Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778); Kenrick, William (1729/30-1779)

Eloisa: Or, a Series of Original Letters [Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse]

London

Printed for R. Griffiths and T. Becket

1761

"Every thing he sees, every thing he hears, catches his attention, and is stored up in his memory: he keeps a journal of the actions and conversation of men, and from every scene that presents itself, deduces something to enrich his memory."

If nature has given to the brain of children that softness of texture, which renders it proper to receive every impression, it is not fit for us to imprint the names of sovereigns, dates, terms of art, and other insignificant words of no meaning to them while young, nor of any use to them as they grow old: but it is our duty to trace out betimes all those ideas which are relative to the state and condition of humanity, those which relate to their duty and happiness, that they may serve to conduct them through life in a manner agreeable to their being and faculties. The memory of a child may be exercised, without poring over books. Every thing he sees, every thing he hears, catches his attention, and is stored up in his memory: he keeps a journal of the actions and conversation of men, and from every scene that presents itself, deduces something to enrich his memory. It is in the choice of objects, in the care to shew him such only as he ought to know, and to hide from him those of which he ought to be ignorant, that the true art of cultivating the memory consists.
(III, p. 287)

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At least ten entries in the ESTC (1761, 1764, 1767, 1769, 1776, 1784, 1795).

Text from Eloisa: Or, a Series of Original Letters Collected and Published by J.J. Rousseau. Translated from the French. 4 vols. (London: Printed for R. Griffiths and T. Becket, 1761). <Link to Vol. I><Link to Vol. II><Link to Vol. III><Link to Vol. IV>

07/14/2013