Practical. The forces: 1. Master's influence.

He prefers not to

The wisdom of his ancestors

ness is what the English master hates. trouble himself about the end. has settled that, and he can direct his attention to what really interests him-the practical details. In this he re sembles the Jesuits. The end has been settled for them by their founder. They revel in practical details, in which they are truly great, and here we may learn much from them. "Ratio applied to studies" says Father Eyre,* "more naturally means Method than Principle; and our Ratio Studiorum is essentially a Method or System of teaching and learning." Here is a method that has been worked uniformly and with singular success for three centuries, and can still give a good account of its old rivals. But will it hold its own against the late Reformers? As regards intellectual training the new school seeks to draw out the faculties of the young mind by employing them on subjects in which. it is interested. The Jesuits fixed a course of study which, as they frankly recognized, could not be made interesting. So they endeavoured to secure accuracy by constant repetition, and relied for industry on two motive powers: 1st, the personal influence of the master; and, 2nd, "the spur of industry "-emulation.

§ 36. To acquire "influence" has ever been the main object of the Society, and his devotion to this object makes a great distinction between the Jesuit and most other instructors. His notion of the task was thus expressed by Father Gerard, S. J., at the Educational Conference of 1884: "Teaching is an art amongst arts. To be worthy of the name it must be the work of an individual upon individuals. The true teacher must understand, appreciate, and sympa

* In a letter dated from Stonyhurst, 22nd April, 1880.

2. Emulation.

thize with those who are committed to him. He must be daily discovering what there is (and undoubtedly there is something in each of them) capable of fruitful development, and contriving how better to get at them and to evoke whatever possibilities there are in them for good." The Jesuit master, then, tried to gain influence over the boys and to use that influence for many purposes; to make them work well being one of these, but not perhaps the most important.

$37. As for emulation, no instructors have used it so elaborately as the Jesuits. In most English schools the prizes have no effect whatever except on the first three or four boys, and the marking is so arranged that those who take the lead in the first few lessons can keep their position without much effort. This clumsy system would not suit the Jesuits. They often for prize-giving divide a class into a number of small groups, the boys in each group being approximately equal, and a prize is offered for each group. The class matches, too, stimulate the weaker pupils even more than the strong.

§ 38. In conclusion, I will give the chief points of the system in the words of one of its advocates and admirers, who was himself educated at Stonyhurst:

"Let us now try to put together the various pieces of this school machinery and study the effect. We have seen that the boys have masters entirely at their disposition, not only at class time, but at recreation time after supper in the night Reading Rooms. Each day they record victory or defeat in the recurring exercises or themes upon various matters. By the quarterly papers or examinations in composition, for which nine hours are assigned, the order of merit is fixed, and this order entails many little privileges and precedencies, in chapel, refectory, class room, and

elsewhere.

A pupil's summing-up.

Each master, if he prove a success and his health permit, continues to be the instructor of the boys in his class during the space of six years. 'It is obvious.' says Sheil, in his account of Stonyhurst, 'that much of a boy's acquirements, and a good deal of the character of his taste, must have depended upon the individual to whose instructions he was thus almost exclusively confined.' And in many cases the effects must be a greater interest felt in the students by their teachers, a mutual attachment founded on long acquaintance, and a more thorough knowledge, on the part of the master, of the weak and strong points of his pupils. Add to the above, the 'rival' and 'side' system, the effect of challenges and class combats; of the wearing of decorations and medals by the Imperators on Sundays, Festival Days, Concertation Days, and Examination Days; of the extraordinary work--done much more as private than as class work-helping to give individuality to the boy's exertions, which might otherwise be merged in the routine work of the class; and the 'free time' given for improvement on wet evenings and after night prayers; add the Honours Matter; the Reports read before the Rector and all subordinate Superiors, the Professors, and whole body of Students; add the competition in each class and between the various classes, and even between the various colleges in England of the Society; and only one conclusion can be arrived at. It is a system which everyone is free to admire or think inferior to some other preferred by him; but it is a system." (Stonyhurst College, Present and Past, by A. Hewitson, 2nd edition, 1878, pp. 214, ff.)

§ 39. Yes, it is a system, a system built up by the united efforts of many astute intellects and showing marvellous

Some books.

skill in selecting means to attain a clearly conceived end. There is then in the history of education little that should be more interesting or might be more instructive to the master of an English public school than the chapter abou' the Jesuits.*

* The best account I have seen of life in a Jesuit school is in Erinnerungen eines chemaligen Jesuitenzöglings (Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1862). The writer (Köhler ?) says that he has become an evangelical clergyman, but there is no hostile feeling shown to his old instructors, and the narrative bears the strongest internal evidence of accuracy. Some of the Jesuit devices mentioned are very ingenious. All house masters who have adopted the cubicle arrangement of dormitories know how difficult it is to keep the boys in their own cubicles. The Jesuits have the cubicles barred across at the top, and the locks on the doors are so constructed that though they can be opened from the inside they cannot be shut again. The Fathers at Freiburg (in Breisgau) opened a “tuck-shop” for the boys, and gave "week's-pay" in counters which passed at their own shop and nowhere else. The author speaks warmly of the kindness of the Fathers and of their care for health and recreation. But their ways were inscrutable and every boy felt himself in the hands of a human providence. As the boys go out for a walk, one of them is detained by the porter, who says "the Rector wants to speak to you." On their way back the boys meet a diligence in which sits their late comrade waving adieus. He has been expelled.

Another book which throws much light on Jesuit pedagogy is by a Jesuit -La Discipline, par le R. P. Emmanuel Barbier (Paris, V. Palmé, 2nd edition, 1888). I will give a specimen in a loose translation, as it may interest the reader to see how carefully the Jesuits have studied the master's difficulties. "The master in charge of the boys, especially in play-time, in his first intercourse with them, has no greater snare in his way than taking his power for granted, and trusting to the strength of his will and his knowledge of the world, especially as he is at first lulled into security by the deferential manner of his pupils.

"That master who goes off with such ease from the very first, to whom the carrying out of all the rules seems the simplest thing in the world, who in the very first hour he is with them has already made himself

Barbier's advice to new master.

He

liked, almost popular, with his pupils, who shows no more anxiety about his work than he must show to keep his character for good sense, that m.ster is indeed to be pitied; he is most likely a lost man. will soon have to choose one of two things, either to shut his eyes and put up with all the irregularities he thought he had done away with, or to break with a past that he would wish forgotten, and engage in open conflict with the boys who are inclined to set him at defiance. These cases are we trust rare. But many believe with a kind of rash ignorance and in spite of the warnings of experience that the good feelings of their pupils will work together to maintain their authority. They have been told that this authority should be mild and endeared by acts of kindness. So they set about crowning the edifice without making sure of the foundations; and taking the title of authority for its possession they spend all their efforts in lightening a yoke of which no one really bears the weight.

"In point of fact the first steps often determine the whole course. For this reason you will attach extreme importance to what I am now going to advise :

"The chief characteristic in your conduct towards the boys during the first few weeks should be an extreme reserve. However far you go in this, you can hardly overdo it. So your first attitude is clearly

defined.

"You have everything to observe, the individual character of each boy and the general tendencies and feelings of the whole body. But be sure of one thing, viz., that you are observed also, and a careful study is made both of your strong points and of your weak. Your way of speaking and of giving orders, the tone of your voice, your gestures, disclose your character, your tastes, your failings, to a hundred boys on the alert to pounce upon them. One is summed up long before one has the least notion of it. Try then to remain impenetrable. You should never give up your reserve till you are master of the situation.

"For the rest, let there be no affectation about you. Don't attempt to put on a severe manner; answer politely and simply your pupils' questions, but let it be in few words, and avoid conversation. All depends on that. Let there be no chatting with them in these early days. You cannot be too cautious in this respect. Boys have such a polite, such a taking way with them in drawing out information about your impressions, your tastes, your antecedents; don't attempt the