dispositions should not be neglected; and that this mode of seasonably prepossessing their minds, has imperceptible consequences which facilitate the work of education.

If any one still doubts whether these first prejudices have any power over men, let him only observe how lively and affecting, even in advanced age, are the recollections of what we loved in infancy. If, instead of inspiring children with vain fears of apparitions and spirits, which, by making too powerful an impression, only enfeeble their sensitive and tender minds,-instead of permitting them to follow all the fancies of their nurses respecting what they ought to love or to shun, it were our uniform endeavor to give them a pleasing idea of what is good, and a frightful idea of what is evil, this prepossession would ever after facilitate their practice of all the virtues. But the common practice is the very reverse of this. A clergyman dressed in black, is held up to them as an object of dread; death is never mentioned but for the purpose of terrifying them;

they are told that the dead return by night in frightful forms;-all this serves only to render the mind feeble and timid, and to prejudice it against the best things.

It is of great importance, in the first years of infancy, to consult the health of children, to invigorate their constitutions by a well chosen and simple diet, to regulate their meals, so that they may eat every day at nearly the same hours,-that they may not eat at other times, as this serves to overload the stomach, while the digestion is incomplete, that they taste no high-seasoned food to excite them to eat more than is needful, and to render distasteful such nourishment as is more favorable to their health;-in fine, that they may not be served with too many different things, for a variety of successive dishes stimulates the appetite, after the real necessity of eating has ceased.

It is, however, of still higher importance, not to press instruction on the mind, till its powers have acquired sufficient strength;—to avoid every thing which may rouse the pas

sions; and gradually and gently to accustom children to be deprived of things for which they have manifested extreme eagerness, that they may never too confidently expect to obtain what they desire. However unfavorable the natural disposition of children may be, they may in this way be rendered docile, patient, firm, cheerful, and mild; while, on the other hand, if this early age is neglected, they become restless and impatient through their whole lives; the passions are violent, habits are formed; the body still tender, and the mind yet unbiassed toward any object, take a wrong direction, which is the source of a thousand excesses in future life.

When they have arrived at that period in which the reasoning faculty is fully developed, every word that is addressed to them should tend to make them love truth, and to inspire in them the greatest contempt for every species of dissimulation. We should therefore avoid making use of any false pretence for the sake of appeasing them, or of making them comply with our wishes; in this way,

we only teach them a cunning which they never forget; as far as possible, they should be led by reason.

But let us examine particularly the condition of children, that we may see more in detail what is suited to their state. Their mental powers are still feeble, and their intellects unfurnished; they know nothing, every thing is new; they are extremely susceptible of impression; the surprise of novelty renders it easy to excite their curiosity and admiration. Such a constitution, united with a natural warmth of temperament, produces in them a desire to be constantly in motion; hence arises that restlessness, habitual in children, who can never fix their attention on any object, or remain quiet in any place.

On the other hand, as children do not know how to think or act for themselves, they notice every thing, and say little, unless others injudiciously accustom them to be talkative. It is often the case, that the pleasure that we wish to derive from pretty chil

dren, spoils them; we encourage them to say whatever comes into their minds, and to speak of things respecting which they have as yet no distinct knowledge; and hence they retain during their whole lives the habit of judging with precipitation, and of speaking on subjects of which they have no clear ideas. Few mental characteristics are more inauspicious than habits of this kind. This pleasure that we wish to derive from children, has still another pernicious effect; they perceive that they are regarded with satisfaction, that every thing that they do is observed, that they are listened to with pleasure. In this way they are led to believe that every one will always be devoted to them.

During this period, in which they are uniformly flattered, and in which they know nothing of contradiction, they conceive certain visionary hopes which prepare for them innumerable disappointments in future life. I have seen children who thought that they were always spoken of, when others conversed privately, because they had observed