7. The historical course, as far as it is distinct from that last mentioned, agrees, in its general features, with that of the Berlin seminary school, being, however, more minute.

8. Writing and drawing-In learning to write, the classes begin with small hand, and succeed better tha is usual upon that plan, probably from the attention, at the same time, to drawing. The last named branch is taught by Schmidt's method. The teacher has made an admirable collection of models in wood and plaster, of geometrical solids, of machines, of buildings, bridges, and the like, of ornaments, &c., and brings his class forward in this kind of drawing very rapidly. Only the more elementary parts of these collections, however, are used for the classes of the burgher school.

9. Vocal music is taught as in the other schools

The particular method which the teacher pursues in his instruction is left much to the individual, the director remarking, justly, that if he is competent to his place, his method must be good. He has for his guide, however, a programme indicating the degree of proficiency which his class must show at the end of the

year.

In the lower classes of a school like this, if the pupils have been previously well trained, a larger number can be instructed by the simultaneous method than in the elementary classes, in a subject of the same kind. This advantage is lost as the course becomes higher, and the scale turns again in proportion as individual teaching becomes more desirable, with increased individual development and differences in mental quality. The simultaneous method requires watchfulness on the part of the teacher, not to deceive himself as to the progress of his class. It is, of course, rarely that a question can not be answered by some of them, while the mass may be entirely iguorant in relation to the subject. I have seen both skill and attention fall into the mistake to which I refer.

Between each of the hours of recitation there are a few minutes of interval, during which the classes leave the school-rooms. This is an arrangement favorable to health, and worthy of imitation.

The lower classes have each a teacher for all the subjects, a system which is gradually changed in the higher classes for that of a teacher for a single subject. Drawing and singing are taught by special instructors in the higher classes.

The classes for girls are similar to those described, the instruction being modified so as to render it more applicable to the sex.

The plan of instruction in the "Real School," the highest of which this establishment is composed, can hardly be said to have received, as yet, its ultimate form. The school belongs to the class of secondary instruction, running parallel with the gymnasium, and preparing for the university of the arts, or polytechnic school, as the other prepares for the university of the learned professions. The branches taught, and which I may enumerate, to complete the description of the institution, are,

1. Religious instruction. 2. German. 3. French. 4. English. 5. Mathematics, including algebra; geometry, trigonometry, plane and spherical; practical surveying; a review of arithmetic and technical arithmetic. 6. Physics and chemistry. 7. Natural history. 8. History. 9. Geography. 10. Calligraphy. 11. Drawing. 12. Vocal music.

The separate branches in this school are in general taught by special instructors. The methods of Pestalozzi are considered by the director as less applicable to the higher than to the lower courses. But I doubt this, for though much less frequently applied, I have seen them used with good effect in advanced courses. The opposite method takes up less time if the object be to communicate positive knowledge, and the importance of this object certainly increases, and even becomes paramount, in the later parts of the student's career. The objection urged to this plan does not apply in the case of those subjects which are continuous through a series of years, but to such as are broken up into a number of kindred branches, the elements of which are to be taught at different, and even at advanced stages of the course.

The plan of special study hours for those whose parents wish them to be prepared for their lessons under the direction of a teacher, has been adopted in this school.

XI. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND.

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

THE parochial schools of Scotland have been the pride of her own people and the admiration of enlightened men in all countries. The foundations of the system were laid in 1494. In that year it was enacted by the Scotch Parliament, that all barons and substantial freeholders throughout the realm should send their children to school from the age of six to nine years, and then to other seminaries to be instructed in the laws; that the country might be possessed of persons properly qualified to discharge the duties of sheriffs, and to fill other civil offices. Those who neglected to comply with the provisions of this statute were subjected to a penalty of £20. In 1560, John Knox and his compeers hold the following memorable language, in the "First Book of Discipline," presented to the nobility.

"Seeing that God has determined that his kirk here on earth shall be taught, not by angels, but by men; and seeing that men are born ignorant of God and of godliness; and seeing, also, that he ceaseth to illuminate men miraculously, of necessity it is, that your honors be most careful for the virtuous education and godly up-bringing of the youth of this realm. For as they must succeed to us, so we ought to be careful that they have knowledge, and erudition to profit and comfort that which ought to be most dear to us, to wit, the kirk and spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of necessity, therefore, we judge it, that every several kirk have one schoolmaster appointed; such an one, at least, as is able to teach grammar and the Latin tongue, if the town be of any reputation. And further, we think it expedient, that in every notable town, there should be erected a college, in which the arts at least of rhetoric and logic, together with the tongues, be read by sufficient masters, for whom honest stipends must be appointed; as also that provision be made for those that are poor, and not able by themselves or their friends, to be sustained at letters.

The rich and potent may not be permitted to suffer their children to spend their youth in a vain idleness, as heretofore they have done; but they must be exhorted, and, by the censure of the kirk, compelled to dedicate their sons by good exercises to the profit of the kirk, and commonwealth; and this they must do, because they are able. The children of the poor must be supported and sustained on the charge of the kirk, trial being taken whether the spirit of docility be in them found, or not. If they be found apt to learning and letters, then may they not be permitted to reject learning, but must be charged to continue their study, so that the commonwealth may have some comfort by them; and for this purpose, must discreet, grave, and learned men be appointed to visit schools, for the trial of their exercise, profit, and continuance; to wit, the ministers and elders, with the best learned men in every town. A certain time must be appointed to reading and learning the catechism, and a certain time to grammar and to the Latin tongue, and a certain time to the arts of philosophy and the other tongues, and a certain time to that study in which they intend chiefly to

travel for the profit of the commonwealth; which time being expired, the children should either proceed to further knowledge, or else they must be set to some handicraft, or to some other profitable exercise."

In 1615, an act of the Privy Council of Scotland empowered the bishops, along with the majority of the landlords or heritors, to establish a school in every parish in their respective dioceses, and to assess the lands for that purpose. This act of the privy council was confirmed by an act of the Scotch Parliament, in 1633; and under its authority, schools were established in the lower and the more cultivated districts of the country. But the system was still far from being complete; and the means of obtaining elementary instruction continued so very deficient, that it became necessary to make a more complete and certain provision for the establishment of schools. This was done by the famous act of 1696, the preamble of which states, that "Our Sovereign Lord, considering how prejudicial the want of schools in many places has been, and how beneficial the establishing and settling thereof will be to this church and kingdom, therefore, his Majesty, with advice and consent, &c." The act went on to order, that a school be established, and a schoolmaster appointed in every parish; and it further ordered that the landlords should be obliged to build a school-house, and a dwelling-house for the use of the master; and that they should pay him a salary, exclusive of the fees of his scholars; which should not fall short of 5l. 11s. 1d. a year, nor exceed 11l. 2s. 2d. The power of nominating and appointing the schoolmaster was vested in the landlords and the minister of the parish; and they were also invested with the power of fixing the fees to be paid him by the scholars. The general supervision of the schools was vested in the presbyteries in which they are respectively situated; who have also the power of censuring, suspending, and dismissing the masters, without their sentence being subject to the review of any other tribunal.

It has been usually expected that a Scotch parish schoolmaster, besides being a person of unexceptionable character, should be able to instruct his pupils in the reading of English, in the arts of writing and arithmetic, the more common and useful branches of practical mathematics, and that he should be possessed of such classical attainments as might qualify him for teaching Latin and the rudiments of Greek.

It would be no easy matter to exaggerate the beneficial effects of the elementary instruction obtained at parish schools, on the habits and industry of the people of Scotland. It has given to that part of the empire an importance to which it has no claim, either from fertility of soil or amount of population. The universal diffusion of schools, and the consequent education of the people, have opened to all classes paths to wealth, honor and distinction. Persons of the humblest origin have raised themselves to the highest eminence in every walk of ambition, and a spirit of forethought and energy, has been widely disseminated.

At the period when the act of 1696 was passed, Scotland, which had suffered greatly from misgovernment and religious persecutions under the reigns of Charles II. and his brother, James II., was in the most unprosper

ous condition. There is a passage in one of the discourses of the celebrated Scotch patriot, Fletcher of Saltoun, written in 1698, only two years after the act for the establishment of parochial schools had been passed, that sets the wretched state of the country in the most striking' point of view.

"There are, at this day in Scotland, besides a great many families very meanly provided for by the church boxes, with others who, by living upon bad food, fall into various diseases, two hundred thousand people begging from door to door. These are not only no way advantageous, but a very grievous burden to so poor a country. And although the number of them be, perhaps, double to what it was formerly, by reason of this present great distress, yet in all times there has been about a hundred thousand of these vagabonds, who have lived without any regard or subjection, either to the laws of the land, or even those of God and nature. No magistrate could ever discover which way one in a hundred of these wretches died, or that ever they were baptized. Many murders have been discovered amongst them; and they are a most unspeakable oppression to poor tenants, who, if they do not give bread, or some kind of provision, to perhaps forty such villains in a day, are sure to be insulted by them. In years of plenty many thousands of them meet together in the mountains, where they feast and riot for many days; and at country weddings, markets, burials, and other the like public occasions, they are to be seen, both men and women, perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and fighting together. These are such outrageous disorders, that it were better for the nation they were sold for the gallies or the West Indies, than that they should continue any longer to be a burden and a curse upon us.'

No country ever rose so rapidly from so frightful an abyss. In the autumn circuits or assizes for the year 1757, no one person was found guilty, in any part of the country, of a capital crime. And now, notwithstanding the increase of population, and a vast influx of paupers from Ireland, there are very few beggars in the country; nor has any assessment been imposed for the support of the poor, except in some of the large towns, and in the counties adjoining England; and even there it is so light as scarcely to be felt. This is a great and signal change. We can not, indeed, go quite so far as those who ascribe it entirely to the establishment of the parochial system of education. It is, no doubt, most true, that this system has had great influence in bringing about the change; but much must also be ascribed to the establishment of a regular and greatly improved system of government; to the abolition of hereditary jurisdictions, by the act of 1748; and to the introduction of what may, in its application to the vast majority of cases, be truly said to be a system of speedy, cheap and impartial justice. Certainly, however, it was the diffusion of education that enabled the people to avail themselves of these advantages; and which has, in consequence, led to a far more rapid improvement than has taken place in any other European country.

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has ever taken an active interest in the parochial schools. Immediately after the par sage of the act of 1696, the Presbyteries were instructed to carry it into effect, and Synods, to make particular inquiry that it was done. In 1704, the Assembly undertook to supply schools to such part of the highlands and islands as could not be benefited by the act of 1696. In 1705, ministers were ordered to see that no parents neglected the teaching of their chil

dren to read. In 1706, it was recommended to such as settled schoolmasters, "to prefer men who had passed their course at colleges and universities, and have taken their degrees, to such as have not." In 1707, 'Synods and Presbyteries were directed to send into the General Assembly returns of the means and condition of the parochial schools.

The internal dissensions of Scotland and other causes, however, withdrew the public attention from the schools; and the advance of society in other respects, and the want of a corresponding advance in the wages of teachers, and the internal improvement of the schools, all combined to sink the condition of parochial education. In 1794, the General Assembly became roused to the subject. Visitation of the schools was enjoined on the clergy; and they were particularly instructed to inquire into the qualifications of the teachers. In 1802, the Assembly issued the following declaration, &c.:

"That parochial schoolmasters, by instilling into youth the principles of religion and morality, and solid and practical instruction, contribute to the improvement, order, and success of people of all ranks; and are therefore well entitled to public encouragement: That from the decrease in the value of money, their emoluments have descended below the gains of a day laborer: That it has been found impossible to procure persons properly qualified to fill parochial schools: That the whole order is sinking into a state of depression hurtful to their usefulness: That it is desirable that some means he devised to hold forth inducements to men of good principles and talents to undertake the office of parochial schoolmasters: And that such men would prove instrumental in counteracting the operations of those who may now, and afterward, attempt to poison the minds of the rising generation with principles inimical to religion, order, and the constitution in church and state."

In consequence of this declaration by the Church of Scotland, and of the complaints which were sent up from all parts of the country, Parliament, in the course of the next session, passed the famous act of 1803, which ordains as follows:

'That, in terms of the act of 1696, a school be established, and a schoolmaster appointed in every parish, the salary of the schoolmaster not to be under three hundred marks, (167. 13s. 4d..) nor above four hundred, (221. 4s. 5d. :) That in large parishes, where one parochial school can not be of any effectual benefit, it shall be competent for the heritors and minister to raise a salary of six hundred marks, (337. 6s. 8d.,) and to divide the same among two or more schoolmasters, as circumstances may require: That in every parish the heritors shall provide a school-house, and a dwelling-house for the schoolmaster, together with a piece of ground for a garden, the dwelling-house to consist of not more than two apartments, and the piece of ground to contain not less than onefourth of a Scots acre; except in parishes where the salary has been raised to six hundred marks, in which the heritors shall be exempted from providing school-houses, dwelling-houses, and gardens: That the foregoing sums shall continue to be the salaries of parochial schoolmasters till the end of twenty-five years, when they shall be raised to the average value of not less than one chalder and a half of oatmeal, and not more than two chalders; except in parishes where the salaries are divided among two or more schoolmasters in which case the whole sum so divided shall be raised to the value of three chalders; and so toties quoties at the end of every twenty-five years, unless altered by parliament: That none of the provisions of this act shall apply to parishes, which consist of a royal burgh, or part of a royal burgh: That the power of electing schoolmasters continue with the heritors and minister, a majority of whom shall also determine what branches of education are most necessary and important for the parish, and shall from time to time fix the school-fees as they shall deem expedient: That the presbyteries of the church shall judge whether candidates for