He did not seem to

its actual effect in nature. comprehend, that you may present all these things to the senses as facts individually, and yet that the intellect may thoroughly fail of grasping the principles as matters of pure reason. That large sphere of mental activity lying between the senses and the reasoning powers was quietly passed by; and the fact that the ultimate principles of all truth elude the senses altogether was never even surmised. Thus, instead of leading the mind gradually upwards to the power of abstract thought, he left it with a vast multiplicity of isolated facts, verified indeed as facts, by the senses, but possessing little or none of that scientific insight by which the mind comprehends truth in its unity, and groups individual phenomena under the universal conceptions of science. Still, with all this he had stirred the question to its basis; and having shewn the necessity of some fixed principles, in the sphere of education, left their further investigation as an inevitable legacy to his

successors.

Since the days of Pestalozzi little has been done (in this country at least) towards furthering the science of education. Plans have been formed,methods expounded-wise and wholesome suggestions often thrown out by many a practical, and experienced teacher; but in the midst of all this we want a clear intelligible theory of the faculties in the due order of their expansion;-so that we may not be working onwards so entirely upon mere empirical principles. The extension of education amongst all classes, and the vast amount of money spent upon it both from public and private resources, render it more and more imperative, that we should have a plan and a principle in our whole mode of operation. The rough idea of such a plan I have endeavoured to sketch out. In my former lecture I gave you a brief classification of the human faculties, in the natural order of their development;-in the present one I

have attempted to present to you the comment, which history-the history of man's whole education in the world, makes upon that classification. If humanity has run through a given course in order to form the present character of our western civilization, then every individual amongst us (starting as he does from an infancy as immature as was primitive man himself) must pass virtually through the same mental phases in order to reach the same result. The child must be an Asiatic-then a Greek-and then a Roman (psychologically speaking) before he can be a citizen of the new world, and concentrate in himself the results of the past eras of human development. In other words, he must pass fruitfully through the period of intuition; then through the various phases of imagination, and the representative powers; and then through the age of logical thinking, before he can be educated in the modern sense of that word, educated i. e. into a being, in whom the reason is predominant and supreme, both in the exercise of intelligence, and in the direction of the will.

On these questions we have no time to go into any further detail; but must now (in conclusion) sum up the results of our whole remarks in few particulars.

First, then, I would say that the whole work of the teacher must be based upon a faith in the nature of the child—in its essential capacities, and natural improvability. I do not intend, by saying this, to come into collision with any theological opinions, of one kind or another;-all I mean in reference to the nature of the child, is—that right faculties are there, right feelings there; that a conscience which testifies to the sacredness and excellence of moral truth is there; and that a germinal tendency to venerate the great, the good, the divine, and the infinite, is there also. If we attempt to IGNORE these powers and dispositions, and then to create them by any system of outward and artificial instruction or discipline, we shall miserably fail;-but if we attempt wisely to draw

them forth, by acting on the faith of their incipient existence in the soul, we cannot but succeed in the end. As faith in humanity is the first step in the real improvement of mankind; so faith in the child's nature is the first requisite for the educationist. Without this, all our plans of discipline will go utterly astray, for the power of appeal, and the possibility of personal conviction, in relation to moral evil, without it, are utterly lost.

Secondly. Reserving our faith in the child's nature, our next step is to enrich the intuitions; to fill them with images of natural beauty; to inspire them with moral lessons, drawn fresh from life and action; and thus to draw the young mind into early sympathy with the true, and the beautiful, and the good.

Then, thirdly, comes the strengthening, and the harmonious development, of the representative powers; i.e., of the memory, the imagination, and the faculty of correct expression. By these means the scholar will be enabled to retain his mental images clearly, to reproduce them at will; to combine them into new ideas; and to clothe them with the garb of a pure and a lucid phraseology. Having thus acquired the great organ of language, and stored the mind with a rich variety of ideas-then comes (4thly) the work of reducing them into logical order, by developing the power of classification, of abstraction, of generalisation; in brief, by acquiring that readiness in drawing conclusions, and that insight into the connection of one truth with another, in which the chief secret of our success in practical life really consists.

All these elements combined, will (last of all,) draw forth the rational nature into full exercise-that nature, which stands forth as the great truth-organ of the man-criticising all our lower ideas and conceptions-comparing all our logical conclusions with the facts of nature, or the moral intuitions of the soul-stripping away the false pretensions of all self-assumed authority; giving us a glimpse into the

unity of all truth, and thus basing our convictions upon a solid and lasting foundation.

The course of history which we have cursorily surveyed, shews two things; it shews us,-1st, how much nearer we are to a complete system of rational conviction than other ages have been before us; and yet,-2ndly, how far off we are doomed to stand from a state of society in which a mere traditionary belief passes over into an enlightened faith, based upon a mental insight into the nature-the worth-and the unity of all human and divine truth. How many idols have yet to be broken; how many repressive prejudices to be overcome— —what a struggle has yet to be entered into (often at least) between our childhood's belief and our more matured intelligence, before our deepest convictions are removed from the unsettled basis of tradition, and placed upon the immovable grounds of reason and conscience! With all this, how much more does human society yet need the culture of the purest emotions, and the training of the will to all that is high and noble in human pursuit !

This, then, is the work which education has to do, and which, going onwards in the mighty pathway of human history, it MUST do, until the light of reason,the power of action,-and the law of love, blend in one intense focus, to render man truly worthy of his origin, and his destiny. Meantime, let each of us remember, that it is by striving after this culture for ourselves, that we are working the most successfully for the improvement and progressive enlightenment of the age in which Providence has placed us.

ALFRED THE GREAT;

BY THE

REV. J. P. CHOWN, M. A.

[A course of lectures on popular and instructive subjects was recently delivered by the Rev. J. P. Chown, M. A. in St. George's Hall and the Temperance Hall, Bradford, Yorkshire. The reverend Lecturer gave his services freely, and the proceeds, amounting to £25, were handed to the treasurer of the Bradford Infirmary. So great were the interest and gratitude excited by the lectures, especially amongst the working classes, to whom they were specially addressed, that a subscription was commenced for the purpose of presenting the talented lecturer with a testimonial, in recognition of the value of his interesting lectures. Suitable and costly testimonials were, a short time afterwards, publicly presented both to the Rev. Mr. Chown and his amiable wife. Mr. Chown has signified his willingness to contribute an original lecture to our pages as soon as his numerous engagements will permit; in the mean time, we present our readers with a fragmentary yet faithful report of a suggestive lecture of this course, on "Alfred the Great," taken from the "Bradford Observer." The lecture was delivered in St. George's Hall, R. Milligan, Esq. M. P. presiding.]

Alfred the Great was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, in the year 849. Our Saxon hero-king was the youngest child of his mother. His birth-place, now surrounded by smiling orchards, was then in the midst of thick forests, the haunt and home of the wild boar. The times, too, were as rugged as the country, and the benefits of a life of peace were but little considered. Education was almost entirely neglected; and the serf of the soil would have as soon thought of acquiring a knowledge of the black