room. When any students have greatly distinguished themselves, they shall first receive honorable mention; with the rest the order of the alphabet or of studies must be observed.

55. Let him [the Prefect] have great care that the students give public proof of their progress and of the good standing of our schools with due solemnity; to this end let him timely admonish the teachers and personally examine those students who are to appear publicly before they are allowed to do so.

56. In every class, according to the custom of the place, let him appoint a student as public censor, or if this name is displeasing, an upper decurion or prætor; who, that he may be in honor among his fellow-students, must be distinguished through some privilege, and have the right, with the approval of the teacher, of petitioning in behalf of his fellow-students for the remission of lighter punishments. Let him observe whether any of his fellow-pupils before the signal for school wanders around in the yard or enters another school, or leaves his own school or place. He must also inform the Prefect every day, who has been absent from school, whether any one not a student has entered the classroom, and finally whether in the presence or absence of the 'teacher any fault has been committed in the school.

57. On account of those who are lacking in diligence and good morals, and for whom kind words and admonitions are not alone sufficient, a corrector must be appointed who does not belong to the Society. Where such a person can not be had, another way should be devised (either through one of the students themselves or otherwise), by which the guilty may receive proper chastisement.

58. When neither words nor the office of the corrector is sufficient, when no improvement in the student is to be hoped for, and moral contamination for others is to be

feared, it is better to remove him from the school than to keep him there, where he makes no progress himself and injures others. But that all may be done, as is fitting, to the glory and service of God, the decision of the matter must be left to the rector.

59. Christian doctrine must be learned by heart in allthe classes; and in the three grammar classes, and if necessary, in the other classes, it must be repeated Fridays or Saturdays. According to the grade of each class more ample explanations shall be given and required.

60. On Friday or Saturday let him [the Professor of the lower classes] deliver for half an hour a pious exhortation or explanation of the catechism; but especially let him exhort to daily prayer to God, to a daily reciting of the rosary or office of the Blessed Virgin, to an examination of the conscience every evening, to a frequent and worthy reception of the sacraments of penance and the altar, to an avoidance of evil habits, to a detestation of vice, and finally to a practice of all the virtues becoming a Christian.

61 Especial care must be exercised that the students acquire the habit of speaking Latin. Therefore the teacher, at least from the upper grammar grade, must speak in Latin, and require also that the students speak Latin, especially in the explanation of rules, the correction of Latin exercises, in disputations, and in their daily intercourse. In the translation of authors he must himself have great regard for the purity and correct pronunciation of the mother tongue, and strictly require the same from the students.

62. The class-match (concertatio) is usually so arranged that either the teacher questions and the contestants (æmuli) correct the answers, or the contestants question one another. This exercise is to be highly esteemed and, as often as possible, engaged in, in order that a proper emulation (honesta æmulatio), which is a great incentive to study, may be cul

tivated. This contest may take place between two students only, or between several on each side, especially from the officers of the class. Let a private student attack another, and an officer another; sometimes also let a private attack an officer, and in case of victory let him take the officer's post of honor, or any other prize or mark of victory that the dignity of the school and the usage of the locality may demand.

XIV. MONTAIGNE.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

The distinguished French essayist Montaigne was born in Perigord the last day of February, 1533. His father was a man of prominence, who filled, among other offices, that of mayor of Bordeaux for several years. His son speaks of him, in one of his essays, as a man of austere probity," who had "a particular regard for honor."

The young Montaigne received a careful though somewhat unconventional education. He was awakened in the morning by the sound of agreeable music, and by means of a German tutor, who used only Latin in conversing with his pupil, he learned that language without the use of the rod. He attended the College of Guienne at Bordeaux, where at the remarkably early age of thirteen he completed the course of instruction. He afterwards studied law, and in 1554 received the appointment of councillor in the parliament of Bordeaux. He maintained intimate relations with the French court, and received from Henry II. the title of Gentleman in Ordinary to the King.

But a life of courtly service and martial activity did not suit the tastes of Montaigne, and accordingly, on reaching the age of thirty-eight, he resolved to dedicate the remainder of his life to study and contemplation. In connection with miscellaneous reading he acquired the habit of setting down the choice thoughts that occurred to him. At length these thoughts, revised and re-arranged, grew into the book of essays, which first appeared at Bordeaux in 1580.

During his absence in Italy Montaigne was elected mayor of Bordeaux, an office which he accepted from a sense of civic duty and which he filled with eminent ability. But along with his municipal duties he continued to prosecute his literary studies and to make from time to time important additions to his essays. New editions appeared at intervals until his death in 1592.

In his Essays, which have given him an honorable place in French literature, he has repeatedly touched upon education. He generally displays sound judgment and fine independence. He drew freely, as he confesses, from the ancients, particularly from Plutarch and Seneca. He entertained liberal views of education, and more than any one else led the reaction against the harsh discipline and narrow course of study prevalent in his day. The following selection is his essay, "Of the Education of Children," the essential parts of which are given entire. As will be seen, the essay is in the form of a letter addressed to Montaigne's friend, the Countess of Gurson, and it embodies the substance of all that he has elsewhere written.

SELECTION FROM MONTAIGNE.

OF THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

To Madame Diane de Foix, Countess de Gurson: For a boy of quality then, who pretends to letters not upon the account of profit (for so mean an object as that is unworthy of the grace and favor of the Muses, and moreover, in it a man directs his service to and depends upon others), nor so much for outward ornament, as for his own proper and peculiar use, and to furnish and enrich himself within, having rather a desire to come out an accomplished cavalier than a mere scholar or learned man; for such a one,