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a portion of the rights with which he fancies that God and nature en dowed him, he will be consoled by the reflection that all have to make the sacrifice, and that the concession is made for the protection of his property and his life, for without government neither would be safe.

Antiquity. Accordingly, we find, so deeply seated is the necessity for government, that in the earliest ages of the world a kind of government was existing among all tribes and nations; and so remarkable is this fact, that almost all that history records of the earliest people is the history of these kings.

Universality. In every part of the world, also, at the present day, where numan creatures are to be seen, there also some kind of government is found among them. Even the rudest among the savage nations have their kings and chiefs, whose word is law, and whose power is seldom disputed.

Locality. But government, in its most perfect form, is generally found among the most civilized and enlightened people. Almost all the different kinds of government now existing, or that ever did exist, may be reduced to three, namely, Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. Under one of these forms every nation now known to exist is regulated and controlled. The painted Indian, whose life and death are at the mercy of his sachem, the naked African, who looks in terror at his king, and the wild Arab, whose chief is the sovereign arbiter in the division of the plunder obtained by the horde, all are in fact the subjects of a monarch. Rome, under the decemvirs, and Venice and Genoa under their nobles, presented the spectacle of an Aristocracy; while Athens, luxurious Athens, invested the chief power in an assembly of the people, and presented to the world a splendid example of a Democracy. Each of these different forms is attended by its own peculiar advantages and disadvantages which the unity of our subject does not permit us now to discuss. But the advantages of some form of government remains yet to be presented.

Advantages. Order is said to be the first law of heaven. But among men it is essentially necessary for their very existence. Man, uncontrolled and unrestrained, would ever be invading his brother's rights. Nothing would be safe. Might would be right, and the strongest might revel in the possession of that which the weaker had no power to keep from him. Laws emanate from government. Without government there could be no laws. It is the laws which protect every man in the enjoyment of his life, his liberty, and his possessions. Without laws, property would not be respected; the weak would be the slave of the strong, and the strong could enjoy their ill-gotton possessions only so long as they could maintain their ascendancy. It is government, therefore, that secures to every one the enjoyment of what he possesses, and restrains the strong from encroaching on the rights of the weak.

Disadvantages. Every form of government is liable to abuse. They who are in power are engaged in a constant struggle to maintain that power, while the ambitious and the aspiring are eagerly watching their opportunity to supplant them. This gives rise to parties and cabals, to plots and intrigues, to treachery, to treason and rebellion, to civil wars nd family feuds, in which the innocent often share the punishment preIared for the guilty. But these evils are light in comparison with those which spring from anarchy, or want of government. It becomes every

one, therefore, to lend his aid in support of the government under which it has pleased providence to place him, until that government shows by its actions that the good of the people for whom it was instituted is not its aim, and thereby renders rebellion a palliated evil, if not a virtue.

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Themes are subjects, or topics, on which a person writes or speaks.

A theme, as defined by Mr. Walker, is the proving of some truth.

Themes are divided into two classes, the simple and the complex.

Simple themes comprehend such as may be expressed by one term or more, without conveying either an affirmation or a negation. Such as Logic, Education, Habit, The Fall of the Roman Empire, The Institution of Chivalry.*

*Such, also, are the subjects of the last Exercises under the head of Regular Subjects.

Complex themes comprehend such propositions as admit of proof or illustration; expressing a judgment which of course may be denied without invoking any positive contradiction in the meaning of the terms. The following are examples: Logic is a useful study." "Youth is the season of improvement." "Wisdom is better than riches." "A public is preferable to a private education."

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In the last set of exercises the course was laid down for the manage ment of "a regular subject," which is prescribed by Mr. Walker in his "Teacher's Assistant." What he calls "regular subjects" are designed for simple themes. The course prescribed by Mr. Jardine, in his Outlines of a Philosophical Education, is less mechanical, and is to be preferred, because the mind of the student is less fettered by "leading strings," and left more to its own resources. The following are his preliminary remarks:

"To give an illustration of a simple theme I shall suppose the subject to be Logic, and shall shortly apply the scholastic rules to the structure of the essay which should be composed upon it."

"The first rule directs the student to begin by fixing exactly the meaning of the term, which is the subject of the theme, removing every thing that is doubtful or equivocal in its signification; and, when difficulties of that kind occur, the true import of the word must be determined by the canons of etymology, or by the practice of the best writers."

แ By the second rule, which is the principle one, he is required to explain the essential and accidental qualities of the subject, here supposed to be logic; and to enumerate them, according to their order and importance, and with a reference to the end which is contemplated by the logician. That end is the establishment of truth or the refutation of error, and it is accomplished by the application of those rules of right reasoning, in which the art of logic may be said to consist. In these rules are included definition, division, classification, as well as those general directions relative to propositions which are derived from the ancient dialectics. But it is unnecessary here to enlarge; for the most important of the rules, for both kinds of themes, are the same, in so far, at least, as the object of both is the attainment of clear notions, lucid ar rangement, and perspicuous expression."

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"The special rules which relate to the management of complex themes, may be shortly enumerated. That no propositions, advanced as the ground of inference and deduction should be admitted, but upon the best and most solid evidence, arising from sense, from consciousness, or experience, or from undeniable truths, such as axioms and intuitive propositions: or lastly, upon testimony, analogy, facts already proved, the undeviating laws of nature, &c.- that the meaning of the subject, and predicates of the radical proposition be accurately fixed - that the extent of the affirma tion or negation be exactly ascertained, so that the proposition may be stated in the most intelligible manner, and the logical rules of division be applied that the attention be next directed to the kind of evidence by which the proposition is established- and the arguments to be intro duced in such order, that those which precede shall throw light on those that follow, and form a connected chain of comparisons, by which ulti

mately the agreement or disagreement, expressed in the proposition, shall be made manifest; and finally that all objections against the proposition be candidly and explicitly answered. The proof, when it is long, may be concluded with a recapitulation, containing the united strength of all the arguments which have been brought to confirm it."

"It is impossible to prescribe rules which shall exactly accord with the variety of subjects which may come under this order of themes, and, therefore, much must be left to the judgment and experience of the teacher. It is not every theme that requires the application of all the rules. The first rule may be sometimes necessary; the second is indispensable on all subjects; the other rules are only occasionally required;;-a rigid adherence to these rules might render composition stiff and formal; but that would, in a great measure, be prevented, by frequent use and judicious application."

'Though, in the management of complex themes, the rules of demon stration cannot be always followed, yet the clearness, certainty, and progress of that kind of reasoning, ought to be the standard, as the best and most effectual mode of procuring the assent of the mind. Let the young composer imitate the geometrician, in first attempting to establish clearly the datum on which the deduction rests, and then proceed, with gradual and increasing strength, to the conclusion." *

*It may, perhaps, be objected that the course here prescribed by Mr. Jardine is too difficult for the young student. If perfect or finished compositions were required, there might be good grounds for such an opinion. In all cases, perfect specimens must be preceded by many unsuccessful efforts. An eminent writer has candidly acknowledged that he would be ashamed to disclose the many unsuccessful attempts he had made, before he could produce any hing worthy of public attention. Imperfect, then, as the first essays of the student may be, they constitute the natural and indispensable steps which lead to higher degrees of perfection.

The following extract from one of Mrs. Sherwood's "Social Tales" is so pertinent to the subject, that it is thought that it will be useful to the student to present it in this place. The tale from which it is extracted is entitled "Hoc Age."

"It was the custom of my father, when I was a girl, to require of me every Saturday, a few pages written upon a given subject. Well do I remember the hours which I sometimes used to spend on these unfortunate Saturday mornings, in endeavoring to elicit sparks of genius from the cold iron of my brain; and how pleased I was wont to be, when any thing like a bright idea presented itself to my imagination: such were welcome to me as angel's visits, which are said to be few and far between.

"Much of my success, however, I found, depended upon the subject which was given me. When these subjects were fruitfnl and congenial to my feelings, the task was comparatively easy; but when they were new and strange to me, my labor was greatly increased, and so far from being able to put my ideas into any new form, I seemed to lose the power of expressing them, even in the most ordinary way.

Judge, then, what must have been my despair, when on a certain Saturday, having stolen up into my father's study, with that sort of quiet pace which children use when they are going about any thing they do not much relish, (for the motion of the foot is a never-varying index in a simple mind, of the feelings of the heart.) I stood behind his chair as he sat writag, and said, 'Papa, please for the subject of my theme, to day?' Hoc age,' he replied, still writing on.

"Of one thing," continues Mr. Jardine, "the youngest student must be made sensible, from the evidence of his own consciousness, that he cannot expect to compose even the simplest theme without directing and continuing his power of thinking upon it."

"Instructions cannot be too plain nor too minute, when directed to young persons entering upon a new and difficult course of study. The experience of the perplexities which assail the juvenile mind, in its first endeavors to discover materials and to find expressions, has induced me to lay aside the authority of the teacher, and to place myself as the companion or friend of the student, in those moments when his difficulties are most formidable"

"I suppose, then, 'Emulation' chosen as the subject of a simple theme, which the student is required to explain and illustrate, from lectures, books

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What, papa?' I said.

"Hoc age, child,' he answered; 'Hoc age-go and make the best of it, but do n't disturb me.'

"Hoc age,' I repeated, as I went down stairs. Hoc age. it is Latin; I know it is Latin. Hoc is this, and it is neuter, and the word thing is understood; and age is do; I know enough of Latin for this; therefore, Hoc age means, Do this thing.'

"So I mended a pen, and took a sheet of paper, and wrote 'Hoc age in a fair hand at the top of the paper; and then I added the translation; and then wrote my own name in one corner, and the date at another; and then looked out of the window, and up to the ceiling, and wrote again, and actually made out a sentence to this effect: 'It is our duty, under every circumstance of life, to attend to this admonition;' and there I stopped, for the question suggested itself, to wit, what admonition? Further, there fore, I could not get, and when my father called me to dinner, I had not ad vanced an inch beyond the full round stop after the word admonition.

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"My father was one of the kindest and gentlest of parents, and when I presented my vacant sheet to him, he smiled, and said, 'T is as much as I expected; but I am perfectly satisfied, nevertheless. If you have spent your morning in considering the nature of the injunction meant to be expressed in the words 'Hoc age,' you have not lost your time." My father then entered into an explanation of the subject, and pointed out to me that these two words were equivalent to the Scripture injunction, 'Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.' And then he showed me that the world abounded with persons who never seemed to give their full and undivided attention to any thing which they had to do, and in consequence, when suddenly called upon to act or speak with promptitude, were never ready and never had their words or their actions at command. 'Hence,' continued he, on smaller occasions, they are for ever wasting their time, and on more important ones losing advantages and opportunities never to be recovered.' My father added much more to me on this subject; but as I shall hope, in what follows, to elucidate what he said by a very appropriate example, I shall cite no more of his valuable discourse, with the exception of one remark only, which was most important; it was to this effect: that the salvation of the soul is the thing to be done in the first instance; the Hoc age,' to which every human creature should principally attend all other concerns being made subordinate to this one object, and all other efforts or exertions being in the end wholly inefficient in producing the happiness of any individual, when this one thing needful is neglected." The whole of the tale, of which the above extract is merely the introduction, may well be recommended to the perusal of both teachers and students.

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