tho' at the fame time I confess'd that Virtue, which ought to be our firft and principal Care, was more ufually acquired in the former,

I intend therefore, in this Letter, to offer at Me thods, by which I conceive Boys might be made to improve in Virtue, as they advance in Letters.

I know that in most of our publick Schools Vice is punished and difcouraged whenever it is found out; but this is far from being fufficient, unless our Youth are at the fame time taught to form a right Judgment of Things, and to know what is properly Virtue.

To this end, whenever they read the Lives and Actions of fuch Men as have been famous in their Generation, it fhould not be thought enough to make them barely underftand fo many Greek or Latin Sentences, but they should be asked their Opinion of fuch an Action or Saying, and obliged to give their Reasons why they take it to be good or bad. By this means they would infenfibly arrive at proper Notions of Courage, Temperance, Honour and Juftice.

THERE must be great care taken how the Example of any particular Perfon is recommended to them in grofs; inftead of which, they ought to be taught wherein fuch a Man, tho' great in fome refpects, was weak and faulty in others. For want of this Caution, a Boy is often fo dazzled with the Luftre of a great Character, that he confounds its Beauties with its Blemishes, and looks even upon the faulty Parts of it with an Eye of Admiration.

I have often wondered how Alexander, who was naturally of a generous and merciful Difpofition, came to be guilty of fo barbarous an Action as that of dragging the Governour of a Town after his Chariot. I know this is generally afcribed to his Paffion for Homer, but I lately met with a Paffage in Plutarch, which, if I am not very much mistaken, ftill gives us a clearer Light into the Motives of this Action. Plutarch tells us, that Alexander in his Youth had a Mafter named Lyfimachus, who, tho' he was a Man deftitute of all Politenefs, ingratiated himself both with Philip and his Pupil, and became the fecond Man at Court, by calling the King Peleus, the Prince Achilles, and himself Pha

• nix.

nix. It is no wonder if Alexander having been thus ufed not only to admire, but to perfonate Achilles, 'fhould think it glorious to imitate him in this piece of Cruelty and Extravagance.

*

TO carry this Thought yet further, I fhall fubmit it to your Confideration, whether instead of a Theme or Copy of Verfes, which are the usual Exercifes, as they are called in the School-phrafe, it would not be more proper that a Boy fhould be tasked once or twice a "Week to write down his Opinion of fuch Perfons and Things as occur to him in his Reading; that he fhould defcant upon the Actions of Turnus or Æneas, fhew wherein they excelled or were defective, cenfure or approve any particular Action, obferve how it might have been carried to a greater Degree of Perfection, and how it exceeded or fell fhort of another. He might at the fame time mark what was moral in any Speech, and how far it agreed with the Character of the Perfon fpeaking. This Exercife would foon ftrengthen his Judgment in what is blameable or praifeworthy, and give him an early Seafoning of Morality.

6

NEXT to thofe Examples which may be met with in Books, Ivery much approve Horace's Way of fetting before Youth the infamous or honourable Characters of their Contemporaries: That Poet tells us, this was the • Method his Father made ufe of to incline him to any particular Virtue, or give him an Averfion to any par ticular Vice. If, fays Horace, my Father advised me to live within Bounds, and be contented with the Fortune he fhould leave me; Do not you fee (fays he) the miferable Condition of Burrus, and the Son of Albus? Let the Misfortunes of thofe two Wretches teach you to avoid Luxury and Extravagance. If he would inspire me with an Abhorrence to Debauchery, do not (says he) make your felf like Sectanus, when you may be happy in the Enjoyment of lawful Pleafures. How fcandalous (fays he) is the Character of Trebonius, who was lately caught in Bed with another Man's Wife? To illuftrate the Force of this Method, the Poet adds, < That as a headstrong Patient, who will not at firft follow his Phyfician's Prefcriptions, grows orderly when he hears that his Neighbours die all about him; fo

4

• Youth

Youth is often frighted from Vice, by hearing the ill Report it brings upon others.

XENOPHON's Schools of Equity, in his Life of Cyrus the Great, are fufficiently famous: He tells us, that the Perfian Children went to School, and employ'd their Time as diligently in learning the Principles of Ju⚫ftice and Sobriety, as the Youth in other Countries did to acquire the most difficult Arts and Sciences: their Governors spent most part of the Day in hearing their mu'tual Accufations one against the other, whether for Violence, Cheating, Slander, or Ingratitude; and taught them how to give Judgment against those who were found to be any ways guilty of thefe Crimes. I omit the Story of the long and fhort Coat, for which Cyrus himself was punished, as a Cafe equally known with any in Littleton.

THE Method, which Apuleius tells us the Indian Gymnofophifts took to educate their Difciples, is ftill more curious and remarkable. His Words are as follow: When their Dinner is ready, before it is ferved up, the Masters enquire of every particular Scholar how he has employ'd his Time fince Sun-rifing; fome of them anfwer, that having been chofen as Arbiters between two Perfons they have compofed their Differences,and made them Friends; fome, that they have been executing the Orders of their Parents; and others,that they have either found out fomething new by their own Application, or ⚫ learnt it from the Inftructions of their Fellows: But if there happens to be any one among them, who cannot make it appear that he has employed the Morning to advantage, heis immediately excluded from the Company, and obliged to work while the reft are at Dinner.

6

IT is not impoffible, that from these several Ways of producing Virtue in the Minds of Boys, fome gene⚫ral Method might be invented. What I would endeavour to inculcate, is, that our Youth cannot be too soon taught the Principles of Virtue, feeing the firft Impreff ons which are made on the Mind are always the ftrongeft. THE Archbishop of Cambray makes Telemachus fay, ⚫ that tho' he was young in Years, he was old in the Art of knowing how to keep both his own and his Friend's Secrets. When my Father, fays the Prince, went to the

Siege of Troy, he took me on his Knees, and after having embraced and bleffed me, as he was furrounded by the Nobles of Ithaca, O my Friends, fays he, into your • Hands I commit the Education of my Son; if ever you lov'd his Father, fhew it in your Care towards him: but above all, do not omit to form him juft, fincere, and faithful in keeping a Secret. Thefe Words of my Father, fays Telemachus, were continually repeated to me by his Friends in his Abfence; who made no fcruple of communicating to me their Uneafinefs to fee my Mother furrounded with Lovers, and the Measures they defigned to take on that Occafion. He adds, that he was fo ravished at being thus treated like a Man, and at the Confidence repofed in him, that he never once abused it; nor could all the Infinuations of his Father's Rivals 5 ever get him to betray what was committed to him under the Seal of Secrecy.

X

THERE is hardly any Virtue which a Lad might not thus learn by Practice and Example.

I have heard of a good Man, who used at certain times to give his Scholars Six Pence apiece, that they might tell him the next day how they had employ'd it. The third part was always to be laid out in Charity, and every Boy was blamed or commended as he could make it appear that he had chosen a fit Object.

IN fhort, nothing is more wanting to our publick Schools, than that the Mafters of them should use the fame care in fashioning the Manners of their Scholars, as in forming their Tongues to the learned Languages. Where-ever the former is omitted, I cannot help agreeing with Mr. Locke, That a Man must have a very ftrange Value for Words, when preferring the Languages of the Greeks and Romans to that which made them fuch brave Men, he can think it worth while to hazard the Innocence and Virtue of his Son for a little Greek and Latin.

AS the Subject of this Effay is of the highest Importance, and what I do not remember to have yet feen treated by any Author, I have fent you what occurr'd to me on it from my own Obfervation of Reading, and which you may either fupprefs or publish as you think fit. 1 am, SIR, Yours, &c.

Fridagi

N 338.

Friday, March 28.

Nil fuit unquam

Tam difpar fibi

Hor.

Find the Tragedy of the Diftreft Mother is publifh'd to

I day. The Author of the Prologue, 1 fuppofe, pleads

an old Excufe I have read fomewhere, of being dull with Defign; and the Gentleman who writ the Epilogue, has, to my knowledge, fo much of greater moment to value himself upon, that he will eafily forgive me for publifhing the Exceptions made against Gayety at the end of ferious Entertainments, in the following Letter: I fhould be more unwilling to pardon him than any body, a Pratice which cannot have any ill Confequence, but from the Abilities of the Perfon who is guilty of it.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Had the Happiness the other Night of fitting very near you, and your worthy Friend Sir ROGER, at the acting of the new Tragedy, which you have in a late Paper or two fo juftly recommended. I was highly pleafed with the advantageous Situation Fortune had given me in placing me fo near two Gentlemen, from one of which I was fure to hear fuch Reflections on the feveral Incidents of the Play, as pure Nature fuggefted, and from the other fuch as flowed from the exacteft Art and Judgment: Tho' I must confefs that my Curiofity led me fo much to obferve the Knight's Reflections, that I was not fo well at leifure to improve. my felf by yours. Nature, Ifound, play'd her Part in the Knight pretty well, till at the laft concluding Lines fhe entirely forfook him. You must know, Sir, that it is always my Cuftom, when I have been well entertained at a new Tragedy, to make my Retreat before the facetious Epilogue enters; not but that thofe Pieces are often very well writ, but having paid down my

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