Excerpt from A Lecture on the Life of Pestalozzi, Vol. 1 Could I transport you in thought to the'scenes where he lived, and taught, and suffered, with his scholars, the heart would feel, even before the under standing discerned, the beauty and the truth of his principles. A skeleton view of his system might lead you to a cold approbation of his views; but it must be the living, the breathing portraiture of the man that must awaken your love, and dispose you to imitate what you have learned to admire. I have seen him surrounded by his pupils have marked the overflowings of his tenderness; have read in a thousand traits of good-nature the confirmation of his history. I have witnessed the affecting simplicity with which he speaks of all he has done, and essayed to do, for humanity. Could I convey to others the sentiments I feel for him, he would be loved and honoured as he deserves. Three years of confidential intimacy, every day marked with some proof of his affection, may well have knit my heart to his; and among the most cherished recollections of the past is, that Pestalozzi honoured me with his friendship, and thanked me for cheering his decline. Not that he needs the support of any other mind than his own; his spirit, tender where others suffer, is lofty and self-sustained whenaffliction assails himself. He, whose house and whose heart were ever the asylum of the distressed, seeks not his own asylum anywhere but in himself. He has tasted the bitterest cup of disappointment, and worn the meanest garb of poverty, - but he broods not over his sorrows he weeps for others, and his own heart is relieved: he still hopes for humanity, and his own prospects seem to brighten. Neuhof, the same spot that witnessed his first benevolent exertions, now offers him retirement and repose; but his heart is still warmed with the longings of his youth, his eye still watches over the progress of his method, and some of his fondest expectations are kindled by our Infant Schools. While he looks back on the labours of his eventful life, he sees failure and disappointment over throwing every plan ih which he has been engaged; but the same storms that have levelled the parent tree have scattered the seeds of his principles around. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.