252 PHILOSOPHY OP TPAXNJN0. 
 
 upon, human conduct will exhibit little superior to that 
 of the lower tribes. Whatever the passions and 
 desires of man may indicate, his intellect will assist him 
 in procuring j and it may easily be seen, where clashing 
 interests prevail, what will be the result— which, indeed, 
 has been the result from the commencement of his his- 
 tory, in those scenes of moral anarchy and confusion so 
 widely spread over the face of the earth, 
 
 In a preceding part of this work, it has been my object 
 to trace the gradual unfolding of the moral principle, 
 from the animalism and intellectuality of our nature, 
 which have at various periods swayed the destinies of 
 different sections of the world. It may now be remarked, 
 that the present age seems characterised above all preced- 
 ing periods, not only for the fulness of its intellectual at- 
 tainments, but the commencement of a more purely moral 
 manifestation. Let it not be understood, however, that 
 it is in the mere possession of this power as a mental 
 principle that such pre-eminence consists, but as a habit 
 of life. It is to that part of moral education that appeals 
 to the conduct through the understanding, and modifies 
 the character into an agent for accomplishing good to 
 others, and thereby reaping a greater individual happiness 
 in return, that its unique characteristics may be traced. 
 Physical and mental training may beautify the external 
 man and ennoble his inferior powers, but moral training 
 animates the soul itself with a spark divine, and assi- 
 milates the character and conduct to those of the great 
 Creator. In the mere possession of this moral nature, 
 man enjoys a pre-eminence over the other inhabitants 
 of the earth ; but it is according to the bias it receives 
 in early youth, that he becomes the scourge of his 
 fellow-men and a source of misery to himself, or the 
 benefactor of his race and an unfailing spring of self- 
 gratification. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 253 
 
 By means of a cultivated intellect, man may penetrate 
 the recesses of the earth and unfold its hidden mysteries; 
 may roam abroad over its surface, and in the rolling 
 ocean, the yielding air, and the waving forest, perceive 
 with amazement and delight the innumerable wonders of 
 creation ; or, soaring a still bolder flight, he may unravel 
 the mystic dance of heaven's far-rolling orbs, may tell 
 their nature, calculate their distances, and describe their 
 motions ; may indulge in " thoughts that wander through 
 eternity," yet the full tide of pleasure, ever flowing from 
 the well-regulated affections, and the heart at peace with 
 its Maker, is beyond all comparison greater. How pass- 
 ing strange is it, then, that until within the last few 
 years, not a single effort in a public capacity has ever 
 been made properly to educate these ! Many improve- 
 ments of late have doubtless been made in education, 
 but, almost exclusively, these have referred to the culti- 
 vation of the mental powers. No provision has been 
 made for the training of the moral faculties, for restraining 
 the evil propensities, and cultivating the virtuous habits 
 of the young. Let me not be misunderstood : I do not 
 say that moral and religious instruction has been 
 neglected — there is no lack of this in our favoured land; 
 and by the blessing of God, which can even work without 
 means, incalculable good has been effected by it; but 
 what I do say is, that the communication of mere theo- 
 retical knowledge, without the means afforded for its 
 practical application, is no guarantee for the establish- 
 ment of a Christian character. It would be as reason- 
 able to expect this, as that, after communicating a 
 knowledge of the theory of music, and showing a pupil 
 how to play on a certain instrument, he were to be ex- 
 pected, without any practice, to discourse sweet music 
 from that instrument. There must be the practice, as 
 well as the knowledge, in both cases. Now it is doubt- 
 
254 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 less true, that most parents not only teach, but endeavour 
 to train their children into the practice of piety; but 
 how many parents have never themselves been trained, 
 and how many more are necessarily absent from their 
 children during the greater part of the day ! so that this 
 all-important duty is either neglected or left to whatever 
 companions or servants may fall in their way, and who 
 may have been as much neglected as themselves. Neither 
 is the moral teaching of the Sunday-school, much as it 
 has done for the cause of Christianity, an antidote suffi- 
 cient fully to counteract the wide- spread evil. The 
 religious instruction there communicated, if in harmony 
 with a correct system of home- training, may be a powerful 
 auxiliary in the same good work. It may supply prin- 
 ciples that will have an opportunity of being practised, 
 and may thus prove the means of facilitating the good 
 habits forming at home. And even the seeds of correct 
 moral and religious principles may be there implanted 
 that may spring up under the most adverse circumstances. 
 But in general, what lasting benefit can accrue from the 
 inculcation of merely abstract truths to the understanding, 
 when the will and habits have received a different bias 
 previously, and when all the desires and inclinations of 
 the heart are not only repugnant to the practice of such 
 truths, but have every facility for gratifying feelings of an 
 opposite description ? The few good lessons of a Sunday 
 evening are soon effaced from the memory amidst the 
 temptations of the week. Nor can there be any means 
 of moral training in a Sunday-school room, winch neces- 
 sarily implies the regulation of the ordinary conduct; and 
 in the promiscuous assemblages of children going and 
 returning from school, temptations to swerve from the 
 right path are so numerous as to render it a grave ques- 
 tion indeed, whether the danger of following bad example 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 255 
 
 in the street, is not greater than the chance of benefiting 
 by the good instruction of the school. But Sunday-schools 
 have certainly done much good, and far be it from me 
 to depreciate their advantages, or discourage the gratui- 
 tous and disinterested labourers in that well-intentioned 
 undertaking. 
 
 Eagged schools are another feature in the philanthropy 
 of the present day, which present a similar error in the 
 conception of what is most needed to reform society. 
 The idea and intention of thus snatching the outcast 
 children of great cities from the paths of crime and 
 infamy, by means of an educational power, is one of the 
 most Godlike enterprises that the world has yet wit- 
 nessed. But truth compels the statement, that it is only the 
 operation of a partially-enlightened benevolence. It is a 
 misdirection of energy to give such children a mere intel- 
 lectual instruction, even on the best subjects, while no 
 corresponding means are afforded of moralising and 
 redeeming their depraved daily habits. To prevent such 
 a class from falling into crime, to which they are predis- 
 posed by habits and circumstances, their social condition 
 must first be improved, and themselves withdrawn from 
 the temptations to crime, by alleviating the pressure of 
 their physical wants. The wants of the body must 
 undoubtedly be appeased before any higher principle can 
 be developed. A foundation to this noble work should 
 therefore be laid by initiating those children in the prac- 
 tice of mechanical employments, and giving them the 
 means of providing for their own bodily support, before 
 an aliment suited to their higher nature be administered. 
 
 In the latter part of the intellectual division of this sub- 
 ject, it has been shown how the preceptive department of 
 morality is conducted ; and it only now remains briefly to 
 notice what is meant by the practical application of it. 
 
250 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 The remark has often been made, that in flourishing 
 manufacturing districts, and other places where masses 
 of people are daily congregated together, wickedness and 
 immorality increase in a fearful ratio. Now, this is just 
 what might be expected, for as the odds are vast indeed, 
 that the greater number of these individuals are un- 
 trained in the ways of godliness, from the sympathetic 
 action of numbers, and the power of imitation, — if no 
 countervailing force has been in operation, the minority 
 will very speedily assume a kindred character. This 
 sympathy of numbers, however, is a very powerful instru- 
 ment for good as well as for evil ; and if the prevailing 
 tone of any community be of a moral and virtuous 
 character, it not unfrequently influences, and in a great 
 measure subdues, the immoral tendencies of the minority. 
 This, then, is the first principle in a training school 
 whether it be for the richer or the poorer classes, — to 
 endeavour to get the majority enlisted on the side of 
 virtue, and to form thus a nucleus, or to raise a standard 
 around which the less virtuous may in time rally. To 
 introduce children into such society, where all they see 
 and hear breathes of goodness, purity, and happiness, 
 and being removed from the contaminating influence of 
 evil companionship, they have both the temptations 
 to evil removed, and the incentives to virtuous conduct 
 placed before them. Whatever habits of rudeness, or 
 selfishness, or deceit, or any other, they may have for- 
 merly indulged among their street companions with 
 impunity, find no sympathy. These are discountenanced 
 by their new companions, and, in time, the habit of in- 
 dulging them wears out. They now breathe a purer moral 
 atmosphere, which of itself is no less powerful in remov- 
 ing a moral disease, than a change of air, and a more 
 salubrious clime, in neutralising the effects of certain 
 natural complaints. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 257 
 
 Public schools are frequently objected to altogether, 
 and private tuition is eagerly sought after by some 
 people ; and this upon the principle, that in the for- 
 mer, children learn many mischievous and bad habits 
 from their associates in school. Now, there is much 
 truth in this, where there is no proper moral super- 
 intendence; for in such a case the bad passions will 
 undoubtedly predominate, and, like an uncultivated 
 garden, the school will become a nursery of much 
 that is vicious ; but if the contrary be the case, no 
 private tuition, however good, can be compared with it. 
 Man is born for society ; and, sooner or later, he must 
 come into contact with the world. The school, then, is 
 the world in miniature. Here mind comes into collision 
 with mind, and the bluntness and shyness of the recluse 
 give way to frankness and ease, at a period when it is 
 particularly desirable ; while, instead of burying the 
 generous affections of a child within his own bosom at 
 home, or affording them only a limited scope, within the 
 family circle, they have among his young friends at 
 school abundant opportunities of being drawn forth and 
 exercised into a much higher-toned benevolence. A 
 properly- conducted school is, therefore, a sort of moral 
 gymnasium, preparatory to the great struggle on the 
 arena of life. But besides these advantages, there is a 
 restraining influence constantly exercised upon the evil 
 propensities and habits. " Every kind of indecency, 
 disorder, evil-speaking, cruelty, want of courtesy, anger, 
 revenge, injustice, impatience, covetousness, and dis- 
 honesty, are suppressed as soon as they are developed ; 
 while, on the contrary, all the amiable feelings and 
 Christian virtues are cultivated — such as speaking truth, 
 obedience to parents and all in lawful authority, honesty, 
 justice, forbearance, generosity, gentleness, kindness, 
 fidelity to promises, courteousness, habits of attention, 
 
258 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 docility, disinterestedness, kindness to inferior animals, 
 pity for the lame and distressed, and the weak in intellect, 
 and in general doing to others as we would wish to he 
 done by."* The former of these must he subdued, 
 that is, the habit of indulging in them must be worn 
 out, and the latter drawn out and formed into habits. 
 This cannot be done by lecturing a child about them. 
 The child may know his duty as well as his instructor, 
 but it is a far different thing to do it ; and it is only by 
 this doing, or repetition of doings, that the habit can be 
 formed. Knowledge, it is well known, and practice are 
 very different things, and not by any means always found 
 in the same individual. If you wish a child to be of a 
 self-denying disposition, you must give him an oppor- 
 tunity of endeavouring to become so. It has, however, 
 been alleged by some, that in order to cultivate a self- 
 denying disposition, articles of value should not be put 
 out of the way of children, but in their way, and that 
 they should be trained not to touch them ; and otherwise 
 that they should be exposed to situations where their 
 virtue might have an opportunity of carrying them off 
 triumphant from temptation. But this, if true in theory, 
 seems to be at least practically dangerous. Temptation 
 in all cases is certainly an evil to be avoided ; else why 
 have we that clause in the Lord's Prayer that teaches us 
 to ask for deliverance from it ? It is true that without 
 trial there can be no real virtue ; but certainly there are 
 enough of trials and temptations in the world to prove 
 the faith and stedfastness of grown people as well as of 
 children, without needlessly multiplying them. It is in 
 the very nature of our faculties to be drawn forth into 
 activity when any exciting cause is placed before them; 
 
 * Stew. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 259 
 
 and every successive out- going of these faculties towards 
 whatever object they may be directed, gives them a 
 future bias towards that object The mind, therefore, 
 can only be fortified against such contingencies in some 
 analogous way to that by which the body is secured 
 against catching certain diseases. And though it is true, 
 that even bodily afflictions may sometimes have a benefi- 
 cial moral and spiritual effect, yet no one would say that 
 diseases ought therefore to be courted. Both temptations 
 and bodily troubles are in themselves pure evils incident 
 to an imperfect humanity, and their inevitable approach 
 should be neutralised by a previous course of training ; 
 but, as in the case of the latter, this can only be done by 
 taking advantage of the premonitory symptoms, and 
 destroying the predisposing causes ; so in the former, 
 the faculties ought to be drawn forth and exercised upon 
 objects the very reverse of those that form the temptation. 
 By this means, an object which otherwise would be a 
 temptation now ceases to be so, the moral attraction, 
 so to speak, between it and the faculties being destroyed, 
 and perhaps even a principle of antagonism established 
 between them. 
 
 " Train to forgiveness, " says Mr. Stow, " by causing 
 the child to do sl generous action to another who may 
 have offended him. Discourage the slightest approach 
 to cruelty. Train to benevolence and generosity by 
 making the child practically so, no matter how trivial 
 the action or gift. The principle may be- exhibited 
 equally with a penny as with a pound ; by a kind look as 
 by great personal sacrifice ; by the widow's two mites as 
 by the rich man's gift. If a child does a thing impro- 
 perly, or neglects to do a thing it has been told to do, 
 the simplest way to check such impropriety is, to cause 
 the child to do the thing. He may have thrown his cap 
 
260 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 on the floor, instead of hanging it on a peg ; simply call 
 him back, and see that he hangs it properly. You may 
 have told him to walk softly up- stairs ; you hear him 
 heating his feet as he ascends ; call him back, and see that 
 he walks up every step in the way you wish him. This 
 method repeated will produce the habit ; when a threat or 
 a scold without the doing may be instantly forgotten. The 
 certainty of being obliged to do is better for the memory 
 than the longest speech or the severest threatening." 
 To accomplish this, however, is no easy task, and it may 
 well be asked, who is sufficient for it ?. Nor is it a work 
 of days, or weeks, or even of months, at least in a juvenile 
 school. Moral training, it cannot be denied, is here far 
 less effective than in an infant school. In the latter, the 
 trainer has but comparatively few bad habits to eradicate; 
 he has therefore by far the start of a juvenile-master. 
 The former has only to begin to do ; the latter has to 
 begin by undoing. The one has only to commence 
 rearing a superstructure; the other has to demolish a 
 ruin, and to lay a new foundation before his edifice can 
 appear. Perhaps no better illustration of this can be 
 given than the parallel case of a tree, the difficulty of 
 bending or training which increases in exact proportion 
 to its age. At first, when young and pliant, it is easily 
 moulded into whatever form or shape the gardener wishes ; 
 but as it gains strength and thickness, whatever wrong 
 bias it may have taken, requires both more time and 
 attention to rectify, till at length it becomes an utter 
 impossibility to do so. So is it with habits whether 
 good or bad, they grow with our growth, and gain 
 strength with our advancing years, until a period arrives 
 when all human exertions to repress the one and call 
 forth the other, seem to prove unavailing. And no doubt 
 the grace of God is omnipotent, and can change the heart 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 261 
 
 even of the most abandoned, at any period of life and 
 without any human instrumentality. Yet must we never 
 shut our eyes to the fact, that the more common way in 
 which the Spirit of God manifests itself, is in blessing 
 the means used in the moral education of the ungodly. 
 
 It may here be mentioned what is, perhaps, super- 
 fluous, that a system of mora] training is all founded 
 upon Bible training ; in other words, on the principles 
 of the immutable standard of revealed truth, and stimu- 
 lated by its high and holy sanctions. To the law and 
 to the testimony a uniform appeal must be made. Its 
 promises must be held out as an inducement to virtue, 
 and its threatenings as a warning to vice. Love to God 
 the motive for keeping his commandments, and fear of 
 offending him the preventive against breaking them. 
 It would take up more space than is now convenient 
 to enter into a detailed account of all the wrong habits 
 and propensities that ought to be remedied, and of the 
 right principles and conduct that should be formed in a 
 course of moral education. I shall, therefore, simply 
 endeavour to indicate the manifestations of the moral 
 feelings, and notice one or two of the most prominent 
 principles which should be borne in mind in regulating 
 these. 
 
 It has been said that a child playing in its mo- 
 ther's lap with a toy is thus seeking the means of 
 gratifying its senses, receiving ideas of sensation from 
 a contact with objects, and laying a foundation for the 
 future exercise of his reflective faculties. But his moral 
 education is going on at the same time, and a similar 
 process of abstraction is taking place among the feelings. 
 The earliest manifestation of these is a selfish desire to 
 receive mere animal gratification, and the mother is the 
 source of this enjoyment. She soothes the child's first 
 
262 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 pains and administers to his earliest pleasures, and the first 
 overflowing of his gratified feelings accordingly centres 
 upon her. But a monopoly of this gratitude will not be 
 ■confined to her alone. As the child advances in intelli- 
 gence, he will perceive around him other beings from 
 whom lie also derives pleasure, and a similar feeling will 
 be drawn out towards them ; and as reflection dawns, he 
 will ultimately raise his gratitude to the supreme Source 
 of all happiness. When, therefore, a child feels gratefully 
 towards its parent, in doing so it places itself under 
 obedience to her. It voluntarily, or unconsciously rather, 
 surrenders a power into her hand for its own guidance, and 
 she will then lead her child by the soft cords of its own 
 affections. It will follow her into the right path if she 
 lead the way. To the extent, also, of its affection for 
 others will it confide in them and follow wherever they 
 lead, and ultimately, its obedience and conformity to the 
 will of God will be in proportion to its enlightened affec- 
 tion and gratitude to himself. 
 
 Now the educator must adapt himself to these mani- 
 festations. He must enter into the child's pains and 
 pleasures, and by attention to these gain a command 
 over his affections. When he has acquired this mastery, 
 he has the reins in his hands by which he may guide the 
 entire conduct. The child's kindly feelings towards those 
 around him will soon manifest itself in acts of kindness. 
 These should be met not by praise, but by signs of 
 affectionate acknowledgment. This should be a natural 
 result to the child of a kind deed, a remembrance of 
 which would prompt to similar acts in future, and a repe- 
 tition of such acts would stamp the habit. When this 
 kindly disposition has been somewhat established, his 
 attention should be directed to the distresses of others, 
 and a natural impulse created to alleviate them, which of 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 263 
 
 course ought, if possible, to be gratified. Such an 
 impulse, indeed, should hardly be awakened unless oppor- 
 tunities be also afforded to call it into action, as it is so 
 liable to be trained into a mere barren sentimentality. 
 Beligion must doubtless be the basis of such an education, 
 and the " good works" of Scripture the means of forming 
 the moral character and habits. But the instructor will 
 prove incompetent to the task he has assumed, if he pro- 
 ceed upon the most common mode of inculcating the 
 morality of the Bible. Its practice must be antecedent 
 to its precepts, and even in communicating a knowledge 
 of the latter, an equally inductive mode must be adopted, 
 to the formation of the habits. A child loves and 
 feels kindly towards its parents and others, because they 
 first manifested love and kindness to him, and God 
 must be represented in a similar character before either a 
 feeling or a belief of his goodness can be inspired. " We 
 love him because he first loved us." Whereas if he be 
 first represented as an avenging and terrible Being, who 
 inflicts everlasting torture upon his creatures, — I say if 
 this view of his character be given before the child is able 
 fully to see the demerits of sinful conduct, God cannot be 
 loved, but will be feared, and most probably hated ; and 
 that religion, the very essence of which is love, mercy, and 
 kindness, will be found to be a yoke too heavy to be borne. 
 But no mother, nor instructor is perfect; and by the 
 time that the child has advanced a little in years, many 
 faults will have been developed under the best guidance, 
 to remedy which a counteracting process must be resorted 
 to, and go hand in hand with direct training. 
 
 The necessity of obedience as an element in training is 
 obvious to every one, but it does not so readily occur 
 that an obedient and docile habit is naturally yielded to 
 an instructor who establishes a just relationship between 
 
264 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 a child and the moral laws. An obedience to these laws 
 is found to be in harmony with the child's nature, obe- 
 dience is therefore naturally given to them ; but there is 
 no such thing as an innate sense of moral rectitude. A 
 child grows up with feelings biased in favour of one set 
 of actions, and prejudiced against others, through impres- 
 sions received from external causes. Hence, in mature 
 life, one individual regards a certain action as virtuous, 
 which another may consider immoral, and by one nation 
 the customs and practices of another nation are looked 
 upon as criminal, which, by the latter may be regarded as 
 strictly moral. Polygamy in Turkey is reckoned no crime, 
 while in England it is ; but an English child educated 
 under Turkish parents would not regard it as criminal, 
 neither would a Turkish child, brought up in England, 
 consider it as anything but immoral. The standard of 
 pure morality is neither set up by the conflicting opinions 
 of mankind, nor arrived at by the innate feelings of the 
 human heart. Its principles are a deduction from general 
 conduct, in the observing of which the greatest amount of 
 individual happiness is acknowledged by all to be derived, 
 or communicated by revelation for universal guidance. 
 There are, therefore, established laws that must be obeyed 
 in order to secure this happiness ; or if disobeyed, the 
 consequence will be a general feeling of unhappiness. 
 
 Now as children are naturally ignorant of any higher 
 rule of conduct than their own blind desires, they must 
 be guided into a proper relation to these laws, and imbued 
 with right principles by an instructor. If he be under 
 the influence of correct moral principles himself, their 
 obedience to him is an obedience of these laws, and to the 
 extent of their submission to his authority will their hap- 
 piness be increased, and their conduct and habits harmo- 
 nise with the principles of universal morality. He is to 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 265 
 
 them in the place of God, an executor of the Divine will, 
 and in gaining the children's obedience, he must adopt 
 the same means and for the same end, that the Creator of 
 these laws employs in gaining the universal obedience of 
 his creatures. Having gained a control over their affec- 
 tions, the exertion of that power must be characterised by 
 the same inflexible regularity which marks the operations 
 of the Divine government, and every command be given 
 for the children's ultimate benefit, irrespective of their 
 immediate comfort, the consequence of which should be 
 felt to be advantageous, or its neglect followed by a dis- 
 advantage. These orders and their consequences should 
 be as intimately connected as cause and effect, and the 
 conviction thus inspired within a child's heart, would soon 
 become developed into a reigning principle of implicit 
 obedience to his guide and instructor. 
 
 A child soon accommodates himself to what he feels to 
 be a natural order of things, and when he finds that his 
 resistance to a command, or request, or even his cries and 
 tears, make no change in the calm determination of his 
 superior, he submits as to an inevitable necessity, and since 
 he cannot control his master's will, suffers himself to 
 be controlled by it. If the master yield, however, in a 
 single instance, in gratifying a wrong desire through a 
 pertinacity of resistance, a retrograde movement will be 
 effected, and the work of months may be lost. Nor will 
 his object be gained should the trainer be ever so inflex- 
 ible and just, if much asperity of tone and manner attach 
 to his injunctions. This will indicate an approach to a 
 spirit of vindictiveness, nothing of which is congenial to 
 a course of purely moral discipline. It represses those 
 affections by which so strong a hold is obtained over the 
 character, and elicits fear, which is a physical instinct ; 
 and though a temporary submission may follow, there will 
 
266 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 be no step gained in securing an obedient habit. Nothing 
 but a steady adherence to a system of treatment based 
 upon a kindness of feeling, and operating inflexibly upon 
 enlightened principles, in restraining what is wrong, and 
 encouraging what is right, will ever impress the obedient 
 disposition. 
 
 An adherence to veracity is also a habit that ought 
 assiduously to be cultivated in early years. Its violation 
 is a breach of one of the ten commandments, and no 
 unusual way in which it is denounced, is by dogmatically 
 telling children that it is a sin which they must not com- 
 mit under pain of eternal punishment. But like every 
 other moral duty, the obligation to speak truth may be 
 shown from the evil consequences of its infringement, and 
 the benefits of its observance. This may be illustrated by 
 some supposed case in which a falsehood may be seen to 
 be as injurious in its nature and effects, as robbery and 
 murder. Its reactive influence upon the propagator 
 himself, may also be seen, in destroying his credibility 
 and the confidence of others towards him, and its abstract 
 heinousness deduced from its general evil consequences 
 upon society in destroying all mutual confidence. The 
 different shades of falsehood should likewise be shown 
 by analogous examples, and its wrong tendency mani- 
 fested even when no confidence is violated, such as in 
 many idle tales for amusement, doubles entendre, and 
 exaggerated statements. The error of such falsehoods 
 does not so much consist in any positive mischief, as in 
 their tendency to induce a habit of deception ; and among 
 children, where a single element may turn the scale in the 
 formation of character, all such ambiguities should be 
 strenuously discouraged. Those who indulge in such 
 literal falsehoods, too, unconsciously impair their own 
 general veracity, as in a historical novel where truth and 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 267 
 
 fiction are indiscriminately blended, no implicit reliance 
 can be placed upon any of its statements. The reality 
 and essence of a moral truth, or falsehood, should be clearly 
 pictured out to the mind. A false statement made even 
 with a good design should be shown to be wrong, as tend- 
 ing to impair an absolute confidence in true statements. 
 Prevarication should be seen as a falsehood in reality, 
 though couched in ambiguous language, as the intention 
 is to deceive. Intended deceit is thus a lie in whatever 
 way it may be manifested. If a speaker uses words, and 
 attaches to them ideas different from what he knows the 
 hearer will apply, he lies, by intentionally deceiving the 
 other, though he has uttered no literal falsehood. Or, 
 in a substantially true statement, he may deceive by con- 
 veying more than the simple truth, or omitting some of 
 its most important particulars. A lie may also be acted 
 by a gesture of the body, or some other outward mani- 
 festation, intentionally conveying a false impression. All 
 such forms of deception, with many other modifications 
 of the same vice, must therefore be illustrated, the motives 
 to truth enforced by its personal and social advantages, 
 and its obligation enjoined as a duty contained in the 
 word of God. 
 
 Anger. — This feeling must also be analyzed to chil- 
 dren, and its effects shown. It is either a passive affec- 
 tion of the mind, a pain felt on receiving an injury, or a 
 desire stimulating to active revenge. The former should 
 be modified, but the latter entirely repressed. The 
 feeling of anger may be alleviated in intensity, and short- 
 ened in its duration -by reason and reflection. A thorough 
 investigation into the grounds of an offence, will often 
 strip it of many aggravating circumstances that the first 
 burst of passion threw around it. If it be found that no 
 injury was really intended, the pain should be endured 
 
 n 2 
 
268 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 merely as the result of an accident, or if inflicted for a 
 malignant purpose, still, the irritating impression may be 
 allayed by striving to forget it, and considering the 
 aggressor only in the light of a dangerous companion. 
 The feeling of anger will die away with a recollection of 
 the injury, and the folly of keeping alive such an impres- 
 sion may be illustrated by the similar example of need- 
 lessly irritating a bodily wound, and keeping it always 
 painful. But Scripture suggests the most powerful 
 motive to subdue resentment. " If ye forgive not men 
 their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive 
 you." Let a child see what would be his own position 
 if his offences against God should be entertained in the 
 Divine mind in the same spirit that he would be disposed 
 to brood over an injury done to himself, and he will find 
 a sufficient cause to feel differently towards the offender, 
 and endeavour to obliterate the offence from his memory. 
 Or let him in imagination change positions with the 
 offender, and ask himself how he should wish to be dealt 
 by in such circumstances, and he will likely put a more 
 charitable construction upon the motives of the former, 
 and see less cause for his own mental uneasiness. In 
 short, there are many ways in which he might be reasoned 
 out of his passion. 
 
 Yet anger has its legitimate functions in the mental 
 economy, and when kept within due bounds, is a just 
 and a right feeling. It is by an excessive action upon 
 the mind that it increases into revenge, which must be 
 entirely suppressed. This feeling, instead of desiring to 
 overlook, magnifies an offence, and stirs up the animal 
 passions to inflict pain in return. It argues, therefore, 
 the possession of less reason in any one thus subject to 
 its influence. Being an impulse of the lower nature, it 
 must be met on its own ground by an appeal to motives of 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 269 
 
 self-interest. It should be represented not only as a crime 
 but as cowardice, and another mode of obtaining a much 
 greater satisfaction shown, by doing good in return for 
 the evil received. The superiority of this principle may 
 be illustrated from many examp]es, and it is one that 
 children can more readily appreciate and reduce to prac- 
 tice than grown-up people. To carry into effect this 
 divine sentiment, therefore, in a training school, is one 
 of the noblest employments that can engage the skill and 
 energies of man. 
 
 Justice. — The foundation of this virtue is to do unto 
 others as we should wish to be done unto, and there is 
 no better way of implanting a conviction of its necessity, 
 and inducing its practice, than by proceeding upon the 
 same golden rule. Every boy has some property belong- 
 ing to him, his clothes, his play-things, or his books, and 
 if another takes away any of these without his consent, 
 he feels grieved and vexed at their loss. Let this feeling, 
 then, be a first principle to start from, in the process 
 of moral induction, towards impressing upon him an idea 
 of the absolute necessity of just dealing. Begin with his 
 internal knowledge, and build outwards. Tell him what 
 another's feeling would be in similar circumstances, and 
 he will understand it, and feel a motive for respecting the 
 property of his playfellows. Yet if some temptation 
 prove too strong for this feeling of sympathy, or if his 
 selfish, be stronger than his benevolent feelings, the 
 sense of shame attending such an action will prove an 
 auxiliary against him. Or, if he has an attachment to 
 his master, or parent, a fear of offending him will be an 
 additional preventive. He must also be warned of the 
 wickedness of the action in the sight of God, and deterred 
 by the fear of disobeying him. But this is an extreme 
 infringement of justice that comparatively few children 
 
270 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 are guilty of; its more common manifestation is in unfair 
 dealing, evil speaking, and other of its modifications, all 
 of which must be illustrated with examples, their disad- 
 vantages made manifest, and the benefits of honesty and 
 a respect to character and feelings shown in a similar way, 
 by appealing to some previous internal conviction. The 
 best opportunities for developing this habit are during 
 the games of children, in watching the progress of the 
 players, and guiding their movements, when the very fact 
 of overlooking them will restrain any unjust or unfair 
 tendency so apt at such times to arise. 
 
 Benevolence. — Both in Scripture and philosophy this 
 virtue stands in the highest rank. It is the same principle 
 as the " charity" of Scripture, and the " good-will to men" 
 proclaimed by angels from heaven. It is also the active 
 part of that love which was said to be the fulfilling or 
 fulfilment of the law, and of that " new commandment" 
 which comprised the sum and substance of the entire 
 decalogue. The definition of " pure and undefiled reli- 
 gion" is also given, simply as the practice of benevolence. 
 That there is a corresponding faculty in the mind to obey 
 its dictates may, therefore, be presumed a priori, and 
 modern philosophy establishes the truth of the supposi- 
 tion. In every well-balanced mind benevolence is easily 
 educed, as it is inherent in all, and by cultivation may 
 gain pre-eminence in any. All that is necessary is to afford 
 opportunities for its development by leading it into action. 
 A child first loves its mother because it receives gratifica- 
 tion from her, and it loves others from a similar cause, 
 but this is not benevolence. To feel kindness in such 
 cases is natural gratitude, which is a kind of price paid for 
 value received, having no merit in it. " If ye love those 
 that love you, what thank have ye ?" The feeling must 
 be drawn out and strengthened to a much greater degree 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 27 i 
 
 than this. A child must be led to feel kindly towards 
 those from whom he received no previous benefit, and 
 even from whom he can expect no gratitude in return for 
 his kindnesses, nor anything but the mere pleasure of 
 doing them good. There must be a disposition within him, 
 ever prompting to active goodness, instead of cherishing 
 mere kindly feelings ; and instead of being under the 
 obligations of gratitude to others, he should desire to educe 
 gratitude from them, or at least to do them kindnesses 
 for the pleasure of doing so. It may be said, however, 
 that even this is but a selfish motive, and it is partly 
 so ; but I am at present considering the education of the 
 feeling irrespective of the motive, and as in other parts of 
 education, an appeal must be sometimes made to a lower 
 faculty to develop a higher, and guide it into action, so in 
 benevolence, it is equally legitimate to show its individual 
 advantages, that a personal interest in these may give the 
 first stimulus to its weaker manifestations. Besides, 
 everlasting happiness is the scriptural motive to benevo- 
 lence, and this is essentially the same quality of happi- 
 ness which is felt to be the natural consequence of a tem- 
 poral good action. The motive is, therefore, only different 
 in degree, from that suggested by the will of God, as 
 the rule of benevolence. When this motive is felt, it 
 becomes a rule of conduct, and the will of God is thus 
 obeyed practically before reason deduces the abstract 
 commandment; so that he who rules the child by laying 
 hold of this motive, is pursuing a course strictly parallel 
 with the will and commandments of God. It is also 
 similar in principle to training to a practical knowledge 
 of things before giving their names. 
 
 The first manifestation of this feeling may be seen in 
 a child's little acts of kindness towards its parent, or 
 guide, which should be carefully rewarded by the fond 
 
272 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 caress or endearing smile. This would encourage to 
 the performance of similar acts in future, and thus the 
 continued outward tendency of the feeling would in time 
 become strengthened into a habit of kindness. An 
 abstract pleasure would soon attach to the exercise of the 
 feeling independently of that arising from the approba- 
 tion of its parent, or instructor. It should then be 
 directed to neutral objects, and kindnesses done for the 
 mere pleasure of doing them; nor is it true that such 
 deeds, if judiciously applied, will often meet with ungrate- 
 ful returns. There is less natural ingratitude in human 
 nature than is generally suspected, but the reason why so 
 much of it is apparently manifested, is because so little 
 pure and disinterested kindness is to be found. At all 
 events, few can resist the spontaneous kindness of a little 
 child in offering some trifling gift ; and what child does 
 not feel a glow of pleasure when its gift is kindly received, 
 and gratefully acknowledged ? The feeling thus culti- 
 vated, will by degrees show itself in various other ways, 
 springing up and spreading out in many branches. It 
 will assume a readiness to oblige, and the obligation 
 should be as readily acknowledged. It will also desire to 
 relieve distress, and it should always have the means of 
 doing so. It is the foundation of good nature, good 
 temper, and amiability ; it will therefore charitably con- 
 sider the failings and faults of others. To all such 
 objects, and many others, the moral trainer must find the 
 means of guiding the manifestation of this heavenly sen- 
 timent, and calling it forth into a ruling habit. 
 
 But it is also liable to abuse ; and if acting without 
 counsel and reflection, its benefactions may do as much 
 harm as good, and its extreme action cause itself to lux- 
 uriate into a very dangerous principle. It may be over- 
 tasked and become diseased, as well as enfeebled from 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 273 
 
 inaction. It may be increased to an nndue intensity by 
 a false excitement, and unregulated by prudence may 
 indulge in indiscriminate acts of charity or almsgiving, 
 which may as readily administer to the depravity of the 
 indolent as the necessities of the deserving. In another 
 form it may induce a wasteful and extravagant disposition, 
 hurrying its possessor on to ruin, or exposing him to the 
 designs of the cunning, or it may soften down his cha- 
 racter into that of the mere good-natured simpleton. 
 
 It is doubtless an excess of this feeling, too, joined to 
 a high degree of religious fervour, which induces many 
 to give large sums of money to foreign purposes, in prefer- 
 ence to home charities. Its healthiest operation is most 
 frequently to be found in unobtrusive individual endea- 
 vours to alleviate poverty and distress wherever found. 
 It is an indwelling desire to communicate happiness to 
 all men whenever an opportunity occurs, and whatever 
 may be the nature of the occasion. This is a principle, 
 therefore, of the highest importance in the moral nature 
 of man, and requiring the utmost care and skill, not only 
 to call it into exercise, but to guide to a proper choice of 
 objects and occasions for its manifestation. Happily 
 there are many examples afforded in history for its illus- 
 tration, and in the precepts and life of Christ, a golden 
 treasury of its richest fruits may be found. " And as ye 
 would that men should do to you, do ye also to them 
 likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what 
 thank have ye ? for sinners also love those that love them. 
 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what 
 thank have ye ? for sinners also do even the same. And 
 if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what 
 thank have ye ? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive 
 as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, 
 and lend, hoping for nothing again ; and your reward 
 
 N 3 
 
274 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the High- 
 est : for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be 
 ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." 
 Nor is there a single precept given that had not a living 
 illustration in his own spotless life. 
 
 Such, then, is the manner in which certain of the 
 vicious propensities must be attempted to be suppressed, 
 and opposite tendencies called forth; and I shall now 
 only sum up in one word the end which must be aimed 
 at in this as in all the other divisions of education, — 
 namely, to form good habits. The formation of a 
 virtuous and good character is the sum and substance, 
 the alpha and the omega, of moral training. And 
 here I cannot but remark the disadvantage under 
 which a school of this kind must labour compared 
 with another that proceeds upon the popular method. It 
 is not attempted by some intellectual display to exhibit the 
 scholars to advantage before strangers. In fact, this is 
 believed to have an immoral tendency, as being apt to 
 generate feelings of pride and self- consequence in a few, 
 and envy in others. The regulation of the affections, and 
 the formation of correct habits of thinking, are the prin- 
 cipal objects, and these are results riot visible to the 
 casual observer. The acquisition of mere reading and 
 writing, and acquiring ever so extensive a knowledge of 
 precepts and rules, either moral or intellectual, are not by 
 any means the most important objects to be gained; they 
 only fall under the numerous class of means in operation 
 for a certain end, yet it may confidently be affirmed 
 that there is no well-conducted training school, where 
 these are not at least on a par with any other mere 
 teaching school. As the principles of the former must, 
 therefore, be recognised as in harmony with nature, I 
 would thus beg, with every feeling of respect, to recom- 
 
FHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 275 
 
 mend them, not only to the members of the scholastic 
 profession, but to parents and all who have an interest 
 in the education of the young. 
 
 It may naturally have been expected, that a word or 
 two should have been here said regarding corporal 
 punishments as an agency in moral training, but such 
 a system recognises not that most degrading and ex- 
 asperating mode of correcting offences. It is conceived, 
 that to treat children in almost every respect with the 
 same deference and courtesy that are used towards our 
 equals, comes much nearer the correct standard than 
 most people think. And if auy person imagine that he 
 will gain his end better by applying harsh means to his 
 neighbour and coercing him into compliance with his 
 wishes, than by a spirit of Christian courtesy and per- 
 suasion, of course he will advocate a similar treatment of 
 children. The scriptural authority on the point, too, 
 must be admitted; yet when the same object can be 
 effected by other means, it is in strict harmony with all 
 the arrangements of Providence to lean to the side of 
 mercy and adopt these. 
 
 Neither is it less a principle in moral science, that 
 kindness is power, whether applied to man or beast, than 
 the corresponding maxim regarding knowledge. Love, 
 and not fear, must be the ruling principle, otherwise the 
 boundary line separating between moral and physical 
 government has assuredly been passed ; and as certainly 
 as a judicious application of the former will produce 
 obedience in all cases, so will the latter only harden the 
 disposition and render the disobedient still more so. 
 The fable of the wind and sun contending against the 
 traveller has a moral application of the highest import- 
 ance in training. And the same principle of kindness 
 applies equally to the lower animals. A dog belonging 
 
276 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 to a man of a violent and irascible nature will assume a 
 kindred snappishness and quarrelsomeness, and though 
 beaten ever so much, will only become the more 
 vicious. Whereas, who has not heard of the docile 
 disposition and gentle manners of the Arabian courser, 
 whose master would sooner think of inflicting punish- 
 ment upon himself than of laying a rude hand upon that 
 affectionate creature ? 
 
 Nor does one often see a fractious horse pass along the 
 more willingly for a beating. His proud spirit, no less 
 than his aching hide, winces under the ungenerous treat- 
 ment, and he embraces the first opportunity of turning 
 restive again. Kindness is an omnipotent governing- 
 power pervading all sentient nature. That people can be 
 ruled by fear is true. Slaves are so managed ; but one 
 has only to look at the present moment to the southern 
 states of North America, to see whether such a system 
 of terror will not very speedily undergo a reaction. 
 The proprietors of human flesh in those places will un- 
 questionably be overwhelmed in their own abhorrent 
 devices to prolong such a system. 
 
 I do not at present enter upon the question, what kind 
 of moral stimuli of an extrinsic nature may be necessary 
 to induce good conduct, and repress the vicious tenden- 
 cies of the young. It may only be remarked in general, 
 that rewards and punishments, even of a moral kind, are 
 at best but necessary evils. Much cannot be said in 
 defence of a system of bribing to obedience, though 
 there is, perhaps, not much harm in that nevertheless. 
 It is an appeal to the lower feelings, and of course may 
 be resorted to when higher motives fail. It may be 
 necessary before a habit is formed, and as a means of 
 inducing that habit, but it ought to be left off when 
 the habit itself has become the guiding power. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 277 
 
 The preceding analysis of the object of education in its 
 threefold capacity, presents of course hut a very limited 
 outline of the entire duties of an educator. It would, 
 indeed, be impossible to particularise these in detail, not 
 only from their number but infinite variety of application. 
 Each of the sciences of physics, intellect, and morals, too, 
 is but in progress of being fully understood, and conse- 
 quently the existence of many duties that he ought to 
 perform is yet unknown. The best qualified instructor 
 can therefore be only partially informed as to his duties, 
 and in many things must grope his way by his own 
 experience alone. Nor will the best information guide 
 him to a correct practice of these duties : his own cha- 
 racter must be previously trained as a model to fashion 
 others by. In short, a properly qualified educator must 
 be a perfect man, and there is none such upon earth. 
 All that can be done is to carry into effect those well- 
 ascertained principles of mental philosophy which bear 
 upon the practice of his calling, by establishing and 
 encouraging institutions for the formation of a normal 
 character up to such requirements. 
 
 Much has also been said and written about raising 
 the social status of the educator, but this would certainly 
 follow if society had just grounds for entertaining a 
 higher estimate of the intrinsic character of his profes- 
 sion. Hitherto, it is no breach of charity to say, the 
 professional character of the majority of schoolmasters has 
 raised them as high in society as they deserved. What- 
 ever may have been their private worth, by entering a 
 profession antiquated in its forms and inadequate in its 
 qualifications to the great end designed by it, they assumed 
 a social position similar to a man of inherent moral worth, 
 but rude manners, in a fashionable drawing-room. 
 In the eye of taste he would be ridiculous, however his 
 
278 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 native excellence might be appreciated. If the end of 
 the profession were the sole criterion of deciding its 
 social rank, it would probably stand much higher than it 
 does ; but its means to gain this end have hitherto de- 
 pressed it ; its manners have excluded it from the posi- 
 tion due to its morals. If, therefore, enlightened modes 
 of education be cultivated and adopted by the profession, 
 they will prove the means of advancing its importance 
 in the social econony, and its professors will be advanced 
 along with it. 
 
 Various are the causes that have combined in depressing 
 the educator in social esteem. In ancient Greece and Eome 
 the office was generally filled by slaves, and consequently 
 held in degradation by the free-born of those countries. 
 Nor is it likely that during the dark ages, if such an 
 office at all existed, it would be held in much higher 
 respect. And when a revival of letters came, and 
 the dead languages were translated into living tongues, 
 the same sentiments were transfused into the latter, and 
 gained currency among the customs of modern days. 
 Neither was the office redeemed from this degradation in 
 any degree by the personal qualifications and modes of 
 government of those who administered its functions. 
 Their teaching duties were confined to reading, writing, 
 and accounts, with a sprinkling of the dead languages 
 — the mere instruments of acquiring knowledge, not 
 knowledge itself. It was therefore no higher than a 
 mechanical employment in point of intellectual labour, and 
 hence he who was employed in it gained no higher con- 
 sideration than was due to a mechanic. But still less did 
 he either deserve or gain respect from the modes of disci- 
 pline resorted to in checking the waywardness of youth, 
 by compelling an abject submission to his tyrannical 
 authority through fear of bodily punishment. That 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 279 
 
 society, indeed, should be somewhat tardy in recognising 
 as gentlemen, individuals whose duties were so similar in 
 their nature to those occasionally performed by "the 
 drummer of a regiment, the whipper-in of a pack of 
 hounds, or the policeman of a city/' cannot, on the whole, 
 be looked upon as a very unhealthy state of social 
 feeling. And certainly no other element in the cha- 
 racter of a schoolmaster has ever militated so strongly 
 against his social elevation as the use of this degrading 
 kind of punishment. 
 
 It is true there are other classes whose duties are no 
 less vindictive, admitted to the best society, but there is 
 at least no such apparent incongruity in their callings. 
 Those of the schoolmaster relate chiefly to the mental 
 powers. He thus enters, in point of fact, upon a sphere 
 of labour above that of the more favoured classes, and 
 when he descends to physical means to gain his higher 
 ends, he practically acknowledges his incompetency to 
 sustain that moral rank, and becomes liable to ridicule. 
 This ridicule extends to the profession, and all its mem- 
 bers come to be regarded as occupying the same false 
 position. While other classes, too, such as the army, 
 the navy, and the bar, direct their punitive and aggressive 
 measures against men capable of defending themselves, 
 and many of them often expose their own lives in doing so, 
 the school flagellator directs his cowardly punishments 
 against mere helpless infancy ; so that as long as society 
 prefers courage to cowardice, cool temper to irritability, and 
 talent to incompetency, either the individual or profession 
 that gives proofs of such disqualifications must be kept 
 in the back- ground. It is the profession itself, there- 
 fore, that mast throw off the stigma that has so long 
 attached to it both as regards its incapacity and cruelty ; 
 and while the overwhelming importance of its object 
 
280 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 must be acknowledged by all, there is no doubt that the 
 right thinking part of the community will readily accede 
 to its strong claims for advancement in the social scale. 
 As the question of corporal punishments, however, is one 
 of the greatest importance, both as regards the educator 
 and education, I shall devote the following chapter exclu- 
 sively to an examination of the practice, and endeavour to 
 suggest the means of its prevention by indicating a 
 course of moral discipline. 
 
CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 In the preceding chapter I have said that the present 
 age is distinguished above every former period for the 
 practical manifestation of a moral influence in the guid- 
 ance of human conduct. But as this power is only 
 beginning to be acknowledged, and its operations are the 
 result of individual and isolated exertions, it has still to 
 struggle against the might and mastery of formerly exist- 
 ing institutions, framed upon a far different principle. 
 Many of these have been based upon the lower feelings 
 of human nature and conducted by intellectual means, 
 for purely selfish purposes. Their establishment was 
 therefore but an artificial extension of animalism, in 
 which superior degrees of intelligence only increased the 
 means of aggressive violence, or secured a more sure 
 defence from the violence of others. Hence the existence 
 of armies and navies, with all their death- dispensing 
 apparatus and machinery. What are all these but a 
 mighty exertion of intellect to seize and keep possession 
 for selfish purposes ? In many cases it is " might 
 over right," but in all cases a departure from the prin- 
 ciple of rendering " good for evil." And if their necessity 
 can be at all defended, it must be on the plea of other 
 nations acting with equal selfishness, which only the 
 more strongly proves the same melancholy statement. 
 
282 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 No wonder is it, then, when society receives its first 
 impression from an iron mould like this, that it should 
 itself become indurated, and convey a similar impression 
 to its various individual institutions. Army and navy disci- 
 pline is mere physical coercion. Soldiers and sailors are 
 flogged into obedience, and kept in subjection through 
 fear. Even civil government is a pure compulsion, 
 backed by an appeal to physical force, and capital punish- 
 ments, banishment, and imprisonment, the usual means 
 employed in reclaiming refractory subjects. But what- 
 ever may be said in defence of this iron rule, where the 
 mere physical wants of man are legislated for, and where 
 the subject himself is little more than the fragment of a 
 machine, in those institutions where mind and moral 
 faculties are under discipline, and where even the germs 
 of a spiritual existence ought to be cultivated, anything 
 like a system of terror- training is egregiously out of 
 place. The intellect can never be held in fetters forged 
 by human hands, nor stimulated to any healthful activity 
 by bodily stripes. To chain the viewless winds, and 
 calm the heaving ocean, are not more impossible. 
 
 Where such methods are resorted to in the present day 
 in schools, they are still the fragments of barbarism, and 
 a line of conduct indicated by the passions in supremacy, 
 — as much so as that which leads inferior animals to 
 retaliate upon one another. The only difference, indeed, 
 seems to be, not in the animus which prompts to such 
 punishments, but in the medium through which they are 
 carried into effect. Reason has suggested more artificial 
 and complicated modes of thus gratifying the passions. 
 It is a more polished and effective weapon than instinct, 
 but the wielding power is substantially the same. And, to 
 carry out the metaphor, it is only the glare of this bright 
 instrument that dazzles the eye and prevents us from 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 283 
 
 seeing the malignancy of the power that unsheathes it. It 
 is only the perverted reason of man that enables him so suc- 
 cessfully to hide the unreasonableness of his conduct ; and 
 much it is to be feared that even the arguments adduced in 
 support of such treatment are often given against the 
 secret convictions of those who adduce them. Nor does 
 it require, certainly, any great degree of mental acuteness 
 to see, that an error in judgment can never be repaired 
 by any bodily infliction, any more than a physical de- 
 formity can be cured by a mere effort of mind. And as 
 a moral offence proceeds but from one or other of two 
 causes, — either a perversity of the will, or an inveteracy 
 of habit, — it is only the former that can ever be rectified 
 by a mental influence, while immoralities which have 
 gained the force of habits are far beyond the reach of 
 mere precept, and can only be counteracted by opposite 
 habits. How vain, then, is it to attempt reaching these 
 by merely material influences — that is, by bodily punish- 
 ments ! 
 
 But this discrepancy between opinion and action — ■ 
 between the dictates of conscience and the promptings of 
 passion, proves at least a sort of transitionary state, and 
 an approach to better things. And as in the analogy 
 adduced, where instinct merges into intellect, so in the 
 treatment of offences a very perceptible change is taking 
 place in the world. Punishments, in theory at least, are 
 conducted more upon intellectual principles, and less 
 upon the impulse of an instinctive vengeance. People now 
 reason upon the necessity of bodily punishments, and in 
 awarding such, endeavour to apportion a proper amount of 
 pain to the magnitude of the crime. But it is still a vica- 
 rious punishment ; and I repeat, that it is equally unjust to 
 inflict an injury upon the feelings for a bodily defect, as 
 to inflict bodily pain for a moral delinquency. 
 
284 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 Having premised this general statement, in the follow- 
 ing remarks I shall merely select a few instances at 
 random, by way of illustrating this proposition : — That a 
 system of moral training is not a thing naturally adopted 
 by a teacher ; that it is a generalisation drawn from 
 human conduct by an intellectual process, and must 
 therefore be referred to intellectually, in guiding the 
 conduct ; or, in short, that the passions must be held in 
 check by the judgment, and the judgment itself under 
 control of the moral faculties. 
 
 Suppose, then, a boy talking loudly to his companions 
 in school : he oifends his master's sense of propriety, and 
 ruffles the tranquillity of his mind. The latter commands 
 the boy to be silent ; and perhaps he becomes so. Ten 
 to one, however, the command is given with some aspe- 
 rity of manner, and in an angry tone of voice, which are 
 neither more nor less than the result of a vindictive 
 feeling, prompting a retaliation for the injury he himself 
 sustained. It is substantially the same feeling that 
 prompts one boy to return another a blow who has struck 
 him. Now the boy, as has been said, may obey his 
 master, and be still by such means, as well as by an 
 opposite treatment ; but to a moral certainty the germ of 
 a vindictive feeling has been implanted in his mind 
 against his master. The angry feeling was evidently 
 governing the intellect, and as far as the cause of such 
 an ebullition was concerned, the individual acted on a 
 level with the inferior creation. Anger was first felt at 
 the boy's disobedience, and an instinct impelled the 
 master to this outward manifestation of his displeasure ; 
 but the result was entirely of a vindictive character, and 
 made in perfect forgetfulness or ignorance of the moral 
 tendency of such conduct. The intellect, so far as it 
 had to do in the case by shaping the angry feeling into 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 285 
 
 words, was simply an instrument; whereas the angry 
 feeling should have acted the part of a monitor to the in- 
 tellect, giving notice of the fault, that it might have been 
 dealt with according to some reasonable mode of treat- 
 ment, An inferior animal would have acted in the same 
 way ; it would have vented its feelings in an angry growl, 
 or have wreaked its fury in some bodily infliction. Both 
 would thus be acting from an instinctive impulse ; whereas 
 the former of course should have taken reason as a guide. 
 On the part of the master it was the natural and untrained 
 feeling arising spontaneously, and manifesting itself in 
 this aggressive form. It was acting blindly aud without 
 the control of reason. 
 
 It is not asserted, however, that it is wrong to enter- 
 tain a feeling of anger. Anger is a good feeling, and 
 implanted within us for good purposes. It is indeed 
 given to protect from injuries, — that is, to make the 
 aggressor sensible of his wrong, and prevent a repetition 
 of it. But the point is, how is this best to be done, and 
 there is an abundant answer furnished in the sublimest 
 of all moral precepts, — " Overcome evil with good," — an 
 answer that all the philosophy of the world never before 
 supplied. To expect that the child's talkative or trifling 
 inclination would be restrained by exhibiting an angry 
 aspect and bitter words, would be equally reasonable 
 as to expect that a distemper could be cured by irritating 
 the part most infected. The angry feeling must therefore 
 be kept entirely in subjection to the judgment. It may 
 prompt the latter to the discharge of its duty, but it must 
 never take the duty in hand itself. The mind, guided 
 by experience, and upon a moment's reflection, will see, 
 that the proper way to proceed is, to treat the case as if 
 no personal inconvenience had been at all experienced. 
 Let the child be kindly admonished or gently reminded 
 
286 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 of his error by a motion of the hand, accompanied by a 
 calm look, and the same thing will be effected : but more 
 will also be done. The harsh word would suppress the 
 noise only to break out the more violently on the first 
 opportunity ; but a calm and affectionate remonstrance, 
 besides repressing the particular act, throws a soothing 
 influence over the whole character, forming the best 
 preventive against any repetition of it. 
 
 The obvious inference from this is, that severe scolding 
 and threatening, no less than bodily punishments, are 
 morally injurious. Indeed, what are they but a species of 
 punishment ? It is a wounding of the feelings, an inflic- 
 tion of moral pain, which may be rendered much more 
 acute than any corporal sufferings; and in flogging schools, 
 too, they derive much of their poignancy from being a 
 mere reflection of the rod, or rather the darkening shadow 
 of the coming storm. In timid children, in fact, it is 
 more a dread of what is beyond the scolding which in- 
 fluences them,' than the mere scolding itself, against 
 which they very soon become hardened. 
 
 The basis of a remedy, therefore, for the fault specified, 
 and for every other act of disobedience, is to educe 
 and cultivate a kindly feeling in children towards him 
 whom they ought to obey ; and, to lay this foundation, 
 kind looks, words, and actions, must first be exhibited 
 towards them. These will prove like so much good 
 seed that will produce a kindred fruit in whatever soil it 
 may be sown, more or less, of course, according to the 
 previous state of cultivation. The other mode may be 
 compared to lopping off some excrescences from a noxious 
 plant, only giving increased facilities to the stem to send 
 forth a greater number of rank shoots in other directions. 
 The plant itself must be dug up, and the soil rendered 
 unfit for any "root of bitterness " to live in it. It should 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 287 
 
 ever be remembered, therefore, that a display of angry 
 conduct not only has no effect whatever, in repressing a 
 disobedient tendency, but the very contrary effect. I 
 repeat, that compliance with any request, or any number 
 of requests, may be gained by such conduct, but far 
 different is it in principle, from the constraining and 
 habitual tendency which prompts the child at once to 
 respond to the call of duty. 
 
 Now if such be the result where mere words and feelings 
 are exhibited, how much more culpable and erroneous is 
 the too frequent custom of applying physical violence to 
 enforce obedience ! Children from custom begin to dis- 
 regard the angry words of their master, who is obliged to 
 call to his aid an additional degree of coercion. He 
 shakes them roughly, or gives them a sudden box on the 
 ear. But let any one observe the effects of such treat- 
 ment even on a boy of generally obedient and good 
 habits. A frown comes over his countenance and he 
 mutters something of defiance, on hearing which, the 
 master, most likely, repeats the blow with interest ; and 
 now the wrath and fury of a demon have taken possession 
 of him, and a feeling of the most stubborn resistance 
 engendered against, and by, the very person who foolishly 
 thought thus to bend the child's disposition to his wishes. 
 A most unfortunate figure of speech this tending of the 
 disposition is, at least when used in this sense. Like 
 many other metaphors, it has deceived the world long. 
 A child's disposition can be bent, however, easily and 
 pleasantly, by gentle means, — but by superior physical 
 force, • never. A spirit of obstinacy is aroused that will 
 bid defiance to all opposition. The disposition may thus 
 be broken, but it cannot be bent. In the case supposed, 
 the master would have inflicted an injury upon the child's 
 moral nature, which the committing to memory and to 
 
288 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 judgment too, of all the precepts concerning obedience 
 ever promulgated, could never remove. It may be 
 counteracted by a different line of action, but no reason- 
 ing on earth can convince him that he has not been 
 wronged, simply because he feels it. 
 
 But a boy accustomed to be thus roughly handled will 
 very soon require a more cruel treatment still. Like one 
 giving way to the seductive influences of opium, whose 
 relaxed nerves require a constant supply of the stimulus, 
 such harsh measures must be constantly plied, to ensure 
 even a modicum of obedience. Hence the painful and 
 humiliating spectacle of some masters never intermitting 
 the use of the rod, but walking about amidst their trem- 
 bling charge with ferula in hand, an apt impersonation of 
 American slave-drivers, but from the circumstance of the 
 objects of their punishment being unprotected infancy, 
 infinitely more revolting to a humane mind. And it is 
 all bad enough when such a course is deemed necessary 
 to ensure obedience, or to repress some really immoral 
 and wicked acts. In this case it is simply a mistaken 
 mode of treating such offences, — a grievous one indeed 
 to the object of it. But the cause of such punishments 
 may perhaps have emanated from the children themselves 
 in their own thoughtless conduct, and in this respect 
 they are only on a level with their seniors in the world, 
 many of whose faults, from the customs and etiquette of 
 modish society, often draw down upon them consequences 
 much more severe than they ever deserved. But the case 
 has no parallel in point of cruelty when a boy, conscious 
 of his own natural inability to perform some mental task, 
 finds that he must inevitably succumb to the lash. This 
 is no hypothetical case. It occurs almost every day, in 
 every school in the empire where corporal punishment is 
 resorted to. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 289 
 
 Take, for instance, the case of a boy naturally deficient 
 in the faculty of language, but classed with another more 
 largely endowed with that faculty. It is evident that the 
 latter by very little exertion will overtake a task to which 
 the former is utterly inadequate. Such, in fact, is a 
 difference simply arising from a certain configuration of 
 the brain, or at all events depending on some physical 
 cause, over which, of course, he has no possible control. 
 The gifted boy has therefore no more merit, morally 
 speaking, in outstripping his class-fellow, than a fleet 
 racer would have in a contest with a dray-horse. But the 
 same tasks are usually allotted to each, and while the 
 boy who by force of mere natural endowments is praised 
 for getting that which to him cost little trouble, the 
 boy denied by Providence the same faculty in equal 
 strength, but who, perhaps, exerted himself more than the 
 other and failed, receives the recompense of his labours in 
 a castigation. Mental ability and the possession of 
 certain faculties in different degrees of strength and acti- 
 vity, are as much the mere endowments of nature and 
 Providence, as a strong constitution and a vigorous 
 bodily frame ; it were therefore as just and reasonable 
 to punish a boy who should fail in a trial of mere bodily 
 strength with another, as him who fails in the mental 
 struggle. Besides, one boy is not only thus rewarded 
 for possessing what he received from Providence as a 
 gift, but by this invidious system of attaching a moral 
 consideration to a mere accident of mind, another boy is 
 punished on his account. In a class, lessons are seldom 
 adapted to the capacity of the inferior boys, but to that 
 of the more forward, for whose superior endowments the 
 former are thus made to suffer. Yet it is hard to say on 
 which of the two such treatment sheds the most baneful 
 influence. One boy has his love of esteem, or, in com- 
 
 o 
 
290 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 mon language, his pride, trained to excess in finding 
 himself over-praised for his slight exertions, and a feeling 
 of vanity and arrogance supervenes, that may prove the 
 hane of his future happiness; and another, feeling himself 
 degraded and maltreated undeservedly, may sink into 
 the gloomy and careless dunce, cherishing a spirit of 
 resentment against his master, and of envy towards his 
 more fortunate rival. The self-esteem of the latter is thus 
 unduly repressed, hy which, that confidence in his own 
 powers, so necessary for every mental effort, is destroyed. 
 Or supposing it to be a task in which a mere exercise 
 of memory is concerned, how widely different are children 
 constituted in this respect ! The natural ability of one 
 boy will enable him to get a lesson by heart in five 
 minutes, which would require another an hour or more. 
 How different is the actual amount of labour here, and 
 how mortifying is it for the less gifted boy to see his 
 comrade praised and rewarded for his trifling exertion, 
 while all his own labour only procured him a beating ! 
 But reverse the case, — set a boy of a good memory but 
 deficient in judgment, and one of acute reasoning powers 
 but wanting in the faculty of an abstract memory, to 
 demonstrate a proposition in Euclid, and it is easy to see 
 how immeasurably the latter would have an advantage 
 over the former. And equally clear is it in a case where 
 nothing but dates and unassociated facts were to be com- 
 mitted to memory, how far he would be outstripped by 
 the other. But in general, where teachers resort to phy- 
 sical punishments to enforce the getting of lessons, no 
 attention is paid to this distinction ; the same lesson 
 must be got by all the class, in the same time, and with 
 the same degree of accuracy, and the same punishment 
 awaits each defaulter whatever may be the cause of his 
 failure. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 291 
 
 Another thing is, the same motive presented to a 
 class does not influence all alike, even though felt as 
 strongly by one as another. The difference in point of 
 labour necessary to get the lesson destroys the relative 
 power of the motive. To a boy who can with small labour 
 perform his task, the same motive is much stronger than 
 to another who requires much exertion to do so. The 
 latter has a counteracting motive in the difficulty of the 
 task, and he weighs his own ease in refraining from it, 
 against the inducement held out; and of course according 
 to the difficulty of getting the task will the original 
 motive lose its power. Nay, should he even throw the 
 anticipated caning into the scale, the motive will often 
 be found all too light. The talented boy has no con- 
 sideration of this kind to overcome, for to him the lesson 
 itself is perhaps a pleasure. 
 
 Or the same thing may not even be a motive to all. 
 Suppose the inducement simply be the approbation of 
 the master, in those who have a large share of self- 
 esteem, this will be powerful enough; while to others, 
 not so constituted, it will prove no stimulus at all. The 
 love of gaining a prize, which is a purely selfish feeling, 
 will influence one boy, while, upon another, of perhaps 
 better feelings, it will have no effect. One will be swayed 
 by a sense of fear more than another possessed of firmer 
 nerves; and a third will be stimulated by a mere sense 
 of duty, more than another of less regulated habits. In 
 short, there can hardly be a class of three boys, to each 
 of whom the same thing would prove an equally powerful 
 motive, or on whom the same motive would operate with 
 equal power. But the rod' settles all these distinctions: 
 it is the magician's wand, reducing all capacities to the 
 .same dead level. Now the most careless observer must 
 see that every boy differs from another in some depart- 
 ed 
 
292 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING?. 
 
 ment of his mental nature. It is, therefore, equally vara 
 to imagine that one set of motives would equally influ- 
 ence all, as that one suit of clothes would fit all. 
 
 Perhaps nothing in the science of education more 
 imperatively demands the teacher's attentive study than 
 the principle of motives, and to make himself acquainted 
 with which, a correct knowledge of the nature and con- 
 stitution of the human mind is indispensable. 
 
 Much of what is called bad conduct in children, both 
 in school and in the family, is simply conduct trouble- 
 some to those who have the charge of them. In the 
 case first adduced of a boy's loud talking and restless- 
 ness, the master s love of order and decorum was dis- 
 turbed, and the serenity of his mind ruffled, and these 
 feelings vented themselves against the aggressor. But no 
 moral delinquency can be said properly to attach to such 
 an error in the boy. It is much more a restraint upon 
 the natural propensities of children to refrain from noise, 
 than disagreeable to the master to listen to it. It is only 
 a breach of those conventional rules he has established 
 for his own convenience, and much at variance many of 
 them are with the fresh and joyous outpourings of the 
 youthful mind. Still, the order and decorum of a school 
 must be maintained even at the expense of this exaction ; 
 but as it is more in favour of the party exacting it, than 
 any compliance with a principle of morality, the idea of 
 enforcing silence and stillness under the penalty of the lash, 
 is a tolerable stretch of absolutism. And if we analyse 
 the feeling which suggests the infliction of corporal pain 
 for the omission of some tedious and stupid task, without 
 inquiring into the causes of the omission, it will be found 
 to have its origin either in the ignorance, the indolence, 
 or the cruelty of the inflicter. A master is gratified to 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 293 
 
 kear a boy repeat his lessons accurately ; his own serenity 
 of mind is thus promoted, and he praises the " good 
 boy" for his diligence and assiduity. But the " bad boy," 
 that is, he to whom Providence has denied the blessing 
 of a retentive memory, or as acute powers of perception, 
 of course blunders a lesson not adapted to his capacity, 
 and disturbs his master's equanimity. Anger and resent- 
 ment arise in the mind, that seek for gratification in the 
 punishment of the author of them. Yet the innocent 
 boy should by no means be called the author of such 
 feelings. They were called into existence by the master's 
 *<gnorance or indolence. He either could not detect, or 
 did not take the pains to detect, the want of capacity 
 and the absence of a sufficient motive to perform the task. 
 He set the child to achieve an impossibility, and punished 
 him for not doing so. 
 
 How few persons who are in the habit of inflicting 
 punishments of this kind, would, for a moment, entertain 
 the idea, that it is a mere gratifying of revenge ! This 
 may appear startling to those who have but little reflected 
 upon the matter, and many may persuade themselves 
 into a belief; that they are acting under an imperative 
 sense of duty in doing so. But even the calmest and 
 most deliberate chastisement of this sort is in its very 
 nature a vindictive procedure, and there is no purely 
 vindictive punishment but what is an unmitigated evil. 
 " An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," belong to 
 the abrogated code of the Mosaic economy, while the 
 Christian dispensation teaches us, to "render not evil 
 for evil." 
 
 Why should an offence call for any outward punishment 
 at all ? The foolish answer too often is, that a sense oi 
 offended justice calls for it, or some such phrase. But 
 
294 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 few things have caused more misery to the human race" 
 than a literal rendering of such phrases, which, for 
 the most part, are simply personifications of abstract 
 ideas, taken from the mythology of pagan nations. 
 There is no such idea of "justice" between man and 
 man in the Christian religion. " If thine enemy hunger, 
 feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; for, in so doing, 
 thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." This is 
 all the vengeance that man is allowed to indulge in 
 under that dispensation, and the true philosophy of 
 retaliation ; and it is a principle revealed for his guidance 
 in the treatment of every offence. The true answer is, 
 that punishments are awarded to offenders, either in 
 ignorance of such a principle, or in distrust of its efficacy. 
 It is either acting from an impulse of the feelings, 
 without reasoning at all, or defending a line of action by 
 arguments drawn from anything but an enlightened view 
 of human nature. 
 
 Let it be borne in mind, that every really immoral 
 act has a punishment attached to itself; and to the en- 
 lightened and educated conscience, either of a man or a 
 boy, this ought to form, and will form, a sufficient safe- 
 guard against the commission of crime. Such is one of 
 the great principles upon which God himself conducts 
 the moral affairs of his creatures. He is the superintend- 
 ing and controlling agent over a system of government. 
 There is no caprice in his administration of justice, no 
 isolated cases, or contingencies, which such system does 
 not comprehend, and has not made provision for. He 
 has also afforded to his creatures the means of enlighten- 
 ment as to a knowledge of that system, has shown 
 them, by experience and revelation, the consequences of 
 obedience and of disobedience to its requirements, so 
 that they are without excuse if they incur the penalties 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 295 
 
 annexed to a breach of his laws. Nor are even these 
 penalties of a vindictive, but of a remedial character. 
 They are always commensurate with the flagrancy of the 
 crime, and of a nature adapted to counteract the pro-; 
 pensity inciting to any particular offence. Dishonesty is 
 not punished with the loss of health, nor immoderate 
 eating with the forfeiture of a good name; yet each 
 error has within itself the germ of its own peculiar 
 punishment, a corrective property, which re-acts upon the 
 offender for the beneficent purpose of warning him of 
 his offence and effecting his reformation. 
 
 Such a statement, it is hoped, will not be regarded 
 as anything like a declension towards materialism or 
 German metaphysics. That virtue is its own reward, and 
 vice its own punishment, is a maxim common to both 
 ancient and modern, Christian and heathen morality, and 
 as old as the first dawning of intelligence upon earth. 
 It was reserved for Christianity alone, however, to pro- 
 mulgate the practical adoption of it, or the training to 
 it as necessary to regulate conduct. What is meant to 
 be impressed by the allusion is, that in the moral govern- 
 ment of human affairs, by God, no extrinsic punishments 
 occur, in ordinary cases — that, whenever such interposi- 
 tions are resorted to, they are to be regarded in the light 
 of miracles, or a counteraction and suspension of the 
 ordinary laws of nature. Our inference is, that in the 
 dealings of men towards one another, a similar course 
 ought to be followed, but with this exception, that so 
 far as extraordinary means, or what are usually called 
 judgments, are concerned, the case has no parallel. Such 
 is the prerogative of the Omniscient alone : "Vengeance 
 belongeth unto me, saith the Lord.' 5 Unquestionably, 
 therefore, these views Ought to form the basis of every 
 penal code, whether for the regulation of prisons, peni- 
 
296 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 tentiaries, or schools. Punishments, if the name must 
 be retained, should be remedies adapted to the disease. 
 
 What, then, is the best mode of correcting a fault upon 
 such principles ? And the answer is involved in another 
 question — What is the best mode of curing a bodily 
 ailment? The physician examines into the nature of 
 the disease, and the causes from which it springs, and 
 applies a remedy calculated to reach the source of the 
 evil; and so must the moral physician. He must inquire 
 into the nature and the causes of the offence, and apply 
 a remedy adequate to reach and remove these. Many 
 punishments there are, adequate enough to prevent the 
 committing of certain acts, that are not only powerless 
 in removing the tendency to such acts, but in reality 
 promote and foster the tendency. Who can look upon 
 the cruelties of slavery without seeing an illustration of 
 this truth ? Slaves are flogged into obedience ; but if 
 their disobedience is thus repressed, their hatred and 
 animosity are increased, and that to such a degree as to 
 induce them, on the first favourable opportunity,, to take 
 away the lives of their tyrants ; and they are flogged to 
 make them work, but their repugnance to their tasks 
 being only thus increased, their idleness will increase in 
 a similar ratio. And precisely the same feeling is esta- 
 blished in a school where the mere terror of punishment 
 is the guiding motive. It will make a child obey his 
 master, but will never make an obedient child. It will 
 also compel attention to his tasks, but will never inspire 
 him with a love for knowledge. It ought rather to be 
 said, perhaps, that it is the rod that is obeyed more than 
 the master, and that, a] so, which obeys the master is 
 more the rod than the child. It is matter acting upon 
 matter, and dragging the unwilling mind captive, whereas 
 without the willing mind there can be no proper obedience 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 297 
 
 at all. To repress turbulence and noise by such means, 
 is like drugging a patient in a fever with alcohol to throw 
 him into a sleep, from which he would only awake ten 
 times more feverish than before. 
 
 Now it has been said that God does not leave his 
 creatures in ignorance of his mode of governing them. 
 He shows them their own advantage in following the 
 right path, but if, through a perversity of will, they adopt 
 a wrong one, the difficulties that attend their progress 
 are so many appointed means to set them right. What 
 then should moral education be but the carrying into 
 effect of these broad and well-defined principles? In 
 every individual, old and young, the Creator has im- 
 planted what has been aptly styled his vicegerent — the 
 conscience. This monitor is given to man to warn him 
 of his errors, and prompt him to a performance of duty. 
 Even with the light of nature, it shows him, to a certain 
 extent, his duty and interest ; for by mere experience of 
 the past, it points out his course for the future. It has, 
 therefore, been implanted for a unity of purpose, but still 
 it is simply an instrument intended for good, and by the 
 perversion of its uses it may be rendered an instrument 
 of incalculable evil. It is a lamp placed in a dark 
 chamber, but it requires to be lighted up to be of any 
 service there. But where is the light to be obtained ? 
 and the answer is, from two sources, — the ever-burning 
 lamp of nature, and the torch of revelation. Yet another 
 question arises, Who are the parties qualified to apply 
 this light? and the answer can only be, Those who 
 themselves are living under the influence of an enlight- 
 ened conscience. They must have light sufficient to 
 guide their own conduct, and be able to govern their own 
 passions and feelings, ere they attempt the governance 
 of others. And this unquestionably is the point at 
 
 03 
 
298 . PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 which moral training must commence. The trainer 
 must have his own feelings under the control of reason. 
 He must make these the reins of government, and hold 
 them with a firm hand. He, also, it is, who must 
 apply the light from which his pupils may catch the 
 flame. And little or no application of it may he neces- 
 sary. The lamp when Drought to the flame, will ignite 
 as readily as when the latter is applied to it ; and the 
 pupil, when "brought into contact with his master, will 
 assimilate to him in character as readily "by a mere in- 
 stinctive imitation, as through the medium of any pre- 
 ceptive discipline exhibited by the latter. The great 
 leading principle is, then, that physical punishments may 
 be entirely superseded, not only in schools, but in families 
 too, by the moral action of an enlightened and educated 
 conscience. Enlightened and educated, however, it 
 must be, and this requires the active interference of the 
 educating party. 
 
 By an enlightened conscientiousness, it is not meant 
 that this faculty can of itself discover what is right and 
 what is wrong, and discriminate between them. That is 
 the province of reason and judgment; but when it has 
 been settled in the mind what is duty, the cultivated 
 conscience binds clown to a performance of it. What is 
 it that makes one individual an honest man and another 
 fraudulent ? simply because each thinks it his own ad- 
 vantage to act as he does. The conscience of the latter 
 is, as it were, encased in a panoply of ignorance, through 
 which compunction for a dishonest act is not felt; that 
 of the former, denuded of this covering, is exposed to the 
 keen shafts of remorse. A dishonest man is morally 
 uninformed of the nature and consequences of his crime, 
 and commits it; an honest man sees the error, and avoids 
 it. Whatever any one thinks wrong, he will feel pain 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 299 
 
 at having committed ; or, -whatever he deems right, he will 
 experience satisfaction in having performed. Hence the 
 anomaly of such men as Rob Roy and Robin Hood re- 
 morselessly plundering their neighbours under a sense of 
 lawless justice. Such men would have scorned to do an act 
 of injustice or oppression according to their views of right 
 and wrong. Their conscientiousness was simply unenlight- 
 ened. If the dishonest man were morally convinced that 
 by following his fraudulent practices he would ultimately 
 become a loser, he would abandon them — but he neither 
 sees nor feels such a consequence. I speak not at present 
 of another element in the case, namely, the force of 
 habit, but of the original cause which induced the habit. 
 Instead, therefore, of sending such a person to the tread- 
 mill, or house of correction, on the commission of some 
 flagrant act, so far as either his dishonest habits, or 
 cause of such habits, are concerned, it is very evident 
 nothing will be gained there. He may now feel, certainly, 
 that he acted wrongly for himself in some particular 
 instance, but he will ascribe his failure to some accident 
 or mismanagement, and still be of opinion that success 
 in his schemes would have been profitable. He does not 
 see that dishonesty 'in its very nature is unprofitable ; 
 and hence, on his liberation, being unconvinced of the 
 " error of his ways," he would immediately resort to the 
 same practices. But the loss would now fal] upon the 
 community; he would bring into operation an additional 
 degree of cautiousness, and become a more expert 
 swindler. At all events, the treadmill would have no 
 effect in removing the perversity of his habits. 
 
 Now such is precisely the case in school. Flogging 
 may repress, as I have said, any number of acts, but 
 can never reach the cause of them. It must, therefore, 
 be continually exerted upon the same individual, just a& 
 
300 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 we see the same offender brought up again and again for 
 punishment at the Old Bailey. There being no reforma- 
 tion of conduct, a boy will become more expert in de- 
 ceiving his master, more hypocritical while doing that 
 which is wrong, but he will not give up doing the wrong. 
 And the reason of a boy's adhering to an immoral line of 
 conduct, in defiance of punishment, is the very same 
 that sways his senior in crime. He is not morally con- 
 vinced that he is acting against his own interest in doing 
 so. He never feels in his conscience the remorse of his 
 error, because he does not see the error itself properly. 
 Or if he should feel any compunction, it is entirely 
 obliterated by the stronger feeling of resentment against 
 the author of the punishment that immediately follows. 
 So that even his own conscience has not an opportunity 
 of performing its functions aright. The still small voice 
 is lost amidst the roar of the coming storm that breaks 
 upon his devoted head. This is the instrument, however, 
 which the master ought to have wielded; for a gentle 
 appeal to this monitor, made in the spirit of love, and 
 accompanied with a clear statement of the fault, would 
 melt into true penitence the hardest culprit. 
 
 Let no one say that this is all too powerless a means 
 of preventing offences. It is the means furnished by 
 God himself, for the purpose ; and if cleared of the mists 
 of ignorance, it will form an infallible specific for every 
 offence. It must be remarked, however, that such offence 
 must be against a moral law, strictly so called, for it 
 cannot be imagined that much remorse will be felt for a 
 breach of many of those mechanical formalities of school, 
 that are absolutely in themselves unnatural and immoral 
 restrictions. The laws of a school where moral training 
 can be expected to flourish, must be in harmony with all 
 the freshness and buoyancy of children. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 301 
 
 In proceeding to correct a fault morally, therefore, the 
 nature of the offence must be ascertained. It must be 
 seen whether any immorality really attaches to it, or 
 whether it has merely arisen from some unnatural posi- 
 tion of the offender with regard to the regulations of the 
 school. For example, what can be more intolerable to 
 healthy children, and more at variance with , the laws of 
 nature, than to compel them, under pain of abeating, to 
 sit still in one position for an indefinite period ? And 
 when to this may be added the dreariness and stupidity 
 of committing some unintelligible memory lesson, the 
 temptation to exchange a joke with a joyous companion, 
 the physical depression of an ill- ventilated room, or a wet 
 day, all these are circumstances, as the phrase goes, over 
 which the poor child has no control. He cannot, there- 
 fore, be sorry at obeying their impulse, simply because 
 hefeek he has done no wrong, and however much he may 
 be lectured about the matter, or even flogged, he will be 
 as unconvinced as ever. Such being the case, his rest- 
 lessness will recur as soon as the master's back is turned 
 and similar temptations present themselves. 
 
 Now it is evident that the substitute for the rod, in 
 this case, would be simply to remove the cause of such 
 restlessness, and its consequent mischief. Give the child 
 the exercise he requires, and of the want of which, such 
 restlessness is a sure sign. This would decidedly super- 
 sede the necessity for either a scolding or a caning. A 
 little physical amusement will do infinitely more good 
 than any amount of physical punishment. Both the cause 
 and the effect of the delinquency will be made to cease 
 by the former method, whereas the latter will do neither. 
 The teacher's own reason and experience must here be 
 called into exercise. He must not act upon an impulse 
 of his feelings. His self- training must lead him to act 
 
302 PHILOSOPHY OF TKAINING. 
 
 in harmony with the symptoms manifested, not in oppo- 
 sition to them; thus he will not only prevent an evil 
 befalling the children, but confer upon them a most 
 essential benefit. 
 
 Or suppose it is the case of a memory lesson. This is 
 a matter of pure labour, which ought, of course, to be 
 apportioned to the capacity of the learner. The injustice 
 of giving the same task to all, without regard to a dif- 
 ference of mental constitution, has been already noticed. 
 In a boy of weak memory, therefore, the substitute for the 
 rod is simply to give a fair average amount of labour to 
 be performed. And it is the master's duty to ascertain 
 what this amount may be, by making himself acquainted 
 with the mental character of his pupils. Nor only 
 must a suitable task be given, but an adequate motive to 
 stimulate to the performance of it. The committing to 
 memory of anything being in itself purely a disagreeable 
 work, when no other motive is given than a fear of 
 punishment, the child has simply to choose between two 
 evils. The motive in such a case may be called a pro- 
 pulsive one, not impulsive. Tear pushes on the learner 
 against his own will, thus increasing the irksome nature 
 of his task. It is like rolling a stone up-hill, the moving 
 power being from without, and requiring to be constantly 
 exerted; whereas some internal impulse being given is 
 like the same metaphor reversed, the stone rolling spon- 
 taneously down an inclined plane. So that unless fear 
 of the punishment be stronger than a dislike to getting 
 the task, there is but little certainty that it will be got 
 after all. For as I have said, it is simply a weighing 
 of disadvantages to choose the less — fear against repug- 
 nance ; and whichever of the two the boy feels to be the 
 less disagreeable, that will become the ruling motive, and 
 he will get his lesson, or leave it undone accordingly.. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. SOS 
 
 Now it is readily granted that the lesson may be equally 
 well got through fear, as from a higher motive ; hut the 
 moral result in the one case is vastly different from the 
 other. Where fear of this kind is the motive, there is in 
 fact no moral guidance at all. It is a mere instinct or 
 propensity common to all the inferior creatures, urging 
 them to do things for the most part contrary to their 
 inclinations ; whereas a moral motive implies the consent 
 of the will to the performance of an action. The getting 
 of a lesson by memory through fear of a punishment, is 
 similar to swallowing disagreeable medicine from the 
 same motive. The lesson itself may prove beneficial to 
 the mind, and the medicine to the body, — equally so, 
 perhaps, as if there had been no repugnance felt to them. 
 But, by such a mode of getting lessons, a collateral result 
 is produced upon the moral feelings, of a very prejudicial 
 tendency, and a dislike to the person giving it, is an 
 almost inevitable consequence. 
 
 A different course should therefore be adopted in both 
 cases. The advantages of the medicine ought to be 
 shown, that the patient might see his interest in sub- 
 mitting to take it; and the benefits of the lesson ought 
 also to be explained, that the learner might perceive the 
 reason of his getting it. Thus, disagreeable though the 
 task be in itself, the willing mind and the interested 
 motive would carry the learner triumphantly over the 
 difficulty, and predispose him favourably towards his 
 master, who gave him the opportunity of doing so. 
 Whereas, if it is not got, and flogging ensues, his fear is 
 only changed into revenge against his taskmaster; and, 
 on the other hand, if a punishment does not follow the 
 omission of it, even the master's physical control is at an 
 end, for the chances of a similar escape in time to come 
 will neutralise the most positive threatening^ of punish *• 
 
304 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 ment. In every aspect, therefore, it seems an act of 
 pure cruelty to flog boys for failure in getting a memory 
 task. Either the fear of punishment must be so strong 
 as to bear down all repugnance, or the latter feeling 
 diminished by giving a smaller task, or some higher 
 moral inducement held out that would carry the willing 
 mind along with it. The boy will thus have an impulse 
 within himself, in the inspiring reflection that he is over- 
 coming a difficulty to obtain a positive advantage — 
 a buoyant spring of action which will keep moving in 
 harmony all the mechanism both of his moral and mental 
 nature. And having thus overcome one difficulty by his 
 own self-sustaining energy, an accelerated motion would 
 be gained, enabling him in future successfully to grapple 
 with similar difficulties. Besides, the habit of obeying a 
 right impulse, or simply the call of duty, beset by tempta- 
 tion, would also be formed — the only habit deserving the 
 name of virtuous. 
 
 In this case, as in every other, the same feeling on the 
 part of the inflicter of the punishment will be found at 
 the root of the matter. A boy blunders in his lesson and 
 raises a feeling of anger and resentment in the mind of 
 the master, and these guide him in awarding the punish- 
 ment. This cannot be denied. Let any one examine his 
 own mind, and he will find it too true. A feeling of 
 disappointment is Jirst experienced, which very soon irri- 
 tates and raises up the worse feelings. How very few 
 resort to such an alternative as flogging from a con- 
 viction of its absolute necessity ! In nine cases out of 
 ten it is impulsive and instantaneous — on the spot — 
 at the moment. It was a true remark that the writer 
 once heard a parent make, who had been beatiug his 
 child for some offence, and remonstrated with by another 
 for doing so in a passion — that if the child was not 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 305 
 
 flogged when he was angry at the fault, he would never 
 be flogged at all. Why? Because reason and affection 
 would soon return to suggest a more rational and moral 
 mode of correction. 
 
 Let me not be mistaken, however, about an appeal to 
 fear. Like every other feeling and faculty, it is implanted 
 in our nature with a beneficent design. In children it is 
 generally stronger than in grown persons. This is a wise 
 provision, for while the other faculties are immature, a 
 judicious exercise of this instinct prevents many evil con- 
 sequences. But it is also exceedingly liable to abuse at 
 that early period. If brought into an undue state of 
 excitement, it relaxes the nervous system, and in certain 
 constitutions may even lay the foundation of insanity. 
 Every one knows the baneful influences upon children of 
 sudden alarms, of narratives about supernatural appear- 
 ances, and other modes of exciting fear. Being an in- 
 stinct, one would say, it ought never to be appealed to 
 physically at all, and much less ought it to be roused into 
 terror by playing upon the untutored fancy. But teachers 
 and parents both find it easily excited, and thus a con- 
 venient instrument for their purposes. They do not 
 consider that in proportion as it is stimulated to excess, 
 it degrades the moral character, and establishes an in- 
 fluence over the mind similar to that which guides many 
 of the actions of the irrational tribes. If trained aright, 
 however, and guided by a rational motive, such as the 
 overcoming of a difficulty through fear of some moral or 
 intellectual evil, it will become a feeling of circumspection, 
 one of the most powerful auxiliaries in forming a virtuous 
 habit. It thus lays hold of a virtuous motive, and will 
 guide the conduct virtuously ; whereas, in the other case, 
 it is a mere physical excitement ; strong it may be, but 
 stupid. If morally trained itself, it will train morally; 
 
306 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING." 
 
 if physically excited, it will excite physically. In the 
 one case it will be a sure guide; in the other a blind 
 guide. Thus it may be brought into legitimate action 
 even in committing a lesson to memory. Only present a 
 sufficiently powerful moral inducement to get a task, 
 and the fear of failure will be abundantly strong to urge 
 on the learner. Nor will the fear of displeasing a kind 
 parent or master be an inconsiderable stimulus, and this 
 exercise of the feeling is, perhaps, the most healthy of all: 
 not even the rod can inflict so keen a wound upon a 
 sensitive child as the pain caused by a breach of duty 
 towards one whom he loves and respects. Fear, then, 
 is a perfectly legitimate motive in school discipline, 
 but it has also proper objects to be exercised upon, and a 
 moral, not a physical, influence should be applied to it. 
 
 How many, how very many, indeed, of the causes of 
 those little faults at school, that are punishable by the rod, 
 have their origin in the casti gator himself ! How often 
 does one see, in the streets, the driver of a cab, by his 
 own stupidity, getting entangled among a crowd of other 
 vehicles. He loses temper at the delay and trouble, and 
 wreaks his fury upon the unoffending animal in hard 
 blows and cuts. If the animal had been properly guided 
 beforehand, it would never have got into the difficulty. 
 It was the driver's fault entirely, but for which the poor 
 beast had to suffer. So is it at school, where blind force 
 is resorted to in urging forwards boys in their studies. 
 The reasons of failure are seldom taken into account in 
 awarding the penalty, otherwise it would often be found 
 as much the master's fault as the pupils. The former 
 does not bestow sufficient pains in guiding his pupils into 
 a right path, or does not show them the way properly out 
 of a wrong one, but summarily flogs them through it. 
 c Perhaps, in no instance is this better exemplified than 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 307 
 
 in studying Latin under the still popular plan. In trans- 
 lating a difficult passage, it is no exaggeration to say, 
 that out of a class of six boys, on an average, four of 
 thern never can make out the sense unassisted. But 
 where is the assistance to come from ? Perhaps no help 
 can be got at home, and the casual explanation of a 
 comrade at school is not sufficient ; his own judgment is 
 bewildered in attempting to solve the enigma, and he 
 finds himself in a labyrinth of perplexity, from which 
 there is no escape. But the lesson must be got under 
 pain of a beating, and to this alternative he at last sub- 
 mits in moody despair. And wise he is to do so, for few 
 corporal punishments are worse than the mental torture 
 arising from a vain attempt at unravelling an involved 
 passage of Latin or Greek unassisted, and aggravated 
 by the thought that an undeserved punishment is all that 
 is likely to be the result. No one but those conversant 
 in the customs of many grammar-schools, would believe 
 the amount of misery thus inflicted upon innocent chil- 
 dren. The prejudice against an interlinear translation, or 
 any other improved mode of teaching Latin and Greek, 
 prevents their being adopted in such places, and the 
 almost unaided powers of children are set to cope with 
 difficulties that masters themselves seldom voluntarily 
 attempt. It is well known that the latter often resort to 
 English translations to assist in reading an author. But 
 then they do it hypocritically, decry the use of them, and 
 prohibit their scholars from doing so. Professors in col- 
 leges do the same, — at least the writer once remembers 
 having a stolen glance at the manual of one of his pro- 
 fessors, and found it interlined every word, and this, too, 
 a gentleman who had gained the highest prizes both at 
 Cambridge and Oxford. Why not offer then, to boys, 
 the same assistance that is found so convenient to masters ; 
 
308 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 or, at all events, why flog children for not surmounting 
 difficulties that masters often feel troublesome to them- 
 selves ? The simple substitute for thousands upon 
 thousands of bodily punishments, in such cases, for 
 groans and tears and broken hearts without number, 
 for depraved moral habits and stunted mental powers, 
 would be the simplest of all possible expedients — an 
 interlined copy of the Latin or Greek author read. 
 
 It would be needless, and indeed impossible, to enume- 
 rate all the cases that occur at school, punishable by the 
 rod ; and I shall only, therefore, mention one or two 
 other instances by; way of illustration of the whole erro- 
 neous system. 
 
 Perhaps the most besetting sin of school-boys, and the 
 source of many other evils, is a general want of attention 
 to their lessons. The causes of this are obvious at a 
 glance — the lessons are not sufficiently attractive ; indeed, 
 it is a truism to say so. That they. can be made entirely 
 so, indeed, to every capacity^ and to the vastly diversified 
 dispositions and minds of pupils, is, perhaps, impossible ; 
 but to imagine that anything like uniformity of attention 
 will be gained by physical compulsion, is extremely 
 absurd. It- is a mistake similar to that which induced 
 religious bigots of the dark. ages to institute the inquisi- 
 tion, and the rack, to compel a uniformity of faith in 
 matters of religion. Such a process might, of course, 
 gain a hypocritical assent to any set of doctrines by the 
 unthinking, but could only inspire disgust in those who 
 reflected upon the matter ; and the terrors of the rod in 
 school, may also compel a stupid and sullen stare at the 
 book, or the instructor's face, but the willing mind, by 
 such a method, will be far away. 
 
 If a lesson is not attentively received, it is either not 
 attractive in itself, not made so, or the bent of the boy's 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 309 
 
 mind and disposition is at variance with that particular 
 branch of study. The second of these is most frequently 
 the case. What is here alluded to principally is, in what 
 may he called explanatory or descriptive teaching. In 
 speaking to children, even upon a subject naturally inter- 
 esting to them, the prevailing error in untrained teachers 
 is a want of simplification, or what has been aptly styled 
 a "pulverising" process. They describe a thing to chil- 
 dren as they would to grown people. Abstract ideas, a 
 Latin style, and learned words are employed, and the 
 pupils soon lose themselves in a vain attempt to make out 
 what it can be all about. The announcement of the sub- 
 ject perhaps may arrest their attention, and, expecting to 
 be entertained, they prepare themselves to listen. By- 
 and-by, however, some terms are introduced beyond their 
 capacity, and their minds get bewildered. The picture 
 they expected to see turns out a mere confusion of 
 colours, on looking at which they can perceive no beauty, 
 nothing attractive. But, in the whispered information of 
 a companion regarding some incident naturally arising 
 out of the lesson, a very striking and interesting picture 
 is presented, and the listener's mind seizes upon it with 
 avidity. It naturally calls up a kindred association in 
 his own mind, which is also detailed sotto voce. Of 
 course the master's elaborate description falls upon heed- 
 less ears ; his vanity, perhaps, is mortified that all his 
 fine speeches should go for nought, and his indignation 
 aroused against the whispering and, to him, inattentive 
 boys. This feeling calls forth a threat, or a scold, or as 
 a more convenient and summary mode to those who have 
 the rod constantly in hand, it may be a cut across the 
 shoulders. Strange mode of recalling attention ! Yet it 
 will do so, though in a very different way from that antici- 
 pated. Attention will be fixed upon the master, in an 
 
310 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 instantaneous and concentrated feeling of resentment-. 
 The boy was not to blame, however, — he was merely 
 attracted by what he found attractive, and tired of listen- 
 ing to what he could not understand. 
 
 How imperative is it upon a teacher, even for his own 
 comfort, to study the bias of the young mind, in giving 
 such a lesson ! If a little liberty be given, the children them- 
 selves will often point out the proper course of the lesson 
 by their own suggestions and remarks. In the case men- 
 tioned, the master could easily have perceived, that what 
 the two boys had been talking about had reference to the 
 subject. They should have been encouraged to express 
 themselves audibly and without restraint. Perhaps in a 
 lesson on the natural history of an animal, a boy will 
 recall some incident or circumstance that came under his 
 own notice connected with the animal's habits. This he 
 should have an opportunity of relating aloud, instead of 
 secretly to his companion. The incident should be taken 
 up by the master, with whatever additions or improve- 
 ments his own mind may suggest. The boy's attention 
 would thus be taken captive as it were, drawn out, aud 
 guided into that very channel best adapted for its develop- 
 ment. And not only would this boy's mind and attention 
 be secured from wandering, but it would prove the means 
 of fixing the attention of all, for such, in all probability, 
 would be the very course the lesson ought naturally to 
 have taken. But, like an obstruction to the natural cur- 
 rent of a river, turning it aside, and throwing its surplus 
 waters over a fertile plain, to inundate it, and mar its fer- 
 tility, the rod represses every such natural outgoing of 
 the young mind, and throws it back upon itself, to stag- 
 nate upon the feelings and demoralise them. 
 
 Confessedly the most difficult cases to be dealt with, 
 are those of a really immoral and wicked character, such 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 311 
 
 as the breaking out of some bad passion and bad conduct. 
 Still, keeping out of view those very depraved cases, in 
 which every higher motive has been tried and found 
 unavailing, and in which the excitement of fear, by some 
 means extraneous to the offence, may be thought neces- 
 sary, gentle means will still be found the best. No bad 
 passions can be excited without a cause, hence there can 
 be no bad cod duct either without some occasion for it. 
 A boy strikes another a blow — but the latter has pro- 
 voked it to a certainty ; scarcely any boy would wantonly 
 do so. The cause, indeed, may not appear a sufficient 
 one, either in the light of reason, or in the eyes of the 
 master ; but still it was sufficient to the untrained boy. 
 He must have felt himself affronted or aggrieved in some 
 way or other, and the only remedy that suggested itself 
 to his unenlightened mind, was a retaliation of this kind. 
 In a flogging school, few cases would more certainly 
 be punished by the rod, than this ; yet, perhaps, in no 
 case would a beating have a more prejudicial tendency. 
 The boy's wrath was the original cause of the strife, and 
 to prevent a repetition of the offence, it should of course 
 have been turned away. But, by flogging, his wrath, if 
 diverted from his opponent for a time, is doubly excited 
 against his master ; and being unconvinced of his offence 
 against the boy, he would do the same thing again, on 
 the recurrence of a similar temptation. Not, however, in 
 the presence of the master, being afraid of him. His 
 cautiousness would now be excited, and he would take 
 measures to gratify his revenge more effectually, unseen, 
 and unknown. This revenge would, also, be increased 
 from a recollection of the master's beating; and the 
 unfortunate object on whom it might again fall, would 
 doubly suffer. It is obvious that the resentful feeling is 
 here fostered and perpetuated by the master's treatment. 
 
312 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 The act of fighting and striking other boys in school in 
 future, might he prevented, hut there would he an under- 
 current of secret revenge opened up instead, in the hoy's 
 bosom, prompting him, on receiving an imaginary injury 
 in future, to avenge it secretly, and in a cowardly and 
 more cruel manner. And by the sight of the master's 
 punishing other boys, this feeling would even be increased 
 in no ordinary degree. In few cases is the principle of 
 imitation more powerful than in this, where it is a mere 
 propensity of the physical nature that is excited. It is, 
 therefore, one of the strongest of all reasons, why physical 
 punishments should be left off altogether, that such con- 
 duct in a master towards his pupils, creates the very same 
 conduct in the latter towards one another. Frequently to 
 scold a boy will make him a scold towards others, and to 
 flog him, especially for an act of fighting, will only in- 
 crease his propensity into a habit. It may also be added, 
 that a habit of reproaching a boy for bad actions, will 
 only make him in reality habitually bad. It would 
 almost seem as if these modes of correction actually 
 impressed a character upon the object of them, for the 
 converse is no less true. Praise a child for being good, 
 and he will become so. Speak to him kindly, and 
 gently, and confidentially, and he will become kind and 
 gentle, and worthy of all confidence. In a word, be 
 to him what you would wish him to be to others, and 
 he will become so. What, after all, is a moral pre- 
 cept but a picture of some part of conduct ? and as no 
 picture can be equal to the thing pictured, so no precept 
 can be equal to an exhibition of the conduct itself. In 
 preceptive morality, conduct is exhibited as through a 
 glass darkly ; in practical morality it is seen face to face. 
 Moral training, in theory at least, excludes all motives 
 whatever arising from rewards and punishments — that is, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 313 
 
 affecting one set of faculties agreeably or disagreeably, 
 that others may be kept rigbt. Each faculty must be 
 trained by exercising itself. Punishment is a corrective 
 process — training a directive; the former may be a 
 necessary evil, but the latter is a positive good. 
 
 In treating such a case as the one mentioned, the cause 
 of the blow of course ought first to be examined into. 
 Let a scrutiny be made into all the circumstances attend- 
 ing the quarrel. It may have been a reproachful word in 
 the boy struck, and even this may have been called forth by 
 the striker himself in some antecedent impulse. It is often, 
 in fact, deeply interesting to trace such a quarrel to its 
 origin, and requires not a little judgment to give a proper 
 decision in the matter. The circumstance producing the 
 original feeling, however, must first be taken into account, 
 and the boy made to see that after all, instead of being the 
 aggrieved party, it was he himself perhaps who first set the 
 strife in motion. Illustrate the point by some apposite 
 analogy, such, as, The beginning of strife is as when one 
 letteth out water; or, the setting in motion of a body 
 down an inclined plane, and thus show how the originator 
 of any cause is responsible for its effects. In short, 
 mentally convince the boy of his error by "soft words," 
 until his wrath be " turned away." Let him kindly see 
 his error, and he must be a depraved boy indeed if he 
 does not feel that he has done wrong ; let this feeling 
 be strengthened and become predominant, and it will be 
 found perfectly adequate to prevent him from committing 
 a similar offence again, or at all events, the repetition of 
 it will be followed by an increased feeling of compunc- 
 tion. The conscience, then, not the whip, must be made 
 the " scourge," and to this end it must be prepared by 
 the moral disciplinarian. Its " stings and arrows" must 
 be sharpened at the whetstone of the understanding, to 
 
314 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 render it the most powerful of all stimulants to good 
 conduct. Every 'one knows that wrath is simply the 
 feelings getting the better of the judgment ; the remedy 
 is, therefore, equally simple, — let the judgment get the 
 better of the feelings. The mistaken mode of doing so, 
 however, is by exasperating the feelings without improving 
 the judgment, whereas the judgment ought to be 
 strengthened to such a degree as to obtain a permanent 
 mastery over the unimpaired feelings. 
 
 The last case I shall mention is that of lying and 
 prevarication. It is curious to remark the different 
 tendencies to this vice, even in children brought up 
 under the same course of training, and in every respect 
 subjected to the same temptations. Than a deduction of 
 this sort, however, nothing more strikingly shows how 
 much the faculties depend upon some physical organisa- 
 tion for their manifestation and enlargement, and how 
 much the moral and intellectual nature of man is, after 
 all, indebted for its greatness and its weakness, its virtues 
 and its vices, to the mere corporeal elements that sustain 
 it. These faculties are among themselves subject to a 
 perturbing influence similar to that exerted by the 
 planetary bodies on one another ; for no more certainly 
 will the planet Venus in her approach to the Earth draw 
 the latter aside from her orbit, than will the existence of 
 one faculty in over- abundant strength and excitement, 
 cause a weaker faculty to swerve from the line of recti- 
 tude. The phrase, " a well-balanced mind," is therefore 
 not so figurative as many would imagine, for it is only 
 such an equipoise of the faculties that can ensure a con- 
 tinuation of virtuous conduct. And in training, it is by 
 the depression of one, and the drawing out of another, 
 that such a balance can be effected, at least so far as the 
 physical basis of these faculties will permit. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 315 
 
 A disposition to prevaricate or falsify, can only be 
 excited in any one for the sake of gaining some personal 
 advantage, for gratifying some feeling, or preventing 
 some injury. A person addicted to this vice is simply 
 uninformed, and morally unconvinced as to the ultimate 
 evil consequences of his habit. It is a mental darkness 
 that ought to be enlightened, a moral weakness that ought 
 to be strengthened. It is one strong feeling gaining the 
 ascendency, and leading a weaker one captive : the former 
 should, therefore, be repressed ; the latter educated. A 
 timid boy commits a fault, for which he fears a punish- 
 ment. This latter feeling being stronger than his con- 
 scientiousness, or love of truth, — which, it must be 
 confessed, is an artificial and highly refined virtue, at 
 least it often requires a considerable power of abstraction 
 to see the necessity of adhering to it, and of moral firm- 
 ness to do so,* — leads captive his judgment, or rather 
 makes it instrumental in fabricating a means of defence 
 against the impending punishment. The mind is also, 
 
 * It is somewhat difficult to admit Dr. Keid's theory of an 
 " innate propensity to truth." G ceteris paribus, a child may incline 
 to relate a simple fact truly, apart from any temptation to the 
 contrary, but to speak truth in opposition to falsehood, argues a 
 mental process. If a child believe that a greater advantage would 
 be gained by a concealment of this fact, I think be would 
 naturally conceal it. This would, therefore, be the first moral 
 impulse arising out of a mental operation, and it requires another 
 deduction to see what is duty in the matter, while to act upon this 
 conviction in the face of a present disadvantage, argues a habit 
 based upon reason. If there were no vice in the world, neither 
 would there be any virtue; and if there were no falsehood, there 
 would be no moral truth. Each one may be called the negative 
 of the other ; but as an adherence to the latter proves a higher 
 point of civilization in the universal man, so does it a superiority 
 of intelligence in the individual. 
 
 P2 
 
316 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 in this instance, the slave of an animal instinct ; and, in 
 proportion to the severity of the expected punishment 
 and the strength of his fear, will he the certainty that 
 such a hoy will tell a falsehood to protect himself. It is 
 a mere matter of self-defence ; a questionable shield no 
 doubt, but the only one his fear can furnish him on the 
 occasion. But why need this shield at all, and this pro- 
 tection ? If there were no severe punishment, there 
 would be no necessity for resorting to such a defence. 
 It is the punishment, therefore, that causes the artifice; at 
 least, it is the cause of exciting the boy's fear, and his 
 fear suggests the falsehood. Take away the cause, and 
 the effect will cease. Instead of frightening children of a 
 timid disposition from doing that which is wrong, it is 
 much better on most occasions that they actually be 
 suffered to do the wrong, for the terror of a beating will 
 assuredly lead them to adopt this vice, of almost all 
 others, the most to be shunned. The boy's fear will not 
 allow him to see any greater evil than the punishment, 
 and thus it has upon him a blinding influence to the con- 
 sequences of his error. He is stunned, as it were, into a 
 sort of moral derangement, and momentary forgetfulness 
 of himself, by the anticipated chastisement. Who does 
 not see, then, that severe measures of correcting faults, 
 especially in timid children, will only strengthen and 
 perpetuate an early developed tendency to falsehood ? 
 Nay, they will call forth the tendency where it never 
 before existed. Oppression, it is said, will make a wise 
 man mad ; and it will also make a truth-loving child a 
 confirmed deceiver. 
 
 The remedy, or at least the first step in the remedy, is 
 simply, as in all other cases mentioned, to remove the 
 cause or the temptation. If a merely timid boy has com- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 317 
 
 mitted a fault, and has no fear of a punishment for it, he 
 will not thus, without any motive, conceal his offence by 
 a falsehood. Hence there will be no lie, because there 
 was no temptation. And the chances are also in favour 
 even of having the original offence rectified, for the false- 
 hood may be successful in concealing it. But, whether 
 or not, it must have been a serious offence indeed, to call 
 for such severity as would thus jeopardise the offender's 
 character for truth. And again, if detected and flogged, 
 what, after all, is the consequence ? the propensity is not 
 thus repressed, but around the same propensity is now 
 thrown an additional degree of cautiousness. The pain 
 felt on one occasion will not so much deter from the 
 re- commission, as prompt to the better concealment of an 
 offence, and the result will only be, in future, a more 
 elaborated falsehood. 
 
 But in attempting to rectify the habit of prevaricating 
 and falsehood, the feeling of fear must by no means be 
 kept out of view. It only requires, indeed, to be enlight- 
 ened, to prove a very powerful auxiliary in eradicating 
 the habit. In the absence of any particular act, a foun- 
 dation must be laid by means of reason and argument. 
 The vice must be shown in action, pictured out in some 
 familiar illustration, and the fatal consequences of the 
 habit shown. Excite a fear of these consequences, and 
 by a natural gradation, of their cause. Turn thus the 
 feeling into a right channel, so far as earthly means go. 
 But the higher sanctions of religion must also be resorted 
 to. Yet even here most persons certainly commit a great 
 mistake. They transfer their own mode of dealing with 
 offenders to religion, and, fancying how they should feel 
 and act in certain cases, ascribe such modes to the Deity. 
 God is, therefore, represented to children as being 
 
318 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 " angry" with those who tell lies. Now this is true : 
 he is said to be angry with the wicked every day ; but it 
 is only true metaphorically. One cannot imagine anger 
 literally, to be a feeling in the Divine mind, otherwise it 
 must also be admitted, that its serenity can be ruffled, and 
 a feeling of unhappiness experienced, which is impossible. 
 Children, however, have no other idea of anger, than 
 what they see exhibited on the countenance and in the 
 conduct of a furious and passionate man, while such an 
 ebullition in a human being, is mere animal revenge, and 
 it is this idea they ascribe to God. But such violent 
 displays in a fellow- creature only call forth their own 
 resentment and obstinacy; and how can they feel dif- 
 ferently, when God is exhibited in such a character ? 
 They feel, of course, afraid for so terrible a Being, but it 
 is not a moral fear. It is the terror of a slave, not filial 
 remorse. It is true, indeed, that many of the attributes 
 of God's character are necessarily described in language 
 primarily descriptive of the frail passions of humanity. 
 But, as it is only these passions in their sinful excess 
 that are palpable to the understandings of children, too 
 great caution cannot be taken in conveying an idea of the 
 character of God from such imperfect data. The wounded 
 feelings of a kind and sorrowing parent, however, are 
 certainly the true figure here, and yet only a figure, for 
 regret, no more than anger, can be a feeling in a perfectly 
 happy mind. A representation of anger and resentment 
 against any one, if it does not rouse within him similar 
 feelings, will sink him into a state of moody sullenness, 
 while an exhibition of sorrow and regret cannot fail to 
 inspire a remorseful impression; and this will be in- 
 creased when the offender sees that such feelings have 
 been called forth in another, at something he has done, 
 only prejudicial to himself, or at least in which he would 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 319 
 
 be the greatest sufferer. Let the hoy's fear, then, he 
 turned in this direction, and it will he legitimately 
 exercised. 
 
 Before this can he done, however, it is evident that an 
 enlightening process must have been undergone. As all 
 falsehood, like every other vice, is purely prejudicial to 
 the individual practising it, he only requires to know and 
 to feel that it is so, to endeavour to avoid it. I speak 
 not at present of the constraining influence of hahit in 
 such cases, where the will and the conduct are so often 
 in direct opposition to one another, hut of the original 
 motives which induce the hahit, which are all evidently 
 traceable to some merely intellectual emotions. 
 
 I would say, then, morally enlighten a child of his duty 
 and interest, his own duty, and his own interest in refrain- 
 ing from falsehood. Let him feel, by all the higher 
 sentiments of his nature, the prospective misery of an 
 opposite course ; remove every needless temptation out 
 of his way, and cause of exciting fear and alarm for 
 punishment on the committing of an offence. Draw out 
 his love and confidence instead, and the basis of a truth- 
 ful character will thus be laid. "Perfect love casteth 
 out fear, and there is no fear in love." If a child love 
 his master or parent and have confidence in him, he 
 will have no fear of telling him his faults. Thus he will 
 never have this temptation to falsify placed in his way ; 
 but if he entertain a mere physical terror or awe of his 
 superior, even though he should not beat him, a constant 
 temptation to prevaricate, on the committing of every 
 offence, will be in his way. His inordinate fear must, 
 therefore, be repressed, or cast out by love, which is the 
 real parent feeling, not only of truth, indeed, but of every 
 other virtue that adorns humanity. 
 
 Before concluding these remarks, a question naturally 
 
320 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 arises regarding the scriptural warrant for resorting to 
 physical punishment in the training of children. In 
 several parts of the Old Testament the custom is alluded 
 to, and the use of the rod hy parents unquestionably has 
 the sanction of some of the inspired writers. It would 
 seem, however, that in this case, as in many others 
 where a too strict adherence is kept to the mere letter of 
 Scripture, its spirit and design are overlooked. And, in 
 passing, it may be noticed, that if such passages are to 
 he taken quite literally and in an unlimited sense, 
 nothing else but a rod ought ever to be used in correc- 
 tion, and no one but a parent ought ever to wield it. 
 Hence the authority assumed by schoolmasters for this 
 purpose, and the use of any other instrument of pain, 
 must be altogether apocryphal. But, such passages cer- 
 tainly admit of a much more liberal interpretation. 
 
 Nothing is more evident, than that most of the rigor- 
 ous injunctions of the Old Testament, where they were 
 not entirely abolished, were vastly softened down in the 
 new dispensation; and in the mild precepts of Christ 
 and his apostles, scarcely anything approaching to seve 
 rity in morals is observable. In the rude ages before 
 Christ, severe punishments of all kinds seemed in har- 
 mony with the stern genius of the Jewish people. Their 
 unmoralised natures, so to speak, were not perhaps amen- 
 able to a milder treatment. In the absence of this moral 
 sensibility in a people, it may be necessary that some 
 physical and coercive means should be employed. Such 
 individuals can be made to feel ouly where they are 
 sensible, and that is in their physical nature. Its wants 
 and necessities may therefore be turned to account in 
 legislating for a rude community. But when the "fallow 
 ground" of society has been broken up, and the fruits of 
 morality and virtue become apparent — when the intellect 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 321 
 
 and feelings have assumed a predominancy, higher and 
 more powerful incentives to good conduct are then de- 
 veloped. Different modes of punishment, it is granted, 
 may therefore be necessary in different stages of civilisa- 
 tion, even as a different treatment is necessary to the 
 different characters of children. Hence the apparent 
 discrepancy, in many places, between the Old Testament 
 and the New. The end to be gained is uniformly the 
 same, but the means employed vary according to circum- 
 stances. The law was said to be a "schoolmaster" to 
 bring us unto Christ; but on his appearing, a new school 
 of morality was organised. The law was a physical instru- 
 ment, rough-hewing society, as it were, and preparing it for 
 receiving the moral and spiritual impress of the Gospel. 
 The latter is a spiritual power, stamping a character 
 upon society through its feelings and affections. Now, 
 to fall back upon the iron sway of the ceremonial law, 
 and to justify a similar treatment of the children of our 
 day to what may have been necessary in those rude ages, 
 since we know, too, that most of those ordinances were 
 merely temporary and " ordained to pass away," is taking 
 anything but a liberal view of Scripture. 
 
 And it is doubtless true, that even in the New Testa- 
 ment allusion is sometimes made to fathers "correcting" 
 and ■• chastising " their children ; but it will be found 
 that such passages are not alluded to by way of examples 
 to be imitated, but simply as referring to an existing 
 practice, for an illustration of some other doctrine. It 
 is needless, I think, to cite any particular passage to 
 prove this hypothesis. The whole tenor of the New 
 Testament is in favour of it. The morality of the Gospel 
 rests entirely upon the power of gentleness, kindness, 
 meekness, long-suffering, forgiveness, non-resistance to 
 injuries, persuasiveness, love, moral conviction. It dis- 
 
 p 3 
 
322 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 cards everything like a retaliation by physical pain. If 
 thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he smite thee on the 
 one cheek, turn to him the other also : endure reviling, 
 suffer wrong, nay, do good in return, for by so doing 
 thou shalt heap coals of fire upon the head of the ag- 
 gressor. That is, his own conscience will in time re- 
 prove him, and lead him to repair the wrong, — which, 
 evidently, is the only rod sanctioned by Christian 
 morality. 
 
 But much of this reasoning may be admitted ; and it 
 may be replied, that it only refers to the government of 
 adults, and that a different treatment is necessary in the 
 management of children. Not so. It is indeed a great 
 mistake to treat them differently. The feelings and 
 affections of children are often stronger than those of 
 their seniors, and they are infinitely more pliant. The 
 means of moral training are, therefore more available in 
 the case of the former than in that of the latter. The 
 dews and rains of heaven are more necessary in nourishing 
 the tender sapling than the hardy plant. The same kind 
 of food is given to old and young, and the same remedy 
 for a bodily disease applied to all; and a similar remedy 
 in morals will be found alike efficacious, only varying in 
 degree according to circumstances. 
 
 If, then, an appeal is made to Scripture at all in 
 adjudicating the question, it ought certainly to be to the 
 New Testament ; and there, every precept of Christ, 
 and every act of his life, will be found directly opposed 
 to the conclusion, that severity in punishing even the 
 most depraved offenders is beneficial. And much were it 
 to be wished that a kindred spirit should influence our 
 modern senators and judges, and that they should prefer 
 a liberal interpretation of the New Testament as a stand- 
 ard in their decisions and enactments, to a literal and 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 323 
 
 restricted reading of certain isolated passages of the Old. 
 Such a disposition would then evince no inconsiderable 
 approach to the happy age so glowingly depicted by the 
 Roman bard — 
 
 quae vindice nullo, 
 
 Sponte sua sine lege fidem rectumque colebat, 
 Poena metusque aberant, nee verba minacia fixo, 
 iEre legebantur ; nee supplex turba timebat 
 Judicis ora sui : sed erant sine vindice tuti. 
 
CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 I now come to the last division of these remarks, 
 namely, the utility or inutility of a course of classical 
 instruction as a regular branch of school study. 
 Of late years, much discussion has arisen on this point, 
 and, of course, not a little keen feeling been mani- 
 fested on both sides. Like almost every other question 
 that has antiquity on its side, it has been regarded in 
 two extreme points of view ; one party asserting 
 its entire inutility and absurdity, and the consequent 
 necessity that it should be altogether omitted in a course 
 of school study, and another insisting upon its being 
 preserved intact, with all its sins upon its head. Per- 
 haps the error of the one party is in drawing a conclusion 
 unfavourable to the thing itself, from the obviously defi- 
 cient modes in which it has hitherto been taught ; while 
 the other, not unaware of these antiquated modes and 
 their inconvenience, still value the advantages of a clas- 
 sical education too highly to think of disturbing them. 
 In this, as in most other questions where extreme and 
 conflicting opinions prevail, a middle course seems to be 
 that which comes nearest the standard of truth. 
 
 In estimating the value of any particular branch of 
 study, one prominent principle ought ever to be borne in 
 mind, namely, the end or object of all education ; that it 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 325 
 
 is simply the formation of correct tastes and habits of 
 mind and body. Whatever, therefore, has a tendency to 
 refine and cultivate these habitudes, even apart from its 
 own intrinsic worth, is admissible into a routine of study, 
 and valuable in proportion to its instrumental efficacy. 
 School studies of any kind, are, or at least ought to be, 
 so many moral and mental exercises, modes of training 
 and developing those powers and faculties, which ulti- 
 mately must be left to their own growth, and to bring 
 forth their own fruit. Now, as these tastes and habits 
 are of different kinds, according to the different faculties 
 of our nature, so also must the means employed in the 
 development of them be various. Every one acknow- 
 ledges, for instance, the efficacy of mathematics and 
 arithmetic in eliciting the reasoning faculties and fixing 
 attention; and were there nothing of instruction con- 
 veyed to the mind from a study of these branches, they 
 would still be valuable on this account alone. At the 
 hazard of being thought to place too much reliance upon 
 the many speculations of phrenology, it has been already 
 stated that the Creator has endowed man with distinct 
 organs for each faculty of the mind, and it may be added 
 that the organ of language, in particular, is very clearly 
 defined. The development of this faculty depends 
 upon its being exercised upon those artificial signs 
 and symbols called words and letters. It is not a 
 faculty peculiar to man, but doubtless one of the 
 principal auxiliaries, by means of which, and aided by 
 these arbitrary symbols, he gains so great a supe- 
 riority over the lower creation, and the illiterate and 
 uncultivated among his own species. Its province is in 
 mere names, not things ; philological investigations into 
 the origin and analogy of terms, independently of their 
 meaning. The learning of languages is, therefore, much 
 
326 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 of a mechanical process. But, inasmuch as an artisan 
 will operate more efficiently, and furnish a more beautiful 
 specimen of his art, by having superior and well-appointed 
 instruments, so will the literary man, in all his scientific 
 pursuits, have this mechanical advantage over his less 
 learned competitor. And the mere fact of the existence 
 of such a faculty is of itself a sufficient reason why it 
 ought sedulously to he cultivated. 
 
 Now, that there are other means of educing this power 
 of the mind than by an initiation into the literature of 
 ancient Greece and Eome, is obvious enough, but 
 I question much whether in any other language, an- 
 cient or modern, there are equal facilities afforded for a 
 similar process of mental training. In the complexities 
 of their structure, and the profound philosophical prin- 
 ciples upon which their syntax and etymology are 
 based, there is an apparatus at hand of the most ex- 
 quisite kind for cultivating and refining this talent. And 
 this quality, it must ever be contended, is that which 
 gives a chief value to any branch, namely, its adaptation 
 as an instrument in training, independently of the com- 
 munication of a single idea. By any process, and by all 
 fair means, let a boy's mind once be taught to think and 
 investigate for itself, and the work of education has taken 
 a right direction. 
 
 Besides, that the study of mere literature has a highly 
 refining and polishing effect upon the mind, is matter of 
 every day's observation. Literary habits, and elegance 
 of deportment and manners, may indeed not always be 
 conjoined, though there is nothing incongruous in them ; 
 but the higher and purer graces of mental embellishment, 
 and even moral excellence, are, in a majority of cases, 
 the natural result of the former. Nor can any one doubt, 
 that the vast care and attention which the ancient Greeks 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 327 
 
 and Eomans bestowed upon their beautiful languages, 
 bad a reflex influence in softening and refining their own 
 characters, and must have formed a principal antidote 
 against the barbarizing effects of their otherwise warlike 
 habits: so that, as a mere accomplishment in our own 
 day, they ought still to be entitled to a place in a curri- 
 culum of liberal education. And when we consider the 
 almost universal diffusion of Greek and Latin through all 
 other European tongues, thus forming a substratum to 
 the literature of the whole civilized world, it is obvious 
 that a vast facility in mastering any other language must 
 be acquired from a knowledge of the former. They have 
 thus been aptly styled the key of all modern literature ; 
 and while they hold so prominent a place in the com- 
 position of our own English tongue in particular, the 
 etymology of which can never be studied without an 
 acquaintance with them, their claims to be regarded 
 favourably become still more powerful. 
 
 But it is not only as a collection of words and roots 
 that they act as a key to the English; there is a Latinity 
 of style and thought pervading our tongue, the beauties 
 of which can only be detected and appreciated by the 
 classic reader, and which, perhaps, the classical writer 
 alone can throw into his own compositions. An indivi- 
 dual who is in the habit of mixing in good society, 
 though he may not have had a classical education, may 
 not, perhaps, in speaking, commit any solecism against 
 the rules that govern polite conversation; but let him 
 commit his thoughts to paper, at least to any extent, and 
 the chances are great indeed, that he will transgress in 
 the use of many words and phrases. It would be equally 
 wrong to assert, however, that the converse is always 
 true, for many a profound classical student writes bad 
 enough English: but this is just the result of a too 
 
328 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING 
 
 exclusive attention to one thing. English must be 
 studied in order to acquire a knowledge of itself, as well 
 as the Latin or Greek. 
 
 And were there no greater inducement to a study of 
 these languages, than the mere pleasure of being able 
 to peruse in the original, the immortal works of Homer, 
 Virgil, Horace, and other ancient authors, even this 
 of itself is no mean incentive. No translation what- 
 ever can convey to the mind the thoughts conceived 
 by these masters in the art, with such a thrill of emotion 
 and delight as the original form in which they were first 
 given to the world. The spirit refuses to animate another 
 frame, and must be evoked only through this instru- 
 mentality. And one would imagine there are few per- 
 sons of literary taste, who do not reckon this pleasure 
 alone much of a recompense for all their previous 
 preparatory course, painful as that process too often is. 
 But as I intend to show, which indeed is the object 
 of these remarks, that this pleasure and these advantages 
 may all be acquired by a course of study in itself agree- 
 able, and by devoting not one- sixth part of the time 
 formerly deemed necessary for that purpose. 
 
 But while thus pleading for the necessity of a course 
 of classical instruction, it cannot be denied that after all, 
 it is only a special branch of schooling. To those whose 
 future pursuits will most likely be of a literary or 
 scientific nature, it is still indispensable, and, therefore, 
 equally necessary to those whose fortune it is to be born 
 to an independent station. And it is here where the 
 chief error lies. Instead of being considered as forming 
 only a special branch in a routine of study, it was 
 formerly regarded as the great and staple business of 
 education. 
 
 On the revival of letters throughout Europe, all the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 829 
 
 sciences and arts were in a manner locked up within 
 these dead languages, and it was only through a know- 
 ledge of them that a way was opened up to the former. 
 Hence they were assiduously cultivated, and became the 
 only medium of communication among the learned, by 
 whom they were not only written but spoken to a very 
 considerable extent. Besides, the charm which attached 
 to the mere study of them, itself added not a little to 
 their being so generally cultivated. But a brighter day 
 arose than the dim light which mere literature shed upon 
 the world ; and when the true method of investigating 
 the operations and the laws of nature was discovered, in 
 the application of inductive philosophy to the sciences, 
 and the " triumphs" of art succeeded to these discoveries, 
 because based upon them, a new and vast field of instruc- 
 tion opened up to the student. The study of letters 
 properly became a mere unit in the aggregate of these 
 branches ; but so much are mankind the slaves of custom, 
 and the devotees of antiquity, that while the inculcating 
 of scientific knowledge — certainly a matter of much 
 greater moment — was left to be acquired accidentally, 
 the richest endowments were, and are still, lavished upon 
 those institutions that communicate a mere knowledge 
 of letters. These places also, being the resort of the 
 rich and fashionable, give a tone to all other minor 
 schools throughout the country that aim at embracing 
 the younger members of the same classes of society ; 
 and as the terms of their endowment for the most part 
 enjoin, that not only shall a prominence be given to 
 classical instruction, but that the mode of conducting 
 it shall be according to certain ancient forms, the evil 
 has taken deep root, and its ramifications are very widely 
 spread. 
 
 The present mode of teaching Latin, which may be 
 
330 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 taken as illustrative of the rest, since the same error 
 in principle pervades the teaching of all languages, is 
 to put into the hands of a boy an Eton Grammar, or a 
 primer compiled upon the same plan, and cause him 
 to wade through the tedious abstractions of its weary 
 pages. To say these can be explained and made in- 
 telligible to him at this stage, is simply to assert an im- 
 possibility; they are therefore to be got by heart. As an 
 extenuation of this enormity, it is argued, that its 
 collateral advantages are an improvement, and strength- 
 ening of the memory. Any one, however, at all con- 
 versant in mental science knows, that no similar process 
 of cramming the memory with unexplained facts, upon 
 which the principle of association cannot operate, bene- 
 fits, but oppresses and injures that faculty. But even to 
 this memory system itself, many unnecessary difficulties 
 are opposed. Most editions of the Eton Grammar are 
 wholly in Latin, which obviously cuts off the learner 
 from having the aid of his own judgment in preserving a 
 recollection of its rules; for one half of what he thus gets 
 by heart he cannot understand. It is worth while for 
 any one just to try the experiment upon himself. Let 
 him take into his hand a book of some hundred and thirty 
 pages, written in a language of which he knows not a 
 single word, and endeavour to convince himself that it is 
 necessary to commit to memory the entire of its unin- 
 telligible text before he can derive some given benefit, 
 and the advantage must be great indeed that would 
 induce him to undertake the task. Happy it is for 
 children, therefore, that a kind Providence denies them 
 any great degree of prevoyance — for such is undoubtedly 
 the initiatory step in their classical career. Many of 
 these grammars are indeed in English, as far as pos- 
 sible, but, like all other grammars, they are necessarily 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 331 
 
 a mere string of abstractions and generalizations, of which 
 the mind of a child can take no possible hold. 
 
 At the time this grammar was introduced into schools, 
 which was in the reign of Henry VIII., a very different 
 mode of studying the Latin language was then pursued. 
 At all the monastic institutions of the country, and by the 
 learned men of that age, Latin was universally spoken. The 
 novitiates and students at these places, therefore, acquired 
 the foundation of their knowledge of Latin orally from 
 their preceptors and superiors. Practice thus naturally 
 preceded theory. A basis of words and sentences was 
 laid, and after the student had acquired a colloquial 
 acquaintance with it, he was introduced to the grammar 
 as a means of polishing and completing his studies. It 
 was a similar course to what is now pursued in a study 
 of English. Grammar is not given to a child learning 
 to read English, but after he has attained a very consider- 
 able knowledge of it, he is made acquainted with its 
 structure and higher graces. And in passing, it may be 
 remarked, that more English grammar can be taught 
 incidentally, and by mere conversation, than by all the 
 rules that ever were elaborated for that purpose. But 
 with regard to this Latin grammar, it was at least as 
 well adapted to the study of Latin as taught in the days 
 of Henry VIII., as any modern English grammar is 
 to complete a course of English studies in the present 
 day. Such a process might be symbolised by a scaffold- 
 ing erected to finish and ornament the extreme parts of 
 a building, whose services can of course only be required 
 when the building has attained some height. But the 
 converse is now the case ; for instead of laying a 
 foundation and proceeding with the edifice, thus forming 
 a natural scaffolding of itself, a huge apparatus is thrown 
 around the site of the building before a single stone is 
 
332 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 laid ; and it is not difficult to see, that instead of such 
 an arrangement facilitating the progress of the work, it 
 can only throw needless impediments in the way. Or it 
 is taking the sculptor's finer instrument by which he 
 polishes and adds the higher graces to the statue, and 
 applying it to the rough hewing of the shapeless mass. 
 
 Subsequently I shall have occasion to show, that 
 the mode of teaching languages about to be advo- 
 cated, so far from being a modern improvement in edu- 
 cation, is as ancient as the first cultivation of letters 
 in this country. Before proceeding to do so, however, 
 it may be well to advert to the rationale of the thing 
 itself. 
 
 What, then, is grammar ? It is a collocation of laws 
 generalised and gleaned from the usages of the best 
 writers and speakers. It is a standard by which 
 to compare different modes of speaking and writing ; 
 and it is therefore obvious, that before its services can 
 be required, a considerable degree of practice, both in 
 writing and speaking, must have been attained, because 
 the act of comparing these different modes is in itself a 
 process of generalisation, an abstractive exercise of the 
 mind, taking cognisance of previously accumulated data, 
 and these data consist of different kinds of words and 
 sentences. The province of grammar, therefore, is 
 correction, and in order to its proper application, it must 
 of course have something to correct. It is not a sug- 
 gestive art, prompting the proper words and phrases, but 
 when these are suggested, it is a rule by which their 
 correctness is tested. The obvious illustration that 
 occurs here, is the mode by which infants acquire a 
 knowledge of language, namely, by imitating those who 
 have the earliest care over them. No rules can be avail- 
 able in their case to guide them, either to a correct pro- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 333 
 
 nunciation or an elegant phraseology. These must 
 depend upon the models after which they copy, and these 
 models are the living voice and diction of their parents 
 or guardians ; and let it be supposed that the pronun- 
 ciation and language of their parents are elegant and 
 correct, so will those of the child, without an idea ever 
 entering his mind that there is such a thing as a gram- 
 mar in the world. The imitative faculty is alone suffi- 
 cient to form a style so far as oral language is concerned, 
 and precisely the same analogy applies to written com- 
 positions, for the mental process is the same in both cases. 
 In the latter, ideas are represented by marks, and in 
 the former, expressed by sounds; but the same ideas, 
 and the same order and arrangement of them, are alike 
 capable of being appropriated in both forms. In teach- 
 ing English written composition, therefore, the same 
 error unquestionably obtains that is here treated of in 
 reference to other languages. Notwithstanding all the 
 grammar rules that may have been given to a pupil 
 concerning the order and arrangement of his sentences, 
 in actual practice, the mind involuntarily recurs to some 
 palpable model which had previously struck his mind. 
 In short, the course of his former reading, and the 
 natural bent of his own mind, will form the basis of his 
 style, however that may be ultimately improved by the 
 test of grammar rules. Such, then, being a natural 
 principle, we may expect to find it operating in all 
 similar cases, modified only by circumstances, for to the 
 laws of nature there are no exceptions. 
 
 The object of acquiring a knowledge of Latin and 
 Greek is different from that of learning a modern living 
 language. The former, as has been already stated, being 
 strictly for literary and philosophical purposes, it is not 
 essential that they be acquired phonically and orally. 
 
334 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 The training of the eye is therefore the first object in 
 this case, which is analogous to a child learning to read 
 his own tongue; and this, again, is a process similar 
 in every respect to that of his learning to speak. In 
 the latter case, the repetition of a certain sound in 
 connexion with the same object calls up the image of 
 that object; and when by imitation the child learns to 
 re-echo the same sound himself, the sound and the object 
 become for ever afterwards inseparably blended in his 
 mind. And in reading, the form of certain marks calls 
 up at first the mere sound of which they are the symbol, 
 and through this the idea ; but after some practice, the 
 idea itself is immediately called up by merely looking at 
 the word on paper. So in translating a foreign 
 language, the pupil receives his ideas through a double 
 vehicle ; the word " homo, " for instance, does not at 
 first suggest the idea of a man, but the equivalent 
 English term, from which latter he gets the idea. Prac- 
 tice, however, in this also, shortens the course of arriving 
 at the idea. An obvious inference from this, therefore, 
 seems to be, that when the words are placed in juxta- 
 position with one another, the impression of their corre- 
 spondence will be both more vivid and more lasting than 
 by any other mode, simply from their being more closely 
 associated in the mind. 
 
 Professor Blackie, of Aberdeen, in an able essay 
 upon the learning of languages, strongly insists upon 
 a revival of the ancient oral method of teaching Latin, 
 as being the strictly natural course. With all deference 
 to so competent an authority, and fully aware of the 
 fact, that it certainly is the most natural course with 
 regard to a living language, still, bearing in mind the 
 proper object of a classical education, that it is not to 
 promote the interchange of thought among living men, 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 335 
 
 but to infuse, through the silent oracle of books, a higher 
 tone to the intellect, I think the same object can more 
 immediately be accomplished through an initiatory process 
 of interlineary translation. The acquiring of equivalent 
 English and Latin terms being decidedly the first step, 
 there cannot possibly be a more rapid mode than this. 
 No master alive can be so perfect as to speak Latin in 
 any degree approaching to so good a style as the most 
 inferior of those ancient Latin authors we have in our 
 hand. But even were he able to do so, and to teach his 
 pupil a similar degree of excellence, a second course, 
 namely, that of learning to read, must afterwards be gone 
 through, thus, in fact, doubling the labour instead of 
 simplifying it. Knowledge of any kind, when presented 
 to the eye, obtains a readier access to the understanding 
 than by the ear ; and as economy of time in the learning 
 of languages is a matter of the first importance, this 
 interlineary mode has many advantages in this respect 
 over oral translation. 
 
 It is hardly possible to conceive a greater mass of 
 absurdity, connected with any subject, than that of 
 learning Latin according to the popular plan. At every 
 stage of the child's progress is he obstructed by needless 
 difiiculties. At his first entrance on the study he is set 
 to learn by heart a whole book of grammar, consisting 
 of declensions of nouns, conjugations of verbs, abstract 
 rules of syntax, of gender, and even of prosody, before 
 he is permitted to translate a single sentence ; and when 
 he does arrive at that consummation of his hopes, how illu- 
 sory does it often prove ! He has to work his way into 
 the meaning of a passage by the most tortuous and pain- 
 ful process. A delectus of detached sentences is generally 
 put into his hand, and for the meaning of every word 
 he has to consult the pages of a dictionary. Let any 
 
336 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 one reflect for a moment, or try the experiment himself, 
 and see how many precious minutes are thus consumed 
 in ascertaining the meaning of a single word ; and let 
 him sum up the amount necessary to master a page of 
 Latin, and he will no longer wondrr how so few hoys, 
 even after a course of eight years' study, can read a 
 passage of Latin from a strange author ad aperturam 
 libri. Besides, in a dictionary a single word has some- 
 times a dozen meanings attached to it, aud which of 
 these conflicting senses is the bewildered child to 
 choose ? If it he said that the scope of the passage 
 will assist him, in most initiatory hooks that is of a very 
 limited nature indeed. Take the delectus, and it would 
 he no difficult matter to select passages that would puzzle 
 for no little time much older heads than those generally 
 engaged on it, simply from this want of a context. 
 It is, however, entirely from the scope of the passage 
 that the child proceeds to analyse its meaning, which, by 
 the way, is also a practical argument against the utility 
 of all his former preparatory course of grammar for the 
 same purpose. But the meaning of the words is not all 
 he has to contend with, — the involved order of the sen- 
 tences is another G-ordian knot which his rules, to say 
 the truth of them, are totally incapable of unfolding. 
 In many passages these rules will apply to several senses, 
 neither of which, after all, may be the right one. Now, 
 it cannot be denied that both these exercises — the study- 
 ing of the different shades of meaning that attach to 
 words, and the keen scrutiny into the sense of a passage, 
 are well adapted to sharpen the powers of perception 
 and reflection, and generally to improve the mind. But 
 the task is too onerous for an early stage ; and in most 
 cases it either overpowers and bewilders these faculties, 
 when proper assistance is not afforded, or gives a pre- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 337 
 
 mature and morbid excitement to them. Besides, in the 
 simple fact, that it is a needless labour, a toiling up the 
 rugged height of some precipitous mountain, when the 
 same eminence might be gained by an easy ascent, and 
 thus an enormous waste of valuable time, there is 
 abundant reason for its condemnation. 
 
 And if these were some of the impediments to the 
 learning of Latin, the avenues to Greek were doubly 
 blocked up. Greek grammars were explained in Latin ; 
 and even lexicons shed their imperfect light through the 
 same medium. All explanatory notes, if such they 
 could be called, were also in Latin. Fancy a boy of ten 
 or eleven years of age, whose Latin vocabulary, by the 
 theoretical -course mentioned, is not very extensive, 
 making his first attempt at translating a sentence in 
 Greek. He comes upon the particle cb>, and refers to 
 his lexicon for an explanation. Instead of getting 
 anything of the kind, however, or simply being told that 
 it meant " could," "would," or " should," he is gratified 
 with the intelligence that it is " Particula potentialis, 
 de qua consulendus est doctissimns Hoogeveen, de L. G. 
 Particulis, Greek Exer" Who this most learned 
 Hoogeveen may be, whom he is requested to consult 
 upon this important affair, where he may be found, or 
 when found, whether he might prove anything more com- 
 municative than doctissimus Schrevelius, are questions 
 anything but suggestive of encouragement to the Greek 
 tyro. Every boy sees and feels the absurdity of these 
 things himself. Hence the repeated questions of all 
 intelligent boys to their tutors — What is the use of 
 learning Latin and Greek by such means, and what 
 ultimate advantage can compensate for so much labour ? 
 To this an answer may probably be received, that it is 
 a more classical mode ; but whether this solution of his 
 
 Q 
 
338 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 doubts may be anything more satisfactory than the 
 preceding, is itself a very doubtful question. 
 
 William Lilly, the first master of St. Paul's School, 
 Dean Colet, its founder, and Erasmus, were the three 
 parties who composed what is now known as the Eton 
 Latin Grammar. But neither of these three scholars 
 either recommended or practised its modern application. 
 It was rather meant as a philosophical work for the study 
 of mature minds, than for novitiates entering upon 
 classical studies ; and it was written in Latin that it 
 might form a standard, not only for the masters of 
 this country but of other countries, who might trans- 
 late it into their own tongues, and frame rules and 
 abridgments out of it for the use of their own pupils. 
 The very fact of its being written in Latin shows that it 
 was intended for the use of masters and not of pupils, 
 which was a similar mode to that adopted in drawing up 
 any other digest of learning or philosophy. In Lilly's 
 own example, too, there is a proof of this. From this 
 philosophical Latin Grammar he drew up a short " Intro- 
 duction" in English for the use of his own pupils, which, 
 with the " oral assistance of a good master," was reckoned 
 then quite sufficient for school purposes. It was his own 
 custom, then, to teach from this English abridgment, 
 and which he also recommended to others. The larger 
 grammar, in Latin, however, was afterwards by public 
 authority introduced into schools all over England. The 
 consequence was, that the difficulty of explaining it to 
 children was vastly increased, and the indolence of the 
 masters speedily suggested the more comfortable way of 
 rolling the burden from their own upon the learners' 
 shoulders, and making them commit to memory its 
 unexplained rules. 
 
 The practice of referring to lexicons in learning a 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. »S39 
 
 language came into use in a similar way. It is very 
 certain that the earliest mode of teaching Latin and 
 Greek was either colloquially or by the oral interpretation 
 of a master. He explained the meaning of individual 
 words and the connective sense of passages, serving the 
 purpose both of a grammar and lexicon in his own 
 person ; but when dictionaries came to be published, 
 instead of deriving from them additional facilities in 
 continuing the same plan, he abandoned it entirely, and 
 devolved upon the pupil the task of teaching himself. 
 It was in every respect the same thing as if one of our 
 best English teachers of the present day, instead of ana- 
 lysing words etymologically to his pupils, were to send 
 them to Walker's English Dictionary to look up their 
 meaning for themselves. They would there find other 
 words and perhaps several meanings, but the immediate 
 import of that they were in quest of would likely be as 
 obscure as before. And doubtless this would be an easier 
 method to the master, but it may readily be conceived 
 how little it would benefit the scholars. So when the 
 art of printing increased the number of these Latin 
 dictionaries, it in like manner increased the pupils 
 labour and lessened that of the teacher; and while as 
 an instrument in the master's hands it might have aided 
 in the pupil's advancement, in those of the latter it only 
 added to his confusion and bewilderment. 
 
 What is proposed, then, as a better course of 
 acquiring a knowledge of Latin and Greek is indeed 
 not a new mode, but the revival of a system which 
 was in full operation three hundred years ago, and has 
 the sanction of some names of the highest celebrity 
 in English literature. It is simply following the same 
 course in reference to a foreign language, that nature 
 and necessity point out to the infant in acquiring a 
 
 q2 
 
340 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 knowledge of its parent tongue. It has been mentioned 
 that the same analogy obtains between learning to speak 
 and learning to read ; but there is even a closer analogy 
 to the former in the process of translating one language 
 into another. Two different terms are thus taken to 
 represent the same idea, so that, independently of the 
 lost time and labour necessary to get an equivalent and 
 corresponding term in a dictionary, from association^ the 
 connexion of these two terms is much better remembered 
 by having seen them opposite to one another. This 
 leads at once to interlineary translation, and such is 
 accordingly the mode here advocated. 
 
 Let it be understood, however, that the general prin- 
 ciple contended for is not limited to this mode of trans- 
 lation ; the object is to give every possible facility to an 
 acquaintance with a foreign language, and to remove 
 every needless obstruction out of the way, to which end 
 an interlinear translation is but a valuable auxiliary. 
 Like every other innovation upon a time-honoured cus- 
 tom, this method, though much older than the present 
 popular system, is looked upon with anything but appro- 
 bation at all public institutions. Being both natural 
 and simple, however, it is silently making its way to 
 public favour, and ere long, one would think, will be 
 very generally practised. Neither is it wonderful that it 
 should be so strongly opposed, coming into collision, 
 as it very materially does, with the interest of many of 
 its opponents. Classical instruction forms a promi- 
 nent feature in all colleges, universities, and schools 
 throughout the country, and consequently the professors 
 and teachers in those institutions find a corresponding 
 profit to the length of time over which a course of clas- 
 sical study extends. Besides, as less individual instruction 
 is necessary on the part of such professors and teachers 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 341 
 
 from the additional labour thus given to the students, the 
 duties of the former are found more easy and comfortable 
 than by an explanatory mode of oral grammaring. 
 
 The principal objection urged against it worthy of 
 notice is, that it leaves the student ignorant of the gram- 
 matical structure of the language. There is no foun- 
 dation for this remark, as shall presently be shown ; but 
 admitting it to be correct, it might with equal justice be 
 replied, that the popular method, if it does initiate the 
 pupil in any better way to an acquaintance with the 
 rules that govern the language, in nine cases out of ten 
 leaves him in possession of these barren honours alone. 
 But that a more thorough grounding in the principles of 
 the language can be effected by the plan under notice 
 must appear, from the simple reason, that the pupil has 
 in his first course a groundwork to stand upon. He 
 proceeds from practice to deduce a theory, rather than 
 make an ill-understood theory square with a more unin- 
 telligible practice. He collects his materials and begins 
 the work, and when it has advanced beyond the limits of 
 his experience, he calls to his aid the rule and compasses 
 to harmonise its proportions and beautify its parts. 
 
 Of the different modes of conducting a course of study 
 in Latin and Greek by an interlineary translation, cer- 
 tainly the most comprehensive plan that has yet appeared is 
 embraced in a series of works published a few years ago 
 under the title of " Locke's System." That profound 
 thinker, from whose suggestions these works were princi- 
 pally compiled, being himself much engaged in teaching, 
 was deeply conscious of the defective modes then in use 
 in teaching Latin. With his characteristic originality, 
 therefore, he set about remedying the evil, and his strong 
 good sense at once dictated the necessity of introducing 
 a pupil to the practice of a language before troubling 
 
342 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 him with its etymological and syntactical structure. His 
 memorable words are, " Take some easy and pleasant 
 book, such as iEsop's Fables, and write the English 
 translation, made as literal as it can be, in one line, and 
 the Latin words which answer each of them just over it 
 in another;" and he also left among his other valuable 
 writings a small work as a model of the plan, entitled 
 " iEsop's Fables, in Latin and English interlineary ; 
 for the benefit of those who, not having a master, would 
 learn either of these tongues. By John Locke, Gent." 
 
 What is known as the Hamiltonian system is consi- 
 derably like this, both giving strictly literal transla- 
 tions ; but while Locke's system preserves a certain 
 grammatical structure in the English translations, 
 Mr. Hamilton, endeavouring to infuse into these cer- 
 tain barbarisms peculiar to the original, destroys the 
 grammatical structure and connexion. The Hamiltonian 
 system, however, sets up claims to an originality of 
 invention, though, with such proofs of identity as are 
 manifest between his works and this little model of 
 Locke's, it is somewhat difficult to concede them. But, 
 whether original or not, and much inferior as they cer- 
 tainly are to the series of volumes mentioned, they are a 
 vast improvement upon the popular system. But these 
 treatises, besides giving a better translation, surpass 
 Mr. Hamilton's works in another and most important 
 particular, and that is, their enabling any student at all 
 acquainted with English grammar to acquire incidentally 
 all the different parts of speech of the Latin. In the 
 Hamiltonian books a noun may be placed opposite to a 
 verb, and an adjective given as the translation of a noun, 
 to keep up the idiomatic style mentioned ; but in Locke's 
 system the more natural and philosophical mode is 
 adopted, of rendering every word as far as possible into 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING, 343 
 
 its corresponding part of speech. All, therefore, that is 
 necessary for the pupil to do, in order to distinguish the 
 parts of speech of the Latin words, is to ascertain what 
 their equivalents in English are. Thus, grammar to a 
 considerable extent is learned contemporaneously with 
 the meaning of words, and without the least difficulty 
 or exertion on the part of the pupil. It is indeed 
 analogous to the best mode of teaching English gram- 
 mar, in which the part of speech is ascertained, not by the 
 form of the word, but by its meaning. But during the 
 first stage, or during the reading of the first book in the 
 series, this is all the grammar that is taught. 
 
 It may be mentioned, for the sake of those who are 
 unacquainted with the nature of these interlineary works, 
 that the pure Latin in its original order, and without a 
 translation, is again given at the end of the book, so 
 that after the sense of the passage has been got from the 
 translation, it is there the pupil reads his lesson. In 
 the translation, too, the sentences are presented " in 
 ordine," that is, the arrangement of the Latin words is 
 according to the order of an English sentence. The 
 involved Latin order, however, is restored at the end 
 of the book, where the pupil reconstrues it. Three 
 things are therefore acquired during the reading of 
 the first book, — the meaning of a considerable number 
 of Latin words, the distinction of many of the parts of 
 speech, and a certain acquaintance with the involved 
 style of Roman writers. By this, which is strictly a 
 process of training, a foundation — for there is no better 
 figure — of words and sentences is laid. But the lesson 
 is not finished until a re -translation has again been made 
 without book in Latin, and also unassisted by the con- 
 nexion of the narrative. 
 
 At a further stage the inflection of words is got in the 
 
344 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 following manner, which is entirely a deductive process, a 
 generalising and classifying of details. Having ascertained, 
 through the medium of the English word, to what part of 
 speech its equivalent Latin term belongs, the pupil also 
 sees the same word assuming different forms in different 
 positions. He sees musa taking the form of musa, 
 musam, musarum, musts, musas, and also finds that 
 each of these forms has some corresponding change in 
 signification. He is then taught the distinction that 
 obtains in this respect between the English and Latin, 
 that while the former expresses the relation of words and 
 ideas by other auxiliary words, the Latin does the 
 same thing by a difference of termination in the word 
 itself. And as analogy and illustration are always the 
 most powerful means of conveying instruction on any 
 subject, they can in this instance be applied with consi- 
 derable effect. These different forms may be represented 
 by some tangible object having suffered an accident. 
 The word musa, for instance, undergoes an accident 
 when it assumes the form of musarum, and this acci- 
 dental property of words is therefore called case. But as 
 these accidents or cases are of different kinds, they are 
 named accordingly, and hence the six cases of nouns and 
 the different terminations that belong to each. And now 
 is the proper time to give the paradigm of these, when 
 the pupil really feels the want of such a standard. 
 
 In like manner are the pronoun, the verb, and other 
 parts of speech thus taught. They are previously pictured 
 out, as Mr. Stow aptly phrases this mode of teaching, 
 and their several details and ramifications explained 
 in connexion with some clause of the passage read; and 
 when they are thus incidentally and collaterally deduced 
 and distinguished from other parts, they are ultimately 
 classified and tested by an appeal to the grammar. Such 
 
PHILOSOPHY OP TRAINING. 345 
 
 an exercise, therefore, it must be evident, is in itself an 
 excellent training process. It disposes the mind to a 
 general habit of investigation on other subjects, and to 
 collect and classify facts for itself; whereas, the popu- 
 lar method entirely precludes the necessity of deduction. 
 It is what Locke denounces as a " sort of Egyptian 
 tyranny, bidding children make bricks who have not any 
 of the materials." 
 
 It must be obvious that, according to this plan, the 
 syntactical parts of grammar are deferred to a consider- 
 ably late period ; because a person learning to read Latin 
 is justin the position of a child learning to read his native 
 tongue, to whom the form, the sense, and the ortho- 
 graphy of words, are alone a sufficient study. But after, 
 by the preceding method, he has been made acquainted 
 with the peculiar genius of the Latin tongue, and sees 
 wherein it differs from and agrees with the English, he 
 is then introduced to a systematic mode of construing 
 it. This is done altogether without the aid of a transla- 
 tion, and by a method as entirely inductive as the former. 
 It should be remarked, that as an accompaniment to the 
 works published on this plan, there is a course of 
 " parsing lessons," which form an entire praxis of the 
 inflections. This, therefore, studied as a sequel to his 
 former incidental course of training, fully prepares the 
 student for entering upon the duty of construing, un- 
 aided by an interlinear translation. Hitherto he has 
 been guided in his course by leading-strings ; he is now 
 left to a trial of his own powers, and that he will still 
 find considerable difficulties to encounter is certain ; but 
 that he will meet and encounter these with an advantage 
 infinitely superior to the mere grammar- taught student, 
 is a test by which the merits of the respective systems 
 may be confidently tried. 
 
 Q3 
 
346 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 The last part of the course is entirely an imitative 
 exercise, which has been called by Ascham, "double 
 translation.'* This plan, so far as antiquity may be con- 
 sidered a recommendation, has the advantage of all 
 others. It is recommended by Cicero, and the younger 
 Pliny, to those who wished to acquire the Greek lan- 
 guage, and that it would therefore be extensively prac- 
 tised at that time is pretty certain. In comparatively 
 modern times, it was adopted by the celebrated scholar 
 Eoger Ascham, tutor to Queen Elizabeth, in the edu- 
 cation of that accomplished princess. He also followed 
 a preparatory course similar in principle to that spoken 
 of; for, though it does not appear that he interlined 
 his lessons, he accomplished the same end by acting 
 himself as a translator, by " grounding the pupil in 
 the cause and matter of the lesson," and " construing 
 it into English so oft, that the pupil might easily carry 
 away the understanding of it." And by the same mode 
 of double translation was it, that the late Sir William 
 Jones so rapidly became acquainted with no fewer than 
 twenty- eight languages. His custom was, after having 
 translated a passage from any foreign author into 
 English, to shut the book and from memory endeavour 
 to restore in writing his own translation into the original. 
 He would then open the book and compare the two, by 
 which means he was enabled to detect his own errors, 
 and acquire the style and idioms of the original. It 
 may also be remarked in passing, that this mode of 
 teaching a pupil to speak a foreign language has been 
 found of admirable effect. The manner in which it is 
 done is simply to make him translate a passage orally 
 into English, and then again orally into the original 
 from the English. By these means the idioms are 
 acquired in their natural connexion, instead of being 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 347 
 
 got by heart in an isolated form, as is too generally the 
 ease. It thus becomes an exercise of the imitative faculty 
 alone, aided by the memory, and therefore precisely fol- 
 lowing the order of nature. The same plan, I believe, is 
 pursued to a very considerable extent in the teaching of 
 French in the Mechanics' Institute at Liverpool. 
 
 In fact, so fully are some educationists impressed 
 with the excellence and utility of this mode, they ven- 
 ture to affirm that, were an extensive course of it con- 
 tinued, the use of a grammar for all practical purposes 
 might be utterly discarded. One may attain a correct 
 style of speaking and waiting English, though he may 
 never have seen nor heard of an English grammar in his 
 life, simply by imitating and practising after the best 
 models. And this is the entire genius and spirit of the 
 plan, namely, a practical imitation. Let any one try it 
 on a single passage of French or Italian. Let him from 
 an interlinear copy, or by any other means, ascertain the 
 sense of the passage, convey this into literal English of 
 his own writing, then begin to translate into the original, 
 and let him examine the course of his own mind during 
 the process, and he will find that he is proceeding pre- 
 cisely upon a principle of synthesis — that is, combining 
 and grouping words and sentences that have been pre- 
 viously analysed in the English translation. All this is 
 done, too, according to some visible model or picture 
 of the original that is still lingering in his mind's eye. 
 The mind in such a process has a series of concrete 
 ideas upon which it can lay hold, and by concatenation the 
 whole scope of the passage is gradually unfolded. Phrases 
 and idioms are acquired without an effort, falling natu- 
 rally into their own places, and melting down as it were 
 into the very current of the passage. Of course, the 
 blunders that a tyro will make in this way are very 
 
348 PHILOSOPHY OP TRAINING. 
 
 numerous, and of a nature perhaps different from those 
 of the grammar-bred student. In his first and many sub- 
 sequent attempts he will be found committing solecisms 
 against the most elementary principles of grammar. A 
 pronoun of the first person may be found agreeing with 
 a verb in the third person, and a masculine noun with a 
 feminine adjective. But what of that? the same errors 
 are made by a child learning to speak, or any one learn- 
 ing to speak a foreign tongue, which practice ultimately 
 corrects. Therefore, let not any one say that this is a 
 proof of some grounding process previously necessary, 
 unless he is also prepared to admit that a child requires 
 some preparatory grammaring before he is permitted to 
 lisp forth his incoherent sentences. Let the student go 
 on, fearless of ridicule; every successive imitation will 
 be an improvement of his style, and an accession to his 
 stock of words and phrases, till by degrees he approxi- 
 mates to the perfection of those employed by the author 
 he imitates. It is not the place here to inquire how far 
 this fear of offending " against some solemn grammar 
 rule," as Professor Blackie calls it, injures a pupil in his 
 progress, but every one will acknowledge the power 
 of an opposite feeling in the parallel case of children 
 forming their first imperfect sentences. To the parent, 
 and indeed to any one, there is a peculiar charm in these 
 disjointed fragments of speech in a little child — the first 
 buddings of his expanding intellect. Hence every attempt 
 of the child is generally met with a smile of approba- 
 tion ; and how far this accelerates his acquisition of the 
 powers of speech it may not be easy to judge, but that 
 it must materially assist in the process, is a supposition 
 in strict accordance with a first principle in morals. 
 The student should therefore be encouraged to go on 
 fearlessly, as no one ever spoke properly without first 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 349 
 
 committing many blunders, according to the Italian pro- 
 verb, " Per parlare bene, bisogna parlare male." 
 
 Perhaps the most absurd of all modes of teaching 
 French is that of presenting a pupil with long lists of 
 idioms to be got by heart, a task which is only equalled 
 in atrocity by that of setting children to commit whole 
 spelling-books by heart in columns to teach them ortho- 
 graphy. It is, however, still a favourite mode of teach- 
 ing that language, even in many seminaries of high 
 name. But it would seem that if a premium were 
 awarded to any one who should devise the most difficult 
 and protracted mode of learning French, the inventor of 
 such a method would decidedly carry off the palm. 
 These idioms are — many of them at least — incapable of a 
 literal rendering ; and as no analysis of them is ever 
 attempted, they lie upon the memory a mere " rudis 
 indigestaque moles!' No association of thoughts can 
 call them up at will. They are like the disjointed frag- 
 ments of a machine, of no use apart from its entire 
 structure, and can never be of service until their place be 
 ascertained in general conversation. Perhaps a somewhat 
 analogous course to this would be in a child learning 
 to speak, instead of assisting him to articulate the names 
 of familiar objects around him, that he should be taught 
 first to enunciate some of the abstract phrases of English 
 conversation. This practice, however, is quite of a piece 
 with the whole routine of modern language teaching. 
 Everything that is most difficult and formidable is accu- 
 mulated at the very portals, which should open, or be 
 opened rather, to admit the student ; and hence so many 
 are repulsed from entering upon these studies. 
 
 It would appear, then, that this process of double 
 translation ought to be the last in the course ; and in 
 all submission to the talented editors of ''Locke's 
 
350 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 System," I would therefore venture to dissent from the 
 opinions they have expressed in favour of a higher course 
 of versification and even conversation. Of what earthly 
 use it can be to set children to compose Latin verses, 
 and becloud their tender fancies in the arrangement of 
 catalectic, acatalectic, and hypercatalectic, dimeters, pen- 
 tameters and hexameters, must certainly require a poet's 
 fancy to explain. Nor will any ordinary individual be 
 fanciful enough to say that even the famous Oxford 
 prize essays in verse have anything like the quality of 
 poetry in them. The very best of these learned and 
 most elaborate productions may have to the eye, and 
 the ear indeed, the shape and sound of poetry, but the 
 living, breathing spirit that once animated these lifeless 
 fragments has long since fled from the earth. It is some- 
 thing like an attempt at galvanising a dead body, pro- 
 ducing only a melancholy caricature of the living frame. 
 Yet it would be saying much to assert that this is a fault 
 peculiar to modern Latin poesy, for the most unimagi- 
 native proser by labour and study may, and often does, 
 write volumes of English verses. In fact, this power 
 of versifying and what is strictly the province of ideality 
 are essentially distinct ; and a person may write the most 
 beautiful poetry in prose, and the most grovelling prose 
 in verse. The former of these faculties, taking cog- 
 nisance as it does, of size and number, is more nearly 
 allied to mathematics and arithmetic, which every one 
 knows are the very antipodes to poetry. At all events, 
 with regard to modern Latin poetry, it seems to be a 
 sort of excrescence in literature, generated only amid the 
 unhealthy seclusions of those institutions that shut out 
 the pure light of nature from developing a healthier 
 education. 
 
 It is further argued, that the practice of Latin versifi- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 351 
 
 cation lends a better insight into the peculiar graces of 
 original Latin compositions. But, as many who never 
 wrote English poetry in their lives, may yet surpass the 
 voluminous poet, in appreciating the graces of English 
 literature, from the distinction that obtains between the 
 mere faculty of scanning metres and that of presenting 
 ideas in a fascinating and attractive manner, so is it 
 doubtless in Latin compositions : and even if it has this 
 effect, which is extremely doubtful, it must at all events 
 be one of those luxuries which are purchased too 
 dearly by such a course of study as is necessary Jo 
 write those verses with any degree of correctness. In 
 writing Latin verse it is not thoughts and ideas that 
 the student hunts after, but synonymous words of a 
 certain length and a certain number of feet, just as an 
 operative builder mechanically fits into the edifice his 
 materials, without regard to the general harmony of its 
 parts. Milton, speaking on this subject, says, " It is a 
 preposterous exaction, forcing the empty wits of children 
 to compose themes, verses, and orations, which are the 
 acts of ripest judgment, and the final work of a head 
 filled, by long reading and observing, with elegant 
 maxims and copious inventions. These are not matters 
 to be wrung from poor striplings like blood out of the 
 nose, or the plucking of untimely fruit." 
 
 Another reason urged in favour of it is, that it 
 tends to impress upon the mind the quantities of Latin 
 syllables more deeply, and secures a more correct pronun- 
 ciation. It is, perhaps, matter of regret that an affair so 
 trifling as the misplacing of a quantity in pronunciation 
 should be held as any test of attainment in classical 
 knowledge, but so it certainly is at present; and as 
 matters stand, the slightest lapse in this respect at once 
 sets down the utterer of it as a sciolist in the art. But 
 
352 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 all this is on a wrong principle. It is rearing a most 
 elaborate and complex standard of scholarly refinement 
 upon a basis of the most unsubstantial kind. It is 
 surely at best a questionable employment of those Godlike 
 faculties with which man is gifted, to bend all their ener- 
 gies, " to shun delights and live laborious days," in 
 order to ascertain whether certain vocables were sounded 
 long or short some three thousand years ago. It may be 
 said, indeed, that this shibboleth in the aristocracy of 
 letters is nothing more absurd than many things forming 
 the criteria of taste and refinement in ordinary life. The 
 solecism of " eating olives with a fork 5 ' may overthrow 
 the pretensions of some nouveau riche to the conven- 
 tional character of a gentleman. But there is a great 
 difference in point of principle between the two cases. 
 Gentlemanly habits and polished manners are based 
 upon sound morality, and to support such a standard is 
 equivalent to promoting many of the courtesies and 
 amenities of life. Whereas, this labouring after such 
 barren honours is only gaining the name without the 
 solid advantages of scholarship. 
 
 But it is very doubtful whether writing Latin hexa- 
 meters and pentameters does impress more deeply upon 
 the mind of the pupil the quantities of Latin syllables. 
 If the writer, whose lot it was to compose a fair average of 
 such effusions at the university, may be allowed to cite his 
 own experience in the matter, the solitary recollection of 
 one quantity being more deeply impressed upon his 
 mind by writing it in a copy of verses, is all the advan- 
 tage he can lay claim to. It occurred in the word Sar- 
 danapalus, which he had chanced to read a few days before 
 in Juvenal, in the only line that decides the length of its 
 penultimate syllable. How far the same object could 
 have been effected by simply committing the line itself 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 353 
 
 to memory, or even one of those lines in which it occurs, 
 in Lord Byron's beautiful poem on that effeminate 
 monarch, let philologists decide. 
 
 Professor Blackie, and the compilers of the " Locke 
 System," seem both to favour the idea of cultivating a 
 knowledge of Latin by means of conversation. The 
 former, indeed, insists upon having it taught in this 
 manner alone. It would seem, however, that this is 
 now simply impossible, and even if it could be done, the 
 chief object of teaching Latin would not be thus secured. 
 It would doubtless be a restoration of the ancient prac- 
 tice established by Henry VIII. in the schools of his 
 time. It was by help of " some use in speaking which 
 must necessarily be had," that the boy was to be 
 " brought past the wearisome bitterness of his learning." 
 Lilly himself, in his Monita Pcedagogica, says, Et 
 quoties loqueris, memor esto loquare Latine. But it 
 must be remembered that the object of learning Latin in 
 those days was very different from what it is now. It 
 was then the chief medium of intercourse among learned 
 men, and had many advantages in this respect, as it 
 formed a common bond of intimacy, not only among the 
 philosophers of England but of Europe. Besides, a col- 
 loquial knowledge of it was then indispensable to those 
 intended for the church, the law, or the medical profes- 
 sion. And if at the present day there were any necessity 
 for learning it as a vehicle for imparting our thoughts to 
 others by speech or writing, an arrangement to that 
 effect would still be the best. 
 
 But there is no necessity for this : its services at the 
 best are but auxiliary to the formation of a good English 
 style, which is by far the best exponent of English 
 thought ; and it may furnish many words and fragments 
 of words to beautify and enlarge the fabric of the English 
 
354 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 tongue ; but the latter is now too comfortable and elegant 
 a garb to be laid aside for the scanty integuments of a 
 Latin dress. It is said also, conversation naturally follows 
 from a course of study such as that mentioned ; and 
 true, it does ; but the current can find no channel in the 
 conversation of ordinary life, and on a student's emerging 
 from school or college, must necessarily soon dry up. 
 The only fountains of Latin conversation are in the 
 Catholic colleges of Europe ; but as the Latin colloquies 
 there practised are intended for preparing novitiates 
 for the forms and ceremonies of the Church of Eome, 
 they cannot surely be set up as a model for Protestant 
 colleges. It may therefore be a better way of teaching 
 Latin for a certain purpose, but that purpose is anything 
 but an enlightened one, and of no practical use in general 
 literature. Indeed, it is readily granted that this mode 
 of acquiring either Latin or any other language is a very 
 natural one, second only to studying from a native. Be- 
 tween this plan and the method of acquiring a language 
 by detached words and idiomatic phrases, there is all 
 the difference already adverted to, between ideas re- 
 ceived into the mind concretely, and abstractedly. By 
 concatenation, whole sentences rise in the mind in a con- 
 nected train, instead of the mind itself labouring to throw 
 together the single words and phrases that may be lying 
 disjointedly upon the memory. But the true object 
 of the study is not to acquire the Latin tongue as 
 an end of conversation, but as a means of cultivating 
 the mind. 
 
 It may seem paradoxical to assert that an Englishman 
 is really better adapted to teach his own countryman 
 French than a native of France ; but, with the exception 
 of a very few niceties of intonation and accent, and some 
 high-flown complimentary phrases, for imparting the 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 355 
 
 stamina of the language, such seems really the case. The 
 reason is obvious ; for in many instances the French 
 teacher has just about as much of English to learn as 
 his pupil has of Freuch. He cannot thus communicate 
 or infuse into the mind of the pupil the unidiomised 
 English of his own French. The latter may get French 
 for his English ; but he cannot get the true English for 
 his French, which is nearly as bad. A native, then, 
 may be of service to an advanced pupil as what may be 
 correctly styled in this instance, a "finishing master;" 
 but for all the earlier stages, an intelligent Englishman, 
 with a good pronunciation, will serve equally well, if not 
 better. Every one has heard of Goldsmith's famous 
 Irishism, when he went to Holland to teach English to 
 the Dutch; and only found out his mistake when about 
 to enter upon his duties, in being as much at a loss for 
 Dutch as they for English : and so is it really the case 
 with many Frenchmen. 
 
 As one of the objects designed by throwing these 
 remarks into the present form was, that teachers and 
 others might see the course of study, and the principles 
 of that system of instruction, now beginning to be adopted 
 in many of the best institutions of the country, the fol- 
 lowing very brief outline of the plan is here submitted 
 to their consideration. It is almost entirely similar to 
 that marked out by the authors of " Locke's System," — 
 decidedly the best arrangement in use. 
 
 The first book put into the hands of a boy beginning 
 Latin is a versified copy of "iE sop's Fables," by 
 Pheedrus, with an interlinear translation and notes. 
 By the assistance of these he prepares his lesson, and 
 makes himself thoroughly master of the sense of each 
 fable in the single Latin text, that is, in the pure Latin. 
 From this again, a re-translation is made into the Latin, 
 
356 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the English for which is given orally by the master, and 
 the Latin orally by the pupil. A decided improvement 
 on these books, in my opinion, would therefore be, to 
 have also a separate English version of the fable, so that 
 from sight a translation from this might be read in 
 Latin, as from the Latin original an English translation 
 is read by sight. The advantages of such an arrangement 
 must be obvious. Like other languages, the sound of 
 Latin words affords no index to the manner in which 
 they ought to be spelt ; and it is by writing, alone, that 
 the orthography of this or any other language can be 
 acquired. Besides, though a boy may know the sound 
 of many Latin words in this way, and their corresponding 
 English, it is no guarantee that he would know these 
 same words on seeing them on paper. It is, in fact, really 
 teaching Latin to a considerable extent by conversation, 
 which, it must ever be remembered, is not the mode best 
 calculated to promote the object of learning that tongue. 
 
 It ought also to be mentioned, that not only is the 
 passage translated in the connexion of the story, but 
 without the book, each Latin word is taken separately 
 and turned into English, and each separate English word 
 into Latin. 
 
 By the time a boy has gone through this course of 
 reading he will have acquired a very considerable number 
 of Latin words, be able to tell to what parts of speech 
 they belong, and have gained a little knowledge of the 
 involved Latin order of sentences. But no further ana- 
 lysis of them will yet be given. 
 
 He next enters upon the first book of " Ovid's Meta- 
 morphoses," and proceeds in exactly the same manner. 
 In this author many words of less common use occur, 
 the acquisition of which will make a large addition to 
 his vocabulary. But a study of the accidence must 
 
PHILOSOPHY 0? TRAINING. 357 
 
 now accompany a reading of this book. Proceeding 
 inductively, the student will observe what words in the 
 lesson appear to correspond in form with the first declen- 
 sion of nouns. These will be inflected through all their 
 cases, the tables of which will now also be got by heart. 
 But it is quite possible to teach even the tables in this 
 way by mere conversation. The same course is followed 
 with the other declensions, and with all the other parts 
 of speech, until the distinction of these is clearly under- 
 stood. 
 
 The regular inflections being thus acquired and tested 
 by examples from the grammar ; the next book in the 
 course is now taken, which is the first book of "Virgil's 
 iEneid." In this, as in "Phsedrus" and "Ovid," the 
 Latin text is construed according to the interlinear trans- 
 lation, but in addition, from a supplementary volume of 
 " parsing lessons," each sentence is analysed, each word 
 assigned to its proper part of speech, and a full descrip- 
 tion of its peculiar modification given. 
 
 As a good training exercise at this stage, the sign 
 and forms of nouns and verbs in the single English 
 version may be altered, and the different cases and tenses 
 of the same Latin word required, by which means an 
 entire command over all the inflections will be gained. 
 
 " Csesar's Invasion of Britain " is the next book iu the 
 series, which is translated as the others. Each reading 
 is now accompanied with a small portion of the syntax, 
 as the reading of Ovid was accompanied with the acci- 
 dence. The style of the Commentaries is remarkably 
 easy of construction, and therefore peculiarly adapted to 
 this exercise. The best grammar for this mode of study 
 is the "London Latin Grammar;" and as the rules of 
 syntax are there principally exemplified from this part of 
 Csesar and the first book of Virgil, it is again necessary 
 
358 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 to recur to Virgil, which before was used only as a praxis 
 of inflection, to get acquainted with its structure by the 
 rules in that grammar. The scanning of hexameters may 
 also be taught by the rules there laid down ; but a very 
 few conversational lessons so far as Virgil is concerned, 
 may serve to initiate the pupil into all the mysteries of 
 dactyles and spondees. 
 
 Hitherto the exercises in parsing and syntax have 
 been conducted separately ; in the next book, which is 
 the " Life of Agricola, by Tacitus," they are combined ; 
 single words and their modifications being referred to 
 their proper declensions and conjugations, and compound 
 phrases and sentences according to their relations and 
 dependences. 
 
 To recapitulate — In " Phsedrus," simple reading and 
 translation, with naming of the parts of speech. 
 
 " Ovid," the same, accompanied with a study of the 
 accidence. 
 
 " Virgil," the same, with a higher and more extended 
 course of parsing. 
 
 " Csesar," the same, with syntax and construction. 
 
 " Life of Agricola," the same, combining both parsing 
 and syntax. 
 
 Such may, therefore, be called an initiatory or first 
 course. In order to attain a thorough knowledge of 
 the grammar and structure of Latin, it will be expedient 
 for the student to return to the earlier volumes in the 
 same order as before, and apply the whole of his gram- 
 matical knowledge to each of these. In this course the 
 interlinear translation will be discarded, and the notes 
 also more fully attended to than formerly. 
 
 The length of time necessary for such a course, is not 
 in many instances greater than what is required to com- 
 mit to memory, and plod through the unintelligible 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 359 
 
 pages of an Eton grammar. And how far it is superior 
 as a mental exercise, in pleasantness and ultimate utility, 
 let candid judges say. 
 
 At this point of his career the student is now left to 
 his own resources ; and higher classics, without interlinea- 
 tion, are put into the hands of those designed for literary 
 or scientific pursuits. 
 
 At this stage, therefore, it is, that the excellence or 
 inutility of such a preparatory course will he tested. 
 But as many collateral circumstances must also he taken 
 into account, such as the aptness and diligence of the 
 pupil, and skill of the instructor, a candid judgment will 
 also embrace these in coming to a conclusion regarding 
 its merits. And perhaps for these reasons, the more 
 tangible criterion will simply he the rationale of the plan 
 itself, apart from ulterior and contingent circumstances ; 
 hut to either of which an appeal may confidently he 
 made. 
 
 In a course of Greek, precisely the same method is 
 followed. 
 
 " Lucian's Dialogues " furnish a vocabulary. In 
 "Anacreon's Odes," the parts of speech are distin- 
 guished. "Homer's Iliad," with "Parsing Lessons," 
 involves a complete praxis of inflections. " Xenophon's 
 Memorabilia " serve as an introduction to syntax ; ampli- 
 fied by recurring to the Iliad ; while " Herodotus' His- 
 tories" afford subjects for practising in combination the 
 exercises previously taken separately. 
 
 It has been already mentioned, that the principle on 
 which the preceding plan is based, is not an innovation 
 upon the original system of classic instruction. It is the 
 present popular mode that is a corruption of the pri- 
 mitive. "The so-called innovations," says the Quarterly 
 Review, No. 77, " appear, when investigated, to be in 
 
360 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 the spirit, and even according to the letter of that system 
 which was digested hy some of the ablest and most 
 learned men of a learned age." This will appear heyond 
 controversy from the following extracts taken from the 
 writings of the founders of St. Paul's, and other English 
 schools, during the reign of Henry the Eighth, and even 
 from that monarch's own injunctions, and subsequently 
 from others of a still higher literary eminence, who set 
 themselves to expose and reform the corruptions that 
 had crept into these original systems in their clays. It 
 will be remarked, too, that the principle of the system is 
 the same whether it may have been administered collo- 
 quially, by oral interpretation, or by interlineation. An- 
 other essential point, in which they all agree, regards the 
 time and manner of using the grammar; that the student 
 should be prepared for the grammar by a course of 
 reading, rather than to read by a course of grammaring. 
 
 It is well known that Henry the Eighth established a 
 method of colloquial instruction in all the grammar 
 schools then existing, or being founded. In this single 
 fact, therefore, it is indicated in what manner the basis 
 of that instruction was laid, whatever may have been the 
 collateral and higher departments of the course. Eor it 
 may easily be seen that, if Latin be taught to any extent 
 by conversation, the student, so acquiring it, Assumes the 
 same character and position as a child learning his 
 parent tongue, or any one learning a foreign language 
 from a native, in either of which cases grammar must 
 necessarily be postponed to a mature stage of the course. 
 Next to Henry the Eighth, the most celebrated authority 
 of the same period is Cardinal Wolsey — himself a school- 
 master in his earlier days.* This great statesman drew 
 
 * Ex ludimagistro subvectus est ad regnum. — Erasmus. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 361 
 
 up and enjoined a plan of studies to be adopted by all 
 the public schools of the country. And it is to this 
 plan that, according to the charters of their foundation, 
 such schools ought still to adhere. But although it is 
 nominally observed, a few extracts from his address to 
 the masters of Ipswich school, may serve to show how 
 widely all of them have now chosen to depart from its 
 spirit. In that letter there is no mention made of any- 
 thing like committing to memory the rules of an 
 unexplained grammar, nor looking out the words of a 
 dictionary, but, on the contrary, there is prescribed in the 
 clearest terms, a plan of " lessoning," that is, orally 
 explaining the text of an author, and of " exercising" 
 upon the grammar, the materials for which exercise arise 
 out of the former : — 
 
 " In the first place, it has been not improperly resolved 
 that our school be divided into eight classes. The first 
 of these is to contain the less forward boys, who should 
 be diligently exercised in the eight parts of speech ; and 
 whose now flexible accent it should be your chief concern 
 to form; making them repeat the elements assigned them 
 with the most distinct and delicate pronunciation. 
 
 "Next in order, after pupils of this age have made 
 satisfactory progress in the first rudiments, we would 
 wish them to be called into the second form, to practise 
 speaking Latin, and to render into Latin some English 
 proposition; which should not be without point or per- 
 tinence ; but should contain some piquant or beautiful 
 sentiment, sufficiently suitable to the capacity of boys. 
 As soon as this is rendered, it should be set down in 
 Koman characters; and you will daily pay attention, 
 that each of the whole party have this note-book per- 
 fectly correct, and written as fairly as possible with his 
 own hand."_ 
 
 R 
 
362 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 For the third class he recommends the reading of 
 ^Esop and Terence, with Lilly's Genders of Nouns. 
 
 For the fourth class, Virgil; and he also adds — "As 
 well adapted to this form, Lilly will furnish the past tenses 
 and supines of verbs. But although I confess such 
 things are necessary, yet, as far as possible, we could 
 wish them so appointed, as not to occupy the more valu- 
 able part of the day." 
 
 For the fifth class, after dissuading from anything 
 like harsh treatment, he says — " Your principal concern 
 will be, to lesson them in some select epistles of Cicero ; 
 as none other seem to us more easy in their style, or more 
 productive of rich copiousness of language." 
 
 For the sixth class, Sallust, or Caesar's Commentaries, 
 with Lilly's Syntax. 
 
 " The party in the seventh form should regularly have 
 in hand either Horace's Epistles, or Ovid's Metamor- 
 phoses or Fasti; occasionally composing verse or an 
 epistle of their own. It will also be of very great im- 
 portance, that they sometimes turn verse into prose, or 
 reduce prose into metre. In order that what is learnt 
 by hearing may not be forgotten, the boy should re-peruse 
 it with you, or with others. Just before retiring to rest 
 he should study something choice, or worthy of remem- 
 brance, to repeat to the master the next morning. 
 
 "At intervals, attention should be relaxed, and re- 
 creation introduced; but recreation of an elegant nature, 
 worthy of polite literature. Indeed, even with his studies, 
 pleasure should be so intimately blended, that a boy may 
 think it rather a game at learning, than a task. And 
 caution must be used, lest by immoderate exertion the 
 faculties of learners be overwhelmed, or be fatigued by 
 reading very far prolonged : for either way alike there is 
 a fault. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 363 
 
 " Lastly, when by exercise of this kind the party has 
 attained to some proficiency in conversation- style, they 
 should he recalled to the higher precepts of grammar ; 
 as, for instance, to the figures prescribed by Donatus, to 
 the elegance of Valla, and to any ancient authors what- 
 ever in the Latin tongue. In lessoning from these, we 
 would remind you to endeavour to inform yourselves at 
 least on the points it may be proper should be illustrated 
 on each present occasion. For example, when intending 
 to expound at length a comedy of Terence, you may 
 first discuss in few words the author's rank in life, his 
 peculiar talent, and elegance of style. You may then 
 remark how great the pleasure and utility involved in 
 reading comedies ; of which word you should explain 
 the signification and derivation. Next you may briefly 
 but perspicuously unravel the substance of the plot; and 
 carefully point out the particular kind of verse. You 
 may afterwards arrange the words in more simple order; 
 and wherever there may appear any remarkable elegance, 
 any antiquated, new-modelled^ or Grecian phrase, any 
 obscurity of expression, any point of etymology, whether 
 derivation or composition, any order of construction 
 rather harsh and confused, any point of orthography, any 
 figure of speech, uncommon beauty of style, rhetorical 
 ornament, or proverbial expression, in short, anything 
 proper or improper for imitation, it should be scrupulously 
 noticed to the young party. 
 
 "Moreover, you will pay attention that in play- time the 
 party speak with all possible correctness; sometimes 
 commending the speaker, when a phrase is rather appo- 
 site, or improving his expression when erroneous. 
 Occasionally some pithy subject for a short epistle in 
 their native tongue should be proposed. And, to con- 
 clude, you may exhibit, if you please, some formulae, 
 
 R2 
 
364 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 which serving as a guide, a given theme may conveniently 
 be treated."* 
 
 The opinions of the learned Erasmus were in harmony 
 with these views ; and indeed the essayist from whom 
 the preceding address is here copied says that whole pas- 
 sages of that letter are taken verbatim from the works of 
 Erasmus. He also, along with Ludovicus Vives, at the 
 request of Queen Catherine, drew up a scheme of teach- 
 ing the Latin tongue for the use of the Princess Mary, 
 based upon the same method ; and in his works generally 
 many passages may be found corroborative of the same 
 principle. In his Ecclesiastes he says, " When I speak 
 of grammar, I do not mean the inflection of nouns and 
 verbs, and the agreement of one word with another ac- 
 cording to its place ; but the modes of speaking correctly 
 and properly, which can only be acquired from multi- 
 farious reading of the ancients, who excelled in elegance 
 of speech." And in his Dialog, de Pronunciatione , speak- 
 ing of what constitutes the basis of a language, he 
 says, " A thorough knowledge of words, and a ready and 
 proper naming of everything that occurs, is an ad- 
 mirable and necessary foundation for learning : yet 
 this is neglected above measure in the common methods 
 of teaching ; by which omission it happens, that after 
 children have trudged many years in the elements of 
 erudition, they scarce know the proper names of the 
 several species of trees, fishes, birds, beasts or grain; 
 even at home, the very furniture about them, or the 
 various necessaries which are there daily used, they know 
 not how rightly to name in Latin ; so that if they want 
 
 * For a full translation of this address with its preface, see 
 " Essay on a System of Classical Instruction," published for the 
 London University, from which the preceding extracts are taken. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 365 
 
 a napkin, they say not Da mihi mantile, but Da mihi 
 rem ; and are either forced to supply this incapacity by 
 pointing with the finger at what they cannot name, or 
 putting in auxiliary words from their mother- tongue to 
 explain their meaning." 
 
 Dr. Colet, the founder of St. Paul's School, was also 
 the friend of Erasmus and Cardinal Wolsey, and, along 
 with Lilly, one of the compilers of the Eton Grammar. 
 In his preface to it, addressing the masters of St. Paul's, 
 he gives precisely the same sentiments that his contem- 
 poraries entertained on the subject. " Of these eight 
 parts of speech," says he, " in order well construed, be 
 made reasons, and sentences, and long orations. But 
 how, and in what manner, and with what construction of 
 words, and al] the varieties and diversities and changes 
 in Latin speech, (which be innumerable) if any man will 
 know and by that knowledge attain to understand Latin 
 books, and to speak and to write clean Latin, let him 
 all busily learn and read good Latin authors, of chosen 
 poets and orators, and note wisely how they wrote and 
 spake, and study always how to follow them, desiring 
 none other rules but their examples. For in the begin- 
 ning, men spake not Latin because such rules were made, 
 but contrariwise ; because men spake such Latin, upon 
 that followed the rules and were made. That is to say, 
 Latin speech was before the rules, and not the rules 
 before the Latin speech. Wherefore, well-beloved mas- 
 ters and teachers of grammar, after the parts of speech 
 sufficiently known in our schools, read and expound 
 plainly unto your scholars good authors. And show to 
 them every word, and in every sentence what they shall 
 note and observe, warning them busily to follow and do 
 like, both in writing and in speaking ; and be to them your 
 own self also speaking with them the pure Latin very 
 
366 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 present, and leave the rules. For reading of good books, 
 diligent information of learned masters, studious advert- 
 ence and taking heed of learners, hearing eloquent men 
 speak, and finally, busy imitation with tongue and pen, 
 more availeth shortly to get the true eloquent speech 
 than all the traditions, rules, and precepts of masters." 
 
 Such, then, were the views and intentions of those 
 great men who founded and prescribed rules for the 
 public seminaries of this country ; and had they been 
 adhered to, the state of education in after times would 
 have been much less deplorable. Nor at the present day 
 would the study of Latin and Greek have been anything 
 but a subordinate department of instruction, a healthy 
 auxiliary perhaps, in training the mind for higher pur- 
 poses, instead of engrossing so much of its attention, 
 and spreading over so large a period of time. But 
 less than forty years had elapsed, when a degenerate 
 practice supervened upon these rational principles ; and 
 though many eminent men^ from that period to the pre- 
 sent day, have loudly protested against such a declension, 
 the absurd practice still remains intact and apparently 
 intangible. In Queen Elizabeth's time, several of her 
 ministers of state were sensible of the erroneous practices 
 of school education, and Koger Ascham, her majesty's 
 preceptor in Latin and Greek, was requested by the 
 treasurer, Sir Kichard Sackville, to draw up a state- 
 ment of better principles for teaching the learned 
 languages ; which he did, in a work entitled the 
 " Schoolmaster," published after his death. In that 
 work he details the principles of the plan he himself 
 pursued. It is said that he learned this mode from 
 his own tutor, Sir John Cheke, who had previously prac- 
 tised it in the education of King Edward VI., and which 
 Ascham also adopted in that of Queen Elizabeth. One 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 367 
 
 or two extracts will show its resemblance to the principles 
 of Erasmus and the linguists of King Henry's day. 
 
 With regard to his plan of " double translation," he 
 says : — " Plinius Secundus, a wise senator of great expe- 
 rience, excellently learned himself, a liberal patron of 
 learned men, and the purest writer, in mine opinion, of 
 all his age, (I except not Suetonius, his two school- 
 masters Quintillian and Tacitus, nor yet his most excel- 
 lent learned uncle, the elder Plinius) doth express, in 
 an epistle to his friend Fuscus, many good ways for 
 order in study; but he beginneth with translation, and 
 preferreth it before all the rest. 
 
 " But a better and nearer example herein may be our 
 most noble Queen Elizabeth, who never took yet Greek 
 nor Latin grammar in her hand, after the first declining 
 of a noun and a verb ; but only by this double translat- 
 ing of Demosthenes and Isocrates daily, without missing 
 every forenoon, and likewise some part of Tully every 
 afternoon, for the space of a year or two, hath attained 
 to such a perfect understanding in both the tongues, and 
 to such a ready utterance of the Latin, and that with 
 such a judgment as there be few in number in both the 
 universities or elsewhere in England, that be in both 
 tongues comparable with her majesty. And to conclude 
 in a short room all the commodities of double translation, 
 surely the mind, by daily marking, first, the cause and 
 matter ; then, the words and phrases ; next, the order 
 and composition ; after, the reason and arguments ; 
 then, the forms and figures of both the tongues ; lastly, 
 the measure and compass of every sentence, must needs, 
 by little and little, draw unto it the like shape of elo- 
 quence as the author doth use, which is read. And thus 
 much for double translation." 
 
 Regarding the construction of sentences, according to 
 it 3 
 
368 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 a hint from Cicero Be Oratore, he says : " First, let him 
 teach the child cheerfully and plainly the cause and 
 matter of the letter ; then let him construe it into English 
 so oft, as the child may easily carry away the understand- 
 ing of it ; lastly, parse it over perfectly. Tins done 
 thus, let the child, hy-and-hy, hoth construe and parse it 
 over again, so that it may appear that the child douhteth 
 in nothing that his master taught him before. After 
 this, the child must take a paper book, and sitting in 
 some place where no man shall prompt him, by himself, 
 let him translate into English his former lesson. Then 
 showing it to his master, let the master take from him 
 his Latin book, and pausing an hour at the least, then 
 let the child translate his own English into Latin again 
 in another paper book. When the master shall compare 
 Tully's book with the scholar's translation, let the mas- 
 ter at the first lead and teach his scholar to join the 
 rules of his grammar-book with the examples of his 
 present lesson, until the scholar by himself be able to 
 fetch out of his grammar every rule for every example ; 
 so that the grammar-book be ever in the scholar's hand, 
 and also used of him as a dictionary for every present 
 use." 
 
 In the reign of Charles the First, a reformation had 
 also commenced ; and in the year 1641, Amos Comenius, 
 a " man born for such purposes," was appointed to 
 superintend the work of improvement ; but the troubles 
 of that stormy period overthrew the design. A few years 
 later appeared Milton, whose genius was also directed to 
 the same end ; and in his famous letter to Mr. Hartlib, 
 written in the year 1650, are the following sentences : — 
 
 " And seeing every nation affords not experience and 
 tradition enough for all kinds of learning, therefore we 
 are chiefly taught the languages of those people who 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 369 
 
 have at any time been most industrious after wisdom ; 
 so that language is but the instrument conveying to us 
 things useful to be known. And though a linguist 
 should pride himself to have all the tongues that Babel 
 cleft the world into, yet, if he have not studied the solid 
 things in them, as well as the words and lexicons, he 
 were nothing so much to be esteemed a learned man as a 
 yeoman or tradesman competently wise in his mother 
 dialect only. Hence appear the many mistakes which 
 have made learning generally so unpleasing and so 
 unsuccessful. First, we do amiss to spend seven or 
 eight years, merely in scraping together so much mise- 
 rable Latin and Greek as might be learned otherwise 
 easily and delightfully in one year. And that which 
 casts our proficiency therein so much behind, is our 
 time lost partly in too oft idle vacancies given both to 
 schools and universities, partly in a preposterous exac- 
 tion, forcing the empty wits of children to compose 
 themes, verses, and orations, which are the acts of ripest 
 judgment, and the final work of a head filled, by long 
 reading and observing, with elegant maxims and copious 
 invention. These are not matters to be wrung from 
 poor striplings like blood out of the nose, or the plucking 
 of untimely fruit. Besides the ill habit which they get 
 of wretched barbarising against the Latin and Greek 
 idiom, with their untutored Anglicisms, odious to be 
 read, yet not to be avoided without a well- continued and 
 judicious conversing among pure authors digested, which 
 they scarce taste; whereas, if after some preparatory 
 grounds of speech by their certain forms got into memory, 
 they were led to the praxis thereof in some chosen short 
 book lessoned thoroughly to them, they might then forth- 
 with proceed to learn the substance of good things, and 
 arts in due order, which would bring the whole language 
 
370 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 quickly into their power. This I take to be the most 
 rational and most profitable way of learning languages, 
 and whereby we may best hope to give account to God 
 of our youth spent herein. " 
 
 All the authority of Locke, a few years after Milton, 
 is to the same effect. — " When I consider what ado is 
 made about a little Latin and Greek, how many years are 
 spent in it, and what a noise and business it makes to 
 no purpose, I can hardly forbear thinking that the 
 parents of children still live in fear of the schoolmaster's 
 rod, which they look upon as the only instrument of 
 education ; as a language or two to be its whole busi- 
 ness. How else is it possible that a child should be 
 chained to the oar seven, eight, or ten of the best years 
 of his life, to get a language or two, which I think might 
 be had at a great deal cheaper rate of pains and time, 
 and be learned almost in playing ! 
 
 " As soon as he can speak English, it is time for him 
 to learn some other language. This nobody doubts of 
 when French is proposed; and the reason is, because 
 people are accustomed to the right way of teaching that 
 language, which is by talking it into children in constant 
 conversation, and not by grammatical rules. The Latin 
 tongue would easily be taught the same way if his tutor 
 being constantly with him, would talk nothing else to 
 him, and make him answer still in the same language." 
 
 " But if such a man cannot be got, who speaks good 
 Latin, and, being able to instruct your son in these parts 
 of knowledge, will undertake it by this method ; the 
 next best is to have him taught as near this way as may 
 be, which is by taking some easy and pleasant book, 
 such as iEsop's Fables, and write the English translation 
 (made as literal as it can be) in one line, and the Latin 
 words which answer each of them, just over it in another. 
 
FHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 371 
 
 These let him read every day over and over again, till he 
 perfectly understands the Latin ; and then go on to 
 another fable, till he he also perfect in that, not omitting 
 what he is already perfect in, hut sometimes reviewing 
 that to keep it in his memory. And when he comes to 
 write, let these he set him for copies, which with the 
 exercise of his hand, will also advance him in Latin. 
 This being a more imperfect way than by talking Latin 
 unto him, the formation of the verbs first, and afterwards 
 the declensions of the nouns and pronouns perfectly 
 learned by heart, may facilitate his acquaintance with the 
 genius and manner of the Latin tongue, which varies the 
 signification of verbs and nouns, not as the modern 
 languages do, by particles prefixed, but by changing the 
 last syllables. More than this of grammar I think he 
 need not have, till he can read, himself, Sanctii Minerva, 
 with Scioppius and Perizonius's notes." 
 
 One or two fragments from a paper by Richard Carew, 
 Esquire, in answer to the question, " Whether the ordi- 
 nary way of teaching Latin, by the rules of grammar, be 
 the best ? " convey the same opinions as the preceding. 
 
 " Being sent into France, that there I might learn the 
 French tongue, which language, though it seemed very 
 hard to me in the beginning, because mine ignorance 
 made me unable to distinguish one word from another^ 
 and so imagine that those people used to talk much 
 faster than we did, in a little time, when by often hearing 
 their talk I began to discern the distance of one word 
 from another, I found they used to talk rather more 
 deliberately than we do ; and so by reading and talking, 
 I learned more French in three-quarters of a year, than 
 I had done Latin in above thirteen ; wherein, though I 
 will not deny, but the use of my Latin Grammar did 
 something help me to make me the better apprehend the 
 
372 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 coherence of speech, yet I have ever since conceived, upon 
 my learning by practice, that usual talking and much 
 writing and reading, open a surer and readier way to attain 
 any tongue, than the tedious course which is used in the 
 Latin, by construing and parsing according to the rules 
 of grammar, in observing of the number, gender, case, 
 and declension of all variable words ; partly, because so 
 much time is spent in the declination of every word, 
 according to the forms set down in the grammar; and 
 partly, in the overloading of the weak wits of youths 
 with such a multitude of ordinary rules, and such a 
 world of exception in particular words, as are acknow- 
 ledged to differ from the general rules, as is able to con- 
 found both the memory and understanding of men of 
 years. 
 
 " I could wish, therefore, that when children are first 
 taught the grammar, instead of that they were employed 
 in much reading and writing, and turning their Latin 
 books into English, and returning the same back again 
 into Latin, whereby they should, in that wasted time of 
 their youth, gain the knowledge of many good authors, 
 which they could not have time to read ; and which, by 
 their dulness in learning the rules of grammar, they are 
 so tired with the difficulty thereof, that they conceive an 
 impossibility ever to attain it, and so quit it, though 
 they prove men of excellent understanding when they 
 come to ripeness of age. And the help prescribed by 
 the grammar rules, how to put the nominative case 
 before the verb, the accusative after, and to join the 
 substantive with the adjective, and the ordering of every 
 word according to our English fashion, may be more 
 easily directed by placing figures of number to express 
 their order." 
 
 Of Cowley it is said : >f I find that our countryman 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 373 
 
 Mr. Cowley, who learned nothing while a boy that he 
 needed to forget when he came to be a man, could never 
 be brought to retain the ordinary rules of grammar, but 
 conversed with the books themselves whence those rules 
 were drawn : and that, no doubt, was the better way. 
 He afterwards found this benefit by it, that having got 
 the Greek and Latin languages, as he had done his 
 own, not by precept but use, he practised them not as a 
 scholar, but as a native." 
 
 Nor less was the same principle appreciated and acted 
 upon by many celebrated French scholars. The Abbot 
 Calcavi, a learned Frenchman, and library-keeper to 
 Louis XIV., was taught by the same method, and ac- 
 quired an astonishing proficiency as a linguist when but 
 a boy. 
 
 Montaigne in his Essays relates the course his father 
 adopted in his education. After " having sought among 
 the wisest men of the age for a shorter method of teaching 
 than that universally received in schools," he engaged a 
 man to teach him colloquially ; from his progress under 
 which mode he soon acquired " as pure a Latin style as 
 any master could speak." 
 
 In an account of the education of the Dauphin, son to 
 Louis XIV., by the famous M. Bossuet, Bishop of 
 Meaux, his preceptor, contained in a letter to Pope 
 Innocent XL, it is said : — 
 
 " We need not be long upon the method of his gram- 
 mar-learning. We endeavoured to teach him the Latin 
 and French tongues both together, first of all their pro- 
 priety, then their elegance. We relieved the tediousness 
 of this part of learning by convincing him of the useful- 
 ness of it, and by forming the knowledge of things with 
 that of words, so far as his age would admit." 
 
 The same principles are also recognised in a treatise 
 
374 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 on the " Method of Teaching the Learned Languages," 
 by Tanaquil Faber, Professor of Greek and Latin in the 
 university of Saumur about 1660. M. Faber was the 
 father of the famous Madame Dacier, well known for 
 her commentaries on so many Greek and Latin authors ; 
 and it was by the method detailed in this treatise that he 
 conducted those studies in which she displayed so great 
 a proficiency, both in infancy and mature years. 
 
 On the whole, then, such evidence as that adduced 
 in the preceding pages, ought surely to inspire some 
 degree of conviction that the present mode of con- 
 ducting a classical education is based upon a wrong 
 practice, induced by indolence; and that the adoption of 
 a method of oral or interlinear translation, with simply 
 reading and being exercised upon the grammar at an 
 advanced stage, would be a return to those principles 
 laid down by the founders of endowed English schools, 
 and in harmony with the opinions of some of the most 
 learned men of the last three centuries. 
 
 In bringing these remarks to a close, I shall but add 
 a single word regarding the time necessary for such a 
 course of study. Of late, so great has been the rage for 
 every kind of novelty, and so multitudinous the means 
 resorted to in order to gratify this diseased state of the 
 public mind, that thinking people naturally regard with a 
 degree of scepticism, auy innovation upon an established 
 order of things. That the teaching of languages by a 
 shorter method has also been taken advantage of, for this 
 purpose, by the empiric and the charlatan, is what cannot 
 be denied. One hears every day of French, Italian, &c, 
 being taught in " five lessons," and in " four months," and 
 so on ; pretensions that carry an absurdity in their very 
 announcement ; and it is the failure of such mushroom 
 systems that compels people to fall back upon the anti- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 375 
 
 quated mode. I do not say, however, that any, or indeed 
 all of these plans are not preferable to the popular 
 mode; many of them seem to he good; hut how much 
 French can any one acquire in "five lessons," unless 
 these he of the most Brobdignagian dimensions, or even 
 in " four months," at two hours a-week ? Yet every one 
 of any penetration may see, that some remedy ought to 
 be applied to abridge the term of study, at present deemed 
 necessary to obtain a knowledge of languages. 
 
 It seems, therefore, the more prudent course to refrain 
 from expressing an opinion m the case, and merely to 
 recapitulate a few sentences from some of the authoiities 
 already adduced, with others bearing upon the same 
 point, from whose opinions few persons of candour will 
 dissent. 
 
 Making some little abatement for the peculiar circum- 
 stances of Eoger Ascham, tutor to Queen Elizabeth, in 
 speaking of the attainments of that learned princess, he 
 says : " In the space of a year or two she attained to 
 such a perfection in understanding both Latin and Greek, 
 and to such a ready utterance of the Latin, and that with 
 a judgment as they be few in number in both universities, 
 or elsewhere in England, that be in both tongues com- 
 parable to her Majesty." 
 
 He also mentions a young gentlemen of his acquaint- 
 ance, who, by the plan described, "in eight months, was 
 able to translate English into Latin, so choicely, so 
 orderly, so without any great miss in the hardest points 
 of grammar, that some seven years in grammar schools, 
 yea, and some in the university, cannot do half so well." 
 
 Locke says, " Whatever stir there is made about getting 
 of Latin, as the great and difficult business, (of a boy's 
 education,) his mother may teach it him herself, if she 
 will spend two or three hours a dav with him." 
 
76 PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 
 
 And the words of Milton, which serve as a motto to 
 the books on the " Locke system," are to the following 
 effect — " We do amiss to spend seven or eight years 
 merely in scraping together so much miserable Latin and 
 Greek, as might be learned otherwise, easily and delight- 
 fully in one year." 
 
 M. Tanaquil Faber gives his opinion in these words : 
 " Thus much I will be bold to say, that youth may be 
 instructed in such a method, as to be deemed men and 
 scholars at those earlier years ; when others, educated in 
 the common road, deserve only the name of school-boys " 
 
 In a treatise entitled, " Examen de la maniere d'En- 
 seigner le Latin aux Enfans par le seul usage, a Paris 
 chez Jean Baptiste Corgnior, 1668," an example is 
 inserted of a boy in Paris, who learned to speak Latin by 
 " use alone," and could express himself properly on any 
 subject, suitable to his tender age, when but four years 
 old. 
 
 In a tract, published by J. T. Phillips, one of the 
 masters at Westminster, about ] 720, dedicated to the 
 Duke of Buckingham, he says, " I am very well assured, 
 if the Latin Testament was published with a literal Eng- 
 lish translation interlined, men of business, who have any 
 time to spare, if they would but spend a week or a fort- 
 night to learn their verbs and nouns, may in a shorter 
 time than I dare express here, attain to the understand- 
 ing of any Latin author in prose." 
 
 In the letter of the Bishop of Meaux to the pope 
 regarding his pupil the Dauphin, it is said, "We were so 
 happy in this method, that when he was little more than 
 a child, he understood the best Latin authors, and was 
 seldom at a loss where they were most difficult." 
 
 The Abbot Oalcavi "was well skilled in nine languages 
 when but thirteen years of age!' 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING. 377 
 
 Montaigne describing his progress under a colloquial 
 master, says, " And as for myself, I was above six years 
 old, and could understand no more French than Arabic, 
 but without rule or grammar I had gotten as pure a Latin 
 style as any master could speak." 
 
 It would be no difficult matter to multiply authorities 
 of inferior note on this point, but I shall conclude with 
 the mention of one illustrious individual, whose statue 
 occupies a niche in St. Paul's among other memorials 
 of the departed great ; and how much he was indebted 
 for obtaining that honourable rank in the memory 
 of his countrymen to this very plan, it would be rash 
 to say; but that his rapid attainment of so many ori- 
 ental tongues, so astonishing to every one, was entirely 
 owing to this mode of " double translation," he himself 
 admits. The late accomplished oriental scholar, Sir 
 William Jones, here alluded to, said, that " he considered 
 a course of six months study by the mode he practised, a 
 sufficient length of time to acquire a thorough know- 
 ledge of any language." 
 
 To these testimonials, therefore, in favour of some 
 more abbreviated mode of teaching the classics than 
 that in popular use, I would, in conclusion, beg to 
 call the attention of all such as still deem a knowledge 
 of them an indispensable element in a course of liberal 
 education. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 BLACKBURN AND PARDON, PRINTERS, 
 
 HATTON GARDEN. 
 
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