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a dozen easy words were placed before him, he would perhaps be right in a few, wrong in most, but he would guess at all. This case convinced Olivier that spelling was, for the most part, a useless and cumbersome operation, depending chiefly upon memory, but of no use in the production of good reading*. His next, or rather his first step to avoid this evil and its consequences, and to make some advance towards a better method was to adopt a practice, since known as the Hamiltonian method. He placed some interesting little story before his pupil, and made him first read, as well as he was able, all the monosyllabic words in it. If the child failed in the correct pronunciation of any word, the teacher pronounced it several times distinctly, causing the child at the same time to look attentively at the printed characters, and then to repeat the word after him. Having by such means mastered the monosyllables, he proceeded to the disyllables, and so on, finally permitting the pupil to read all the words in their proper order, thus enabling him to get at the sense of the story, for which his appetite had been sufficiently sharpened by the preliminary exercises. The principle which Olivier had in view, was to impress upon the mind of the child the physiognomy (written or printed) of the word about to be pronounced, by repeatedly directing his eyes to the letters, as the single features of which it was composed. Thus he avoided the common disagreement between the senses of hearing and seeing, which is so puzzling to a child, who is made first to spell a word, and then to pronounce something quite different from the sounds resulting from the spelling process; but as he proceeded the defects of this method became more and more apparent; he found that it required the constant superintendence of the teacher, and that it could not be employed in a large class of children. Moreover, it overloaded the memory of the child, for, at every new word, the child was required to learn a new series of letters, and thus he had to distinguish as many groups as there are words in the language, thus subjecting him to the evil which we are told a Chinese has to undergo before he is able to read his mother tongue. Still the system was less pernicious than the old method, for the reason above stated.

But we must now let M. Olivier speak for himself, reserving, however, the editorial privilege of curtailing his unwieldy and almost interminable sentences, (for he has indeed what Diesterweg justly pronounces "Ein schwerfälliger stylus,") and omitting many details which are not essential to the subject.

The result of my teaching was so satisfactory, that at the end of the second year the boy had attained a remarkable skill in reading. This convinced me,-1. That reading might be taught entirely without the use of spelling.-2. That the method of attaining this object, namely, by simply causing the pupil to look upon a word, and pronounce it

In another place Olivier enumerates his objections to the spelling method somewhat in the following terms;

1. Instead of beginning with the sounds necessary to the production of the language itself, and then uniting these sounds with certain symbols, the spelling method begins most unnaturally with soundless letters, and does not even use these as guides to the true sounds. Moreover, since the letters of the alphabet are insufficient to indicate all the sounds in common nse, the very attempt to teach reading by its means alone, leads to dissatisfaction on the part of teacher and learner.

2. The spelling method resolves a word not into the number of simple sounds which compose it, but into the number of letters which it may happen to contain; a practice which must lead to error and confusion, for example, the word caught contains six letters, ce, a, u, ge, aitch, te, and only three sounds.

3. By this method one letter which, under different circumstances, is the representative of many sounds, is not called differently, as circumstances vary, but always by one name,-a practice which must surely prove, both to teacher and child, the inutility of spelling; thus o retains its name, whether it be o in ore, in or, or in move; s is always so called, whether it be met with in is, in this, in sure, division, &c.

4. Letters which are used to indicate the most various and opposite sounds, whether long or short, are made to have the same sound to the ear, although the office of these letters is simply to address the eye, as, gh in high, e in ale, &c.

5. The name of the letter is frequently no guide whatever to any one of the sounds which it represents,-for example, ch, g (hard), h, w, &c.

after the teacher, who made certain remarks respecting the division of its syllables*, if not much easier and shorter than the old method, was certainly much more agreeable.-3. That the connexion which in the mind of every reader is felt to exist, between audible (spoken) words and visible (written or printed) ones, can be most naturally impressed upon the learner, by the simultaneous appeal to sight and hearing, provided we exclude all extraneous aids, such as the names of the letters: hence, 4. Upon this principle must be founded a new method of attaining the desired object. Thus far had I proceeded in my inquiries, when, in in the year 1780, I was appointed teacher of the French language in the celebrated educational establishment of Dessau, called the Philanthropic Institute. This was the most flourishing period of the Institution, and I accepted, with gratitude, the office which promised so honourable a field for my future exertions. It was, of course, a part of my duty to give instruction to beginners in the art of reading the French language, and in doing so I was made more than ever sensible of the perversity of the old methods, but I was not yet in a condition to put in practice my improved method, because here I had a large number of children to instruct, I continued most unwillingly to follow the beaten track. but never relinquished the hope of being able to discover a more pleasant path. Many attempts were made and relinquished, when it happened that in one of those moments, when I was wrestling with the despair into which the bad success of my attempts had led me, the first glimpse of the fundamental idea of a Phonic Method flashed before my mind's eye with the rapidity of lightningt. It was a small spark, but by diligent care I succeeded in fanning it into a bright flame, by the light of which I was soon enabled to perceive the object I had so long sought,-- the whole principle of my method. This principle lay in an exceedingly small compass,-in the possibility of resolving every word in the language into its simple audible elements. learned doctors of Salamanca assembled round the egg of The reader is, I confess, in great danger of imitating the Columbus,-"Is that all?" said they, "we could have done that!"-"Yes," said the great discoverer; "the thing is, that you could have done it, and I have done it."

To comprehend this analysis requires but little more speak, and the child is competent to it in proportion to exertion than is given by every child in learning to the facility with which he can speak on entering the school. He is first taught the component parts of words, and then the method of putting them together so as to form words. The grave error of the old method is that, although the child is competent to speak, we confine him to spelling. If he can pronounce words, he can also pronounce their separate parts, and this is a most important preliminary exercise of the Phonic Method. By an after process he associates these sounds with letters, and thus learns to read.

After offering some arguments, to prove the applicability of his method to every language, on account of the strict agreement which he makes to exist between the sound and the symbol, Olivier concludes by remarking, that as the value of every educational method must

*He might have added, with particular reference to radical words and syllables which had a natural resemblance.

+ In another place Olivier mentions a circumstance which led him to the idea of separating words into their audible elements, and using letters as the mere conventional symbols of these elements. When he was studying the German language, and was struggling with all those diffi culties of pronunciation which to a Frenchman are so formidable, he was accustomed to amuse himself at his leisure in reading German aloud. On one occasion he was engaged thus with Gessner's Idyllen, printed in Roman characters. When crawling on at a snail's pace, he suddenly stumbled against the word wache (a watchinan). Deceived by its resem blance to the French word vache (a cow), he involuntarily gave it the French pronunciation, and of course associated a cow instead of a watchman with the events of the story he was reading. This made it so very ridiculous as to rouse him to a sense of his mistake, and to an investigation of its cause,-how did it arise? Clearly, in giving to the German guttural ch the soft or palatal sound of the French ch. But on thinking further, he found he was not able at once to distinguish clearly between these two sounds, save in connexion with the words in which they occurred. If one is able to read the whole word, the mind must clearly be cognizant of the separate parts of such whole word, since, by looking at certain symbols, certain corresponding sounds are suggested; but so much are we in the habit of reading words by the mechanical aid of memory, that the separate sounds exist as mere abstractions in the mind, and are never made to render their valuable aid in the business of education.

be proved, not by theory but by practical results, he had listened to the advice of several distinguished men, who had recommended him to travel, in order to diffuse his method among good teachers, whereby it might be tested. It would be interesting to trace the progress and success of Olivier during his travels, but we have not been able to find any record of them beyond a few scattered notices not written by himself. It appears that at Leipzig, on the 21st of March, 1802*, a public examination was made of this method. The impression produced was so favourable that the method was permanently adopted in the celebrated Rathsfreischule of that city, whose directors, MM. Plato and Dolz, imparted to the method additional fame. Olivier appears also to have visited Berlin, and to have introduced his method at the Orphan Asylum at Potsdam. In the short space of four weeks he had produced results which were thought worthy of public notice. In the presence of a numerous assembly of competent judges, (among whom were two ministers of state,) a large class of poor orphan children gave unequivocal proofs of very superior skill in the analysis of words, and in reading from wall-tablets. An observer remarked, that the evident skill with which the children resolved words into their component sounds, must be of great use in the acquisition of a foreign language. The two ministers gave out several French words, which the children, without hesitation, resolved into their component sounds, and referred to the corresponding symbols on the wall-tablets, and this was done with a purity of pronunciation and a distinctness of articulation which excited surprise and admiration.

But success such as this did not afford Olivier that unalloyed satisfaction which he seemed fairly entitled to enjoy. He had now to contend with envy and opposition, and to witness the success of opponents and rivals, who wished either to destroy his method or to deprive him of the merit of having invented it. He notices these annoyances in the preface to his great work, "Ortho-epo-graphisches Elementarwerk," which appeared in 1804; and in his usual inflated style, he supposes the eyes of the whole world are gazing upon him with the admiration usually bestowed upon a great inventor or discoverer. Certain, however, is it, that, from whatever cause, the method of Olivier did not succeed in other hands than his own, so that in the year 1814, when Olivier died, his method departed with him; but its principle had already become the basis of several phonic methods, which have passed the true ordeal of practical application by skilful teachers.

Olivier undoubtedly has the merit of entering deeply into the fundamental principles of language. Before his time no teacher had made so many inquiries into the nature of articulate sounds, or profited so much by what was already known. But Olivier was not sufficiently ready to acknowledge his obligations to others, especially of the extent to which he had availed himself of the labours of Kempelen and Haller, the former of whom was more celebrated for the invention of that clever trick the Automaton Chess Player, than for his really useful discoveries respecting the formation of articulate sounds. Many of Olivier's published writings were also confused and wordy, and his phonic method was fragmentary, and not well adapted to public schools. Olivier introduced the children to reading by giving them preparatory exercises, the object of which was to test and prepare their powers of speech. The

It is to be remarked, that between the date of the original discovery, 1780 or 1781, and the year 1802, when a public examination of the method was made in Leipzig, no account is given of the proceedings of Olivier. He was doubtless engaged in evolving his method, and making it practically useful. But it is curious to notice, that for some time Olivier appears to have concealed his method, and in 1785, at the request of Dr. Basedow, director of the Philanthropic Institute of Dessau, who felt the deficiencies of the spelling method, and wished to improve upon it, Olivier actually edited a work, which had that object in view. We need hardly say that it contained no Phonic principle, and differed but slightly from its predecessors

teacher gave out words and short sentences, which the children repeated. They were then taught to reduce the sentences to words, the words to syllables, the syllables into their elements. The principal sounds of the language were thus practised, and the pronunciation attended to with the strictest care, before any letters were set before the children. After this, pictures were exhibited, and at the end of the name of each object represented was the required sound; thus, barrel taught the sound of l, tulip the sound of p, fish that of sh, &c. This plan introduced life and activity into the classes, and taught children to recognise in each. individual sound a necessary portion of a whole.

Olivier's method met with much opposition from the supporters of the old system, but there were found a sufficient number of intelligent teachers to take it up and give it a fair trial. The favourable results which they were able to attain by its means, led to a more general appreciation of its merits, and numerous publications began to report favourably of it. Thus Olivier was the means of opening a new path in instruction, and must be generally acknowledged as the pioneer of the Phonic Method. Teachers found some difficulty in employing one part of his method, which required great attention to the position of the organs of speech.

The subsequent progress of this method will be described hereafter.

PAUL BEFORE AGRIPPA.
THE Son of Herod sat in regal state
Fast by his sister-queen, and mid the throng
Of supple courtiers and of Roman guards,
Gave solemn audience. Summon'd to his bar
A prisoner came, who with no flattering tone
Brought incense to a mortal. Every eye
Question'd his brow, with scowling eagerness,
As there he stood in bonds. But when he spake
With such majestic earnestness,—such grace
Of simple courtesy ;-with fervent zeal
So boldly reason'd for the truth of God,
The ardour of his heaven-taught eloquence
Wrought in the royal bosom, till its pulse
Responsive trembled with the new-born hope
"Almost" to be a Christian. So, he rose,
And with the courtly train swept pompous by.

Almost-and was this all, thou mighty king!
Thou listener to the ambassador of heaven,—
"Almost persuaded?"-Ah! hadst thou exchanged
Thy trappings and thy purple, for his bonds
Who stood before thee,-hadst thou drawn his hope
Into thy breast, even with the sharpest spear
Of martyrdom,-how great had been thy gain!-
-O ye! who linger while the call of God
Bears witness with your conscience, and would fain,
Like King Agrippa, follow,-yet draw back
Awhile into the vortex of the world,
Perchance to swell the hoard which death shall sweep
Like driven chaff away,-mid stranger bands,—
Perchance, by pleasure's deadening opiate lull'd
To false security,- -or by the fear

Of man constrain'd or moved to give your sins
A little longer scope,-beware!-beware!
Lest that dread "almost" shut you out of heaven.

CLEAN THES.

WHAT were all the realms of this world but a dungeon of darkness without the beams of the sun? All their fine scenes hid from our view; lost in obscurity. In vain we roll around our eyes in the midnight gloom. In vain we strive to behold the features of amiable nature. Turn whither we will, no form or comeliness appears. All seems a dreary waste, an undistinguished chaos, till the returning hours have unbarred the gates of light, and let forth the Then what a prospect opens! The heavens are paved with azure, and strewed with roses. A variety of the liveliest verdures array the plains. The flowers put on a glow of the richest colours. The whole creation stands forth, dressed in all the charms of beauty. The ravished eye looks round and wonders.- HERVEY.

morn.

JOHN W. PARKER, PUBLISHER, WEST STRAND, London.

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II.

THE PRESENT FAÇADE OF ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL.

THE appearance of St. Paul's School soon after its completion is thus noticed by Erasmus in a letter to Justus Jonas. After expressing his admiration of the motives of the founder in originating this splendid establishment, he speaks of the division of the school into four apartments. "The first, namely, the porch and entrance, is for Catechumens, or the children to be instructed in the principles of religion; where no child is to be admitted but what can read and write. The second apartment is for the lower boys, to be taught by the second master or usher: the third for the upper forms, under the head master; which two parts of the school are divided by a curtain to be drawn at pleasure. Over the master's chair is an image of the Child Jesus, of admirable work, in the gesture of teaching; whom all the boys, going and coming, salute with a short hymn; and there is a representation of God the Father, saying 'Hear ye Him; these words being written at my suggestion. The fourth, or last apartment, is a little chapel for Divine Service. The school has no corners or hiding-places; nothing like a cell or closet. The boys have their distinct forms or benches, one above another. Every form holds sixteen, and he that is head, or captain of each form, has a little kind of desk by way of pre-eminence. They are not to admit all boys of course; but to choose them in according to their parts and capacities.

The wise and sagacious founder saw, that the greatest hopes and happiness of the commonwealth were in the training up of children to good letters and true religion; for which noble purpose he laid out an immense sum of money, and yet he would admit no one to bear a share in this expense. Some person having left a legacy of 1007. sterling VOL. XXV.

toward the fabric of the school, Dean Colet perceived a design in it; and by leave of the bishop, got that money to be laid out upon the vestments of the church of St. Paul.

After he had finished all, he left the perpetual care and oversight of the estate and government of it, not to the clergy; not to the bishop; not to the chapter; nor to any great minister at court; but amongst the inarried laymen; to the Company of Mercers, men of probity and reputation. And when he was asked the reason of so committing the trust, he answered to this effect-that there was no absolute certainty in human affairs; but, for his part, he found less any other corruption in such a body of citizens, than in order or degree of mankind.

While preparations were being made for opening the school, Dean Colet drew up his Rudiments of Grammar, with an Abridgment of the Principles of Religion, for the standing use and service of St. Paul's School, This work, which soon became known under the term, Paul's Accidence, was dedicated to the new master, Mr. William Lily, in a short, elegant Latin epistle. The introduction contained the rules for the admission and conduct of the scholars, which were to be read over to the parents when they first brought their children. These rules embodied the regulations contained in the statutes, of which an abstract has been already given. This little work was found to be so useful, and the rules Wolsey had founded a school in his native town of respecting the children so judicious, that when Cardinal Ipswich, he reprinted Dean Colet's work for its use.

Shortly after this, Colet prepared another work, entitled, The Construction of the Eight Parts of Speech, which he sent to the head-master of his school, with the

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following letter: "Methinks, my dear Lilye, I bear the same affection to my new school, as a parent does to his only son; to whom he is not only willing to pass over his whole estate, but is desirous even to impart his own bowels also and as the father thinks it to little purpose to have son, unless by diligent education he raises him up into a good and useful man, so to my own mind it is by no means sufficient that I have raised this school, and have conveyed my whole estate to it (even during my own life and health), unless I likewise take all possible care to nurture it in good letters and Christian manners, and bring it on to some useful maturity and perfection. For this reason, master, I send you this small treatise of The Construction of the Eight Parts of Speech, small indeed in itself, but such as will afford no small advantage to our scholars, if you diligently teach and explain it. You know, Horace was pleased with brevity in the way of teaching, and I very much approve of his opinion in that matter. If in the reading of the classic authors, any notable examples to these rules shall offer themselves, it will be your part to mark them, as they shall occur. Farwel. From my house, 1513."

The dean requested Lily to amend and improve this work, and then return it to him. This having been done, the dean sent the work to Erasmus, requesting that eminent critic to put the finishing touches. He did so, and published his edition of the work at Basil, in August, 1515, in which he spoke of the laudable anxiety

which Dean Colet had for his school, and how careful he was to make the work pass through several hands, that it might be the more correct and complete.

Dr. Knight remarks that "it redounds not a little to the honour of this school, that not only the Latin grammar is owing to the skill and care of the founder, and the first master of his school; but also the common Greek grammar, used throughout England by the same authority as the Latin, was composed by the great Mr. Camden, who had been a Paul's scholar."

The ancient school-house was burned down in the great fire of 1666. It was rebuilt in 1670 by the active zeal of the Mercers' Company, at which time the Library was added.

About the year 1825, this structure having become ruinous, and in other respects inconvenient, it was pulled down, and the present elegant buildings erected. They are nearly in the form of a parallelogram, extending north and south opposite the chancel of St. Paul's Church. The two wings contain each two houses, the northern of which is occupied by the high-master and the chaplain; and the southern, by the sur-master and

the assistant-master.

The school-room is large and commodious, and is ornamented with a bust of the founder, copied and improved by Bacon*; there is also a bust of Mr. George Thicknesse, who was high-master from 1748 to 1769; and one of Dr. Roberts, high-master from 1769 to 1814. Alderman Boydell presented a number of emblematical engravings, which formerly were used to decorate the upper end of the school in the day of apposition, but they are no longer used for that purpose.

The admission of the scholars is in the Mercers' Company; the surveyor-accomptant, one of the court of assistants, being the officer delegated by them to nominate during his year of office. There is no limit as to the age at which scholars are admitted; but no boy is cligible to an exhibition if he is admitted after the age of ten; and no boy is expected to remain at the school after his nineteenth birthday. The instruction given is in the classics and mathematics, and without any other charge than the payment of one shilling to the porter, on the entrance of each boy. The holidays are a week at Easter; six weeks at Midsummer; a month at Christmas; and such anniversaries as the Queen's birthday; the founder's day; Ash Wednesday; coronation day; Lord Mayor's day, &c. Tuesday, Thursday, and

The original bust of the founder was discovered among the ruins of the school after the great firo. When Bacon's bust superseded it in the school-room, the high-master, Dr. Roberts, removed it to his house and placed it over the exterior of his drawing-room door.

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The grand examination of the scholars occupies the first three days of the fourth week after Easter; on the fourth day is "the apposition," a term peculiar to St. Paul's School, when it is usual to commemorate the founder by an oration in Greek, Latin, or English, composed and recited by the senior boy. These are succeeded by four exercises in Greek Iambics, Latin Hexameters, English and Latiu prose; for the three former of which there are prizes, founded by the trustees; for the last (the Latin essay) the High Master's Prize, founded by the Rev. Dr. Sleath.

Some time after the apposition the trustees meet at Mercers' Hall to hold "the apposition court" for transacting business relating to the school,-such as giving away exhibitions, &c.

The exhibitions have been recently regulated as follows:

I. Out of the general revenue of the school it has been determined by the governors to give every year to the of 1201. a year, tenable at any college in either University scholar who shall pass the best examination, an exhibition for five years.

II. A sum of money was left by the Lord Viscount Camden, A.D. 1633-4, for the foundation of exhibitions for such scholars as should proceed to Trinity College, Cambridge. Of these, two are now given annually of the value severally of 100l. and 80%. a year, tenable also for five years.

III. Out of the general revenue another exhibition is also founded of the yearly value of 50%., tenable, as the first, without restriction."

IV. Two exhibitions at Trinity and St. John's, Cambridge, founded by Mr. Perry and Dr. Gower, of the value of 137. a year.

Christi, Cambridge, of the yearly value of 30%, with the V. An exhibition, founded by Mr. Stock, 1780, at Corpus accumulation during a vacancy, except 15l. paid to the college. Given to a scholar nominated by the high-master. VI. Four exhibitions, value 107. a year each, founded by Mr. George Sykes.

The exhibitioners are chosen by the court of assistants of the Mercers' Company (the trustees of the school), after a strict examination of the whole school by two examiners. No scholar is eligible unless he have been full four years upon the foundation of the school, and admitted under the

age of ten.

In addition to these exhibitions, the Paulines (as the scholars of this school are usually called) are further encouraged by prizes given annually by the governors. These prizes are,-1. For Greek verse translation; 2. For Latin verse translation; 3. For the best English essay; and 4. For the best Latin essay. This last prize was founded by the late high-master, the Rev. Dr. Sleath. Prizes are also given at the time of the apposition to boys throughout the school who have distinguished themselves by good behaviour and attention to their studies.

It is most gratifying to remark, (says Mr. Nicholas Carlisle,) that the Company of Mercers, by their good management of the revenues of the school, have always been enabled to have a fund to supply the wants of their more trust reposed in them, have secured the highest respect to indigent scholars; and, by their faithful discharge of the the foundation, as will ever claim the most grateful remembrance, and be a lasting monument of their unsullied honour, assiduity, and care.

It has been the wish of some of the Mercers' Company to enlarge the school, and also to afford additional education; it having been thought that it might be of importance to afford them the advantage of writing, learning accompts, and the lower branches of the mathematics. The founder certainly never had any idea of establishing a large free

* Apposer signifies examiner. In the Court of Exchequer there is an officer called "the Foreign Apposer." In the office of Confirmation in the first Liturgy of Edward the Sixth, the Rubrick directs the bishop, or such as he shall appoint, to appose a child. The term appose occurs also in the statutes of St. Saviour's school.

school, and annexing it to the grammar school, because he has expressly declared his intentions that it should be a grammar school only, and that no more than one hundred and fifty-three boys should be educated here. By the statutes, however, the trustees are invested with unlimited powers as to making any alteration, either in the site of the school or otherwise, as it shall seem to them advantageous

to the institution.

Since Mr. Carlisle wrote, mathematics have been introduced into the school with the greatest success.

The gross annual income of the school, at the time of the parliamentary inquiry, was about 5300l. per annum, arising from landed estates and the interest of money in the funds, being 26,000l. stock. The masters have each an annual salary, together with a spacious house in St. Paul's Churchyard. There is also a house at Stepney appropriated to the high-master.

The Company has sometimes thought fit to reward munificently the labours of the high-master. The Rev. Dr. Roberts, who occupied that dignified station about forty-five years, retired on an annuity of 10007.

THE ART OF READING.

V. IMPROVERS OF THE PHONIC METHOD.

CONTEMPORARY With Olivier was DR. HENRY STEPHANI, who did much in making the method popular, and directing general attention to it. He published the following works, in which it is remarkable how gradually he announced and impressed his fundamental principles. -1. "Instruction in the most Correct and Easy Method of Teaching Children to Read." 1803.-2. "Elementary Book for Teaching to Read, together with a Wall-Tablet, and Instructions for its proper Use." 1804.-3. "An Inquiry into the Names of the Letters of the Alphabet."

1806.

Stephani must be considered inferior to Olivier, His attempts as a teacher of the Phonic method. savoured more of the old plan, and were, therefore, more popular with, individuals who felt prejudiced against a complete change. He also wrote in a modest and diffident style, and therefore made a more favourable impression than Olivier. Stephani, like his predecessor, required the organic formation of sounds to be known: this is good as respects teachers, but bad 'for the scholars. It is quite sufficient for the child to hear and see how the sound is produced, and it is too much to expect that the position of lips, tongue, and teeth should be noticed, as it respects the production of each sound. The teaching of sounds in the order of their simplicity was, perhaps, more successfully treated by Stephani than it had previously been. He first taught the fundamental sounds a e iou, then the double vowels, au, ei, ou, &c., then the consonants, in the order of tone consonants, or those requiring a lengthened tone in utterance; bursting sounds, or consonants abruptly uttered; and hissing sounds, or consonants to which a hissing utterance must be given. Simple syllables were then taught, and the rule applied of adding gradually new sounds to those already acquired.

There was at this time another teacher in the field, JOHN FREDERICK ADOLPHUS KRUG, Director of Schools at Dresden, who also began to publish so early as 1806. He had gained his first ideas of the Phonic method at the establishment at Leipzig, where Olivier had first introduced it. Krug introduced his own variations of it at Zittau in 1809, and afterwards at Dresden. In 1835 his mode of teaching, as modified and improved by Schulze, was formally recommended by Government for adoption in all the elementary schools of Saxony: but it was nevertheless open to any school'master to receive or reject it at pleasure. Krug died at Dresden during the present year (1844). Among his early publications were, 1. "German Tablets for Teaching Correct Speaking, Reading, and Writing."-2. "Syllable, Reading, and Speaking Exercises for Public

Schools and Private Instruction."-3. " First Reading-
Book for Schools."-4. "The World of Rhymes for
Children." In 1808, thinking that he had perfected
his method, he published an extended course of instruc-
tion for teaching reading and writing. As far as pro-
found views of language went, Krug was equal to
Olivier, but he did not render his method simple enough
to be generally applicable.
to be generally applicable. [He began his elementary
instruction with preliminary exercises, intended to excite
attention, and to prepare for exercises on the organic
formation. This preliminary instruction related,-1st. To
the formation of vowels, as due to articulate sounds.-
2nd. To the formation of the consonants, as due to arti-
culate sounds.-3rd. To the union of vowels and con-
sonants in syllables, words, and sentences. His letters
were divided into tones and articulations, and the various
subdivisions of each of these were too complicated for
children, and indeed for the majority of teachers. To
give some idea of the extent to which he carried his
system, we may state that a special direction was sepa-
rately given for the organic formation of every sound in
the language. The children were taught the position of
the organs of speech necessary to produce each sound,
before they were made aware of the sound itself; and
by dint of much drilling these little soldiers were taught
to manœuvre their vocal batteries, so as to send forth, at
a given signal, the required sound. For example; the
teacher would give the word of command thus-mouth
round,"-" contract tongue." This being done, the
children were kept waiting with their mouths in this
position until the teacher said "breath," when the
second long a was produced. This sort of teaching appears
ridiculously minute, and the trouble of conveying it
seems far greater than the advantages derivable from it.
It is but fair, however, to add, that as all the sounds
were classified, the affair was less complicated than it at
first appears.
In the various sounds which require
"mouth round," the direction was not repeated, but only
the little modification necessary to produce other sounds.
The results produced by Krug were, however, most
extraordinary. His pupils became so expert that, simply
by giving out directions to the class, as to the position
of mouth, lips, tongue, teeth, &c., words, and even
tolerably long sentences, were produced by the children.
This was considered as a great triumph of the method,
but it is doubtful whether the result be worth the
laborious steps necessary to its acquirement. Part of
the directions given to the children at different stages
of their progress were put into easy verse.

Dr. Hergang, who was well acquainted with Krug, and watched the progress and success of his method, says of it, "It is skilfully, far too skilfully conceived. If one should attempt to spin out the whole according to the directions given, so complicated and ingenious a piece of tapestry is gradually produced, that the artist must labour long and earnestly, and painfully, ere he accomplishes it. In fact, Krug's method prolongs excessively the time usually devoted to the instruction of children in reading; it entails no inconsiderable difficulties, and for many children does not offer any superior advantages over other good Phonic methods. I have never found perfect satisfaction in it, and have often been disposed to name it an attempt to facilitate the art of teaching to read by a very difficult

process.'

Still there were valuable points in Krug's method, which were not lost sight of by succeeding writers on the Phonic method, who now directed their efforts to the simplification of that which had become unnecessarily compendious. Among these writers one of the most distinguished is DR. SCHULZE, of Dresden, who has made the Phonic method so simple, easy, and interesting to the pupil, that his plan of teaching is now adopted in nearly all the schools of Saxony. Nevertheless, he requires a deeper acquaintance with language on the part of the teacher than could generally be obtained, unless in a country where training-schools for teachers

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