a very small portion of capital in the purchase of what, through the learned author's kindness, we have obtained for nothing. A few paragraphs, selected from various parts of the Lecture; will (whilst they must interest) enable the reader to judge what may be expected from the whole.

"Education has no creative power, it can only unfold and direct the latent faculties of the soul. It cannot make mathematicians, painters, poets, or musicians, and instructors should bear in mind that they are not called upon to alter human nature, but to guide and develop it.

"We must not lose sight of the fact that education is an experimental science, and that strict and undeviating principles ean scarcely be laid down. So as in dietetics, the same regimen will not suit all. Nature loves variety, whether physical, or moral, or intellectual. No two minds are alike, they differ in capacity, bias, and power. Every individual is an imperfection-no individual complete in himself, because each is a part of the whole of society.

"The human mind is not yet thoroughly understood, its cultivation, therefore, must of necessity be somewhat obscure; but observativeness, at all events, may be safely inculcated-a habit of observation cannot be infused too early, nor cultivated too sedulously. If the first conceptions of the Deity, and the first perceptions of morality, were associated with the feelings produced by the beauties of nature, our sensations of the external objects of the world, which surround us on every side, would be ultimately mingled with the internal conceptions of the mind which spring up at each instant, and thus the material and the immaterialthe physical and the mental-the demonstrative and the mysteriouswould mutually act and re-act upon each other: and thus those serious thoughts which arise to console us in adversity, and on that account are generally tinctured with gloom, would recur spontaneously in our happiest hours, and blend themselves with our purest and most refined enjoyments.

"The education of the mind commences in the cradle, the impressions of childhood frequently influence after-life, and the principles which take the deepest root are those which are early implanted.

"We should, therefore, accustom a child as soon as it can speak, to narrate its griefs; its fears; its hopes-to communicate what it has noticed in the world without, and what it feels in the world within. Anxious to have something to tell, the child will be induced to attend to surrounding objects and to flitting notions; we learn to observe, and to mark, and thus lay the foundation of a reflective, thoughtful

eharacter.

"Children should not be sent to school too young; the early training

of infants should be domestic and physical. The practice of making them study too early is worse than causing them to walk too soon, because the brain is of more importance than the legs. Exercise, however, is as essential to the health and vigour of the brain of the child, as it is to its limbs, but it should be the general and pleasurable exercise of observation, not the fatigue of task. Book learning should be the end, not the beginning of education."

If doctrines and sentiments such as these be received as expositionary of the philosophy of Education, we have no hesitation in saying that "Woman's Educational Mission" is pre-eminently a practical exposition of educational principles advocated so ably by Dr. Spicer.

"WOMAN'S EDUCATIONAL MISSION" is a translation by Elizabeth Countess Krockon von Wickerode, from the German of the Baroness von Marenholtz, the lady who sent Fröbel's inventions for the use of children to the Exhibition in St. Martin's Hall.

The work is designed to be an explanation of Fröbel's Infant Garden system, a system which has of late received considerable attention from the friends of education. To give an idea of the system in as few words as possible, we should say to those who know something of Pestalozzianism, it is the proper beginning of the Pestalozzian system; to others we should say, it is the proper beginning of teaching on Locke's principle, leading from the known to the unknown. It advocates a simultaneous and easily progressive development of the faculties from the very dawn of intellectuality, and to this end it strenuously and reasonably insists upon the absolute necessity of rendering Female Education sub

servient.

Having alluded to those who know something of Pestalozzianism we feel compelled to say, that in this country a variety of educational quack nostrums are foisted upon public notice as Petalozzian. We have con

versed with many German educationists, but we never yet met with one who would admit that he knew a school in this country conducted upon the Pestalozzian system. This we do not deprecate; for, after all, we are not so infatuated with the name of Pestalozzi as to designate every sound educational principle Pestalozzian. Pestalozzi did good in his generation, for the cause of education he did much, but his pupil Frederick Fröbel has done more. We heartily wish that many teachers and educationists would cease prating about the system of Pestalozzi,— of which they know little or nothing,-and study and carry out practically the irrefragable principles laid down by British educationists. Pestalozzi has credit for rather too much on the one hand, and on the other hand his system is either misunderstood or misrepresented by the majority of those who profess it.

A gentleman who visited Pestalozzi in 1817 says, "Wishing to ascertain how far practice agreed with theory, I have not only assisted at some of the lessons, but I have examined some of the pupils, respecting the sort of intercourse they have with the masters, and the employment of their time from morning to night, and set it all down under their eyes. The result of these inquiries is, that the mode of teaching is in fact very little different from what it is in other schools; the masters teach arithmetic, geography, geometry, &c., from elementary books, that is, dictate to the pupil his mode of proceeding; and as to love and confidence, Mr. Pestalozzi is himself now too old to have much conversation with his pupils, and the masters under him see them at the hours of instruction only, and love them about as much as masters in other schools love their scholars, and no more. Aux taloches près,' this was the expression one of the pupils used; excepting a box on the ear occasionally, there is nothing very paternal in their intercourse with their pupils; and once the master for religious instruction, in an angry moment, as I was told, burst one of the desks with a blow of his fist. 'C'est beau cela pour un maître de religion,' observed my informant, an intelligent boy, who, however, had no dislike to the school, nor any wish to leave it."

6

Go into some professedly Pestalozzian schools-you will remark the evident deficiency in mental acquirement evinced by the pupils when compared with some who are taught under less favourable circumstances and under less assuming pretension to professional skill and an infallible system. You may be told very plausibly that you must regard principally the admirable manner in which the intellectual faculties have been developed. Don't you see how intelligent that girl is? See how attentively she regards you; you must not think she is idly staring at you; oh no, whilst you are looking at her carelessly-written and blotted copy-book, she is doubtlessly contemplating you as the subject of an object lesson, and who knows whether she be not revolving in her mind. how she would look in a frock the same pattern as your dress? Seriously, we think that in many of these Pestalozzian schools the rage for object lessons is carried too far; the development of the intellectual faculties is well, nay is indispensable, but the mind requires food as well as exercise; the grand mistake appears to be employing artificial instead of natural modes of development, and that which should be, as it were, the scholar's railway is accounted his station, his terminus. Fröbel's system is the best we have met with, because it is the least complex and the most natural. As for what is called the Pestalozzian system, one cannot find two persons (except in some few cases where they happen to be of the same clique) to give a consonant definition of what is meant by it. To many it appears "system of object lessons," and such, as carried out

in many cases, it is. However, what is meant by the term Pestalozzian education (we do not say what is Pestalozzian) is simply proper education. It is the plan of education which we may presume Pestalozzi desired to see adopted.

To mothers, and other FEMALE EDUCATORS who would like to know more about the Pestalozzian system, we would strongly recommend the perusal of "Woman's Educational Mission," a most interesting work in every respect, and one which we shall in our next number notice more particularly.

"MATERNAL COUNSELS TO A DAUGHTER, designed to aid her in the care of her Health, the improvement of her Mind, and the cultivation of her Heart." By Mrs. Pullan, Author of the "Lady's .Library,' "The Court Partial," "Practical Grammar," &c.; Editor of the Work-table of all the leading Periodicals. Pp. 312, 12mo. Darton & Co. 1855.

To those of our fair readers by whom Mrs. Pullan has long been well known as a writer, it would be superfluous to say anything with regard to her ability; to those who are not well acquainted with her style, we would say, "Read the article on "MORAL HONESTY," in the first number of 'THE GOVERNESS,' and you will be able to form some idea as to what you may expect in the perusal of MATERNAL COUNSELS,' from the MS. of which that article was taken." Mrs. Pullan is unmistakeably a staunch educationist. When the prospectus of "THE GOVERNESS," was brought under her notice, she, with prompt and unhesitating generosity, gave us permission to take an article from her "Maternal Counsels," which was then in the printer's hands, if not in the press; she thus gave us a very tempting carte blanche, for we were so pleased with the book, that if we could have incorporated the whole of it in an article, it is possible that the publication of the interesting work now before us would have been superseded. It is a book eminently adapted to the requirements of the age. It should be read by every young lady, and no Governess should be without a copy of it. It will be perceived from our present number, that our author is in earnest as regards interest in "THE GOVERNESS." This is highly gratifying, although in nowise surprising; for, as we have already observed, Mrs. Pullan is, unmistakeably an educationist, and in her "Maternal Counsels" she has so anticipated the expression of our sentiments on subjects connected with Female Education, that we should deem ourselves open to the charge of plagiarism, were it not that our heartfelt conviction is that any unprejudiced persons who give the subject of Female Education that seriousconsideration which it demands must necessarily come to the same conclusions.

Indebted as we are to Mrs. Pullan's kindness, it may be said that fault-finding with her book would come with an ill grace from us. In reply, we beg to state that we should be sorry to recommend to our readers, under any consideration, a work which is really not worth the purchase-money, nor the time required for its perusal: it would be a want of that moral honesty so ably advocated by Mrs. Pullan-so strongly recommended by ourselves.

After having appropriated to the edification of our readers a whole chapter from "Maternal Counsels," they will, we doubt not, excuse us from making further extracts from it. It is an admirable book, and we cannot recommend it too strongly. Our Scrap Book is now enriched by numerous extracts from "Maternal Counsels."

"HISTORY OF ENGLAND." I. Portraits of the Sovereigns of England from the Romans to Queen Victoria, chronologically arranged, with Dates and Notes of the principal Events in each Reign, presenting at one view a Complete Outline of the History of England. Reynolds, Strand.

THESE well-executed lithographic portraits, sixty-two in number (from Julius Cæsar), are "on a sheet three feet by two feet; " the copy before us is folded (in eight) in a neat wrapper, and we consider the price (28. 6d.) remarkably low. Mounted, it would be an ornament as well as a useful appendage to a school-room of any kind.

II. “A SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND." National Society. THIS is not a new work, but it is one not so well known by Governesses as it should be. It has been used very successfully in schools under Government inspection. There are 32 pages in a neat wrapper, and the cost is only sixteen pence per dozen! The following extract is a specimen of the style:

"A.D. 1485. Battle of Bosworth Field; Richard III. defeated and slain by the Earl of Richmond, son of Edmund Tudor by Margaret, lineal descendant of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III.

"Descent of the Plantagenet Line.

"Henry II., Plantagenet, son of Matilda, daughter of Henry I., by Geoffrey Plantagenet, A.D. 1154.

"Richard I. "John

SA.D. 1189.

} Sons of Henry II. {

A.D. 1199.

"Henry III., son of John, A.D., 1216.