horrible misery is concealed under the luxury of great cities; which may impress upon them most profoundly the true feeling of conservatism and progression: for a horror of the wisest innovations, a contempt for the most judicious methods of perfecting the ordinary processes, form, in general, the agricultural creed of the labourers, and education alone can change them.'-p. 46.

Those in our own country who interest themselves in the education of the poor may derive some useful suggestions from M. Girardin-(leaving entirely apart the question of classical education, as concerns our higher orders).-The education should, as far as possible, be adapted to the future prospects and situation of the child. Whatever general knowledge is superadded to that moral and religious instruction, of which all alike stand in need, should be varied according to local circumstances. While our manufacturing poor might be wisely taught the elements of mechanics, of chemistry, as applied to the arts, and other obvious branches of science, as well as, perhaps, a wider sphere of general information, including, in our opinion, the first principles of political economy, -of wages, profits, capital-our peasantry would be more attractively and more usefully taught all that relates to cottageeconomy, gardening, the keeping of domestic beasts and fowls, bees, the first elements of botany and vegetable physiology, and those other elementary parts of knowledge which our author suggests for the villagers of France.

M. Girardin would of course give a much higher education, in the same branches of knowledge, to the landed proprietors,-a class, which, as it actually exists, may, we presume, be described as something between our resident country gentlemen and our yeomanry. The present system of university-education he considers altogether unsuited to their future, and, as he would wish, more permanent occupation.

'It is among the sons of proprietors in easy circumstances that our university education makes, perhaps, the greatest number of victims; for it rarely happens that they are not sent hastily and without reflection to a college, from which they come forth, without guide, without experience, without superintendence, to follow, with the throng of youths of their own age, the course of a faculty, to run the risk of bad company in a populous city, to embarrass their fortune with debts, and injure their health with excess; and that, instead of receiving a good rural education, from the age of fifteen to twenty, which would qualify them to become the bailiffs (régisseurs), or farmers of their parents, to manage their patrimony, to improve it, and to set the example of good methods of cultivation, applied with judgment to the land; to place themselves, in short, at the head of a new generation, and of agricultural reform, which can alone, in France, put an end to the general beggary (prolétariat), to the demoralisation of the people, to the disorganisation

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of classes, to the pernicious influence of Paris and the great cities, to political dissensions and social revolutions. When population is on the increase, and production is not, misery alone is making progress; when manufactures are embarrassed, and artisans are thrown out of work, revolutions are prepared by riots for the power which represses them for a time, only suffers them to gather strength for a greater and more formidable outbreak..

The proprietors,' proceeds M. Girardin, in another eloquent passage, who do not manage their own property, who abandon the labours of the field for the idleness of towns, are traitors to their own interests: they deprive the land, from which they live, of the capital which is necessary to render it fertile; they abandon the elections to intrigue; they isolate themselves from all improvements; they desert the liberties which they ought to defend; they compel the municipal councils to recruit themselves with none but men without instruction or intelligence, who, in their turn, exclude them, when, by accident, they are present to take a part in the business; they are canvassers for paid offices, and disdain those of mayors; they reach, at length, the legislative tribune without having formed themselves, by municipal discussions, for parliamentary debates; there, ignorant and mute, they listen to the speakers, and, without respect or influence, increase the number of passive members; they sit without being able to trace out with accuracy any abuse of the government; they vote the budget, which they disapprove, but know not how to reduce-and quit the chamber to accuse it of ignorance and incapacity.'-p. 187.

These are singular revelations of the present workings of French society: they are evidently from the pen of a clever and practised writer trained in the school of journalism-and therefore, perhaps, to be received with some caution: but if the statement be true, that four-fifths of the whole population, of thirtythree millions, are concerned in the cultivation of the soil (p. 45); if six millions of these are landed proprietors (p. 191); and if the more astounding assertion be correct, or approximate to the truth, that of these thirty-three millions scarely a thirtieth part can read (p. 53), it is impossible to deny either the paramount importance of the subject to the interests of France, and through France to Europe, or the justice of the author's principles,-the wisdom and necessity of elevating, by any means in the power of the government and of the Chambers, the agricultural part of the community. It is the old policy, in fact, as our author justly observes, of Sully himself. One, however, of the coactive measures of M. Girardin,-the disfranchisement of all voters, from a given period, who cannot read and write-whatever may be its expediency,-is, we suspect, far too wide and sweeping to be listened to with any favour by the imperfectly educated representatives of utterly uneducated constituents.

France already possesses a few establishments expressly designed

designed for agricultural instruction. We shall notice the most important of these when we arrive at that part of his work which treats on professional education. But before we leave altogether that which belongs to primary, and strictly popular education, we are inclined to make a few extracts from his chapter on schools for females, of which he estimates the importance very highly,not too highly, in our opinion, in the present state of France, where everything which can give dignity and solidity to the female character is among those regenerating influences, to which alone we can look with rational and sober hope. We know not on what authority M. Girardin makes this striking assertion :—

'There is no instance of a mother who can read and write, whose children are not likewise able to read and write. If it is impossible for the mother to send them to school, however laborious her occupation, she always finds time to teach them herself. This is not the case with the fathers, who, whether educated themselves or not, are utterly indifferent to the education of their children, and very rarely take the trouble of instructing them themselves, or even of ascertaining what progress they make in the school.'

He adds, to give instruction to girls is to open a school in the bosom of every family; open, then, a school, or at least a class, for them in every commune." We are sorry to inform Miss Martineau, that M. Girardin, with all his respect for the importance of the sex, protests against what is called the emancipation of women.' In theory, at least, notwithstanding Lady Morgan, Man in France still aspires to be the master. Ridicule, our author does not scruple to assert, in utter condemnation of his countrymen for their levity and want of genuine philosophy, would be an insurmountable obstacle to all these lofty schemes of female independence: he uses even this gravely condescending tone, that the law of France, 'in harmony with nature and the advancement of civilisation, does not enslave women; it respects and protects them.' We proceed in his own words:

'Dans l'éducation des femmes, c'est moins encore le bonheur de leur existence que l'utilité de leur mission qu'il faut considérer: dans toutes les descriptions et les dissertations, la femme n'apparaît jamais qu'en second ordre de là l'imperfection de l'instruction qu'elle reçoit, quelque poétique que soit le nom qu'on lui donne de "douce compagne de P'homme," etc. Considérée sous ce point de vue, plus pastoral que social, l'instruction superficielle des femmes s'explique; il n'est pas nécessaire, en effet, que leur instruction soit plus profonde, si leur destinée doit se borner à cette condition accessoire et passive. Mais si à l'idylle du poête vous substituez la pensée du législateur, si vous délaissez le passé pour l'avenir, si à la place de l'épouse vous ne voyez plus que la mère, les rôles aussitôt changeront:-à la femme appartiendra le pre

mier, à l'homme le second; dans ce dernier vos yeux ne verront plus que le fils élevé par sa mère.

'C'est alors que l'instruction des femmes vous paraîtra incomplète et superficielle, entièrement contraire au but qu'elle devrait se proposer; c'est alors qu'involontairement votre esprit se surprendra faisant justice de ces lieux communs qui étoilent les sociétés, tels que ceux-ci: “La femme est faite pour plaire et pour aimer-La femme, douce moitié de l'homme-compagne de sa vie, etc.;" c'est alors que votre esprit s'empressera de reconnaître que des deux conditions de la femme celle de mère est la première, que celle d'épouse n'est que la seconde; la maternité est sa vocation, elle élève la femme au-dessus de l'homme;. le mariage n'est qu'une fonction qui met au contraire la femme dans la dépendance de l'homme. Former des mères dignes de ce nom, capables d'exercer avec discernement cette première des fonctions sociales, tel doit être le but de l'instruction des filles; former des épouses qui soient des compagnes douces, agréables et fidèles, sera tout naturellement le résultat de la bonne éducation puisée au sein de la famille; cette éducation sera d'autant meilleure qu'elle sera plus commune, qu'elle aura pour rudiment des exemples plus souvent que des préceptes: sans y avoir été systématiquement préparée, soyez assuré que la fille sera toujours bonne épouse si l'éducation d'une bonne mère l'a faite à son image. 'Considérée sous ce point de vue tout maternel, quelle est l'instruction qu'il convient de donner aux filles? quelles connaissances leur faudrat-il acquérir?

A toutes les questions qui peuvent être faites nous répondrons par une seule ligne qui renferme tout notre programme de l'éducation des filles :

"IL FAUT APPRENDRE AUX Femmes ce qu'elles doivent PLUS TARD ENSEIGNER AUX ENFANS QUI NAÎTRONT D'ELLES."

'En d'autres termes : Il faut donner aux filles et aux garçons nés dans la même condition, la même instruction; afin que, dans l'avenir, les filles devenues mères accomplissent ce que l'Université ne fait qu'à demi, dispendieusement et révolutionnairement, et qu'ainsi soient assurées et l'éducation et l'instruction des enfans, sans nuire au bien-être de la famille et sans troubler la hiérarchie sociale telle que la comportent l'égalité civile et la liberté politique.'-pp. 60-63.

The second part of M. Girardin's work treats on a subject with which, we apprehend, the ordinary reader is but little acquainted— the secondary, supplementary, or university education of France. This is, to a certain extent, under the authority and influence of the central government; directly, or indirectly through the communes. We conceive that we shall render an acceptable service to our readers by giving a rapid survey of this subject. Our author includes under the general head of university education,' first, the secondary education (as contradistinguished from the primary or popular); and, secondly, the superior. The secondary education is that of the royal and communal colleges, who prepare for the superior education in the five faculties of theology, law, medi

cine, science, and letters. Both the royal and communal colleges, as we have said, are under the public authorities; but private establishments, distinguished by peculiar success in moral and religious training, or by the activity and solidity of their studies, may be converted into colleges de plein exercice.' They remain private establishments with the privileges of state institutions.

There are forty-two royal colleges, five in Paris, and one in each of the following cities :-Amiens, Angers, Auch, Avignon, Bastia, Besançon, Bordeaux, Bourges, Caen, Cahors, Clermont, Dijon, Douai, Grenoble, Le Puy, Limoges, Lyon, Marseille, Metz, Montpellier, Moulins, Nancy, Nantes, Nîmes, Orleans, Pau, Poitiers, Pontivy, Rennes, Reims, Rhodez, Rouen, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Tournon, Tours, and Versailles. The communal colleges are 308 in number, all in connexion with the central academy of the department, but varying in number according to the extent and population of the department.

In the royal colleges the pupils receive the following religious instruction:-In the first year, the History of the Old Testament, in the second that of the New. Besides these, they learn the Catechism of the diocese, in which they are examined once a week by the almoner. The pupils of the sixth, fifth, fourth, and third classes receive instruction in the Catechism every Thursday before mass. In the second class, the rhetoric class, and the two classes of philosophy, a Conference on religion is substituted for the Catechism. All the classes learn some verses of the Scriptures every day in French, Latin, or Greek. They likewise learn, on Saturday, the Gospel for the following Sunday: the elementary classes in French, the sixth to the third in Latin, and the higher classes in Greek. In the elementary class, besides the sacred history, are taught French and Latin grammar, geography, arithmetic, and writing. In the classes of letters, the professor teaches to the sixth the sacred history, the Selecta e Profanis ac de Viris illustribus urbis Romæ, fables of Phædrus compared with La Fontaine, ancient geography, mythology-writing and arithmetic continued. Fifth class: selections from Justin and Cornelius Nepos, and of the Epistolæ ad Familiares of Cicero; the elements of Greek, fables of Æsop-ancient history, writing and arithmetic continued; living languages as determined by each college. Fourth class: in the morning, selections from Q. Curtius and Livy, Cicero's treatises De Amicitiâ and De Senectute, selections from the Cyropædia; in the evening, selections from the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and History of Rome. Linear drawing, and drawing the human figure, begin in this class, and are continued in the rest. Third class: selections from Sallust and Tacitus, the Latin and Greek moralists; in the evening, selections

from