BIRMINGHAM FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

Amongst the numerous establishments of this country dedicated to the instruction of youth, "THE BIRMINGHAM FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL," founded the fifth of King Edward VI., is rapidly rising in importance. The following brief summary of its conduct, its laws, and its arrangements, is abridged from the Act of Parliament which regulates its management, and from other authentic sources. Letters patent were granted on the second of January, 1552, for transferring the possession of a religious establishment entitled "The Guild of the Holy Cross," of the clear annual value of £21., to twenty inhabitants of Birmingham, who were created a body corporate and elective of themselves in perpetuity. The governors thus appointed possess a common seal, and, with the advice of the Bishop of the Diocese, have the government of the school-the appointment of masters, whose stipends they regulate-and the preservation and disposition of the revenues. In conformity with the charter, the governors were formerly chosen from the inhabitants of Birmingham alone; but by a recent enactment, persons duly qualified, whose residence does not exceed four miles from the town, are considered eligible to act in that capacity.

The Grammar School is conducted by a head master and second master, with an assistant to each, and likewise a writing master. The two first mentioned are required to be Masters of Arts of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and in Holy Orders. The head master is permitted to take eighteen boarders, and the second master twelve.

The youths who are candidates for admission into the school are ineligible unless they can read and write English, and are above eight years of age; nor are they allowed to continue after they have completed their nineteenth year. Boys who are not sons of inhabitants of Birmingham are required to pay for their education such sum as the governors shall determine.

There are ten exhibitions of £50 a year each, paid half-yearly, to be held four years, with a certain residence, founded for boys who shall go to the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge; two exhibitions one year, and three another, alternately. The candidates are examined, and their names arranged according to their respective excellence in classical learning. In case no candidates appear for exhibitions who are sons of the inhabitants of Birmingham, the governors may assign them to any other candidates, provided they

shall have been three years in the school prior to the annual visitation. Should a death take place during the four years, the governors may re-appoint; but the exhibitions remain vacant if there are not a sufficient number of boys qualified.

An annual visitation is held in Easter week, at which three examiners attend, who are required to be resident members of one of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, of not less than seven years standing; and who have taken the degree of Master of Arts, or Bachelor of Civil Law. A general examination of the boys takes place at that time, to ascertain their proficiency in the classics, and their knowledge of the fundamental principles and doctrines of the Christian religion.

As some important changes in the system of instruction, calculated to extend the usefulness of the school, are now under the consideration of the governors, we defer entering upon that subject till the improved plans shall be matured.

A wise regulation has been enacted relative to publishing the accounts of this Institution. It is decreed-" That an abstract of the accounts of the income and expenditure of the revenues of the school estates shall be hereafter published by the governors once in the month of June, in every year, in some one newspaper printed within the said town of Birmingham." The gross annual revenue of this Institution at present amounts to about £4000 per annum ; an income which is continually augmented by the termination of existing leases.

We present our readers with a north and south view, and likewise a ground plan, of the magnificent building now erecting for the Grammar School, engraved by T. Kearnan, under the direction of Mr. Barry; who has recently enhanced the fame his distinguished talents as an architect had previously acquired, by his much-admired designs for the New Houses of Parliament.

The accompanying illustrations so clearly define the character and plan of the building as to render any lengthened technical description of the designs unnecessary. We have, therefore, abridged an account of this beautiful edifice from The Companion to the Almanack.

"The design embodies an adaptation of the collegiate, and civil, and ecclesiastical pointed architecture of the third period of what is commonly called Gothic architecture, or more particularly of the time of the Tudor line of English sovereigns; and is a distinguished proof that novel and beautiful combinations may be made of classical materials, without either servile copying, or tame imitation.

"The structure resolves itself, externally, into a regular quadrangular figure, extending 174 feet in front, 125 feet in flank, and 60 feet in height. Internally, two courts, of the same figure, are formed, around and between which the several parts of the building are arranged. The main body of the front elevation is composed of two stories, which are indicated by series of windows, enriched with tracery of the period to which the composition belongs-the lower being comparatively low, with very flat arches of what are termed the four-centred, or obtuse-angled and contrasted form; the upper are lofty, with arches of similar form, but of higher elevation. These divide that part of the elevation into seven minor compartments, which are separated by buttresses, diminishing as they ascend, and terminating above an embattled parapet, in pinnacles, enriched with crockets and finials. The principal entrance is in the central compartment of the ground-story, and is formed by a characteristic porch, so designed as not to break up the harmony and continuity of the composition. The elevation generally, however, includes two wings, which stand so far forward as to range with the buttresses of the main body in the lower story, and running up to the height of the main body, terminate in small gables. These wings are enriched each by a lofty oriel window of two stories in height, corbelling from the level of the principal floor. The other windows are plain, rectangular, and mullioned, with label heads in collegiate style. The flanks exhibit three tiers, or stories, of windows similar to the ordinary windows of the wings in front. The rear front is of a similar composition to the principal front, as regards the wings. In the centre are seven large pointed windows, filled with mullions and tracery in the principal floor; and in the lower story there is a series of open arches, forming a covered play-ground, with a cloister for the boys during inclement weather.

"The principal entrance from New-street opens upon a vestibule, on the right and left of which are two subordinate school-rooms, occupying the ground or lower story of the main body of the front, from the windows of which they receive their light. Onward the vestibule leads into a gallery, or corridor, separating the two internal quadrangular courts, and out into the vaulted and groined ground-floor of the main body of the rear front, which communicates, by its open arcade, with the play-ground. Turning to the right, after passing through the entrance vestibule, there is a handsome stone staircase leading up to a corridor corresponding with that below, but of much greater height, according with the greater ge

neral height of the story, and connecting the two principal rooms in the structure, which relatively occupy the main bodies of its principal and rear fronts. These are the library and the grammar school-room. The former is over the entrance vestibule and subordinate schools in front, and occupies the grand series of windows of the elevation. This room is 102 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 31 feet in height. The latter the grammar-school-occupies the corresponding part within the rear-front, over the vaulted playground below; over one end there will be a gallery for the accommodation of visitors at public examinations; above which gallery the length of this room is 120 feet, its width 30 feet, and its height 45 feet. The roof will be carved and enriched with tracery in the manner of the roofs of Eltham, Crosby, and other ancient halls of the same period. In the wings of the fronts and the flankingbuildings from front to rear, are the residences for the head and second master, which include apartments for the accommodation of a limited number of private pupils. The building is entirely faced with a durable grit stone, of a fine colour, from Darley Dale, in Derbyshire. The interior of the vestibule, corridors, and staircases, all of which are highly decorative, and have groined ceilings, are entirely cased with stone."

SKETCHES OF BRITISH ICHTHYOLOGY.

No. 1. THE SYNGNATHIDÆ, OR FAMILY OF PIPE-FISHES.

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BY SHIRLEY PALMER, M.D.

ICHTHYOLOGY, or the study of fishes, although little prosecuted as a branch of Natural History in this country, has ever been, to me, a subject of the deepest interest. The delightful associations of my early years are inseparably connected with it; and have, perhaps, imparted to the study a charm which, with all its intrinsic attractions to the inquiring mind of the man of science and the naturalist, it might not otherwise have possessed. The "high-days and holidays" spent by the visionary and enthusiastic school-boy, in solitary rambles with the fishing-rod, on the brink of the tranquil

* From 'Ixès, a fisb, and aóyos, a discourse.