"If this be the Case, it dictates the Necessity of early Education of Children, in whom, not the Soul only but the organick Powers are, as a Lump of soft Wax, which is always ready to receive any Impression; but if harden'd, grow callous, and stubborn, and like what we call Sealing-Wax, obstinately refuse the Impression of the Seal, unless melted and reduced by the Force of Fire; that is to say, Unless moulded and temper'd to Instruction, Length of Time and abundance of Difficulty."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Work Title
Date
1726
Metaphor
"If this be the Case, it dictates the Necessity of early Education of Children, in whom, not the Soul only but the organick Powers are, as a Lump of soft Wax, which is always ready to receive any Impression; but if harden'd, grow callous, and stubborn, and like what we call Sealing-Wax, obstinately refuse the Impression of the Seal, unless melted and reduced by the Force of Fire; that is to say, Unless moulded and temper'd to Instruction, Length of Time and abundance of Difficulty."
Metaphor in Context
If this be the Case, it dictates the Necessity of early Education of Children, in whom, not the Soul only but the organick Powers are, as a Lump of soft Wax, which is always ready to receive any Impression; but if harden'd, grow callous, and stubborn, and like what we call Sealing-Wax, obstinately refuse the Impression of the Seal, unless melted and reduced by the Force of Fire; that is to say, Unless moulded and temper'd to Instruction, Length of Time and abundance of Difficulty.
(pp. 60-1)
Categories
Provenance
Reading D.P. Leinster-Mackay's The Educational World of Daniel Defoe. ELS Monograph Series. No. 23. University of Victoria, 1981.
Date of Entry
03/21/2007
