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F.Hayman inv. & del.

CGrignion sculp

the fly incautions Youth, the flattering Smare, Which PLEASURE spreads to lure thee to her Gate; In her soft Courts conceald,pale WANT and CARE,

And dire DISEASE, and keen REMORSE await: Those Fiends shall drive thee from her dazzling Shrine And swift to LN KAMY's dread Cave consign?

RS

THE

PRECEPTOR:

CONTAINING

A General Course of EDUCATION.

WHEREIN

THE FIRST PRINCIPLES

O F

POLITE LEARNING

ARE LAID DOWN

In a Way most suitable for trying the GENIUS,
and advancing the

Inftruction of YOUTH.

IN TWELVE PARTS.
Illuftrated with MAPS and useful CUT S.

VIZ.

1. On READING, SPEAK-
ING, and WRITING
LETTERS.
II. On ARITHMETIC,
GEOMETRY, and AR-

CHITECTURE.

III. On GEOGRAPHY
and ASTRONOMY.
IV. On CHRONOLOGY
and HISTORY.

V. On RHETORIC and

POETRY.

VI. On DRAWING.

VII. On LOGIC.

VIII. On NATURAL HIS-

TORY.

IX. On ETHICS, or Mo-

RALITY,

X. On TRADE and COM-

MERCE.

XI. On LAWS and Go-

VERNMENT.

XII. On HUMAN LIFE
and MANNERS.

The THIRD EDITION, with Additions, and Improvements.

THE SECOND VOLUME.

LONDON:

Printed for R, and J. DODSLEY, at Tully's Head in Pall mall,

M DCC LVIII.

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THE

ELEMENTS

OF

LOGIC K.

L

INTRODUCTION.

Importance of the Knowledge of ourfelves.

F all the human Sciences, that concerning Man, is certainly the moft worthy of Man, and the moft neceffary Part of Knowledge. We find ourselves in this World furrounded with a Variety of Objects; we have Powers and Faculties fitted to deal with them, and are happy or miferable in proportion as we know how to frame a right Judgment of Things, and shape our Actions agreeably to the Circumftances in which we are placed. No Study therefore is more important than that which introduces us to the Knowledge of ourfelves. Hereby we become acquainted with the Extent and Capacity of the human Mind, and learning to diftinguilh what Objects it is fuited to, and in what manner it must proceed, in order to compafs its Ends, we arrive by degrees at that Juftnefs and Truth of Understanding, which is the great Perfection of a rational Being.

Different

Gradations of
Perfections in

II. IF we look attentively into Things, and furvey them in their full Extent, we fee them rifing one above another in various Degrees of Eminence. Among the inanimate Parts of Matter Some exhibit nothing worthy our Attention, their Parts feem as it were jumbled together by mere Chance, VOL. II.

B

Things.

ner

nor can we difcover any Beauty, Order, or Regularity in their Compofition. In others we difcern the fineft Af rangement, and a certain Elegance of Contexture, that makes us affix to them a Notion of Worth and Excellence. Thus Metals, and precious Stones, are conceived as far furpaffing thofe unformed Maffes of Earth, that lie every where expofed to view. If we trace Nature onward, and pursue her through the vegetable and animal Kingdoms, we find her ftill multiplying her Perfections, and rifing by a just Gradation, from mere Mechanism to Perception, and from Perception in all its various Degrees, to Reafon and Understanding.

III. BUT though Reafon be the Boundary, by Usefulness of Culture, and which Man is diftinguifhed from the other Creaparticularly tures that furround him, yet we are far from of the Study finding it, the fame in all Nor is this Inequality of Legick. to be wholly afcribed to the original Make of Men's Minds, or the Difference of their natural Endowments. For if we look abroad into the feveral Nations of the World, fome are over-run with Ignorance and Barbarity, others flourish in Learning and the Sciences; and what is yet more remarkable, the fame People have, in different Ages, been diftinguifhed by thefe very oppofite Characters. It is therefore by Culture, and a due Application of the Powers of our Minds, that we increase their Capacity, and carry humant Reason to Perfection. Where this Method is followed, Knowledge and Strength of Understanding never fail to enfue; where it is neglected, we remain ignorant of our own Worth and thofe latent Qualities of the Soul, by which she is fitted to furvey this vaft Fabrick of the World, to scan the Heavens, and fearch into the Caufes of Things, lie buried in Darkness and Obfcurity. No Part of Knowledge therefore yields a fairer Profpect of Improvement, than that which takes account of the Understanding, examines its Powers and Faculties, and fhews the Ways by which it comes to attain its various Notions of Things. This is properly the Defign of Logick, which may be jufly filed the Hiftory of the human Mind, inafinuch as it traces the Progrefs of our Knowledge, from our first and fimple Percepfions, through all their different Combinations, and all thofe numerous Deductions that refult from variously comparing them one with another. It is thus that we are let into the natural Frame and Contexture of our own Minds, and learn in what manner we ought to conduct our Thoughts, in order to arrive at Truth, and avoid Error. We fee how to build one Difcovery upon another, and by preferring the Chain of

Rea

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