vanity which is a consequence of the partial cultivation of the intellectual powers, from false associations, which annex ideas of importance to what is trifling and insignificant, and which connect ideas of glory with the silly admiration of fools and coxcombs that the mind is effectually perverted. And whence are these false associations derived? By seriously reflecting on the tenor of the ideas which modern education is calculated to produce, the question may be easily resolved!

Adieu.

LETTER IX.

JUDGMENT.

Farther illustrations on the method of cultivating this faculty.-Education of the lower orders.-Religious instruction of the poor, and of the rich.

So much, my dear friend, remains to be said upon the cultivation of judgment, that I must beg leave to give you one other letter upon a subject which is deserving of as many volumes.

We have already seen that the faculties of conception and judgment are coeval: that without vigour and accuracy in the former, the latter must ever remain imperfect; and that where the latter is uncultivated, the former will be in a great measure useless. Tell a child "that he who runs swiftest will soonest reach the goal;" to understand this, the child must have a distinct conception of

running; he must also have been able to make comparisons between different degrees of swiftness, and to conceive a lesser and greater degree of it, before he can acquiesce in your conclusion; which acquiescence is the work of judgment. If any of the former ideas are indistinct, the judgment will rest upon your authority; the child may learn to repeat it as a judgment of his own, but it is in reality not his, but yours: whereas if he has accurate and distinct conceptions on the first part of the proposition, the judgment included in the second is inevitable, and may be termed intuitive.

Where children are taught every thing by lessons, where their perceptive powers are never exercised, and their conceptions never cultivated, all their judgments are received from authority. People who are thus educated, are accordingly as little in the habit of forming opinions for themselves, as of fabricating the clothes they wear. And as with

out the assistance of the mechanic, the artizan, and the dress-maker, they must, of necessity, go unclothed; so without the assistance of public opinion, would their minds be naked, and destitute of principle or sentiment.

It is upon the preservation of a just balance betwixt the faculties of conception and judgment, that the soundness of the intellect principally depends. This equality in the cultivation of their mental powers compensates, in a great measure, to the vulgar, for the want of that education to which neither their avocations nor circumstances will permit them to aspire. With them attention is confined to a narrow sphere. Their perceptive powers are cultivated but to a certain extent; and this cultivation is entirely under the direction of the imperious mistress, necessity.

The conceptions are exercised in the same manner upon few objects, but where the attention is fully given to these, they are, as far as they extend, perfect and distinct. So it is with the judgment: its sphere of operation is narrow; but while it moves in that sphere, it is never erroneous. Hence we find much good sense in the observations of the peasantry, while these observations are confined to subjects upon which they have had access to such information, as could give them clear and distinct ideas.

If the above observations are well founded, it follows, that if the education we bestow upon the labouring classes, be of a nature calculated to derange the just proportion of the faculties; to give a partial cultivation to those which are never to be called forth by the business, or the duties, which the individual is destined to fulfil, while those which are in daily and hourly requisition are utterly neglected; we in reality do more harm than good.

Am I, then, of the number of those who deem the blessing of education improper for the vulgar? Am I one of those children of pride, who wish to see the darkness of ignorance bespread the regions of poverty, while I sit with my compeers elate in Goshen, and enjoy the light? Heaven forbid !

I honour and applaud the noble efforts that have been made, and that are still making, by many generous minds, to give instruction to the children of the poor. Far from wishing to restrain the zeal of charity, I would do all in my power to increase its fervour; but I would wish to direct it into such channels as would most effectually enrich the soil it is the intention of benevolence to cultivate. Happiness, as far as it is attainable by mortals, consists, I think, in the perfect harmony of the soul. All

the turbulent and dissocial passions, as disturbers of this harmony, are inimical to happiness. The partial cultivation of any one of the intellectual faculties is from the same cause injurious. The affections that flow from religious principle, as hope, confidence, love, reverence, gratitude, and joy, are all not only favourable to happiness, but so essential to it, that I do not scruple to affirm that where they are wanting, happiness will never be found.

If these observations upon the nature of happiness appear just, we ought, in our endeavours to promote the happiness and well-being of the lower classes, to keep them in view; if we accept of them as principles, we shall be at no loss how to proceed.

I have already endeavoured to show the early progress of the passions. In this respect the children of the poor and of the rich are pretty much upon a level; they are in truth equally neglected. In early life the children of the villager are as much ruined by foolish indulgence as the children of his lord. The associations which beget a tendency to the selfish and malevolent passions, are with equal facility acquired by both, and are effectually counteracted in neither. The first step, therefore, towards the education of the lower orders is, to instruct the parents in the duties they owe to their children in early life. Books to this effect ought to be distributed; exhortations to be frequently given by the clergy; and rewards bestowed by the contributors to schools, to those parents whose children appear to have reaped most benefit from home instruction and example.

To undertake the education of a poor man's family is, no doubt, a very good and charitable action; but to put the poor man in a way of edu

cating his family himself, is doing infinitely more service to society. (E)

The education of the heart is the work of domestic life, and where this preliminary is neglected, all the endeavours of the school-master will be fruitless. In the religious education of the lower orders, there is seldom, I fear, any appeal made to the heart and the affections. The religion of the vulgar is therefore, in general, gloomy, superstitious, and I had almost said, ferocious. While all the other intellectual faculties are permitted to remain dormant for want of cultivation, the imagination is roused and filled with the darkest images. The tendency of this temper is to produce distrust, suspicion, envy, and malevolence; and when spiritual pride is added, it brings forth arrogance and presumption. This is not the religion of Jesus Christ. Far other are its fruits; widely opposite is its tendency upon the heart!

The first view to be given of the Deity to the poor, as well as to the rich, is as the giver of all good. The universality of his providence and of his protecting care, ought to be carefully instilled. By representing the Supreme to children as a malignant spy and an avenging tyrant, no affections consonant to the spirit of the Gospel can possibly be produced.

Another error in the religious instruction of the poor is addressing ourselves to the judgment, where the conceptions have never been so far opened as to be adequate to the comprehension of the simplest proposition, upon any subject that is not an object of perception. By doing so, we may give religious bigotry, but we shall never impart religious knowledge. The conceptions of the vulgar, or of the high-born, will be clear and accurate, ex14 VOL. II.