He has also assisted at thirteen public examinations, and addressed twenty-five public meetings.

The managers of schools are increasingly sensible of the importance of parents' meetings; and their demands for assistance at such gatherings are constantly becoming more numerous and urgent. Several of a deeply interesting kind have been held since our last number, of which the following are specially deserving of notice.

BLOCKLEY.-Though on an unfavourable evening in relation to weather, a large attendance of parents, and other friends of the schools here, was secured, Tea was provided at a moderate charge in the new school-room, where a most enthusiastic and crowded meeting was afterwards held. The girls' school thrives under the new arrangements and teacher, and the boys' school has shown signs of improvement since last year.

EVESHAM. A very spirited meeting of parents was held here, preceded by a tea meeting, which was well attended. The results may best be judged of from an extract from the teacher's communication subsequently received. "Our attendance in the boys' school is upwards of one hundred weekly-a point we have not reached for several years. I attribute it chiefly to the lecture you gave us, by which the subjects taught, and the habits enforced in the school, were brought prominently before the people. I am persuaded that the people did, before this, give us the preference, but they had no idea that so much was aimed at, and endeavoured to be accomplished, as you made known to them."

PERSHORE.-A meeting of parents was very hastily called, and the call was responded to by a crowded assembly in the Temperance Hall. Some of the elder boys and girls were present, and sang a few of their school songs with much taste and effect. The importance of erecting new premises for the schools having been adverted to, the chairman of the meeting, H. Hudson, Esq., assured the assembly that the managers would allow no more delay than was unavoidable in providing suitable buildings for the schools, an announcement which was received with signs of great satisfaction.

FROME. The parents' meeting here was the first held in this particular locality. It was preceded by a tea meeting, at which 240 persons sat down, including the parents and the school managers. The chair was taken by John Sinkins, Esq., who delivered a carefully-prepared and most effective address to the assembly. Addresses were subsequently delivered by the Revs. S. Manning, D. Anthony, B.A., and E. Edwards, Mr. Coombs, and Mr. Baxter. The meeting will, doubtless, be productive of great good, and will, it is hoped, be imitated extensively among the British schools in the neighbourhood.

WINCHESTER.-The fifth annual public examination of these schools was conducted by Mr. Vardy, on the evening of Thursday, March 31st, in the presence of a numerous assemblage, presided over by Charles Wright, Esq., city magistrate. Reading, grammar, mental arithmetic, geography, English and Scripture history, were the subjects of the examination; which also comprised a large number of written copies, maps, and drawings, which were advantageously displayed on a series of tables in the centre of the room. The examination was varied, and proved a highly satisfactory one. At the conclusion of the examination, the Chairman having addressed the meeting, the report was read; after which, addresses were delivered by the Rev. C. Proby, Rector of St. Peter's, Cheesehill; Alfred Pegler, Esq., of Southampton; Mr. Vardy; the Revs. William Thorn and Joseph Moffett, who moved and seconded a vote of thanks to the examiner and the committee of the Parent Society.

Similar meetings and examinations, which we have not space to notice more at length, have been also held at Sedgley, Gornal, Worcester, Wednesbury, Leominster, Bromyard, Wotton-Bassett, Highworth, Sherborne, North Petherton, Dorchester, Lyme Regis, Chippenham, Ross, and other places.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

We are glad to learn from our correspondents that the communications which have appeared in the Educational Record on this subject, in several recent numbers, have been suggestive to our readers of some practical good. It is gratifying to be able to add another instance, kindly sent by the British Teacher at Chippenham.

"When I read the article in the Record for April last, on 'School Libraries,' and of the success of the Warminster school, I was fully convinced that it was my duty to bring the matter under the notice of my own scholars, and see what they would do. They were delighted with the idea. Twenty-three of them at once offered to take collecting books. I promised the one who should collect most money a book worth five shillings, provided it exceeded eight shillings. I allowed them a week to do it in, and at the expiration of that time the money was brought in, amounting in all to £4 7s. 3d., and, in addition, 30 vols. of books, many of them of the right sort. The highest amount obtained by one boy was a guinea, which was given him by his mother because she did not like him to collect. The next amount was 13s. 7d., and the lowest was 10d. Our first outlay was for the purchase of a cupboard. We then sent to Mr. Mack of Bristol for catalogues, and from these selected between sixty and seventy volumes, mostly those of the Religious Tract Society. I have selected twelve of my most trustworthy scholars, who had helped to collect, to form a committee of management, from among whom a Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, and Assistant, were chosen by ballot. It was their wish that I should hold the office of President. We have about thirty subscribers, who pay one penny per month to defray expenses and purchase new works. We also take in three copies of the British Workman and of the Band of Hope Review, and have divided the subscribers into groups of ten. On the first of the month we supply six of the boys with one of the periodicals, each boy being allowed two days for reading it, when he is to return it or pay a fine of one halfpenny, so that within the month the boys have all read them, After paying 44d. for these papers we have 2s. 2d. to put into the treasurer's hands, or yearly £1 5s. 6d. to expend in books or other things. Most of the friends were pleased with the spirit of the boys, and I hope, from the desire manifest among them to obtain the books for perusal, that they will be the better fitted for the duties of this life, and above all seek those books which, if blessed by the Divine influence, will lead them to seek that wisdom which cometh from above.'"'

ON TEACHING HISTORY.

THE following passages are extracted from an essay read at the May meeting of the British Teachers' Association, by Mr. J. C. Curtis, B.A., vice-principal of the Normal College, Borough Road :

"Let us take the early history of our own country, and first its most palpable and darkest aspect. When history first gives a sign, we find the land occupied by a number of partially uncivilized tribes, the victims of many revolting habits and the slaves of a dominant priesthood. Then we have the Roman invasion, and for some time little but well-nigh exterminating slaughter. The people live under the yoke of the conquerors, are compelled to submit to a novel kind of government and to a series of most oppressive burdens. The prefects, or governors, occasionally throw off the Roman supremacy and themselves assume the purple, and then there are struggles and warlike strife which have for their object the re-acknowledgment of the imperial power. Anon, the Saxons come, brave and enterprising, but mercilessly eruel; they cut off, as far as they can, the male population, and wherever they

cannot conquer, devastate. Their native foes vanquished, they engage in internecine conflict, which, supplemented by fraud and treachery, enables one or two States to acquire a decided predominance. Then follow the unrelenting Danes, with their mysterious raven, plunging the country into the very abyss of misery-there are slaughters, rapine, outrages; monasteries are plundered, the temples of worship are desecrated and polluted and destroyed, fell famine and all its accompanying evils visit the land, till at last these marauders obtain a permanent lodgment. Then another scene of woe, for the son of Robert le Diable has determined to subjugate the isle. His soldiers, a motley crew, but bravest of the brave, swarm on the southern coast; and we have not, as the cursory reader supposes, a great battle fought, victory achieved, and, as a consequence, the immediate submission of the whole people, but years of the sharpest struggle, vast districts laid waste, tens of thousands sent prematurely to their long home; and thus we pass on, and look upon a people crushed under the iron heel of despotism and the oppressive yoke of serfdom in the reigns of the descendants of the valorous conqueror, till we come to that characteristic epoch in our history, the enactment of Magna Charta. I am disposed to think that this is about the impression which many carry away, after running through this period, and one is not surprised to hear the query—is not this sufficient to show that there is little, if anything, in our early annals, but that which is evil? I think not. Let us glance at the ancient history of our country from a different point of view.

"At the earliest period of which we have authentic information, our isle is occupied by a people of Celtic origin-a fierce, brave, susceptible, mercurial people, easily elated by success, and as easily depressed by adverse fortune, without efficient government; and, as it has just been remarked, under the sway of an all-potent priesthood. They are conquered by the Romans, a people equally brave, but at the same time an eminently practical and energetic nation, with high capacity for government; and they, ruling over and to some extent intermarrying with the natives, impart higher notions of civil rule, and especially in the course of time introduce and establish the municipal element and the principle of local self-government-a principle which, spite of every obstacle, has never been lost, and to which we owe so much. But, in order to maintain their supremacy in the isle, the Romans drafted away to other parts of their empire the bravest of the natives, and in consequence, when the Roman power declined, and troubles and dangers at Rome made it necessary that the imperial soldiery should withdraw hence, the native population were enervated and unequal to the task of vindicating their independence and achieving greatness. Then come, and gradually occupy most of the isle, the Saxonsa Teutonic race, whose virtues were lauded ages ago by the eloquent pen of Tacitusa race with an intense love of freedom, full of energy and spirit, manifesting some love for the sea and some tendency to commerce, and when softened by the mollifying influences of Christianity, bearing evidence of many of the qualities which tend to make a great nation. The raids of the Danes make it necessary for the different Saxon States to coalesce against the common foe, and thus secure the consolidation of the Saxon octarchy, while the Danes themselves form settlements in various parts of the country, and introduce that affection for the sea which makes its votaries love danger for its own sake. But the feebleness of the royal race, and the martial vigour and towering ability of some who surround the sovereign, about the middle of the eleventh century, lead to the reasonable probability that independent earldoms will be established, acknowledging, perhaps, a nominal suzerainty, but for all practical purposes entirely distinct, and thus preventing the isle from taking a foremost place in the history of the world. It was on the decease of the Confessor that a man of indomitable will laid open claim to the crown, for the possession of which, on the holder's death, he had been before secretly intriguing. Legally, he had not the shadow of a claim; but aided by his Norman soldiery, after a warfare of several years, he rendered the people submissive to him. He thus added to the previous

population a band of hardy warriors and learned clerks-the former brave as the swords they wore, the latter eminently fitted to govern, skilled in agriculture, and in some of the branches of art. A strong government was formed by means of the master-mind of William, and by the Anglo-Norman feudal system which he established-a system which enabled him and his successors to render the whole force of the country subservient to their designs, while a complete plan of subordination of ranks and of corresponding aid and protection ensued; and, as a natural consequence, the very strength of the crown led the aristocracy to endeavour to break the chain with which they were kept in check, and to seek the assistance of the plebeian classes, while the aid of the same orders was also invoked by the sovereign when he felt his prerogative endangered. Hence it was that the influence of the burgher and small yeoman became extended, and that the liberties of the whole people were recognised in the Great Charter, which presented to all mankind the first example of the progress of a great people for centuries, in blending their tumultuary democracy and ́haughty nobility with a fluctuating and vaguely-defined monarchy, so as at length to form from these discordant materials the only form of free government which experience has shown to be reconcilable with widely-extended dominions.'*

"Now, no one, I apprehend, who has carefully studied our early annals, or who is guided by this excessively brief resumé, will assert that, notwithstanding the misery and bloodshed, these changes were not, on the whole, for its advantage; and that this intermixture of races has not been of especial service in forming a nation pre-eminent for stubborn perseverance, characteristic self-reliance, solid intellectual power, chivalrous honour, and unquenchable love of liberty-a nation which, wherever its banner waves, promotes the highest forms of civilization, and, to some extent, of religion. "Other illustrations, equally apposite, might be taken from the history of England and of other countries, but space forbids.

"At what age should we begin to teach children history? Considerable diversity of view obtains on this point among authorities on education, and, of course, very much depends on the class of children found in any given school, and on their individual ability. Perhaps most elementary teachers would think that at nine or ten years of age there is no objection to lessons on the easier parts of the subject.

"To illustrate my views as to the mode and extent of the teaching, I will suppose a school of about 200 scholars, in which all are capable of reading easy narratives, none being under the age of seven. Such a school would probably be divided into five sections to the upper three, most of the historical teaching might be confined.

"The teaching of the third class might be largely preparatory. By a judicious mode of interrogation, you would easily elicit from the children that there exists in the mind an anxiety to learn something of the incidents of the lives of our relatives, as well as to become acquainted with the circumstances connected with the town in which we reside; and you would lead them to a desire to know something not merely of the town, but of the country in which we dwell. To give them some notion of the relation of time, you might draw out charts of the lives of some of the scholars, arranging events according to weeks, months, and years. This course might be followed by a series of lessons on the reign of the present sovereign. Without naming all the matters which might be introduced, some intelligible notions might, perhaps, be conveyed of our conquests in India, as well as of the character, manners, and dress of the people— of our relations with China, and the result of the war-the introduction of the cheap postal system—the successful endeavour to lower the price of the most important article of food-the Great Exhibition. It would be well to construct a chronological table, embracing only those events in the reign to which you proposed to refer, and to employ it both in the ordinary lessons and by way of recapitulation.

"So far, I think, most persons would be agreed-for all would admit that such

* Mackintosh.

knowledge is valuable, and furnishes a slight idea, at least, of the nature of history; but as to the next stage, the instruction of the higher classes, two different modes have been suggested. The first, to commence from the earliest period in our annals, and go down age after age as near to our own time as possible—the other, to proceed backwards, taking first the Hanoverian sovereigns, then the Tudors, Plantagenets, and so on. Something unquestionably may be said in favour of the latter method, especially since the more recent portions of our history are frequently neglected when the other plan is adopted. Mr. Mosely remarked, several years ago, that the knowledge of English history among National School children rarely extended down to the present time. It is frequently limited,' said he, to those apocryphal periods which precede the Conquest, and seldom extends beyond the reign of Henry VIII., or Elizabeth. It is begun at the beginning, but never finished. The link which would establish in the child's mind a relation between the times of which it reads and those in which it lives is never completed. It would surely be better to read history backwards.** But a little reflection will convince any one that such a method would, to a large extent, invalidate the advantages of the study. We lose thereby the order, the concatenation, the sequence of history. Are we taking up the period of the revolution of 1688? Surely it is expedient that we should trace the progress of liberty through the times of the Plantagenets, its partial eclipse under the Tudor princes, and its gradual recovery, mainly, from the aggressive proceedings of the Stuarts during the seventeenth century. I think, therefore, that it is better to adopt, in the higher classes, the old method; while it is comparatively easy to avoid the disadvantages referred to by Mr. Mosely.

"What, then, should be the course adopted in the second class. Trace briefly, but graphically, the history of the country from the earliest time to such a period as the acquisition of the Great Charter; then the salient points down to the accession of James I., and afterwards the Stuart period, as fully as time will allow. Great pains should be taken in making them masters of the line of sovereigns, and the date of their accession.

"In the first class it would be profitable to review the same ground, expanding your remarks on the more important reigns, and bringing before the pupils the leading events up to the present day. Want of time would necessitate brevity in most parts of the course; but each year, it appears to me, it would be best, in addition to this short sketch, to concentrate the attention of the scholars on some given period, dealing with it in all its bearings, civil, constitutional, social, religious.

"Having briefly referred to the regular course of historical teaching, I will notice, under detached heads, several other matters that suggest themselves :

"1. The teacher should take advantage and make use of any historical incidents connected with the locality in which his school is situated. These would be most calculated to interest the pupils, and might form the nucleus of a large amount of information.

"2. The teacher might also give appropriate lessons on the anniversaries of days celebrated in our history.

"3. Biographical sketches of leading historical characters might be given, and so arranged as to furnish a fair sketch of any stated period. The biographies of Wolsey, Cranmer, Burleigh, Raleigh, Buckingham, Cromwell, and Shaftesbury, might be so related as, with a few connecting remarks, to afford a respectable view of the times from Henry VIII. to Charles II. The biography of Sir Robert Walpole gives us a pretty full view of the reigns of George I. and George II. Some lives also might be selected which have no immediate reference to politics, as that of the benevolent Howard, from which the children might learn something of the miserable condition of our prisons in the eighteenth century. It would likewise be profitable, as Isaac Taylor has suggested, to introduce in connexion with some of your lessons what might be called * Minutes of Council for 1846, vol. i., p. 164.