derstands that the word cat means cats in general, and not merely an individual, and of judgment when he compares distances, &c.; but without dwelling on these remarks, we with pleasure repeat, that the sound sense, and judicious observations the reader will meet with, the just estimate of life, and the spirit of piety and virtue breathed through the whole; a piety strict without being gloomy, and a virtue firm, but not ascetic, must make the work be numbered among those publications calculated to bring to their author the best reward, the consciousness of having done good. ART. II. An Essay on Education; in which are particularly considered the Merits and the Defects of the Discipline and Instruction in our Academies. By the Rev. WILLIAM BARROW, LL.D. F. A. S. Author of the Bampton Lecture for 1799, and late Master of the Academy in Soho-Square, London. 12mo. 2 vols. pp. 314 and 333. AMONG the treatises on education, few, comparatively, have been written by those who have actually engaged in it as a business. Systems for home education, however elaborate or ingenious, do not apply to the generality of youth (we mean to speak of boys only), who ever have, and, probably, ever must be brought up under the discipline of schools public or private. What those schools are, and what they should be, the advantages enjoyed, and the risks incurred by the scholars, the grievances of the masters, and the frequent disappointment of the parents, are here set forth in a manner which shews the publication to be the result of sound sense and real experience. Dr. Barrow speaks with just indignation against those seminaries, so frequent in the vicinity of London, where the master himself possesses no qualification for his office, but the skill of conducting a boarding house; where, consequently, the parent loses his money, and the scholar his time; and the servility, the false pretensions, and the impositions on one side, are fairly traced to their true source, the parsimony of who will not give, in parents, the first instance, that liberal stipend which would engage a man of letters, and preclude the necessity of encreasing it by mean arts. Of the little respect which, in proportion to its utility, the character of a schoolmaster obtains among the other classes of society, of the difficulties thrown in his way by the folly, suspicion, or illiberal behaviour of parents, Dr. Barrow speaks with an acuteness of feeling which is evidently not the result of observation alone. "They (these grievances) exhaust that patience in the teacher, which ought to be reserved for the instruction and bent of his pupils; they scrctimes under his temper so irritable, that he can hardly be considered as fit for his own profession: they accelerate mother blazoning the merits of her heir; still adequate to the performance of his task, and patience to be instructed how to perform it. He is required to possess judgment enough to determine the most proper studies, and the most suitable destinations for his pupils; and complaisance at all times to submit his own opinion to the opinions of those who have employed him; moral principle enough to ensure on all occasions the faithful discharge of his duties; and forbearance to hear those principles continually suspected, and his diligence and fidelity called in question. It is expected that he shall be daily exposed to the severest trials of his temper, but neither require, nor be allowed any indulgence for its occasional excesses; and that he be able to secure all the good effects of discipline, without the use of the only means which ever yet procured them. He is expected to feel that conscious digaity which science confers upon its possessor; and yet to descend without reluctance to teach infants their alphabet; to possess genesity enough to maintain his pupils liberally without a liberal stipend; and insensibility enough to permit his demands to be taxed by those by whom they ought to be most readily and gratefully discharged. That many parents appear to expect this variety of talents in the teachers of their sons, the masters of academies know to their sorrow and their cost; but where such constellations of excellence are to be found, it is surely needless to enquire. The glasses of Herschel, in the search, would sweep the regions of space in vain." With regard to his own system, Mr. Barrow is a declared enemy to all the softnesses and indulgences of modern life, to that relaxation of parental and magisterial authority, which is generally allowed to have taken place of late years he speaks (we had almost said con amore) in favour of the good cld practice of flogging, "without the use or the fear of which," he says, (perhaps with some truth) no good classic scholar was ever yet made." He sets his face against all those novelties which so many ingenious people have deemed improvements in the mode of instruction, against the deceptive system of playing children into learning, or reasoning them into obedience, against infant libraries filled with natural history, and French philanthropy, which, he complains, have superseded the bible and the catechism; against playing tricks with electrical machines, and studying the botanical names of weeds under a hedge, instead of applying to mathematics, or Greek and Latin; and, indeed, we must so far agree with ANN. REV. VOL. I. "Our public schools, properly so called, are unsuitable places of education for those who are designed for any private station, for try, or the patient diligence of trade. Young the retirement and tranquillity of the coun men do not there learn the sciences best adapted to such persons; and they usually acquire notions, habits, and connexions, and sometimes vices too, incompatible with their future destination. The mechanic does not willingly receive his apprentice, nor the merchant select his clerk, from amongst the pupils of a public school; nor has the pupil of a public school more inclination than aptitude to become the clerk or the apprentice. Our academies are the places where education suitable to such stations is to be sought; and in many of them it may undoubledly be found. Sometimes, indeed, an attempt is made to unite the advantages of both. For, in the conduct of education, what absurdity can be named, which human folly has not, in some instance, endeavoured to reduce to practice? From a principle of of valuable connexions, or from some other mistaken pride, from the hope and prospect personal or general motive, a youth is not unfrequently fixed for a few years, at Eton or Westminster, and afterwards placed at an academy, to learn the qualifications requisite for trade. But the first part of this scheme usually frustrates the last. The master of an academy generally finds a youth of this des cription amongst the most turbulent and refractory of his pupils. He comes prepared to despise alike the persons, the instructions, and the authority of his teachers; and determines not to submit to what he deems the intolerable confinement and degrading drudgery of his destined occupation. He insists, too resolutely to be refused, on an appoint ment in the navy or the army; and leaves his parents to repent at leisure the disap pointinent of their hopes, and the folly of their plan." The author proceeds to give his sen timents on various points, some adapted to different modes of education, others, as health and morals, common to all, PP and the reader will find many excellent remarks mingled with notices of elementary books, and directions in the mode of communicating knowledge, which, from an experienced teacher, are valuable hints. These, we must be allowed to think, would have been more extensively useful, had not the author shewn himself so decidedly hostile to the principles of free enquiry and civil liberty. The leaven of high church politics pervades every chapter. Mr. Barrow, as a scholar, ought to know how inimical it would eventually prove to the interests of literature, if, as he strenuously urges, no man were allowed to teach without taking out a licence from the bishop of the diocese. A zeal for establishments both in church and state, seems paramount to every other consideration. The study of the French language is discouraged, lest their books should corrupt the principles of youth; and boys are to be taught religion at school, because Christianity is a part of the laws of the land. It cannot be wondered at, that with such sentiments he speaks in terms of pointed disapproba tion of those members of the church of England who send their children to dissenting schools. We could suggest to him one reason for this practice. It is because in many towns the established clergy want either the sobriety, the literature, or, at least, the necessity for exertion, requisite to make them able to fulfil, and willing to undertake the task. In his last chapter, on the effects of the French revolution, the author is much too angry to philosophise well. We observe a singular error of the press, in one of these chapters. It is said, that at one period there prevailed, as we are told by Locke, in his treatise on education, so general a passion for literature, among the ingenuous youth of Portugal, that it was as difficult to restrain them as to excite others. Never having heard this anecdote of the Portuguese youth, we were at first rather startled, till it occurred, that the author must have meant Port Royal. We cannot dismiss these volumes without observing, that they are well written, and in a stile flowing and dignified. ART. III. The Parent's Friend; or, Extracts from the principal Works on Education, from the Time of Montaigne to the present Day, methodized and arranged, with Observations and Notes, by the Editor. 8vo. 2 vols. pp. 737. WHEN books are multiplied, compendiums become necessary, either in the way of abstract and analysis, or by giving what the French are so fond of, under the name of l'esprit d'un auteur, a kind of essence, in which resides the spirit and more peculiar excellencies of a writer. This latter method has been followed by the compiler of the Parent's Friend, with regard to the most capital books which have been published on education, from which are selected thoughts and observations, ranged, not indeed under the names of the authors, but under the different heads of food, schools, choice of books, obedience, manners, &c. At the end of the different chapters are added not unfrequently a few observations from the editor, who seems to be sensible and unassuming. The list of authorities contains the names of 47 authors, who have either professedly or incidentally written on education, from Montaigne and Fenelon, down to Miss Edge. worth and Miss Hamilton. When the earlier writers are brought into such close comparison with the moderns, one is struck among other things with the great improvement in point of stile. The first passage in the volume happens to be from the celebrated Locke, and be gins thus, "I lay it down as a general and certain observation, for the women to consider, that most children's constitu tions are either spoiled or at least harmed by cockering and tenderness;" let this notable sentence be compared with the energetic expression, the full period and the real harmony of Mrs. H. Moore, which will also be found in these volumes, and we shall be surprised at the contrast. These volumes contain much good matter, and will afford both useful and agreeable reading to those who may not have money to purchase, or leisure to peruse the original authors. Some difference of system will occasionally be seen, which the compiler declares she has not been solicitous entirely to avoid, but in-general the sentiments thus collected may be supposed to agree with her own, as we think they also do with reason and good sense. If the rising generation do not excel all preceding ones, it will surely not be for want of good advice, for they have line upon line, and precept upon precept. ART. IV. Elements of general Knowledge, introductory to useful Books in the principal Branches of Literature and Science; with Lists of the most approved Authors, including the best Editions of the Classics; designed chiefly for the junior Students in the Universities, and the higher Classes in Schools. By HENRY KETT, B.D. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 450, 4.80. A SEVERE sentence has been passed upon every tree that beareth not good fruit, and the same unerring voice said that by their fruit we should know them. Were the parable applied to our universities, we fear the pruning knife would be loudly called for. Like the fig-tree they are leafy and green, and to the eye, flourishing, but where are their fruits? a single Benedictine monastery, says Gibbon, has produced more valuable works than both our universities: notwithstanding the Codex of Dr. Kipling, and the Septuagint of Dr. Holmes; notwithstanding Bampton lectures, and Seaton prize poems; notwithstanding even the Strabo with which the Clarendon press has been thirty years parturient, the assertion of Gibbon remains true. What has Dr. Parr proved when, with his usual good nature, but not his usual judgment, he strung together the names. of all the eminent and would-be eminent men who had been matriculated at Oxford or Cambridge? Orators, statesmen, philosophers, poets are not formed by academical culture, by sleeping at chapel or in the lecture rooms, or by committing to memory the miserable syllogisms which have descended from one generation to another. What lustre can Oxford derive from Locke of whom she boasts, but whom she expelled? It is to the productions which the universities. send forth from their own presses, to the labours of their beneficed members of the body corporate of literature that we must look. Is there honey in the hive, or is the nest a nest of drones? The publication before us is strictly an academical work. "It contains," says Mr. Kett, "the substance of a course of lectures, which I have occasionally read to my pupils during the last twelve years. The satisfaction which they expressed on hearing them has encouraged me to hope, that they will not prove unacceptable to those, for whose use they are now made public. "To assert a claim to originality in such a work as this would perhaps only be equiva lent to a confession of its demerit. Mypretensions to public regard must depend in no small degree upon the manner in which I have clothed old ideas in a new dress, and upon my skill in compressing within a moluminous works. Upon all my subjects I derate compass the substance of large and vohave endeavoured to reflect light from every quarter which my reading would afford. My references, and the books mentioned in my appendix, will shew the sources from which I have derived my principal information; but it would be almost an endless, and perhaps a very ostentatious task, to enumerate all my literary obligations. "There are a few topics indeed, with respect to which I think I may be allowed to assert some claims to novelty. For many of my remarks on the Greek language I am indebted principally to my own observations upon its nature and comparative merits; the history of Chivalry, important as the influence of that remarkable institution has been upon manners, is a subject upon which I have not been able to collect much information from English authors; and the history of the revival of classical learning, although a topic of the strongest interest to every man of letters, has never been fully treated by any writer, with whose works I am acquainted." The wordiness of the introductory chapter brought to our minds an inauspicious recollection of the fig-tree; there are leaves in abundance, but we searched among them vainly for fruit. "To separate some of the most useful and the most beautiful parts from the great mass of human knowledge; to arrange them in such regular order, that they may be inspected with ease, and varied at pleasure; and to recommend them to the careful examination of young men who are studiously disposed, constitute the design of the author of this work." We allow Mr. Kett his exordium, perceiving that he commences as naturally with the first" constituent part of a discourse" as a dancing-master places h m self in the third position when he begins to make his bow. Mr. Kett proceeds to shew the utility of general knowledge, and that it is that which produces in mixed parties, the "I consider myself as assuming the office of a guide to the youthful and inexperienced traveller, and as undertaking to point out the interesting prospects of a charming country, without aspiring to the accuracy of a topographer, or the diligence of an antiquarian. I shall conduct him, who commits himself to my directions, from a low and narrow valley, where his views have been closely confined, to the summit of a lofty mountain: when he has reached the proper point of view, he will feel his faculties expand, he will breathe a purer air, enjoy a wider horizon, and observe woods, lakes, mountains, plains, and rivers, spreading beneath his feet in delightful prospect. From this commanding eminence, I shall point out such places as are most deserving his researches; and finally, I shall recommend him to those who will prove more instructive, and more pleasing companions, through the remaining part of his journey." The first class consists of two chapters upon the christian religion: this subject as its importance deserves, is treated of at some length, and on the whole welltreated, though on some proofs the author insists with more zeal than discrimination. Class the second is upon language. We must transcribe the exordium of the chapter. "The principles and characteristics of language render it a subject of pleasing and useful inquiry. It is the general vehicle of our ideas, and represents by words all the conceptions of the mind. Books and conversation are the offspring of this prolific parent. The former introduce us to the treasures of learning and science, and make us acquainted with the opinions, discoveries, and transactions of past ages; by the latter, the general intercourse of society is carried ou, and our ideas are conveyed to each other with nearly the same rapidity with which they arise in the mind. Language, in conjunction with reason, to which it gives its proper activity, use, and ornament, raises man above the lower order of animals; and, ia proportion as it is polished and refined, exalts one nation above another in the scale of civilization and intellectual dignity." This is not the only instance of Mr. Kett's proficiency in the use of that con stituent part of a discourse, termed am plification; by the proper use of which constituent part, themes and declamations are spun to the length required, as tavern-waiters contrive to make a glass which is but half full of liquor, overflow with froth. In this chapter the author supports the opinion of Johnson, that language must have come by inspiration, and he adduces some striking etymological instances to prove that all languages were derived originally from one and the same source. If, however, it be true that the different tribes of savages in New Holland do not understand each other, it would follow that languages are confluent, not difflu ent. The section upon letters affords another specimen of Mr. Kett's skill in wire-drawing; he expatiates upon their use in epistolary correspondence, informs us that letters record the words of the dead; there needs not one either from the dead or from the university to tell us this. The characteristic distinctions between ancient and modern languages furnish a better section; from this we shall make some selections. "In proportion as the Goths made more successful and extensive ravages in the Rowith that of their captives, and the coarse man empire, their phraseology was blended dialect of Provence and Sicily contributed Italian language; in the same manner as the many ingredients to the composition of the fusion of the precious and baser metals at the conflagration of Corinth is said to have produced the valuable mixture, which derives its name from that celebrated city. As in the features of the Italian ladies, the curious traveller may now discern a striking likeness of the faces engraved on antique gems ; so in the language of that country, he may discover a strong resemblance to the original from which it is derived. If it wants the strength and majesty of the latin, ît inherits that delicacy and melodious flow of expres sion, which never fail to charm every reader of taste, in the works of Dante, Ariosto, Petrarch, Machiavel, Algarotti, and Metastasio. It is the singular glory of Italy, that while the early poets and historians of France and England are become in a great measure obsolete, her writers, who flourished so early as the fourteenth century, are read with the fashionable authors of the present times, and share their popularity and applause." Perhaps our language is the stronger for its slow growth; the richest fruits are the longest in maturing. Our lan |