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<A LOCKE JOHN>
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<O 1640-1710>
<M X>
<K X>
<D ENGLISH>
<V PROSE>
<T EDUC TREAT>
<G X>
<F X>
<W WRITTEN>
<X MALE>
<Y 40-60>
<H HIGH>
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<E X>
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<Z INSTR SEC>
<S SAMPLE X>


[^LOCKE, JOHN.
DIRECTIONS CONCERNING EDUCATION.
ED. F. G. KENYON.
OXFORD: THE ROXBURGHE CLUB, 1933.
PP. 44.21 - 59.12^]

<P 44>
   20. Let his bed be hard and rather quilts then feathers.     #
Hard
lodging strengthens the parts whereas being buried every night  #
in
feathers melts and dissolves the body and is often the cause of
weakenesse and the forerunner of an early grave, and besides    #
the
stone which has commonly its rise from this warme wraping of    #
the
reins. Severall other indispositions and that which is the      #
root of
<P 45>
them all a tender weakely constitution is very much oweing to
downe beds. Besides he that is used to hard lodging at home     #
will
not misse his sleep (where he has most need of it) when he      #
travells 
abroad for want of his soft bed and his pillars laid in order,  #
and
therefore I thinke it would not be amisse to make his bed after
different fashons. Sometimes lay his head higher sometimes      #
lower,
that he may not feele every litle change he must be sure to     #
meet
with, who is not designed to lye alwayes in my young masters    #
bed
at home and to have his maid to lay all things in print and     #
tuck him
in warme. The great cordiall of nature is sleepe, he that       #
misses it
will suffer by it, and he is very unfortunate who can take his  #
cordiall
only in his mothers guilt cup and not in a wooden dish. He      #
that can
sleepe soundly takes the cordial and matters not whether it be  #
on a soft
bed or on the hard boards, tis sleepe only that is the thing    #
necessary.
   21. One thing more there is which has a great influence      #
upon the
health, and that is goeing to stoole regularly. People that     #
are very
loose have seldome strong thoughts or strong bodies, but the    #
cure
of this both by diet and medecine being much more easy then the
contrary evill there needs not much to be said about it, for    #
if loosnesse
come to threaten either by it[{s{] violence or duration it will
soone enough and sometimes too soone make a phisitian be sent
for, and if it be moderate and short it is commonly best to     #
leave it
to nature. On the other side costiveness has too its ill        #
effects and is
much harder to be dealt with by physique, purgeing medicines    #
which
seeme to give releife rather increasing then removeing the      #
evill.
   22. It haveing been an inconvenience that my owne natural    #
constitution
disposed me to, I would have been glad of a cure. Not findeing
it in books I set my thoughts on worke beleiveing that greater  #
changes
then that might be made in our bodys if we tooke the right      #
course
and proceeded by rationall steps.
<P 46>
   23. 1. Then I considerd that goeing to stoole was the        #
effect of certaine
motions of the body espetially of the peristaltique motion of   #
the guts.
   24. 2. I considerd that several motions that were not        #
perfectly
voluntary might yet by use and constant application be brought  #
to
be habitual if by any unintermitted custome it were at certaine
seasons endeavourd to be constantly produced.
   25. 3. I had observed some men who by takeing after supper a
pipe of tobacco never failed of a stoole and begun to doubt     #
with
myself whether it were not more custome then the tobacco that   #
gave
them that benefit of nature or at least if the tobacco did it   #
it was
rather by exciteing a vigorous motion in the guts then by any   #
purging
quality, for then it would have had other effects.
   26. Haveing thus once got the opinion that it was possible   #
to make
it habituall, the next thing was to consider what way and       #
meanes
was the likeliest to obteine it.
   27. 4. Then I guessd that if a man after his first eating    #
in the
morning would presently solicit nature and trye whether he      #
could
strain himself soe as to obteine a stoole, he might in time by  #
a constant
application bring it to be habituall. The reasons that made me
choose this time was 1. because the stomach being then empty,   #
if
it received any thing gratefull to it (for I would never have   #
any one
[{eat{] but what he likes and when he has an appetite) it was   #
apt to
imbrace it close by a strong constriction of its fibres, which  #
constriction

I was apt to thinke might probably be continued on in the
guts and soe increase their peristaltique motion, as we see in  #
the
Ileus that an inverted motion being begun anywhere below        #
continues
itself all the whole length and makes even the stomach obey
that irregular motion.
   2. because when men eat they usualy relax their thoughts on  #
the
<P 47>
Spirits then free from other imployments are more vigorously    #
distributed
in the lower belly, which thereby contribute to the same        #
effect.
   3. Because when ever men have leisure to eat they have       #
leisure
enough also to make soe much court to Madam Cloacina as would
be necessary to our present purpose, but else in the variety of
humane affairs and accidents it was impossible to affix it to   #
any
hower certain, whereby the custome would be interrupted,        #
whereas
men in health seldome failing to eat once a day, though the     #
hower
changed the custome might still be preservd.
   28. Upon these grounds I proceeded to make an Experiment in
myself and therefore constantly after my first eating which was
seldome till dinner I went to the necessary house whether I     #
found
myself cald or noe and there endeavourd to put nature upon her
duty. I cannot tell what success I had in the begining, it      #
being
now a long time since, but this I am sure that I got such an    #
habit
of goeing to stoole that I doe not now once in a month faile    #
of it
after my first eating, though sometimes the hower very much     #
alters,
unlesse it be by my own neglect, for whether I have any motion  #
or
noe if I goe to the place and doe my part, I am sure to have    #
nature
very obedient, and this I thinke any one else may doe that      #
will at 
first but take constantly a litle pains with himself.
   29. I would therefore advise you that this course should be  #
taken
with your Son. Every day presently after he has eaten his       #
breakefast
let him be set upon the stoole as if disburthening were in his  #
power as
much as filling his belly, and let not him nor his maid know    #
anything
to the contrary but that it is soe, and if he be forced to      #
endeavour
by being hinderd from his play or eating again till he has
been effectually at stool or at least donne his utmost I doubt  #
not but
<P 48>
in a litle while it will become habituall to him, for children  #
that
are usually intent on their play and very heedlesse of any      #
thing else,
often let passe these motions of nature when she calls on them  #
but
gently, which often not being repeated they doe by degrees      #
bring
themselves into an habituall costivenesse.
   30. How far you will thinke this worth tryall in your owne   #
health
I cannot tell, this I am sure if you need it it may [{not{] be  #
disadvantageous
to you, and if any one goes to stoole once in 24 howers
I thinke it enough.
   31. This is all I have to trouble you with concerning his    #
management
in the ordinary course of his health. Perhaps it will be        #
expected
from me that I should give him some directions of physick to
prevent diseases. For which I have only this one very sacredly  #
to
be observed, never to give children any physick for prevention.
The rules I have already given will I suppose doe that better   #
than
all the Apothecarys shops and medicines in the County; have a   #
great
care of tampering that way, least instead of preventing you     #
draw on
diseases. Nor even upon every litle indisposition is physick    #
to be
given or the physitian to be cald, espetially if he be a        #
busyman
that will presently fill their windows with gally pots and      #
their
stomachs with drugs. It is safer to leave them wholy to nature  #
then
to put them into the hands of one forward to tamper or that     #
thinkes
children are to be curd in ordinary distempers by any thing but
diet or by a method very litle distant from it, it seeming      #
suitable
both to my reason and experience that the tender constitutions  #
of
children should have as litle donne to them as is possible and  #
as the
absolute necessity of the case requires. A litle cold stild     #
red popywater 
which is the true surfet water, with ease and abstinence from
flesh, often puts an end to several distempers in the           #
beginning which
by too forward applications might have been made lusty          #
diseases.
<P 49>
When such a gentle treatment will not prevent the growing       #
mischeife
but that it will turne into a formed disease, to which your     #
children
are as well liable as others, it will be time to seeke the      #
advice of
some sober discreet physitian. In this part I hope I shall      #
finde easy
beleive and noe body can have a pretence to doubt of a          #
physitians
advice when he counsells you not to be too forwards in makeing
use of physick and physitians.
   32. And thus I have donne with what concernes the body and
health, which reduces itself to these few and easily            #
observeable rules,
plenty of open air and sleepe, plain diet, noe wine nor strong  #
drinke,
and very litle or noe physick, not too warme or strait          #
clothing,
espetially the head and feet kept cold and the feet often used  #
to
cold water and exposed to wet. Due care being had to keepe the
body in strength and vigour, soe that it may be able to obey    #
and
execute the orders of the minde. The next and principall        #
businesse
is to set the minde right, that in all occasions it may be      #
disposed to
doe noething but what may be suitable to the dignity and        #
exellency
of a rationall creature.
   33. If what I have said in the begining of this discourse    #
be true
as I doe not doubt but it is, viz. That the differences to be
found in the manners and abilitys of men is oweing more to      #
their
Education then anything else, we have reason to conclude that   #
great
care is to be had of the formeing childrens mindes and giveing  #
them
that season early which shall influence their lives always      #
after. For
when they doe well or ill the praise or blame will be laid      #
there. And
when any thing is donne untowardly the common saying will passe
upon them, That it is suitable to their breeding.
   34. As the strength of the body lies chiefely in being able  #
to
<P 50>
endure hardships, soe also does that of the minde. And the      #
great
principle and foundation of all vertue and worth is placed in   #
this,
That a man is able to deny himself his owne desires, crosse     #
his owne
inclinations, and purely follow what reason directs as best     #
though
the appetite leane the other way.
   35. The great mistake I have observed in peoples breeding    #
children
has been that this has not been taken care enough of in its due
season. That the minde has not been made obedient to rules and
pliant to reason when at first it was most tender, most easy    #
to be 
bowed. Parents being wisely ordend by nature to love their      #
children
are very apt, if reason watch not their natural affection very  #
warily,
are apt I say to let it run into fondnesse. The[{y{] love       #
their litle
ones and tis their duty, but they often with them cherish       #
their fault
too. They must not be crossed forsooth, they must be permitted
to have their wills in all things, and they being in their      #
infancys not
capeable of great views their parents thinke they may safely    #
enough
indulge their litle irregularitys and make themselves sport     #
with that
pretty perversnesse which they thinke well enough becomes that
innocent age. But Solon very well replyd to a fond parent that
would not have his child corrected for a perverse trik but      #
excused
it saying twas a small matter, ay said Solon but custome is a   #
great one.
   36. The fondling must be taught to stricke and call names,   #
must
have what he cryes for, and doe what he pleases. Thus parents   #
by
humoring and cockering them when litle corrupt the principles   #
of
nature in their children, and wonder afterwards to taste the    #
bitter
waters when they themselves have poisond the fountains. For     #
when
the children are grown up and these ill habits with them, when  #
they
are now too big to be dandled and their parents can noe longer
make use of them as play things, then they complain that the    #
brats
are untoward, perverse, then they are offended to see them      #
willfull,
<P 51>
and are troubled with these ill humors which they themselves    #
inspired
and cherishd in them, and then perhaps too late would be
glad to get out those weeds which their own hands have planted  #
and
which now have taken too deep root to be easily extirpated.     #
For he
that has been used to have his will in every thing as long as   #
he has
been in coats, why should we thinke it strange that he should   #
desire
and contend for it still when he is in breetches. Indeed as he  #
grows
more towards a man, it shows his faults the more, soe that      #
there be
few parents then soe blinde as not to see them, soe insensible  #
as not
to feele the ill effects of their owne indulgence. He had the   #
will
of his maid before he could speake or goe, he had the mastery   #
of
his parents ever since he could prattle, and why now he is      #
grown up,
is stronger and wiser then he was then, why now of a suddain    #
must
he be restraind and curbd, why must he at 7, 14, or 20 yeares   #
old
loose the priviledg which the parents indulgence till then soe  #
largely
allowd him? Trye it in a Dog or an horse or any other creature,
and see whether the ill and resty triks they have learnt when   #
young
are easily to be mended when they are knit, and yet none of     #
these
creatures are half soe willfull and proud, are half so          #
desirous to be
masters of themselves and others, as man.
   37. We are generally wise enough to begin with them when     #
they
are very young and discipline betimes those other creatures we  #
would
make usefull to us. They are only our ofspring that we neglect  #
in
this point and haveing made them ill children we foolishly      #
expect
they should be good men. For if the child must [{have{] wine    #
and
sugar plumbs when he has a minde to it rather then make the     #
poore
baby cry or be out of humour, why when he is grown up must not
[{he{] be satisfied too if his desires carry him to wine or     #
women?
They are objects as suitable to the longing of that age as      #
what he
cried for when litle was to the inclination of a child. The     #
fault lies
<P 52>
not in haveing desires suitable to the apprehensions and        #
appetites of
these severall ages but in the not haveing them subject to the  #
rules
and restraints of reason. The difference lies not in the        #
haveing or
not haveing appetites but in the power to govern and deny our   #
selves
in them. And he that is not used to submit his will to the      #
reason
of others when he is young will scarce hearken or submit to his
owne reason when he is of an age to make use of it. And what a 
kinde of man such a one is like to make is easy to forsee.
   38. I looke upon it then that the principall of all vertue   #
and
Excellency lyies in a power of denying our selves the           #
satisfaction of
our own desires where reason does not authorize them. This      #
power
is to be got and improved by custome, made easy and familiar by
an early practise. If therefore I might be heard I would        #
advise that
contrary to the ordinary way children should be used to submit 
their desires and goe without their longings even from their    #
very
cradles. From the time that they began to understand any thing  #
they
should be taught to know that they were not to have any thing
because it pleased them, but because it was thought fit for     #
them.
If things suitable to their wants were supplied to them soe     #
that they
were never sufferd to have any thing because they cried for     #
it, they
would learne to be content without it, would never crye for     #
mastery,
nor never be half soe uneasy to themselves and others as they   #
are
because from the first begining they are not thus handled. If   #
they
were never sufferd to obteine any thing by the impatience they  #
expresse
for it, they would noe more crye for other things then they
doe for the moon.
   39. I say not this as if children were not to be indulged    #
in any
<P 53>
thing, or that I expected they should in hanging sleeves have   #
the
reason and conduct of counsellors. I consider them as children  #
that
must be tenderly used, that must play and have play things.     #
That
which I meane is that when ever they desire any thing not fit   #
for
them to have or doe, they should not be permitted it because    #
they
were litle and desird it. Nay what they once craved, were       #
importunate
for, or once cried for, they should be sure for that very
reason to be denyd. I have seen children at a Table who what    #
ever
was there never asked for any thing but contentedly tooke what  #
was
given them, and at another place I have seen others cry for     #
every
thing they saw, must be served out of every dish, and that      #
first too.
What made this vast difference but that one was accustomd to    #
have
what he cald or cried for, the other to goe without it. The     #
younger
they are, the lesse I say are there unruly and disorderly       #
appetites
to be complyd with, and the lesse reason they have of their     #
owne,
the more are they to be under the absolute power and restraint  #
of
those in whose hands they are. From which I confesse it will    #
follow
that none but discreet people should be about them. If the      #
world
commonly does otherwise I cannot help that, I am telling you    #
what
I thinke should be, which if it were already in fashon I thinke
I need not trouble you with such a discourse as this. And I     #
beleive
when you have considerd of it you will be of opinion with me    #
that
the sooner this way is begun with children the easier it will   #
be for
them and their governours too. And that this ought to be        #
observd
as an inviolable maxime that what ever once is denied them      #
they are
certainly not to obteine by crying or importunity unlesse one   #
has
a minde to teach them to be impatient importunate and           #
troublesome
by rewarding them when they are soe.
   40. I advise you therefore if you intend ever to governe     #
your son
to begin it now. Let the rules you prescribe him and what you   #
say
<P 54>
be inviolably observed. If you will have him have the           #
obedience of
a son hereafter doe you be sure to keep and shew the authority  #
of
a father now, if you would have him stand in awe of you imprint
it presently, and as he approaches more to a man admit him      #
nearer
to your familiarity, so shall you have him your obedient        #
subject (as
is fit) whilst he is a child, and your affectionate freind      #
when he is
a man. For methinkes they misplace mightily the treatment due   #
to
their children who are indulgent and familiar when they are     #
litle,
but severe to them and keep a distance when they are grown up.
For liberty and indulgence can doe noe good to children, their  #
want
of judgment makes them stand in need of restraint and           #
discipline,
and on the contrary imperiousnesse and severity is but an ill   #
way
of treating of men who have reason of their owne to guide them,
unlesse you have a minde to make your children when grown up
weary of you and secretly to say dayly within themselves, when
will you die, father.
   41. I imagin every one will judg it reasonable that their    #
children 
when litle should looke upon their parents as their Lords,      #
their
absolute Governors, and as such stand in awe of them. And that
when they are grown up they should looke on them as their best
and their only sure freinds, and as such love and reverence     #
them.
The way I have mentiond, if I mistake not, is the only one to
obteine this, we must looke upon our children when grown up to  #
be
like to our selves, with the same passions, the same desires.   #
We would 
be thought rational creatures and have our freedome, we love    #
not to
be uneasy under the constant rebukes and browbeatings, the      #
severe
humors and great distance of those we converse with. Who ever   #
is
soe when he is a man will looke out other Company, other        #
freinds,
other conversation, with whom he can be at ease. If therefore a
strict hand be kept over children from the begining they will   #
in
<P 55>
that age be tractable and quietly submit to it, as never        #
haveing known
any other, and if as they grow up to the use of reason the      #
rigor of
government be as they deserve it gently relaxed, the fathers    #
brow be
more smoothed to them, and the distance by degrees abated, his
former restraints will increase their love when they finde it   #
was only
a kindenesse to them and a care to make them capable to         #
deserve the
favour of their parents and the esteeme of everybody else.
   42. Thus much for the method of your discipline in           #
generall. If
you thinke a strict hand at all is to be held upon children I   #
thinke
it should be most soe when they are youngest, from the time     #
they 
are capable of understanding any thing. Feare and awe ought to
give you the first power over their mindes, and Love and        #
Freindship
in riper years to hold it. For the time must come when they
will be past the rod and correction, and then if the Love of    #
you make
them not obedient and dutifull, if the Love of vertue and       #
reputation
keepe them not in laudible courses, I aske what hold will you   #
have
then upon them to turne them to it. Indeed feare of haveing a   #
scanty
portion if they displease you may make them slaves to your      #
estate,
but they will never the lesse be ill and wiked in private, and
that restraint will not last always. Every man must some time   #
or
other be trusted to himself and his own conduct, and he that    #
is a
good, a vertuous, an able man must be made soe within, and      #
therefore
what he is to receive from Education, what is to sway and       #
influence
his life, must be something put into him betimes, habits woven  #
into
the very principles of his nature, and not a counterfeit        #
carriage and
dissembled outside put on by feare only to avoid the present    #
anger
of a father who perhaps may disinherit him.
   43. This being laid downe in general as the method ought to  #
be
taken, tis fit we now come to particulars. I have spoke soe     #
much of
carrying a strict hand over children that perhaps I shall be    #
suspected
<P 56>
of not considering enough what is due to their tender ages and
constitutions, but that opinion will vanish when you have       #
heard me
a litle further. For I am very apt to thinke that great         #
severity of
punishment does but very litle good, nay great harme, in        #
Education,
and I beleive it will be found that (\caetris paribus\) those   #
children who
have been most chastised seldome make the best men. All that I  #
have
hitherto contended for is that whatsoever rigor is necessary    #
it is
more to be used the younger children are, and haveing by a due
application wrought its due effect is to be relaxd and changed  #
into
a milder sort of government. The first thing parents are to     #
doe is
to get an awe upon the mindes of their children and then by     #
that and
not by blowes to bring them to submit their will perfectly to   #
theirs.
   44. First then I would have children very seldome beaten.    #
Tis
to make slaves and not vertuous men to use them to be governd   #
by
the feare of the scourge, and to know noe other motive of their
actions, noe other rule of right and wrong but the cudgle. Two
faults and only two there be that I would have them whipd for   #
to
give them the greater abhorrence of them, and that is Lyeing    #
and
obstinacy or rebellion, and in these two I would have it        #
orderd soe 
that the shame of the whiping and not the pain should be the    #
greatest 
part of the punishment. Shame of doeing amisse and deserving
chastisement is the only true restraint belonging to vertue,    #
the smart
of a rod if shame accompanies it not soon weares out, and will
quickly by use loose its terror, and I have known the children  #
of
a person of quality kept in awe by the feare of haveing their   #
shoes
puld off, as much as others by apprehensions of a rod hangeing  #
over
<P 57>
them, and some such punishment I thinke better then beating,    #
for
tis shame of the fault and the disgrace that attends it that    #
they should
stand in feare of, rather then paine, if you would have them    #
have
a temper truely ingenuous. 
   45. A lie is so ill a quality and the mother of soe many     #
ill ones
that spawn from it and take shelter under it that I would have  #
a child
be bread up in the greatest abhorrence and detestation of it    #
imaginable.
It should be deeply imprinted on his minde that it is soe base
a thing, soe great a fault, that it is against all custome and  #
practise,
against common sense to pardon it in a gent(leman), and         #
therefor
it being a fault that none but tinkers and coblers, rogues and  #
beggerboys 
commit, he is not ever to expect impunity if he be ever guilty
of it.
   46. Another thing that will require punishment is            #
stubbornesse
and an obstinate disobedience. Whatever particular action you   #
bid
him at present doe or forbeare you must be sure to see yourself
obeyd. Noe quarter in this case, noe resistance, for when it    #
once
come to be a triall of skill and contest for mastery (as if     #
you command
and he refuses it is) between you you must be sure to carry it
whatever blows it cost, if a nod or words will not prevaile;    #
unlesse
for ever after you intend to live in obedience to your son.     #
But here
lies the difference between these two faults and the ways of    #
reforming
them. A lie unlesse it be very grosse you need not always       #
seeme to
take notice of, and soe trye to give him an abhorrence of it    #
by 
gentler ways, but obstinancy being an open defiance you cannot  #
overlooke,
and since the occasions of punishment, espetially beating,
are as much to be avoided as may be, I would not have it often
brought to this point. If the awe I spoke of be once got, a     #
looke
will be sufficient in most cases, nor indeed should the same    #
carriage
be expected from young children as from those of riper years.   #
They
<P 58>
must be permitted the foolish and childish actions suitable to  #
their 
ages without takeing notice of them. I thinke the severity I    #
spoke
of is not to extend itself to such an unseasonable restraint.   #
Keep
them from vice and vicious dispositions and such a kinde of     #
behaviour
in generall will come with every degree of their age as is      #
suitable
to that age and the company they ordinarily converse with. But
that your words may always carry weight and authority with      #
them,
if it shall happen upon any occasion that you bid him leave     #
off the
doeing of any even childish thing you must be sure to carry the
point and not let him have the mastery. But yet I say I would   #
have
the father seldome interpose his authority and command in       #
these cases.
I thinke there are better ways of prevailing with them, and a
gentle perswasion and reasoning (when the first point of        #
submission
to your will is got) will most times doe much better. You will  #
perhaps
wonder to finde me mention reasoning with children, and yet
I cannot but thinke that the true way of dealing with them.     #
They
understand it as early  as they doe language, and if I          #
misobserve not
they love to be treated as rational creatures sooner then is    #
imagind.
Tis a pride should be cherishd in them and, as much as can be,
made the great instrument to traine them by.
   47. It may be doubted concerning whiping, when as the last
remedy it comes to be necessary, at what time and by whom it
should be donne, whether presently upon the commiting of the    #
fault
whilst it is yet fresh and hot, and whether the parents         #
themselves
should beat their children. As to the first I thinke it should  #
not be
donne presently, least passion mingle with it, and soe though   #
it
exceed the just proportion yet it loose the authority, for      #
even children
discerne when we doe things in passion, but as I said before
that has most weight with them that appeares sedately to come   #
from
their parents reason, and they are not without this             #
destinction. Next
<P 59>
if you have any discreet servant capable of it and has the      #
place of
governing your childe I thinke it is best the smart should come
more immediately from another hand though by the parents order,
who should see it donne, whereby the parents authority will be
preservd and the childs aversion for the pain it suffers be     #
rather 
turned on the person that immediately inflicts it. For I would  #
have
a father seldome stricke his childe but upon very urgent        #
necessity
and as the last remedy, and then perhaps it will be fit to doe  #
it soe
that the childe should not quickly forget it. But as I said     #
before
beating is the worst and therefore the last meanes to be used   #
in the
correction of children, and therefore never but in cases of     #
extremitys
and that very very seldome. 



