f the senses, the habit
of observing external objects, the power of voluntary exertion, and
the propensity to reverie, must all be considered before we can adapt
a plan of education exactly to the pupil's advantage. A wise preceptor
will counteract, as much as possible, all those defects to which a
child may appear most liable, and will cultivate his imagination so as
to prevent the errours to which he is most exposed by natural, or what
we call natural, disposition.

Some children appear to feel sensations of pleasure or pain with more
energy than others; they take more delight in feeling than in
reflection; they have neither much leisure nor much inclination for
the intellectual exertions of comparison or deliberation. Great care
should be taken to encourage children of this temper to describe and
to compare their sensations. By their descriptions we shall judge what
motives we ought to employ to govern them, and if we can teach them to
compare their feelings, we shall induce that voluntary exertion of
mind in which they are naturally defective. We cannot compare or judge
of our sensations without voluntary exertion. When we deliberate, we
repeat our ideas deliberately; and this is an exercise peculiarly
useful to those who feel quickly.

When any pleasure makes too great an impression upon these children of
vivid sensations, we should repeat the pleasure frequently, till it
begins to fatigue; or we should contrast it, and bring it into direct
comparison with some other species of pleasure. For instance, suppose
a boy had appeared highly delighted with seeing a game at cards, and
that we were apprehensive he might, from this early association,
acquire a taste for gaming, we might either repeat the amusement till
the playing at cards began to weary the boy, or we might take him
immediately after playing at cards to an interesting comedy; probably,
the amusement he would receive at the playhouse, would be greater than
that which he had enjoyed at the card-table; and as these two species
of pleasure would immediately succeed to each other, the child could
scarcely avoid comparing them. Is it necessary to repeat, that all
this should be done without any artifice? The child should know the
meaning of our conduct, and then he will never set himself in
opposition to our management.

If it is not convenient, or possible, to dull the charm of novelty by
repetition, or to contrast a new pleasure with some other superior
amu