of accomplishments. If she succeed in her labours, she plays finely on more than one instrument; she draws beautifully, perhaps in more styles than one; she writes several kinds of fine hands; she speaks French fluently, knows something of Italian, and has her memory loaded with grammar, geography, history, and it may be with botany and many other things. But are the mental powers really enlarged and improved? Is she rendered an observant entertaining companion ? Has she, generally speaking, any inclination to pursue the culture of her mind, and devote her now leisure hours to any thing like a patient application to study? Does she not, on the contrary, as soon as the restraints of tutorship are removed, usually fall into all those habits of sauntering and lounging in which time is so frequently spent, or rather lost, no one knows how, in the present day? To escape from ennui, the inseparable companion of idleness, she may have recourse to her music, her pencil, or her needlegany thing new and fashionable in these departments readily interesting her mind, and attracting her attention! It is by the acquisition of these that she expects to obtain notice, and to keep her place among her contem poraries. To as great an extent, therefore, as languor and disease will admit, she may for a season be far from neglecting any of these accomplishments. But are they calculated to prove the resource or even the attraction of advancing life? They will scarcely prove a distinction to her in the period of middle age, and still less as she advances in years; for wisdore and piety are the only ornaments that can adorn grey hairs.nistu companion, but qualified ably to discharge all the active duties of life? By no means.. These are not the objects for which this sacrifice is demanded. I do not indeed mean to insinuate, that they are not the objects proposed and pursued in numerous families; but I must again affirm, that the pursuit of these great and primary ends of all right education is not the cause of the deterioration of health and strength now under consideration. This is so far from being the case, that these grand objects are greatly impeded by the very process which proves so hurtful to the bodily constitution. The evil arises from this source, that our daughters must be taught every thing that is elegant in the whole circle of accomplishments; and not merely be taught them, but must also acquire them, and in a high degree of perfection, in early life. Too much is crowded into those few years during which the foundation of bodily vigour should be laid Persons are not satisfied that their daughters should arrive at some proficiency in languages, music, and drawing, but they must also be linguists and artists. Sir Astley Cooper remarks, that "they are frequently compelled to sit from morning till night engaged in learn ing music, drawing, geography, French, and I know not what else, without paying the slightest attention to the preservation of their health; and thus impairing constitutions which might have been rendered strong and robust.". The learned professor has here given a very moderate enumeration of the multiplicity of pursuits which detain in their complex trammels the poor girl from air and exercise, and, what is perhaps no less essential to pro duce vigour of body and mind, from I by no means mean, that any of liberty of thought and action. 1997. these acquirements should be des Leaving for the present the great: spised or neglected; but they should question of health, let us consider be so pursued as not to endanger the advantages which are actually the doss of what is of far superior obtained from this early drudgery value." There isap time for albi of the elegant galley slave, "fas: things," and a place also and it tened" as she is to the galling oar" is by the just appropriation of all I the parts to their proper time and place that the excellency of the whole will be secured. But it will be replied, "Is not youth the time for education ?" Most true; but the great business of education should be to teach us to think and act, and so to strengthen, cultivate, and direct the mental and bodily powers, that we may both think and act to good purpose. The pursuit of improvement and knowledge also ought to be commensurate with our lives; and early education should be so conducted as to lay a good foundation for this constant endeavour. No opinion can be more injurious to the mind, either of the mother or the daughter, than that education is completed at the age of eighteen. The necessary materials ought by that time to be obtained, and the faculties of the mind prepared for the acquisition of useful knowledge; and this with a view to the future duties of life, and not that the young person may come forth merely to display her skill in accomplishments. The injury to health, and probably to the mental powers also, arises from too many things being taught in a given time. Why should it be necessary for a girl, more than for a boy, to be taught every thing she is to know before she is eighteen years of age? Without entering into the question, whether or not, in the education of boys, too much time is assigned to the acquisition of classical learning, the results of male and female education authorise us to affirm, that it is not indispensible that all branches of knowledge should be taught before that period. And let the brother and the sister, usually speaking, be compared in after life in their respective lines, and then let the estimate be fairly made, as to which has most profited. by educationa , Is not Sir Astley Cooper justified, when he terms it" the extreme of folly" to compel children to pass hours over" pursuits for which they have no taste," such as making them learn music when they have no ear." And is not his remark strengthened by the consideration, that the acquisition of an accom plishment, where there is no talent for it, is greatly more laborious, and consequently more likely to be in jurious, than where it is voluntarily pursued. More time and attention are required, much coercion is necessary, and many a disobedient fit, with its consequent punishment, is thereby produced. more Even if a child have a musical turn, she must begin to learn early, in order to arrive at excellence; but it is not necessary that she should learn to play on more than one instrument at once: a second may as well furnish a new pursuit for a more leisurely season. The same necessity for beginning early does not exist with regard to the pencil: many a fair hand has exhibited its bewitching skill which never drew a stroke in the school-room. Nor can it be requisite to teach more than one language at a very early period of the child's education. French, according to modern custom, seems almost essential in genteel life; and where the circumstances of the parents will admit of a foreign assistant to the governess, it is acquired with comparative ease. Italian might surely be postponed till a vacant hour: and so on with respect to German, Spanish, and the whole circle of modern and ancient languages, till the fair student, if she have leisure, capacity, and inclination, may acquire as many as rendered Elizabeth Smith herself so eminent. We might probably find many other things which might as well, or even better, be deferred to a later period; but so much at least ought to be laid aside as to leave sufficient time for air, exercise, and liberty. Even air and exercise, if taken in a prescribed form or a constrained manner, will produce but little benefit in comparison with that which will result from freedom being added to them. When set at liberty the hilarity of children revives, the anis mal spirits flow, and cheerfulness stimulates both body and mind to healthful exertion. Something is planned, means are devised to carry it into execution, and the difficulties which are to be overcome, as well as the dangers which incidentally arise, are all so many useful trainings to the character. A cricket-ball may injure one's son ; but would we on that account wish or advise, that all manly athletic sports should be prohibited in the boy's play-ground? Let us carry nothing to excess. There should be a due proportion of restraint and discipline, of liberty and play. Nor, because the girl is not to acquire the robust masculine habits of her brother, is she to be deprived of that exercise of youth ful gaiety and freedom which may, most probably, ensure to her good health and strong nerves, and conduce, at the same time, to the expansion of the powers of her mind. While the fetters of custom, the inducements of vanity, and the expectation of being able more suitably to fix our daughters in life, all concur to perpetuate the modern system of education, we can scarcely expect that reason alone should break these shackles among people of the world. But may we not hope better things from religious parents? Will they not, in points so essential to the real well-being of their offspring, come forward and "be separate?" be separate in saving their little ones from the risk of becoming sickly, enervated creatures, and in qualifying them, by the blessing of God on their rational endeavours, for the right, and even dignified discharge of the duties of every station which it belongs to the female to fill. Still less can we expect a better mode to be adopted in seminaries for girls, unless the example is set in private families, and stipulated for by the parents who send their children to them. How can any one teach who has no pupils? and what schoolmistress would procure scholars in the present day who, by the adop tion of more enlarged views, and preferring health and vigour of body and mind in her pupils to mere sickly ornament, should dismiss them in possession of the foundation and means of acquiring knowledge," rather than as having actually become highly accomplished profi cients. But let us not blame the conduc tors of schools, while we require more things to be taught at them than the time will properly allow; nor, while our girls, even at home, are seldom loosed from the trammels of incessant tuition, let us be displeased at the want of sufficient exercise at school, since the difficulty of giving liberty will always bear a direct proportion to the numbers subjected to control. nav An aged and retired individual might have felt some hesitation in thus attempting to stem the strong current of custom, had she not been supported by such an authority as that of Sir Astley Cooper. She is still conscious of the weakness of her attempt; but should her paper be the means of bringing his opinions into wider circulation, or should it call forth the observations of some more able pen, it will not have been written in vain. ΝΗΦΑΛΙΟΣ. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. IT would be gratifying to one of your constant readers, if you would extend the circulation of the following useful remarks by allowing them a place in your miscellany. They are copied, in substance, from a late Number of a cotemporary periodical work. The incident to which they relate forms a striking contrast to those disingenuous artifices by which a precarious credit is often sustained, till at length the individual and those who have re posed confidence in him are involved in a common ruin. How much more truly honourable was the conduct of the humble tradesman alluded to in the following anecdote, both in the early dis 7 closure of his difficulties, and in his subsequent proceedings, than if, like some who affect a high standard of worldly reputation, and the nicest sense of honour, he had unjustly and unfeelingly persisted to the last in living on the property of others, and stood prepared with the deadly weapons of the duellist to prove his title to the distinction of a gentleman! In the year 1805, a small tradesman, in a country town in Somersetshire, became so much embarrassed in his affairs, that he thought it no more than an honest part to make known his situation to his creditors. The consequent investigation which took place terminated in an assignment of his effects, which, when sold, produced a dividend of nine shillings and four pence in the pound, and be received a discharge from all further claims. But, although thus legally acquitted, and with little prospect of realizing his intention, this honest man formed the honourable resolution of attempting at least, to satisfy what appeared to him to be the obligations of unalterable justice, by making up the deficiency to all his creditors. It is true, the sum required was small, not quite 907.: but his means were proportionably inadequate, having now nothing but his daily labour from which it could be obtained, after defraying his necessary expenses; and his wages were dis couragingly low, not having averaged, to the present time, more than twelve shillings a-week. Poor accommodations and elothing, coarse fare, and hard work, have at length, in the present year (1824), enabled him, through the Divine blessing, to accomplish his purpose. The creditors have all been paid in full, and have estimated his integrity so highly, that they have thought proper to acknowledge their sense of it by a handsome present. doubt, whether, in these cases, there was much sacrifice of comfort, or, perhaps, even much departure from the ordinary style of living: certainly there were not the long-continued and severe privations to which the subject of this notice submitted. It is thought proper, therefore, that such an instance of true nobleness of mind in humble life should not be withheld from public view. It may meet the eye of some who may learn from it a useful lesson; of some perhaps, who, with an ardent desire to act in a similar manner, are discouraged by the extent of their obligations, or by continued incumbrances, from entertaining a hope that this desirable result will ever be placed within their reach. The mere man of the world will think, that when he has given up his all amongst his creditors, and has obtained their discharge, he needs give himself no further concern about them. But the conscientious Christian will judge very differently. He surely cannot consider any property strictly his own, whilst he is conscious that there are others to whose misplaced confidence it must be imputed that they are deprived of what he now possesses. Although disengaged from further responsibility by hu man laws, he must acknowledge the authority of a higher tribunal. To satisfy claims founded in justice, yet beyond the reach of civil coercion, is truly honourable, and may be considered as a most important test of sincerity, and of the influence of religious principle upon the heart. Yet, if this be admitted as a fair criterion, what must be said of any who, though prominent for their attention to religious duties, do no more than what human courts of judicature teach, leaving the claims of impartial justice neglected, and unsatisfied? Z. W. A. Tothe Editor of the Christian Observer. I HAVE seen many papers in your work on the subject of Musical Performances, and am desirous of drawing the attention of your readers to a custom which, I think, is too common in nearly all musical circles; I mean, that of mixing sacred music and music not sacred in the same performance. Music, simple music, differs materially from music employed as a vehicle for the expression of sentiments; but sacred music belongs to the latter class, and of course is entitled to that name only when conveying words of sacred origin or sacred import. If this definition be correct, it must be indecorous, and even profane, to mix up in the same performance musical pieces of sacred, of heathen, and of worldly character, and to pass promiscuously from one to the other, without any distinction but what arises from their musical interest; to celebrate, for instance, the achievements of the Deity, or chaunt the victories of the Messiah, and then to sing the inconstancy of a lover, or exult in the death of Acis. I am not about to enter any protest against good and chaste music, merely because it is not sacred, when enjoyed at proper seasons, and to a proper extent, and when its votaries are not led after it into places or companies they could not otherwise consistently enter. But the performance of sacred music is either a religious service, or it is taking in vain that Name, and irreverently using those words, which belong exclusively to the Almighty and the revelation of his will, and which must not be trifled with, or uttered without a specific meaning. If it would be irreverent to read or recite such passages in a thoughtless or indifferent manner, the addition of suitable music to them cannot neutralise their character. It is earnestly to be hoped, that truly sacred music will be kept up and cultivated by all who desire to sing the songs of the redeemed on, earth, or to unite in the eternal chorus of heaven. Such music awakens feelings of a celestial character, breathes into the soul a holy calm, animates the Christian warrior "Devotion borrows music's tone, I would not obtrusively interfere with the rational enjoyments of others, or pretend to dictate too minutely how they should be regulated, or in what quantities apportioned; but I trust I shall be permitted to urge this main sugges tion, to avoid irreverence in Divine subjects, and also an uncongenial mixture of them with things of trifling import. C. W. Tothe Editor of the Christian Observer. IN advocating the cause of Infant Schools, there is one objection which I have frequently heard brought against them, and which, if wellfounded, would be of serious consequence; namely, that they too early stimulate the minds of children, while at the same time they impede the development of their physical powers, and lay a foundation for bodily inactivity and loss of health. Every person, however, who has witnessed the routine of these institutions, must bear testimony that this is not the fact. The effect of well-conducted Infant Schools is not only to improve the minds of the children, but also to benefit their health and constitution. While they are taught the first elements of knowledge, and are trained to virtuous and Christian habits, they are also kept out of the way of many of the ailments and accidents which are incident to the children of the poor in crowded towns; they are treated with kindness and affection; their little sports and exercises are encouraged; and even their lessons and school discipline are associated with ideas of liberty and amusement. I feel much satisfaction in con |