8. State roughly the amount of the Public Revenue in recent years, and the interest of the National Debt. To what period is the

origin of the debt assigned, and on what occasions has it been increased during the last forty years?

9. Mention the principal articles now subject to duties of Customs and Excise, and the most important changes which have recently been made.

10. Into what classes may the Constituencies represented in the House of Commons be divided? What class of Bills invariably originates in that House? What are the ordinary qualifications of voters?

11. What is meant by the phrase "International Law?" Mention some of the acts which it prohibits. Whence arises the difficulty of enforcing it?

12. Mention some of the arguments by which the execution of Mary Queen of Scots is condemned or vindicated.

19th July, 1855.

GEOGRAPHY.

1. Give the boundaries of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland respectively.

2. Give the names and positions of the various islands belonging to the British group.

3. Name the counties and principal towns on the north-western line, from London to Edinburgh.

4. Name the dockyards and chief mercantile seaports of Great Britain, with the counties in which they are situated.

5. What are the principal exports of Great Britain, and the localities where they are produced?

6. Describe the positions of the following British possessions:-Gibraltar, Corfu, Heligoland, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Falkland Islands, Jamaica, Newfoundland, and Guiana.

7. Trace the course of the Danube from its source to its mouth.

8. What are the principal seaports of France?

9. Name six rivers of Russia, with the seas into which they fall. 10. Name the capitals of the following countries :-Prussia, Sweden, Persia, China, and Canada.

12th July, 1855.

LOCAL WORDS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ENGLISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

SIR-In compliance with your request, I send you a few Gloucestershire words, and I hope to collect more to send you at a future time.

Ayriff, a seed often found among wheat.

Bad, a husk; hence,

Bannut, a walnut.

Barton, a farmyard, and the surrounding buildings.

Baulk, a narrow band of turf, dividing lands in arable common fields.
Blethering-pole, a pole for beating apples, &c., off the tree.

Bossy, or bos, an ox: a ploughman thus addresses an ox.
Bowzing, a cow-shed; from bos, an ox (?)

Clavy, a chimney-piece in a farmhouse: derived from clavis, a key, because the keys are kept there.

Crank, a hooked stick for breaking rotten wood from the tree.

Eckel, a woodpecker.

Gripp, a shallow open drain.

Gull, a gosling.

Haine, to fence grass growing for hay.

Hames, part of the harness of a cart-horse.

Heft, weight.

Kype, a kind of basket, usually containing a bushel.

Langet, a long narrow field.

Lash, a trace.

Lash-horse, the trace-horse.

Lode, a wharf, or landing-place.

Long's length, a furlong.

Mooch, to play truant.

Moocher, a truant.

Moot, to stub

Nurly, brittle.

Oont, a mole.

up trees.

Pargiter, a slater and plasterer.

Pishty, a puppy.

Quist, a wood-pigeon: a Gloucestershire saying, "Thee beest a queer quist, as the boy said when he shot the owl."

Rathe, early.

Rather, earlier.

Rea, a fishery.

Reen, an open drain, deep and wide.

Ruck, a pile of timber in the rough.

Sanicle, or sanicole, a healing herb: from sanus, healthy; caulis, a herb. Shard, a gap.

Speeks, or sprays, pegs used by thatchers.

Sprack, sprightly.

Tallet, a room over a stable.

Tash, a bad taste.

Tatchy, having a bad taste.

Ted, to toss grass in haymaking.

Thrashel, a flail.

Tonkin, a pipe carrying water through a stream, so as not to mix

with the water of the stream.

Unkid, melancholy.

Wallies, the ridges into which hay is raked before being carried.

Of the spelling of some of these words I am not certain.

Yours faithfully,

Ryeworth House, near Cheltenham.

ROBERT E. FRANCILLON.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ENGLISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

SIR,-On p. 136 of Mr. Trench's little work, "English, Past and Present," the word 'kind' is noticed, and its old signification explained. "The Times of Edward II.," supposed to have been

In a poem on

written as early as 1320, the epithet 'unkind' occurs with two different significations, the former of which I think to be the older of the two :—

"Conne a boy breke a spere

He schal be made a knygt,
Thus beth knygtis i-gadered
Of unkynde blood."

Here, 'unkynde' means unaristocratic.

"And send wederynge on erthe,
Cold and unkynde."

'Unkynde' in these lines signifies unseasonable.

In the same poem there are a few words worthy of notice; I give them as they occur to me.

To qweme, to please, from which we derive whim.'

Nym, to take; hence the words 'to nimm' (Fuller), now local.

Shewer, a mirror.

Cowthe, public.

Temper, to mingle.

Catel, property.

Wederis, clouds; the root of 'weather.'

Depert, to separate, divorce.

Onskyll, wrongfully.

Bretful, brimfull.

Shend, to confound; 'shindy' (provincial), confusion.

Hend, gentle, polished; the root of handy' and 'handsome.'

Gentry, la mode.

Worthe, is.

Pye, to steal.

Ray, a stripe in cloth.

Entaile, cut or fashion.

Flete, floor.

A skyll, a reasonable plan.

Horde, treasure.

Wyk, wicked, weak.

Sond, message; compare "Their 'sound' is gone out into all lands, and their words' into the ends of the world."-Psalm xix. Prayer-book Version.

Words used by children in the suburbs of London :

Bopp, to bow the head, stoop.

Chough, sparrow (Shakespeare).

Cop, to receive chastisement.

Coy-fellow, a lover.

Grub, victuals; crub, crubbin (Somersetshire).

6

Kid, a child; compare kidnap,' and the Dutch 'schild-knapen,'

applied to knights' esquires.

Nim, to catch (used by Fuller).

Nap, nab, to seize, receive.

Nouse, sense, judgment.

Tar, to tease incessantly, dare (Shakespeare uses 'to tarre,' to

provoke.

Whimsey, to initiate into a particular craft.

Wits, senses (used by Chaucer in this sense).

Whopping, whopper, applied to anything uncommon or extraordinary; the same as 'wapping' (Hallamshire).

Wapping Tales of My Lord Mayor's Horse" (the honour of Cheshier and Lancashier, by R. G., as quoted in "The Earls of Derby," and the verse-writers of the time; an unpublished tract, by T. Heywood, Esq.).

In some trades the word 'journey,' pronounced 'journy,' has received a peculiar signification. It is applied to money given to persons on their journey (on tramp,' is the vulgar expression), seeking employment.-I am, Sir, yours truly, RICHARD MORRIS.

St. Matthew's National School, Bethnal Green,
December, 1855.

GYMNASTIC EXERCISES.-One of the principal causes, if not the cause, of the attenuated and pallid appearance of Americans is doubtless the neglect, or rather the violation, the habitual violation, of the rules laid down by nature for muscular development. The class of men in this country, whose occupations are such as almost necessarily lead to the formation of sedentary habits, is very large; larger, perhaps, in proportion, than that of any other commercial nation. And this will account in a measure for the fact, that various complaints, generally the concomitants of insufficient physical exercise, are more prevalent here than elsewhere. Our young men being thus confined to the limits of a counting-room, at a time of life when the open air and constant motion of the body are indispensable, it is not surprising that they should be in manhood so sadly deficient in muscular vigour, and exhibit so little of athletic developments, that are looked for in the sterner sex. With many such their lot is their fate, or is imposed as a necessity from which there is no escape, and for these there is some excuse for the loss of health and life. But what shall be said of those who make no effort to ameliorate their condition, or of that still more culpable class who, from mere indolence, suffer their bodies to waste away, to sink into premature old age, actually paying a premium for crooked spines, humped backs, round shoulders, attenuated limbs, and drooping heads?

In Germany the old men thought they saw the youth degenerating both physically and socially, and, after severe study and mature reflection, recommended, by eloquent appeals through the public prints, the adoption of vocal and gymnastic exercises, as characteristic of the German race. In a short time gymnastic and vocal societies were organized throughout the whole extent of Germany, which have resulted in a highly favourable revolution in the physical condition of the people. It is not really necessary to proper and healthful exercise that one should be provided with parallel bars, &c., for there are many things at hand that may be substituted for them, which can be made, with no expense or trouble, equally efficient. Flat-irons, it is suggested by a contemporary, can be used to develop the muscles of the arms and chest, and leaping or racing may be practised to strengthen the whole body, and render the step light and the stature erect. If such simple exercises were practised daily in the open air by the youth of the country, there would soon be a diminution in the many defects which mar the appearance and impair the health of the people.-Canadian Journal of Education.

and

TENDERNESS IN REPROOF.-Husbandmen tell us, that the young tender branches of a vine are not to be pruned away with a knife, but gently pulled away by hand. Before we reprove, let us know the condition of our brother, whether he is not, like the young vine, soft and tender, and so to be cured rather with the hand than with the knife; and if he be grown so hard that he shall need the knife, we must not rashly adventure of it, but know there is a skill likewise in using the knife.

ON THE BEST WAY OF TEACHING THE CATECHISM.

THE

BY THE BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH.

HERE are two real difficulties connected with this subject; one arising from the language, which must be allowed to be obscure, the other from the logical closeness with which it is drawn up, and which is not readily understood by the learner.

Children begin to learn the Catechism at a very early age, and are often allowed to repeat it without any attempt being made to enable them to have an idea of what is meant by it, so that it will often happen that they never consider whether there be any meaning in words with which they have become mechanically familiar.

In order to obviate this evil, the best method will be, to break up the Catechism into its constituent parts, and to begin with that which is easiest. With this view, the child should be taught the Lord's Prayer, and I have attempted to show how a little child may acquire some notion of the meaning of those words which they are to employ for the rest of their lives. (See post.) Those persons will be able to form an adequate estimate of the importance of this, who have seen how many young persons, in after-life, go on repeating words to which they attach no definite meaning.

When the children can say, and in some degree understand, the Lord's Prayer, they may be led on to the Ten Commandments, which will probably be more intelligible. Very little infants have learnt that it is wrong to steal and to swear, and having begun with the notion that words convey some sense, they soon attach an idea to what is taught them, and the teacher's aim will be to provide that this shall be the correct one.

The Creed, which will follow the Commandments, is an epitome of the history of revelation, and if conveyed in this way, partakes of that clearness which usually belongs to narrative. Both these subjects may be illustrated by pictures, and the children may be shown the representation of Moses bearing the two tables of stone, of Cain slaying Abel, or of the events connected with our Saviour's life.

When, then, these three lessons have been committed to memory, and understood, as far as the child is capable of understanding them, the children should be led on to the Catechism as a whole, and may begin at the beginning. The first object is to make them understand the words of which it is composed; and if the same division of questions be attended to, as has been laid down, we may content ourselves for some time without entering on the spiritual instruction to be derived from what is repeated. This must be gradually and constantly opened, and texts, illustrative of the several articles, will, by degrees, be laid before the scholars, and learnt by them.

The Church Catechism may be deemed a systematic arrangement of Christianity, a framework, to which every thing which we learn, in our religious education, may step by step be attached. The child may learn the Catechism, and yet not be acquainted with our holy faith; but they who have learnt this formulary well, have understood its meaning, and have arranged their subsequent studies under the heads there so logically laid down, will have gained a great step in avoiding errors, into which a want of systematic teaching is apt to lead religious persons.