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formed and whose lawscustomsand privileg...
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Jritics are no ttize legislators, but th...
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Through the combined influence of "The C...
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FORESTER'S RAMBLES. Itambles in the Isla...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Formed And Whose Lawscustomsand Privileg...
formed and whose lawscustomsand privileges formed 568 TIE LEADER . V " [ tfa . 429 , June 12 , 1858 . 1 ( " . ¦ ¦ * ^ h 4 K 1 «— ^ tf *» # k ^ % ¦_ ^ % & jfc » WJ ' ¦ I 1 ¦ ¦ ^ w ^ 1 - *« «^ — _ * ta J ^ - ^
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literature - ,, ' " ...
Jritics Are No Ttize Legislators, But Th...
Jritics are no ttize legislators , but the judges and police ofliterature . Jhey do not makelaws-they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review . ,
Through The Combined Influence Of "The C...
Through the combined influence of " The College of Preceptors" and the 'OxifordiExainijiatioiis , ' a powerful impxilse has been given to the direct-work of education in middle-class schools . The standard of acquirement has been greatly raised , and the method of instruction improved , in a number of these institutions . An honourable rivalry has arisen amongst the masters to render their system of teaching as effective as possible , and to test its working before
a ' competent tribunal . These are important results , well worth , the effort made to secure them . But , notwithstanding the great improvement thus effected , the radical educational defects of middle-class boarding-schools still remain . They are , in fact , inherent to these institutions as at present constituted , arising out of their limited , local , and sectarian character . The evils may perhaps be summed up in the word " private , " which is their usual and appropriate designation . However largely theoretical morality maybe inculcated in such places , their practical moral training must necessarily be weak and inefficient . Small partialities , narrow standards of excellence , and injurious personal influences must more or less prevail . Beneath the pervading influence of one man—the master—however good he may he , there can be
but little , scope fox the free play and healthful collision of individual character amongst the boys . There can be none of that vigorous public ' opinion , ' strong to reward and strong to punish , wliich , acting continually in' the whole social life of a mixed multitude of youths , forms such an admirable discipline in our great public schools . And in the moral training of boys , the mechanical pressure of superior authority , however visely exerted , is but a poor substitute for the vital force of mutual example . The commercial relation of supply and demand between the master and boys in such schools is a radically false and injurious one . The master will , consciously , ox unconsciously , naturally tend to accommodate his own views of education to the supposed feelings and wishes of the parents . Hence one of the characteristic
evils of the better middle-class schools—the adoption of the so-called "domestic system , " by which the bleak and hungry Dotheboys Hall of former days is converted into an attractive " Agapemone" of luxurious living and abundant recreation . The advertisements of such schools now generally promise that the incoming pupil will be treated as " one of the family . " Such promises are generally delusive ; and even supposing they could be fully realized , one of the great virtues of school discipline would be altogether lost . The mutual influence of a number of boys on each other is a far more rigorous and practical moral training than any home education can be . Principles
may be inculcated at home ; but , in the family circle , there is but little opportunity of reducing them at once to practice in circumstances and collisions similar to those of after active life . In a great public school , however , all principles are swiftly reduced to practice , in a boyish world of life and action , which , for diversity of character and temperament , as well as for the free play of individual responsibility , is a faithful mirror of the larger world of men . Not only , however , in practical moral discipline , but in intellectual culture , public schools have immense advantages over private schools and domestic education . These are well pointed out in a pamphlet recently published , to ¦ which we ' are anxious to direct the attention of those amongst our readers who
take an active interest in the subject of Middle-class Education . Tins pamphlet , by Mr . Hay man , Head Master of Southwark Free Grammar School , is entitled , Can toe adapt the Public School System to the Middle Classes ? It is a careful and minute discussion of this most interesting subject , written by a practical man , and abounding with practical suggestions . We have marked many passages , hut have only space for two ; the first referring to the advantages of the public school system over that of day and private schools ; the second , to the general branches of education at present neglected in the education of boy 3 : —
But all these are trifling drawbacks , as compared with the capital defect that the school itself is weakened in all its vital functions , and sinks into a lower type of life , for want of that strong and active sense of membership one of another , -which heats in the pulse of a public school , giving to the feebler members something of energy derived from the whole , and generating that ever influential public opinion amongst the hoys themselves , for which nothing can he effectively substituted . In a day school , the borne influence is still the predominant element , which a fellowship in lessons and in a small degree in recreations can . but scantily counterpoise . There the temptations incident to the system of domestic and of public-school education are in a great degree combined , without the securities of either being proportionally
enjoyable . But the faults whicli there spring up , like -weeds of the soil , and give the master no rest , are not those which boyish society , as such , is apt to generate , but -which originate elsewhere , and , through the laxity of the system , are constantly creeping in . The enfeebled esprit de corps , as compared -with that of a public school , shows itself not only in the truancy and kindred evasions to which boys tempt each Other , in defiance alike of parental censure and of scholastic penalty , but in the loose attendance and frivolous excuses for absenco to which parents too often lend themselves . If the family are in a poor condition of life ,-it requires a high degree of selfdenial in . a parent to deprive himself on many occasions of the services of a ready 4 na willing boy ; and nothing but a determined resistance on the part of the schoolmaster can , in such circumstances , Bare the school from a mischievous system of licensed truancy .
once a part , , , a part of them A day school can hardly enter deep enough into a boy ' s heart for this . As regards the question of private boarding-schools , they lack the healthy influence of a sense of public law and responsibility , and suffer from the fact of the proprietor and chief teacher being often the same person , and of depending too much for their well-beinp on the character of one individual ; besides which , though sometimes dear and bad they are seldom cheap and good . With the exception , then , of a few rar e and one ! sided characters , and a few more of boys who ripen Late , and are anachro nisms in boyhood , a large public-school ia the best educational engine we have . Amongst purely general branches of education there are , however , two , which in our own countiy have not yet gained the position which they deserve . I speak of the training of the eye and of the ear , the noblest of the special faculties by which external phenomena enter the mind . The eye requires the hand , and the ear the voice , as the assistant , each of its respective operations ; nor does the ear wholly dispense with the use of the hand , by the help of which some of the primary distinctions of sound are most easily noted . The latter of these two has been the general favourite where either has been allowed a place in education . There is little doubt that , although these ^^ ^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^^ * ^
studies deserve such a place , they labour under some disadvantage , owing to tie-widely varying degrees in which individuals are gifted with the faculties necessary . But there is some reason to doubt -whether some degree of this disparity be not chargeable upon the neglect itself . Another fact which we ought to consider is , that defects ' or disparities in respect to sound and form , strike not only the critic , but the general observer , with more force , precisely because they appeal to sensible observation . Of the defects or disparities of mental faculties , purely mental faculties judge , but of what is meant to be seen and heard , sight and hearing are the sole criteria ; thus such disparities are more clearly marked and more broadly measured than those in the power of analysis or of computation can be . It is curious to observe how their reputation as being " fine" arts has" prevented the popularity of these studies , and ho w , by a similar result of moral wstheticism , they have been for some time constantly included in the studies of the female sex in " this country , and nearly as constantly , -until very lately , excluded from those of the male . This latter fact is a practical answer to the objection , that the gifts which their cultivation requires are too irregularly distributed to admit of such studies being general . We . may allow a degree of this irregularity to exist without being obliged to abandon the studies .
The greater prominence , however , which physical studies are gradually acquiring , in proportion , to the extension of man ' s scientific empire over matter , claims for form , and in a less degree for colour , a larger recognition than it has yet enjoyed ; and for some satisfaction of this imperative call education will have to find room . One might surely add , that geography cannot be worthily studied without the aid of drawing . Every geographer ought to be in a degree his own draughtsman . Relative position , relief , and projection , these are what alone can give to that study the consciousness of reality which redeems it from being a thing of mechanism and memory . With regard to the general usefulness of music , especially vocal music , as a study , I may quote the opinion of Mr . Hullah , who assures me that " one of the readiest and severest tests of the average refinement of any large body , whether of men or bovs , is
the quality of sound they produce in singing together . " Without claiming for myself , on such a subject , the authority and experience which belongs to the author of this remark , I think there are philosophic grounds for its substantial accuracy . For it seems an admitted law , that , by combating the symptoms which give outward expression to any inward moral . state-, we effectually combat the condition which gives rise to them . As drill . not merely corrects a particular outward clumsiness , but conveys a disposition in favour of orderly and methodical movement , and tends to form a habit of gracefulness , so it would seem likely to be with sounds , and with the inward condition from which their characteristic expression springs . With a view , then , to the general management of the voice , music ia undoubtedly the best training , whilst as a mental discipline it enjoys the advantages of a regular science .
BUt the weakness of the bond which pervades a day school is perhaps most perceptible in the feelings-with which its adult pupils in after life regard it . What they feel Js . rather a debt of personal gratitude to a teacher , than of affection for the institution . They do not regard it as public-school men look back to the nccno of the life of their youth , nor sympathize with it ap with a living vrholo , of which they
Forester's Rambles. Itambles In The Isla...
FORESTER'S RAMBLES . Itambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia . With Notices of their History , Antiquities , and Present Condition . By Thomas Forester , Author of ' Norway in 184 . 8-49 , " & c . Longman and Co . The Corsicans , Mr . Forester assures us , hold the name of Pascal Paoli in infinitely more reverence than that of Napoleon Bonaparte . They , least of all the European races , have been dazzled into injustice by the accident of the Emperor ' s fame . Paoli is their hero . He fought the ltist battleof their independence ; he gave them constitutional government and a wise administration ; his public character -was free from all taint ; but Napoleon despised the islanders , and did nothing for them except to construct those military roads which ensured their subjugation . In recent French memoirs we have read reports upon Corsica from the imperial agents , accompanied
by expressions of wonder that Bonaparte never seemed to remember , except with disgust , his insular origin . That Mr . Forester , familiar with the beaten paths of travel , should turn aside to Corsica , was not surprising . He relishes the picturesque , and has a hungry eye for antiquities and manners ; in Corsica he found both , with the additional advantage . that the world has not been wearied by the narratives of incessant tourists , published at the malicious instigation of friends . Boswell described the island nearly a century ago , and sat at the hoard of Paoli , and Benson , in 1825 , produced some short sketches of its history , scenery , and people ; but , with these exceptions , nothing of consequence had been written on the subject , and Mr . Forester hardly exaggerates when lie affirms that up to a recent date Corsica was lesa known to the English reader than New Zealand . Gregorovious , it is true , had printed a work in Germany , which had . been translated into English , but th « s volume , interesting and useful , although sligat-ly extravagant , far from anticipated all that Mr . Forester has to tell . The book before us is in all respects new : the brilliant lithographs bring new tne
landscapes before our eyes , and new glimpses are opened by each ol hundred little pencillings -which break , like bright islands , the broad flowof the narrative . The torn * was commenced at Capo Corso , the northern p oint ot the island , and thence Mr . Forester penetrated the interior with a convpanion , on mule or on foot , visiting the mountain hamlets , cliatting with the peasantry , collecting anecdotes of Napoleon and Paoli , of bri gandage and vendetta , and gathering the materials of a narrative more fresh and agreeable than has lately come before us . Almost the entire island is described in a style at once vivid and simple , and the illustrations of manners and customs which fell under Mr . forester ' s observation were in all respe cts of a singularly curious diameter , so completely have the Corsicans retained their traditions . In Sardinia , though the ground i 9 not bo untrodden , ¦&«• Forester was also enabled , by hia practice of striking into tho seclusion s ot the country beyond tho limits of ordinury travel , to possess himself of much remarkable inlormntion , especially in connexion With the survival of pagun
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12061858/page/16/
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