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pence, of £12 4s. 6d. ; so that with endowments, subscriptions and quarter pence, the master's salary equals £40 a-year. The report goes on to state that the endowed schools are manifestly the worst-[MR. MONCRIEFF: Most decidedly.]—and those maintained by local subscriptions are by far the best. That is the ease. It shows that an interest is taken in the schools, when resting entirely upon voluntary support. A little knowledge gained in this way is far more important than a greater amount the other way. It has an advantage which the south possesses over the north in these matters, and enables the clergy and laity to work together, and practically to give expression to the very sensible, though somewhat trite adage, of a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together. I have gone into these details, because I thought it would give you a general idea of what has been done, and what is to be done. I think I am expressing the opinion of all in saying that the mere mechanical part of education is of little importance, and that which is of real value is the power of applying it to the mind. Therefore, if we do not succeed in making the children reflect upon and apply what they learn, we are doing very little good; and what we want is to stir up the masters and those in authority to exert themselves and encourage, by their presence in our schools, the masters to keep the life going in their classes, and you may depend upon it our labours will be blessed in the end. I think that so great a work as this requires so much energy to accomplish it, that it is only to be done by bringing together all Christian and benevolent minds to unite and rise together with the circumstances, so as to work out this question, which is confessedly the great problem of the day.

This is the manly way of grappling with the truth. The schools for the poor are wretched; and the Bishop seeing it, says it: instead of glossing and winking and fibbing: as is the usual practice. Oh righteous Bishop!

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OAVING in a former number treated upon the importance of the study of colour, as a sequel to that of drawing, and also of the value of browns and grays, and the polar colours, black and white, I will now direct your attention to the primary colours, or original colours, that is, colours that cannot be compounded by the admixture of any others.

YELLOW.

The first of these is yellow, the nearest in relation to and partaking most of the nature of white, mixed with which it affords the faint hues called straw colour, and many other light yellowish tints. It is a most advancing colour, of great power in reflecting light; when compounded with the primary red, the secondary orange and its relative, scarlet, are produced. It is the ruling colour of the tertiary citrine, it characterizes also the endless variety of the semineutral colours called brown, and enters to a very considerable extent into the composition of colours denominated buff, bay, tawny, chestnut, drab, dun, roan, hazel, fawn, auburn, &c. ; from this it will be perceived that yellow holds a very important position in the chromatic art. When compounded with the primary blue, yellow affords all the varieties of the secondary green, and, subordinately, the tertiaries russet and olive. It enters also in a very small degree into all cool semi-neutral colours, and assists in minor proportions with blue and red, in compounding black.

The contrasting colour of yellow is purple. But when the yellow inclines to orange the purple should incline to blue, or if the yellow has a tendency to green then the purple should incline to red.

With the exception of white, yellow contrasts black more than any other colour. The sensible effects of this colour, that is, the impressions it produces, are gay, gaudy, glorious.

Many travellers have written on the gorgeous effects of eastern sunsets; such effects resulted from yellow constituting with red, the predominant colours (in the lights) having for their shades, rich purples and blues, which colours, when placed in opposition, never fail in producing a rich and happy effect.

The substitution of gold for yellow by the classic poets indicates that they appreciated the true value and splendour of the colour, perhaps not altogether insensible of the worth of the metal; but I have many reasons for believing that good yellow pigments were unknown among the ancients, or at least were very scarce and rare; for although in ancient writing we have frequent mention of the Tyrian purple or red, and the no less famed Armenian blue, yet the name of yellow is never mentioned, but that of gold frequently; from which it appears that they duly estimated the pureness and beauty of the colour.

RED.

White represents light. Yellow follows next in relation to it, then we come to red, the second of the primary colours, consequently its position is intermediate between white and black, or light and shade; hence it is VOL. XI. NO. 130, N.S. 2 x

pre-eminent among colours, the most positive of all, forming with yellow the secondary orange, and its relatives, scarlet, &c.; and with blue the secondary purple, and its allies, crimson, &c. It gives a degree of warmth to all colours with which it may be mixed, but most to those which partake of yellow.

It is the principal colour in the tertiary russet; enters subordinately into the two other tertiaries, citrine and olive; it abounds to a very great extent in the various hues and shades of the semi-neutral marone, or chocolate, and its allies-murrey, puce, morello, &c. and more or less into browns, grays, and all broken colours. It is also the second power in harmonizing and contrasting colours, and in compounding black and all neutrals into which it enters.

Red is a colour of double power also, for when united with yellow it becomes hot and advancing, but with blue cool and retiring. It is, however, more congenial with yellow than with blue, and thence partakes more of the character of the former in its effects of warmth, of the influence of light and distance, and of action on the eye, by which the power of vision is diminished in a strong light, while on the other hand red itself appears to deepen in colour in a declining light, as night comes on or in shade. These qualities of red give it great importance and render it difficult of management, and require it to be kept generally subordinate in painting, hence it is rarely used unmixed, or as the predominating colour, on which account it will always appear detached, unless it be repeated, and subordinate in the composition.

Nature uses red sparingly and with as great reserve in the decoration of her works, as she is profuse in lavishing green upon them, which is of all colours the most soothing to the eye, and the true compensating colour, contrasting or harmonizing equivalent to red, and is, when the red inclines to scarlet a blue green, and when it inclines to crimson or purple a yellow green.

Red is a pre-eminently beautiful colour, powerful, cheering, splendid, and ostentatious, which qualities it communicates to its two secondaries, scarlet and orange.

Red being a primary and simple colour, cannot be composed by mixture of other colours, it is so much the instrument of beautifying in nature and art, in the colours of flesh, flowers, &c., that good pigments of this class, may of all colours be considered the most indispensable.

Before concluding my remarks on this colour, I have one more observation to make. In landscapes, &c. abounding with green, or hues allied to it, a red object properly placed adds wonderfully to the life of the picture, and also to the harmony and connexion of the colouring.

The contrast of red and green is the chief element of beauty in floral nature. Red is the prime contrasting colour of the green garb of the vegetal kingdom.

BLUE.

Blue is the third and last of the primary or simple colours, and bears the same relation to shade as yellow does to light. White represents light, yellow follows next in relation to it. Black represents shade, blue follows next in intensity. Hence it is the most diffusive and retiring of all colours excepting purple and black, and all colours have the power of throwing it back; thus we see in landscapes, mountains, and other distant objects coloured blue, or tints approaching to it, which is perfectly correct-true

to nature. Blue of all colours alone possesses the quality technically called coldness in colouring, and it communicates this property variously to all other colours with which it may happen to be compounded. It is most powerful in a strong light, and becomes neutral and pale in a declining one, owing to its ruling affinity with black or shade, and its power of absorbing light; thus it is that the eye of the painter is liable to be deceived when working with blue in too low a light or towards the close of the day.

Blue mixed with yellow forms greens, and with red, purples; it characterizes the tertiary olive, and is also the primary colour of the neutral black, and also of the semi-neutral grays, slate, lead colours, &c., hence blue is changed less by mixture than any other colour, particularly with black, and it is also but very slightly affected by distance.

It is an ancient doctrine, and well worthy of remark, that the azure of the sky is compounded of light and darkness (which appears anomalous), and some have contended that blue is not a primary colour, but a compound of black and white; but black and white compounded produce gray, and as no other colours will produce it by mixing, therefore blue is a primary colour. It is true that a mixture of black and white is a cool hue, resulting from black not being a primary colour, blue entering very largely into its composition; this is most evident when black is mixed with white.

Blue, when placed in opposition to green, does not harmonize; neither would it with purple, both of which are cool colours. Blue requires its contrasting colour, orange, in equal proportions, either of surface or intensity, to compensate or resolve its dissonances and correct its boldness.

Botanists remark that blue flowers are much more rare than those of the other primary colours, red and yellow, and hence advise the florist to cultivate blue flowers; but in this they would be opposing nature who has bestowed this colour principally upon noxious plants, &c., and been more sparing of it in decorating the green hues of foliage, for let it be remembered that blue and green alone in juxta-position are discordant. I have sometimes introduced blue flowers into my pictures, but by doing so I sacrificed truth and harmony to rareness and novelty. The artist, however, has more command over his materials than the florist in resolving a discord; nevertheless, nature, if left to herself, is not long in rectifying and harmonizing the dissonances man puts upon her. It has been remarked by florists that blue flowers are readily changed into red and white, but never into yellow; that yellow flowers are as readily changed into red and white, but never into blue; and that red flowers are changeable into orange or purple, but never into blue or yellow; the reason of all which is evident from what I have previously advanced. Nature regulates the tints of flowers, &c., by the same laws of colouring as understood by the artist and decorator.

In all harmonious combinations of colours, blue is the natural ruling tone universally agreeable to the eye, when in due relation to the composition, and may be more frequently repeated in the composition of a picture, pure or broken, than either of the other primaries.

As a concluding remark I will observe that by the varied and due admixture of these three primaries, red, yellow, and blue, the endless variety of hues, shades, and tints with which the works of nature and art are decorated, may be produced.

Edenfield House, Doncaster.

WILLIAM HOBDAY.

ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN DAY SCHOOLS.

VERY teacher should have a distinct idea of the object he has in view and often endeavour to realize it anew, for we all know how apt we are to lose sight of the actual end to be attained, in the absorbing interest of the means and methods we have to use in order to gain it. Like Martha, who, in her care to have the for the entertainment of her Divine Guest, forgot that the object was, to do him honour, and thereby showed him disrespect, by neglecting to give attention to His words, and wishing to prevent her sister from doing so.

table well furnished

When we hear of young people, who although they have attended school for some years, are unable to read so as to be understood, or to write a letter, or to keep common accounts, must we not say that the teacher has failed at least in part of his aim? and may not this arise from not having kept that aim steadily in view? putting the child through the usual routine of spelling, class-reading, and copy writing, and resting satisfied, if but this machinery be actively worked, without sufficiently trying to make sure that real progress is made.

It may be useful then to put into words, the object which every teacher of a primary school for the children of the working classes, should have in

view.

The Dean of Hereford, Mr. Dawes, to whom the cause of Education owes so much, thus describes the lowest standard that ought to be aimed at-p. 8-10 of "Effective Primary Instruction." "A fair proportion of the children, say two-thirds or two-fourths ought, at the ages of 10 or 11, when they leave school and their labour becomes marketable, to have a knowledge of Scripture, be able to read simple narratives, with tolerable ease and fluency, so as to interest a hearer; to have such a knowledge of the common rules of arithmetic, and of weights and measures, as to be able to apply it to every-day life; to write a legible hand, and to spell tolerably well in writing from dictation, and to have some knowledge of the geography of their own country.

Education below this standard is of little or no use in after life, and after leaving school is soon forgotten. It is a common complaint that many of our school children, in a few years after they have left, are scarcely able to read.”

May it not be added, that of those who have filled copy-books at school with very fair writing, many are quite at a loss to write an ordinary letter correctly? and again, that some who were accustomed to work sums in long division at school, are ignorant how to make out a small bill, or to keep the accounts of a household? It may be said, in explanation of this deficiency so often observed, that, (1.) children are taken away from school at a very carly age, that (2.) even while there, they often attend very irregularly, and that in the instances in question, it is probable that in addition to these causes, the children were (3.) of inferior ability, and unable to keep pace with others of the same class.

Now these hindrances to progress are, and must be, of continual occurrence. Instead of complaining of them, is it not wiser to endeavour to succeed in spite of them, by adapting our school plans and methods to these conditions.

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