of such facts as are good material for the other powers of the mind to work with, and, that the facts may serve this purpose, they must be such as the mind can thoroughly grasp and handle, and such as may be connected together. To instruct,' as Mr. Payne reminds us, is instruere, 'to put together in order, to build or construct.' We must be careful, then, not to cram the mind with isolated, or as Mr. Spencer calls them, unorganisable facts-such facts, e.g. as are taught to young ladies.*

A great deal of our children's memory is wasted in storing facts of this kind, which can never form part of any organism. We do not teach them geography (earth-knowledge, as the Germans call it), but the names of places. Our history' is a similar, though disconnected study. We leave our children ignorant of the land, but insist on their getting up the 'landmarks.' And, perhaps, from a latent perception of

*I do not pretend myself to have fathomed the mystery of what is taught to young ladies, but I follow the best authorities on the subject. "I cannot remember the time," said Maria Bertram, "when I did not know a great deal that Fanny has not the least notion of yet. How long ago is it, aunt, since we used to repeat the chronological order of the kings of England, with the dates of their accession, and most of the principal events of their reigns?" "Yes," added Julia, "and of the Roman emperors as low as Severus, besides a great deal of the heathen mythology, and all the metals, semi-metals, planets, and distinguished philosophers." Very true, indeed, my dears," replied their aunt, "but you are blessed with wonderful memories. . . . Remember that if you are ever so forward and clever yourselves, you should always be modest; for, much as you know already, there is a great deal more for you to learn." "Yes, I know there is," said Julia, “till I am seventeen." (Miss Austen's Mansfield Park.) And, fortunately for the human race, the knowledge vanishes away as soon as that grand climacteric is passed, though perhaps we must regret that often nothing but sheer vacuity is left in its place.

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ADVANTAGES OF THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE.

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the uselessness of such work, neither teachers nor scholars ever think of these things as learnt to be remembered. Latin grammar is gone through again and again, and a boy feels that the sooner he gets it into his head, the better it will be for him; but who expects that the lists of geographical and historical names which are learnt one half-year, will be remembered the next? I have seen it asserted, that when a boy leaves school, he has already forgotten nine-tenths of what he has been taught, and I dare say that estimate is quite within the mark.

By adopting the principles of Jacotot, we shall avoid a great deal of this waste. We shall give some thorough knowledge, with which fresh knowledge may be connected.

Perfect familiarity with a subject is something beyond the mere understanding it, and being able, with difficulty, to reproduce what we have learned. A Cambridge man, getting up book-work for the tripos, does not indeed attempt to learn it by heart, without understanding it; but when his mind has thoroughly mastered the steps of the reasoning, he goes over it again and again, till he uses, in fact, hardly any faculty but his memory in writing it out. If he has to think during the operation, he considers that piece of book-work not properly got up.* By

* As an instance of the use of memory in mathematics, and also of the power acquired by perfect attainment, I may mention a case which came under my own observation. A 'three days' man, not by any means remarkable for mathematical ability, had got up the book-work of his subjects very exactly, but had never done a problem. In the three days' problem paper, to his no small surprise, he got out several of them. A friend who was afterwards a good wrangler, ventured to doubt his having

thus going over the same thing again and again, we acquire a thorough command over our knowledge, and the feeling perfectly at home, even within narrow borders, gives a consciousness of strength. An old adage tells us that the Jack-of-all-trades is master of none; but the master of one trade will have no difficulty in extending his insight and capacity beyond it. To use an illustration, which is of course an illustration merely, I would kindle knowledge in children, like fire in a grate. A stupid servant, with a small quantity of wood, spreads it over the whole grate. It blazes away, goes out, and is simply wasted. Another, who is wiser or more experienced, kindles the whole of the wood at one spot, and the fire, thus concentrated, extends in all directions. Thus would I concentrate the beginnings of knowledge, and although I could not expect to make much show for a time, I should trust that afterwards the fire would extend, almost of its own accord.

I proceed to give Jacotot's directions for carrying out the rule, 'Il faut apprendre quelque chose, et y rapporter tout le reste.'

1. LEARN-i.e. learn so as to know thoroughly, perfectly, immovably (imperturbablement), as well six months or twelve months hence, as now-SOMETHING

done a particular problem. 'It came out very easily,' said the three days man, 'from such and such a formula.' 'You are right,' said the wrangler; 'I worked it out in a much more clumsy way myself. I never thought of that formula. I may mention here a fact which, whether it is à propos or not, will be interesting to musicians. The late Professor Walmisley, of Cambridge, told me that when his godfather Attwood was Mozart's pupil, Mozart always had Bach's Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues on his piano, and hardly played anything else.

READING AND WRITING.

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-something which fairly represents the subject to be acquired, which contains its essential characteristics. 2. REPEAT that something' incessantly (sans cesse), i.e. every day, or very frequently, from the beginning, without any omission, so that no part may be forgotten. 3. REFLECT upon the matter thus acquired, so as by degrees to make it a possession of the mind as well as of the memory, so that, being appreciated as a whole, and appreciated in its minutest parts, what is as yet unknown, may be referred to it and interpreted by it. 4. VERIFY, or test, general remarks e.g. grammatical rules, &c., made by others, by comparing them with the facts (i.e. the words and phraseology) which you have learnt yourself.*

In conclusion, I will give some account of the way in which reading, writing, and the mother-tongue were taught on the Jacototian system.

The teacher takes a book, say Edgeworth's 'Early Lessons,' points to the first word, and names it, 'Frank.' The child looks at the word and also pronounces it. Then the teacher does the same with the first two words, Frank and;' then with the three first, Frank and Robert,' &c.

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has been thus gone over, the

When a line or so teacher asks which word is Robert? What word is that (pointing to one)? Find me the same word in this line' (pointing to another part of the book). When a sentence has been thus acquired, the words already known are analysed into syllables, and these syllables the child must pick out elsewhere. Finally, the same thing is done with letters. When the child can read a sen

*

* I take this paragraph verbatim from Mr. Payne.

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tence, that sentence is put before him written in small-hand, and the child is required to copy it. When he has copied the first word, he is led, by the questions of the teacher, to see how it differs from the original, and then he tries again. The pupil must always correct himself, guided only by questions. This sentence must be worked at till the pupil can write it pretty well from memory. He then tries it in larger characters. By carrying out this plan, the children's powers of observation and making comparisons are strengthened, and the arts of reading and writing are said to be very readily acquired.

For the mother-tongue, a model book is chosen and thoroughly learned. Suppose 'Rasselas' is selected. "The pupil learns by heart a sentence, or a few sentences, and to-morrow adds a few more, still repeating from the beginning. The teacher, after two or three lessons of learning and repeating, takes portions-any portion-of the matter, and submits it to the crucible of the pupil's mind:-Who was Rasselas? Who was his father? What is the father of waters? Where does it begin its course? Where is Abyssinia? Where is Egypt? Where was Rasselas placed? What sort of a person was Rasselas? What is "credulity?" What are the "whispers of fancy,” "the promises of youth," &c.? What was there peculiar in the position of Rasselas ? Where was he confined? Describe the valley. How would you have liked to live there? Why so? Why not? &c.'

A great variety of written exercises is soon joined with the learning by heart. Pieces must be written from memory, and the spelling, pointing, &c., cor