holds as well as in what he gives. If mankind generally were endowed with the capacious understanding of Bacon and Newton, or with the creative fancy of shakespeare, while they would be "feeding on thought," and rapt in profound contemplations, or forming and combining in their minds innumerable gay and sportive images, there would be no man to till the ground;the agricultural and mechanical employments, upon which life depends, would be despised and neglected, and such a race of philosophers and poets would soon be consumed with famine. Now while there have been denied, to the generality, those splendid talents, which, generally possessed, would render men insubordinate, discontented and wretched; such an average portion of understanding has been bestowed, as qualifies them for subsisting on the planet they are destined to inhabit. Idiots excepted, to all are given the germin of abilities sufficient to render them useful in some or other of the necessary occupations of life. Now, in the business of Education, it is prudent to follow the order and footsteps of nature. The visionary notion once so prevalent, of converting the great mass of mankind into sage philosophers, is deserving of no other notice than that of ridicule or contempt. Were it to be effected, the order of nature would be deranged, the necessary laborious occupations of life. would be scorned, and want and famishment would be the inevitable consequences. Any one is well learned who is fully adequate to his business and station. It is no disparagement or inconvenience to a farmer, a mechanic, or even a merchant, that he is not able to solve a problem in Euclid, or to construe Homer, or Virgil ;that he is not a proficient in the Newtonian philosophy, in Belles Lettres, or in any branch of scholarship else. If his learning be adequate to all the business of his 1 particular calling, and to the various relations he stands in toward his Maker and towards society, it is sufficiently extensive. Whatever of learning that is entirely foreign to one's business, is very apt to be worse than useless to him. If a farmer, whose livelihood depends upon his bodily labour, should spend that time in investigating the philosophy of plants, which he ought to spend in hoeing them, he would merit ridicule and be sure to meet with poverty. A mechanic would quickly lose his customers, should he brandish his learning in their faces and attempt to entertain them with scientific harangues, instead of performing their work with despatch and neatness. Nor would a merchant thrive in trade, whoshould neglect his ledger for the study of Homer or Shakespeare; or who should be courting the muses. when he ought to be posting his books or waiting upon his customers; or who should, in any way, sacrifice the character of diligence and punctuality to the ambition of distinction in learning or science. This Latin adage will seldom fail-Par negotiis neque supra-That is, one should be equal to his business, but not above it. The misfortune of one's being educated below the business that one is destined to follow, is very apparent; and though less apparent, it is sometimes equally a misfortune to be educated above its A common saying is" It can do a child no harm to have learning." This is true in only a limited sense. While some learning is necessary to all, different degrees of it are requisite in different callings and professions; so that it is possible for one to have too much, as well as too little. Any kind of speculative knowledge or literary pursuit, that should cause a man to scorn his calling, or divert him from the diligent prosecution of it, would be, to him, a nuisance rather than a benefit, and might prove the means of the utter ruin of his circumstances. The world subsists by means of labour. This is the philosopher's stone that turns every thing to gold; or,what is much better, it nourishes and supports the whole human family. Wherefore, if speculative pursuits, whether literary or scientific, were to divert the generality from their laborious occupations, the interests of humanity would be ruined rather than improved. If the great mass of mankind, neglecting their useful and necessary callings, should attempt to become connoiseurs in the fine arts, or learned philoso phers and metaphysicians, or should spend their time in viewing the sun through a telescope, or insectsthrough a microscope, or, like some European Academicians of the royal grade, in chasing butterflies and gathering cockle shells-such a universal deluge of learning, and of minute philosophers, would be nearly as fatal to the world as was the deluge of water in the time of Noah. It follows from the foregoing remarks (if just and true,) that, for the ordinary, business and callings of life, well-regulated common schools are sufficient, and even better than the abodes of profound science. Common learning, like cents and little pieces of silver, is daily and hourly needed in the general commerce of life; whereas deep erudition is like large bank bills or ingots of gold-very needful in their place, but need ful to only a comparative few. NUMBER LXI. "Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory ascend, DR. DWIGHT. MONTESQUIEU, speaking of the influence of the female sex on public morals and manners, says, "The safety of a state depends on the virtues of the women." The truth of this sentiment might be evinced and illustrated by adverting to the history of some of the most famous of the ancient nations, and particularly of those whose forms of government were of the republican kind. The most shining periods of their history were those in which the modesty, fidelity, economy, and various other domestic virtues of the female sex, inspired the men with noble sentiments, and prompted them to noble deeds; and, on the other hand, the fatal harbinger of their fall and destruction was the declension of female virtue. Women are the guides of infancy and childhood.From them are received the first, and the most indelible impressions; and their influence in society ever increases with the increase of civilization and social refinement. Through the benign influence of christianity, and by means of the general diffusion of knowledge and the superior refinement of taste and sentiment, Woman is now risen to a very important rank in social life. It is seen that she has a mind, as well as a form ; her capacity for intellectual improvements, and her right, in common with that of the other sex, to a parti cipation of intellectual enjoyments, are freely acknowledged. In the mean time the importance of female ed-ucation is become a trite theme, on which the tongues. and the pens of the learned and the ingenious have frequently descanted. Any attempt, therefore, to add to the numerous arguments in support of a sentiment already too obvious to be disputed, would be alike difficult and useless. But the question respecting the best modes and most useful objects of female education, both in regard to individual happiness, and the interests of the public, is well worthy of discussion. Admitting-whatever be the real fact-that the sexes are equal as to mental powers, it is evident that their destinations are different. The female form, while more graceful, is inferior in point of strength, and of course less adapted to the rugged and perilious occupa tions and boisterous scenes of life. Female children are commonly less roving in their dispositions, and less turbulent and obstinate in their tampers--they are more docile and more domestic, than those of the other sex. Hence it plainly appears to be the ordination of nature, (I mean the Eternal Wisdom) that woman should be employed chiefly in the various business of the domestic kind. And, as the designs of nature are never thwarted with impunity, so, those women, who, disdaining the feminine sphere, usurp the business and ape the manners of men, are punished for this usurpation by the loss of their attractions. The spectacle of a Hercules plying at the distaff, or that of a venerable judge taking his seat in a female dishabille, would scarcely be more absurd and ridiculous, than that of a. woman affecting the air, the manners, and the peculiar pursuits of the other sex. Now, as the business of education is not to thwart,. but to assist the designs of nature, it is clear that the |