perfectly familiar to his mind. He is then directed to verbs only, and in like manner, singly, to all the other parts of speech, and ultimately, one by one, to the tenses, cases, &c. &c., so that gradually, and without any mental drudgery, he obtains a critical knowledge of the language. It is a plan the excellence of which the lesson I have just recorded abundantly proves; for I doubt whether the upper class at Eton, after all the drudgery there gone through, could have manifested so much grammatical and general knowledge as is therein displayed by the poor children of the Edinburgh Sessional School; and although few of them are likely ever to have much occasion for eloquence, yet it is always pleasing to hear the most common message well delivered, and its purport evidently understood; and the higher classes may, with incalculable advantage, afford their children the delight and benefit of a similar mode of instruction, which, by constantly directing the attention to elegant words, each of which is as expressive as two or three simple words together, has a powerful tendency to induce readiness, elegance, and accuracy of speech, as well as clearness in comprehending what they read; and the necessity for affording this may be easily ascertained by one fair experiment at home.

I quitted the place in which I had heard so much to delight me in so short a time, feeling in my mind the pleasing persuasion that Mr. Wood must be one of the happiest of men; and that he

and a few other philanthropists in Edinburgh, who are establishing so rational a system of education as this, will immortalize themselves in the gratitude of an improved people.

Whenever, in the course of my lectures on Early Education, I have drawn the attention of the public to this subject, there has always arisen a strong desire, as before stated, that I would give something like a key to this agreeable mode of conducting exercises in reading. The mere putting into print of the lesson and examination I have described, will, I hope, supply a great portion of what is required in this respect; for an intelligent parent or teacher cannot fail to discover that the prominent feature of the plan is to ascertain whether a pupil understands as much of every word he reads in his lesson as the instructor himself, and if not, it is then the province of the latter to afford all the information he can to the former, not only on the words under inquiry, but in reply to the questions of the pupil himself, who may suddenly be reminded of a word he has met with at another time, and respecting which he feels himself to be ignorant. It is in the power of all parents and teachers, however diffident they may be at first, to afford a fund of information to those who are their inferiors in years. To say nothing of education, experience makes them the richer party as to facts, and facts are delightful to the young, who, when they are obtaining them agreeably, will

be found as craving for them as the destitute are for alms. Let even a diffident mother devote one half hour each day to the reading of short lessons on this plan, with a pupil or a class, and in a very few months she will be astonished at the progress made not only by the instructed, but by herself; for she will be so often driven to her books of reference, her dictionary or encyclopedia, in order that she may be prepared to give information, that she will feel herself more and more enlightened every day, and tuition will be a pleasure instead of a task.

The reading of important books is generally looked upon as a dull and tedious affair by young persons, who are nevertheless fond of reading and repeating silly stories. I believe the secret of this difference to be, that a great proportion of the words in which the former are written are not understood; they present no image, they call up no association, in the mind; while the language in which stories are written may be more familiar, and, therefore, more engaging, although, in fact, the really important composition might possess a stronger interest, even for a child, if the language of it were equally well understood.

From the earliest attempts at reading, therefore, the learner should never be permitted to pass over words which he does not understand; and slowly as lessons may appear to be disposed of, on the explanatory method, especially at first, it

should still be borne in mind that any step, well secured as he proceeds, will seldom, if ever, have to be retraced; he will soon walk, and soon indeed run at full speed, if I may use the phrase, over the wide and glorious fields of literature; his mind being awakened to the beauties which surround him, and his taste being cultivated to an almost instinctive discrimination between the tares and the wheat of intellectual production. The ridiculous and the marvellous, adapted only to amuse and to abuse the meanest capacities, will be past by without regard by him who, understanding the language, can readily enter into the instructive spirit of history, biography, philosophy, and religion.

That the plan so successfully adopted at Edinburgh, and which I am so earnest in recommending, is practicable in our own families, and will immediately reward the diligence of those who attempt it, may not only be assumed from what I have already said respecting it, but will speedily be proved on making a few experiments. Mr. Wood, in the passage I have extracted from his valuable work, mentions the ignorance of a friend of his, who was taught to read Gray's Elegy without having the means afforded him of understanding it. Among many reading exercises which my children and I have enjoyed this winter, we have had that poem pretty well considered; and in order to give an idea of our attempts in this way, I will here give an example of our conversation on the first

verse, of which Mr. Wood makes particular mention. Whenever I failed to obtain the full and correct answers from my young folks, which was frequently the case, as may be supposed, I supplied them with the materials for the answers, and this is the beauty of the plan, for the least informed, and often the best-informed of a class, will gain something in every exercise.

EXAMPLE.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day;
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea;
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Q. What is the curfew?

A. The evening bell.

Q. But why is it called curfew?

A. Because William the Conqueror commanded the people to extinguish their fires and lights at an early hour each evening, when the church bell should be tolled; and two French words, signifying cover fire, were the origin of the name.

Q. What do you mean by "tolls the knell ?"

A. Tolling a bell is a slow and solemn mode of sounding it, and the sound so produced, as on occasion of a funeral, is often, especially in poetry, called a knell.

Q. What is the word which describes the quicker sounding of bells?

A. Ringing; as when denoting service time, or a public rejoicing.

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