Gospel, accompanied by the civilizing influences of industry and education. Let us remember, that no record exists of any nation kindling for itself the flame of civilization; it has always, to use the fine image of Plato, received the lighted torch from the hands of others. To civilize and Christianize the world we firmly believe to be our destiny. To accomplish this destiny, we shall need all those aids which the discoveries of modern science have placed within our reach, all that force of cultivated intellect which education in its most perfect form can bestow; all that perseverance and indomitable energy which moral training founded upon religion can alone create, to bear us victorious through the mighty conflict in which we are engaged, not the less momentous because it is peaceful. We know of no instance in which commerce has revisited the shores which she has once forsaken. The sun will not bathe, in the varied tints and hues of the evening, those slopes which he gladdened with the rays of the morning. The "shadow which has gone down on the dial, will not go backward" to prolong the day of prosperity for a nation whose light is waning and whose glories are departing. Men who can discern the signs of the times look out with fear and anxious misgivings at the gloomy prospect which seems to deepen and to darken abroad. They see the palpable signs of regression, they mark a halt in the onward progress of mankind. They remember that the march of civilization has more than once been stayed and turned back. They know, "Were half the power, that fills the world with terror, There were no need of arsenals nor forts." Let us, too, humbly hope that we shall not be fated to afford another verification of the maxim of the historian," that all empires, having attained to eminence, decay." Be it our glorious destiny to spread the blessings of civilization--the fruits of a regenerated humanity-to give light to them that sit in darkness, to guide their feet into the way of peace. THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS FOR 1857. George Biddell Airy, Esq., D. C. L., F. R. S., Pres. R. A. S. &c., the Astronomer Royal, Greenwich J. Ball, Esq., of the Firm of Quilter and Ball John Bell, Esq. W. Sterndale Bennett, Royal Academy of Music, Prof. of Music in the University of Cambridge Adolphus Bernays, Esq. Ph. D., Prof. of the German language and literature in King's College, London Hon. and Rev. Samuel Best, M. A., Hon. Sec. of Hants and Wilts Adult Education Society Rev. Jas. Booth, D. C. L., F. R. S., Chairman of the Board of Examiners Rev. J. S. Brewer, M. A., Prof. of History, King's College, London C. Brooke, Esq., M. A., F. R. S., Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital Rev. R. W. Browne, M. A., Preb. of St. Paul's, Prof. of Classical Literature in King's College, London, and Chaplain to H. M. Forces James Caird, Esq. W. B. Carpenter, Esq., M.D., F.R. S., F. G. S., Registrar of the University of London F. S. Cary, Esq. Harry Chester, Esq., V. P. of the Society of Arts, Assist. Sec. of Committee of Council on Education Rev. Samuel Clark, M. A., Principal of the Training College, Battersea Rev. E. Elder, D. D., Head Master of the Charter House Rev. William Elliott, M. A., Queen's College, Cambridge James Glaisher, Esq., F. R. S., F. R. A. S., Hon. Secretary to the British Meteorological Society George Godwin, Esq., F. R. S. T. M. Goodeve, Esq., M. A., Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, King's College, London Rev. T. G. Hall, M. A., Professor of Mathematics, King's College, London Rev. H. Parr Hamilton, M. A., F.R. S., Dean of Salisbury B. Waterhouse Hawkins, Esq., British Museum Rev. James Hill, M. A., Upper Nautical Schools, Greenwich Arthur Henfrey, Esq., F.R.S., Professor of Botany in King's College, London Professor Hoppus, LL. D., F. R. S., University College, London J. Hullah, Esq., Professor of Vocal Music, King's College, London E. R. Humphreys, LL. D., Head Master of the Grammar School, Cheltenham Robert Hunt, Esq., F. R. S., Keeper of Mining Records, Museum of Practical Geology Thomas Henry Huxley, Esq., F. R. S., School of Mines, Jermyn Street G. H. Jay, Esq., Public Accountant Henry Bence Jones, Esq., M. A., M. D., F. R. S. A. Marriette, Esq., Professor of the French Language and Literature, King's College, London J. C. Morton, Esq. Rev. Henry Moseley, M. A., F. R. S., Canon of Bristol Rev. Bartholomew Price, M. A., F. R. S., Sedleian Profes- William Sharpey, M. D., Secretary of the Royal Society John Simon, Esq., F. R. S., Surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital, and Medical Officer of the Board of Health Edward Solly, Esq., F. R. S., F. S. A., F. L. S., F. G. S., Professor of Chemistry, Addiscombe John Stenhouse, Esq., LL.D., F. R. S., &c., St. Bartholomew's Hospital Rev. F. Temple, M. A., late Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools John Tyndall, Ph. D., F. R. S., Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution of Great Britain John Wilson, Esq., F. R. S. E., F. G. S., Professor of Agriculture, University of Edinburgh. Now ready, third edition, 76 pp., price 6d., by post 7d. HOW TO LEARN, AND WHAT TO LEARN. Two Lectures to advocate the System of Examinations established by the Society of Arts, and delivered, the former at Lewes, on the 24th of September, and the latter at Hitchin, on the 16th of October, 1856. By JAMES BOOTH, LL. D., F.R.S., Treasurer of the Society of Arts, and Chaplain to the Marquis of Lansdowne. With an APPENDIX, containing the Report of the Society's Board of Examiners, Instructions and Suggestions to Candidates, the Minutes of the Council, Rules, the Programme of the Society's Examinations, Prizes, &c. for June, 1857, in London and Huddersfield. PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. Among the many pamphlets, speeches, and addresses, with which the press has this year teemed, on the all-engrossing subject of education, these lectures by Dr. Booth are far the best in our estimation. They are more liberal and more comprehensive; they are marked by sounder sense; and, what will weigh still more with most men, they are evidently the production of a man who has thought much and deeply on the subject of which he speaks, and who brings to the aid of a mind at once vigorous and capacious, the benefit of an extensive experience. Dr. Booth is the treasurer of the Society of Arts, which has done more than any other body of men to promote the general improvement and extend education among the yeoman classes of this country, or rather among those who hold a position in society akin to the ancient yeomanry, whether found in town or country. We have no better name by which we can distinguish them; they are not the very poor-they are not strictly the middle classes-but they range indefinitely between these two pales of society. * * * "It is for these, then, and to provide for them the same advantages which have been amply provided for other classes in the community, that Dr. Booth in the two lectures already referred to, points out the facilities now offered for learning for all those who are willing to pursue it. He has not contented himself with merely indicating examples of success under difficulties, but he has also shown how modern progress and improvement have cleared away from time to time obstacles in the path of science. "In the success of so good a cause we feel the deepest sympathy. We believe that these two lectures cannot fail in exciting that sympathy where it is not now felt; and in that persuasion we recommend them to those who are deeply interested in the cause of education, and who believe, as we do, that it is the great and absorbing question of the day."-Morning Herald. 66 Worthy of the high reputation of the author."-Daily News. "We should be glad to see these lectures of Dr. Booth very extensively circulated among the clergy and laity. We agree with much that he says, but what we especially desire to commend as an example is, the very lucid and spirited style in which his lectures are written."-English Churchman. "We recommend to general notice two lectures by Dr. James Booth, entitled How to Learn and What to Learn, in which the subject here slightly touched on is fully and ably treated."- Chambers' Journal. "We publish to-day entire the report of Dr. Booth's Lecture, from which we gave a short extract, with some observations yesterday. It is well worthy of the most careful and diligent study. How many centuries will it require under our present system of instruction before our prospective University graduates can take in or comprehend views such as those addressed to the working men of the Lewes Mechanics' Institution."-Bombay Times, Nov. 14, 1856. BELL and DALDY, Fleet-street, Publishers to the Society of Arts. EXAMINATIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. (From the Daily News, Feb. 5, 1857.) THE HE Registrar-General, a public functionary who tells the most astounding truths with a provoking calmness which is to the last degree irritating, has just made us acquainted with the fact, that the natural increase of the population last year was probably at the rate of 1,000 a day." Of these increments to the population it may be doubted whether one in a hundred accomplished the feat of entering the world with a silver spoon in its mouth, signifying that its rich soup was already prepared in advance, and that it was provided with all proper means for sipping it with decorum. A larger proportion might possibly have come furnished with wooden ladles in anticipation of a plentiful supply of modest porridge awaiting them at life's table. A great majority, however, were ushered into the world with their mouths unfurnished even with teeth. These will in after life have to look sharply around them to get either soup or porridge, and it must depend upon their own energies and training whether they are ever able to pick up crumbs enough to strengthen them for the battle of life. In other words, of the thousand human beings who were added to the population this morning, the vast majority will have to battle hard to obtain a living. Now, it is pretty nearly agreed upon by all parties, that mere energies will do as little in the metaphorical battle of life as in any real battle. Energies are nothing unless they are disciplined and trained. Our spoonless and ladleless population will only have a chance of obtaining either spoons or ladles by groping painfully in the mud, like the chiffonniers at Paris, unless they prepare themselves for something higher. And as ninety-nine out of a hundred of your chiffonniers never light upon a spoon or a ladle in the gutters of society, in spite of the most anxious search, they occasionally endeavour to supply themselves with these articles in a manner that is scarcely consistent with a proper degree of reverence for the eighth commandment. In other words, they lay society under contribution for their support. So that of the thousand British subjects who have made their entrance into the world to-day, there is no knowing how many may be occupied this day twenty years in garotting by day and committing burglary by night, unless you furnish them by education with the means of playing a more decent part in society. All parties are tolerably well agreed upon this point. Conservatives and Liberals, pious men, and men of the world, nobles and tradesmen, all concur in asserting the absolute necessity of national education. You cannot take up a daily newspaper without seeing overwhelming testimony to the magnitude of the need, the universal conviction that something must be done. Take the other day's Daily News as an example. We read there of the Bishop of London, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Maurice, and others, declaiming on education at Stepney. We learn that on Friday an Educational Conference took place at the Athenæum, Manchester. Finally, we hear that Dr. Booth has been addressing the guests at a large Soirée held in the Hall at the Mechanics' Institute at Nottingham, on the subject of the Society of Arts' Examinations. We might almost be induced to suppose that grown-up people were subscribing heartily to the belief in the proverb to which they listened rather impatiently in their childhood: When house and lands are gone and spent, Then learning is most excellent; and that the Latin dictum Rem quocumque modo Rem would be translated by "Education at any price." But in spite of the universal feeling in favour of a national education we are as far from it as ever. The Voluntaries denounce fiercely the system of government grants. The advocates of state education sneer at the assertion that education on the voluntary system is possible. The friends of religious education treat the friends of secular education as heretics, and the latter accuse their opponents of imbecility. If the whole nation were to agree to-morrow that it was expedient that education should be undertaken by the State, a generation would be born and die before the details could be agreed upon. We doubt whether it would be possible to form a cabinet of efficient men who would agree upon a definite plan of state education. The Committee of Council itself may be regarded as a standing proof of the impotence of government in the matter of education. Almost the whole of its operations are confined to the assistance by grants of money of private and local efforts, and the appointment of inspectors, whose duty it is to see that the purposes for which the grants were bestowed are carried out. The object of the Committee of Council is not to educate, but to |