The curfew, it is more than probable she has never heard of. Perhaps in some of the Beauties of History, which she has read as lessons, the curfew may have been mentioned; but it is possible that it may never have been explained; of the tolling of a bell she has perhaps heard, but of the meaning of knell she is completely ignorant. With the term parting day she, it is likely, associates the idea of the black Monday, on which she parted with her friends to return to school; an association sufficiently melancholy to accord with the tone of the poem, but not very likely to facilitate her knowledge of its design. What does she make, what can she make, of the succeeding line? A herd she has probably heard of, as one who takes care of sheep, goats, or other animals; but why the herd should low, is certainly beyond her comprehension. How, or in what manner, he winds, is equally so. She is told, indeed, that he winds slowly, and she knows that one may wind a clock or a watch either slowly or quickly; and with that idea she probably associates it, passing the succeeding words of o'er the lea as mere expletives, placed there by the poet to lengthen out the line; for which purpose tweedle dee would, to her conception, have done every whit as well.

I could thus go through the whole poem, and think I should leave no doubt upon your mind at the conclusion, that the child had received as many ideas from this exercise of memory, as she would have done from the repetition of any old rhyme.

Where the perceptive powers have been sufficiently exercised upon natural objects, so as to render the greater part of a poetical description intelligible, great advantage may indeed arise from the perusal; because in that case, the pleasure

which the mind receives from seeing the images with which it has been familiar, set in a new, and more elegant, and elevated point of view, will serve to enliven the powers of curiosity and observation, and prove a stimulus to the acquirement of new ideas.

I well remember how eagerly I caught the information, that bells were worn by the leaders of the flock, in most parts of England. The custom was unknown in the part of the country where I passed my childhood, and consequently the first lines of a poetical description which I ardently admired, were to me unintelligible.* The remaining lines presented objects with which I had long been familiar. The simple superstitions of the peasantry were known to me; I had frequently heard their origin explained, and their folly pointed out; but the colours thrown over them by the charm of poetry, presented them to my view in a new and interesting light.

And now, my dear friend, let me refer it to your judgment, (setting all adherence to custom, to theory, and to prejudice, entirely aside) whether a relish for the beauties of poetical description will not be much more likely to result from a lively at

*The following are the lines alluded to:

"When Blouselind expir'd, the wether's bell
Before the drooping flock pour'd forth her knell ;
The solemn death-watch click'd the hour she dy'd,
And shrilling crickets in the chimney cry'd ;
The boding raven on her cottage sat,
And with hoarse croaking, warn'd us of her fate;
The lambkin, which her wonted prudence bred,
Dropp'd on the plains that fatal instant dead;
Swarm'd on a rotten stick, the bees I spy'd,
Which erst I saw when Goody Dobson dy'd.”

tention to all the images which are employed by the poet, as they become objects of perception, than by the repetition of words without ideas? A familiar and intimate acquaintance with the objects of nature will not, it is true, be always sufficient to inspire poetical taste; but without an intimate acquaintance with natural objects, the conceptions of the poet can never be understood; for it is from the material world that all the finest imagery of the poet is derived. From the same source we have all our ideas of the sublime and beautiful. The descriptions of the poet, by calling our attention to these objects, increases the emotions which they have a natural tendency to excite; and thus a taste for poetry enhances the pleasure we derive from contemplating the beauties of nature, while an accurate knowledge of natural objects gives to poetry a peculiar zest.

It is, then, from a cultivation of the perceptive faculties, that we only can attain those powers of conception which are essential to taste; and without this cultivation, all the beauties of all the poets who have ever written, committed to memory, would do no more towards inspiring poetical taste, than the smell of a rose would do towards giving an idea of its colour to one who had been born blind.

From the tenor of these observations on the cultivation of the perceptive and conceptive faculties, the advantages of a country education in the early part of life will appear sufficiently evident. Those who have it not in their power to give this advantage to their children; those whose situation precludes their pupils from the benefit of an extensive and familiar acquaintance with nat10* VOL. II.

ural objects, ought to be particularly solicitous to make them amends for this misfortune, by seizing every opportunity of directing their attention to the natural objects within their reach. If the vegetable world is shut to their perusal, the book of animated nature is open before them. If "the various landscape burst not on the sight," the sun, moon and stars may still be seen. Nor ought an attentive examination of the works of art to be neglected. In most of these, some principles of science are involved. From the most simple piece of mechanism ideas may be derived; and no source that can furnish the mind with ideas which are just and accurate, ought we to overlook.

I have incurred the risk of wearying you upon the subject of accurate conception, because I believe that it is but little attended to by the instructers of youth; and I would rather tax your patience by prolixity, than leave any thing unsaid which could tend to enforce the belief of its importance. That importance will still appear in a stronger point of view, when we come to consider the faculty of judgment, which shall be the subject of the next letter.

Adieu.

First begins to operate upon the objects of perception.-Necessity of exercising it upon sensible objects.-Illustrations.-How it may at first be exercised on moral propositions.-Party prejudice inimical to its cultivation.-Observations on this head.-The use of history.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

As all the errors, and many of the vices of mankind, originate in a deficiency or perversion of the faculty of judgment, we are called upon for a very particular attention to its cultivation and improvement. By tracing the progress of its gradual development in the human mind, we shall perhaps be enabled to exert our own judgment to advantage, in determining on the steps most proper to be taken for the cultivation of this important faculty; while by observing the obstacles frequently opposed to its improvement, we shall perceive the reason of its seldom attaining maturity.

It evidently appears that judgment begins first to operate on the perceptive faculties; and that till the commencement of this operation, the mind is incapable of improvement from the object of sense. The knowledge that is obtained of the relative distances of visible objects, is an operation of judgment even in the belief of the existence of such objects, judgment is concerned. And this consideration ought to make us particularly careful of misleading the tender minds of infants into erroneous judgments, concerning the powers and