Parent

a term of relation applied to those persons from whom we derive our tem- oral existence. ahs. The moral duties of parents towards their offspring, being a subject too extensive for our plan, we shall not enter into any ethical inquiry, but confine our attention to their legal duties; that is, such as they owe to their legitimate children, respecting their maintenance, education, and protection. vee 1. With regard to their maintenance, it is a principle both of law and nature, that every man is bound to provide for his of i spring. The father and mother, and also the grandsire and grandmother of feeble and poor descendants, are obliged by the 43 Eliz. ¢. 2, to support them.at their own expence (provided they be able), in such manner as shall be directed by the quarter-se ions; and, if a man abscond, and desert his children, the 5 Geo. I. c. 8, directs the churchwardens and overseers of his parish to seize his property, and dispose of it | for their relief. Thus, it has been wisely: established by these statutes, that if a mother or grandmother, who formerly was able to maintain the child, marry a second time, the step-father becomes chargeable with its maintenance; for, being their debt when single, it extends in common with all others to charge, the second husband; but, as tne death of the wife di olves the relation, such duty then ceases to bind him. No person, however, is compellable to support his i ue, excepting the latter be incapacitated from labour by infancy, disease, or accident; in which cases the former is obliged to:provide them with nece aries, on penalty of paying 20s, per month to the parish, in case of refusal, Farther, the law of England does not pre-_ vent a man frem disinheriting his children’ by will; but, in conformity to the custom of. London, the eff spring of freemen aré entitled to one-third part of their father’s effects, which must be equally divided among them, and of which they cannot be deprived. Hence, too, heirs and children are peculiarly protected by courts of justice; lest they should be dis in-. herited by any ambiguous or uncertain expre ions; because it is nece ary to prove, beyond the po ibility of doubt, the testator’s intention to deprive them of their right of inheritance. 2. The most important duty of parents is that of educating their children, in a manner becoming their rank in life. And, though it must be confe ed that the law of England is deficient in this respect, yet it bas also provided for the welfare of the rising generation; as, b the statutes for the apprenticing of poor children, these are to be taken from their parents, and placed by the churchwardens of the parish - in such situations, as may render them most. useful to the commonwealth, - 3. The last duty of parents towards their @fispring is protection, which may be considered principally as a natural obligation; no municipal laws enjoining its observance. But, ‘though a child be thus placed tn the power of its parent, the latter cannot abuse such authority. He may exercise proper severity to’ keep his children in due obedience: thas, he may lawfully, and in/a reasonable manner, chastise them; because such correction is sometimes nece ary, and conducive to their improvement, ‘This authority of the parent, however, extends only to the end of the child’s minority, during which period the former is entitled to the benefit of the labour and a istance thus obtained, while the latter resides with, and is maintained by him: a parent may likewise allow or forbid the marriage of his children, till they. attain the age of twenty-one years. Now, the legal power of the progenitor ceases; because the adults are enfranchised by arriving at years of discretion, when the empire of the father, or of the guardian, is supposed to yield to that of reason.. Parent (Anthony), a respectable French mathematician, was born at Paris in 1066. He showed an early propensity to the mathematics, eagerly perusing such books in that science as fell in his way. His custom was to write remarks in the margins of the books he read; arid in this way he had filled a number of books with a kind of commentary by the time he was thirteen years of age. Soon after this he was put under a master, who taught rhetoric at Chart res. Here he happened to see a dodecahedron, wpon every face of which was delineated a sun-dial, except the lowest on which it stood. Struck as it’ - were instantaneously with the curiosity of these dials, he attempted drawing one himself: but having only a book which taught the practical part, without the theory, it was not till after his master came to explain the doctrine of the sphere to him, that he began to understand. how the projection of the circles of the sphere formed sun-dials. He then undertook to write “a treatise upon gnomonics. To, be sure the piece was rude and unpolished enough; however, it was entirely his own, and not borrowed. About the same time he wrote a book of geometry, in the same taste, at Beauvais.- ’ His friends then sent for him to Paris to study the law; and in obedience to them he - went through a course in that faculty: which - Was no sooner finished, than, urged’ by his pa ion for mathematics, he shut himself up in the college of Dormans, that no avocation might take him from his béloved study: and, with an allowance of le than 200 livres a year, he lived content in this retreat, from which he never stirred but to the Royal College, in order to hear the lectures of M. de!a Fire or M. de Sauveur. When he found himself capable of teaching others, he took pupils: and fortification being a branch of mathematics which the war kad brought into particular notice, he turned his attention to it; but after some time began to entertain scruples about teaching what he had never seen, and knew only by the force of imagination. He imparted this scruple to M, Sauveur, who recommended him to the marquis d’Aligre, who luckily at that time wanted to have a mathematician with him. Parent made two came paigns with the marquis, by which he instructed himself sufficiently in viewing fortified places; of which he drew a number of plans, though he had never learned the art of drawing. From this period he spent his time in a continual application to the study of natural philosophy, and mathematics in all its branches, both speculative and practical; to which he joined anatomy, botany, and chemistry, His genius managed every thing, and yet he was ince ant. and indefatigable in his application. M. de Billettes, who was admitted in the academy of sciences at Paris, in 1699, with the title of their mechanician, nominated for his disciple Parent, who excelled chiefly in this branch. It was soon discovered in this society, that he engaged in all the various subjects which were brought before them; and indeed that he had.a hand in every thing. But this extent of knowledge, joined to a natural impetuosity of temper, raised in him a spirit of contradiction, which he indulged on all occasions; sometimes to a degree of precipitaney highly culpable, and often with but little regard to decency. Indeed the same behaviour was shown to him, and the papers which-he brought to the academy were often treated with much severity. He was charged with obscurity in his productions; and he was indeed so notorious for this fault, that he perceived it himself, and could not avoid correcting it. The king had, by a regulation in 1716, suppre ed the cla of scholars of the academy, which seemed to put too great an inequality betwixt the members.. Parent was made—a joint or a istant member for geometry: but he enjoyed this promotion but a short time; for he was taken off by the small-pox the same year, at the age of 50. He was author of a great many pieces, chiefly on mechanics and eometry. 93