and Service, but apt to be the Prey of Difeafes and old Age: But the inherent Poffeffions of Virtue and found Principles, and thofe noble Qualifications of the Mind which are treafur'd there, by a juft Inftitution and habitual Practice, are not to be molested by Fortune, decay'd by Time, or taken away by the Tyranny of Accidents.

'Tis Education alone that can mend Nature, and improve the Talents of that great Benefactress. Has fhe given us a competent Share of Senfe and Reafon? Education carries up our Senfe to Wisdom, and our Reafon to Judgment. It is the learned Alchymift that purges away our Drofs, and fublimes our Difpofitions: That reads us Lectures of Ufe upon every Turning and Winding of our Ations; informs us in our general and particular Duties; teaches us to worship Heaven, to honour our Pa-. rents, to reverence our Elders, to fubject ourfelves to the Laws, to obey our Governors, to love our Friends, to cherish our Wives, be affectionate to our Children, and not infolently injurious to our Servants: It ftrikes in with Philofophy in many Leffons; teaches us not to be over-joyed in Profperity, nor too much dejected in Adverfity: not to be diffolute in our Pleafures; nor in Anger to be transported to a Fury that is brutal.

But

But may it not be objected, that the refined Education, which is capable of these Advantages, is calculated but for one Class of People: That I have accommodated my Precepts to the Rich alone, and neglected to fuit them to the Children of the Plebeian? I hope my Difcourfe fhall not be a Sufferer by this Conftruction; every one is to confult his Fortune and Circumftances, and with the Direction of his Country Adage, Cut bis Coat according to his Cloth. If fome through the Narrowness of their Eftates, are difabled from making the Advantages they otherwife might, they have difcharg'd their Duty, in beftowing on their Children the beft Education that their Abilities will reach: I have not limited my Difcourfe to any particular Method of purfuing it; I have fpoken as yet abstractedly of the Matter, with Reference to the Influences it has on the Mind, and as it may be the Road to lead Children to Virtue and Goodness.

It is therefore in every Parent's Power, of what Degree or Circumstances foever, by Exhortations, and rational Motives, to prepare the Breaft of his Child for the Reception of what is juft and right; to reprehend or encourage him according to the Variety of Occafions; to make his Memory the Store-Houfe of Piety and good Principles; to make him affable and C

cour

courteous in Difcourfe and Behaviour; to keep him from Luxury; bridle his Paffions, and reftrain his Actions; to fet Examples before him fit for his Imitation, and not debauch his Conduct by Patterns of Licentiousness; to accuftom him to speak the Truth; and to account it, as indeed it is, a Matter of Religion fo to do.

These are Points independent on Affluence or Straightness of Fortune; and wherein Parents will affift themselves from their own Prudence, and Propenfity to Virtue: The Cafe differs as to that other Branch of Education, the giving their Children the Knowledge of Books, and of the Liberal Arts and Sciences; which I fhall comprehend un. der the general Title of Learning.

LEARN

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LEARNING.

T

HOUGH Cicero has afferted, that Nature, without Learning, has oftener been of Prevalence to the Attainment of Praise and Virtue, than Acquir'd Learning without the Foundation of a Natural Capacity; yet he means it not as a Doctrine that should difcourage our Affection to Letters. For however deeply that great Man ftood indebted to Nature, his Obligations were still higher to Books and Knowledge; his Faculty of Pleading, and Charms of Oratory, arofe from his Diligence and Accuracy in Study: He could contemn the light Amusements of a Feftival, or any other inviting Pleafures of his Time, and taste a folid and fincere Enjoyment in the Perufa of an Author, that feafted his Senfes, and improv'd his Mind.

I cannot conceive the Man abfolutely compleat, whofe natural Endowments are not affifted and cnltivated by Learning; we ought

C 2

ought to have the fame Mixture in us on all Occafions, as Horace judges necessary to a Poet for the compofing of a perfect Poem.

Ego nec ftudium fine divite venâ,

Nec rude quid profit, video, ingenium; alterius fig
Altera pofcit opem res, & conjurat amicé.

To speak my Thought I hardly know

What witless Art, or artless Wit can do:
Each by itself is vain, I'm fure; but joined,
Their Force is strong; each proves the others Friend.

There are Millions of Inftances that evidence the Force of Industry and neceffary Application: I fhall content myself with one Comparison, which is obvious to every Man's Thoughts, and which to me, feems applicable to the Purpose in Hand. A Man's Ground may of itself be good; yet if it be unmanured, it will contract Barrenness; and by how much the better it was naturally, by fo much will it be rendered the worse, if through Carelessness it be ill-hufbanded. On the other Side, let a Man's Ground be more than ordinarily rough and rugged, yet Experience tells us, that if it be well manured, it will quickly be made capable of answering his Labour. Thus a

good