and imitates, too much caution cannot be exercised in its presence.

The conduct of parents towards each other, towards governesses or servants, has great influence on the heart and mind of children; if those who are placed by Providence in a secondary or inferior station of life, are treated with haughtiness, unkindness, or contempt, by their superiors, it must not be expected, that children who witness this treatment, should be benevolent though the seeds of benevolence be innate in their hearts. Parents who are not constantly with their children, have less influence over them than their governesses; this is sometimes an advantage, and it is always so, if parents have not reflected on the power of example, and if they act towards their children without the respect which is due to their innocency and artlessness.

Parents who have not had the advantage of a good moral education and who have not learnt to moderate their passions, but are under the influence of evil inclinations, should not attempt to educate their children; it is not to be expected that these parents should give up all control; but if they really love their children, they should take more than usual care to place right minded persons with them; I know that objections may be made to what I now state, but I also know that in order to make good christians, children must be early accustomed to the practice of virtue, for virtuous principles are intimately connected with early affections.

So much depends on the power of imitation that all intellectual education is founded on this faculty; in the cultivation of painting and sculpture are not the best models procured? the best masters for music? able rhetoricians for the belles lettres? why therefore make an exception for moral education! Filial affection, pity, benevolence are developed by example; kindness of heart and right feelings in a mother, a governess, or friend, serve as models in moral education.

When in early life the benevolent affections have been cultivated, evil passions cannot take root, for virtue and vice are heterogeneous, and virtue may be said so to guard the heart

as to prevent the admittance of vice. Children generally connect the idea of right with the object to which superiors attach importance; if, for instance, parents consider the possession of riches as the chief good, and children by the same association of ideas see persons of inferior rank however virtuous they may be, treated with contempt or indifference, merely because they are poor; not only are all feelings of benevolence blasted, but the mind and judgment are perverted, and the seeds of all virtues destroyed; selfishness predominates, and that purity of principle which should be our guide through life is injured; this principle we shall study under the name of

conscience.

Nothing contributes so materially to the welfare of youth as good example in early life; it is impossible that the tone of character and the manners of those who are placed with children should not influence them. Is it not as an inducement to imitation that parents give their children the names of great men, or persons they esteem and love? where is the father who would call his child Nero or Caligula?

In order to take advantage of the instinct of imitation, the different dispositions of children must be carefully studied and well understood: the knowledge of these dispositions enables us to give examples that will encourage good inclinations, correct evil ones, and develop the affections and feelings which most tend to happiness. I expressly repeat, that example is most powerful in early age, when the mind and manners are unformed; consequently the most certain method of ensuring a right education is to place young children under the direction of a governess who in all respects may serve as a model.

ON CONSCIENCE AND MORAL PRINCIPLES.

La conscience est un sentiment placé dans

l'âme humaine par la main du Créateur.

I have sought in the preceding chapters, to prove the necessity of cultivating good feelings in early age, and I think, I have made it evident, that this education, which is in my opinion the most elevated, corresponds with that which would naturally spring from the Revelation.

I have also said that, in infancy, education should rather be that of the heart, than of the mind, and I have endeavoured to shew in what manner this education may be effected.

The more deeply I enter into the subject of education, the more deeply do I feel its importance, and what in the first instance seemed but very simple, proves on closer observation to be intimately connected with the most complicated metaphysical questions, the solution of which however, may be found in the Holy Scriptures.

Conscience is a feeling implanted in the human heart by the hand of the Almighty; man in all ages, at all times, and in all countries, is ever subjected to this internal principle which spontaneously approves or condemns his actions, according to their connection with his notions of right and wrong.

Education, in the opinions of the writers of the eighteenth century, being founded on the principles of Locke and Condillac, was made to depend on external sensations; the natural state of the mind was not considered, or in other words, it was said to be as a blank sheet of paper, on which any thing might be written; thus was the mind materialized and treated as a machine necessarily brought into action by external objects: this opinion once admitted, the universal principle was to be sought and found in the connection of man with the world, and children being brought up to be led only by sensations, the divine origin of the soul and its ele

vated source were overlooked: on these erroneous notions were founded Rousseau's views of education. But happily the time is arrived when opinions of this nature have no longer weight, for the existence of the moral law, as inherent to the soul, will henceforward be admitted, not as an hypothesis, but as a fact that cannot be denied. The divine character of the soul taught by instinct, and revealed by religion, must have its place among the convictions founded on reason and science. My chief ambition is to apply to education these principles as best calculated to contribute to the present and future happiness of youth.

The

God is the principle of all justice, of all truth, of all beauty; conscience is made after God's image, so that there is in man an internal principle which discerns and judges the good and right; this principle is independent of feeling, it exists whether acknowledged or denied; and I am decidedly of opinion that the moral law, the reason, the justice, the sense of duty which exist in man, are, though in a lesser degree, also inherent in the infant mind; they are precious seeds, which are to be diligently sought and cultivated. assistance of an intelligent, clever, and right minded governess, here becomes invaluable; it is her duty to appeal to these elements, to remove all that can injure or destroy these precious seeds; she by example and precept must endeavour to afford them that degree of strength which will give an influence over every act of life, constituting these moral principles as counsellors over free will, invoking the one when the other is silent, bringing affection to the assistance of reason, and confidence to encourage submission.

The governess who has the care of a young pupil, and who understands the direction to be given to the infant mind, will soon discover that the seeds of a good education are innate; and as judicious parents do not merely require in their children the appearance of virtue, but also the reality, I cannot adopt that education, nor that philosophy which represent children as wholly dependent on external sensations. Man being made after God's image, he must and does possess all the seeds of

the principles which are the foundation of moral duties. There must exist in a healthy mind, a desire to elevate itself towards its maker; a conscience, a sense of truth, and an intimate sense of justice. But what I am most desirous to obtain, are governesses who will watch over the children committed to their care, and endeavour to discover in them the seeds of those moral principles, the due culture of which constitutes a good education.

In very early age, children have a sense of right and wrong, resulting from internal feelings the privilege of human beings only: how soon in life does a child acknowledge the authority of its superiors; the tender care of parents, the attention of nurses awaken feelings of affection in young children, they know they belong to some one, and that they are not alone in the world. The first words uttered by an infant are my papa, my mama, thus is a right established guided by instinctive wants. Even before a child can articulate, it is more submissive to those who have the care of it than to strangers, which proves that the kindness cf which it is the object creates a duty that calls for subordination and submission.

If these early elements of moral principles be cultivated, obedience will result, and the habit of attention will necessarilly follow; the child will then be alive to all the sentiments and principles which are the foundation of a good education.

In early age, to please superiors is a child's first notion of right, to displease is the first notion of wrong; it is therefore evident, that the welfare of children depends in a great measure on the early education given to them; for all feelings, whether pleasing or painful, will be connected with what is just or unjust, right or wrong, and will contribute to the development of conscience.

I have already observed that the younger children are, the more easy it is to educate them by the medium of their wants and instincts. In early education it is essentially important to give due cultivation to moral feelings.

Let children be directed by sympathy, kindness, and affec