PREFACE.

TO THE

FIFTH EDITION.

THE respect which is due to the purchasers of

the former editions of the Letters on the Elementary Principles of Education, renders an account of the alterations that have been made in the present edition, and of the motives that led to them, not only proper, but obligatory.

To the many parents who acknowledge having derived material assistance from the work in its former state, it may afford satisfaction to be assured, that it is from an increased and confirmed conviction of the truth of the principles that were then unfolded, that the author has been led to aim at correcting such defects in the style of the writing, or in the mode of illustration, as her more ripened judgment, and more intimate knowledge of the subject, enabled her to discern.

Impressed with a deep conviction of the efficacy and importance of the principles she had

duties. With the progress of society, these duties increase in number and importance, and, consequently, demand that increased attention which can only spring from more enlightened intellect. This is especially the case with regard to the maternal duties; for throughout all ages, in every nation and in every stage of society, the period of life in which the moral and intellectual faculties begin to be developed, has been committed to female care.

In nations that are yet in the first stages of civilization, the duties of the mother are comprised within a narrow compass. She has only to cultivate the perceptions of her children, by increasing their senses of hearing, seeing, &c. and to excite in their hearts a few strong prejudices, which are to call certain passions into action. Her efforts being directed to the accomplishment of a certain end, are invariably crowned with

success.

The same may be observed in nations pretending to civilization, but where all the

powers of the human mind have been systematically crippled and degraded by bigotry and superstition. The task of the bigot

mother, is to form the character of a bigot; and in this task she succeeds, because she is capable of comprehending all that it requires. May we not thence infer, that where more enlightened views of human character prevail, a proportional effect would be produced by education, were the object at which we aim previously ascertained? While our notions upon this subject are vague and indistinct, the course we pursue will be too desultory to lead to those beneficial results to which the wishes of every good parent invariably point. It is however to be feared, that even good parents do not always guard against inconsistency in their wishes, with respect to the effect they desire to produce on their children's minds. They forget that the love of God and of Mammon are incompatible; and that if the affections and desires of the heart are early and powerfully directed to the

latter, the influence of the former principle will be totally unfelt.

Of the strength of those associations which give a direction to the desires or aversions of the infant mind, we have abundant proof. It is in this respect that the influence of the mother produces the most, lasting, and the most important consequences. So fully has this truth been demon-, strated, that I am supported by the first authorities in asserting, that could the biographers of illustrious men attain a perfect knowledge of all they had received from early education, such a lustre would thereby be shed on the maternal character, as would render additional proofs of its influence superfluous and absurd. The causes which obstruct the operation of that influence, which the instructions of a virtuous mother ought invariably to possess, deserve our attention; and may be best understood by inquiring into the circumstances under which the most permanent, associations appear to have been formed.

Whether we cast our eyes on the effeminate and indolent inhabitants of the East, or turn our attention to the more sturdy savages of the Western hemisphere, still we shall find the effects of early education too potent for time to efface, or death itself to conquer. A sensible and accomplished traveller of my own sex, after having given a concise but striking account of the religion and manners of the Hindoos, observes as follows: It is astonishing with what strictness the Hindoos observe these rules, even to starving themselves to death, rather than break through them. The children of the Hindoos are not to be tempted to eat any thing forbidden, either by persuasion, or by offering them the greatest delicacies; which I have often been witness of." "It is the first impression their minds receive; they are used to seeing it strictly observed by their own and other casts; it grows up with them as the first and most

*See Mrs. Kindersley's Letters from India.