"A _channel_ is a passage wide
That flows from sea to sea;
When narrow it is call'd a _strait_,--
_Thanks to Geography_!"
. . . . .
"When wise and older I am grown,
I'll try and tell you more,
But Teacher says _enough is known_
An infant's mind to _store_!"
No doubt of it! enough and to spare! This is a fine specimen of the
class of truths called _unquestionable_. There is, moreover, a
pleasing _enjouement_ about this last line, which recommends it to our
regard. The teacher seems to be expostulating with her young charge,
and saying, "My dear little four-year-old, eager for instruction
beyond your years, but fearful of _learning up_ every thing at
school,--don't be frightened; the world will always find science
sufficient to employ all good little boys like you." But though this
_truth_ be unquestionable, we doubt whether the line which conveys it
be genuine; and rather fancy, should the original manuscript turn up,
it would be found to run--
"_Enough's enough_ an infant's mind to store!"
which, though somewhat harsh to the ear, conveys an excellent meaning.
Should this be thought to make the verse too rugged, we have yet a
second various reading to propose, and that is simply to change the
last word into _bore_, by which means the easy flow of the verse is
preserved, and the _significatio prœgnans_ of the original, though
somewhat modified, is maintained.
Notwithstanding these blemishes--which, after our strictures on
foreign classes, we felt bound to point out--our English schools are
very far superior to the Italian for the same rank. With us, the
attention of government and of the public is roused, and directed to
their improvement; laymen join with the clergy in forwarding the same
scheme; great part of the tuition devolves upon females--and who so
fitted as woman to form the mind at an early age? It is no small
advantage, too, that authoresses of talent and judgment should have
devoted their time to the composition of exclusively moral and
religious tales and histories for the young. Lastly, with us, there is
none of that masquerading and display, which we reprobate as forming
so prominent a part in all Italian tuition. In these schools, women
are excluded from their natural office of teaching; there are no books
adapted to infant minds; the whole business is vested in the hands of
the priests; and they, in strict compliance with the spirit of their
Church, train the pupils in passive obedience to authority, and teach
them very little besides. We fear it will be long before any
revolution can reach these seminaries. The sense of personal
importance attaching--not only to the children themselves, but to
their parents--from these contemptible yearly exhibitions, added to
the interested motives which induce the Church to foster such vanity,
would render any considerable alteration for the better extremely
difficult, even were the evil more generally _felt_ than we fear it is
likely to be under the present system of things. We state this opinion
with regret; for what is the tendency of such education? Can it
inculcate that real humility, not abasement of mind, which should
characterise the true disciples of our blessed Saviour? Nay, must it
not rather, by holding out, as it does, a premium to natural quickness
and a superficial acquaintance with the dogmas of theology, tend to
foster pride and selfishness--those monster evils which it is the
prime object of religion to eradicate--whilst the heart remains
untouched and the moral sense unexercised? and will not the poor
children, who are its victims, learn to prize a few dry leaves from
the Tree of Knowledge, beyond the fair fruit of the Tree of Life?