such talents are rather objects of admiration than utility, considered with respect to general exertion: for it rarely happens that those men, who are distinguished for an extraordinarily retentive memory, have been celebrated for any original productions of taste or genius. The mind seems to derive no strength, and to receive no nutriment, from the vast load which is heaped upon it. It assimilates nothing to itself. Whatever is received into the memory lies there like food on a disordered stomach, crude and undigested. The Abbé de Longuerue, and the florentine Librarian Magliabechi, are instances of the truth of this assertion: they were both remarkable in their day for their memory and learning: yet the former thought "that two antiquarian books upon Homer, viz. Antiquates Homerice, and Homeri Gnomologia, were preferable to Homer himself." He would rather have them, he declared, because with them he had all that was useful in the poet, with. out being obliged to go through his long stories, which put him to sleep. "As for that madman Ariosto," said he, " I sometimes divert myself with him:"-" He was of opinion that the English have never done any good, since they renounced the study of Greek and Arabic for geometry and physics!!!'The latter (Magliabechi) has left nothing of his own composition for the instruction of posterity, except an inscription round a medal-Such are sometimes the effects of a surprising memory and erudition on the taste, judgment, and imagination of the possessor; and such may be its utility to the world! These and similar observations occur on the subject of a good memory; in the course of which, having enumerated a few of the methods which we employ to assist ourselves in remembering, the authors proceed to consider how the memory should be cultivated. The following passages will best explain their opinion on this subject: > So do • The mistaken notion, that the memory must be exercised only in books, has been often fatal to the pupils of literary people. We remember best those things which interest us most; which are useful to us in conversation; in our daily business or amusement. children. On these things we should exercise their memory. Tell a boy who has lost his top, to remember at such a particular time to put you in mind of it, and if he does, give him another, he will probably remember your requests after this, better than you will yourself. Affectionate children will easily extend their recollective memories in the service of their friends and companions. "Put me in mind to give your friend what he asked for, and I will give it to him if you remember it at the right time.' • A good memory for business depends upon local, well arranged 'associations. The man of business makes an artificial memory for himself out of the trivial occurrences of the day, and the hours as they pass recall their respective occupations. Children can acquire E3 these been these habits very early in their education; they are eager to give their companions an account of any thing they have seen or heard; their tutors should become their companions, and encourage them by sympathy to address these narrations to them. Children who forget their lessons in chronology, and their pence tables, can relate with perfect accuracy any circumstances which have interested themselves. This shews that there is no deficiency in their capacity. Every one, who has had any experience of the pleasure of talking, knows how intimately it is connected with the pleasure of being listened to. The auditors, consequently, possess supreme power over narrative childhood, without using any artifice, by simply shewing attention to well arranged, and well recollected narratives; and ceasing to attend when the young orator's memory and story become confused, he will naturally be excited to arrange his ideas. The order of time is the first and easiest principle of association to help the memory. This, till young people acquire the ideas of cause and effect, will be their favourite mode of arrangement. Things that happen at the same time; things that are said, thoughts that have occurred, at the same time, will recur to the mind together. We may observe, that ill educated people continue through life to remember things by this single association; and consequently, there is a heterogeneous collection of ideas in their mind, which have no rational connexion with each other; crowds which have accidentally met, and are forced to live for ever together.' Long before children read fluently for their own amusement, they like to hear others read aloud to them, because they have then the entertainment without the labour. We may exercise their memory by asking for an account of what they have heard. But let them never be required to repeat in the words of the book, or even to preserve the same arrangement; let them speak in words of their own, and arrange their ideas to their own plan; this will exercise at once their judgment, invention, and memory. " Try if you can explain to me what I have just been explaining to you," a sensible tutor will frequently say to his pupils, and he will suffer them to explain in a different manner from himself, he will only require them to remember what is essential to the explanation. In such repetitions as these the mind is active, therefore it will strengthen and improve.' • Dr. Johnson, who is said to have had an uncommonly good memory, tells us, that when he was a boy, he used, after he had acquired any fresh knowlege from his books, to run and tell it to an old woman of whom he was very fond. This exercise was so agreeable to him, that it imprinted what he read upon his memory.' ، By these observations we by no means would insinuate, that application to books is unnecessary. We are sensible that accurate knowledge upon any subject cannot be acquired by superficial conversation, that it can be obtained only by patient application. But we mean to point out, that an early taste for literature may be excited in children by conversation, and that their memory should be first cultivated in the manner which will give them the least pain. When there is motive for application, and when habits of industry have been gradually acquired, we may securely trust, that our pupils will complete their own education. Nor should we have reason to fear, that those, who have a good memory for all other things, should not be able to retain all that is worth remembering in books. Children should never be praised for merely remembering exactly what they read, they should be praised for selecting with good sense what is best worth their attention, and for applying what they remember to useful purposes." The connection between the memory and the invention is very intimate: the latter derives all its materials for combination from the former: they who invent, therefore, exercise the memory with pleasure, from the immediate sense of utility and success. The inventive faculty can be employed not only on important subjects, but it can be exercised in the most trifling circumstances of domestic life : Scarcely any family can be so unfortunately situated, that they may not employ the ingenuity of their children without violent exertion, or any grand apparatus. Let us only make use of the circumstances which happen every hour. Children are interested in every thing that is going forward. Building, or planting, or conversation, or reading; they attend to every thing, and from every thing might they with a little assistance obtain instruction. Let their useful curiosity be encouraged; let them make a part of the general society of the family, instead of being treated as if they had neither senses nor understanding. When any thing is to be done, let them be asked to invent the best way of doing it. When they see that their invention becomes immediately useful, they will take pleasure in exerting themselves." The remainder of this chapter is chiefly devoted to a few examples of the mode by which the inventive faculty of children was successfully exercised by the authors. Chap. XXII. TASTE and IMAGINATION. The writers do not enter into any metaphysical disquisitions concerning these subjects, but content themselves with arranging such observations as are most applicable to practical education :in the course of which, they shew how the principles of taste may be early taught, without injury to the general understanding; and how the imagination should be prepared for the higher pleasures of eloquence and poetry. • To educate the taste and the imagination, it is not necessary to surround the heir of an opulent family with masters and connoisseurs. Let him never hear the jargon of amateurs, let him learn the art "not to admire." But in his earliest childhood cultivate his senses with care, that he may be able to see and hear, to feel and understand, for himself. Visible images he will rapidly collect in his memory; but these must be selected, and his first associations must not be trusted to accident. Encourage him to observe with attention all the works of nature, but shew him only the best imitations of art; the first abjects E 4 f jects that he contemplates with delight will remain long associated with pleasure in in his that these early associations accord with the decisions of those who imagination; you must, therefore, be careful, have determined the national standard of taste. In many instances, taste is governed by arbitrary and variable laws; dress, of decoration, of manner, change from day to day; therefore the fashions of no exclusive prejudices should confine your pupil's understanding. Let him know, as far as we know them, the general principles which govern mankind in their admiration of the sublime and beautiful; but at the same time give him that enlarged toleration of mind, which comprehends the possibility of a taste different from our own. Shew him, and you need not go farther than the Indian skreen, or the Chinese paper in your drawing room, for the illustration, that the sublime and beautiful vary at Pekin, at London, on Westminster-bridge, and on the banks of the Ganges. Let your young pupil look over a collection of gems or of ancient medals; it is necessary that his eye should be early accustomed to Grecian beauty, and to all the classic forms of grace. But do not suffer him to become a bigot, though he may be an enthusiast in his admiration of the antique. Short lessons upon this subject may be conveyed in a few words. If a child sees you look at the bottom of a print for the name of the artist, before you will venture to pronounce upon its merits, he will follow your example, and he will judge hy the authority of others, and not by his own taste. If he hears you ask, Who wrote this poem? Who built this palace? Is this a genuine antique? he will ask the same questions before he ventures to be pleased. If he hears you pronounce with emphasis, that such a thing comes from Italy, and therefore must be in good taste, he will take the same compendious method of decision upon the first convenient occasion. He will not trouble himself to examine why utility pleases, or will he analyse his taste, or discover why one proportion or one design pleases him better than another; he will, if by example you teach him prejudice, content himself with repeating the words, proportion, antique, picturesque, &c. without annexing any precise ideas to these words.' We are sorry that our limits will not allow us to present the readers with more copious extracts from this chapter; in which the authors discover a considerable extent of information, and convey much useful instruction. We are not disposed to cavil with any nicety about the particular use and application of a word, provided it be uniform and definite: but the application of the term imagination, here observable, appears to us rather vague and uncertain. Instead of confining its meaning to one of the faculties of the human mind, the writers seem to extend it to all; and if this comprehensive sense of the term be accurate, the propriety of their reasoning cannot be disputed: but, as we are disposed to confine its meaning simply to the power of selecting and combining, or forming, images or ideas, we do not exactly feel the propriety of their language in several instances. At page 606, they say, 1 with respect to the arts, imagination may be considered practically in two points of view; as it relates to our taste, and as it relates to our talents for the arts.' - Imagination, in our sense of the word, is certainly not essential to a taste for the arts, whatever it may be to a talent for them: for, in the contemplation of a picture, whether conveyed to us through the medium of poetry or through that of painting, the peculiar pleasure which we receive from it does not proceed from our imagination being employed in selecting and combining images, or ideas, but from a mere perception of the harmony and beauty of the images and ideas selected and combined for us by the poet or the painter. The remainder of this chapter is employed in defining the boundaries between the enthusiasm of genius and its extravagance, and in pointing out some of the precautions that may be used, to prevent the moral defects to which persons of ardent imaginations are often subject. Chap. XXIII. WIT and JUDGMENT.'- We much question whether the following mode of proceeding will ever instil into a child the powers of wit : • Those who are desirous to make their pupils witty, must sacri fice some portion of their judgment of the acquisition of the talent for wit; they must allow their children to talk frequently at random. Amongst a multitude of hazarded observations, a happy hit is now and then made for these happy hits children who are to be made wits should be praised; and they must acquire sufficient courage to speak from a cursory view of things; therefore the mistakes they make from superficial examination must not be pointed out to them; their attention must be turned to the comic, rather than to the serious side of objects; they must study the different meanings and powers of words; they should hear witty conversation, read epigrams, and comedies; and in all company they should be exercised before numbers in smart dialogue and repartee.' In the observations on the method of cultivating the judgment of children, much good sense is discoverable. The first step is to teach them to examine and compare such external objects as are present to the senses: • Let them compare the size and shape of different objects; let them frequently try what they can lift; what they can reach; at what distance they can see objects; at what distance they can hear sounds: by these exercises they will learn to judge of distances and weight; and they may learn to judge of the solid contents of bodies of different shapes, by comparing the observations of their sense of feeling and of sight. The measure of hollow bodies can be easily taken by pouring liquids into them, and then comparing the quantities of the liquids that fill vessels of different shapes. This is a very simple method of exercising the judgment of children; and, if they are allowed to try these little experiments for themselves, the amusement will fix the facts in their memory, and will associate plea sure |