Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

The Family Instructor: In Three Parts

London

Printed for Eman. Matthews

1715

"How soft! how pliable the Minds of little Children are! how like Wax they lie, ready to be moulded into any Form, and receive any Impression, that the diligent Application of Parents thinks fit to make upon them!"

(1) For their Encouragement, the Examples of the easiness and advantages of early Instruction will be seen: How soft! how pliable the Minds of little Children are! how like Wax they lie, ready to be moulded into any Form, and receive any Impression, that the diligent Application of Parents thinks fit to make upon them! From whence also Parents are warned to be very careful, that by their Example or Negligence, those first softned Circumstances of their Childrens Minds are not pass'd over without suitable Applications, to forming them a right, filling them with Learning and Knowledge, and with just Principles, both religious and moral; above all, that they receive no bad Impressions from the Practice of their Parents, whose Example, especially in Evil, takes such deep Root in their Children, that nothing is more difficult to remove.
(p. 69)

Impressions::Impression

ECCO-TCP

27 entries in ESTC (1715, 1717, 1718, 1720, 1725, 1727, 1732, 1734, 1741, 1742, 1755, 1761, 1766, 1787, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1800).

Text from The Family Instructor: In Three Parts; I. Relating to Fathers and Children. II. To Masters and Servants. III. To Husbands and Wives. (London: Printed for Eman. Matthews, 1715). <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP>

03/12/2014