Atter him, and at a short interval, appeared two philosophers, who were more sober-minded, and had better aims. These were Condillac and Hartley. The first work of Condillac appeared some years before the publication of that of Hartley; but the whole of Hartley's train of thought has so much the air of being his own, -that there is abundant reason to be lieve the speculations of both philosophers equally original. They both began upon the ground that all simple ideas are copies of impressions • that all complex ideas are only simple ideas united by the principle of association. They proceeded to examine all the phenomena of the human mind, and were of opinion that the principle of association, or the suc cession of one simple idea after another, according to certain laws, accounts for the whole ' • that these laws might, by meditation, be • ascertained and ap plied ; and that then the human mind would be un derstood, as far as man has the means of knowing it.
The merit of Condillac is very great. It may yet, perhaps, be truer to say, that he wrote admirably upon philosophy, than that he was a great philoso pher. His power consists in expression ; he conveys metaphysical ideas with a union of brevity and clear ness which never has been surpassed. But though he professed rather to deliver the opinions of others, than to aim at invention, it cannot be denied that he left the science of the human mind in a much better state than he found it; and this is equivalent to dis covery. As a teacher, in giving in this field a right turn to the speculations of his countrymen, his value is beyond all calculation ; and perhaps there is no one human being, with the exception of Locke, who was his master, to whom, in this respect, the progress of the human mind is so largely indebted. It is also true, that to form the conception of tracing, the se quences among our simple ideas, as the whole of the philosophy of the human mind—(even with the help. which flume had afforded, and it is more than pro bable that neither Condillac nor Hartley had ever heard of a work which, according to its author, had fallen dead-born from the press),—was philosophical and sagacious in the highest degree.
It must, however, be allowed, that, in expounding the various mental phenomena of man, Condillac does not display the same penetration and force of mind, nor the same comprehensiveness, as Dr. Hart ley. He made great progress in showing how those phenomena might be resolved into the se quences of simple ideas ; but Dr. Hartley made still greater. We do, not mean to pronounce a positive opinion either for or against the grand undertaking of Dr. Hartley, to resolve the whole of the mental. phenomena of man into sequences of impressions and of the simple ideas which copy them. But we have no hesitation in saying, that he philosophizes with extraordinary power and sagacity; and i. is astonishing how many of the mental phenomena he has clearly resolved; how Hula, iv Liao ,aft about which any doubt can remain.
We cannot afford to pursue this subject any far ther. This much is ascertained, that the character of the human mind consists in the sequences of its ideas; that the object of education, therefore, is, to provide for the constant production of certain se quences, rather than others; that we cannot be sure of adopting the best means to that end, unless we have the greatest knowledge of the sequences themselves.
In what has been already ascertained on this sub ject, we have seen that there are two things which have a wonderful power over those sequences. They are, custom, and pain or pleasure. Both of these powers were well remarked by Mr. Hobbes. These are the grand instruments or powers, by the use of which, the purposes of education are to be attain ed.
Where one idea has followed another a certain number of times, the appearance of the first in the mind is sure to be followed by that of the second, and so on. One of the grand points, then, in the study of education, is, to find the means of making, in the most perfect manner, those repetitions on which the beneficial sequences depend.
When we speak of making one idea follow another, and always that which makes part of a good train, instead of one that makes part of a bad train, there is one difficulty—in this—that each idea, taken singly by itself, is as fit to be apart of a bad train as of a good one; for bad trains and good trains are both made out of the same simple elements. Trains however, take place by sequences of twos, or threes; or any greater number ; and the nature of these sequences, as complex parts of a still greater whole, is that which renders the train either salutary or hurt ful. Custom is, therefore, to be directed to two points ; first, to form those sequences which make the component parts of a good wain ; and secondly, to join those sequences together, so as to constitute the train.
When we speak of making one idea follow another, there must always be a starting point; there must be some one idea from which the train begins to flow; and it is pretty evident that much will depend upon this idea. One grand question, then, is—what are the ideas which moat frequently operate as the commencement of trains ?—that we may by custom attach to them such as are the most beneficent. It has been observed thatrmost, if not all, of our trains, start from a sensation, or some impression upon the external or internal nerves. The question then is, which are those sensations, or aggregates of sensa tions, which are of the most frequent recurrence ? it being obviously of importance, that those which giro occasion to the greatest number of trains, should be made, if possible, to give occasion only to the best trains. Now the sensations, or aggregates of sen sations, which occur in the ordinary business of life, are those of moat frequent recurrence; and from which it is of the greatest importance that beneficial trains should commence. Rising up in the morning, and going to bed at night, are aggregates of this de scription, common to all mankind so are the. CCM. mencement and termination of meals. The practi cal sagacity of priests, even in the rudest ages of the world, perceived the importance, for giving religiose trains an ascendancy in the mind, of uniting them, by early and steady custom, with those perpetually re curring sensations. The morning and evening prey. ers, the grace before and after meals, have ametlu correspondent to them in the religion of perhaps Z nations.