proved manners, and buoyancy of spirits, which form an agreeable contrast to the sourness of disposition, sullen and downcast locks, which usually characterize the workhouse child. Several of these children were examined with the others. The choir from the parish church having performed an appropriate anthem, the examination of the children commenced by reading the 55th chapter of Isaiah. The reading was audible and distinct; and the class seemed to understand and observe the proper pauses and inflections. The children answered with promptitude the interrogations on the chapter; and by the variety of parallel passages which they quoted, showed that they possessed a considerable and accurate knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. The vicar (by whom this department of the examination was wholly conducted) explained to the audience that the knowledge which is "able to make wise unto salvation" is regarded as of paramount importance, and made the guiding principle in every other species of instruction. After taking a cursory glance at the leading features of English history, a sentence was selected by one of the company, from which the method of teaching the meaning of words by a reference to their etymology, was ably developed by Mr. Ross, one of the National Society's organizing masters. The children acquitted themselves in it so admirably that it must have convinced every one present of its great importance in an educational point of view. In grammar, also, the children displayed great proficiency, and it was pleasing to us to observe with what accuracy the little fellows had learnt to classify words, and show their various dependencies and connections in a sentence. The examination in sacred and general geography gave great satisfaction. Several of the gentlemen present put appropriate questions, which were promptly answered by the scholars, who, as far as time permitted to go into the details of this science, seemed complete masters of the subject. We attach much importance to geography, as we believe a knowledge of the localities alluded to in the Holy Scriptures to be an indispensable requisite in forming correct ideas of the leading events to which they relate. Several simple pieces were sung by the children in concert, with consider able taste, and contributed much to keep up our good temper, which was not a little tried by the oppressive heat occasioned by the densely crowded state of the room. In conclusion, the vicar made several important observations upon the necessity of maintaining in the Schools efficient masters and mistresses, and bestowed considerable praise upon Mr. Bennett, Miss Gamble, and Miss Poore, the master and mistresses of the schools which had just been examined, and if there is any truth in the adage, As the master is, so is the school," these encomiums were not in the present case unmerited.-Leeds Intelligencer. Norfolk.-A National School has been built in the town of Holt (population, 1600), at a cost of about £500, for 200 children (100 boys and 100 girls). It was opened on the 6th of January. Ireland. Leamy's Charity. This long-protracted cause, which has occupied the attention of the Courts of Chancery in England and Ireland for upwards of twenty years, was brought to a termination during the last term, and the bequest of the late Mr. William Leamy, a native of Limerick, who died in India in the year 1815, will now become available for the purposes of educating the poor in this city, so that the governors during the ensuing spring will be enabled to have the buildings commenced. The fund is now between £14,000 and £15,000, a portion of which will be allocated for the buildings, and the interest of the remainder is to pay the salaries of professors, masters, and mistresses. The following governors have been appointed by the Lord Chancellor:-Right Hon. Earl of Clare, Archdeacon Maunsell, Hon. John Massy, Mr. W. Monsell, Rev. E. Herbert, Mr. E. Bernard, Mr. E. W. Fitzgerald, Mr. A. Sayers, Mr. W. Roche, Mr. H. Maunsell, and Mr. M. Gavin. Testimonial to the Matron of the Blue Coat Hospital, Liverpool.-A number of individuals educated in this establishment have presented Mrs. Forster with a beautiful silver tea-pot, cream-jug, and sugar-basin. The lid of the tea-pot is surmounted by the figure of a Blue-coat girl, leaning on a pedestal, and holding in her right hand an open scroll which hangs down the side of the pedestal, and on which is engraved the motto-" She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." (Prov. 31, 27.) Of the shield on the left side is the following inscription "To Mrs. Forster, Matron of the Bluecoat Hospital, Liverpool: This testimonial of respect is presented by a number of individuals educated in the school, as a mark of their gratitude for her unwearied attention and invaluable services to the Institution during a period of 22 years. 20th December, 1842." APPOINTMENTS. Rev. J. L. Allan. B.A., and Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, to the second Mastership of Rochester Cathedral Grammar School. The Rev. W. B. Arrowsmith, Trinity College, Cambridge, to the Head Mastership of the Grammar School at Leominster. Patrons, the Corporation. The Rev. J. D. Collis, M.A., Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, Kennicott and Pusey and Ellerton Scholar of Hebrew, to the Head Mastership of Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire. Patron, T. H. Cookes, Esq. Rev. W. Singleton, M.A., of St John's College, Cambridge, formerly of Hull, and lately President at Shoreham, near Brighton, to be Vice Principal of Kingston College, Hull. T. B. Stevenson, Esq., B.A. (1810), Christ's College, Cambridge, AssistantClassical Master of King Edward's School, Birmingham. Richard Thompson, B.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, Ushership of Jones's Free Grammar School, at Monmouth. Rev. G. A. Jacob, Head Master of Bromsgrove School, to be Principal of the Sheffield Collegiate School. James Taylor, B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, to the Head Mastership of the Free School, Kimbolton. Rev. T. Allen Southwood, B. A., Emmanuel College, Master of the Modern Department in the Cheltenham College. To our Correspondents and Readers. THE Editor takes this opportunity of thanking a considerable number of friends and subscribers to this Journal-ladies as well as gentlemen-who, in compliance with the suggestion thrown out in the last number, have obligingly favoured him with their names, accompanied, in several instances with valuable hints for its improvement. He would esteem it as a favour, if every one who wishes well to the undertaking, and means to take in the Journal for a year, would kindly do the same; it would be a far greater encouragement to him than trouble to them. Is it unreasonable to add a request, that those who forward communications with a view to insertion, should give their names in confidence, even if they do not wish them to appear in print? He cannot help thinking, that it would have a very wholesome tendency, and be a point gained towards the moral elevation of our periodical literature in general, if every article-even in our own humble pages-bore a real signature. This is intended as a hint; not as a law. PASTOR is undoubtedly right in his opinion, that few things, if any, would have a more certain or more immediate effect towards the general improvement of education, than the revival, or rather observance, of the twenty-ninth canon, which ordains that "no person be admitted godfather or godmother to any child at christening or confirmation, before the said person so undertaking hath received the holy communion." We are sorry, however, to hear him say that he despairs o seeing this brought about in his own parish. Doubtless it is a matter of great delicacy as well as difficulty; still we have heard of instances of success by some such means as the following, viz., by requiring, in the first place, that for a given period, say a year, one at least of the sponsors shall be a communicant; then extending the rule to two out of the three, and after a reasonable time, conforming strictly to the canon. Some of our kind friends who keep telling us that the Journal must be made more practical, seem to us to confine the word to rather too limited an application; if, as we take to be their meaning, they wish our pages to be almost exclusively devoted to such information or materials as the teacher may retail to his pupils next morn. ing. Anxious as we are to supply this, or any other defect that may be pointed out to us and we fancy ourselves something better than mere theorists, at all eventswe hope we may be allowed to say, that it is at least as practical to lead schoolmasters to think, as to show them how to do; to instil principles, as to furnish rules; to cultivate intelligence, as to communicate information; to study children, as to study books; and that nothing is more thoroughly practical than to give them a religious love for their profession, and a living interest in their work. We are indebted to some unknown friends for newspapers and scraps, containing either intelligence on educational matters or notices of this Journal. There is no part of our labours that costs half so much trouble as the double columns in the last few pages. Indeed, so great is the drudgery, and so grievously have our eyes, and still more our head, suffered from it, that we have been more than once almost provoked to say, that if our readers will have intelligence, each must contribute his quota from his own district, for the benefit of the rest. The earlier it is sent, especially in the case of Reports, the better in every respect. The title, some say, is too ambitious. We have felt this ourselves, but we could not do without the word "Education," and modesty chose the term 'Journal," and "English" is certainly our proper name, and we had as little room as liking for a second epithet. C. M. will perceive in our "Extracts from Bishops' Charges,” some evidence that we recognise the bearing of the spreading opposition to the pew-system upon educa. tion. We suspect, that we could tell him more than he knows, or would like to hear, about the manner in which children are stowed away in some of the London churches and chapels. F. B. C. will pardon us for venturing to say that the beginning and end of his letter rather contradict each other. If he estimates a good school so highly that "nothing can be of greater importance," what can he mean by "having little or no time to spare for the superintendence of it- sometimes not half an hour in the course of a month." We shall be glad to hear from him again, and hope that he will yet contrive by some means or other to devote not less than half an hour a day to that institution in his parish, which is, as he states, second only in importance to the church. Meanwhile we will try to give him as good an answer as our limited space will allow to his hard question, viz., How a clergyman overwhelmed with parochial duties can make the most of the very little time he can bestow upon his school. In the first place, then, he must never again think, as he seems to have done, that any, the most minute, fraction of time which he can spare for this purpose, may not be turned to good account. If it be only in passing, let him look into the room, though he can do no more; though he has scarcely time to take his hat off. His first glance across the room will detect a very bad school, and, to a practised eye, discover the most important point of all-the general tone. Though it be but for a minute "Spectatum veniat, veniat spectetur ut ipse." In the second place, let him have regular accounts and registers, especially of the attendance, kept according to the most improved method, and laid before him once a week, whether he has time to look at them or not. We shall only venture upon one more suggestion, which is, that he should make time to read prayers pretty often, and to ask one question at least out of the catechism, or liturgy, or sermon, or text. Several more instances have come to our knowledge of well-wishers to the Journal being disappointed at its not having been sent to them from the Publisher's. The Editor is sorry that there should have been a misunderstanding, and to prevent the recurrence of anything of the sort, will be obliged to all his readers, if in recommending the Journal to their friends, especially among parents and teachers, they will let them know, that the simplest and best method of procuring it regularly will be to give a general order to some respectable bookseller in their immediate neighbourhood for the regular supply of it till countermanded. A COMMON DEFECT IN MODERN SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION; WITH A FEW SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS A REMEDY. It is reported of George the Fourth while Prince Regent, that, notwithstanding his respect for Dr. Bell as a philanthropist, yet, either from his dislike to a "great bore," or really meaning to insinuate that the Doctor's continual harping upon the perfection of his new system amounted to a sort of monomania, he used to exclaim at the very mention of his name, "That man 's mad." We fancy we could have endured a fair share of nonsense from a man like Dr. Bell, but it certainly tries one's patience to hear in this steam-engine and railroad age, any ordinary man who sets up to be a practical educator, gravely insisting upon any one system in particular for general adoption; and still worse, if that system has never yet been tried upon English ground, but is proposed to be transplanted at its full size from a foreign soil. There is something amusing in the way in which those ready patrons of new schemes and inventions-the bill-stickers about our large towns, set to work to bring their last new protegè into notice: no sooner does "20 per cent. cheaper than any other house" stare us in the face, than a rival "30 per cent." appears alongside of it, and not many days afterwards some still more wonderful bargain quietly pastes itself on the other two. National education, however, is too serious a matter to be thus trifled with. While then we gladly allow, that many and great improvements have been made in this most practical of all subjects within the last generation or two, (and we fancy ourselves to be great reformers in our small way,) we are not the less persuaded that we shall be doing good service to the cause by broadly stating our conviction, that there exists one leading defect in all our modern systems; and that, until this has been frankly acknowledged, no further advance will be made towards perfection. The defect of which we complain is, that the pupil is not sufficiently trained to the habit of private and individual application; that he acquires little aptitude and less taste for sitting down, quietly but resolutely, to compass any great undertaking in the way of scholarship by his own unaided efforts. Doubtless, while at school he learns much faster than children in general used to do, and displays at the same time a proportionate degree of quickness and readiness. But it is rather given to him than won by him; there is too much done for him by the system,- by the teacher, by the class. We are not speaking now of the deceptiveness of all class teaching where the children do not answer individually, or, rather, in turn; for every practical teacher knows that where simultaneous replies are allowed, a little knowledge in a few children will set off a large class. This, however, is something to the point; for few persons are aware, how narrowly all class instruction needs to be watched, and how repeatedly to be tested by the separate examination of each child. Even in National Schools, in which it is the custom for the children to answer not only individually VOL. I., NO. 4. APRIL, 1843. L but in turn, a looker on would be surprised to find how small a proportion in many cases can, e.g., work, each by himself, the arithmetical question that has been done so readily and so beautifully round the class. Of course, in mere viva voce instruction, the danger is still more obvious. And all this takes place in spite of the correctives provided by Dr. Bell, such as answering in turn, and doing every thing from the beginning-from the first lesson in the alphabet-upon the slate; for writing must be individual instruction to a certain extent. Let us, however, at the outset, guard against being misunderstood as if we were opposed to class, or even to simultaneous, teaching under certain restrictions. No : we are too well aware how much use may be made of the sympathy as well as of the emulation, of the soothing as well as of the exciting influences, of numbers, especially among children. The reader will bear in mind, that we began our labours by recommending a gallery-a large gallery, for a parochial school. We prefer large classes to small, except perhaps in Sunday schools. We are great advocates for oral teaching, and are more convinced every day we live that if "the Curate of every parish" would but" diligently upon Sundays and holydays, after the second lesson at Evening Prayer, openly in the Church instruct and examine so many children in his Parish sent unto him as he shall think convenient, in some part of the catechism," it would do more towards improving national education, intellectually as well as spiritually, than any other single measure. We are no advocates for home education, or for private tutors as commonly employed of late in our universities, both of which are just as open as the systems more immediately under consideration, to the objection of which we are speaking, and that in addition to several other objections of greater weight. What we complain of is, that there is so much more teaching than learning; that if every child in the class knows everything that is taught, it is still a different thing from acquiring it by his own exertions. It is a very easy and very pleasant thing for a sharp boy, surrounded by class-fellows as sharp as himself, and with a lively teacher in front of him, full of ready illustrations and varied questions, to gain knowledge upon any subject thus presented to him; but is he to the same extent as formerly gaining habits of industry, and perseverance, and research, and humility, and modesty, and patience? Were there not some advantages, moral, and intellectual, and religious advantages, after all, in the old rote systems? We have no wish to revive the old spelling-books; not, however, from any objection to the labour, or, if the reader will, drudgery, to the poor child; for the loss of this we regard as no gain: and as to the lessons not being amusing, it is better that learning should be work than play. The real objection is, that it does not secure the end in view, namely, teaching to spell, which is only to be acquired by writing. In our schools for the lower orders there is a sad want of something analagous to the set tasks at our public schools-the hard bit of crabbed Greek to be made out with no other help but that of the grammar and dictionary, or the copy of verses upon Smoke" or any other out-ofthe-way subject, without even the allowance of a Gradus. We want, especially, something that will be continually showing the child how much he does not know: we want him to be conscious every moment |