The Toy-shop, Newbery, spy-glass

The opening spread to chapter 3 shows Horace and Bellinda using their spy-glasses, purchased at the toy-shop, to look around the countryside. The toyman advises that a spy-glass can make things look bigger or at “a great distance, and rendered almost imperceptible.” We generally see “our own faults” as if far off, he cautions, but we regard the faults of others as if they are close, when we should do the reverse. This initial use of observation and distorted vision introduces a theme of accurate observation reminiscent of Maria Edgeworth’s “The Purple Jar,” a theme that the toyman continues in later chapters, in which the children continue to learn how to observe others accurately and record their observations in writing.