Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/10

The PREFACE. of This Great Man; but upon the Subject of his Apologies and Morals; And not of His alone, but of everal other Eminent Men that have Written after his Copy; and abundantly Contributed in thoe Labours, to the Delight, Benefit, and Intruction of Thoe that were to come after them.

There are, 'tis True, a Certain Set of Moroe and Untractable Spirits in the World, that look upon Precepts in Emblem, as they do upon Gays and Pictures, that are only fit for Women and Children, and make no more reck'ning of them, then of the Fooleries of o many Old Wives Tales. Thee are a ort of People that are Reolv'd to be plea'd with nothing that is not Unociably Soure, Ill Natur'd, and Troubleome; Men that make it the Mark as well as the Prerogitave of a Philoopher, to be Magiterial, and Churlih; As if a man could not be Wie and Honet, without being Inhumane; or, I might have aid, without putting an Affront upon Chritian Charity, Civil Society, Decency and Good Manners: But they are not aware All this while, that the Foundations of Knowledge and Vertue are laid in our Childhood; ''when Nothing goes Kindly down with us, that is not Seaon'd and Adapted to the Palate and Capacity of thoe Tender Years. 'Tis in the very Nature of us, firt, to be Inquisitive, and Hankering after New and New Sights and Stories: and 2dly, No less sollicitous to Learn and Undertand the Truth and Meaning of what we See and Hear: So that betwixt the Indulging and Cultivating of This Dipoition, or Inclination, on the One hand, and the Applying of a Profitable Moral to the Figure, or the Fable, on the Other, here's the Sum of All that can be done upon the Point of a Timely Dicipline and Intitution, toward the Forming of an Honourable, and a Vertuous Life. Mot Certain it is, that without This Early Care and Attention, upon the Main, we are as good as Lot in our very Cradles; for the Principles that we Imbibe in our Youth, we carry commonly to our Graves; and it is the Education, in hort, that makes the Man. To peak All, in a Few Words, Children are but Blank Paper, ready Indifferently to any Impreion, Good or Bad for they take All upon Credit; and it is much in the Power of the firt Comer, to Write Saint, or Devil, upon't, which of the Two He pleaes. Wherefore let the Method of Communication be never o Natural and Agreeable, the Better, the Wore still, if the Matter be not Suited to the Prudence, the Piety, and the Tendernes that is Requiite in the Exercie of such a Function. Now This is a Nicety that Depends, in a great Meaure, upon the Care, Providence, Sobriety, Conduct and Good Example of Parents, Guardians, Tutors, & c. Nay it Descends to the very Choice of uch Nures, Servants, and Familiar Companions, as will apply themselves Diligently to the Dicharge of this Office.''

As it is beyond All Dipute, I uppoe, that the Delight and Genius of Children, lies much toward the Hearing, Learning, and telling of Little