For the attainment of an easy and polished style of letter-writing, the same author's Epistles, and those of Voiture in the French, may be given him. How little study without practice can avail to give a man conversational ease or excellence in writing, will appear when we compare the cases of a learned country schoolmaster and a well-bred lady. Latin and Greek are to be desired in moderation; but for one who has no intention of devoting himself to a life of literature and criticism, but has to make his way in the world by the force of his general qualifications, the cultivation of his own language is of far greater moment; and we should imitate the Romans in this, who made the Latin language, though it was their mother tongue, a separate and particular article of study. Natural philosophy can never be made a science, and it is in vain to hope to reap any solid additions to our present state of knowledge from metaphysical researches; but as an enlargement of the mind and a means of elevating it to the contemplation of great moral truths, natural philosophy should be studied at all times, the Bible being to be considered as the first step to it. To promote this object, a history of the Bible for young people, with an epitome of the same for children of the earliest reading age, should be made. And it will be well if knowledge of this spiritual kind be made always to precede that other department of philosophy which concerns physics; for this reason, that material nature is so obvious to the senses, and so easily engrosses the understanding, that it is calculated to indispose the mind for the reception of spiritual ideas, if it be not early anticipated by them. And certainly without more than mere matter can suggest to us, it is impossible to

account for the various phenomena in nature,-gravitation for example, which only the express will of God ean account for, or the deluge, which may have been produced by the alteration of the centre of gravity, at God's command, from every point of a circle drawn, at a proper distance, from the centre of the earth. As all systems of natural philosophy may be considered hypothetical and inconclusive, it will not be proper to waste more time upon them than may just fit a man to take a part in conversation on such subjects. One thing may be observed, that the doctrine of the modern Corpuscu larians is to be preferred to that of the Peripatetics. Dr. Cudworth's Intellectual System, as exhibiting the opinions of the ancient philosophers, will be well worth reading; and Newton, for speculative science, and Boyle, for practical information, cannot be too diligently perused. If classical literature is to be made an object of primary importance, then it will be well if the pupil be made to acquire proper habits of method and application; it is to be hoped he will have begun early in life, when the mind is fresh, and that he will not be content to receive his knowledge at second-hand, but from the fountain-head.* Music is an accomplishment which demands so much time, before even a moderate proficiency can be attained, and-"it engages us often in such odd company, that many think it much better spared: and I have, amongst men of parts and business, so seldom heard any one commended or esteemed for having an excellency in music, that of almost all those things that ever came into the list of accomplishments, I think we may give it the last place."† Fencing and

* In this place Locke quotes several passages of a similar tendency from Là Bruer's Maurs de Siècle, p. 577-662.

It is to be regretted that Locke, who without doubt was

riding ought to be taught, both for the benefit of health and exercise and for the power they give. The only evil consequence to be apprehended from a skill in fencing, is that it may inspire presumption and a proneness to take affronts, and, what is worse, a readiness to give them, from a certain vulgar confidence in the issue of a quarrel. Expertness in wrestling is more to be desired than a moderate skill in fencing, and would always give advantages over the latter in the field of battle. The words of Locke in this place are important, as they touch on duelling. "I shall leave it therefore to the father to consider how far the temper of his son and the station he is like to be in will allow or encourage him to comply with fashions which, having very little to do with civil life, were formerly unknown to the most warlike nations, and seem to have added little of force or courage to those who have received them; unless we think martial skill or prowess have been improved by duelling, with which fencing came into, and with which, I presume, it will go out, of the world."

In whatever station of life a man may be placed, he ought to be acquainted with at least one trade—not superficially or by rote-but by actual practice. Some occupations will be recommended by the utility of what

indebted to Quintilian for many of his thoughts on education -as any one may satisfy himself who chooses to consult the first, and part of the second book of the Institutiones Oratoria-should not have considered, in a more philosophical spirit, what that author has so well advanced on the subject of music, who does not hesitate to rank it as an essential and indispensable part of education. A far different feeling from Locke's, on this subject, is now getting abroad, and people are beginning to perceive, what the ancients never doubted, that music, instead of being a trivial amusement, is a great agent of moral improvement, by offering a calm domestic enjoyment to take the place of grosser excitements.-Editor.

they teach, others by the salutary exercise they exact. Painting is too sedentary; but gardening, turning, and the like, are full of pleasure and advantage, and the example of the ancients sufficiently demonstrates how consistent such exercises are with true honour and dignity. The passion for gaming is a proof of the restlessness of human nature, which must always have some vent for its superabundant activity. This, therefore, ought to be diverted from a vicious direction, and turned upon harmless but agreeable amusements, like those mentioned; and there are such a multitude and variety of ingenious arts, that it is impossible but that every man may find some one to his taste. Nor is the art and practice of keeping accounts less necessary for a gentleman; it will preserve his estate, and enable him at all times to know his real condition. It would be well if the father required of his son to account for the expenditure of whatever money he gives him; but this, only for the sake of keeping up so useful a habit, and not with the intention of prying into all his son's affairs, which no liberal-minded parent will do who remembers how he valued his own freedom when he was young.

Travel, which is usually deemed a necessary part of a gentleman's education, and is so, is yet generally deprived of its beneficial effects by being taken at the wrong time. Young men are sent abroad at an age when their minds are no longer susceptible of those advantages which travelling should give, and when their passions, on the other hand, are especially susceptible of every mischievous impression. The proper season for travel is either boyhood, that is to say from seven

to fourteen or sixteen years of age, and with a tutor,or perfect manhood, when his own discretion will be a man's sufficient monitor. In the former case, he will eagerly digest all the information his guide can give him, and will make more progress in language than under any other circumstances. In the latter case, he will benefit most from the observations he will make on the laws and manners of other countries, and from the conversation of foreigners, being then better qualified to form a correct judgment in matters of politics and philosophy.