much Haste, nor attempt this Cure too early, for fear lest you increase the Mischief instead of remedying it. Little ones in Arms may be easily kept out of the way of terrifying Objects, and till they can talk and understand what is said to them, are scarce capable of that Reasoning and Dis- 5 course which should be used to let them know there is no harm in those frightful Objects, which we would make them familiar with, and do, to that Purpose by gentle Degrees bring nearer and nearer to them. And therefore 'tis seldom there is need of any Application to them of this kind, till 10 after they can run about and talk. But yet, if it should happen that Infants should have taken Offence at any thing which cannot be easily kept out of their way, and that they shew Marks of Terror as often as it comes in sight; all the Allays of Fright, by diverting their Thoughts, or mixing 15 pleasant and agreeable Appearances with it, must be used, till it be grown familiar and inoffensive to them.
I think we may observe, That, when Children are first bom, all Objects of Sight that do not hurt the Eyes, are indifferent to them; and they are no more afraid of a 20 Blackamoor or a Lion, than of their Nurse or a Cat. What is it then, that afterwards, in certain Mixtures of Shape and Colour, comes to affright them? Nothing but the Appre- hensions of Harm that accompanies those things. Did a Child suck every Day a new Nurse, I make account it 25 would be no more affrighted with the change of Faces at six Months old, than at sixty. The Reason dien why it will not come to a Stranger, is, because having been accustomed to receive its Food and kind Usage only from one or two that are about it, the Child apprehends, by coming into the 30 Arms of a Stranger, the being taken from what delights and feeds it and every Moment supplies its Wants, which it often feels, and therefore fears when the Nurse is away.
The only thing we naturally are afraid of is Pain, or Loss of Pleasure. And because these are ximnvusnes* 35 I not annexed to any Shape, Colour, or Size of visible Objects, we are frighted with none of them, till either we have felt Pain from them, or have Notions put into us that they will do us Harm. The pleasant Brightness and Lustre of Flame and Fire so delights Children, that at first 40 they always desire to be handling of it: But when constant 98 Education to Courage. [§ 115 Experience has convinced them, by the exquisite Pain it has put them to, how cruel and unmerciful it is, they are afraid to touch it, and carefully avoid it. This being the Ground of Fear, 'tis not hard to find whence it arises, and 5 how it is to be cured in all mistaken Objects of Terror. And when the Mind is confirmed against them, and has got a Mastery over it self and its usual Fears in lighter Occa- sions, it is in good Preparation to meet more real Dangers. Your Child shrieks, and runs away at the Sight of a Frog 10 let another catch it, and lay it down at a good Distance from him: At first accustom him to look upon it; when he can do that, then to come nearer to it, and see it leap with- out Emotion; then to touch it lightly, when it is held fast in another's Hand; and so on, till he can conle to handle it 15 as confidently as a Butterfly or a Sparrow. By the same way any other vain Terrors may be removed; if care be taken, that you go not too fast, and push not the Child on to a new Degree of Assurance, till he be thoroughly confirm'd in the former. And thus the young Soldier is to be trained 20 on to the Warfare of Life; wherein Care is to be taken, that more things be not represented as dangerous than really are so; and then, that whatever you observe him to be more frighted at than he should, you be sure to tole him on to by insensible Degrees, till he at last, quitting his 25 Fears, masters the Difidculty, and comes off with Applause. Successes of this Kind, often repeated, will make him find, that Evils are not always so certain or so great as our Fears represent them; and that the way to avoid them, is hot to run away, or be discomposed, dejected, and deterr'd 30 by Fear, where either our Credit or Duty requires us to go on.
But since the great Foundation of Fear in Children is .. Pain, the way to harden and fortify Children *^' against Fear and Danger is to accustom them 35 to suffer Pain. This 'tis possible will be thought, by kind Parents, a very unnatural thing towards their Children; and by most, unreasonable, to endeavour to reconcile any one to the Sense of Pain, by bringing it upon him. Twill be said: *It may perhaps give the Child ati Aversion for him that 40 makes him suffer; but can never recommend to him Suf- fering itself. This is a strange Method You will not § 115J Hardening by voluntary Pain. 99 have Children whipped and punish'd for their Faults, but you would have them tormented for doing well, or for tormenting sake.' I doubt not but such Objections as these will be made, and I shall be thought inconsistent with my self, or fantastical, in proposing it. I confess, it is a thing 5 to be managed with great Discretion, and therefore it falls not out amiss, that it will not be received or relished, but by those who consider well, and look into the Reason of Things. I would not have Children much beaten for their Faults, because I would not have them think bodily Pain the lo greatest Punishment: And I would have them, when they do well, be sometimes put in Pain, for the same Reason, that they might be accustom'd to bear it, without looking on it as the greatest EviL How much Education may reconcile young People to Pain and Sufferance, the Examples of 15 Sparta do sufficiently shew: And they who have once brought themselves not to think bodily Pain the greatest of Evils, or that which they ought to stand most in fear of, have made no small Advance towards Virtue. But I am not so foolish to propose the Lacedcemonian Discipline in our 20 Age or Constitution. But yet I do say, that inuring Chil- dren gently to suffer some Degrees of Pain without shrink- ing, is a way to gain Firmness to their Minds, and lay a Foundation for Courage and Resolution in the future Part of their Lives. 25 Not to bemoan them, or permit them to bemoan them- selves, on every little Pain they suffer, is the first Step to be made. But of this I have spoken elsewhere.
The next thing is, sometimes designedly to put them in Pain: But care must be taken that this be done when the 30 Child is in good Humour, and satisfied of the Good-will and Kindness of him that hurts him, at the time that he does it. There must no Marks of Anger or Displeasure on the one side, nor Compassion or Repenting on the other, go along with it: And it must be sure to be no more than the Child 35 can bear without repining or taking it amiss, or for a Pun- ishment. Managed by these Degrees, and with such Cir- cumstances, I have seen a Child run away laughing with good smart Blows of a Wand on his Back, who would have cried for an unkind Word, and have been very sensible of the 40 Chastisement of a cold Look, from the same Person. Satisfy loo How Courage may be trained. [$§ 115, 116 a Child by a constant Course of your Care and Kindness, that you perfectly love him, and he may by Degrees be accustom'd to bear very painful and rough Usage from you, without flinching or complaining: And this we see Children 5 do every Day in play one with another. The softer you find your Child is, the more you are to seek Occasions, at fit times, thus to harden him. The great Art in this is, to begin with what is but very little painful, and to proceed by insensible Degrees, when you are playing, and in good xo Humour with him, and speaking well of him: And when you have once got him to think himself made amends for his Suffering by the Praise is given him for his Courage; when he can take a Pride in giving such Marks of his Manliness, and can prefer the Reputation of being Brave and Stout, to 15 the avoiding a little Pain, or the Shrinking under it; you need not despair in time and by the Assistance of his grow- ing Reason, to master his Timorousness, and mend the Weakness oif his Constitution. As he grows bigger, he is to be set upon bolder Attempts than his natural Temper 20 carries him to; and whenever he is observed to flinch from what one has reason to think he would come off" well in, if he had but Courage to undertake, that he should be assisted in at first, and by Degrees sham'd to, till at last Practice has given more Assurance, and with it a Mastery; 25 which must be rewarded with great Praise, and the good Opinion of others, for his Performance. When by these Steps he has got Resolution enough not to be deterred from what he ought to do, by the Apprehension of Danger; when Fear does not, in sudden or hazardous Occurrences, dis- 30 compose his Mind, set his Body a-trembling, and make him unfit for Action, or run away from it, he has.then the Courage of a rational Creature: And such an Hardiness we should endeavour by Custom and Use to bring Children to, as proper Occasions come in our way.
35 § 116. One thing I have frequently observed in Chil- Cru*u ^ren, that when they have got Possession of any poor Creature, they are apt to use it ill: They often torment, and treat very roughly, young Birds, Butter- flies, and such other poor Animals which fall into their 40 Hands, and that with a seeming kind of Pleasure. This I think should be watched in them, and if they incline to § ii6] Prevent Cruelty and Mischief. loi any such Cruelty, they should be taught the contrary Usage. For the Custom of tonnenting and killing of Beasts, will, by Degrees, harden their Minds even towards Men; and they who delight in the Suflfering and Destruction of inferior Creatures, will not be apt to be very compassionate or 5 benign to those of their own kind. Our Practice takes notice of this in the Exclusion of Butchers from Juries of Life and Death. Children should from the beginning be bred up in an Abhorrence of killing or tormenting any living Creature; and be taught not to spoil or destroy any 10 thing, unless it be for the. Preservation or Advantage of some other that is nobler. And truly, if the Preservation of all Mankind, as much as in him lies, were every one's Persuasion, as indeed it is every one's Duty, and the true Principle to regulate our Religion, Politicks and Morality 15 by, the World would be much quieter, and better natur*d than it is. But to return to our present Business; I cannot but commend both the Kindness and Prudence of a Mother I knew, who was wont always to indulge her Daughters, when any of them desired Dogs, Squirrels, Birds, or any 20 such things as young Girls use to be delighted with: But then, when they had them, they must be sure to keep them well, and look diligently after them, that they wanted nothing, or were not ill used. For if they were negligent in their Care of them, it was counted a great Fault, which 25 often forfeited their Possession, or at least they faiPd not to be rebuked for it; whereby they were early taught Diligence and good Nature. And indeed, I think People should be accustomed, from their Cradles, to be tender to all sensible Creatures, and to spoil or waste nothing at all. 30 This Delight they take in doing of Mischiefs whereby I mean spoiling of any thing to no purpose, but more especially the Pleasure they take to put any thing in Pain, that is capable of it; I cannot persuade my self to be any other than a foreign and introduced Disposition, an Habit 35 borrowed from Custom and Conversation. People teach Children to strike, and laugh when they hurt or see Harm come to others: And they have the Examples of most about them, to confirm them in it. All the Entertainment and Talk of History is of nothing almost but Fighting and 40 Killing: And the Honour and Renown that is bestowed I02 Cruelty not from Nature but Habit. [§§116,117 on Conquerors (who tor the most part are but the great Butchers of Mankind) farther mislead growing Youth, who by this means come to think Slaughter the laudable Busi- ness of Mankind, and the most heroick of Virtues. By 5 these Steps unnatiural Cruelty is planted in us; and what Humanity abhors, Custom reconciles and recommends to us, by laying it in the way to Honour. Thus, by Fashion and Opinion, that comes to be a Pleasure, which in it self neither is, nor can be any. This ought carefully to be xo watched, and early remedied; so as to settle and cherish the contrary and more natural Temper of Benignity and Compassion in the room of it; but still by the same gentle Methods which are to be applied to the other two Faults beforemention'd. It may not perhaps be unreasonable here 15 to add this farther Caution, viz^ That the Mischiefs or Harms that come by Play, Inadvertency, or Ignorance, and were not known to be Harms, or design'd for Mischiefs sake, though they may perhaps be sometimes of consider- able Damage, yet are not at all, or but very gently, to be 20 taken notice of. For.this, I think, I cannot too often inculcate. That whatever Miscarriage a Child is guilty of, and whatever be the Consequence of it, the thing to be regarded in taking Notice of it, is only what Root it springs ^ from, and what Habit it is like to establish: And to that 25 the Correction ought to be directed, and the Child not to suffer any Punishment for any Harm which may have come by his Play or Inadvertency. The faults to be amended lie in the Mind; and if they are such as either Age will cure, or no ill Habits will follow from, the present Action, what- 30 ever displeasing Circumstances it may have, is to be passed by without any Animadversion.
§ 117. Another way to instill Sentiments of Humanity, and to keep them lively in young Folks, will be, to accus- tom them to Civility in their Language and Deportment 35 towards their Inferiors and the meaner sort of People, particularly Servants. It is not unusual to observe the Children in Gentlemen's Families treat the Servants of the House with domineering Words, Names of Contempt, and an imperious Carriage; as if they were of another Race 40 and Species beneath them. Whether ill Example, the Advantage of Fortune, or their natural Vanity, inspire this §§ii7,ii8] Manners to Servants. Curiosity again. 103 Haughtiness, it should be prevented, or weeded out; and a gentle, courteous, affable Carriage towards the lower Ranks of Men, placed in the room of it. No part of their Supe- riority will be hereby lost; but the Distinction increased, and their Authority strengthened; when Love in Inferiors 5 is join'd to outward Respect, and an Esteem of the Person has a Share in their Submission: And Domesticks will pay a more ready and chearful Service, when they find them- selves not spurn'd because Fortune has laid them below the Level of others at their Master's Feet. Children should 10 not be suffer'd to lose the Consideration of human Nature in the Shufflings of outward Conditions. The more they have, the better humoured they should be taught to be, and the more compassionate and gentle to those of their Breth- ren who are placed lower, and have scantier Portions. If 15 they are suffer'd from their Cradles to treat Men ill and rudely, because, by their Father's Title, they think they have a little Power over them, at best it is ill-bred; and if Care be not taken, will by Degrees nurse up their natural Pride into an habitual Contempt of those beneath them. 20 And where will that probably end but in Oppression and Cruelty?
§ 118. Curiosity in Children (which I had Occasion just to mention § 108.) is but an Appetite after c^^^^^ Knowledge; and therefore ought to be encou- 25 raged in them, not only as a good Sign, but as the great Instrument Nature has provided to remove that Ignorance they wfere bom ^srith; and which, without this busy Inquisi- tiveness, will make them dull and useless Creatures. The ways to encourage it, and keep it active and busy, are, I 30 suppose, these following: I. Not to check or discountenance any Enquiries he shall make, nor suffer them to be laugh'd at; but to answer all his Questions^ and explain the Matter he desires to know, so as to make them as much intelligible to him as suits the 35 Capacity of his Age and Knowledge. But confound not his Understanding with Explications or Notions that are above it; or with the Variety or Number of things that are not to his present Purpose. Mark what 'tis his Mind aims at in the Question^ and not what Words he expresses it in: 40 And when you have informed and satisfied him in that, you shall see how his Thoughts will enlarge themselves, and how by fit Answers he may be led on farther than perhaps you could imagine. For Knowledge is grateful to the Understanding, as Light to the Eyes: Children are pleased 5 and delighted with it exceedingly, especially if they see that their Enquiries are regarded, and that their desire of Knowing is encouraged and commended. And I doubt not but one great Reason why many Children abandon themselves wholly to silly Sports, and trifle away all their 10 Time insipidly, is, because they have found their Curiosity baulk'd, and their Enquiries neglected. But had they been treated with more Kindness and Respect, and their Ques- tions answered, *as they should, to their Satisfaction; I doubt not but they would have taken more Pleasure in 15 Learning, and improving their Knowledge, wherein there would be still Newness and Variety, which is what they are delighted with, than in returning over and over to the same Play and Play-things.
§ 119. 2. To this serious answering their Questions-^ 20 and informing their Understandings, in what they desire, as if it were a Matter that needed it, should be added some peculiar Ways of Commendation, Let others whom they esteem, be told before their Faces of the Knowledge they have in such and such things; and since we are sdl, even 25 from our Cradles, vain and proud Creatures, let their Vanity be flatter'd with Things that will do them good; and let their Pride set them on work on something which may turn to their Advantage. Upon this Ground you shall find, that there cannot be a greater Spur to the attaining what you 30 would have the Eldest learn, and know himself, than to set hink upon teaching it his younger Brothers and Sisters, § 120. 3. As Children's Enquiries are not to be slighted; so also great Care is to be taken, that they never receive deceitful and eluding Answers, They easily perceive 35 when they are slighted or deceived; and quickly learn the Trick of Neglect, Dissimulation and Falshood, which they observe others to make use of. We are not to intrench upon Truth in any Conversation, but least of all with Children; since if we play false with them, we not only 40 deceive their Expectation, and hinder their Knowledge, but corrupt their Innocence, and teach them the worst of Vices. They are Travellers newly arrived in a strange Country, of which they know nothing; we should there- fore make Conscience not to mislead them. And though their Questions seem sometimes not very material, yet they should be seriously answered: For however they may appear 5 to us (to whom they are long since known) Enquiries not worth the making; they are of Moment to those who are wholly ignorant. Children are Strangers to all we are ac- quainted with; and all the things they meet with, are at first unknown to them, as they once were to us: And 10 happy are they who meet with civil People, that will com- ply with their Ignorance, and help them to get out of it.
If you or I now should be set down in Japan^ with all our Prudence and Knowledge about us, a Conceit whereof makes us, perhaps, so apt to slight the Thoughts 15 and Enquiries of Children; should we, I say, be set down in Japan^ we should, no doubt (if we would inform our selves of what is there to be known) ask a thousand Ques- tions, which, to a supercilious or inconsiderate Japaner^ would seem very idle and impertinent; though to us they 20 would be very material and of Importance to be resolved; and we should be glad to find a Man so complaisant and courteous, as to satisfy our Demands, and instruct our Ignorance.
When any new thing comes in their way. Children 25 usually ask the common Question of a Stranger: What is itl Whereby they ordinarily mean nothing but the Name; and therefore to tell them how it is call'd, is usually the proper Answer to that Demand. And the next Question usually is, What is it for f And to this it should be answered truly 30 and directly: The Use of the Thing should be told, and the way explained, how it serves to such a Purpose, as far as their Capacities can comprehend it. And so of any other Circumstances they shall ask about it; not turning them going, till you have given them all the Satisfaction they are 35 capable of; and so leading them by your Answers into farther Questions. And perhaps to a grown Man, such Conversation will not be altogether so idle and insignificant as we are apt to imagine. The native and untaught Sugges- tions of inquisitive Children do often ofier things, that may 40 set a considering Man's Thoughts on Work. And I think there is frequently more to be learn'd from the unexpected Questions of a Child, than the Discourses of Men, who talk in a Road, according to the Notions they have borrowed, and the Prejudices of their Education. 5 § 121. 4. Perhaps it may not sometimes be amiss to excite their Curiosity by bringing strange and new things in their way, on purpose to engage their Elnquiiy, and give them Occasion to inform themselves about them: And if by chance their Curiosity leads them to ask what they should 10 not know, it is a great deal better to tell them plainly, that it is a thing that belongs not to them to know, than to pop them oflf with a Falshood or a frivolous Answer.
§ 122. Pertness^ that appears sometimes so early, pro- ceeds from a Principle that seldom accompanies a strong 15 Constitution of Body, or ripens into a strong Judgment of Mind. If it were desirable to have a Child a more brisk Talker, I believe there might be ways found to make him so: But I suppose a wise Father had rather that his Son should be able and useful, when a Man, than pretty Com- 20 pany, and a Diversion to others, whilst a Child: Though if that too were to be considered, I think I may say, there is not so much Pleasure to have a Child prattle agreeably, as to reason well. Encourage therefore his Inquisitiveness all you can, by satisfying his Demands, and informing his Judg- 25 ment, as far as it is capable. When his Reasons are any way tolerable, let him find the Credit and Commendation of it: And when they are quite out of the way, let him, with- out being laugh'd at for his Mistake, be gently put into the right; and if he shew a Forwardness to be reasoning about 30 Things that come in his way, take care, as much as you can, that no body check this Inclination in him, or mislead it by captious or fallacious ways of talking with him. For when all is done, this, as the highest and most important Faculty of our Minds, deserves the greatest Care and Attention in 35 cultivating it: The right Improvement, and Exercise of our Reason being the highest Perfeqtion that a Man can attain to in this Life.
§ 123. Contrary to this busy inquisitive Temper, there is sometimes observable in Children, a listless 40 '»««'*^*^- Carelessness, a want of Regard to any thing, and a sort of trifling even at their Business. This sauntring Humour I look on as one of the worst Qualities can appear in a Child, as well as one of the hardest to be cured, where it is natural. But it being liable to be mistaken in some Cases, Care must be taken to make a right Judgment con- cerning that trifling at their Books or Business, which may 5 sometimes be complained of in a Child. Upon the first Suspicion a Father has, that his Son is of a sauntring Temper, he must carefully observe him, whether he be listless and indifferent in aU in his Actions, or whether in some things alone he be slow and sluggish, but in others 10 vigorous and eager. For tho' we find that he does loiter at his Book, and let a good deal of the time he spends in his Chamber or Study, run idly away; he must not presently conclude, that this is* from a saunirivg Humour in his Temper. It may be childishness, and a preferring something 1 5 to his Study, which his Thoughts run on: And he dislikes his Book, as is natural, because it is forced upon him as a Task. To know this perfectly, you must watch him at Play, when he is out of his Place and Time of Study, following his own Inclinations; and see there whether he be stirring 20 and active; whether he designs any thing, and with Labour and Eagerness pursues it, till he has accomplished what he aimed at, or whether he lazily and listlesly dreams away his Time, If this Sloth be only when he is about his Book, I think it may be easily cured. If it be in his Temper, it 25 will require a little more Pains and Attention to remedy it.
§ 124. If you are satisfied by his Earnestness at play, or any thing else he sets his Mind on, in the Intervals be- tween his Hours of Business, that he is not of himself in- clined to Laziness, but that only want of Relish of his Book 30 makes him negligent and sluggish in his Application to it; the first Step is to try by talking to him kindly of the Folly and Inconvenience of it, whereby he loses a good Part of his Time, which he might have for his Diversion: But be sure to talk calmly and kindly, and not much at first, but 35 only these plain Reasons in short. If this prevails, you have gain'd the Point in the most desirable Way, which is that of Reason and Kindness. If this softer Application prevails not, try to shame him out of it, by laughing at him for it, asking every Day, when he comes to Table, if there 40 be no Strangers there. How long he was that Day about his io8 How to deal with Listlessness. [§§ 124, 125 Business: And if he has not done it in the time he might be well supposed to have dispatched it, expose and turn him into ridicule for it; but mix no chiding, only put on a pretty cold Brow towards him, and keep it till he reform; 5 and let his Mother, Tutor, and ^11 about him do so too. If this work not the Effect you desire, then tell him he shall be no longer troubled with a Tutor to take Care of his Edu- cation, you will not be at the Charge to have him spend his Time idly with him; but since he prefers This or That 10 [whatever Play he delights in] to his Book, that only he shall do; and so in earnest set him to work on his beloved Play, and keep him steadily, and in earnest, to it Morning and Afternoon, till he be fully surfeited, and would, at any rate, change it for some Hours at his Book again. But 15 when you thus set him his Task of Play, you must be sure to look after him your self, or set some Body else to do it, that may constantly see him employed in it, and that he be not permitted to be idle at that too. I say, your self look after him; for it is worth the Father's while, whatever Busi- 20 ness he has, to bestow two or three Days upon his Son, to cure so great a Mischief as his sauntring at his Business.
§ 125. This is what I propose, if it be Idleness, not from his general Temper, but a peculiar or acquir'd Aver- sion to Learning, which you must be careful to examine and 25 distinguish. But though you have yotu* Eyes upon him, to watch what he does with the Time which he has at his own Disposal, yet you must not let him perceive that you or any body else do so; for that may hinder him from following his own Inclination, which he being full of, and not daring,' 30 for fear of you, to prosecute what his Head and Heart are set upon, he may neglect all other Things, which then he relishes not, and so may seem to be idle and listless, when in Truth it is nothing but being intent on that, which the fear of your Eye or Knowledge keeps him from executing.
35 To be clear in this Point, the Observation must be made when you are out of the way, and he not so much as under the Restraint of a Suspicion that any body has an Eye upon him. In those Seasons of perfect Freedom, let some body you can trust mark how he spends his Time, whether he 40 unactively loiters it away, when without any Check he is left to his own Inclination. Thus, by his Employing of such Times of Liberty, you will easily discern, whether it be Listlessness in his Temper, or Aversion to his Book, that makes him saunter away his Time of Study.
§ 126. If some Defect in his Constitution has cast a Damp on his Mind, and he be naturally listless and dream- 5 ing, this unpromising Disposition is none of the easiest to be dealt with, because, generally carrying with it an Unconcemedness for the future, it wants the two great Springs of Action, Foresight and Desire; which how to plant and increase, where Nature has given a cold and 10 contrary Temper, will be the Question. As soon as you are satisfied that this is the Case, you must carefully enquire whether there be nothing he delights in: Inform your self what it is he is most pleased with; and if you can find any particular Tendency his Mind hath, increase it all you 15 can, and make use of that to set him on Work, and to excite his Industry. If he loves Praise, or Play, or fine Clothes, &c or, on the other Side, dreads Pain, Disgrace, or your Displeasure, &c. whatever it be that he loves most, except it be Sloth (for that will never set him on Work) let that 20 be made use of to quicken him, and make him bestir him- self. For in this listless Temper ^ you are not to fear an Excess of Appetite (as in all other Cases) by cherishing it. 'Tis that which you want, and therefore must labour to raise and increase; for where there is no Desire, there will 25 be no Industry.
§ 127. If you have not Hold enough upon him this Way, to stir up Vigour and Activity in him, you must em- ploy him in some constant bodily Labour, whereby he may get an Habit of doing something. The keeping him 30 hard to some Study were the better Way to get him an Habit of exercising and applying his Mind. But because this is an invisible Attention, and no body can tell when he is or is not idle at it, you must find bodily Employments for -him, which he must be constantly busied in, and kept 35 to; and if they have some little Hardship and Shame in them, it may not be the worse, that they may the sooner weary him, and make him desire to return to his Book. But be sure, when you exchange his Book for his other Labour, set him such a Task, to be done in such a Time 40 as may allow him no Opportunity to be idle. Only after no Set Tasks of Play. [§§ 127 — 129 you have by this Way brought him to be attentive and in- dustrious at his Bool^ you may, upon his dispatching his Study within the Time set him, give him as a Reward some Respite from his other Labour; which you may 5 diminish as you find him grow more and more steady in his Application, and at last wholly take off when his sauntring at his Book is cured.
§ 128. We formerly observed, that Variety and Free- 10 '^^ ' recommended their Plays to them; and that therefore their Book, or any Thing we would have them learn, should not be enjoined them as Business. This their Parents, Tutors, and Teachers are apt to forget; and theii Impatience to have them busied in what is fit for them 15 to do, suffers them not to deceive them into it: But by the repeated Injunctions they meet with. Children quickly distinguish between what is required of them, and what not. When this Mistake has once made his Book uneasy to him, the Cure is to be applied at the other End. And since 20 it will be then too late to endeavour to make it a Play to him, you must take the contrary Course: Observe what Play he is most delighted with; enjoin that, and make him play so many Hours every Day, not as a Punishment for playing, but as if it were the Business required of him.
25 This, if I mistake not, will in a few Days make him so weary of his most beloved Sport, that he will prefer his Book, or any Thing to it, especially if it may redeem him from any Part of the Task of Play is set him, and he may be suffered to employ some Part of the Time destined 30 to his Task of Play in his Book, or such other Exercise &s is really useful to him. This I at least think a better Cure than that Forbidding, (which usually increases the Desire) or any other Punishment should be made use of to remedy it: For when you have once glutted his Ap- 35 petite (which may safely be done in all Things but eating and dnnking) and made him surfeit of what you would have him avoid, you have put into him a Principle of Aversion, and you need not so much fear afterwards his longing for the same Thing again.
40 § 129. This I think is sufficiently evident, that Children generally hate to be idle. All the Care then is, that their § 129] Play or Work? iii