an habitual perception of those many shades of significancy and beauty which the remarks would seek to place conspicuously before them; and this habitual perception he would prefer to a great facility in making remarks, inasmuch as it is less likely to raise or to foster, in the mind of the pupil, a tendency to conceit, a habit of exercising our critical ingenuity upon every thing that comes before us, and a readiness to apply as earnestly to the deficiencies of a placard as to the beauties of a poem. This kind of exercise for the elements of literature would, it is presumed, be of no small assistance as introductory to composition, since a habit of perceiving the fitness of expressions used by others is certainly a great step towards adapting our own to particular circumstances. Attempts at original composition, especially upon subjects not familiar to the pupil, Mr. H., as a general rule, is not prepared to recommend; he would substitute for them various grades of imitation, the more difficult, being in fact what is often practised by good writers themselves, with more success, of course, than can be expected from young students. Not only translations from a foreign language, but also many of the exercises which the pupils go through in other branches of knowledge, may be rendered exercises in composition by requiring them to give their answers in writing, and insisting upon great attention to clearness and conciseness; the particular branch on which the answers are given being on these occasions the principal object, more than this cannot well be required; but to insist upon these qualities will often be found extremely conducive to the pupil's progress, branch on which the answers are written. Making young people give an account, either orally or in writing, of something they have lately read, accustoming them to give only the pith of the narration, or at most such additional circumstances as have a very close connection with it, is likely to prove serviceable; the same may perhaps be said of making them fill up elliptical sentences, prepared for the purpose, provided the omissions are neither so evident as to leave no real exercise for the pupil, nor such as to require an amount of thought from which they are almost sure to escape, by as good a series of conjectures as their previous practice in guessing may enable them to command. in the Books. For many books I care not, and my store My private actions seriously o'erviewed, My thoughts recalled, and what of them ensued, Than all the other paper works of man; And some of these I may be reading too, Where'er I come, or whatsoe'er I do.-George Withers. ON THE EARLY FORMATION OF STUDIOUS HABITS. ONE great reason why there are so many individuals in the world who scarcely attain to mediocrity in the development and exercise of their mental powers, seems to be the neglect of cultivation at an early age. In large families this is especially apt to occur. While very young, the mind is allowed to follow its own bias, to acquire habits of indifference to study, and in many cases, from want of exercise, to lose the power of application. . Generally speaking it is only when a boy begins to attract notice by a native display of talent, or its opposite-an innate obtuseness of intellect, that attention to his progress is arrested. Then follows inquiry-too often disappointment. It becomes, perhaps, apparent that less has been acquired than his age might warrant his friends in anticipating. Decided measures for redeeming lost time are suggested, and hastily adopted. From the suddenness of the change disgust is too often produced, and if the same plan be persisted in, a fixed dislike of studious pursuits is the frequent result. On the contrary, if in the early period of childhood,-I may almost say, in infancy—a taste for learning had been coupled with agreeable circumstances-amusement, praise, trifling indulgences, and the various sources of childish delight, which skilful mothers know so well how to apply an incipient relish for books and literary occupations, exhibiting itself in a partiality for reading and intelligent conversation, and the display of a lively curiosity, terminating in a fondness for study and mental application, would, in all probability, have been the gratifying consequence. It is not the amount of learning thus obtained, that should regulate our estimate of this important period; but the habits which this treatment is calculated to establish. As this is the time when the most permanent and salutary tastes and habits of mind are acquired, so, on the other hand, it should never be forgotten that the most confirmed dislike to study is often produced by a too great anxiety to promote the mental growth; and that, in addition to the debilitating effects on the mind of involuntary efforts, aversion not unfrequently follows premature excitement. It is not, perhaps, sufficiently borne in mind, that although intellectual exertion, when spontaneous, far from enfeebling, invigorates the mind; yet when it is merely the effect of artificial or extraneous influence, while the good is only temporary, the pernicious effect is too often lasting. The object, in this early stage of the educational process, seems to be rather to create an appetite for mental food than to satisfy it; to awaken rather than to gratify curiosity; to inspire a taste for reading, rather than to impose tasks. As well might we expect to invigorate the constitution by loading a deranged or weak stomach with food, which it had not the power to digest, instead of previously strengthening it by suitable means, for the process which it had to perform, as to anticipate beneficial results from involuntary lessons and reluctant exertions. A A Our business is now to cherish the first inclination to reading and reflection; gently to stimulate the languid curiosity;—and this rather by partially gratifying than by fully satiating its desires; seldom assigning anything as a task, but seizing every opportunity of associating intellectual employments with pleasure; and thus gradually leading the mind to seek its best enjoyments in the exercise of its own powers. In some cases, books which have amusement only for their object may be usefully employed, until a fondness for reading for its own sake be established, when such as combine a portion of instruction with entertainment may be gradually substituted; until, at length, when a habit of confining the attention appears to be formed, we may employ such as are exclusively directed to utility. The formation of such habits is frequently retarded and sometimes altogether prevented by a too scrupulous regard to the character of the books to be perused. A desire to mingle instruction with the earliest reading, and a fear of encouraging frivolous notions or a waste of time, by permitting the perusal of books of mere amusement, often lead parents and others to substitute works of a more solid but less attractive description, for those which the child's unformed taste had prompted him to select. Thus the charm is broken, reading is associated with the idea of study and application, and other plans of amusement at leisure hours are pursued, to the rejection of one which might have been gradually modified as the child's mind expanded; while a habit calculated to have a most beneficial influence on his future career might have been permanently established. It is the practice of applying to books for entertainment and associating with them the ideas of relaxation and enjoyment, which is, at this early period, the great desideratum. As the mind acquires strength it will instinctively seek for stronger food, and it is in watching this appetite and skilfully supplying its wants that much of the talent for teaching consists. So that they be perfectly innocent in their moral tendency, there seems to be no reasonable ground of objection to the tales and other works of imagination, which children appear almost universally to delight in. They will speedily reject them if too puerile; and less disagreeable methods may be resorted to for strengthening the growing intellect than laying an embargo on Robinson Crusoe and his worthy compeers. If works of fiction were employed for the purpose of generating a love of reading, and their perusal gradually discontinued after they had answered this salutary purpose, instead of being the bane of our youth, they might be numbered among the best friends of our childhood. The writer of the present article has not only acted upon this principle in the arrangement of what may be appropriately termed "a graduated school library," the books being selected in accordance with the expanding faculties of the young; but has frequently recommended a similar course of treatment at home, where there appeared a positive aversion to study of any kind, and generally with success when it has been patiently and consistently pursued. Having attempted in the preceding remarks to suggest some simple means of arousing the dormant and exciting the languid intellect in childhood, a few observations on minds of an opposite character-those which exhibit a premature development of the reasoning powers-may not be misplaced. Much anxiety and distress of mind are frequently experienced by parents, from an impression that their offspring are either positively deficient in understanding, or inferior in intellectual vigour, to the general average of youth of their age. Happy would it be, in many instances, were the evil to terminate in the uneasiness endured by the parents themselves; but it has often led to the adoption of injudicious treatment, or a partial neglect of mental culture, in those who ought to be the objects of their most assiduous and hopeful care. In other cases an equally groundless exultation has been indulged, at what appeared to indicate precocity of intellect; and the delusion has led to very different though not less pernicious consequences. The former impression has too often repressed parental exertion, while the latter has led to an undue preference for one member of a family, to the comparative neglect of the rest; and that too, without conferring any benefit on the favoured party, but, on the contrary, with the baneful effect of making the individual conceited and unamiable; and frequently causing an indifference to the prosecution of those studies without which the most brilliant talents are worse than useless. The illustrious Bacon has not failed to notice and deprecate the consequences of these partial distinctions in families. The difference in affection," he remarks, "of parents towards their several children is many times unequal, and sometimes unworthy, especially in the mother, as Solomon saith, 'A wise son rejoiceth the father, but an ungracious son shames the mother.' A man shall see, where there is a house full of children, one or two of the eldest respected, and the youngest made wantons: but in the midst some that are as it were forgotten, who many times nevertheless prove the best." The hopes and fears are, in most of the dissimilar cases above adverted to, equally unreasonable. It is with the mind as with fruit prematurely forced, which seldom possesses the fine flavour of that which arrives at maturity in due season; while too tardy a development of the fruit or the intellect is unfavourable to its ripening at all. But between the two extremes of precocity and incapacity there are happily many gradations, which, by judicious treatment may be made available to the highest and best pursuits and purposes of life; nor is the remark of the ancient the less true for its antiquity, that "illud ingeniorum velut præcox genus non pervenit ad frugem. Placent hæc annis comparata, deinde stat profectus, admiratio decrescit." Too early a display of talent is often followed by an intellectual torpor; over-excitement is succeeded by a mental paralysis, which gives abilities of a less ostentatious character time to overtake those who had previously led the way in the march of mind; and it will be found in most instances equally true and consolatory, that the acquisitions made at a later period are, though less showy, more solid and durable. It is certainly very pleasing to parental fondness to witness the early exhibition of superior abilities in those who are dearest to them. These will naturally excite the parent's warmest wishes and most sanguine as pirations; but when it is remembered that, in almost every case, this premature advancement is made at the expense of health and longevity, and not unfrequently of intellectual expansion and vigour, at a later period, it may tend to reconcile us to the absence of such evidences, and even cause us to rejoice if our gratification be deferred. The history of mankind is replete with instances, not only of precocious talent erroneously directed, and often perniciously exercised, but of superior endowments dwarfed or blighted by too eager endeavours to promote their growth; and we may affirm, in the words of Cowper, that aching hearts of ten thousand parents, mourning under the bitterest of all disappointments, attest the truth of the allegation." S. S. the MORAL TRAINING-SEPARATION OF THE SEXES. For the following valuable remarks upon one of the most interesting subjects connected with National Education, we are indebted to that indefatigable philanthropist, Mr. David Stow, of Glasgow. They were sent to us by that gentleman in type, in what printers call "slips; but whether they have already appeared in any of the Author's published works, we have not just now the opportunity of examining: whether or not, we are glad to give them a place in our pages.-ED. Before noticing some points in the intellectual department, there is still one part of moral training which is too important to be overlooked, viz., the separation of the sexes in school education. We are all aware of the softening and humanising effect which female society has upon the male creation. It influences the fire-side, the social circle, and the public meeting. It restrains rudeness and impropriety of every kind; and while the men are thus improved, the females are not less benefited in their intellectual and moral character. Deprive man of female society, and he would soon approach to, if not actually sink into, barbarism, and exclude females from the society of the other sex-the history of nunneries will unfold the consequences. What is morally and intellectually true with regard to grown persons is equally so in respect of the young; and if men and women ought to act properly towards each other when they meet, and meet they must, then children cannot be too early trained to practise this virtue. Every one is satisfied that boys are improved by the presence of girls—a wholesome restraint is obviously experienced. It is not so apparent, however, that girls are improved by the presence of boys. We believe it is perfectly mutual, although not so obvious. The girls are also under a restraint, less visible, it is true, because they are less boisterous, but equally valuable in elevating and strengthening the real character, by preventing the exercise of tittle-tattle, evil-speaking, &c., &c., and substituting things ennobling, which females are perfectly capable of attaining. Let each approach the other nearly half-way, and then each in manner and real character will be certainly and equally improved. The consideration of the separation of the sexes in education is exceedingly important; for if it forms a part of moral training, no parent who calmly considers the good of his children can treat the subject with indifference or neglect. It is a subject that cannot be too often repeated, and therefore we would again ask and answer, as on a recent occasion, the question |