and would take the right Way to do it. That which I complain of, is, the wrong Courfe is ufually taken in this Matter. Children who were never taught any fuch Thing as Behaviour, are often (efpecially when Strangers are prefent) chid for having fome Way or other fail'd in good Manners, and have thereupon Reproofs and Precepts heap'd upon them, concerning putting off their Hats, or making of Legs, &c. c. though in this, thofe concern'd pretend to correct the Child, yet in Truth, for the most part, it is but to cover their own Shame; and they lay the Blame on the poor little Ones, fometimes paffionately enough, to divert it from themselves, for fear the By-Standers fhould impute to their Want of Care and Skill, the Child's ill Behaviour.

For, as for the Children themfelves, they are never one Jot better'd by fuch occafional Lectures. They at other Times fhould be fhewn what to do, and by reiterated Ations, be faflion'd before-hand into the Practice of what is fit and becoming, and not told and talk'd to do upon the Spot, of what they have never been accuftom'd, nor know how to do as they fhould. To hare and rate them thus at every Turn, is not to teach them, but to vex and torment them to ne Purpofe. They should be let alone, rather than chid for a Fault, which is none of theirs, nor is in their Power to mend

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for

For fpeaking to. And it were much better their natural childish Negligence or Plainhefs fhould be left to the Care of riper Years, than that they should frequently have Rebukes mifplac'd upon them, which neither do, nor can give them graceful Motions. If their Minds are welk difpos'd, and prineipl'd with inward Civility, a great Partof the Roughness, which sticks to the Outfide for Want of better Teaching, Time and Obfervation will rub off, as they grow up, if they are bred in good Company; but if in ill, all the Rules in the World, all the Correction imaginable, will not be able to polish them. For you must take this for a Certain Truth, that let them have what Inftructions you will, and ever fo learn'd Letures of Breeding daily inculcated into them, that which will moft influence their Carriage, will be the Company they converfe with, and the Fashion of these about them. Children (nay, and Men too) do moft by Example. We are all a Sort of Chamelions, that ftill take a Tincture from Things near us; nor is it to be wonder'd at in Children, who better understand what they fee, than what they hear.t

68. mention'd above one Company great Mifchief that came by Ser vants to Children, when by their Flatteries they take off the Edge and Force of the Parents Rebukes, and fo leffen their Authority. And here is another great Inconvenience

convenience which Children receive from the ill Examples which they meet with amongst the meaner Servants.

They are wholly, if poffible, to be kept from fuch Converfation; for the Contagion: of thefe ill Precedents, both in Civility and Vertue, horribly infects Children, as often as they come within Reach of it. They fre-quently learn from unbred or debauch'd Ser-vants fuch Language, untowardly Tricks and Vices, as otherwife they poffibly would be ignorant of all their Lives.

§. 69. 'Tis a hard Matter wholly to prevent this Mifchief. You will have very good Luck, if you never have a clownish or vicious Servant, and if from them your Children never get any Infection: But yet as much must be done towards it as can be, and the Children kept as much as may be + in the Company of their Parents, and those to whofe Care they are committed. this Purpose, their being in their Prefence fhould be made eafy to them; they fhouldbe allow'd the Liberties and Freedom fuitable to their Ages, and not be held under unneceffary Reftraints, when in their Parent's or Governor's Sight. If it be a Prison to, D 5 them,

To

How much the Romans thought the Education of their Children a Business that properly belong'd to the Parents themselves, fee in Suetonius Auguft. Sect. 64. Plutarch invita Catonis Cenforis, Diodorus Siculus, 2. cap. 3.

them, 'tis no Wonder they fhould not.like. it. They muft not be hinder'd from being Children, or from playing, or doing as Children, but from doing ill; all other Liberty is to be allow'd them. Next, to make them in Love with the Company of their Parents, they fhould receive all their good Things there, and from their Hands. The Servants fhould be hinder'd from making court to them, by giving them strong Drink, Wine, Fruit, Play-Things, and other fuch Matters, which may make them in Love with their Converfation.

§. 70. Having nam'd Company, Company. I am almoft ready to throw away my Pen, and trouble you no farther on this Subject: For fince that does more than all Precepts, Rules, and Inftructions, methinks 'tis almoft wholly in vain to make a long Difcourfe of other Things, and to talk of that almoft to no Purpose. For you will be ready to fay, What fhall I do with my Son? If I keep him always at Home, he will be in Danger to be my young Mafter; and if I fend him Abroad, how is it poffible to keep him from the Contagion of Rudeness and Vice, which is fo every where in Fashion? In my House he will perhaps be more innocent, but more ignorant too of the World, wanting there Change of Company, and being us❜d conftantly to the fame Faces, he will, when

he

he comes Abroad, he a fheepish or conceit ed Creature.

I confefs, both Sides have their Inconveniencies. Being Abroad, 'tis true, will make him bolder, and better able to bustle and fhift amongft Boys of his own Age; and the Emulation of School-fellows, often puts Life and Industry into young Lads. But 'till you can find a School, wherein it is poffible for the Mafter to look after the Man ners of his Scholars, and can flew as great Effects of his Care of forming their Minds to Vertue, and their Carriage to good Breeding, as of forming their Tongues to the learned Languages, you must confefs, that you have a ftrange Value for Words, when preferring the Languages of the ancient Greeks and Romans, to that which made 'em fuch brave Men, you think it worth while to hazard your Son's Innocence and Vertue, for a little Greek and Latin. For, as for that Boldnefs and Spirit which Lads get amongst their Play-fellows at School, it has ordinarily fuch a Mixture of Rudenefs and ill-turn'd Confidence, that those mif becoming and dif-ingenious Ways of shifting in the World muft be unlearnt, and all the Tincture wafh'd out again, to make Way for better Principles, and fuch Manners, as make a truly worthy Man. He that confiders how diametrically oppofite the Skill of living well, and managing, as a Man fhould do, his Affairs in the World,