Convenient.]-Suitable. These Anglicised Latin words were, in the 16th century, for the most part, nearer in meaning than now to the words from which they were formed.

Braver.]-Brave has the sense of fine rather than of courageous. Cf. 'the bravery of their ornaments.'

Scylla and Charybdis.]—Scylla was the name given to some rocks, and Charybdis that given to a whirlpool lying on either side of the Straits of Messina, making the through navigation dangerous. Hence arose the proverb, 'Incidit in Scyllam, qui vult vitare Charybdim,' answering to our proverb; 'Out of the frying-pan into the fire.'

Honest.

This word in this connection generally in Shakespeare means chaste. Cf. Some dishonest manners of their life.' Henry V. i. 1. 'I am no strumpet, but of life as honest as you that thus abuse me.' Othello V., 1.

Notices of Books.

Arber's English Reprints; published by Alexander Murray.-We have here an attempt to supply the reading world with reproductions, as nearly as may be in the original dress, of the most interesting and important works of our too much neglected old authors. The series commenced with Milton's Areopagitica, which has been followed at intervals by Latimer's Sermon on the Ploughers, Gosson's School of Abuse, Sidney's Apology for Poetry, Webbe's Travels, Selden's Table Talk, Roger Ascham's Toxophilus, and Addison's Criticism on Milton. We are promised in October next Lilly's Euphues, and in future months other interesting reproductions will follow. Especially we may mention Bishop Earle's Micro-Cosmography, promised in December. It is with great pleasure that we do what we can towards making this series known among those to whom presumedly English Literature is of primary importance. We are all of us gradually awakening to the idea that educationally English is of the first importance in English schools. It has been difficult to supply boys with copies of many of our best authors' most interesting works. But now that the Areopagitica can be had for sixpence, there is no reason on the score of expense why every English boy should not be brought to understand Milton's opinions on the subject of a Censorship of the Press. The series is to a great extent a sixpenny and a shilling one. Lilly's Euphues will cost four shillings, and when Lord Berners' Translation of Froissart appears (hopes of which are held out in the prefatory address), a larger price will be necessary. But the few numbers whose titles we have given above are an earnest of excellent work at really moderate prices; and all true lovers of English literature will support the undertaking as far as they can. For the present we must be content with this general notice of the series. In our next number we will endeavour to give some account of Milton's Areopagitica.

Murby's Excelsior School Series. Arithmetic for Schools and Colleges. By Richard Wormell, M.A. 304 pp., price 2s.; with key, 3s.-This book may be placed on the list of our best school-books. Of all the arithmetics that have come under our notice there is not one that surpasses this as a text-book for the upper classes in schools and for students generally. The book combines a complete course of instruction in the principles of arithmetic with every variety of examples for practice; and the arrangement and method of the work are excellent throughout. The rules are stated in language most precise, and the principles and modes of working expounded in a manner so simple and clear that no student can fail to understand and be interested in them. The examples given for working are practical and sensible. In addition to the rules found in our best school arithmetics we have in this work a good explanation of the nature and application of Logarithms, and many very useful hints methodically arranged at the end of the book, on the shortest plan of working examples in many of the rules. Another feature of the book is a collection of questions on the higher rules, judiciously selected from examination papers, which will, with the hints above-mentioned, be found by Teachers specially valuable. We are glad to be able very strongly to recommend the book. Its author has evidently bestowed great pains upon its production, and we trust he will insure, by an extensive sale, a reward he highly merits.

Scripture Manuals, intended for the use of Students preparing for Oxford and Cambridge local and other Examinations. By A Practical Teacher. London: Thomas Murby, 32, Bouverie-street.-We have received three of these Manuals, that on I. Kings, that on the Gospel of St. Luke, and that on the Acts of the Apostles. A careful examination satisfies us that they are correct in fact. We venture to say that pupil teachers and students will find them useful helps in preparing for their examinations. Schoolmasters, too, will value them, for they contain much useful matter carefully selected and arranged, and just of the kind they so often wish to refer to in preparing Scripture lessons for their upper classes. The plan of each Book is, as nearly as possible, similar. To give our readers some idea of their nature we select one, viz., that on the Acts of the Apostles, and will give a brief description of its contents. In an introduction the author gives a brief view of the spread of the early Church, and touches on the proofs of the authenticity and genuineness of the Book as gathered from ancient writers and internal evidence. Then follow the great divisions of the Book, or a general analysis—a brief summary of each chapter suitable for committing to memoryand a complete summary of the chapters severally, giving the dates of the events as they occur. We have next a table of quotations from the Old Testament- a list of the miracles wrought by the Apostles-the Travels of St. Paul, and excellently condensed biographical, topographical, and explanatory notes. We do not see what the price of the Manuals is. They contain from 48 to 65 pages, and are neatly and substantially bound. Our readers, however, may be sure that, as they come from Mr. Murby, the price will not hinder their sale.

Exercises in Arithmetic. By Walter Bennett. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co. Price 6d.; answers, 3d.-This book comprises upwards of two thousand examples in the various rules, and by a peculiar construction of these examples, the author professes to lighten the labour of the teacher in examining the results of the pupils' work. We cannot discover any good feature in the book. For its size, it is dear; the examples are too mechanical, and the attempt to economise the time of the teacher is, beyond measure, childish.

Vere Foster's National School Drawing Copy-Books.-London: Simpkin. Marshall & Co.-These excellent Books will be of great service to the teachers of our National Schools. Mr. Foster has minimized the difficulty of teaching a subject which is both interesting and useful to children. Three books are at present published, others are to follow. The copies are printed on the upper part of the page, and on the space below they are to be copied by the pupils. The first book contains the letters of the alphabet of suitable size and form, and arithmetical figures. The second contains figures formed of straight lines, and the third, such objects as a tea kettle, cup and saucer, tools of various kinds, &c., &c.,-altogether as such copies boys delight to imitate.

Register of the Month.

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Church Schoolmasters' Association.

The usual monthly meeting of the above Association was held in Trinity Girls' School Room, on Saturday, August 7th, Mr. Whitwell, of St. Paul's School, being in the chair.

There was more than an average number of members present.

After the minutes of the last meeting had been read and confirmed, the partsong "Dream the dream that's sweetest," by Miss Stirling, was well giver, under the leadership of Mr. Hunter. Then followed the reading of the various contributions by members of the manuscript magazine, which excited a real interest, and were well received by the meeting. These consisted of a paper by Mr. Sykes, the Editor, which, after some introductory remarks appropriate to the occasion, gave an educational retrospect of the last three months; another paper on the question whether Teachers' salaries had been raised or lowered by the Revised Code; a striking and carefully-written tale; a humourous letter on some recent statements regarding education; and two poems.

The discussion relative to the Benevolent Institution' was next resumed. Mr. Hunter reviewed the ground he had gone over on a former occasion, and carefully answered the various objections that had been put forth against the Society during the course of the debate. He was followed by several speakers, who, with one or two exceptions, supported him in his line of argument. The discussion closed by Mr. Hunter moving that 'in the opinion of this meeting the Church Schoolmasters' and Schoolmistresses' Benevolent Institution, as now carried on, is deserving of the support of Teachers.' This being seconded by Mr. Major, was carried with only one dissentient.

Two new members were elected, Mr. Moore, St. John's School, Mansfield, and Mr. Barber, of Arnold.

The proceedings terminated as usual with tea.

Papers for the Schoolmaster.

No. XLVI.-NEW SERIES.

OCTOBER 1ST, 1868.

THE REPORTS OF H.M. INSPECTORS UPON THE STATE OF READING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

Mr. Alderson (British and Foreign Schools in the Eastern and Metropolitan Counties).—' In reading, which is the most mechanically perfect of all the branches of instruction, the intelligence of the scholar is too often left to lie fallow. I constantly find boys in the first class strangely ignorant of the meaning of the words they read, or quite unable to express their meaning in precise and intelligible language. It seems to me that a careful questioning as to the meaning of words that occur should form a part of every reading lesson. A knowledge of their meaning ought, in my opinion, to be made a condition of passing in this branch of examination. As a rule, I believe, the reading lesson is given far too hurriedly. The teacher is satisfied when he has brought his scholars to pronounce correctly, attend to their stops, and read with facility. This is to take a very imperfect view of the opportunity which this portion of his daily task offers. Nothing is more elastic than a reading lesson. In the hands of a sluggish or indifferent master it shrivels to a mere parrot-like repetition of words. In the hands of an able and painstaking master, it expands into one of the chief opportunities in the day's work for developing the mental faculties of his pupils, and cultivating their powers of expression. Properly understood, the reading lesson may be made one of the most efficacious instruments in correcting what may be called, without exaggeration, a national failing. Anglo-Saxon speech abhors precision. It loves, for instance, to talk of women as "females," and men as "parties," and the lower you go in social scale, the more vague, and the less accurately defined, language becomes. I attribute this, in a great measure, to the omission on the part of teachers in elementary schools to require from their pupils as a part of their daily training, clear, accurate, and grammatically expressed definitions of the words and phrases that occur in their reading books. In the primary schools of France this point receives

the attention which it deserves, and the result is shown in the general facility and accuracy of expression which strikes a stranger who mixes with the lowest classes of that country.'

Mr. Alington (Suffolk). Of the reading, of which the number of failures is least, I cannot speak with any satisfaction. The small number of failures can be easily accounted for. It is scarcely possible that judgment should be passed with the same precision against a bad reader as against a bad speller or a bad arithmetician. Nervousness and consequent indistinctness or accent may often fairly enough be taken as an excuse for indifferent reading; and as a rule, there are fewer who do their work really well, and more who just accomplish enough to be admitted to a pass in this, than in either of the other subjects. At the same time I hope, in future, to be able either to report an improvement in the reading or an higher average of failures. Minor causes omitted, two distinct faults in the method pursued in teaching appear to me to be sufficient, if not to account for most of the indifferent reading met with, at all events to prevent it from rising much above its present low level. 1. The first occurs in the earliest stages of reading, and exists more or less in every class. It is the system pursued in teaching children to spell. That system is as follows:-A child is taught, when a word of more than the ordinary length occurs, to repeat every letter by itself, and this with the greatest rapidity and regardless of syllables. If the word has been met with before, the child then sometimes pronounces it; if on the other hand the word is now seen for the first time, or is not well known, either a guess is made, or more frequently the difficulty is solved by the help of the more advanced members of the class. In either case the mere repetition of letters which is called spelling, and which is always given by a child when spelling is asked for, must have been utterly useless; while it is worse than useless, inasmuch as it is a mask under which guessing and prompting gain the sanction of authority. A difference in theories of spelling as a help to reading is quite admissible, but it is difficult to understand what is supposed to be the talismanic effect of the mere repetition of the letters of such a word for instance as "limitation" (a word which very frequently tempts members of the upper classes to illustrate the manner in which they have been taught to spell), or to say how the system has obtained such a hold upon teachers as its almost universal adoption proves it to have done. It may save a little trouble at first, but it is bad economy in the end. A child gains no knowledge of the formation of a word by it; he is no better able to make out the next difficult word he meets, while the inveterate habit of gabbling over a number of letters clings to the members of the highest classes, and often interferes ludicrously with the reading of poetry in the 5th Standard.