strength and spirit which no one will like to provoke. It will further give each a confidence in his powers, and a self-respect, without which none of the hardy virtues can flourish."

The old-fashioned and still very prevalent method of educating

children is to force them to cram their memories to their utmost stretch, without ever endeavouring to set their intellectual faculties to work rationally, and without the slightest regard to or perception of the relations subsisting between the physical, mental and moral nature of a human being.

The practice of loading the memory with selections from the poets, without ever thinking of preparing the pupil's mind and directing his taste so as to appreciate the beauties of the choicest morsels, has been one of the most absurd. But observe how efficient poetic food might become to the young, even of the poorer

classes :

"There is one subject which requires a short consideration before passing to the third branch of education, or that which relates to the formation of moral character.

"It may be thought extravagant to propose the cultivation of a taste for poetry as a regular part of education, especially for the poorer classes. Yet, education, which seeks to develop the faculties of a human being, must be very inadequate if it neglects the culture of the imagination. The power of poetic creation is, indeed, the rarest of endowments, but the power of enjoyment is general. The highest human mind differs not in kind, but in degree, from the humblest. The deepest principles of science discovered by the slow toil of the greatest men, the loftiest imaginings of the poet, having once been revealed in the form of human conceptions, and embodied in language, become the common property of the race, and all who go out of life without a share in these treasures, which no extent of participation diminishes, have lost the richest portion of their birthright. Man rarely feels the dignity of his nature in the small circle of his common cares. It is when brought into communion with the great spirits of the present and the past,-when he beholds the two worlds of imagination and reality, in the light of Shakspeare's genius, or is filled with the sacred sublimities of Milton, or from Wordsworth learns the beauty of common things, and catches a glimpse of those "clouds of glory' out of which his childhood came,-that he feels the elevating sense of what he is and may become. In this high atmosphere, so bracing to the moral nerves, no selfish thoughts can live.

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But assuredly there is no class in society to whom the sustainment of such communion is more requisite than to the largest and poorest. The harshness of the realities about them requires its softening and soothing influence. It is a good which they may have with no evil attendant. Its purifying excitement may displace stimulants which brutalize and degrade them."

When he comes to the Moral branch, Mr. Lalor rises in tone.

with his subject, bringing to it at the same time a gravity, scope of argument, and richness of thought, that we have seldom met with on any subject. But to the Essay itself, as well as to the other four which follow in the volume, the reader must have recourse, if he feels earnest on the question of education, our limits forbidding us to accord to them much space in our pages. We ought to mention, however, that out of the twenty-four essays submitted to Mr. Malden, he found himself called upon in justice to the volunteer productions of four of the competitors, besides the successful candidate, to select them as suitable companions in the publication. These were by J. A. Heraud; the Rev. E. Higginson; J. Simpson, Esq.; and Mrs. G. R. Porter. We may say of them all generally, that they agree in the main points; that Mr. Simpson goes most into details in his plan, and that Mrs. Porter deals most in the statistics of education, traversing not only England but Europe and America.

Mrs. Austin, the gifted and highly-reputed translator of Cousin's "Report on the Prussian System of Education," has in the small tome before us republished an article, which appeared in Cochrane's "Foreign Quarterly Review," four years ago; with some valuable notes that the question of National Education has suggested or furnished since that time. Besides the excellence of the writer's original matter, and the exemplary tone in which she writes, there are other remarkable features or circumstances belonging to the work. One of these is, that the authoress has anticipated some of the views which have recently become the topics of extraordinary discussion in this country. Another is, that she gives extracts from unpublished papers in the hands of the French Government on the subject of National Education, from which, as well as from other sources, the unflattering fact is clear that owing to political rancour and religious bigotry England lags far behind other European nations, in regard to reform and improvement, and in spite of the advancing intelligence of the people. Our readers cannot but perceive that much is included in the following conceded points and principles, and see how apposite they are to questions amongst ourselves. The first extract is from one of the appended notes :

"Since the text was written, M. Cousin has succeeded in inducing the French Chambers to adopt his views of the paramount importance of a regular system of instruction. It is M. Cousin's opinion that no system of public instruction can be permanently and consistently good for anything, without a body of inspectors nominated and paid by, and responsible to, the highest educational authority, whatever that may be, in the state. I confess that I entirely share this conviction. I remember hearing from Professor Pillans, that when he made an ex-officio tour of inspection of the Scotch parochial schools, he found every shade of excellence, from something approaching to perfection, down to the widest departure from

it. Now these schools, as is notorious, exist under the same law, are paid in the same manner, the masters are chosen from the same class and in the same way; some sort of parity might therefore seem likely to exist among them; but experience proves that none will exist without a vigilant supervision. Country parishes possess, it is true, an inestimable resource in the inspection of the resident clergyman, which is and ever must be, in some senses, the most valuable of any, if he understands his mission, from his sacred character, his intimate acquaintance with the people, and other obvious causes. But there remain points on which he

is as certain to be deficient.

"In the first place, the work of inspection is, as M. Cousin observes, un œuvre de métier; it is essentially a matter of detail, and ought to be executed by a man trained to the observation of details.

"Secondly, a wide field of observation and comparison is absolutely essential to it. The excellences or defects of one school or one master are full of suggestions for the next. It seems needless to insist on the advantages which a man whose time and thoughts are devoted to this object, must have over all others.

"Thirdly, he forms one of a body similarly occupied, with whom he will be in more or less constant communication, and by the joint stock of whose experience he will profit."

M. Cousins utters the sentiments of the Commission of the Chamber of Peers in the following passage:

"The ninth article of the projet of the government attached at least one public elementary school to each commune; and it is evident that to compel a commune to have one, was not forbidding it to have several, if it could maintain them; and that in this case the children of the commune should be distributed in the best way possible. A vast number of urban communes have several schools; and then, instead of dispersing through them all the children of different communions, it is the constant practice of the local authorities to collect the children of one communion in one school, whenever they are numerous enough to compose a whole school, and the local resources allow it. The Chamber of Deputies has deemed this practice sufficiently important to find a place in the law. This is a fresh homage to religious liberty, to which we subscribe; and we propose to adopt the amendment of the Chamber of Deputies, wording it as follows:

"In case local circumstances permit, the minister of public instruction may, after hearing the municipal council, authorise, as communal schools, the schools more peculiarly attached to any one of the modes of public worship recognised by the state.'

"Thus, when there is but one school, all sects will frequent it, and will there receive a common instruction which, without injury to religious liberty (placed under the perpetual security of Art. 2), will strengthen the ties which ought to unite all the children of the same country. Whenever there are several schools in a commune, the several sects should be divided; but these different schools shall all be established on the same footing, and with the same title: they shall all enjoy the same

dignity, and all the inhabitants of the commune shall contribute to their common support; as in a higher sphere all the citizens contribute to the general tax which goes to the maintenance of the different churches. This measure of perfect tolerance appears to us conformable to the true spirit of religion; favourable to the public peace; worthy of the intelligence of our age; and of the munificence of a great nation."

We have now brought together a number of subjects, speculations, and facts relative to education, collected from a variety of sources, which appear to us to be calculated to help on towards maturity some of the measures which the good and the wise have been concocting for the social amelioration, the intellectual elevation, and the moral reformation of the British people. Difficulties manifold surround the great subject we have been considering. There may be danger, too, in hasty or sweeping changes, even where the principles observed are sound.

And lastly, we fear that too much is expected by sanguine expounders and speculators in regard to what education will accomplish, even after there is lent to the engine, ramified, extended, and perfected, as we have been viewing it, all the impulses noticed and recommended. But first principles are broad and exalted, and must be exhibited in their real greatness; otherwise the aim of those whose eyes are turning towards a right point, and whose motions are following in accordance, will fall far short of the thing sought after, or that is most to be desired. Let the model always be as perfect as possible; for though those who may strive to copy it, may in some respects fail, a lower standard, if alone studied, will be the parent of a relative and corresponding imperfection.

ART. XI.-Fardorougha, the Miser; or, the Convicts of Lisnamona. By WILLIAM CARLETON, Author of "Tales of Ireland," &c. Dublin: Curry and Co. 1839.

We have in the volume before us a separate and collected form of a series of papers which appeared in the Dublin University Magazine, and attracted considerable notice during the progress of their publication. Mr. Carleton was already favourably known to the public, through the medium of his "Tales of Ireland," "Father Butler," "Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry," &c., before the appearance of "Fardorougha ;" and we may safely add, that the novel under notice will not inconsiderably enhance a well-merited reputation. We are sincere admirers of those patriots, who feel and prove that the honour of their native land is as much to be held up by arts and literature as by arms and gallant deeds; and foremost in the phalanx of Ireland's literary heroes-together with Lady Morgan, Moore, Mrs. S. C. Hall, Banim, the author of the " Col

legians," &c.-stands William Carleton. This author moreover possesses a peculiar talent, which the talented Mr. Banim is deficient in,—and that is the art of maintaining the Irish patois throughout the various conversations of a long book, without fatiguing the reader. This is an essential recommendation to an Irish work that is professedly popular ; indeed, it is a merit which the public cannot too fully appreciate. Many of Scott's novels are absolutely disfigured, in the eyes of those English readers who have never been north of the Grampian hills, by the overwhelming mass of patois and dialectic phraseology; and on this rock, in reference to his own native language, Mr. Carleton has been careful not to split. On the whole, his work is the production of decided talent, and the result of deep observation and perception with regard to the character of the Irish. There are many touches of pathos, and others of broad humour, which would not shame the most celebrated writers of the day; and the entire book is characterised by a tone of feeling which proves that its author possesses a good heart. A villain may write a code of moral axioms; but the cloven foot will peep out somewhere: nature is always true to herself, and every incident of life tends to confirm the dictum of the Latin poet"Naturam expelles furcá, tamen usque recurret.'

"Most of the dramatis persone of the story," says the author of "Fardorougha," in his preface, " are in point of fact drawn from life; the chief character in it-that of the miser himself-is one to which I have never met anything similar in books; yet I beg to assure the reader that I have known and witnessed in real life most of the struggles between avarice and affection which I have attempted to depict in the narrative. I knew the original well; and many of my readers in the county of Louth, will at once recognise the little withered old man, who always wore his great coat (cothamore) about his shoulders, and kept perpetually sucking in his cheeks while engaged in conversation."

Only stopping to observe, that Mr. Carleton appears to have forgotten the character of the miser, drawn by his great fellow-countryman Maturin, in "Melmoth, the Wanderer," we will proceed at once to sketch the plot of "Fardorougha." The tale opens with the birth of Connor O'Donovan, the miser's son. Fardorougha, the miser, had been married to his wife Honor nearly fourteen years before he became a father; and when he was at length blessed with the joys of paternity, a struggle took place in his mind between the felicity he experienced in witnessing his smiling offspring, and the alarm of an increased expenditure which the accession to his family necessarily occasioned. The miser entertained-like all misers before him-an unconquerable presentiment that he was doomed to die inpoverty; and, although the County Treasurer P, who acted as the old man's banker, held in his hands large sums belong