V themselves into that which others are whipped for."

\ Children of every age arc jealous of their independence

and eager for pleasure. No one before Locke had so clearly

PHILOSOPHERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 207

recognized the need of the activity and liberty which are

natural to the child, or so strongly insisted on the necessity

of respecting his independent disposition and his personal

tastes. Here again English pedagogy of the seventeenth

century meets its illustrious successor of the nineteenth.

Herbert Spencer has thoroughly demonstrated the fact that

the mind really appropriates only the knowledge that affords

it pleasure and agreeable exercise. Now, there is pleasure

and agreeable excitation wherever there is the development

of a normal activity corresponding to an instinctive taste

and proportioned to the natural powers of the child ; and

there is no real instruction save at the expense of a real

display of activity. 1

219. Should there be Learning by Heart? — To this

question, Should there be learning by heart? Locke gives a S

resolute reply in the negative. The conclusion is absolute

and false ; but the premises that he assumes to justify his

conclusion are, if possible, falser still. Locke sets out from

this psychological idea, that the memory is not susceptible

of progress. He brings into the discussion his sensualistic

prejudices, his peculiar conception of the soul, which is

1 It is usually said that a pupil's distaste for a study indicates one of

two things, either the mode of presenting the subject is bad, or it is pre-

sented a1 an unseasonable period of mental development ; but this distaste

is quite as likely to be due to the fact that a certain mode of mental activity i

has not yet been established ; for until fairly established, its exercise can-

not, be pleasurable. The assumption that intellectual appetites already

exist and are waiting to be gratified, or thai they will invariably appear at

certain periods <>f mental development, is by no means a general law >>f

the mental life. In many ••uses, these appetites must be created, and it

may often be that the studies employed for this purpose may nut at first

be relished. And there are cases where, under the besl of skill, this

relisb maj never come; and still, the knowledge or the discipline is

so necessars that the studies may be enforced contrary to the pupil's

pleasure. (P.)

208 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

but a tabula rasa, an empty and inert capacity, and not a con-

geries of energies and of living forces that are strengthened

by exercise. He does not believe that the faculties, what-

ever they may be, can grow and develop, and this for the

good reason, according to his thinking, that the faculties

have no existence.

But here let him speak for himself : —

' ' I hear it is said that children should be employed in get-

ting things by heart, to exercise and improve their memories.

I would wish this were said with as much authority and

reason as it is with forwardness of assurance, and 'that this

practice were established upon good observation more than

old custom. For it is evident that strength of memory is

owing to an happy constitution, and not to any habitual

improvement got by exercise. 'Tis true what the mind is

intent upon, and, for fear of letting it slip, often imprints

afresh on itself by frequent reflection, that it is apt to retain,

but still according to its own natural strength of retention.

An impression made on beeswax or lead will not last so

long as on brass or steel. Indeed, if it be renewed often, it

may last the longer ; but every new reflecting on it is a new

impression, and 'tis from thence one is to reckon, if one

would know how long the mind retains it. But the learning

pages of Latin by heart no more fits the memory for reten-

tion of anything else, than the graving of one sentence in

lead makes it the more capable of retaining firmly any other

characters." x

If Locke were right, education would become wholly im-

possible ; for, in case of all the faculties, education supposes

the existence of a natural germ which exercise fertilizes and

develops.

i Thoughts, edited by R. H. Quick (Cambridge, 1880), pp. 153-4.

PHILOSOPHERS OP THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 209

220. A Tkade should be learned. — Locke, like Rous-

seau, but for other reasons, wishes his pupil to learn a trade :

" I can not forbear to say, I would have nay gentleman

learn a trade, a manual trade; nay, two or three, but one

more particularly." l

Rousseau will say the same : ' ' Recollect that it is not

talent that I require of }-ou ; it is a trade, a real trade, a purely

mechanical art, in which the hands work more than the head."

But Locke, in having his gentleman learn carpentry or

agriculture, especially designed that this physical labor should

lend the mind a diversion, an occasion for relaxation and

repose, and secure to the body a useful exercise. Rousseau

is influenced by totally different ideas. What he wants is,

first, that through an apprenticeship to a trade, Emile may

protect himself against need in case a revolutionary crisis

should deprive him of his wealth. In the second place,

Rousseau obeys his social, we might even say his socialistic,

preoccupations. Work, in his view, is a strict duty, from

which no one can exempt himself. "Rich or poor, every

idle citizen is a knave."

221. Working Schools. — Although Locke is almost

exclusively preoccupied with classical studies and with a

gentleman's education, nevertheless he has not remained

completely a stranger to questions of primary instruction.

In 1(107 he addressed to the English government a remark-

able document on the importance of organizing "working

schools" for the children of the poor. All children over

three and under fourteen years of age are to be collected in

homes where they will And labor and food. In this way

Locke thought to contend against immorality and pauperism.

He would find a remedy for the idleness and vagabondage of

1 Thoughts, p. 177.

210 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

the child, and lighten the care of the mother who is absorbed

in her work. He would also, through habits of order and

discipline, train up stead} 7 men and industrious workmen. In

other terms, he attempted a work of social regeneration, and

the tutor of gentlemen became the educator of the poor.

222. Locke and Rousseau. — In the Emile we shall

frequently find passages inspired by him whom Rousseau

calls " the wise Locke." Perhaps we shall admire even more

the practical qualities and the good sense of the English

educator when we shall have become acquainted with the

chimeras of his French imitator. In the case of Locke, we

have to do, not with an author who wishes to shine, but with

a man of sense and judgment who expresses his opinions,

and who has no other pretense than to understand himself and

to be comprehended by others. To appreciate the Thoughts

at their full value, they should not be read till after having

re-read the Emile, which is so much indebted to them. On

coming from the reading of Rousseau, after the brilliant

glare and almost the giddiness occasioned his reader by a

writer of genius whose imagination is ever on the wing,

whose passion urges him on, and who mingles with so many

exalted truths, hasty paradoxes, and noisy declamations, it