composition and well turned periods of Dr. Robertson,
excited his hopes, that he might one day become his equal in writing;
but "the calm philosophy, the careless inimitable beauties of his
friend and rival Hume, often forced him to close the volume with a
mixed sensation of delight and despair." From this testimony we may
judge, that a simple style appears to the best judges to be more
difficult to attain, and more desirable, than that highly ornamented
diction to which writers of inferior taste aspire. Gibbon tells us,
with great candour, that his friend Hume advised him to beware of the
rhetorical style of French eloquence. Hume observed, that the English
language, and English taste, do not admit of this profusion of
ornament.

Without meaning to enter at large into the subject, we have offered
these remarks upon style for the advantage of those who are to direct
the taste of young readers; what they admire when they read, they will
probably imitate when they write. We objected to works of criticism
for young children, but we should observe, that at a later period of
education, they will be found highly advantageous. It would be absurd
to mark the precise age at which Blair's Lectures, or Condillac's Art
d'Ecrire, ought to be read, because this should be decided by
circumstances; by the progress of the pupils in literature, and by the
subjects to which their attention happens to have turned. Of these,
preceptors, and the pupils themselves, must be the most competent
judges. From the same wish to avoid all pedantic attempts to dictate,
we have not given any regular course of study in this chapter. Many
able writers have laid down extensive plans of study, and have named
the books that are essential to the acquisition of different branches
of knowledge. Amongst others we may refer to Dr. Priestley's, which is
to be seen at the end of his Essays on Education. We are sensible that
order is necessary in reading, but we cannot think that the same order
will suit all minds, nor do we imagine that a young person cannot
read to advantage unless he pursue a given course of study. Men of
sense will not be intolerant in their love of learned order.

If parents would keep an accurate list of the books which their
children read, of the ages at which they are read, it would be of
essential service in improving the art of education. We might then
mark the progress of the understanding with accuracy, and discover,
with some degree