LETTER I
I ought to apologize for not having written to you on the ſubject you mentioned; but, to tell you the truth, it grew upon me: and, inſtead of an anſwer, I have begun a ſeries of letters on the management of children in their infancy. Replying then to your queſtion, I have the public in my thoughts, and ſhall endeavour to ſhow what modes appear to me neceſſary, to render the infancy of children more healthy and happy. I have long thought, that the cauſe which renders children as hard to rear as the moſt fragile plant, is our deviation from ſimplicity. I know that ſome able phyſicians have recommended the method I have purſued, and I mean to point out the good effects I have obſerved in practice. I am aware that many matrons will exclaim againſt me, and dwell on the number of children they have brought up, as their mothers did before them, without troubling themſelves with new-fangled notions; yet, though, in my uncle Toby's words, they ſhould attempt to ſilence me, by "wiſhing I had ſeen their large" families, I muſt ſuppoſe, while a third part of the human ſpecies, according to the moſt accurate calculation, die during their infancy, juſt at the threſhold of life, that there is ſome error in the modes adopted by mothers and nurſes, which counteracts their own endeavours. I may be miſtaken in ſome particulars; for general rules, founded on the ſoundeſt reaſon, demand individual modification; but, if I can perſuade any of the riſing generation to exerciſe their reaſon on this head, I am content. My advice will probably be found moſt uſeful to mothers in the middle claſs; and it is from them that the lower imperceptibly gains improvement. Cuſtom, produced by reaſon in one, may ſafely be the effect of imitation in the other.
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