If aptitude and capacity for any office, or profession, naturally manifest themselves in an individual, they are sufficient motives for his embracing it; he will have every prospect of success. If, on the other hand, his future station, or profession, has been previously determined, it becomes incumbent early to excite in him the aptitude and capacity indispensable for either, and to direct his attention to those branches of instruction which are more particularly requisite for attaining eminence and respectability in life. SECT. VIII.-CONCLUDING REMARKS. Education will perform a noble work, if, taking man from the cradle, it can train him to all that is required by society, if it raise him to the first rank among the useful and happy of his age, and if it render him worthy of the eternal life which God has in reserve for His creatures. The art of directing all our faculties in the manner most likely to conduct us to these ends, is the most beautiful and the most useful application of mental philosophy. An acquaintance with the nature, power, and functions of the various faculties of man, with their connection and their dependence on one another, is indispensable, in order effectually to carry on the work of education. A complete education is so vast and comprehensive in its details, that the instances must be rare in which it can be undertaken by a single individual. Its different departments should devolve on different persons-Physical education on the physician, Religious education on the clergyman, Moral education on the parent, and Intellectual education on the teacher. In closing this rapid sketch, we cannot forbear regretting that we have been compelled by the limits of our plan to confine our observations to generalities of the briefest kind. We hope, however, that the little which we have said may suffice to show what are the instruments and what ought to be the objects of education. These two points were closely connected with our subject, because, on the one hand, an acquaintance with the instruments, or faculties, is subservient to the study of languages, and, on the other, we must know what are the objects which enter into a complete course of education, in order to give to each its due share of attention, and, whatever be the importance of languages, to guard against occupying young persons exclu sively with them. We leave to others the details of the process by which these instruments may be used for education in general, and by which these objects may be accomplished. Such a process would constitute the Art of education, while the systematic investigation of the universal and immutable laws of human nature on which it is based would constitute the Science of education. In proportion as this science advances, man will obtain a better knowledge of his own powers, a greater command over external nature, and, consequently, more abundant means of improvement and happiness. Let us hope that before long this momentous subject will be viewed in its true light, and that education will be ranked among the most complete and the most regular sciences, as it is among the most useful and the noblest objects of thought. The three departments of education respectively belong to physiology, moral philosophy, and the science of the mind, from which are deduced their fundamental principles; but, by their results, and the influence they have on society, they may be considered collectively as a branch of political economy. Conducive as education is to the best interests of men, to the prosperity, happiness, and glory of a nation, it should be recognised as a social duty, imperative on every one for the sake of all. It is a debt of the state to the people; and it demands the fostering care of a wise Government, that it may be universally diffused through all classes of the community, and be rendered productive of all its advantages. Hence it is that many civilised countries have a Minister of Public Instruction, whose office it is to promote education among the people, to raise the standard of instruction, to protect society against incompetent or immoral teachers, to secure the respectability of the educational profession, and to encourage the sciences, the arts, and literature. But, in Great Britain, at the present day, national instruction, from the lowest to the highest degree, is without guarantee: there exists none for knowledge or for morality. Everything is abandoned to private speculation. England has, to use an expression of Napoleon, more "shops of instruction" than truly academical institutions. As long as the British Government does not exercise its right to establish a comprehensive system of education, of diffusing and regulating the instruction which is required by the various classes of the community, of protecting and honouring those who, by their literary and scientific pursuits, raise the intellectual |