nitors. For the system to work well, there must be a careful and distinct classification of the school, for each separate department of study; and unceasing vigilance must be exercised to guard against some boys' being left in a position where they are dispirited by continual defeat, while others, who advance with ease, are injuriously detained in a class which demands from them no energy or effort. But for these, and various other matters of detail, highly important as they are in themselves, and intimately connected, as they must be, with the general efficiency of a school, it is sufficient to refer you to the authorised publications of the two societies.

60. One objection, however, which is continually made against monitorial schools, deserves a passing notice. It is a matter of frequent complaint, that they are so often scenes of noise and of tumult. That this is a very serious evil cannot be denied ; tranquillity and quietness would certainly be far preferable, if they could be attained without too great a sacrifice of time and improvement. But the truth is, noise is inseparable from the united employment of numbers, and there is no remedy for it but dispersion or listless indolence. A quick eye and ear will soon distinguish between the activity of business, and the irregular action of idle conversation; and a reasonable mind will see the folly of expecting that any community, labouring for a common object, should present the quietness of a convent, from which useful activity is banished.

61. To avoid needless prejudice, however, and to explain the true character of that apparent tumult which is occasioned by the hum of voices, and the excitement of mind, you should invariably demand and obtain perfect silence, the instant that any stranger enters your school-room. By so doing, you can show him at once, that whether in a state of activity or of rest, the order of the school is equally good, and your control the same. If you can obtain this required silence in an instant, without an effort, or an angry look; and if you can retain it as long as you please, without renewed and repeated commands, the most prejudiced man will see the reality of the distinction to which I have referred. Nay more, he will go away impressed by the exhibition of a power, which can, in one moment, bring order out of apparent confusion, and hold in check the activities of hundreds of minds, without drawing forth one tear, or even removing the smile of happiness from a single countenance. But if you cannot do this; if the command for silence must be repeated again and again; if frowns must be sent across the room, and looks of promised vengeance before obedience can be obtained; if the moment after it is secured, restlessness meets the eye, and murmurings fill the ear, do not, I pray you, complain if your visitant, irritated by this evident want of control, should go away, and speak contemptuously both of you and your school. In vain will you protest that you can govern; in vain

seek to attribute this "unusual disorder" to some momentary perversity on the part of the children; in vain will you appeal to their acquirements, or rest your defence upon a conscientious performance of duty; in the absence of unlimited control, all is vain and worthless. It matters little upon what system such a school may be conducted, it can never be efficient, the teacher is incompetent.

LETTER V. TO THE SAME.

"DIDAKTIK," OR THE ART OF COMMUNICATING.

62. By this word (didaktik), which the Germans have adopted from the Greek, I wish you to understand, the art of teaching; as distinguished on the one hand, from their methodik, or science of methods; and on the other from their pädagogik, or science of education; of which, the art of communicating is only one part or division. You will readily perceive that it is an attainment perfectly distinct from any particular plan or system; and also a very different thing from what is usually termed, tact in teaching. It is, in fact, the art of so communicating knowledge, that the pupil shall, as far as possible, comprehend in all its relations, the truth sought to be imparted; and that, associating what is thus received, with other and previous acquisitions, he may be led at one and the same time," to cultivate

Dr. Bryce, (of Belfast) suggests the word padeutics, which may be considered both as an art and a science; an art when it lays down rules, a science when it teaches general inciples.

his original faculties," and to store his mind richly and permanently with valuable facts. This is what I mean by "the art of teaching," a talent which few naturally possess, but which may doubtless be acquired by the careful and diligent study of the human mind, in connexion with a moderate share of "practice."

63. The use of this latter word suggests an analogy which certainly, to some extent, subsists between the profession of teaching and that of medicine. He who would be an accomplished physician, must study principles, as well as "see cases ;" and, in like manner, he who would be a useful teacher, must look beyond systems to the principles on which they rest. The man who thinks himself qualified to teach, merely because he has observed others teaching on a particular plan, is just as much an empiric, as the medical pretender whose course of study has been limited to occasional walks through the wards of an hospital. It was in connexion with this view of the subject, (its relation to the philosophy of the human mind,) that Dr. Thomas Brown, of Edinburgh, spoke of the art of teaching as "the noblest, and in proportion to its value, the least studied of all the arts." When examined in this light, it cannot fail, I think, to be recognised as an attainment equally important to day and to Sunday-school teachers; because it bears as directly on the effectual communication of Divine as of secular knowledge.

"The business of education."-Dugald Stewart.