me. papa, I am sure you will pray to Him for the king and MARIA.' Her father hastened to send her the advice she had solicited, and which was dictated by the most rational tenderness and the most enlightened wisdom; and by conforming to it, she acquired amongst her French people the title of the 'Good Queen.' It is pleasing to add that Stanislaus, on abdicating his claim to the throne of Poland in 1736, obtained the duchies of Lorraine and Bar, where, till his death, he reigned in the affections of the people as 'Stanislaus the Beneficent.' EDUCATION OF IDIOTS AT THE BICÊTRE. THIRD ARTICLE. AFTER the school exercise, described in a former article,* the boys were desired to disperse, and proceed to their various occupations. They broke up in a manner very similar to boys in an ordinary school; some capering off with all the glee of liberty, others sauntering out singly or in company with their fellows, and a few voluntarily remaining in the school-room. I was conducted by M. Valleé into an adjoining apartment, where were arranged against the wall a variety of maps, and a number of coloured engravings, calculated to afford both amusement and instruction. During the few minutes we remained in this room, several of the idiots came romping and scampering together into it, showing much more spirit, and a greater capacity for playful enjoyment, than I could have supposed them capable of. Three or four of them immediately sprang on a large rocking-horse, which stood in the centre of the room, and began to force it backwards and forwards with no small amount of pleasure to themselves, as shown by their repeated joyous shouts and boisterous laughter. I was told that they entered with equal zest into the various games practised every evening, such as leapfrog, skipping-rope, marbles, ball, &c. As we stood in this anteroom, I could observe the troop of little fellows wending their way to the scene of their different occupations. After watching them a little while, we left the school-room, and proceeded to follow them, with a view of witnessing their proficiency in the various handicrafts in which they had been instructed. On passing into the open air, I became fully sensible of the crowd of novel impressions which had in so short a space of time been made upon me, and I felt tempted to pause and look back on the spot where so many new ideas had been received, and with which I now associated a strong feeling of interest. In taking a rapid review of what had been already demonstrated before me, I endeavoured to systematise and fix in my own mind the principles which had been employed in producing such happy results. It became evident that the various senses are, first of all, stimulated and brought into activity, and through their medium a certain amount of mental power generated. The pupils are next made acquainted, as far as it is possible, with natural objects, and such more especially as come within the range of their ordinary observation. By these familiar lessons in the simplest elements of knowledge, instruction is conveyed in a form well suited to their feeble comprehension; and the method of imparting it being both natural and easy, its attainment is rendered attractive and interesting. Some acquaintance with the nature and properties of objects having been communicated, attempts are next made to impart instruction in the higher branches of knowledge. This is accomplished by means of various mental exercises, so ordered, that the pupil is led gradually, and almost imperceptibly, from the simplest to the higher departments of education. Then easy gradations in the successive lessons appear to have the effect not only of communicating information in an admirable manner, * Journal, No. 161. but also of preventing any sensations of irksomeness or weariness from arising in the minds of the pupils. It is not difficult to imagine the delight which many of these youths experience at the time the first rays of intelligence are engendered within them. Having lived several years in a senseless, inactive condition, it is easy to conceive that the change from this state of vacuity to an existence conscious and intelligent, must be accompanied with feelings of peculiar pleasure and novelty. In the whole of these exercises, it was evident that a variety of influences were brought into play for the purpose of arousing and keeping in a state of activity the attention of the pupils. Such, for instance, as the concerted and simultaneous movements of the whole pupils; instruction conveyed in the collective and individual mode; and again not only imparted, but elicited by interrogation. Each lesson was illustrated in a manner well suited to their feeble comprehension; and by making these illustrations as pleasing as possible, as well as by interspersing them judiciously, the liability to lapse into a state of vacuity was prevented, at the same time that the feeble powers of attention were not overstrained. It was pleasing to observe that, in conducting this course of training, the principle of fear seemed in no respect to form a part of the system. There was no appearance of coercion, harshness, or even exaction. The pupils appeared to be encouraged, assisted, and, by mild and persuasive means, to be led gently onward in the path of knowledge by their excellent conductor; who, endowed with a courteous spirit, kind disposition, much method, address, and competent skill, seemed admirably adapted to make their lessons attractive, by blending instruction with sportive influences. The affectionate regard in which the pupils evidently held their teacher spoke favourably not only of his personal good qualities, but also of the excellence of the system. Indeed the essential feature throughout the whole economy seemed to consist of a loving interest and regard for each other, both on the part of tutor and pupils. The first workroom we entered was that of the carpenters. There were in it fifteen idiots, superintended by two journeymen, who both instructed and encouraged them by working with spirit and activity. Although a short time only had elapsed since we quitted the school-room, yet some of the youths were already employed, others were looking up their tools or adjusting their aprons preparatory to beginning their work. Near the door stood one, who, when I first saw him (early in the day, before any of the exercises had been undertaken), struck me as a most deplorable hopeless object, and I accordingly singled him out for especial observation. In the school-room he had manifested considerable progress in writing, drawing mathematical figures, and other exercises. As I looked towards him, he made evident though very awkward and uncouth signs of recognition, then approached the place where I was standing, and presented to my notice a small ornamental clasp, with which he was about to attach a portion of his working-dress when I entered the room. After looking for a short time at this little ornament, which he seemed to admire and treasure, I returned it to him, when he at once proceeded to adjust his working costume, and fix it with his little clasp. He then began his work by taking up a piece of wood which it was his business to plane. After looking at it a moment or two, he placed it in a vice, screwed it firmly, and commenced turning off the shavings in a workmanlike manner. As if conscious of his merit, he every now and then paused, looked up, and seemed pleased with his own proficiency, and encouraged by the approval awarded to him by his superiors. This youth is sixteen years of age, and has been in the Bicêtre rather more than three years. When first admitted, he manifested all the characteristics of an inferior animal. His appetite was voracious, and he would devour the most disgusting things. He exhibited, indeed, some traces of a love of approbation, together with signs of an instinctive gaiety, born, as it were, within, and not created by surrounding objects; but he had all the sensuality of a brute, and a vicious propensity to tear and destroy whatever came within his reach. He was, moreover, passionate in the extreme, attacking and biting every one who offered the least opposition to his inordinate and disgusting propensities. Among these was a very singular one-namely, a strong impulse to poke out the eyes of all who came within his reach. He also showed a peculiar desire to strike any sonorous substance, so as to produce a distinct sound. The voluntary power over his muscles was very imperfect, and he could neither walk nor run properly; he would, however, sometimes spring forward like a wild animal, and at other times he would suddenly start off from his companions, making at the same time a shrill unmeaning cry. This being, who in 1843 had been in so strange and apparently hopeless a condition, could now read, write, sing, and calculate. I had already noticed in him several manifestations of attachment, and other moral qualities. I now saw him happily engaged, making good use of implements with which, if placed in his hands a few years ago, he would doubtless have inflicted serious injury. On looking around the room, nearly all the youths were seen to be engaged in sawing, planing, filing, and joining together pieces of wood. The busy scene presented was equally interesting, whether viewed as a whole, or whether the attention was directed to a single pupil. I was struck with the apparent steadiness of hand with which the various tools were grasped and used, as well as with the judgment which was evidently exercised during the performance of the work. I was the more struck with this when I singled out one from the number, and closely observed him to place his piece of timber in the vice, screw it down, take up his plane, and use it for a while, then remove and examine his work in hand; and finding he had not reduced it sufficiently, return it to the vice again, and proceed as before. Selecting another pupil for individual observation, he was seen busily engaged with a small piece of hardwood, forming it, by means of a file, into a sort of moulding of a complicated figure, consisting of curved and straight surfaces, the boundaries of which had been previously marked on it in dark lines. The order, exactness, and workmanlike manner in which these operations were carried on, was both surprising and gratifying. Before leaving the room, I paused to make a general and accurate examination of the proceedings of these little fellows, with whom I had already formed a sort of acquaintanceship in the schoolroom. I observed that those who, when handling a slight rule and piece of chalk, seemed to have only a very imperfect control over the arm and hand, were enabled, when engaged in operations requiring greater muscular power in grasping and overcoming resisting objects, to exercise a steadiness and precision which could scarcely have been expected. This circumstance, though at first sight an apparent anomaly, will yet be found, if duly considered, in accordance with certain conditions of the muscular organisation which are known to attend some morbid states of the nervous system, the elucidation of which, however, would at the present moment lead us too far away from the immediate and practical object to which we desire to confine the attention of our readers. Having made this slight digression, I take leave to pause, for the purpose of introducing a passing reflection concerning the instructions which had been given to the idiots in mathematical drawing. At the time that I observed them describing, in a masterly manner, complex figures with chalk, compass, and rule, I was inclined to entertain the idea that such exercises were introduced to show the extent to which an idiot could be educated. I was somewhat fearful they might be looked upon as evidences of what could be done, rather than what ought to be attempted, and that they bore a character of display and effect, more than one of true utility. These hasty and unjust suspicions received a salutary check as soon as I had been a short time in the midst of this little band of carpenters; and before I left the room, they were not only entirely removed, but I had become impressed with the importance of such preparatory exercises, as a means of giving to these defective creatures a capacity to enter on various trades, by making them capable of appreciating the relation of lines to one another, and the various distinctions between obtuse, acute, and right angles. After dwelling some time in the carpenters' shop, I was conducted to the next room, where an equally busy and gratifying spectacle was presented. In the apartment we had now entered were no less than twelve idiots, who had been instructed in the art of shoemaking. They were superintended by one foreman, who cut out and fixed the work for them. Each little fellow was seated at a separate stall, and beside him were laid the various implements required in his trade. The whole of the boys were working away very busily, boring with the awl, stitching, hammering, and smoothing down in a remarkably brisk and workmanlike manner. If the scene in the adjoining room afforded me much pleasure, the sight of the proceedings in this was calculated to heighten such feelings in no small degree. Conscious, from experience, of the difficulty which exists in instructing persons of feeble understanding in an art so complicated as that of shoemaking, I exulted at the spectacle presented, and regarded it as a triumph, and conclusive demonstration of the excellence of the systein pursued in training these poor idiots. Step by step I had enjoyed the opportunity of witnessing the means adopted to rescue and elevate these forsaken members of the human family, and I now saw them happy and usefully engaged in the successful execution of work requiring the command of an ordinary share of mental endowment. Although familiar with the internal economy of many of our excellent institutions at home, and no stranger to the condition of several equally excellent in various parts of the continent, yet I confess I never experienced, whilst visiting them, a glow of satisfaction and delight at all to be compared with that which was caused by the sight presented in this little workroom. Among the workers in this room was the poor decrepit fellow whose condition had previously attracted my especial attention. He was engaged in making list slippers, several pairs of which lay near him. The regularity and steadiness with which he laid the edgings of cloth on his last showed that considerable nicety, comprehension, and capability had been imparted to this apparently hopeless object. He proceeded with his work, as I stood by him, fixing each successive layer by means of a small nail, which he gently struck with his hammer; from time to time he would look up inquiringly, then go on again, as if satisfied that his work met the approbation of the bystanders. It was not without some difficulty I could abstract my attention from this attractive spectacle; and when I retired towards the door, still regarding these poor fellows with interest, one of them rose from his seat, approached, and wished me 'Good-day.' As I walked away from the workshop, dwelling on the scene I had just witnessed, and of this act of courtesy when leaving it, I felt in the humour to indulge my fancy by thinking of the many sources of pleasure and enjoyment in store for these, the most abject and neglected of our fellow-creatures. The remainder of the youths-those who are not instructed in any handicraft-are employed in agricultural operations on the farm of St Ann, which lies a short distance from the Bicêtre, and which was purchased a little while ago for the purpose of affording to the insane inmates the opportunity of engaging in this very suitable occupation. Most of the pupils had already proceeded to the farm when I came away from the workshops; I had, however, the opportunity of observing the last detachment prepare for work, by collecting their spades in the implement-room, and proceeding in an orderly manner under the care and direction of a farm-labourer. The system adopted in this department is marked by that discretion which is so signally conspicuous in every other arrangement. A number of husbandmen are engaged to instruct, superintend, and work with the boys; each man having a certain number placed under his charge. He is provided with a list of their names, and before setting out, he calls over the roll, each pupil answering to his name, and stepping forward at the same time with his spade in his hand. Before setting out, they, at the word of command, arrange themselves in rank and file, shoulder their long, small spades, and march away in military order. On these minor arrangements depends no doubt much of the excellence of the system, both in preserving order, keeping alive attention, and the prevention of the waywardness peculiar to idiots. I have already spoken of the improved expression which was observed to spread over the countenance at the time the feeble mental faculties were called into action by means of the exercises in the school-room. In the workshops a similar agreeable change might be noticed during the time the youths were employed, when the features had in a great measure lost their wonted vacuity, and assumed an appearance of intelligence and comprehension probably in a higher degree than that observed in the school-room. Having now completed the description of my first visit to the Bicêtre, I think it right to say, that as no notice had been given of my intention to inspect the institution, I have every reason to believe that what I witnessed was nothing more than the ordinary daily routine. much pleasure in recalling a meeting we had with him some years before he was known as an author. We encountered each other amidst one of the miscellanies of company which used to gather at the board of the late Owen Rees the bookseller. Probably finding some common ground in antiquarian subjects, we advanced so far in acquaintance, that Mr Barham offered very kindly to conduct us next morning to some of the more recherché parts of the neighbouring cathedral. A favour of so unusual a kind in the busy life of London, had the effect of stamping the image of the man upon our memory, and we now recall it with pleasure. He was of middle size, somewhat thick, with a round goodhumoured face, but not the air of an intellectual man. We remember setting down the head as non-indicative of literary talent; yet it now appears to us, on reconsidering it, with the benefit of portraits, that the forehead was of a peculiar depressed and square form, which we have remarked in several other men of comical genius. Mr Barham's biographer informs us that the legends were chiefly concocted from stories picked up in conversation: many of the anecdotes on which they are founded had been related to the poet by his friend Mrs Hughes, wife of another of the St Paul's clergymen. The biographer says, 'As respects the poems, remarkable as they have been pronounced for the wit and humour which they display, their distinguishing attraction lies in the almost unparalleled flow and facility of the versification. Popular phrases, sentences the most prosaic, even the cramped technicalities of legal diction, and snatches from well-nigh every language, are wrought in with an apparent absence of all art and effort that surprises, pleases, and convulses the reader at every turn; the author triumphs with a master's hand over every variety of stanza, however complicated or exacting; not a word seems out of place, not an expression forced; syllables the most intractable find the only partners fitted for them throughout the range of language, and couple together as naturally as those kindred spirits which poets tell us were created pairs, and dispersed in space to seek out their particular mates.' All this is eminently true. See, for example, his description of Henry II. of England, where he speaks of the king and his hat in these terms INGOLDSBY AND HIS LEGENDS. MUCH more attention than usually falls to the lot of magazine articles was arrested by a series of comic poems called 'The Ingoldsby Legends,' which appeared a few years ago in Bentley's Miscellany. Mirth-raising in their narrative effect, they were marked by a singular aptness on the part of the author for the adroit use of the cant language of the day, and the management of out-of-the-way metres and rhymes. Some other features there were, indicating a genius of no common stamp; one disrespectful, it might be said, to many of the common proprieties of literature and the world, but which more than made up for everything by such an exuberance of drollery, as perhaps is not to be obtained upon other terms, and is almost worth having upon any. In time, it became known that the Thomas Ingoldsby set forward as the author of these legends, was no other than the Rev. R. H. Barham, one of the clergy of St Paul's Cathedral; a man of the most perfect respectability in his ordinary character, at the Or, as a dernier, the following— same time that, from his cheerful and amiable dispositions, he was the delight of his family and friends. A long life was not vouchsafed to this estimable person; he died in June 1845, at the age of fifty-seven: and his son has now published an ample memoir of his life, prefacing a third collected series of his 'Legends.'* The personal history of Mr Barham embraces little more than his clerical education, and his various translations from parish to parish. It is agreeable, however, to learn respecting a person of such gaiety of nature, that he was a discreet and conscientious pastor, always in the best esteem both with his superiors and his flock. He had a strong turn for antiquities and old literature, as appears pretty plainly in his poems. He was also a man of sincere but modest piety; he had had severe trials, and he bore them well. We have The Ingoldsby Legends, or Mirth and Marvels, by Thomas Ingoldsby, Esq. Third Series. London: Bentley: 1847. Pp. 364. With a great sprig of broom, which he wore as a badge in it, Or the passage where he acknowledges 'A metaphor taken-I've not the page aright- 'Re-cul-ver, some style it, As bad, and say Re-culver. 'Tisn't worth while, it Would seem to dispute, when we know the result immaterial-I accent, myself, the penultimate.' As an example of his humour and his rhymes together, a few verses may be presented from a long leash, in which he describes himself sitting down for a day to answer an accumulation of letters : First, here's a card from Mrs Grimes, "A ball!"-she knows that I'm no dancer- "DEAR JACK Just lend me twenty pounds Yours truly, HENRY GIBBS." And then, perhaps, you will as well see Heaven send he flog the little fool!' * * The memoir abounds in racy anecdotes, some of which are extracted from letters and diaries of Mr Barham. He tells several curious ones with regard to a strange custom of the rude peasantry of Kent, who, meaning nothing but kindness, would use means to accelerate the exit of such friends as were dying hard. A man, stretched on a deathbed of game feathers, which are supposed to be unfavourable to easy death, seemed as if he never would go-so, said his wife, 'We pulled bed away, and then I just pinched his poor nose tight with one hand, and shut his mouth close with the t'other, and, poor dear! he went off like a lamb!' Another woman told with great complacency how, when her child's case had been pronounced hopeless, and seeing nothing would ease him, we was forced to squdge him under the blankets.' These facts are new to us, and they give additional credibility to what we long ago heard regarding the Shetland peasantry of past times, upon apparently good authority. It was stated that in this northern region, when dying persons lingered long, and particularly when they appeared in pain, it was customary to lay a pillow gently over their mouths, by way of closing the scene. On some enlightened person remonstrating with horror against the custom, the people said 'Oh, sir, we only help God awa wi' them!' What would have been barbarity and profanity in others, was in them mere simplicity. One of Mr Barham's table stories, which we propose to quote, is said to have been picked up from an old London citizen, who was full of marvellous instances of judicial acumen displayed by forgotten lord mayors -bon mots of their chief clerks-perilous swan-hopping voyages, and extraordinary white baitings.' 'An old London gentleman, a merchant in Bush Lane, had an only daughter, possessed of the highest attractions, moral, personal, and pecuniary; she was engaged, and devotedly attached, to a young man in her own rank of life, and in every respect well worthy of her choice; all preliminaries were arranged, and the marriage, after two or three postponements, was fixed, "positively for the last time of marrying," to take place on Thursday, April 15, 18-. 'On the preceding Monday, the bridegroom elect (who was to have received L.10,000 down on his weddingday, and a further sum of L.30,000 on his father-in-law's dying, as there was hope he soon would) had some little jealous squabbling with his intended at an evening party; the "tiff" arose in consequence of his paying more attention than she thought justifiable to a young lady with sparkling een and inimitable ringlets. The gentleman retorted, and spoke slightingly of a certain cousin, whose waistcoat was the admiration of the assembly, and which, it was hinted darkly, had been embroidered by the fair hand of the heiress in question. He added, in conclusion, that it would be time enough for him to be schooled when they were married; that (reader, pardon the unavoidable expression!) she was putting on the breeches "a little too soon!" After supper, both the lovers had become more cool; iced champagne and cold chicken had done their work, and leave was taken by the bridegroom in posse, in kindly and affectionate, if not in such enthusiastic terms, as had previously terminated their meetings. 'On the next morning the swain thought with some remorse on the angry feeling he had exhibited, and the cutting sarcasm with which he had given it vent; and, as a part of his amende honorable, packed up with great care a magnificent satin dress, which he had previously bespoken for his beloved, and which had been sent home to him in the interval, and transmitted to the lady, with a note to the following effect: "DEAREST ** *-I have been unable to close my eyes all night, in consequence of thinking on our foolish misunderstanding last evening. Pray, pardon me; and, in token of your forgiveness, deign to accept the accompanying dress, and wear it for the sake of your ever affectionate 'Having written the note, he gave it to his shopman to deliver with the parcel; but as a pair of his nether garments happened at the time to stand in need of repairing, he availed himself of the opportunity offered by his servant having to pass the tailor's shop in his way to Bush Lane, and desired him to leave them, packed in another parcel, on his road. The reader foresees the inevitable contretemps. Yes, the man made the fatal blunder!-consigned the satin robes to Mr Snip, and left the note, together with the dilapidated habiliment, at the residence of the lady. Her indignation was neither to be described nor appeased: so exasperated was she at what she considered a determined and deliberate affront, that when her admirer called, she ordered the door to be closed in his face, refused to listen to any explanation, and resolutely broke off the match. Before many weeks had elapsed, means were found to make her acquainted with the history of the objectionable present; but she, nevertheless, adhered firmly to her resolve, deeply lamenting the misadventure, but determined not to let the burden of the ridicule rest upon her.' Mr Barham was a zealous conservative, and occasionally employed his wit in behalf of his party, but always with good humour. We mention the circumstance, merely to introduce a bit of irresistible drollery from a letter in which he adverted to the West Kent election. What amused me very much was, that on landing from the steamboat at Gravesend, where my vote was to be taken, the rain was falling pretty steadily, and every one of the passengers who boasted an umbrella of course had it in play. A strong detachment of the friends of all the candidates lined the pier, to see us come on shore, and loud cheers from either party arose as any one mounted the steps bearing their respective colours. With that modesty which is one of my distinguishing characteristics, I had endeavoured to decline the honour of a dead cat at my head, with which I was favoured on a previous occasion, by mounting no colours at all; but something distingué in my appearance, as self-complacency fondly whispered in my ear, made the Tory party roar out as I mounted the plat form "Here comes von o' hour side!" "You be blowed!" said a broad-faced gentleman in sky-blue ribbons; "I say he's our'n." "Be blowed yourself," quoth one of my discriminating friends opposite. "Why, don't you see the gemman's got a silk umbrella?” The conclusion was irresistible. Tory I must be; and the “I know'd it!" which responded to my "Geary for ever!" was truly delicious.' and no one could tell at last which horse it was that fell; whether he had won the first hate or lost it; whether his horse was the decanter or the cork; or what the point was upon which Mr M— wanted an opinion.' NATURAL HISTORY. FOR THE YOUNG. THE study of natural objects is now almost universally allowed to be one peculiarly suited to youth-to that period, as Burke observes, when the senses are unworn and tender, when the whole being is exquisitely alive, and the glow of novelty is fresh upon all the objects which surround us.' Yet though all this is abundantly evident, it is singular enough that the regular introduction of natural science into our educational seminaries in this country is as yet but of rare occurrence. The period from five to fifteen-that period which is usually A memoir of some two hundred pages, spangled all devoted to elementary training is that in which the over with droll things of this kind, would furnish of mind has the greatest avidity for facts and phenomena. course matter for an extended article. Our object, how- It is pleasing at this period to see how the mind grasps ever, being strictly to present a mere sketch of the stuff at every kind of information regarding physical objects it is made of, we content ourselves with the following-how it delights in tracing analogies-forming comspecimen of the stories which made the after-dinner binations-and arranging and methodising into systems conversation of Mathews so attractive. The author-how, in short, the ideas of beauty, order, fitness, and justly remarks what ample room it would afford for the development of his peculiar powers of impersonation: An Irish surgeon, named M, who kept a running horse, applied to him on one occasion for his opinion respecting a disputed race. "Now, sur," commenced the gentleman, "Mr Mathews, as you say you understand horse-racing, and so you do, I'll just thank ye to give me a little bit of an opinion, the least taste in life of one. Now, you'll mind me, sur, my horse had won the first hate; well, sur, and then he'd won the second hate; well Why, sir," said Mathews, "if he won both the heats, he won the race." "Not at all, my dear fellow; not at all. You see he won the first hate, and then, somehow, my horse fell down, and then the horse (that's not himself, but the other) came up." And passed him, I suppose?" said Mathews. "Not at all, sur; not at all: you quite mistake the gist of the matter. Now, you see, my horse had lost the first hate." "Won it, you mean; at least won it you said." "Won it!-of course I said won it: that is, the other horse won it: and the other horse, that is, my horse, won the second hate, when another, not himself, comes up and tumbles down. But stop! I'll demonstrate the circumstance ocularly. There, you'll keep your eye on that decanter; now, mighty well—now you'll remember that's my horse; that is, I mane it's not my horse, it's the other; and this cork-you observe this cork?-this cork's my horse; and my horse-that is, this cork-had won the first hate." "Lost it, you said, sir, just now," groaned Mathews, rapidly approaching a state of complete bewilder ment. "Lost it, sur! By no means; won it, sur, I maintain ('pon my soul, your friend* there that's grinning so is a mighty bad specimen of an American); no, sur, won it, I said. And now I want your opinion about the hate; that is, not the hate, but the race, you know-not, that is, the first hate, but the second hate-that would be the race when it was won." "Why, really, my dear sir," replied the referee, "I don't precisely see the point upon which" "God bless me, sur! do ye pretind to understand horse-racing, and can't give a plain opinion on a simple matter of hates? Now, sur, I'll explain it once more. The stopper, you are aware, is my horse, but the other horse-that is, the other man's horse," &c. &c. 'And so on poor M- went for more than an hour, * Stephen Price, the manager of Drury Lane theatre. harmonious congruity take possession of the mind. The young and eager intellect at this period finds such studies peculiarly suited for its powers; there is nothing too deep for its comprehension-nothing too abstract, or too much beyond the calibre of its as yet immature and not fully developed powers. But if this golden opportunity be allowed to elapse, the mental appetite will seek other and more grovelling gratifications: the pleasures, the dissipations, the business of the world, will absorb all the attention; or if other studies are persevered in, they engross and occupy the whole mind, so that rarely, indeed, do we find a love of natural science cultivated in mature life, unless it has been implanted at an early period. Our continental neighbours seem more alive to these branches of early instruction than we are. There, botany, zoology, and geology are regularly taught in their elementary schools, and their connexion with geography, history, and the arts of life fully demonstrated. To some extent these studies are gradually being introduced into our most approved seminaries in this country, though in a very small number, indeed, have they become regular branches of educational training. They are as yet only timidly introduced as extra and optional studies; encroaching sometimes on the hours appropriated to relaxation, or given so shortly, and at such long intervals, as to fail to make any due impression on the minds of the pupils. We hope, however, yet to see them introduced as indispensable branches of education, with competent teachers, into all our leading institutions throughout the kingdom. In a great commercial and agricultural community such as ours, the elements of natural science, in all its departments, ought surely to be within the reach of every individual, however humble the calling to which he may be destined. In our richly-endowed educational hospitals, where we occasionally hear of listlessness and insubordination on the part of the pupils, such studies might doubtless be introduced with the best advantage. We know nothing more likely to engage the youthful mind there, both innocently and advantageously, or more calculated to supply the absence of the domestic circle, and all the home feelings, of which they are necessarily deprived. A little work on zoology,* intended as a text-book for school tuition, has prompted to the repetition of these remarks. It is the first part of a history of animal life, commencing at the lowest end of the scale, and including the invertebrate animals. It is not merely a common compilation, but exhibits the spirit and originality Introduction to Zoology; for the Use of Schools. By R. Patterson. Belfast: Simms and M'Intyre. 1846. |