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distinction laid down by the Lord Chief Justice; and we can assure Sir Richard, that the "licentiousness" of his "indis-. criminate and scurrilous abuse" has not excited in our minds the least hostile feeling towards him, as we have passed over, in charity to him, his "very foolish," alias very false letter to Mr. Mainwaring, and the direct contradiction it received even from a committee of his own friends. We might, indeed, have preferred the magnanimity of preserving silent contempt, had not the subject, as well as our duty to the public, obtruded itself on our attention. We wished also coolly to shew the Knight, that his opinions respecting criticism (if he really beheres what he writes, which is very doubtful) are wholly erroneous, and as inimical to the true interests of literature as those of Tom Paine and the French revolutionists have been to genuine liberty. We lament, too, that a man of so active a mind could not bear a temporary elevation, without suffering his inordinate vanity and lawless ambition to render him justly an object of public ridicule and contempt; we think him, indeed, a very proper subject of commiseration, and do most sincerely pity him, although we are well aware that all the passions of the most passionate* man may always be subjected by hope or fear. Still, however, we are not without gloomy apprehensions: if the putting on a gold chain has been productive of such untoward consequences, what may not be feared from the loss of such honours, especially in the gloomy month of November? As Christians, indeed, we cannot contemplate such things without emotion; and if we anticipate any catastrophe, it is only that we may discharge a friendly duty, in opportunely using the only, and we hope effectual, means in our power to prevent it.

Religious Education, as it constitutes one Branch of the Discipline of the Church of England; considered in a Charge delivered to the Archdeaconry of St. Alban's, at the Visitation, holden June 8, A. D. 1808. By (the Reverend) JOSEPH HOLDEN POTT, A. M. Prebendary of Lincoln, and Archdeacon of St. Alban's. Published at the Request of the Clergy present. 4to. Pp. 44. 2s 6d. Riving

tons. 1808.

IT was with the highest satisfaction we found that the

The reader will distinguish between the passionate and the merely irritable man; the former is as uniformly avaricious, as the latter is benevolent.-Rev.

attention of the clergy of this district had been directed to the very important subject of religious education, by its most estimable and pious Archdeacon. The mischievous system of that presumptuous egotist, Lancaster, which, to the disgrace of the country, has met with encouragement in quarters where it ought to have experienced the most determined resistance, has given additional importance to this subject; and has rendered it one of the first duties of the members and guardians of our church, to make it properly understood. One would really think, that no man could have read the Scriptures, without being fully convinced of the absolute necessity of inculcating religious impressions on the infant mind. Has not the wisest of men taught us the importance of training up a child in the way he should go? Nay, has not our blessed Redeemer himself condescended to give the stamp of his sacred authority to this essential truth? And shall vain, presumptuous, ignorant man dare to promulgate a contrary doctrine? Forbid it decency! forbid it common sense! forbid it religion! Pliant and ductile as the infant mind is, susceptible even of the slightest impression, shall we leave it, without guide or director, to receive any stamp which accident or malice may give it? Shall we leave weakness exposed to temptations which even strength is often unable to resist? Does reason teach us so to do? No :-it is the corruption of reason, and the perversion of human intellect alone, that can dictate a line of conduct, not more repugnant to the principles of religion than to the dictates of common sense.

This sensible and judicious charge opens with a congratulation to the respectable clergy, to whom it is addressed, on the general amount of the returns made to the inquiries instituted respecting the schools of instruction for the poor within the archdeaconry of St Alban's; when it appeared, that, in six and twenty parishes, the number of children receiving gratuitous instruction, and advantages of various kinds, fell very little short of two thousand. So little truth was there in the confident assertions of Lancaster as to the total neglect of the education of the poor.

The worthy Archdeacon truly ranks religious education among the chief means, provided by the wisdom of our ancestors, for the preservation of the bond of order, and for the common edification and improvement, to which all schemes of order are designed to serve; and hence justly considers it as a charge specially committed to the spiritual guides and pastors of the national establishment. He then shews that it is solemnly enjoined by different constitutions and canons of

the realm; and proceeds to trace its origin and progress, from the patriarchal times to the Christian æra.

This pious divine next takes a brief view of some of the delusive theories of modern philosophers; but more especially of the fanciful system of Rousseau, as explained and detailed in his Emile. But we were astonished to find that, in the English Encyclopædia, a book which we have never seen, Rousseau's principles of education are seriously and strenuously recommended to the adoption of Christian parents. But nothing more can be requisite to put the public on their guard against such mischievous publications, than to extract the passages quoted by the Archdeacon, with his own general remarks upon them.

"The Guide of Youth, in matters of belief, and plans of duty and demeanour, must be dismissed. The young must be left unbiassed, that they may take up rational opinions, and form schemes of conduct with a reasonable choice. Thus those measures of docility, by which the child was once thought to display a pattern even to the more experienced, must pass for things of little value. Thus the dutiful compliance, which is so entirely proper in its season, and which the order of Nature and the laws of Providence prescribe, is to be cancelled. We are required to quit this old track, and to pursue such methods with the young, that their assent in points of faith, and their moral resolutions shall be suspended, until that period of life shall arrive, when the powers of reason shall be vigorous and active for the purpose of deliberation and decision. Till that time the parent and preceptor must keep silence, lest they should instil prejudice for truth, and warp the mind, instead of furthering its progress and proficiency. Such were among the fancies of Rousseau; and whimsical and idle as they seem, they have a root of bitterness. They have contributed their share, with other speculations from the same school, in producing the miseries of which this age has had so dire a spectacle. They call therefore for some mark of caution, and more especially as they have been transfused and adopted in more recent publications*."

"There are, doubtless, many lively and many useful hints given in the writings of Rousseau, concerning education, which might well be adopted in any miscellaneous publication, or in any scheme. The main principles of the system are the things opposed in this discourse, as wholly inconsistent with the order of Providence, so evidently founded in the ties of nature, in the bonds of relative connection, and in the early obligations to mutual duty. The editors of the British Encyclopædia have observed a due discretion in their article of Education. They have detailed the heads of various systems; that of Rousseau is only mentioned after others, with suf-* ficient cautions, and without preference. What relates to religion is

Admitting, therefore, that opinions entertained on trust, before a right knowledge of their reasons shall be gained, may bear the name of prejudices, how then shall we dispense with such rules for the government and conduct of the young? Withdraw your child

wholly suppressed. But in the English Encyclopædia, the system of Rousseau is given with decided preference, with a large and particular detail, of which such as these are chief aphorisms.

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Prepare early for the enjoyment of liberty, and the exercise of the natural abilities of the child, by leaving him in full possession of them, unrestrained by any artificial habits; and by putting him in a situation to be always niaster of himself, and to do whatever his resolution prompts him to, as soon as he is able to form one.— Instil no ideas of command or obedience: but let him conceive both your actions and his own to be equally independent.--He should be made to do nothing out of obedience, but only out of necessity. The words command and obey should have no place in his dictionary; much less those of duty and obligation: but those of power, necessity, impotence, and restraint, ought to stand forth in capitals.'

"Mr. Locke's plan of educating children, by reasoning with them, is ridiculed, and we are told that No children are so silly and ridiculous as those with whom much argument has been held.-Use force with children, and argument with men; such is the order of nature. The philosopher stands in no need of legal restrictions.--Let him not imagine you pretend to have any authority over him. Let him only be sensible that he is weak, and you are strong; that from your situation and his, he lies necessarily at your mercy. Let him know, let him learn to perceive this circumstance: let him early feel on his aspiring crest the hard yoke which nature hath imposed upon man; the heavy ycke of necessity, under which every finite being must bow.--The bridle of his restraint should be force, and not authority.-Give your pupil no kind of verbal instructions. He should receive none but from experience. Inflict on him no kind of punishment, for he knows not what it is to be in fault. Require him never to ask pardon, for he cannot offend you. As he is insensible of all moral obligation, he cannot do any thing morally evil, or that is deserving of punishment or reprimand.---It is thus, by attempting nothing in the beginning, you might produce a prodigy of educa tion.--Take the road directly opposite to that which is in use, and you will almost always do right.---Exercise his corporeal organs, senses, and faculties, as much as you please, but keep his intellectual ones inactive as long as possible.-A child not knowing what he is about, in making engagements cannot be said to tell a lie, or deceive in so doing. Hence it follows, that deceit and lying, in children, must all be attributed to their masters, and that in endeavouring to teach them the truth, they only instruct them to lie.-Never exact any promise of him, for fear he should be tempted to break it.-By appearing to preach up virtue, we make them in love with vice, and encourage them to practise by forbidding. In order to render them

from all orderly and social converse, or preceptive institution; leave him untutored to collect rules at length for himself, or to grow up under the sole management of one who refuses to instil any. What will be the consequence? He will not, indeed, be warped by pre

pious, we tire out their patience at church; and by making them mutter their prayers perpetually, we compel them to sigh for the liberty of not praying at all.Let him take nothing on trust from his preceptors, but on his own comprehension and conviction: he should not learn, but invent the sciences.-in requiring him to be docile and tractable, when he is little, you prepare him to be a credulous dupe when he is grown up.'

"The section of religion begins thus: the reader will doubtless be surprised, that we have attended our pupil throughout the whole first age of life, without ever speaking to him of religion. He hardly knows, at fifteen, whether or not he has a soul; and, perhaps, it will not be time to inform him of it when he is eighteen: if he learns It too soon, he runs a risque of not knowing it at all.--Were we to design a picture of the most deplorable stupility, we would draw a pedant teaching children their Catechism: and, if resolved to crack the brain of a child, it is only necessary to oblige him to explain what he said when he repeated his Catechism.---The faith of children, and indeed of many grown persons, is merely an affair of geography. Are they to be rewarded in heaven, because they were born in Britain and not at Mecca ?-When a child says he believes in God, it is not in God that he believes, but in Peter or James, who tell him there is something called God.--The difference that exists between us and the reader is, that he thinks children of seven years old may believe in God, and we do not think them capable of it, even at fifteen. Whether we are right or wrong in this particular, is not of itself an article of faith, but only a simple observation in natural history.To what sect shall we unite the man of nature? The answer appears to be very simple: we will unite him neither to one nor another, but place him in a proper situation, and qualify him to make choice of that which the best use of his reason may incline him to adopt.'

"Yet one half of the human race are cut off at a stroke from all benefit, from the foregoing declamations concerning independent virtue, and against imbibed opinions; and a complete dependence, both in mind and in body, is assigned to them in the section of female education.

"The good actions of a man depend solely on himself; he may bid defiance to the public judgement; but those of women depend' upon others, since her reputation, which is nothing but opinion, is as dear to her as her life. The consequence is, that their system of education ought to be different from ours. Opinion is the grave of virtue among men, but its throne in women.' If this were the worst, that the bias of opinion, the fetter of the mind, the badge of error, must keep women in paths which every one sees and knows to be right, we might be disposed to cry out, felices errore suo:' but it

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