Chiefs of Grant > Correspondence

450 ADDITIONAL GRANT CORRESPONDENCE. [1767-
to herself the honour of her epistle ; and I had prepared to write to her when I was informed
by Lord Findlater that Sir Ludovick and his family were at that time upon their road to
Edinburgh.
My kindest wishes to Mrs. Grant, and particularly that she may be the mother of many
children to make both of you happy in your old years.
Yours affectionately,
Henry Home.
528. The Same to The Same — Disapproving of plans for education of children at
Grantown.
Blair-Drummond, 31st August 1767.
Every letter that comes from Mr. Grant gives me double pleasure, not only as an intercourse
of friendship, but because I always find strong tokens of that generous public spirit which
to you must be a source of constant happyness.
I admire the plan of an asylum for the education of children at Grant-town ; but it
grieves me that I cannot bring myself to approve of it. But it would grieve me much more
if Mr. Grant should have the distress of having his scheme to miscarry after trouble and
expense laid out upon it, and this leads me to speak my mind without reserve. You see, by
the date of my letter, that I have taken several days to think seriously about it, and the
more I think the more averse I am to the project. It is impossible to bring all I have to
say within the compass of a letter. I wish I had Mrs. Grant and you here to talk over the
affair at leisure : not another couple in Scotland would be more kindly welcome ; and you
have time enough, if well disposed, for I leave not this place till the 1st of October. Can
you expect otherways that I am to go out of my road to see you at Castle Grant in May
next 1 But to return from my favourite digression. As you have only given me the
outlines of your plan, I shall confine myself, in this letter, to some general views and
objections.
Look through the world and you will find schools established, with tolerable success, for
reading, writing, languages, and sciences. Schools or colleges for arts have sometimes been
projected, but have always prov'd abortive. Nor can it be otherways ; for arts are not to
be taught by precept, but by constant assiduity and practice. It is a mere chimera to think
that this can be done in a school : it can only be done by those who work for hire ; and,
therefore, the method of teaching arts as presently practis'd in Britain, and, I believe, all
the world over, I pronounce to be the best, viz., apprenticeships. The being taught to
spin and to knit stockings is scarce an exception. There is a school, indeed, and a school-
mistress ; but the children are paid for their work, which is their only incitement.
Your notion of breeding the children to virtue and industry will also fail you. With