MARCEL'S AXIOMATIC TRUTHS.

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moral judgments of others. There is nothing so opposed to true cultivation, nothing so unreasonable, as excessive narrowness of mind; and nothing contributes to remove this narrowness so much as that clear understanding of language which lays open the thoughts of others to ready appreciation. Nor is equal clearness of thought to be obtained in any other way. Clearness of thought is bound up with clearness of language, and the one is impossible without the other. When the study of language can be followed by that of literature, not only breadth and clearness, but refinement becomes attainable. The study of history in the full sense belongs to a still later age: for till the learner is old enough to have some appreciation of politics, he is not capable of grasping the meaning of what he studies. But both literature and history do but carry on that which the study of language has begun, the cultivation of all those faculties by which man bas contact with man." *

AXIOMATIC TRUTHS OF METHODOLOGY.† 1. The method of nature is the archetype of all methods, and especially of the method of learning languages.

2. The classification of the objects of study should mark out to teacher and learner their respective spheres. of action.

3. The ultimate objects of the study should always be

* Middle Schools Report, ii. 22.

[Compare page 46.]

kept in view, that the end be not forgotten in pursuit of the means.

4. The means ought to be consistent with the end. 5. Example and practice are more efficient than precept and theory.

6. Only one thing should be taught at one time; and an accumulation of difficulties should be avoided, especially in the beginning of the study.

7. Instruction should proceed from the known to the unknown, from the simple to the complex, from concrete to abstract notions, from analysis to synthesis.

8. The mind should be impressed with the idea before it takes cognizance of the sign that represents it.

9. The development of the intellectual powers is more important than the acquisition of knowledge; each should be made auxiliary to the other.

10. All the faculties should be equally exercised, and exercised in any way consistent with the exigencies of active life.

11. The protracted exercise of the faculties is injurious: a change of occupation renews the energy of their action.

12. No exercise should be so difficult as to discourage exertion, nor so easy as to render it unnecessary; attention is secured by making study interesting.

13. First impressions and early habits are the most important, because they are the most enduring.

14. What the learner discovers by mental exertion is better known than what is told him.

15. Learners should not do with their instructor what they can do by themselves, that they may have time to do with him what they can not do by themselves.

16. The monitorial principle multiplies the benefits of public instruction. By teaching we learn.

17. The more concentrated is the professor's teaching, the more comprehensive and efficient his instruction.

18. In a class, the time must be so employed, that no learner shall be idle, and the business so contrived, that learners of different degrees of advancement shall derive equal advantage from the instructor.

19. Repetition must mature into a habit what the learner wishes to remember.

20. Young persons should be taught only what they are capable of clearly understanding, and what may be useful to them in after-life.*

FROM "JANUA LINGUARUM." +

480. Of Journeys and Passages.-Let a traveler go straightway whither he is going without turnings; let him not turn or stray out of the way into by-wayes. 481. Let him not leave the highway for a foot-path; unless it be a beaten path or a way much used, or that the guide or companion know the way 483. A forked way or carfax (bivium aut quadrivium) is deceitful and uncertain. 486. Boots are fit for one that goeth far from home, or shoes of raw leather because of the mire and dirt; and a broad hat or cover of the head because of the sunne, and a cloak to keep from

*From Marcel on Language. London, 1853. As M. Marcel shows a thorough mastery of his subject, he may be trusted as giving the commonly received conclusions.

† [See pp. 75-78.]

rain, and a staffe to rely or lean upon, for it is a help and a support. 487. There is likewise need of provision to make expenses, and to bear the charges, or at least of letters of exchange. 488. But of patience withall; for it happeneth or cometh to pass sometimes to be all the night abroad or in the open aire. 489. Wheresoever or in what place soever thou be consider with whom thou art. 490. For robbers and thieves seek for a prey or bootie; pirates a spoil; yea, which is more, a guest or stranger is not sure or out of danger from his host. (Latrones enim prædantur: piratæ spoliant: imo in hospitio non hospes ab hospite tutus.) 491. Bags, packs, or fardles, wherein they carry their own things or baggage trussed; are a budget, a wallet, cap case, a pouch, a sachell, a male, a purse, a bag of leather. 492. To be more ready, do not burden nor charge or aggravate thyself with lets. 493. If there be necessity to make haste, it's better to use running horses or swift geldings or hunting nags than post-horses. 494. Being returned home safe and sound, thine shall receive and entertain thee with joy and gladness.-(Edition of 1639, p. 84.)

LOCKE ON POETRY.*

"If he have a poetic vein, it is to me the strangest thing in the world that the father should desire or suffer it to be cherished or improved. Methinks the parents should labor to have it stifled and suppressed as much as may be; and I know not what reason a father can have

*[See page 104.]

to wish his son a poet, who does not desire to have him bid defiance to all other callings and business: which is not yet the worst of the case; for if he prove a successful rhymer, and gets once the reputation of a wit, I desire it to be considered what company and places he is like to spend his time in, nay, and estate too; for it is very seldom seen that any one discovers mines of gold or silver in Parnassus. It is a pleasant air, but a barren soil; and there are very few instances of those who have added to their patrimony by anything they have reaped from thence. Poetry and gaming, which usually go together, are alike in this too, that they seldom bring any advantage but to those who have nothing else to live on. Men of estates almost constantly go away losers; and it is well if they escape at a cheaper rate than their whole estates, or the greatest part of them. If, therefore, you would not have your son the fiddle to every jovial company, without whom the sparks could not relish their wine, nor know how to pass an afternoon idly; if you would not have him waste his time and estate to divert others, and contemn the dirty acres left him by his ancestors, I do not think you will much care he should be a poet, or that his schoolmaster should enter him in versifying."-(§ 174.)

FROM THE "EVENING HOUR OF A HERMIT."*

What man is, what he needs, what elevates him and degrades him, what strengthens him and weakens him,

*[See page 165.]

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