ased in similar establishments in this country. They entire population is at school, which is a higher proconsist of geographical, biographical, and historical portion than what attends the schools in Scotland. works, and elementary treatises on moral science, Mr. Loudon, the talented editor of the "Gardener's natural history, and the principles and practice of Magazine," who travelled over most parts of Wirthe most important and useful arts. In all the large temberg, Bavaria and Baden, in 1828, bears the schools, the boys and girls are kept separate. The most unqualified testimony to the excellence and girls, in addition to reading, writing and arith-efficiency of the system of public instruction adoptmetic, are taught all sorts of needlework, the knit- ed in these countries, and the beneficial effects which ting of stockings, the making of clothes, &c.; re- have resulted from its operation. "From what I ceiving at the same time lessons in the art of cook- have seen," says he, "of Wirtemberg, I am inclined ery, the management of children, and other depart-to regard it as one of the most civilized countries in ments of domestic employment. The supervision Europe. I am convinced that the great object of of the schools is entrusted, in every parish or com- government is more perfectly attained here, than mune, to a committee, consisting of a few of the even in Great Britain; because, with an almost principal inhabitants; the clergy of the parish, whe- equal degree of individual liberty, there are incomther Protestants or Catholics, being always ex officio parably fewer crimes, as well as far less poverty members of the committee. This body is intrusted and misery. Every individual in Wirtemberg reads with the duty of inspecting the school, and is bound and thinks; and to satisfy one's self that this is the to see that the master performs his duty, and that case, he has only to enter into conversation with the the children attend. No particular system of reli- first peasant he meets, to observe the number and gion is allowed to be taught in any of the schools of style of the journals that are every where circulated, Wirtemberg, and most of the other Germanic States. and the multitude of libraries in the towns and vilThe tuition of this important branch is left entirely lages. I did not meet with a single beggar in Wirto the clergy and the parents of the children, so that temberg, and with only one or two in Bavaria and the sons and daughters of Catholics, Lutherans, Baden. The dress of the inhabitants of WirtemCalvinists, Quakers, &c., frequent the schools, and berg, as well as those of a great part of Bavaria and live in the utmost harmony. Baden, appeared to me to indicate a greater degree of comfort than I had ever observed in any other country, with the exception, perhaps, of Sweden, and the lowlands of Scotland." The above sketches were written two or three The greatest desire prevails among the lower classes that their children should enjoy the advantages of the excellent education provided for them; but the government, not trusting entirely to this feeling, has enacted regulations by which every in-years ago. Since that time, M. Victor Cousin's dividual is compelled to send his children to school, from the age of six to fourteen years. The public functionaries transmit regularly to government, once every six months, a list of the children in their respective districts who have attained their sixth year; and they are bound to see that they are sent to school. In the event of the parents being unable to pay the school fees, a statement to that effect is prepared by the parochial authorities, and the fees are paid by the public. Report of the state of Public Instruction," has been published, and translated into English by Mrs. Austin. This Report, which fills nearly 340 pages, contains a very full, but rather dry detail, of the whole machinery of education in Prussia. From this document it appears that, in 1831, there were 22,612 schools, and 27,749 schoolmasters and mistressesthat the total number of children under fourteen years of age was 4,767,072; the number between seven and fourteen years, 2,043,030, out of which, the number of children attending school was 2,021,421, or nearly a sixth part of the whole population, which is estimated at about twelve and a half millions. It does not appear, from this report, that infant schools are established in Prussia, or any institutions for the instruction of young persons from the age of fourteen to twenty, or upwards; nor can we learn, from any thing stated in it, that an intellectual principle is uniformly acted upon in the details of education. The system presents too much of a military spirit and character, throughout all its departments, corresponding to the nature of a despotic government; and it would require a very considerable modification before it could, with propriety, be adopted in a republic or a limited monarchy. Many deficiencies in the system likewise require to be supplied. Yet, notwithstanding all its defects, it has already produced a benign influence on the knowledge and moral conduct of the inhabitants of that country; and, in a short time, if Britain does not immediately bestir herself in the cause of education, the Prussian population will be among the most enlightened inhabitants of Europe. In Bavaria, the beneficial consequences resulting from the establishment of a system of national education, have been more apparent than in any other European country. Half a century ago, the Bavarians were the most ignorant, debauched and slovenly people between the Gulf of Genoa and the Baltic; but, during the last thirty years, no people has ever made a more rapid advancement than they have done, in the career of knowledge and of civilization. The late and present kings of Bavaria have not only swept away myriads of abuses, and established a representative system of government, but they have laid the only sure foundations of permanent and real improvement, in the organization of an admirable system of national education. A school has been established in every parish, to which every one is obliged to send his children, from the age of six to fourteen; Lyceums, Colleges and Universities, have also been instituted, for the use of those who are desirous of prosecuting their studies; and every facility is afforded for the acquisition of the best instruction, at the lowest price. The following is a summary view of the principal seminaries in this country:-Three universities, seven ly- France.-Notwithstanding the numerous scienticeums, eighteen gymnasia, twenty-one colleges, fic characters which have appeared in this country, thirty-five preparatory schools, sixteen houses of and the discoveries and improvements they have education, seven for higher branches, two boarding made in the physical and mathematical sciencesschools for girls, seven normal schools, one school the provision for public instruction, particularly in for foreigners, two schools of law, two veterinary the southern departments, is very defective. The schools, two schools of midwifery, and two royal Revolution of 1789 annihilated almost every existschools. The public, or national schools, amount ing institution, and those for public instruction to 5394, the inspectors to 286; the teachers to 7114, among the rest. For a period of nearly five years, and the pupils, of all classes, to about 498,000; and a whole nation of thirty millions of people remainsince the population of Bavaria is about four mil-ed without any regular education. It was, indeed, lions, it follows, that not less than one-eighth of the enacted by a law of the 13th September, 1791, That a system of public instruction should be or- ments for the diffusion of the first rudiments of ganized; that the public schools should be open to knowledge. The lower classes seldom learn to read every one; and that no fees should be charged for or write; those above them are as seldom instructed the elementary branches." But, amidst the commo- in any thing but those two accomplishments, and tions and demoralizing scenes of that period, this the elements of arithmetic. Such as are intended law, like many others, was never carried into effect; for the learned professions attend a Latin school for and, at this moment, France, with the exception of three or four years; and since the expulsion of the Spain and Portugal, is worse provided with the Jesuits, these schools are not numerous. Some primeans of elementary instruction, than any other vate establishments, for the instruction of the boys countries in Europe. In the "Bulletin des Sciences in Latin, were rising at the time of the French inGeographiques," vol. xiv. for 1828, it is stated, that vasion, and a desire of improvement in the method "in France, the number of children of an age to of teaching was showing itself among the teachfrequent primary schools is nearly 6,000,000. Of ers." When we consider that the education of this number scarcely a million and a half receive youth in this country is committed chiefly to monks, instruction." Thus, without adverting to the cir- we may rest satisfied, that, in general, its plan and cumstance of ten millions of adults who can neither objects are very limited and defective. Nor is the read nor write, according to a recent calculation-system much improved, when the student proceeds there are four millions and a half of young French- to the university. He is there taught little else but men, who do not receive even the first rudiments the logic and natural philosophy of Aristotle, and of education. The children at school, in the thirty- the theology of Thomas Aquinas. If a Spaniard, two departments of the north, are reckoned at therefore, attain to any thing like true knowledge, 740,846; and in the fifty-four departments of the he must either leave his country in the search, or south, only 375,931, which is little more than one-teach himself in the best way his fancy may devise. thirtieth of the population. In Paris there are to The same remarks, with a slight modification, will be distinguished two populations, the population apply to the neighboring kingdom of Portugal, where already enlightened, which comprehends, at most, Papal superstition and tyrranny exist in all their about 100,000 souls; and the population which still fulness and rigor. As the numerous swarms of remains to be enlightened, which amounts to nearly priests, monks and friars, that infest this country, 800,000. Societies and individuals at Paris and are almost universally ignorant, and not unfreother populous towns, exerted themselves to supply quently vicious,-as they are bigoted in the extreme so great a want; but their efforts being openly op- to the established religion and its childish ceremoposed by the clergy, and secretly by the late govern- nials, and as the general diffusion of knowledge ment, were not so successful as they might otherwise would strike at the foundation of their ecclesiastical have been. Schools, upon the Lancasterian plan, system,-it cannot be supposed that they will show were introduced by the government at Paris, and much zeal either in making their scholars liberal other large towns; but the benefits of the system and intelligent, or in enlarging and improving the were extended only to professed Catholics;-none general system of instruction. Several generations but Catholic teachers were employed, and the Pro- must elapse, and numerous and important changes testants were left to educate their children the best be effected, before we can expect that the great body way they could. In consequence of this deficiency of the Spaniards and Portuguese can become enof instruction, ignorance and superstition, irreligion lightened and moralized. and immorality, prevail over a large portion of the kingdom, even amidst the light of literature and science with which they are surrounded; and a considerable period must elapse before the mental darkness can be dispelled, and the moral mischief it has produced be completely eradicated. It is to be hoped, now that the influence of the Catholic priests has been diminished, and liberal measures of policy introduced, that a more extensive system of elementary instruction will be established; and we are happy to understand that the attention of the Government of Louis Philip has been directed to this object, and that measures have been brought forward in order to its accomplishment. In the year 1831, M. V. Cousin was sent as a deputation to Prussia from the government of France to acquire a knowledge of the details and regulations connected with the Prussian system of education. Since his return, numerous schools have been established on the principles of the Prussian system, and there is now a prospect, that, in the course of a few years, an efficient system of education will be established in that country.-According to the latest statistical accounts, the number of children who are learning to read now amounts to 2,000,000; the number of primary elementary schools is 35,007; of superior primary schools, 370; of private schools, 9092: total, 44,269. The number of boys attending these schools is, 1,175,248: and of girls, 731,773. The total expense of primary instruction is 10,162,706 francs, or about £423,446. Of this expense there is paid by the Communes, 7,693,793 fr.; by the Departments, 2,063,072fr.; and by the State, 405,841 fr.; or about £16,910-a very paltry sum when compared with the magnitude and importance of the object. Spain." In this country there are few establish Russia. It is only of late years that the attention of the Russian government has been directed to the promotion of education throughout that extensive empire; and several ages will be requisite, before its half-civilized inhabitants be raised from the state of mental debasement in which they have been so long immersed. During the reign of the late emperor Alexander, Lancasterian schools and other seminaries were established in different parts of European Russia, and Bible societies, for distributing the Scriptures among the lower orders, were patronized by the Emperor, Prince Gallitzin, the archbishops, and other distinguished characters. It appears that in the beginning of 1830, the emperor Nicholas gave his sanction to certain regulations, providing for the establishment of primary schools in the several villages appertaining to the crown. The object of these seminaries is to diffuse useful knowledge among the peasantry, and to furnish the villages with individuals who may act as writers. Gratuitous instruction is to be afforded in these schools to youths of not less than eight years of age, in the catechism, reading books and written documents, writing, and the first four operations of arithmetic. The lessons are to open after their return from labor, and to continue until it be resumed; with the exception of Sundays and festivals, they are to occupy four hours a-day. Permission is, however, given to the teacher to assemble his pupils for the purpose of repeating their lessons, even whilst they are working in the fields; but this cannot take place without the consent of the villagers. The expenses of these schools are to be defrayed out of the territorial income of the villages, and the * Quarterly Journal of Education, vol. i. first essays are intended to be made in the govern- | neither of these objects is education to be exclusively ments of St. Petersburg and Pscov. confined. It consists of a comprehensive and harmonious combination of them all, including every mean and every mode of improvement by which intelligent beings may be trained to knowledge and virtue-qualified for acting an honorable and respectable part on the theatre of this world, and prepared for that immortal existence to which they are destined. Switzerland. This country, remarkable for the sublimity of its mountain scenery, the fertility of its vales, and the beauty of its expansive lakes,-is no less remarkable for the means of education it possesses, and the consequent intelligence and moral order of its inhabitants. In this respect, it is scarcely inferior to the best educated countries in Europe. The proportion of the inhabitants undergoing the process of instruction is greater than that of either France, England or Scotland. In the Pays de Vaud, this proportion amounts to one-eighth of the population, which is more than the average of the other countries of Europe, where systems of instruction have been established; so that the inhabitants of this district of Switzerland, have generally been considered by travellers as the most intelligent and the best educated among the European nations. The celebrated school of Pestalozzi at Yverdun, in the Pays de Vaud, has been visited and celebrated by every traveller. This was among the first seminaries in which the intellectual system was introduced, in which the rationale of every subject taught is explained and illustrated, and the intellectual faculties stimulated and brought into exercise. It embraces also the plan of mutual instruction, as exemplified in the schools of Bell and Lancaster. The establishment of the School of Industry of M. Fellenberg at Hofwyl, in the Canton of Berne, has also been deservedly celebrated. The object of this seminary is to combine scholastic education with industrious habits, and a knowledge of the best manner of performing mechanical and agricultural operations. Although, at Hofwyl, the principles and practice of Agriculture are the chief objects of attention, yet the general principles of the institution and the mode of instruction might, in towns, be successfully applied to mechanical operations and manufacturing processes of every description. It has given a great impulse to education throughout the country, and has produced some very eminent scholars. Not only the lower classes, but pupils of the highest rank come to this seminary, from Germany, France, England, and other parts of Europe. In most of the cantons, education is a matter of state, persons of the greatest respectability are engaged in the business of instruction, and the arrangements of the system of tuition are under the immediate direction and protection of the government. CHAPTER II. It is deeply to be regretted, that, up to the present hour, with a very few exceptions-in an age deemed liberal and enlightened-the system on which education has generally been conducted is repug nant to the dictates of reason, inefficient for enlightening and meliorating the human mind, and is little short of an insult offered to the understandings of the young. While almost every initiatory book has for its motto, and every teacher can readily repeat the following lines of Thomson,— "Delightful task! to rear the tender thought And pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind." the great objects which education ought to promote have been miserably neglected. A farrago of words has been substituted in the place of things; the elements of language have been preferred to the elements of thought; the key of knowledge has been exhibited instead of knowledge itself; and the youthful mind, at the termination of the common process of instruction, is almost as destitute of ideas as at its commencement. At that period of life when the minds of the young are beginning to expandwhen they ardently thirst after novelty and variety when they are alive to the beauties and sublimities of nature, and listen with delight to the descriptions of other countries, and the tales of other times instead of being gratified with the exhibition of all that is interesting in the scenes of creation and the history of man-they are set down in a corner to plod over unknown characters and strange sounds no pleasing objects are exhibited to inspire them with delight-their memories are burdened, and even tortured, while their understandings are neglected; and, after many painful efforts, intermingled with cries and tears, while the detested lash is hanging over their heads, they are enabled to repeat, like a number of puppets, their medley of grammar rules, their psalms, their hymns, their catechisms, and their speeches from the English and Roman classics, pouring out their words with a velocity like water bursting from a spout, without a single correct idea connected with their exercises, "understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they STRICTURES ON THE MODE IN WHICH EDUCATION HAS affirm."-Hence, it has too frequently happened, GENERALLY BEEN CONDUCTED. THERE are few subjects which have so frequently engaged the attention of the literary public as the instruction of the young; and yet there is no subject about which so many vague and erroneous notions * generally prevail. No term in our language has been more abused and misapplied than that of education. By the great majority of our countrymen it is considered as consisting merely in the acquisition of pronunciation, spelling, and grammar-of writing, casting accounts, and the knowledge of languages; and these acquisitions are considered of value chiefly as they prepare the individual for engaging in certain secular employments, and are instrumental in procuring his subsistence. By others it has been confined to the communication of the elements of thought, and the improvement of the intellect; and, by a comparatively small number, it has been regarded chiefly as the formation of character and the cultivation of moral habits. But, to that the school-room has been viewed as a prison, their teachers as a species of tyrants, and the scholastic exercises in which they engaged as repugnant to their natural vivacity, and subversive of their youthful pleasures. Hence they have frequently been driven to the village school, like sheep to the slaughter, and like criminals to a jail, or carried on the shoulders of their companions, amidst cries, and lamentations, and forebodings of punishment. In seminaries of a higher order than those to which I now allude, five or six years are generally spent in learning the declension of nouns, the conjugation of verbs, and the rules of syntax, and in acquiring a smattering of the Roman classics; while, at the close of this tedious, and to the pupil, revolting process, he retires from the seminary to the shop, the counting-house, or the university, nearly as ignorant of the common phenomena of nature, of the sublime discoveries of modern times, of the principles of the arts and sciences, and the laws of moral action, as if he had been born in Patagonia, or the centre of New Holland. If he has acquired any thing at all, which may be denominated knowledge, it consists chiefly in a jumble of notions about the squabbles of heathen gods and goddesses, detached fragments of Roman history, the Metamorphoses of Ovid, the fictions of Pagan mythology, and the revengeful encounters of destroying armies and ambitious despots. While his mind is familiar with the absurdities and impieties of ancient superstition and idolatry, he not unfrequently quits the scene of instruction as ignorant of the character and attributes of the true God, of the doctrines of the Christian religion, and of the tempers which it inculcates, as if he had been tutored in a Pagan land. Even in those seminaries which are devoted to the religious instruction of the young, the same absurd and inefficient system to which I have alluded is too frequently acted upon. Instead of exhibiting to the understandings of the young the character and perfections of the Deity, and the truths of Christianity, by familiar and popular illustrations deduced from the economy of nature, and the facts of revelation, a great proportion of their Sabbath-school exercises consists in repeating, with a disgusting flippancy and vociferation, their catechisms, psalms, paraphrases, hymns, and Scripture passages, assign ed them as tasks, and in listening to the crude expositions of certain abstract theological dogmas, to which they can attach no precise or well-defined notions, and which do not enter into the essence of the Christian system. In certain schools of this description, I have witnessed the attention of the children almost exclusively directed to the mere repetition of the shorter Catechism, and other compends of Divinity, and that, too, in a most inaccurate, irreverent, and vociferous manner, without a single attempt being made to convey any idea to the understanding of the nature of the truths repeated-while the catechumens seemed to be much gratified and relieved in having got their memories disburdened of the ungracious tasks imposed upon them. In other schools, where the teachers had acquired a smattering of systematic theology-after the memorial tasks were despatched-I have listened to a series of crude dissertations addressed to the young respecting the covenant of works and of grace, predestination, absolute and conditional decrees, faith, the Trinity, and similar topics, together with long-winded exhortations, occasionally intermingled with boisterous and unhallowed threats and denunciations, because the young did not yield a profound attention to such abstract speculations. Yet all this goes by the name of religious instruction; and, when it is found to produce little influence on the moral conduct of the young, the effect is attributed solely to the corruption of human nature, and to the withholding of the influences of Divine grace,-a sentiment which goes far to attribute to the "Only wise God" those effects which are produced by the folly and the injudicious schemes of men. As it is painful to exercise the memory to any extent on words unconnected with ideas, so it frequently happens, that a disrelish for religion and its services is induced, in consequence of the labor and drudgery with which they are thus associated. In these seminaries, too, the duties, of Christian morality are too frequently thrown into the shade. Christianity is not a mere theory, but a practical system; for all its historical details, its doctrines and precepts, its promises and threatenings, have an ultimate reference to the regulation of the temper and affections, the direction of the conduct, and to the general renovation of the moral powers of man, in order to his preparation for a higher state of moral and intellectual excellence. And, therefore, it ought to be one of the grand objects of religious instruction to cultivate the moral powers, to direct the temper and affections, and to show, by familiar illustrations taken from the scenes of active life, how the principles of Christianity ought to operate in all the diversified circumstances and relations of society. But, leaving this topic, in the meantime, let us attend a little more particularly to the range of instruction in our common initiatory schools. After a knowledge of the characters of the alphabet and of the principal elementary sounds is acquired, the scholar is led through a series of dry and uninteresting lessons and spelling exercises, in which his memory and his faculty of pronunciation are solely exercised. The New Testament is next put into his hand, and, after reading a portion of it with great difficulty and awkwardness, and before he is capable of reading one sentence with ease and accuracy, he is introduced to such books as "Barrie's Collection," and "Tyro's Guide," and "Scott's Beauties of Eminent Writers," in which there is scarcely one selection interesting to a youthful mind, or level to its comprehension. But this circumstance seems to be considered by many as a matter of no importance; for it is seldom or never that an attempt is made to convey to the minds of youth the ideas contained in the lessons they read and commit to memory. During these reading exercises, the Shorter Catechism is put into their hands, in order that its vocables may be committed to memory; and that, too, at so early a period, that they find the greatest difficulty in mastering the pronunciation of the long and technical terms with which it abounds. Through this ungracious task they struggle, with the greatest reluctance, and generally, too, without annexing a single idea to any of the answers they repeat. They are soon after, perhaps before they are seven years of age, introduced to the study of English Grammar; and, after feeling much apathy and not a little disgust at this abstract science, and experiencing many days and hours of ungrateful labor, they are able to repeat a few of its rules, definitions, and declensions. Like so many parrots, they can tell us by rote, what is a verb, an adverb, or a preposition, or that "conjunctions which imply contingency require the subjunctive mood," without understanding what they say, or annexing a clear idea to any of the rules or definitions they repeat. By turning over Scott's or Fulton's Dictionary, they learn that virtue is a noun, because ≈ is annexed to it-that, to write is a verb, because v is annexed to it-and that from is a preposition, because pre is annexed to it; but, beyond such reasons they seldom attempt to aspire; and after two or three years' training in such exercises, they know little more of the subject, or of the application of its rules to composition than when they first commenced.— The principal acquisition made, is a facility in finding out words in a dictionary, without any attention being paid to their meaning-an object which may easily be accomplished in a few days. The useful art of writing is next attempted to be taught; and, in most instances, a far greater degree of importance is attached to the acquirement of an "elegant text," or a "fine running hand," than to the cultivation of the moral and intellectual powers, and the acquisition of substantial knowledge. Arithmetic follows in the rear, and the scholar, after hurrying through its four fundamental rules, without any sensible illustrations of the different operations, is exercised in calculations respecting Tare and Tret, Interest and Annuities, the Square and Cube Root, Exchange, Discount and Equation of Payments, before he has the least knowledge of the nature of these transactions; and, consequently, like one walking in the dark, is unable to perceive the drift and tendency of most of his operations, or the foundation of the rules by which he calculates; and hence it happens that, when he actually engages in the business of real | of education is "to teach the young idea how to life, he has almost the whole of his arithmetical processes to study over again, and to re-investigate the foundations, objects and principles, of his operations, in their applications to the transactions in which he is engaged. shoot," it is almost the only object which is thrown into the shade; and those scholastic exercises which are only the means of education, are almost exclusively attended to as if they were the end. The young are thus treated as if they were only so many In fine, during the whole of the process now de- puppets, placed on a stage to exhibit a series of mescribed, the moral powers of the young are in a chanical movements, and as if they were not possessgreat measure overlooked, and the business of moral ed of the smallest portion of intellect, and were entuition shamefully neglected. To improve their tirely destitute of affections and passions. Yet, it is tempers and affections, and to bend them into that undeniable, from fact, that children, at a very early direction which will tend to promote their own hap-age, are capable of receiving a variety of ideas into piness and that of others, is considered as a matter their minds, and of exercising their reasoning of inferior moment, in which teachers are very lit-powers respecting them. Present an engraved landtle, if at all, interested. It forms, at least, no promi-scape to a boy of four or five years of age, especially nent object, in our schools, to meliorate the tempers as exhibited through the Optical Diagonal Machine, of the young, to counteract the principles of malice, where he will see every object, in its true perspecenvy, and revenge-to inspire them with kindness tive as it appears in nature he will at once rec and benevolence--and to train them to moral excel- nise and describe, in his own way, the houses, lence. On the contrary, the mode in which they are streets, the men, the women, the roads and carriages, treated has frequently a tendency to produce obsti- and the land and water of which it is composed, and nacy, dissimulation, superstition, pride, hatred, and express his opinion respecting them. Present welldisaffection. The spirit of unchristian emulation, executed engravings of a horse, a cow, a lion, an contention, and revenge, is indirectly fostered by the elephant, or a monkey, and he will soon learn to books they read, the discipline by which they are distinguish the one from the other, and will feel detrained, the amusements in which they indulge, the lighted with every new exhibition that is made to false maxims and Pagan sentiments which are in-him of the objects of nature or of art. And, thereterwoven through the whole course of their educa- fore, if sensible objects, level to his capacity and tion, and by the admiration which is attempted to range of thought, and with which he is in some be excited in their breasts of barbarous heroes and measure acquainted, were uniformly exhibited in the butchers of mankind. The active powers of the his first excursions in the path of learning, his pro young being thus allowed to take the natural bent gress in knowledge would nearly correspond to his of their depraved inclinations, selfishness, pride, advancement in the art of spelling and pronunciamalice, and other malignant passions, are allowed tion. The absurdity of neglecting the cultivation to spring up and flourish, without feeling the force of the understanding, in the dawn of life, and duof those salutary checks which might impede their ring the progress of scholastic instruction, however progress, or destroy them in the bud; and thus per- common it may be, is so obvious and glaring, that verse habits and dispositions are induced, which it scarcely requires a process of reasoning to show grow with their growth, and strengthen with their its irrationality, if we admit that the acquisition of strength," till at length they display themselves knowledge ought to be one of the great ends of eduwith diabolical energy in the scenes of domestic cation. What important purpose can be gained by life, and on the theatre of the political world, amidst a number of boys and girls spending a series of the contentions of communities and "the tumults of years, in pronouncing, like so many parrots, a numthe people." ber of articulate sounds, to which they annex no Such is the amount of the education which the corresponding ideas or impressions, and which cost great mass of our population receive prior to their them so much pain and anxiety to acquire? What entrance on the scene of active life. To affirm that is the use of the art of reading, if it be not made the it is attended by no beneficial effects, would be to fly medium by which knowledge and moral improvein the face of all observation and experience. It pre- ment may be communicated? And, if we neglect to pares the mind, in some measure, for certain avo- teach youth to apply this mean to its proper end, cations in civil society, and for the reception of while they are under regular tuition, how can we knowledge in after life, should it ever be exhibited reasonably expect, that they will afterwards apply it, in a more judicious and intelligent manner; and, in of their own accord, when a sufficient stimulus is some instances, when combined with judicious do- wanting? By neglecting to connect the acquisition mestic instruction, it will assist and direct the pupil, of useful information with the business of elementain the pursuit of knowledge and of mental enjoy-ry instruction, we place the young nearly in the same ments. But, considered by itself, as a system of culture for rational and immortal beings, in order to the developement of their moral and intellectual powers, and as a preparation for a higher state of existence, it is miserably deficient, both in the means which are employed, in the range of instruction, and in the objects which it is calculated to accomplish. To illustrate this position is the object of the following remarks. 1. In the first place, one glaring defect which runs through the whole system of initiatory instruction (except in very rare instances) is, that no altempt is made to convey ideas to the youthful mind, along with the elementary sounds of language and the art of pronunciation. Provided children can mouth the words, and vociferate with alacrity the different sentences contained in their lessons, it appears to be a matter of little importance in the eyes either of teachers or of parents, whether or not they appreciate the meaning of any one portion of the sentiments they read. Although the great object predicament as we ourselves should be placed, were we obliged, from day to day, to read and repeat long passages from the writings of Confucius, the Koran of Mahomet, or the Shasters of Bramah, in the Chinese, the Turkish and the Hindoo languages, while we understood not the meaning of a single term. And how painful and disgusting should we feel such a revolting exercise!-The consequence of this absurd practice is, that, instead of exciting desires for further acquisitions in learning,-in a majority of instances, we produce a disgust to every species of mental exertion and improvement; instruction becomes unpleasant and irksome, both to the teacher and the scholar; the child leaves school without having acquired any real knowledge, and destitute of any relish for it, and seldom afterwards makes any use of the instructions he received for the further cultivation of his mind in wisdom and virtue. To this cause, perhaps, more than to any other, is to be attributed the deplorable ignorance which still pervades the mass of our population, notwith |