Du Bosc, Jacques (d. 1660)

The Accomplish'd Woman

London

Printed by and for J. Watts

1753

"These divine foundations can never be shaken; all the good that is imprinted upon this rasa tabula can never be effaced; this holy favour with which a new vessel is imbued, will last a long time."

The knowledge of good is form'd in our souls, as the seeds are in the ground; there is a time when they lie conceal'd, a time when they spring forth, and a time when they bear fruit. How happy are they who are taught the things of heaven before they know the things of earth! who learn devotion before they learn vanity! These divine foundations can never be shaken; all the good that is imprinted upon this rasa tabula can never be effaced; this holy favour with which a new vessel is imbued, will last a long time. It is of great importance therefore, that the first impressions should be made of good and not of evil; and as Quintilian required that, in order to make a man an orator and to form the tongue to fluency and propriety, his nurse herself should be eloquent; so it is likewise desirable, that she should be religious and devout in order to form the moral sense of children and lay betimes the foundations of virtue.
(vol. I, pp. 241-2)

Writing::Tabula Rasa

Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO

3 entries in ESTC (1656, 1671, 1753).

Jacques Du Bosc, The Accomplish'd Woman. Written in French by M. Du Boscq,, 2 vols. Translated by a Gentleman of Cambridge (London: Printed by and for J. Watts; and Sold by Him at the Printing-Office. And by B. Dod, 1753). <Link to ESTC>

See also Walter Montagu's seventeenth-century translation: The Accomplish'd Woman Written Originally in French; Since Made English by the Honourable Walter Montague, Esq. (London: Printed for Gabriel Bedell and Tho. Collins, 1656). <Link to EEBO-TCP>