from the Æneid and the Iliad, History of the Middle Ages, Latin versification; French poetry illustrative of their studies is learned by heart. Second class: selections from Cicero's Orations and the Iliad; in the evening, selections from Horace and the Æneid, modern history (both this and the History of the Middle Ages with special reference to the History of France). Preparatory class of rhetoric: composition in French and Latin narrative. Class of rhetoric: morning class, Conciones è Veteribus Historicis Excerptæ, selections from the Orations of Cicero and Demosthenes; in the evening, Conciones Poeticæ and selections from the Greek tragedies, the principles of eloquence and the rules of composition; selections from French writers and dramatic poets learned by heart. Instruction in the sciences occupies the two last years. First year: the two first parts of philosophy, viz., first, logic, and metaphysics; second, elements of mathematics, i. e., higher arithmetic, geometry, rectilinear trigonometry, first notions of algebra. Second year: the last part of philosophy, a course of ethics, the law of nature and of nations; higher mathematics, comprehending statics, algebra, and its application to geometry; the physical sciences, chemistry, and the elements of astronomy. Every pupil must produce, before his admission, his register of birth, and of baptism, if he has not been confirmed, or received his first communion; certificate of vaccination; certificate of good conduct from the head of the school to which he has belonged before. The expenses are as follow: -The pension in the royal colleges of Paris is 1000 francs, including books as well as tuition, but there is an additional payment of 45 francs to the University. In the provinces, the pension is 750 francs in the royal colleges of the first class, 650 in the second, 600 in the third, but there is a further payment of 50 francs for books and expenses. Each royal college has thirty bursarships or scholarships, which are differently divided into whole, three-quarters, and half of the pension. They are usually given to the inhabitants of the department. The trousseau-the dress, linen, plate, and certain articles of furniture, with which each pupil is to provide himselfis regulated by a peremptory statute. The course of the studies in the communal colleges is very similar, though perhaps not quite equal to that in the royal colleges.

The books and editions used in all the colleges must be approved by the council of the University. These are selections from most of the classic authors, and editiones expurgatæ of some. The University has not given its sanction to any complete or methodical work, or course of moral or metaphysical theology, but the professors are recommended to select what may appear to them best and most suited to their purpose from the following

writers :

writers :-Among the ancients, the Dialogues of Plato, the Analytics of Aristotle, the philosophical works of Cicero. Among the moderns:- Bacon, De Augmentis Scientiarum et Novum Organon; la Méthode de Descartes-ses Méditations; le chapitre de Pascal sur la Manière de prouver la Vérité et de l'exposer aux Hommes; la Logique de Port-Royal; l'Essai sur l'Entendement Humain de Locke; les Nouveaux Essais sur l'Entendement Humain de Leibnitz-sa Théodicée; Recherche de la Vérité, par Mallebranche-ses Entretiens Métaphysiques; De l'Existence de Dieu, par Fénelon; De l'Existence de Dieu, par Clarke; la Logique de Wolf; l'Introduction de la Philosophie, de Gravesende; Principes du Droit Naturel, par Burlamaqui; Traité des Systèmes, l'Art de Penser, la Logique de Condillac; Lettres d'Euler à une Princesse d'Allemagne; Essai Analytique sur les Facultés de l'Ame, par Charles Bonnet.'

The superior education comprehends the five faculties in which are conferred the degrees of bachelor, licentiate, and doctorTheology, Law, Medicine, Letters, and Sciences. There are seven faculties of Theology established at Paris, Aix, Bourdeaux, Lyons, Rouen, at Strasburg for the Protestants of the Confession of Augsburg (Lutherans), at Montauban for the Protestants of the Helvetic Confession (Calvinists). The following courses are given in the faculty of theology at Paris:-at the Sorbonne : Doctrine (dogme), morals, the Scriptures, ecclesiastical history and discipline, pulpit eloquence. Only a part of these courses are given at the provincial faculties. To be a bachelor in theology a man must be twenty years old, be a bachelor of letters, have attended the theological courses for three years, and maintained a thesis in a manner satisfactory to the faculty. The examination for a licentiate in theology is the same as for holy orders. For the doctor's degree, dissertations, theses, and a public lecture are required. In the Protestant faculty of Strasburg are six professorships doctrine, evangelic morals, exegesis, pulpit eloquence, ecclesiastical history, doctrines of the Helvetic (Augsburg?) Confession. It is among the regulations, that the knowledge of the language and literature of Germany becoming more and more necessary to the theologian, the scholars must prove that they have this qualification before they proceed to their degree. The examinations for degrees are public. In the Protestant faculty at Montauban are likewise six professorships of theology, properly so called: three, of evangelical morals, doctrine, ecclesiastical history, three, of philosophy, of Hebrew, of haute Latinité' and Greek.

There are nine faculties of Law: at Paris, Aix, Caen, Dijon, Grenoble,

Grenoble, Poitiers, Rennes, Strasburg, and Toulouse. The time of attendance is three years, with a further special course for the doctor's degree. The study of the first year is the Institutes of Justinian and the civil code; of the second, civil code, criminal legislation, code of civil and criminal proceedings, the Pandects; of the third, civil code, commercial code, code of magistracy (droit administratif). The special course for the doctor's degree is in the history of law, law of nations, constitutional law of France. Of Medicine there are three faculties: at Paris, Montpellier, and Strasburg. The departments are distributed into circles of faculties under these three centres. There are likewise secondary schools of medicine in many of the large cities. The lectures must be attended for four years; and there are five examinations, which include all the branches of medical science. The candidate may proceed as doctor in surgery or doctor in medicine, or, on certain conditions, in both. The pupil in the faculty of medicine must be a bachelor of letters; by a regulation of the year 1836, he must likewise be a bachelor of science. This regulation has had the remarkable effect of diminishing, in a very considerable degree, the number of students, which, in the three faculties and secondary schools, was 1522; in 1837, 744, and in 1838-9, 596. The respectability of the profession, justly observes M. Girardin, is likely to gain rather than lose by this defalcation in numbers. There are also schools for pharmacy established in the same cities as the three faculties.

There are seven (nine?) faculties of Sciences: at Paris, Bourdeaux, Caen, Dijon, Grenoble, Lyons, Montpellier, Strasburg, Toulouse. The faculty of Sciences in Paris consists of two branches: mathematics and physics. The mathematical of three courses the differential and integral calculus, mechanics, astronomy. The physical of four courses: chemistry, mineralogy and geology, botany and vegetable physiology, zoology and physiology. There is a further first course of general and experimental physics. The examination for the baccalauréat differs according as the student intends to follow the profession of medicine, or to confine himself to science. To be admitted into the faculty of Science it is necessary to be a bachelor of Letters. The payments, we should observe, for all these courses are strictly regulated by the ruling authorities.

Of Letters-which we see is considered the primary faculty, the study of which, and the degree, are necessary for admission into the others there are faculties at Paris, Besançon, Bourdeaux, Caen, Dijon, Strasburg, Toulouse. In the faculty at Paris there are nine courses: Greek literature, Latin eloquence,

Latin poetry, French eloquence, French poetry, Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Ancient and Modern History, Ancient and Modern Geography. It is decided by chance in which of these branches the candidate for the bachelor's degree is to be examined. The nine branches are divided into three lists, and one list drawn from the urn, and the candidate examined in the three subjects it contains. The examination lasts three quarters of an hour. To be a bachelor in Letters the youth must be sixteen years old, and must have attended a certain number of courses. There is a normal school, it should be added, at Paris (Rue St. Jacques, 115), to provide instructors and professors for all academies connected with the University of France. It is under the especial control of the minister of public instruction.

The collegiate education of France may thus, as to the age of the pupils and the kind of instruction, correspond with our great public schools. With the exception of the philosophical, and perhaps the rhetoric classes, if the programme is to be taken as the maximum of attainment, they would fall below our Eton, Harrow, or Rugby. The national literature is made more decidedly a part of the system; but the classical, which, as with us, is the groundwork of the whole, does not appear to reach so high a standard. If indeed we may judge from their literature, the study of Greek is at a low ebb in France. Many of the most distinguished writers, we will not say condescend, but seem reduced to quote the Latin translations of Greek authors. The name of Letronne ranks very high, and that of Boissonade is well known, but these scholars stand almost alone. The Faculties may be considered in some respects to correspond with our Universities. But our schools and colleges are an inseparable part of our national institutions. They have grown out of, and tended to form, our national character almost as much as our laws and constitution; they are irregular, unsystematic, infinitely varied according to the impulses and necessities of the times; they slowly conform to the more profound changes, while at the same time they resist the momentary fluctuations, of opinion; from a high classical tone they descend, by successive gradations, till they are met by schools (in general private establishments, which are now partially commenced in connexion with the Church and public institutions) of a more mercantile and practical character. When they are private, the pupils are liable to be the victims of shallow pretension, superficial show, and bold speculation, which impose upon fond and weak-minded parents; but in general the practical good sense of the country refuses to be misled, to any great extent, on a subject of such vital import

but

ance.

ance. We have thus some of the dangers and inconveniences, but we have all the advantages of freedom-the constant selfadaptation to the habits and wants of the people.

But our Universities cannot be said strictly to correspond to the Faculties of France, as, though in theory we still grant degrees in law and medicine, as well as in arts and theology, the professional education in the two former departments is scarcely commenced in Oxford or Cambridge. It is another and most important intermediate step between the school and the world. But the inestimable privilege of our universities is their total independence of the government. It is right, it is the bounden duty of the French government to extend its authority over the higher as well as the lower branches of education, because without the impulse, and without the control of the government, it would scarcely exist; but for a community like that of England, where there is perfect freedom but no equality, richly-endowed universities are at once the consequence and the safeguard of our most important national institutions.

Our business, however, is not with the educational system of England, but with that of France. The two great evils which M. Girardin-and a much greater man than M. Girardin, M. Guizot himself-seems to have long ago apprehended with his calm sagacity, are the centralisation and the uniformity. This centralisation has arisen out of the necessity of the case. The uniformity of education has appeared perhaps, to the hasty and inexperienced observer, the best guarantee for political equality; but if it may produce political, it cannot produce social, equality. It may give to all an equal right, an equal desire, in a certain sense an equal chance, of fortune and distinction; but where there is not fortune and distinction for all, it cannot give them to all. It sends the whole youth forth on the same few narrow and crowded roads, and prevents them from forming new roads, which at least would advance many to the same end. Of the immense mass of persons in France, whether of proprietors-so much increased by the circumstances of the last half-century, by the division and subdivision of the large estates of the church and of the nobility-or of successful mercantile men who have made a certain fortune, and are able, either without any or at some sacrifice, to give their sons a collegiate education-the greater part either consider that they have done their duty, or are unable to do more. They cast them loose to follow one of the liberal professions, the law or medicine (the church, we fear, has few attractions for this class), or to gain a precarious livelihood by the public press, or to solicit (long, perhaps, and vainly) employment in a public office. Agriculture and commerce are repudiated as beneath young men who are at

one