It must also be remarked in this place, that wherever there exists this facility of acquisition, care is required, that the attention should not be called to a multiplicity of objects in rapid succession; or it will become distracted with variety, and never gain a complete acquaintance with any: it should not then be divided, but concentrated, especially at first. Thus, the division of time, into a great number of very minute portions, each occupied by separate and dissimilar engagements, prevents entirely the full effect of every one; and thus with all the bustling activity of constant occupation, much time is virtually lost; a habit of earnest trifling is produced,—the strenua inertia of busy nothingness; and undisturbed attention to subjects of primary importance is rendered impossible. Another evil of no secondary importance, arising from the fitfulness of incessantly altered pursuit, is, that by it, the mind may be led to seek amusement in a variety of ever-changing duties; and so passing through life in a whirl of perpetual motion, to leave no time for the study of the heart, and the future eternal relations of the immaterial spirit: "serious things to-morrow,' as cried the wretched voluptuary, within an hour of his assassination, to the messenger who brought him the intelligence of the conspiracy formed against his life: "serious things to-morrow," practically exclaims the thoughtless child of incessant occupation; "I have no time now to attend to you," and that perhaps within an hour of being called to his last audit. This idea may be fanciful: but assuredly, much of the moral constitution, may be traced to the remote influence of some physical or intellectual cause; a cause, for the influence of which notwithstanding, we are every way accountable as free agents; and which perhaps itself forms an ingredient in that system of probation, which is the defined characteristic of our temporary situation in this world. To conclude, the parent must be careful, that the imagination be early subdued under the power of reason, and the influence of religion. This faculty may be deficient; but it is more frequently redundant. In the former case, it may be gently and cautiously stimulated by some of the purest works of fiction, by the study of our best poets, and by the perusal of the most unexceptionable dramatic pieces. But its effects are principally to be feared in the latter instance: a little tameness of fancy; a little want of sprightly association, may exist without injury to the individual; but the exuberant imagination requires to be carefully disciplined. Religion is its only truest guide; this forms a perfect safeguard from its erratic influence; and under its protection, it may become the source of much happiness to its possessor, and of usefulness to those with whom he stands associated. Here however it is still subjected to reason; for religion enjoins nothing, asks nothing, possesses nothing, which is not in strict conformity with reason, though we may not be able fully to comprehend all its bearings and relations and if its influence should ever be superseded, the mind is left to wander without a guide, in the fairy wilds, the ideal images of enthusiasm, the baseless creations of ungoverned fancy. The agency of imagination over taste, and thought, and feeling, and action, must never be lost sight of, or left to itself, lest an erroneous tendency should be imbibed, and serious evils should follow in its train. Nor must it ever be forgotten, that a superficial method of instruction will greatly promote luxuriance of fancy, and will even almost give it a degree of prurience; while it will be repressed by all those plans which are more solid and stable. The sketchy pursuit of knowledge, together with light reading, will much more readily occasion a corresponding effect upon the imagination, than will be the consequence of patient study on the judgment; and that because the imagination is more easily acted upon, and the feelings are more powerful agents than mere reason and reflection; and thus, both the one and the other, are liable to become active, long before the understanding can be opened, or the judgment developed. Finally, if the efforts of imagination be not guarded by the sobered results of instruction, and founded on the solid basis of judgment, and built up on the imperishable superstructure of religion, it will be worthless and vapid, in proportion as it is artificial and premature; in proportion as it is attracted by the light and airy nothings of the day, and as it floats through the atmosphere of life, placed far above the simple realities of the world, and infinitely farther below the pure and holy regions of the blest; that middle state, which renders the individual unfit for a residence on this nether world, and ever keeps him from truly aspiring after the unseen joys of futurity! 481 CHAP. XVIII. ON REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. A SYSTEM of reward for good conduct, and of punishment for its converse, forms an essential part of the maternal police. Futile and inefficient indeed is the domestic economy in which reward is the only feature, and in which the exclusive form of punishment is the absence of reward. Equally absurd is that system of government, which consists in a series of graduated punishments for impropriety; and in which there exists no peculiar reward for opposite conduct, but the only mark of approbation is the negation of punishment. It is indeed true, that the civil magistrate is only the dispenser of justice to the innocent, and of punishment to the guilty, in so far as the comfort, and property, and life, or reputation dearer than life, of the former have been invaded by any overt act of the latter; and that his power does not directly extend so far as to reward the persevering in virtuous action; but the analogy by no means holds perfectly in the supposed cases, since the object of the civil magistrate is only action, however the quality of that action may be modified by circumstances or by motives, which VOL. 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