hortations were vain; Jessica had arrived at years of
discretion, and it was too late to forbid her clambering into the
casements; the precautions should have been taken sooner; the epithets
vile squeaking and wry-necked fife, could not alter the lady's taste:
and Shylock should have known how peremptory prohibitions and
exaggerated expressions of aversion operate upon the female
imagination; he was imprudent in the extreme of his caution. We should
let children see things as they really are, and we should not
prejudice them either by our exclamations of rapture, or by our
affected disgust. If they are familiarized with show, they will not be
caught by it; if they see the whole of whatever is to be seen, their
imagination will not paint things more delightful than they really
are. For these reasons, we think that young people should not be
restrained, though they may be guided in their tastes; we should
supply them with all the information in which they are deficient, and
leave them to form their own judgments.

Without making it a matter of favour, or of extraordinary
consequence, parents can take their children to see public
exhibitions, or to partake of any amusements which are really
agreeable; they can, at the same time, avoid mixing factitious with
real pleasure. If, for instance, we have an opportunity of taking a
boy to a good play, or a girl to a ball, let them enjoy the full
pleasure of the amusement, but do not let us excite their imagination
by great preparations, or by anticipating remarks: "Oh, you'll be very
happy to-morrow, for you're to go to the play. You must look well
to-night, for you are going to the ball. Were you never at a ball? Did
you never see a play before? Oh, _then_ you'll be delighted, I'm
sure!" The children often look much more sensible, and sometimes more
composed, in the midst of these foolish exclamations, than their
parents. "Est ce que je m'amuse, maman?" said a little girl of six
years old, the first time she was taken to the playhouse.

Besides the influence of opinion, there are a number of other
circumstances to be considered in cultivating the imagination; there
are many other circumstances which must be attended to, and different
precautions are necessary, to regulate properly the imagination of
children of different dispositions, or temperaments. The disposition
to associate ideas, varies in strength and quickness in opposite
temperaments: the natural vivacity or dulness o