BY MARIA EDGEWORTH, Author of LETTERS FOR LITERARY LADIES, AND THE PARENT'S ASSISTANT; AND BY RICHARD LOVELL EDGEWORTH, F.R.S. and M.R.I.A. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD. PREFACE. WE E fhall not imitate the invidious example of fome authors, who think it neceffary to deftroy the edifices of others, in order to clear the way for their own. We have no peculiar fyftem to fupport, and, confequently, we have no temptation to attack the theories of others; and we have chosen the title of Practical Education, to point out that we rely entirely upon practice and experience. To make any progrefs in the art of education, it must be patiently reduced to an experimental science; we are fully fenfible of the extent and difficulty of this undertaking, and we have not the arrogance to imagine, that we have made any confiderable progrefs in a work, which the labours of many generations may, per |