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obtain, dwells, at the end of his letter (p. 48,) upon the right which the Committee of Council would have to expect the assistance of Certificated Teachers in collecting such returns.

I am to state that the Papers (Examination) of the second year, on School Management, to be proposed in December next, will contain questions upon the mode of keeping School Registers, and of making returns from them. I am, therefore, to suggest that the set of Registers above indicated, together with the statistical portions of the form No. IX., should be made the subject of a few lectures, in which the headings of the several columns may be gone over one by one, and the rationale of each, as well as the mode of filling it up, and of carrying it to the general account, explained. At the same time, the Registers actually in use in the Practising School should be referred to for illustration, and each student should be set to make some return or other from them, the accuracy of his work, and his mode of setting about it, being carefully revised and corrected.

My Lords are so deeply impressed with the importance of this question, and the comparative ease with which the necessary instructions may be given in the Training School, that I have been desired to express the strongest wish on their part for your co-operation.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

R. R. W. LINGEN.

We strongly advise all teachers who have hitherto overlooked this duty to make speedy arrangements for securing the following desiderata :

I. An accurate daily register of the attendance of each child, morning and after

noon.

II. Exact computation of weekly, quarterly, and annual averages.

III. A record of the movements of each child from one class to another.

IV. Precise information respecting the cause of each scholar's leaving school, and the employment to which he is sent.

We hope, on a future occasion, to give some hints as to the manner of computing averages, and of economizing labour in school book-keeping. Meanwhile we may remark, that however formidable the task may appear at first sight to a teacher who has not yet been accustomed to it, no real difficulties are involved in the fulfilment of the duty. With a little system and forethought the accurate registration of these particulars will scarcely occupy more than ten minutes per day, even in a large school; at all events, the end is sufficiently important to justify greater effort, if in special cases it happens to be needed.

RENDU ON CONTINENTAL EDUCATION.*

It will be within the recollection of some of our readers that M. Eugene Rendu, a distinguished French writer, spent some time in England a few years since, with especial view to making inquiries into the state of popular education among us. The result of those inquiries was afterwards embodied in an elaborate work, which is still, we believe, regarded as one of the most valuable contributions to the history of education which the literature of France possesses. M. Rendu has recently been engaged in the prosecution of similar inquiries in the North of Germany, and he has brought to his important task the same skill, industry, and fairness which characterised his former efforts in this country. We advert to his new work, not so much on account of its intrinsic merit, as because its publication at the present crisis in our history is singularly well-timed, and calculated to furnish important aid in the solution of some of the questions which are much debated among ourselves.

The work commences with an historical review of the progress of education in the Protestant states of Germany since the time of Luther. It offers a summary of the

*De l'Education Populaire dans l'Allemagne du Nord, et de ses Rapports avec les Doctrines Philosophiques et Religieuses, par Eugène Rendu. Paris: Hachette.

statutes relating to education which are in force in the several states, details the measures which are taken to provide a succession of qualified teachers, and proceeds to investigate, at great length, the influence which has been exerted on popular instruction by the Governments, by the Protestant church, and by theoretical writers and teachers, respectively. From the author's careful statistical comparison between the proportions of children under instruction in England, France, and Protestant Germany, we learn that the condition of France is less satisfactory in this respect than Germany, and that of England less than either. The facts he has been enabled to bring together and marshal with so much skill and power, in this and his former volume, have led M. Rendu to inquire carefully into the reason of this difference, and he attributes it mainly to the compulsory laws which exist in Germany. In fact, he concludes that it is the duty of the State to make the education of the children a legal obligation binding on their parents.

Herein lies the main significance of this important work. It is an elaborate argument in favour of compulsory education. All the author's experience (and it would seem that he is devoting his life to the scientific investigation of data upon this one subject,) all his facts, and all his reasonings tend one way. We cannot follow him into the evidence by which his conclusions are supported; but we think our readers will be interested to know that at the moment this important question is attracting the serious attention of thinkers and philanthropists at home, a large number of public men in France are endeavouring to procure a legal sanction to this obligatory principle. The memorial recently presented to the Emperor, and supported by many persons of great influence, urges upon the Government the duty of enforcing instruction on the children of the unwilling or the negligent, and of rendering it penal to employ an uninstructed child. One section of this work (De l'obligation d'enseignement) is devoted to a consideration of the moral and social effects of such restrictive legislation, and forms an admirable resumé of the arguments on this subject.

The concluding portion of the work consists of a body of hints for the improvement of the educational system in France, most of which are the results of very wide, as well as recent experience. The subject of pupil-teachers (élèves-maîtres) receives particular attention, and plans are recommended for extending the time spent by those young persons at the Normal Colleges, and for increasing the inducements for entering the profession. The author specially urges upon the Government the importance of securing some months at least, at the end of the period of training, for recapitulation and practical application of former lessons, rather than for the acquirement of new information. The evils of crude, undigested knowledge appear to have been severely felt among the young schoolmasters both of Germany and France.

It is a noteworthy circumstance that the subject of "common things" is just now receiving the attentive consideration of the promoters of education on the Continent. Much stress is laid in this volume on the need for practical instruction in the familiar arts of life, especially garden and field husbandry. The need of such acquirements on the part of teachers is illustrated by arguments such as have recently become familiar to English ears, besides other evidence which tends greatly to confirm the views now so generally entertained on this subject at home.

On the whole, the publication of this work is not without its interest to the friends of education in England. The high-standing and the cosmopolitan character of its author, and the semi-official nature of his inquiries, would alone suffice to give the book a reputation beyond the limits of the French empire. But, in addition to these circumstances, the inquiries are curiously analogous to those which are occupying our own minds just now, and the whole investigation is marked by singular acumen, right feeling, and good sense.

EDUCATIONAL PROVISION IN WALES.

"UNDER the name of the South Wales district, I include not only the six southern counties of the principality, but also the English county of Monmouth, which is bound up with the adjacent Welsh shires by the ties of a common industry, a simultaneous development of similar resources and characteristics, and the use of the same language for colloquial intercourse among the working classes.

"The district, so defined, contained 751,025 inhabitants in 1851; has within its limits a coal-field of unsurpassed richness, accessibility, and variety, covering an area of more than 1,000 square miles; and is supposed to be capable of producing nearly 2,000,000,000 tons of iron. The early and extensive development of such resources might be predicted without misgiving, even if it were not already proved by established facts. But the census of 1851 shows that this district comprehends the two counties which, of all those in England and Wales, have made the most rapid strides in population since the beginning of the present century. Those two counties are Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire, in each of which the number of inhabitants has been much more than tripled within the period named. In the former the increase of population between 1801 and 1851, was at the rate of 244, and in the latter at the rate of 223 per cent., the average rate of increase for the whole of Great Britain in the same time being less than 93 per cent. Even between 1841 and 1851 the population of Glamorganshire increased at the rate of more than 35 per cent., although the average increase for Great Britain scarcely exceeded 124 per cent.

"A development so rapid could hardly fail to outstrip the various means of civilisation; and accordingly we find a lamentable deficiency in the opportunities for education afforded within the district. The whole number of its day schools of all classes in 1851 appears to have been 1,316, and the number of day scholars 65,137. Thus, in the district under consideration, less than 8.7 per cent. of the population was on the books of any school; whilst the average for England and Wales was 12 per cent., and the proportion which might fairly have been expected to be at schools (after making very liberal deductions for occupation, illness, and domestic education), was 16.8 per cent. It follows that the amount of education going on in day schools in South Wales and Monmouthshire in 1851 was scarcely more than one-half of that which it was reasonable to expect, and fell short of the actual average of England and Wales by more than one-fourth. There is no single English county from which the return was so low. In Monmouthshire alone the proportion of children at school to the whole population was 9 per cent., whilst in Herefordshire, which ranks in this respect below every other county except Monmouthshire, it was 9.9 per cent.

"When returns were obtained of the attendance at religious service in all the churches and chapels of the United Kingdom on Sunday, the 30th of March, 1851, it was found that 6,356,222 persons were present at the most numerously attended services in the several places of worship throughout England and Wales, and that 2,971,258 of these, or nearly one-half, attended the services of the Established Church; but in South Wales and Monmouthshire the whole number of attendants at the most frequented services was 409,155, and of these only 93,211, or less than one-fourth, were found in the churches and chapels of the Establishment."

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"It is hardly necessary, in writing of such a people as the Welsh, to guard against the supposition that the readiness to abandon denominational instruction in the day school may arise from indifference; but it will be useful to glance at the real reason for the feeling. Its explanation is found in the Sunday school. The same district, which sent only 65,137 children to day schools, in 1851, was filling its Sunday schools with 163,033 scholars; and whilst the day schools reached only 87 per cent., the Sunday school was brought home to 21.7 per cent. of the population. I have had no opportunity of examining Sunday schools; but much attention was paid to them by

the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales, in 1846-7, and their opinion was decidedly favourable on the whole. The correctness of this opinion has been confirmed to me by ministers of religion in the district, who have described the large amount of sound religious knowledge diffused through the agency of Sunday schools, and have expressed themselves perfectly satisfied with the sufficiency of that agency for denominational purposes. I believe this to be the general feeling also of the working classes. They attach the highest value to religious instructions; but they prefer obtaining it for themselves and their families by means of the Sunday schools. The day school is wanted for another purpose; and, though they require in it a religious character, they do not wish to employ it mainly in direct religious teaching.

"The schools best suited for such a population are those based upon the unsectarian, yet strictly scriptural, principles of the British and Foreign School Society. This at least should be the general type; but denominational schools might still be sanctioned in special cases, where it could be shown that they were necessary, or even that there was a fair prospect of their permanent success.' ."—Report of J. Bowstead, Esq., to the Committee of Council, 1856.

QUESTIONS PROPOSED AT THE CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION, CHRISTMAS, 1855.

We have been asked to publish the whole of the questions proposed at the general Examination of Candidates for Certificates of Merit last Christmas. The limits of our space forbid us to do this in extenso, but we reprint those questions which on the whole appear most likely to be of service to teachers intending to compete next year. The schedule of subjects issued by authority and published each year in the Minutes, will suffice to convey a tolerably accurate notion of the range of the examination in most departments; but as the subjects of history, language, and school management admit of much variety of treatment, and no general description of the scope of the examination under these heads will serve to indicate its exact character, we have selected them from the rest, and now subjoin the questions upon them for the information of our readers.

HISTORY.-SECOND YEAR.

SECTION I.

1. What are the absolute rights of a British subject?

2. What are the prerogatives of the king, and at what dates and in what manner have they been defined?

3. Give the history, and state the purpose, of the writ of Habeas Corpus.

SECTION II.

1. Distinguish accurately between the powers of the Judge and the Jury.

2. Distinguish between law and equity, and give a history of the Court of Chancery.

3. What is meant by the legislative, judicial, and executive powers in a state? Enumerate the principal depositories of each of these powers under the British constitution as at present established. Are these powers better united in the same, or divided among different persons? Give reasons for

your answer.

SECTION III.

1. State and illustrate the legal rights and responsibilities of a master in regard to a servant, 2. Distinguish between real and personal property, and between freehold, copyhold, and leasehold. 3. What is the foundation of the right of inheritance and of that of bequest? What becomes of the real and personal property of a man who dies without making a will?

SECTION IV.

1. Give the dates of the general use of coal-fires, chimneys, glass windows, and boarded floors. 2. Compare the interior of a farm-house kitchen in the present day, and in the time of Queen Elizabeth.

3. Sketch the history of domestic and public architecture from the Conquest to the Revolution.

SECTION V.

Give an account of the changes between the time of Henry VII. and our own,

1. Means of travelling;

2. Dress; or, 3. Food.

SECTION VI.

in

1. Compare the Saxon and Norman character as illustrated by their modes of life; and point out what present national characteristics we derive from each.

2. Give an account of the commerce of England in the time of Henry VII.

3. Compare the condition of the labouring class during the reign of Charles II. with what it is at present.

FIRST YEAR.

SECTION 1.

1. Give an account of the life and reign of Alfred; or,
2. The government of England by the Danes; or,
3. The Saxon laws and constitution.

SECTION II.

1. Give a list of the English sovereigns from the Conquest, with the title of each to the throne. 2. Macaulay says-" During the hundred and sixty years which preceded the union of the Roses, nine kings reigned in England. Six of these nine kings were deposed. Five lost their lives as well as their crowns." Verify this statement in detail.

3. To what circumstances must we ascribe the difference between the history of the English Parliament and that of the similar institutions on the Continent?

SECTION III.

1. Give the dates, occasions, and consequences of the battles of Evesham, Tewkesbury, and Wor

cester.

2. Give an account of the war of Edward III. with France.

3. Give an account of the war between Charles I. and his Parliament.

SECTION IV.

1. What were the grounds of dispute between Anselm and William Rufus, and between Thomas à Becket and Henry II., and how was each dispute finally settled?

2. Sketch the changes of religion in this country during the sixteenth century.

3. What were the leading provisions of the Toleration Act in the reign of William III., and by what subsequent measures have the same principles been extended in their operation?

SECTION V.

1. What were the most important provisions of Magna Charta? How was this great guarantee for liberty obtained?

2. Mention instances in which English sovereigns have endeavoured to raise money without consent of Parliament.

3. Compare together Magna Charta, the Petition of Rights, the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Bill of Rights, and show how they supplement each other.

SECTION VI.

1. Give the dates and the occasions when the English obtained possession of Jamaica, Canada, Van Dieman's Land, and Gibraltar.

2. Give a brief account of the American War of Independence.

3. Give the outline of the growth of the present British Colonial Empire.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.-SECOND YEAR.

SECTION I.-MILTON.

The first two Sections refer to the Third Book of Milton's "Paradise Lost."

The last two to Shakspeare's play of "Henry V."

You are not at liberty to answer upon each author.

Your paper will not be read over unless it contains a paraphrase of one of the passages, (including the parsing of the words in italics in the same passage).

You may take the other questions for answering at your discretion from either of the two sections, but you must not attempt to answer more than four questions (exclusive of the paraphrase and parsing). You are advised to confine yourself, as far as possible, to the questions arising upon the passage which you paraphrase.

But thou

Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,
5 Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet, not the more
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,
10 That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget
Those other two equall'd with me in fate,
So were I equall'd with them in renown,
Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides.

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