left undone for the sake of her little daughter, good Noémi Laurent wept, and agreed with him that a special Providence must have directed them to his care, and that some good work must await one who had been carried through so much. His project was to remain here for a short time, to visit the flock who had lost their pastor on the day of the massacre, and to recruit his own strength; for he, too, had suffered severely from the long travelling, and the exposure during many nights, especially since all that was warm and sheltered had been devoted to Eustacie. And after this he proposed to go to La Rochelle, and make inquiries for a trusty messenger who could be sent to England to seek out the family of the Baron de Ribaumont, or, mayhap, a sufficient escort with whom the Lady could travel; though he had nearly made up his mind that he would not relinquish the care of her until he had safely delivered her to her husband's mother.

Health and life were very vigorous in Eustacie; and though at first she had been completely worn out, a few days of comfort, entire rest, and good nursing restored her. Noémi dressed her much like herself, in a black gown, prim little white starched ruff, and white cap-a thorough Calvinist dress, and befitting a minister's widow. Eustacie winced a little at hearing of the character that had been fastened upon her; she disliked for her child, still more than for herself, to take this bourgeois name of Gardon; but there was no help for it, since, though the chief personages of the town were Huguenot, there could be no safety for her if the report were once allowed to arise that the Baronne de Ribaumont had taken refuge there.

It was best that she should be as little noticed as possible; nor, indeed, had good Noémi many visitors. The sad and sorrowful woman had always shut herself up with her Bible and her meditations, and sought no sympathy from her neighbours, nor encouraged gossip in her shop. In the first days, when purchasers lingered to ask, if it

were

true that Maître Gardon had brought his daughter-in-law and grandchild, her stern-faced, almost grim answer, that "la pauvre was ill at ease," silenced them, and forced them to carry off their curiosity unsatisfied; but it became less easy to arrange when Eustacie herself was on foot againrefreshed, active, and with an irrepressible spring of energy and eagerness that could hardly be caged down in the Widow Laurent's tiny rooms. Poor child, had she not been ill and prostrate at first, and fastened herself on the tender side of the good woman's heart by the sweetness of an unselfish and buoyant nature in illness, Noémi could hardly have endured such an inmate, not even half a Huguenot, full of little Catholic observances like second nature to her; listening indeed to the Bible for a short time, but always, when it was expounded, either asleep, or finding some amusement indispensable for her baby; eager for the least variety, and above all spoilt by Maître Gardon to a degree absolutely perplexing to the grave woman.

He would not bid her lay aside the observances that, to Noémi, seemed almost worship of the beast. He rather reverted to the piety which originated them; and argued with his old friend that it was better to build than to destroy, and that, before the fabric of truth, superstition would crumble away of itself. The little he taught her sounded to Noémi's puzzled ears mere Christianity instead of controversial Calvinism. And, moreover, he never blamed her for wicked worldliness when she yawned; but even devised opportunities for taking her out for a walk, to see as much life as might be on a market-day. He could certainly not forget-as much as would have been prudent-that she was a highborn Lady; and even seemed taken aback when he found her with her sleeves turned up over her shapelydelicate arms, and a thick apron before her, with her hands in Veuve Laurent's flour, showing her some of those special mysterious arts of confectionery

in which she had been initiated by Sceur Bernardine, when, not three years ago, she had been the pet of the Convent of Bellaise. At first it was half sport and the desire of occupation, but the produce of her manipulations was so excellent as to excite quite a sensation in La Sablerie, and the échevins and baillis sent in quite considerable orders for the cakes and patties of Maître Gardon's Paris-bred daughterin-law.

Maître Gardon hesitated. Noémi Laurent told him she cared little for the gain-Heaven knew it was nothing to her-but that she thought it wrong and inconsistent in him to wish to spare the poor child's pride, which was unchristian enough already. he said, sadly, "mortifications from without do little to tame pride; nor did I mean to bring her here that she should turn cook and confectioner to pamper the appetite of Bailli La Grasse."

"Nay,"

But Eustacie's first view was a bright pleasure in the triumph of her skill; and when her considerate guardian endeavoured to impress on her that there was no necessity for vexing herself with the task, she turned round on him with the exclamation, "Nay, dear father, do you not see it is my great satisfaction to be able to do some

thing for our good hostess, so that my daughter and I be not a burthen to her?"

"Well spoken, my Lady," said the pastor; "there is real nobility in that way of thinking. Yet, remember, Noémi is not without means; she feels not the burthen. And the flock contribute enough for the shepherd's support, and yours likewise."

"Then let her give it to the poor creatures who so often come in begging, and saying they have been burned out of house and home by one party or the other," said Eustacie. "Let me have my way, dear sir; Sœur Bernardine always said I should be a prime ménagère. I like it so much."

And Madame de Ribaumont mixed sugar and dough, and twisted quaint shapes, and felt important and almost light-hearted, and sang over her work and over her child songs that were not always Marot's psalms; and that gave the more umbrage to Noémi, because she feared that Maître Gardon actually liked to hear them, though, should their echo reach the street, why it would be a peril, and still worse, a horrible scandal that out of that sober, afflicted household should proceed profane tunes such as court ladies sung.

To be continued.

Ar a time, like the present, when the education of the people is engaging so much attention, and when it becomes daily more evident from speeches delivered both in and out of the House of Commons, by men of all political creeds, that the reform and extension of national education will assume, in the future, supreme importance, it seems not inappropriate that something should be said regarding the education of women.

When such phrases as "national education," and "the education of the people," are made use of, it is usually implied that they mean the extension of education to the working classes; and it is also implied when the reform of national education is spoken of, that the only part of the nation whose education is neglected, and which therefore needs reform, is that part which receives the designation of "the lower orders." We think that the education of women in the middle and upper classes is at least as important, almost as much neglected, and that it needs even more strenuous efforts to effect reform in it. For scarcely any one now openly opposes, in theory, the education of the poor; but with regard to women, before substantial and national reform is effected in their education, an immense amount of opposition, prejudice, and undisguised hostility must be overcome.

Let it therefore be considered what is the present state of education among women of the upper and middle classes: what are the results of such education : what reforms it is desirable to introduce: and what results may be expected from them. We will first endeavour to give a fair representation of the education girls usually receive, and then proceed to enumerate some of the consequences to No. 102.-VOL. XVII.

which such an education inevitably leads. A girl, between the ages of twelve and seventeen, generally gives from five to seven hours a day to study. This time is devoted chiefly to music, French, German, and sometimes Latin, and to committing to memory and repeating the ordinary school-lessons; a very small portion of her time is given to arithmetic, or rather to cyphering. If this list of studies is analysed and examined, it is found that a girl usually spends her time, not in learning music, but in acquiring dexterity in playing upon the piano; not in studying language, but in obtaining conversational fluency in French and perhaps German ; and, with regard to the ordinary schoollessons, the object of these seems to be, to cultivate not the understanding but the memory. The cyphering is still worse it is seldom that a girl has the advantage of being taught arithmetic well, and it is almost an unknown thing for her ever to enter upon the far higher intellectual study of mathematics. To the loss of the discipline which this great science affords the mind may be attributed the defects so common in a woman's intellect, as to be by many considered inherent in it, viz. a certain looseness of thought and incapability of close logical reasoning.

It must not be supposed that we at all despise the above-mentioned accomplishments, of facility in playing upon a musical instrument, the power of conversing in a foreign language, and strength of memory; on the contrary, we consider all of these most charming and useful appendages to a cultivated mind. But they do not form a substitute for education, and no one can pursue them to the exclusion of real

L L

mental training without bringing on themselves great, nay, irreparable loss.

At many schools, girls are now taught either a little botany or a little geology. But what does this really amount to? It is contrary to the first principles of women's education to teach them anything scientifically: so the young lady botanist is generally a mere collector of plants, and geology is reduced to the power of repeating by heart the names of the various rocks to be found in the earth's crust, together with a knowledge of some geologist's opinion as to whether they are igneous or aqueous, and to a vague impression that the first chapter of Genesis does not contain all that it is desirable to know about the creation of the world. When we hear from men whose education and mental faculties have enabled them really to pursue astronomy, botany, chemistry, or geology, scientifically, that these studies afford to them an unparalleled amount of the highest intellectual happiness, we cannot but regret that access to these branches of knowledge is practically denied to women through the superficiality of their education.

The effect of this lack of mental training in women has been to produce such a deterioration in their intellects as, in some measure, to justify the widelyspread opinion that they are innately possessed of less powerful minds than men, that they are incapable of the highest mental culture, that they are born illogical, created more impetuous and rash than men. This it is at present, owing to the want of education amongst women, impossible absolutely to disprove. If this inferiority really exists, society must abide the consequences; but in this case, surely, everything which education could do should be done to produce in women the highest mental development of which they are capable; whereas, the present system of education heightens and aggravates the difference between the intellectual acquirements of men and

women.

The belief, however, in the innate inferiority of women's minds, though

it is impossible from want of sufficient data to prove its absurdity, we do not for one instant hold. All reasoning from analogy points to the fallacy of such a belief. There is no marked difference in the minds and characters of male and female children. When they are all in the nursery together the stereotyped characteristics, in the boys of caution and sound judgment, in the girls of impetuosity and excitability, are not observable. On the contrary, I have frequently noticed more difference in character and disposition between two boys of the same family, than exists between either of them and one of their sisters; and when in the members of a family there is a marked and invariable difference between the two sexes, it is sometimes amusing to find the little girls manly, and the little boys what is usually called girlish. All this, however, changes as soon as the divergence of a girl's from a boy's education begins to exert its influence. Let any man, however gifted and whatever intellectual distinction he may have attained, consider what the state of his mind would have been, had he been subjected to the treatment which ninety-nine out of a hundred of the women of his acquaintance have undergone. He probably, from the time he was ten years old, or younger, had the advantage of possessing a real stimulus to mental exertion; he has spent years probably at some great school where there were many rewards in the shape of exhibitions and scholarships given to those boys who distinguished themselves by special proficiency, and where he has perhaps been taught by such men as Arnold, Temple, or Kennedy. At eighteen or nineteen, he probably went to one of the universities, where not only great and almost unparalleled distinction is the reward of the most highly gifted, but where intellects of not extraordinary powers are capable, by perseverance, of carrying off valuable pecuniary prizes. But a far higher advantage than any pecuniary prize can afford is possessed by the university student; at Oxford and Cambridge, and at the Scotch univer

sities, the highest branches of knowledge may be studied under the guidance of men whose scientific fame is European, and all the enthusiasm with which genius in the teacher can inspire the pupil is thus awakened. But these pecuniary and educational advantages are not the only benefits which a young man derives from a university training. Many men, who have not sufficient intellectual power to obtain the former or appreciate the latter, nevertheless would not be justified in thinking that the years they have spent at Oxford or Cambridge have been thrown away. The social and moral advantages conferred by free intercourse among young men of all shades of character, talent, and position cannot be easily exaggerated. Friendships, which last through life, are thus frequently formed; and many lessons are thus learned which are never forgotten, and which no other teaching could have imparted. Nor, in enumerating the benefits to be derived from a university life, must the inspiring and ennobling associations be forgotten which are always connected with an ancient seat of learning.

A

We have now mentioned some of the principal educational and social advantages which form part of the mental training of a large proportion of the young men of the middle and upper classes. What a contrast does the education of girls in the same social position present! They can by no possibility obtain any pecuniary stimulus to mental exertion, neither do they share with boys the immense advantage of being the pupils of the foremost minds of the age. At about eighteen, when a boy is just beginning his university career, a girl is supposed to have "completed her education." She is too often practically debarred from further intellectual progress by entering into a society where pleasure, in the shape of balls, fêtes, &c., engrosses all her time; or, hers being a country life, and it being her supposed duty to be what is called domesticated, she devotes her life to fancy needlework, or to doing badly the work of a curate, a nurse, or a cook. If she does attempt

to carry on her education by means of reading, many almost insuperable difficulties beset her. For example, she probably finds it nearly impossible to secure her time against those who consider any sort of idleness better for a woman than mental culture; she also has to endure the reproach which a woman incurs when she exhibits a wish to quit the ignorance to which society has consigned her. It may be denied that a woman does incur reproach by desiring to improve herself; but there is implied contempt in the term "bluestocking," though this originally meant simply an intellectual or learned woman; and the epithet "strong-minded," though anything in itself but uncomplimentary, is considered highly condemnatory when applied to a woman.

The principal reform, therefore, which it is desirable to carry out in women's education is their admittance to all the sources of mental and moral development from which they have hitherto been excluded. Let all, both men and women, have equal chances of maturing such intellect as God has given them. Let those institutions which were originally intended to provide an education for girls as well as boys be restored to what their founders intended. Christ's Hospital is a glaring instance of the very secondary importance which is attached to the instruction of girls. It was originally an educational establishment for the purpose of maintaining and teaching a certain number of boys and girls. It is now a great and flourishing boys' school. It gives to about 1,200 boys, free of all expense, a regular public school education-it has produced some of our most distinguished scholars and men of letters. Scarcely any one knows that there is an endowed girls' school connected with this establishment; it has been for some years moved out of London, and maintains about forty girls, and trains them as domestic servants. Gross as are the facts of this case, it does not stand alone in its culpable neglect of women's education. Many charitable institutions, for the purpose of providing an asylum for a certain specified number of old men and