t last till he is thirty.

An ill cured obstinacy of temper, when it breaks out after young
people have arrived at years of discretion, is terrible. Those who
attempt to conquer obstinacy in children by bodily pain, or by severe
punishments of any kind, often appear to succeed, and to have entirely
eradicated, when they have merely suppressed, the disease for a time.
As soon as the child that is intimidated by force or fear, is relieved
from restraint, he will resume his former habits; he may change the
mode of showing it, but the disposition will continue the same. It
will appear in various parts of the conduct, as the limbs of the giant
appeared unexpectedly at different periods, and in different parts of
the Castle of Otranto.

FOOTNOTES:

[45] Elegy on an old Beauty. Parnell.

[46] Rousseau.

[47] Emilius, vol. i. page 23.

[48] Vol. i. page 59.

[49] Histoire des Membres de l'Academie, par M. d'Alembert. Tome
troisieme, p. 24.

[50] Voltaire's Hist. Charles XII. page 13.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON TRUTH.

It is not necessary here to pronounce a panegyric upon truth; its use
and value is thoroughly understood by all the world; but we shall
endeavour to give some practical advice, which may be of service in
educating children, not only to the love, but to the habits, of
integrity. These are not always found, as they ought to be,
inseparable.

Rousseau's eloquence, and Locke's reasoning, have sufficiently
reprobated, and it is to be hoped have exploded, the system of
lecturing children upon morality; of giving them precepts and general
maxims which they do not understand, and which they cannot apply. We
shall not produce long quotations from books which are in every body's
hands.[51] There is one particular in which Rousseau especially, and
most other authors who have written upon education, have given very
dangerous counsel; they have counselled parents to teach truth by
falsehood. The privilege of using contrivance, and ingenious
deceptions, has been uniformly reserved for preceptors; and the
pupils, by moral delusions, and the theatric effect of circumstances
treacherously arranged, are to be duped, surprised, and cheated, into
virtue. The dialogue between the gardener and Emilius about the
Maltese melon-seed, is an instance of this method of instruction.
Honest Robert, the gardener, in concert with the tutor, tells poor
Emilius a series of lies, prepares a garden, "choice Maltese
melon-seed," an