therefore, who confine their views solely to the acquirement of this or that accomplishment, my observations will necessarily appear dull and uninteresting, because totally destitute of rules that may facilitate the attainment of their particular object.

It is observed by an authority to which I am always proud to refer, that "to instruct youth in the languages and in the sciences is comparatively of little importance, if we are inattentive to the habits they acquire; and are not careful in giving to all the different faculties, and all their different principles of action, a proper degree of employment. Abstracting entirely from the culture of their moral powers, how extensive and difficult is the business of conducting their intellectual improvement ! To watch over the associations which they form in their tender years; to give them early habits of mental activity; to rouse their curiosity, and to direct it to proper objects; to exercise their ingenuity and invention; to cultivate in their minds a turn for speculation, and at the same time preserve their attention alive to the objects around them; to awaken their attention to the beauties of nature, and to inspire them with a relish for intellectual enjoyment; these form but a part of the business of education, and yet the execution even of this part requires an acquaintance with the general principles of our nature, which seldom falls to the share of those to whom the instruction of youth is commonly entrusted."*

The sketch that is here drawn by a masterly hand will better explain to you my notions upon the subject of intellectual improvement than the

* Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, p. 24.

most laboured definition. Still I must agree with the enlightened author; that these particulars form but a part of the business of education: They are but a few of the necessary means that must be employed in accomplishing our great end.

To qualify a human being for the true enjoyment of existence, the highest cultivation of the intellectual powers will not be sufficient, unless these powers be properly directed; this direction they must receive from the bias that has been given to the desires and affections of the heart. If these desires and affections have been corrupted by improper indulgence, or perverted and depraved by means of powerful impressions made upon the tender mind, we may give our children knowledge, we may give them learning, we may give them accomplishments, but we shall never be able to teach them to apply these acquirements to just or noble purposes.

To explain and to urge the importance of giving such a direction to the active powers of the mind, as is agreeable to the precepts of divine philosophy, was the particular object of my first Series of Letters. But though my views were chiefly directed towards the culture of the heart, it was impossible so entirely to separate subjects in themselves united, as not to blend my ideas of the early cultivation of the mental powers, with what I advanced on the cultivation of the affections. The subjects, indeed, ought never to be considered as separate and distinct; though, from our limited powers, it is necessary, in works of this

nature, to view them in succession.

That the greatest perfection of which our nature is susceptible, consists in the capability

of exerting, in an eminent degree, not one or two of the faculties with which Providence has endowed us, but the whole of these faculties; and of having the direction given to this exertion, under the constant influence of the pious and benevolent affections; I believe few will be inclined to deny. This is the perfection after which we ought incessantly to labour; of this perfection it has pleased the Deity to give us an example in Him, who, in compassion our infirmities, took not on him the nature of angels, that is to say, gave us not an example of perfection beyond the grasp of our present faculties to conceive, or of our present powers to imitate.

In the character of our blessed Saviour we behold the union of the intellectual and moral powers of a man in their most exalted state of perfection; nor is it doing justice either to his example or his precepts, to keep our eye fixed upon one part of the character, while we neglect the other. His precepts and example are never at variance; while he taught the necessity and advantage of improving every talent with which Heaven has entrusted us, he displayed every faculty of the human mind exerted in the cause of piety and virtue. To give our children such a partial and imperfect education, as shall render them inclined to bury their talents in the earth, is to act directly contrary to the commands of Him, who gives them with an express injunction that they may be occupied.

As the body is composed of a variety of organs, of which each is equally necessary to the wellbeing of the whole; so the mind is a compound, if I may so speak, of a variety of faculties, none of which can be defective, without enfeebling or

2 VOL. II.

injuring the rest. The lungs are not more necessary to the functions of the heart, than accurate conception to sound judgment. The circulation of the blood is not more necessary to the animal economy, than memory is to the mental. But memory depends upon attention; the accuracy of conception has the same source; and if both are not duly exercised by means of the perceptions, neither will attain perfection.

Where any one of the faculties has obtained a manifest ascendancy, the character will be imperfect, unhappy in itself, and useless to society. This irregular shoot is sometimes dignified by ignorance with the name of genius; but genius is not the partial vigour of a single faculty. It implies the possession of all the powers of the mind in an eminent degree. The new combinations which genius produces, either in literature or in the arts, are the production of vigorous conception and sound judgment; aided by the creative power of imagination, and modelled by taste. Where any of these appear to be wanting, the inventions of genius must be proportionally defective. To suppose that genius can exist without them, is absurd."

The same want of reflection leads into other errors, which are frequent causes of disappointment. In the present state of refinement, the cultivation of taste is an object of much importance in the education of young ladies, it indeed often appears to be the only object that is deemed worthy of attention. To ascertain the best and most certain method of cultivating this faculty will, therefore, I doubt not, be considered as a very desirable object. If these letters are read with attention, I hope the discovery will be made. I do not despair of convincing the most incredulous, of

the utter impossibility of cultivating taste without the previous cultivation of the leading faculties. It is here, however, necessary to premise, that by taste, wherever the word occurs, I invariably mean that faculty of the mind, whereby we are enabled to perceive, and to feel, whatever is beautiful or sublime in Nature or in the arts. It is necessary to give this definition, because the term is often applied to denote predilection; and this application of it has given rise to much confusion, not only in colloquial language, but in the writings of some ingenious authors. A predilection for music or painting may be acquired by means of habit and of association; but these are inadequate to the production of the emotions of taste, which have their origin in other sources. All animals that have nice perceptions, are capable of acquiring a predilection for certain sounds or colours; but the emotions of taste are peculiar to the human race, and even in man are confined to the circle of the cultivated.

The same faculties which must unite their operations, in order to render the mind susceptible of the emotions of sublimity or beauty, are equally necessary to the imagination. An early and partial cultivation of this faculty is an evil pregnant with so much mischief, that it cannot be too severely deprecated. To it we are indebted for those thousand extravagances in opinion and in conduct, which extort the pity of the wise, and the censures of the severe. To it we owe the motley absurdities, which, under the name of novels, deprave the taste, and corrupt the affections, of the youthful heart; and in the early incitement that is given to the imagination, while the powers of conception and judgment are suffered to lie dormant, we see the reason why such books are read with avidity