them to read, write, and reckon. His method was as follows:-Each child had a book with pictures of objects, such as a hat, a slate, &c. Under the picture was the name of the object in printing and writing characters, and also a couplet about the object. The children having opened their books, and found the picture of a hat, the teacher showed them a hat, and told them a tale connected with one. He then asked the children questions about his story, and about the hat he had in his hand-What was the colour of it? &c. He then drew a hat on the black board, and made the children copy it on their slates. Next he wrote the word 'hat' and told them that for people who could read this did as well as the picture. The children then copied the word on their slates. The teacher proceeded to analyse the word 'hat.' 'It is made up,' said he, 'of three sounds, the most important of which is the a, which comes in the middle.' In all cases the vowel sound was first ascertained in every syllable, and then was given an approximation to the consonantal sounds before and after. The couplet was now read by the teacher, and the children repeated it after him. In this way the book had to be worked over and over till the children were perfectly familiar with everything in it. They had been already six months thus employed when I visited the school, and knew the book pretty thoroughly. To test their knowledge, Dr. Vater first wrote a number of capitals at random, on the board, and called out a boy to tell him words having these capitals as initials. This boy had to call out a girl to do something of the kind, she a boy, and so forth. Everything was done very smartly, both

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by master and children. The best proof I saw of their accuracy and quickness was this: the master traced words from the book very rapidly with a stick on the black board, and the children always called out the right word, though I often could not follow him. He also wrote with chalk words which the children had never seen, and made them name first the vowel sounds, then the consonantal, then combine them.

I have been thus minute in my description of this lesson, because it seems to me an admirable example of the way in which children between six and eight years of age should be taught. The method was arranged and the book prepared by the late Dr. Vogel, who was then Director of the school. Its merits, as its author pointed out to me, are:-1. That it connects the instruction with objects of which the child has already an idea in his mind, and so associates new knowledge with old: 2. That it gives the children plenty to do as well as to learn, a point on which the Doctor was very emphatic: 3. That it makes the children go over the same matter in various ways, till they have learnt a little thoroughly, and then applies their knowledge to the acquirement of more. Here the Doctor seems to have followed Jacotot. But though the method was no doubt a good one, I must say its success at Leipzig was due at least as much to Dr. Vater as to Dr. Vogel. This gentleman had been taking the youngest class in this school for twenty years, and, whether by practice or natural talent, he had acquired precisely the right manner for keeping children's attention. He was energetic without bustle and excitement, and quiet without a

suspicion of dulness or apathy. By frequently changing the employment of the class, and requiring smartness in everything that was done, he kept them all on the alert. The lesson I have described was followed without pause by one in arithmetic, the two together occupying an hour and three quarters, and the interest of the children never flagged throughout.

It is then possible to teach children, at this stage at least, without making them hate their work, and dread the sound of the school-bell.

I will suppose a child to have passed through such a course as this by the time he is eight or nine years old. He can now read and copy easy words. What we next want for him is a series of good readingbooks, about things in which he takes an interest. The language must of course be simple, but the matter so good, that neither master nor pupils will be disgusted by its frequent repetition.

The first volume may very well be about animals— dogs, horses, &c., of which large pictures should be provided, illustrating the text. The first cost of these pictures would be considerable, but as they would last for years, the expense to the friends of each child taught from them, would be a mere trifle.

The books placed in the hands of the children, should be well printed, and strongly bound. In the present penny-wise system, school-books are given out in cloth, and the leaves are loose at the end of a fortnight, so that children get accustomed to their destruction, and treat it as a matter of course. This ruins their respect for books, which is not so unimportant a matter as it may at first appear.

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After each reading lesson, which should contain at least one interesting anecdote, there should be columns of all the words which occurred for the first time in that lesson. These should be arranged according to their grammatical classification, not that the child should be taught grammar, but this order is as good as any other, and by it the child would learn to observe certain differences in words almost unconsciously. As good reading is best learnt by imitation, the lesson should first be read aloud by the master. It will sometimes be a useful exercise to make the children prepare a lesson beforehand, and give an account of the substance of it before opening their books. Accustoming boys to read aloud what they do not first understand,' says Dr. Franklin, is the cause of those even set tones so common among readers, which, when they have once got a habit of using, they find so difficult to correct; by which means, among fifty readers we scarcely find a good one.'*

As a change reading-book, Æsop's Fables may now be used, and an edition with such illustrations as Tenniel's will be well worth the additional outlay.

Easy descriptive and narrative poetry should be learnt by heart in this form. That the children may repeat it well, they should get their first notions of it from the master vivá voce. According to the usual plan, they get it up with false emphasis and false stops, and the more thoroughly they have learnt the piece, the more difficulty the master has in making them say it properly.

* Essays: Sketch of an English School.

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Every lesson should be worked over in vario ways. The columns of words at the end of the r ing lessons may be printed with writing characters, and used for copies. To write an upright column either of words or figures is an excellent exercise in neatness. The columns will also be used as spelling lessons, and the children may be questioned about the meaning of the words. The poetry, when thoroughly learned, may sometimes be written from memory. Sentences from the book may be copied either directly or from the black-board, and afterwards used for dictation.

Dictation lessons are often given very badly. The boys spell nearly as many words wrong as right, and if even all the blunders are corrected, little more pains is taken to impress the right way on their memory, than the wrong. But the chief use of dictation is to fix in the memory by practice words already known. Another mistake is for the master to keep repeating the sentence the boys are writing. He should first read the piece straight through, that the boys may know what they are writing about. Then he should read it by clauses, slowly and distinctly, waiting a sufficient time between the clauses, but never repeating them. This exercises the boys' attention, and accustoms their ear to the form of good sentences-an excellent preparation for composition. Where the dictation lesson has been given from the reading-book, the boys may afterwards take the book and correct either their own exercises or one another's.*

* Mr. R, Robinson, in his Manual of Method and Organisation, gives