inferred, that reaſon has whiſpered ſome doubts, for it generally happens that people aſſert their opinions with the greateſt heat when they begin to waver; ſtriving to drive out their own doubts by convincing their opponent, they grow angry when thoſe gnawing doubts are thrown back to prey on themſelves.
The fact is, that men expect from education, what education cannot give. A ſagacious parent or tutor may ſtrengthen the body and ſharpen the inſtruments by which the child is to gather knowledge; but the honey muſt be the reward of the individual's own induſtry. It is almoſt as abſurd to attempt to make a youth wiſe by the experience of another, as to expert the body to grow ſtrong by the exerciſe which is only talked of, or ſeen[1]. Many of thoſe children whoſe conduct has been moſt narrowly watched, become the weakeſt men, becauſe their inſtructors only inſtil certain notions into their minds, that have no other foundation than their authority; and if they are loved or reſpected, the mind is cramped in its exertions and wavering in its advances. The buſineſs of education in this caſe, is only to conduct the ſhooting tendrils to a proper pole; yet after laying precept upon precept, without allowing a child to acquire judgment itſelf, parents expect them to act in the ſame manner by this borrowed fallacious light, as if they had illuminated it themſelves; and be, when they enter life, what their parents are at the cloſe. They do not conſider that the tree, and even the hu-
- ↑ 'One ſees nothing when one is content to contemplate only; it is neceſſary to act oneſelf to be able to ſee how others act.' Rouſſeau.
