PREFACE

TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

""Tis the last key-stone

That makes the arch. The rest that there were put

Are nothing till that comes to bind and shut:

Then stands it a triumphal mark! Then men

Observe the strength, the height, the why and when

It was erected; and, still walking under,

Meet some new matter to look up and wonder."-Ben Jonson.

Before any thing is effected, we think it impossible; but, when it is done, we stare, and wonder why it was not done before. The mind then receives it with a degree of affinity, as if we had known it before. Lord Bacon.

THE increasing demand for "Nature Displayed," evinced by the publication and rapid disposal of three successive editions, could not fail to stimulate me to make every effort, to attain, if possible, in this Fourth Edition, that degree of perfection, without which no one can flatter himself with the hope of establishing a durable empire over the public mind. This desideratum depended on the solution of an interesting problem which I had sought for many years, and, although continually within my reach, it ever eluded my grasp. This problem is, "How to place persons learning a foreign language at home, precisely on the same footing as if they were learning it in the country where it is spoken."

It is evident that, were such an object accomplished, this system must be immediately so far improved as to leave but little hope of its being rendered more complete hereafter, while it would necessarily lead to the discovery of some unknown elements of tuition.

Fully impressed with the importance to education of the solution of this problem, and prompted by the energetic feelings of gratitude for past success and ambition for the future, I determined to apply my whole powers of reflection towards this object; and I have now

the high satisfaction of declaring, that, after many apparently useless and protracted meditations, and at the moment when exhausted nature had almost compelled me to abandon the pursuit as hopeless, the vivid flash of inspiration presented me with the long-looked-for means. How great was my surprise to find that I had continually been approaching, and even occasionally using it, without being conscious of its vast importance! Its extreme simplicity verifies the saying of the celebrated Horne Tooke, that " Truth has been improperly imagined at the bottom of the well: it lies much nearer to the surface."

As I have detailed this discovery at full length in the Introduction, and pointed out its stimulating powers on the human mind, I am compelled, in order to avoid repetition, to refer the reader to that part of the work.

Although the additions and improvements in the present edition are very numerous, I cannot, on that account, be charged with versatility of opinion, or with the slightest deviation from my original plan; as the fundamental principles of Teaching according to Nature's own Method, being once discovered, ought never to undergo the least change:

"From Nature's chain whatever link you strike,

Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike."

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To those who have seen the preceding editions of this work, the additions in the present will be sufficiently obvious; I shall, therefore, content myself with noticing only two of them: the first relates to the method which has been rendered more powerful, and of course more efficient, by the aid of artificial means, so completely in unison with those presented by Nature herself, as to be perfectly analogous to them, and conducive to the same end: the second relates to a system of pronunciation, by means of which a native of the United Kingdom, or of the United States of America, though deprived of the assistance of an instructor, may acquire the French pronunciation, and thus, by means of the work alone, become conversant with the French language, not only as it is spoken, but as it is written, by a native of France.

In the Introduction I anticipated and refuted all the objections which had been made, or, I thought, could be made with any degree of force, or even of plausibility, against the present system, and it appears that I had happily embraced them all; for, since its publica

tion no new objection whatever has been advanced. An opinion, however, has been promulgated, that this method imposes much upon the memory at the expense of a nobler faculty-the judgment and, consequently, that as speaking is much more attended to than writing, it must be deficient in this respect; but had the persons who entertain an unfavourable opinion of the method on this account, read the Introduction attentively, they would have been convinced that the system is what it ought to be, "deduced from the analysis of the human mind," and of course grounded on those faculties which the GOD of NATURE, in his infinite wisdom, has willed that man should possess.

Many, however, have neither leisure nor inclination to peruse the extensive arguments there adduced, in which the new principle is demonstrated in a methodical manner, though at considerable length, a circumstance which was deemed necessary, in consequence of this principle being in direct opposition to the notions generally received. I shall arrange, therefore, on the present occasion, in a more concise form, some reflections, which, I hope, will render it evident that this opinion is devoid of any real foundation.

If we attentively observe the mind in the operation of thinking, we immediately become sensible that it consists entirely in speaking to itself; that is to say, in pronouncing MENTALLY whole sentences, without which its THOUGHTS could neither exist, nor be noticed by itself; and, that thinking is nothing else, I appeal to every man of common sense, who will commune with himself, with a view of ascertaining this truth. The art of writing is also nothing more than an extended application of the art of speaking; for instance, when we write a letter, do we not speak to ourselves in the manner already stated, the whole time we are writing, until it is finished; and when we receive a letter, do we not speak it mentally in order to know its contents? These propositions being indisputably correct, it necessarily follows, that the art of thinking and the art of writing are nothing but the art of speaking itself, and, consequently, that these three arts are one and the same; and that a method which teaches speaking with so much power and effect, must be the true method: and further, that, as memory is the basis of all the faculties of the understanding, (for their would be neither thinking, writing, nor speaking, without it,) the method which most powerfully exercises it, is the true method.

These propositions being allowed, and they are incontrovertible, it follows, that MEMORY could scarcely be said to exist in the mind without the external ear, which supplies it with the sounds that are repeated MENTALLY, when the act of thinking takes place: a method, therefore, that acts with so much power on the ear as to mould it completely to the sounds of the new language, must indeed be the true, or, to speak more justly, the only, method. The objection, that the eye is not sufficiently exercised must fall to the ground, when it is recollected that the new mode of tuition, and the development of its principles in this Book are inseparable; and that, in its perusal, and in the writing which is effected on the slate, &c. the eye is sufficiently employed.

Before I turn from the view I here take of the faculties of the mind, so well and so scientifically explored and illustrated, by means of the light shed on them by that brilliant star of North Britain, DUGALD STEWART, and in which I have entered no further than the nature of the present inquiry permitted, I cannot help remarking, that, if SIR ISAAC NEWTON became more religious by observing the grandeur and simplicity of celestial mechanism, why should not the metaphysician be impressed with the same sentiments of piety and admiration, on beholding the greater simplicity of the means by which the noblest faculty of creation's "best work" is put in being and activity by its CREATOR.*

I am now so truly convinced that this system contains all the original elements of tuition, which are grounded on the very nature of the understanding itself-elements which had for the most part escaped attention; that, animated with the same spirit which made the mathematicians of the sixteenth century challenge one another in the solution of difficult problems-a spirit of love and enthusiasm for the progress of science, I fearlessly challenge all the instructors of youth in Europe and America to point out what elementary principle of education has been omitted or overlooked; and in what this system can be at variance with itself; for I have asserted that this method" renovates or strengthens the faculties of the mind, by bringing into action every mental and physical organ engaged in the learn

Many authors have spoken of the wonderful mechanism of speech, but no one has hitherto attended to the more wonderful mechanism which is put into action behind the scene."-Dugald Stewart.

ing of Language, and directing the whole with simultaneous energy towards one and the same end.*

I now respectfully invite the lovers of Education in particular, the learned, the curious, and all those who are desirous of observing by what simple means Nature produces great effects, to read with attention the Introduction to this work. I am the more urgently incited to make this request, since the principles therein developed are effecting a very extensive reform in the Science of Instruction in every part of the civilized world; and I flatter myself that those who have duly reflected on language, its operations on the human mind, and the powerful influence of methods, which are the pinions of the mind, will not accuse me of forming an exaggerated opinion of this production,† in which is unfolded the TRUE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION; for it is the legacy which the immortal Locke bequeathed to society, and which, though unemployed for more than a century, has now devolved into hands, which, however humble, will endeavour to do it justice, and to transmit the noble charge unimpaired to posterity.

This method, by being rendered more powerful, which can easily be done by following up the principle on which the whole system hinges, would, in a short time, make the language to be taught supplant the native language, by rendering the former more natural and familiar to them than the latter, the influence of which would be continually diminishing. A conqueror might even, by this means, extinguish the language of the conquered, and substitute any other suited to his political views. But God forbid that such a measure should ever be resorted to, with the help of the means afforded by this work!

† It is now confidently expected, that Nature's own method of teaching languages, as displayed in this system, will soon be applied to National Education, where it would shine with peculiar lustre, and have a field sufficiently extensive to exhibit its decided advantages over every other system of education.