His tuition, therefore, cannot be supposed to terminate at any period of his terrestrial existence; and the course of his life ought to be considered as nothing more than the course of his education. When he closes his eyes in death, and bids a last adieu to every thing here below, he passes into a more permanent and expansive sphere of existence, where his education will likewise be progressive, and where intelligences of a higher order may be his instructors; and the education he received in this transitory scene, if it was properly conducted, will form the groundwork of all his future progressions in knowledge and virtue throughout the succeeding periods of eternity.

There are two very glaring defects which appear in most of our treatises on education. In the first place, the moral tuition of youthful minds, and the grand principles of religion which ought to direct their views and conduct, are either entirely overlooked, or treated of in so vague and general a manner, as to induce a belief that they are considered as matters of very inferior moment; and, in the business of teaching, and the superintendence of the young, the moral precepts of Christianity are seldom made to bear, with particularity, upon every malignant affection that manifests itself, and every minor delinquency that appears in their conduct -or to direct the benevolent affections how to operate in every given circumstance, and in all their intercourses and associations. In the next place, the idea that man is a being destined to an immortal existence, is almost, if not altogether overlooked. Volumes have been written on the best modes of training men for the profession of a soldier, of a naval officer, of a merchant, of a physician, of a lawyer, of a clergyman, and of a statesman; but I know of no treatise on this subject which, in connection with other subordinate aims, has for its grand object to develop that train of instruction which is most appropriate for man considered as a candidate for immortality. This is the more unaccountable, since, in the works alluded to, the eternal destiny of human beings is not called in question, and is sometimes referred to as a general position which cannot be denied-yet the means of instruction requisite to guide them in safety to their final destination, and to prepare them for the employments of their everlasting abode, are either overlooked, or referred to in general terms, as if they were unworthy of particular consideration. To admit the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul, and yet leave out the consideration of it, in a system of mental instruction, is both impious and preposterous, and inconsistent with the principle on which we generally act in other cases, which requires, that affairs of the greatest moment should occupy our chief attention. If man is

only a transitory inhabitant of this lower world, if he is journeying to another and more important scene of action and enjoyment, if his abode in this higher scene is to be permanent and eternal, and if the course of instruction through which he now passes has an important bearing on his happiness in that state, and his preparations for its employments-every system of education must be glaringly defective which either overlooks, or throws into the shade, the immortal destination of human beings.

If these sentiments be admitted as just, the education of the young must be a subject of the highest importance—and there cannot be an object more interesting to Science, to Religion, and to general Christian society, than the forming of those arrangements, and the establishing of those institutions, which are calculated to train the minds of all ranks to knowledge and moral rectitude, and to guide their steps in the path which leads to a blessed immortality. In this process there is no period of human life that ought to be overlooked-we must begin the work of instruction when the first dawning of reason begins to appear, and continue the process through all the succeeding periods of mortal existence, till the spirit takes its flight to the world unknown.

In the following cursory observations, I shall, in the first place, offer a few general remarks on the proper training of the young during the earlier stages of life, and afterwards illustrate some of the modes of instruction which may be proper to be adopted in the more advanced stages of human existence. It may be proper, however, to premise, that I have no intention of presenting to the reader a detailed system of education, but only a few general hints in reference to the outlines of this important subject, and to the principles on which a system of rational tuition ought to be conducted.

SECTION I.-On the Education of the Young during the period of Infancy.

At the moment a child is ushered into the world, and first draws into its lungs the atmospheric air, it may be said to commence its education. What its sensations are, when it has emerged from the watery fluid with which it was surrounded, and inhales this new element, it is impossible to determine; but from the sounds which it utters, we may reasonably conjecture that they are attended with pain. It struggles and cries-hunger produces an uneasy sensation-it feels a want-that feeling opens its lips, and makes it seize and greedily suck the nourishing breast of its mother. At this period its eyes are generally dull and languid; it seems to keep them fixed and idle; they want that lustre which

they afterwards acquire; and if they happen to move, it is rather an accidental gave, than an exertion of the faculty of seeing. But, after some months have elapsed, its vision becomes distinct, its organs are fortified, and it becomes susceptible of various impressions from surrounding objects. Then the senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling, begin to act with a certain degree of vigour; all the avenues to the mind are throw open; the objects of nature and art rush in crowds to their respective organs of sensation, and engrave an indefinite assemblage of ideas upon the mind, though perhaps with a certain degree of irregularity and confusion. In this first stage of existence, the various sensations it feels, and the multifarious external objects it perceives, may be considered as so many instructors conveying the rudiments of knowledge to the infant mind.

As the infant advances in its new career, multitudes of objects of various descriptions begin to solicit its attention. A thousand sounds, of different degrees of intensity, and variously modified, strike its ears, producing various indescribable emotions; a thousand visible objects of diversified forms and colours present themselves to its visual organs, producing pleasure or pain, desire or aversion. By insensible degrees it learns to see and to hear-to mark the difference between one sound and another, and between one object of vision and another-to distinguish the form and countenance of its mother from those of other individuals, and to take an interest in some of the objects which compose the surrounding scene. Being uniformly struck with the same sensations and emotions in the presence of the same objects, its memory begins to be exercised, and it acquires a more accurate idea, and a more distinct remembrance of them, in proportion to the frequency with which these objects are presented to view. Its body, in the mean time, gradually expands, and becomes more firm, vigorous, and alert. It crawls along the nursery or parlour, below tables and chairs, examining every object that falls in its way, and appears delighted in exerting its muscular powers. It tries to stand erect, and at length to walk; it tumbles and rolls on the floor, uttering screams of pain and disappointment. Numberless and repeated falls lead to more caution, and teach it to endeavour to preserve the equilibrium of its body, and to stand firmly on its legs; and the more frequent and painful the falls, the more instructive they prove, to teach it to balance its body, and to walk with adroitness and ease. Having acquired, after repeated exertions, a certain firmness of step, it runs from one place to another, eagerly intent upon new objects and pursuits, and feeling a delight in proportion as the range of its perceptions is increased. It tries to climb a

stair, and, after repeated efforts, and exertions of hands and feet, succeeds in the attempt; but, when arrived at the top, and wishing to descend, it looks down to the bottom, and, remembering the falls it formerly experienced, feels a sense of danger, and screams for assistance.

The child (whom we shall now distinguish by the masculine pronoun) now runs about through the garden or in the fields, and perceives a variety of objects and operations. He sees a stone thrown into the water, and sink to the bottom; he sees a piece of wood or the leaf of a tree fall into the same water, and yet float on the surface; he amuses himself with numberless experiments of this kind, and from these he gradually acquires his first ideas of the specific gravity of bodies. If he take the stone and the wood out of the water, and by chance they fall upon his feet, he learns that the heavier body falls with more force than the lighter, from the unequal degree of pain occasioned by the fall, and has his mind impressed with the idea of their unequal hardness and weight. He strikes a table with a stick, and soon after, a pane of window-glass with the same weapon; he perceives the glass broken to shivers, while the table remains as before, and thus learns the difference between substances that are hard, and those that are brittle, and that some bodies are broken with a blow which others can resist. He views with pleasure a brilliant light, and ventures to put his fingers to the blazing hearth, or to the flame of a candle, but feels a sudden sensation of acute pain, which warns him of the danger of using too much familiarity with fire, notwithstanding its alluring aspect. He sees a cow, a dog, or a cat, and is told its name, and, after frequent repetitions, he learns to connect the sound with the object which it is intended to represent. He sees a horse walking along a road, and afterwards its figure as represented in an engraving, and soon learns to recognise the resemblance of the one to the other. In short, every person with whom he is acquainted, every individual object of which he becomes fond-his rattles and his bells, his drums and his whistles, his little coaches and his jumping Jacks, may all be considered as so many instructors conveying lessons to his opening mind. In acquiring the information such objects are calculated to afford, repeated exertions of the understanding must necessarily be made. The knowledge of any particular object, as to its powers and qualities, cannot be supposed to be attained without an effort similar to that which an adult person must exert, when investigating the laws of Nature, and the general economy of the universe. For, every thing a child sees or hears, in the first instance, all the marks and characters of Nature, and

the qualities and operations of surrounding objects, are as much unknown to him as the sciences of Philology, Mathematics and Astronomy, to the untutored savage; and, consequently, require a certain degree of attention and reasoning before the knowledge of them can be acquired.

The little student, however, prosecutes his observations and studies with apparent pleasure, and with evident marks of industry, and soon acquires pretty correct notions of the nature and relations both of the inanimate and of the living world. He learns to correct the illusions to which he was at first exposedto distinguish one object from another, and to exert his memory so as to know them again, and to recognise their general forms and qualities. It is amazing what a degree of knowledge a child has thus acquired before he arrives at the age of two years, or even twenty months. By this time he has made a thousand experiments on an indefinite variety of objects, all which he has arranged in his mind, and distinctly remembers. Light and heat, the properties of fire and flame, of water and air, the laws of projectiles and moving bodies, things sweet and bitter, soft and hard, rough and smooth, articulate sounds and the objects they denote, sounds soft or loud, agreeable or terrible; horses, cattle, dogs, asses, sheep, ducks, birds, butterflies, beetles, worms, the clouds, the sun, moon, stars, and numerous other objects—are all distinguished, and many of their properties and relations indelibly imprinted on the mind. He has acquired more real knowledge during this short period, than he generally does, on the present plan of instruction, throughout the eight or ten succeeding years of his life; and it is a striking instance of the Benevolence of the Creator, and a prelude of the vast extent of knowledge he is afterwards capable of acquiring, that all these acquisitions are not only made without pain, but, in the greater number of instances, are accompanied with the highest pleasure and enjoyment.

In the process of instruction, now described, during the first two years of human existence, although Nature is the principal instructress, yet she frequently requires to be guided by the hand of Art; and much is left to the judicious attentions of parents and guardians, that her benevolent designs may not be thwarted, and that her efforts may be conducted to their proper ends. In throwing out a few hints on this point, our remarks may be arranged under the following heads-Physical, Moral, and Inteliectual Education.