'• 1 One fmgle perfon of reputation fome-
1! i times, as beneca obferves, and he himfelf
'i ! is an inftance of it, who by his eminent
â– i I qualifications (hall have acquired the efteem
' of the public, may fuffice to introduce this
â– ) i bad talte and corrupt ftyle. Whilft moved
'â– iby a fecret ambition, a man of this cha-
rafter ftrives to diftinguilh himfelf from
' 1 the reft of the orators and writers of his
I age, and to open a new path, where he
:, thinks it better to march alone at the head
i ! of his new difciples, than follow at the heels
of the old mafters ; whilft he prefers the
" : reputation of wit to that of folidity, purfues
what is bright rather than what is folid,
and fets the marvellous above the natural
and true ; whilft he choofes rather to apply
to the fancy than to the judgment, to daz-
I zle reafon than convince it, to furprife the
hearer into an approbation, rather than de-
ferve it ; and by a kind of delufion and foft
enchantment carry otr the admiration and
applaufes of fuperficial minds (and fuch the
I multitude always are), other writers feduced
by the charms of novelty, and the hopes of
a like fuccefs, will fuffer themfelves infen-
i fibly to be hurried down the ftream, and add
I ftrength to it by following it. And thus the
old tafte, though better in itfelf, (hall give
way to the new one without redrefs, which
(hall prefently aflume the force of a law, and
draw a whole nation after it.
This fhould awaken the diligence of the
mafters in the univeriity, to prevent and
hinder, as much as in them lies, the ruin
j of good tafte; and as they are entrufted
with the public inftruftion of youth, they
fiiould look upon this care as an effential
part of their duty. The cuftoms, manners,
and laws of the ancients have changed ; they
are often oppofite to our way of life, and
the ufages that prevail amongft us ; and the
knowledge of them may be therefore lefs ne-
ceflary for us. Their aftions are gone and
cannot return ; great events have had their
courfe without any reafoa left for us to ex-
ped the like; and the revolutions of ftates
and empires have perhaps very little relation
to their prefent fituation and wants, anid
therefore become of lefs concern to us. But
good tafte, which is grounded upon immu-
table principles, is always the fame in ever/
age; and it is the principal advantage that
young perfons Ihould be taught to obtain
from reading of ancient authors, who have
ever been looked upon with reafon as the
mafters, depofitories, and guardians of
found eloquence and good tafte. In fine,
of all that may any wife contribute to the
cultivating the mind, we may truly fay this
is the moft effential part, and what ought
to be preferred before all others.
This good tafte is not confined to litera-
ture; it takes in alfo, as we have already
fuggefled, all arts and fciences, and branches
of knowledge. It conftfts therefore in a cer-
tain juft and exaddifcernment, which points
out to us, in each of the fciences and
branches of knowledge, whatever is mofl
curious, beautiful, and ufeful, whatever is
moft efl'ential, fuitable, or neceffary to thofe
who apply to it ; how far confequently we
fhould carry the ftudy of it ; what ought to
be removed from it ; what deferves a parti-
cular application and preference before the
reft. For want of this difcernment, a man
may fall fhort of the moft effential part of
his profeffion, without perceiving it ; nor is
the cafe fo rare as one might imagine. An
inftance taken from the Cyropaedia of Xeno-
phon will fet the matter in a clear light.
The young Cyrus, fon of Cambyfes
King of Perfia, had long been under the
tuition of a mafter in the art of war, who
was without doubt a perfon of the greatdt
abilities and beft reputation in his time.
One day, as Cambyfes was difcourfing with
his fon, he took occafion to mention his
mafter, whom the young Prince had in great
veneration, and from whom he pretended
he had learnt in general whatever was necef-
fary for the command of an army. Has
your mafter, fays Cambyfes, given you an/
ledures of Oiconomy ; that is, has he taught
you how to provide your troops with necef-
faries, to fupply them with provifions, to
prevent the diftempers that are incident to
them, to cure them when they are fick, to
ftrengthen their bodies by frequent exerclfe,
to raife emulation among them, how to
make yourfelf obeyed, efteemed, and be-
loved by them ? Upon all thefe points, an-
fwered Cyrus, and feveral others the King
ran over to him, he has not fpoke one word,
and they are all new to me. And what has
K e 4- he
424
ELEGANT EXTRACTS,
Book II.
he taught you then ? To exercife my arms,
replies the young Prince, to ride, to draw
the bow, to caft a fpear, to form a camp,
to draw the plan of a fortification, to range
my troops in order of battle, to make a
review, to fee that they march, file oiF,
and encamp. Cambyfes fmiled, and let his
fon fee that he had learnt nothing of what
was moft eflential to the making of a good
officer, and an able general ; and taught
him far more in one ccnverfation, which
certainly deferves well to be ftudied by
young gentlemen th^i are defigned for the
army, than his famous mafter had done in
va'tty years.
Every profeflion is liable to the fame in-
convenience, either Irom our not being fuf-
ficientlj attentive to the principal end we
fliould have in view in our applications to
it, or from taking cuftom for our guide,
and blindly following the footfteps of
others, who have gone before us. There
is nothing more ufeful than the knowledge
of hiftory. Eut if we reft fatisfied in load-
ing our memory with a multitude of faits,
of no great curiofit)- or importance, if we
dwell only upon dates and difficulties in
chronology or geography, and take no
pains to get acouainied with the genius,
manners, and chancers of the great men
we read of, we fhall have learnt a great
deal, and knew but very little. A treatife
of rhetoric may be extenfive, enter into a
long detail of precept, define very exaftly
every trope and figure, explain well their
differences, and largely treat fuch queftions
as were warmly debated by the rhetoricians
of old ; and with all this be very like that
difcourfe of rhetoric Tully fpeaks of, which
was only fit to teach people not to fpeak at
all, or not to the purpofe. Scripftt artem
rhetorkam clea?ithes, fed Jic, ut, Ji quh ob-
mutefcere con cupier it ,â– .nihil aliiid legere debeat.
In philofophy one might fpend abundance
of time in knotty and abllrufe difputes, and
even learn a great many fine and curious
things, and at the fame time negledl the
cfTential part of the fiady, which is to
form the judgment and direft the manners.
In a word, the moft neceflary qualifica-
tion, not only in the art of fpeaking and
the fciences, but in the whole conduft of
our life, is that tafte, prudence, and dif-
cretion, which, upon all fubjefts, and on
every occaficn, teaches us what we fhould
do, and how to do it. Illud dicere fatis
habeo, nihil ejfe, 72o?i modo in oraiido, fed in
omni ^iia, prius canftlio,
Rollitt.
§ 233. A chfflcal cont rafted ivith a fa-
fhionable Education.
However widely the thinking part of
mankind may have differed as to the pro-
per mode of conducting education, they
have always been unanimous in their opi-
nion of its importance. The outward effefts
of it are obferved by the moft inattentive.
They know that the cloijon and the dancing-
mafter are the fame from the hand of na-
ture; and, although a little farther reflec-
tion is requifite to perceive the effefts of
culture on the internal fenfes, it cannot
be difputed, that the mind, like the body,
when arrived at firinnefs and maturity,
retains the impreffions it received in a more
pliant and tender age.
The greateft part of mankind, born to
labour for their fubfiftence,- are fixed in
habits of induftry by the iron hand of ne-
ceffity. They have little time or opportu-
nity for the cultivation of the underftand-
ing ; the errors and immoralities in their
conduct, that flow from the want of thofe
fentiments which education is intended to
produce,, will, on that account, meet with
indulgence from every benevolent mind.
But thofe who are placed in a confpicuous
ftation, whofe vices become more compli-
cated and deftrudive, by the abufe of
knowledge, and the mifapplication of im-
proved talents, have no title to the fame
indulgence. Their guilt is heightened by
the rank and fortune which protect them
from punifhment, and which, in fome de-
gree, preferve them from that infamy their
conduft has merited.
I hold it, then, uncontrovertible, that the
higher the rank, the more urgent is the
necefiity for Coring the mind with the prin-
ciples, and direfling the paflions to the â–
practice, of public and private virtue.
Perhaps it might not be impofhble to form
plans of education, to lay down rules, and
contrive inftitutions, for the inftruftion of
youth of all ranks, that would have a ge-
neral influence upon manners. But this is
an attempt, too arduous for a private hand ;
it can be expefted only from the great coun-
cil of the nation, when they fhall be pleafed
to apply their experienced wifdom and pe-
netration to fo material an objed, which,
in fome future period, may be found not
lefs deferving their attention than thofe
important debates in which they are fre-
quently engaged, which they condud: with
an elegance, a decorum, and a public fpi-.
rit, beconung the incorrupted, difinterefted,.
virtuous-
Book II. CLASSICAL AND HISTORICAL.
virtuous reprefentatives of a great and flou-
riihin^ people.
While in expeftation of this, perhaps
diftant, aera, I hope it will not be unaccept-
able to my readers to fuggeft fome hints
that may be ufeful in the education of the
gentleman, to try if it be not poffible to
form an alliance between the virtues and
the graces, the man and the citizen, and
produce a being lefs dilhonourable to the
Ipecies than the courtier of Lord Chejier-
feld, and more ufeful to fociety than the
{zvdigt oi RouJJeau.
The fagacious Locke^ toward the end of
the laft century, gave to the Public fome
thoughts on education, the general merit of
which leaves room to regret that he did not
find time, as he feemed once to have intend-
ed, to revife what he had written, and
give a complete treatife on the fubjeft.
But, with all the veneration I feel for that
great man, and all the refpeft that is due
to him, I cannot help being of opinion, that
fome of his obfervations have laid the foun-
dation of that defeftive fyftem of educa-
tion, the fatal confequences of which are
fo well defcribed by my corrrefpondent in
the letter publifhed in my Fourth Number.
Mr, Locke, fenfible of the labyrinth with
which the pedantry of the Icr.rned had fur-
rounded all the avenues to fcience, fuccefs-
fuUy employed the ftrength of his genius to
trace knowledge to her fource, and point
out the direft road to fucceeding genera-
tions. Difgufted with the fchoolraen, he,
from a prejudice to which even great minds
are liable, feems to have contraded a dif-
like to every thing they taught, and even
to the languages in which they wrote. He
fcruples not to fpeak of grammar as unne-
cefTary to the perfeft knowledge either of
the dead or living languages, and to affirm,
that a part of the years thrown away in
the ftudy of Greek and Latin, would be
better employed in learning the trades of
gardeners and turners ; as if it were a fitter
and more ufeful recreation for a gentleman
to plant potatoes, and to make chefs-boards,
and fnufF-boxes, than to ftudy the beauties
of Cicero and Homer.
It will be allowed by all, that the great
purpofe of education is to form the man and
the citizen, that he may be virtuous, happy
in himfelf, and ufeful to fociety. To at-
tain this end, his education fliould begin,
as it were, from his birth, and be continu-
ed till he arrive at firmnefs and maturity of
mind, as well as of body. Sincerity, truth,
juftice, and humanity are to be cultivated
from the lirft dawnings of memory and ob-
fervation. As the powers of thefe increafe,
the genius and difpoiition unfold themfelves;
it then becomes neceflary to check, in the
bud, every propenfity to folly or to vice ;
to root out every mean, feilifli, >md ungene-
rous fentiment ; to warm and animate the
heart in thepurfuit of virtue andhonour. The
experience of ages has hitherto difcovered
no furer method of giving right imprefilons
to joung minds, than by frequently exhi-
bitmg to them thofe bright examples which
hiftory affords, and, by that means, infpir-
ing; them with thofe fentiments of public and
private virtue which breathe in the writ-
ings of the fages of antiquity.
In this view, I have ever confidered the
acquifition of the dead languages as a moft
important branch in the education of a
gentleman. Not to mention that the flow-
nefs with which he acquires them, prevents
his memory from being loaded with fads
fafter than his growing reafon can compare
and diftinguifli, he becomes acquainted
by degrees with the virtuous charafters of
ancient times; he admires their juftice,
temperance, fortitude, and public fpirit,
and burns with a defire to imitate them.
The impreffions thefe have made, and the
reftraints to which he has been accuftomed,
ferve as a check to the many tumultuous
palTions which the ideas of religion alone
would, at that age, be unable to controul.
Every victory he obtains over himfelf ferves
as a new guard to virtue. When he errs,
he becouies fenfibie of his weaknefs, which,
at the fame time that it teaches him mode-
ration, and forgivencfs to others, fhows the
necefTity of keeping a ftric^er watch over
his own adions. During thefe combats,
his reafoning faculties expand, his judg-
ment ftrengthens, and, while he becomes
acquainted with the corruptions of the
world, he fixes himfelf in the praftice of
virtue.
A man thus educated, enters upon the
theatre of the world with many and great
advantages. Accuftomed to refledtion, ac-
quaintrd with human nature, the ftrength
of Adrtue, and depravity of vice, he can
trace aftions to their fource, and be en-
abled, in the affairs of life, to avail him-
felf of the wifdom and experience of paft
ages.
Very different is the modern plan of edu-
cation followed by many, efpecially with
the children of perfons in fjperlcr rank.
They are introduced into the world almoft
from their very infancy. In place of hav-
ing:
426
ELEGANT EXTRACTS,
Bock II,
ing their minds ftored with the bright ex-
amples of antiquity, or thofe of modern
times, the firft knowledge they acquire is
of the vices with which they are furround-
ed; and they learn what mankind are,
without ever knowing what they ought to
be. Pofleffed of no fentiment of virtue, of
no focial affe<?tion, they indulge, to the
utmoft of their ability, the gratification of
every felfifh appetite, without any other
reftraint than what felf-intereft dilates. In
men thus educated, youth is not the feafon
of virtue ; they have contracted the cold
indifference and all the vices of age, long
before they arrive at manhood. If they
attain to the great offices of the ftate, they
become minillers as void of knowledge
as of principle; equally regardlefs of the
national honour as oi their own, their (y(-
tem of government (if it can be called a
fyftem) looks not beyond the prefent mo-
ment, and any apparent exertions for the
public good, are meant only as props to
lupport themfelves in office. In the field,
at the head of armies, indifferent as to the
fate of their fellow-foldicrs, or of their
country, they make their power the mi-
nifler of their pleafures. If the wifdom of
their fovereign fhould, happily for himfelf
and his country, fhut them out from his
councils, (hould they be confined to a pri-
vate ftation, finding no entertainment in
their own breafls, as void of friends as in-
capable of friendfhip, they fink refledion
in a life of diffipation.
If the probable confequences of thofe
different modes of education be fuch as I
have mentioned, there can be little doubt
to which the preference belongs, even
though that wliich is preferred fhovild be
lefs conducive than its oppofite to thofe
elegant accomplifhments which decorate
fociety. But, upon examination, I believe
even this objedlion will vanifli ; for, al-
though I willingly admit, that a certain
degree of pedantry is infeparable from the
learning of the divine, the phyfician, or the
lawyer, which a late commerce with the
world is unable to wear off, yet learning
is in no refped inconfiftent, either with
that graceful eafe and elegance of ad-
drefs peculiar to men of faihion, or with
what, in modern phrafe, is called know-
ledge of the world. The man of fuperior
accomplifhments will, indeed, be indiffe-
rent about many things which are the chief
objefts of attention to the modern fine gentle-
man. To conform to all the minute changes
of the mode, to be admired for the gaudi-
2
nefs of his equipage, to boafl of his fuccefs
in intrigue, or publifh favours he never
received, will to him appear frivolous and
difhonourable.
As many of the bad effefts of the prefent
fyftem of education may be attributed to a
premature introduftion into the world, I
fhall conclude this paper, by reminding
tliofe parents and guardians, who are fo
anxious to bring their children and pupils
early into public life, that one of the fineft
gentlemen, the brighteft geniufes, the moll
ufeful and bett-informcd citizens of which
antiquity has left us an example, did not
think himfelf qualified to appear in public
till the age of twenty-fix, and continued
his ftudies for fome years after, under the
eminent teachers of Greece and Rome.
Mirror.
§ 234. Defence of literary Studies and Ainvfe-
ments m Men of Bujinefs.
Among the cautions which prudence and
worldly wii'dom inculcate on the young, or
at leafi among thofe fober truths which ex-
perience often pretends to have acquired, is
that danger which is faid to refult from the
purfuit of letters and of fcience, in men
deftined for the labours of bufinefs, for the
aflive exertions of profeffional life. The
abftraffion of learning, the fpeculations of
fcience, and the vifionary excurfions of
fancy, are fatal, it is faid, to the fteady pur-
fuit of common objefts, to the habits of
plodding induflry which ordinary bufinefs
demands. The finenefs of mind, which is
created or increafed by the ftudy of letters,
or the admiration of the arts, is fuppofed to
incapacitate a man for the drudgery by
which profeffional eminence is gained ; as a
nicely-tempered edge applied to a coarfe and
rugged material, is unable to perform what
a more common inflrument would have fuc-
cefsfully atchicved. A yoiing man deftined
for law or commerce is advifed to look only
into his folio of precedents, or his method
of book-keeping ; and Dullnefs is pointed to
his homage, as that benevolent goddefs,
under whofe protection the honours of fta-
tion, and the bleflings of opulence, are to
be attained ; while Learning and Genius are
profcribed, as leading their votaries to bar-
ren indigence and merited negleft. In
doubting the truth of thefe affertions, I
think I fhall not entertain any hurtful degree
of fcepticifm, bccaufe the general current of
opinion feems of late years to have fet too
ftrongly in the contrary direftion ; and one
may endeavour to prop the falling caufe of
litera-
BookII. classical AND HISTORICAL
427
literature, without being accufed of blame-
able or dangerous partiality.
In the examples which memory and ex-
perience produce, of idlonefs, of diffipation,
and of poverty, brought on by an indul-
gence of literary or poetical enthufiafm, the
adopting the common-place refledions againft
fome particular departments, it muft be al-
lowedj that in mere men of bufmefs, there
is a certain profeffional rule of right, which
is not always honourable, and though meant
to be felfifh, very feldom profits. A fupe-
evidence muft necelTarily be on one fide of rior education generally correfts this, by
n- i_ /-.r.i - r, u 1 opening the mind to diiferent motives of
aftion, to the feelings of delicacy, the fenfe
of honour, and a contempt of wealth, when
earned by a defertion of thofe principles.
The moral beauty of thofe difpofitions
may perhaps rather provoke the fmile, than
excite the imitation, of mere men of bufi-
nefs and the world. But I will venture to
tell them, that, even on their own princi-
ples, they are miftaken. The qualities which
they fometimes prefer as more calculated for
pulhing a young man's way in life, feldom
attain the end, in contemplation of which
they are not fo nice about the means. This
is Itrongly exemplified by the ill fuccefs of
many, who, from their earlieft youth, had
acquired the higheft reputation for fliarpnefs
and cunning. Thofe trickifh qualities look
the queftion only. Of the few whom learn
ing or genius have led aftray, the ill fuccefs
or the ruin is marked by the celebrity of the
fufFerer. Of the many who have been as
dull as they were profligate, and as ignorant
as they were poor, the fate is unknown from
the infignificanee of thofe by whom it was
endured. If we may reafon a priori on the
matter, the chances, I think, fhould be on
the fide of literature.
In young- minds of any vivacity, there is
a natural averfion to the drudgery of bufi-
nefs, which is feldom overcome, till the
effervefcence of youth is allayed by the pro-
grefs of time and habit, or till that very
warmth is enlifted on the fide of their pro-
feffion, by the opening profpefts of ambi-
tion or emolument. From this tyranny.
as youth conceives it, of attention and of to fmall advantages unfairly won, rather
labour, relief is commonly fought from fome
favourite avocation or amufement, for which
a young man either finds or fteals a portion
of his time, either patiently plods through
his talk, in expe(flation of its approach, or
anticipates its arrival, by deferting his work
before the legal period for amufement is ar-
rived. It may fairly be qucftioned, whe-
than to great ones honourably attained. The
direft, the open, and the candid, are the
fureft road to fuccefs in every department of
life. It needs a certain fuperior degree of
ability to perceive and to adopt this ; mean
and uninformed minds feize on corners,
which they cultivate with narrow views to
very little advantage : enlarged and well-
ther the moft innocent of thofe amufements informed minds embrace great and honour-
is either fo honourable or fo fafe, as the
avocations of learning or of fcience. Of
minds uninformed and grofs, whom youth-
ful fpirits agitate, but fancy and feeling
have no power to impel, the amufements
will generally be either boifterous or effemi-
nate, will either diffipate their attention, or
weaken their force. The employment of a
young man's vacant hours is often too little
attended to by thofe rigid mafters who exaft
the moft fcrupulous obfervance of the periods
deftined for bufinefs. The wafte of time is
undoubtedly a very calculable lofs ; but the
wafte or the depravation of mind is a lofs of
a much higher denomination. The votary
of ftudy, or the enthufiaft of fancy, may
incur the firft ; but the latter will be fuffered
chiefly by him whom ignorance, or want of
imagination, has left to the groflfnefs of
mere fenfual enjoyments.
In this, as in other refpefls, the love of
letters is friendly to fober manners and vir-
tuous conduft, which in every profeflion is
(the road to fuccefs and to refpeft, Withou?
able objects ; and if they fail of obtaining
them, are liable to none of thofe pangs
which rankle in the bofom of artifice de-
feated, or of cunning over-matched.
To the improvement of our faculties, as
well as of our principles, the love of letters
appears to be favourable. Letters require a
certain fort of application, though of a kind
perhaps very different from that which bufi-
nefs would recommend. Granting that they
are unprofitable in themfelves, as that word
is ufed in the language of the world ; ytt,
as developing the powers of thought and re-
fledion, they may be an amufement of fome
ufe, as thofe fjports of children in which
numbers are ufed, familiarife them to the
elements of arithmetic. They give room
for the exercife of that difcernment, that
comparifon of objefls, that diftinclion of
caufes, which is to increafe the (kill of the
phyfician, to guide the fpeculations of the