288 The history of pedagogy.

assure against every exterior influence the free development

of his faculties — such is the end that he proposes to himself.

Another general principle of the Emile, another truth

which Rousseau's spirit of paradox quickly transforms into

error, is the idea of the distinction of ages : —

"Each age, each state of life, has its proper perfection,

and a sort of maturity which is its own. We have often

heard of a man grown ; but let us think of a child grown.

That sight will be newer to us, and perhaps not less agree-

able."

"We do not know infancy. With the false ideas we have,

the further we go, the more we are astray. The most learned

give their attention to that which it is important for men to

j know without considering what children are in a condition to

comprehend. The}' always look for the man in the child,

without thinking of what he was before he became a man."

' ' Everything is right so far, and from these observations

there proceeds a progressive education, exactly conforming

In its successive requirements to the progress of the faculties.

But Rousseau does not stop in his course, and he goes be-

yond progressive education to recommend an education in

fragments, so to speak, which isolates the faculties in order

to develop them one after another, which establishes an abso-

lute line of demarkation between the different ases, and

which ends in distinguishing three stages of progress in the

soul. Rousseau's error on this point is in forgetting that

the education of the child ought to prepare for the education

of the young man. Instead of considering the different ages

as the several rings of one and the same chain, he separates

them sharply from one another. He does not admit that

marvellous unity of the human soul, which seems so strong in

man only because God has, so to speak, woven its bands into

the child and there fastened them." (Greard).

ROUSSEAU AND THE EMILE. 289

309. Romantic Character of the вЈmile. ВЂ” a final ob-

servation is necessary before entering into an analysis of the

Emile ; it is that in this, as in his other works, Rousseau is

not averse to affecting singularities, and with deliberation

and effrontery to break with received opinions. Doubtless we

should not go so far as to say with certain critics that the

Emile is rather the feat of a wit than the serious expression

of a grave and serious thought ; but what it is impossible

not to grant is that which Rousseau himself admits in his

preface : " One will believe that he is reading, not so much

a book on education as the reveries of a visionary." Emile,

in fact, is an imaginary being whom Rousseau places in strange

conditions. He does not give him parents, but has him

brought up by a preceptor in the country, far from all society.

ВЈmile is a character in a romance rather than a real man.

310. Division of the Work. — Without doubt, there

are in the Emile long passages and digressions that make the

reading of it more agreeable and its analysis more difficult.

But, notwithstanding all this, the author confines himself to

a methodical plan, at least to a chronological order. The

different ages of Emiile serve as a principle for the division

of the work. The first two books treat especially of the in-

fant and of the earliest period of life up to the age of twelve.

The only question here discussed is the education of the body

and the exercise of the senses. The third book corresponds

to the period of intellectual education, from the twelfth to

the fifteenth year. In the fourth book, Rousseau studies

moral education, from the fifteenth to the twentieth year.

Finally, the fifth book, in which the romantic spirit is still

rampant, is devoted to the education of woman.

311. The First Two Books of the &\iile. — It would be

useless to search this first part of the Emile for precepts rela-

290 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

tive to the education of the mind and the heart. Rousseau

has purposely eliminated from the first twelve years of the

child's life everything which concerns instruction and moral

discipline. At the age of twelve, Emile will know how to

run, jump, and judge of distances ; but he will be perfectly

ignorant. The idea would be that he has studied nothing at

all, and "that he has not learned to distinguish his right

hand from his left."

The exclusive characteristic of Emile's education, during

this first period, is, then, the preoccupation with physical

development and with the training of the senses.

Out of many errors, we shall see displayed some admirable

flashes of good sense, and grand truths inspired by the prin-

ciple of nature.

312. Let Nature have her Way. — What does nature

demand? She demands that the child have liberty of move-

ment, and that nothing interfere with the nascent activities

of his limbs. What do we do, on the contrary? We put

him in swaddling clothes ; we imprison him. He is deformed

by his over-tight garments, — the first chains that are imposed

on a being who is destined to have so many others to bear !

On this subject, the bad humor of Rousseau does not tire.

He is prodigal in outbreaks of spirit, often witty, and some-

times ridiculous.

" It seems," he says, " as though we fear that the child

may appear to be alive." "Man is born, lives, and dies, in a

state of slavery ; at his birth he is stitched into swaddling-

clothes ; at his death he is nailed in his coffin ; and as long

as he preserves the human form he is held captive by our