(1) SOME THOUGHTS CONCERNING EDUCATION. §. i. A Sound Mind in a found Body, is a fhort, but full defcription of a Happy State in this World: He that has thefe Two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, is but little the better for any thing else. Mens Happiness or Mifery is most part of their own making. He, whofe Mind directs not wifely, will never take the right Way; and he, whose Body is crazy and feeble, will never be able to advance in it. I confess, there are fome Mens Conftitutions of Body and Mind fo vigorous and well framed by Nature, that they need not much Affiftance from others, but B by by the ftrength of their natural Genius, 'they are from their Cradles carried towards what is Excellent; and by the privilege of their happy Conftitutions are able to do Wonders: But Examples of these are but few, and I think I may fay, that of all the Men we meet with, Nine parts of Ten are what they are, Good or Evil, useful or not, by their Education. 'Tis that which makes the great difference in Mankind: The little, and almoft infenfible Impreffions on our tender Infancies, have very important and lafting Confequences: And there 'tis, as in the Fountains of fome Rivers, where a gentle application of the hand turns the flexible Waters into Chanels, that make them take quite contrary Courfes, and by this little direction given them at first in the Source, they receive different Tendencies, and arrive at laft, at very remote and diftant places. 2. I imagine the minds of Children as eafily turned this or that way, as Water it felf; and though this be the prin cipal part, and our main care thould be about the infide, yet the clay Cottage is not to be neglected. I fhall there 5. therefore begin with the Cafe, and confider firft the Health of the Body, Heal as that, which perhaps you may rather expect from that Study, I have been thought more peculiarly to have applied my felf to; and that alfo, which will be fooneft difpatched, as lying, if I guess not amifs, in a very little compass. §. 3. How neceffary Health is to our Business and Happiness: And how requifite a ftrong Conftitution, able to endure Hardships and Fatigue, is to one that will make any Figure in the World, is too obvious to need any Proof. §. 4. The confideration, I fhall here have of Health, fhall be,not what a Phys fician ought to do with a fick or crazy Child; but what the Parents, without the help of Phyfick, fhould do for the prefervation and improvement of an healthy, or at leaft, nor fickly Conftitution in their children, And this perhaps might be difpatched, all in this one fhort Rule, viz. That Gentlemen fhould ufe their Children, as the honeft Farmers and fubftantial Yeomen do theirs. But because the Mothers В 2 Health, thers poffible may think this a little too hard, and the Fathers too fhort, I fhall explain my felf more par ticularly, only laying down this as a general and certain Obfervation for the Women to confider, viz. That most Children's Conftitutions, are either fpoiled or harmed by Cockering and Tenderness. Tenderness. §. 5. The First thing to be taken care Warmth. of, is, That Children be not too warmly Clador Covered Winter or fummer. The Face, when we are Born, is no less tender than any other part of the Body: 'Tis ufe alone hardens it, and makes it more able to endure the Cold; and therefore the Scythian Philofopher gave a very fignificant Anfwer to the Athenian, who wonder'd how he could go Naked in Froft and Snow. How, faid the Scythian can you endure your Face exposed to the harp Winter-Air? My Face is ufed to it, faid the Athe nian. Think me all Face, replyed the Scythian. Our Bodies will endure any thing, that from the beginning they are accustomed to. And therefore, amongst other things, I think that when Nature has fo well covered his Head Head with hair, and ftrengthen'd it warmth. with a Year or two's Age, that he can [run about, by Day, without a Cap, it is beft, that by night a Child should also lie without one, there being nothing that more expofes to Head-ach, Colds, Catarrhs, Coughs, and feveral other Diseases, than keeping the Head warm. §. 6. I have faid he here, because the principal aim of my Difcourfe is, how a young Gentleman should be brought up from his Infancy, which, in all things, will not fo perfectly fuit the Education of Daughters, though where the difference of Sex requires different treatment, 'twill be no hard matter to diftinguish. §. 7. I would also advise his Feet to be Feet. wafbed every night in cold Water; and to have his Shooes fo thin, that they might leak and let in Water, when ever he comes near it. Here, I fear, I fhall have the Mistress and Maids too against me; one will think it too filthy, & the other, perhaps, too much pains to make clean his Stockings. But yet truth will have it, that his Health is much more worth than all fuch confiderations |