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READING AND WRITING.

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-something which fairly represents the subject to be acquired, which contains its essential characteristics. 2. REPEAT that something' incessantly (sans cesse), i.e. every day, or very frequently, from the beginning, without any omission, so that no part may be forgotten. 3. REFLECT upon the matter thus acquired, so as by degrees to make it a possession of the mind as well as of the memory, so that, being appreciated as a whole, and appreciated in its minutest parts, what is as yet unknown, may be referred to it and interpreted by it. 4. VERIFY, or test, general remarks e.g. grammatical rules, &c., made by others, by comparing them with the facts (i.e. the words and phraseology) which you have learnt yourself.*

In conclusion, I will give some account of the way in which reading, writing, and the mother-tongue were taught on the Jacototian system.

The teacher takes a book, say Edgeworth's 'Early Lessons,' points to the first word, and names it, 'Frank.' The child looks at the word and also pronounces it. Then the teacher does the same with the first two words, Frank and;' then with the three

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first, Frank and Robert,' &c.

When a line or so teacher asks which

has been thus gone over, the word is Robert? What word is that (pointing to one)? Find me the same word in this line' (pointing to another part of the book). When a sentence has been thus acquired, the words already known are analysed into syllables, and these syllables the child must pick out elsewhere. Finally, the same thing is done with letters. When the child can read a sen

* I take this paragraph verbatim from Mr. Payne.

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tence, that sentence is put before him written in small-hand, and the child is required to copy it. When he has copied the first word, he is led, by the questions of the teacher, to see how it differs from the original, and then he tries again. The pupil must always correct himself, guided only by questions. This sentence must be worked at till the pupil can write it pretty well from memory. He then tries it in larger characters. By carrying out this plan, the children's powers of observation and making comparisons are strengthened, and the arts of reading and writing are said to be very readily acquired.

For the mother-tongue, a model book is chosen and thoroughly learned. Suppose 'Rasselas' is selected. The pupil learns by heart a sentence, or a few sentences, and to-morrow adds a few more, still repeating from the beginning. The teacher, after two or three lessons of learning and repeating, takes portions-any portion-of the matter, and submits it to the crucible of the pupil's mind:-Who was Rasselas ? Who was his father? What is the father of waters? Where does it begin its course? Where is Abyssinia? Where is Egypt? Where was Rasselas placed? What sort of a person was Rasselas? What is "credulity?" What are the "whispers of fancy," "the promises of youth," &c.? What was there peculiar in the position of Rasselas ? Where was he confined? Describe the valley. How would you have liked to live there? Why so? Why not? &c.'

A great variety of written exercises is soon joined with the learning by heart. Pieces must be written from memory, and the spelling, pointing, &c., cor

METHOD OF INVESTIGATION.

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rected by the pupil himself from the book. The same piece must be written again and again, till there are no mistakes to correct. This,' says Mr. Payne, who has himself taught in this way, is the best plan for spelling that has been devised.' Then the pupil may write an analysis, may define words, distinguish between synonyms, explain metaphors, imitate descriptions, write imaginary dialogues or correspondence between the characters, &c.

Besides these, a great variety of grammatical exercises may be given, and the force of prefixes and affixes may be found out by the pupils themselves, by collection and comparison. "The resources even of such a book as "Rasselas,"" says Mr. Payne,' will be found all but exhaustless, while the training which the mind undergoes in the process of thoroughly mastering it, the acts of analysis, comparison, induction, and deduction, performed so frequently as to become a sort of second nature, cannot but serve as an excellent preparation for the subsequent study of English literature.'

We see, from these instances, how Jacotot sought to imitate the method by which young children and self-taught men teach themselves. All such proceed from objects to definitions, from facts to reflections and theories, from examples to rules, from particular observations to general principles. They pursue, in fact, however unconsciously, the method of investigation, the advantages of which are thus set out in a passage from Burke's treatise on the Sublime and Beautiful:

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'I am convinced,' says he, that the method of

teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation is incomparably the best; since, not content with serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew; it tends to set the reader [or learner] himself in the track of invention, and to direct him into those paths in which the author has made his own discoveries.'

For Jacotot, I think the claim may, without presumption, be maintained, that he has, beyond all other teachers, succeeded in co-ordinating the method of elementary teaching with the method of investigation' (Payne).

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The latter part of his life, which did not end till 1840, Jacotot spent in his native country-first at Valenciennes, and then at Paris. To the last he laboured indefatigably, and with a noble disinterestedness, for what he believed to be the intellectual emancipation' of his fellow-creatures. For a time, his system made great way in France, but the practices introduced by it were probably unworthy of its principles, and have been abandoned. The University of France, in 1852, recommended more attention to its principles:* but I have not observed any reference to Jacotot in Mr. Arnold's recent report.

*Il a été ordonné aux professeurs d'instruire leurs élèves des secrets mouvements de la pensée, non plus, comme autrefois, par de longues expositions qui pouvaient ne mettre en travail que l'esprit du professeur, mais, suivant l'exemple que quelques maîtres excellents ont renouvelé de Socrate, par des interrogations qui à chaque instant font participer l'intelligence des élèves à l'analyse et pour ainsi parler à la découverte des lois de la raison.' This is the quotation from the Report to the Emperor in 1853, on which M. Achille Guillard seems to found the assertion in the text. The quotation, however, recommends a return to Socrates, not Jacotot.-(Nouvelle Biographie Générale. Jacotot.)

HERBERT SPENCER.

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IX.

HERBERT SPENCER.

I ONCE heard it said by a teacher of great ability that no one without practical acquaintance with the subject could write anything worth reading on Education. My own opinion differs very widely from this. I am not, indeed, prepared to agree with another authority, much given to paradox, that the actual work of education unfits a man for forming enlightened views about it, but I think that the outsider, coming fresh to the subject, and unencumbered by tradition and prejudice, may hit upon truths which the teacher, whose attention is too much engrossed with practical difficulties, would fail to perceive without assistance, and that, consequently, the theories of intelligent men, unconnected with the work of education, deserve our careful, and, if possible, our impartial consideration.

One of the most important works of this kind which has lately appeared, is the treatise of Mr. Herbert Spencer. So eminent a writer has every claim to be listened to with respect, and in this book he speaks with more than his individual authority. The views he has very vigorously propounded are shared

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