Thomas Beddoes to William Reynolds, 1793 [fragment], Stock, p. 93
In a letter addressed to Mr. Reynolds, containing an account of the system of education pursued by Mr. Edgeworth, Dr. Beddoes observes that, he intends to add to it the great art of cultivating the senses; an art so much beyond vulgar apprehension, that even his correspondent laughed when he first mentioned it.
But is it likely that a child left to himself, would fall upon the best method of storing his mind with lively and various ideas of the best sort? I contend that, as a child has the most pleasure when his ideas are the most distinct, the best method of cultivating the senses, would also procure to him the greatest quantity of present as well as future happiness. But I have not space to develope these opinions. I know them by experiment to be just. Mr. Edgeworth’s children, to whom I have shewn a few experiments of a kind adapted to their age, jump about me, intreat me to go to Ireland, and consider my occasional absence from dinner as a serious calamity. Their minds were well prepared for the reception of distinct impressions. I will add also that this cultivation of the senses is no less favourable to virtue, than to happiness and ability. Persons so educated, would have no more time than inclination for vice.
Published: Stock, p. 93