ourselves to recommending in preference to modern ones, those of the authors who flourished before the influence of Johnson, Gibbon, and the ingenious Mr. Macpherson was felt. Whether we admire their works or not, we cannot deny that Swift and Steele and Addison wrote unaffectedly and naturally; they did not assume a passion they did not feel, "nor make the little fishes talk like whales;" they are free from that love of epigram which made the historian of the Decline and Fail so cruelly unjust, free from all that word-painting, which is the curse of the day, and that mechanical glitter, which Macaulay has afflicted us with. Their Muse does not assume the trigid stiffness of the prude, nor is she dressed more gaily than beseems an honest woman. And beyond those already mentioned we have the eloquent periods of Bolingbroke, the simplicity of Dryden, the stately sentences of Clarendon down to the gorgeous diction of Milton. Copious extracts from these authors ought to be carefully read, explained and learnt by heart. Every word should be carefully studied, every sentence, with the significance of the various parts, and the order in which they come, examined, and special attention given to any change of form or meaning. More care, too, should be bestowed on the way in which these passages are read or recited, or what may be called elocution, excluding, therefore, all declamation or quasi-dramatic reading, for the faculty of so reading well is given to but few, and even when the requisite versatility is displayed, it tends to degenerate into unmeaning rant, alternating with equally unmeaning pathos. No school can teach oratory, but the best foundation will be to teach our pupils to read as if they understood, and so that we can understand, with befitting harmony and rhythm, not reading prose in a sing-song, nor poetry like prose without bringing out the cadence and the rhyme.

We must not be understood as desirous of seeing a Reader composed of nothing but extracts from authors of the period antecedent to Blair and Murray; we mention these authors because we think them the best text-books for lectures on English, and we, of course, expect the Reader to supply, from other sources, abundance of material for the purposes of comparison; nor must we forget, too, that much modern English will be read in the course of study of History.

During this early period of instruction in English, any simple Grammar may be used to teach the ordinary grammatical terms

and to systematize somewhat the knowledge the pupil already has. The present English Grammars founded on Murray, and through him, on the Eton Latin Grammar, seem to have left undone that which they ought to have done, and done that which they ought not to have done; witness, their absurd chapters on gender, while the pre-eminent characteristic of our speech is that we have got rid of grammatical, as opposed to linguistic gender; their condemnation of such sentences as "It is me;" their allowance of such as "It was being built;" and, therefore, in the present dearth of good Grammars we cannot disguise from ourselves the fact, that most of the instruction must be derived from the schoolmaster. The tendency of the age is to let the scholars have a fine time, and make the master do all the work; new methods are asked for, methods to supersede the old plodding style. We can only repeat Euclid's answer, that there is no royal road to learning, and add that neither are there any short cuts; the only road is the old humble one, of diligence, attention, perseverance. Still in Grammars for beginners, based on modern philological research, and the facts of our language we are sadly to seek.

To older classes Shakespeare might be given in such texts as those edited by Rolfe, and read with that valuable work, Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, which needs no commendation of ours. Here too every word and sentence must be thoroughly explained, the force of prepositions and prefixes pointed out, and the modes in which words are compounded and derived.

A thorough knowledge of our greatest writer would form a fit introduction to our earlier and contemporary authors. Spencer's style being affectedly archaic, he may be omitted from our list; but extracts from Sidney, and Bacon's Essays and History of Henry VII. ought to be read; and much from the magnificent prose of that King in a generation of heroes, our founder, Sir Walter Raleigh. There are many passages in Sir T. More's works which might be read with profit; e. g., his criticism on the translation of the Bible, and the difference between Nay and No; in Latimer's, his account of the death of the Admiral Seymour, and of his own early life; while Lord Berner's translation of Froissart for the later, and Mandevile for the earlier period are mines of wealth for the linguistic student. Beyond Chaucer and Mandevile we think that we cannot work backward; the earlier monuments of our literature should come as the sequel of a study of Anglo Saxon.

A strong party advocates the introduction of this language into our curriculum. The writer's opinion is, that, while it may be interesting to all, especially to the student of History, and indispensable to the student of Philology, it would not repay the time which would have to be diverted from other branches of study for its acquisition, and it really is no more included under the words "English language," than Latin under the words "French language."

With regard to composition, we repeat our previous remark, that learning by heart passages from our great writers, and then writing them out, would be a good preparation; having learned first what the idea conveyed was, the pupil in the slow process of transcription would learn how the idea was conveyed, how clearness was insured, how force or variety given. Then practice in what is found so valuable in Latin, transference from direct speech to narrative, from poetry to prose, from Gibbon, as Porson advised, into English; practice in abridgments and writing, pieces or analyses of the passages learnt by heart; above all, practice, practice. Here, as elsewhere, the teacher must adapt his instructions to the special case he has in hand; we do not believe in extempore writing, but we would recommend our pupils to cultivate the habit of writing, as much as possible, without rough copies, by forming first a clear statement of what they are going to write about, then drawing up a skeleton or outline of what they purpose to say, and then by writing their best at once. No objection, of course, is made to rewriting, expanding or embellishing a sketch, but the practice of first writing down anything, with the hope of working it into shape by correction and recorrection is especially to be avoided.

We have not as yet given to our English students anything to supply the place of that training which is imparted by a scientific study of Latin or Greek syntax; and our excuse must be that as yet we have no grammars that deal in a satisfactory and philosophical manner with our syntax; that is, we have no logic of common speech. And although logic and rhetoric are sciences of themselves, and ought to be the subjects of a special course, best introduced, perhaps, after some progress has been made in the study of the physical sciences or natural philosophy, still, as we have no Curtius or Gildersleeve to put into the hands of our scholars, we should like to see some short work on formal logic

in use among our higher classes in English. The old scholastic logic has left indelible traces on our literature, and has moulded, to a very great extent, the expressions and style of our greatest writers; while the more extensive work of the late Sir William Hamilton is, where original, based on an unsound, where borrowed from Krug and Euer, on an alien philosophy. It is to be regretted that we have not an adaptation of Trendelenburg's little workLineamenta Logicæ Aristotleæ.

We have confined ourselves to considering English language and literature as one subject, namely, the study of the English language with English literature, as its hand-book. English lit erature, qua literature, its origin, its development, the various influences, internal and external, religious and political, which have made it what it is and is becoming, its differentia from the literature of other nations, its place in world literature, and such like, form a subject too great for the junior member of your Committee to report on too vast for a school course. For the school-master, although anxious to turn out pupils able to take an intelligent interest in the various objects of nature, and works of literary art, which their path of life will bring into view, pupils more or less equipped for the pursuit of any special branch of study which may seem the peculiar vocation of each, is taught by daily experience, how true it is that the man who grasps at many things misses all. With regard to text books, the only novelty which has come under our notice is the work of Prof. Swinton, entitled "Word Analysis," a work which in our opinion deserves the attention of all engaged in teaching. He brings out the leading principles of formation in the Saxon and Latin elements of our tongue with clearness and succinctness, and in a manner which will enlist the attention of pupils.

THE ART of saying appropriate words in a kindly way is one that never goes out of fashion, never ceases to please, and is within the reach of the humblest. The teacher who would be successful must cultivate the gift. If it comes hard, pray earnestly over it, just as you would for any other spiritual grace. It is one of your greatest means for doing good.

Report on Instruction and Text Books in Latin.

A LETTER FROM PROF. PRICE.

RANDOLPH MACON COLLEGE, 9th July, 1872.

To the President of the Educational Association of Virginia: SIR-As I have been hindered from being present at the meeting of the Association, I beg leave to submit through you to the Convention a brief report on Latin Text books and Instruction.

The most notable work that the past year has added, in our own language, to the resources of the American teacher, is the First Part of Roby's Latin Grammar, published by Macmillan & Co. The author of this elaborate work, H. J. Roby, M. A., a distinguished English scholar, has endeavored in this first part to discuss the Sounds, the Inflections and the Word-Formation of the Latin language from Plautus to Suetonius. Though in accomplishing his task he has made himself the champion of some theories that do not seem to me well established, he has brought to bear on all the problems of the language a large range of reading, and a clear and vigorous method. I earnestly commend the book to such students and teachers of Latin as have not yet read it. Its accuracy and thoroughness are admirable. In dealing with the questions of pronunciation, he gives almost all that is known, and reasons on his facts with general fairness. In his treatment of the inflections, whilst we may be disposed to find fault with his arrangement of the facts, the facts themselves are stated with such accuracy and fulness as to solve almost all questions as to classical usage likely to arise in reading a composition.

As to the pronunciation of the Latin, I would call the attention of Latin teachers to the very able series of papers that have appeared, during the past year or two, in the London Academy. Coming from the pens of the ablest English Latinists, Munro, Ellis, Max Müller, &c, these essays have in a simple and manly way, not only brought many new facts to light, but have shed over facts already known the light of vigorous reasoning. The great movement of English thought on this subject, and the great reforms that have been in England achieved, seem to me among the most hopeful signs of a revival in Latin learning.

Among American works that have fallen under my attention,