Fault. Paffionate Chiding usually carries rough and ill Language with it, which has this farther ill Effect, that it teaches and juftifies it in Children: And the Names that their Parents or Præceptors give them, they will not be asham'd or backward to beltow on others, having so good Authority for the Use of them.

§. 78. I foresee here it will be objected to me, What then, will Obstinacy. you have Children never beaten nor chid for any Fault? This will be to let loose the Reins to all Kind of Diforder. Not so much, as is imagin'd, if a right Course has been taken in the first Seasoning of their Minds, and implanting that Awe of their Parents above-mentioned. For Beating, by conftant Observation, is found to do little Good, where the Smart of it is all the Punishment is fear'd or felt in it; for the Influence of that quickly wears out, with the Memory of it: But yet there is one, and but one Fault, for which, I think, Children should be beaten; and that is, Obstinacy or Rebellion. And in this too, I would have it order'd so, if it can be, that the Shame of the Whipping, and not the Pain, should be the greatest Part of the Punishment. Shame of doing amiss, and deferving Chastisement, is the only true Restraint belonging to Vertue. The Smart of the Rod,

if Shame accompanies it not, foon ceafes, and is forgotten, and will quickly, by Ufe, lofe its Terror. I have known the Children of a Person of Quality kept in Awe, by the Fear of having their Shoes pull'd off, as much as others by Apprehenfions of a Rod hanging over them. Some fuch Punishment I think better than Beating; for, 'tis Shame of the Fault, and the Difgrace that attends it, that they should stand in Fear of, rather than Pain, if you would have them have a Temper truly ingenious. But Stubbornness, and an obftinate Disobedience, must be master'd with Force and Blows; for this there is no other Remedy. Whatever particular Action you bid him do, or forbear, you must be sure to see your self obey'd; no Quarter in this Cafe, no Refistance. For when once it comes to be a Tryal of Skill, a Conteft for Mastery betwixt you, as it is if you command, and he refuses, you must be sure to carry it, whatever Blows it costs, if a Nod or Words will not prevail; unless, for ever after, you intend to live in Obedience to your Son. A prudent and kind Mother, of my Acquaintance, was, on fuch an Occafion, forc'd to whip her little Daughter, at her first coming Home from Nurse, eight Times fuccessively the fame Morning, before the could mafter her Stubbornness, and obtain a Compliance in a very easy and indifferent Matter. If the had left off fooner, and stopp'd

stopp'd at the feventh Whipping, she had fpoil'd the Child for ever, and, by her unprevailing Blows, only confirm'd her Refractariness, very hardly afterwards to be cur'd: But wisely perfisting, 'till she had bent her Mind, and fuppl'd her Will, the only End of Correction and Chastisement, she establish'd her Authority throughly in the very first Occafions, and had ever after a very ready Compliance and Obedience in all Things from her Daughter; for as this was the first Time, so I think it was the laft too she ever struck her.

The Pain of the Rod, the first Occafion that requires it, continu'd and, increas'd, without leaving off 'till it has throughly prevail'd, should first bend the Mind, and fettle the Parents Authority; and then Gravity, mix'd with Kindness, should for ever after keep it.

This, if well reflected on, would make People more wary in the Ufe of the Rod and the Cudgel, and keep them from being so apt to think Beating the safe and universal Remedy to be apply'd at Random, on all Occafions. This is certain, however, if it does no Good, it does great Harm; if it reaches not the Mind, and makes not the Will fupple, it hardens the Offender; and whatever Pain he has fuffer'd for it, it does but indear him to his beloved Stubbornness, which has got him this Time the E 4

Victory,

Victory, and prepares him to Conteft, and hope for it for the future. Thus I doubt not, but by ill-order'd Correction, many have been taught to be obstinate and refractary, who otherwise would have been very pliant and tractable. For if you punish a Child so, as if it were only to revenge the past Fault, which has rais'd your Choler, what Operation can this have upon his Mind, which is the Part to be amended? If there were no sturdy Humour, or Wilfulness mix'd with his Fault, there was nothing in it that requir'd the Severity of Blows. A kind or grave Admonition, is enough to remedy the Slips of Frailty, Forgetfulness, or Inadvertency, and is as much as they will stand in need of. But if there were a Perverseness in the Will, if it were a design'd, resolv'd Disobedience, the Punishment is not to be measur'd by the Greatness or Smallness of the Matter wherein it appear'd, but by the Oppofition it carries, and stands in, to that Respect and Submiffion due to the Father's Orders; which must always be rigoroufly exacted, and the Blows by Pauses laid on, 'till they reach the Mind, and you perceive the Signs of a true Sorrow, Shame, and Purpose of Obedience.

This, I confefs, requires fomething more than fetting Children a Tafk, and whipping them without any more ado, if it be not done, and done to our Fancy. This

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requires Care, Attention, Observation, and a nice Study of Childrens Tempers, and weighing their Faults well, before we come to this Sort of Punishment. But is not that better, than always to have the Rod in Hand, as the only Instrument of Government? And by frequent Use of it on all Occafions, misapply and render inefficacious this last and useful Remedy, where there is Need of it. For what else can be expected, when it is promiscuoufly us'd upon every little Slip? When a Mistake iin Concordance, or a wrong Position in Verse, thall have the Severity of the Lash, in a well-teinper'd and industrious Lad, as fure-ly as a wilful Crime in an obstinate and perverfe Offender; how can such a Way of Correction be expected to do Good on the Mind, and set that right? Which is the only Thing to be look'd after; and when fet right, brings all the rest that you can defire along with it.

§. 79. Where a wrong Rent of the Will wants not Amendment, there can be no need of Blows. All other Faults, where the Mind is rightly dispos'd, and refusess not the Government and Authority of the Father or Tutor, are but Mistakes, and may often be over-look'd; or when they are taken Notice of, need no other but the gentle Remedies of Advice, Direction, and Reproof, 'till the repeated and wilful NegΕ 5.