minds of some of our readers, the frightful ideas of "parsing," "scanning," "recitations," and "academical drilling," we do assure them, conduces, when properly conducted, not a little, to the cultivation of the intellectual powers, the refinement of taste, and to an enlarged and accurate acquaintance with our vernacular tongue.

No intellectual faculty is of more importance than a keensighted discrimination, which, at a glance, can see distinctions where the vulgar eye can detect none; which distinguishes, also, by the words employed to communicate the ideas, the nice shades of thought, and the evanescent hues of sentiment.. Among the exercises promotive of this habit of discrimination, that of "translating," should occupy a very high rank.

A writer of talents (and such alone should be placed before the pupil for improvement in this exercise) deals in thought, and in words only as they are best adapted to convey the thought in a clear, impressive, glowing, or elegant manner. His thoughts are not apt to be vague and general, but particular and definite,—characteristic of the man-an image of his mind. The translator must discriminate. He must separate and analyse, and construct again, a luminous whole, from these luminous parts. Can this be done by a vague translation? Can it be accomplished without a mental effort? The translation must be searching and discriminating, in order to be profitable. We venture, confidently, to assert, that every clear discernment of an actual difference in shades of thought, however blended in common language, renders the mind itself more penetrating and efficient, raises its standard of intellectual excellence, whets its powers for future exertion, and confers an enjoyment which the sluggard or the literary lounger never felt.

The pupil should have one language as the common depository of his ideas, whether obtained by reflection or "translation." That this language (which in this case, may

be called the "universal solvent”) should be our vernacular tongue, will not, we think, be doubted.

Now, our knowledge of the precise signification of the words in our own tongue, and of the modifications of meaning they admit by shifting their connexion, displays itself, frequently, in a kind of habitual feeling of the propriety or impropriety of this or that translation of a given word in a given connexion. With an intuitive judgement, we accomodate ourselves to the circumstunces of the case; and are frequently sensible of some incongruity, without being able to remedy it.

It needs, therefore, no labored argument to prove, that, on the one hand, a tolerable acquaintance with our vernacular language is requisite in order to conduct, understandingly and advantageously, the exercise of "translating ;" and, on the other, that when conducted in a liberal and discriminating manner, it induces in the pupil an accurate and discriminating use of his own language.

This important circumstance is too apt to be overlooked in our schools. There is no commanding station in life, (and such stations are mostly occupied by our liberally educated men,) where a discriminating use of our vernacular language is not demanded, or where a perfect command of it is not desirable. And in what way can we more easily and pleasantly acquire the desired fluency, copiousness, and accuracy, in the use of the English tongue, than by means of a judicious management of the exercise of "translating," in the earlier stages of education? The pupil has the thought provided. He must clothe it worthily. The unfurnished mind finds it not only irksome, but comparatively unprofitable, to torture a vague thought of its own, into a hundred Proteus-shapes, to pass muster for a "composition," which, turn it any way you please, whether it be fish, or bird, or beast, is old Proteus still. In "translating," the thoughts, (and those, it may be, of the most ennobling cha

racter,) are furnished; the ideas are connected; the logical travail is over; the empty brain is not racked for something to talk about.

We do not wish to discountenance the practice of original composition. We mean only to say, that if composition is made to supersede this exercise of "translating," one of the best means of promoting an early acquaintance with the powers of our vernacular language, is neglected. Nor do we design to discourage the use of translations, in the earli est stages of the study of a language. Nay, if the views we have propounded be correct, the propriety of their introduction, at a proper period, to a certain extent, and under skilful management, provided the translations themselves be rigidly accurate, can hardly be doubted.

This view of the exercise of" translating," as a literary exercise, demanding, and at the same time promoting, an acquaintance with our vernacular tongue, may be still further illustrated by a comparison of the idiomatic phrases which abound in all languages. One peculiarity of these idiomatic phrases, is, that they do not admit of a literal translation into another language; which, however, unless unusually defective, will supply a corresponding idiom. Take the following examples :

The Romans said: "duos parietes de eadem fidelia dealbare," which, literally translated, runs thus: "to whitewash two walls out of the same tub." But, properly translated, it means: "to kill two birds with one stone." A German would translate the phrase thus: "mit einer Klappe zwey Fliegen schlagen," which denotes, literally, "to kill two flies at one slap."

Again; a German, wishing to convey the idea, that the wife rules the husband, says: "die Frau hat den Hut," that is, "the wife wears the hat," which we translate, idiomatically, "the wife wears the breeches."

Again; the Romans said: "nodum in scirpo quaerere,"

that is, "to search for a knot in a bulrush,”—to look for a knot in the stalk of a plant, which is naturally destitute of them. But the corresponding English idiom is: "to stumble on plain ground.”

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Again; the Greek phrase, “λuvev Tiva," denotes, literally "towash one. "9 But in common language, it means: "to rebuke one sharply." So the Germans, in the same sense, say: "einem den Kopf waschen," that is, to wash one's head," which the Hollanders, also, express by "washing one's ears."

Again; the French phrase, "trouver la fêve au gateau," that is, "to find the bean in the cake," is properly translated: "to hit the nail on the head;" and the phrase, "partager le gateau," that is, "to share the cake," is equivalent, in common language, to our English expression, "to go snacks."

It is for this reason that Plautus, Don Quixote, Aristophanes, Theophrastus, (in his Characters,) Shakespear, (in his Comedies,) Tassoni, (in his Secchia Rapita,) and other works of this class, are so difficult to translate well into another language, whose corresponding idioms are of a very different literal signification, and yet are the only phrases adapted to express those of the other language.

We might enlarge here upon the different degrees of literalness or freedom, in translating, to which the pupil will resort, under the direction of a skilful teacher, for the purposes of intellectual improvement, literary cultivation, or refinement of taste, but we must forbear.

Some one will now ask, shall the fascinating and instructive study of natural history be neglected in a course of early education? By no means. If the general principles which we have advanced, be correct, the grand object of education cannot be fully attained, without the aid of some studies of this character, as auxiliaries. The danger is, in making them too prominent and absorbing, to which we are disposed to object; because there are other indispensa

ble studies, in which the pupil, at this early age, ought to be mainly employed.

Still, it is a matter of astonishment, considering the inexhaustible curiosity of the youthful mind, that so little use has been made, even incidentally, of this department, in our systems of early education. Our astonishment increases when we reflect, that every saunter among the fields and groves, and every excursion for amusement, health, or science, presents to the mind of the casual observer objects of the highest interest, which are generally unnoticed in later life, because, in our earlier days, when curiosity is keen, the memory tenacious, and imagination on the wing, the mind has not been accustomed to derive any portion of its enjoyment from this exuberant source. It is in the power of an enlightened instructer, who can control the whole time of an ingenuous pupil, to graft upon his mind, during the eventful period between six and sixteen years of age, the general principles and the most striking facts of Natural History, of Botany, and even Astronomy, without retarding, in the least degree, his progress in severer closet study. Let any one of our readers, who is a parent, lead forth an intelligent child, when the vault of heaven is studded with stars; and, as his curious eye gazes upon the scene above, let the parent inform him in familiar language, that these brilliant specks, are probably the central suns of other systems, vast, innumerable, and harmonious,-in which the power and the goodness of the Deity are unceasingly displayed; and when he rivits his gaze in mute astonishment upon these seen but unknown worlds, let the parent inform him that these myriads of systems, to which our eye can reach, are but the outer-skirts of an infinitude beyond, buried in unfathomable space; and we will venture to predict, that the questions from the astonished child, will, sooner or later, convince the parent, that he has touched a string which will long continue to vibrate.