and cheerfully yielded. So far as this is apparent in the order and regularity of the school, it is greatly promoted by the school songs which accompany all the changes of the classes, and which the children sing as they assemble and when they leave.

The singing is the more remarkable, as its character is maintained apparently with very little effort, and the sacrifice of very little time.

Accustomed to oral instruction on the gallery, the children exhibit great power of attention, much quickness of apprehension, and greater resources of language than I am accustomed to find in schools of this class. They appear to be interested in what they are taught, to appreciate the value of learning, and to take a pleasure in it. That listlessness of manner and dreaminess so intimately associated in the mind of an inspector with the aspect of an elementary school, had certainly no place here on the days of my inspection. The children not less than their teachers, seemed to be in earnest in the business of the school, and the fervor and vivacity apparent on the one part, is at least commensurate with the zeal and ability exhibited on the other.

So far as this school, taught exclusively by the students of the college, may be taken as affording direct evidence of the skill they attain in the art of teaching, no other than a favorable estimate can be formed of it. The notes in which I have recorded the impressions which I derived from the opportunity afforded me of being present at a lesson delivered by each student, do not however bear an unqualified testimony to this fact.

Amongst them were some excellent teachers, earnest, vigorous, well instructed, and efficient, but there were others, wanting not only in the peculiar and professional qualifications of a teacher, but themselves very imperfectly educated. If I might be allowed a general criticism, it would be that the students whom I saw teach were not acquainted to the extent that might have been expected with the best methods of simplifying the primary elements of instruction. I doubt whether these had ever been made the subject of study with them. There was no evidence of any independent power to present the knowledge they themselves possessed under that form in which it is best adapted to the intelligence of children, or of any systematic instruction directed to that object, or indeed of any due appreciation of its importance to the success of elementary instruction.

NORMAL SCHOOLS

FOR THE

TRAINING OF FEMALE TEACHERS IN ENGLAND.

BESIDES the Normal School of the Home and Colonial Infant and Juvenile School Society already described, which is mainly devoted to the training of female teachers for a class of schools for which females are pre-eminently fitted by nature, there was established, in 1842, at Whiteland, Chelsea, by the National Society, an "Institution for the Training of Schoolmistresses." Since its establishment 93 pupils have been sent out as teachers, of which number 82 were in charge of schools in 1848. It has already been instrumental, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, Rev. F. Watkins, in rearing the standard of attainments of the schoolmistresses, and elevating their social position. The course of instruction, as presented in his Report to the Committee of Council on Education for 1848, extends through two years, but does not embrace any peculiar features as to subjects or methods, except as to the industrial employment of the pupils. In the printed Regulations for the admission of pupils, it is said:

"Their attention will not be confined to the studies of the school-room. Whatever skill or knowledge may be of use in a poor man's family, either to increase the comforts of his fireside, to assist in bringing up his children, or to prepare his daughters to gain, in whatever capacity, a respectable livelihood, this will be diligently imparted. For this purpose they are carefully instructed in the art of plain needlework, knitting, marking, darning, &c. To give them practice and experience in this department, they are expected to cut out and make up the various articles of clothing secured to the poor children of the schools by their clothing clubs. The pupils are also required to cut out and make up their own clothes, as well as to undertake all other plain needlework which may be sent to the Institution. The teachers are practiced in the art of setting needlework for children, by preparing the work for the different classes in the school. The pupils have also been in the habit of making themselves useful in the laundry."

The Inspector makes the following remarks on the previous education of some of the pupil teachers of the institution.

"It must be said, that some of them are exceedingly ignorant, being unable to work the four simple rules of arithmetic correctly, possessing little knowledge either of the Old or New Testament, altogether unskilled in geography, grammar, or English history, and utterly unable to spell words of the most common occurrence. It is hardly necessary to say, that this state of ignorance is not owing to any want of sufficient instruction in the training school, but to the deplorable neglect of sound elementary education in the families of those who are raised a little above the poorest class. It is from these families that the majority, I am told, of the young women in training are drawn. They have been educated, (if it be not misusing the term,) at private boarding-schools.' A little external dressing has been given to them, but rarely any internal culture. They have been taught some fancy needlework, and to write in a running band; they can read fluently, but not with expression; they have learned by heart passages of Holy Scripture, a few hymns, and other pieces of poetry, put have seldom been directed to their meaning. On such material it is diffi

cult for the most skillful teacher of a training school to work with any effect She must carefully pull down before she begin to build up any structure on such an unsteady foundation; she must, indeed, lay a new foundation on dif ferent principles, and with a careful hand. It is, therefore, hardly fair to expect great results from the examination of pupils in the training colleges for mistresses, until they shall have received a more sound elementary education, and a longer period of training than two years shall have been allotted to them.”

There exists also at Salisbury a similar seminary, styled the "Salisbury Diocesan Institute for the Training of Schoolmistresses." The institution was opened in 1841, and has been since maintained by donations and subscriptions to the amount of about £500 a year, for the purpose of providing a sufficient supply of "well-educated, right-minded, and thoroughly-trained young women for the schools of the diocese." Up to 1848, only 58 had left the institution to take schools. The following extract touches a most important point of inquiry before admitting pupils to a Normal School-and especially female pupils. In the Eighth Report of the Diocesan Board of Education, it is stated:

"Since the beginning of 1846 two of the pupils died, and five have shown such symptoms of weak constitutions as to give no reasonable hope that they can ever undertake the anxious and trying duties of schoolmistresses. The Committee are very earnest in pressing this point upon the consciences of those who give or sign certificates with too much facility; and they say most truly, that, though it is not an uncommon opinion that the work of a schoolmistress may be undertaken by those whose constitution unfits them for other more active employments, the truth is, that the drain upon the constitution and spirits of a schoolmistress is very great, and none but those whose lungs are quite healthy, and whose constitution is in all respects good, can discharge its duties with any comfort, or for any length of time."

The Inspector, in the Report of his visit to the school in 1848, observes: "It appears to me, that at present the domestic employments of the pupils, if not too much of a servile, are too little of an instructive, economical charac ter. It is said, and doubtless with great truth, that occasional employment in even such works as scrubbing, cleaning shoes, &c., has a beneficial tendency in correcting faults of vanity, indolence, &c., and in giving a practical lesson of humility; and I should be far from wishing to abolish it. Indeed, I hold it to be of great importance to employ the pupils in works that tend to increase their sympathy with the poor. But surely it is of not less importance that young women intended for a really liberal profession should have ample opportunities of learning the cost of materials, the best and cheapest modes of preparing them, and the comparative expense of various modes of housekeeping; and so of acquiring experience which will be available to them, both in the management of their own affairs, and in conversing with the parents of their pupils, who will be glad to consult them if they find them practical guides. With well-arranged offices, under the superintendence of the mistress or a good assistant, the elder girls might profitably devote some portion of their time to these matters, and might connect them with their studies, both by composing essays on subjects of domestic economy, and by keeping the accounts of the establishment upon the most approved system."

SYLLABUS OF A COURSE OF LECTURES ON EDUCATION; ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE, BY WILLIAM KNIGHTON, PROFESSOR OF THE ART OF TEACHING IN THE WHITELAND TRAINING SCHOOL FOR MISTRESSES.

I-The Principles or Theory of Education.

Education a science and an art-a science, inasmuch as it investigates the principles upon which tuition is, or ought to be, conducted; an art in affording rules for its conduct and putting them into practice; object of education in its highest and widest sig. nification; the etymology of the word referred to; the human being a religious and moral, an intellectual, and a physical animal; education therefore threefold, of the body, the mind, and the soul or spirit; their relative importance; the end of man's existence on earth, not his happiness or gratification, but performance of duty; this brings with it the truest happiness; our duty threefold also. (1) All attempts to form a moral being without the aid and influence of religion hitherto unsuccessful-history convinces us of this fact; warranted in concluding religion and morality inseparable; how the religious and moral powers are to be cultivated; the Bible the rule of faith; how the Bible, and its auxiliary to the ignorant mind, the Catechism, are to be taught, a question for practical education. (2.) The intellectual nature of man; necessity of its cultivation if man is to fill properly the sphere allotted to him on earth; constant necessity for the exercise of the intellect in the daily affairs of life; advantages of its cultiva tion-disadvantages of its neglect; different powers of the mind all useful in different ways; attention, association of ideas, conception, abstraction, imagination, and reason or judgment, all to be cultivated harmoniously; evils of allowing one faculty undivided sway; qualities which constitute a well-regulated mind, a habit of attention, a power of regulating the succession of thoughts, mental activity, habits of reflection and association, proper relation of objects of pursuit, government of the imagination, culture, and regulation of the judgment, proper moral feeling. (3.) The physical nature of man; necessity of knowing something of it; evils of neglecting its development; benefits of health, vigor, and bodily activity to all; caution not to make to much of it.

II.-The Practice of Education.

1. The school-room-its adaptation to the purposes of education the primary consideration the infant school-room--its gallery, dimensions, construction, and convenient disposition in the room; uses of infant gallery; the blackboard or large slate, pictures, card-stands; should books be used in the infant school? Yes, but for the highest class only; smaller boards or slates for classes. Juvenile school-room-importance of a gallery; utility of parallel desks for classes-those of the National Society excellent; each row of seats should differ in height; general arrangement of classes to suit the room; for both schools a play-ground necessary; its importance in moral training; "the uncovered school-room;" how it should be used; neatness and cleanliness of the covered and uncovered school-room to be attended to; influence of this upon the children's character; ventilation; temperature. The class-room-necessity of it in a large school; its arrangement and most convenient position.

2. The Pupils.-Evils of grown-up children in infant schools; sympathy of numbers; influence of this principle in the school and in the world; examples-Bacon's "Idols of the Forum;" the result of want of attention to this principle, and neglect of its cultivation in education; advantages likely to be derived by both sexes from their mingling in schools; evils to be guarded against in schools for girls alone; power of the gallery vastly increased in the mixed school; its power of condemnation, and its utility in inflicting severe punishment on an individual offender; different method of treatment to be adopted with town and country children; object in the town to turn the mental activity, the "sharpness," to proper account, and direct it to proper objects of pursuit in the country to develop the open unsuspecting character and increase the mental acuteness by judicious training; difference between training and teaching.

3. The Teacher.-Mental qualities and habits of thought most valuable for the teacher; piety, patience, perseverance, and a sympathy with children to be cultivated assiduously; impartiality or freedom from injustice indispensable to form a really good teacher; activity of mind and body essential; immense influence exercised by the teacher on the pupil-teachers and scholars; good example better than good precepts; importance of attention in minute matters to the rules of the school; discipline thus inculcated and enforced-" Let all things be done decently and in order;" attention to trifles necessary; time often wasted; danger of being puffed up with pride; necessity of humility; impossibility of those succeeding who take no interest in the work; happiness of managing a well-kept improving school; impression respecting the misery of school-keeping quite erroneous; dress should be cleanly, neat, and simple.

4. Organization of the School-Superiority of pupil-teachers to monitors; pupil-teachers may be taught much with the highest class in simultaneous lessons; evils produced by neglect of the school in order to devote too much time and labor to pupil-teachers; advantages of a good classification; evils of maintaining the same classification in all subjects; those quick in acquiring a knowledge of reading often dull in arithinetic; necessity therefore of all working arithmetic at the same time, in order to admit of a