It must undoubtedly be confessed, in looking into that which is moral or religious, that sufficient care is not always taken with regard to youth.  We sometimes see fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters, so different in their appearance and deportment, that we should scarcely have imagined them to be of the same family.  I am not now speaking of those parents, who may live in the towns, and who may be more than ordinarily devoted to the mammon of the world, but of some who, living both in town and country, give an example of a liberal and amiable spirit, and of a blameless conduct to the world.  That the former should neglect and lose sight of their offspring, when their moral vision is clouded by an undue eagerness after money, is not to be wondered at, but that the latter should do it, is surprising.  It is certainly true that some of these are too indulgent in their families, contrary to the plan and manner of their own education, or that they do not endeavour to nip all rising inconsistencies in the bud.  The consequence is, that their children get beyond control in time, when they lament in vain their departure from the simplicity of the society.  Hence the real cause of their disownment, which occasionally follows, is not in the children running out of bounds, but in the parents running out of bounds in the manners of their children.  And here I may add, that some parents, dwelling too much on the disuse of forms in religion, because such disuse is inculcated by their own doctrines, run into the opposite extreme, and bring up their children in too much ignorance of the general plan of Christianity, as it is laid down in the letter of the scriptures.

With respect to education, as for it is literary or philosophical, it is frequently sufficient for those upon whom it is bestowed.  But it does not appear to me to be carried to its proper extent, in the case of the children of the rich, when I consider how friendly it might be made towards the promotion of virtue.  Some, we know, growing wealthy, have had children when they were poorer, and, when in this poorer state, they have given them an education which has been suitable to it, not calculating upon their future rise in life.  But their children, having had such a limited education, have not had that which has been proper for their subsequent station in life.  Others again, who have been born in better circumstances, have, on account of an undue depreciation of human knowledge, educated their children as improperly for their station as the former.  The children then, in both these cases, have not had an education sufficient, with the prospect of riches before them, to keep them out of the way of harm.  They have not had, in addition to any religious instruction, that taste given them for sublime pursuits, which should make them despise those which were frivolous.  Thus many of the corruptive opinions, fashions, and amusements of the world have charmed them.  Giving way to these, they have been overcome.  When overcome, they have run into excesses, and for these excesses they have been disowned.  But surely, with a better education, they would have thought all such corruptive opinions, fashions, and amusements, as below their notice, and unworthy of their countenance and support.