he scorns; he thinks what is done by his betters must be good.  Among ourselves, our harlequins imitate all that is good to degrade it and bring it into ridicule; knowing their owners’ baseness they try to equal what is better than they are, or they strive to imitate what they admire, and their bad taste appears in their choice of models, they would rather deceive others or win applause for their own talents than become wiser or better.  Imitation has its roots in our desire to escape from ourselves.  If I succeed in my undertaking, Emile will certainly have no such wish.  So we must dispense with any seeming good that might arise from it.

Examine your rules of education; you will find them all topsy-turvy, especially in all that concerns virtue and morals.  The only moral lesson which is suited for a child—­the most important lesson for every time of life—­is this:  “Never hurt anybody.”  The very rule of well-doing, if not subordinated to this rule, is dangerous, false, and contradictory.  Who is there who does no good?  Every one does some good, the wicked as well as the righteous; he makes one happy at the cost of the misery of a hundred, and hence spring all our misfortunes.  The noblest virtues are negative, they are also the most difficult, for they make little show, and do not even make room for that pleasure so dear to the heart of man, the thought that some one is pleased with us.  If there be a man who does no harm to his neighbours, what good must he have accomplished!  What a bold heart, what a strong character it needs!  It is not in talking about this maxim, but in trying to practise it, that we discover both its greatness and its difficulty. [Footnote:  The precept “Never hurt anybody,” implies the greatest possible independence of human society; for in the social state one man’s good is another man’s evil.  This relation is part of the nature of things; it is inevitable.  You may apply this test to man in society and to the hermit to discover which is best.  A distinguished author says, “None but the wicked can live alone.”  I say, “None but the good can live alone.”  This proposition, if less sententious, is truer and more logical than the other.  If the wicked were alone, what evil would he do?  It is among his fellows that he lays his snares for others.  If they wish to apply this argument to the man of property, my answer is to be found in the passage to which this note is appended.]

This will give you some slight idea of the precautions I would have you take in giving children instruction which cannot always be refused without risk to themselves or others, or the far greater risk of the formation of bad habits, which would be difficult to correct later on; but be sure this necessity will not often arise with children who are properly brought up, for they cannot possibly become rebellious, spiteful, untruthful, or greedy, unless the seeds of these vices are sown in their hearts.  What I have just said