only to be the more foolish or worse Men. I say this that when you consider of the Breeding of your Son and are looking out for a School-Master or a Tutor you would not have as is usual Latin and Logick only in your Thoughts Learning must be had but in the second place as subservient only to greater Qualities Seek out some-body that may know how discreetly to frame his Manners Place him in Hands where you may as much as possible secure his Innocence cherish and nurse up the Good and gently correct and weed out any Bad Inclinations and settle in him good Habits This is the main Point and this being provided for Learning may be had into the Bargain and that as I think at a very easie rate by Methods that may be thought on § 141. When he can talk 't is time he should begin to learn to read But as to this give me leave here to inculcate again what is very apt to be forgotten viz. That a great Caâ—e is to be taken that it be never made as a Business to him nor he look on it as a Task We naturally as I said even from our Cradles love Liberty and have therefore an aversion to many Things for no other Reason but because they are enjoyn'd us I have always had a Fancy that Learning might be made a Play and Recreation to Children and that they might be brought to desire to be taught if it were propos'd to them as a thing of Honour Credit Delight and Recreation or as a Reward for doing something else and if they were never chid or corrected for the neglect of it That which confirms me in this Opinion is that amongst the Portugueses 't is so much a Fafhion and Emulation amongst their Children to learn to Read and Write that they cannot hinder them from it They will learn it one from another and are as intent on it as if it were forbidden them I remember that being at a Friend's House whose younger Son a Child in Coats was not easily brought to his Book being taught to Read at home by his Mother I advised to try another way then requiring it of him as his Duty we therefore in a Discourse on purpose amongst our selves in his hearing but without taking any notice of him declared That it was the Privilege and Advantage of Heirs and Elder Brothers to be Scholars that this made them fine Gentlemen and beloved by every body And that for Younger Brothers 't was a Favour to admit them to Breeding to be taught to Read and Write was more than came to their share they might be ignorant Bumpkins and Clowns if they pleased This so wrought upon the Child that afterwards he desired to be taught would come himself to his Mother to learn and would not let his Maid be quiet till she heard him his Lesson I doubt not but some way like this might be taken with other Children and when their Tempers are found some Thoughts be instilled into them that might set them upon desiring of Learning themselves and make them seek it as another sort of Play or Recreation But then as I said before it must never be imposed as a Task nor made a trouble to them There may be Dice and Play-things with the Letters on them to teach Children the Alphabet by playing and twenty other ways may be found suitable to their particular Tempers to make this kind of Learning a Sport to them § 142. Thus Children may be cozen'd into a Knowledge of the Letters be taught to read without perceiving it to be any thing but a Sport and play themselves into that others are whipp'd for Children should not have any thing like Work or serious laid on them neither their Minds nor Bodies will bear it It injures their Healths and their being forced and tied down to their Books in an Age at enmity with all such restraint has I doubt not been the reason why a great many have hated Books and Learning all their Lives after 'T is like a Surfeit that leaves an Aversion behind not to be removed § 143. I have therefore thought that if Play-things were fitted to this purpose as they are usually to none Contrivances might be made to teach Children to Read whilst they thought they were only Playing For example What if an Ivory-Ball were made like that of the Royal-Oak Lottery with Thirty two sides or one rather of Twenty four or Twenty five sides and upon several of those sides pasted on an A upon several others B on others C and on others D. I would have you begin with but these four Letters or perhaps only two at first and when he is perfect in them then add another and so on till each side having one letter there be on it the whole Alphabet This I would have others play with before him it being as good a sort of Play to lay a Stake who shall first throw an A or B as who upon Dice shall throw Six or Seven This being a play amongst you tempt him not to it least you make it Business for I would not have him understand 't is any thing but a play of older People and I doubt not but he will take to it of himself And that he may have the more reason to think it is a play that he is sometimes in favour admitted to when the Play is done the Ball shall be laid up safe out of his reach that so it may not by his having it in his keeping at any time grow stale to him To keep up his eagerness to it let him think it a Game belonging to those above him And when by this means he knows the Letters by changing them into Syllables he may learn to Read without knowing how he did so and never have any chiding or trouble about it nor fall out with Books because of the hard usage and vexation they have caused him Children if you observe them take abundance of pains to learn several Games which if they should be enjoined them they would abhorr as a Task and Business I know a Person of great Quality more yet to be honoured for his Learning and Vertue than for his Rank and high Place who by pasting on the six Vowels for in our language Y is one on the six sides of a Die and the remaining eighteen Consonants on the sides of three other Dice has made this a play for his Children that he shall win who at one cast throws most Words on these four Dice whereby his eldest Son yet in Coats has play'd himself into Spelling with great eagerness and without once having been child for it or forced to it § 144. I have seen little Girls exercise whole Hours together and take abundance of pains to be expert at Dibstones as they call it Whilst I have been looking on I have thought it wanted only some good Contrivance to make them employ all that Industry about something that might be more useful
them to be impatient and troublesome by rewarding them for it when they are so § 39. Those therefore that intend ever to govern their Children should begin it whilst they are very little and look that they perfectly comply with the will of their Parents Would you have your Son obedient to you when past a Child Be sure then to establish the Authority of a Father as soon as he is capable of Submission and can understand in whose Power he is If you would have him stand in awe of you imprint it in his Infancy and as he approaches more to a Man admit him nearer to your Familiarity so shall you have him your obedient Subject as is fit whilst he is a Child and your affectionate Friend when he is a Man For methinks they mightily misplace the Treatment due to their Children who are indulgent and familiar when they are little but severe to them and keep them at a distance when they are grown up For Liberty and Indulgence can do no good to Children their Want of Judgment makes them stand in need of Restraint and Discipline And on the contrary Imperiousness and Severity is but an ill Way of Treating Men who have Reason of their own to guide them unless you have a Mind to make your Children when grown up weary of you and secretly to say within themselves When will you die Father § 40. I imagine every one will judge it reasonable that their Children when little should look upon their Parents as their Lords their Absolute Governors and as such stand in awe of them And that when they come to riper Years they should look on them as their best as their only sure Friends and as such love and reverence them The Way I have mentioned if I mistake not is the only one to obtain this We must look upon our Children when grown up to be like our selves with the same Passions the same Desires We would be thought Rational Creatures and have our Freedom we love not to be uneasie under constant Rebukes and Brow-beatings nor can we bear severe Humours and great Distance in those we converse with Whoever has such Treatment when he is a Man will look out other Company other Friends other Conversation with whom he can be at Ease If therefore a strict Hand be kept over Children from the Beginning they will in that Age be tractable and quietly submit to it as never having known any other And if as they grow up to the Use of Reason the Rigour of Government be as they deserve it gently relaxed the Father's Brow be more smooth to them and the Distance by Degrees abated his former Restraints will increase their Love when they find it was only a Kindness to them and a Care to make them capable to deserve the Pavour of their Parents and the Esteem of every Body else § 41. Thus much for the Setling your Authority over your Children in general Fear and Awe ought to give you the first Power over their Minds and Love and Friendship in riper Years to hold it For the Time must come when they will be past the Rod and Correction and then if the Love of you make them not obedient and dutifull if the Love of Vertue and Reputation keep them not in Laudable Courses I ask What Hold will you have then upon them to turn them to it Indeed Fear of having a scanty Portion if they displease you may make them Slaves to your Estate but they will be never the less ill and wicked in private and that Restraint will not last always Every Man must some Time or other be trusted to himself and his own Conduct and he that is a good a vertuous and able Man must be made so within and therefore what he is to receive from Education what is to sway and influence his Life must be something put into him betimes Habits woven into the very Principles of his Nature and not a counterfeit Carriage and dissembled Out-side put on by Fear only to avoid the present Anger of a Father who perhaps may dis-inherit him § 42. This being laid down in general as the Course ought to be taken 't is fit we now come to consider the Parts of the Discipline to be used a little more particularly I have spoken so much of Carrying a strict Hand over Children that perhaps I shall be suspected of not Considering enough what is due to their tender Ages and Constitutions But that Opinion will vanish when you have heard me a little farther For I am very apt to think that great Severity of Punishment does but very little Good nay great Harm in Education And I believe it will be found that Caeteris paribus those Children who have been most chastised seldom make the best Men. All that I have hitherto contended for is That whatsoever Rigour is necessary it is more to be used the younger Children are and having by a due Application wrought its Effect it is to be relaxed and changed into a milder Sort of Government § 43. A Compliance and Suppleness of their Wills being by a steady Hand introduced by Parents before Children have Memories to retain the Beginnings of it will seem natural to them and work afterwards in them as if it were so preventing all Occasions of Strugling or repining The only Care is That it be begun early and inflexibly kept to till Awe and Respect be grown familiar and there appears not the least Reluctancy in the Submission and ready Obedience of their Minds When this Reverence is once thus established which it must be early or else it will cost pains and Blows to recover it and the more the longer it is deferred 't is by it mixed still with as much Indulgence as they make not an ill Use of and not by Beating Chiding or other Servile Punishments they are for the future to be governed as they grow up to more Understanding § 44. That this is so will be easily allowed when it is but considered what is to be aimed at in an ingenuous Education and upon what it turns 1. He that has not a mastery over his Inclinations he that knows not how to resist the importunity of present Pleasure or Pain for the sake of what Reason tells him is fit to be done wants the true Principle of Vertue and Industry and is in danger never to be good for any thing This Temper therefore so contrary to unguided Nature is to be got betimes and this Habit as the true foundation of future Ability and Happiness is to be wrought into the Mind as early as may be even from the first dawnings of any Knowledge or Apprehension in Children and so to be confirmed in them by all the Care and Ways imaginable by those who have the over-sight of their Education § 45. 2. On the otherside if the Mind be curbed and humbled too much in Children if their Spirits be abased and broken much
for Health but dangerous to the Life The confidence of it being apt to engage in Quarrels those that think they have some Skill and to make them more touchy than needs on Points of Honour and slight Occasions Young Men in their warm Blood are forward to think they have in vain learned to Fence if they never shew their Skill and Courage in a Duel and they seem to have Reason But how many sad Tragedies that Reason has been the Occasion of the Tears of many a Mother can witness A Man that cannot Fence will be the more careful to keep out of Bullies and Gamesters Company and will not be half so apt to stand upon Punctilio's nor to give Affronts or fiercely justifie them when given which is that which usually makes the Quarrel And when a Man is in the Field a moderate Skill in Fencing rather exposes him to the Sword of his Enemy than secures him from it And certainly a Man of Courage who cannot Fence at all and therefore will put all upon one thrust and not stand parrying has the odds against a moderate Fencer especially if he has Skill in Wrestling and therefore if any Provision be to be made against such Accidents and a Man be to prepare his Son for Duels I had much rather mine should be a good Wrestler than an ordinary Fencer which is the most a Gentleman can attain to in it unless he will be constantly in the Fencing-School and every Day exercising But since Fencing and Riding the great Horse are so generally looked upon as necessary Qualifications in the breeding of a Gentleman it will be hard wholly to deny any one of that rank these Marks of Distinction I shall leave it therefore to the Father to consider how far the Temper of his Son and the Station he is like to be in will allow or incourage him to comply with Fashions which having very little to do with civil Life were yet formerly unknown to the most Warlike Nations and seem to have added little of Force or Courage to those who have received them unless we will think Martial Skill or Prowess have been improved by Duelling with which Fencing came into and with which I presume it will go out of the World § 188. These are my present Thoughts concerning Learning and Accomplishments The great Business of all is Vertue and Wisdom Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia Teach him to get a Mastery over his Inclinations and submit his Appetite to Reason This being obtained and by constant practice settled into Habit the hardest part of the Task is over To bring a young Man to this I know nothing which so much contributes as the love of Praise and Commendation which should therefore be instilled into him by all Arts imaginable Make his Mind as sensible of Credit and Shame as may be And when you have done that you have put a Principle into him which will influence his Actions when you are not by to which the fear of a little smart of a Rod is not comparable and which will be the proper Stock whereon afterwards to graft the true Principles of Morality and Religion § 189. I have one Thing more to add which as soon as I mention I shall run the danger to be suspected to have forgot what I am about and what I have above written concerning Education which has all tended towards a Gentleman's Calling with which a Trade seems wholly to be inconsistent And yet I cannot forbear to say I would have him learn a Trade a Manual Trade nay two or three but one more particularly § 190. The busy Inclination of Children being always to be directed to some thing that may be useful to them The Advantage may be considered of two Kinds 1. Where the Skill it self that is got by exercise is worth the having Thus Skill not only in Languages and learned Sciences but in Painting Turning Gardening Tempering and Working in Iron and all other useful Arts is worth the having 2. Where the Exercise it self without any other Consideration is necessary or useful for Health Knowledge in some Things is so necessary to be got by Children whilst they are young that some part of their time is to be allotted to their improvement in them though those Imployments contribute nothing at all to their Health Such are Reading and Writing and all other sedentary Studies for the improvement of the Mind and are the unavoidable Business of Gentlemen quite from their Cradles Other Manual Arts which are both got and exercised by Labour do many of them by their Exercise contribute to our Health too especially such as imploy us in the open Air. In these then Health and Improvement may be joyn'd together and of these should some fit ones be chosen to be made the Recreations of one whose chief Business is with Books and Study In this Choice the Age and Inclination of the Person is to be considered and Constraint always to be avoided in bringing him to it For Command and Force may often create but can never cure an Aversion And whatever any one is brought to by compulsion he will leave as soon as he can and be little profited and less recreated by whilst he is at it § 191. That which of all others would please me best would be a Painter were there not an Argument or two against it not easie to be answered First ill Painting is one of the worst things in the World and to attain a tolerable degree of Skill in it requires too much of a Man's Time If he has a natural Inclination to it it will endanger the neglect of all other more useful Studies to give way to that and if he have no inclination to it all the Time Pains and Money shall be employ'd in it will be thrown away to no purpose Another Reason why I am not for Painting in a Gentleman is Because it is a sedentary Recreation which more employs the Mind than the Body A Gentleman 's more serious Employment I look on to be Study and when that demands relaxation and refreshment it should be in some Exercise of the Body which unbends the Thought and confirms the Health and Strength For these two Reasons I am not for Painting § 192. In the next place for a Country-Gentleman I should propose one or rather both these viz. Gardening and working in Wood as a Carpenter Joyner or Turner as being fit and healthy Recreations for a Man of Study or Business For since the Mind endures not to be constantly employ'd in the same Thing or Way and sedentary or studious Men should have some Exercise that at the same time might divert their Minds and employ their Bodies I know none that could do it better for a Country-Gentleman than these two the one of them affording him Exercise when the Weather or Season keeps him from the other Besides that by being skill'd in the one of them he will be
the minds of Children as easily turned this or that way as Water it self and though this be the principal part and our main care should be about the inside yet the clay Cottage is not to be neglected I shall therefore begin with the Case and consider first the Health of the Body as that which perhaps you may rather expect from that Study I have been thought more peculiarly to have applied my self to and that also which will be soonest dispatched as lying if I guess not amiss in a very little compass § 3. How necessary Health is to our Business and Happiness And how requisite a strong Constitution able to endure Hardships and Fatigue is to one that will make any Figure in the World is too obvious to need any Proof § 4. The consideration I shall here have of Health shall be not what a Physician ought to do with a sick or crazy Child but what the Parents without the help of Physick should do for the preservation and improvement of an healthy or at least nor sickly Constitution in their children And this perhaps might be dispatched all in this one short Rule viz. That Gentlemen should use their Children as the honest Farmers and substantial Yeomen do theirs But because the Mothers possible may think this a little too hard and the Fathers too short I shall explain my self more particularly only laying down this as a general and certain Observation for the Women to consider viz. That most Children's Constitutions are either spoiled or harmed by Cockering and Tenderness § 5. The First thing to be taken care of is That Children be not too warmly Clad or Covered Winter or summer The Face when we are Born is no less tender than any other part of the Body 'T is use alone hardens it and makes it more able to endure the Cold and therefore the Scythian Philosopher gave a very significant Answer to the Athenian who wonder'd how he could go Naked in Frost and Snow How said the Scythian can you endure your Face exposed to the sharp Winter-Air My Face is used to it said the Athenian Think me all Face replyed the Scythian Our Bodies will endure any thing that from the beginning they are accustomed to And therefore amongst other things I think that when Nature has so well covered his Head with hair and strengthen'd it with a Year or two's Age that he can run about by Day without a Cap it is best that by night a Child should also lie without one there being nothing that more exposes to Head-ach Colds Catarrhs Coughs and several other Diseases than keeping the Head warm § 6. I have said he here because the principal aim of my Discourse is how a young Gentleman should be brought up from his Infancy which in all things will not so perfectly suit the Education of Daughters though where the difference of Sex requires different treatment 't will be no hard matter to distinguish § 7. I would also advise his Feet to be washed every night in cold Water and to have his Shooes so thin that they might leak and let in Water when ever he comes near it Here I fear I shall have the Mistress and Maids too against me one will think it too filthy the other perhaps too much pains to make clean his Stockings But yet truth will have it that his Health is much more worth than all such considerations and ten-times as much more And he that considers how Mischievous and Mortal a thing taking Wet in the Feet is to those who have been bred nicely will wish he had with the poor People's Children gone Bare-foot who by that means come to be so reconciled by Custom to wet in their Feet that they take no more Cold or Harm by it than if they were wet in their Hands And what is it I pray that makes this great difference between the Hands and the Feet in others but only Custom I doubt not but if a Man from his Cradle had been always used to go bare-foot whilst his hands were constantly wrapped up in warm Mittins and covered with Hand-shooes as the Dutch call Gloves I doubt not I say but such a Custom would make taking Wet in his Hands as dangerous to him as now taking Wet in their Feet is to a great many others The way to prevent this is to have his Shooes made so as to leak Water and his Feet washed every Night in cold Water both for Health and Cleanliness sake But begin first in the Spring with luke-warm and so colder and colder every Night till in a few days you come to perfectly cold Water and then continue it so For it is to be observed in this as in all other Alterations from our ordinary way of Living the Changes must be made by gentle and insensible Degrees and so we may bring our Bodies to any thing without pain and without danger § 8. I shall not need here to mention his learning to Swim when he is of Age able to learn and has any one to teach him The advantages besides that of Swiming to health by often bathing in the summer in cold Water are so many that I think nothing need to be said to encourage it provided this one caution be used That he never go into the Water when Exercise has at all warm'd him or left any Emotion in his Blood or Pulse § 9. Another Thing that is of great Advantage to every One's Health but especially Children's is to be much in the open Air and very little as may be by the Fire even in Winter By this he will accustom himself also to Heat and Cold Shine and Rain all which if a Man's Body will not endure it will serve him to very little purpose in this World and when he is grown up it is too late to begin to use him to it it must be got early and by degrees Thus the Body may be brought to bear almost any Thing If I should advise him to play in the Wind and the Sun without a Hat I doubt whether it could be born there would a Thousand Objections be made against it which at last would a mount to no more in Truth than being Sun-burnt And if my young Master be to be kept always in the Shade and never exposed to the Sun and Wind for fear of his Complexion it may be a good Way to make him a Beau but not a Man of Business And although greater Regard be to be had to Beauty in the Daughters yet I will take the Liberty to say that the more they are in the Air without prejudice to their Faces the stronger and healthier they will be and the nearer they come to the Hardships of their Brothers in their Education the greater Advantage will they receive from it all the remaining Part of their Lives § 10. Playing in the open Air has but this one Danger in it that I know and that
is That when he is hot with running up and down he should sit or lie down on the cold or moist Earth This I grant and drinking cold Drink when they are hot with Labour or Exercise brings more People to the Grave or to the Brink of it by Fevers and other Diseases than any Thing I know These Mischiefs are easily enough prevented whilst he is little being then seldom out of sight And if during his Childhood he be constantly and rigorously kept from Sitting on the Ground or drinking any cold Liquor whilst he is hot the Custom of forbearing grown into Habit will help much to preserve him when he is no longer under his Maid's or Tutor's Eye This is all I think can be done in the Case for as Years increase Liberty must come with them and in a great many Things he must be trusted to his own Conduct since there cannot always be a Guard upon him except what you have put into his own Mind by good Principles and established Habits which is the best and surest and therefore most to be taken care of For from repeated Cautions and Rules never so often inculcated you are not to expect any thing farther than Practice has established them into Habits § 11. One thing the Mention of the Girls brings into my Mind which must not be forgot and that is that your Son's Cloths be never made strait especially about the Breast Let Nature have scope to fashion the Body as she thinks best she works of her self a great deal better and exacter than we can direct her And if Women were themselves to frame the Bodies of their Children in their Wombs as they often endeavour to mend their Shapes when they are out we should as certainly have no perfect children born as we have few well-shaped that are strait-laced or much tamper'd with This Consideration should me-thinks keep busie People I will not say ignorant Nurses and Bodice-makers from medling in a Matter they understand not and they should be afraid to put Nature out of her Way in fashioning the Parts when they know not how the least and meanest is made and yet I have seen so many Instances of Children receiving great harm from strait-lacing that I cannot but conclude there are other Creatures as well as Monkeys who little wiser than they destroy their young Ones by sensless fondness and too much embracing § 12. Narrow Breasts short and stinking Breath ill Lungs and Crookedness are the Natural and almost constant Effects of hard Bodice and Cloths that pinch That way of making slender Wastes and fine Shapes serves but the more effectually to spoil them Nor can there indeed but be disproportion in the Parts when the nourishment prepared in the several Offices of the Body cannot be distributed as Nature designs and therefore what wonder is it if it being laid where it can on some part not so braced it often makes a Shoulder or a Hip higher or bigger than its just proportion 'T is generally known that the women of China imagining I know not what kind of beauty in it by bracing and binding them hard from their infancy have very little Feet I saw a pair of China Shooes lately exceedingly disproportioned to the Feet of one of the same Age amongst us their Womens Shooes would scarce be big enough for one of our little Girls Besides this 't is observed That their women are also very little and short lived whereas the Men are of the ordinary Stature of other Men and live to a proportionable Age. These Defects in the Female Sex in that Country are by some imputed to the unreasonable binding of their Feet whereby the free Circulation of the Blood is hindred and the Growth and Health of the whole Body suffers And how often do we see that some small part of the Foot being injured by a Wrench or a Blow the whole Leg and thigh thereby lose their Strength and Nourishment and dwindle away How much greater Inconveniences may we expect when the Thorax wherein is placed the Heart and Seat of Life is unnaturally compressed and hindred from its due Expansion § 13. As for his Diet it ought to be very plain and simple Flesh once a Day and of one Sort at a Meal is enough Beef Mutton Veal c. without other Sawce than Hunger is best and great care should be used that he eat Bread plentifully both alone and with every thing else And whatever he eats that is solid make him chew it well We English are often negligent herein from whence follow Indigestion and other great Inconveniences § 14. For Breakfast and Supper Milk Milk-Pottage Water-Gruel Flummery and twenty other Things that we are wont to make in England are very fit for Children Only in all these let Care be taken that they be plain and without much mixture and very sparingly seasoned with Sugar or rather none at all especially all Spice and other Things that may heat the Blood are carefully to be avoided Be sparing also of Salt in the Seasoning of all his Victuals and use him not to high-seasoned Meats Our Palates like the Seasoning and Cookery they are set to and an over much Use of Salt besides that it occasions thirst and over-much Drinking has other ill Effects upon the Body I should think that a good Piece of well made and well baked Brown Bread sometimes with and sometimes without Butter or Cheese would be often the best Breakfast for my young Master I am sure 't is as wholsom and will make him as strong a Man as greater Delicacies And if he be used to it it will be pleasant to him If he at any Time calls for Victuals between Meals use him to nothing but dry Bread if he be hungry more than wanton Bread alone will down and if he be not hungry 't is not fit he should eat By this you will obtain two good effects 1. That by Custom he will come to be in love with Bread for as I said our Palates are pleased with the Things we are used to Another Good you will gain hereby is That you will not teach him to eat more nor oftner than Nature requires I do not think that all People's Appetites are alike some have naturally stronger and some weaker Stomachs But this I think that many are made Gormans and Gluttons by Custom that were not so by Nature and I see in some Countries Men as lusty and strong that eat but two Meals a Day as others that have for their Stomachs by a constant Usage like Larms to call on them for four or five and therefore if it should not be thought too severe I should judge it most convenient that he should have nothing but Bread too for Breakfast You cannot imagine of what Force Custom is And I impute a great part of our Diseases in England to our eating too much Flesh and too little Bread § 15. As to his Meals I should think it best
Consideration how great the Influence of Company is and how prone we are all especially Children to Imitation I must here take the liberty to mind parents of this one Thing viz. That he that will have his Son have a Respect for him and his Orders must himself have a great Reverence for his Son Maxima debetur pueris reverentia You must do nothing before him which you would not have him imitate If any thing scape you which you would have pass for a Fault in him he will be sure to shelter himself under your Example And how then you will be able to come at him to correct it in the right way I do not easily see And if you will punish him for it he cannot look on it as a Thing which Reason condemns since you practise it but he will be apt to interpret it the Peevishness and arbitrary Imperiousness of a Father which without any Ground for it would deny his Son the Liberty and Pleasures he takes himself Or if you would have it thought it is a Liberty belonging to riper Years and not to a Child you add but a new Temptation since you must always remember that Children affect to be Men earlier than is thought And they love Breeches not for their Cut or ease but because the having them is a Mark of a Step towards Manhood What I say of the Father's Carriage before his Children must extend it self to all those who have any Authority over them or for whom he would have them have any Respect § 70. Thus all the Actions of Childishness and unfashionable Carriage and whatever Time and Age will of it self be sure to reform being exempt from the Discipline of the Rod there will not be so much need of beating Children as is generally made use of To which if we add learning to Read Write Dance Foreign Languages c. as under the same privilege there will be but very rarely any Occasion for Blows or Force in an ingenuous Education The right way to teach them those things is to give them a Liking and Inclination to what you propose to them to be learn'd and that will engage their Industry and Application This I think no hard Matter to do if Children be handled as they should be and the Rewards and Punishments above-mentioned be carefully applied and with them these few Rules observed in the Method of Instructing them § 71. 1. None of the Things they are to learn should ever be made a Burthen to them or imposed on them as a Task Whatever is so proposed presently becomes irksome the Mind takes an Aversion to it though before it were a Thing of Delight or Indifferency Let a Child be but ordered to whip his Top at a certain Time every Day whether he has or has not a Mind to it let this be but required of him as a Duty wherein he must spend so many Hours Morning and Afternoon and see whether he will not soon be weary of any Play at this Rate Is it not so with grown Men What they do chearfully of themselves do they not presently grow sick of and can no more endure as soon as they find it is expected of them as a Duty Children have as much a Mind to shew that they are free that their own good Actions come from themselves that they are absolute and independent as any of the proudest of your grown Men think of them as you please § 72. 2. As a Consequence of this they should seldom be put upon doing even those Things you have got an Inclination in them to but when they have a Mind and Disposition to it He that loves Reading Writing Musick c. finds yet in himself certain Seasons wherein those things have no Relish to him And if at that Time he forces himself to it he only pothers and wearies himself to no purpose So it is with Children This Change of Temper should be carefully observed in them and the favourable Seasons of Aptitude and Inclination be heedfully laid hold of to set them upon any Thing By this Means a great Deal of Time and Tiring would be saved for a Child will learn three times as much when he is in tune as he will with double the Time and Pains when he goes awkardly and unwillingly to it If this were minded as it should Children might be permitted to weary themselves with Play and yet have Time enough to learn what is suited to the Capacity of each Age. And if Things were order'd right Learning any thing they should be taught might be made as much a Recreation to their Play as their Play is to their Learning The Pains are equal on both Sides Nor is it that which troubles them for they love to be busie and the Change and Variety is that which naturally delights them the only Odds is in that which we call Play they act at liberty and employ their Pains whereof you may observe them never sparing freely but what they are to learn they are driven to it called on or compelled This is that that at first Entrance balks and cools them they want their Liberty Get them but to ask their Tutor to teach them as they do often their Play-fellows instead of this Calling upon them to learn and they being satisfied that they act as freely in this as they do in other Things they will go on with as much Pleasure in it and it will not differ from their other Sports and Play By these Ways carefully pursued I guess a Child may be brought to desire to be taught any Thing you have a Mind he should learn The hardest Part I confess is with the first or eldest but when once he is set right it is easie by him to lead the rest whether one will § 73. Though it be past doubt that the fittest Time for Children to learn any Thing is when their Minds are in tune and well disposed to it when neither Flagging of Spirit nor Intentness of Thought upon something else makes them awkard and averse yet two Things are to be taken care of 1. That these Seasons either not being warily observed and laid hold on as often as they return or else not returning as often as they should as always happens in the ordinary Method and Discipline of Education when Blows and Compulsion have raised an Aversion in the Child to the Thing he is to learn the Improvement of the Child be not thereby neglected and so he be let grow into an habitual Idleness and confirmed in this Indisposition 2. That though other Things are ill learned when the Mind is either indisposed or otherwise taken up yet it is a great Matter and worth our Endeavours to teach the Mind to get the Mastery over it self and to be able upon Choice to take it self off from the hot Pursuit of one Thing and set it self upon another with facility and Delight or at any Time to shake off its Sluggishness
some other you know with 5000 l. § 89. The Consideration of Charge ought not therefore to deterr those who are able the great Difficulty will be where to find a proper Person For those of small Age Parts and Vertue are unfit for this Imployment and those that have greater will hardly be got to undertake such a Charge You must therefore look out early and enquire every where for the World has People of all sorts and I remember Montaigne says in one of his Essays That the Learned Castalio was fain to make Trenchers at Basle to keep himself from starving when his Father would have given any Money for such a Tutor for his Son and Castalio have willingly embraced such an Imployment upon very reasonable Terms but this was for want of Intelligence § 90. If you find it difficult to meet with such a Tutor as we desire you are not to wonder I only can say Spare no Care nor Cost to get such an one all things are to be had that way and I dare assure you that if you get a good one you will never repent the Charge but will always have the Satisfaction to think it the Money of all other the best laid out But be sure take no Body upon Friends or Charitable no nor bare great Commendations Nor will the Reputation of a Sober Man with Learning enough which is all usually that is required in a Tutor serve the turn In this Choice be as Curious as you would in that of a Wife for him For you must not think of Trial or Changing afterwards that will cause great Inconvenience to you and greater to your Son When I consider the Scruples and Cautions I here lay in your way methinks it looks as if I advised you to something which I would have offer'd at but in Effect not done But he that shall consider how much the Business of a Tutor rightly imployed lies out of the Road and how remote it is from the Thoughts of many even of those who propose to themselves this Imployment will perhaps be of my Mind that one sit to Educate and Form the Mind of a Young Gentleman is not every where to be found and that more than ordinary Care is to be taken in the Choice of him or else you may fail of your End § 91. But to return to our method again Tho' I have mentioned the Severity of the Father's Brow and the Awe settled thereby in the Mind of Children when young as one main Foundation whereby their Education is to be managed Yet I am far from being of an Opinion that it should be continued all a long to them whilst they are under the Discipline and Government of Pupilage I think it should be relaxed as fast as their Age Discretion and Good behaviour could allow it even to that degree that a Father will do well as his Son grows up and is capable of it to talk familiarly with him nay ask his Advice and Consult with him about those things wherein he has any knowledge or understanding By this the Father will gain two things both of great moment The one is That it will put serious Considerations into his Son's Thoughts better than any Rules or Advices he can give him The sooner you treat him as a Man The sooner he will begin to be one And if you admit him into serious Discourses sometimes with you you will insensibly raise his Mind above the usual A musements of Youth and those trifling Occupations it is commonly wasted in For it is easie to observe that many young Men continue longer in the Thoughts and Conversation of School-Boys than otherwise they would because their parents keep them at that distance and in that low Rank by all their Carriage to them § 92. Another thing of greater consequence which you will obtain by such a way of treating him will be his Friendship Many Fathers though they proportion to their Sons liberal Allowances according to their Age and Condition yet they keep them as much unacquainted with their Estates and all other Concernments as if they were Strangers This if it looks not like Jealousie yet it wants those Marks of Kindness and intimacy which a Father should shew to his Son and no doubt often hinders or abates that Cheerfullness and Satisfaction wherewith a Son should address himself to and rely upon his Father and I cannot but often wonder to see Fathers who love their Sons very well yet so order the matter by a constant Stiffness and a mien of Authority and distance to them all their Lives as if they were never to enjoy or have any comfort from those they love best in the World till they had lost them by being removed into another Nothing cements and establishes Friendship and Good-will so much as confident Communication of Concernments and Affairs Other Kindnesses without this leave still some Doubts but when your Son sees you open your Mind to him that you interest him in your Affairs as Things you are willing should in their turn come into his Hands he will be concerned for them as for his own wait his Season with Patience and Love you in the mean time who keep him not at the distance of a Stranger This will also make him see that the Enjoyment you have is not without Care which the more he is sensible of the less will he envy you the Possession and the more think himself Happy under the Management of so favourable a Friend and so careful a Father There is scarce any Young Man of so little Thought or so void of Sense that would not be glad of a sure Friend that he might have recourse to and freely Consult on occasion The Reservedness and Distance that Fathers keep often deprives their Sons of that refuge which would be of more Advantage to them than an hundred Rebukes and Chidings Would your Son engage in some Frolick or take a Vagary were it not much better he should do it with than without your Knowledge For since Allowances for such things must be made to Young Men the more you know of his Intrigues and Designs the better will you be able to prevent great Mischiefs and by letting him see what is like to follow take the right way of prevailing with him to avoid less Inconveniencies Would you have him open his Heart to you and ask your Advice You must begin to do so with him first and by your Carriage beget that Considence § 93. But whatever he Consults you about unless it lead to some fatal and irremediable Mischief be sure you advise only as a Friend of more Experience but with your Advice mingle nothing of Command or Authority no more than you wouâ—d to your Equal or a Stranger That would be to drive him for ever from any farther demanding or receiving Advantage from your Counsel You must consider that he is a Young Man and has Pleasures and Fancies which you are pass'd You must not
to it This is an open justifying themselves and a sort of Remonstrance of the unjustness of the Oppression which denies them what they have a mind to § 107. 2. Sometimes their crying is the effect of Pain or true Sorrow and a bemoaning themselves under it These Two if carefully observed may by the Mien Looks and Actions and particularly by the Tone of their Crying be easily distinguished but neither of them must be suffer'd much less incourag'd 1. The obstinate or stomachful crying should by no means be permitted because it is but another way of flattering their Desires and incouraging those Passions which 't is our main Business to subdue And if it be as often it is upon the receiving any Correction it quite defeats all the good Effects of it For a Punishment which leaves them in this declar'd Opposition only serves to make them worse The Restraints and Punishments laid on Children are all misapplied and lost as far as they do not prevail over their Wills teach them to submit their Passions and make their Minds supple and pliant to what their Parents Reason advises them now and so prepare them to obey what their own Reasons shall advise hereafter But if in any thing wherein they are crossed they may be suffer'd to go away crying they confirm themselves in their Desires and cherish the ill Humour with a Declaration of their Right and a Resolution to satisfy their Inclination the first Opportunity This therefore is another Reason why you should seldom Chastise your Children for whenever you come to that extremity 't is not enough to whipp or Beat them you must do it till you find you have subdued their Minds till with Submission and Patience they yield to the Correction which you shall best discover by their crying and their ceasing from it upon your bidding Without this the beating of Children is but a passionate Tyranny over them and it is mere Cruelty and not Correction to put their Bodies in Pain without doing their Minds any good As this gives us a Reason why Children should seldom be corrected so it also prevents their being so For if when-ever they are chastised it were done thus without Passion soberly and yet effectually too laying on the Blows and smart not all at once but slowly with Reasoning between and with Observation how it wrought stopping when it had made them pliant penitent and yielding they would seldom need the like Punishment again being made Carefull to avoid the Fault that deserved it Besides by this means as the Punishment would not be lost for being too little and not effectual so it would be kept from being too much if we gave off as soon as we perceived that it reach'd the Mind and that was better'd For since the Chiding or Beating of Children should be always the least that possible may be that which is laid on in the heat of Anger seldom observes that measure but is commonly more than it should be though it prove less than enough § 108. 2. Many Children are apt to Cry upon any little Pain they suffer and the least Harm that befals them puts them into Complaints and Bawling This few Children avoid for it being the first and natural Way to declare their Sufferings or Wants before they can speak the Compassion that is thought due to that tender Age foolishly incourages and continues it in them long after they can speak 'T is the Duty I confess of those about Children to compassionate them when-ever they suffer any hurt but not to shew it in pitying them Help and ease them the best you can but by no means bemoan them This softens their Minds and makes the little harms that happen to them sink deep into that part which alone feels and make larger Wounds there than otherwise they would They should be harden'd against all Sufferings especially of the Body and have a tenderness only of Shame and for Reputation The many Inconveniencies this Life is exposed to require we should not be too sensible of every little hurt What our Minds yield not to makes but a slight impression and does us but very little harm 'T is the suffering of our Spirits that gives and continues the Pain This brawniness and insensibility of Mind is the best Armour we can have against the common Evils and Accidents of Life and being a Temper that is to be got by Exercise and Custom more than any other way the practice of it should be begun betimes and happy is he that is taught it early That effeminacy of Spirit which is to be prevented or cured as nothing that I know so much increases in Children as Crying so nothing on the other side so much checks and restrains as their being hindred from that sort of Complaining In the little harms they suffer from Knocks and Falls they should not be pitied for falling but bid do so again which is a better way to cure their falling than either chiding or bemoaning them But let the hurts they receive be what they will stop their Crying and that will give them more quiet and ease at present and harden them for the future § 109. The former sort of Crying requires severity to silence it and where a Look or a positive Command will not do it Blows must For it proceeding from Pride Obstinacy and Wilfullness the Will where the Fault lies must be bent and made to comply by a Rigour sufficient to subdue it But this latter being ordinarily from softness of Mind a quite contrary Cause ought to be treated with a gentler Hand Persuasion or diverting the Thoughts another way or laughing at their whining may perhaps be at first the proper Method But for this the circumstances of the thing and the particular Temper of the Child must be considered no certain unvariable Rules can be given about it but it must be left to the Prudence of the Parents or Tutor But this I think I may say in general that there should be a constant discountenancing of this sort of Crying also and that the Father by his Looks Words and Authority should always stop it mixing a greater Degree of roughness in his Looks or Words proportionably as the Child is of a greater Age or a sturdier Temper But always let it be enough to Master the Disorder § 110. One thing I have frequently observed in Children that when they have got possession of any poor Creature they are apt to use it ill They often torment and treat very roughly young Birds Butterflies and such other poor Animals which fall into their Hands and that with a seeming kind of Pleasure This I think should be watched in them and if they incline to any such Cruelty they should be taught the contrary Usage For the custom of tormenting and killing of Beasts will by degrees harden their Minds even towards Men and they who delight in the suffering and destruction of inferiour Creatures will not be apt to be very
corrected for a Lye you must be sure never after to pardon it in him when ever you find and take notice to him that he is guilty of it For it being a Fault which he has been forbid and may unless he be wilful avoid the repeating of it is perfect perversness and must have the chastisement due to that Offence § 126. This is what I have thought concerning the general Method of Educating a young Gentleman which though I am apt to suppose may have some influence on the whole course of his Education yet I am far from magining it contains all those particulars which his growing Years or peculiar Temper may require But this being premised in general we shall in the next place descend to a more particular Consideration of the several parts of his Education § 127. That which every Gentleman that takes any care of his Education desires for his Son besides the Estate he leaves him is contain'd I suppose in these four Things Virtue Wisdom Breeding and Learning I will not trouble my self whether these words do not some of them sometimes stand for the same thing or really include one another It serves my turn here to follow the popular use of these Words which I presume is clear enough to make me be understood and I hope there will be no difficulty to comprehend my Meaning § 128. I place Vertue as the first and most necessary of those Endowments that belong to a Man or a Gentleman as absolutely requisite to make him valued and beloved by others acceptable or tolerable to himself without that I think he will neither be happy in this nor the other World § 129. As the Foundation of this there ought very early to be imprinted on his Mind a true Notion of God as of the independent Supreme Being Author and Maker of all Things from whom we receive all our Good that loves us and gives us all Things and consequent to it a Love and Reverence of him This is enough to begin with without going to explain this matter any farther for fear least by talking too early to him of Spirits and being unseasonably forward to make him understand the incomprehensible Nature of that infinite Being his Head be either fill'd with false or perplexed with unintelligible Notions of him Let him only be told upon occasion of God that made and governs all Things hears and sees every Thing and does all manner of Good to those that love and obey him You will find that being told of such a God other Thoughts will be apt to rise up fast enough in his Mind about him which as you observe them to have any mistakes you must set right and I think it would be better if Men generally rested in such an Idea of God without being too Curious in their Notions about a Being which all must acknowledge incomprehensible whereby many who have not strength and clearness of Thought to distinguish between what they can and what they cannot know run themselves into Superstition or Atheism making God like themselves or because they cannot comprehend any thing else none at all § 130. Having by gentle degrees as you find him capable of it setled such an Idea of God in his Mind and taught him to pray to him forbear any Discourse of other Spirits till the mention of them coming in his way upon occasion hereafter to be set down and his reading the Scripture-History put him upon that enquiry § 131. But even then and always whilst he is Young be sure to preserve his tender Mind from all Impressions and Notions of Sprites and Goblins or any fearful Apprehensions in the dark It being the usual Method of Servants to awe Children and keep them in subjection by telling them of Raw-Head and Bloody-Bones and such other Names as carry with them the Idea's of some hurtful terrible Things inhabiting darkness This must be carefully prevented For though by this foolish way they may keep them from little Faults yet the Remedy is much worse than the Disease and there is stamped upon their Minds Idea's that follow them with Terror and Affrightment For such Bug-bear Thoughts once got into the tender Minds of Children sink deep there and fasten themselves so as not easily if ever to be got out again and whilst they are there frequently haunt them with strange Visions making Children dastards when alone and afraid of their Shadows and Darkness all their Lives after For it is to be taken notice that the first Impressions sink deepest into the Minds of Children and the Notions they are possess'd with when young are scarce by any Industry or Art ever after quite wiped out I have had those complain to me when Men who had been thus used when young that though their Reason corrected the wrong Idea's they had then taken in and though they were satisfied that there was no cause to fear invisible Beings more in the Dark than in the Light yet that these Notions were apt still upon any occasion to start up first in their preposses'd Fancies and not to be removed without some Pains And to let you see how lasting frightful Images are that take place in the Mind early I shall here tell you a pretty remarkable but true Story There was in a Town in the West a Man of a disturb'd Brain whom the Boys used to teaze when he came in their way This Fellow one Day seeing in the Street one of those Lads that used to vex him step'd into a Cutlers Shop he was near and there seizing on a naked Sword made after the Boy who seeing him coming so armed betook himself to his Feet and ran for his Life and by good luck had Strength and Heels enough to reach his Father's House before the Mad-man could get up to him The Door was only latch'd and when he had the Latch in his Hand he turn'd about his Head to see how near his pursuer was who was at the entrance of the Porch with his Sword up ready to strike and he had just time to get in and clap to the Door to avoid the Blow which though his Body escaped his Mind did not This frightning Idea made so deep an Impression there that it lasted many Years if not all his Life after For telling this Story when he was a Man he said That after that time till then he never went in at that Door that he could remember at any time without looking back whatever Business he had in his Head or how little soever before he came thither he thought of this Mad-man If Children were let alone they would be no more afraid in the Dark than of the broad Sun-shine They would in their turns as much welcome the one for Sleep as the other to Play in and there should be no distinction made to them by any Discourse of more danger or terrible Things in the one than the other but if the folly of any one about
their Life-time § 151. And now I am by chance fallen on this Subject give me leave to say that there are some Parts of the Scripture which may be proper to be put into the Hands of a Child to ingage him to read such as are the Story of Joseph and his Brethren of David and Goliah of David and Jonathan c. And others that he should be made to read for his Instruction as That What you would have others do unto you do you the same unto them and such other easy and plain-moral Rules which being fitly chosen might often be made use of both for Reading and Instruction together But the Reading of the whole Scripture indifferently is what I think very inconvenient for Children till after having been made acquainted with the plainest Fundamental Parts of it they have got some kind of general view of what they ought principally to believe and practise which yet I think they ought to receive in the very Words of the Scripture and not in such as Men prepossess'd by Systems and Analogies are apt in this case to make use of and force upon them Dr. Worthington to avoid this has made a Catechism which has all its Answers in the precise Words of the Scripture A thing of good Example and such a sound Form of Words as no Christian can except against as not fit for his Child to learn of this as soon as he can say the Lord's Prayer Creed and Ten Commandments by heart it may be fit for him to learn a Question every Day or every Week as his understanding is able to receive and his Memory to retain them And when he has this Catechism perfectly by heart so as readily and roundly to answer to any Question in the whole Book it may be convenient to lodge in his Mind the Moral Rules scattered up and down in the Bible as the Best Exercise of his Memory and that which may be always a Rule to him ready at hand in the whole Conduct of his Life § 152. When he can read English well it will be seasonable to enter him in Writing And here the first thing should be taught him is to hold his Pen right and this he should be perfect in before he should be suffered to put it to paper For not only Children but any body else that would do any thing well should never be put upon too much of it at once or be set to perfect themselves in two parts of an Action at the same time if they can possibly be separated When he has learn'd to hold his Pen right to hold it betwixt the Thumo and Fore-finger alone I think best but in this you should Consult some good Writing-master or any other person who writes well and quick then next he should learn how to lay his paper and place his Arm and Body to it These Practices being got over the way to teach him to Write without much trouble is to get a Plate graved with the Characters of such an Hand as you like best But you must remember to have them a pretty deal bigger than he should ordinarily write for every one naturally comes by digrees to write a less Hand than he at first was taught but never a bigger Such a Plate being graved let several Sheets of good Writing-paper be printed off with Red Ink which he has nothing to do but to go over with a good Pen fill'd with Black Ink which will quickly bring his Hand to the formation of those Characters being at first shewed where to begin and how to form every Letter And when he can do that well he must then exercise on fair Paper and so may easily be brought to Write the Hand you desire § 153. When he can Write well and quick I think it may be convenient not only to continue the exercise of his Hand in Writing but also to improve the use of it farther in Drawing a thing very useful to a Gentleman in several occasions but especially if he travel as that which helps a Man often to express in a few Lines well put together what a whole Sheet of Paper in Writing would not be able to represent and make intelligible How many Buildings may a Man see how many Machines and Habits meet with the Idea's whereof would be easily retain'd and communicated by a little Skill in Drawing which being committed to Words are in danger to be lost or at best but ill retained in the most exact Descriptions I do not mean that I would have your Son a perfect Painter to be that to any tolerable degree will require more time than a young Gentleman can spare from his other Improvements of greater importance But so much insight into Perspective and skill in Drawing as will enable him to represent tolerably on Paper any thing he sees except Faces may I think be got in a little time especially if he have a Genius to it But where that is wanting unless it be in things absosutely necessary it is better to let him pass them quietly than to vex him about them to no purpose And therefore in this as in all other things not absolutely necessary the Rule holds Nihil invita Minerva § 154. As soon as he can speak English 't is time for him to learn some other Language This no body 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 because French is a Living Language and to be used more in speaking that should be first learn'd that the yet pliant Organs of Speech might be accustomed to a due formation of those Sounds and he get the habit of pronouncing French well which is the harder to be done the longer it is delay'd § 155. When he can speak and read French well which in this Method is usually in a Year or two he should proceed to Latin which 't is a wonder Parents when they have had the experiment in French should not think ought to be learn'd the same way by talking and reading Only Care is to be taken whilst he is learning these Foreign Languages by speaking and reading nothing else with his Tutor that he do not forget to read English which may be preserv'd by his Mother or some-body else hearing him read some chosen Parts of the Scripture or other English Book every Day § 156. Latin I look upon as absolutely necessary to a Gentleman and indeed Custom which prevails over every thing has made it so much a Part of Education that even those Children are whipp'd to it and made spend many Hours of their precious time uneasily in Latin who after they are once gone
from School are never to have more to do with it as long as they live Can there be any thing more ridiculous than that a Father should waste his own Money and his Son's time in setting him to learn the Roman Language when at the same time he designs him for a Trade wherein he having no use of Latin fails not to forget that little which he brought from School and which 't is Ten to One he abhorrs for the ill usage it procur'd him Could it be believ'd unless we had every where amongst us Examples of it that a Child should be forced to learn the Rudiments of a Language which he is never to use in the course of Life he is designed to and neglect all the while the writing a good Hand and casting Account which are of great Advantage in all Conditions of Life and to most Trades indispensibly necessary But though these Qualifications requisite to Trade and Commerce and the Business of the World are seldom or never to be had at Grammar Schools yet thither not only Gentlemen send their younger Sons intended for Trades but even Tradesmen and Farmers fail not to send their Children though they have neither Intention nor Ability to make them Scholars If you ask them why they do this they think it as strange a Question as if you should ask them why they go to Church Custom serves for Reason and has to those who take it for Reason so consecrated this Method that it is almost Religiously observed by them and they stick to it as if their Children had scarce an Orthodox Education unless they learn'd Lily's Grammar § 157. But how necessary soever Latin be to some and is Thought to be to others to whom it is of no manner of Use or Service yet the ordinary way of learning it in a Grammar School is that which having had thoughts about I cannot be forward to encourage The Reasons against it are so evident and cogent that they have prevailed with some intelligent Persons to quit the ordinary Road not without success though the Method made use of was not exactly that which I Imagine the easiest and in Short is this To trouble the Child with no Grammar at all but to have Latin as English has been without the perplexity of Rules talked into him for if you will consider it Latin is no more unknown to a Child when he comes into the World than English And yet he learns English without Master Rule or Grammar and so might he Latin too as Tully did if he had some-body always to talk to him in this Language And when we so often see a French-Woman teach a young Girl to speak and read French perfectly in a Year or Two without any Rule of Grammar or any thing else but pratling to her I cannot but wonder how Gentlemen have over-seen this way for their Sons and thought them more dull or incapable than their Daughters If therefore a Man could be got who himself speaks good Latin who would always be about your Son and talk constantly to him and make him read Latin that would be the true Genuine and easy way of teaching him Latin and that that I could wish since besides teaching him a Language without Pains or Chiding which Children are wont to be whipp'd for at School Six or Seven Years together he might at the same time not only form his Mind and Manners but instruct him also in several Sciences such as are a good Part of Geography Astronomy Chronology Anatomy besides some Parts of History and all other Parts of Knowledge of Things that fall under the Senses and require little more than Memory For there if we would take the true way our Knowledge should begin and in those Things be laid the Foundation and not in the abstract Notions of Logick and Metaphysicks which are fitter to amuze than inform the Understanding in its first setting out towards Knowledge In which abstract Speculations when young Men have had their Heads imploy'd a while without finding the Success and Imployment or Use of it which they expected they are apt to have mean Thoughts either of Learning or themselves to quit their Studies and throw away their Books as containing nothing but hard Words and empty Sounds or else concluding that if there be any real Knowledge in them they themselves have not Understandings capable of it and that this is so perhaps I could assure you upon my own Experience Amongst other Things to be learn'd by a young Man in this Method whilst others of his Age are wholly taken up with Latin and Languages I may also set down Geometry for one having known a Young Gentleman bred something after this way able to demonstrate several Propositions in Eucbid before he was Thirteen § 158. But if such a Man can not be got who speaks good Latin and being able to instruct your Son in all 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 easie and pleasant Book such as AEsop's Fables and writing 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 These let him read every Day over and over again till he perfectly understands the Latin But have a Care still whatever you are teaching him of cloging him with too much at once Or making any thing his Business but down-right Vertue or reproving him for any Thing but Vice and then go on to another Fable till he be also perfect in that not omitting what he is already perfect in but sometimes reviewing that to keep it in his Memory And when he comes to write let these be 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 learn'd 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 prefixt 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's Notes § 159. When by this way of interlining Latin and English one with another he has got a moderate Knowledge of the Latin Tongue he may then be advanc'd a little farther to the reading of some other easie Latin Book such as Justin or Eutropius and to make the reading and understanding of it the less tedious and difficult to him let him help himself if he please with the English Translation Nor let the Objection that he will then know it only by roat which is not when well consider'd of any moment against but plainly for this way of learning
History and Geometry too For if these be taught him in French or Latin when he begins once to understand either of these Tongues he will get a knowledge in these Sciences and the Language to boot Geography I think should be begun with For the learning of the Figure of the Globe the Situation and Boundaries of the Four Parts of the World and that of particular Kingdoms and Countries being only an exercise of the Eyes and Memory a child with pleasure will learn and retain them And this is so certain that I now live in the House with a Child whom his Mother has so well instructed this way in Geography that he knew the Limits of the Four Parts of the World could readily point being asked to any County upon the Globe or any Country in the Map of England knew all the great Rivers Promontories Straits and Bays in the World and could find the Longitude and Latitude of any Place before he was six Years old These things that he will thus learn by sight and have by roat in his Memory is not all I confess that he is to learn upon the Globes But yet it is a good step and preparation to it and will make the remainder much easier when his Judgment is grown ripe enough for it Besides that it gets so much time now and by the pleasure of knowing things leads him on insensibly to the gaining of Languages § 169. When he has the natural Parts of the Globe well fix'd in his Memory it may then be time to begin Arithmetick By the natural Parts of the Globe I mean the several Positions of the Parts of the Earth and Sea under different Names and Distinctions of Countries not coming yet to those Artificial and imaginary Lines which have been invented and are only suppos'd for the better improvement of that Science § 170. Arithmetick is the easiest and consequently the first sort of abstract Reasoning which the Mind commonly bears or accustoms it self to and is of so general use in all parts of Life and Business that scarce any thing is to be done without it This is certain a Man cannot have too much of it nor too perfectly he should therefore begin to be exercis'd in counting as soon and as far as he is capable of it and do something in it every Day till he is Master of the Art of Numbers When he understands Addition and Substraction he may then be advanced farther in Geography and after he is acquainted with the Poles Zones parallel Circles and Meridians be taught Longitude and Latitude and the use of Maps and by that time he is perfected in these Circles of the Globe with the Horizon and the Eclyptick he may be taught the same thing also on the Celestial Globe with the Figure and Position of the several Constellations which may be shewed him first upon the Globe and then in the Heavens But in this as in all other parts of Instruction great Care must be taken with Children to begin with that which is plain and simple and to teach them as little as can be at once and settle that well in their Heads before you proceed to the next or any thing new in that Science whereby Children 'scape being amazed and confounded by which way of giving them first one simple Idea and taking Care that they took it right and perfectly comprehended it before you went any farther and then adding some other simple Idea which lay next in your way to what you aim'd at and no more to it and so proceeding by gentle and insensible steps Children have had early righter Apprehensions and their Thoughts extended farther than could have been expected And when he has learn'd any thing himself there is no such way to fix it in his Memory and to incourage him to go on as to set him to teach it others § 171. When he has once got such an acquaintance with the Globes he may be fit to be tried a little in Geometry wherein I think the six first Books of Euelid enough for him to be taught For I am in some doubt whether more to a Man of Business be necessary or useful At least if he have a Genius and Inclination to it being enter'd so far by his Tutor he will be able to go on of himself without a Teacher The Globes therefore must be studied and that diligently and I think may be begun betimes if the Tutor will but be careful to distinguish what the Child is capable of knowing and what not for which this may be a Rule that perhaps will go a pretty way viz. that Children may be taught any thing that falls under their Senses especially their sight as far as their Memories only are exercised And thus a Child very young may learn which is the Aequator which the Meridian c. which Europe and which England upon the Globes as soon almost as he knows the Rooms of the House he lives in if Care be taken not to teach him too much at once nor to set him upon a new Part till that which he is upon be perfectly learn'd and fix'd in his Memory § 172. With Geography Chronology ought to go hand in hand I mean the general part of it so that he may have in his Mind a view of the whole current of time and the several considerable Epochs that are made use of in History Without these two History which is the great Mistress of Prudence and Civil Knowledge and ought to be the proper Study of a Gentleman or Man of Business in the World without Geography and Chronology I say History will be very ill retained and very little useful but be only a jumble of Matters of Fact confusedly heaped together without Order or Instruction 'T is by these two that the Actions of Mankind are ranked into their proper Places of Times and Countries under which Circumstances they are not only much easier kept in the Memory but in that natural Order are only capable to afford those Observations which make a Man the better and the abler for reading them § 172. When I speak of Chronology as a Science he should be perfect in I do not mean the little Controversies that are in it These are endless and most of them of so little importance to a Gentleman as not to deserve to be inquir'd into were they capable of an easy Decision And therefore all that learned Noise and Dust of the Chronologist is wholly to be avoided The most useful Book I have seen in that part of Learning is a small Treatise of Strauchius which is printed in Twelves under the Title of Breviarum Chronologium out of which may be selected all that is necessary to be taught a young Gentleman concerning Chronology for all that is in that Treatise a learner need not be cumbred with He has in him the most remarkable or usual Epochs reduced all to that of the Julian Period which is
and Qualities and the other Bodies The first of these is usually referr'd to Metaphysicks but under what Title soever the consideration of Spirits comes I think it ought to go before the study of Matter and Body not as a Science that can be methodized into a System and treated of upon Principles of Knowledge but as an enlargement of our Minds towards a truer and fuller comprehension of the intellectual World to which we are led both by Reason and Revelation And since the clearest and largest Discoveries we have of other Spirits besides God and our own Souls is imparted to us from Heaven by Revelation I think the information that at least young People should have of them should be taken from that Revelation To this purpose I think it would be well if there were made a good History of the Bible for young People to read wherein every thing that is fit to be put into it being laid down in its due Order of Time and several things omitted which were suited only to riper Age that Confusion which is usually produced by promiscuous reading of the Scripture as it lies now bound up in our Bibles would be avoided And also this other good obtained that by reading of it constantly there would be instilled into the Minds of Children a Notion and Belief of Spirits they having so much to do in all the Transactions of that History which will be a good Preparation to the study of Bodies for without the Notion and allowance of Spirits our Philosophy will be lame and defective in one main Part of it when it leaves out the Contemplation of the most Excellent and Powerful Part of the Creation § 179. Of this History of the Bible I think too it would be well if there were a short and plain Epitome made containing the chief and most material Heads for Children to be conversant in as soon as they can read This though it will lead them early into some Notion of Spirits yet is not contrary to what I said above That I would not have Children troubled whilst young with Notions of Spirits whereby my meaning was that I think it inconvenient that their yet tender Minds should receive early Impressions of Goblins Spectres and Apparitions wherewith their Maids and those about them are apt to fright them into a compliance with their Orders which often proves a great inconvenience to them all their Lives after by subjecting their Minds to Frights fearful Apprehensions Weakness and Superstition which when coming abroad into the World and Conversation they grow weary and asham'd of it not seldom happens that to make as they think a through Cure and ease themselves of a load has sate so heavy on them they throw away the thoughts of all Spirits together and so run into the other but worse extream § 180. The Reason why I would have this premised to the study of Bodies and the Doctrine of the Scriptures well imbibed before young Men be entered in Natural Philosophy is because Matter being a thing that all our Senses are constantly conversant with it is so apt to possess the Mind and exclude all other Beings but Matter that prejudice grounded on such Principles often leaves no room for the admittance of Spirits or the allowing any such things as immaterial Beings in rerum natura when yet it is evivent that by mere Matter and Motion none of the great Phoenomena of Nature can be resolved to instance but in that common one of Gravity which I think impossible to be explained by any natural Operation of Matter or any other Law of Motion but the positive Will of a Superiour Being so ordering it And therefore since the Deluge cannot be well explained without admitting something out of the ordinary course of Nature I propose it to be considered whether God's altering the Center of gravity in the Earth for a time a thing as intelligible as gravity it self which perhaps a little variation of Causes unknown to us would produce will not more easily account for Noah's Flood than any Hypothesis yet made use of to solve it But this I mention by the by to shew the necessity of having recourse to something beyond bare Matter and its Motion in the explication of Nature to which the Notions of Spirits and their Power to whose Operation so much is attributed in the Bible may be a fit preparative reserving to a fitter opportunity a fuller explication of this Hypothesis and the application of it to all the Parts of the Deluge and any Difficulties can be supposed in the History of the Flood as recorded in the Bible § 181. But to return to the study of Natural Philosophy though the World be full of Systems of it yet I cannot say I know any one which can be taught a young Man as a Science wherein he may be sure to find truth and certainty which is what all Sciences give an expectation of I do not hence conclude that none of them are to be read It is necessary for a Gentleman in this loarned Age to look into some of them to fit himself for Conversation But whether that of Des Cartes be put into his Hands as that which is most in Fashion or it be thought fit to give him a short view of that and several other also I think the Systems of Natural Philosophy that have obtained in this part of the World are to be read more to know the Hypotheses and to understand the Terms and Ways of Talking of the several Sects than with hopes to gain thereby a comprehensive scientifical and satisfactory Knowledge of the Works of Nature Only this may be said that the Modern Corpusoularians talk in most Things more intelligibly than the Peripateticks who possessed the Schools immediately before them He that would look farther back and acquaint himself with the several Opinions of the Ancients may consult Dr. Cudworth's Intellectual System wherein that very learned Author hath with such Accurateness and Judgment collected and explained the Opinions of the Greek Philosophers that what Principles they built on and what were the chief Hypotheses that divided them is better to be seen in him than any where else that I know But I would not deterr any one from the study of Nature because all the Knowledge we have or possibly can have of it cannot be brought into a Science There are very many things in it that are convenient and necessary to be known to a Gentleman And a great many other that will abundantly reward the Pains of the Curious with Delight and Advantage But these I think are rather to be found amongst such as have imployed themselves in making rational Experiments and Observations than in writting barely speculative Systems Such Writings therefore as many of Mr. Boyles are with others that have writ of Husbandry Planting Gardening and the like may be fit for a Gentleman when he has a litle acquainted himself with some of the Systems of the Natural
them out when they have run themselves into the Briars and in all their Miscarriages be answerable for them I confess the Knowledge of Men is so great a Skill that it is not to be expected that a young Man should presently be perfect in it But yet his going abroad is to little purpose if travel does not somewhat open his Eyes make him cautious and wary and accustom him to look beyond the out-side and under the inoffensive Guard of a civil and obliging Carriage keep himself free and safe in his Conversation with Strangers and all sorts of People without forfeiting their good Opinion He that is sent out to travel at the Age and with the Thoughts of a Man designing to improve himself may get into the Conversation and Acquaintance of Persons of Condition where he comes which though a thing of most advantage to a Gentleman that travels yet I ask amongst our young Men that go abroad under Tutors what one is there of an hundred that ever visits any Person of Quality much less makes an Acquaintance with such from whose Conversation he may learn what is good Breeding in that Country and what is worth observation in it Though from such Persons it is one may learn more in one Day than in a Years rambling from one June to another Nor indeed is it to be wondred for Men of Worth and Parts will not easily admit the Familiarity of Boys who yet need the care of a Tutor though a young Gentleman and a Stranger appearing like a Man and shewing a desire to inform himself in the Customs Manners Laws and Government of the Country he is in will find welcome assistance and entertainment amongst the best and most knowing Persons every-where who will be ready to receive encourage and countenance an ingenuous and inquisitive Foreigner § 201. This how true soever it be will not I fear alter the Custom which has cast the time of Travel upon the worst part of a Man's Life but for Reasons not taken from their Improvement The young Lad must not be ventured abroad at Eight or Ten for fear what may happen to the tender Child though he then runs ten times less risque than at Sixteen or Eighteen Nor must he stay at home till that dangerous heady Age be over because he must be back again by One and twenty to marry and propagate The Father cannot stay any longer for the Portion nor the Mother for a new Sett of Babies to play with and so my young Master whatever comes on 't must have a Wife look'd out for him by that time he is of Age though it would be no prejudice to his Strength his Parts nor his Issue if it were respited for some time and he had leave to get in Years and Knowledge the start a little of his Children who are often found to tread too near upon the heels of their Fathers to the no great Satisfaction either of Son or Father But the young Gentleman being got within view of Matrimony 't is time to leave him to his Mistress § 202. Though I am now come to a Conclusion of what obvious Remarks have suggested to me concerning Education I would not have it thought that I look on it as a just Treatise on this Subject There are a thousand other things that may need consideration especially if one should take in the various Tempers different Inclinations and particular Defaults that are to be found in Children and prescribe proper Remedies The variety is so great that it would require a Volume nor would that reach it Each Man's Mind has some peculiarity as well as his Face that distinguishes him from all others and there are possibly scarce two Children who can be conducted by exactly the same method Besides that I think a Prince a Nobleman and an ordinary Gentleman's Son should have different ways of Breeding But having had here only some general Views in reference to the main End and Aims in Education and those designed for a Gentleman's Son who being then very little I considered only as white Paper or Wax to be moulded and fashioned as one pleases I have touch'd little more than those Heads which I judged necessary for the Breeding of a young Gentleman of his Condition in general and have now published these my occasional Thoughts with this Hope That though this be far from being a compleat Treatise on this Subiect or such as that every one may find what will just fit his Child in it yet it may give some small light to those whose Concern for their dear Little Ones makes them so irregularly bold that they dare venture to consult their own Reason in the Education of their Children rather than wholly to rely upon Old Custom THE CONTENTS OF THE SECTIONS A. ALteration Sect. 7. Air 9. Awe 43. Arithmetick 169. Astronomy 170. B. Bed 22. Beating 46. Breeding 134 C. Cloths 11. Costiveness 23. Craving 36 101. Childishness 61. Company 66 139. Compulsion 74 121. Chiding 75. Curiosity 103 111. Complaints 104. Crying 106. Cruelty 110 Chronology 172. Civil-Law 175. D. Diet 13. Drink 16. Drink Strong 19. Dejected 44. Dancing 65 184. Disposition 72. Dominion 98. Drawing 153. E Early 34 39. Example 69 81. Excuses 125. Ethicks 174. F Feet 7. Fruie 20. Familiarity 91. French 154. Fencing 185. G Government 88. Governour 64. God 129. Goblins 131. Geography 168. Geometry 171. Greek 183. Gardening 192. H Health 2. History 173. I. Joyner 192. L. Liberality 104. Lying 124. Learning 140. Latin 155 167. Law 176. Logick 177. M. Meals 15. Mind 31. Maimers 65. Memoriter 166. Musick 185. Merchants Accounts 197. O. Obstinacy 76. P. Physick 29. Punishment 42 70. Play-Games 123. Philosophy Natural 177. 188. Painting 191. R. Rewards 51. Reputation 55 60. Rules 62. Reasoning 80. Reverence 91. Reading 141. Rhetorick 177. Recreation 193. S. Swiming 8. Sleep 21. Self-denial 44. Shame 59. Sauntring 116. Spirits 130. T. Tenderness 4. Task 71. Tutor 87. Temper 95. Truth 122. Themes 162. Trade 189 195. Travel 199. V. Vertue 128. Verses 165. W. Warmth 5. Whipping 82. Wisdom 133. Writing 152. FINIS Health Tenderness Warmth Feet Alterations Swiming Air. Cloths Diet. Meals Drink Strong Drink Fruit Sleep Bed Costiveness Physick Mind Early Craving Early Punishments Awe Self-denial Dejected Beating Rewards Reputation Shame Reputation Childishness Rules Manners Dancing Manners Company Example Punishment Task Disposition Compulsion Chiding Obstinacy Reasoning Examples Whipping Tutor Governour Familiarity Reverence Governour Temper Dominion Craving Curiosity Complaints Liberality Crying Cruelty Curiosity Sauntring Compulsion Play-Games Lying Excuses Vertue God Spirits Goblins Truth Wisdom Breeding Company Learning Reading Writing Drawing French Latin Themes Verses Memoriter Latin Geography Arithmetick Astronomy Geometry Chronology History Ethicks Civil-Law Law Rhetorick Logick Natural Philosophy Greek Dancing Musick Fencing Trade Painting Gardning Joyner Recreation Trade Merchants Accompts Merchants Accounts Travel
by too strict an hand over them they lose all their Vigor and Industry and are in a Worse State than the former For extravagant young Fellows that have Liveliness and Spirit come sometimes to be set right and so make Able and Great Men But dejected Minds timorous and tame and low Spirits are hardly ever to be raised and very seldom attain to any Thing To avoid the danger that is on either hand is the great Art and he that has found a way how to keep up a Child's Spirit easy active and free and yet at the same time to restrain him from many things he has a Mind to and to draw him to things that are uneasy to him he I say that knows how to reconcile these seeming Contradictions has in my Opinion got the true Secret of Education § 46. The usual lazy and short way by Chastisement and the Rod which is the only Instrument of Government that Tutors generally know or ever think of is the most unfit of any to be used in Education because it tends to both those Mischiefs which as we have shewn are the Sylla and Charybdis which on the one hand or other ruine all that miscarry § 47. 1. This kind of Punishment contributes not at all to the mastery of our Natural Propensity to indulge Corporal and present Pleasure and to avoid Pain at any rate but rather encourages it and so strengthens that in us which is the root of all vitious and wrong Actions For what Motives I pray does a Child Act by but of such Pleasure and Pain that drudges at his Book against his Inclination or abstains from eating unwholsome Fruit that he takes pleasure in only out of fear of whipping He in this only preferrs the greater Corporal Pleasure or avoids the greater Corporal Pain and what is it to govern his Actions and direct his Conduct by such Motives as these What is it I say but to cherish that Principle in him which it is our Business to root out and destroy And therefore I cannot think any Correction usefull to a Child where the Shame of Suffering for having done Amiss does not more work upon him than the Pain § 48. 2. This sort of Correction naturally breeds an Aversion to that which 't is the Tutor's Business to create a liking to How obvious is it to observe that Children come to hate things liked at first as soon as they come to be whipped or chid and teased about them And it is not to be wonder'd at in them when grown Men would not be able to be reconciled to any thing by such ways Who is there that would not be disgusted with any innocent Recreation in it self indifferent to him if he should with blows or ill Language be haled to it when he had no Mind Or be constantly so treated for some Circumstance in his application to it This is natural to be so Offensive Circumstances ordinarily infect innocent things which they are joined with and the very sight of a Cup wherein any one uses to take nauseous Physick turns his Stomach so that nothing will relish well out of it tho' the Cup be never so clean and well shaped and of the richest Materials § 49. 3. Such a sort of slavish Discipline makes a slavish Temper The Child submits and dissembles Obedience whilst the fear of the Rod hangs over him but when that is removed and by being out of sight he can promise himself impunity he gives the greater scope to his natural Inclination which by this way is not at all altered but on the contrary heightned and increased in him and after such restraint breaks out usually with the more violence or § 50. 4. If Severity carried to the highest pitch does prevail and works a Cure upon the present unruly Distemper it is often by bringing in the room of it a worse and more dangerous Disease by breaking the Mind and then in the place of a disorderly young Fellow you have a low spirited moap'd Creature who however with his unnatural Sobriety he may please silly People who commend tame unactive Children because they make no noise nor give them any trouble yet at last will probably prove as uncomfortable a thing to his Friends as he will be all his life an useless thing to himself and others § 51. Beating then and all other Sorts of slavish and corporal Punishments are not the Discipline fit to be used in the Education of those we would have wise good and ingenuous Men and therefore very rarely to be applied and that only in great Occasions and Cases of Extremity On the other side to flatter children by Rewards of things that are pleasant to them is as carefully to be avoided He that will give his Son Apples or Sugar-plumbs or what else of this kind he is most delighted with to make him learn his Book does but authorize his love of pleasure and cocker up that dangerous propensitie which he ought by all means to subdue and stifle in him You can never hope to teach him to master it whilst you compound for the Check you give his Inclination in one place by the Satisfaction you propose to it in another To make a good a wise and a vertuous Man 't is fit he should learn to cross his Appetite and deny his Inclination to riches finery or pleasing his Palate c. when ever his Reason advises the contrary and his Duty requires it But when you draw him to do any thing that is fit by the offer of Money or reward the pains of learning his Book by the pleasure of a luscious Morsel When you promise him a Lace-Crevat or a fine new Suit upon the performance of some of his little Tasks what do you by proposing these as Rewards but allow them to be the good Things he should aim at and thereby encourage his longing for them and accustom him to place his happiness in them Thus People to prevail with Children to be industrious about their Grammar Dancing or some other such matter of no great moment to the happiness or ufefullness of their Lives by misapplied Rewards and Punishments sacrifice their Vertue invert the Order of their Education and teach them Luxury Pride or Covetousness c. For in this way flattering those wrong Inclinations which they should restrain and suppress they lay the Foundations of those future Vices which cannot be avoided but by curbing our Desires and accustoming them early to submit to Reason § 52. I say not this that I would have Children kept from the Conveniences or pleasures of Life that are not injurious to their Health or Vertue On the contrary I would have their Lives made as pleasant and as agreeable to them as may be in a plentiful enjoyment of whatsoever might innocently delight them Provided it be with this Caution that they have those Enjoyments only as the Consequences of the State of Esteem and Acceptation they are in with their