houses with cards; and am such a clever hand at building grottoes with oyster-shells."

"Well, then, indeed, you ought to be a builder."

So the lad takes word back to Mr. Hill that he is to leave off Latin.

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"I never shall understand Greek, papa," mumbles a lazy young rascal to his father, who is putting some questions to him in the Eton Grammar; "and my master says I have no taste for it."

"Why, what have you a taste for ?" asks the father. "For my part, I don't see you've a taste for any thing but plenty of play and five meals per diem."

"Oh yes, papa!-my professor says I have a great taste for mechanics, and should be brought up to some mechanical business."

Why, how has he found that out, George?" again asks the father.

Why, I am so fond of picking things to pieces, and then putting them together again when I can. I took a lock off a door the other day, and then pulled it to pieces-and very nearly put it together again. I could not quite succeed-but I tried; and my professor said I had better study science than Greek."

So the professor receives a note from George's father, and begs his son may study mechanics and abandon Greek.

The Sketch then proceeds to what it quaintly styles "principles of attainment." These principles are so funny-not merely curious, and odd, and droll, but downright comic, laughable, and funny-that we cannot possibly refrain from giving a few specimens:

"Every pupil should give his chief attention to those studies for which nature has best qualified him."

Why, this is "Anti-Jacotot-ianism"

run mad. Jacotot said that the minds of men, or rather of children, were all originally, and are all originally, like sheets of white paper.

This was

a hard saying, and we could scarcely bear it. But now we have the other extreme, equally original, but a vast deal more funny, Now we are told

The third principle is another funny one :

"

Every power, as well mental as physical, should be cultivated to a certain extent; inasmuch as general elementary knowledge is highly valuable, and a va riety of employment is necessary both for mental and bodily health."

We remember once to have met with an English country gentleman at Paris, who had got it into his head that his daughters' minds were of very little importance, but that their bodies were every thing. So he superintended their bodily education. Pretty Clara was taught to swimto climb ladders-to mount poles; charming Matilda was instructed in bowls, skittles, running, jumping. scrambling on tops of houses, and on hay-ricks; whilst "pic-a-ninny,” the youngest, rode the pony a-straddle, turned over head and heels on the lawn, and performed various other evolutions equally feminine and delicate. The father was delighted. He boasted that his girls, in case of a fire, could jump out of a two-pairof-stairs window; in case of a shipwreck, could swim half-a-mile to land; and, in case of thieves, could fire pistols, pull triggers, and even fight with the enemy, being well instructed in fencing and broadsword exercise.

The

Thus it is at Bruce Castle. body is cultivated. Those who have a taste for boxing, box; for scratching, scratch; for leap-frog, leap; for running, run; for jumping, jump; and for swinging, swing. That last word, swing, falls heavily upon our consciences, for it reminds us of the fate of those who, when educated bodily, and not mentally, or mentally, and not morally and religiously, generally come, sooner or later, to an untimely end. So that word sorrowful word to us;

" but

up a child in the way he should go" meant something more than to have him taught to kick and jump.

The fifth principle is also a very funny one :

"As far as is consistent with the other principles laid down, a child should as early as possible be rendered a useful member of society."

The plain English of this is, that the authors of the Concise View approve of reform-clubs, debating societies, the ballot, and universal suffrage. Blessed thought! "A child" -mark the word!" a child should as early as possible be rendered a useful member of society." Dear little babes! Now there's little Jemmy, he can occupy himself with folding up pipe-lights for the gentlemen of the Reform Club, and thus he will be a useful member of society! There's Master George-he can burn the pipes clean in the fire, place the spittoons, arrange the chairs in the long room, and get all ready for the weekly meetings of the Reform Club aforesaid; and thus he will be a useful member of society! There's young Mr. William, who writes a good hand, and can copy the resolutions of the club from the rough into the fair minute-book; and thus he will be a useful member of society! And then there's Mr. Harry, the hope of the family, just fifteen years of age, who is very learned in politics, very ripe in democracy, and very great about Greece and Rome, Republics and Spartans-he can make a speech to the lesser boys, and inspire them with a love of liberty; and thus he will be a useful member of society! Some silly, stupid people, might perhaps doubt the utility of these varied measures, and laugh at the Reform Club and all these

arrangements. But their laughing would prove nothing, except that they themselves were the noodles!

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beds; so little Matthew, who is told that he is soon to have another little brother, takes his little wooden spade, and, to the great horror of both cook and gardener, digs up all the parsley. Dig on, dear child," says the Concise View," dig on! You have got an idea-it has been presented to your mind. Follow it up. Never mind the parsley. Dig still deeper. Strive to find the little babies; and determine for yourself whether you do or do not fully comprehend your own idea." Then there's Master Johnny, dear good boy, he has his little idea, which has presented itself to his mind; and that little idea is that the sun really rises in the east, and really sets in the west, for he sees it do so! And so he has determined to rise at four in the morning every morning during summer, disturbing the whole house, in order to satisfy himself that the sun does always rise, and does always set; and that it is all folly to try and persuade him that the earth moves round the sun, instead of the sun round the earth. "That's right, Johnny,” cries the Concise View; "thoroughly examine the idea which is presented for yourself; and determine for yourself whether you do or do not fully comprehend it." So Johnny persistshis idea becomes a fixed one; and until he shall see the earth move round the sun, like a moth round a candle, he will not adopt the Newtonian system of philosophy.

Instead of storing the youthful mind with the sense, ideas, and wisdom of others, our Bruce Castle philosophers are opposed to such routine systems, as "the fruitful source of disingenuousness and moral cowardice." "The mind is to be stored with vivid ideas," says the Concise View; which, being interpreted, means that nothing is to be learned by heart-that boys are to be made men at fourteen-that a smattering of every thing, and a perfect knowledge of no one thing, is to be acquired-and that the chief directors of all their studies are to be the lads themselves.

The confidence felt by the authors of this treatise in the incomparable excellence and superlative advantages of their whole system, is forcibly illustrated in that portion of the Sketch which treats of Latin and Greek.

The "voluntary labour" of the pupils is a profitable portion of this Radical association. The pupils are encouraged not to play, not to amuse themselves, not to devote their leisure hours to tops, marbles, cricket, bat and ball, leap-frog, and so forth, but to "voluntary labour," for which they receive personal or transferrable tickets, which purchase holydays and pay fines. This is true papistical science. As the Papists pray the souls of their friends out of purgatory with a certain number of prayers and pounds sterling, so the lads at Bruce Castle purchase themselves and their friends out of scrapes, by working hard in play-hours in the "carpenter's shop" of the establishment, especially by the use of "the turning lathe."

But now we arrive at the GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL! This is the most important feature in the whole system, and supplies the key to all the rest. Here we have an "imperium in imperio," or one government existing within the jurisdiction of another,a state of things always incompatible with the power and security of the superior tribunal, and frequently producing confusion, and sometimes bloodshed.

But let us look at the PLAN.

"With a view of obtaining the assistance of the boys themselves in the enforcement of the laws by which they are governed, and of convincing them of the justice and necessity of laws generally, we admit our pupils to a considerable share in the government of the school." How is this effected? By universal suffrage.

adequate; and that much resistance has been made to this most peculiar system. Still" public inquiry" (at Bruce Castle) has taken place, new laws have been passed from time to time; and now all the lads, whether good or bad, mischievous or otherwise, have to contribute towards the fund for paying for all damages, trespasses, and injuries committed on the premises.

The system of "circles and guardians" is borrowed from Mr. Fellenberg's institution at Hofwyl. A circle is composed of ten boys, and at its head is a guardian. Monitors,"

and "classes are words discarded at Tottenham, and a "jury court" is established to administer punish

ments.

The "rewards and punishments" at Bruce Castle partake of the character of the whole system. We are told at the outset, that when a lad requires a flogging, and will not get on without it, "Mr. Hill and his five resident teachers request the boy's friends to withdraw him from their charge. Their school is not the place for such an individual."

"Hobs! Bobs! and buttercups!" we could not help exclaiming, as we read this consummate specimen of nonsensical palaver. We are told in that book which is all wisdom, that "he who spareth the rod spoileth the child;" and our houses of parliament, our bar, our church, our medical schools, our colleges and universities, can shew thousands of lads who will acknowledge that to the floggings of their boyish days they owe much of their present love of order, obedience, and truth.

In this republican establishment there is a class of "purists," who are expected to report on themselves, record their own faults, and praise their own good doings. These young chaps are called “Franks;" and to be very frank with them, we cannot conceive of a worse course than that pursued, if frankness of character be really desired.

But we now arrive at the regulations of the school, with regard to boxing matches and pugilistic combats; or, to adopt the phraseology of Bruce Castle, "affairs of honour." We cannot dare to deprive our readers of even one line of this portion of the Sketch before us :

་

....

"One of our regulations may appear, at first sight, to be somewhat at variance with our other principles. We can assure our friends, however, that its results prove the contrary. The regula tion to which we refer is this: WE ALLOW, under certain restrictions, that absurd mode of deciding affairs of honour' which is so common among boys in general; and which we cannot reasonably expect to see wholly eradicated in them, so long as their elders set an example of folly, similar in kind, but infinitely worse in degree It is now sixteen years since it was rendered penal for any one (except an officer appointed for that purpose) to be present at a battle. It was further ordered that no battle should take place except after a notice of six hours, and a payment of marks. By these regulations, time is given for the passions to cool, an opportunity is afforded for effecting a reconciliation, and a complete check is put on the desire for display, often the sole cause of the disturbance. We consider the effect on the minds of the spectators is the worst part of the transaction."

This is, in our opinion, the most deplorable portion of the whole system. The only excuse for pugilism is momentary excitement; but here is a system which allows of six hours to intervene between the injury committed and the deliberate warfare; which admits of notice of fighting, the payment of marks, and even the appointment of an officer to superintend the conflict.

But we must draw our reviews to a conclusion.

There are two modes of education pursued by those who profess to enlist among the public instructors of

the youthful mind; and by their results, rather than by their names, we judge them.

The one mode produces good boys and great men; the other mode supplies us with bad and swaggering boys, and ignorant and little men. The one mode, or system, is based on morals and religion; the other on the miserable schemes of appealing to the judgments and hearts, forsooth! of young rebels at a boarding-school. The one produces such men as Bacon, Hale, Locke, Newton, or Scott, Eldon, and Wellington; the other supplies us with demagogues in the senate, sharpers in trade, quibblers at the bar, charlatans in medicine, and Manchester conventionists in divinity. The lads of the Christian and oldfashioned school of hard study and sound learning are respectful to their teachers, boyish in their habits, youthful in their conduct, and tractable and artless in their lives; whilst, on the other hand, the freeand-easy system of schooling supplies us with many such boys as the one who, when asked by his mother whether he would like a glass of port wine or one of sherry, replied, "I'V take a glass or two of sherry first. and then stick to port for the rest of the evening."

If the authors of the concise view were not old and incorrigible offenders in Radical teaching, we might venture to give them some advice: but with twenty years' sins on their heads, we should expect to hear them say, "You waste your time,-pis cem natare doces."