knowledge of human nature, ſuppoſed to be attained there, merely cunning ſelfiſhneſs.
At ſchool boys become gluttons and ſlovens, and, inſtead of cultivating domeſtic affections, very early ruſh into the libertiniſm which deſtroys the conſtitution before it is formed; hardening the heart as it weakens the underſtanding.
I ſhould, in fact, be averſe to boarding-ſchools, if it were for no other reaſon than the unſettled ſtate of mind which the expectation of the vacations produce. On theſe the children's thoughts are fixed with eager anticipating hopes, for, at leaſt, to ſpeak with moderation, half of the time, and when they arrive they are ſpent in total diſſipation and beaſtly indulgence.
But, on the contrary, when they are brought up at home, though they may purſue a plan of ſtudy in a more orderly manner than can be adopted when near a fourth part of the year is actually ſpent in idleneſs, and as much more in regret and anticipation; yet they there acquire too high an opinion of their own importance, from being allowed to tyrannize over ſervants, and from the anxiety expreſſed by moſt mothers, on the ſcore of manners, who, eager to teach the accompliſhments of a gentleman, ſtifle, in their birth, the virtues of a man. Thus brought into company when they ought to be ſeriouſly employed, and treated like men when they are ſtill boys, they become vain and effeminate.
The only way to avoid two extremes equally injurious to morality, would be to contrive ſome way of combining a public and private education. Thus to make men citizens two natural ſteps
