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probably perish, and he would be the cause of the ruin of the Church. . . . . Farel, seeing that neither prayers nor exhortations could avail with Calvin, reminded him of a frightful example of disobedience similar to his own. 'Jonah also,' he said, 'wanted to flee from the presence of the Lord, but the Lord cast him into the sea. The struggle in the young doctor's heart became more keen. He was violently shaken, like an oak assailed by the tempest; he bent before the blast, and rose ap again; but a last gust, more impetuous than all the others, was shortly about to uproot him. ... Farel's heart was hot within him. ... Fixing his eyes of fire on the young man, and placing bis hands on the head of his victim, he exclaimed in his voice of thunder: "May God curse your repose ! may God curse your studies, if, in such a great necessity as ours, you withdraw, and refuse to give us help and support.'

“At these words, the young doctor, whom Farel had for some time kept on the rack, trembled. He shook in every limb; he felt that Farel's words did not proceed from himself: God was there, the holiness of the presence of Jehovah laid strong hold of his mind : he saw Him who is invisible. It appeared to him, he said, that the hand of God was stretched down from heaven, that it laid hold of him, and fixed him irrevocably to the place he was so impatient to leave.' He could not free himself from that terrible grasp. Like Lot's wife when she looked back on her tranquil home, he was rooted to his seat, powerless to move. At last he raised his head, and peace returned to his soul: he had yielded, he had sacrificed the studies he loved so well, he had laid his Isaac on the altar, he consented to lose his life to save it.(pp. 536–540.)

We do not profess to be equally familiar with the authorities to which Dr. D'Aubigné chiefly refers in this portion of his history, as with those to which recourse must be had by every student of the history of the English Reformation. We observe, however, that the references in the foot-notes of this portion of Dr. D’Aubigné's work are given in a more exact and scholarlike manner, and that the translation is comparatively free from those blunders which occur too frequently in the earlier part of the volume.

We sincerely trust that Dr. D’Aubigné may be permitted to complete the programme which he has laid down for himself in the preface to the 10th volume of his History, so far as relates to the progress of the Reformation amongst the various Continental nations. We trust also, that if the integrity of the work should seem to him to demand the continuation of the history of the English Reformation, he will not grudge the labour which may be necessary both to familiarize his own mind with all that has been written upon this subject by our best historians, and also to present to his readers, in a more reliable form, the independent results of his own investigations.

ON FEMALE EDUCATION. The Princess, a Medley. By Alfred Tennyson. London :

Moxon. 1866. Examination Papers for Women, University of Cambridge, with

Lists of Syndics and Examiners for the Examination held in July, 1869. London and Cambridge: Rivingtons and Deighton. 1869.

THOSE who are familiar with Greek Literature are not likely to forget that most amusing scene in Aristophanes, in which Cleon and the sausage-seller vie with each other in offering gifts to propitiate the favour of Demos; the contention becomes fast and furious, but at length the discomfited Cleon is compelled to surrender the ring which, like Pharoah's given to Joseph, had been the emblem of his stewardship, and to give way to the rival who had been more successful in his flattery, and more lavish of his bribes.

In much the same spirit have our two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for some years past been bidding against each other. After having for centuries been considered to be, we think with considerable injustice, the strongholds of exclusive prejudices and of conservative traditions, they have of late rushed suddenly and wildly into the opposite extreme, and have emulously striven to divest themselves of every restriction, and to surrender every privilege which might be inconsistent with alluring the popular suffrage. Dissenters and Radical Reformers must, we think, have at times looked on amazed ; and although naturally they may have asked for “more," must bave been astonished at the readiness with which their appeals have been listened to and granted. Now, all this may be, or may not be, very wise. It may be that, with prescient eye, the leaders of such movements have discovered the dim and shadowy outline of the mighty form which, as yet confused and indistinct, is gradually evolving itself and gathering shape and consistence, and is destined ere long to surpass and domineer over all our ancient institutions, and to maintain or destroy them according to its own caprice. The policy may be prudent which would conciliate with timely concessions, and attempt to lead and regulate what might be, without such intervention, wild and lawless. Or it may be a futile endeavour “to ride on a whirlwind and direct a storm,” and those who make the attempt with reckless impetuosity, may precipitate what might have been retarded, if not altogether averted. One thing at any rate is clear,—that an active and influential party in our

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ancient Universities is ambitious of change, and we would say, if we could do so not invidiously, somewhat greedy of popular applause. Indeed, it is at times startling to listen to the schemes and fancies which teem in the brains of young University Dons, “ calidi juventâ,” when they first step forth into the business of life ; fortunately, however, they usually disappear under the grinding drudgery of a conveyancer's office, or the heavy responsibilities of a London curacy in a large and poor parish.

However, no matter what may have been the impelling motive of this rivalry, we think that at present the ring is likely to rest with Cambridge; they may fairly be considered in this question, at any rate, to have distanced their Oxford competitors. Female influence is not in England what it is in France, but it is still potent, and certainly the Cambridge men have striven with no small success to secure it on their side. The old halls of Trinity and St. John's have not yet "changed their sex," nor do they yet flaunt

“With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans,

With sweet girl graduates in their golden hair.” But without having actually assumed the rusty gowns peculiar to the other sex, the wives of proctors and of deans “move rich as Emperor moths” in Nevile's Court, and pass daintily throngh the gate of honour,—we hope, too, of humility. Do the undergraduates cap them? or has that symbol of superstitious reverence passed away with other antiquated usages? It would have acquired fresh grace and propriety under the new regime.

This, however, is not all. The whole question of superior female education throughout the country, has been actively taken up at Cambridge, and many of the leading members of that University are assuming an active and influential part in forwarding it. We have before us now the “Examination Papers, with lists of syndics and examiners, for the recent examination held in July 1869, to which are added the regulations for the examination in 1870.” The Vice-Chancellor and the Master of Peter House are among the Syndics; and Professors Lightfoot, Liveing, Todhunter, Peile, and others are in the list of examiners. The system, therefore, of examinations for women, by the University of Cambridge,* has been fairly inaugurated; and a still more serious project seems likely shortly to become a reality in the establishment of the proposed Ladies' College at Hitchin, a kind of succursal (as the French would term it) to Cambridge. The matter, therefore, is so important, and is likely to so seriously affect the future well-being of English society, that we think it well deserves full discussion in the Christian Observer. We shall endeavour to place our

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* A similar Examination is announced in Ireland, by Trinity College, Dublin.

own views before our readers, but would be glad to invite further consideration of a topic so important and interesting, especially as it is one upon which there might be fairly much difference of opinion. In the first place, then, is the state of female education, among the middle and upper classes of society, such as to require remedies similar to those propounded by the University of Cambridge ?

The importance of the question was felt years ago, and dis. cussed in the very earliest volumes of the Christian Observer, and some very valuable correspondence was elicited; but after a lapse of sixty years, the question needs reviewing, in the altered circumstances in which England is placed. It did not find its solution then, and we are not sure that it is on the eve of its solution now. What, thirty years ago, was the state of female education cannot better be described than in a letter from a lady in our volume for 1834 :-“ Young ladies now all play upon some instrument of music; but they know no more of music as a science than the charity child who sings at church. Young ladies all draw; but they know no more of the principles of the art than the man who draws figures upon the wall, or the lad who sketches horses on his book covers. From an innate love of the pursuit, they speak languages too; but how, let the foreigners who converse with them determine. Now, as first principles are taught to the poor, and mind is cultivated amongst the very lowest of the people, our daughters have a right to demand of us an education equal to the intelli. gence of the present day.” Further on, speaking of home education, she says :-"As for its efficiency, it is not invidious to inquire how, for the most part, those young people are educated to whom we entrust the minds of our children.” Some progress in the right direction we may conceive to have taken place since; the improvement in educational works alone has been manifestly productive of beneficial results; with more effective instruments better work has been done, and no doubt many of the more intelligent school-mistresses and governesses have profited by the progress made in educational science.

Still we cannot conceal our conviction that even now it is, upon the whole, singularly defective. We do not know that it is more so than that imparted in other countries; and with all its shortcomings, would be sorry to exchange it for the unnatural system fostered in the seclusion of French convents. If the test applies in this, as in matters of yet more serious import, “ By their fruits ye shall know them,” we would infinitely prefer the scrambling and imperfect knowledge gathered under home influences in England, to conventional demeanour, and possibly superior accomplishments, lacking such precious accompaniment.

Vol. 68. No. 381.

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Still our female education is defective. Feminine tact will successfully avoid exposure, and shrink delicately and instinctively from the discussion of topics where ignorance might be betrayed. There is, moreover, in the ordinary intercourse of society, a general unwillingness to dwell upon subjects which would require more than the most superficial information. It would be esteemed, and justly so, a mark of ill. breeding to involve a lady in the discussion of any literary or even artistic matter, further than she might care herself to pursue it. It is, therefore, comparatively easy for women to take their position in society, and to mix freely with it, without attracting comment or remark, although almost entirely ignorant of all useful knowledge, and indebted only to their own tact and natural acuteness to cover their ignorance. Shrewd observers will detect it, and be amused or pained as malice or good-nature may predominate in their own constitutions; but they, in turn, accept it as the normal state of things, and frequent or hold aloof from female society as their dispositions incline them. They might wish it otherwise, and on their return home may regret an evening spent in frivolous and insipid talk; or they may, perhaps, welcome it as a relaxation from the labours in which their lives are spent: “dulce est desipere in loco.” If, however, society be, as some have expressed it, a woman's world, it is not all her world ; and when we pursue the subject further, we find it a serious matter that female education should be defective. Even the gayest and the most worldly cannot always live in and for an unceasing round of balls and dinner parties; and though circumstances may render them independent of the necessity for exercising their own talents for their own maintenance or for the improvement of others, the loss to themselves is of the most grievous kind. If women in such a rank of life marry, unless they marry some foolish person, the deficiencies which were hidden from the careless intercourse of the world will become painfully apparent in the more searching interchange of thought and knowledge in constant domestic intercourse. How many a woman must secretly have bewailed imperfect acquirements and defective information, which have formed an invisible but substantial barrier between herself and her husband, and compelled him to look abroad, perhaps to others of her own sex, as the capable recipients of his ideas and aspirations. It is, bowever, when children are gathered round a mother's knee, and begin to look up to her for counsel and sympathy, that, except in hearts deadened by worldliness and frivolity, the deficiences we have been dwelling upon are most keenly felt. It must be a painful thing for a mother to feel her children launching away from her, even while they are yet children, into

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