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bigheT sort , and rest upon works ~ of a more solid and durable nature ; upon her works on education , especially her *• ' Letters on Female ^ Education * " In these she not only Shews that she !\ as studied the history of the human
mind , and that she has made herself acquainted with what has been written on this subject by the best moral and metaphysical writers , but she adds new value to their knowledge by rendering
it practically useful . She has thrown pen to all classes of readers those metaphysical discoveries or observations , wnich had been confined chiefly to the learned . To a sort of knowledge , wlifcch had been considered more as a
matter of curiosity than of use , she has | ^ € Q real value and actual currency : Jhe-faaar « hewn how the knowledge of -&refcapW « ics cam be made serviceable to the art of educatiori ; she . has shewn , for instance , Tiow the doctrine of the association of ideas may be applied , in
early education , to the formation of the foabits of temper , and of the principles of taste and morals ; she * has considered bow all that metaphysicians know of sensation , abstraction ., 8 cc , can be applied to the cultivation of the judgment ajid the imaginations of children .: No matter how little is actually ascertained
© n these-subjects : she has done much in wakening the attention of parents , and of mothers especially , to future inqu-iry ¦; she has done much Jw directing taeir inquiries rightly ; much by exciting them to reflect upon their owu minds , and to observe what passes in the minds , of their chiWren .. , She has
opened a new field of investigation to -women , a field fitted to their domestic habits , to their duties as mo ^ vers , and to their business as preceptors of youth ; \ d whom it belongs to give the minds of children those first impressions and ideas , which remain the longest , and which influence them often the most
powerfully ., through the whole course of life * In recommending to her own sex the study of metaphysics , as far as i $ relates to education , Mrs . Hamilton \ ias been judiciously careful lo ; avoid all that can lead to that species of * ' vain debate , " of which there is no
< nd . She , knowing the limits of the human understanding , does not attempt to go beyond them into that which can ^ e at , best but . a dispute abput terms . She does . toot , aim at making , women expert m the * wordy wars" -npr . duea
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she teach them to astonish the u learned by . their acquaintance with the c various vocabularies of metaph ysical il system-makers . Such jugglers' tricks she despised ¦' but she has not , on the other hand " been deceived or overawed by those e who would represent the stud y of the - human mind as a stud y that ' leads to > no practical purpose , and that is unfit t and unsafe for her sex . Had Mrs . Ha- - mil ton set ladies on metaphysic ground 1 merely to shew their paces , she would have made herself and them ridiculous and troublesome ; but she has shewn how they may , by slow and certain steps , advance to a useful object . The
dark , intricate and dangerous labyrinth , she has converted into a clear , straight , practicable road ; a road not only practicable , but pleasant , and not only pleasant but , what is of far more consequence to women , safe .
Mrs . lilisabeth Hamilton is well known to be not . only a moral , but a pious , -writer 3 and in all her writings , as in all her conversation , religion appears in the most engaging point of view . , Her religion was sincere , cheerful ; and > tolerant ; joining , in the
happiest manner , faith , hope and charity . AH who had the happiness to know thi $ amiable woman will , with one accord , bear'testimony to the truth of Vhat feefing of affection which her benevolence ,.- kindness and cheerfulne > s of temper inspired . She thought so little of herself , so much of others
that it was impossible she could , superior as she was , excite envy . She put every body at ease in her company , in good humour and good spirits with themselves . So far from being a restraint on the young and lively , encouraged , by her sympathy , their openness and . gaiety . S \\ e never flattered , but she always formed the most
favourable , opinion , that trutn ana ^ sjense would permit , of every individual who . came near her ; therefore all , instead of fearing , and shunning her penetratipn , loved and courted net society . , . Her loss will be long regretted by
her private friends ; her memory ™* lone live : in public estimation . Much as Mrs . P : iizabeth Hand *" has served and honoured the cause ° female literature by her writings , si has done still higher and more es *^ . benefit to that cause by her } n *> ;
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356 Gbiiuary * — . Elizabeth Hamilton *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1816, page 556, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2456/page/56/
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