For here comes the ancient difference between resolving and doing; which latter is what we want. Nay, you know, the habit of resolving without acting-as we do necessarily in facing dangers and trials, in books and in the closet-is worse for us than never resolving at all; inasmuch as it gradually snaps the natural connection between thought and deed. And then if this closet courage could certainly brace us up to any long-foreseen emergency, would it help us at any sudden pinch of accident, of which life is full, and for which our knight must assuredly be prepared? I mean when there is no time to make up our minds, but the mind must act at once ready made." The habit which is called presence of mind, the author conceives, is best cultivated in circumstances of difficulty and danger; and he holds all the risks and consequences quite lightly. It is certain, that unless you do encounter some degree of danger in your recreations-as, for example, incur the chance of a blow on the shins from a ball, a sprain from an awkward leap, and so forth-you will hardly be braced up to meet the more serious difficulties which may occur in the course of life.

*

Not a little of the pleasure of existence consists in recollections, and among these, few are more cheering than recollections of the country in youth-the remembrance of hills, woods, birds, streamlets, and days of summer sunshine being all fondly associated in the mind with visions of early companions and kind relatives long since departed. I would, therefore, if only to store up agreeable recollections, have youths, if possible, to acquire a part of their education in the country.

'My native bay is calm and bright,

As e'er it was of yore

When, in the days of hope and love,
I stood upon its shore;

*Euphranor, a Dialogue on Youth. 1851.

The sky is glowing, soft, and blue,
As once in youth it smiled,
When summer seas and summer skies
Were always bright and mild.

The sky-how oft hath darkness dwelt,
Since then, upon its breast;

The sea-how oft have tempests broke
Its gentle dream of rest!

So oft hath darker wo come o'er

Calm self-enjoying thought;
And passion's storms a wilder scene
Within my bosom wrought.

Now, after years of absence, passed
In wretchedness and pain,

I come and find those seas and skies
All calm and bright again.

The darkness and the storm from both
Have trackless passed away;

And gentle as in youth, once more
Thou seem'st, my native bay!

Oh, that, like thee, when toil is o'er,
And all my griefs are past,
This ravaged bosom might subside
To peace and joy at last!

And while it lay all calm like thee,

In pure unruffled sleep,

Oh, might a heaven as bright as this

Be mirrored in its deep!'

R. CHAMBERS.

ADVANCED STUDIES.

A

N essayist has very properly said, that education must be conducted so as to form the character of man as a whole-not to fit an individual for a particular purpose. 'Whatever,' says this writer, 'may be the profession which a man designs to follow, he must beware of educating or forming himself for that profession only. The man is prior to the professional man, and must be primarily evolved, before he come into the limitations of specific duty, else he will be the slave to such duty, incapable of any other. Man is a being of infinite relations, and if he abridge himself of any one of these, he contracts the sphere of his freedom, and becomes a serf; loses generosity, and sinks into the mechanic-I mean, that an individual who shall be guilty of such indiscretion or folly, will be only that which his calling makes him; that is, he will be only a lawyer, only a physician, only a preacher, only a schoolmaster; to himself, and in himself, and for whatever lies beyond those limits, he will be nothing. He will know nothing of the polite arts, or of the severe sciences;-poetry will be a dead letter to him; painting, only so much daubed canvas; music, a mass of unmeaning sounds; and all that ennobles and refines the mind in the productions of genius, a congeries of indiscretions, unaccountable in their causes, and only censurable in their effects.' * A proper course of advanced study, therefore, provides against

* The Expediency of Elevating the Profession of the Educator. By John A. Heraud, Esq. 1839.

such a misapprehension of the true purposes of a liberal education.

At the school at which you commenced, or more probably, at an academy which is specially devoted to an advanced course of instruction, you are, as I shall presume, called on to make fresh exertions, to raise a superstructure of education on the basis already formed. The general aim, as has been just mentioned, is to make you a highly accomplished man, familiar not merely with popular outlines of knowledge, but with profound views of science and literature in their numerous departments; and not alone acquainted with your own language, but with the classical languages of a past age, as well as some of the living tongues of modern Europe. Of such materials is what is called the education of a gentleman. This I propose to

describe.

Subjects of education may be compared to a tree and its branches. From each main branch spring lesser branches, and each lesser branch bears still smaller branches. The stem of school education may be said to have two principal branches, SCIENCE and LITERATURE, each ramifying into divisions and subdivisions. By Science, in its broadest sense, is meant a methodised knowledge of Nature-the term Nature being employed by men of science to signify the Creator and His Works. But science is a subject of vast extent, and for convenience in education, is divided into numerous branches and sub-branches-the whole, however, whether physical or moral, having an intimate relationship, and acting in universal harmony. We learn from history, that a knowledge of the sciences has been of slow growth during the past three thousand years, and though much progress has been made in comparatively recent times, much remains to be discovered by the researches of the studious. In former ages, almost every branch of scientific inquiry encountered serious opposition from those who, from mistaken views, feared that

knowledge would in some way prove injurious to society. But true science has outlived these times, and all now concur in the propriety of an earnest and truthful examination of the sublime operations it is her object to elucidate; every new discovery revealing the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in the works of creation.

In treating of SCIENCE, we may first refer to Natural Philosophy, in which are usually comprehended those branches of physical science that treat of existing bodies, their constitution, their motions, their mutual connection, and their influence on each other. By existing bodies is meant those bodies, inanimate or animate, made known to our senses. It belongs properly to Natural History to describe and classify these bodies, and in doing this they are divided into three kingdoms-the animal, vegetable, and mineral. The peculiar properties of animals and vegetables which constitute them living beings, form a separate branch, called Physiology or Biology. Natural Philosophy, in its strict sense, or Physics, as it is now generally called, is limited to properties and appearances common to all bodies, whether animate or inanimate; and is usually taught under the following heads: Laws of Matter and Motion; Mechanics; Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, and Pneumatics; Acoustics; Optics; Electricity and Meteorology. The Laws of Matter and Motion form not only a proper introduction to Natural Science, but constitute that particular department of it with which it is of the most importance that all should be familiar. Sometimes, the subject is subdivided into Statics, or matter in a state of rest; Dynamics, or matter in a state of motion; and Heat. By a study of these departments, we have opened up to us a knowledge of some important natural phenomena. For example, an

untaught person sees a stone fall to the ground; but cannot give a reason why the stone falls instead of rises. He sees a particle floating on the surface of a cup of tea, and going to