education-but, if we defcend from theory to practice, we fhall frequently find some pains taken to enervate the former, and to inflame the latter, by thofe perfons to whose care the youth of both fexes are committed. That parents fhould spoil their children, as the phrafe is, by falfe indulgence; or that tutors fhould fail in the discharge of their duty through ignorance, or mistake, or on fome occafions be actuated by interefted motives; can excite no furprise, even in those who are leaft converfant with mankind: but that men, who value themfelves on their parts and learning, should prostitute their talents to the vile purpose of encouraging the folly and caprice of parents, and even attempt to reduce their views to a kind of fyftem, would be inconceivable, were it not known that fome preceptors and authors, in the prefent age, owe their fuccefs to their indulgence in the practice of that fin which the good people of the laft age used to denominate "worldly compliances." We may therefore confider every writer on the fubject of education, whofe plan is manly and liberal, and whofe fentiments are favourable to religion and virtue, as justly entitled to our approbation; and in this number we are happy to include the author before us.

Mr. Milns opens his book with a handsome apology for deviating from the established practice of grammar-schools.

To inveigh, (fays he,) with illiberal acrimony against the plan of grammar-fchools, has of late become a fafhionable topic. It is by no means my intention to add to the obloquy too often unjuftly thrown on thofe venerable feminaries of learning, to which this nation is indebted for its moft diftinguished ornaments. But one must be partial, to a culpable extreme, not to fee, and confefs, that there are fome practices ftill continued in them, unavoidable perhaps in their original inftitution, but which the revolutions, that have fince taken place in literature, render it highly neceffary to reform. What I fhall at prefent beg leave to fpecify, is the custom of making boys enter upon Latin grammar, to the exclufion of even their native tongue, at the very commencement of their ftudies; a cuftom which fhould have been difcontinued, as foon as Latin ceafed to be the only vehicle of ufeful knowledge, and modern languages began to vie with thofe of antiquity in the importance of the fubjects, as well as in the precifion and elegance of their structure.' It is very evident that the practice of committing to memory, at the moft fufceptible period of life, words without ideas, and jargon without meaning, must be injurious to the gradual unfolding of the mental powers, and muft beget early habits of obfcurity and confufion. The fault of many speakers and writers, who are apt, according to the common phrafe, to lofe themiclves in the clouds, may be traced back to this fundamental error in their education. Praifed when children for being able to say by heart a great number of Latin rules, before they can form any idea of their fignification or ufe, they are naturally led in their future.

Rudies,

ftudies, to continue their attention to words alone, without any regard to precifion or knowledge. Though bewildered in ignorance, they. go on with the difcuffion of fubjects, which they do not understand, and think themselves eloquent, if they can keep up a continuance of found, juft like the performers in our ftreets, who wind tunes out of their hand-organs, without any skill in mufic, or any powers of judicious execution.

The custom of hurrying children from their fpelling-books into Latin grammar is liable to be attended with a still more pernicious effect; it frequently destroys all tafte for any farther literary purfuits, which are thus rendered at the very entrance peculiarly difficult and difgufting. The principles of language, it may be faid, in whatever manner they are taught, cannot but appear fomewhat dry and unentertaining to the young ftudent; but even admitting this to be true, it must be allowed that his progrefs will be rendered infinitely pleafanter, and his improvement much more accelerated, by having thofe principles exemplified in his native tongue, than in a language with which he is unacquainted. The liberal arts and fciences, fays Sir Richard Steele, are all beautiful as the Graces; nor has grammar, the fevere mother of all, fo frightful a face of her own; it is the vizard put upon it that fcares children. She is made to speak hard words, that to them found like conjuring. Let her talk intelligibly, and they will liften to her.'

Next follows a juft encomium on the late Bishop of London, with a very proper quotation from the introduction to his grammar. By an eafy and natural tranfition, Mr. Milns proceeds from the confideration of grammar to English compofition; and he justly obferves that,

Among the great number of books, which perfons of taste and genius have condefcended to write for the inftruction of children, we have not yet been favoured with one practical treatife of rhetoric, adapted to the ufe of the young English fcholar.-The rhetorical and critical writings of Cicero, Quintilian, and Longinus, have been tranflated into English, and may feem to fupply the defect complained of in the preceding remark, but they are far too refined and too fub, lime for the conception of fchool-boys; the fame objection holds good, against many original works of criticifm, in our own language, which however elegant and masterly, are not fit to be put into the hands of youth till towards the close of their academical studies. A few of Dr. Blair's lectures may be read over and explained to the young rhetorician at an earlier period; but the greater part of the first volume, and the whole of the third, are intelligible only to perfons of riper years, and of cultivated understandings. By fuch they may be read with equal advantage and delight, and will be found admirably adapted to give the last finishing to the talents and fcholaftic acquirements of the critic, the poet, and the philofopher. But, after all, the want of proper books on this fubject may be easily supplied by a judi cious inftructor. Rhetoric is a practical art, which can fooner be taught by example than precept. It is commonly defined, the art of (peaking well, that is to fay, the art of speaking in fuch a manner as

to make ourselves heard, and to perfuade those who hear us. In teaching this art, we may with great fuccefs invert the ufual method, and instead of firft laying down the principles of oratory, and then proceeding from theory to practice, we may lead our pupils, by a much more agreeable and unerring path, from practice to theory. We need only fix upon any fubject, which we know must be interefting to them. Their wants and their wishes will furnish a variety of fuch topics. A well-drawn contrast between the rude language of ignorance, and the graces of fweet perfuafion, muft ftrike them forcibly: and after fhewing them how much more likely the latter would be to produce the defired effect, we may guide their inquiries to the causes of this difference. A little skilful management will make all the rules of rhetoric appear to be the refult of the learner's own observations; he will almost fancy himself the inventor of the art: and the pleasures infeparable from these pursuits being thus heightened by the confciousness of his increafing powers, muft urge him forward with unwearied rapidity in the career of eloquence; how delightful it is to fee boys, thus trained, get the start of inftruction, and run before their mafters in the discovery of new beauties.'

Our author's next confideration is letter-writing; on which fubject he is very diffufe. Several of his obfervations are trite, and perhaps his readers may think him not quite exempt from the charge of fomething like pedantry. It has been the opinion of many able men, that nothing can be more abfurd than to lay down rules for epiftolary writing: fince the ftyle of every letter ought to be fuitable to the fubject, which muft vary according to the fituation in which we are placed, and to the bufinefs which we tranfact; and that, in the acquifition of this accomplishment, good fenfe fhould be our only guide. Mr. Milns feems to be particularly fond of fables, which subject occupies fifty of his pages. He confiders the nature, form, and effential properties of a fable, and lays down rules for its compofition. He beftows juft encomiums on Phædrus's inftructive apologue of the woif and the lamb, and gives us a pleafing criticism on Gay's Hare and many friends. Merrick's Camelion is likewife produced as a striking example of excellence, in that kind of writing :-but, after every thing that has been faid on the subject of fables, it feems very questionable whether, on the whole, they are proper vehicles of inftruction for youth. Some of them inculcate tyranny, pride, and selfishness; -even when the moral is good, it is not always immediately perceived; and perhaps when it is feen, it cannot be perfectly understood, without fuch a knowlege of the difpofition and propenfities of mankind as we cannot expect in a child.

The fubfequent effay is entitled Preparation for writing themes,' the practice of which Mr. M. defends; at the fame time acknowleging that boys ought not to begin fuch exercises at too early a period. He therefore recommends a courfe of

Rudy,

ftudy, copied, he fays, from Principes de la Literature of the Abbé Batteaux; who advifes our beginning with the Poets, and affigns the following reasons :

To learn how to judge in matters of literature, we must begin by exercifing ourselves in thofe works, whofe beauties and defects are more obvious or ftriking, and where art does not aim at concealing itfelf; when once we are able to discover this art, as it really is, and are convinced that we have made ourselves mafters of its true prin ciples, then we may endeavour to discover it likewife in thofe productions, where it is most accustomed to conceal itself.'

This obfervation ftrikes us as very fenfible and judicious. The course of poetical reading here recommended is divided into four heads, viz. the narrative, the dramatic, the lyric, and the didactic.

The first clafs comprehends the best writers of fables, of paftorals, of defcriptive, and of epic poetry. The fables which he moft approves are thofe of Gay, Merrick's Camelion, Dryden's Cock and the Fox, and Smart's tranflation of Phædrus. He juftly reprobates the modern collection of fables which bear the name of fop, and which, he fays, are fpurious and badly written. With respect to paftorals, he remarks that the first part of Dr. Blair's thirty-ninth lecture, on the fubject of pastoral poetry, will be found an ufeful introduction to the reading of the Idyls of Theocritus, Mofchus, and Bion, tranflated by Fawkes, the Eclogues of Virgil by Warton, Pope's paftorals, and Shenftone's paftoral ballad. In regard to defcriptive poetry, the laft part of Dr. Blair's fortieth lecture is here recommended; alfo Milton's Allegro and Penferofo, Denham's Cooper's-hill, Pope's Windfor Foreft, Dyer's Grongar-hill, and that ineftimable treasure of defcriptive poetry, Thomfon's Seafons. The course of epic poetry, he thinks, fhould be preceded by an attentive perufal of Hayley's letters to Mason, and Dr. Blair's forty-fecond and forty-third lectures. The books to be read are Homer's Iliad and Odyffey, tranflated by Pope; Virgil's Eneis, by Dryden; Milton's Paradife Loft and Paradife Regained; Taffo's Jerufalem, tranflated by Hoole; and Fenelon's Telemachus by Hawkfworth. To the foregoing, Mr. M. thinks, may be very properly added two of the moft beautiful and highly-finished compofitions in the English language, though they cannot be ftrictly called epic poems, viz. Pope's Rape of the Lock, and Hayley's Triumphs of Temper.

The fecond clafs includes the writers of tragedy and comedy. The beft critical helps will be found in the forty-fifth, fortyfixth, and forty-feventh lectures of Dr. Blair. The works to be read are Potter's tranflation of the Tragedies of Efchylus,

Sophocles,

Sophocles, and Euripides; Colman's tranflation of Terence's Comedies; and Malone's edition of Shakespeare. We cannot recommend, (fays Mr. M.) the entire works of any other of our dramatic writers, though we have feveral detached plays of confiderable merit in the English language, which may be read after thofe of Shakespeare.'

In the third divifion of this courfe of reading, are placed the lyric and elegiac writers. Lyric poetry: the last part of Dr. Blair's thirty-ninth lecture relates to this fubject; after which, read Pindar's Odes, tranflated by Weft and Green; thofe of Anacreon, by Fawkes; thofe of Horace, by Francis; Dryden's and Pope's Odes on the Power of Mufic; with a few others by Warton, Collins, Mafon, and Gray, which are to be found in moft mifcellaneous felections.'

Elegy. On this head, Mr. M. obferves, Dr. Blair has not favoured us with any remarks on this fpecies of poetry :but our author fuppofes that it will fuffice to read Milton's Lycidas, Pope's Elegy on an unfortunate Young Lady, and Gray's Elegy in a Country Church-yard; as this fort of poetry is not very effential towards forming the tafte of youth.

Didactic Poetry, (4th clafs.) Compofitions of this kind may be divided into a variety of claffes; the nature and refpective beauties of which are accurately explained in the beginning of Dr. Blair's fortieth lecture. After a careful perufal of this excellent introduction, the pupil will read the following books with equal advantage and pleasure:

ift Clafs. Horace's Art of Poetry, tranflated by the Earl of Rofcommon; Vida's, by Pitt; Boileau's, by Dryden; Pope's Effay on Criticifm; Hayley on Epic Poetry and on Hiftory; and Akenfide's Pleafures of the Imagination. 2d Clafs. Pope's Effay on Man, and his Moral Epiftles; Prior's Solomon; and Young's Night Thoughts. 3d Clafs. Virgil's Georgics, tranflated by Warton; Armstrong on Health; Cyder, a Poem, by Philips; and the Fleece, by Dyer. 4th Clafs. Horace's Satires and Epifles, tranflated by Francis; Juvenal, and Perfius, by Dryden; Young's Univerfal Paffion; Dryden's Mac Flecno; Pope's Dunciad; and all his Satires.

Such are the models of poetical excellence, upon which the young ftudent fhould form his tafte. He may afterwards read works of inferior merit, not only without danger, but even with advantage.'

To this opinion we readily fubfcribe, and we are happy to exprefs our warm approbation of the felection which Mr. Milns has made from our poets. Let us now fee whether he be equally judicious on the fubject of profe reading he arranges under the following general heads: ticifm, Epiftolary Writing, Biography and Hiftory; the following clafies: Geography and Chronology, tory, Law and Oratory, and Logic.

This course Works of Cridivided into Natural Hif

• Works