a Dancing-Master, as has been said, when it is fit, will teach them what is most becoming. In the mean time, when they are young, People expect not that Children should be over-mindful of these Ceremonies; Carelessness 30 is allow'd to that Age, and becomes them as well as Com- pliments do grown People: Or, at least, if some very nice People will think it a Fault, I am sure it is a Fault that should be over-look'd, and left to Time, a Tutor, and Conversation to cure. And therefore I think it not worth 35 your while to have your Son (as I often see Children are) molested or chid about it: But where there is Pride or Ill-nature appearing in his Carrriage, there he must be persuaded or shamed out of it Though Children, when little, should not be much 40 perplexed with Rules and ceremonious parts of Breedings 136 Rudeness of Interrupting. [§ 145 yet there is a sort of Unmannerliness very apt to grow up with young People, if not early restrained, and that inurruptwm, ^^» * Forwardness td interrupt others that are speaking; and to stop them with some Contra- 5 diction. Whether the Custom of Disputing, and the Repu- tation of Parts and Learning usually given to it as if it were the only Standard and Evidence of Knowledge, make young Men so forward to watch Occasions to correct others in their Discourse, and not to slip any Opportunity of 10 shewing their Talents: So it is, that I have found Scholars most blamed in this Point There cannot be a greater Rudeness, than to interrupt another in the Current of his Discourse; for if there be not impertinent Folly in answer- ing a Man before we know what he will say, yet it is a 15 plain Declaration, that we are weary to hear him talk any longer, and have a Dis-esteem of what he says; which we judging not fit to entertain the Company, desire them to give Audience to us, who have something to produce worth their Attention. This shews a very great Disrespect, 20 and cannot but be offensive: And yet this is what almost all Interruption constantly carries with it To which, if there be added, as is usual, a Correcting of any Mistake, or a Contradiction of what has been said, it is a Mark oif yet greater Pride and Self-conceitedness, when we thus 25 mtrude our selves for Teachers, and take upon us either to set another right in his Story, or shew the Mistakes of his Judgment I do not say this, that I think there should be no Difference of Opinions in Conversation, nor Opposition 30 in Men's Discourses: This would be to take away the greatest Advantage of Society, and the Improvements are to be made by ingenious Company; where the Light is to be got from the opposite Arguings of Men of Parts, shewing the different Sides of Things and their various 35 Aspects and Probabilities, would be quite lost, if every one were obliged to assent to, and say after the first Speaker. Tis not the owning one's Dissent from another, that I speak against, but the Manner of doing it Young Men should be taught not to be /orward to interpose their 40 Opinions, unless asked, or when others have done, and are silent; and then only by way of Enquiry, not Instruc- § 145J Modest carriage. Rudeness in high life. 127 tion. The positive asserting, and the magisterial Air should be avoided; and when a general Pause of the whole Com- pany affords an Opportunity, they may modestly put in their Question as Learners.
This becoming Decency will not cloud their Parts, nor 5 weaken the Strength of their Reason; but bespeak the more favourable Attention, and give what they say the greater Advantage. An ill Argument, or ordinary Obser- vation, thus introduced, with some civil Preface of Defe- rence and Respect to the Opinions of others, will procure 10 them more Credit and Esteem, than the sharpest Wit, or profoundest Science, with a rough, insolent, or noisy Man- agement, which always shocks the Hearers, leaves an ill Opinion of the Man, though he get the better of it in the Argument. 15 This therefore should be carefully watched in young People, stopped in the Beginning, and the contrary Habit introduced in all their Conversation. And the rather, because Forwardness to talk, frequent Interruptions in arguing, and loud Wrangiingy are too often observable 20 amongst grown People, even of Rank, amongst us. The Indians, whom we call barbarous, observe much more Decency and Civility in their Discourses and Conversation, giving one another a fair silent Hearing till they have quite done; and then answering them calmly, and without Noise 25 or Passion. And if it be not so in this civiliz'd Part of the World, we must impute it to a neglect in Education, which has not yet reformed this antient Piece of Barbarity amongst us. Was it not, think you, an entertaining Spectacle, to. see two Ladies of Quality accidentally seated on the op- 30 posite Sides of a Room, set round with Company, fall into a Dispute, and grow so eager in it, that in the Heat of the Controversy, edging by Degrees ^"^^^ their Chairs forwards, they were in a little time got up close to one another in the middle of the Room; where they 35 for a good while managed the Dispute as fiercely as two Game-Cocks in the Pit, without minding or taking any notice of the Circle, which could not all the while forbear smiling? This I was told by a Person of Quality, who was present at the Combat, and did not omit to reflect 40 upon the Indecencies that Warmth in Dispute often runs People into; which, since Custom makes too frequent. Education should take the more care of. There is no body but condemns this in others, though they overlook it in themselves; and many who are sensible of it in them- 5 selves, and resolve against it, cannot yet get rid of an ill Custom, which Neglect in their Education has suffer'd to settle into an Habit.
§ 146. What has been above said concerning Company^ Com^an ^^^^^ pcrhaps, if it were well reflected on, 10 ^ '^^^' give us a larger Prospect, and let us see how much farther its Influence reaches. Tis not the Modes of Civility alone, that are imprinted by Conversation: The Tincture of Company sinks deeper that the Out-side; and possibly, if a true Estimate were made of the Morality and 15 Religions of the World, we should find that the far greater part of Mankind received even those Opinions and Cere- monies they would die for, rather from the Fashions of their Countries, and the constant Practice of those about them, than from any Conviction of their Reasons. I mention 20 this only to let you see of what Moment I think Company is to your Son in all the Parts of his Life, and therefore how much that one Part is to be weighed and provided for; it being of greater Force to work upon him, than all you can do besides.
25 § 147' You will wonder, perhaps, that I put Learning ^^^. last, especially if I tell you I think it the least tamtn^. ^^^^ ^^^.^ ^^^ ^^^^ Strange in the Mouth of a bookish Man; and this making usually the chief, if not only bustle and stir about Children, this being almost that 30 alone which is thought on, when People talk of Education, makes it the greater Paradox. When I consider, what ado is made about a little Zatin and Greek, how many Years are spent in it, and what a Noise and Business it makes to no Purpose, I can hardly forbear thinking that the Parents of 35 Children still live in fear of the School-master's Rod, which tiiey look on as the only Instrument of Education; as a Language or two to be its whole Business. How else is it possible that a Child should be chained to the Oar seven, eight, or ten of the best Years of his Life, to get a Language 40 or two, which, I think, might be had at a great deal cheaper rate of Pains and Time, and be learn 'd almost in playing?
S§ 147, 148] Learning needful but subordinate. 129 Forgive me therefore if I say, I cannot with Patience think, that a young Gentleman should be put into the Herd, and be driven with a Whip and Scourge, as if he were to run the Gantlet through the several Clashes, ad capiendum ingenii cultum. What then? say you, would you 5 not have him write and read? Shall he be more ignorant than the Clerk of our Parish^ who takes Hopkins and Stemhold for the best Poets in the World, whom yet he makes worse than they are by his ill Reading? Not so, not so fast, I beseech you. Reading and Writing and 10 Learning I allow to be necessary, but yet not the chief Business. I imagine you would think hun a very foolish Fellow, that should not value a virtuous or a wise Man infinitely before a great Scholar. Not but that I think Learning 3. great Help to both in well-dispos'd Minds; but 15 yet it must be confessed also, that in others not so disposed, it helps them only to be the more foolish, or worse Men. I say this, that when you consider of the Breeding of your Son, and are looking out for a School-Master or a Tutor, you would not have (as is usual) Latin and Logick only in 20 your Thoughts. Learning must be had, but in the second Place, as subservient only to greater Qualities. Seek out somebody that may know how discreetly to frame his Manners: Place him in Hands where you may, as much as possible, secure his Innocence, cherish and nurse up the 25 good, and gently correct and weed out any bad Inclinations, and settle in him good Habits. This is the main Point, and this being provided for, Learning may be had into the Bargain, and that, as I think, at a very easy rate, by Methods that may be thought on. 30 § 148. When he can talk, 'tis time he should begin to ham to read. But as to this, give me leave j^,^^^ here to inculcate again, what is very apt to be forgotten, viz. That great care is to be taken, that it be never made as a Business to him, nor he look on it as a 35 Task. We naturally, as I said, even from our Cradles, love Liberty, and have therefore an Aversion to many things for no other Reason but because they are enjoin'd us. I have I always had a Fancy that Learning might be made a Play and Recreation to Children; and that they might be brought to 40 I desire to be taught, if it were proposed to them as a thing of 130 No Compulsion: make Learning Sport. [§§148,9 Honour, Credit, Delight, and Recreation, or as a Reward for doing something else; and if they were never chid or corrected for the neglect of it That which confirms me in this Opinion, is, that amongst the Portuguese^ 'tis so much a 5 Fashion and Emulation amongst their Children, to learn to read and write, that they cannot hinder them from it: They will learn it one from another, and are as intent on it, as if it were forbidden them. I remember that being at a Friend's House, whose younger Son, a Child in Coats, was 10 not easily brought to his Book (being taught to read dit home by his Mother) I advised to try another Way, than re- quiring it of him as his Duty; we therefore, in a Discourse on purpose amongst our selves, in his Hearing, but without taking any notice of him, declared. That it was the Privilege 15 and Advantage of Heirs and elder Brothers, to be Scholars; that this made them fine Gentlemen, and beloved by every Body: And that for younger Brothers, 'twas a Favour to admit them to Breeding; to be taught to read and write, was more than came to their share; they might be ignorant 20 Bumpkins and Clowns, if they pleased. This so wrought upon the Child, that afterwards he desired to be taught; would come himself to his Mother to leam^ and would not let his Maid be quiet till she heard him his Lesson. I doubt not but some Way like this might be taken with other Chil- 25 dren; and when their Tempers are found, some Thoughts be instill'd into them, that might set them upon desiring of Learning themselves, and make them seek it as another sort of Play or Recreation. But then, as I said before, it must never be imposed as a Task, nor made a Trouble to 30 them. There may be Dice and Play-things, with the Letters on them to teach Children the Alphabet by playing; and twenty other Ways may be found, suitable to their particular Tempers, to make this kind of Learning a Sport to them. -* § 149. Thus Children may be cozen'd into a Knowledge 35 of the Letters; be taught to read, without perceiving it to be any thing but a Sport, and play themselves into that which others are whipp'd for. Children should not have any thing like Work, or serious, laid on them; neither their Minds, nor Bodies will bear it. It injures their Healths; and their 40 being forced and tied down to their Books in an Age at enmity with all such Restraint, has, I doubt not, been the Reason, why a great many have hated Books and Learning all their Lives after. 'Tis like a Surfeit, that leaves an Aversion behind not to be removed.
§ 150. I have therefore thought, that if Play-things were fitted to this Purpose, as they are usually to none, 5 Contrivances might be made to teach Children to ready whilst they thought they were only playing. For Example, what if an Ivory-Ball were made like that of the Royal-oak Lottery, with thirty two Sides, or one rather of twenty four or twenty five Sides; and upon several of those Sides pasted on an A, 10 upon several others B, on others C, and on others D? I would have you begin with but these four Letters, or perhaps only two at first; and when he is perfect in them, then add another; and so on till each Side having one Letter, there be on it the whole Alphabet This I would 15 have others play with before him, it being as good a sort of Play to lay a Stake who shall first throw an A or B, as who upon Dice shall throw Six or Seven. This being a Play amongst you, tempt him not to it, lest you make it Busi- ness; for I would not have him understand 'tis any thing 20 but a Play of older People, and I doubt not but he will take to it of himself And that he may have the more Reason to think it is a Play, that he is sometimes in favour admitted to, when the Play is done the Ball should be laid up safe out of his Reach, that so it may 25 not, by his having it in his keeping at any time, grow stale to him.
§ 151. To keep up his Eagerness to it, let him think it a Game belonging to those above him: And when, by this Means, he knows the Letters, by changing them into 30 Syllables, he may learn to ready without knowing how he did so, and never have any Chiding or Trouble about it, nor fall out with Books because of the hard Usage and Vexation they have caus'd him. Children, if you observe them^ take abundance of Pains to learn several Games, 35 which, if they should be enjoined them, they would abhor as a Task and Business. I know a Person of great Quality, (more yet to be honoured for his Learning and Virtue than for his Rank and high Place) who by pasting on the six Vowels (for in our Language Y is one) on the six Sides of 40 ^ Die, and the remaining eighteen Consonants on the Sides of three other Dice, has made this a Play for his Children, that he shall win who, at one Cast, throws most Words on these four Dice; whereby his eldest Son, yet in Coats, has plafd himself into spelling, with great Eagerness, and with- 5 out once having been chid for it or forced to it.
§ 152. I have seen little Girls exercise whole Hours together and take abundance of Pains to be expert at Dibstones as they call it Whilst I have been looking on, I have thought it wanted only some good Contrivance to 10 make them employ all that Industry about something that might be more useful to them; and methinks 'tis only the Fault and Negligence of elder People that it is not so. Children are much less apt to be idle than Men; and Men are to be blamed if some Part of that busy Humour be not 15 turned to useful Things; which might be made usually as delightful to them as those they are employed in, if Men would be but half so forward to lead the Way, as these little Apes would be to follow. I imagine some wise Portuguese heretofore began this Fashion amongst the Chil- 20 dren of his Country, where I have been told, as I said, it is impossible to hinder the Children from learning to read and write: And in some Parts of France they teach one another to sing and dance from the Cradle.
§ 153. The Letters pasted upon the Sides of the Dice, 25 or Polygon, were best to be of the Size of those of the Folio Bible, to begin with, and none of them Capital Let- ters; when once he can read what is printed in such Letters, he will not long be ignorant of the great ones: And in the Beginning he should not be perplexed with 30 Variety. With this Die also, you might have a Play just like the Royal Oak, which would be another Variety, and play for Cherries or Apples, &*c, § 154. Besides these, twenty other Plays might be invented depending on Letters,^ which those who like this 35 Way, may easily contrive and get made to this Use if they will. But the four Dice above-mention'd I think so easy and useful, that it will be hard to find any better, and there will be scarce need of any other.
§ 155. Thus much for learning to ready which let him 40 never be driven to, nor chid for; cheat him into it if you can, but make it not a Business for him. 'Tis better it be a Year later before he can ready than that he should this Way get an Aversion to Learning. If you have any Con- tests with him, let it be in Matters of Moment, of Truth, and good Nature; but lay no Task on him about ABC. Use your Skill to make his Will supple and pliant to 5 Reason: Teach him to love Credit and Commendation; to abhor being thought ill or meanly of, especially by You and his Mother, and then the rest will come all easily. But I think if you will do that, you must not shackle and tie him up with Rules about indifferent Matters, nor rebuke him 10 for every little Fault, or perhaps some that to others would se^m great ones; but of this I have said enough already.
§ 156. When by these gentle Ways he begins to ready some easy pleasant Book, suited to his Capacity, should be put into his Hands, wherein the Entertainment that he 15 finds might draw him on, and reward his Pains in Reading, and yet not such as should fill his Head with perfectly use- less Trumpery, or lay the Principles of Vice and Folly. To this Purpose, I think jEsofs Fables the best, whidi being Stories apt to delight and entertain a Child, may yet 20 afford useful Reflections to a grown Man; and if his Memory retain them all his Life after, he will not repent to find them there, amongst his manly Thoughts and serious Business. If his jEsop has Pictures in it, it will entertain him much the better, and encourage him to read, when it 25 carries the Increase of Knowledge with it: For such visible Objects Children hear talked of in vain and without any Satisfaction whilst they have no Ideas of them; those Ideas being not to be bad from Sounds, but from the Things themselves or their Pictures. And therefore 1 30 think as soon as he begins to spell, as many Pictures of Animals should be got him as can be found, with the printed Names to them, which at the same Time will invite him to read, and afford him Matter of Enquiry and Know- ledge. Reyfiard the Fox is another Book I think may be 35 made use of to the same Purpose. And if those about him will talk to him often about the Stories he has read, and hear him tell them, it will, besides other Advantages, add Encouragement and Delight to his Readings when he finds there is some Use and Pleasure in it. These Baits seem 40 wholly neglected in the ordinary Method; and 'tis usually 134 Lreaming by Heart. The Bible. [$$ 156 — 158 long before Learners find any Use or Pleasure in reading, which may tempt them to it, and so take Books only for fashionable Amusements, or impertinent Troubles, good for nothing.
5 § 157. The Lord's Prayer, the Creeds, and Ten Com- mandments, 'tis necessary he should learn perfectly by heart; but, I think, not by reading them himself in his Primer, but by somebody's repeating them to him, even before he can read. But learning by heart, and learning to 10 read^ should not I think be mix'd, and so one made to clog the other. But his learning to read should be made as little Trouble or Business to him as might be.
What other Books there are in English of the Kind of those above-mentioned, fit to engage the Liking of Children, 15 and tempt them to ready I do not know: But am apt to think, that Children being generally delivered over to the Method of Schools, where the Fear of the Rod is to inforce, and not any Pleasure of the Employment to invite them to learn, this Sort of useful Books, amongst the Number of 20 silly ones that are of all Sorts, have yet had the Fate to be neglected; and nothing that I know has been considered of this Kind out of the ordinary Road of the Horn-book, Primer, Psalter, Testament, and Bible. / § 158. As for the Bible^ which Children are usually 25 employed in to exercise and improve their Talent in readingy I think the promiscuous reading of it through by Chaptars as they lie in Order, is so far from being of any Advantage to Children, either for the perfecting their Reading, or prin- cipling their Religion, that perhaps a worse could not be 30 found. For what Pleasure or Encouragement can it be to a Child to exercise himself in reading those Parts of a Book where he understands nothing? And how little are the Law of MoseSy the Song of Sohtnony the Prophecies in the Old, and the Epistles and Apocalypse in the New Testa- 35 ment, suited to a Child's Capacity? And though the History of the Evangelists and the Acts have something easier, yet, taken all together, it is very disproportional to the Understanding of Childhood. I grant that the Prin- ciples of Religion are to be drawn from thence, and in the 40 Words of the Scripture; yet none should be proposed to a Child, but such as are suited to a Child's Capacity and §§ 158, 159] Learning by heart from the Bible. 135 Notions. But 'tis far from this to read through t?ie whole JBible^ and that for reading's sake. And what an odd jumble of Thoughts must a Child have in his Head, if he have any at all, such as he should have concerning Religion, who in his tender Age reads all the Parts of the Bible indifferently 5 as the Word of God without any other Distinction! I am apt to think, that this in some Men has been the very Reason why they never had clear and distinct Thoughts of it all their Lifetime.
§ 159. And now I am by chance fallen on this Subject, 10 give me leave to say, that there are some Parts of the Scrip- ture which may be proper to be put into the Hands of a Child to engage him to read; such as are the Story of Joseph and his Brethren, of David and GoUah^ of David and Jonathan^ &c and others that he should be made to 15 read for his Instruction, as that. What you would have others do unto yoUy do you the same unto them; and such other easy and plain moral Rules, which being fidy chosen, might often be made use of, both for Reading and Instruc- tion together; and so often read till they are throughly 20 fixed in the Memory; and then afterwards, as he grows ripe for them, may in their Turns on fit Occasions be incul- cated as the standing and sacred Rules of his Life and Actions. But the Reading of the whole Scripture indif- ferently, is what I think very inconvenient for Children, 25 till after having been made acquainted with the plainest fundamental Parts of it, they have got some kind of general View of what they ought principally to believe and practise; which yet, I think, they ought to receive in the very Words of the Scripture, and not in such as Men prepossess'd by 30 Systems and Analogies are apt in this Case to make use of and force upon them. Dr. Worthington, to avoid this, has made a Catechism, which has all its Answers in the precise Words of the Scripture; a Thing of good Example, and such a sound Form of Words as no Christian can except 35 against as not fit for his Child to learn. Of this, as soon as he can say the Lord's Prayer, Creed, the ten Command- ments, by Heart, it may be fit for him to learn a Question every Day, or every Week, as his Understanding is able to receive and his Memory to retain them. And when he has 40 this Catechism perfectly by Heart, so as readily and roundly to answer to any Question in the whole Book, it may be convenient to lodge in his Mind the remaining moral Rules scattered up and down in the Bible, as the best Exercise cf his Memory^ and that which may be always a Rule to him, 5 ready at Hand, in the whole Conduct of his Life.
§ 160. When he can read English well, it will be Writint seasonable to enter him in Writing: And here the first Thing should be taught him is to hold his Pen right; and this he should be perfect in before he 10 should be suffered to put it to Paper: For not only Chil- dren but any body else that would do any Thing well, should never be put upon too much of it at once, or be set to perfect themselves in two Parts of an Action at the same Time, if they can possibly be separated I think the 15 Italian Way of holding the Pen between the Thumb and the Fore-finger alone, may be best; but in this you may consult some good Writing-master, or any other Person who writes well and quick. When he has learn'd to hold his Pen right, in the next Place he should learn how to 30 lay his Paper^ and place his Arm and Body to it These Practices being got over, the Way to teach him to write without much Trouble, is to get a Plate graved with the Characters of such a Hand as you like best: But you must remember to have them a pretty deal bigger than he should 25 ordinarily write; for every one naturally comes by Degrees to write a less Hand than he at first was taught, but never a bigger. Such a Plate being graved, let several Sheets of good Writing-paper be printed off with red Ink, which he has nothing to do but go over with a good Pen filPd with 30 black Ink, which will quickly bring his Hand to the For- mation of those Characters, being at first shewed where to begin, and how to form every Letter. And when he can do that well, he must then exercise on fair Paper; and so may easily be brought to write the Hand you desire.
35 § 161. When he can write well and quick, I think it j^^^^ may be convenient not only to continue the rawtng. £j^gj.^jgg ^^ j^jg Hand in Writing, but also to improve the Use of it farther in Drawing; a Thing very useful to a Centleman in several Occasions; but especially 40 if he travel, as that which helps a Man often to express, in a few Lines well put together, what a whole Sheet of Paper in Writing would not be able to represent and make intelli- gible. How many Buildings may a Man see, how many Machines and Habits meet with, the Ideas whereof would be easily retained and communicated by a little Skill in lyrawing; which being committed to Words, are in danger 5 to be lost, or at best but ill retained in the most exact Descriptions? I do not mean that I would have your Son a perfect Painter; to be that to any tolerable Degree, will require more Time than a young Gentleman can spare from his other Improvements of greater Moment But so 10 much Insight into Perspective and Skill in Drawings as will enable him to represent tolerably on Paper any thing he sees, except Faces, may, I think, be got in a little Time, especially if he have a Genius to it; but where that is wanting, unless it be in the things absolutely necessary, it is 15 better to let him pass them by quietly, than to vex him about them to no Purpose: And therefore in this, as in all other things not absolutely necessary, the Rule holds, NU invtta Minerva.
IT I. Short-hand, an Art, as I have been told, known 20 only in England, may peri^aps be thought worth sfufrt-hand the learning, both for Dispatch in what Men write for their own Memory, and Concealment of what they would not have lie open to every Eye. For he that has once leam'd any Sort of Character, may easily vary it 25 to his own private Use or Fancy, and with more Contrac- tion suit it to the Business he would employ it in. Mr. Riches, the best contrived of any I have seen, may, as I think, by one who knows and considers Grammar well, be made much easier and shorter. But for the learning this 30 compendious Way of Writing, there will be no need hastily to look out a Master; it will be early enough when any convenient Opportunity offers itself at any Time, after his Hand is well settled in fair and quick Writing. For Boys have but little use of Short-hand, and should by no means 35 practise it till they write perfectly well, and have throughly fixed the Habit of doing so.
§ 162. As soon as he can speak English, 'tis time for him to leam some other Language. This no ^^^. body doubts of, when French is propos'd. And 40 the Reason is, because People are accustomed to the right Way of teaching that Language, which is by talking it into Children in constant Conversation, and not by grammatical Rules. The Latin Tongue would easily be taught the same Way, if his Tutor, being constantly with him, would 5 talk nothing else to liim, and make him answer still in the saipe Language. But because French is a living Language, and to be used more in speaking, that should be first learned, that the yet pliant Organs of Speech might be accustomed to a due Formation of those Sounds, and he 10 get the Habit of pronouncing French well, which is the harder to be done the longer it is dela/d.
§ 163. When he can speak and read French well, which ^^^^^ in this Method is usually in a Year or two, he should proceed to Latin^ which 'tis a wonder 15 Parents, when they have had the Experiment in French, should not think ought to be learned the same way, by talking and reading. Only Care is to be taken whilst he is learning these foreign Languages, by speaking and reading nothing else with his Tutor, that he do not forget to read 20 English, which may be preserved by his Mother or some body else hearing him read sqpe chosen Parts of the Scripture or other English Book every Day.
§ 164. Latin I look upon as absolutely necessary to a (Gentleman; and indeed Custom, which prevails over every 25 thing, has made it so much a Part of Education, that even those Children are whipp'd to it, and made spend many Hours of their precious Time uneasily in Latin, who, after they are once gone from School, are never to have more to do with it as long as they live. Can there be any thing 30 more ridiculous, than that a Father should waste his own Money and his Son's Time in setting him to learn the Roman Language, when at the same Time he designs him for a Trade, wherein he having no use of Latin, fails not to forget that little which he brought from School, and 35 which 'tis ten to one he abhors for the ill Usage it procured him? Could it be believed, unless we had every where amongst us Examples of it, that a Child should be forced to leam the Rudiments of a Language which he is never to use in the Course of Life that he is designed to, and neglect 40 all the while the writing a good Hand and casting Ac- counts, which are of great Advantage in all Conditions of Life, and to most Trades indispensably necessary? But though these Qualifications, requisite to Trade and Com- merce and the Business of the World, are seldom or never to be had at Grammar-Schools, yet thither not only Gentle- men send their younger Sons, intended for Trades, but 5 even Tradesmen and Fanners fail not to send their Chil- dren, though they have neither Intention nor Ability to make them Scholars. If you ask them why they do this, they think it as strange a Question as if you should ask them, Why they go to Church. Custom serves for Reason, fio and has, to those who take it for Reason, so consecrated this Method, that it is almost religiously observed by them, and they stick to it, as if their Children had scarce an orthodox Education unless they learned Lillys Grammar.