other things, it should prevail? And that the greatest part of those, who find their account in an easy submission to it, should be ready to cry out, heresy! when any one departs from it? It is nevertheless matter of astonishment, that men of quality and parts should suffer themselves to be so far misled by custom and implicit faith."

According to the earliest mode of scholastic instruction in England, it is clear that masters were accustomed to take a very active part in the instruction of their pupils, and to interpret Greek and Latin from the resources of their own knowledge. Soon after the first printing of dictionaries with English interpretation, this duty was in great measure remitted by the master, and has gradually been disowned altogether; so that the pupil is now compelled to teach himself the classic languages, with an infinite loss of valuable time, and a gratuitous infliction of disgusting drudgery. Instead of having "the cause and matter" of his lesson clearly interpreted by the master, and then repeating it himself, till perfectly impressed upon the memory, according to the reasonable scheme proposed by Ascham, he is now condemned to the tedious process of turning over and over the leaves of a bulky dictionary; and that which

before was a salutary employment of the intellect, is thus reduced to the unprofitable formality of a manual exercise. It has been said by recent advocates of the Lexicon method, that this exercise is advantageous to the learner, inasmuch as the labour here enjoined operates as a sort of "mental drill," which has the effect of fixing the "attention," and generating habits of patient research. This favorite argument has been anticipated in express terms, by a very high authority in all that relates to the "human understanding.” It will be seen from passages we shall quote entire from Locke's treatise on Education, that this great philosopher and metaphysician draws a broad line of distinction between the learning of languages and sciences. We should be sorry to mutilate the argument by extracting a single paragraph; but the following sentence, which we might almost prefix as the text of our commentary, cannot be too forcibly impressed by repetition. "In sciences where reason is to be exercised, I "will not deny but this method may sometimes be "varied, and difficulties proposed on purpose to ex"cite industry, and accustom the mind to employ " its own strength and sagacity in reasoning. But "yet, I guess, this is not to be done to children,

"whilst very young, nor at their entrance upon any "sort of knowledge: then every thing of itself is “difficult, and the great use and skill of a teacher " is to make all as easy as he can : but particularly "in learning of languages, there is least occasion "for opposing children."-Again, it has been said that the former practice of oral instruction was only adopted from want of those materials and instruments which are now within every one's reach; and that the precise meaning of words conveyed in a good Lexicon, is far preferable to the extempore interpretation of the master, which could not be expected to be always so correct, as where the sense has been submitted in print to universal criticism. These premises are easily admissible, but before we can concur in the conclusion, it must be shown that dictionaries are not accessible to the master as well as to the pupil. We acknowledge that the introduction of Latin and English dictionaries was highly beneficial to the cause of sound and accurate learning, insomuch as it tended to settle the fluctuations of one language, and to certify the understanding of the other. But with regard to school education the use of this auxiliary ought properly to have devolved upon the teacher, not upon the learner.

For the purpose of rendering into English any Greek or Latin sentence, the pupil should no more be expected to choose among twenty different meanings of the same word as given in a dictionary, than he was before expected to run over the several meanings in the master's own memory, instead of attending to the one pronounced by the master to be applicable to each particular passage. It cannot be denied that a lexicon compiled with laborious research is likely to interpret some words in every classic author, more accurately than the best of scholars precluded from occasional reference to recorded authorities. But by a good scholar this reference would be considered rather a satisfactory consultation, than a tedious and troublesome task. The incompetent master alone could find any inconvenience arising to himself from the opportunity of increased accuracy presented by an increase of facilities; and to the incompetent master must be exclusively attributed the rapid corruption of the good old system of classical education. Knowing that there was an appeal to standard authority for every word which he mistook, he would now be more fearful of committing himself by hazardous conjecture; and if

too indolent to take the trouble of investigation on himself, he would naturally endeavour to transfer as much of it as possible to his pupils. Accordingly, the learner was compelled to perform the duty which reasonably belonged to the teacher, and the time which heretofore had been employed in giving and receiving useful instruction, was wasted on fruitless attempts to dispense with instruction altogether. Every difficulty presented to the novice in the first stage of his classical course, was to be surmounted by his own comparison of dictionary and grammar: and the boy, instead of being so far assisted by an able tutor in his early study of a foreign language, that he had only to remember a single interpretation of each word in his lesson, was now obliged by the ignorant or careless pretender to tuition, to look out every word in an alphabetical vocabulary, and without the slightest clue to the connection of the whole sentence, to make a choice among all the meanings which could possibly be attached to each of its component words. Can any thing be more absurd than to set a boy to read a passage in a Greek or Latin author, whereof he does not understand a single syllable, and expect him to be guided to the right choice in his dictionary" by