upon the
mind of this prince. It is said, that Henry IV. applied, in his
subsequent life, all the knowledge he had acquired in this manner so
happily, that learned men were surprised at his memory.[52]

By these observations, we by no means would insinuate, that
application to books is unnecessary. We are sensible that accurate
knowledge upon any subject, cannot be acquired by superficial
conversation; that it can be obtained only by patient application. But
we mean to point out, that an early taste for literature may be
excited in children by conversation; and that their memory should be
first cultivated in the manner which will give them the least pain.
When there is motive for application, and when habits of industry have
been gradually acquired, we may securely trust, that our pupils will
complete their own education. Nor should we have reason to fear, that
those who have a good memory for all other things, should not be able
to retain all that is worth remembering in books. Children should
never be praised for merely remembering exactly what they read, they
should be praised for selecting with good sense what is best worth
their attention, and for applying what they remember to useful
purposes.

We have observed how much the habit of inventing increases the wish
for knowledge, and increases the interest men take in a number of
ideas, which are indifferent to uncultivated and indolent people. It
is the same with children. Children who invent, exercise their memory
with pleasure, from the immediate sense of utility and success. A
piece of knowledge, which they lay by in their minds, with the hopes
of making use of it in some future invention, they have more motives
for remembering, than what they merely learn by rote, because they are
commanded to do so by the voice of authority.

(June 19th, 1796.) S----, a boy of nine years old, of good abilities,
was translating Ovid's description of envy. When he came to the Latin
word _suffusa_, he pronounced it as if it had been spelled with a
single _f_ and a double _s_, _sufussa_; he made the same mistake
several times: at last his father, to _try_ whether it would make him
remember the right pronunciation, desired him to repeat _suffusa_
forty times. The boy did so. About three hours afterwards, the boy was
asked whether he recollected the word which he had repeated forty
times. No, he said, he did not; but he remembered that it meant
diffused. His father recalled the w