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THE SOUL BE WITHOU

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REMBRANDT AND HIS WORKS.

II.

THE year 1640 is referred to as the commencement of the "golden age" of Rembrandt, in which his works exhibit an accomplished style of execution, increased strength of expression, and richer hues of colouring. One of his most remarkable pictures is called "The Night Watch." It is dated 1642. Its size is thirteen feet by fourteen feet six inches. Mr. Smith, in his Catalogue Raisonné, notices this picture in the following terms:

This extraordinary work of art exhibits a composition of about twenty figures, of the size of life, assembled in a lofty hall. Conspicuous in the centre stands the captain of the watch, Francis Banning Kok, Lord of Purmerland, and d'Ilpendam, habited in black, relieved by a full lace ruff and a red scarf, and having on his head a hat decked with feathers; his animated countenance and gestures indicate him to be addressing the surrounding guard. On his left is a short man, dressed in a yellow jerkin, splendidly embroidered with gold, having on a hat of the same colour decked with white feathers, a white sash, and buff boots; he holds in his hands a partisan studded with brass nails. Another of the party is on the right, and somewhat nearer the front, wearing a scarlet dress, with a hat and feathers of the same colour; he is in the act of loading his arquebuse. A little retired from this person is a girl in a yellow dress, with some dead poultry attached to her girdle. On the left is a drummer, who appears to be beating a rattat-too, at the sound of which the whole body is put in motion, and the number in the rear is in some measure indicated by the spears and banners which glitter above the heads of the front ranks. The dresses of the various officers are of the richest materials and the most fanciful style; these, together with the arms, armour, and military implements, and other necessaries, were doubtless furnished from the artist's cabinet of antiquities (as he so called it), and produce in the whole a most gorgeous and highly picturesque effect. The subject is illumined by the vivid rays of the evening sun, admitted through some aperture; and the brilliant light which falls on the centre of the picture is conducted by the most tender gradations and beautiful reflexes throughout the composition, exhibiting such a wonderful display of the chiaro-scuro as is nowhere seen in an equal degree in any other work of art. The colouring is also of the most glowing description; and in reference to the execution, the term masterly is insufficient to express the ingenious dexterity by which the more prominent objects are made to assume the natural quality and texture of the thing represented. The date, 1642, shews that the artist was thirty-six years age when he painted it. There is an indifferent engraving from it by Claessens.

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It is difficult, says Mr. Smith, to put a value on a work so unique both in size and quality; but if it were offered for sale, there are speculators who would probably give five or six thousand pounds for it. This splendid picture formerly adorned the Stadt House at Amsterdam, and is now in the Musée of that city.

Another mean device to which Rembrandt is said to have resorted, to promote the sale of his productions, was to set on foot the report that he was about to quit his native land: sometimes pretending that he was preparing for England; at other times, about to take up his abode in some part of the north of Europe; and that his return to Holland was quite uncertain. The effect of these rumours was, that enormous prices were offered for his works. His celebrated print of "Christ healing the Sick," was commonly called the "Hundred Guilder Print," that being the sum (about eight guineas) which Rembrandt asked for it. By such means, in addition to the intrinsic merits of his works, they were so much esteemed and sought after, that, as Houbraken observes, in order to obtain them, it was necessary, according to the Dutch proverb, to use "both payment and prayers;" and, he also remarks, that this spirit for the acquisition of his works continued for a succession of years.

It may be readily supposed that Rembrandt, thus occupying so large a share of public attention, was more occupied than all the other artists in Amsterdam; and besides this, his pupils were exceedingly profitable. He made them pay dearly for his instruction; and besides this, according to Sandrart, he realized an annual income of nearly 2500 florins from the sale of their copies of his works.

Rembrandt seems to have been aware of his own

weakness, without endeavouring to correct it; nay, he is even said to have commonly allowed others to jest with him on the subject. It was a common trick among his pupils to paint pieces of card to represent money, and then scattering them about the house, to enjoy the disappointment of their master on picking them up. His habits were very inexpensive: he would frequently dine off a red herring, or a slice of bread and cheese. He lived constantly among the lower orders, with people far below himself; and when he visited the houses of the wealthy to sell his productions, he was always ill at ease. As soon as he had dispatched his business, he retired; and when pressed to sit and enjoy himself among his friends and patrons, he would say something about his love of liberty, his hatred of restraint, &c., and retire to some obscure public-house to indulge his peculiar

humours.

The reader will naturally suppose that, thus patronized, with such inexpensive habits, and with such an evident fondness for gain, Rembrandt must have amassed a princely fortune; but, strange to say, he died poor, if not insolvent; and, stranger still, the means by which he disposed of his large income is still a mystery.

The history of Rembrandt's pecuniary embarrassments, as far as it is known, is derived from authentic documents which have recently been published. The following is a brief summary thereof:

It is supposed that Rembrandt, finding himself in prosperous circumstances, was induced to purchase a freehold house in the Sint Anthonis Bree straat, now known as the Jews' quarter of Amsterdam. It appears. however, that this house was soon mortgaged for the sum of 4180 guilders, to Mr. Cornelis Witsen; but it is doubtful whether the money was raised to enable Rembrandt to complete his purchase, or to meet some other embarrassment. Certain it is, that in the year 1655, his affairs became so embarrassed that he was totally unable to meet his engagements with the mort

That a man of genius is not superior to weaknesses or vices, which are, unfortunately, but too common among meaner men, is proved by the example of Rembrandt. In proportion to his success in his art, appeared to be his love of money; and to gratify this ruling passion, he scrupled not to resort to the meanest artifices. At one time he concealed himself, and caused his wife to spread a report that he was dead, in order to sell his etchings at an advanced price. On another occasion he sent out his son to sell secretly his prints, with an insinuation that the youth had purloined them. He exhi-gagee; and, in consequence, on the 25th and 26th of bited his etchings in public, and attended in person in order to enhance their value. He seems also to have exerted his ingenuity to increase the number of impressions from his plates; many of them were struck in a half-finished state; the plates were then finished, and the impressions sold as new productions; and when the plate was worn, or the subject had become stale, he made a few alterations or additions and thus had a third set of impressions at disposal.

July, in the following year, the whole of his effects were taken in execution and sold by auction, the proceeds of which amounted to 4964 guilders and 4 stuivers. Mr. Smith gives a copy of the catalogue of sale "deposited in the office of the administration of insolvent estates at Amsterdam, anno 1656;" together with several extracts from the minutes of the fourteenth register in the chamber of insolvent estates at Amsterdam, by which it appears that "the secretary of the city was authorised

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by the commissioners to pay to the said Cornelis Witsen, burgomaster, the sum of 4180 guilders, out of the proceeds of the sale of the insolvent's effects, in liquiquidation of a mortgage." This order is dated January 30th, 1658; and on the 22nd of February following, the said sum was paid by the chamber of insolvent estates, according to a receipt there deposited. further appears by a memorandum in the said registry, that a moiety of two pictures which were sold in the sale, belonged to the artist's friend Peter de la Taube, and the sum of 32 guilders 5 stuivers, was paid him by the court, as his share, and for which a receipt in his own hand was also deposited.

From other documents in the same registry, it appears that during the seizure and sale of the artist's effects, he .odged with a M. Berent Jansen Scheurman, from the 4th of December, till the 22nd, for which a charge of 58 guilders 12 stuivers, was made, and also 5 guilders per week for the room; and a further claim of 20 guilders for a continuance of the same accommodation,

was made after the sale.

Nine other items for similar disbursements were also entered, making in the whole, 130 guilders 2 stuivers; this sum was not paid until the 3rd of March, 1660.

By a document, dated September 9th, 1665, it appears that a sum of 6952 guilders 1 stuiver, remained, as the balance of accounts, after every claim was satisfied; and this sum was paid in full to Titus van Rhyn, the only surviving child of Rembrandt Van Rhyn, and Saskia Van Uylenburg, under a protest, and two securities, in the presence of three magistrates. This document purports that the sum above named was the balance of the proceeds of the sale of the house and ground sold under execution, by order of the commissioners of the court of insolvents.

Thus it appears that the difficulties into which the artist was plunged arose from his chief creditor, Cornelis Witsen, foreclosing the mortgage, and taking the usual proceedings to recover his money, while the debtor sought, by various subterfuges, which the law afforded to put off the day of payment; for according to a general statement of the account, in G of the register, the suit was commenced in 1657, and continued annually until 1665, by which an expense for law was incurred amounting to the sum of 4724 guilders, so that it is quite clear that the artist was at no time in an absolutely insolvent state, and had time been given he would in all probability have paid his debts, seeing a balance of upwards of 6007. was paid over to his son after his decease, which is supposed to have taken place in 1664, and not, as is stated by Houbraken, and repeated by others, in 1674." Mr. Smith justly remarks, that the payment of balance of property to the son of the artist in 1665, together with the circumstance that no picture is recorded bearing a later date than 1664, seems amply to confirm this statement.

It is further interesting to notice that the house concerning which all these law proceedings originated, was, a few years ago, taken down, and a new one built on its site, in the year 1831, on which occasion, Mr. Albertus Brundgeest, an ardent admirer of Rembrandt's works, and an excellent amateur artist, desirous of preserving the memory of the site rendered sacred to the arts, obtained permission to insert, at his own expense, in the front of the new house, a black marble tablet, on which is simply inscribed REMBRANDT. At the same time, he purchased a memento of the old house, namely, a tablet, with a figure in bas-relief of a gardener holding a spade in his hand, which adorned its centre pier; on another tablet was the date 1655, the period of its erection. This house covered a much larger extent of ground than the present one; it had also out-buildings, and extended back to the gardens of the Trippenhuis or Museum.

The pecuniary embarrassments of Rembrandt afford "an affecting instance that talents, however brilliant, are not always attended by good fortune; true it is that of the various professions that of the artist is not always

among the first in the management of financial affairs." Whether Rembrandt's misfortunes were caused by political disturbances, or by his own misconduct in some speculation, is doubtful: but a suggestion made to Mr. Smith will, if it be true, explain away all difficulties in accounting for the artist's embarrassments. It was suggested that the intimacy of Rembrandt with Manasseh Ben Israel and Ephraim Bonus may have tempted him to part with his money for alchemical pursuits, for both these persons were long engaged in attempts to discover the art of transmuting the baser metals into gold, and the former wrote a book on the cabalistic art.

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Ar the village of Hayis we found Ishiyah, bishop of Berrewi, with his attendants, waiting for us. Although an old man he had walked from his residence at Duri, a dis tance of nine miles, to meet us. This first specimen of a

chief dignitary of the Chaldean church was highly favourable. I had expected a bishop with a dagger and sword,perhaps, as it was time of war, with a coat of mail; but, instead of that, we saw an aged man, of spare habit, with much repose and dignity in his manners, and a very benevolent and intelligent aspect; his hair and beard nearly silver-white, his forehead ample and unclouded, and his countenance, from never eating meat, uncommonly clear and fair. Welcoming us in the most urbane manner, he held his hand to be kissed, a custom common in this country, and accompanied the ceremony by expressions of civility and regard. The bishop wished to walk back, but we offered him the use of a horse. I was not fatigued, and preferred walking; but he had never been accustomed to ride, and it was with some difficulty that we got him to mount a loaded mule, where he could sit safe between the bags. We then started, Kasha Mandu, and a poorly-dressed man carrying a hooked stick, walking ceremoniously before.

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The happy moral influence of Christianity could not be more plainly manifested, than in the change of manners immediately observable in the country we had now entered into, and which presented itself with the more force, from its contrast with the sullen ferocity of the Mohammedans. The kind, cordial manners of the people, and the great respect paid to their clergy, were among the first fruits of that influence which showed themselves. Nothing can be more gratifying to us, after a long residence among proud Mohammedans, than to observe on this, our little procession, the peasants running from the villages, even a mile distant, and flocking to kiss the hand of the benevolent whitehaired dignitary. This was done with the head bare, a practice unknown among the Christians of Turkey in Asia; and so great was the anxiety to perform this act of kindly reverence, that little children were held up in the arms of ing testimonies of respect mingled with love were exhibited. their fathers to partake in it. Everywhere the same pleasWe were received at the bishop's house upon the roof, the most agreeable place at this season of the year, and pleasantly overshadowed in the day-time by large mulberry-trees. We joined in evening prayer, the bishop officiating. It was now that I first found out that the person bespoke the greatest poverty, and who on the journey had whose clothes were all tattered and torn, whose aspect always marched before the bishop, carrying a stick with a certain degree of pomp, was no other than the bishop's chaplain. After prayers came meals, the bishop and ourselves eating first, then the chaplain, the priest Mandu, Daoud, and other chiefs of the group, and, lastly, the servants went to work with a general scramble. At night the roof of the house presented a happy scene of patriarchal simplicity,-two peasants and their wives, two cradles and their noisy tenants, two deacons, the chaplain, ourselves, muleteers, servants, &c. were all picturesquely distributed over a place of about twelve yards by six.— AINSWORTH'S Travels in Asia Minor, Chaldea, &c.

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THE ART OF READING.

II.

THE SPELLING METHOD, AND ITS RESULTS. Two methods of imparting instruction in reading have been already alluded to. The first is that, which being the universal and established one, scarcely needs to be described. It is based on the names of the letters of the alphabet, and as soon as these are learned, it proceeds to their different combinations in words of one, two, three, &c. syllables, which form spelling lessons. The best way, perhaps, of judging of this, or any other system, is by its results. These, as it respects the common method, may at first sight appear to be satisfactory. Among the educated classes, reading is generally accomplished by children in a manner more or less creditable, at a very early age; and in many schools for the lower classes, the elder pupils are put forward to exhibit a But if an mechanical sort of expertness in this art. attentive examination is given to the matter, it will generally appear that a great amount of labour has been gone through both by teacher and pupil, in order to produce the desired result; and that in the larger proportion of instances the credit belongs not to the system, but to the skill of the teacher or the talent of the pupil in overcoming the formidable obstacles which it presents. The records of school-rooms, whether public or private, abound with instances of the miseries and punishments connected with the spelling lesson; and great is the address of the teacher who can make that lesson agreeclassificaable and profitable to his pupils. By proper tion of words, by short lessons, and questions on the meanings of words, many of the objections to the spelling method may be softened, but they cannot be overcome; for even if all teachers were disposed and qualified for such a mode of procedure, how would it be possible to carry it out in large schools?

In order to get a general view of the state of schools for the lower classes throughout the kingdom, we have examined the Reports rendered to Government by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, and annually published, and have selected a few of the notices which especially relate to the point in question. These will form an appropriate introduction to some further remarks on the spelling method. In September, 1840, one hundred and fifty schools in the mining districts of Durham and Northumberland were inspected by the Rev. John Allen. Speaking of the parochial schools, he says:-"In most the system of mutual instruction is strictly adhered to, the masters making, as far as I could learn, few attempts to teach the children to exercise their mental faculties, by requiring written answers to written questions, or by resorting to ellipses, or the suggestive method of instruction. The children were usually found to be orderly in their demeanour; and in the better schools, both parochial, and those under no superintendence, writing seemed to be fairly, and arithmetic very successfully, taught. Children of the age of twelve were not unfrequently to be found solving problems in mensuration, and many in both classes of schools were found learning practical land-surveying. The reading was, in almost all cases, indifferent, and in nearly every instance in which the experiment was tried, an attempt to get the meaning of the words read failed. All the parochial schools were opened and closed with prayer, and the Church Catechism was repeated with tolerable accuracy; but in schools even of the better class little or no meaning seemed to be attached to the more difficult words. In some cases, indeed, the explanation furnished in the glossary attached to the broken catechism was readily given; but this, as far as I could judge, was as much a matter of rote as the rest." Thus it appears that there was a great disproportion between the reading and the other acquirements of these scholars; so that while the latter were very creditable to the pupils, the former was ill-performed, and mere learning by rote.

The next published Report is that of the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel, who visited one hundred and ninetyfive schools in the principal towns of the cotton district,

during two months of the same summer (1840). This
gentleman's exertions in the cause of education were not
conducted in the official capacity of Inspector, but were
volunteered to the Lords of the Committee of Council,
and by them sanctioned and accepted. From the inte-
resting and important contents of Mr. Noel's Report we
can only extract the following, as directly relating to
instruction in reading. It is necessary to state, that
only reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught in
"But, unhappily," says Mr.
the schools here refered to.
Noel, "many of the schools were very unsuccessful in teach-
ing what they profess to teach. In several of those which I
examined, many children of the highest classes were unable to
read fluently, even in the New Testament; words were often
mistaken, stops were misplaced, small words were omitted,
so as to destroy the sense; and many of the children were
unable to spell even short and common words occurring in
But it was in their understanding
the lesson.

of the Scriptures, daily read, that I regretted to find the
most advanced children of the national schools so extremely
defective. Not only were they often ignorant of the prin-
cipal facts recorded in the Bible, but they could not answer
even the simplest questions upon the chapters which they
had most recently read. Nor was their religious ignorance
lessened by their knowledge of the Catechism. I several
times examined the first classes upon a portion of the Cate-
chism, and I never once found them to comprehend it.

.. Both in reading the Scriptures to the monitors, and in repeating the Catechism, the children showed a marked inattention and weariness, occasionally varied, when the master's eye was not upon them, by tokens of a roguish merriment. With the very best intentions, those who have adopted the system of the National School Society have, in many cases, admitted into their schools nothing for the elder children except the Bible, small volumes of extracts from it, and the Catechism. All the books on subjects with which children are most familiar being excluded from the school, that thirst for variety which, for the wisest purposes, has been implanted by the Creator in the minds of children, finding no gratification, their faculties are stunted in their growth, and they sink into an inert listlessness. Nothing can exceed the contrast between the eagerness of the children in a well-taught school, and the apathy manifested in most of these national schools. But this is not the worst effect of making the Bible the only class-book. Being thus made the medium through which reading and spelling are taught, it becomes associated in their minds with all the rebukes and punishments to which bad reading, or false spelling, or inattention in class exposes them; and it is well if, being thus used for purposes never designed, it do not become permanently the symbol of all that is irksome and repulsive."

The next Report from which extracts on the subjects of reading lessons can be made, is that of Seymour Tremenheere, Esq., who in September, 1840, examined the state of the schools connected with Greenwich Hospital, with a view to an alteration in the system of education, discipline, &c. The monitors in these schools could read and write decently, but their knowledge of the meaning of words was very imperfect, and they were found quite incapable of assisting the master, otherwise than in the mere mechanical process of reading. The sixth, seventh, and eighth classes consisted partly of boys who had joined the school since the vacation, and partly of boys who had been at school "They were all engaged in from four to six months. learning to read small words on the spelling cards, and to copy them on their slates, and in beginning to learn the arithmetic tables. The slightest possible progress had been made even by those boys who had been from four to six months in the classes. It was urged, that during the greater portion of that time they had been without the aid of the assistant master, whose duties are confined to the lower part of the school. In the second, third, fourth, and fifth classes, however, the boys of which had been at the school from one to three years, the progress was in all respects very unsatisfactory. In reading, none of those examined in the second class were capable of giving any explanation of the meaning of the words which they read." In the classes below this, "with few exceptions, there appeared to be an entire absence of the power to understand the meaning of some of the commonest words, or to show a compre

hension of the very plain sentences of the lesson books." The state of the schools at Greenwich was at that time altogether unsatisfactory, therefore we do not lay particular stress on this instance; but if we follow the same clear-sighted and able Inspector in his tour through the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, we find renewed testimony of deficiency in reading in schools where writing, arithmetic, and geography were making progress, and where the pupils had the advantage of superior guidance and superintendence. In one of these schools "the monitors, four of whom had acted two years, and three one year in that capacity, were unable to read with accuracy, or to show that they understood the words they were reading, or to give an intelligent account of what had recently been the subject of their lessons, whether of Bible History, or general information. Their ages were from ten to fourteen." A benevolent manufacturer at Norwich, who has done much at his own expense for the education of the poor, had made a regulation, that no one should be admitted to work for him who could not read decently, that is, in such a manner as to show that the art of reading is accompanied with a certain degree of understanding in proportion to the age. "At a recent period," says Mr. Tremenheere, "when many hundred children of weavers were out of employ, this manufacturer was during several months in want of hands, and although the fact was well known, yet no children of the age required, (between eleven and fifteen,) who were able to satisfy the test, applied to him for work. This fact may, perhaps, be taken as a proof, that among the class of children in question the qualifications were comparatively rare; and also that the children who were best instructed, were able to find work or to retain their places, while those of the lower degrees of cultivation were the first to be thrown out of employ." The state of education among the agricultural labourers of Norfolk is far worse. The very little that is communicated to them in the way of instruction in reading, is in most instances so imperfectly done that they lose it all in a few years. "A large proportion of the young persons of both sexes, from twenty to thirty years of age, had not only forgotten the little they ever knew of reading and writing, but also much of whatever scriptural or catechetical instruction they had once acquired."

It is well known that the lower classes of Scotland are better educated than those of England, and therefore in examining Mr. Gibson's Report on the state of the schools of Aberdeen, &c., we were prepared to find a satisfactory account. With respect to most of the parochial schools it is highly so. They are conducted by accomplished men, eight of whom are preachers in the church of Scotland, five, students of divinity, and the remaining three, persons who have gone through a complete course of study at the University of Aberdeen. These gentlemen pursue the explanatory method of teaching, and meet with corresponding success. The sessional schools are also admirably taught. In the more advanced classes a searching examination is instituted into the meanings, and occasionally the derivations of words. Yet with all this attention and success,

in certain schools, the initiatory steps in the majority of schools are complained of as very unmethodical, especially in reading. "All that was aimed at," says Mr. Gibson, "in most of the schools, was to enable the pupils to read with facility and fluency; no effort had been made to correct provincial barbarisms and peculiarities of pronunciations, or to give the pupils the power of reading with a fair amount of propriety and intelligence. It was generally done in a monotonous, drawling manner; pauses were neglected, emphasis unmarked, and no expression given to the sense. In no respects were the results of the application of the explanatory method more satisfactory than in the distinctive features which it gave to this branch. Although even in those schools where this method was practised, no approach to elegant and tasteful reading was made, yet it was generally characterized by distinctness of enunciation, by a proper degree of loudness and firmness of tone, and by

a

considerable share of intelligence, proper accentuation, and emphasis." Spelling was taught in the various schools, with different degrees of skill. In most cases it was regarded as a mere exercise of memory; but in some of the best schools attempts were made to render it more interesting. In Bon Accord sessional school, by a proper classification of words, and a judicious application of the simultaneous method, good results were obtained. The monitors, after having heard each pupil in his turn spell his word, required the whole class to repeat it in a low tone, and simultaneously; and instead of passing immediately to the following word, the pupils were exercised in others resembling it in sound; thus, if "land was the word given, the pupils were requested to spell bland, band, brand, sand, strand, stand, &c.

We now turn to a Report by Seymour Tremenheere, Esq., of sixty-six schools, situated in and near London, and conducted on the principles of the British and Foreign School Society. Among these schools there were some which met with the warm commendation of the Inspector; but the greater number were in various stages of mediocrity, yet not from neglect or inattention on the part of the masters. One great cause of the unsatisfactory state of the schools is the want of a reasonable remuneration for the master. Being obliged to look either chiefly or exclusively to the weekly payments of the children, he is induced to take a greater number than he can possibly superintend with effect. The frequent changes among the pupils, and the neglect and indifference of their parents, also operate most unfavourably. There is another evil: the time occupied in the lower classes before the pupil is able to read is so great, that by the time he has reached the upper division, (if he ever arrives there at all,) he is about to leave the school, and therefore loses the benefit of the more immediate teaching of the master. "For the time thus unduly occupied in getting through the merest rudiments, the parent is taxed to the amount of the school fees, and the child suffers by being launched into the employments of life with less preparation than it ought to have received, considering the period of its attendance at school."

The exercises for the lower division of these schools consist in spelling, reading, writing, and ciphering. Upon the spelling boards are rows of unconnected words, supposed to be explained and illustrated by the monitors, sometimes aided by sentences written out by the master. "It did not seem that a process, naturally irksome to a child's mind, was much facilitated by this method. . . . . The very slight degree of comprehension of meaning usually exhibited in these lower divisions, even by children who could pronounce the words fluently, seemed to indicate a habit of mere mechanical reading without effort to associate the sense. When the early lessons are thus hopelessly difficult, when they are selected solely from scripture subjects, and given in a manner little adapted to the tender capacity of childhood, ministering little to its curiosity, and having little reference to the opening world around it, the process must necessarily be repugnant as conveying fragmentary ideas or none at all, and the progress slow in proportion."

The above extracts will be sufficient to show that in a

large proportion of schools, much time is unnecessarily wasted, and many evil results follow from the tedious process of teaching to read, on the plan usually adopted. Many intelligent masters of schools are perfectly aware of the evils of the spelling method, and are anxiously awaiting the introduction of some better system; by means of which the lower classes in schools might be more speedily advanced, and thus come at an earlier period under their own management and direction, instead of leaving the school, as many of their members do, without ever deriving benefit from the teaching of the principal. It is of the utmost importance that children should be taught to read well in the shortest possible space of time, and should also understand what they read. Schoolmasters themselves are among the

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