as per

any Briton object to the dispatch of another of our admirals, who announced the capture of the French fleet " "margin."

Considering all these things, and calculating the expense of time and labour, which must be devoted to the acquisition of the learned languages, they should not be made a necessary part of the education of a military man. Instead of Greek and Latin, he should learn the rudiments of modern languages, of the sciences, and of the arts essential to his profession; he should acquire some knowledge of the literature of his own country, some taste for belles-lettres, which will enable him to pass his leisure hours happily, and may render his company and conversation agreeable to cultivated society of both

sexes.

As to the actual value of the accomplishment, it might perhaps be more useful to a soldier to have learnt to write readily with either hand, than to be able to write Latin elegantly. Lord Nelson had, when a boy, practised writing with his left hand; he felt the advantage of the facility he had acquired in this habit, when he had the misfortune to lose his arm. When the king of Prussia was disabled by the gout in his right hand, he angrily asked one of the professors at his military academy, why the pupils were not taught to write with the left as well as with the right hand.

Before a young man mixes with companions of his own age, who have acquired the learned languages, and who have imbibed high ideas of the value of classical literature, he

should be prepared to form, with regard to himself, a just estimate of their importance: for he should not go to a public seminary with the notion, that any part of his education has been neglected, or that he is inferior in capacity to other boys, because he has not precisely their attainments. It is of consequence to explain to him the principles upon which his education has in this respect been conducted, to convince his understanding, and to strengthen his mind. upon this subject; otherwise he might perhaps all his life feel regret, and false shame, instead of a just confidence in himself, and gratitude to his parents.

During the first eight or ten years of a boy's life, the rudiments of the knowledge that will be most useful to him, the foundation of his moral and professional habits and principles, may be secured by the easy methods, which we have suggested. This primary education may perhaps be best conducted at home by parents or private preceptors; but beyond this first period, private education must never be thought of for a soldier. Every thing forbids it. The very love of home, which he would acquire with domestic tastes, would become a source of unavailing regret. The necessity for resistance, and fortitude, the competition, the bodily and mental contests, which arise daily in public schools, force young men to exert themselves, and give them courage, and presence of mind among numbers and amidst the bustle of active life. Therefore, to public schools military pupils should undoubtedly be sent, as soon as they have been properly prepared at home.

Immediately previous to a pupil's leaving the parental care

to enter any military school or academy, pains should be taken to give him a full idea of the sort of life, which he is going to lead, and of the temptations to which he will be exposed. Any nice ideas of morality, which he has acquired, will probably be assailed by the ridicule of his companions; therefore his preceptors and friends should not insist upon points that are not essential: but by the main principles of morality he should be prepared to abide sturdily, against ridicule, persuasion, and example. He should be prepared, not to confute or lecture his companions, but with cool, civil, and military courage to maintain his ground if attacked, and to pursue his own course steadily, regardless of the clamours of the great or little mob. He should ascend the hill to seize his prize, without listening to the abusive voices, that perpetually dissuade him from his enterprise. Against the habits of gaming, and we fear we must add drinking, he should be specially cautioned before he enters any public seminary. A military life exposes a young man to many temptations to indulge such tastes; it is therefore of the utmost consequence, to form early the habit of resisting opportunity and example: a habit which will be the security of his health, his fortune, his happiness, and perhaps his honour.

As a young officer will early mix with varieties of dissipated company, his religious principles should not trust for their defence to any of those outworks, which wit can demolish; he should not be early taught to be scrupulous or strict in the observance of trifling forms, his important duties and his belief in the essential tenets of his religion should not rest upon these slight foundations, lest, if they be overthrown,

the whole superstructure should fall. When his When his young companions perceive, that he is not precise or punctilious, but sincere and firm in his belief; when they see that he avoids all controversy with others, and considers all interference with his own religious sentiments, whether by ridicule or remonstrance, as an infringement of his rights and of his independence; he will not only be left unmolested in his tenets, but he will command general respect. It is of the utmost importance, that the early religious impressions made on the mind of a soldier should not be of a gloomy or dispiriting sort; they should be connected with hope, not with fear, or they will tend to make him cowardly instead of brave. Those, who believe that they are secure of happiness hereafter, if to the best of their power they live and die doing their duty, will certainly meet danger, and if necessary, death, with more courage, than they can ever do, who are oppressed and intimidated by superstitious doubts and horrours, terrours which degrade man, and which are inconsistent with all ideas of the goodness and beneficence of God. It is vain, however, to reason with persons against such apprehensions after a certain time of life; the first impressions of this nature made on the imagination during childhood are seldom effaced. Parents therefore should be particularly careful on this important subject; with them is the power, and with them must be the responsibility. The evil or the good is done effectually, or irreparably perhaps, before the child is eight or ten years old. After that age, preceptors can seldom counteract the first associations without more care and leisure, and more study of the individual mind, than can be expected from any masters of a public school, who have vast numbers under their charge,

and who can act only by general rules. Therefore, every pupil should be carefully prepared in his religious, moral, and literary education, before he is sent to a public seminary, otherwise his subsequent education may prove inadequate to supply his deficiencies. The observation cannot be too often repeated, that the vast establishments of the central schools in France have failed from the want of primary schools, or preparatory domestic education. Many English masters complain of similar neglect on the part of parents, who send boys to them utterly unprepared for the course of instruction which they are to pursue. It is impossible, they observe, that children should learn two sets of things at the same time, what they ought to have learned at home, and what they are to be taught at school. Every step is obstructed for want of that by which it should have been preceded; the children are fatigued and discouraged, the labour, and vexation, to the masters, are immense and fruitless.

Even at the hazard of being thought tedious or trivial, it was necessary to dwell particularly upon the importance of primary education, and upon the means by which it may in every well-regulated, or in any well-conducted initiatory school, be most easily accomplished.