foreign idiom, and read more as he does it with greater ease. The quantity which a learner may read daily should be regulated, not by what an instructor, in his occasional lessons, has leisure to hear in class, but by the time which he himself can devote to it in his private studies, and by the facility with which he performs this exercise. Too much time is generally consumed in accomplishing the translation of the first volumes. In the commencement, improvement is in inverse ratio to the time employed in reading a book. The first five hundred pages, translated at the rate of ten pages a day, would, admitting an equal degree of attention, forward a learner in reading more than if they had been read at the rate of one page a day. No one will doubt that a person would understand French much better, after having steadily read six volumes in six months, than after having taken six years to read them. Habits of language, that is, the habitual association of words and ideas, can be created only by keeping the same words and phrases in rapid succession before the mind: the same number of impressions which, when closely following each other, produce a habit, would fail to have this effect, if separated by long intervals. Perseveringly translating every day for two hours at least will considerably facilitate the acquisition of this branch. Frequent recurrence, at short intervals, of the same words and of similar constructions, as well as the connection of the subject, renders each day's task easier by the recollection of what has so lately engaged the attention; and the consciousness the learner thus feels of his progress is to him the greatest encouragement to further exertion. When irregularity prevails, when days are allowed to pass without attending to this branch, the impressions of the last reading are effaced from the mind before the book is again taken up the learner, Sisyphus-like, falls back continually and begins anew, without deriving much benefit from his past labour. But, if he daily work with diligence, he will soon find that he can translate an entire page in less time than he could one phrase when he began. In fact, if, incited by eagerness in the pursuit, and conscious that success in it depends on himself, he follows our directions, his improvement cannot fail to be rapid. SECT. II.-INSTRUCTION TO BE IMPARTED BY THE PROFESSOR. As soon as an extensive acquaintance with words-the chiet object in reading the first books,—has been attained, the student ought to moderate his pace, and read foreign works "slowly and deliberately." The more familiar he is with the various import of the words and the peculiar structure of the language, the better will he be able to attend to the style and subject, and thus enter into the spirit of the author. When the foreign language is readily understood, it is easy to explain its grammar and genius, to analyse the style and subject, or to investigate philological questions. This, then, is the time when the teacher may take a more active part in the progress of his pupils, and enter on the science of language with those who aim at literary discrimination and mental culture. By critical explanation of foreign authors he may, according to the different degrees of advancement of his class, gradually unfold the great departments of classical instruction,-grammar, rhetoric, logic, and philosophy. Let the professor frequently take up one of the standard works which his class have read, and, after having ascertained that the learners understand it, let him make them analyse it minutely as regards the words, their nature, inflections, pronunciation, derivation, synonymy, and different acceptations; let him bring under their notice all peculiarities of syntax and prosody; let him particularly direct their attention to the roots and primitive words from which are derived those of their own language; for the study of the vernacular must never be lost sight of. Let him assist them in inferring the rules of grammar from the various changes which words undergo, from their mutual dependence, or from the different places which they assume in relation to each other; let him, in short, attend to the observations on grammatical and logical analysis found in the third Chapter of Book vi. on Grammar. He will afterwards, by degrees, as they read more fluently and critically, turn their attention to style, point out propriety, force, or nobleness of expression; precision, perspicuity, elegance, or harmony of periods, everything, in short, which constitutes literary merit. But he must not be satisfied with stating what is good or beautiful, he must also explain why it is so. Such investigations are of the highest interest and far more useful than mnemonic lessons and grammatical exercises, as means of making learners acquainted with the genius of a language and the principles of style. Yet we fear that, demanding, as they do, depth of information and powers of discrimination not required for the routine curriculum of scholastic studies, they will not be generally substituted for them, until the standard of excellence in the educational profession is raised by liberal salaries and public estimation. If ancient classics be the objects of study, the professor will, moreover, examine the solution of disputed points, as proposed by commentators, and will not allow any intricate passage to remain an impediment to the future progress of the learners; he` will explain to them all historical, geographical, and archeological allusions; and make them acquainted with the memorable events and celebrated characters of antiquity, as also with the customs and manners, the civil, political, and religious institutions of the ancients, which may clear up the facts and explain the text of their author; he will point on the map of the modern world to the sites of the places mentioned by the Greek and Roman writers; he will compare the state of science and art among the ancients and the moderns, and show where the former erred from imperfect knowledge of the laws of nature; in a word, he will render classical studies truly useful, by making the knowledge of the past always bear on the present. But it should be kept in mind that in junior classes the chief object of these investigations is to enable young persons to conceive rightly the author's meaning, and to obtain critical knowledge of the language: anything beyond this would be premature. To render explanations clear and impressive, the professor should turn to the black board, whenever visible illustrations can be given; he should also have within reach maps, engravings, gems, casts, and models from the antique, to which, in the course of his lesson, he may refer to elucidate the author in hand. He may avail himself of the taste which some of his pupils have for drawing, by occasionally desiring them to sketch objects described by the author-arms, instruments, vases, monuments, the plan of a camp, the respective positions of two armies, everything, in fact, which throws light on the classic passage. As the author's meaning is thus forcibly illustrated through perception, vivid and indelible impressions of his words are left on the minds by their association with interesting objects. The task of the professor, however, is not confined to the explanation of the text; he should also seize every opportunity to cultivate the taste of his pupils and give proper direction to their moral faculties. He should make them conscious of the excellencies of thought with which the ancients abound; and, if he feel that enthusiasm which classical literature always excites in its enlightened votaries, he will easily impart his own feelings to his pupils, and raise in their minds that admiration of the beautiful which bespeaks refined taste. He should show what is true or false in the statements of the ancient writers, what is laudable or blameable in the characters whom they uphold, and what, in the sentiments which they express, is conformable or contrary to Christian morality. Nevertheless, in the midst of the pagan absurdities and the false notions of moral philosophy entertained by the ancients, there exist in their orators, poets, historians, and philosophers, many sentiments worthy of our sympathies and our imitation, many examples of humanity, disinterestedness, greatness of soul, and patriotism. Lessons of morality may be found in the works of almost all eminent writers, ancient or modern. These are the more striking in the classics of antiquity, as moral excellence is in them always adorned by literary beauty, and thus they leave in the youthful mind impressions never to be effaced. These scattered and incidental lessons, which might often pass unnoticed by students, will be carefully elicited by a skilful instructor. He will make them subjects of useful reflection, and will take advantage of them to inspire his pupils with noble sentiments and excite them to virtuous actions. In the upper classes of schools and colleges the professor, entering upon the field of higher criticism, ought, in explaining standard works, ancient or modern, to inquire into the propriety of expression, and the diversity of style which arises from the difference of subjects treated and from varieties in the characters of authors or nations. He ought to exhibit the genius of the writers, the sources whence they drew, and the inspirations they received from the times in which they lived; he ought to investigate the characteristic merit of each, compare the different productions which treat of the same subjects, and show how, in oratorical disputes, the opposite sides of a question have been defended; he ought to examine the reciprocal influence which the literature and social condition of a country had on each other, and also the causes which led to the progress of poetry, oratory, and philosophy, at particular periods; he ought to elicit the comparative merits of the ancient and the modern languages in force, copiousness, flexibility, harmony, and logical structure; finally, he ought to notice the passages most worthy of imitation, and show, by examples drawn from ancient and modern writers, what the latter have borrowed from the former. But to ensure the benefit of these prelections, they should be made to alternate with a parallel analysis of the national writers who have pursued the same paths of literature as the ancients. The comparison instituted between their kindred compositions would adjust their respective claims to our admiration. England, France, Germany, and Italy, now emulate ancient Greece and Rome in several departments of literature: their standard authors are worthy of the same respect and the same critical and philosophical investigation as those of antiquity. In exhibiting to his pupils the primary sources from which modern civilisation and literature have been drawn in various proportions, the professor must assist them in discovering what every age and every nation have appropriated from this common inheritance. And if he be imbued, as he ought to be, with this idea, that a language is the characteristic impress of the spirit of the people among whom it is formed and improved, he will, when considering its origin and progress, not only investigate its absolute and relative merits as an instrument of thought, but he will trace the vicissitudes through which the nation that spoke it has passed in its gradual ascent from barbarism to civilisation. The critical and philosophical information which has been adverted to being imparted to the students not in formal lectures, but in familiar notices, wherever a word or an allusion suggests, and when the mind is prepared for it, will gradually and imperceptibly make them conversant with ancient and modern literature; it will render the explanation of classical authors the most profitable of all exercises with the professor. If it be delivered to a large class, and with animation, the sympathies, the spirit of inquiry, and the intellectual energies of the students will be brought into more active operation, than if the same information had been offered to their attention in the printed volume. But the professor may sometimes fail in powers of elucidation, or his pupils in attention to his prelections; these should, therefore, according as the subject permits, be made the groundwork of essays in the national language, and be followed either DIR OF THE |