E 
 
 
 chad Ernest Sadler' 
 "Universito Cdleae-^ 
 Oxford 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 / 
 

 
 PUBLIC EDUCATION.
 
 PLANS 
 
 FOR 
 
 AND 
 
 OF 
 
 BOYS, 
 
 IN LARGE NUMBERS; 
 
 DRAWN FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED FOR G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, 
 
 AVE-MARIA LANE. 
 1822.
 
 PRINTED AT THE WINDSOR PRESS BY C. KHIGHT.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 LC* 
 
 1310 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE little work which we now send 
 into the reader's hands cannot boast of 
 much regularity, either in its design or 
 execution. In fact it is published with a 
 very different intention to that in which 
 the greater part of it was written; for 
 our original object was merely to defend 
 our system against the prejudices which 
 naturally, and we had almost said pro- 
 perly, attend innovation. 
 
 We found it too great a tax upon our 
 time to answer objections viva voce, and 
 thought that by arranging our arguments 
 on paper, we should obtain our purpose 
 more easily and completely to all parties. 
 Fortunately for us, this reason for writing 
 very soon ceased to exist. We then 
 extended our range, proceeded to detail 
 our plans more fully, and to enter more 
 at large into the rationale of our system, 
 which itself, as might naturally be expect- 
 ed, was more boldly developed in practice. 
 
 VI O
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 Having satisfied our minds that our 
 general theory was correct, by a long 
 course of experiments, and by the ac- 
 quiescence of those who are so much 
 interested in a careful and even rigorous 
 examination of our plans, we have latterly 
 proceeded without the trepidation which 
 at first attended us at every step, and 
 rendered the task of reducing the con^ 
 victions of our minds to practice a 
 tedious and painful operation. 
 
 We now feel our system to be suffi- 
 ciently matured for public inspection ; not 
 that it is incapable of infinite improve- 
 ment. We are far from pretending to a 
 state of perfection, that we should 
 belie daily by the changes which we still 
 find it expedient to introduce ; but there 
 is a wide difference between alterations 
 which proceed from the adoption of new 
 principles, and those which are in fur- 
 therance of old ones. The latter will 
 become gradually more and more minute, 
 until they cease altogether to affect any 
 of the important features. We never 
 expect, and, indeed, never wish the time 
 to arrive, when changes shall cease to be 
 made ; for to learn the art of improving 
 the methods by which the business of a 
 schoolboy is transacted is an excellent 
 means for him to acquire the power of 
 bettering plans in after-life. We have
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 been astonished to find the ease with 
 which, by practice, boys conform to new 
 modes, without the loss of time and the 
 confusion which may be supposed to 
 attend any changes affecting a large 
 number. It is almost needless to observe, 
 that much good must result from leading 
 boys thus to compare one method with 
 another, or, in other words, to reason 
 for themselves upon the science of edu- 
 cation ; a subject to which the reader will 
 find us often endeavouring to call the 
 attention of our pupils. 
 
 The slightest examination of the fol- 
 lowing pages will show that we have not 
 attempted to lay down a general system 
 of education. Our attention has, both 
 from necessity and inclination, been con- 
 fined to the instruction and government 
 of boys at school. With the education of 
 females, or of boys before the time at 
 which they come under our care, we had 
 obviously nothing to do ; yet, as the 
 principles on which we have acted are 
 drawn from a consideration of human 
 nature generally, many of them (if they 
 are true) may undoubtedly be applied 
 without distinction of either age or sex. 
 We have not thought it necessary to 
 dwell on, or in many cases even to advert 
 to, those branches of instruction on which 
 we had nothing new to offer. We have
 
 Vlh PREFACE. 
 
 no ambition to repeat " what oft was 
 said and often better expressed/' Indeed 
 there was little temptation for us to 
 trench upon the province of others ; for 
 numerous and excellent as are the writers 
 on education, they have seldom been 
 practical men, possessing the advantage 
 of trying experiments in the science, and 
 have consequently left us a field suffi- 
 ciently large. We do not see why the 
 principles of the inductive philosophy 
 should not be as rigidly followed in edu- 
 cation, as in any other department of 
 human knowledge. As it respects our- 
 selves, we must honestly confess that we 
 retain hardly a single opinion relating to 
 any part of our profession, which we 
 held in early life ; one by one, we have 
 surrendered them all to the force of ex- 
 perience. 
 
 Miss Edgeworth, in her life of her 
 father,* very properly considers the value 
 of his services in the cause of education 
 greatly enhanced by their consisting very 
 much in experiments accurately recorded. 
 We hope the path which Mr. Edgeworth 
 struck out will be more frequently trod- 
 den than it has been. In one respect we 
 have enjoyed greater advantages than 
 he for making observations. We have 
 
 a 
 
 * Vol.ii. p. 187.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 had a larger number of pupils, all differing 
 in their natural and acquired powers, and 
 without that family resemblance which 
 
 H 
 
 must have run through the subjects of his 
 investigations ; and therefore likely to 
 furnish more correct average results than 
 can be reasonably expected in his case. 
 
 The reader will naturally wish to know, 
 before he undertakes the task of reading 
 the following chapters, what is the 
 object which we have had before us in 
 the road that we have chalked out. 
 We shall be able to satisfy his curiosity 
 in a few sentences ; and first, let us say 
 what our object is not. It is not to change 
 the course of Nature by transmuting boys 
 into little men. It is not to enable our 
 pupils to hide the meagreness of their 
 stock, by the dexterity with which they 
 may display their wares ; not to lead a boy 
 to imagine that his education is finished, 
 because he has arrived at a certain age ; 
 not for him to suppose, that to talk fluently 
 can be any excuse for not thinking deeply ; 
 or that manners may be a succedaneum 
 for conduct. On the other hand, what 
 we do aim at effecting may be expressed 
 in a few words. We endeavour to teach 
 our pupils the arts of self-government and 
 self -education. So far from supposing 
 education to cease at school or at college, 
 we look forward to the moment when our
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 pupils become their own masters, as that 
 in which the most important branch com- 
 mences. If they leave us with a discri- 
 minating judgment, the power of doing 
 and forbearing whatever religion and 
 reason shall tell them ought to be done 
 or forborne, and such an extensive and 
 familiar acquaintance with elementary 
 learning as shall render the business of 
 acquisition pleasant, we consider our 
 duty performed ; and we look forward to 
 their future character with much of hope 
 mingled with our anxiety. 
 
 It has appeared to us, that to ensure 
 the continuance of such conduct in the 
 young man as the judicious teacher would 
 induce in the boy, it is necessary to 
 bring motives to bear upon him, which 
 will not cease to act when he escapes from 
 the trammels of a school. This great end, 
 it is evident, can only be accomplished 
 by forming an alliance with his mind. 
 Let that be taken at an early age into 
 partnership in the " art and mystery " of 
 education, and before the time for enter- 
 ing the scenes of actual life shall arrive, 
 it will be qualified to assume the entire 
 direction of its possessor. 
 
 We have always endeavoured to recol- 
 lect, that the ability for self-direction 
 often exists without the power of self- 
 obedience.
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 . Video meliora proboque 
 
 Deteriora sequor " 
 
 is the bitter confession of many a man, 
 whose judgment has outstripped his 
 capability of enforcing her dictates. 
 
 " Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise, 
 His art in reasoning, not in acting, lies." 
 
 To us it is an object of deep anxiety to 
 keep the habits in unison with the wishes. 
 Few of the ills of life produce more pain 
 than that state of discord which exists too 
 constantly, we fear, between men's opi- 
 nions and their actions. We mainly 
 attribute this defect to the want of early 
 
 / 
 
 practice in the inestimable science of self- 
 direction. 
 
 Where much coercion is employed 
 with young persons, they have no chance 
 of acquiring this art. So far are their 
 minds from governing their actions, that 
 the former are in a continual state of 
 rebellion against the motives which 
 influence the latter. It ought not then to 
 be a subject of wonder, that when those 
 extraneous motives cease to operate, and 
 the actions are left to the control of a 
 power which they have never learnt the 
 habit of obeying, anarchy should be the 
 natural and inevitable consequence.
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 In conclusion, we wish to offer our tes- 
 timony on one important fact. In pro- 
 portion as we have found the means of 
 always treating our pupils as reasonable 
 beings, without endangering the subor- 
 dination necessary in all government, in 
 exactly the same ratio we have increased 
 our own pleasure in the exercise of our 
 profession.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER t. 
 
 Outline of the System - l 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 System in Detail - 4 
 
 Government of the School. Division of the School into 
 Classes. Rank in the School. Rewards and Punish- 
 ments. The Monitor. Miscellaneous Arrangements. 
 Latin and Greek. French. Exhibitions. The 
 Proceedings of a Day. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Review of the System - 70 
 
 Interference of Parents. Its Inconveniences and Uses. 
 Religion. Morality . Juries. Master relieved 
 from the Burden of hearing Complaints and punishing 
 Offences. Our Legislation. Corporal Punishment 
 abolished. Rank and Character. Economy of Time. 
 Motives for Improvement classed and examined. 
 Love of Knowledge, how induced ; 1st, by showing 
 the Utility of every Study. 2d, by proportioning 
 Difficulties to the Pupil's Powers. 3d, by suffering 
 the Pupil to taste the Pleasure of Success. 4th, by 
 giving him vivid and accurate Conceptions. Mr. 
 and Miss Edgeworth. Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 On the best Method of acquiring Languages - 126 
 
 Common Method tedious and imperfect. Natural Me- 
 thod Its Advantages. May be imitated. Dialogues 
 and Dramas, their use. Artificial Memory. Neces- 
 sity for giving accurate Ideas. Children learn synthe- 
 tically. Rules, in what their Value consists. The 
 Use of Translations defended. Grammar, how it 
 should be taught. Locke. Ascham. Pestalozzi. 
 Reasoning and Imagination as connected with learning 
 Languages. Double Translations. M. Dufief 's 
 Plan examined. Extemporaneous construing. En- 
 cyclopedic. Condillac. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 On Elocution - 164 
 
 Perception. Fluency. Pronunciation. Enunciation. 
 Inflection. Recitation. Gesture. Stammering. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On Penmanship - 174 
 
 Importance of acquiring a Running-Hand. Want of 
 agreement between the larger and the smaller Hands. 
 Requisites of a Running-Hand. Objections to the 
 common Method of learning to write. Of drawing 
 Letters. An early Acquisition of a Running-Hand 
 useful. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 On Voluntary Labour. - - 181 
 
 What we mean by the term. Subjects chosen. How it 
 arose. Why preferred to Tasks. Habit of complet- 
 ing undertakings very valuable.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Comparison of Public and Private Education - 189 
 
 Usual Comparison unfair. Public Education more re- 
 ducible to rule than private. Objects of Education. 
 Restraint why less irksome at school than at home. 
 Servants. Constant attention injurious. Import- 
 ance of Boys mixing with their equals. Sympathy. 
 Competition. Powers of Children accurately measured 
 at School. Oblique Instruction. School History. 
 Morals. Effects of Power. Advantages of large 
 Numbers. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Case of Appeal from the Magistrate to the Committee 219 
 
 The Gymnastic Society .... 225 
 
 Voluntary Resignation of Power .... 226 
 
 Regularity of Attendance - - 229 
 
 Attendance at the School after the Vacations - - ib. 
 
 Mental Arithmetic ..... . 230 
 
 Voluntary Efforts to obtain Rank - - 232 
 
 Volunteer Class ..-.--- 237
 
 PUBLIC EDUCATION, 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 OUTLINE OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 IT would hardly be reasonable to expect that 
 all our readers will feel sufficiently interested 
 in the minute regulations of a school, to read 
 the long enumeration of them which we have 
 thought necessary for giving that exact inform- 
 ation, so requisite to those who have any in- 
 tention of reducing a system to practice. For 
 the general reader such an outline may suffice 
 as will enable him to understand the chapters 
 which follow the detail. 
 
 A schoolmaster, being a governor as well 
 as a teacher, we must consider the boys both 
 as a community and as a body of pupils. 
 
 The principle of our government is to leave, 
 as much as possible, all power in the hands of 
 the boys themselves : To this end we permit 
 them to elect a Committee, which enacts the 
 laws of the school, subject however to the
 
 2 OUTLINE OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 veto of the Head Master. We have also Courts 
 of Justice for the trial of both civil and cri- 
 minal causes, and a vigorous police for the 
 preservation of order. 
 
 Our rewards consist of a few prizes, given 
 at the end of each half year, to those whose 
 exertions have obtained for them the highest 
 rank in the school ; and certain marks, which 
 are gained from time to time by exertions of 
 talent and industry. These marks are of two 
 kinds: the most valuable, called premial 
 marks, will purchase holiday; the others are 
 received in liquidation of forfeits. Our pu- 
 nishments are fine and imprisonment. Impo- 
 sitions, public disgrace, and corporal pain, 
 have been for some years discarded among us. 
 
 To obtain rank is an object of great ambi- 
 tion among the boys ; with us it is entirely 
 dependent on the state of their acquirements ; 
 and our arrangements according to excellence 
 are so frequent, that no one is safe, without 
 constant exertion, from losing his place. 
 
 The boys learn almost every branch of study 
 in classes, that the Master may have time for 
 copious explanations ; it being an object of 
 great anxiety with us, that the pupil should 
 be led to reason upon all his operations. 
 
 Economy of time is a matter of importance 
 with us : we look upon all restraint as an evil,
 
 OUTLINE OF THE SYSTEM. 5 
 
 and, to young persons, a very serious evil ; we 
 are, therefore, constantly in search of means 
 for ensuring the effective employment of every 
 minute which is spent in the school-room, that 
 the boys may have ample time for exercise in 
 the open air. The middle state between work 
 and play is extremely unfavourable to the 
 habits of the pupil; we have succeeded, by 
 great attention to order and regularity, in re- 
 ducing it almost to nothing. We avoid much 
 confusion by accustoming the boys to march, 
 which they do with great precision, headed by 
 a band of young performers from their own 
 body. 
 
 B 2
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 Government of the School. 
 
 THE government of the school is lodged in 
 the hands of the Master, the Teachers, and a 
 Committee of boys elected by their com- 
 panions. 
 
 The Committee is chosen on the first Monday 
 in each month, at a general meeting of the 
 school, over which one of the boys is called 
 upon to preside as chairman. The boy who is 
 then highest in rank, the means of obtaining 
 which are hereafter described, appoints a 
 member of the Committee ; the two next in 
 elevation jointly nominate a second ; the three 
 next choose a third, and so on to the bottom 
 of the list; the last section, if incomplete, 
 being incorporated with the previous division. 
 
 The Committee at present consists of eleven 
 boys; but its number must evidently vary 
 with any considerable increase or diminution
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 5 
 
 in the school. Each of the assistant teachers 
 is a member ex officio ; but, as we think it de- 
 sirable to leave the management of affairs as 
 much as possible in the hands of the boys 
 themselves, only one Teacher has been in the 
 habit of attending the Committee's meetings. 
 
 The Committee meets once a week ; it has 
 the formation of all the laws and regulations 
 of the school, excepting such as determine 
 the hours of attendance, and the regular 
 amount of exercises to be performed; but 
 when the Committee has resolved upon any 
 law, a copy is presented by the Secretary to 
 the Head Master, whose sanction is necessary 
 before it can be put in force.* The law is 
 afterwards read aloud in the presence of the 
 school, when its operation immediately com- 
 mences, and a copy is hung in a conspicuous 
 part of the school-room, for at least three 
 days. 
 
 The regulations of the Committee require, 
 that, previously to the discussion of any new 
 law, a week's notice shall be given. This ne- 
 
 * The first Committee was appointed on the 3d of February, 
 1817 ; and although from that time to the present (October 1821), 
 the Committees have been constantly employed in repealing, 
 revising, and correcting the old laws, and in forming new ones, 
 the master's assent has never, in a single instance, been with- 
 held, or even delayed.
 
 6 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 cessary arrangement having sometimes occa- 
 sioned inconvenient delay, a Sub-Committee, 
 consisting of the Judge and Magistrate for the 
 time being, has been empowered to make regu- 
 lations, liable as usual to the veto of the Mas- 
 ter; which, unless annulled in the mean time 
 by the General Committee, continue in ope- 
 ration for a fortnight. A great advantage of 
 this arrangement is, that it affords opportunity 
 of trying as an experiment the effect of any 
 regulation, and modifying it, if necessary, be- 
 fore it forms a part of the code of written laws. 
 Immediately after its election, the new Com- 
 mittee assembles, and proceeds to appoint the 
 officers for the ensuing month. A Chairman 
 and Secretary are first chosen; then the Judge, 
 the Magistrate, the Sheriff, and the Keeper of 
 the Records, are elected. At the same time 
 also, the Master appoints the Attorney- 
 General, the Judge nominates the Clerk and 
 the Crier of the Court, and the Magistrate his 
 two Constables. 
 
 Of the duties of the Judge we shall speak 
 hereafter. The Magistrate has the power of 
 enforcing all penalties below a certain amount. 
 When an offence is committed which is beyond 
 his jurisdiction, he directs the Attorney-General 
 to draw an indictment against the offending 
 party, who takes his trial in a manner which
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 7 
 
 will be hereafter described. The Magistrate 
 also decides petty cases of dispute between the 
 boys ; and is expected, with the assistance of 
 his Constables, to detect all offences committed 
 in the school. At the end of the month the 
 boy who has officiated as Magistrate is reward- 
 ed with a half holiday, and, in order to secure 
 to him the good-will and active co-operation 
 of the other boys, he has the privilege of 
 choosing a certain number of them to enjoy 
 the holiday with him. This number is esti- 
 mated by the Master, according to the success 
 of the police in preserving order. The Magis- 
 trate has also the power to reward the Con 
 stables with half a day's holiday at the same 
 time, and to permit each of them to confer the 
 same favour on either one or two other boys, 
 according as he shall think his Constables 
 have performed their duty. 
 
 The Sheriff has to enforce all penalties levied 
 by the Court of Justice ; and in case of the 
 inability of the defaulter to pay the fine, it is 
 his duty to imprison him. The rate at which 
 penalties of marks shall be discharged by im- 
 prisonment has been determined by the Com- 
 mittee. The Sheriff has also some other du- 
 ties, which will be mentioned hereafter. 
 
 The Keeper of the Records has the care of
 
 8 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 the indictments and other papers belonging to 
 the Court of Justice. 
 
 The Attorney-General is the officer who con- 
 ducts the proceedings against those boys who 
 are tried by order of the Magistrate. In cases 
 of appeal, which will be hereafter explained, it 
 is the duty of the Attorney-General to draw up 
 the necessary documents, if required by the 
 appellant ; for this he receives a fee of a certain 
 number of marks from the unsuccessful party. 
 
 The Court of Justice assembles on Wednes- 
 day afternoon, whenever there is business 
 which requires its attention. At this time every 
 teacher and every pupil is expected to be 
 in attendance. All boys, except the officers 
 of the Court, those who are in certain 
 lower classes, and such as have been con- 
 victed by the Court within the last month, are 
 competent to serve upon the Jury. 
 
 The Jury consists of six, who are chosen by 
 lot from among the whole body of qualified 
 boys. The lots are drawn in open Court, the 
 first by the Judge, and the remaining five by 
 the first juryman drawn. The Jury choose 
 their own Foreman. 
 
 The Attorney-General and the accused party, 
 if the case be penal, and each disputant, if 
 civil, have a peremptory challenge of three,
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 9 
 
 and a challenge for cairns, ad infinitum. The 
 Judge decides upon the validity of objections. 
 
 The officers of the Court and the Jury having 
 taken their seats, the defendant (when the case 
 is penal) is called to the bar by the Crier of the 
 Court, and is placed between the Constables. 
 The Clerk of the Court then reads the indict- 
 ment, at the close of which the defendant is 
 asked if he object to any of the Jury, when he 
 may make his challenges, as before stated. 
 The same question is put to the Attorney- 
 General. A short time is then allowed the 
 defendant to plead guilty, if he be so disposed; 
 he is asked no question, however, that he may 
 not be induced to tell a falsehood : but in order 
 to encourage an acknowledgment of the fault, 
 when he pleads guilty a small deduction is 
 made from the penalty appointed by the law 
 for the offence. The consequence is, that at 
 least five out of six of those who are justly ac- ,. 
 jcused acknowledge the offence in the first in- 
 stance. If the defendant be determined to 
 stand his trial, the Attorney-General opens the 
 case, and the trial proceeds. The defendant 
 may either plead his own cause, or employ a 
 schoolfellow as counsel, which he sometimes 
 does. 
 
 The Judge takes notes of the evidence, to 
 assist him in delivering his charge to the Jury :
 
 10 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 in determining the ser*ence he is guided by the 
 regulations enacted by the Committee ; which 
 affix punishments varying with the magnitude 
 of the offence and the age of the defendant, 
 but invest the Judge with the power of increas- 
 ing or diminishing the penalty, to the extent of 
 one-fourth. 
 
 The penalties appointed by the Judge are 
 entered in a book by the Sheriff, and a copy 
 of the sentence is laid before the Master for 
 his signature, when he can, if he please, exer- 
 cise his power of mitigation or pardon. 
 
 The fines are paid into open court imme- 
 diately after the ratification of the sentence ; 
 otherwise the defendant is imprisoned. 
 
 Any one who has committed an offence may, 
 with the permission of a Teacher, escape the 
 shame of a public trial, by undergoing the 
 greatest possible punishment that he could 
 suffer from the sentence of the Judge. 
 
 A register is kept of all who have been 
 convicted before the Court of Justice, and of 
 
 those who have paid the increased fines in 
 i i 
 
 order to escape trial. Some boys are acutely 
 sensible of the disgrace of appearing in this 
 book ; and in order to make this very proper 
 feeling a spur to moral improvement, it has 
 been thought advisable to allow any one, 
 whose name, at the last arrangement according
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 11 
 
 to good behaviour, (on a system to be explained 
 hereafter,) shall have stood above a certain 
 number, to move the Court to order the era- 
 sure of his name from the criminal register. 
 The boy in this case is obliged to give notice of 
 his intention to the Attorney-General, and, to 
 succeed, he must prove to the satisfaction of a 
 Jury, that his conduct for a long time past has 
 been exemplary. This has been done in some 
 instances. 
 
 The offences which come before the Court of 
 Justice are, principally, leaving the school 
 before the appointed exercises are completed 
 and examined, going beyond the school boun- 
 daries, and falsehood. Petty acts of disho- 
 nesty have sometimes been the subjects of 
 legal investigation; but these, we are happy 
 to state, occur very rarely indeed. When a 
 case of prevarication comes before the Court, 
 the offender is likely to be severely dealt with, 
 
 for the Juries have hitherto shown a decided 
 
 f 
 
 aversion to every kind of deception ; and a 
 quibble is, perhaps, punished more rigorously 
 than a direct falsehood. 
 
 Any one who shall think himself aggrieved 
 by a decision of the Magistrate, a Teacher, or 
 of the Court of Justice, may appeal to the 
 Committee. Two instances only have occurred 
 of appeals from the Court of Justice, both of
 
 12 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 which were brought by the Attorney-General, 
 against verdicts of acquittal ; and upon each 
 occasion the Committee reversed the decision 
 of the inferior Court. Neither of these cases 
 was of that clear and undoubted nature which 
 would authorize a charge of partiality against 
 the Jury ; moreover, in each instance, evidence 
 was brought before the Committee which had 
 not been heard below. Appeals against the 
 decisions of the Teachers and Magistrate 
 have been frequently made. The Committees 
 have generally ratified the former decisions ; 
 and when they have not, (with a few exceptions 
 only,) they have acted in conformity with the 
 opinions of the Teachers as a body. We can 
 remember only two instances in which that 
 has not been the case ; even here all that was 
 done was to reduce the penalties, not to remit 
 them altogether ; and though it was the opinion 
 of the Teachers that in these instances the 
 Committees were actuated in some measure by 
 party feeling, we cannot be certain that such 
 was the fact, because it is not impossible that 
 the Teachers themselves might be influenced 
 by a sentiment of esprit de corps in favour of 
 the acts of an individual of their own body. 
 
 It has lately been the etiquette, when any 
 case of appeal concerning a Teacher comes 
 before the Committee, to leave the decision
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 13 
 
 entirely with the boys ; the only Teacher who 
 is in the habit of attending the meetings declin- 
 ing to vote on the question. 
 
 When any boy above the age of thirteen 
 leaves the school, his character becomes the 
 subject of judicial consideration; a report 
 thereon is drawn up, and laid[beforethe Gene- 
 ral Committee by a Sub-committee appointed 
 for the purpose. In this report, the boy's me- 
 rits and demerits are impartially stated ; his 
 improvement while at school, his rank and 
 general character, and the offices of trust he 
 may have served, are here recorded. On the 
 other hand, the criminal register is consulted, 
 and should his name be found therein, the fact 
 is now brought forward against him. Offences 
 committed long ago, however, are not un- 
 kindly dwelt upon ; and moral improvement is 
 always recorded with pleasure. 
 
 These reports are enfered in a book, and 
 read to the whole school. If any boy desire 
 a copy of his character, he is furnished with 
 one by the Secretary.
 
 14 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 Division of the School into Classes. 
 
 The school consists of about seventy boys, 
 who are arranged into classes for each depart- >( 
 ment of study, according to their proficiency 
 in that department. Thus, a boy, who stands 
 in the highest class of Latinists, may be in the 
 second of Arithmeticians, and so on. 
 
 The studies pursued in classes are ortho- 
 graphy, geography, parsing, short-hand, the 
 mathematics, (commencing with common arith- 
 metic, and including mensuration, trigono- 
 metry, geometry, and algebra,) French, Latin, 
 and Greek. All the boys are engaged in the 
 greater number of these pursuits ; but a few 
 of the studies are followed by a part of the 
 school only. 
 
 ' \Vhile receiving instruction in arithmetic, 
 each class, under the care of a Teacher, is 
 arranged before a large black board, on which 
 the operation is chalked, in the same manner 
 as it is usually written with a pencil on a slate, 
 only that, with us, the calculations are per- 
 formed aloud, the Teacher merely writing the 
 figures as they are named by the members of 
 the class ; whereas, in using a slate, the ope- 
 ration is worked in silence, and by an indi-
 
 DIVISION OF THE SCHOOL. 15 
 
 vidual. A considerable portion of the time is 
 employed by the Teacher and his class in en- 
 tering into a complete investigation of the 
 nature of the problem to be solved, and after 
 an answer to the arithmetical question has 
 been obtained, the probability of its accuracy 
 is ascertained by a process, in almost all cases 
 carried on without the use of figures, which is 
 technically called Calculation by round 
 numbers. In giving to our pupils just and 
 clear conceptions of the nature of the problem, 
 and the various methods of solving it, we have 
 found this exercise of the greatest utility. 
 
 Each class has a certain number of rules, 
 through which it proceeds time after time, with- 
 out ever leaving the path prescribed ; but, at 
 stated periods, the boys who show themselves 
 best entitled to advancement are promoted to 
 higher classes. Thus, a little boy who shall 
 enter the school in the lowest class of arith- 
 meticians, will, in process of time, work his 
 way into the highest; it must depend, however, 
 on his talent and attention, whether his ascent 
 be rapid or otherwise. 
 
 Although in learning arithmetic the time of 
 
 the boys is principally occupied in the manner 
 
 now described, practice on the slate is not 
 
 altogether excluded. 
 
 J Besides what has been already mentioned,
 
 16 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 the boys are daily exercised in mental arith- 
 metic, for which a new arrangement into 
 classes takes place, entirely independent of 
 the pupil's progress in written arithmetic. 
 
 Here such questions only are proposed as 
 can be calculated without the aid of signs ; and 
 the answers are either given orally, when the 
 boy who is first able to solve the question 
 speaks; or written upon slates, when each 
 pupil is obliged to perform the calculation 
 mentally, and to write a correct answer. The 
 mechanism of the class is such as to induce 
 every member to be as rapid, but at the same 
 time as correct, as possible ; and by means of 
 little sticks, which are received by the boys 
 for correct answers, but forfeited for mistakes, 
 not only the rank of each boy is registered, 
 but the number of correct, above that of incor- 
 rect, answers, which have been given by any 
 individual of the class, may be ascertained in 
 a moment. When this number equals a certain 
 amount, the individual has permission to retire, 
 and has at his own disposal the remainder of 
 the time allotted to this exercise. This method 
 of proceeding, a little varied according to the 
 nature of the employment, is adopted by the 
 classes in every department of study. 
 
 The lower classes engaged in mental arith- 
 metic are exercised in calculating questions
 
 DIVISION OF THE SCHOOL INTO CLASSES. 17 
 
 respecting interest and discount, in determin- 
 ing whether a certain year is bissextile or not, 
 and in miscellaneous questions respecting the 
 value of articles of various numbers and 
 prices. 
 
 The upper classes are employed in exercises 
 more scientific : they learn to determine the 
 age of the moon at any given time, the day of 
 the week which corresponds with any day of 
 any month and year, and Easter Sunday for a 
 given year. They will square any number not 
 exceeding a thousand, extract the square root 
 of a number of not more than five figures, cal- 
 culate the distance of places, (the time which 
 sound takes to pass from one place to another 
 being known,) determine the space through 
 which a body falls in a given time, the circum- 
 ferences and areas of circles from their diame- 
 ters, and solve many other problems in mensu- 
 ration; besides which, they have considerable 
 practice in mental algebra, vulgar fractions, and 
 in abstruse miscellaneous calculations. 
 
 In learning short-hand, the classes are prin- 
 cipally occupied in reading it. Practice in 
 writing it is, however, occasionally given, 
 when care is taken that the characters are de- 
 lineated with the utmost precision.
 
 18 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 All our arrangements tend to make rank in 
 the school an object of great importance to 
 the boys, and to confer it in proportion to 
 moral and mental excellence. 
 
 The various arrangements of the school into 
 classes for different departments of study de- 
 termine, each for a time, the relative rank of 
 every boy in the school. Thus, for one week 
 the rank of each boy depends upon his pro- 
 gress in Greek, as far down the school as that 
 language is taught. Those who do not learn 
 Greek follow, according to their proficiency in 
 some other study. Latin determines the order 
 for another week, geometry for a third, and so 
 forth. 
 
 Most of the studies determine the arrange- 
 ment for a single week each, but a few which 
 are very important decide it for two distinct 
 weeks in each half year. 
 
 At a time appointed, the classes for that 
 department of study which is to determine the 
 rank for the following week are assembled, 
 each under the care of a Teacher, and a new 
 arrangement is made, according to the profi- 
 ciency of the boys at that period, by a process
 
 RANK. 19 
 
 as nearly mechanical, as, perhaps, the nature 
 of the business will admit. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, the Teachers are obliged, from the cir- 
 cumstances of the case, to adopt a more arbi- 
 trary mode of proceeding. Thus, in arranging 
 the boys according to propriety of manners 
 and general good conduct, which is done 
 twice in the course of each half year, they de- 
 termine the rank of every boy to the best of 
 their discretion. In doing this, however, they 
 are materially assisted by the various records 
 which are preserved of the good and bad con- 
 duct of the scholars. 
 
 A weekly register is made of the rank of 
 each boy, and at the end of the half year the 
 prizes are awarded, in the order of their value, 
 to those boys whose aggregate rank is found to 
 be the highest. 
 
 In order that every boy may know exactly 
 the effect of any new arrangement of the 
 school upon his aggregate rank, it is ascer- 
 tained and published, and the boys are made 
 to stand in the order of such rank on a certain 
 day in each week. At the same time, by a 
 comparison of the aggregate rank of each with 
 his place on a list arranged according to seni- 
 ority, the twelve boys whose rank in merit sur- 
 passes that in seniority in the greatest degree, 
 are selected from the others, and rewarded 
 
 c 2
 
 20 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 according to the amount of disparity. These 
 rewards, of course, are generally claimed by 
 little boys. 
 
 Here it may be noticed, that, contrary per- 
 haps to whatwould be expected, the boys who 
 excel in one pursuit are never very low in an- 
 other. The number of boys who are in the 
 highest class in every department of study is 
 by no means inconsiderable. The same indi- 
 viduals who are found at the head of the Greek 
 and Latin classes are also among the first in the 
 mathematical, reading, and French classes ; 
 and what is more remarkable, in such 
 exercises as penmanship and scale-drawing, 
 arts in which, from the necessity of devoting 
 their time to more important pursuits, they 
 have scarcely any direct instruction, the 
 boys of talent and information, actuated by 
 the wish to maintain at all times a respectable 
 rank in the school, find means to qualify them- 
 selves for competition with those who give 
 much time to studies of this description, but 
 who are little acquainted with the higher 
 branches of education. 
 
 There are some exercises, which, although 
 they do not affect the weekly arrangements of 
 the school, yet influence the determination of 
 the prizes. Of this description are translations 
 from the Latin and Greek into English verse
 
 
 RANK. 21 
 
 and prose, and from English into Latin and 
 Greek, original composition, reports of lectures, 
 and mathematical demonstrations. Each of 
 these in turn is the subject of a voluntary 
 exercise, and the efforts of the candidates, ac- 
 cording to their various merits, are recorded 
 in their favour. At the vacation, that fourth of 
 the whole number of boys who have either 
 gained prizes or made the best approach 
 towards obtaining them, are distinguished from 
 the rest, by being furnished with a statement 
 of the rank they respectively have held in 
 the competitions of the several weeks, and in 
 the voluntary competitions for advancing their 
 claim to the prizes ; the statement comprising 
 the place the boy occupies in the order of age, 
 that his friends may the better perceive the 
 degree in which he has distinguished himself. 
 As we have before stated, it is an object 
 with us to make rank as important in the eyes 
 of the boys as possible. The weekly arrange- 
 ment determines for a time the precedence of 
 the boys. With a few exceptions, which will 
 be stated shortly, they sit according to it at 
 their meals : when presenting their exercises 
 to a Teacher for examination, superiority in 
 rank gives them a prior claim to his attention; 
 and it has been seen, that the higher a boy 
 ranks, the more influence he acquires in the
 
 22 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 election of the Committee, and, consequently, 
 the greater is his control in the affairs of the 
 school. There are other motives which render 
 this rank desirable, but it is not necessary to 
 enumerate all. 
 
 A class of boys, called, par eminence, the 
 Students, is formed of such as were distin- 
 guished by obtaining prizes at the last distri- 
 bution of them, including the Judge and the 
 Magistrate, whether otherwise entitled to be 
 members or not. These boys invariably sit at 
 the head of the table ; the Judge ranking first, 
 then the Magistrate, and afterwards the others, 
 in the order of the prizes which they last gained. 
 The Students enjoy many privileges ; they 
 are excused from serving certain laborious 
 offices, as that of Monitor ; they are not under 
 the regular discipline for the preservation of 
 silence to which the others are subjected. 
 The other boys, at the commencement of busi- 
 ness after each meal, are examined as to per- 
 sonal cleanliness ; and once in each day their 
 desks are also inspected, to ascertain if they 
 are neatly arranged. From each of these ex- 
 aminations the Students are exempt, their rank 
 being considered as a sufficient guarantee for 
 their attention to those duties. This class has 
 also a cricket-ground of its own, to which 
 each member has the liberty of introducing a 
 schoolfellow of a certain rank.
 
 REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 23 
 
 Rewards and Punishments. 
 
 Our rewards are chiefly conferred by the ., 
 distribution of certain counters, which the 
 boys obtain by superiority in the classes, by 
 filling certain offices, and by various kinds of 
 voluntary labour. In the forfeiture of these 
 counters our punishments chiefly consist; 
 hence the pieces are called penal marks. 
 
 Every boy in the school devotes such part 
 of his play-hours as he may think proper to 
 the obtaining of these marks. The product 
 of almost any kind of labour or study is re- 
 ceived, provided it is presented hi a complete 
 state, and is tolerably well executed. As each 
 boy, for this purpose, is at liberty to employ 
 himself in the way he shall think proper, he 
 of course engages in those pursuits which are 
 most consonant with his taste. Some boys 
 give much time to translation, others prefer X 
 drawing and planning; with some, ornamental 
 printing is the favourite amusement; models 
 of machinery, of houses, of animals, &c. are 
 frequently presented for rewards ; and many 
 boys devote their leisure time to reading, who, 
 when they claim to be rewarded, undergo an
 
 24 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 examination as to their knowledge of the book 
 they have chosen, that it may be ascertained 
 whether they have read with attention. 
 Among the younger boys writing is much 
 practised, and as this kind of labour is more 
 easily measured, than, perhaps, any other, it 
 furnishes the standard value of the counters. 
 One penal mark is given for two lines of run- 
 ning hand, three of round hand or round text, 
 or four of large hand. In apportioning to 
 pieces of other work the proper reward, the 
 Teacher considers to what quantity of writing 
 each is equivalent, and gives the corresponding 
 number of marks. This rule is, however, 
 often relaxed, with a view to reward excel- 
 lence and to encourage those kinds of exer- 
 tion which are thought to be the most useful. 
 
 The penalties are entered at the time they 
 are incurred in a book which is kept for the 
 purpose ; and at an appointed hour in each day 
 the boys are expected to pay to certain Teach- 
 ers, who are in readiness to receive them, all 
 the penalties which may have been registered 
 against them on the preceding day: those, 
 however, of the younger boys are lessened by 
 subtracting a sixth for every year which the 
 age is under eleven. At the same time other 
 Teachers are occupied in giving the rewards 
 for voluntary labour. The names of those
 
 REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 25 
 
 boys who cannot pay their fines are entered on 
 a list (called the defaulters' list), which is kept 
 by the Sheriff, the penalties being doubled. 
 Those who remain on this list are confined 
 to the school-room, except at meal-times, 
 and during one half hour in each day which is 
 allowed for exercise : they are also obliged to 
 rise an hour earlier than the other boys in the 
 morning; and at the next holiday, should they 
 be still upon this list, provided their names 
 have not been entered within the preceding 
 twenty-four hours, the Sheriff has the power 
 of confining them separately in the dark, for a 
 time proportionate to the amount of their debts. 
 The Sheriff is at all times ready to strike a 
 name from the list, upon payment of the marks 
 owing. Thus it is always the interest of every 
 boy to have a considerable stock of marks in 
 his possession ; and to encourage this by an- 
 other motive, twenty per cent, is deducted from 
 all penalties paid at the moment they are in- 
 curred. Prudent boys are careful never to be 
 without some hundreds of these marks ; and 
 there are those who have thousands. Indeed 
 it is an object of ambition to possess the 
 greatest number. A remarkable instance of 
 anxiety to obtain marks was given by a boy, 
 who, for that purpose, in a very short time 
 translated, into tolerably correct blank verse,
 
 26 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 the whole four books of the Georgics, without 
 any assistance from a translation. 
 
 The care of the public treasure, if we may 
 so call it, (meaning the counters not in circu- 
 lation,) is entrusted to a boy who is called the 
 Banker; and his ac counts, whichare kept in 
 the common form, show the number of marks 
 received every day as penalties ; and a com- 
 parison of the amount of checks drawn upon 
 the banker by the teachers, with the total of 
 marks received into the bank for any given 
 time, will show whether in that period the 
 school at large has become richer or poorer. 
 The Banker is paid for his trouble by a com- 
 mission of one per cent, on his receipts and 
 issues. 
 
 Those who have not sufficient prudence to 
 keep a stock of marks are generally put 
 under the care of the elder boys, who con- 
 tract, under certain penalties, to keep their 
 names from the defaulters' list. 
 
 It is the business of these Masters to see 
 that their pupils have a constant supply of 
 marks, and to be careful that they avoid penal- 
 ties as much as possible, by making them learn 
 their lessons, and perform all their exercises 
 at the proper times. These offices, like most 
 others, are sold by auction; care, however,
 
 REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 27 
 
 is taken that the contractor is a person of re- 
 sponsibility. 
 
 The Masters have no power of coercion 
 over their pupils, except that in an instance 
 of refusal to work, a Master may, with the 
 permission of a Teacher, imprison his pupil 
 for a time not exceeding half an hour ; but 
 this confinement is not allowed in commutation 
 of penalties, and is very seldom resorted to, 
 as it is contrary to the interest of the Master 
 that his pupil should suffer such a loss of time. 
 In fact little boys, when under the care of 
 those who are more experienced, are relieved 
 from so much anxiety and embarrassment, 
 that it is frequently their own request to be 
 placed under the little restraint which is by 
 this means exercised over them. 
 
 It appears to us desirable that every school 
 should preserve records of all such transac- 
 tions as affect its well-being (whenever they 
 can be made without an undue sacrifice of 
 time), to enable the conductors to ascertain 
 whether the character of the school is pro- 
 gressive or otherwise. We have a register of 
 this description, which exhibits, in a very small 
 compass, a weekly account of many important 
 particulars ; such as the amount of rewards 
 and fines, the total of penalties discharged by 
 imprisonment, the number of hours of con-
 
 28 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 finement, any injury done to the premises, the 
 trials and convictions before the Court of Jus- 
 tice, &c. 
 
 By consulting this register, we find that for 
 the last half year the weekly average of im- 
 prisonment for each boy has been less than a 
 quarter of an hour ; and that out of seventy- 
 four, which is the number of boys in the 
 school, forty-seven have never been confined 
 at all. 
 
 Besides the counters already mentioned, re- 
 wards of another description are given, which 
 we call premial marks : these can only be ob- 
 tained by productions of the very best quality, 
 and, unlike the penal marks, are strictly per- 
 sonal ; that is, they cannot be transferred from 
 one boy to another : with a certain number of 
 them, a boy may purchase for himself an addi- 
 tional holiday, which can be obtained by no 
 other means ; and in the payment of penalties, 
 they may be commuted at an established rate 
 for penal marks. To prevent unnecessary 
 interference in the arrangements of the school, 
 the purchase of holiday with premial marks is 
 confined to a certain afternoon in each week, 
 when any one who is able may obtain his 
 liberty. But an inducement to save their pre- 
 mial marks is offered to the boys by making 
 them the means of procuring rank. Thus
 
 REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 29 
 
 once and sometimes twice in every half year, 
 (according to the number of weeks from va- 
 cation to vacation), the first place is put up to 
 auction, and given to the boy who is willing to 
 sacrifice for it the greatest number of premial 
 marks : the second place is then sold in the 
 same manner, and so on. By these means the 
 possession of premial marks is made to bear 
 upon the determination of the prizes ; and so 
 powerful is the motive thus created, that we 
 find, on an examination of the accounts, that a 
 boy of fourteen, now in the school, although 
 constantly in the possession of marks amply 
 sufficient to obtain a holiday per week, has 
 bought but three quarters of a day's relaxation 
 during the whole of the last year. The same 
 boy, at a late arrangement, purchased his 
 place on the list by a sacrifice of marks, suf- 
 ficient to have obtained for him twenty-six half 
 days' exemption from the labour and confine- 
 ment of the school.
 
 30 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 The Monitor. 
 
 The office of Monitor is filled in the order 
 of age, by the boys who reside at the school, 
 commencing each half year with the eldest 
 boy; certain individuals, however, the Students 
 among others, are excused from serving. The 
 number so privileged is generally about thir- 
 teen or fourteen; and as there are more than 
 fifty boarders in the school, and the same indi- 
 vidual keeps the office for a week, the duties 
 of the Monitor, which are by no means trifling, 
 never devolve upon little boys. 
 
 The Monitor has to ring the bell at the proper 
 times, to keep certain accounts, and to trans- 
 act other necessary business connected with 
 the attendance of the boys on their various 
 avocations. His duties occupy much of his 
 time, in consideration of which he is relieved 
 from some of the school exercises. As a great 
 deal depends upon his punctuality, a system 
 has been arranged, by which he is held to the 
 strictest responsibility. A statement of the 
 times at which the bell is to be rung, and of 
 the other duties of the Monitor, is hung in the 
 school-room, which is furnished with a clock ; 
 a fine is imposed upon any one who shall ring
 
 THE MONITOR. 31 
 
 the bell except the Monitor, so that this officer 
 knows that he must depend upon himself 
 alone ; but if he, from any unavoidable circum- 
 stances, be unable to attend to his duty, he 
 informs the boy who filled the office last, who 
 then becomes the responsible person. If the 
 Monitor should ring the bell or call over his 
 list at the wrong time, he pays a considerable 
 fine, which increases with every minute of 
 error, whether he be too early or too late. 
 
 In the course of the week the Monitor has 
 to ring the bell more than 250 times ; if this 
 be done without a single error, he receives 
 twenty premial marks, a reward which is oc- 
 casionally obtained, though not very often. 
 
 Miscellaneous Arrangements. 
 
 Music has been introduced into the system 
 with considerable advantage. The boys as- 
 semble in their various classes, and proceed 
 to the places where they are taught, as well as 
 march to their meals, always accompanied by 
 music. We thus avoid much confusion and 
 loss of time. 
 
 To induce boys to learn to play upon some 
 instrument, generally the flute, and to enter
 
 32 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 the band, a weekly stipend of penal marks is 
 all that is required ; the regular and frequent 
 practice which is by this means obtained, (for 
 the musicians perform more than twenty times 
 per day) assisted by the occasional instruction 
 of a master, ensures tolerable proficiency in 
 the art. 
 
 We wish particularly to observe, that we 
 have never found this employment to injure 
 the health of the boys in the least degree. 
 This we attribute to the shortness of the per- 
 formances, which seldom occupy more than 
 half a minute each. 
 
 At present the band consists of eleven per- 
 formers. 
 
 The other boys, by their frequent practice 
 in marching, learn to measure time with all 
 the precision of soldiers, an acquisition that is 
 not only useful in contributing to the order 
 and celerity with which the various evolutions 
 of the school are performed, but which has 
 been in many instances of great assistance in 
 enabling boys to subdue serious impediments 
 of the speech. We believe that stammering 
 results altogether from the habit of speaking 
 without an attention to time. 
 
 When the school assembles in the morning, 
 forenoon, afternoon, and evening, it is neces- 
 sary to ascertain what boys are absent, in
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ARRANGEMENTS. 33 
 
 order that inquiries may be made into the 
 cause, and fines levied or remitted according 
 to circumstances. Our mode of accomplish- 
 ing this end was formerly that in general use, 
 namely, by calling over a list of names ; but, 
 about two years ago, we formed a plan, which 
 has not only the advantage of superior accu- 
 racy, but also of greater speed. 
 
 At these times the bell rings two minutes, 
 during which the boys are expected to assem- 
 ble in the school-room. When the bell ceases 
 to ring, the door is closed, and for the pre- 
 sent no one is admitted. The band imme- 
 diately commences a tune, which is played 
 once over. During this time the boys arrange 
 themselves in a certain part of the school-room, 
 in the classes in which they are about to re- 
 ceive instruction ; as, for instance, in the mor- 
 ning, in the reading classes. A board hangs 
 against the wall at the head of each class, 
 exhibiting the names of the members ; with 
 figures expressing the number of boys in the 
 class, after deducting those who are engaged 
 in the band. While the tune is played, it is 
 the business of the second boy in each class 
 to ascertain by a comparison of the number 
 present with that marked on the board whether 
 or not any boys are absent, and if any, the 
 
 D
 
 34 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 number of absentees. At the same time their 
 names are found by the boy at the head of the 
 class. 
 
 Immediately that the tune ceases, the second 
 boy in the first class declares aloud the result 
 of his examination; thus " The first class 
 twelve complete," or " Out of twelve, absent 
 from the first class " as the fact may be. If 
 any are absent, the boy at the head of the 
 class calls their names one at a time, while 
 they are entered in a book by a boy who writes 
 them in short-hand, and repeated aloud by 
 another who stands near him. The second 
 class now proceeds in the same manner, and 
 is followed by the other classes, and lastly by 
 the band. 
 
 The next operation is for the second boy in 
 the lowest class to declare the number present 
 in his division ; as for instance, he may say, 
 " Ten." The second boy in the next class 
 adds to this the number present in his division; 
 thus he may say, " and nine make nineteen." 
 He is followed by the second boy in the class 
 next higher, and so on through all the classes 
 and the band. The accomptant, who in the 
 mean time has numbered the absentees which 
 he has entered, adds this number to the last 
 expressed, at the same time declaring the 
 total, which, if the operation has been correctly
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ARRANGEMENTS. 35 
 
 performed, is equal to the whole number of 
 boys, of which the school consists. If any error 
 has arisen, it is readily detected by repeating 
 the process. 
 
 We begin the latter part of the operation 
 with the lowest class, for the obvious reason 
 that the little boys may have easy numbers to 
 add together. During this time the Teachers 
 are not unoccupied. One of them keeps an 
 account similar to that made by the short-hand 
 writer, as a check upon his proceedings ; 
 another counts the number of boys present in 
 each class, in order to ensure correctness in 
 that part of the proceeding; and a third follows 
 the casting. 
 
 When the total is declared to be correct, 
 which is almost always the case in the first in- 
 stance, the words " Face" and " March" are 
 given, the band plays, and the classes proceed 
 to their respective stations. 
 
 The whole of this operation, from the time 
 the bell ceases to ring to that when the classes 
 are in their places ready for work, generally 
 occupies about four minutes. 
 
 The Registrar now enters in the general 
 account of attendance, as present, the names 
 of all who do not appear in the short-hand 
 report of absentees. Those who were not 
 present at the muster have the time of their 
 
 D 2
 
 36 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 arrival marked immediately as they enter the 
 school ; and unless they can show very satis- 
 factory cause for their absence, a fine of penal 
 marks of a certain amount is levied upon 
 each. 
 
 In order to preserve silence in the school 
 when the boys are not occupied in classes, the 
 following- plan has been adopted. The boys 
 are divided according to age, into several sec- 
 tions, each division occupying one part of the 
 school-room. At the commencement of 
 school-time, the lowest boy in each division 
 has a staff placed in his hands, which he may 
 transfer to any one who shall disturb the 
 peace, be out of his proper place, &c. At 
 the conclusion of school, the boy who then 
 holds the staff has a certain penalty set against 
 his name. When any disorder takes place in 
 a division, the presiding Teacher orders the 
 proper penalty to be entered against the staff- 
 holder ; who in that case has the same right 
 as before to transfer it to him who caused 
 the penalty to be entered; but he does not by 
 that means relieve himself from the fine en- 
 tered against him, which he has incurred for 
 want of activity in passing the staff. 
 
 The penalties vary in magnitude according 
 to the order of the division, the greatest being 
 for that section which consists of the oldest
 
 LATIN AND GREEK. 37 
 
 boys. The division according to seniority is 
 made in order to bring into competition those 
 of nearly equal age. 
 
 Besides the staff to each division, another is 
 passed among those who may be from their 
 desks. Its use is to prevent any irregularity 
 among those whose occupations may lead 
 them from their divisions. 
 
 An arrangement, very similar to that now 
 described, is adopted when the boys are taking 
 their meals. 
 
 
 Latin and Greek. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to state, that in 
 these divisions of study we have, in common 
 with other schools, our daily lessoiis. In pre- 
 paring these, the inferior pupils are allowed 
 the assistance of translations, which they of 
 course lay aside when they come to say their 
 task. The superior scholars have only the 
 occasional aid of their Teacher; but all are 
 expected to acquire so perfect a know- 
 ledge of the passage to be translated, as to be 
 able to construe it without the slightest error. 
 If the pupil perform the lesson correctly, he 
 receives a stated reward, regulated by the
 
 38 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 rank of the class to which he belongs ; if, on 
 the contrary, a single mistake be made, the 
 pupil has to pay a heavy fine. The repetition 
 of these lessons commences at seven o'clock 
 in the morning, and is generally concluded in 
 forty minutes. As not more than two Teachers 
 are engaged, this time would be wholly insuf- 
 ficient for the accomplishment of the business 
 allotted to it, were not the pupils so completely 
 in possession of their tasks as to proceed with- 
 out hesitation. On each Monday morning 
 the same time is employed by pupils of some 
 proficiency in repeating sections of the gram- 
 mar. In allotting to the classes their several 
 portions of labour, the point aimed at is, that 
 the quantity should be such as to require the 
 private study of each pupil for an hour and a 
 half. Deductions are, however, sometimes 
 made on account of extreme youth, ill state of 
 health, &c. 
 
 Besides the performance of these prepared 
 lessons, a considerable portion of the day is 
 devoted by the superior classes to extempora- 
 neous, and by the inferior ones to analytical, 
 construing. 
 
 For analytical construing the pupils are fur- 
 nished each with a dictionary, grammar, and 
 a copy of Dr. Valpy's Delectus. 
 
 The business commences by one of the
 
 LATIN AND GREEK. 39 
 
 pupils reading the sentence to be construed, 
 (if more than one pupil offer to read the sen- 
 tence or to perform any other part of the exer- 
 cise, the preference is given to that candidate 
 who stands lowest in the class ;) the personal 
 verb of the sentence is next ascertained ; if 
 there be more than one they are all named ; 
 the theme and signification are then discovered 
 by means of the grammar and dictionary. 
 This operation is repeated upon the other 
 words of the sentence, according to the order 
 in which they occur in the original ; immedi- 
 ately after a preposition, however, is taken 
 the word which it governs : the pupils then 
 attempt to repeat the signification of the words 
 without recurring to the grammar and diction- 
 ary. If this attempt fail, recourse having 
 been made as occasion may require, it is re- 
 peated until successful ; the sentence is next 
 construed, and if in performing this the class 
 require any assistance from the Master, the 
 operation is repeated until his aid is no longer 
 necessary. Perhaps this exercise may be best 
 illustrated by example ; we will suppose the 
 class to commence with the sentence, " Jacent 
 sub arbore poma." The passage having been 
 read, a pupil names "Jacent" as the verb; 
 after which the boys, each speaking as often 
 as he is able, but always waiting for the Mas-
 
 40 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 ter's approbation or disapprobation of that 
 which was last said, thus proceed : " Jacent 
 like monent Monent from moneo Jacent from 
 jaceo Jaceo, to lie Monent, they advise Ja- 
 cent, they lie Sub, under Sub is a prepo- 
 sition/' " Examine what case it governs/' 
 " It governs the accusative or ablative." 
 " Find an accusative or ablative." " Arbore 
 is an ablative Arbore like parente Parents 
 from parentis* Arbore from arboris" " Con- 
 sult the dictionary." " Arboris from arbos 
 Arbos, a tree Sub arbor e, under a tree Poma 
 like regna Regna from regnum Poma from 
 pomum Pomum, an apple Regna, kingdoms 
 Poma, apples" The class now repeats 
 " Jacent, they lie Sub arbore, under the tree 
 Poma, apples." Having accomplished this 
 without any assistance, it proceeds to con- 
 strue, " Poma, the apples Jacent, lie Sub 
 arbore, under the tree. ' 
 
 It is obvious that, in performing this exer- 
 cise, Jacent might have been compared to 
 regent or ament Arbore to facie, felice, &c. 
 
 * As no grammar contains models for the numerous modes in 
 which nouns of the third declension form their genitives, it is 
 obviously expedient, that the young student should trace the 
 inflexions of such nouns to their genitives, before he attempt to 
 discover their themes : in the same manner, it is proper to trace 
 certain inflexions of verbs first to the preterite.
 
 LATIN AND GREEK. 41 
 
 Poma to musa, opera, &c. This would have 
 occasioned some variation in the method of 
 proceeding. Thus, if a pupil had compared 
 Jacent to ament, the class would have thus 
 continued : " Ament from amo Jacent from 
 jacoT " No such word in the dictionary." 
 Therefore Jacent is not like ament. 
 
 Upon leaving the inferior class, of which we 
 have been speaking, the pupil is employed in 
 extemporaneous construing, being no longer 
 allowed the use of his grammar and dictionary. 
 Amongst his present associates, he finds his 
 new exercise carried on with considerable 
 rapidity, as it is less frequently requisite to 
 trace an inflexion to its theme, and as this 
 operation, if ever necessary, is generally per- 
 formed with swiftness and certainty by a men- 
 tal process. Still, however, the words of 
 every sentence are translated in the Latin 
 order, previous to being construed, and the 
 Teacher is occasionally called upon to stand 
 in the place of a dictionary ; though he avoids 
 this as much as possible, by leading his pupils 
 to remark the etymological similarity between 
 the word they are engaged upon and other 
 words with which they are already acquainted, 
 thus guiding them eventually to the object of 
 their search. * 
 
 In the highest classes the pupils proceed at
 
 42 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 once to regular construing, rendering their 
 author sometimes by single words, sometimes 
 by phrases, and occasionally by sentences ; it 
 is, however, their first business at each lesson 
 to read^ in English the matter which has been 
 construed on the previous day. 
 
 All these exercises are interspersed with 
 numerous questions by the Teacher, upon the 
 mythological and historical events mentioned 
 or alluded to, as well as upon the grammatical 
 construction, and the idiomatic formation and 
 arrangement of such passages as claim parti- 
 cular attention. 
 
 Scanning is taught by a process which bears 
 considerable resemblance to that which we 
 have been describing. Each member of the 
 class being furnished with a copy of the pas- 
 sage to be scanned, some one commences by 
 attempting to scan a single verse ; should he 
 fail, such questions are put to the class by the 
 Teacher, as may best serve to point out wherein 
 consists the error which has been committed, 
 and the members of the class are requested to 
 repeat the rules which have been violated ; if 
 no one offers to do this, the pupils are directed 
 to consult their grammars, and he who first 
 succeeds in discovering the rules reads them 
 aloud. After this, some one again attempts to 
 scan the verse which is before the class ; if he
 
 FRENCH. 43 
 
 fail, the process before described is repeated, 
 and thus the class proceeds until the verse 
 has been scanned without a mistake. 
 
 Our method of teaching parsing it is not 
 necessary to describe, as we believe it differs 
 in no important point from that in general 
 use, except in the adoption of our own usual 
 mechanism for classes as before described. 
 
 We teach the writing of Latin by the pro- 
 cess of double translations, as practised by 
 Roger Ascham in the education of Queen Eli- 
 zabeth. 
 
 Under the head Exhibitions, our readers 
 will find an account of the method pursued by 
 our pupils in committing to memory selections 
 from the different authors, where it will be ob- 
 served, that we pay considerable attention to 
 this important part of classical education. 
 
 French. 
 
 The boys who learn French are the mem- 
 bers of the four upper parsing classes. 
 
 Our method of teaching the French lan- 
 guage necessarily differs in many respects 
 from that in which Latin and Greek are 
 taught, although the principles acted upon
 
 44 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 are the same. The acquisition of a correct 
 pronunciation is the most difficult part of the 
 study of the French language ; and great care 
 is necessary on the part of the Teacher to pre- 
 vent the pupil from gaining any habit which 
 must afterwards be broken. He is, therefore, 
 never induced to pronounce French, except 
 when pronunciation is the sole object of the 
 lesson, until his habits are matured. This 
 being the case, a grammar and dictionary 
 cannot be used by him, as they are in the 
 Latin classes, until he has made considerable 
 advances' ; the Teacher, therefore, for a while 
 supplies the place of both. 
 
 The time is very much employed in extem- 
 poraneous construing. Each boy being fur- 
 nished with a copy of his author, the lesson 
 commences by the Teacher reading in French 
 the sentence which is to be translated, then 
 the first word of that sentence, to which one 
 of the pupils answers by giving the word cor- 
 responding to it in English. The next word is 
 then read and translated, and so on to the end 
 of the sentence. If, however, any word has 
 occurred unknown to the whole class, and 
 the Teacher has in consequence assisted in the 
 translation, the sentence is construed again, 
 and this process is repeated until the class has 
 translated without assistance every word,
 
 FRENCH. 45 
 
 which being accomplished, the Teacher next 
 reads the whole sentence in French, and is 
 answered by a complete version of it in Eng- 
 lish. If the sentence should be so long that 
 no boy can translate the whole of it at once, it 
 is divided into phrases, which, after having 
 been translated separately, are quickly com- 
 bined so as to form the complete sentence. In 
 this manner the lesson is continued, every sen- 
 tence being rendered without error before 
 another is taken. The higher classes, instead 
 of construing word byword, begin with phrases 
 and continue to the end of a paragraph, when 
 they return to the beginning of the passage, in 
 order to read it in sentences, unless assist- 
 ance has been given them by their Teacher. 
 In this case they always re-translate the 
 sentence in which the aid has been received, 
 until help is no longer necessary. 
 
 For the pronunciation and idiom we princi- 
 pally depend on the knowledge that is gained 
 from learning French dramas ; a full descrip- 
 tion of the mode in which these are taught may 
 be found in the section on Exhibitions. This 
 instruction is received from one of our Teachers 
 whose native language is French. Many boys 
 are induced, by a weekly stipend of marks, to 
 engage to speak in French every time they 
 have occasion to address this Teacher, who is
 
 46 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 always careful, if the pronunciation of what is 
 said to him should be incorrect, to have it 
 repeated until it be perfect. A forfeit is paid 
 for every violation of the contract. We do not 
 in any way encourage our pupils to make use 
 of the French language in common conver- 
 sation with each other, knowing that without 
 superintendence it would be idle to expect 
 that careful attention so necessary to prevent 
 them from falling into bad habits, both with 
 respect to pronunciation and idiom. 
 
 We have often been astonished that any 
 teachers should expect favourable results 
 from a plan so vicious. They seem to suppose, 
 that if the pupil does not speak English, he 
 must, of necessity, "'talk" French. The truth 
 is, he speaks neither language, but a miserable 
 jargon compounded of both the words 
 French, the idiom and pronunciation English. 
 Like the youth in the Dunciad, he 
 
 " Spoils bis own language, and acquires no more." 
 
 For the purpose of attaining the niceties of 
 the French tongue, some of the boys are at- 
 tended by a French gentleman, who takes 
 them through the usual course of grammatical 
 instruction.
 
 EXHIBITIONS. 47 
 
 Exhibitions. 
 
 In Chapter IV. we have given at some length 
 our reasons for engaging our pupils very fre- 
 quently in committing to memory large por- 
 tions of the best authors in the languages 
 which they are studying. It will be seen also, 
 that we prefer compositions in the dramatic 
 form, although we by no means confine our- 
 selves within so limited a range, especially in 
 Latin and Greek. 
 
 One evening in each month is given to recit- 
 ing passages from the orators and poets, re- 
 presenting dramatic pieces and dialogues. 
 This performance is called the Monthly Ex- 
 hibition. 
 
 On the succeeding morning, every boy is 
 informed what part he is to take the next time, 
 and a day is appointed by which it must be 
 committed to memory. The first step is to 
 ascertain that the pupil is in full possession of 
 his author's meaning. This once done, he 
 is expected at any moment during his nume- 
 rous rehearsals to give the exact translation of 
 whatever passage his Teacher may call for ; 
 every default being the subject of a fine. 
 
 Having thus taken care that the pupil 
 shall understand that which he is about to
 
 48 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 learn, we practise him before he commits it to 
 memory, in reading his part until he is perfect, 
 not only in the pronunciation and quantities of 
 words, but also until he can read it well, in 
 every acceptation of the phrase. 
 
 Upon the day appointed, every boy repeats 
 his part from memory ; and if he have volun- 
 teered to learn it in the hours allowed for 
 recreation (which is usually done by almost 
 the whole number), he is rewarded according 
 to his merit, regard being had to the length of 
 his task as well as his success in accomplish- 
 ing it. At the next repetition, as the pupil is 
 expected to be quite perfect, a fine is exacted 
 for every mistake. The words being now 
 firmly fixed in his memory, he rehearses 
 with spirit, and his mind is sufficiently at 
 liberty to attend to lessons in gesture. 
 
 As the house which we occupy was built 
 long since we began to act on our present 
 system, we have every convenience for the- 
 atrical representation. By the arrangement of 
 the rooms we can construct a theatre of ample 
 size for all our purposes. One of the Teachers, 
 assisted by some of the boys, paints the scenes 
 for us. We have dresses too, and our pro- 
 perty-man has not quite a sinecure. Our or- 
 chestra, which is filled by the school band, is 
 by no means deficient in strength, whatever
 
 EXHIBITIONS. 49 
 
 defects the fastidious may discover in its har- 
 mony. The performance of the Exhibitions is 
 varied by the occasional introduction of Eng- 
 lish pieces : a share in these is an object of no 
 small ambition, and is generally given as a 
 reward for assiduity in more difficult exercises. 
 It may be observed that we have no want of 
 candidates for the long parts when even the 
 whole of a play is performed (as in the Latin 
 language it sometimes is) notwithstanding the 
 severe exertion necessary to commit them to 
 memory in the very perfect manner which we 
 require. 
 
 Once a year the friends of the pupils are in- 
 vited. At that time the exercises principally con- 
 sist of selections from the monthly exhibitions ; 
 and thus an additional motive is given to ex- 
 cellence in the discharge of the regular duties 
 of the School. A part of the evening is taken 
 up in examining the boys on their scientific 
 acquirements, particularly on their knowledge 
 of the Mathematics. Sometimes a class pre- 
 sents itself, prepared to demonstrate any pro- 
 position in Euclid's Elements within a certain 
 scope. Sometimes trigonometrical operations 
 are performed, and then verified by admeasure- 
 ment. Boys are exeicised in mental arith- 
 metic, their friends being invited to propose 
 questions. 
 
 E
 
 50 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 We have heard it objected to our Exhibitions 
 that they must necessarily give a taste for the 
 stage. We certainly have found no such ill 
 effects from them, nor, after considering the 
 subject attentively, do we ever expect any 
 change in our experience. 
 
 In the first place, distinction, according to 
 our plan, is the price of severe labour, and of 
 course can only be gained by industrious 
 boys ; but industry, where so much is left 
 to the voluntary exertion of the pupil, must 
 be the result of well-ordered habits and con- 
 siderable self-command. Are these likely 
 to lead a youth of fair prospects in life upon 
 the stage ? Again, no one in his senses will 
 embark in a profession where the prizes are so 
 few and the blanks so many, unless he firmly 
 believes himself capable of rivalling the very 
 small number whose lot even seems enviable. 
 But this expectation, it will be replied, every 
 stage-struck blockhead has in its highest 
 pitch. True ; but would he have been so mis- 
 taken in his calculations of probabilities, if his 
 taste had been sufficiently cultivated, to enable 
 him to form a just appreciation of the excel- 
 lence which he thinks it so easy to equal or even 
 to surpass? Without study and reflection, he is 
 quite ignorant of what that excellence is : not 
 only cannot he feel its degree, but he
 
 EXHIBITIONS. 51 
 
 nothing about the matter. He is guided in 
 his opinions by fashion, and has no fixed prin- 
 ciples of judgment by which he can try those 
 merits which he fondly hopes to excel. The 
 consequence is, that he never sees the infinite 
 distance between himself and his models. It 
 is a very common mistake with the ignorant to 
 suppose that powers which they see exercised 
 with facility have been acquired with ease. 
 We believe the story to be true, that a man 
 being asked if he could play on the violin, an- 
 swered, '* he could not tell, for he had never 
 tried." A few lessons on the gamut would 
 have wonderfully cleared his ideas of music. 
 We therefore hope that the knowledge our 
 pupils gain of the difficulties and the labour 
 of the theatrical profession, compared with 
 either its reputation in life, or its emoluments, 
 will be a safeguard against all its allure- 
 ments. 
 
 The Proceedings of a Day. 
 
 In order to give a more minute insight into 
 
 the arrangements of the School, we'shall relate, 
 
 at some length, the proceedings of a day. 
 
 It is unimportant which day we take, as, with 
 
 E 2
 
 52 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 a very few modifications, the proceedings of 
 of every day are alike. 
 
 Monday. At five in the morning, if any 
 boys are on the defaulters' list, they are called 
 by the Monitor. The Teachers, who have in 
 rotation the superintendence of the boys em- 
 ployed thus early, keep them fully occupied 
 in working for penal marks till prayer-time. 
 
 At six o'clock the bell rings for the boys in 
 general to rise. The Monitor goes into each 
 dormitory, and blows a horn to awake such as 
 may be sleeping. All the boys leave their 
 beds at the word of command; and, when 
 dressed, arrange themselves in each room in 
 a certain order for marching down stairs. 
 
 Here it may be well to observe, that in each 
 dormitory there is either a Teacher, or elder 
 boy who is called the Prefect, with other officers 
 under him, each having the care of a division. 
 The boys who serve the offices of Prefect, and 
 Sub-prefect, have salaries of penal marks, and 
 are considered as responsible for the beha- 
 viour of those who are under their care. If 
 any improper conduct should take place in 
 either of the dormitories, it is the duty of 
 the Sub-prefect of the division in which the 
 irregularity may have arisen, to report it to the 
 Prefect of the room, who at the next muster of 
 the School makes it known to the Magistrate.
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A DAY. 53 
 
 If this is not done, the officers themselves are 
 fined. 
 
 At 6 h . 10 m . the bell again rings,* when it 
 is expected that the boys in each room shall 
 stand prepared to march down stairs. If this 
 is not the case, the last in each dormitory who 
 takes his place, incurs a certain fine, and the 
 name is entered in a book by the Monitor. If 
 all the boys in either of the dormitories are in 
 their places, the Monitor obtains the signature 
 of the Prefect. During the course of the day 
 many cases regulated in this manner occur, 
 the Monitor either entering the penalty to the 
 defaulter, or if there be none, obtaining the 
 signature of the person who happens to pre- 
 side. 
 
 The Monitor's accounts are kept in a tabu- 
 lar form, so that it can be seen at a glance 
 whether the penalties are entered or not, as 
 every square of the table must contain either 
 the name of the boy who has incurred the 
 penalty, or the signature of the Teacher or 
 Prefect then presiding. These penalties are 
 daily posted into the general account, and at 
 
 * In December and January the boys rise at seven, and in 
 November and February at half-past six. The other morning 
 bells are, during these months, rung later accordingly.
 
 54 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 the end of the week the whole of the Monitor's 
 accounts are examined by one of the superior 
 Teachers. 
 
 The boys being arranged, each division 
 under the care of a Sub-prefect, and all in the 
 same dormitory, under the command of their 
 Prefect, the word " march " is given, and the 
 different companies follow each other down 
 stairs in regular order, accompanied by music. 
 When they have reached a certain room on the 
 ground-floor, the tune being completed, they 
 are ordered to " break." 
 
 At 6 h . 16 m . the Monitor desires the drummer 
 to beat a rally to call together the band, and 
 
 At 6 h . 17 m c the bell rings for prayers. </ 
 Whenever the band is to assemble, this notice 
 of a minute is given in the manner just 
 described ; it will therefore be unnecessary 
 to mention it again. A psalm tune is now 
 played, and in the meantime the boys arrange 
 themselves according to the classes for mental 
 arithmetic. When the business of the muster 
 has been gone through, in the manner already 
 described,* prayers are read. A slice of bread 
 is then given to each boy ; a march is played, 
 and the classes proceed to their different places, 
 where they are instructed in mental arithmetic, 
 
 * Page 33.
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A DAY. 55 
 
 an exercise which is practised early in the morn- 
 ing, because it does not require much light. In 
 these classes the day-boys are not included, 
 another part of the day being devoted to their 
 instruction in this branch of study. 
 
 At seven o'clock, the bell having rung two 
 minutes for School, the day-boys are expected 
 to join the boarders. 
 
 The boys assemble in the reading classes ; 
 a tune is played ; the business of the muster 
 is gone through ; and the classes march 
 to their places as already described. These 
 classes read till twenty minutes past seven. 
 
 Until breakfast time the study of Latin and 
 Greek is the principal occupation. The boys 
 who learn Latin are divided into classes, each 
 of which goes through its lesson before one or 
 other of the classical teachers in the course of 
 the morning. Besides which, they perform 
 other exercises in the learned languages which 
 have been already detailed. 
 
 A bell at 7 h . 20 m . Those boys who are not 
 sufficiently advanced to learn Latin, form into 
 classes, for the repetition of lessons in English 
 grammar and geography, which must have 
 been previously committed to memory out of 
 school hours. After this they practise pen- 
 manship. It is necessary to remark, that there 
 are a few little boys upon whom some of the
 
 56 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 arrangements do not operate. When they 
 are able to join in the exercises of the 
 other boys, they do so ; as, when the classes 
 are assembled for reading arithmetic, &c. At 
 other times they are under the care of a 
 Teacher, who gives them additional instruc- 
 tion in the earlier branches of education. 
 
 At 7 h . 50 m ., a bell for the second Greek class, 
 which is exercised in extemporaneous con- 
 struing. 
 
 At 8 o'clock, a bell for a Latin class to prac- 
 tise analytical construing, which is exercised 
 about forty minutes. 
 
 At the same hour, but on Monday only, the 
 School Committee assembles. After the bu- 
 siness of this meeting is despatched, on the 
 alternate Mondays the Committee of the 
 Gymnastic Society meets. This body has the 
 management of a fund raised among the boys, 
 by regular voluntary contributions, for the 
 purchase of such articles of amusement as 
 are too expensive to be bought by an indi- 
 vidual. The subscribers meet on the first 
 Monday in the alternate months, to hear the 
 report of the Committee, pass the necessary 
 resolutions, and to elect a new committee. 
 
 At 8 h . 20 m ., a bell for the third class, which 
 studies Greek, to assemble. This class has 
 also an exercise in extemporaneous constru-
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A DAY. 57 
 
 ing. At the same time those who are not 
 engaged in Latin or Greek, form some into 
 classes for the study of short-hand, and others 
 into reading classes. 
 
 At 8 h . 45 ra ., a bell for washing. The day-boys 
 now go to breakfast. The boarders, who are 
 divided, according to their rank for the week, 
 into four sections, assemble in the school- 
 room. The first section immediately marches 
 to the wash-house ; the others, at the same 
 time, begin to repeat the multiplication table, 
 all speaking in unison. When the first division 
 is washed, it is succeeded by the second ; the 
 two last still repeating the tables. The second 
 is followed by the third section, and so on. 
 Here, as in all other instances, rank is valu- 
 able : the highest section is exempted alto- 
 gether from the drudgery to which their 
 juniors are necessarily submitted ; with these, 
 however, the time decreases in proportion to 
 their standing. As the members of each divi- 
 sion are washed, they proceed into another 
 room for the purpose of brushing their clothes ; 
 after which they are individually examined as 
 to personal neatness and cleanliness. 
 
 At 9 h . 5 ra ., a bell for breakfast. The bell is 
 rung for each meal mechanically at the ap- 
 pointed time ; the cook is therefore aware that 
 she must be ready to a moment, or keep all
 
 58 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 the boys waiting at the table. This has been 
 found sufficient to ensure uniform punctuality. 
 A tune is played while the boys assemble, 
 and as they march into the breakfast room. 
 
 At 9 h . 25 m . a bell rings for the re-admission of 
 such as choose it into the school-room; the 
 doors of which, during breakfast, are closed, 
 in order that it may be swept. 
 
 At 9 h . 45 m . a bell for school. The muster is 
 now, according to the arithmetical classes, in 
 the manner already described. Two classes 
 now receive instruction in speculative geo- 
 metry, under the care of separate instructors ; 
 two other classes are exercised in the extempo- 
 raneous construing of Latin, while a number 
 are engaged in entering in their ciphering 
 books certain arithmetical operations worked 
 on a previous day. 
 
 When any boy has performed the appointed 
 task, his work is examined ; and, if it is correctly 
 and neatly written, he has permission to go 
 upon the play-ground, and a check is placed 
 opposite to his name in an account kept by 
 the Registrar of the day. When the writing 
 is not approved of, the boy is sent back to do 
 the same work again and again, until it is 
 passed. Those who, at the conclusion of the 
 time allowed, have not completed the task, 
 are expected to do so in their play-hours.
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A DAY. 59 
 
 They are called up on the succeeding day, and 
 a small fine is imposed on each for being in 
 arrears ; but if any one should not have com- 
 pleted the exercise by this time (which, how- 
 ever, is very seldom the case,) he pays a heavy 
 fine, and is released from further restraint 
 respecting it. 
 
 From 10 h . 40 m . to 12 h . 20 m . the time is princi- 
 pally devoted to arithmetic. Three Teachers 
 are engaged in exercising the classes with the 
 chalking-boards, in the manner described in 
 a previous part of this detail. * Each Teacher 
 undertakes two classes, one after the other, 
 the intervals being divided equally between 
 them. The two highest classes are taught by 
 one Teacher, the two next by another, and the 
 two lowest by the third. Of these last classes, 
 that which is not engaged in the exercises on 
 the board, performs arithmetical operations on 
 the slates, under the direction of a fourth 
 Teacher. From the classes which remain a 
 number of boys are drawn off, to practise the 
 extemporaneous construing of Greek or Latin, 
 while others are engaged in scale-drawing. 
 This arrangement is made in such a manner, 
 that no one exercise shall be constantly inter- 
 fered with, except as far as respects a few boys 
 
 * Page 14.
 
 60 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 who are never employed in mere penmanship, 
 as they have sufficient practice in writing their 
 various exercises. 
 
 Those boys who are not occupied in any 
 other way are exercised in penmanship, under 
 the care of the Writing-master. The whole of 
 the proceeding is as follows : 
 
 At 10 h . 40 m . a bell for mustering in the arith- 
 metical classes. The 1st, 3d, and 5th march 
 to their respective stations, to be exercised on 
 the board, the 6th to practice on the slates, 
 and the others dispose of themselves in the 
 manner already described. It is to be ob- 
 served, that, on all occasions, the classes as- 
 semble and march to their places to music. 
 
 At ll h . 30 m . a bell for mustering again in the 
 arithmetical classes. The 2d, 4th, and 6th, 
 now go to the boards, the 5th take the slates, 
 and the others learn Latin, writing, or scale- 
 drawing, according to the regulations before- 
 mentioned. 
 
 Some of the operations on the boards are 
 preserved to be entered in the ciphering-books 
 on the following day ; the others are wiped off. 
 
 At 12 h . 20 m . a bell for the French classes to 
 assemble. They are exercised in the manner 
 already described. * Two classes of lower 
 
 * Page 43.
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A DAY. 61 
 
 boys, however, who do not learn French, read 
 English. 
 
 At 12 h . 50 m . a bell for the penal marks to be 
 paid. The mode of transacting this business 
 is described under the head Rewards and 
 Punishments. * 
 
 At one o'clock the dinner-bell rings. 
 
 At l h . 35 m . a bell rings, when the boarders 
 assemble, each with his stock of shoes in his 
 hands ; they muster, and then march into 
 another room in divisions, as at washing-time. 
 Their shoes are now examined, and such as 
 want repair are put by for that purpose. This 
 is done only on Monday. 
 
 At 2 h . 15 ra . the bell rings for school. The 
 boys now muster for the purpose of reading. 
 The absentees are ascertained by the means 
 already mentioned ; after which, with the ex- 
 ception of a few boys, who are sometimes 
 drawn off to rehearse the Latin and Greek 
 plays, the 1st, 3d, and 5th classes march to 
 their respective Teachers to read ; the 2d and 
 4th classes perform dictation exercises, and 
 the 6th class is practised in spelling aloud. 
 
 At 2 h . 40 m . a bell for the classes to change. 
 While the 1st air is played, those boys who 
 have been reading, prepare themselves with 
 
 * Page 23.
 
 
 /} 
 
 62 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 writing materials for dictation exercises ; the 
 others put up their books or slates, and pre- 
 pare to read. When the order to " march " 
 is given, the three classes which have just 
 read change places, each with the class next 
 below. Consequently the 2d, 4th, and 6th 
 classes now read ; the 1st and 3d perform dic- 
 tation exercises, and the 5th class is exercised 
 in spelling aloud. 
 
 At 3 o'clock the bell rings, when the exer- 
 cises are asfollows:-^-As the 5th and 6th classes 
 of arithmeticians do not write in the forenoon, 
 they practise penmanship at this time. A class 
 is exercised in the extemporaneous constru- 
 ing of Greek, and another in surveying. The 
 remaining boys assemble according to an 
 arrangement for each particular purpose,, to 
 be exercised in short-hand or geography in 
 alternate weeks. 
 
 At 3 h . 45 m . a bell for the French classes to be 
 exercised as in the forenoon. 
 
 At 4 h . 10 m . a bell for the classes at mental 
 arithmetic. These classes differ from those 
 exercised in the morning, as they include the 
 day-scholars. In the alternate weeks the pars- 
 ing classes are practised at this time. 
 
 On the Wednesday afternoons, if there are 
 any causes to try, the Assizes are held at this 
 hour.
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OP A DAY. 63 
 
 At 4 h . 30 m . a bell for gymnastics. The boys 
 now muster with their hats on, the band falls 
 in with them, and they all march to the play- 
 ground, where they practise different gym- 
 nastic exercises. In the summer months, at- 
 tended by some of the Teachers, they go to 
 a bath, which has been made for them in a 
 retired spot, at a short distance from the play- 
 ground. Here instruction is given them in 
 the art of swimming. If the weather be unfit 
 for these exercises, the reading classes as- 
 semble at this time. 
 
 At 5 o'clock a bell to call the boys to tea. 
 
 At 6 o'clock the bell rings for evening 
 school. The boarders only are expected now 
 to attend. The muster is conducted in the 
 same way as at prayers in the morning. Two 
 classes are engaged in Latin, one in extempo- 
 raneous, the other in analytical construing; 
 another in dictation exercises ; and a fourth in 
 performing arithmetical operations on the 
 slate. From these classes boys are occasion- 
 ally drawn to rehearse the French dramas. 
 
 On one evening in the week a lecture is 
 given on some subject of natural or experi- >/ 
 mental philosophy, or on history ; when cer- 
 tain upper boys take notes, from which they 
 afterwards write reports. These notes are 
 frequently taken in short-hand.
 
 64 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 At 7 o'clock the school breaks up, and a bell 
 rings for washing, which is conducted much 
 in the same way as in the morning. A bell 
 rings for each division. 
 
 During the remainder of the evening, ex- 
 cept when at supper and prayers, the majority 
 of the boys are engaged with the classical 
 master in learning their lessons for the next 
 morning. At this time those who are on the 
 defaulters' list (a number seldom exceeding 
 one or two), are obliged to be in the School- 
 room ; attendance on the part of the others is 
 altogether voluntary: notwithstanding which, 
 it is so regular, that an instance of omission 
 scarcely ever occurs. The motives for attend- 
 ance at this time are, that the boys have op- 
 portunities of obtaining assistance from the 
 Teacher when any difficulty arises ; and by 
 repeating their lessons to him, they can ascer- 
 tain whether or not they are in complete pos- 
 session of the right construction of the pas- 
 sages which it is their business to translate. 
 
 At 7 h . 30 m . a bell for supper. 
 
 At 7 h . 55 m . a bell for prayers ; the muster as in >/ 
 the morning. 
 
 At 8 h . 5 m . a bell for the younger boys to go 
 to bed. They are accompanied by the band, 
 and attended by a servant. 
 
 At 8 h . 40 m . a bell to give notice to the other
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A DAY. 65 
 
 boys to go to bed. They now exchange their 
 shoes for slippers, and arrange themselves in the 
 same order as that in which they marched down 
 in the morning. 
 
 At 8 h . 50 m . a bell rings, when the boys pro- 
 ceed up stairs, under the direction of a Teacher, 
 and accompanied by music. 
 
 At 9 o'clock a bell rings, when, if the boys 
 are not all in bed, the last in each room incurs 
 a fine. * 
 
 A part of the boys are occasionally obliged 
 to forego their other studies, to receive the 
 lessons of those masters who do not reside in 
 the house. A French gentleman attends one 
 afternoon in each week, to give further instruc- 
 tion in the French language. The Drawing, 
 Dancing, and Music Masters, also attend once 
 in every week ; but additional instruction is 
 given in drawing and music, as well as in 
 French, by resident Teachers. 
 
 * Lest it should be thought, from the foregoing journal, that 
 the tasks of our pupils are heavier than can be safely borne by 
 young people, we think it right to remind the reader, that when 
 we speak of a class being occupied for a certain space of time, 
 it is by no means to be understood as a general rule that every 
 boy in the class is in attendance throughout. In those exercises 
 also which are not performed in classes, there is the same 
 opportunity for the pupil, by activity and attention, to relieve 
 himself from the confinement of the School-room. In point of 
 fact, no boys can be in better health and spirits, nor appear to be 
 in higher enjoyment of life. 
 
 F
 
 00 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 Once in each week all the boys in the 
 School, except a few of the youngest, write 
 public letters to their friends. The subject 
 has generally been an epitome of the reign of 
 some one of the English monarchs* Many of 
 these letters are written in Latin, others in 
 French. The boys are of course at liberty to 
 write privately as often as they please. 
 
 The three days previous to the performance 
 of the Latin and French plays, which takes 
 place once a month, * are devoted principally 
 to drawing maps and to printing. These 
 exercises are chosen at this time, that the boys 
 may be drawn off, without inconvenience, to 
 rehearse their different parts. 
 
 Thursday afternoon, at which time the day 
 scholars have holiday, is also very much de- 
 voted to these rehearsals. Lessons in specu- 
 lative geometry are likewise given at this time. 
 The boys not otherwise engaged are prac- 
 tised in writing. 
 
 On Saturday forenoon one of the superior 
 Teachers examines all the work done in the 
 week; that is, all that can be exhibited, as 
 writing, drawing, Sec. To each boy's work he 
 attaches marks of approbation or disapproba- 
 tion, and the individual is rewarded or fined 
 
 * Page 47.
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A. DAY. 67 
 
 accordingly. The subsequent exercises of 
 those who are fined are subjected to examina- 
 tion in the middle of the next week. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon the whole School v 
 has holiday. 
 
 On Sunday, in the intervals of public wor- 
 ship, the boys read the Scriptures; one 
 class taking the Greek, one the Latin, another 
 the French, aad the remainder the English 
 Testaments. 
 
 In the summer months, a class is frequently 
 exercised in surveying. Rather an extensive 
 trigonometrical survey, composed of triangles, 
 some of whose sides are more than fourteen 
 miles in length, extending into several coun- 
 ties, has been completed by this class, under 
 the direction of one of the Teachers. The 
 Mathematician will sympathise with us when 
 we state, that in the course of the survey, hav- 
 ing an opportunity of comparing our own ope- 
 rations with those of Colonel Mudge, we found 
 the agreement such as to authorise a favour- 
 able opinion of their accuracy. In the third 
 volume of the " Report of the Trigonometrical 
 Survey of England and Wales " are given the 
 
 distances of W n and W y spires, from 
 
 a station at B n ; unfortunately nothing 
 
 has been left to mark the exact place of this 
 station ; but the Colonel informs us that it is 
 
 F 2
 
 68 SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 " 30 yards north of the plantation." We in- 
 terpreted this description in its most exact 
 meaning ; that is to say, that the station was 
 directly north of the centre of the plantation, 
 and 30 yards from the nearest part of the 
 clump of trees. Assuming this to be the exact 
 point of the station, the boys calculated, by a 
 series of triangles deduced from a measured 
 base, that the distance of W n spire from 
 the station at B n, was 48,352 feet, exceed- 
 ing that given by Colonel Mudge by only seven 
 feet in upwards of nine miles. The distance 
 
 of W y spire from the same station, they 
 
 found to be 25,144 feet, exceeding that which 
 is given in the " Report of the Trigonometrical 
 Survey " by only four feet in almost five miles. 
 Even these differences, trifling as they are, 
 may be accounted for, when we consider the 
 very vague manner in which the site of the 
 station is described. 
 
 The original base line, which is not more 
 than a third of a mile in length, the boys mea- 
 sured by means of long deal rods, which were 
 rested upon stools, made to rise and fall so as 
 to keep the same line throughout each hypo- 
 thenuse. The mode of surveying it was not 
 very different from that practised with such 
 accuracy by General Roy on Hounslow Heath. 
 As the base was measured in one of the
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OF A DAY. 69 
 
 streets of a neighbouring town, it was neces- 
 sary to do it early in the morning, that the 
 boys might not be hindered by spectators. The 
 survey occupied three mornings, from three till -- 
 seven o'clock. The experienced Mathemati- 
 cian may smile at our choosing a street for this 
 operation, but it was advantageously situated 
 with respect to some of the public buildings of 
 the town ; beyond the limits of which we had 
 at that time no intention of extending our 
 survey.
 
 CHAP. 111. 
 
 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM, 
 
 No topic of complaint is more common 
 among professional men, than that of ignorant 
 interference. The physician inveighs against 
 quacks ; the attorney ironically thanks the 
 author of " Every Man his own Lawyer," for 
 the increase of litigation ; and the public 
 teacher, when pestered with hints and objec- 
 tions, sighs at the recollection of the implicit 
 confidence with which parents of the last gene- J 
 ration entrusted their offspring to the expe- 
 rience of his predecessors. 
 
 But professional men should not forget that 
 some' of the most eminent of their number 
 were intruders ; that John Hunter did not sit 
 down to study anatomy, until he had passed 
 many years at the carpenter's bench ; that 
 Erskine had served both in the army and the 
 navy, before he became a lawyer; and that 
 Joseph Lancaster, who has so much improved 
 the machinery of elementary education, long
 
 INTERFERENCE. 71 
 
 exercised the trade of a basket-maker.* Neither 
 should it be forgotten by the public, that the 
 instances of success have been published ; 
 not so those of failure : they would naturally 
 excite but little attention, and would soon be 
 forgotten, even by the few who had known of 
 their existence. We have spoken too only of 
 men, who, having changed the object of then- 
 pursuit, applied themselves to their new pro- 
 fession with intense and exclusive ardour, and 
 brought to the task talents of commanding 
 excellence ; so that their success furnishes but 
 little ground of argument for the justification 
 of others, who, without such talent, and 
 devotedness, think themselves qualified to 
 decide " in last resort" on questions, which 
 have experienced for years the painful atten- 
 tion of men exclusively engaged in their 
 examination. 
 
 Still the professional man, though not bound 
 to follow implicitly the suggestions of his 
 friends, ought by no means to turn a deaf ear 
 
 * Had we time for such a purpose, it would be easy to collect 
 materials for carrying the parallel through almost every art and 
 science. At the present moment, we only call to mind the 
 names of Swartz, the inventor of gunpowder, who was a 
 monk ; of Arkwright, the improver of cotton machinery, a 
 hair-dresser ; of Baskerville, the celebrated printer, who had 
 been a japanner ; and of Briudley, the great engineer, who had 
 been a day-labourer.
 
 72 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 to them; for a valuable hint may be thrown 
 out by one who would in vain attempt to form 
 a system. Long familiarity will ever tend to 
 render us insensible to many imperfections, 
 which are at once detected by the unprac- 
 tised ; and the bystander's want of skill is 
 often more than compensated by his freedom 
 from prejudice. Mental habitudes are at least 
 as powerful as those of the body, and not at 
 all more visible to their possessors. If Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds carefully listened to the 
 criticisms of children, few men, we conceive, 
 would be degraded by giving some moments 
 of their attention to even the casual remarks 
 of those whose opinions are unfettered by 
 system. 
 
 We claim no praise for the candour of our 
 opinions, as we have in some degree taken 
 them "upon compulsion;" for we have found, 
 that while few have hitherto presumed to dis- 
 cuss with their physician the correctness of 
 his prescriptions, and still fewer to follow their 
 legal adviser through all the mazes of his 
 practice, every one considers himself, as a 
 matter of course, a complete adept in the 
 science of education ; and it has been for 
 some time held as an axiom, that the only 
 good reason for sending children to school, is 
 want of time on the part of the parent for
 
 INTERFERENCE. 73 
 
 their instruction at home. We doubt if a man 
 could be found in the three kingdoms, suffi- 
 ciently vain to make a similar avowal with 
 respect to the repair of his old shoes. Such 
 being the state of public opinion, we have 
 found it convenient to bring our own ideas on 
 the subject as near to it as possible; but al- 
 though, as we have shown, something has been 
 accomplished in this way, much remains to be 
 done ; for we have never succeeded in ridding 
 ourselves of the prejudice, that it is one thing 
 to have learnt, and another to be able to 
 teach ; that it is very possible to possess vast 
 stores of knowledge without being able to 
 impart them, even to the willing and anxious 
 pupil ; and that to fix the volatile, stimulate 
 the sluggish, and overcome the obstinate, de- 
 mands an acquaintance with the human mind, 
 not quite innate, nor likely to be gained with- 
 out some experience. 
 
 Another peculiarity in our case is, that the 
 public teacher is judged of by a different 
 standard to that applied to his humbler neigh- 
 bour. The criterion by which the merits of 
 the cobler are ascertained, is the length of 
 time which elapses before it is necessary to 
 renew the application to his skill ; none think 
 of requiring the exact circumference of his 
 lapstone, or of informing themselves respect-
 
 74 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 ing the particular species of hog to which he 
 was indebted for his bristles. They only ask 
 whether or not he is successful ; and leaving 
 the choice of means to his own discretion, 
 they hold him responsible only for the end. 
 But as regards the teacher, it has sometimes 
 appeared to us, that public attention has been 
 so much engaged on the modes of education, 
 that it forgets to gain the requisite information 
 respecting the final effect. 
 
 This peculiarity will, we know, be accounted 
 for by the magnitude of the interest confided 
 to the teacher; but, it should be recollected, 
 that this importance ought not to change 
 the method by which a judgment is formed; 
 it ought only to subject the evidence, what- 
 ever it is, to a more rigorous examination. 
 A better excuse is the difficulty of ascertaining 
 what is due to the talents of the pupil, and 
 what to the exertions of the master ; but then 
 a judgment ought not to be formed from one 
 or two instances; in so important a research, 
 no time or labour could be thrown away : 
 and, if we may estimate the feelings of others 
 by our own, nothing could be more satisfactory 
 than an examination so complete, as should 
 terminate in placing a boy in the hands of his 
 teacher with a feeling of perfect confidence, or 
 in not sending him to school at all. Yet we are
 
 INTERFERENCE. 75 
 
 grateful for an interference which proceeds from 
 a wish to benefit us ; and finding public opinion, 
 or at least public practice, to run in favour of 
 such interference, we bow with all deference. 
 We lay open our plans to inspection, and 
 since criticism will come, we wish to prepare 
 for its attack by a fortification of every point 
 which appears to us to be at all exposed. 
 Dropping metaphor, we are convinced, that 
 parts of our system, taken by themselves, are 
 open to objection ; but we hope the majority 
 of the "partial evils" are productive of " uni- 
 versal good," and that whatever of them have 
 not such an excuse will be gradually re- 
 moved. 
 
 We are told (and, after what we have said, 
 we ought not perhaps to deny the position,) 
 that the bystander sees most of the game; 
 but we venture humbly to suggest, that he 
 cannot possess this superiority, unless he be 
 so placed as to see the whole board ; for if 
 his view of part of it be intercepted by a 
 head or an elbow, he will be very likely to 
 form erroneous conclusions. A good player 
 will sacrifice many a choice move, because he 
 cannot spare a particular piece from its place; 
 but if the spectator be so situated that he can- 
 not see the reason of the detention, he will be 
 very likely to attribute to inadvertence, that
 
 76 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 which is the result of deeper investigation than 
 his own. In like manner, we have often had 
 parts of our plan the subject of criticism, from 
 which we could readily have defended them, 
 if we could have entered into an examination 
 of the whole system; but this is not to be 
 done in the short time which a teacher can 
 subtract from his labours for the purpose of 
 oral explanation. This full investigation we 
 are about to commence : we have already laid 
 before our readers an exposition of our means, 
 and we are now to explain the end we intend 
 to produce, since means are valuable only in 
 proportion as they are adapted to produce 
 the end in view. 
 
 . The great features of this object we hope 
 will be already appreciated by the intelli- 
 gent reader. We shall be disappointed if he 
 have not already discovered, that by the esta- 
 blishment of a system of legislation and juris- 
 prudence, wherein the power of the master is 
 bounded by general rules, and the duties of 
 the scholar accurately denned, and where the 
 boys themselves are called upon to examine 
 and decide upon the conduct of their fellows, 
 we have provided a course of instruction in 
 the great code of morality, which is likely to 
 produce far more powerful and lasting effects 
 than any quantity ' of mere precept. If
 
 MORALITY. 77 
 
 morality is a science as well as a practice 
 (and who will deny the classification?) it must 
 assuredly be a science of the highest import- 
 ance :* but in every other branch of scientific 
 education, that mode of instruction wherein 
 the "pupil is merely passive, as in listening, 
 has been gradually changed for others which 
 demand his active co-operation. Who would 
 think of teaching arithmetic by lectures, in 
 which he should work all the problems him- 
 self, while his pupil sat silent and inactive? 
 or who could think the scholar likely to 
 become a profound geometrician, whose mas- 
 ter was contented with reading demonstrations 
 to him ? Indeed, it is an acknowledged truth 
 among teachers, that no man can do them a 
 
 * On the momentous subject of religion we feel we ought to 
 say something ; and yet, in common we suppose with all con- 
 scientious teachers, whose pupils belong to different religious 
 communities, we have had great difficulty in ascertaining our 
 duty on this head. It is almost impossible to enter into any 
 minute course of religious instruction without entrenching upon 
 disputed ground ; and yet we feel that no parents, except such 
 as coincide with our own views, can intend us to influence the 
 religious opinions of their children ; and we should there- 
 fore conceive such influence to be a gross breach of trust. At 
 the same time, whatever religious exercises can be joined by 
 all, are not omitted. Whatever formularies too are in unison 
 with the respective religious feelings of the parents, are taught, 
 aud provision is made for attendance on such public worship , 
 as is best calculated to prevent any dissimilarity of religious 
 views between the parent and his child.
 
 78 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 greater service, than by reducing every art 
 and science, which the extending informa- 
 tion of society from time to time demands, to 
 be made a part of juvenile education, under 
 the dominion of " Practical Instruction." 
 
 We shall not be called upon to prove, that, 
 to give a knowledge of the science of morality 
 is an excellent means of ensuring a correct 
 practice of it ; because, the position being 
 universally allowed as respects every other 
 department of human learning, we may fairly 
 call upon the objector to show why the ana- 
 logy, which holds good in every other in- 
 stance, should fail here. But even if the effect 
 of this science on the conduct of the student 
 were as remote as it is immediate, still, ex- 
 ercising his mind, and extending his informa- 
 tion, it would equally well deserve his at- 
 tention, with the objects to which it is usually 
 directed. 
 
 They, however, who will take the trouble 
 to glance over the history of their early years, 
 and call to mind the pertinacity with which 
 their schoolfellows screened each other from 
 the most clearly-deserved punishment; and 
 the many acts of oppression which remained 
 unredressed because the sufferers dared not 
 to disobey the stern edict against " bearing 
 tales," the only one in the community that v
 
 MORALITY. 79 
 
 was never violated, will think something done 
 towards improving even the practice of morals, 
 when they learn, that in an experience of 
 more than two years,* one solitary instance 
 only has occurred, in which the verdict of the 
 Jury did not coincide with the opinion of the 
 Master. Great, but of course unexpressed 
 anxiety, has more than once been felt by us, 
 lest the influence of a leading boy, which in 
 every school must be considerable, should 
 overcome the virtue of the Jury; but our fears 
 have been uniformly relieved, and the hopes 
 of the offender crushed, by the voice of the 
 foreman, pronouncing, in a shrill but steady 
 tone, the awful word Guilty! 
 
 One exception there has been, and but one ; 
 and then it was the opinion of the attending 
 Teacher, that the Jury did not understand the 
 case. The boys who composed it happened 
 to be very young, because the number present 
 being unusually small, the elder scholars 
 
 * Trial by Jury was established early in 1816. This chapter 
 was written in November 1818 ; since that time two other ver- 
 dicts have been given, in which the Teachers did not concur ; 
 they were appealed against, as it has been already stated, and 
 were reversed by the Committee. A remarkable instance of 
 conscientious feeling was lately given by a Jury who convicted 
 a boy on a charge of prevarication ; though they were so much 
 moved by the distress of mind which he evinced during his 
 trial, as to pay half his fine from their own pockets. The 
 remainder was immediately subscribed by the spectators.
 
 80 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 were all engaged in the various offices of the 
 Court. 
 
 The evils which the old system entailed on 
 the weak and the timid have lately been 
 portrayed by the hand of genius,* and have 
 produced the effect upon the public mind 
 which might naturally be expected from such 
 facts, related by such a master. 
 
 Public opinion (as it has been somewhere 
 said) very much resembles a pendulum, the 
 farther it vibrates from the centre, the farther 
 does the next oscillation carry it on the other 
 side : the danger seems now to be, lest in the 
 public horror of boyish tyranny, a system of 
 nursery-like surveillance should be adopted, 
 which would be even more fatal to the future 
 character. We have known establishments in 
 which the boys were constantly under the eye 
 of a tutor, and where every trifling injury 
 was the subject of immediate appeal to the 
 supreme power. The indulgence of this 
 querulousness increased it, as might naturally 
 be expected, beyond all endurance. Before 
 the master had time to examine the justice of 
 one complaint, his attention was called 
 away to redress another ; until, wearied with 
 investigation into offences which were either 
 
 * Vide Cowper's Memoirs of bis early life.
 
 JURISPRUDENCE. 81 
 
 too trifling, or too justly provoked for punish- 
 ment, he treated all complainants with harsh- 
 ness, heard their accusations with incredulity, 
 and thus tended, by a first example, to the 
 re-establishment of the old system. 
 
 By the plan which we have adopted, the 
 trouble of petty investigation devolves on the 
 leading boys, for each is at one time or other 
 called upon to fill the office of Magistrate; by 
 this means an interest is created among a body, 
 much more influential than the Masters against 
 frivolous accusation. While we are upon the 
 subject of jurisprudence, we will remark, that 
 no teacher can, with a proper attention to the 
 duties of his office, afford the necessary time 
 for examination sufficiently complete to pre- 
 clude all possibility of injustice. Who can- 
 not recollect, when with swelling breast he 
 turned from the magisterial tribunal, bearing 
 a punishment which was undeserved, and 
 might have been escaped, if he could have 
 been allowed a few moments for explanation ? 
 The right of appeal, and the absence of 
 corporal punishment, preclude this danger. 
 Proof, comparatively slight, will suffice to put 
 the accused upon his appeal ; and thus the 
 master may exercise his prerogative with the 
 promptitude so necessary to check those little 
 disorders, which will be constantly arising in 
 
 G
 
 82 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 every school, while human nature shall retain 
 its present attributes. We forbear to descant 
 on the advantages of learning in early life to 
 weigh evidence, and balance probabilities ; 
 because we have not undertaken the task of 
 uttering all that could be said by a zealous 
 advocate, but only what appears to be neces- 
 sary to show the propriety of our aberrations 
 from received plans, whenever we have made 
 any. 
 
 Of our legislation we have little to say, 
 except that we have never found the slightest 
 disposition in the Committees to slacken the 
 reins of discipline. They have even passed 
 many laws restrictive of their liberties ; they 
 naturally and fairly demand the reasons for 
 such restrictions to be laid before them, nor 
 have they ever shown themselves incompetent 
 to judge of their value. 
 
 In the present state of society, a knowledge 
 of the principles of legislation must be 
 valuable in every rank of life. There is 
 scarcely any man who is not sometimes called 
 upon to assist in framing laws for the govern- 
 ment of institutions for either religious, chari- 
 table, commercial, or literary purposes; and 
 every one will have occasion to regulate the 
 conduct of his family. If it were only that 
 the boys learned the forms by which public v 
 business is carried on, practised as they are
 
 PUNISHMENTS. 83 
 
 among them with punctilious exactitude, they 
 would at least gain the advantage of being 
 prepared to fill their future places in society, 
 without the trouble and pain of initiation. 
 
 Of our punishments we may be able to say 
 more at a future period ; at present we are 
 trying the experiment whether corporal punish- 
 ment may not be entirely abolished : the plan 
 has had a trial of nine months, and the result 
 is hitherto favourable ; but until more time has 
 elapsed, we must not speak too confidently.* 
 In a few instances it has been found or sup- 
 posed necessary, to resent insolence by a 
 blow : but this may be rather called an asser- 
 tion of private right, than an official punish- 
 ment. In these cases a single blow has 
 almost always been found sufficient, the 
 rarity of the infliction rendering severity un- 
 necessary. 
 
 Confinement, and disability to fill certain 
 offices, are our severest punishments ; public 
 disgrace, which is painful in exact proportion 
 to the good feeling of the offender, is not em- 
 ployed, and every measure is avoided which 
 would destroy self-respect. Expulsion has 
 been resorted to, rather than a boy should be 
 
 * The plan has now been in operation more than four years. 
 We cannot imagine any motive strong enough to force us 
 back to the old practice. March, 1822. 
 G 2
 
 84 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 submitted to treatment which might lead him- 
 self and his schoolfellows to forget that he was 
 a gentleman. 
 
 Heretofore every classification of rank by 
 the Master, according to the intellectual and 
 moral qualities of his pupils, was powerless 
 the moment his boys had passed the door of 
 the school-room. On the play-ground, the best 
 classic was one of the " profanum vulgus" 
 when his learning was put into competition 
 with the science of the boxer ; but if the rank 
 awarded by their companions be ever dearer 
 to schoolboys than that bestowed by the 
 Master, (and for proof that such is the fact, we 
 appeal with confidence to the recollection of 
 every one of our readers,) it will not be deemed 
 an unimportant addition to his power, that the 
 boys are now thrown upon the necessity of 
 bestowing the offices which give rank to those 
 of their number who have some better qualifi- 
 cations for filling them than go to the adorn- 
 ment of the accomplished bruiser; a necessity 
 arising from the interests which they entrust to 
 the care of their Committees, their Judge, their 
 Sheriff, and their Magistrate. On the other 
 hand, the notables themselves are induced to 
 cultivate a very different species of manners 
 to that usually in vogue among elder school- 
 boys, in order to ensure the general suffrage.
 
 LOVE OF SYMPATHY. 85 
 
 Farther, by giving the elective power, in the 
 ratio of acquisition, the choice is ensured to 
 that class of boys whose example ought to 
 carry most weight. 
 
 Thus have we laboured to induce in the 
 minds of our pupils a constant motive for 
 mutual examination, and a constant feeling of 
 mutual responsibility. Our last means is our 
 Court of Character. Whenever a boy above 
 the age of thirteen leaves the school, a Sub- 
 committee is appointed to draw up a report of 
 his conduct and acquisitions. This ordeal, 
 growing into importance in the eyes of the 
 pupil as the period for undergoing it ap- 
 proaches, must furnish a powerful motive to 
 excellence in those whose example is most 
 likely to be followed ; and it also fills the 
 place of the artificial incitements offered by 
 the Master, which, however strong in very 
 early life, gradually lose their force as the 
 time draws near when the pupil will no longer 
 be subjected to their influence. 
 
 By thus directing the minds of our pupils 
 towards the real merits of each other, we have 
 also, we hope, secured the alliance of that 
 
 - T 
 
 powerful feeling, love of sympathy ; which, 
 according to Dr. Adam Smith, is the founda- 
 tion of moral sentiment. Perhaps the propo- 
 sition might be generalized with advantage.
 
 86 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 Perhaps love of sympathy might rather have 
 been considered the power which brings 
 the wishes and opinions of the individual into 
 unison with those of society, whatever they 
 may be. If this notion be correct, it must 
 depend on the good or bad state of society, 
 whether love of sympathy shall have a moral 
 or an immoral effect upon individuals. How 
 often have war and superstition, to say nothing 
 of minor causes, warped the opinions of man- 
 kind in their favour ? Could it be reasonably 
 expected, while the highest honours both 
 in earth and heaven were, by our northern 
 ancestors,* held to belong of right to the de- 
 stroyer of his species, and to him only, that 
 love of sympathy should have any other effect 
 than to stimulate the war-fever to madness? 
 Or when, in a later age, every sin was believed 
 to be fully atoned by pilgrimage, the found- 
 ing of monasteries, or wearing the cowl, 
 how could love of sympathy restrain the 
 grossest outrages on the peace of the com- 
 munity, while public opinion held out so easy 
 a reparation? A school is but a nation in 
 miniature ; and the teacher who would secure 
 the co-operation of the best and strongest mo- 
 tives, must be no inattentive reader of history. 
 
 * Mallett's Northern Antiquities.
 
 LOVE OF SYMPATHY. 87 
 
 We know that the love of sympathy will act 
 in one way or other, and act forcibly ; and it 
 is a matter of anxious importance with us, that 
 its force should be in alliance, and not in con- 
 flict, with the precepts of religion and morality. 
 And hence the necessity of directing the at- 
 tention of our pupils to those qualities of their 
 schoolfellows which consist with good morals, 
 and of imposing upon them the necessity of / 
 placing at their head boys who will be most 
 likely to give a high tone to the public feeling. 
 
 Our little system of jurisprudence will also 
 be found to increase, or at least preserve, the 
 value which the scholar attaches to the sym- 
 pathy or approbation of his master. When the 
 lex non scripta which obtains among the boys, 
 is at variance with the statute law enacted by 
 the master, it is evident that his praise or cen- 
 sure must sometimes contend with public 
 opinion ; and in this contest it will inevitably 
 succumb, or at least lose very much of its 
 force. The same effect will be produced when 
 he is solicited, every hour of the day, to 
 hear frivolous complaints. His opinions are 
 sure of being disregarded from the frequency 
 with which they are expressed, if they do not, 
 in some degree, deserve neglect from the hasty 
 investigation upon which they are formed. 
 But where the rules of judgment on which the
 
 88 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 master acts, are the same with those adopted 
 by the scholars ; and when his approbation or 
 displeasure is not worn out by excessive use, 
 its calm and deliberate expression must pro- 
 duce a deep and lasting effect, and excite in 
 the bosom of its object serious reflection. 
 
 The second great end which has been kept 
 in view in the construction of our plan, is a 
 strict economy of time. When, the conscien- / 
 tious teacher reflects that this, the most valu- 
 able property of his pupils, is entrusted to his 
 disposal, he must feel a heavy responsibility 
 upon him, that not even the smallest part of it 
 shall be spent without purchasing its value. 
 We have been startled at the reflection, that 
 if, by a faulty arrangement, one minute be lost 
 to sixty of our boys, the injury sustained would 
 be equal to the waste of an hour by a single 
 individual. Let every Teacher keep this truth 
 before him, and minutes will then dilate, in his 
 mind's eye, to a magnitude too imposing to 
 allow of neglect. 
 
 In order to accomplish our purpose, we first 
 found it necessary to induce an almost super- 
 stitious punctuality on the part of the Monitor. 
 This was not done without considerable diffi- 
 culty ; and the principle by which it was 
 effected was the discovery of chance. When 
 the duty of the Monitor was easy, and he had
 
 ECONOMY OF TIME. 89 
 
 time for play, the exact moment for ringing 
 the bell was but seldom observed ; but when, 
 as the system grew more complex, he was 
 more frequently in requisition, it was found 
 that with increased labour came increased 
 perfection ; and the same boy who had com- 
 plained of the difficulty of being punctual when 
 he had to ring the bell only ten times in the 
 day, found his duty comparatively easy when 
 his memory was taxed to a fourfold amount. 
 The principle lies in the circumstance of the 
 boy's mind never having time to divest itself of 
 its care. It is amusing to see what a living 
 timepiece the giddiest boy will become during 
 his week of office. The succession of Moni- 
 tors gradually infuses a habit, and somewhat 
 of a love of punctuality, into the body scholastic 
 itself. The Masters also cannot think of being 
 absent when the scholars are waiting for them ; 
 and thus the nominal and the real hours of 
 attendance become exactly the same. By 
 this precision another important advantage is 
 gained. The pupil feels sure that the time by 
 which the lesson was appointed to be learnt, 
 will, with a fated certainty, be that at which it ' 
 will be required to be said ; this will in most 
 cases be found of itself sufficient to ensure the 
 accomplishment of the task. 
 
 Great care is taken that no boy shall, at any x
 
 90 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 moment of the day, be obliged to sit in idle- 
 ness, under any pretext whatever ; when the 
 stated quantity of labour is performed, he goes 
 to play; but while he remains in the school- 
 room, he has no right to be an instant unem- 
 ployed. The reward of industry, a short ces- 
 sation from labour, is immediate ; so that a 
 lively boy is not doomed to 
 
 " Count the slow clock, and play exact at noon." 
 
 On the contrary, instead of watching with 
 feverish impatience to see both the hands cul- 
 minate, he employs himself ardently at his 
 task; the instant he has accomplished it, con- 
 straint ceases, and he " breathes empyreal air." 
 
 If the time of the scholar ought to be kept 
 sacred from waste, it is of equal importance 
 that the labour of the Teacher should be ex- 
 pended so as to produce the greatest possible 
 effect. To us it has appeared, that he can 
 scarcely be so well employed as in giving to 
 his pupils a clear and full explanation of the 
 various difficulties which arise to impede their 
 course ; but this cannot be done unless they 
 study in classes, for a separate conversation of 
 a single minute with each boy, will occupy as 
 much of his time as one often minutes with ten 
 boys : how little can be done in one minute in 
 the way of explanation, and how much in ten, 
 as a mere question of arithmetic, is too clearly
 
 CLASSES. 91 
 
 in our favour to need a comment. The expe- 
 rienced teacher will be aware that the ratio 
 is, in effect, greater than this ; for by attempt- 
 ing to compress that matter into the space of 
 one minute which ought to occupy ten, he will 
 probably convey no information at all, and run 
 a risk of confusing and discouraging the pupil, 
 by increasing his idea of the difficulty, and 
 exciting his repugnance to encounter it. 
 
 By teaching the mathematics in classes, we 
 gain an opportunity of showing and explaining 
 the nature and use of different instruments, 
 as well as of the various weights and measures, 
 and of elucidating the many barbarous terms 
 which the writers on commercial arithmetic 
 have cast, like stumbling-blocks, into the path 
 of the young student. 
 
 By teaching penmanship to several boys, all 
 employed in writing the same copy, the master 
 has time to lay down by rule, as well as to 
 exhibit by exemplars, the relative proportions 
 of letters and spaces. 
 
 By hearing the pupils construe in classes, 
 the Teacher may take care that no allusion 
 passes unnoticed through the mind of the 
 learner ; being relieved from the long and irk- 
 some labour of hearing the same sentences 
 time after time, he has opportunity and spirits
 
 92 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 for entering into a more close and complete 
 explanation of the whole task. 
 
 After furnishing the pupil with the opportu- 
 nity of spending his time to the greatest ad- 
 vantage, our next care was to examine how 
 we had provided for supplying him with mo- 
 tives to an advantageous employment of it. 
 
 Leaving out of consideration the motive of 
 sympathy, of which we have already spoken, 
 they may be ranged under five heads : Love 
 of knowledge love of employment emula- 
 tion hope of reward and fear of punish- 
 ment. We have placed them in what appears 
 to us to be the order of their excellence. Some 
 of our readers may perhaps think that emula- 
 tion stands too low in the scale ; for it is 
 common and very natural to suppose, before a 
 trial of the experiment, that emulation alone is 
 a motive sufficient to overcome all obstacles, 
 and carry the student to the goal of his desti- 
 nation without suffering him ever to flag in his 
 course. But emulation is a stimulus, and it is 
 in the very nature of stimuli to lose their power 
 when constantly employed. Indeed such a 
 state of excitement, as in the absence of all other 
 motives would be sufficient to produce the 
 desired effect, would be too powerful for the 
 human mind to bear for any length of time. It
 
 MOTIVES. 93 
 
 may be very useful as a temporary expedient, 
 and the skilful instructor may sometimes find 
 it accord with his views to blow up a vivid 
 flame for a particular purpose, but he must 
 be aware that extraordinary exertion is always 
 followed by extraordinary languor. 
 
 For the gentle and temperate exercise of 
 emulation, we have, we think, sufficiently pro- 
 vided. Indeed, where numbers of boys are 
 collected together, so large that every one has 
 competitors equal, or nearly equal, in years, 
 talents, and acquisitions to himself, where 
 almost every study is social, where the pro- 
 gress of the students is so often compared, 
 and the rank of each so nicely adjusted, it 
 would be very difficult, if not impossible, 
 to prevent this motive from exerting every 
 fair and safe power over the minds of the 
 pupils. 
 
 The fear of punishment and the hope of 
 reward, besides being liable to the same ob- 
 jection with emulation, as to the comparative 
 transitoriness of their power from too frequent 
 use, have their peculiar disadvantages. No 
 mind can be constantly under the dominion of 
 fear, without falling into miserable, and often 
 irretrievable, degradation ; nor can it be ex- 
 pected, that pursuits closely associated in the 
 memory with this most painful feeling, should 
 
 '
 
 94 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 be followed a single moment, after coercion is 
 withdrawn. 
 
 Much as all men are inclined to magnify the 
 importance of their own profession, we arecom- 
 pelled to avow, that we think no advantages of 
 education ever likely to be reaped by a pupil in 
 such a state of mind, can compensate him for 
 the pain and injury which will accompany 
 their acquisition. The latter evil does not 
 attach itself to the hope of reward. But this 
 motive is open to objection, inasmuch as it 
 gives to the pupil an object different to the 
 real end of education. Improvement being 
 lowered in his mind to the rank of a means, is 
 not likely to be followed after the reward is 
 obtained. Nor is this the worst effect : the 
 pupil, instead of taking a general view of the 
 subject, and indulging himself in those colla- 
 teral speculations upon it, which tend so much 
 to show him its real bearings, considers every 
 thing besides the mere straight- forward accom- 
 plishment of his task, according to the pre- 
 scribed form, as so much exertion thrown 
 away. Under these impressions, we have en- 
 deavoured that our punishments may rather be 
 certain than either painful or degrading : our 
 rewards are various, that they may be adapted 
 to variety of disposition ; and light, that the 
 enjoyment of them may not be followed by
 
 MOTIVES. 95 
 
 satiety, nor draw aside the inclinations of the 
 pupil. 
 
 Many boys are carried forward in the course 
 of instruction from the mere love of employ- 
 ment. Being required to attend so many hours 
 to certain studies, and not being allowed to 
 spend their time in any other manner, they seem 
 to require no further stimulus, and gaily sit down 
 to their task. This happy disposition, rather 
 perhaps given by nature than induced by art, 
 will be very effective, if care be taken to place 
 no difficulties in its way, which a fair degree 
 of exertion will not surmount. We have 
 placed this motive high in the list, first, be- 
 cause it is permanent, and may be expected to 
 act after the period of compulsory education 
 shall be passed; and secondly, because it has 
 no ulterior object to call away the attention of 
 the scholar from the pure acquisition of know- 
 ledge. Yet, as it engages him in study merely 
 because that is the only object on which its 
 exertions can be expended, there is no cer- 
 tainty that study will be preferred, when his 
 choice of objects will be unfettered ; therefore 
 even the love of employment must yield in ex- 
 cellence to the love of knowledge. This com- 
 bines within itself all the excellencies which 
 belong to the others, without partaking of
 
 96 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 their defects. It is permanent. Its power 
 increases, instead of diminishing, with exercise. 
 Difficulties, to a certain extent, add to its 
 force ; and it can rarely be diverted from its 
 object, by the temptations which offer them- 
 selves in such profusion to the young man the 
 moment restraint has loosed him from its hold. 
 Above all, it directs the pupil to the acquisi- 
 tion of real, efficient information. To us it 
 appears a matter of such importance to induce 
 this motive, that*we think, if it were possible 
 for the pupil to acquire a love of knowledge, 
 and that alone, during the whole time he re- 
 mained at school, he would have done more 
 towards ensuring a stock of knowledge in 
 maturer age, than if he had been the recipient 
 of as much learning as ever was infused into 
 the passive schoolboy by flogging or coaxing. 
 Why are self-educated men so successful, not- 
 withstanding all their disadvantages, but be- 
 cause they study from a sincere attachment to 
 the art or science to which they apply ? They 
 do not go to the grinder to be prepared to 
 stand an examination ; nor do they fill their 
 heads with a heap of crude ideas, which they 
 only wish may keep until the day is past, when 
 they will be turned out as so much rubbish ; 
 the student feeling that they never can afford
 
 LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE. 97 
 
 him the least possible quantity of either plea- 
 sure or utility. 
 
 The best means of exciting a love of know- 
 ledge will be readily discovered, if we reflect 
 a few moments on the origin of knowledge 
 itself. Every acquisition would at first be 
 made from an immediate view of utility. No 
 man would undergo the trouble of investi- 
 gating the nature of plants, unless he, or his 
 friends, stood in need of their medicinal vir- 
 tues. The motions of the ^eavenly bodies 
 were first observed by sailors and husband- 
 men. As mankind became civilized, a pros- 
 pect of advantage more and more distant 
 sufficed to induce their exertions ; still that 
 prospect, though remote, was visible, and be- 
 guiled the toilsomeness of the road. But 
 in the present state of education, the young 
 traveller is expected to set out without hav- 
 ing the most distant idea of the end of his 
 journey, or the cause for which he travels; 
 for how can he, by any vigour of intuition, 
 even imagine the future fund of pleasure and 
 profit which is to accrue to him from commit- 
 ting to memory " Propria quce maribus" or 
 from poring into the mysteries of long divi- 
 sion, with a dirty slate before him, and thefrus- 
 trum of a pencil, half an inch long, in his fin- 
 gers, heaping one set of figures upon the ghosts 
 of their predecessors ? 
 
 H
 
 98 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 Let us not be misunderstood ; we are not 
 quarrelling with either the Eton Grammar, 
 or The Tutor's Assistant, two books for 
 which we have all possible respect ; we only 
 mean to show, that very much more is ex- 
 pected from children than is at all times 
 admitted. 
 
 We are aware that until the opinions of so- 
 ciety undergo a great alteration, it will always 
 be necessary for the teacher to lead his pupil 
 through many dark and intricate denies, and 
 to direct him to confide in his experience, for 
 the assurance that he will at last emerge into 
 light. But is nothing to be attempted because 
 every thing cannot be accomplished ? It is 
 certainly possible so to modify the course of 
 instruction, that the pupil shall now and then 
 catch a glimpse of the promised land ; and 
 this is all we attempt. 
 
 Every boy, for example, can find reasons 
 why the power of translation is valuable ; let 
 the tutor then ascertain by a careful exami- 
 nation, how much knowledge of the grammar 
 will enable the scholar to begin to construe ; 
 and engage him as soon as possible in employ- 
 ment which shall have some respectability in 
 his eyes. We do not mean to say that the 
 grammar shall be laid aside ; let the progress 
 in it be concurrent with that in translation,
 
 ARITHMETIC. 99 
 
 and let the scholar be taught the value of the 
 grammar as a book of reference. 
 
 In arithmetic, the means are more obvious. 
 The common mode of teaching arithmetic is to 
 commence with abstract numbers; but, is it 
 possible for a child to see, that any thing is 
 gained by adding together long rows of figures 
 to which no meaning is attached ? Certainly 
 not : and hence the irksomeness of the early 
 stages of that science. Again, what master 
 but must have observed that his younger 
 pupils, after working a problem, are sometimes 
 perfectly ignorant of the effect which has 
 been produced, and are unable to write an 
 answer to the question proposed? In such 
 a case, what has the pupil gained? Some 
 little increase of expertness in adding, sub- 
 tracting, multiplying, and dividing, perhaps ; 
 but is there no countervailing loss to be de- 
 plored? Is not the pupil's mind suffering 
 injury by thus blindly applying means without 
 knowing what end is to be effected, and 
 sometimes without being conscious that any 
 object is intended to be attained beyond 
 that of exercising his patience ? We think 
 that neither the mind nor the temper can 
 remain uninjured, or at least unendangered, 
 by constant subjection to such a process ; 
 and if some sacrifice of time were rendered 
 
 H 2
 
 100 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 necessary by an alteration which should 
 obviate such evils, it would not, in the opinion 
 of the judicious parent, be thrown away. No 
 sacrifice however is demanded, except perhaps 
 a small one on the part of the master, who is 
 amply repaid by the cheerful and ardent co- 
 operation of the pupil. 
 
 We commence arithmetic with easy ques- 
 tions, the scope and utility of which the little 
 pupil can readily comprehend. Every child at 
 once feels that he has made an important and 
 valuable acquisition, when he has learned 
 how to calculate all the various little problems 
 which may be constructed respecting his tops 
 and marbles, their prices and their compara- 
 tive value. It is of little consequence whether 
 these questions are carefully arranged or not ; 
 their being miscellaneous will only more 
 agreeably exercise the mind of the scholar, if 
 care is taken that the simple operations, the 
 multiplying and dividing, the subtracting and 
 adding, are not of themselves too difficult. 
 
 There is almost always a reason for every 
 custom, which renders it eligible at the time 
 of its establishment. That of commencing 
 with mechanical operations partly arose, we 
 conceive, from the difficulty which instructors 
 found in teaching their pupils to extract the 
 numbers from a question, and to place them
 
 MENTAL ARITHMETIC. 101 
 
 so as to be worked by the arithmetical ma- 
 chinery. With the assistance of our chalking- 
 boards and classes, we have conquered this 
 difficulty. If no boy of the class can state the 
 question, the master does that without loss of 
 time, which by the common mode is done 
 after a period of idleness he goes through 
 the statement himself. By united efforts the 
 problem is answered before the meaning of the 
 question, and the curiosity excited by it, have 
 faded from the mind of the learner. Another 
 question is immediately given ; practice soon 
 presents every difficulty in every variety ; the 
 young scholar begins gradually to see the use 
 and value of signs, and daily exercise renders 
 the increasing lines of numbers easily manage' 
 able. 
 
 While on this part of our subject, we must 
 acknowledge our obligations to what is called 
 Mental Arithmetic ; that is, calculation without 
 the employment of written symbols. Of the 
 extent to which this art may be carried, the 
 memoirs of Porson, Jedediah Buxton, and the 
 American youth, Zerah Colborn, (if we may be 
 allowed such a discordant union of names) 
 will furnish ample evidence. We cannot 
 boast of any feats which will at all bear 
 comparison with theirs, yet some facts have 
 been stated which may have astonished those
 
 102 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 who have not estimated the combined powers 
 of youth, ardour, and practice.* It would not 
 be easy, in the few words which we can 
 spare for the subject, to enlarge upon all the 
 uses of Mental Arithmetic ; the rapidity of its 
 operations, the powers of abstraction which 
 it gives the pupil, the advantages which it con- 
 fers in transacting the business of real life, and 
 the amusement with which it supplies the mind, 
 under circumstances where none but strictly 
 mental employment is practicable. Nor is 
 such a discussion necessary to our present 
 purpose, which only regards its value in the 
 opinion of the pupil. Every child soon becomes 
 interested in the common concerns of the world, 
 and every thing like real business acquires 
 an air of respectability in his eyes ; it is there- 
 fore easy, by assimilating the questions to 
 those which actually occur in the transactions 
 of life, and by calling upon him to answer 
 them in the mode in which he has found them 
 answered by his friends and their tradesmen, 
 to show him that he is rising into usefulness 
 as he becomes master of the subject. The 
 motive in this instance is mingled with another, 
 which ought, perhaps, to have had a separate 
 attention, namely, love of imitation. The 
 
 * Page 16.
 
 SURVEYING. 103 
 
 child imitates the youth, the youth imitates 
 the man, and every man, until his habits are 
 fixed, feels a disposition to imitate those above 
 him : love of imitation may therefore be made 
 a powerful incentive to the acquisition of 
 knowledge, if the teacher be careful to show 
 the connexion between cause and effect in its 
 clearest light. 
 
 To return to our immediate subject; all the 
 operations of Surveying are, by the same feel- 
 ing of utility, joined to the love of imitation, 
 rendered extremely pleasant to boys; nor is 
 their enjoyment lessened by the necessity of 
 performing their labours in the open air. Thus 
 engaged, they feel that they are employed in 
 real business, and have an opportunity of 
 measuring then* attainments with those of men. 
 Many of their former studies are at once 
 brought into use; they now see the reason for 
 an accurate acquaintance with the laws of 
 numbers and spaces. To a familiarity with 
 arithmetic, mensuration, and trigonometry, 
 they must join the manual facility of con- 
 structing maps and plans ; they exercise 
 their discretion, in choosing points of obser- 
 vation ; they learn expertness in the use, and 
 care in the preservation of instruments ; 
 and, above all, from this feeling that they are 
 really at work, they acquire that sobriety and
 
 104 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 steadiness of conduct, in which the elder 
 schoolboy is so often inferior to his less for- 
 tunate neighbour, who has been removed at an 
 early age to the accompting-house. And here 
 let us pause a moment, to lay down a general 
 position. Whenever the scholar can be led to 
 engage with pleasure in a pursuit, which de- 
 mands a considerable fund of subsidiary 
 knowledge, the tutor gains two very important 
 points. First, he renders himself certain that 
 his pupil is in possession of what he has been 
 heretofore taught; or what is, perhaps, even 
 better, he ensures the desire of self-improve- 
 ment in order to supply the defects of memory ; 
 and secondly, he lays before the boy's eyes 
 the utility of various branches of instruction. 
 How often does the desire of acquisition begin 
 to operate in a few months after the close of 
 education; and what produces such a change? 
 The experience^ however short, of the utility 
 of acquisitions which were perhaps lately 
 despised. If, then, any means have been 
 devised of inducing such a sentiment, while 
 the time and opportunity of improvement re- 
 main unimpaired, something has been done to 
 spare the future man many moments of painful 
 retrospection. " Every person (says Gibbon) has 
 two educations, one which he receives from 
 others, and one, more important, which he
 
 COMPOSITION. 105 
 
 gives to himself." * The latter of these is 
 seldom begun till the former is ended; an 
 earlier commencement of it would perhaps 
 ensure greater success to both. 
 
 In speaking of the advantages of real busi- 
 ness, we may be allowed to mention again the 
 transactions of the Committees, and Courts of 
 Justice, which are all recorded, and thus fur- 
 nish no unimportant exercise in a very exact 
 and useful kind of composition; a department 
 of education which we confess has often caused 
 us considerable uneasiness. We fully agree 
 with Miss Edgeworth, that " no person should 
 be expected to write, unless he has something 
 to say ;" indeed, the utter uselessness of any 
 other composition than that which is employed 
 as a vehicle for the communication of ideas, 
 must excite, even in the mind of a child, a 
 contempt even to loathing. We dare not cal- 
 culate the mental injury which must necessa- 
 rily ensue, " from the Egyptian compulsion 
 under which some young people are placed, of 
 thus making bricks without straw."'}' Do we 
 not despise in the adult all composition but 
 that which proceeds from a mind stored with 
 ideas ? What are our opinions respecting pau- 
 city of thoughts and profusion of words ? 
 
 * Life and Letters. f Locke.
 
 106 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 Why has every system for teaching composi- 
 tion to men failed of producing anything great? 
 Why has the science of Rhetoric itself fallen 
 into contempt, but because style is merely the 
 channel, not the water, and if scantily supplied 
 becomes an object of derision, in exact pro- 
 portion to the labour with which it was exca- 
 vated ? If this representation is correct, it 
 certainly must be conferring, at least, an equi- 
 vocal benefit on a youth, to force him to col- 
 lect his few poor and scattered ideas together, 
 and send them shivering along the cold and 
 barren periods of a school theme, reminding 
 the master of the broth of old Milnwood, 
 where, " in an ocean of liquid, were indis- 
 tinctly discovered by close observers, two or 
 three short ribs of lean mutton sailing to and 
 fro."* 
 
 The resources of every youth are necessarily 
 bounded ; years must pass before his ideas can 
 have had the requisite seasoning (to use a 
 homely phrase); and until the period of mature 
 age, original composition can only tend to 
 vitiate his taste, and lower his standard of ex- 
 cellence, f But there are other means open 
 
 * Tales of My Landlord, 1st series, vol. ii. 
 
 f Milton, in his little work on Education, reprobates the 
 practice of " Forcing the empty wits of children to compose 
 themes, verses, and orations, which are acts of ripest judgment,
 
 COMPOSITION. 107 
 
 for acquiring the minor qualifications of gram- 
 matical correctness, and tact in the choice of 
 words, and of these we avail ourselves. Trans- 
 lations, both in prose and verse, are expected 
 from the senior boys, and they are also fre- 
 quently employed in taking notes of lectures, 
 from which they prepare reports. The utility 
 of these occupations is sufficiently obvious to 
 the pupil, and hence they are followed with zest. 
 That such a system of education will not 
 be unfavourable to originality in after life, we 
 have high authority for believing. It was the 
 opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds, that even in 
 painting, which draws all its learning from 
 outward visible nature, no man can be original 
 to any good purpose, until he has made himself 
 master of what is already known, not in detail, 
 of course, but in principle. " The daily food 
 and nourishment of the mind of an artist (says 
 he) is found in the great works of his prede- 
 cessors. There is no other way for him to 
 become great himself. Serpens nisi serpentem 
 commederit non Jit draco is a remark of a 
 whimsical natural history which I have read, 
 though I do not recollect its title; however 
 
 and the final work of a head filled by long reading and observ- 
 ing, with elegant maxims and copious invention." " These are 
 not (he continues} matters to be wrung from children, like 
 blood from the nose, or plucking of untimely fruit."
 
 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 false, as to dragons, it is applicable enough 
 to artists." * 
 
 If this be true in painting, we are sure it 
 will not be denied in literature. 
 
 A taste for the acquirement of knowledge 
 is also powerfully promoted by a careful at- 
 tention, on the part of the master, to match 
 the difficulties of the learner so exactly with 
 his capacity, that he shall not, on the one hand, 
 give up the pursuit from despair, nor on the 
 other, despise a victory obtained without effort. 
 It is difficult to avoid suffering from the ope- 
 rations of these opposite evils at one and the 
 same time, for a progress by far too rapid to 
 suit the heavy pace of one child, will perhaps 
 be too slow for the celerity of another. Our 
 arrangement into classes may seem, at first 
 sight, to be very obnoxious to both these dis- 
 advantages ; but such is not the case. On the 
 contrary, it furnishes us with the means of 
 adjusting the ratio between a boy's powers and 
 his task, to the greatest possible nicety. 
 
 Each of our arithmetical classes, for ex- 
 ample, has a certain range, a certain number 
 of arithmetical rules, through which it passes 
 and repasses without ever travelling into any 
 other department. The place which each boy 
 
 * Reynolds' Works, Tol. ii. 12th Discourse, p. 92100.
 
 CLASSES. 109 
 
 occupies points out to the Teacher the state 
 of his advancement; and as soon as he is 
 found competent, he is removed into a higher 
 class. With some boys, it is only neces- 
 sary to go over the ground once ; others 
 travel the same road again and again; no 
 one leaves it before he is thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with it; and no one stays in it 
 after that acquisition is made. 
 
 As arithmetic is commonly studied, it is 
 not practicable, and perhaps not advisable, 
 to put a stop to what is technically called 
 cabbaging ; for there must ever be difficulties, 
 which some pupils cannot overcome by their 
 solitary exertions, and of which no master 
 can possibly find time for separate explana- 
 tion to each individual. But the copying system, 
 though perhaps in ordinary cases necessary, 
 is nevertheless highly objectionable. 
 
 In the first place, it is a breach of the laws, 
 and, becoming habitual, removes all com- 
 punction for breaking, not only the law in 
 question, but others. It misleads the Teacher, 
 who apportions the pupil's task according to 
 a false estimate of his acquisitions. By offer- 
 ing a succedaneum for mental exertion, it gra- 
 dually destroys all motive to it. By carrying 
 a boy beyond his point of real acquisition, this 
 assistance becomes essential to him in future; 
 for, not having the subsidiary information on
 
 110 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 which his Teacher calculates when he sets the 
 task, he can by no other means fulfil it. Thus, 
 a disingenuous concealment of the real state 
 of the pupil's mind is not only fostered, but 
 rendered necessary to avoid the disgrace of 
 detection. It would be tedious to recount all 
 the mischiefs which result from this surrepti- 
 tious removal of difficulties ; even when only 
 employed occasionally, its bad effects are 
 neither few nor unimportant. In copying the 
 solution of a problem by wholesale, even the 
 student, who is anxious to learn, will often re- 
 main ignorant of the reasoning on which the 
 operation depends ; for when it is at all com- 
 plex, it can rarely happen that he transcribes 
 the figures into his copy, in the exact order, 
 with respect to time, in which they were set 
 down in the exemplar. 
 
 We are also averse from boys being de- 
 pendent for explanation upon other boys ; for 
 we have generally found that both he who 
 learns and he who teaches, are satisfied with 
 any information which is sufficient for a par- 
 ticular purpose ; they do not (nor can we won- 
 der that they do not) generalize their views, 
 or enter into such a discussion as shall render 
 future assistance on a similar point unnecessary. 
 Such a conference, if they were able and wil- 
 ling to enter upon it, would, in most schools, 
 be quickly interrupted by a stroke with a cane,
 
 TRANSLATIONS. Ill 
 
 as a punishment for disturbing the public 
 silence. The evils of cabbaging, in all their 
 many divisions and subdivisions, we are hap- 
 pily rid of by teaching in classes. 
 
 In the lower classical forms, we have, to a 
 limited extent, adopted the mode of teaching 
 by translations. It would be too great a tax 
 upon the time of the general reader, to present 
 him, in detail, our reasons for differing with 
 some eminent men on this point, as it would 
 lead us into a long inquiry respecting the 
 nature of language, and another equally labo- 
 rious respecting the nature of the human mind 
 itself. At some future period, we hope to be 
 indulged in adding our speculations upon these 
 important points to our little work ; * until 
 then we shall satisfy ourselves with succinctly 
 showing, that the analogy between copying 
 the solution of an arithmetical problem, and 
 reading a translation, has been rather hastily 
 formed. The solution of an arithmetical pro- 
 blem depends solely on the exercise of the 
 reasoning powers ; therefore as little assistance 
 as possible ought to be given, in order that 
 these powers may be called forth. But even 
 in science, the most eligible method has been 
 practically found to mingle example with rea- 
 
 * This we have now done, in chap. iv.
 
 112 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 soiling, at least in the exercises of the younger 
 students. Language, on the other hand, is for 
 the most part a collection of authorities, or 
 facts, and of course that method by which the 
 pupil can ascertain those facts in the readiest 
 manner, must be, other things equal, the best. 
 Translation is evidently the readiest means, 
 because it gives the pupil a dictionary of the 
 sentence under examination, with the words 
 arranged to his hands. The mischiefs of copy- 
 ing would be much reduced, if the pupil were 
 examined as to his knowledge of each pro- 
 blem, after he had transcribed the solution of 
 it ; if he were constrained to explain how each 
 line arose, and how it assisted the progress of 
 the work. This the young linguist is under 
 the necessity of doing by the processes of con- 
 struing and parsing; for it should be remem- 
 bered, that, in a translation, the original is not 
 rendered word for word; nor is the same 
 order preserved in one language as the other ; 
 therefore, to enable himself to construe the 
 sentence, the learner must match word against 
 word, with a precision which will require him 
 to alter many words of the translation, for 
 which purpose he will find it necessary to con- 
 sult his dictionary ; but then he goes to it with 
 some knowledge of what he is in search of, 
 instead of ranging through a chaos of contra-
 
 TRANSLATIONS. 113 
 
 dictory meanings, at a loss which to choose, 
 and astonished that a word, which seems to 
 have such a multiplicity of significations, could 
 ever convey a certain idea. By parsing, too, 
 he is compelled to acquaint himself with the 
 stems of words, in which he is materially 
 assisted by a previous knowledge of their 
 meanings ; so that he becomes as familiar with 
 them as he can possibly do by any process, 
 however difficult. 
 
 But our grand objection to the old plan is, 
 that it furnishes, in its numerous difficulties, a 
 constant excuse for indolence. It is impos- 
 sible for the master to enter into the boy's 
 mind, and discover whether his ill success 
 proceed from want of power or from want of 
 disposition. We shrink from the danger and 
 cruelty of stimulating a docile and ardent 
 child to a task beyond his powers; we are 
 afraid to lose his confidence in our knowledge 
 of what ought to be expected from him ; we 
 are afraid of souring his temper, and uniting 
 painful associations with his task, which may 
 spread over every department of knowledge, 
 and force his thoughts and his tastes into a dif- 
 ferent, perhaps hostile, course. After all, we 
 wish it to be clearly understood, that our de- 
 parture from ancient custom is always made 
 slowly, and with trepidation. Whoever has
 
 114 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 ventured upon alterations in any established 
 niethods, must have found, that if usage often 
 outlives its original cause, it still more often 
 outlives only the remembrance of it ; and they 
 who dig at the foundation of that which is 
 established, with a view of showing its weak- 
 ness, and hastening its fall, frequently make 
 the unwelcome discovery, that "it is built upon 
 a rock." 
 
 We come next to consider the pleasure of 
 success, as an auxiliary in the inducement of 
 a love of knowledge. That no rational being 
 would continue exertions attended only with 
 disappointment, beyond a certain period, will 
 not be denied; and that until the pupil is 
 fortified with the memory of repeated success, 
 every failure will tend to relax his ardour, is 
 equally obvious. 
 
 It is of great importance, then, that the 
 pupil should, very early in life, have an oppor- 
 tunity of tasting this pleasure ; and in order to 
 ensure so desirable an end, we have been care- 
 ful to attach rank to excellence in each de- 
 partment; sometimes ranging our pupils in 
 the order of classical attainments; then as 
 mathematicians ; then according to manual ex- 
 cellence; and lastly, according to their general 
 conduct and behaviour. Thus each boy, in 
 his turn, attains rank and consideration in that
 
 PLEASURE OF SUCCESS. 115 
 
 branch of study wherein nature has fitted him 
 to excel, and where comparatively moderate 
 efforts will ensure success. If this were all, 
 if our plan merely served to carry each boy 
 onwards in the path which nature had pointed 
 out for him, we should consider a valuable point 
 to have been gained, inasmuch as we hold single 
 excellence in higher estimation than various 
 mediocrity.* But the cause continues to ope- 
 rate. The confidence that exertion will be 
 followed by success, being established in his 
 mind, will cheer him on in other departments 
 of education. Parents are often afraid that a 
 favourite pursuit will be followed by their 
 child with so much ardour as to withdraw his 
 attention from others, which appear to them 
 to be more valuable. It generally happens 
 that the natural volatility of youth soon 
 changes its object; and then, if what we may 
 denominate the habit of ardour has been in- 
 
 * This freedom of action is one of the fundamental principles 
 of the system of Pestalozzi : "L'dducationdoit Stre libre etnatn- 
 relle, au lieu d'etre gdnee, contrainte artificiellc, servile et poor 
 ainai dire, et factice : elle laissc 1'enfant se de velopper en liberte 
 tout entier, et prononcer fertement sa vMtable nature" Esprit 
 dela Methods d 1 Education de Pestalozzi, par Jullien, tome i. p. 99. 
 
 " Le eours general des etudes embrasse un assez grand 
 nombre d'objets, mais lenr variete. meme sert a delasser agre- 
 ablement 1'esprit et laisse aux enfans la liberte de choisir ceux 
 qui ont plus d'analogie avec leurs dispositions naturelles." 
 Esprit, &c. tome i. p. 83- 
 
 12
 
 116 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 duced, it is carried to the new pursuit. But 
 if the love of a certain art or science were 
 indeed so firmly rooted in a boy's mind as to 
 resist all the charms of novelty and fashion, 
 and all the attacks of satiety, we should shrink 
 from what we could almost call the impiety of 
 dragging him from avocations to which he 
 must have been destined by an authority to 
 which all human power must submit. 
 
 Such instances, however, are very rare : for 
 the most part, the only effect of showing some 
 indulgence to the predilections of youth, 
 will be, that, in place of uniform listlessness, 
 every task will be performed with spirit ; and 
 every branch of learning will be, in its turn, the 
 object of intense avidity. There is always a 
 natural facility for making one acquirement 
 rather than another, and with that the pupil's 
 ardour will commence ; but, except in a few 
 instances, the difference of capacity for one 
 study, in preference to another, is but slight, 
 and will gradually waste away before the in- 
 fluence of circumstances. Nor, on the other 
 hand, should it be forgotten by those, who, 
 in their eagerness for one acquisition, despise 
 every other, that in the web of knowledge no 
 thread can be traced, without pointing out 
 something of the course of others. It is an 
 undoubted fact, that no man can acquire great
 
 CLEAR IDEAS- 117 
 
 eminence in any one branch of learning, 
 (exact science alone excepted,) who has made 
 that branch the sole object of his attention. 
 
 We have now only to dispose of one other 
 means of exciting a love of knowledge, and 
 our task will be drawing to a close. This is 
 to give the pupil clear, vivid, and accurate 
 conceptions. 
 
 It is astonishing what interest is at once 
 given to any event, however trifling, if we are 
 acquainted with the place wherein it happened, 
 or the individuals who are the actors in it, 
 though it may very slightly affect their in- 
 terests ; and they are perhaps persons for 
 whom we have but little affection or esteem. 
 Who does not feel happy to realise, by actual 
 observation, his mental picture of cities and 
 landscapes? Why is it that those who are 
 present sympathise more completely with 
 either the joy or grief of their friends, than 
 those who are absent? It is because interest 
 is produced by vividness of conception, and 
 vividness of conception is in the ratio of 
 proximity to the sensible cause. Thus he who 
 is present at a painful accident, feels more 
 than he who only hears the relation of it from 
 a spectator ; and he, again, who has learnt all 
 the circumstances from an eye-witness, will 
 produce more effect in relating the story, than
 
 118 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 one who has obtained them by a more cir- 
 cuitous route. 
 
 From this very simple and well-known 
 truth, the teacher may derive an important 
 lesson. He may learn the advantage of prac- 
 tical illustration : he will find that his time is 
 well employed in showing his pupils many 
 things which he might otherwise think they 
 would as well imagine for themselves. We 
 should advise him to provide himself with the 
 various weights, commonly spoken of, and the 
 measures of content and of length. Let him 
 portion off upon his play-ground a land-chain, 
 a rood, and, if the extent be sufficient, an 
 acre- Let his pupils, when they read history, 
 be ftirnished with maps to trace the routes of 
 armies ; ^ them be shown plans of towns ; 
 plates exhibiting the variations of costume 
 which distinguish one people from another ; 
 or at least let them have access to these latter 
 documents (as they might very justly be called) 
 in the library of the School : and then so very 
 delightful is it to boys to fix and verify their 
 ideas by means of the senses, that much know- 
 ledge will be gained in this way by the pupil, 
 without any other care on the part of the 
 master, than to furnish him with the requisite 
 opportunity. Indeed, we have sometimes 
 wondered* that instructors have not more fully
 
 ELEMENTS. 119 
 
 availed themselves of the multiplicity of little 
 works which the press almost daily issues, to 
 furnish their scholars with a fund of entertain- 
 ment and useful general information ; which 
 has so great a recommendation as that of 
 diffusing itself among them, without calling for 
 exertion on the part of the master. 
 
 In treating on the value of accurate concep- 
 tions, we must not fail to call the attention of 
 the reader to the importance, hi the first years 
 of education, of suffering the pupil to become 
 very familiar with elements. Early youth is 
 the best time for acquiring elementary infor- 
 mation. There is a period in life, nor is it a 
 very late one, when the mind begins to revolt 
 against entering upon any branch of know- 
 ledge, with which it is entirely unacquainted ; 
 arid many remain in ignorance who would 
 pursue pleasantly the abstrusities of a science, 
 if they could prevail upon themselves to mas- 
 ter its elements. Therefore, since no after- 
 knowledge can be very complete or extensive, 
 which is not built upon a good elementary 
 foundation, we strongly advise parents to be 
 satisfied with somewhat less of superstructure 
 than is generally demanded, while the pupil has 
 yet the power of enabling himself to enlarge 
 His future acquisitions without pain and degra- 
 dation . To Us it appears of infinitely more i m-
 
 120 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 portance, that education should be sound and 
 complete, than precocious. On the other 
 hand, when the period for elementary educa- 
 tion is past, the mind becomes dissatisfied, 
 unless it feels that something efficient is done. 
 It is in vain for the instructor to hope that sti- 
 mulants, which were powerful at eight or ten 
 years of age, will urge the mind at fifteen. 
 The boy begins to feel that he shall soon be 
 called into another sphere of life, where mere 
 school motives are not to be found. That minute 
 and formal correctness which was so proper at 
 an early age, must now be relaxed; and general 
 and previously formed habits must be de- 
 pended upon in its stead. The minutiae of the 
 drill would be out of place on the day of 
 battle. The side of danger is now changed ; 
 heretofore the principal care of the teacher 
 was not to overload the mind of his little 
 pupil, lest he should extinguish the feeble and 
 lambent flame of ardour; but now, the fuel 
 may be heaped with no sparing hand. The 
 pupil has acquired a knowledge of his own 
 powers; he has, if we may so speak, learnt 
 the art of learning. He will know whether his 
 obstacles arise from the innate difficulty of the 
 subject, or from want of previous information, 
 which perhaps he may have acquired and for- 
 gotten. In the latter case, a powerful and
 
 WRITERS ON EDUCATION. 121 
 
 excellent motive is furnished for private volun- 
 tary application : in the former he has found 
 himself too often successful to fear the contest. 
 But if the teacher, unaware of this change in 
 the mind of the pupil, irritate him by requir- 
 ing that mere formal perfection which demands 
 a mind unoccupied with the labour of investi- 
 gation, he will find to his astonishment that 
 the very boys who gave him greatest satisfac- 
 tion at the outset of their studies, become care- 
 less, and perhaps morose, at the time when he 
 had fondly anticipated increased ardour and 
 voluntary co-operation. 
 
 And now, having presented our friends with 
 the detail of our system, and with the general 
 principles on which that system is formed, we 
 shall, before we take our leave, say a few 
 words on the sources from which they have 
 been drawn. To the various writers on edu- 
 cation, we certainly owe much ; for, although 
 they have seldom been acquainted with the 
 theory of public education, or those general 
 principles of instruction and government, 
 which may be deduced from a practical 
 acquaintance with great numbers of young 
 people ; yet they have treated largely on the 
 end, and objects to be pursued. If they have 
 not at all times pointed out the road to perfec- 
 tion, they have often cleared up doubts as to the
 
 122 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 direction in which it is to be sought. Among 
 those of our own day whose exertions claim our 
 thanks, a high rank is due to the late Mr. Edge- 
 worth and to his daughter. To say nothing 
 of Miss Edgeworth's share in the work, es- 
 pecially devoted to the science of education, 
 we have drawn much information, and have 
 been stimulated to very important inquiries, 
 by the principles scattered through her Tales 
 and Novels ; principles which we always 
 hasten to lay before our pupils, gratefully 
 acknowledging the benefit which enables us 
 to instil them without labour, and so much 
 more effectually than we could have done by 
 any exertions of our own. 
 
 If the Greeks paid divine honours to the 
 man who brought down wisdom from the gods 
 to dwell amongst men, surely some reward is 
 due to her, by whose labours the important 
 science of education has been rendered appre- 
 hensible, even to children. She has a reward 
 the most valuable to the virtuous that of 
 beholding the benefit of her exertions, of 
 feeling that the great gift of existence has not 
 been bestowed upon her in vain.* 
 
 * A predilection for the science and practice of education 
 seems to be hereditary among the Edgewortbs. The present 
 head of the family has founded a large school, to the conduct 
 of which he most benevolently devotes his time and talents,
 
 DR. BELL AND MR. LANCASTER. 123 
 
 Respecting the mechanism of our School, it 
 might be supposed that we have many obliga- 
 tions to acknowledge ; but upon a careful 
 review of the case, we do not find that we owe 
 to others much more than the traditional in- 
 formation which has been afloat in schools, 
 perhaps for ages : this we have systematized 
 to suit our own particular views. We know 
 it is the fashion to assign many of these plans 
 to Dr. Bell and to Mr. Lancaster, and very na- 
 turally, indeed We had almost said very pro- 
 perly ; for society is perhaps more benefited 
 by the prOmulgator than by the inventor of an 
 improvement. That these gentlemen have done 
 much we cheerfully admit ; but it has been 
 rather by arranging elements into a system, 
 than by discovering those elements. We are 
 hardly aware of having drawn a single im- 
 provement from their plans, although we act 
 in concurrence with them in many parts of our 
 system. In many parts we differ from them ; 
 but not so much from variance of opinion, as 
 from dissimilarity of object. Their object, and 
 
 with a degree of zeal and assiduity which might afford an ex- 
 ample to many teachers, whose industry mast be stimulated 
 by motives from which this gentleman can derive no part of 
 his energy. We hope to draw very important advantages 
 from the opportunity which we have lately enjoyed of inspecting 
 his establishment July, 1821.
 
 124 REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 an excellent one it is, must be to furnish the 
 children of the lower classes with such infor- 
 mation as is strictly necessary at the smallest 
 possible cost. With us, cost is an object of 
 minor importance. Neither should we do our 
 duty, by resting satisfied with communicating 
 the mere elements. 
 
 In order to avoid expense, the National and 
 Lancasterian Schools are taught by the boys 
 themselves, the master being rather a governor 
 than a teacher. This part of the system is 
 admirably adapted to answer its purpose: 
 but it has essential defects, which render it 
 unfit for general adoption. 
 
 As the process of instruction is carried for- 
 ward by boys, it becomes necessary to mark 
 out the duties of the teacher, with as much 
 minuteness as those of the learner. Indeed, 
 the duties of each must be made perfectly me- 
 chanical. There must be no doubt or hesita- 
 tion on the part of the master or pupil ; for 
 doubt would produce delay and dispute, and 
 consequently throw the whole machine into 
 disorder. Hence there can be no appeal to 
 the reasoning powers ; for reasoning never can 
 be reduced to mechanism. From the neces- 
 sity which exists that all the boys should move 
 exactly together, individual ardour is as much 
 to be discouraged as individual inertness.
 
 DR. BELL AND MR. LANCASTER. 125 
 
 Every boy must conform to the average mo- 
 tion of the School. In short, the system has 
 all the excellencies and all the defects of mili- 
 tary discipline. It produces habits of atten- 
 tion, order, and subordination ; most valuable 
 qualities to the class of society whose interests 
 it has in view. But it is our object to produce 
 voluntary mental exertion; and we therefore 
 cannot think it judicious to subject our pupils 
 to continual restraint. We wish to teach them to 
 educate themselves, while we direct their ope- 
 rations. We must teach them to think as well 
 as act ; while all that is attempted in favour of 
 the others is to teach them the latter power. 
 In learning elements only, the evils of mere 
 practice will hardly be felt ; but when the 
 pupil ventures beyond them, he ought to be 
 prepared with the habit of reasoning. We 
 would not be supposed to make these obser- 
 vations with a wish to depreciate the value of 
 a system, admirably calculated to answer its 
 end; far from it; we wish to show, that, 
 having a different end in view ourselves, we 
 should not have been justified in adopting it. 
 We are not only called upon to put the key 
 of knowledge into the hands of our pupils ; 
 we must open the cabinet and display its 
 treasures.
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 ON THE BEST METHOD OF ACQUIRING 
 LANGUAGES. 
 
 How many years of life are spent in learn- 
 ing Latin! How much labour, pain, and 
 imprisonment, are endured by the boy ! 
 how much anxious drudgery by the master ! 
 how much disgust of literature is engen- 
 dered! how many habits are formed of re- 
 luctance to regular employment! in short, 
 how much misery has been produced, is 
 being produced, and will continue to be pro- 
 duced, in teaching the Latin language ? This 
 appears to us to be a very important question, 
 and will, we think, appear so to our readers, 
 after a little consideration. 
 
 We sometimes figure to ourselves an inha- 
 bitant of another world coming among us, and 
 examining with an unprejudiced eye the value 
 of our pursuits. If this idle speculation could 
 be realized, who, we should be glad to know, 
 would be Quixotic enough to undertake a 
 defence of the usual course of instruction in 
 Latin ? Nobody, certainly. For, in the first 
 place, not two boys out of three who follow it,
 
 THE NATURAL METHOD. 127 
 
 ever become able to read even the easier 
 classic authors with fluency. Of these, per- 
 haps, one half, from the painful associations 
 which they have attached to Latin books, 
 never open one after they leave school.* If 
 we add to the account, as Rousseau would, 
 the numbers who die during the schoolboy 
 age, we shall find the list of those who use 
 the knowledge, gained with so much pain to 
 scholar and to master, dwindle into a very 
 small one. 
 
 This view of the present state of scholastic 
 affairs will afford an apology for our presump- 
 tion in proposing an alteration. Where plans 
 are good, it may be dangerous to disturb them, 
 even in the possibility of establishing better ; 
 but where they are positively and radically 
 bad, the chances of injury are lessened, while 
 those of benefit are increased. 
 
 Our attention was first called to the subject 
 by observing, that in the Welsh towns which 
 are frequented by the English, the inhabitants, 
 even the children, speak both languages with 
 fluency ; yet Welsh and English are nearly, 
 
 * Lord Byron tells us, in his Childe Harold, lhathe cannot read 
 Horace now, because he was made to read him at school. If 
 Lord Byron, a scholar and a poet, is so harassed by unfortunate 
 associations, as to receive no enjoyment from Horace, we need 
 not wonder at the number of musty Latin books on the shelves 
 of grown persons.
 
 128 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 if not quite, as dissimilar as English and 
 Latin. Perhaps when we consider the num- 
 ber of derivatives from the Latin language 
 which we have in our own, we may pronounce 
 the difference to be greater. 
 
 To estimate rightly the attainment made thus 
 casually, and without grammatical instruc- 
 tion, the reader must recollect how much more 
 difficult it is to speak than simply to read a 
 language. In order, therefore, to make a fair 
 comparison between the two methods, we 
 should compare the Welsh children, not with 
 schoolboys, but with those very few learned 
 men, who, after years of labour, at last ac- 
 quire a power of speaking Latin with tolerable 
 fluency. 
 
 The superiority of the natural method (so 
 to speak) of learning languages, is, however, 
 practically acknowledged ; for it is, as our 
 readers well know, very common to send 
 students into foreign countries, for the sole 
 purpose of acquiring the languages there 
 spoken ; and we never heard of the experi- 
 ment failing, however small may have been 
 the student's natural capacity for the em- 
 ployment. * 
 
 * Mr. Edgeworth relates, in his memoirs, a curious anecdote 
 of his eldest son, then a boy, about nine years old, strongly 
 illustrating the advantages of the natural method, though Mr.
 
 THE NATURAL METHOD, 129 
 
 All this, it will be allowed, is very true, 
 and yet we shall be asked, how it applies to 
 the teaching of a dead language. We are well 
 aware that Latin cannot be taught in the way 
 in which we learn our mother tongue ; but we 
 are also aware, that masters might imitate 
 nature rather more than they do, with great 
 profit to their pupils and great ease to them- 
 selves. 
 
 It is usual to attribute the extreme facility 
 with which languages are acquired by a resi- 
 dence in the countries where they are spoken, 
 partly to the necessity which the pupil feela 
 for study, and partly to his daily oppor- 
 tunities of hearing the language used by per- 
 sons who thoroughly understand it. Stimulus 
 to exertion, then, and good models, are the ad- 
 
 E. himself, seems not to have been aware of the principles, 
 which the circumstance developed. They were iu France, and 
 the boy's tutor, says the father, " bad a French master, to whom 
 he dedicated at least two hoars every day. My son was invited, 
 and tempted by various means to partake of the lessons to 
 which his tutor so assiduously attended; but the boy could never 
 be induced to get by rote the French irregular verbs, or to hear 
 critical remarks on the uses of certain common particles, which 
 strangers are apt to confound and misapply. But, in the mean 
 time, he learnt to speak French fluently, and with good accent; 
 and before his tutor could express bis wants at dinner with 
 common accuracy, or indeed before be became intelligible to 
 the people with whom he lived, my son was able to read and 
 converse without hesitation." Mem. of R. L. Edgeworth, Esq., 
 vol. i. p. 275. 
 
 K
 
 130 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 vantages of this mode of instruction, and they 
 are great ones ; but can they not be supplied, 
 at least in a very considerable degree, in other 
 situations ? 
 
 Of the motives to improvement we have 
 already treated at length;* and we have shown 
 that no insurmountable obstacle exists, to their 
 all being brought to bear upon the subject of 
 our present examination. We have next to 
 consider how far we can supply good models, 
 or examples ; and here we must confess we 
 have a greater difficulty to overcome. 
 
 When the foreign student makes it under- 
 stood by signs that he is in want, for instance, 
 of a glass of water, and is told how he ought 
 to express himself in the language of the 
 country, the pleasure which he feels in his 
 acquisition, and the vivid associations which 
 are produced in his mind by the reality of the 
 transaction, assist in fixing the lesson in his 
 memory. 
 
 The nearest approach that we can make 
 towards placing our pupils in the situation 
 of the foreigner is, to engage them in com- 
 mitting to memory the dramas of the lan- 
 guage which they are studying ; and this we 
 do : but we are aware that representative con- 
 
 * Chap. III.
 
 DRAMAS. 131 
 
 versation does not come home to the feelings, 
 like that which spontaneously arises from the 
 real business of life. Because the circum- 
 stances, habits, manners, and modes of think- 
 ing, of the dramatist, not being those of the 
 student, they cannot present such vivid images 
 to the mind, and of course cannot produce 
 associations of equal force and duration ; nei- 
 ther is the language so committed to memory 
 furnished at the precise moment when its want 
 is felt. 
 
 None but the experienced instructor can pro- 
 perly estimate the value of creating a wish for 
 information before he supplies it. There is a 
 hunger of the mind as well as of the body, 
 and it is equally necessary to render the men- 
 tal aliment either palatable or nutritious. 
 
 But with all these drawbacks, the acting of 
 plays is a most valuable means of acquiring 
 languages. Even shadows affect the mind, to 
 a certain degree, and consequently strengthen 
 the links of association ; besides, many of the 
 objects which are spoken of in the dramatic 
 dialogue, as armour, weapons, chains, dresses, 
 &c., can be brought upon the stage. Many of 
 the actions represented as taking place can be 
 really performed. Characters are completely 
 separated in the minds of the pupils, by being 
 assumed by distinct persons. Motive is giv^nfdr 
 K 2
 
 132 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 many rehearsals ; by which not only the words 
 are fixed in the memory, but the allusions 
 are gradually discerned and made familiar to 
 the learner. Actors, it has been said, are the 
 best of commentators ; and the master will 
 find, that an obscure passage is often cleared 
 to his satisfaction, while teaching the inflections 
 of the voice, and the gesture of the body, re- 
 quisite for its due effect upon the audience. 
 So that although this exercise has not all the 
 power of actual conversation, it is very much 
 superior to a drawling repetition lesson, in 
 which the pupil stammers out his half-learnt 
 words, without affixing to them any ideas, 
 without feeling interest in them, and conse- 
 quently without a chance of preserving them 
 in his recollection. 
 
 The ease with which ideas are retained in 
 the memory, when associated with objects of 
 sense, is well known, and has often been 
 pointed out. The recurrence of sounds which 
 are connected with any event often recals the 
 circumstances of it strongly to the mind. A 
 return to the scenes of early youth will awaken 
 recollections which have lain dormant for 
 years ; and, with some persons, perfumes, and 
 even objects of taste, have the same power. 
 This great law of our nature has hardly met 
 with due attention in the business of educa-
 
 ARTIFICIAL MEMORY. 133 
 
 tion ; it forms, however, the foundation of al- 
 most all schemes of artificial memory, and is 
 the secret by which so many wonders have 
 been wrought. 
 
 The magical effects of artificial memory have 
 induced us at various times to try if some one 
 of the many plans before the world might not 
 be serviceable in our own school ; but hitherto 
 our attempts have not been successful. * The 
 great defect in all the schemes which have come 
 under our notice, is, that the image which the 
 pupil is directed to attach to the words of his 
 lesson is not that naturally raised by them. 
 Thus we recollect, in a work purporting to be 
 a detail of the system of Professor Feinagle, 
 directions are given for learning Goldsmith's 
 Hermit, which begins 
 
 " Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale." 
 
 First, the pupil is told to conceive of a 
 large tower, like the Tower of Babel, with a 
 winding ascent on the outside ; then to suppose 
 a hermit standing upon the top of it, " turning 
 with inconceivable rapidity! " 
 
 That it is possible by such a process to com- 
 mit any number of words to memory, we do 
 not at all doubt. We are equally willing to 
 
 * Grey's " Memoria Tecbnica" is an exception, but its utility 
 is confined to numbers.
 
 134 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 admit that the pupil " will as readily repeat 
 them backwards as forwards;" nay, we go 
 farther, for we think that for all purposes of 
 either pleasure or profit, the backward repeti- 
 tion will be quite as eligible as the forward. 
 
 The fact is, that these false images entirely 
 drive the true ones out of the mind ; so that, 
 unless it is useful to know mere idle words with- 
 out any real signification, nothing is learned by 
 this process. Yet after all, it may be doubted 
 whether the topical system, or that of asso- 
 ciating ideas with places, may not be useful, 
 when the subject itself is not necessarily con- 
 nected with imagery of its own. On this latter 
 question we speak with diffidence, because 
 our course of experiments is not completed ; 
 but of the impolicy of substituting false ima- 
 gery for true, we have a more confident 
 opinion. 
 
 We have wandered thus far from our subject, 
 in order to show, even by these (as we con- 
 ceive) mistaken systems, the power of sensible * 
 ideas on the mind. The lesson which we have 
 drawn from a consideration of the different 
 plans of artificial memory, that have at various 
 times come under view, is, that although it is 
 not politic to load the minds of children with 
 false imagery, it is highly important for them 
 never to commit a passage to memory, or
 
 SENSIBLE IDEAS. 135 
 
 if possible, even to read it, without gaining an 
 accurate conception of its real and natural 
 associations. 
 
 With this view, we strongly recommend in- 
 structors to supply themselves, when teaching 
 the classics, with ancient maps and plans, and 
 with plates or drawings of ships, temples, 
 houses, altars, domestic and sacred utensils, 
 robes, and of every object of which they are 
 likely to read. A classical garden, too, or a 
 collection of plants and shrubs mentioned by 
 the poets, would be a desirable accession to a 
 school ; nor would a collection of models of 
 ancient warlike machinery be less useful. 
 
 It is impossible to calculate the injury 
 which the minds of children suffer from the 
 habit of receiving imperfect ideas. It gra- 
 dually weakens, and in some instances de- 
 stroys, the powers, both of reasoning and 
 imagination: the reasoning powers because 
 reasoning is the act of comparing ideas with 
 ideas, which must evidently stop for want of 
 materials, if those ideas are so shadowy as 
 not to have " a local habitation and a name" 
 in the pupil's mind : the powers of imagina- 
 tion because imagination is the act of forming 
 ideas into new combinations, which is equally 
 impossible, unless they have distinct shapes 
 and definite forms.
 
 136 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 To return to our imitation of the method by 
 which a foreigner learns languages. We have 
 attempted to show, that the two great advan- 
 tages of stimulus, and the opportunity of 
 imitating good models, which are so much 
 insisted upon in the case of foreigners, may, 
 to a certain extent, be enjoyed at home ; but 
 there is another advantage, rarely adverted to, 
 which requires a very careful consideration. 
 
 A child and a foreigner learn synthetically: 
 they are told, for instance, that a certain build- 
 ing which they inhabit is called a house; this 
 fact is, by association, firmly fixed in their 
 minds ; the child considers it a proper name, 
 (for with children all names are at first proper) 
 and so would the foreigner, if he had not 
 already learnt how to generalize in his own 
 language : he is, however, aware that it is ge- 
 neric, and uses it according to the analogy to 
 which he has been accustomed ; but he does 
 not trouble himself with all the restrictions 
 and extensions of the genus; he does not, 
 for instance, learn on the same day, and at 
 the same time, that certain houses are 
 called cottages, and certain others palaces; 
 nor is he reminded, that a family, a 
 commercial establishment, and sometimes a 
 council of legislators, are called a house ; but 
 the idea is left to settle itself in his memory,
 
 SYNTHESIS. 137 
 
 before it receives these little modifications ; 
 and when he finds that the word house has 
 another meaning, he at the same time has 
 some new association given to him, which fixes 
 the subsidiary fact as firmly in his memory as 
 the first. The child is obliged to learn alto- 
 gether thus; but the foreigner may turn to 
 his dictionary, and find all the meanings of 
 the word ; and as he does not do this until he 
 has felt the want of the information of which 
 he is in search, he seizes it with eagerness, 
 and preserves it without difficulty. It is the 
 same with the inflexions of words. A fo- 
 reigner (and indeed a child, after he has begun 
 to generalize) will inflect all his words regu- 
 larly ; but, when he has made a few mistakes, 
 he will thank you for a grammar, and esteem 
 a complete list of exceptions a great prize.* 
 This appears to us to be the natural way of 
 
 * The intelligent instructor must often have observed, in tench- 
 ing a boy the rules and exceptions of a grammar, that he learns 
 to consider both as of equal importance to be remembered ; or 
 perhaps, indeed, the exceptions, as they occupy the largest space 
 in the book, will have the superiority: in learning from practice, 
 (and using the grammar only as a book of reference) as he must 
 meet with many more words following the rule than deviating 
 from it. the proper order of importance is preserved. In the 
 list of exceptions, we often find words, which a student might 
 have read the classic authors for years without meeting with : 
 surely a knowledge of them, and their inflexions, ought not to 
 be pat on a level in his mind with that of a general rule.
 
 138 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 learning; and we think, that if our readers 
 carefully retrace the history of their own 
 minds, they will find that the greater part of 
 knowledge is gained in the same manner ; that 
 is, by learning particulars, and then arranging 
 those particulars into classes; for we find, that 
 even those who begin to teach by means of 
 rules, always add an example, which (as far as 
 our own experience goes) is more depended 
 upon for conveying ideas than the rule itself. 
 
 Thus the principle of what we contend for 
 is conceded, and all the difference between 
 the system which we advocate, and that in 
 common use, is, that we would store the mind 
 of the learner with many examples, before we 
 call upon him to classify them, and deduce 
 from them rules and general principles. 
 
 The disposition to generalize soon arises in 
 the mind ; and if the teacher were careful not 
 to give his pupil a rule, until he was sure that 
 the boy must have felt the want of one, it 
 would be eagerly acquired, and readily appre- 
 hended ; nor would he have so often to re- 
 proach his pupil with the faultiness of his 
 memory. 
 
 Rules and definitions are useful, rather for 
 correcting acquirements, than for making them 
 originally. 
 
 No one, we presume, who had never heard
 
 RULES AND DEFINITIONS. 139 
 
 of a straight line, would be much edified by 
 the definition of Archimedes, that it is the 
 shortest which can be drawn between two 
 points; nor do we think that any judicious 
 teacher would give such an enigmatic answer 
 to an inquiring child. He would show him 
 examples of straight lines ; first, perhaps, he 
 would draw one upon paper ; then he would 
 point out the edges of the furniture, leading 
 him to generalize his ideas for himself, and to 
 deduce the abstract notion from the variety of 
 modes, in which the concrete appears. After 
 a time, when the child knew perfectly well 
 what a straight line was, this definition might 
 be given him, as furnishing a means by which 
 he might try whether a line which appeared to 
 be straight was so in reality. 
 
 Our first care, then, should be to store the 
 minds of our pupils with individual facts; 
 when that is done, the desire for arranging them 
 into classes, and deducing from them general 
 rules, will arise of itself, and may be turned to 
 great account in perfecting and refining the 
 knowledge previously acquired. 
 
 We have already seen how the facts of lan- 
 guage are acquired by the foreign student, and 
 we have recommended one means (the per- 
 formance of dramas) by which the advantages 
 enjoyed by the foreigner, may be, to some
 
 140 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 extent, participated in by the schoolboy ; but 
 it is evident, that the power of acting dramas 
 presupposes some knowledge of the language 
 in which they are written. -Now this previosu 
 knowledge is in no way so readily gained, as 
 by the use of translations, which present the 
 student with a dictionary of both words and 
 phrases, arranged in the order in which he 
 wants them. The very facility, however, which 
 translations afford, has made them enemies. 
 It has been supposed by many writers, that 
 they make boys lazy, give them superficial 
 knowledge, encourage a disposition for de- 
 pending upon extraneous assistance, and, by 
 withdrawing all difficulties, produce but a 
 transitory impression on the memory.* These 
 are serious charges, and, if they could be 
 proved, would effectually prevent translations 
 from being used by any honest teacher; but 
 have they not been allowed without sufficient 
 examination? 
 
 As to the charge of producing indolent ha- 
 bits it is easily answered. We teach by the 
 process of construing, and therefore, even with 
 the translation before him, the scholar will 
 have a task to perform, in matching the En- 
 glish word by word with the language which 
 
 * Knox, Barrow, Burton, Goldsmith, Edgeworth, Valpy, 
 Joyce, Carpenter, Shepherd.
 
 TRANSLATIONS. 141 
 
 he is learning ; nor will he find either diction- 
 ary or grammar unnecessary to him, as he will 
 often have to change the words of the trans- 
 lation for others more literal. The teacher will 
 thu have an opportunity of exciting a desire 
 to consult the dictionary and the grammar, by 
 making his pupils feel their utility. 
 
 Grammar, as a science, ought to be taught 
 with reference to that language which the stu- 
 dent best understands ; because it is the art 
 of arranging particular facts into rules, as 
 general, and as free from exceptions, as the 
 irregularities of language will permit ; and 
 therefore, if our previous reasoning has been 
 correct, it ought not to be studied until these 
 facts, or at least a great number of them, are 
 in the mind. But the science of grammar 
 being once well understood by the pupil, he 
 may and will apply his knowledge, so as to 
 be soon able to consult the grammar-book of 
 any language with pleasure and profit. Neither 
 do we disapprove of the pupil's learning by 
 heart all the paradigms which are models to a 
 great number of instances; but, even in this 
 case, we would rather he should have felt the 
 want of such a general rule, before he is sup- 
 plied with it. 
 
 Our readers must be apprised, that we have 
 here laid down the points to which we are
 
 142 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 gradually tending, rather than those which 
 we have yet reached. We must confess, that, 
 however strong are our convictions, we leave 
 the beaten path with hesitation, always reflect- 
 ing on the heavy responsibility under which 
 we aberrate from the received modes of educa- 
 tion. We have, however, for a long time been 
 gradually approximating our practice to this 
 theory, and always with success. We have, 
 too, the highest authority and precedent for 
 our encouragement. 
 
 Locke advises the teacher who cannot speak 
 the language with his pupil, (he is giving di- 
 rections for private instruction) " to take some 
 easy and pleasant book, such as ^Esop's fables, 
 and write the English translation, made as 
 literal as may be, in one line, and the Latin 
 words which answer each of them just over it, 
 in another. These let him read every day 
 over and over again, till he perfectly under- 
 stands the Latin, and then go on to another 
 fable, till he be also perfect in that, not omit- 
 ting what he is already perfect in, but some- 
 times reviewing that, to keep it in his memory. 
 And when he comes to write, let these be set 
 him for copies ; which, with the exercise of his 
 hand, will also advance him in Latin. This 
 being a more imperfect way than talking Latin 
 unto him, the formations of the verbs first, and
 
 TRANSLATIONS. 143 
 
 afterwards the declensions of nouns and pro- 
 nouns, perfectly learned by heart, may facilitate 
 his acquaintance with the Latin tongue. 
 
 More than this of grammar I think he need 
 not have, till he can read Sanctii Minerva 
 with Scioppias and Perizonius's notes." * 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, of whose learning we have 
 such ample evidence, " never took (says her 
 tutor, Ascham,) yet Greek nor Latin grammar 
 in her hand, after the first declining of a noun 
 or a verb."t 
 
 The children, Baratier, Chateaubriant, and 
 Heinecker, whose early knowledge of lan- 
 guages excited the astonishment of even the 
 learned, were none of them indebted for their 
 extraordinary attainments to the rules of 
 grammar. 
 
 If a modern authority is required, we may 
 take that of Pestalozzi, whose system of edu- 
 cation is exciting so much attention throughout 
 Europe. 
 
 " On doit etudier une langue comme un art 
 pratique, et non comme une science. De rne'me 
 que I'art pratique est anterieur aux theories, 
 que la matiere existe avant 1'ouvrage, et Tobjet 
 
 * Education, sec. 167. 
 
 f Schoolmaster, book ii. " This work (says Dr. Johnson) 
 perhaps contains the best athroe erer given for the study of 
 languages." Life of Ascham.
 
 144 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 avant la copie ou la representation de 1'objet : 
 de meme aussi, 1'art de parler existe et doit 
 etre appris avant la science de la langue. Au 
 lieu de chercher a composer une langue a 
 1'aide des regies, il faut 1'apprendre en detail 
 et s'elever successivement du particulier au 
 general. Par la methode pratique on obtient 
 facilement les resultats que la regie a en vue 
 mais qu'elle ne peut donner." * 
 
 Another of the charges against the use of 
 translations is, that they encourage a taste for 
 extraneous assistance. But must not that be 
 inevitably the case in all study of facts? Can 
 any mode be devised by which the pupil shall 
 reason himself into the knowledge of language ? 
 If all methods of acquiring languages are de- 
 pendent upon authorities, surely that which 
 presents the readiest means of applying to 
 those authorities must be the best. But it 
 would be just as reasonable to say that a 
 student, who had learnt Latin by the aid of 
 translations, would always stand in need of 
 them, as to maintain that a child would 
 throughout his life require to be prompted 
 by his nurse, because she had originally taught 
 him to speak, by imitating the sounds which 
 she uttered. There is no reason, however, 
 
 * Esprit de la Methode d' Education de Pestalozzi. Par 
 Jullien, tome ii. p. 49.
 
 DIFFICULTIES. 145 
 
 that a translation should be used after the 
 pupil has acquired a sufficient knowledge of 
 the language to read it with some degree of 
 fluency : whenever the pupil is able to gather 
 the general meaning of a passage without 
 the aid of his grammar-book and dictionary, 
 he ought to lay aside the translation, because 
 then he will not have to expend much time in 
 recurring to those books ; and when he does 
 open them, he will know pretty exactly what 
 is the object of his search. 
 
 Great stress is laid by some authors on the 
 strong impressions produced on the mind by 
 difficulties ; and it is true, that a relation 
 does exist between the force of an impression, 
 and its effects on the memory ; but there are 
 some other consequences of great difficulties, 
 which also have to be taken into consideration. 
 In the first place, in order to produce the 
 good effect which is ascribed to them, they 
 must be overcome by the pupil himself; and, 
 if they are above his strength, how is that to 
 be accomplished ? Is there not some danger, 
 (and is it not true in point of fact,) that in the 
 ordinary method many difficulties are not 
 surmounted ? Are they not, after keeping the 
 pupil in idleness, and in a frame of mind 
 the most unfavourable to improvement, 
 evaded by surreptitious help? Of the ill
 
 146 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 consequences of such aid we have heretofore 
 expressed ourselves at length. * 
 
 Again, as far as our experience goes, 
 moderate efforts, often repeated, avail more 
 in education, than violent exertions which 
 must of necessity be less frequent, and which 
 cannot be produced without great and often- 
 times dangerous stimulants. The objectors 
 to translations always argue as if the task 
 must necessarily be of the same length, 
 whether the pupil be allowed a translation or 
 not. This, as Mr. Clark justly observes, is 
 a mere assumption, f There can be no reason 
 why a greater quantity is not required from a 
 boy when his facilities for accomplishing his 
 task are increased ; and we are inclined to 
 think that a morning employed in easy, regular, 
 labour, will be more productive, than the same 
 time, partly consumed in painful researches, 
 partly wasted in the indolence of despair, and 
 
 * Chap. III. 
 
 f See the Preface to Clark's editions of the school classics. 
 This is the only valuable part of the books ; for the baldness and 
 vulgarity of the translations render them almost inadmissible. 
 ex. gr. Ambages he renders in one place long-winded fetches, 
 and in another, a cock-and-bull story ! We also dislike his plan 
 of printing the translation on the same page with the text, as it 
 offers the pupil a temptation to avail himself of its assistance at 
 the time of going through his task.
 
 EXERCISE OP THE FACULTIES. 147 
 
 partly spent in cajoling his mote advanced 
 schoolfellows for assistance. 
 
 The opponents of what we call the natural 
 method of teaching language, have another 
 argument on which they greatly rely. Latin 
 and Greek, say they, are not acquired so 
 much for their utility in after-life, as for the 
 advantage which the mental faculties receive 
 in studying them ; the employment they fur- 
 nish to the memory, the scope they offer to the 
 invention, and the exercise they give to the 
 reasoning powers. With respect to the me- 
 mory, we have the advantage, for we appeal 
 to it more than our opponents; at least, in the 
 early stages. With respect to invention and rea- 
 son, we think it better to begin by employing 
 them on subjects which are more exclusively 
 their province. One of the first exercises of 
 the power of reasoning consists in tracing 
 analogies. A child is soon aware that there is 
 an agreement between ask and asked, and love 
 and loved. Having ascertained this agreement, 
 he then, by the power of invention, which pro- 
 ceeds at first in the same track, applies his 
 knowledge to the inflection of some other verb 
 with which he is acquainted : if he be fortunate 
 enough to meet with one of regular formation, 
 he is confirmed in the truth of his deductions, 
 and has learnt an important lesson ; but if he 
 
 L2
 
 148 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 meet with an irrregular verb, and learn that in 
 saying telled instead of told he is doing wrong, 
 how is he to know the fact, that the rule of 
 logic, by which he made the deduction, is not 
 erroneous, but that mankind have not been 
 equally philosophical with himself? 
 
 Thus, it is clear that every child, even in 
 learning to speak its native tongue, must lose 
 its confidence in the exercise of two of the 
 noblest faculties of man, reason and in- 
 vention. 
 
 How are the courage and enterprise (if we 
 may so express ourselves) of these powers 
 to be restored? By following a similar course 
 of proceeding to that which produced the 
 injury, or by engaging them in pure science, 
 where all the rules are without exceptions, 
 and where the mind may be accustomed 
 to long chains of deduction? 
 
 We are of opinion that the mathematics are 
 the best field for the exercise of these powers ; 
 that it is to arithmetic, geometry, and algebra, 
 (which may be studied at a much earlier age 
 than is usually imagined,) that we ought to 
 look for the education of reason and invention. 
 Not that we are unwilling to grant, that to 
 these powers in their strength, there is much 
 room for exertion in studying the philosophy 
 of language, but, as we have before said, the
 
 EXERCISE OF THE FACULTIES. 149 
 
 philosophy of a language can hardly be studied 
 with advantage, until the student is acquainted 
 with the facts of it. 
 
 Mathematical problems admit of such com- 
 plete and undoubted answers ; they are capable 
 of such exact arrangement; and the solutions 
 of them so certainly follow a due investigation, 
 that is to say, toil and success are so nearly 
 in proportion to each other, that the student 
 forms insensibly the habit of patient labour : 
 but in studying the classic authors, the pupil 
 has no gradation of difficulties, or at best a 
 very imperfect one; nor does he know, when 
 he encounters a hard passage, whether it is 
 capable of a satisfactory answer, or whether 
 it is a subject of contention among scholiasts 
 and commentators. The unavoidable conse- 
 quence of this uncertainty is to disincline him 
 for putting forth his strength ; for it is in the 
 very nature of man to mete out exertion by the 
 probability of success : hence we are of opi- 
 nion, that an early pursuit of exact science 
 would be extremely useful, with a view to 
 acquiring habits, which, though they are rarely 
 formed in classic studies, are of no slight 
 value in them. 
 
 There only remains to consider that state of 
 the pupil's progress in language, in which he 
 reads it with tolerable fluency, and in which
 
 ISO ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 he has committed much of it to memory. He 
 will then be in possession of a copia verborum, 
 and of that tact by which he appreciates 
 idiom : this must now be improved, and raised 
 in some degree into a science, by a classi- 
 fication of the analogies and differences which 
 jt detects. In our opinion, the best method 
 of effecting this purpose is that recommended 
 by Crassus, by Cicero, and by Pliny the 
 younger, among the ancients ; and practised 
 with so much .success by Roger Ascham 
 among the moderns ; the method of double 
 translations. The advantage of this method is, 
 that the learner first gains a general feeling of 
 the style of his author, by translating him into 
 his native tongue, which lessens the difficulty 
 of the re-translation, and h,e is furnished with 
 a model, with which he may compare his own 
 efforts. 
 
 We do not hope to convince all, or even 
 many, of the advocates of the received sys- 
 tem, that our plan is more eligible than 
 theirs ; we shall be satisfied, if they perceive 
 that we have not adopted ours through love of 
 ease, but from a sincere conviction of its ac- 
 cordance with the principles of the human 
 mind.
 
 M. DUFIEF. 151 
 
 ' 
 
 WE have lately met with a "French English 
 Grammar by N. G. Dufief, Paris, 1817," which, 
 we believe, has been reprinted in England, 
 under the title of " Nature Displayed in her 
 Mode of Teaching Languages." The method 
 which M. Dufief has adopted is to give the 
 student a great number of phrases to learn by 
 heart, intermixing a few grammatical rules and 
 observations. This is a book of considerable 
 merit, and the author has some very correct 
 ideas on the proper use of grammar. " Gram- 
 marians," says he, " have continually con- 
 founded grammar with language, and vice versa. 
 This strange perversion of ideas has been the 
 cause of their ill success all over the world. 
 Instead of boasting of teaching language by 
 grammar, (which was, in fact, placing the cart 
 before the horse,) they should have said they 
 taught grammar by language." Introduction, 
 p. 23. 
 
 " The rules of grammar, or the particular 
 principles of a language, are only a collection 
 of observations upon custom. It follows 
 hence, that the knowledge of custom, or of 
 a language, which is the same thing, ought to 
 precede the knowledge of rules, for otherwise 
 those rules must stand only for observations 
 upon nothing at all!" P. 34.
 
 152 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 " The preceding remarks will probably 
 induce many to ask, What are grammars 
 good for, since they are useless to the acqui- 
 sition of language?' Happy to join in opinion 1 
 with the great Locke, and Condillac, I reply r 
 that grammatical information will be found 
 useful principally to those, who, being al- 
 ready acquainted with a language sufficiently 
 for the general purposes of society, are still 
 desirous of obtaining a more critical know- 
 ledge of it." P. 36. 
 
 These observations prove that M. Dufief has 
 shaken off the fetters of the old system ; and 
 so far he has done well. We agree with him 
 too in the importance which he attaches to 
 phraseology, though not exactly for the rea- 
 sons he assigns. " The reason," says he, 
 " of teaching a language by phrases, and not 
 by single words, is obvious; the name of a 
 thing merely recals the object to the mind, 
 but it can neither express an action performed 
 by it, nor convey an idea relative to it. A 
 word, therefore, that expresses no thought or 
 action has no force by itself, and only serves 
 as a link in the chain that makes up a phrase 
 or complete sense." P. 23. 
 
 This is not very conclusive. It appears to 
 us, that the main reason why unconnected 
 words are not remembered well is because the
 
 M. DUFIEF. 153 
 
 ideas are too abstract. Suppose the reader 
 saw these words, " un le couchb h etait 
 lynx arbre un de pied" what precise 
 meanings could he possibly attach to them? we 
 do not mean in conjunction, for they can have 
 no union, but separately. We pass over the 
 connectives, of which it is hardly possible to 
 form any idea, when they stand alone. We say 
 nothing indeed of any words but the substan- 
 tives, which happen to be all the names of 
 natural objects ; but is not the reader at once 
 aware that even these words, which are the 
 most independent of combination, supply but 
 very faint ideas to his mind ? Once, however, 
 reduce the chaos to order, and a wonderful 
 effect will be produced. " Un lynx etait 
 couche au pied d'un arbre" Here, instead of a 
 lynx moving, standing still, or attacking his prey, 
 as the mind chose to wander over the moods 
 which the idea is capable of taking, it is tied 
 down to one " couche au pied d'un arbre." It 
 is the same with the other words ; the mind 
 could not make to itself any definite picture of 
 the idea conveyed by the word pied, because 
 it did not know whether it was the foot of a 
 man, a dog, a bird, a mountain, a page, a deed, 
 a table, &c. &c. ad infinitum. Now when it 
 is known to be the foot of a tree, the 
 whole phrase becomes a picture, in describing
 
 154 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 which every word has some definite office; 
 and this, by a well-known law of the human 
 mind, is necessary both to create interest and 
 to secure remembrance. Association also 
 brings its magical power to bear upon the 
 memory : no wonder then, with all these 
 helps, that words in phrases are better remem- 
 bered than when they stand alone. Another 
 reason why an acquaintance with unconnected 
 words, even if it afforded precise ideas to the 
 mind, would not supply the place of a know- 
 ledge of phrases is, that the great difficulty 
 of a language consists not so much in the 
 acquisition of its words as in their due arrange- 
 ment in such order as may conform to what is 
 called its genius. 
 
 But why stop at phrases ? All the arguments 
 in favour of teaching phrases go to prove that 
 we should proceed to sentences, and from 
 them to whole pieces. To proceed with the 
 fable from which we have quoted, " il aigusait 
 ses dents." Here we have another touch to 
 the picture ; our ideas are become more exact ; 
 the mind, by being kept longer on the object, 
 has contracted an acquaintance with it of 
 great importance to the memory, and thus the 
 ties of association are drawn more closely 
 about it. 
 
 The author's reasons against extending the
 
 M. DUFJEF. 155 
 
 principle do not appear to us to carry any 
 weight. " There is no necessity," says he, 
 " for beginning to read authors very early, 
 for by learning the vocabularies in the manner 
 we have proposed, we learn the three things 
 which constitute the knowledge of a language ; 
 to understand, speak, read or write it. Ap- 
 plication to books suited to the taste of a pupil 
 will divide his attention, which should be 
 wholly devoted to committing to memory the 
 practical part, and from the trouble in learning 
 the phrases, especially in the beginning, will 
 create a distaste to them. Merely to read 
 good writers is a very circuitous, ineffectual, 
 and faulty method of learning a language, 
 unless supported by such a method as we 
 recommend; for supposing the learner already 
 acquainted with pronunciation, the same word 
 must occur in books a great many times, before 
 it can be retained in the mind for the ready 
 purposes of conversation. The reason of 
 this is obvious ; the words expressing the 
 ideas of the writer are not presented phrase 
 by phrase in an analytical manner, as they 
 are in the practical part of the following 
 work, but en masse, occurring only by hazard 
 amidst those necessary for expressing the 
 ideas of the author, whose design in writing 
 was not to teach a language. Hence it hap-
 
 150 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 pens, that being directed to many words at 
 once, the attention is so weakly fixed on each 
 of them, that the mind cannot remember any 
 particular one, unless it have been presented 
 many times." Introduction, p. 27. 
 
 M.Dufief, we see, complains that the perusal 
 of books suited to the taste of the pupil is a 
 more pleasant occupation than committing his 
 phrases to memory, and therefore wishes that 
 the pupil's attention should not be divided by 
 having these books put into his hands. In 
 the very statement of the case, M. Dufief 
 admits his plan to labourunder a disadvantage, 
 the inclination of the pupil is against him. But 
 this fact would be very difficult to account for, if 
 it were true that in reading books, " the atten- 
 tion, by being directed to so many words at 
 once, is so weakly fixed on each of them, that 
 the mind cannot remember any particular one, 
 unless it have been presented many times," 
 because the same indistinctness which ob- 
 structs improvement would preclude enter- 
 tainment. No state of mind is less allied to 
 pleasure than distraction and uncertainty. 
 We should like to know also why the mind is 
 to be directed to many words at once ; it can 
 seldom be necessary, at least in the French 
 language, to direct the attention to more than 
 a phrase at a time, and, if that is too great
 
 M. DUF1EF. 157 
 
 an effort, what becomes of M. Dufief 's own 
 system? With respect to the necessity for re- 
 iteration, which M. Dufief insists upon, does 
 he forget, that in reading a book the same 
 word is presented to the mind of the student 
 many times ? It is true, if he have to search 
 for it in the dictionary, much time must be 
 expended, but we would give him a translation, 
 until the number of words of which he was 
 ignorant was comparatively small. M. Dufief 
 also overlooks this great advantage, that the 
 words are reiterated, and therefore learnt, in 
 the order of importance. Those of which the 
 pupil will have greatest need will be most fre- 
 quently offered to his attention. Neither ought 
 it to be forgotten, that although the words are 
 repeated very often, they do not occur always 
 in the same sense : every time they may take 
 a new shade of meaning : we must always 
 bear in mind that they have a very chameleon- 
 like property ; they must be seen many times, 
 and in many lights, before we are acquainted 
 with all their hues. It is only thus that we 
 can " attain the whole extension of language, 
 distinguish all the delicacies of phrases, and 
 all the colours of words."* 
 
 The knowledge of the literature of a lan- 
 
 * Johnson.
 
 168 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 guage is, in our eyes, a matter of more im- 
 portance than it seems to be to M. Dufief. In 
 the study of the learned languages, almost the 
 sole end is to give the pupil a more complete 
 possession of classic literature than he could 
 possibly gain by merely reading translations ; 
 and, in our opinion, it is no small advantage 
 of the plan which we have adopted, that it 
 enables him to attain the great object of his 
 toil at an early age, when all that he reads 
 remains with him for life. We regret that the 
 mere words of the exercise-books occupy any 
 place in our memory, which might have been 
 filled ]by the rich matter of antiquity. 
 
 In the living languages, it is true, lite- 
 rature is not every thing; the student must 
 learn to speak as well as to read ; but it does 
 not follow that, because insulated phrases are 
 not learnt by rote, the memory should remain 
 entirely without exercise. Let the teacher 
 avail himself of the drama. We need not 
 repeat at length our reasons for believing that 
 much time will be well spent on compositions 
 in the dramatic form ; we shall, however, just 
 observe that, in such an employment of his 
 time, the master will enjoy the willing co- 
 operation of his pupil, no slight ad vantage in 
 any branch of education, but more especially 
 valuable in appeals to the memory. No habit ,
 
 EXTEMPORANEOUS CONSTRUING. 159 
 
 k more effectual in preserving the recollection 
 of what has been learnt, than those involuntary 
 mental repetitions, which we so often make of 
 passages from which we receive pleasure. 
 But no one ever fed his mind upon lists of 
 phrases, or awoke from a reverie where he 
 had " forgot himself to marble," in ruminating 
 on the beauties of the exercise-book. 
 
 We speak from experience, when we say 
 that pronunciation is learnt with much more 
 care and anxiety by this plan than by any 
 other. The pupil has an ulterior object for 
 his exertions to fix upon. It is not suffi- 
 cient that he pronounce well enough to go 
 through his lesson ; he must be understood 
 by his auditory, and pass the ordeal of their 
 criticism. Nor must it be forgotten, that 
 this motive operates on the teacher. In so 
 arduous a task as that of instruction, it is of 
 no mean importance to furnish occasionally a 
 little stimulus to the master as well as the 
 scholar. There are temptations enow to 
 indolence on both sides. 
 
 We begin with dialogues upon familiar 
 topics, thence rising to scenes from standard 
 authors. For obvious reasons, we seldom 
 take whole plays, especially in the French 
 language. 
 
 We have hitherto omitted to say much re-
 
 160 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 gpecting one of our methods of teaching lan- 
 guage, which has been for some time gaining 
 ground with us. We allude to the practice of 
 extemporaneous construing, which now em- 
 ploys several hours of the day. A class opens 
 at a passage with which the pupils are un- 
 acquainted, and they attempt to construe it, 
 the master assisting them in their difficulties ; 
 not confining himself to the mere translation 
 of obscure phrases, but intermingling expla- 
 nations, and also such information as boys 
 ought to find in the notes to their school- 
 books, but which, as far as our experience 
 goes, is seldom to be met with. This exercise 
 is become the great staple of the school, but 
 the boys have still daily lessons to prepare ; 
 sometimes, in the lower forms, with the assist- 
 ance of translations: in these lessons the most 
 perfect accuracy is expected ; so that no care- 
 less or slovenly habits of learning can well be 
 contracted, nor do we find that they are. 
 
 We have been delighted to discover a great 
 resemblance between our method of extempo- 
 raneous construing, and that practised in 
 teaching Latin, when it was the literary lan- 
 guage of Europe. There is an interesting dis- 
 sertation on the subject of teaching language 
 in the Encyclopedic, art. Etudes. The writer
 
 ENCYCLOPEDIE. 161 
 
 cites Le Febvre, Fleitry, Rollin* Du Marsais, 
 and Pluche, as authorities in favour of the 
 plan of explication, by which we understand 
 construing, or translating with the assistance 
 of a master, who supplies the unknown words 
 as they arise. Le Febvre, the father of Ma- 
 dame Dacier, had a son of great promise, who 
 seems, as well as his sister, to have been 
 taught altogether by this process, which was 
 commenced when he was ten years of age. 
 The boy died at fourteen, but even then he 
 was able, says his father, " to read fluently 
 the most difficult authors, both Latin and 
 Greek." The writer goes on to speak of the 
 antiquity of this method. 
 
 " Aussi la methode qu'indiquent ces savans 
 etoit proprement la seule usiteepour apprendre 
 le Latin, lorsque cette langue etoit si repandu 
 en Europe qu'elle y etoit presque vulgaire ; au 
 temps par exemple de Charlemagne et de S. 
 Louis. Que faisoit on pour lors autre chose 
 que lire ou expliquer les auteurs ? N'est ce 
 pas de la qu'estvenu le mot delecteur pour dire 
 
 * It is bat common candour to admit, that Rollin (vide Ma- 
 ailre d'6tudier let belles lettres, tome \. p. 15,) would begin by 
 grammar, but then he would confine it to a knowledge of de- 
 clensions and conjugations, and a few plain rules. To the 
 works of Du Marsait, Flevry, Le Febvre, and Pluche, we have 
 not access.
 
 16*2 ON ACQUIRING LANGUAGES. 
 
 professeur ? et n'est ce pas enfin ce qu'il faut 
 entendre par le prcelectio des anciens Latin- 
 isles ? Terme qu'ils employent perpetuellement 
 pour designer le principal exercise de leurs 
 6coles, et qui ne peut signifier autre chose que 
 1'explication des livres classiques. Voyez les 
 colloques d'Erasme. 
 
 " D'Ailleurs il n'y avoit anciennement que 
 cette voie pour devenir Latiniste ; les diction- 
 naires Francais-Latins n'ont pas paru que 
 depuis environ deux cent ans : avant ce 
 temps la il n'etait pas possible de faire ce 
 qu'on appelle un theme; et ii n'y avoit pas 
 d'autre exercise de latinite que la lecture 
 ou 1'explication des auteurs. Ce fut pourtant 
 comme dit M. le Febvre, ce fut ce methode si 
 simple qui produisit les Budes, les Turnebes, 
 les Scaligers. Ajoutons que ce fut ce methode 
 que produisit Madame Dacier." 
 
 The plan of instruction by Condillac, in his 
 education of the Prince of Parma, was very 
 similar to that which we have followed: 
 " Jusqu' alors nous avions toujours fait ce8 
 sortes des lectures ensemble, et je ne lui avois 
 pas laisse la fatigue et 1'ennui-de chercher 
 dans un dictionnaire la signification des mots. 
 Alors je le chargeai de se preparer seul & 
 traduire quelques vers de Virgile. II com- 
 par 1'Eneide qu'il trouva facile et dont
 
 CONDILLAC. 163 
 
 il traduisit les six premiers chants." Cours 
 d Etudes pour V instruction du Prince de Parma. 
 Motif des Etudes. 
 
 It is impossible for a teacher to read the 
 following observations of this able writer too 
 often. " S'il est utile de laisser a un enfant 
 des difficult6s a surmonter, il ne faut pas le 
 d6gouter par des obstacles ou trop multiplies 
 ou trop grands ; et toute 1'attention doit e"tre 
 de proportionner les difficultes a ses forces et 
 de ne lui en presenter jamais qu'une a la fois." 
 " Rien n'est plus inutile que de fatiguer un 
 enfant en chargeant sa memoire des regies 
 d'une langue qu'il n'entend pas encore. 
 Qu'importe en effet qu'il sache ses regies par 
 coeur s'il ne lui est pas possible d'en faire Tap- 
 plication T Motif des Etudes. 
 
 M 2
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 ON ELOCUTION. 
 
 IT is by no means our intention to write a 
 treatise on this subject ; we have, however, a 
 few observations to make, the result of expe- 
 rience, which may explain why a considerable 
 portion of our time is occupied in the various 
 exercises, which may be classed under the 
 general head, Elocution. 
 
 It has never been disputed, we believe, that 
 to read well is a desirable accomplishment. 
 It is valuable for its own sake; but to the 
 teacher it will assume a character of higher 
 importance, when he reflects, how much that 
 is useful a boy must have acquired before he 
 can be said to be a good reader. 
 
 The groundwork of this acquirement, a 
 quick perception of his author's meaning, 
 is most easily and certainly gained by pri- 
 vate reading; for the necessary slowness of 
 good delivery, and the bodily effort required, 
 are unfavourable to that rapid appreciation 
 of the subject matter, which is the sole occu- 
 pation of the silent reader. Good reading,
 
 ENUNCIATION AND INFLECTION. 165 
 
 then, presupposes literary taste; and the rank 
 which it bestows in a school is in some mea- 
 sure a reward for those unobtrusive exertions, 
 which are in danger of being forgotten, pre~ 
 cisely for the reason why they ought to be 
 most sedulously remembered, because they 
 give the master no trouble. 
 
 As private or silent reading is the best 
 means of learning to translate the written 
 language of the author into ideas, so reading 
 aloud is the best, and indeed the only, means 
 of learning to translate the written signs into 
 oral words ; and much practice of this kind is 
 requisite to produce fluency. The master will 
 of course take the opportunity afforded by 
 oral reading to teach the standard pronun- 
 ciation. A boy, however, may read very 
 fluently, comprehend his author, and know 
 the standard pronunciation perfectly, without 
 reading well. Two great consituents of good 
 reading remain to be acquired, Enunciation 
 and Inflection. 
 
 The enunciation and inflection of any lan- 
 guage are, we conceive, best learnt by recit- 
 ation. Where the words are well fixed in the 
 memory, the pupil has only to attend to the 
 delivery. Let him then be taught to recite a 
 passage, until the slightest variation of either
 
 ON ELOCUTION. 
 
 enunciation or inflection between him and his 
 teacher is imperceptible. 
 
 The first lesson ought to be to copy others ; 
 afterwards the pupil may invent his inflection 
 for himself, or rather apply it; for, as the phi- 
 losophical student well knows, the modes of 
 inflection are but few, and a little practice will 
 soon teach their application, when the power 
 of producing them at will is once acquired. 
 The sounds of a language are also very li- 
 mited, and may all be comprised in a passage 
 of moderate length. It is thus we teach the 
 oral part of the French language. We have 
 observed that, in mere reading, a pupil never 
 learns to utter any sound perfectly. He is 
 satisfied with a very gross approximation, and 
 so must the master, if he wish the pupil to 
 proceed ; while, on the contrary, our plan 
 renders it necessary for the boy to reiterate 
 the passage almost ad infinitum ; but then he 
 learns to form all, or nearly all, the sounds of 
 the language. It is true he is dependent on the 
 particular collocation in which they have been 
 placed, and although he can recite that parti- 
 cular passage perfectly, he will find difficul- 
 ties in another, containing the same sounds 
 differently arranged. He has, however, pro- 
 ceeded according to that fundamental rule in 
 education, " One difficulty at a time," and has
 
 RECITATION. 167 
 
 gained a very important acquisition. He has 
 a standard of perfection in his mind, by which 
 he will measure all his future attempts ; and 
 much less exertion will be necessary to enable 
 him to recite a second passage, than was re- 
 quisite for the first. Thus he will gradually 
 throw off his trammels, without lowering his 
 excellence. 
 
 A young Spaniard, one of our pupils, who 
 pronounced our language but imperfectly, 
 once learnt, by a number of repetitions, to 
 recite a piece of English verse with such 
 accuracy, as to be mistaken for a native by 
 persons who had not heard him converse. 
 
 If our principle be correct, it should follow 
 that a student incurs some danger, who 
 goes into a foreign country before he is 
 master of the pronunciation of the language ; 
 because the daily necessity for speaking will 
 render it necessary that he should make con- 
 stant attempts, and the persons about him, 
 eager to interpret his meanjng, will not be so 
 anxious, in all cases, to correct his errors as 
 to supply his wants. It is true infants learn 
 thus, but the organs in infancy are so ex- 
 tremely pliant, that they obey the slightest 
 impulse of the will ; and after all, there is 
 much to condemn in the enunciation of a very 
 large proportion of society.
 
 168 ON ELOCUTION. 
 
 We consider gesticulation an art which ought 
 not to be neglected. To the public speaker, 
 if we may believe the prince of orators, it 
 is every thing ; but even with humbler views, 
 we think it of no mean importance. Condil- 
 lac asks, " Whether any one could know a 
 language, if the brain did not acquire habits 
 answering to those of the ears to hear it, those 
 of the lips to speak it, and those of the eyes 
 to read it? The recollection of a language is 
 not, therefore, solely in the habits of the 
 brain, it is also in the habits of the organs of 
 hearing, of speech, and of sight." If Con- 
 dill ac is right, to ensure memory we should 
 engage the assistance of as many habits as 
 possible. The habits of the organs of gesture, 
 the hands, the feet, the muscles of the face, 
 &c., may all be made to assist. The memory, 
 even in youth, is sufficiently treacherous, and 
 requires every possible guard. We have, 
 therefore, considered an energetic delivery, 
 accompanied by appropriate action, valuable 
 assistants. We may add, that we find careful 
 recitation the best method of infixing the quan- 
 tities of Latin and Greek words in the recol- 
 lections of our pupils. It is hardly necessary 
 to insist on the utility of storing the memory 
 with the style of the classic writers. It is 
 impossible to conceive a better means of be-
 
 STAMMERING. 169 
 
 coming imbued with a taste for elegant lite- 
 rature, or of learning the tact, so necessary 
 to enable the student to write the learned 
 languages, with any chance of success. We 
 hope it will be seen by the intelligent reader, 
 that all our plans tend to give such a familiarity 
 with the great models of style, as must put the 
 scholar in possession of important advantages, 
 when the age for original composition arrives. 
 
 The practice of elocution is intimately con- 
 nected with the cure of impediments in the 
 speech. Slight defects of utterance, as lisping, 
 muttering, and the elision or substitution of 
 certain sounds, yield to it almost immediately. 
 Stammering is a more obstinate enemy, and is 
 not subdued without much time and labour. 
 
 It has, we think, been clearly proved by 
 Mr. Thelwall, that the disobedience of the 
 organs to the will of the speaker, (which is the 
 proximate cause of stammering,) proceeds 
 from his neglect of the laws of rhythmus, 
 in other words, from his not speaking with due 
 attention to measure or time. Be this, how- 
 ever, as it may, we have found in practice that 
 cultivating the ear, with regard to the per- 
 ception of time in speech, is an excellent 
 means of restoring to the pupil a due control 
 over his organs. But the mere perception of 
 time and rhythmus is not enough, because the
 
 170 ON ELOCUTION. 
 
 exercise of the faculty may be thwarted ; and 
 it will be thwarted by every thing which 
 disturbs the mind, and irritates the temper of 
 the pupil. Health, employment, and order, 
 will be, therefore, found to be very important 
 auxiliaries in working the cure ; and here, we 
 think, we have some advantages. 
 
 Frequent opportunities for exercise in the 
 open air with companions of his own age, a 
 system which regulates his actions without 
 harshly coercing them, the spectacle of a 
 machine working its numerous parts without 
 hurry or confusion ; these appear to us to be 
 circumstances more than commonly favourable 
 for placing the pupil in a state of body and 
 mind to receive the lessons of the master with 
 profit. We have also facilities for inducing 
 the perception of time; the pupil is constantly 
 witnessing the measured movements of others, 
 and is trying to act in concert with them. 
 To learn to march he finds indispensible to his 
 comfort. The motive to exertion thus ob- 
 tained, his daily practice, and the effect of 
 example, soon overcome any natural inap- 
 titude for making the acquisitions. 
 
 Every stammerer, the reader will have ob- 
 served, can sing ; at least the defect of stam- 
 mering offers no bar to his being a singer, if 
 he is in possession of the usual qualifications
 
 STAMMERING. 171 
 
 of voice and ear. The ear, we are convinced 
 from experience, may in almost all cases be 
 educated to a sufficient degree of accuracy 
 for our purpose, and the voice is a matter of 
 little importance to us, as our pupil would not 
 learn to sing with the view of exercising the 
 art, but simply to qualify him for learning to 
 speak. 
 
 In extreme cases, then, we would have the 
 pupil taught to sing. From singing, let him 
 pass to recitative, which so nearly approaches 
 to speaking, that the Siennese, we are told, 
 actually practice an intonation, which may be 
 considered a species of it, in common conver- 
 sation. 
 
 The next step is for the pupil, accompanied 
 by his master, to march along the room, and 
 repeat a few verses chosen for the simplicity 
 of their rhythmus, the speakers marking the 
 accented syllables by the tread of the foot. 
 Afterwards verses of more difficulty may be 
 adopted ; then measured prose, as Barbauld's 
 Hymns, Dodsley's Economy of Human Life, 
 or (to go at once to the models from which 
 these are imitated,) our translation of the 
 Psalms, the Book of Job, and the Prophecies. 
 From these we would proceed to extracts from 
 didactic works, and, lastly, to narrative and 
 dialogue.
 
 172 ON ELOCUTION. 
 
 In going through this course, the teacher 
 gradually ceases to accompany his pupil, either 
 in marching or speaking, until at length he 
 directs the boy himself to stand still. Recit- 
 ation may be sometimes changed for reading, 
 and instead of the sing-song tone almost inse- 
 parable from the plan in its early stages, more 
 natural inflections may be substituted. The 
 pupil should now be taught to relieve his diffi- 
 culty of utterance in conversation by forcible 
 gestures, and by pronouncing his words with a 
 measured cadence, marching also, or beating 
 time, when he finds the impediment cannot be 
 surmounted otherwise. 
 
 This plan of proceeding we have never found 
 to fail, when a fair allowance of time has been 
 afforded for the experiment ; at least so far as 
 giving the scholar the power of correct utter- 
 ance may be called success : but strange as it 
 may appear, it is frequently much more easy 
 to induce the capacity for speaking without 
 stammering, than the inclination. The recon- 
 ciling power of habit extends even to this ma- 
 lady, and instances are by no means rare of 
 persons who, after becoming able to speak 
 fluently with very slight self-command, have 
 slid again into their former track, apparently 
 from not feeling the importance of the acqui- 
 sition which they had made.
 
 STAMMERING. 173 
 
 It is, therefore, very important that a stam- 
 merer should be put under discipline at an early 
 age, before his habits becomefixed, andwhileit 
 is possible to keep him under superintendence, 
 until the evil be quite eradicated. Except the 
 moral habits of children, none demand a great- 
 er watchfulness than those of their speech. 
 Practice in speaking is so constant, that habits, 
 either for better or worse, are soon formed. 
 A little care by the parent would prevent much 
 labour and loss of time to his children after 
 life. Among the most baneful of all affect- 
 ations is that of speaking to children with their 
 own imperfect enunciation ; we are examples 
 to them, and we cannot be surprised that they 
 should rest satisfied with imperfection, when 
 they find us aping it ourselves.
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 THE most important branch of penmanship 
 is undoubtedly the plain manuscript, which we 
 call running hand. All the larger hands ought 
 to be considered useful, chiefly as they tend to 
 give the pupil more just ideas of the forms of 
 the characters, and more correct habits of de- 
 lineating them, than he could gain by studying 
 them in the minuteness of common manu- 
 script. The large hand, seen through a dimi- 
 nishing glass, ought to be reduced into the 
 current hand, and the current hand magnified 
 ought to swell into a large hand. But if this 
 test be applied to Langford's copper-plate 
 copies, or indeed to any we have yet seen, 
 they fail. The large hands reduced appear 
 very stiff and cramped when compared with the 
 freedom of the running hand, and the mag- 
 nified running hand, to those who have formed 
 their taste upon the models in general use, 
 appears little better than a scrawl. 
 
 Perhaps this want of proportion results from
 
 RUNNING HAND. 175 
 
 a wish to make each hand perfect of itself. 
 The artists may be of opinion that the same 
 proportional width is not necessary in the 
 larger hands as in the smaller ones. And this 
 opinion is very probably a correct one ; but 
 then, as the larger hands are seldom used in 
 real life, the power of writing them in their 
 most perfect state would be dearly bought at 
 the expense of the current hand. In the com- 
 mon methods of instruction, a current hand is 
 rarely acquired at school, even at any age. 
 With us, it is a point of great importance to 
 put the pupil in possession of so useful an in- 
 strument of education comparatively early ; 
 and, therefore, if any sacrifice were necessary 
 for the attainment of this end, we should be 
 ready to make it ; but no sacrifice is demanded . 
 When the running hand is acquired, the pupil 
 may, if it be thought necessary, learn to write 
 the larger hands according to the received 
 models ; but until he has accomplished what 
 appears to us to be the object of greatest im- 
 portance, we are unwilling to perplex his 
 ideas and his incipient habits with inconsistent 
 exemplars and various modes of execution. 
 
 The requisites of a running hand are three ; 
 legibility, rapidity, and beauty. These are 
 placed in what we conceive to be the order of 
 their value.
 
 176 ON PENMANSHIP. 
 
 As the use of writing is to be read, no manu- 
 script which has not a fair degree of legibility 
 can be called good, and the writer, in judging 
 of the degree requisite, should recollect, that 
 his own hand-writing must be more familiar, 
 and of course more legible, to himself than to 
 others. 
 
 That the power of writing swiftly is of great 
 importance will be readily conceded. The 
 labour which is so frequently undergone to 
 acquire a short-hand proves that too much 
 inconvenience is already suffered from the 
 slowness which the present cumbrous system 
 of our orthography, and the complicated struc- 
 ture of our written characters, impose upon the 
 writer, to render any additional clog from 
 want of dexterity in himself at all tolerable. 
 
 The beauty of manuscript it would be very 
 difficult to reduce to principle ; perhaps it 
 would be impossible to show one, very swiftly 
 written, and very legible, which was not beau- 
 tiful. At all events, we conceive the writer 
 would have but little reason to lament any de- 
 ficiency in a hand which possessed two such 
 valuable qualities. 
 
 The usual method of instruction in penman- 
 ship is to commence by teaching the pupil to 
 imitate an exemplar of large hand, which has 
 the defect before-mentioned, of not being a
 
 THE CURRENT HAND. 177 
 
 correctly magnified current hand. Thus his 
 ideas of excellence are injured ; but that is not 
 all ; for setting aside the incorrectness of the 
 model, the scholar is generally permitted to 
 gain a habit of forming the letters, which he 
 has to unlearn when he begins to write swiftly. 
 He is generally allowed to raise his pen and 
 remove his hand at every stroke ; nor does he 
 set his pen down at the precise point at 
 which he raised it ; for supposing him to have 
 finished a down-stroke, he springs the follow- 
 ing up-stroke, not from the foot of the stem, 
 but from the middle ; so that, instead of pre- 
 serving one uniform gliding motion to the end 
 of the word, in which neither the hand nor 
 the pen is ever removed from the paper, the 
 pupil is learning a system of double leaps, 
 one horizontal with his hand, another oblique 
 with his pen. 
 
 We no more see, we must confess, how 
 the scholar can learn a running hand by such 
 practice as this, than how he could learn to 
 skate by imitating the jumping of a frog. 
 In fact, he does not learn a current hand 
 by any such process ; and nothing is more 
 common than to find a boy, who brings home 
 copy-books beautifully written, fall into a 
 wretched scrawl the moment he attempts an 
 approach to the rapidity of real business. If 
 
 N
 
 178 ON PENMANSHIP. 
 
 he possess a natural facility for acquiring the 
 art, he may do so by practice after he has left 
 school ; but if he be the mere creature of in- 
 struction, he continues to scrawl through life. 
 Thus we consider the manner in which a 
 letter is formed to be of more importance than 
 its abstract beauty or deformity ; for who 
 could hesitate to prefer the power of writing a 
 plain but rapid hand to that of producing the 
 most exquisite caligraphy at so slow a rate as 
 to be unfit for business ? 
 
 It is not our intention to enter into a detail 
 of our plan. If the intelligent reader agree 
 with us in our principles, he will easily conceive 
 that means may be found to carry them into 
 effect. 
 
 The print hands are acquired by boys with- 
 out much difficulty, and are useful to them 
 when laying down maps and plans. We ac- 
 custom our pupils to construct very large let- 
 ters with the ruler and compasses, according 
 to given proportions ; and when the eye is by 
 this means well informed, they soon reduce 
 the letters to any size without the assistance 
 of instruments. Delineation of large manu- 
 script letters is an excellent means of becoming 
 critically acquainted with their forms and 
 proportions, and being a totally distinct pro- 
 cess from writing, no more interferes with their
 
 ORTHOGRAPHY. 179 
 
 habits of penmanship than is done by any other 
 species of drawing. 
 
 The advantage of being able to write a good 
 current hand at an early age has already been 
 alluded to. In all schools the pupil is very 
 often under the necessity of writing, for other 
 purposes than that of improving his manu- 
 script. In these cases, it generally happens 
 that, finding the slowness of the method taught 
 by the writing-master too irksome to be endured, 
 he throws off all the restraint of rules, and pro- 
 duces a scrawl scarcely legible. With us, as he 
 finds very little discrepancy between his rules 
 and his wishes, he does not deviate from them, 
 or at least not so widely ; and thus the practice 
 in the exercise-book assists rather than injures 
 that of copy-writing. Indeed, the circum- 
 stance of teachers risking the injury of a boy's 
 hand for life, by employing him in current- 
 writing before he has learnt the current hand 
 under the writing-master, shows that they con- 
 sider the power of producing any manuscript, 
 however bad, of great importance in his edu- 
 cation; and they are right. To give only a 
 single instance. How much more easily is 
 orthography taught by writing than orally. 
 In fact, the power of spelling orally must be 
 translated (if we may so express ourselves,) 
 into the power of spelling by the eye, before it 
 
 N 2
 
 180 ON PENMANSHIP. 
 
 becomes of any use to the possessor ; because, 
 in real life, we only spell with the pen. That 
 such a translation is not intuitive is proved by 
 the fact, that many persons, when they have 
 any doubt of the orthography of a word, are in 
 the habit of writing it in different ways, and 
 judging by the eye which of them is correct. 
 The experience, too, of all ages proves that 
 the memory of the eye is superior to that of 
 the ear,* so that on every account the teacher 
 is correct in employing his pupil in writing his 
 orthographic lessons. Indeed, where the 
 written exercises of a school are frequent and 
 various, orthography may be learnt almost in- 
 cidentally. 
 
 * " Segnius irritant animos," &c. Horace. The passage has 
 been quoted so often, that we may,spare ourselves the trouble 
 of proceeding any further.
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 ON VOLUNTARY LABOUR. 
 
 <> 
 
 " EDUCATION (it is somewhere said) is like 
 the true art of blowing a fire ; it is of more im- 
 portance to leave a steady clear flame, when 
 you have done, than to make a great blaze, 
 which only lasts while you have the bellows 
 in your hands." We are sure our readers will 
 join with us in forgiving the homeliness of this 
 figure, in consideration of its truth and im- 
 portance; the principle exemplified will never 
 be overlooked by the judicious teacher, when- 
 ever an opportunity arises for its application. 
 
 We shall be disappointed if it do not appear 
 throughout the whole of what we have written, 
 to have been a great object with us ; first, that 
 as little coercion a*s possible shall be used in 
 any stage of the pupil's education ; and se- 
 condly, that even this little shall be from time 
 to time withdrawn, as he becomes able to 
 direct himself, so that when he leaves the 
 school he may have matured the habit of 
 self-government.
 
 182 ON VOLUNTARY LABOUR. 
 
 We have been much assisted in this design by 
 a practice which has grown up among us, and 
 which, for want of a better name, we call 
 voluntary labour. The reader is already ac- 
 quainted with our system of premial and penal 
 marks, and he is aware that they are gained in 
 various ways ; one of which is, by study 
 during the hours of liberty. This employ- 
 ment we call voluntary labour, not because it 
 is so perfectly optional that a boy would suffer 
 no inconvenience from neglecting it, for no boy 
 could preserve a high place in the school 
 without some considerable exertion of this 
 kind, since the rank of one week in each half 
 year is bought with premial marks : we call it 
 voluntary labour, because the particular time 
 and particular study are left to the discretion 
 or caprice of the pupil. 
 
 It would be impossible to enumerate all the 
 means which have been devised by the boys 
 to obtain marks ; but we may observe, that 
 their eagerness and ingenuity, when turned, as 
 in the natural course of things it must be, to 
 the noble art of money-getting, will, if we are 
 not mistaken, prove them worthy of treading 
 in the steps of their progenitors. 
 
 The favourite subjects seem to be penman- 
 ship of various kinds, every department of 
 drawing, constructing maps, making surveys,
 
 ITS RISE. 183 
 
 delineating mathematical diagrams, reading 
 books on which they prepare themselves for 
 answering questions, writing short-hand, 
 modelling animals and machines, filling offices 
 bearing salaries, learning (in various languages) 
 orations, extracts from the poets, parts in plays 
 and dialogues, and taking reports of lectures. 
 This department, which is now become so 
 important a feature in our system, took its rise 
 from the necessity of furnishing to boys, who 
 had no chance of obtaining marks by excelling 
 their schoolfellows, opportunities of gaining 
 them by working harder than those to whom 
 nature had been more propitious. It appeared 
 to us, that as in the common course of events 
 this must be their lot in after-life, it would be 
 well to accustom them to it in their early years ; 
 nor were we without hopes that their superior 
 industry would enable them to press on the 
 heels of their competitors, and to show them 
 that talent alone would not be sufficient, at all 
 times, to secure superiority. It seemed also 
 of consequence to make imprisonment, our 
 only corporal punishment, as rare as possible ; 
 both because it is attended with unavoidable 
 disgrace (to which no mind can with safety be 
 frequently exposed), and because, unlike 
 labour, it is pain without any utility, except 
 that of example, which appertains to all judi- 
 cious penalty of whatever kind.
 
 184 ON VOLUNTARY LABOUR. 
 
 Our dislike to tasks and impositions is, that 
 they must be performed with unpleasant asso- 
 ciations : now a boy, if possible, ought never 
 to go to a book with disgust. Sometimes the 
 difficulty of the study, or its want of accord- 
 ance with his peculiar tastes, will unavoidably 
 generate some unpleasant feeling. This the 
 judicious teacher will endeavour to remove ; 
 but, above all things, he will guard against 
 adding to it from extraneous causes. By the 
 plan before us, we have all the advantage of 
 the labour, without any injury to the boy ; for 
 when he sits down to his desk, he feels that 
 he is not obliged to work at that particular 
 time, neither is he under the necessity of en- 
 gaging in a pursuit from which his inclination 
 revolts. On the contrary, his time and his ex- 
 ertions are at his own disposal, and the object 
 for which he labours being to rival his com- 
 panions in wealth, and not to work out a fine, 
 increases instead of diminishing the feeling 
 of satisfaction which cheers his efforts. 
 
 Sufficient attention, we think, has not been 
 paid by teachers in general, to the fact, that 
 irksome employment is more laborious, or at 
 least that it sooner exhausts the strength, than 
 exertions which are consonant to the taste 
 and disposition of the student. Thus, in yield- 
 ing, as we do, by this plan, to the inclinations
 
 TORPID POWERS. 185 
 
 of the boys, we obtain a far greater amount of 
 labour, than we could exact without danger to 
 the health of our pupils, if their exertions 
 were counteracted by any adverse feelings and 
 desires on their parts. At the same time the 
 intelligent reader will be aware, that as we 
 have the power of rewarding the pupil accord- 
 ing to the difficulty and utility of the pursuit 
 in which he is engaged, we hold a pretty strong 
 influence over him ; one which we have found 
 sufficiently powerful to wean him gradually 
 from trifling avocations, and fix his mind on 
 objects of real importance ; and this to an ex- 
 tent beyond our most sanguine expectations. 
 The scale of rewards is, though a silent, 
 yet a very efficacious monitor. The patient 
 and experienced teacher, who has a proper 
 faith in the power of time, will expect every 
 thing from the influence of gentle, and (if we 
 may be allowed the expression) quiet motives, 
 when they are in continual action. Nor will 
 he altogether despise pursuits which appear, 
 and which perhaps are, in themselves, frivolous, 
 because they may produce the most salutary 
 effects on the minds of the pupils. It has fre- 
 quently happened to us, to receive boys into 
 the school, whose mental powers were torpid 
 or (so to speak) quite frozen ; a state, which 
 will be allowed by all who have tried the
 
 186 ON VOLUNTARY LABOUR. 
 
 experiment, most difficult to act upon. They 
 have, however, all thawed under the influence 
 of the plan in consideration. It is true their 
 first efforts were not very promising ; perhaps 
 they came before us in the shape of a rude 
 model of a hogsty but then, how was the 
 boy affected ? He had learnt a lesson in the in- 
 valuable art of self-application ; he had tasted 
 the pleasure of success; he had acquired pro- 
 perty ; and he, perhaps, for the first time in 
 his life, had associated pleasant ideas with 
 school. Still he was not, because he had sur- 
 mounted a molehill, deceived by flattery into 
 an opinion that he had scaled the Alps. The 
 measure of his reward would at once remind 
 him, that he might find more lucrative modes 
 of employing his time, and engage in other 
 pursuits which would raise him to a rank of 
 higher consideration among his fellows. The 
 stimulus, as it always should be, was just 
 strong enough to produce the effect required, 
 and no stronger. 
 
 It is sometimes objected to public education, 
 that it cannot sufficiently consult the peculiar 
 destination of the boy; and the objection is, to 
 a certain extent, well founded. We think the 
 reader will be of opinion that the branch of 
 our system under discussion obviates this 
 difficulty; for while the more important depart-
 
 HABIT OF COMPLETION. 187 
 
 ments of education are carried on in classes, 
 which demand an equal attention from each 
 pupil, he has still motive and opportunity for 
 employing 1 part of his time in studies more 
 peculiarly adapted to his future pursuits. 
 
 One of the most valuable habits of life is 
 that of completing every undertaking. The 
 mental dissipation in which persons of talent 
 often indulge, and to which they are, perhaps, 
 more prone than others, is destructive beyond 
 what can readily be imagined. A man who 
 has lost the power of prosecuting a task the 
 moment its novelty is gone, or it is become 
 encumbered with difficulty, has reduced his 
 mind into a state of the most lamentable and 
 wretched imbecility. His life will inevitably 
 be one of shreds and patches. The con- 
 sciousness of not having persevered to the end 
 of any single undertaking will hang over him 
 like a spell, and paralyze all his energies ; 
 and he will at last believe, that, however fair 
 may be his prospects, and however feasible 
 his plans, he is fated never to succeed. 
 
 The habit of finishing ought to be formed in 
 early youth. We take care to reward no boy 
 for fragments, whatever may be their excel- 
 lence. \Ve know nothing of his exertions 
 until they come before us in a state of 
 completion. The consequence is, that every
 
 188 ON VOLUNTARY LABOUR. 
 
 one learns to measure his powers. He under- 
 takes nothing which he has not a rational hope 
 of accomplishing; and having begun, and 
 knowing that he can receive neither fame nor 
 profit by instalments, he is urged forcibly on 
 to the end of his course.
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 COMPARISON OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDU- 
 CATION. 
 
 IF the number of books already in existence 
 upon any topic were a good reason against 
 new attempts, we should have no right to 
 intrude upon the world our observations on 
 public and private education, a subject which 
 has employed so many able pens, both ancient 
 and modern. It appears to us, however, that 
 the number of works, especially when, as in 
 the present case, the inquiries of the authors 
 produce results so different and contradictory, 
 far from showing that the labour of exami- 
 nation is finished, proves rather that the truth 
 has hitherto evaded our search, or that the 
 question changes with the times, and that the 
 modes of education which were the best that 
 could be adopted in one age, may yet be 
 deservedly exploded in another. We are not 
 vain enough to suppose that the few and ca- 
 sual hints which may be thrown out in this little 
 essay can do much towards extending the public
 
 190 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 knowledge of the subject ; and yet the pile of 
 human wisdom may resemble the cairns of 
 Scotland, which arise, in the course of ages, 
 from single stones piously added to the heap 
 by the hand of the traveller. 
 
 Many of the discordant opinions afloat in 
 the world on this question arise, no doubt, 
 from its difficulty ; but many of them also 
 arise from unfair comparison. The advocates 
 for private education have generally contrasted 
 an ideal system of their own, with the actual 
 existing plan of education which has been so 
 long established, and which has remained 
 stationary, whilst almost every thing else has 
 been improved. To compare what might be, 
 (or what theorists imagine might be,) with 
 what is, castles in the air with the brick and 
 mortar tenements which are inhabited by us, 
 " the groundlings," may be a tolerably sure 
 means of disgusting us with what we have, 
 but it is rather a questionable method of prov- 
 ing the superiority of their own system of 
 architecture. 
 
 That the plan of education which now 
 obtains- in our public schools is by no 
 means perfect, we not only allow, but stre- 
 nuously maintain ; but we beg our readers to 
 distinguish between a peculiar plan of public
 
 THREE QUESTIONS. 191 
 
 education and the general scheme of educating 
 numbers together.* 
 
 In order to examine this important and 
 interesting question with any chance of suc- 
 cess, it will be necessary to inquire, 
 
 1st, Whether, in the present state of things, 
 private education is more successful than 
 public ? 
 
 2d, Whether systems of private education 
 are improving more rapidly than systems of 
 public education? and 
 
 3d, Whether private education is capable, 
 under the most favourable circumstances, of 
 producing so much excellence, moral, phy- 
 sical, and mental, as public education in its 
 highest improvement ? 
 
 As to the first question, " Whether, in the 
 present state of things, private education is 
 more successful than public ?" we can only 
 appeal to the reader's experience ; for a very 
 fallacious estimate would be formed by count- 
 ing the names of great men who have been 
 educated by either mode, because, as Rous- 
 
 * We beg to be understood to speak only of the plan. The 
 execution is another thing; and we have no hesitation in 
 saying, that the country owes a debt of gratitude to the masters 
 of those establishments, by whose profound learning and exem- 
 plary diligence so much is accomplished, in spite of the diffi- 
 culties imposed on them by the faulty system under which they 
 are obliged to act.
 
 192 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 seau justly observes, " Education is intended 
 for common minds ; genius will evolve itself." 
 Judging then from their own private expe- 
 rience, do our readers find youths educated 
 privately to possess more ardour, more in- 
 dustry, more solid acquirement, than others ? 
 Is the change to the world less from the study 
 than from the school-room? Are they less 
 dependent, better inured to hardships, or are 
 their morals better adapted to endure the 
 shock of society ? If the experience of our 
 readers answer these questions in the affirm- 
 ative, we shall be surprised, it is true, but we 
 shall by no means consider the matter set at 
 rest. We shall proceed immediately to the 
 second question, and ask if they have wit- 
 nessed any improvements in private education 
 to compete with those of Dr. Bell and 
 Mr. Lancaster in England, and of Pestalozzi 
 i and Fellenberg in Switzerland. They will 
 undoubtedly bring to our minds the expe- 
 riments (for we are talking of facts), the 
 experiments recorded by Mr. and Miss 
 Kdgeworth, in their inestimable work on 
 education. Cheerfully do we admit the 
 importance of their labours, and gratefully 
 do we acknowledge the benefits which 
 we ourselves have derived from them. 
 But their general principles are nearly as
 
 PUBLIC EDUCATION A SCIENCE. 193 
 
 applicable to the education of large numbers 
 as to the instruction of a private family ; and 
 when this is not the case, we fear they could 
 only be reduced to practice by teachers of 
 extraordinary talent and acquirement. In a 
 word, we believe the greater number of their 
 discoveries (if we may use the term) to be 
 applicable to either species of education ; and 
 that what is so delicate as not to be reducible 
 to system requires more talent for its exercise, 
 than can fairly be expected to fall to the lot of 
 teachers in general. 
 
 There is this great difference between im- 
 provements which make part of a system, and 
 those which do not, that the former can be 
 reduced to practice, and preserved by minds 
 of very inferior powers to those which origin- 
 ated them ; while the latter are only available 
 to such as approach very nearly, both in kind 
 and degree, the minds of the discoverers them- 
 selves. 
 
 From these considerations, it should seem 
 that public education, which, being of the 
 nature of a science, is more reducible to 
 system than private instruction, may be im- 
 proved by generation after generation, each 
 preserving the discoveries of the former, and 
 adding to them ; while private instruction, 
 rather resembling an art which is more depend- 
 
 o
 
 194 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 ent upon the powers of single individuals, is 
 not so capable of continual advancement. 
 
 We come now to our third and last question, 
 " Whether private education, in its perfection, 
 is capable of producing so much excellence, 
 moral, mental, and physical, as public edu- 
 cation ' under equally favourable circum- 
 stances ?" 
 
 The first object of education should be, we 
 think, to render the after-life of the pupil most 
 useful to society, and most happy to himself; 
 the next should be to render the passing years 
 of the pupil as happy as possible. Rousseau 
 places the latter object first, because, he 
 says, it is uncertain that the pupil will ever 
 live beyond the period of childhood ; but we 
 think, that if society takes (as it does) the 
 trouble and expense of education upon itself, 
 and if (as cannot be doubted,) education is a 
 valuable gift to the child, that then society has 
 a fair claim upon the services of the future 
 man, and that he ought to be so instructed as 
 to render those services in the most effectual 
 manner. 
 
 But this is, perhaps, a useless refinement ; 
 for it would not be very difficult to show, that 
 a child, while acquiring such an education as 
 would make him the most useful man, would 
 be in the highest enjoyment of life.
 
 ROUSSEAU. 195 
 
 We perfectly agree with Rousseau, that the 
 severest evil which children suffer is the bond- 
 age which they endure. We also agree with 
 him, that the restraints of necessity are more 
 easily borne, than those which are imposed by 
 the will of others. " It is in the nature of 
 man," says he, " to endure patiently the 
 absolute necessity of his circumstances. It is 
 all gone, is an answer against which a child 
 never objects, at least if he believes it to be 
 true."* 
 
 Experience must establish the truth of this 
 position in every mind; we all know that a 
 child leaves off crying for the moon, years 
 before he submits without a struggle to the 
 commands of his parents. 
 
 The cause of this difference arises, we think, 
 partly from the uniform regularity with which 
 the natural restraints operate, and partly be- 
 cause the child observes that all around him are 
 subjected to the same laws. If the child had 
 ever had the moon, or if it had ever seen the 
 moon in the possession of another person, it 
 would not be so patient under the privation. 
 
 Sagacious parents are aware of this, and 
 take every means of showing their children 
 that their determinations are as unalterable as 
 
 * Emilias, Book II. 
 O 2
 
 196 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 those of nature : and certainly much may be 
 done by prudently avoiding hasty determin- 
 ations with respect to children, and by in- 
 flexibly persisting in all determinations when 
 made. The difficulty of this task is well 
 known to all parents ; and in order to facilitate 
 the exercise of authority, they usually have 
 recourse to general rules. Thus, for example, 
 a child is in the habit of going to bed when 
 the clock strikes eight. Here association of 
 ideas is called in to aid the authority of the 
 parent; but how difficult is it in a private 
 family to avoid motives, and strong motives, 
 in the minds of both parent and child, for the 
 occasional violation of this rule ? and when 
 the rule has been a few times disregarded, 
 farewell to the association of ideas. But, sup- 
 posing the rule never to be broken, even then 
 it is felt to be a hardship ; because the child 
 perceives that no one but himself is subjected 
 to its coercion. How much more easy is the 
 obedience of the schoolboy? Instead of find- 
 ing himself alone set apart from the family 
 for submission to rules, to which others pay 
 no attention, he is a member of a large com- 
 munity, governed by one law, partaking of 
 the same pleasures, and subjected to the same 
 privations ; and if, in addition to that undevi- 
 ating regularity which governs the schoolboy
 
 ADVANTAGES OF COMPANIONSHIP. 197 
 
 by the power of association, and that obedience 
 of numbers which impels him by the love of 
 imitation, we add the recollection, that he and 
 his comrades enact their own laws, and that 
 they have no force but by the consent of those 
 who obey them, their gall and bitterness 
 evaporate, and the young legislator feels 
 himself called upon for " a proud submission," 
 and " a dignified obedience." We have often 
 had boys brought to us with a character for 
 rebellion worthy of a Wat Tyler, who, upon 
 being put into the school, have submitted to 
 the regulations, not only without a struggle 
 against them, but apparently without a 
 struggle with their own feelings.* 
 
 One or other of these motives applies to 
 boys of all ages ; if they are too young to 
 understand the mysteries of legislation, the 
 love of imitating the actions of older boys is 
 quite sufficient to produce the desired effect ; 
 and if they are too old to be sufficiently moved 
 by the love of imitation, then the feeling that / 
 they had a share in framing the laws increases 
 in strength. 
 
 * "Une regie invariable dans la distribution da temps," 
 says M. Pictet, speaking of the pupils of Mr. Fellenberg, 
 " rend inutile les moyens necessaires ailleurs pour contraindre 
 oo reprimer. Les enfans se sentent libres parce qu'ils n'obeis- 
 sent qu'a la force des cboses, et que le caprice ne les atteint 
 point."
 
 198 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 We have dwelt the longer on this excellence 
 which public education has over private, be- 
 cause it affords us an opportunity of showing, 
 that upon the very points which Rousseau, the 
 great advocate for private instruction, con- 
 siders most important, our means are superior 
 to his : but controversy apart, the advantage 
 is very great. How much of the happiness 
 of children, and even of parents and teachers, 
 is constantly sacrificed in struggles for power? 
 or when, by extraordinary fortitude in the 
 parent or tutor, his empire is confirmed, how 
 often is he forced to do violence to his 
 best feelings, in leaving children to suffer 
 inconveniences, from which, if he had thought 
 it right, they could so readily have guarded 
 them? 
 
 " Am I desirous," says Rousseau, " to 
 teach Emilius to wake at a certain hour, I say 
 to him, * To-morrow morning, at six o'clock, I 
 propose the diversion of angling, or I shall 
 take a walk to such a place ; will you be of the 
 party ?' He consents, and desires me to wake 
 him. This I either promise or not, as occa- 
 sion may require. If he wakes too late, he 
 finds that 1 am gone out. Hence he sees his 
 misfortune, if he does not learn to wake soon 
 another time, without being called." ' 
 
 * Erailius, Book II.
 
 MISS EDOEWORTH'S ROSAMOND. 199 
 
 All this may be very right ; but we fear (we 
 had almost said hope) that few parents could 
 be found of sufficient nerve to leave a child to 
 bear the weight of his disappointment. We have 
 also a lurking apprehension that the feeling 
 excited towards the parent in the mind of the 
 child, by the exercise of such cold-blooded 
 virtue, might outweigh all the value of the 
 lesson. In a school it would soon be dis- 
 covered, whether or not it is reasonable to 
 expect a child to awake without being called; 
 if it were decided in the affirmative, a penalty 
 would be affixed to the breach of the law, 
 which not being levelled at any one in parti- 
 cular, would be borne by the defaulter without 
 a murmur. We know that Rousseau would 
 lay great stress on the circumstance of the 
 penalty accruing naturally from the fault ; but 
 does the child think it at all natural, that 
 when a word from the parent would have 
 saved him from the bitterness of disappoint- 
 ment, that word should be withheld ? We think 
 not, and we consider it a great point gained 
 both for parent and child, when such trials 
 can be dispensed with. 
 
 Many of our readers will be reminded by 
 these observations of Miss Edgeworth's little 
 story of the bl uejar, which Rosamond is permit- 
 ted to buy of a druggist for a flower-pot, with
 
 200 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 the money which had been originally intended 
 for the purchase of a pair of shoes. The dis- 
 appointment of the little girl, when she finds 
 that the colouring matter is not in the glass, but 
 in the liquor which it contains, and the many 
 misfortunes into which she falls for want of 
 her shoes, are admirably told. 
 
 We feel, however, the same objection to 
 this, as a real transaction, that we do to the 
 treatment of poor Emilius. Considered only 
 as a story, it is excellent. There the little 
 reader sees in a few minutes a train of conse- 
 quences, which are supposed to take up 
 several days in unfolding. We have certainly 
 no objection that our pupils should see the ill 
 consequences of an imprudent choice, nor 
 indeed that they should feel them; but we 
 think that even the important knowledge so 
 attained, (and that it is important we readily 
 grant,) will be dearly bought, if it weaken, 
 even in the slightest degree, the affection of a 
 child to a parent. 
 
 To cut off children from all intercourse with 
 servants is considered by some authors a very 
 important object ; and so it is, if it can be 
 done without teaching them to despise their 
 servants, or to consider them as an inferior 
 race of beings ; of which we think there must 
 be great danger in a private family. In a
 
 SERVANTS. 201 
 
 school, if the buildings are well arranged, 
 opportunities for private communication may 
 be readily prevented : indeed the comparative 
 smallness of their number, and their full 
 employment, necessarily preclude any great 
 degree of intercourse, especially when the 
 occupations of the pupils themselves are suf- 
 ficient to fill up their time, and supply their 
 minds with subjects of interest. It is from the 
 idle, and consequently dissolute, servants of 
 the rich, that bad morals are learnt. The 
 laborious domestics of a school have neither 
 leisure nor inclination for the work of cor- 
 ruption. 
 
 The undue ideas of self-importance which a 
 child must gain in a course of private edu- 
 cation form a very powerful objection against 
 it in our minds. To be the object of constant 
 attention, as the Emilius of Rousseau must 
 have been, would, without any vanity on his 
 part, lead him into the error of supposing that 
 himself and his education were the great 
 business of the world ; especially if we take 
 into account the cumbrous conspiracies (for 
 we can call them by no other name) that 
 were formed against him ; some of which the 
 boy, unless he had been an idiot, must have 
 discovered. In one instance, all the neigh- 
 bours and the boys of the street are trained to act
 
 202 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 against the little urchin, who wanders out of 
 his father's house unaccompanied by his tutor* 
 This adventure is justly ridiculed by the 
 Edgeworths, who are well aware of the liability 
 of private education to produce the feeling of 
 which we speak, and are constantly warning 
 parents to beware of it ; but it is almost in vain 
 to guard against natural tendencies. The 
 teacher who would do his duty, towards even 
 one child, must have that one nearly as much 
 in his thoughts as the master of a hundred ; 
 perhaps more, because of the difficulty of 
 governing and employing him by the aid of 
 system : and this attention must, unless the 
 parent or tutor put a very close and unnatural 
 restraint upon his feelings, continually discover 
 itself to the pupil. In a school, a boy must 
 be left more to the operations of his own mind ; 
 and, without any neglect, he is obliged by 
 circumstances to use his own judgment, act 
 upon it, and bear the responsibility of his choice. 
 Figures are not arguments, or we should say, 
 that at home the plant is in the constant sun- 
 shine of observation ; at school there is a 
 pleasant and useful variety of night and day. 
 
 At school, too, a boy is a member of a 
 community; at home he bears but one 
 relation to those around him that of inferior. 
 At school, he is sometimes inferior, sometimes
 
 SOCIETY OF EQUALS. 203 
 
 equal, sometimes superior. He sometimes 
 listens to the opinions of his master ; some- 
 times he discusses a question with his school- 
 fellows, and with the freedom which one boy 
 feels and uses towards another; and sometimes 
 he fills the honourable situation of teacher. 
 Whoever has closely studied the human mind 
 will be aware, that the trains of ideas excited 
 in it by the consideration of the same subject 
 in these three separate characters are very 
 different. It is true, that where a family is 
 large, this end is in some measure gained; but 
 the reasons which prove that it is better to 
 teach several pupils together than one, will 
 also go to prove that the advantage increases 
 with the numbers. In a family it can but 
 rarely happen that a child ever finds his equal ; 
 he is either older or younger than his brothers 
 and sisters, and generally either superior or 
 inferior. Indeed not only the numbers of a 
 school are required, but that school must be 
 a large one, before a boy can be at all times 
 fairly matched with his equals ; and mistaken 
 as our views may seem to those who disapprove 
 of competition, we consider it of more import- 
 ance that a boy should mix with his equals 
 than that he should have any other society 
 whatsoever.
 
 204 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 It is a general law of our nature, that the 
 closer the resemblance between two beings, the 
 more powerful is the sympathy between them. 
 We should feel more horror at seeing the hand 
 of an ouran-outang struck off with an axe than 
 at seeing such an operation performed on the 
 paw of a dog ; but neither of these sights 
 would afflict us so much as to witness the 
 mangling of a fellow-man by such a process. 
 
 If we carry forward this principle, we shall 
 find that the more closely our companions 
 resemble us in age, in taste, and in avocation, 
 the more we are pleased with their society, the 
 more we are influenced by their example, and 
 the more complete is the tendency to compe- 
 tition between us. And here we join issue 
 with Rousseau and the Edgeworths, though 
 not without some trepidation : we should 
 certainly feel more at ease in agreeing with 
 them.* 
 
 * We have lately read the Life of Mr. Edgeworth, and we 
 find that, in common with others, we had somewhat mistaken 
 his opinions and those of his daughter on the subject of this 
 chapter. Mr. E. says, in a letter to the Editor of Dr. Rees's 
 Cyclopaedia, " I most earnestly deprecate the conclusion that 
 has been drawn from our books, that we recommend in general 
 -.1 private education for boys. We know that, in general, private 
 education is impracticable, and that it requires an uncommon 
 coincidence of circumstances to make it in any case advise- 
 ablc." Life, vol. ii. p. 393.
 
 COMPETITION. 205 
 
 These writers have perhaps overrated 
 the danger of competition, by observing its 
 effects in private families. But the deductions 
 drawn from observations in private families 
 must not be applied without consideration to 
 schools. In a family, the station of every 
 child is settled by its birth, and every child is 
 expected, and feels that he is expected, to 
 maintain it. All competition with him by 
 those who are younger he resents as an 
 attempt to deprive him of his rank ; and all his 
 endeavours to compete with his elders are 
 resented by them for the same reason ; whereas 
 in a school, rank is not assigned by any such 
 criterion, and cannot be where the gradation 
 of age is imperceptible, and where the boys 
 at their entrance are in such very different 
 states of preparation. 
 
 In a well-regulated school there are so many 
 paths to be trodden, that there is no danger 
 but that the little student, whose ambition has 
 been wounded in one will recover his spirits 
 by success in another; meanwhile he is not 
 reduced to the alternative of either renouncing 
 society, or of making his rival his companion. 
 At home, the victor and the conquered most 
 constantly meet, and the latter must endure 
 all the triumph of the former. At school that 
 triumph is greatly moderated by the chance of
 
 206 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 defeat,not perhaps from the former antagonist, 
 but from others. The spectators, too, at school 
 would soon cease to sympathize with the 
 successful competitor, if he plumed himself 
 unreasonably upon his victory ; and they, 
 from their number, have a power which must 
 have been witnessed to be fully appreciated. 
 In point of fact, we believe we may safely 
 appeal to any public teacher for the perfect 
 innocence of this dreaded principle. Indeed 
 even among adults, whose feelings, especially 
 of anger, are more lasting than those of 
 children, we find that wherever there are 
 sufficient numbers to protect the parties from 
 the necessity of associating together, the most 
 serious and ardent struggles for pre-eminence 
 produce no deadly feelings of animosity. How 
 common is it, on the death of a conspicuous 
 individual of any party in the State, for his 
 former antagonists to speak of him in terms of 
 kindness and praise? 
 
 Dr. Clarke, the traveller, relates, that when 
 the English and French armies were opposed 
 to each other in Egypt, the videttes on either 
 side were in the constant habit of crossing to 
 each other for water ; and yet the competition 
 between England and France has been of stand- 
 ing enough to produce all the ill effects which 
 competition can produce. Indeed it is worthy
 
 COMPETITION. 207 
 
 of remark, that whatever rancour is excited 
 by competition, is seldom felt by competitors 
 themselves, but by their partisans. Mr. Pitt 
 and Mr. Fox never felt, we are persuaded, 
 so hostile to each other, as their friends 
 did for them. Does not this fact show 
 that competition carries off the baser feel- 
 ings, and leaves a generous emulation in 
 their place? To adduce a rougher exempli- 
 fication ; how frequently do two men, who 
 have been quarrelling, and who have agreed 
 to fight in consequence of their quarrel, shake 
 hands before they begin their combat ? This 
 may, perhaps, in some instances be affect- 
 ation ; but if it were never sincere, affectation 
 would not take the trouble to produce a coun- 
 terfeit. Nobody would be imposed upon by 
 base coin, if there were none other in circu- 
 lation. 
 
 We have already, in another part of this 
 little work, shown how far we are willing to 
 depend upon stimuli, and that we by no 
 means expect those magical results from emu- 
 lation which some writers would attribute to 
 it ; but effects are sometimes referred to emu- 
 lation, of which it cannot fairly be considered 
 the cause ; and where we have the advantage 
 without the ill effects of the stimulus.
 
 208 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 Boys, like men, and perhaps like all 
 animals, have a great indisposition to make 
 exertions, unless they feel a tolerable certainty 
 of success ; now the exertions and success of 
 their fellows in age and capacity form a kind 
 of standard for them, by which they judge of 
 their own powers. This standard a boy at 
 home wants ; nor is it less necessary to the 
 teacher. To estimate exactly what a pupil of 
 given age, talent, and acquirement, ought to 
 accomplish in given circumstances, is one of 
 the most difficult problems the master is called 
 upon to solve. Need we say, that many ex- 
 periments upon the powers of many boys are 
 necessary to give him the requisite experience? 
 
 Parents often mistake with regard to the 
 powers of children: sometimes they expect 
 them to do what no child ought to be expected 
 to do, and sometimes they consider them 
 quite incapable of performing tasks to which 
 they are fully competent. The disposition 
 which they have to consider their own offspring 
 as prodigies is often a source of great misfor- 
 tune to the poor children ; and the parent, in 
 the bitterness of disappointment, frequently 
 places his child as far below the just estimate 
 of his talent as he had fondly raised him above 
 it. Godwin well remarks, that the intense 
 interest which a parent feels in the improve-
 
 BOYS OF WEAK INTELLECT. 209 
 
 ment of his offspring frequently renders him 
 totally unfit for the office of teacher. In 
 fact, extreme attention is almost sure to 
 counteract itself; children cannot be manu- 
 factured into scholars. Education rather 
 resembles agriculture, and the tutor must take 
 care that he does not fall into the error of 
 plucking up the sprigs of knowledge which he 
 has planted, in his anxiety to ascertain if they 
 have taken root. 
 
 In a school, a boy naturally dull may, by 
 remaining for a very long time in the lower 
 classes, acquire a great deal of real inform- 
 ation. We have seen instances of boys, who 
 entered with the reputation of being idiots, 
 and who were almost so in reality, rise in the 
 course of time, by dint of an uninterrupted 
 study of elements, to a very respectable 
 station among their companions. We firmly 
 believe that the patience of no individual on 
 earth could have held out against the stupidity 
 of these unfortunate children, if he had had 
 no other objects to engage his attention : and 
 if the boys themselves h ad attended their studies 
 under the feeling that their teacher's anxious 
 eye was always watching their movements, 
 we feel but little doubt that their minds would 
 not have been in that state of perfect calmness, 
 so necessary to the correct performance of 
 
 p
 
 210 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 any mental exercise by persons of weak 
 intellect. By studying with their juniors, 
 they always had the advantage of companion- 
 ship ; occasionally they found opportunities of 
 distinguishing themselves, and of tasting the 
 pleasure of success. It might be thought 
 that they would be overwhelmed with disgrace 
 by filling a station so much below their age ; 
 but schoolboys very soon learn to measure 
 each other by their powers instead of their 
 age, and are too much accustomed to dis- 
 proportion between talent and years, to feel 
 much surprise even at an extraordinary in- 
 stance of it. 
 
 The use of what might be called oblique 
 instruction is by no means to be despised. 
 " At home," says Quintilian, " a boy can 
 learn only what is taught him, but in schools 
 he can learn what is taught others." Children 
 often acquire more information by attending 
 to lessons in which they have no feeling of 
 responsibility than in studying their own 
 They have by this means an opportunity of 
 retracing their steps, without all the drudgery 
 or disgrace of going over the ground again in 
 their own persons. With us, this is prac- 
 ticable without supposing a boy to neglect any 
 of his duties, because, by our arrangements, 
 some boys are engaged and others at leisure,
 
 OBLIQUE INSTRUCTION. 211 
 
 during the greater part of the day. In the 
 great variety of studies which must be followed 
 in a large school to suit the various dispositions 
 and views of different boys, each pupil learns 
 something even of those branches to which it 
 forms no part of his duty to attend. The 
 information so gained must of course be 
 slight, but it may be far from unimportant in 
 after-life. A striking illustration of this 
 position may be found in the report of a 
 judgment delivered by Lord Kenyon. The 
 point to which his Lordship was addressing 
 himself was the impolicy of rating the tolls upon 
 a canal to each parish through which it passed, 
 according to the quantity of land covered with 
 water. " Hard," said his Lordship, " would 
 be the lot of the officers who are to make the 
 rates in these several parishes ; they would 
 have to measure not only the length but the 
 breadth of the navigation in each respective 
 parish, and have to ascertain with precision 
 the exact quantity of land covered with water. 
 Those difficulties would be insuperable, and 
 it would be in vain to think of rating at all if 
 such were the rule." Rex v. Page, 4 Term 
 Reports, 543. 
 
 Now of course we do not presume to impugn 
 the correctness of Lord Kenyon's opinion in 
 this case, which on other grounds might be 
 
 p 2
 
 212 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 very just, but certainly, as far as it depended 
 on the reasoning we have quoted, nothing could 
 be more fallacious. If the Learned Judge had 
 ever conversed with a surveyor for five minutes 
 in the course of his life, he must have known 
 that the operation which he considers so insu- 
 perably difficult was performed daily. We 
 have boys of fourteen, who could give prac- 
 tical proofs that this obstacle to the proposed 
 method of rating had no existence but in his 
 Lordship's imagination. 
 
 We have always found that whenever, by 
 extraordinary attention, any study has been 
 carried to a high pitch of excellence among 
 our pupils, it has been sustained at that pitch 
 for years without much labour on the part of 
 the teacher. We have also found, that in 
 those branches of education where it was most 
 easy to record the acquisitions of the pupil, as 
 in penmanship or drawing, this effect was most 
 permanent ; and, on the other hand, where 
 the record was impossible, as in elocution, the 
 effect was transitory. 
 
 Every school has a traditionary history 
 which ought by no means to be lost sight of 
 by the master. He should take care to pre- 
 serve as many little monuments of the talent, 
 and industry, and virtue, of his pupils as he 
 can collect ; they will have a similar effect in
 
 TRADITIONAL HISTORY. 213 
 
 the minor world to that which the events of a 
 greater history have in the world of men. 
 
 It must not, however, be concealed, that if 
 the conduct of a school has furnished many 
 facts of an opposite kind, the master will have 
 reason to wish that its history could be 
 forgotten ; unless his pupils, when they hear 
 of the misdeeds of their predecessors, could 
 also learn the punishment which the offenders 
 had endured in their little community, or the 
 pain they had experienced in the world as 
 consequent upon the bad habits which they 
 had contracted, or the bad principles which 
 they had imbibed. History may be injurious 
 in a school, as it often has been in real life; but 
 where there is power there is the element of 
 utility. It is the fault of the master, if the 
 history of his school is not useful to him. 
 
 It would be an endless task to point out all 
 the advantages which may result from the 
 similarity between the little world of a school 
 and society at large. That some evils may 
 and do arise from the same cause, we are also 
 well aware, but this admission does not affect 
 the question. Freedom is not unattainable, 
 because some nations present examples of 
 despotism. We do not wonder that persons, 
 who have only seen very defective plans of 
 public education, should prefer to have their
 
 214 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 children taught at home. It is difficult to 
 separate what is incidental to a system from 
 what is essential. We prefer a state of society 
 for all individuals, whether children or men, 
 and we feel no hesitation in laying it down as 
 a general position, that all individuals are 
 happier together than alone. But society 
 might be so constituted, that a man would act 
 wisely to become a hermit ; and schools may 
 be so governed, that a parent would best fulfil 
 his duty by teaching his child at home. 
 
 Great stress is generally laid by the advo- 
 cates of private education upon the superior 
 morality of their pupils to those at public 
 schools. We have already attempted to 
 show, that the defects which are so unfavour- 
 able to moral character ought not to be con- 
 sidered as inherent in every system of public 
 education.* Perhaps the detail into which we 
 then entered, respecting the various motives to 
 moral conduct which might be induced, and 
 the various checks to vice which might be 
 enforced, will be considered as doing some- 
 thing towards rescuing public education from 
 the obloquy which has been cast upon it: if so, 
 we may be allowed to ask how a boy, in a 
 system of private instruction, would meet with 
 
 * Chap. III.
 
 MORALS. 
 
 so many opportunities of exercising the manly 
 virtues, as in intercourse with the numbers of 
 a public school ? In such a situation, too, a 
 boy learns not only by the pain and mortifi- 
 cation he endures as the consequences of his 
 own transgressions, but he has an opportunity 
 of learning without the bitterness of experience. 
 So, perhaps we shall be told, may a boy at 
 home, by the medium of books ; but what 
 story, even though true and believed to be 
 true, can ever carry the interest of a real 
 transaction ? But if, instead of leaving him a 
 mere spectator, we elevate the pupil to the 
 rank of a juryman or a judge, do we not pro- 
 vide for a very different impression upon his 
 mind to any that can be produced by mere 
 reading? To preserve the effect of the punish- 
 ment he has assisted to inflict, he must abstain 
 from a breach of the laws in his own person : 
 we give him an important character to support, 
 and call upon him not to disgrace the judge 
 by the misconduct of the schoolboy.* 
 
 * One of the effects of employing boys in offices of power we 
 had not anticipated when we constructed the system. It is, that 
 they learn to weigh the pleasures against the toils of ambition. 
 We can assure our readers, that there is sometimes consider- 
 able difficulty in filling the requisite offices, from the reluctance 
 which the elder boys often feel to encounter the labour and 
 responsibility of them. This early experience of the troubles of'
 
 216 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 After having said so much on the subject of 
 morals in that part of our little work already 
 referred to, we are unwilling to intrude fur- 
 ther on the time and patience of our readers. 
 One point more, and we have done. 
 
 We have before alluded to an opinion which 
 prevails among parents, that a small school is 
 better than a large one. But if there be any 
 force in the arguments which we have adduced, 
 this opinion must be founded in error. The 
 system of jurisprudence which we have found 
 so efficacious could not be carried on without 
 a large number. Public opinion, too, which 
 we have found so powerful an ally, is evi- 
 dently dependent on number for its strength. 
 That exact classification of students with 
 others of equal powers and attainments, the 
 utility of which we have already attempted to 
 show, cannot be produced without the aid of 
 very large numbers ; and indeed it must draw 
 
 power, joinet) to the freedom from all unnecessary restraint, 
 wonderfully tempers that impatience of control, those aspi- 
 rations after manhood, which are the cause of so many evils, 
 both to parents and children. We cannot say with the poet, 
 
 that 
 
 - The brisk minor pants for twenty-one ;" 
 
 for we find rather a disposition to remain in the trammels of a 
 school ; and we have had frequent instances of boys preferring 
 very earnest petitions to their parents, to suffer them to stay 
 after the time fixed for their departure.
 
 ADVANTAGE OF NUMBERS. 217 
 
 nearer to perfection with every addition to the 
 school. 
 
 In short, a small number of boys can no 
 more enjoy all the advantages of a large body, 
 than a few soldiers can go through the evo- 
 lutions of an army. 
 
 The great principle of the division of labour 
 is of course more applicable to a large number 
 than to a small one. It seems no more pro- 
 bable that the same person should be perfectly 
 qualified to teach two arts or two sciences, 
 than that he should be able to follow two 
 professions. This is felt, and the usual 
 remedy is to engage the assistance of occa- 
 sional masters; but we put it to the recol- 
 lection of our readers, whether the same 
 attention is ever paid by the pupil to these 
 occasional f eachers, as to those who conti- 
 nually reside with them, and whose labours 
 are united into system. With sufficient num- 
 bers all these defects might be supplied. The 
 head master, too, ought to be relieved from 
 all necessity of taking any department of 
 teaching himself, in order that he may be at 
 liberty to attend to the regulation of the 
 whole; to watch for opportunities of improving 
 every part, and, by engaging his pupils in con- 
 versation, to seize the proper moments for 
 exciting them to inquiry and reflection : in a
 
 218 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION. 
 
 word, by giving them all that instruction (so 
 difficult to describe and so easy to conceive,) 
 which is not reducible to system, to unite 
 all the advantages of both public and private 
 education.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 CASE OF APPEAL. 
 
 OUE little Courts of Justice not unfrequently furnish 
 cases of considerable interest; and as we are always 
 willing to make the resemblance between our microcosm 
 and the world at large as close as possible, at least in 
 every useful point, we are trying to collect a volume of 
 Reports. As all the boys are expected to be present 
 during a trial, to give importance to the proceeding, the 
 time of such as are capable of the task must be profitably 
 employed in taking notes. A useful effect may also be 
 produced upon the parties ; and these records will be 
 valuable acquisitions for those boys who wish to stucly the 
 laws, and enable themselves to conduct the jurisprudence 
 of the school. We shall detail a case which lately oc- 
 curred,* not because it is the most interesting which 
 could have been selected, but because there will be 
 nothing in its publication to hurt the feelings of any 
 person engaged in the transaction. 
 
 It would be in vain to attempt any concealment of the 
 fact that our pupils, like all boys in the full tide of health 
 and spirits, do not always see the folly of an appeal to 
 the ultima ratio regum in so strong a light as that in 
 which it sometimes appears to older eyes ; and resort is 
 now and then had to trial by combat, in preference to 
 trial by jury. The candid and experienced teacher, who 
 knows the difficulty and the danger of too rigorously 
 suppressing natural impulses, will not censure us for en- 
 
 In April, 1821.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 deavouring rather to regulate this custom, than to destroy 
 it altogether. In the hope of lessening the number 
 of those fracas, (never very large) a law was proposed, 
 which the committee adopted, to render it penal for any 
 person, except the Magistrate and the Constables, to be 
 present at a battle. Six hours' notice must be given by 
 both parties, and a tax paid in advance. During the 
 interval, it is the duty of the Magistrate to attempt a re- 
 conciliation. These regulations were intended to give 
 opportunity for the passions to cool, and to check the 
 inclination for display which is often the sole cause of the 
 disturbance. We consider the effect on the minds of the 
 spectators as the worst part of the transaction. There 
 is something dreadfully brutalizing in the shouts of in- 
 citement and triumph which generally accompany a feat 
 of pugilism. Neither boys nor men ought ever to witness 
 pain without sympathy. It is almost needless to say, 
 that, with us, fighting is any thing rather than a source of 
 festivity and amusement. 
 
 To return to our story. A day-scholar, whose father's 
 grounds adjoin ours, was discovered by the Magistrate to 
 have witnessed a battle from a tree which he had climbed 
 for that purpose. The Magistrate fined him. He 
 appealed, and the question of his liability was argued at 
 some length before the Committee. 
 
 The ground which the appellant took was, that no day- 
 scholar could be amenable to the laws of the school, 
 except during the hours of business, or while on the pre- 
 mises belonging to the school, and that the alleged offence 
 was committed out of school hours, and on his father's 
 land. 
 
 Public opinion ran in his favour. The plea that he 
 was on his father's land seemed to have great weight
 
 CASE OF APPEAL. 221 
 
 with his schoolfellows. To fine a boy under such 
 circumstances appeared to them like an attempt to invade 
 the paternal sanctuary, and the motion for quashing con- 
 viction of the Magistrate, at first received the support of 
 several members of the Committee. 
 
 The attending Teacher saw that it would be necessary 
 to call the attention of the Committee to general prin- 
 ciples, and proposed as an amendment to the general 
 motion, the following resolution, " That it is desirable 
 that the laws should be obeyed at all times, and in all 
 places." In support of this amendment he argued, that 
 as the laws had the happiness of the school in view, a 
 breach of those laws must certainly be in some degree 
 destructive of the general good. That to allow this in 
 certain individuals would be injurious to the great body, 
 but still more so to the individuals themselves ; and that 
 what was wrong in the school-room or on the play- 
 ground at eleven in the morning, could not be right in 
 the fields at six in the afternoon. In conclusion he said, 
 " Whether or not we have the power to fine a person for 
 a breach of our laws when he is at a distance from the 
 school, is a question which it is not our present business 
 to determine ; but I firmly believe that our laws are cal- 
 culated to promote in the highest degree our welfare, and 
 I wish the advantages to be derived from obeying them 
 to be as widely diffused as possible." 
 
 The amendment was carried unanimously. 
 Having determined " that it was desirable that the laws 
 should be obeyed at all times, and in all places," it was 
 necessary in the next place to ascertain whether it was 
 not a part of our law that such should be the case. 
 With this view, an amendment was proposed which de- 
 clared, that such was the intention of the law, and in
 
 222 APPENDIX. 
 
 support of it cases were cited in which day-boys 
 had been punished for offences committed at a distance 
 from the school. It was also insisted, that in no single 
 instance had the laws made an exception in favour of the 
 day-boys. They universally begin by saying, that, if 
 " any one," or " any pupil," or " any boy," shall commit 
 such and such an offence, &c. and not " any boarder," 
 or " any day-boy then at school." 
 
 The second amendment was also carried withou* 
 opposition. 
 
 The question was now confined within very narrow 
 limits. The Committee had declared that it was " desi- 
 rable that the laws should be obeyed at all times and in 
 all places ; " and also, that by law no exception was 
 made in favour of day-scholars. It only remained there- 
 fore for the Committee to consider, whether the police 
 of the school had the power to enforce the laws. It was 
 argued that in this instance they had been enforced, for 
 that the fine had actually been paid, and that unless the 
 Committee interfered to prevent it, they would continue 
 to operate, as they had done, for the welfare of the school 
 at large, and for the ultimate advantage even of the indi- 
 viduals who might at first appear to be injured. 
 
 The amended motion was now put, and the convic- 
 tion was unanimously confirmed. 
 
 This detail will furnish the reader with a more correct 
 conception than we could otherwise have given him, of 
 the opportunities with which the sittings of our little 
 Committees furnish the members for making some im- 
 portant acquirements. In the first place, they study the 
 art of reasoning, and that too under very favourable cir- 
 cumstances; being fully acquainted with the facts on 
 which they are called to exercise their judgments, and
 
 CASE OF APPEAL. 223 
 
 seeing them in all their bearings. We believe that inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the facts of which we speak to 
 be the first and most important element in practical logic. 
 Reasoning, strictly speaking, being no more than the art 
 of tracing analogies and differences. The reality of the 
 business in which the students are engaged is very valu- 
 able, inasmuch as it furnishes them with strong motives 
 to exert all their powers in the investigation. The matter 
 at issue " comes home to their business and bosoms ; " 
 it may deeply affect their own interests, and will not 
 pass unnoticed by their constituents ; among whom the 
 question will be again discussed, and the Committee- 
 men will in conversation have to defend the opinions they 
 have officially expressed. Thus every argument is well 
 canvassed in their minds, and the ideas remain under 
 consideration for a sufficient time to become permanently 
 fixed in their remembrance. 
 
 The power of public speaking is also in some degree 
 acquired, and, we hope, without the countervailing evils 
 which have been so justly deprecated. The great defect 
 of all artificial methods of learning the art of debating 
 is, that it is seldom of any real importance to either 
 speaker or hearer, on which side the question under dis- 
 cussion is determined ; consequently, the speaker is more 
 anxious to display his own talents, than to convince the 
 audience ; which, on its part, wishes rather for amuse- 
 ment than instruction, or seeks the latter only by watch- 
 ing the conduct of this mental fencing-match, in order to 
 learn the most skilful manner of handling the foils. 
 Every one who addresses the company assembled, feels 
 that he shall be more applauded for agreeably wander- 
 ing, than for pointing out and following the best and 
 straightest road. In short, discussion, instead of being
 
 224 APPENDIX. 
 
 a means employed to gain an object, is the end itself. 
 The orator, if such a name is to be so degraded, rises 
 not to gain the votes of his hearers, but to make them 
 laugh and clap their hands ; and, as this is most easily 
 done by advancing smart sophisms, and uttering well-de- 
 livered absurdities with mock solemnity, we may readily 
 conceive how little the powers of investigation can be 
 exercised and improved by such practice as that of 
 spouting clubs and debating societies. No doubt there 
 are many exceptions to these remarks, but the vice we 
 complain of is, we fear, inherent in some degree in the 
 nature of the institutions, although by care in the choice 
 of members, and the selection of an audience, it may, in 
 a great measure, be counteracted. 
 
 We must not forget to state the advantages en- 
 joyed by the Teacher's attendance on the sittings of our 
 Committees. He becomes most intimately acquainted 
 with the minds of his pupils. He sees their difficul- 
 ties and their errors in a strong light, and is placed in a 
 situation for addressing himself more completely to the 
 state of their wants than he could be, unless they were 
 thus induced, and almost compelled, to disclose all the 
 workings of tlje mental machine. In general, nearly 
 every person who knows a boy at all, has an opportunity 
 of becoming better acquainted with him than his instruc- 
 tor. No wonder, considering the many painful sensations 
 which the latter, in his various offices of accuser, wit- 
 ness, judge, and executioner, is compelled to excite. We 
 are happily relieved from these difficulties, but we still 
 seize with avidity every means by which our pupils may 
 be induced to develope their minds to our view, feeling 
 that our acquaintance with their springs of thought and 
 action can never be too accurate and complete. The
 
 GYMNASTIC SOCIETY. 225 
 
 votes at the conclusion of the debate show us the mea- 
 sure of our success. Every influence, except that of 
 mind, is, we trust, out of the question : we do not 
 always carry a majority with us ; and this fact gives us 
 hope, that when we do, a sincere effect has been wrought 
 on the convictions of the boys. 
 
 To conclude, we must in candour acknowledge, that 
 we search more industriously for arguments and illustra- 
 tions to support our opinions, than we should or could 
 do, under other circumstances. The effect on the mind 
 of the Master is not a bad test of any method of 
 education. 
 
 THE GYMNASTIC SOCIETY.* 
 
 THE following account of the erection of a Tool- 
 house is extracted from the " School Records," a register 
 containing accounts of the most remarkable occurrences 
 in the school, which is drawn up under the direction of 
 the school-committee. 
 
 " ERECTION OF THE TOOL-HOUSE. 
 
 11 The Committee of the Gymnastic Society having recom- 
 mended the erection of a building for the reception of a set 
 of carpenters' tools which they intended to purchase, and 
 ******* having kindly offered to find the materials, it 
 was agreed that a building for this purpose should be 
 erected, and * * * * J and some others, at the request 
 of the Committee, made out a set of plans, which were 
 
 See Chap. II. p. 56. 
 
 f The conductors of the school. 
 
 t One of the boys. . 
 
 Q
 
 226 APPENDIX. 
 
 approved of, and preparations were made for commencing 
 the erection. 
 
 " Accordingly, on the 6th of August, 1821, the boys 
 having obtained a half-holiday for the purpose, the ceremony 
 of laying the first stone took place. The soil having been 
 removed for the foundations, a stone was procured, and 
 seats were arranged about the place for the accommodation 
 of spectators. The boys then assembled on the play-ground, 
 from which they marched in procession to the court, accom- 
 panied by the band. The stone was laid by Messrs. * * * 
 the Judge, and * * *, the Magistrate, and under it were 
 placed in a tin box a specimen of each kind of penal marks ;* 
 also a writing, stating the date of the ceremony, and the 
 purpose for which the building was intended. The ceremony 
 concluded by the band striking up " God save the King." 
 
 u Most of the boys performed some part or other towards 
 the completion of the building, but * * *, who, on 
 account of a weakness in his eyes, was not allowed to engage 
 in his usual employments, undertook to execute the chief 
 part of the work. 
 
 " By about the latter end of October the tool-house was 
 completed, no workman having been employed either in the 
 masonry, carpentery, slating, glazing, or painting ; or, indeed^ 
 in any part of the erection whatever. 
 
 " The whole cost of the building was about ten pounds." 
 
 (( During the erection of the tool-house, the Committee 
 purchased a set of carpenters' tools for ten pounds, for the 
 use of the members of the Gymnastic Society." 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that though this tool-house was 
 literally erected without the assistance of any workman, 
 yet a stranger would not at first sight be struck with any 
 distinction between this and the other erections about it, 
 lately constructed by professional builders. 
 
 VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION OF POWER. It has 
 before been stated,+ that the boys do not exhibit that 
 ardent wish to possess power and influence which might 
 
 i 
 
 * See Chap. II. 
 f Chap. III.
 
 RESIGNATION OF POWER. 22? 
 
 be expected. A remarkable circumstance in corrobora- 
 tion of that statement occurred very lately. 
 
 Heretofore, when any boy was accused of disrespectful 
 behaviour to a Teacher, the case was examined by the 
 Sub-Committee, which consists of the Judge and Magis- 
 trate for the time being. These two boys determined the 
 fine to be paid, their decision being subject, as all their 
 acts are, to the veto of the Head Master, and open to an 
 appeal from them to the General Committee. They had 
 also the power of directing that the individual should take 
 his trial before the Court of Justice ; but this was only to 
 be done in extreme cases, and an instance never occurred 
 of the power being used. It sometimes happened that the 
 penalties enforced by this body were not such as to satisfy 
 the Teachers. We believe that the members of the Sub- 
 Committee had every wish to do justice between the 
 parties, but cases of this description appear to be pecu- 
 liarly difficult. Whether an individual be respectful or 
 not in his behaviour will depend very much on his looks, 
 the tone of his voice, and other nice distinctions, which 
 demands considerable skill to extract from the witnesses ; 
 and even supposing the Judges to be acquainted with all 
 the facts, to estimate them correctly requires an experience 
 which boys cannot be expected to possess. It is neces- 
 sary, in short, that they should conceive themselves exactly 
 in the situation of the individual offended, and from 
 doing this they are obviously disqualified by the disparity 
 in age. 
 
 The Sub-Committee appeared to be aware of these 
 objections ; and, at their own request, the power of de- 
 ciding upon cases of the above description was transferred 
 to the Teachers themselves. This alteration was made 
 by the General Committee on the 10th of December, 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 APPENDIX. 
 
 1821, by the passing of the following Resolutions, which 
 were introduced by the Judge : 
 
 11 On the report of the Sub-Committee, that it was their 
 wish that the duty of punishing disrespectful behaviour to 
 the Teachers should be placed in other hands, 
 
 " Resolved, That it appears desirable to the General 
 Committee, that this power should, for several reasons, be 
 placed in the hands of the Teachers themselves. 
 
 " Resolved, also, That the law on this subject already in 
 force be repealed, and that the following be substituted : 
 
 " The penalty for this offence shall be from fifty to two 
 hundred penal marks, and when any boy is charged by a 
 Teacher with disrespectful behaviour towards him, such boy 
 shall, within six hours after the charge shall have been made, 
 request any two Teachers he may choose, to act as arbitrators 
 in the affair, and the power of punishing the offender shall lie 
 with them alone. If such nomination should not be made 
 within the appointed time, the power of selecting the arbi- 
 trators shall be with the Teacher against whom the offence is 
 committed. Either party may appeal against the decision of 
 the arbitrators to the Conference of Teachers,* giving the 
 
 * This is a weekly meeting which the Teachers hold for the 
 purpose of making such arrangements respecting the conduct of the 
 school as fall within their province. Here the observations which 
 each Teacher has made in the course of the week, on the advantages 
 or defects of different plans, are laid before the body : improvements 
 are suggested and canvassed, and the great principles of Education, 
 as the course of debate brings them under view, are developed and 
 thoroughly discussed. In addition to the advantages which we 
 draw from thus, at stated times, examining the affairs of the esta- 
 blishment, the younger members regard this meeting as furnishing 
 them with a valuable opportunity of learning the science of then: 
 profession. Then- daily practice in the business of instruction 
 affords them the means of accurately observing facts, while the 
 inferences which they are assisted in drawing by the remarks of 
 their elder colleagues, enable them to correct their opinions, and 
 arrange their ideas in a systematic form.
 
 REGULARITY OF ATTENDANCE. 229 
 
 same notices as are required in case of an appeal to the 
 Committee. 
 
 " The decision of the Conference shall be final. 
 
 " The arbitrators, or, in case of an appeal, the Conference, 
 shall hare the power, in an instance of gross disrespect, to 
 commit the offender for trial before the Court of Justice." 
 
 REGULARITY OF ATTENDANCE^ From our mode 
 of ascertaining and recording the absentees from the 
 general musters, which take place]three times in each day 
 on the boys coming into the school-room, it will be seen 
 that, in order to be regularly punctual, great care and 
 precision are necessary on the part of the boys, as the 
 moment the bell ceases to ring, the doors are closed, and 
 no one is allowed to enter until after the muster. Notwith- 
 standing the difficulty of the task, three boys were present 
 at all the musters between Midsummer and Christmas, 
 1821 ; neither illness, engagements with their friends, 
 nor any other cause whatever, having prevented their 
 uniform punctuality. This good example has had its 
 effect on others, as there are many boys whose punctu- 
 ality, as regards the present half-year, has been hitherto 
 uninterrupted. 
 
 ATTENDANCE AT THE SCHOOL AFTER THE VA- 
 CATIONS. In order that the business of the school may 
 recommence without delay, it is a great object with us, 
 that the first muster after each vacation should be as 
 numerously attended as possible. To accomplish this, 
 the rank of each boy for the first week is made to depend 
 upon the time of his arrival at the school ; and as a further 
 
 
 
 inducement, certain rewards of penal marks are given to 
 those who are present at the first muster. So effective 
 
 f Chap. II. p. 32.
 
 230) APPENDIX. 
 
 are these regulations, that after the last vacation (Christ- 
 mas 1821-2), nearly a half of the whole number of 
 boarders slept in the house the night before the school 
 opened, in order to be ready for the first muster, which 
 was appointed for ten o'clock the next morning, when 
 they were joined by many of their companions. This 
 attendance, we have reason to believe, was in every in- 
 stance voluntary on the part of the boys. 
 
 MENTAL ARITHMETIC. The following questions, 
 with their answers, are extracted from the minutes of the 
 public Exhibitions. It can hardly be necessary to ob- 
 serve, that the rehearsals, which are so numerous with 
 respect to the recitations, have no place in this depart- 
 ment. Moreover the audience is always requested to 
 propound any questions which may occur to their minds. 
 
 Q. What is the value of 18,421 articles at 13s. 4d. each? 
 
 A. jg!2,280. 13s. 4d. 
 
 Q. What is the value of 25,231 articles at 16s; 8d. each ? 
 
 A. ^21,025. 16s. 8d. 
 
 Q. Tell the discount on ^864. 6s. 8d. at 15 per cent. 
 
 A. Jgl29. 13s. 
 
 Q. What is the square of 952 ? 
 
 A. 906,304. 
 
 Q. What is the square of 54| ? 
 
 A. 2,943 and l-16th. 
 
 Q. What is the depth of a well down which a stone is 
 3 seconds in falling ? 
 
 A. 196 feet. 
 
 Q. What will be the moon's age on the 16th of June, 
 1846? 
 
 A. 23 days. 
 
 Q. The planet Vesta was discovered by Dr. Olbers on 
 the 29th of March, 1807 ; on what day of the week was 
 .that? 
 
 A. On Sunday. 
 
 Q. On what day will Easter Sunday fall in the year 1827? 
 
 A. On April 15th.
 
 MENTAL ARITHMETIC. 231 
 
 Q. If I see a flash of lightning, and five seconds after- 
 wards hear the thunder, how far am I from the thunder- 
 cloud ? 
 
 A. 5,710 feet, or 1,903 yards 1 foot. 
 Q. A rectangular garden, of which the breadth is two- 
 thirds of the length, contains in area 661 J square yards; 
 what are the length and breadth respectively ? 
 
 A. The length is 31j yards, and the breadth 21 yards. 
 Q. What was the time of high water at London bridge on 
 the 17th of September, 1820 ? 
 A. Ten o'clock. 
 
 Q. Supposing a poor country labourer to be able to earn 
 11s. per week, what sum has he to maintain his family with 
 during the year, if sickness should prevent his working one 
 week in that time ? 
 A. 28. Is. 
 
 Q. The personal expenses of the Roman Emperor Vitellius 
 amounted, in the course of four months, to a sum equal to 
 seven millions in our coinage. How long would so much 
 money support such a family as that of which we have just 
 spoken, taking its annual expenditure at 28 ? 
 A. 250,000 years. 
 
 Q. There are about 80,000 inhabitants in the town of 
 Birmingham, and, upon an average, about five individuals in 
 each family, how many families are there in Birmingham ? 
 A. 16,000. 
 
 Q. Supposing each family to spend, upon an average, 90 
 per annum, what is the annual expenditure of the whole town ? 
 A. 1,440,000. 
 
 Q. You have just informed us that, according to certain con- 
 jectures, the annual expenditure of the town of Birmingham 
 is 1,440,000. Call it 1,400,000; Then how long would 
 the sum of money expended by the epicure Vitellius in four 
 months maintain the whole town of Birmingham ? 
 A. Five years. 
 
 Q. There is an individual who takes on an average one 
 halfpenny worth of snuff per day ; he began this practice 
 when he was 30, and he is now 84 years of age ; what sum 
 of money has he wasted in snuff? 
 A. 48. 13s.4d. 
 
 Q. Gay Lusac rose in a balloon from Paris to the height 
 of four miles and three furlongs. What was the distance of 
 his horizon when looking towards the sea ? 
 A. A little more than 187 miles. 
 Q. The height of the Lunar Mountain, observed by Ric-
 
 232 APPENDIX. 
 
 cioli, and called by that astronomer Mount St. Catharine, is 
 (he tells us) nine miles. Supposing the moon to be inhabited, 
 how far along the level surface are the lunarians able to see 
 from the top of this eminence, the diameter of the moon being 
 2200 miles ? 
 
 A. Nearly 141 miles. 
 
 Q. The diameter of the dome of the church of the 
 Invalids at Paris is about 80 English feet, what is its circum- 
 ference ? 
 
 A. 251 feet and 3-7ths. 
 
 Q. Call the circumference 251 feet, and suppose the dome 
 to be a perfect hemisphere, what is the superficial content in 
 square feet ? 
 
 A. 10,040 square feet. 
 
 Q. This dome is covered with gilt, what would be the 
 expense of gilding it, at 8s. per square foot ? 
 
 A. 4,016. 
 
 Q. Suppose it is 10 minutes past 1 P.M. at Quebec in lon- 
 gitude 71 deg. 10 min. west, what time is it at Rome in lon- 
 gitude 12 deg. 29 min. east ? 
 
 A. 44 min. 36 sec. past 6 P.M. 
 
 Give the double of 21 as high as you can. 
 
 This was carried as high as 352,321,536 (the 24th double). 
 
 VOLUNTARY EFFORTS TO OBTAIN RANK. It has 
 been stated in chapter II.* that subjects for volun- 
 tary competition are occasionally offered, which affect the 
 aggregate rank of the boys, and consequently the distri- 
 bution of the prizes at the end of the half-year. At least 
 one subject of this description is proposed in the course 
 of each week ; consequently the time for preparation is 
 but short. The boys were lately invited to give in 
 solutions of three geometrical problems devised for the 
 occasion. The boy to whom the first place was given 
 is fifteen years of age ; his paper was delivered in on the 
 fifth day after the subjects for competition were made 
 known, and, in the mean time, he had faithfully gone 
 
 * Page 23.
 
 VOLUNTARY EFFORTS. 233 
 
 through all the ordinary routine of lessons. We are 
 fully assured that he did not receive the least assistance 
 from any individual, and that he had not access to any 
 geometrical work except the Elements of Euclid. 
 
 The following is a copy of the boy's solutions. It 
 will be observed, that he has added the demonstrations, 
 though they were not required. 
 
 PROBLEM I. 
 
 " A point and an indefinite straight line being both given 
 to describe a circle that shall touch the line, and centre in 
 the point." 
 
 Let A be the given point, and B C the given indefinite 
 straight line. It is required from the point A, as a centre, 
 to describe a circle which shall touch the given indefinite 
 straight line B C. 
 
 From the point A, let fall A D perpendicular (1) to B C ; 
 and from the point A, as a centre from the distance A D, de- 
 scribe (2) the circle D F R, which circle shall touch the line 
 BC in the point D. 
 Let DA be pro- 
 duced (3) towards A, 
 till it meets the circle 
 in the point Z ; then 
 DZ is the diameter(4) 
 of the circle DFZR; 
 and because it is the 
 diameter, and that 
 from its extremity D, 
 a straight line BC is 
 drawn perpendicular 
 to it, B C touches the circle (5) in the point D ; and the 
 circle centres in the given point A : wherefore a point and an 
 indefinite straight line being both given, a circle has been 
 described, which centres in the point, and touches the given 
 straight line, which was to be done. 
 
 (1) Prop. xii. book 1. (2) 3d postulate. (3) 2d pos- 
 
 tulate. (4) 17th def. of Book I. (5) Cor. Prop. 16th, 
 
 Book III.
 
 234 APPENDIX. 
 
 PROBLEM II. 
 
 " Given two indefinite straight lines intersecting * each 
 other; also given a definite straight line, to describe a 
 circle that shall centre in one of these intersecting lines, touch 
 the other, and have its radius equal to the definite line." 
 
 Let A B and D C be the two indefinite straight lines 
 which intersect each other in the point R, and let the definite 
 straight line be Z. It is required to describe a circle that 
 shall centre in one of the intersecting lines, touch the other, 
 and have its radius equal to the definite line. 
 
 In D C, take any point V, and from that point draw V Y 
 perpendicular (1) to D C j and if VYbe not equal to Z, 
 cut off V T equal (2) to it, and through the point T draw T P 
 parallel (3) to D C ; and if T P do not meet A B in some 
 
 B 
 
 point P, let it be produced (4) till it does ; and through the 
 point P, draw P Q parallel (5) to T V, and let P Q meet D C 
 in some point Q ; then (6) V T P Q is a parallelogram, 
 and therefore Q P is equal to (7) VT ; but V T is equal 
 to (8) Z, therefore (9) Q P is equal to Z ; and because (10) 
 
 * Intersecting. This word, which occurs often in the course of 
 the solutions, was written intercepting. It may appear very remark- 
 able, that a boy who could produce a paper like this, and who is 
 also a good classic, should make so singular a mistake, but to those 
 who are best acquainted with young people, the circumstance will 
 appear least extraordinary. Some apology for the error is, that the 
 list of problems exhibited was written in short-hand. Excepting the 
 alteration of this word, the solutions are given here exactly as they 
 wre received from their author.
 
 GEOMETRICAL PROBLEMS. 235 
 
 the angle Q V T is a right angle, the parallelogram T Q 
 (11) is rectangular. At the point P as a centre, at the 
 distance P Q, describe the circle (12) QSH; then it 
 may proved, as in the first problem, that the circle 
 touches D C in Q ; and it has been proved, that the radius 
 P Q is equal to Z, and the point P, which is the centre of the 
 circle, is in A B : wherefore a circle has been described, 
 which centres in one of two intersecting indefinite straight 
 lines, touches the other, and has its radius equal to a given 
 definite straight line j which was to be done. 
 
 (1) Prop. 11, Book I. (2) Prop. 3, Book I. (3) Prop. 
 
 31, Book I. (4) 2d postulate. (5) Prop. 31, Book I. 
 
 (6) Definition of a parallelogram. (7) Prop. 34, Book I. 
 
 (8) By construction. (9) Axiom 1, Book I. (10) By 
 
 construction. (11) Corollary, 46th Prop. Book I. (12) 3d 
 
 postulate. 
 
 PROBLEM III. 
 
 " Given, as before, two indefinite straight lines intersecting 
 each other ; also given a definite straight line, to describe a 
 circle that shall touch both of these indefinite straight lines, 
 and have its radius equal to the definite line. 1 ' 
 
 Let the two indefinite straight lines A B and D C, intersect 
 each other in the point R, and let the definite straight line be 
 
 D 
 
 Z. It is required to describe a circle which shall touch both 
 of these indefinite straight lines, and have its radius equal to 
 the definite straight line.
 
 236 APPENDIX. 
 
 r In A B take any point Y, and from the point Y draw YP 
 at right angles (1) to A B, Next in D C take any point Q, 
 and from the point Q draw Q F at right (1) angles to D C ; 
 from Q F cut off Q O (2), and from Y P cut off Y K, each 
 equal to Z, and through the point 0, draw O S (3) parallel 
 to D C, and through K draw K S (3) parallel to A B, and 
 through the point S, where these straight lines cut one 
 another, draw S M and S N respectively parallel (3) to O Q 
 and Y K,* and from the point (4) S as a centre, at the dis- 
 tance S M, describe a circle M L N : then that circle touches 
 both A B and D C, and has its radius equal to Z. For it 
 may be proved, as in the second problem, that S M is equal 
 to Z, and that each of the angles at M and N is a right angle ; 
 and the straight line which (5) is drawn perpendicular to the 
 diameter of a circle touches the circle : wherefore A B and 
 D C touch the circle, and its radius is equal to Z. Where- 
 fore " a circle has been described," &c. which was to be 
 done. 
 
 (1) Prop. 11, Book I. (2) Prop. 3, Book I. (3) Prop. 
 
 31, Book I. (4) 3d Postulate. (5) Corollary, Prop. 16, 
 
 Book III. 
 
 This last problem might be worked more easily by 
 first bisecting the angle B R C, and then proceeding by 
 means of the second problem. The above solution is, 
 however, strictly legitimate. In the demonstrations 
 there are some omissions ; as, for instance, it should 
 have been proved in the second problem, that T P, if 
 produced, would meet A B ; and in the third problem, 
 that O L and K S, when produced, would meet each 
 other. Also in the last problem, before describing the 
 circle, it should have been shown that S M is equal to 
 S N. We cannot, however, be surprised at these er- 
 rors, when we recollect that the work on geometry in 
 most extensive use in schools the Elements of Euclid, 
 
 * These letters are, by mistake, placed in the wrong order. 
 S M and S N are drawn respectively parallel to O Q and Y K.
 
 VOLUNTEER CLASS. 23? 
 
 by Dr. Simson, abounds in omissions of the same 
 kind. 
 
 VOLUNTEER CLASS. It was our wish a short time 
 ago to form a class to study Greek, in addition to those 
 already in being. 
 
 As the school-hours were already fully occupied with 
 other exercises which could not be interrupted, it was 
 found necessary that the time devoted to this new class 
 should be subtracted from the leisure hours of the mem- 
 bers. For this and other reasons, it was determined 
 that, with the exception of two individuals who began 
 Greek in accordance with the wishes of their friends, the 
 class should be filled by volunteers. Accordingly, atone 
 of the general musters, the boys were informed that 
 there was now an opportunity for those who desired it 
 to commence the study of Greek ; at the same time it 
 was stated, that the class would take up a quarter of 
 an hour in each day, and that the business of this class, 
 instead of being substituted for a task of another 
 kind, would be exactly so much additional labour to 
 those who joined it. They knew that they should be 
 subject to the usual fines for irregularity in attending the 
 class, and for negligence in its proceedings; and that 
 no inducement might influence them but the love of 
 knowledge, they were told, that at the next weekly 
 arrangement of the school, when the upper places were 
 to be given for superiority in Greek, they would not be 
 advanced by their having thus recently joined the Greek 
 classes, but would take their rank merely according to 
 their proficiency in Latin, by which the lower places on 
 the list are determined ; consequently, that they must
 
 238 APPENDIX. 
 
 wait for a second arrangement of this kind (more than six 
 months), before their efforts would gain them any in- 
 crease of rank. 
 
 When all the circumstances had been stated by one of 
 the Teachers, he desired that those boys who still felt 
 inclined to join the class would hold up their hands, and 
 seventeen immediately offered themselves. As this was 
 a much larger number than there was any immediate 
 provision for occupying advantageously, many, apparently 
 to their great regret, were obliged to wait for a future 
 opportunity. 
 
 This is the third time a class has been raised for the 
 same purpose, and in the same way. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 PRINTED AT THE WINDSOR PRESS, BY C. KNIGHT.
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF
 
 LC 
 
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