ARITHMETIC.

Beginning Arithmetic. "Minus is thanked. We trust that the article from Mr. Martin, which appears in the present number of "The Governess," will be satisfactory to "Minus," and to other subscribers.

RECEIVED: S. B.-Mentor-S. B. (Norwich)-X. (We are much obliged by the offer, and shall be glad to hear from you again.)-A. J. D. (Tate's "First Principles of Arithmetic.")-I. O. U. (in our next.)

MUSIC.

Jackson's Services. (S. T.) Jackson's "Services" are much admired, and much used, but we think that the "first-class professionals" who "admire the style and composition" are but few. Your communication is too long, and not of sufficient general interest for a work like ours. Try the "Musical Times."

POETRY.

H. L.-"Try again." You have evidently original and poetical ideas, but you express them feebly. Avoid expletives as much as you can.

THIRZA. The sentiments expressed in your copy of verses are quite contradictory; for instance, you say,

"For all is happiness and joy.
Yet sorrow, pain, and woe."

C. T.--Declined with thanks.

E. M. (Great Yarmouth). We thank you for your two letters and contributions; do not be discouraged because no piece of yours appears in our present number. We think it is very possible that by devoting a little time to one we might make it presentable.

RECEIVED: Ada-C. C.-Jane-F. H.

SCRIPTURE, RELIGION, ETC.

St. Jude. (H.) is also called Lebbæus, Thaddæus, and Judas. He was the brother of St. James, and also of our Lord; see Matt. x. 3; xiii. 55; Mark iii. 18; Luke vi. 16; John xix. 22, &c.

RECEIVED: Clericus-Rev. J. H.-Rev. G. B-.-A Country Vicar-A Wesleyan -A Church Schoolmistress-C. T.-A Sunday School Teacher-Charlotte T.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, CHRONOLOGY, &c.

Oldest Record. (0. P.) We believe that Domesday Book is accounted the most ancient record in European history.

Oldest Manuscript. (O.P.) The oldest known is part of Homer's Iliad.

Sir Richard Arkwright. (L.) Arkwright was, previous to the invention of his machine, a barber, at Bolton, Lancashire. On his death (1792), his son and heir became the richest commoner in England.

GEOGRAPHY.

Maps of the Seat of War (E. B. L.) We have been favoured by Mr. JAMES WYLD (of Charing Cross), with two maps, one of the Crimea, the other of Sevastopol (or Sebastopol). We can strongly recommend you to get a copy of each. They are decidedly the best and cheapest we have seen. See Advertisement.

ADVICE-MISCELLANEOUS INQUIRIES, &c.

A POOR TEACHER.-Your case is certainly a hard one. If you do not hear of anything suitable by the 26th, you had better advertise in "THE GOVERNESS;" we shall charge you nothing. If the case were made known, as it should be, there are many amongst our Subscribers who would be willing to engage your services.

M. A. H.-Your complaint is just, but we fear there are very few schools under committee management, in which the evil does not exist. We shall not forget your suggestion.

A PUPIL TEACHER.-We like the idea and shall be glad to hear from you again.

A CANDIDATE.-Whitelands, Cheltenham, and the Home and Colonial, are all Church Training Institutions. The last-named trains Noncomformists.

R. A.-Thanks for your second letter. You will probably hear from us in a day or two.

THE GOVERNESS.

FEMALE EDUCATION AND FEMALE EDUCATORS.

(Continued from p. 11.)

In education, as in everything else, it is easier to point out and deprecate an evil than to suggest a practical method for its eradication. Educational writers are commonly prone to generalisation, and thus many an earnest, conscientious teacher, although fully concurring with what she reads in their works, feels herself entirely at a loss to know how to reduce their philosophical theories to practice; and it must be confessed that it would require no small share of penetration, patience, and perseverance to do so even in a modified form. We are conscious of the fact that more than one professor of education will be ready at any time to question the truth of these remarks, but that will in nowise invalidate their verity. Let us not bolster ourselves up with self-satisfaction, and complacently arrogate to ourselves as educational theorists that attribute which pertains not to humanity-perfection.

The philosophy of the human faculties has been discussed by some of the most profound and logical reasoners that have ever written; and many educationists of the present age evince a knowledge of the moral and intellectual faculties which it were vain to look for in the works of philosophers of former ages;-they draw the nicest discriminations, and the most subtle metaphysical distinctions are explained by them with such logical accuracy and with such learned eloquence that we have but little reason to wish for any more educational works, except they be such as may assist us in carrying out practically the principles with which we have been or should be indoctrinated. Here lies the difficulty: education depends not only upon the recognised educators (be they whom they may), but also upon circumstances with which the pupils are in any way connected; and the circumstances with which every child is

associated are so many and so multiform that it would be a moral impossibility to particularise as to modes of proceeding on general principles. It is in the ready adaptation of the best methods as well as in the application of the best general principles that the art of education consists.

Amongst the many thousands of female schools in Great Britain it would perhaps be a difficult matter to find two, private or public, circumstanced alike in every particular; it necessarily follows that however universally recognised principles may be, the practical application of them must be modified in some degree, however small, by circumstances.

Who that has had anything to do with practical education, but knows that in a very large school there may not be two pupils whose dispositions and natural temperaments fully accord? Still all have the same moral and mental faculties,-the same impulses and passions, it is to the circumstances which have surrounded them from the moment of their birth,-in other words it is to education that such variation is mainly attributable. The infant mind has been compared to a blank unsullied sheet of paper; whether this comparison be just or not we shall not attempt to determine. We have the irrefragable word of Him who cannot err, that some as soon as they are born go astray," and that generally "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (that is from the earliest period of his life). The doctrine of the natural depravity of the human heart is, we know, an unpalatable one. M. Aimè-Martin, in his work "Sur l'Education des Mères" says, "Man inclines always to that which is most great and beautiful; and again he says" all our first movements are good." Now, heterodox as these sentiments may be considered, and as doubtlessly they are, they are not of that dangerous tendency as may on the surface appear; they would tend to make an educator alert in watching and guiding the development of the child's inclinations and movements, for she would be impressed with the idea of her responsibility for any unchecked disposition to evil. The Christian teacher, who believes that original sin "is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam" has, however, no less, if not a much greater, incentive to the faithful discharge of her duties: She need not trouble herself with knotty questions of polemical controversy. Whether the mind of the child is by nature inclined to what is good, whether it is entirely neutral or

inert, until operated upon, or whether it is inclined to evil, are questions with which she need not necessarily interfere. Whether the child has free will, or is the subject either of election or of reprobation, are also questions to which her inclination may, but neither her duty nor necessity do, lead her. It is hers to obey the precepts of God, not to endeavour to be wise above what is written. Not GOD's purposes with regard to her pupils, but His precepts concerning them, should be the subject of her diligent inquiry and pursuit. As an educator she should feel herself untrammelled by the quibblings or differences of sectaries, or by the dogmas of any system. Principles-Christian principles-should guide her, and as for her plans for carrying out those principles, it matters not to what religious denomination they pertain; they are but means to an end, and if they involve no compromise of principle, she need not scruple to adopt them whether they were proposed by the Pope in the Vatican or by an itinerant preacher in a barn.

There are few, very few, popular educators who have not a leaning to, a predilection for, some particular system in preference to others, and of course it will be that system which, in their judgment, enunciates practically what appear to them the most important educational principles. This is, to a certain extent, as it should be; but the adoption of a system, unless it be a correct and wellunderstood system, involves disadvantages of no trivial nature as regards educational progress. Examine the educational systems now in vogue, or rather look to their results; have they, has any one of them answered the expectations so sanguinely raised in the public mind from time to time? We are aware that the advocates of conflicting systems, and of principles diametrically opposed to each other, will severally answer in the affirmative. Would that the candid and impartial inquirer could do the same! No one can deny that many generous efforts have been made, much labour has been bestowed, large sums of money have been expended, and that much good has been effected by zealous philanthropists and by a liberal and discerning public. No one will deny that of late years a large number of elementary educational institutions have sprung up and have proved, and doubtlessly will long prove a real blessing to our land and to the world, but has the country reason to be fully satisfied with the working of these institutions? Are the results of any one of them sufficiently satisfactory, especially with regard to female education, to warrant educationists to urge on the govern

ment the adoption and extension of its system both with regard to principles and practice? Unhesitatingly we reply, No. At the same time we give those who have the management of these institutions in their hands full credit for the zeal, integrity, persevering patience, and self-denial which have distinguished them, and marked the progress of their laborious and praiseworthy career. Future ages will say of such, as we say of the Reformers of the 16th century, they did their best-they did, not what should have been done, nor what might have been done, but what expediency and policy seemed to warrant them in doing. We have numerous model schools, but where are the model children? We admit that the public expenditure for popular education is insignificant in comparison to what it should be, but it is enormous in comparison to what it ever was before; and the fact cannot be disguised that, with the exception of those interested pecuniarily or otherwise in the various educational institutions and systems, there exists much dissatisfaction on the part of the nation. The knowledge of this fact occasions the publication of countless works on education, gives rise to popular lectures, to practical experiments, and to many other modes of bringing the subject before the public.

Those who have striven arduously and well to promote education in public schools perceive that very many masters and mistresses of private schools have laboured more effectually than trained and certificated teachers who have had every facility afforded them for carrying out the educational theories inculcated at the training institutions; they find here and there an elementary school, in which no pretensions to superiority are assumed, equal to if not excelling many a model school in many or all particulars. In elementary schools mistresses as well as masters, excelling in intellectual attainments, are not unfrequently found to be indifferent and consequently inefficient teachers. Again, it is no uncommon circumstance to find those who are sound scholars and good teachers sadly deficient in educating power; by "educating power" we mean that well-directed moral influence which can sway "wayward childhood" and guide every passion aright.

Dr. Edmund Calamy justly observes, "All the passions in themselves, simply considered, are neither good nor evil. Love, hate, hope, fear, joy, sorrow, and the rest, as they are parts of our nature, are things indifferent; but when they are fitly circumstantiated and ordered, they become morally good, and serve many excellent pur