Custom let a good Part of their Lives run uselessly away, without either Business or Recreation, they would find time enough to acquire Dexterity and Skill in hundreds of Things^ which, though remote from their proper Callings, would not 5 at all interfere with them. And therefore, I think, for this, as well as other Reasons before-mentioned, a lazy, listless Humour, that idly dreams away the Days, is of all others the least to be indulged or permitted in young People. It is the proper State of one sick and out of order in his 10 Health, and is tolerable in no body else of what Age or Condition soever.
§ 209. To the Arts above-mentioned may be added Peffumingy Varnishing, Graving, and several Sorts of working in Iron, JBrass^ and Silver; and if, as it happens to most 15 young Gentlemen, that a considerable part of his Time be . spent in a great Town, he may learn to cut, polish, and set precious Stones, or employ himself in grinding and polishing Optical Classes, Amongst the great Variety there is of in- genious manual ArtSy 'twill be impossible that no one should 20 be found to please and delight him, unless he be either idle or debauched, which is not to be supposed in a right way of Education. And since he cannot be always emplo/d in Study, Reading and Conversation, there will be many an Hour, besides what his Exercises will take up, which, if not 25 spent this Way, will be spent worse. For I conclude, a young Man will seldom desire to sit perfectly still and idle; or, if he does, 'tis a Fault that ought to be mended.
§ 210. But if his mistaken Parents, frighted with the dis- graceful Names of Mechanick and Trade, shall have an Aver- 30 sion to any thing of this kind in their Children; yet there is one thing relating to Trade, which, when they consider, they will think absolutely necessary for their Sons to learn.
Merchants^ Accompts, tho' a Science not likely to help a Gentleman to get an Estate, yet possibly there 35 ^Aui^u^ is not any thing of more Use and Efficacy, to make him preserve the Estate he has. Tis seldom observed, that he who keeps an Accompt of his Income and Expences, and thereby has constantly under view the Course of his domestick Affairs, lets them run to 40 ruin: And I doubt not but many a Man gets behind-hand before he is aware, or runs farther on when he is once in, for want of this Care, or the Skill to do it. I would there- fore advise all Gentlemen to learn perfectly Merchants^ Ac- comptSy and not to think it is a Skill that belongs not to them, because it has received its Name from, and has been chiefly practised by Men of Traffick. 5 § 211. When my young Master has once got the Skill of keeping Accounts (which is a Business of Reason more than Arithmetick) perhaps it will not be amiss that his Father from thenceforth require him to do it in all his Concernments. Not that I would have him set down every 10 Pint of Wine or Play that costs him Money; the general Name of Expences will serve for such things well enough: Nor would I have his Father look so narrowly into these Accompts, as to take occasion from thence to criticise on his Expences; he must remember that he himself was once 15 a young Man, and not forget the Thoughts he had then, nor the Right his Son has to have the same, and to have Allowance made for them. If therefore I would have the young Gentleman oblig'd to keep an Account, it is not at all to have that way a Check upon his Expences (for what 20 the Father allows him, he ought to let him be fully Master of) but only, that he might be brought early into the Custom of doing it, and that it might be made familiar and habitual to him betimes, which will be so useful and necessary to be constantly practised the whole Course of his Life. A Noble 25 Venetian, whose Son wallowed in the Plenty of his Father's Riches, finding his Son's Expences grow very high and extravagant, ordered his Cashier to let him have for the future no more Money than what he should count when he received it. This one would think no great Restraint to 30 a young Gentleman's Expences; who could freely have as much Money as he would tell. But yet this, to one that was used to nothing but the Pursuit of his Pleasures, proved a very great Trouble, which at last ended in this sober and advantageous Reflection: If it be so much Pains to me 35 barely to count the Money I would spend, what Labour and Pains did it cost my Ancestors, not only to count, but get it? This rational Thought, suggested by this little Pains impos'd upon him, wrought so effectually upon his Mind, that it made him take up, and from that time for- 40 wards prove a good Husband. This, at least, every Body 1 84 Right Time for Travel? [§§211, 212 must allow, that nothing is likelier to keep a Man within compass, than the having constantly before his Eyes the State of his Affairs in a regular Course of Accompt § 212. The last Part usually in Education is Travel^ 5 Travel ^^^^^ ^ commouly thought to finish the Work, and complete the Grentleman. I confess Travel into foreign Countries has great Advantages, but the time usually chosen to send young Men abroad, is, I think, of all other, that which renders them least capable of reaping 10 those Advantages, Those which are proposed, as to the main of them, may be reduced to these two; first, Lan- guage, secondly, an Improvement in Wisdom and Prudence, by seeing Men, and conversing with People of Tempers, Customs and Ways of Living, different from one another, 15 and especially from those of his Parish and Neighbourhood. But from sixteen to one and twenty, which is the ordinaiy Time of Travel^ Men are, of all their Lives, the least suited to these Improvements. The first Season to get Foreign Languages, and form the Tongue to their true Accents, I 20 should think, should be from seven to fourteen or sixteen, and then too a Tutor with them is useful and necessary, who may with those Languages teach them other Things. But to put them out of their Parents' View at a great Dis- tance under a Governor, when they think themselves to be 25 too much Men to be governed by others, and yet have not Prudence and Experience enough to govern themselves, what is it, but to expose them to all the greatest Dangers of their whole Life, when they have the least Fence and Guard against them? Till that boiling boisterous Part of 30 Life comes in, it may be hoped the Tutor may have some Authority: Neither the Stubbornness of Age, nor the Temp- tation or Examples of others, can take him from his TutoPs Conduct till fifteen or sixteen: But then, when he begins to comfort himself with Men, and thinks himself one; when 35 he comes to relish and pride himself in manly Vices, and thinks it a shame to be any longer under the Controul and Conduct of another, what can be hoped from even the most careful and discreet Governor, when neither he has Power to compel, nor his Pupil a Disposition to be persuaded; 40 but on the contrary, has the Advice of warm Blood and prevailing Fashion, to hearken to the Temptations of his §§ 212— 214J Wrong Time for Travel. 185 Companions, just as wise as nimself, rather than to the Persuasions of his Tutor, who is now looked on as an Enemy to his Freedom? And when is a Man so like to miscarry, as when at the same time he is both raw and unruly? This is the Season of all his Life that most re- S quires the Eye and Authority of his Parents and Friends to govern it The Flexibleness of the former Part of a Man's Age, not yet grown up to be headstrong, makes it more governable and safe; and in the After-part, Reason and Foresight begin a little to take Place, and mind a Man of 10 his Safety and Improvement. The Time therefore I should think the fittest for a young Gentleman to be sent abroad^ would be, either when he is younger, under a Tutor, whom he might be the better for; or when he is some Years older, without a Governor; when he is of Age to govern himself, 15 and make Observations of what he finds in other Countries worthy his Notice, and that might be of Use to him after his Return; and when too, being throughly acquainted with the Laws and Fashions, the natural and moral Advan- tages and Defects of his own Country, he has something to 20 exchange with those abroad, from whose Conversation he hoped to reap any Knowledge.
§ 213 [Wanting].
§ 213 [Wanting].
§ 214. The ordering of Travel otherwise, is that, I imagine, which makes so many young Gendemen come 25 back so little improved by it And if they do bring home with them any Knowledge of the Places and People they have seen, it is often an Admiration of the worst and vain- est Practices they met with abroad; retaining a Relish and Memory of those Things wherein their Liberty took its 30 first Swing, rather than of what should make them better and wiser after their Return. And indeed how can it be otherwise, going abroad at the Age they do under the Care of another, who is to provide their Necessaries, and make their Observations for them? Thus under the Shelter and 35 Pretence of a Governor, thinking themselves excused from standing upon their own Legs or being accountable for their own Conduct, they very seldom trouble themselves with Enquiries or making useful Observations of their own. Their Thoughts run after Play and Pleasure, wherein they 40 take it as a Lessening to be controlled; but seldom trouble themselves to examine the Designs, observe the Address, and consider the Arts, Tempers, and Inclinations of Men they meet with; that so they may know how to comport themselves towards them. Here he that travels with them 5 is to screen them; get them out when they have run them- selves into the Briars; and in all their Miscarriages be answerable for them.
§ 215. I confess, the Knowledge of Men is so great a Skill, that it is not to be expected a young Man should 10 presently be perfect in it. But yet his going abroad is to little purpose, if Travel does not sometimes open his Eyes, make him cautious and wary, and accustom him to look beyond tte Outside, and, under the inoffensive Guard of a civil and obliging Carriage, keep himself free and safe in 15 his Conversation with Strangers and all sorts of People without forfeiting their good Opinion. He that is sent out to travel at the Age, and with the Thoughts of a Man designing to improve himself, may get into the Conversa- tion and Acquaintance of Persons of Condition where he 20 comes; which, tho' a Thing of most Advantage to a Gen- tleman that travels, yet I ask, amongst our young Men that go abroad under Tutors, what one is there of an hun- dred, that ever visits any Person of Quality? Much less makes an Acquaintance with such, from whose Conversation 25 he may learn what is good Breeding in that Country, and what is worth Observation in it; tho' from such Persons it is, one may learn more in one Day, than in a Year's Ram- bling from one Inn to another. Nor indeed, is it to be wondered; for Men of Worth and Parts will not easily 30 admit the Familiarity of Boys who yet need the Care of a Tutor; tho' a young Gentleman and Stranger, appearing like a Man, and shewing a Desire to inform himself in the Customs, Manners, Laws, and Government of the Country he is in, will find welcome Assistance and Entertainment 35 amongst the best and most knowing Persons every where, who will be ready to receive, encourage and countenance an ingenuous and inquisitive Foreigner.
§ 216. This, how true soever it be, will not I fear alter the Custom, which has cast the Time of Travel upon 40 the worst Part of a Man's Life; but for Reasons not taken from their Improvement The young Lad must not be §§ 216, 217] Scope of this Tt wse. 187 ventured abroad at eight or ten, for fear of what may happen to the tender Child, tho' he then runs ten times less Risque than at sixteen or eighteen. Nor must he stay at home till that dangerous, heady Age be over, because he must be back again by one and twenty, to marry and propagate. 5 The Father cannot stay any longer for the Portion, nor the Mother for a new Set of Babies to play with; and so my young Master, whatever comes on it, must have a Wife look'd out for him by that Time he is of Age; tho' it would be no Prejudice to his Strength, his Parts, or his Issue, if it 10 were respited for some Time, and he had leave to get, in Years and Knowledge, the Start a little of his Children, who are often found to tread too near upon the Heels of their Fathers, to the no great Satisfaction either of Son or Father. But the young Gentleman being got within 15 View of Matrimony, 'tis Time to leave him to his Mistress.
§ 217. Tho' I am now come to a Conclusion of what obvious Remarks have suggested to me con- cerning Education, I would not have it thought ^'^^"^* that I look on it as a just Treatise on this Subject There 20 are a thousand other Things that may need Consideration; especially if one should take in the various Tempers, different Inclinations, and particular Defaults, that are to be found in Children, and prescribe proper Remedies. The Variety is so great that it would require a Volume; nor would that reach it. 25 Each Man's Mind has some Peculiarity, as well as his Face, that distinguishes him from all others; and there are pos- sibly scarce two Children who can be conducted by exactly the same Method. Besides that, I think a Prince, a Noble- man, arid an ordinary Gentleman's Son, should have 30 different Ways of Breeding. But having had here only some general Views in Reference to the main End and Aims in Education, and those designed for a Gentleman's Son, whom, being tljjeiL.v.!ei^ little, I consideredLnnly;iiS white WaxTtol Pa per, or Wax, to bg.infMi1^f d_ai?d fashioned as one pleases; 35 t nave^TOTIched little more than those Heads which I* judged necessary for the Breeding of a young Gentleman of his Condition in general; and have now published these my occasional Thoughts with this Hope, that tho' this be far from being a complete Treatise on this Subject, or such 40 as that every ontKnay find what will just fit his Child in it, yet it may give some small Light to those, whose Concern for their dear little Ones makes them so irregularly bold, that they dare venture to consult their own Reason in the 5 Education of their Children, rather than wholly to rely upon old Custom.
FINIS.
APPENDIX A.
WORKING SCHOOLS.
I-OCKe's plan is as follows: ** The children of labouring people are an ordinary burden to the parish, and are usually maintained in idleness, so that their labour also is generally lost to the public till they are twelve or fourteen years old.
The most effectual remedy for this that we are able to conceive, tuid which we therefore humbly propose, is, that, in the fore-mentioned new law to be enacted, it be further provided that working schools be set up in every parish, to which the children of all such as demand relief of the parish, above three and under fourteen years of age, whilst they live at home with their parents, and are not otherwise employed for their livelihood by the allowance of the overseers of the poor, shall be obliged to come.
By this means the mother will be eased of a great part of her trouble in looking after and providing for them at home, and so be at the more liberty to work; the children will be kept in much better order, be better provided for, and from infancy be inured to work, which is of no small consequence to the making of them sober and industrious all their lives after; and the parish will be either eased of this burden or at least of the misuse in the present management of it. For, a great number of children giving a poor man a title to an allow- ance from the parish, this allowance is given once a week or once a month to the father in money, which he not seldom spends on himself at the alehouse, whilst his children, for whose sake he had it, are left to suffer, or perish under the want of necessaries, unless the charity of neighbours relieve them.
We humbly conceive that a man and his wife in health may be able by their ordinary labour to maintain themselves and two children. More than two children at one time under the age of three years will seldom happen in one family. If therefore all the children above three years old be taken off from their hands those who have never so many, whilst they remain themselves in health, will not need any allowance for them.
We do not suppose that children of three years old will be able at that age to get their livelihoods at the working school, but we are sure that what is necessary for their relief will more effectually have that use if it be distributed to them in bread at that school tnan if it be given to their fathers in money. What they have at home from their 1 90 Appendix A.
parents is seldom more than bread and water, and that, many of them, very scantily too. If therefore care be taken that they have each of them their belly-fiill of bread daily at school, they will oe in no danger of famishing, but, on the contrary, they will be healthier And stronger than those who are bred otherwise. Nor will this practice cost the overseers any trouble; for a baker mav be agreed with to furnish and bring into the school-house every day the allowance of bread necessary for all the scholars that are there. And to this may be also added, without any trouble, in cold weather, if it be thought needful, a little warm water-gruel; for the same fixe that warms the room may be made use of to boil a pot of it.
From this method the children will not only reap the fore-men- tioned advantages with far less charge to the parish than what is now done for them, but they will be also thereby the more obliged to come to school and apply themselves to work, oecause otherwise they will have no victuals, and also the benefit thereby both to themselves and the parish will daily increase; for, the earnings of their labour at school every day increasing, it may reasonably be concluded that, computing all the earnings of a child from three to fourteen years of age, the nourishment and teaching of such a child during that whole time will cost the parish nothing; whereas there is no child now which from its birth is maintained by the parish but, before the age of four- teen, costs the parish;f 50 or £^0.
Another advantage also of bringing children thus to a working school is that by this means they may be obliged to come constantly to church every Sunday, along with their schoolmasters or dames, whereby they may be brought into some sense of religion; whereas ordinarily now, in their idle and loose way of breeding up, they are as utter strangers both to religion and morality as they are to industry.
In order therefore to the more effectual carrying on of this work to the advantage of this kingdom, we further humbly propose that these schools be generally for spinning or knitting, or some other part of the woollen manufacture, unless in countries [that is, districts] where the place shall furnish some other materials fitter for the employment of such poor children; in which places the choice of those materials for their emplovment may be left to the prudence and direction of the guardians ot the poor of that hundred. And that the teachers in these schools be paid out of the poor's rate, as can be agreed.
This, though at first setting up it may cost the parish a little, yet we humbly conceive (the earnings of the children abating the charge of their maintenance, and as much work being reouired of each of them as they are reasonably able to perform) it will quickly pay its own charges with an overplus.
That, where the number of the poor children of any parish is greater than for them all to be employed in one school they be there divided into two, and the boys and girls, if thought convenient, taught and kept iSb work separately.
That the handicraftsmen in each hundred be bound to take every other of their respective apprentices from amongst the boys in some one of the schools in the said hundred without any money; which boys Working Schools. 191 they may so take at what age they please, to be bound to them till the age of twenty-three years, that so the length of time may more than make amends for the usual sums that are given to huidicraftsmen with such apprentices.
That those also in the hundred who keep in their hands land oi their own to the value of;f25 per annum, or upwards, or who rent £B^ pcf annum or upwards, may choose out of the schools of the said hundred what boy each of them pleases, to be his apprentice in husbandry on the same condition.
That whatever boys are not by this means bound out apprentices before they are full fourteen shall, at the Easter meeting of the guardians of each hundred every year,.be bound to such gentlemen, yeomen, or farmers within the said hundred as have the greatest number of acres of land in their hands, who shall be obliged to take them for their apprentices till the age of twenty-three, or bind them out at their own cost to some handicraftsmen; provided always that no such gentleman, yeoman, or farmer shall be bound to have two such apprentices at a time.
That grown people also (to take away their pretence of want of work) may come to the said working schools to learn, where work shall accordingly be provided for them.
That the materials to be employed in these schools and among other the poor people of the parish be provided by a common stock in each hundred, to be raised out of a certain portion of the poor's rate of each parish as requisite; which stock, we humbly conceive, need be raised but once; for, if rightly managed, it will increase." (F. B. ii. 383.)
APPENDIX B.
LOCKE'S OTHER EDUCATIONAL WRITINGS.
In Locke's works we find besides the Thoughts and the Condtui of the Understanding (the last a posthumous chapter for the Essay) ^ ist, " Instructions for the conduct of a young Gentleman;" and, **Some Thoughts concerning Reading and Study for a Gentleman." Besides these Lord King, in his Ltfe of Locke^ gives us an excellent essay, "Of Study," collected from Locke's Journals. Of these three the last only is of importance.
In the first the young gentleman is recommended to study the Bible and then other books. "The knowledge of the Bible and tne business of his own calling is enough for an ordinary man; a gentleman ought to go further." Locke is also very emphatic as usual about "good breeding. " In the Thoughts concerning Reading and Study for a Gentleman we have some good advice about the subject, but of course the books named are in a few cases only the books which are read now. " Reading 193 Appendix B.
IS for the improvement of the understanding. The improvement of the understanding is for two ends: ist, for our own increase of know- ledge; md, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others.** The gentleman's *' proper calling is the service of his country, and so is most properly concerned in moral and political know- ledge; and thus the studies which more immediately belong to his calling are those which treat of virtues and vices, of dvil society and the arts of TOvemment, and will take in also law and history."
But without right reasoning true knowledge is not got by reading and studying. ** Men of much reading are greatly learned, but may be little knowing.** " The gentleman should attend to the art of speaking well, which consists chiefly in two things, viz. perspicuity and right reasoning.** These Locke would have acquired not so much by rules as by examples, though some rules may be studied in Cicero, Quintilian, and others. For right reasoning "I should propose the constant reading of Chillingworth.** Locke recommends the reading of travels, always a favourite study with him.
'* There is another use of reading which b for diversion and delight. Such are poetical writings, especially dramatic, if they be free from profaneness, obscenity, and what corrupts good manners; for such pitch should not be handled. Of all the books of fiction I know none that equals Cervantes' History of Don Quixote," » The remarks on Study were written in France in Locke's Journal, and probably for his own eye only; but it seems a pity that so excellent .an essay was not published and generally studied. As it has never appeared except in the Li/e^ I give it (with small omissions) here. It is the following: OF STUDY.
The end of study is knowledge, and the end of knowledge prac- tice or communication. 'Tis true, delight is commonly joined with all improvements of knowledge; but when we study only for that end, it is to be considered rather as diversion than business, and so is to be reckoned among our recreations.
The extent of knowledge or things knowable is so vast, our duration here so short, and the entrance by which the knowled«;e of things gets into our understanding so narrow, that the time of our whole life would be found too short, without the necessary allowances for childhood and old age (which are not capable of much improvement), for the refreshment of our bodies and unavoidable avocations, and in most con- ditions for the ordinary employment of their callings, which if they neglect, they cannot eat nor live; I say that the whole time of our life, without these necessary defalcations, is not enough to acquaint us with all those things, I will not say which we are capable of knowing, but which it would not be only convenient but very advantageous to know. He that will consider how many doubts and difficulties have remained in Of Study. 193 Of Study. 193 the minds of the most knowmg men after long and studious inquiry; how much in those several provinces of knowledge they have surveyed, they have left undiscovered; how many other provinces of the ** mundus intelli- gibills, " as I may call it, they never once travelled on, will easily consent to the disproportionateness of our time and strength to this greatness of business, of knowledge taken in its full latitude, and which, if it be not our main business here, yet it is so necessary to it, and so interwbven with it, that we can make little further progress in doing, than we do in knowing — at least to little purpose — acting without understanding being usually at best but lost labour.
It therefore much behoves us to improve the best we can our time and talent in this respect, and since we have a long journey to go, and the days are but short, to take the straightest and most direct road we can. To this purpose, it may not perhaps be amiss to decline some things that are likely to bewilder us, or at least lie out of our way. ist. As 3\ that maze of words and phrases which have been invented and employed only to instruct and amuse people in the art of disputing, and will be found perhaps, when looked into, to have little or no meaning; and with this kind of stuff the logics, ph3rsics, ethics, metaphysics, and divinity of the schools are thought by some to be too much filled. This I am sure, that where we leave distinctions without finding a difference in things; where we make variety of phrases, or think we furnish ourselves with argu- ments without a progress in the real knowledge of things, we only fill our heads with empty sounds, which however thought to belong to learn- ing and knowledge, will no more improve our understandings and strengthen our reason, than the noise of a jack will fill our bellies or strengthen our bodies: and the art to fence with those which are called subtleties, is of no more use than it would be to be dexterous in tying and untying knots in cobwebs. Words are of no value nor use, but as they are the signs of things; when they stand for nothing they are less than cyphers, for instead of augmenting the value of those they are joined with, they lessen it, and make it nothing; and where they have not a clear distinct signification, they are like unusual or ill-made figures that confound our meaning.
and. An aim and desire to know what hath been other men's opinions. Truth needs no recommendation, and error is not mended by it; and in our inquiry after knowledge, it as little concerns us what other men have thought, as it does one who is to go from Oxford to London, to know what scholars walked quietly on foot, inquiring the way and sur- veying the country as they went, who rode post after their guide vrithout minding the way he went, who were carried along muffied up in a coach with their company, or where one doctor lost or went out 01 his way, or where another stuck in the mire. If a traveller gets a knowledge of the right way, it is no matter whether he knows the infinite windings, bye- ways, and turnings where others have been misled; the knowledp;e of the right secures him from the wrong, and that is his great busmess. And so methinks it is in our pilgrimage through this world; men's fancies have been infinite even of the learned, and the history of them endless: and some not knowing whither they would go, have kept goio(^, though they have only moved; others have followbd only their own 194 Appendix B.
imagination, though they meant right, which is an errant which with the wisest leads us through strange mazes. Interest has blinded some and prejudiced others, who have yet marched confidently on; and however out of the way, they have thought themselves most in the right. I do not say this to undervalue the light we receive from others, or to think there are not those who assist us mightily in our endeavours after knowledge; perhaps without books we should be as ignorant as the Indians, whose minds are as ill clad as their bodies; but I think it is an idle and useless thing to make it one's business to study what have been other men's sentiments in things where reason is only to be judge, on purpose to be furnished with them, and to be able to cite them on all occa- sions. However it be esteemed a great part of learning, vet to a man that considers how little time he has, and how much work to do, how many things he is to learn, how many doubts to clear in religion, how many rules to establish to himself in morality, how much pains to be taken with himself to master his unruly desires and passions, how to provide himself against a thousand cases and accidents that will happen, and an infinite doU more both in his general and particular calling; I say to a man that considers this well, it will not seem much his business to acquaint himself designedly with the various conceits of men that are to be found in books even upon subjects of moment. I deny not but the knowing of these opinions in all their variety, contradiction, and extrava- gancy, may serve to instruct us in the vanity and ignorance of mankind, and both to humble and caution us upon that consideration; but this seems not reason enough to me to engage purposely in this study, and in our inquiries after more material points, we shall meet with enough of this medley to acquaint us with the weakness of man's understanding.
3rd Purity of language, a polished style, or exact criticism in foreign languages — ^thus I think Greek and Latin may be called, as well as French and Italian, — ^and to spend much time in these may perhaps serve to set one off in the world, and give one the reputation of a scholar. But if that be all, methinks it is Ubouring for an outside; it is at best but a handsome dress of truth or falsehood that one busies oneself about, and makes most of those who lay out their time this way rather fashionable gentlemen, than wise or useful men.
There are so many advantages of speaking one's own language well, and being a master in it, that let a man's calling be what it will, it cannot but be worth our taking some pains in it; but it is by no means to have the 6rst place in our studies: but he that makes good language subservient to a good life and an instrument of virtue, is doubly enabled to do good to others.
When I speak against the laying out our time and study on criticisms, I mean such as may serve to make us great masters in Pindar and Per- sius, Herodotus and Tacitus; and I must always be understood to except all study of languages and critical learning, that may aid us in under- standing the Scriptures; for they being an eternal foundation of truth, as immediately coming from the Fountain of Truth, whatever doth help us to understand their true sense, doth well deserve our pains and study.