XXXV.]
THE tablet,
No. xxxv.
« Man's natural love of ease and idleness, and
rttitnefi t0 " ldul S e his sensual pleasures are not to
it cur'd by precept : His jlrong habits and inclina
tims "can only be subdued by pafions of greater via-
Preach and demonjlrate to a coward the un
l"l'nablenefs of his fears, and you will not make
hiJi valiant, more than you can Make him taller by
Hiding him be tenfeet high.'"
MEN who pass their lives in contempla
tion and retirement seldom acquire
fuchideas of human nature as are proper to be
carried into practice. The melancholy impres
sions that are excited by a reelule, l'edentary life
have a molt pernicious eH'etit on the government
of a family- Most people make their own feel
inn-s the itandard by which to try the actions and
opinions of others. Tliispropenfity leads to pe
culiar inconveniences, when applied by old peo
ple to the management of youth. It is to be re
acted that systems of education are formed by
such men, and imposed on the world as the wifelt
and belt.
The natural love of company and strong de
sire for society, which seem to characterize so
areat a proportion of the human race, can never
beextinguifhed. They mull and will have scope,
and whoever attempts to destroy them, is waging
waragainftreafon and nature. His plan will ine
vitably be defeated, and he will reap anguish and
disappointment by his miltake, while his children
blait his fond hopes and fair prospeCts by their
profligacy and disobedience. The passions of a
,outh cannot be eradicated ; and if by forced
rales of education they are for a while fupprefl
ed, the barriers will foouer or later be broken
down, and they will rush forth like an irrefutable
torrent that carries every thing before it. No
thing however is more practicable than to pre
vent such difalters.
When a child discovers strong marks of vivaci
ty and it is difficult to curb his propensities, his
temper should not be soured, or his spirit cramp
ed by restraints. He may be so managed that his
fportsand recreations will turn into fafe chan
nels, and not run to pernicious extremes. Does
hemanifeila lively inclination for company;
let him be indulged in his favorite wiih. The
best method to prevent his having bad aflociates,
ij to cultivate a spirit of ambition, -that shall re
gulate the choice of his companions. His humour
mould be watched, treated with delicacy and
tenderness, and in that way controuled ; but it
can never be subdued. By a fkilful appeal to his
pride and vanity, they will constitute a security
againftthefeduCtions of low and abandoned cha
racters. There is no natural preference in chil
dren for vicious company or amusements. They
are firft allured into bad practices by finding ea
sy access, and feeling little rellraint by the fami
liar manners and sportive pleasantry of merry
fervauts and wicked wags. Such society gives
relief to the young mind from the rigorous pre
cepts, and Hern gravity which too often and too
fatally characterize parental government. A ve
hement love of society is not incoinpatable with
the nicelt choice of company, if pains were sea
sonably taken to instil an aversion against worth
less or scandalous aflociates. Most children may
he prevailed upon to have their diversions and
companions designated ; but it is as much an aCt
of folly to opv)ofe their inclinations, as it is of
imprudence not to observe and regulate them.
Decency and good morals maybe rendered plea
rant aswell as ufeful and commendable. Youth
nay be taught to distinguish between actions that
are proper and improper, without thwarting their
prevailing disposition. Under reasonable indul
gence and with a little precaution they may be
guarded agaift ngrofs vices and such practices us
ire openly scandalous.
N - InTablet No. 34, lafl line fir ft paragraph,
■ f ' Jhatl be considered," read should be conlicler
e ' The author meant to f'gge/l the principles up
lr> which thefubjc[l ought to be viewed ; it was not his
"tuition to discuss those points—but merely to intimate
1 order in which they should he considered.
i KETCJi OF THE POLITICAL STATE OF AMERICA.
WHETHER viewed by the contemplative
ye ° the p' ilofopher, or scanned by the more
ive mind of the politician and legislator, the
ppincls arising to society from the progress oi
conT. e m l^C Wor l £ l> presents the most pleaflng
ii>U' e^U - enCes .' as our encouragement to eltablifh
branch 10 ? V° r the e^ucat i oll °f youth 111 every
tedf C I°' terature —no country is more obliga-
Weir f cau s e °* learning than America—to the
ln 01niei 'i mind of her citizens does flieov e
WENDESDAY, Auouijr 12, 1739.
her present important rank in the scale of nations ;
to this is she indebted for her unparalleled ad
vances to greatness and empire, and on this does
the preservation of her future liberties and all
the invaluable rights of human nature eflential
ly depend.—What more noble or engagingcon
fiderations can be urged to prove the propriety
and policy of our exertions to place on the molt
liberal and solid grounds, the education of the
present generation ?—Let schools and colleges be
every where reared, as the more pleasing substi
tutes of jails andhoufes of correction, that a pro
per bias may be given to the tender mind, and
youth trained up in the way they fliould in future
walk : There is a native ingenuity in the cfifpo
fiiion of mankind, which by early cultivation may
be brought to maturity, and society thereby re
lieved in a great degree from the evils resulting
from ignorance and obstinacy—its natural off
fpring ; and each individual, inllead of being im
pelled by the fear of punifhment,be drawn by acon
fcioufnefs of duty to aCt well his part. Constitutions
and forms of government will little avail, without
a general prevalence of religion—the cultivation
of private virtue and a refinement of the moral
sense from her local situation, poflef
fes greater advantages for ths promotion of lite
rature and the arts, than has marked many other
nations in the early of their political ex
istence—not being subjeCt to the constant inroads
of barbarians or the tyranny of superstition, nor
interrupted by the frequent din of arms ever
lioltile to the arts —here peace waves her gentle
banners, and under the pleafine; auspices of our
present happy form of government and enlight
ened adminiltrators, science shall expand her ge
nial rays and the various fountains of learning
through the continent,annually iflue their streams,
which like the periodical inundations of the Nile
shall enrich the country all around.
While the lefler schools and every literary in
stitution, however final], must be thought wor
thy the attentioji of government —I hope to fee
the eftablilhment of a federal univerfity—itis an
idea which has been heretofore suggested, and
which presages much future advantage to the
public—Such a society may in a central
situation of the Union, under the management
of able instruCtors, to whichthe lludents gradua
ting at the different state colleges may repair, to
finifli their education, by remaining two or three
years, and principally directing their ltudies to
the political interelts of their country —the great
objects of legislation and national jurisprudence.
As we have taken our station among the other
nations of the world, itis highly proper we should
form on national principles, which can be belt done
by promoting such institutions as have a tenden
cy to remove local views and habits, and beget
mutual confidence, esteem and good fellowlhip
between those who are embarked in the fame bot
tom, and mult rife or fall together. The insti
tution above alluded to, I think will be happily
calculated to answer those valuable purposes, and
have the moll beneficial effects in a political view.
In order to avoid the idea, or prevent its being
in fact: an exclusive kind of education, it ought
to be conftruifted 011 the moll economical plan,
that the expence may be no bar to those who may
wifhto participate of the inflruCiion there to be
received, to form themselves for future eminent
Cervices to their country, to which their fludics
ought more particularly to be directed. Contract
ed and envious minds will always view with pain
every exertion made to cultivate and improve the
understanding of others, so as to raise them a
bove the level of their own : But this 1 presume
will be 110 objection of weight to the eltablifh
ment of those feniitiaries of learning and science,
u here men may be well instruCted in the rights
of human nature, and ltreftgtliened in their abi
lities to ail'ert those rights, and preserve them in
violate from that tyranny and oppression under
which mankind have too often groaned in lei's
enlightened ages.
We find by a review of the history of ancient
Rome, wliofe lustre and national greatness was
once the alfonifhment of the world, the arts and
jciences, and liberty, ever flourifhed hand in
hand, while they could boast a set of wife and able
Princes who gave thein all due encouragement —
and that to check the progress of literature, and
to marr every noble exertion of the human pow
ers, formed the firft attempts of their tyrannic
rulers, to enslave thein ; and we observe liberty
and the arts to have gradually decayed, till they
finally funk into their original barbarity and Go
thicifm. It remains for America, by an early at
tention to the encouragement of every art and
science, and the cultivation of the human mind,
to the highest pitch of improvement, to fit the in
habitants of this western world for the enjoy
ment of that freedom and independence for
r Publijhed on Wednesday and Saturday
which they have so nobly fought—and which will
never be wrested from thein, while they fuck in
with t heir milk, thefirll principles of civil liber
ty, and are uniformly educated in an abhorence
of every attempt that may be formed to deprive
them of this mighty boon from heaven.
AMERICANUS.
A Jhort sketch of the HISTORY of SWEDEN.
AS Sweden occupies at present in a high de
gree the attention of the public, we shall fur
nifh our 'readers with a concise narrative of its
history, from the remotest period to the present
time.
The firlt epocha of Sweden extends from the
firlt peopling of the country, whenever that was,
to the time when King Olaus embraced the Chris
tian faith, about the yearßj3.
This was a period of little importance as nothing
certain can be said concerning it. The Swedes,
unwilling to be outdone by the Danes, have, like
them, been fond of magnifying their antiquity,
but the accounts given us byfonie of their histo
rians are obviously too fabulous to merit attention.
from this period, down to the time when the
three northern crowns were united, under Queen
Margaret of Denmark, in 1307, there are but
few circumstances that deserve our particular no
tice. Sweden was pretty much in the fame state
with Denmark, being partly involved in intestine
troubles, and partly engaged in contests with its
neighbors.
Though by the Constitution of Calmar, it was
agreed upon, that Denmark, Sweden and Nor
way, lliould be governed for the future by the
fame Princes, yet that constitution being more
favorable to the Danes than the Swedes, the latter
were perpetually endeavoring to ihake off the
yoke. Hence they were involved in perpetual
contests and disorders, and were fubje<ftedto great
calamities ; till at length the spirit of the nation
was roused, such noble efforts were made under
the auspicious conduct ofGuftavus Ericfon, about
IJ2B, that the Swedes effectually recovered their
liberties and their independence.
The most important period in the Swedish hi
story is undoubtedly the interval between the
reign ofGuftavus Ericfon and the death of Charles
XII. in tli£ year 1 718. This is a period in which
that kingdom is diftinguiihed by several striking
events at home, and by ihe figure which it made
obroad.
Guftavus Ericfon, besides restoring the free
dom of his country, aboliflied Popery, and esta
blished Lutheranil'm, ruled with great dignity,
and renderedthe crown hereditary in his family.
Guftavas Adolphus was one of the greatest he
rpes of modern'times, and has rendered his name
extremely illustrious by his mighty actions in Ger
many, in defence of the Protestant cause, againlt
the attempts of the House of Austria. The grand
enterprizes begun by Guftavus Adolphus, in fa
vor of Germanic Liberty, civil and religious,were
completed under the minority of his daughter,
Christiana, whose resignation of the sovereignty,
and whose Angular character are curious objects
ot history. Equally lingular is the character of
Charles XII, with regard to whom it is needless
to fay, that his wonderful achievements and ex
traordinary adventures have ranked him among
the most celebrated persons whom the world ever
produced.
The Swedish Kings had been fucceflively grow
ing more and more arbitrary, and Charles XII,
had become so in a higher degree than any of
his predecefiors. But till the revolution in that
kingdom in 1772, it appears that the people had
again reduced the kingly power within very nar
row limits.
This country seems to be gradually advancing
in knowledge, commerce, and the arts of life ;
and though it has not lately made the figure it
formerly did, it has been fuccefsfulin its wars ;
and though one could form no idea that the mo
dern Swedes are the,defcendants of those who un
der Guftavus Adolphus and Charles XII carried
terror in their names, through the most distant
countries, and Ihook the foundations of the
gieateft empires, yet that nation will probably
soon recover some lhare of her former character
under Guftavus 111. the reigning monarch, who,
as is evident both from his late and present con
duct, is a Prince of great ambition, and of very
conftderable abilities.
ENGLISH PARAGRAPH.
THE Americans, under the direction of
Washington, now Prelident of the States, to
gain connection between two rivers, tunnelleda
hill of more consequence than that of Sapperton
inGloucefterfhire,and at twenty timeslefs
They worked with a large horizontal borer, by
the power of steam.