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with her. Why not? She was the mother of twelve interesting children, and I was a bachelor of forty-five. Circumstances alter cases. I was only eighteen when I wrote the doggrell, and Katrinah was but seventeen when she ridiculed my declaration of love. She was right, and I was a fool. I feel better now.

TO MISS

WRITTEN IN HER ALBUM.

Sing, lady, sing-
At morning and at noon-

Who would not listen long
To sweetest "Bonny Doon?"
Its soothing words do fling
Around the heart a spell,

Which all must feel who hear,
Although they may not tell.

Weep, lady, weep-
There's often bliss in tears,
Although the past be stored
With many weary years.

But joy may come at last,
When days have fled away:
The sun gleams sometimes bright,
E'en with its closing ray.

Pray, lady, pray-
There's virtue in thy prayer;
Each wish of thine to Heaven
The list'ning seraphs bear.

And as thy words are flowing
In sweetest accents free,

The sounds may rise above,
But keep thy thoughts for me.
Sunday, 26th May.

R. W. H.

covering the period from January, 1774, to September, 1781, the compiler of the work under notice, Mr. WILLIAM DUANE, Jr., has selected many new facts in relation to public affairs, and the progress of the revolution, with so much of the private history of the author as throws light upon the manners of the times.

"It is pleasant to trace the brief and fresh records of such eventful occurrences as the Battle of Bunker's Hill, Washington's passage of the Delaware, the burning, by the provincials, of the light-house at the entrance of Boston harbor, and the pulling up of the piles that were the marks of the shipping, etc. Here, an account from Boston informs us, that 'BURGOYNE is in a deep, settled melancholy,walking the streets frequently, with his arms folded across his breast, and talking to himself; and again, that 'General GAGE is often out of his head, and that he and Admiral GREAVES have publicly quarrelled, so that he told Gage it was a cowardly action to burn Charlestown.' Then we have accounts of certain public rebukes, administered by the committee of safety at Philadelphia, to sundry citizens, for refusing to take continental money; with advertisements, calling upon the ladies' to come to the American manufactory, at the corner of Market and Ninth streets, and get cotton, wool, or flax, thus casting their mite into the treasury of the public good,' and exhibiting that distinguishing characteristic of an excellent woman, as given by the wisest of men: 'She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh diligently with her hands. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hand holdeth the distaff.' There is a quiet, dry humor in some of our journalist's entries; such, for example, as the annexed, which sounds oddly enough, as recorded of a sober Friend: 'Took a walk down town, to see BENJ. BETTERTON, who, last First Day, in a jovial humor, jumped over a man's shoulder, and broke his leg about the small.' What would our present neighbors of the drab city say, to see Friends jumping over one anothers' shoulders, and breaking their legs, ‘in a jovial humor,' on Sunday! Another amusing incident is thus pithily recorded: 'Account came, that while Parson Stringer, with his eyes shut, was at prayer with Andrew Steward, in the dungeon of our prison, the

CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL'S said Steward took that opportunity to walk up stairs,

REMEMBRANCER.

We had intended before this to notice the Revolutionary diary of Christopher Marshall, edited by William Duane, jr., of Philadelphia, having experienced much pleasure in reading it. The following notice from the Knickerbocker, expresses so justly and appropriately our own views of the merits of the work, that we are saved the task of attempting, what has been already done, and well done, by another pen.

"CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL'S REMEMBRANCER.-Mr. CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL, whose ancestors came to America with WILLIAM PENN, resided in Philadelphia, from the age of thirty until his death, in 1797, at the age of eighty-seven. He was a member of the Society of Friends, but his devotion to the liberties and rights of the colonies procured his excommunication from a body which denied the lawfulness of defensive warfare. In his sixty-fourth year, he commenced a diary; and from five volumes of this "Remembrancer,"

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go out at the several prison doors into the street, and without any ceremony, walked off with himself, without bidding Robinson, the prison-keeper, farewell, although he was sitting at the front door, on the step, when he passed him!" This looking out for his temporal safety while the worthy clergyman was attending to his spicriminal's forecaste and presence of mind. Aside from ritual welfare, is a striking proof of the condemned the interest of many of its details, the little volume in question must prove valuable as a historical record, of convenient reference."

APHORISM BY HEINSE.

All constitutions are bad, if the government is not in the hands of the wisest; all the difference between a democracy and a monarchy is this-that in the former 500,000 and some odd fools may decide against 400,999 sensible people, and in the latter, one fool may ruin 999,999 philosophers, if they will let him.

EDUCATION.

BY A NATIVE VIRGINIAN.

Before we give the arguments which have led us to the conclusion just announced, we will point out the source whence those arguments have been drawn. When we deserted the philosophy of the schools, from a consciousness that it was unsound and pernicious, we were compelled to look at facts alone as our last resort in the search after truth. We were compelled to observe men as we saw them living and acting around us. We collected our materials from actual observation, and studied them. We consulted our own experience-and from these sources

To make a successful prosecution of an inquiry into the right method of education, we shall be compelled to enter upon a field of investigation entirely new to most of our readers; and on that account, it will require a considerable effort of attention to follow through, and to comprehend fully, all the arguments which may be advanced. But we hope this effort of attention will be ex-alone-observation and experience-we have endeaerted-because the subject we are about to enter upon, is one of vital importance, not only to the teacher and his pupil, but to the parent, and to all those who are endeavoring to improve themselves.

Education is not a thing of chance, to be conducted according to the crude notions of each individual. It is a science, based on philosophical principles, deduced from a consideration of the human mind, the subject of education.

Instead of amusing, therefore, with a few trite and general remarks on this hacknied theme, we have determined to go to the very bottom, and unfold the principles which should govern every one, both in the education of himself, (the most important,) and in the education of youth.

The main object of education is to develope, and to strengthen all the faculties of the mind.

The first question, then, which we have to determine is, What are the faculties of the mind? The second, What are the best means of improving, or, (in words already used,) of unfolding and strengthening these facul

ties.

vored to draw all our conclusions. We have carefully avoided, so far as it was possible, all a priori deductions from abstract theories-they are as unsafe in morals as in physical science. It is by a collection and observation of facts alone, that we can hope to arrive at truth. By following this humble way, the student of natural science is making most rapid and unparalleled advances-by neglecting it, the student of our moral and intellectual nature stands where he was more than two thousand years ago-involved in mystery, and bewildered in the mazes of abstract speculation.

As we proceed with this subject, we shall advance no opinion which cannot be illustrated by a living example, and the soundness of which cannot be attested by the experience and common sense of all.

Attention, Memory, Conception, &c., so far from being primitive, innate faculties of the mind, are nothing more than the different modes by which the capabilities manifest their activity. We can form no idea of the mind, except through its capabilities—just as we have an idea of the Deity by his attributes. All we know about the Almighty is, that he is an invisible being, possessed of infinite power, infinite wisdom, and infi

Writers on the philosophy of the human mind have divided what they call the faculties into two divisions-nite goodness-separate from these attributes we have the intellectual and the moral faculties. To this division we have no objection. The intellectual faculties, they say, are Perception, Attention, Conception, Memory,

&c.

On this philosophy have been based all our systems of education. The elementary books of instruction-the course of studies projected in our schools and colleges, have been in reference to this subdivision of the mind into faculties. Such a study, we are told, is intended to improve the memory-such another, to improve the attention-and so on through all the faculties, as they understand them :-for it is a well known fact that education, in every country, is conducted in exact accordance to the opinions entertained as to the nature of the mind and the number of its faculties. Not only is education influenced by the speculations of the metaphysician, but morality also derives her practical lessons from the same source. Hence, an unsound philosophy makes an unsound scholar and an unsound man.

no idea of a God-they are, in truth, God with us. So with the mind-it is an invisible, immaterial thing, possessed of certain faculties or capabilities—which capabilities manifest greater or less activity by a greater or less degree of memory, attention, conception, &c. If the mind of any individual possesses an original faculty, strongly developed, it will manifest that superior strength or development by an accurate perception, a retentive memory, and a distinct conception of all the subjects which come within the scope of that faculty.

It is a common observation, that when a man possesses a strong and unconquerable propensity to any one pursuit in preference of all others, he has a natural bent for that pursuit, or, that he has a genius for that kind of occupation.

When this inclination is very strong, the mind manifests extraordinary capability on all those subjects which nourish and gratify that inclination. The man learns with astonishing rapidity every thing that has any connection with the natural inclination of his mind-he

nature-he even goes beyond the present acquired knowledge on the subject, and makes new discoveries of his own. All this too, without any previous education whatsoever. Take an example.

Now, we say, that the system of philosophy, which we have received into this country-taught in our colleges-retains them longer--has a clearer insight into their held as infallible-as based on a correct idea of the constitution of the mind, and necessarily true in the nature of things; we say that this philosophy, this Scotch metaphysics, is entirely erroneous, founded on a limited view of the human mind-a mistaken idea as to what constitutes the original faculties; and has, consequently, been the cause of many errors in education, and the cause of much disastrous evil to the morals of our country.

VOL. V.-56

When James Ferguson, the celebrated astronomer, was about seven or eight years of age, he discovered an extraordinary talent for mechanical pursuits. The roof of the cottage having partly fallen in, his father, in order to raise it again, applied to it a beam, resting on

Follow him in after life, you find his mind, under all circumstances, whether adverse or prosperous, ever bent on pursuits of a kindred nature to those above mentioned. Neither sickness nor poverty could divert his mind, for a moment, from its favorite occupations. When a poor shepherd in the fields, the stars and their mecha

laid on a bed of sickness by the cruelty of a master, his
mind was busied on the complicated mechanism of a
clock. Wherever he went, curious and complicated
machinery seemed to be the only things that attracted
his attention, or that afforded him any gratification.
He needed no detailed explanation-his mind per-

a prop in manner of a lever, and was thus enabled, with comparative ease, to produce what seemed to his son quite a stupendous effect. The circumstance set our young philosopher thinking; and, after awhile, it struck him that his father in using the beam, had applied his strength to its extremity, and this, he immediately concluded, was probably an important circum-nical operation were his themes of meditation. When stance in the matter. He proceeded to verify his notion by experiment; and having made several levers, which he called bars, soon not only found that he was right in his conjecture, as to the importance of applying the moving force at the point most distant from the fulcrum, but discovered the rule or law of the machine, namely, that the effect of any weight made to bear upon it is exactly propor-ceived at once all the parts-and retained long aftertional to the distance of the point on which it rests from the fulcrum. From this he went on reasoning, until he discovered the principle of the pulley. The child had thus actually discovered two of the most important elementary truths in mechanics-the lever, and the wheel and axle; he afterwards hit upon others; and all the while, he had not only possessed neither book nor teacher to assist him, but was without any other tools than a turning lathe of his father's, and a little knife wherewith to fashion his blocks and wheels.

After the labors of the day, young Ferguson used to go at night to the fields, with a blanket about him, and a lighted candle; and there, laying himself down on his back, pursued for long hours his observations on the heavenly bodies.

wards, an accurate conception of the most complicated operations.

Now, we would ask, how can this extraordinary mental phenomenon be explained? Will any one pretend to say that it was mere accident that gave to Ferguson's mind the bent which it took, and produced the extraordinary development which it so early manifested? Such an explanation would be totally unsatisfactory to a reflecting mind. Does not sound philosophy teach us that there can be no vera causa, no true cause, unless it be adequate to the whole effect? Now, is the mere accidental circumstance of raising a falling house with a beam, a true and adequate cause for the peculiar character of Ferguson's mind? Would it not be more philosophical to say that the circumstance only discovered the previous existing state of mind, and was not the cause of that existing state?

Would any one say that the riots at Boston and the destruction of tea in Boston harbor was the true cause of the American Revolution? Would it not be a shame

A book was once given him, containing a description of a globe, without illustration by any figure-nevertheless, says Ferguson, I made a globe in three weeks, at my father's, having turned the ball thereof out of a piece of wood; which ball I covered with paper, and delineated a map of the world upon it; made the meri-ful discovery of ignorance even of the first principles of dian ring and horizon of wood, covered them with paper, and graduated them; and was happy to find that by my globe, (which was the first I ever saw,) I could solve the problems.

He was confined to his bed for several months in consequence of the cruel treatment of his master. In order, says he, to amuse myself in this state, I made a wooden clock, the frame of which was also of wood, and it kept time pretty well. The bell on which the hammer struck the hours was the neck of a broken bottle.

reasoning, to say that so trifling an accident was the cause of such tremendous effects? The riots at Boston and the destruction of tea in Boston harbor, only discovered the rebellious spirit already kindled up in the minds of the people by the oppressions of the mother country, and their determination no longer to submit to foreign tyranny. On no other principle can we explain the mental phenomenon now before us. Ferguson's mind had a strong bent or inclination to mechanical operations, or, (in other words) his mind possessed A short time after this, he actually constructed a time- an extraordinary capability for mechanical investigations. piece, or a watch moved by a string. His own account We know nothing of the mind except through its capais very amusing. He accidentally saw the outside of bilities for certain pursuits. And when we have discoan orrery, but had no opportunity of inspecting the ma-vered all the different capabilities of the mind, we have chinery-he had, however, seen enough to set his inge-discovered the true nature of the mind itself.

nius and contriving mind to work; and in a short time Now, in the case of Ferguson. His capability, and he succeeded in finishing an orrery of his own. In the course of his life he constructed, he tells us, six more, all unlike each other.

consequently his inclination for mechanical philosophy, was so much greater than the rest, as, like Aaron's rod, to swallow them up and give a peculiar character to the whole mind.

Here we have an individual, quite a child, without education, without experience, fixing his mind in the Many other cases similar to that of Ferguson might deepest attention on mechanical operations, making be brought up to prove that there is such a thing as contrivances to repeat those operations, and so meditat-mechanical genius, or, in more philosophical language, ing on them as to discover the laws by which they are governed and finally going on from one step of induction to another, until he discovered two of the most important laws of mechanical philosophy. All this too while a child of eight years old, without the help of book or teacher; and without knowing even that there was such a thing as mechanical philosophy.

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that there is such a thing as a development of the mind, which leads the possessor irresistibly to the pursuit of the mechanic arts; and, where this development or capability is very great, even to original investigations and discoveries in mechanical philosophy.

By studying the characters of men remarkable for their great genius in one thing, and a deficiency in every

thing else, we may easily discover all the original in- | without letting the family know what had become of nate capabilities of the mind. him.

Is this accident? Is it the result of education? What education could there have been in this case? The boy had never seen a portrait in his life—not even an engraving. But, yet, with what enthusiasm did he behold the smiling countenance of the sleeping infant? What agitation seized his nerves? He snatched the first thing that came in his way, and, as if by inspiration, struck off a perfect likeness of the sleeping child. Was this the result of accident? Had not ten thousand nurses before, beheld the smiles that play over the illumined face of a beautiful infant, but did it ever create a genius for the graphic art in any other mind, save that of Benjamin West? The same cause must always, under similar circumstances, produce the same effects. It is utterly impossible to account for this remarkable deve

Take an example of that great mathematical genius, Edmund Stone. His father was gardener to the Duke of Argyle, who, walking one day in his garden, observed a Latin copy of Newton's Principia lying on the grass, and thinking it had been brought from his own library, called some one to carry it back to its place. Upon this, Stone, who was then in his eighteenth year, claimed the book as his own. "Your's ?" replied the Duke. "Do you understand Geometry, Latin, and Newton ?" "I know a little of them," replied the young man. The Duke was surprised; and having a taste for the sciences, he entered into conversation with the young man. "But how," said the Duke, "came you by the knowledge of all these things?" Stone replied, "A servant taught me ten years since to read. Does one need to know more than the twenty-four letters in or-lopment of mind, except on the principle which we have der to learn every thing else that one wishes?" The already mentioned. The mind of West possessed a Duke's curiosity redoubled; he sat down on a bank, strong, innate capability of delineating the forms of naand requested a detail of the whole process by which ture, and of relishing the beauty and harmony of symhe became so learned. "I first learned to read," said metrical forms. The accident of nursing the child only Stone: "the masons were then at work on your house. served to show the previously existing capacity, and to I approached them one day, and observed that the ar-waken it up to activity by the gratification which it chitect used a rule and compass, and that he made calculations. I inquired what might be the meaning and use of these things, and I was informed that there was a science called arithmetic. I purchased a book of arithmetic, and I learnt it. I was told there was another science called geometry; I bought the necessary books, and I learnt geometry. By reading, I found that there were good books in these two sciences in Latin; I bought a dictionary and learnt Latin. I understood, also, that there were good books of the same kind in French; I bought a dictionary, and I learned French. And this, my Lord, is what I have done: it seems to me that we may learn every thing when we know the twenty-four letters of the alphabet."

Here we see the capability of mathematical investigations so strongly developed as to give the possessor most remarkable success in their pursuit. He seems to have needed no assistance, no instruction, but marched through the most difficult and abstruse science with the strides of a giant. No delay cooled his ardor; no obstacle baffled him in his purpose. Was there a branch of mathematics he wished to know, he bought the book and learnt it. Was there a valuable mathematical work in a foreign language-he learnt the language. How like the flats of Almighty, are the rapid and gigantic efforts of genius. "Let there be light, and there was light."

Take an example of genius in Painting. Benjamin West, when only six years old, was placed by his mother to take care of an infant while she was absent. After some time the child happened to smile in its sleep, and its beauty attracted his attention. He looked at it with a pleasure he had never before experienced, and observing some paper on the table, together with some pens and red and black ink, he seized them with agitation and endeavored to delineate a portrait-although at this period he had never seen a picture nor an engraving. So soon as young West had an opportunity of indulging the natural bent of his mind, he was so enchanted as to forget his school hours. For several days he withdrew to a little garret, and devoted himself to painting,

afforded.

We might thus go on and bring numerous examples to prove to the satisfaction of any reflecting man, that the mind consists of certain original, innate capabilities or faculties-that these faculties are definite in their number and distinct in their character. We might prove that there is an original capability of mind which befits the possessor in an eminent degree for physical science, for music, for sculpture, poetry, and for abstract speculation. But the examples already adduced must suffice-time will not permit a further investigation.

Now we have discovered this great peculiarity in men who possess one or another of the faculties strongly marked-they have no need of instruction nor assistance from men or books-they seem to learn, as by inspiration, every thing that affords gratification to the peculiar propensity of their mind. If all men, therefore, were possessed of some faculty developed above all the rest, or if they possessed all the faculties strongly developed, they would have no need of assistance or instruction from others. But all men are not so gifted. It is but here and there that we find one who manifests an extraordinary talent for any pursuit. Men generally possess the faculties or capabilities of mind in an even degree, and slightly developed.

It is a wise provision of nature that it is so. Men who are endowed in an extraordinary manner with one talent, are generally unfit for any other pursuit in life. They take no interest in the ordinary affairs of society-are lost to all motives of prudence, or considerations of the useful-every thing is sacrificed to the indulgence of the one ruling passion. It is well, we say, that society is not made up of such men-but that it consists of those who have no very great capacity for one pursuit more than another-and who possess all the faculties in a moderate degree. For it is this even balance of the faculties, moderately developed, which constitutes the best state of mind for a prudent course and a sound judgment.

The investigation which we have just concluded, offers

many important hints in the management of education. [ The consequences have been ruinous. Young peoWe have seen, that a man who possesses a talent ple go to school, to the colleges-aye, to the universistrongly developed, has a most extraordinary memory ties, too, and after a few years sojourn they come home in every thing connected with that faculty-is capable finished scholars-have studied this science and that of fixing his mind in the deepest attention upon subjects science-in fact, have glanced at all the sciences-but, of his inquiry-in a word, possesses all those things in the meanwhile, the mind itself was never thought which have been generally called faculties of the mind- of. Its powers were never wakened up to inquiry, nor perception, memory, attention, conception, &c. His imbued with a love of knowledge. It was never taught thoughts, too, are more numerous, more profound and to reduce its acquisitions to their original elements and original. make them a part of its own constitution-like the When, therefore, we observe that the mere posses-worm which feeds upon a plant, until it acquires the sion of a faculty without instruction, without help-same color, and almost the same consistency of the plant nay, in spite of all opposition, gives such a decided advantage, is it not obvious that our main object should be to find out what are the faculties of the mind-and then by all judicious means to unfold and strengthen those faculties or capabilities?

itself. Oh! that this were the process of education—but far otherwise is the truth. What they learn is by the aid of the teacher alone, with but slight mental effort on their part. The pupil becomes a mere intellectual baby, carried along in the arms of his kind instructor. And, like all other babies, spoiled by too much nursing, he can do nothing, or will do nothing, without help. Who has not seen a great chubby boy drop down in the road and begin to bellow, whenever the nurse tries to make him walk for himself? Just so with the intellectual baby-so soon as he leaves the school and the teacher, his mind sinks down into inactivity; the knowledge he has acquired passes away; and finally the youth comes into life a sorry scholar, and a useless man. Such is the education acquired at most of our colleges-often have we seen a noble mind utterly ruined by its process.

If we can be successful in these two objects-the discovery and development of the capabilities of the mindwe shall have accomplished our purpose. Education, so far as the assistance of the instructor may be required, is complete. We care not whether three ideas have been communicated to the pupil during the process of his education, we have already seen, that if he is turned out with a mind waked up to inquiry, and with invigorated powers, he needs nothing more to secure eminent success in every department of knowledge. The mind will, afterwards, go on of its own accord, unabated in its ardor, with ever increasing powers-If a youth makes himself a scholar, it is not by the aid gathering wisdom from every source, and pleasure from every object--no subject so barren as not to yield instruction-no situation so dull as not to afford pleasure. What has just been said, we have no doubt, will appear self-evident to reflecting men, whose minds are not trammelled by the systems of modern philosophy. But such men have no idea of the error which exists on this subject, and which is the cause of so many failures in education.

Is it not a matter of common remark, that men who have most pains bestowed upon their education, seldom come up to expectation; and that self-educated men are always the best scholars, the wisest men, and the ablest statesmen? What is the cause of this? Is there not an error somewhere? Can education be an evil rather than a good?

The truth is, that the object of education is entirely misunderstood. Even when it is well known, there is not one in five hundred who can accomplish it. An instructor may know, that to unfold the powers of the mind ought to be the object of his efforts, but he may not have the ability nor the skill to accomplish it. It is a much easier task to convey knowledge than to waken up and develope the sleeping, infant powers of the mind. Such a task requires more than ordinary patience and gentleness of temper-more than ordinary skill in the management of wayward youth-more than ordinary knowledge of all the workings and combinations of the mind, both intellectual and moral. Many a teacher is capable of giving valuable instruction on every sciencewho utterly fails in the more important part of his undertaking the development of the powers or capabilities of the mind. Hence, whatever may be their theory, they all act as if they considered the mind a mere passive receiver, and that their business was to pour into it as much matter-of-fact information as possible.

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of his education, but in spite of it. College education has become a by-word and a reproach. A diploma, so far from being a recommendation, is looked upon rather as an object of suspicion. It has become a common proverb, when a man knows nothing about a thing, to say that he knows as little about it as a graduate about Greek. If the education of colleges be so bad-what is the condition of our schools and academies ?

Take the self-educated man, how different the process by which his character is formed—raised in poverty, perhaps, without a friend--a poor journeyman in a workshop--a ploughboy in the fields--or a herdsman on the lonely mountain top. Humble as he may be, he feels unearthly emotions in his bosom. His ear listens to a heavenly harmony that fills him with more than wonted rapture. He looks with a "peculiar eye" on the goings forth of nature. He holds communion with his own thoughts. He breathes a wish and feels a hope that he may rise above the common level of mankind, achieve honor for himself and glory for his country. In the spirit of poor Burns he can say:

I mind it weel, in early date,

When I was beardless, young, and blate,
An' first could thresh the barn ;-
E'en then a wish, (I mind its power,)
A wish that to my latest hour
Shall strongly heave my breast;
That I for poor auld Scotland's sake,
Some usefu' plan, or book could make,
Or sing a sang at least.

When he can no longer resist these aspirations of his heart, he boldly determines to brave every difficulty, and venture forth in quest of knowledge and renown. But now comes the toil and the strife. Obstacles rise on every hand. His course becomes intricate and con

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