courtesy of the authorities of those Institutions, to Teachers desirous of obtaining Certificates of Merit, who are properly introduced, although such Teachers may never have been Students. District Examinations will, after Easter next, only be held as it may from time to time become apparent that any considerable number of Teachers has been unable to take advantage of the examinations at the Training Schools.

14. I am directed to remind you that the proposed appointment of Assistants will require the most vigilant attention on the part of Her Majesty's Inspectors in carrying the examination of Pupil Teachers for the end of the fourth and fifth years of Apprenticeship to the full extent of the several subjects named in the Minutes of 1846.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

R. R. W. LINGEN.

Class list of teachers in Elementary Schools in Scotland, and students in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Training Schools, connected with the Established Church, to whom the Committee of Council on Education have awarded Certificates of Merit, after examination before Edward Woodford, Esq., LL.D., Her Majesty's Inspector, and D. Middleton, Esq., Her Majesty's Assistant Inspector, in the month of June 1852.

I.-MASTERS.

FIRST CLASS. None. SECOND CLASS. First Div.-Ness, Robert, St. Matthew's Sessional School, Glasgow. Third Div.-Menzies, Thomas, Alexandria Parochial School. THIRD CLASS. First Div.-M'William, Thomas, Sorn Parochial School. Second Div.-Copland, John, East Calder Parochial School. Dorward, Adam Beeby, Carriden Parochial School. Weir, Alexander Campbell, Glasgow, St. George's and Brownfield Industrial School. Third Div.-Carnduff, Andrew, Cathcart Parochial Sehool. Gilchrist, Alfred, Bridge of Don Parochial School.

II. MALE STUDENTS IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S TRAINING SCHOOL AT EDINBURGH.

FIRST CLASS.-None. SECOND CLASS.-None. THIRD CLASS. First Div. -M'Intosh, Charles. M'Kimmie, James. Second Div.-Harper, Alexander. Leslie, Alexander. Masson, Andrew. Menzies, Robert. Ross, William Tapp. Third Div.-Diekie, James. Macleish, John. Prain, John. Williamson, Archibald.

III.-MALE STUDENTS IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S TRAINING SCHOOL AT GLASGOW.

FIRST CLASS. M'Rostie, Peter. -Gardner John.

John.

Third Div.-Dale James. SECOND CLASS. Second Div.—
Third Div.-Bell, Archibald. THIRD CLASS. Second Div.
Third Div.-Ballantyne, John. Smith, John. Yuille,

IV. MISTRESSES.

FIRST CLASS. Third Div.-Graham, Jane, Househill Endowed School. SECOND CLASS. Third Div.-Dawson, Elizabeth, Town Yetholm. M'Lean, Barbara, Glasgow, St. Matthew's Industrial School. THIRD CLASS. First Div. -Blair, Jane, Alexandria Parochial School. Mitchell, Laura Maria, Ardrossan Industrial School. School Div.-Lowe, Mary Ann, Craigie Industrial School. M'Kenzie, Margaret, Paisley, Middle Parish School. Strachan, Agnes, Edin

burgh, High Church Sessional School. Watson, Isabella, Beith, Established Church Industrial School. Murray, Lillias Cameron, Fordyce Female Industrial School, G.A.C.

V.-FEMALE STUDENTS IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S

TRAINING SCHOOL AT EDINBURGH.

FIRST CLASS.-None. SECOND CLASS. First Div.-Doleman, Margaret. Gordon, Annie. Macrae, Isabella William. THIRD CLASS. First Div.-Glass, Margaret. Smith, Janet. Second Div.-Beath, Elizabeth. Third Div.-Carter, Isabella. Murdoch, Jessie. Youngson, Eliza.

VI. FEMALE STUDENTS IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S
TRAINING SCHOOLS AT GLASGOW.

FIRST CLASS.-None. SECOND CLASS. First Div.-Davidson, Jessie. Goff, Margaret. Second Div.-M'Lean, Eliza. Manners, Elizabeth. Third Div.Kyle, Marion. Kyle, Mary. Lennox, M. A. Sinclair. THIRD CLASS. First Div.-Maxwell, Jessie. Robertson, Margaret. Second Div.-Cameron, Sarah Charlotte. Vary, Mary.

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SCHOOLMASTERS' ASSOCIATION FOR THE ANCIENT DIOCESE OF GLOUCESTER. The object of this Association, as its prospectus states, is to promote a kind and fraternal union amongst the Schoolmasters of Church of England Schools, in the Diocese; to arrange that they shall statedly meet and confer with each other for their mutual improvement, and that they may more efficiently discharge the duties of their high and responsible office; and to bring before them the importance and value of Life and Sick Assurances, and all other matters which can interest them as the Instructors of the Youth in their respective Schools, and which can tend to elevate the tone of their mind as Christians and Parochial Coadjutors of the Clergy in the oversight of the Young.

The Association was Established on the 25th Sept. 1852. The Secretary is Mr. J. Bee, National School House, Chalford.

The following resolutions, with others, were passed.

That the Association shall consist of Members and Patrons. That every Schoolmaster of a Church of England School, in the Diocese of Gloucester, may become a Member on the payment, in advance, of five shillings a year. And that the Laity and Parochial Clergy of the Diocese shall be invited to become Patrons of the Association.

That in case any matter shall arise for arbitration or settlement, it shall be referred to the President; and his decision shall be final.

That the Meetings of the Association shall be held on the last Saturday, in every month; shall commence punctually at Eleven o'Clock; and shall be held in the respective Parishes of the Members, in order, according to alphabetical rotation.

That every Meeting shall commence, and close, with a short Psalm, and selected Collects, from the Book of Common Prayer; and the Secretary shall record minutes of the proceedings, which shall be read at the next ensuing Meeting.

That immediately after every Meeting has been opened, and the minutes of the preceding Meeting have been read, a Member, whose name shall have been selected at a previous Meeting, shall read a Paper on some Scholastic subject of his own selection.

That refreshment, of the plainest and simplest kind, shall be provided by the Member in whose Parish the Meeting shall be held, which shall be partaken of punctually at One o'clock.

That precisely at Two o'clock, a Lecture shall be read, on some subject of Educational interest.

That Subscriptions in money and Contributions in books be solicited, with a view to the formation of a good Library of useful scholastic books.

The subjoined Memorial, signed by 18 Masters of Schools in Leeds, has been addressed to the Education Committee.

To the Lords of the Commitee of Council on Education.

May it please your Lordships

We the undersigned being Masters of National Schools in the Borough of Leeds, having under our charge 2568 Scholars and 48 Pupil Teachers, beg most respectfully to approach your Lordships in reference to the Minute of Council dated 22nd July 1852.

Seeing that the Minute of Dec. 1846 relative to the opening of Public Offices has been cancelled, we receive with feelings of satisfaction the intention of your Lordships to recognize the very appropriate appointment of those Pupil Teachers who have successfully completed their apprenticeship, as Assistant Masters. We believe this will be found practically a great benefit. Many schools must have materially retrograded by the immediate withdrawal of those Pupils whose apprenticeship has expired and the introduction of others of 13 or 14 years of age. The Instruction must of necessity have passed from young men properly trained to unskilled and untrained youths.

Fearing, however, that such Assistants will not have sufficient inducement to remain in their office, we would humbly suggest to your Lordships that the amount of payment, (as your Lordships' stipend will be virtually all they will receive) should be graduated, commencing at £25, and increasing £5 each year for a term of three years. We suggest this the more readily inasmuch as the demand upon the Educational Grant will not be so great in the case of an assistant Master as in that of two Pupil Teachers, the duties of whom your Lordship contemplate that he will fulfill.

Feeling an anxious desire to promote the cause of Education, we most humbly rely upon your Lordships advancing the great work in which it is our pleasure to be engaged, and express the obligation we are under for the efforts manifested by your Lordships to elevate the position of the Educator.

The letter which follows has been received from the Education Committee in answer to the above Memorial.

Committee of Council on Education.

Privy Council Office.
2nd October, 1852.

Minute of 1852.

SIR,-I am directed to inform you that the prayer contained in the Memorial transmitted by you to this Office will be borne in mind in the event of their Lordships seeing any reasons to alter the terms of the minute referred to. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient Servant, HARRY CHESTER.

Mr. John Thackeray.

DISTRIBUTION OF EXAMPLES OF ART TO SCHOOLS.-A minute has been lately issued by the Board of Trade on this subject. It states that the Committee of Privy Council for Trade having had under their consideration several applications from the Managers and Masters of national and other public schools for grante

to be made to them of drawing copies and examples used by the Department of Practical Art in teaching drawing, has resolved that the Department shall have the power to assist schools with Examples for teaching drawing on the condition that the applicants are willing to pay half the prime cost of them. By this means, when a school is willing to subscribe £1, the Department will furnish £2, and so on as far as the parliamentary grants will permit. A list of the Examples of drawing Copies, Models, Casts, and Materials which the Department will be prepared to furnish on these terms may be obtained of the Secretary of the Department of Practical Art, Marlborough House.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

INCE'S OUTLINES OF ENGLISH HISTORY.-INCE'S OUTLINES OF FRENCH HISTORY.-J. Gilbert, Paternoster Row.-We notice these two books together, as they are alike in character and construction, each period or reign having under it a liberal collection of facts, and a very copious list of "names of note," with dates to each name. As compared with other books of the same class, they are fairly entitled to their popularity. Many histories of far higher pretensions ard price, are inferior to the "Outlines" both in matter and arrangement. We have, however, a strong opinion that books of this class are radically defective, for all the purposes of sound teaching. How it is possible for a child to bind together in their proper order, the two or three hundred facts brought together under each reign, so as to gain anything like a comprehensive grasp of the period as a whole, we cannot conceive; and even though a child could do this, which we very much doubt, we do not see in what way the great purposes of learning history are secured by the mere accumulation of a mass of undigested facts. We feel however quite at liberty to recommend these "Outlines" to teachers, as containing plenty of matter, with the name and date of every person of note -in fact a very fair chronology, and the whole so arranged, that the several classes of information, may be found without difficulty.

THE CONSTRUCTIVE ETYMOLOGICAL SPELLING Book, By J. A. Christie, C.S. -Longman.-We have been in schools where the teachers have most miserably failed in attempting etymology, and this too, where there was really nothing to gain by tracing the word back to its root; and in many cases where it was well done, we were not at all satisfied that the result was worth the pains. Both for teachers and their apprentices, we do not know a Manual of Etymology that, as a whole, would serve them better than the one now under notice.

SCRIPTURE TEACHERS' ASSISTANT. By Henry Althans.-E. Butt, Paternoster Row. The author of this unpretending little book has been, for nearly half a century, well known for his untiring labours, in connection with the Metropolitan Sunday Schools. The Scripture Teachers' Assistant has passed through many editions, and now appears in a cheaper form. It is constructed on the explanatory and lesson system, and contains a course of fifty-two consecutive lessons on the Life of Christ, from the New Testament Narrative, and onehundred and eight, from the Narratives of the Old Testament, besides model lessons in detail. We heartily recommend it, as well adapted for a Sunday School Teacher's first book, for the purposes of class teaching.

Geography for THE USE OF BEGINNEBS. By William Hughes, F.R.G.S.— Longman. Mr. Hughes, being a teacher, has had considerable advantages in preparing a book adapted for elementary schools. In place of the interminable lists of hard and unmeaning names given in the old school geographies, we have in its proper place a comprehensive view of the physical features of a country, and then when a general view of the given district is obtained, a notice

of such places only, as are really worth a place in an elementary work. We have, therefore, not only the right kind of matter, but the right kind of arrangement. With such a manual, the elementary teacher is saved all the labour formerly required, in picking out and assorting the matter necessary for a lesson. This geography may be taken to school, and used either by the teacher or his assistants; or it may be employed as a class-reading book, with equal facility and advantage.

A GRADUATED SERIES OF COPY-BOOKS, BY WALTER M'LEOD.-Mulhauser's Method of Writing, valuable as it is in most points, was scarcely adapted to English use. In the present graduated series, which retain the most important features of the method, the Author, by whom the method was originally introduced into this country, has removed its chief defects, and has provided a series of Books, which cannot but produce a marked improvement in the writing, wherever they may be introduced. We strongly recommend them.

Eorrespondence.

SIR,-I am extremely anxious to know why, in inculcating the truths of Christianity, se many teachers adopt a method opposed to that which is considered the best way of teaching other subjects. In them we begin by thoroughly impressing upon the understanding, by means of example and illustration, the nature of the subject; and then we give rules and definitions. We know that by reversing the process we are merely cramming, which is as injurious as it is useless. Now, I am acquainted with schools where the first thing taught is the Catechism, where half an hour a day is devoted to it, long, before the children are capable of appreciating its beauties, as a summary of a Christians faith. And in some of these schools the Articles of the Church of England are treated in the same manner.

I do not approve of thinking for children, they will think for themselves at a future time, & should do so; it seems to me that it certainly would be better to appeal to their faculties at once; to prove to them that the Bible is the word of God, to lead them to seek there for His will, and to show them that when they have done so, they will find a summary of it in the Catechism. To explain to them that we are not required to believe more than there is contained in the Scriptures, and that the Articles of the Church of England express that much. Proceeding in this way, the Catechism and Articles would be taught to the upper classes only. It may be said that by so doing, numbers would leave without learning them; be it so, better not learn them than repeat them like parrots, and learn to dislike them.

And after all they might be taught them before Confirmation, when their minds would be more matured.

As it is a desire to see the children of our schools brought up as sincere Christians, and not as mere time-servers, that has led me to pen these remarks, I beg to be corrected if in error, and to remain,

S. J.

[Let us hope that our correspondent is in error, certainly as far as our readers are concerned, when he says, "in teaching the truths of Christianity, so many teachers adopt a method opposed &c." We are quite aware that a few years since, this was done to a considerable extent, and it may still linger here and there; not however, we imagine in any well conducted school. The whole question opened by S. J. is one deserving close attention on the part of teachers, and the more so as we think in many cases, so far are they from being open to the objection urged, that juniors especially, in aiming at a thorough comprehension of the text of the Catechism, have not thought sufficiently of the advantages secured by the cultivation of correct verbal memory. If by a judicious course of exposition on the text, correct ideas are made to be connected with these formulas, and these formulas and ideas thoroughly infixed by revision and repetition, there is every ground for hope, that the powers of memory and association will, through life, faithfully serve the individual on the subject. We remember a case in point. Our informant, an engineer, was charged by a London house to take out to Spain, a steamer. In the Bay they encountered a furious gale, by which the vessel was disabled; by the long continuance of the gale they were driven about for six weeks, very often with the immediate prospect of being engulfed. Nearly the whole of the crew became religiously alarmed, and although, as they acknowledged, they had not since leaving school thought of several things, yet now the texts and formulas, which they had committed to memory in youth, same vividly to recollection, and in several instances with power to their consciences. In