worthies, encircled with chaplets of laurel. Among these the names of Byron, Scott, and Canning, were conspicuous. Projecting from above the capitals of the pilasters, and at right angles with the several compartments, appeared in friendly contact the Royal Yacht Club and tri-coloured flags, and the repetition of these gay pennons floating in bright light, amid festoons of evergreens and flowers, above the heads of a brilliant and crowded assembly, composed of individuals of the two great rival but now friendly nations, here united for the mutual enjoyment of social pleasure, produced a peculiar and elevating effect upon the senses, which could not well be pictured to you. On a pedestal at the head of the room stood a bust of the King of the French, in front of which was placed at a later period of the evening, Capt. Garth's handsome prize. The beauty of this cup, a silver gilt vase, and its superiority in design and execution to those usually given at our regattas, was generally acknowledged. An adjoining room held refreshments, which were liberally distributed, and the punch was declared excellent. The usual Continental formality of allocating a distinct and separate part of the ball-room to the ladies, also obtains here, and the fair damsels of Cherbourg were accordingly planted like green-house exotics, on a stage of benches which occupied one side of the room. They were not, however, the less accessible to the applications of the quadrille-loving yachters, and the dance went merrily on. Strange to say, the waltz is not popular among the ladies here, very few of whom dance it, at least in public, deeming that dance, as well as I could understand the explanation, not decorous. Query-Is this one of our old fashions now transplanted to the other side?

The next morning the sun shone bright upon the hundreds of rich and various-coloured flags of the yachts as they danced in the roadstead in holiday attire. At noon the Gem and Jeannette schooners (Mr. Brett and Capt. Wyndham) started for the 50 Guinea cup, which, after a well-contested and interesting race, was won by the Gem. The evening attractions were a display of fireworks from the yachts, and a concert and ball given by the Rear-Admiral commanding at the port, Baron le Marant. This entertainment was only equalled in brilliancy by Lord Yarborough's ball on board the Falcon the following evening, which terminated the festivities; for the Weymouth Regatta had been fixed for the 31st, and the morning's dawn showed the fleet under all sail for Portland.

The announcement of this regatta caused a great sensation among the French, and attracted visitors from all parts, the capital not excepted. The hotels and tables-d'hôte were crowded with strangers, who rivalled the inhabitants of Cherbourg in courteous attention to the British visitors. "L'Angleterre et La France," and "La France et L'Angleterre," were joyfully toasted at the public tables, and all seemed desirous to please and be pleased. On one occasion, when two English gentlemen had joined in the repetition of these friendly sentiments at a table-d'hôte, their companions insisted upon being considered as hosts, and absolutely anticipated their payment of the bill. In short, the whole fête was worthy and characteristic of a refined and polished nation, and, as such, is well deserving of a record in your distinguished periodical. I have only to repeat my inability to do justice to the subject.

Λ.

NAVAL EDUCATION.

LETTER FROM CAPT. BASIL HALL, R.N.

ON THE PREPARATORY EDUCATION OF A BOY INTENDED FOR THE NAVY.

THE Editor has been favoured with the perusal of a correspondence between Capt. Hall and one of his brother officers, on the subject of preparatory Naval Education, and having obtained permission to print the last letter, he lays it before his readers with no other comment than that it bears the stamp of the writer's characteristic acuteness and habits of reflection. It will be seen that Capt. Hall agrees with those writers who define Education to be a process which developes the bent and faculties of the pupil, and prepares his mind for the reception of knowledge at a maturer age. It will also be observed, that Capt. Hall considers the inculcation of sound religious principle, an indispensable condition in a general system of Naval Education. In this respect we are happy to find the opinion of so experienced and reflecting an officer in unison with our own. The establishment of so excellent an institution as the Naval School, is hailed with the utmost satisfaction and hope by the members of that service for the benefit of which it is intended. It is therefore of the first importance that its plan and principles should be fixed upon a sound basis, and its administration composed and conducted upon a scale of respectability and talent, commensurate with the high responsibility to be imposed.

London, 23rd Nov. 1831.

MY DEAR M-It is only now that I have it in my power to reply to your note of the 1st of November, and in truth I cannot promise to answer it even now in the manner I could wish.

Your first question, or that part of it which refers to the age, is easily answered, for you will see by the inclosed Printed Regulations, that no candidate is eligible for admission to the Naval College until he has attained the age of twelve, nor after he has completed that of thirteen years. Your questions as to the policy of sending a boy to the College at Portsmouth, and the education I should be disposed to recommend for my own son, if I had one, preparatory to his entering the Navy, are not so readily answered I have already changed my opinion more than once about the relative advantages of the college education and ship education, and long before I can possibly have a son old enough to make the question one of personal importance to myself, I may have changed again. At present my views are as follow:If I had the means of sending to sea a boy in whom I was much interested-under the command of some brother officer on whom I could rely with perfect confidence-and who would really and truly look after him, I should unquestionably give that method the preference. But if no such friendly opening should offer, and the lad could be got into the Naval College, I think, upon the whole, I should be disposed to let his first two years be spent there. A good deal might depend, however, upon the peculiar temper, strength of body, and general character of the youth himself. If he were possessed of a strong frame, showed much vigour of mind, were enthusiastically bent upon following his profession, and possessed that enviable cast of disposition which sees the bright side of things, and is always inclined to make the most of what turns up, I should be greatly tempted, certainly, to send him afloat at once, in order to grapple with real work, and to learn as early as possible how to make himself useful.

Of course a boy sent so early on board ship, would be thrown out of the way of gaining much knowledge, as it is called, which he might pick up on shore, under instructors whose express business it is to teach him. But on the other hand, he would be in the way of acquiring much useful professional information for future use in the direct line of his duty.

You are no doubt aware, that at the Naval College the theoretical parts of navigation alone are taught, and but little of practical seamanshipproperly so called. But on board ship the theory and the practice go on together—and, as I conceive, most essentially benefit one another. It is not my purpose at present to discuss why this distinction is made at the College -I shall merely observe, that I have not yet heard any thing to satisfy me that the two might not be carried on hand-in-hand with great advantage to the pupils at the College. No doubt this would add materially to the complication of the system; but there is scarcely any profession which is so complicated as ours, and I question whether it be good policy to make the preparatory education so very unlike the real service, as that of the Naval College and the future life on board ship. The prodigious difference which exists between any possible modification of a sea life, and any possible modification of a shore life, is so great, that I suspect it is almost indispensable to the entire devotion to the sea, which ought to animate an officer, that he should be broke in, very early in life, by actually serving as a mere boy afloat, and being subjected to the rough handling which seems necessary to his education, at a period when he is not too old to be disgusted with its elementary drudgery. On the other hand, unless the Captain has a real interest in the welfare of his boys, and unless there be a chaplain and schoolmaster on board, and unless the ship be tolerably well-officered and disciplined, a poor boy has to run the gantlet for his manners, morals, and principles pretty sharply. In these important respects, there can be no question whatever that the College is the better school of the two. And this applies with peculiar force under its present excellent and even paternal management. If we could only see appointed to every ship in the Navy a properly qualified chaplain and schoolmaster in one person, much more might be accomplished afloat, to remedy the serious evils arising from those early contaminations, which it is now well nigh impossible to guard against in the greater number of cases. As to the point of previous education for a boy intended for the sea, I shall probably not be able to satisfy you by my answer. I do not conceive that it matters very much what you teach a lad from eleven to fifteen, beyond the mere elements of knowledge-reading, writing, and arithmeticin which of course he ought to be very completely drilled. The grand point to aim at, as I conceive, is to keep him fully and agreeably, and of course innocently employed. It will no doubt be of additional value if he can, at the same time, be usefully employed; that is to say, if his pursuits can be made to direct themselves towards those points which he may afterwards turn to account in the practice of real business. It would be great nonsense to deny this;-but still I conceive the primary object of all education (as far as knowledge is concerned) is not so much to teach this or that branch of science, or this or that language, as to improve the mental faculties by wholesome exercise and discipline.

But knowledge, generally so called, is a very different thing from true

wisdom; for while any degree of knowledge may be acquired without one grain of principle, there certainly can be no genuine wisdom, nor any practical virtue, and consequently no hearty, disinterested, and really useful public spirit, unless the foundation consist of solid religious instruction. One item in the catalogue of its evil consequences, is the certain shipwreck, sooner or later, of the pupil's peace of mind, to say nothing of the presumptuous habits of thought it teaches, and that contempt of all authority which is generally fatal to his useful employment as an officer in the Navy. I am not, however, writing you a sermon, but merely answering your question as to preparatory education, and I shall therefore simply reassert, that all the rest of his education will either be useless to himself or mischievous to others, unless the whole be regulated by sound principles. How this is to be managed, will depend so very much on the individual temperament and tastes of the boy himself, that no rules can possibly be laid down to suit every case. A boy's mind and his feelings may, however, be trained in such a manner that he may acquire the habit of thinking with diffidence of his own powers of judging, and yet, when assailed by ingenious arguments, he may be able to distinguish between the sophistry of heartless reasoners, and those substantial doctrines he has been instructed to revere as the result of authorities altogether indisputable. How far he may be usefully forewarned and put on his guard with respect to these discussions, will depend very much on the peculiar cast and strength of his own mind. I can readily conceive cases, in which such a preparatory course might be of much utility. After all, however, the end and aim of his education should be to teach him to feel the value of virtue on its own account, and to consider his principles not in the light of things to be argued and talked about, but as constituting essential and inseparable attributes of his whole character, as much as mere truth pervades that branch of it which distinguishes him as a gentleman and an officer.

After saying this, you will not be surprised that I decline going into any of the minor details of education, with which, in fact, I have but little practical acquaintance. Mathematics and languages are the studies which most naturally occur to one's thoughts in speaking of Naval education. But even with respect to these I would say, that their early pursuit is more useful as a mental exercise than as a means of laying in a stock of knowledge to be used in the real business of the profession. To make my meaning still clearer, I would say, that if a boy intended for the sea had a fancy for studying Greek or Latin, it would be far better, even with reference to future professional utility, to indulge him in this fancy for the dead languages, than to insist upon his labouring against the grain at French or Spanish. For if his faculty for learning languages be thus opportunely encouraged by allowing him to follow his leaning towards the classics, he will find no difficulty in future years, in mastering such of the spoken dialects of Europe or Asia as it may become his duty to learn. Similar illustrations will readily occur to you in the other branches of education. But I need say no more-than once again to impress upon you the importance of bringing him up in a thorough knowledge of his duty to God and to man-and of keeping him fully and cheerfully employed. All the rest you may safely leave to the Chapter of accidents. I remain ever truly yours,

BASIL HALL.

KOSCIUSZKO.

HAVING lived nearly four years in the family of a Polish nobleman of high distinction, I was enabled to acquire much information in regard to the hero Kosciuszko; for portions of this information I may hereafter take occasion to claim insertion in your columns, but at present I shall confine myself to a record of the posthumous honours paid to his remains, for they shed as bright a lustre on their object as on their ministrants, and every way deserve to be held up to admiration in this land of freedom. Kosciuszko was not one of those with whom patriotism was but a stepping-ladder for self-aggrandisement; to speak of him, indeed, is to speak of one who commanded the esteem even of princes against whom his sword was raised; his name belongs to the whole civilized world, and his virtues are a bequest to all mankind.

Towards the close of life, unable to endure the spectacle of degradation which his conquered country exhibited, and baffled in the generous expectations which its artful conqueror had at one time bade him cherish, Kosciuszko, after emancipating the serfs on his estates in Poland, retired to Soleure, where the amiable society of long cherished friends cheered and softened the last hours of a life devoted to great and virtuous deeds. Though absent from the land of his birth, the enthusiastic attachment of his fellow-countrymen defied the chilling influence of separation; and there was not a college or a corporation among them which did not continue to celebrate his natal day with banquets or other festivities. The tidings of his decease* spread sorrow and desolation over the whole face of Poland, and the senate of the republic of Cracow immediately issued circulars to the public authorities, fixing the fourteenth of the November following as the day of national mourning, on which the last honours were to be rendered to his memory. Warsaw and Cracow took the lead in displaying their grateful feeling on this solemn occasion; but Poland felt she had yet another sacred duty to perform; her hero's remains were mouldering under a stranger sky; she called upon the Emperor Alexander to obtain their removal from Soleure; with his sanction the young Prince Jablonowski was deputed on this noble mission, and the body, attended by the father and son, in whose society Kosciuszko had calmly spent the remnant of his virtuous days, was borne to the church of St. Florian, without the walls of Cracow, whither it had been accompanied for the last three miles by the great officers of state.

The solemn procession, which conveyed it thence on the ensuing morning, was finely characteristic of the occasion. Warriors of distinguished rank, who were grey in their country's service, bore the sacred relics on their shoulders: next followed Kosciuszko's sable charger, caparisoned in black; two maidens, with wreaths of oak leaves and branches of cypress in their hands, walked by his side; then came the general staff, the senate, burgesses, clergy, and populace. When this array reached the Wavel, a hill once honoured by the residence of the magnificent Jagellon and other Polish monarchs, a funeral oration was

This took place on the 15th of October 1817. And he passed so gently out of this scene of pain and trial, that it has been justly said of such a death by an eminent writer, "The grave is the light-shedding footstep of an angel, which descends to seek and bear us away to a better world."