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The admiration expressed by Maliere's Bourgeois gentilhomme, when he learns for the first time from his master of philosophy, that he has been speaking prose for the last 40 years without knowing it, is something was to that which I feel for the great masters of science who have contrived to involve the simplest elements of arithmetic in such a cloud of words as we find in these books.

But, inwever simply and plainly the rule might be worded, I still dendedly stjert to the method. I might call it the Chinese method of wasting mere rules, and not first tracing out the course of reasoning when sonducts to the rules, and thus demonstrating the principles on W they rest. Arithmetic is clearly a branch of demonstrative science; and it appears to me to be altogether a misapplication of the great principle of exercising the faith of children, to insist upon their taxing for granted, and never learning in fact, the principles of this ... The introduction of faith here, I think, tends to confound all just siewe of its propriety in those higher parts of knowledge which are within its true province. If the translation of the French arithmetic Rooma to you deserving of a place in your sheets, your readers will be a je to judge whether my estimate of its superiority to those in common use is well-founded. Yours very truly,

T. T.

*k hope that our kind correspondent will give us a free translation of the valu#ble 1996 book to which he refers, adapting it, wherever necessary, to the use of Vagunk at books-ED.]

HINTS ON CATECHISING.

REGULATIONS IN THE DIOCESE OF TOURS.

Is the last two volumes of the Educational Magazine, there was a vaJumble series of "Hints on Catechising," collected from various authors, including extracts from old visitation queries and injunctions. We shall be glad of the help of our correspondents, and particularly of the gentleman who furnished the former series, in the continuation of so important and interesting a "catena." It is a happy circumstance of the times, that within the last month or two, the attention of the clergy has been authoritatively called, in more than one diocese, to the duty of obeying the rubrics and canons. We know nothing that would tend more certainly, or more directly, to the promotion of sound education, in the schoolroom as well as in the church, than the simple observance of the rubrics at the end of the catechism, the first of which enjoins, that “the curate of every parish shall diligently upon Sundays and holy-days, after the second lesson at evening prayer, openly in the church, instruct and examine

so many children of his parish sent to him, as he shall think convenient, in some part of this catechism.”

It is, we believe, generally acknowledged, that upon this point some useful hints may be borrowed from churches less pure in doctrine than our own. With this view we have great pleasure in inserting the following translation of some of the regulations on the subject of catechising, issued by the late Archbishop of Tours.

"I. Catechising to take place in all the parochial churches of our diocese, on Sundays and festivals; to be suspended only during the months of July, August, September, and October.

"II. During the period required for preparing the young for the first communion, catechising shall take place on three days in the week, besides Sundays and festivals, and to continue for at least an hour.

"VI. The curates who have the charge of two parishes, are not to consider themselves excused from the duty of catechising in each of those parishes. They are to regard this obligation as one of the most essential, and its omission as involving the most evil consequences. They will be reconciled to this new charge by the reflection, that they are promoting the glory of God and the salvation of their people."

Extracts from Bishops' Charges.

BUILD A CHURCH AND A SCHOOL WILL FOLLOW.

"The money already contributed to that fund (the Metropolis Churches Fund), including the subscription for Bethnal Green, has secured the erection of forty-one additional churches; and where a church is built, schools for the children of the poor are sure to follow. It is to this combined provision for the spiritual and moral wants of the people, that the country must look, under God, for the cure of its most dangerous diseases; and I trust that the time is not far distant, when the legislature of this Christian land will again recognise the duty, incumbent upon it, of doing something to preserve and perpetuate its Christianity, by means of the instrument which has been divinely appointed for that purpose: not to supersede the Church's endeavours, and contributions, and sacrifices; but to aid and encourage them; to answer a present demand of instant urgency, which admits not of delay; and to supply that, which the Church herself will not be able to supply, till her wealthier members shall have been fully awakened to a sense of their Christian obligations."-Charge of the Bishop of London. 1842.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF INSPECTION.

"I should say something here on the subject of education, but that the time forbids, and that I spoke of it in a former Charge. I will merely observe, on the present occasion, that the efficiency of our parochial system will be most materially increased by regular and periodical inspection. With that object in view, I have appointed clerical inspectors of schools in different parts of the diocese; and I trust that no clergyman will object to their visiting the schools under his care, and reporting upon them to me as diocesan." -Ibid.

THE SCHOOLMASTER A HELPER TO THE CLERGYMAN.

"The next topic on which I shall touch is the state of our Parochial Schools, which in the several parishes differ exceedingly as to their efficiency. I will

state what I conceive that a Parochial Schoolmaster might be to his clergyman, if things were properly managed, and I shall leave you to judge how far your own masters fulfil these duties. If the master has resided in the parish a few years, he is more likely to be well acquainted with the resident families than any other person, and will have acquired a hold over the affections of the population, which he may employ in leading the people to look up to and revere their Pastor. He becomes interested in the welfare of all, and acts under the clergyman in bringing all, as one family, to Christ. He is himself seeking heaven, and regards his clergyman as the person of all others in the world, who is most likely to contribute to his obtaining this object; he seeks to lead others to the same blessed haven whither he himself is steering his course, and he hopes that his minister will prove the honoured instrument of bringing the little ones of the flock to Christ, and with this view, he works with him, and under him. The clergyman superintends the whole of the education of the School, and gives assistance in raising the tone of every branch to a higher state, than it could easily reach without his aid. But his chief object is the religious education of the children, and in this he is assisted by the schoolmaster, who looks up to his clergyman as his teacher in Christ Jesus.

"All this supposes two things. First, that the clergyman is able to carry on the education of the school, in all branches, higher than the schoolmaster can; and secondly, that he himself is seeking heaven, and trying to lead others there too. It is not too much to take it for granted, that both these particulars are true of most of us. But the whole depends on their being true. I will confess to you that I very much fear, that so much use has not been made of our schools, in this point of view, as there ought to have been. Some among you perhaps have not visited your schools so regularly as you ought to have done, and have thereby either not acquired or kept up that hold over your masters, which you would have otherwise possessed. The ground so lost cannot be regained in a moment. It may take many years to recover it. Our masters have their rights as well as ourselves, and it is only when they are guilty of actual offences that they can be dismissed. But our object should be not to turn any one out, but to reform ourselves and our people. We must exert ourselves to do our own duty, and then we shall gradually regain our real position.

"A schoolmaster will never be such as I have described, unless his heart be with his clergyman. We must win their hearts. You all know and feel how hopeless a task it would be if a Bishop were to try to regulate his clergy by the terrors of discipline alone, without the leading of love. Apply the same argument to yourselves and your schoolmasters, and try to improve them in the same way in which you would wish me to endeavour to lead you into a better state.

"With regard to the quarterly visitations of the school, which the Canons require, I will speak when we enter on the discussion of business.*-Charge of the Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man, 1842.

CATECHISING, AS PREPARATORY TO CONFIRMATION.

"Closely connected with our Schools, or rather, perhaps, with our Sunday Schools, is that constant parochial preparation for confirmation, which can alone render it likely that the rite will prove spiritually beneficial to our flock. If a parish were well managed, all the younger members of it ought to be under a constant course of spiritual instruction.

"And every Rector, Vicar, or Curate, shall the first week of every quarter, visit the petty schools, and take an account in a book of the improvement of every child, to be produced as often as the Ordinary shall call for it. Canons, 1703, sect.9."

"The Day School prepares them for the Sunday School, in which they are placed under the superintendence of the adult teacher, and the higher classes of which are under the more immediate personal care of the Clergyman. They constitute the class whom he catechises every Sunday, and whom during the whole year he is preparing for confirmation. It shall be my object in future years, if it please God to continue my life, to hold constant parochial confirmations, such as may fulfil the excellent Canon of our Insular Church. But then on the other hand I must expect, that you, my Rev. Brethren, will fulfil your part of the same Canon. That you will enter on and continue a regular system of catechising the children of the parish. I know of no better plan of doing so, in country parishes, than that which the Canons and Rubrics enjoin: viz., that after the second lesson in afternoon service you publicly question such young persons as you have appointed to be present. I have now during the whole of my ministerial life pursued this plan, varying in some degree according to the nature of the place where my ministry was exercised. I may say that I have been catechising nearly thirty years, and I have uniformly seen a fruit springing from this species of cultivation for which I must always thank God, and urge my fellow-labourers in the vineyard of our Lord, to pursue the same plan. The advantage of catechising over any other species of teaching consists in this; that by it we give instruction, and not merely exhortation. The great mass of irreligion which prevails among us arises, I believe, from ignorance; and a superficial excitement of the passions may tend rather to increase than to diminish this evil. Our people do not know the doctrines of our excellent Church, nor will they ever know them, till we, the teachers of that Church, are in the habit of explaining them. The Church Catechism is an excellent compendium of these doctrines, but in order that it may be received as it ought, it must be understood, and there is no method by which this will be accomplished so sure, as that of explaining a portion of it every Sunday in a familiar manner, by questioning the children of the parish. Till this is done, the catechumens will never be properly prepared for confirmation, and if they be not, we can hardly hope that they will become consistent churchmen. I was myself never fully aware of the close connexion between the Church Catechism and the word of God, till I drew up a Tract in which the one was explained by the other.† I would add, that there is no one subject on which I find more frequent mention in the writings of him among my predecessors, whom we should all wish to take for our guide; Bishop Wilson again and again enjoins catechising, the Insular Čanons which form a part of the law of the Island enjoin it, and yet, as far as I can learn, it has fallen into general disuse. I feel convinced that the neglect of the Church Catechism has done more to undermine the true principles of our Church than any other one thing. While we teach by a formulary, we teach systematically. Without one, each man may teach what is right in his own eyes, and not the doctrines of the Church."-Ibid.

SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

"I would next mention Sunday Schools,-I mean those taught by adult voluntary teachers. Persons who have themselves acquired a knowledge of our holy faith from such instruction, are best suited to carry on this work among their fellows, and nothing with which I am acquainted seems more likely to lead on these young persons in a religious course, than the being so engaged in promoting the work of the Lord. In my late parish I always

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Canons, 1703, sect. 4, and Rubric after the Church Catechism."

+"Scripture Proofs and Illustrations of the Church Catechism." S.P.C.K., 206.

had a class or two of Sunday School Teachers, and I feel assured that if any elergyman will bestow an hour or two a week in guiding and instructing a class of teachers, he will be more likely to establish a good school than by any other means in the world."-Ford.

LENDING LIBRARIES.

"I must not omit to mention Lending Libraries, in which books on religious and other subjects are furnished to the poor-to whom they provide a rational and improving amusement, and establish a friendly communication between the clergyman and his parishioners. I would observe, that if they are to produce any good, they must be carried on with system and regularity. I speak from experience. I never had a parish in which I did not establish or extend an institution of this sort, and I could hardly mention any instrument by which more good might be done to this island."—Ibid.

Notices of Books.

We beg to recommend strongly to our readers, particularly those who are alarmed lest schoolmasters should now be over-educated, an admirable Sermon by the Rev. Canon Slade, delivered in Chester Cathedral on the opening of the Training College, September 1st, 1842, with an Appendix. (Rivingtons). Mr. S.'s well-known success as a parish priest in his own schools at Bolton-le-Moors, points him out at once as a fit preacher for such an occasion.

A volume of Short Sermons for Children, illustrative of the Catechism and Liturgy, has just appeared from the pen of the Rev. C. A. Johns, B.A. These sermons were preached at the National Society's Central School, Westminster, during the rebuilding of the church which the children ordinarily attend, and are appropriately inscribed to those lay members of our Church, who devote their time and energies to the work of assisting the clergy in teaching the catechism. Our readers may depend upon the

author for sound doctrine.

A new School Record, or Register of Studies and Conduct, by James Ferguson, intended for private teachers as well as schools, is very neatly printed, and less open than many publications of this sort, to the charge of requiring a clerk as well as a master.

We much regret that no London publisher's name is attached to an excellent Sermon preached in Edgbaston Church, in behalf of the Parish Schools, by the Rev. C. M. Collins (Hawker, Birmingham). We had marked some short passages for extraction, particularly those on early training (p. 14); on the paramount influence of the mother in education (p. 27); and on the importance and duties of sponsors (p. 21).

Our grandmothers used to complain of the difficulty of procuring books for children. In our days a careful mother has no less difficulty in selecting a few good ones out of the heaps of trash and nonsense which she finds on every bookseller's counter. The following may be placed with confidence in the hands of young children :--" Diligence and Good Temper;" "Lessons upon the Calendar;" "The Pink Bonnet;" "The Red Shawls;" "Out in the Dark ;" and, above all, "Christian Courtesy." (Burns.) Some of the same series are open to the grave objection of "lugging" in the name and peculiarities, instead of quietly breathing the spirit, of the Church. It is but fair, however, to mention, that we have not seen several of the

most recent.

We have long wished to see the Outlines of English Grammar from the pen of a practical schoolmaster and fair scholar," parcentis viribus

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