respects objectionable.

We believe cheap and brief compends of American history to be important, for the simple reason that if these are not used-none will be used, except in a very few schools. Strike out of existence these three little books, upon which the reviewer has laid his hand so heavily; and thousands of pupils who annually obtain a very good knowledge of our history, would know little or nothing of it. If the history of the United States were only to be found in octavo volumes, it would be excluded from nineteen twentieths of our seminaries. It will be long before Robertson's History, in two volumes octavo, Botta's History of the Revolution, in two volumes, octavo and we know not how many more to complete the course, will be introduced into the common schools in the United States.

With respect to the particular characteristics of the works in question, we need, perhaps, say but little. The first page of Grimshaw's work sufficiently evinces that it was not intended for, and is not adapted to the juvenile mind. It is written only for persons already instructed in general history, and could be useful to no others. To pupils who are yet to receive their first ideas of history it would of course be a sealed book.

Mr. Hale's work is a very correct performance; but it seems to us rather designed as a text book, which the teacher is to expound and amplify, than a work which the pupil is himself to understand, and from which he is to gain those thoughts, images, and feelings, which catch the attention and captivate the mind of youth.

With respect to Mr. Goodrich's history, the reviewer has fallen into mistakes and misapprehension which, we trust, are accidental. It was not the first of these histories published-Grimshaw's was the first. After the publication of Goodrich's history, Grimshaw's was remodelled; and as Mr. Goodrich had given general views of the Aborigines, the progress of manners, religion, &c., &c., these topics were introduced into Grimshaw's new edition, and for the first time set forth in the title page. It was subsequent to this that these subjects were mentioned in the title page of Mr. Goodrich's work. This explanation will show that the remarks of the reviewer on this point are out of place.

With respect to the plan of Mr. Goodrich's history, we will only say, that it has been recently adopted with little variation in treating of English history; and the work (Rev. John Adams') is one of the most popular compends in use in England.

When the reviewer made the brevity of Mr. Goodrich's History a point of demerit, he should have recollected that though compressed into a small compass, it actually contains about the same quantity of matter as the histories of Hale and Grimshaw, and much more than many octavos of 500 pages each. To those who have a predilection for bulky books, its size will no doubt be an objection. But it is the compactness of the volume which enables the publisher to afford it at a low price; and it is this low price, in part at least, which has caused the history of the United States to become a regular study in hundreds of schools, where before it was unknown. If any other circumstance is necessary to explain the fact that it has run through more than twenty editions, it may be found in its better adaptation to the real wants and actual state of our schools than the other works.

Experience on subjects of this sort is better than theory; the following opinion therefore which we copy from Mr. Emerson's prospectus of the Weathersfield Female Seminary, as it proceeds from one of the most experienced teachers of youth in New England, will be sufficient to correct the reviewer on this subject.

By using it' (Mr. Goodrich's History) the last season, the high opinion which I had formed of its worth was confirmed and raised. The author is uncommonly happy, in his arrangement of facts; in presenting a simple, concise, and luminous view of a subject, which is in its nature peculiarly complex and intricate; in dividing the whole time into eleven periods; in tracing causes and effects; in publishing the principal and subordinate parts of the work in types of different sizes; and in presenting reflections for the benefit of the youthful mind. The style is easy, neat, remarkably perspicuous, and suited to improve the taste of the learner. On these accounts, this little compend appears peculiarly adapted to the use of schools.'

'An abridgment of the history of our own country,' says the reviewer, 'we think a very absurd thing.' To us this sounds very strange. The field of American history is much narrower than that of England; and yet we believe more than 100,000 copies of compends of English history, more concise than the one in question, are annually sold in England, and more, far more useful and practical knowledge in the aggregate is imparted by them than by all the octavos, quartos, and folios of English history put together. Besides, why is a compend of history alone absurd? We have compends of all other subjects of human

knowledge; and it is by the use of them that instruction is so widely diffused over the community. Banish these despised compends; and you carry the world back to an age when science and knowledge are locked up in the library of the professed scholar.

Prospectus of the New-Haven Gymnasium; a School for the Education of Boys, to be established at New-Haven, Conn.; by SERENO E. DWIGHT and HENRY E. DWIGHT.

WE propose in the ensuing spring, to establish, at New-Haven, a school for the education of boys; and have engaged the large and commodious building, originally intended as a steam-boat hotel, with the adjacent grounds. The house is one mile from the college, and three fourths of a mile from the centre of the town; and commands a fine view of the New-Haven valley, and the surrounding mountains, of the harbour, the Sound, and Long Island.

New-Haven, as a place of moderate size and great salubrity, as distinguished for the beauty of its site and environs, the neatness of its buildings and grounds, and the richness of its foliage, and as presenting a state of society in a high degree moral, enlightened, and polished, is a favoured seat of education. It is within eight hours travel from New-York, and within less than twenty-four from Boston, and Albany, and Philadelphia, and has a direct communication with every part of the United States.

The proposed institution, in its general plan, is intended to resemble the Round Hill School, at Northampton; the proprietors of which, for having in troduced the Gymnasium into this country with so much talent and success, deserve the thanks of the friends of literature; as they do ours also, for the frankness and cordiality with which they have seconded our design.

We propose, with the boys, to occupy the house as a family, to take the entire charge of them, and to stand in the place of their parents. The government of the institution will be at once strict and parental. The boys, unless on special occasions, will not be allowed to leave the grounds, except in company with a teacher or guardian. They will be permitted to contract no debt, and to make no purchases for themselves. It is intended to have them always, in effect, under our own eye, and to fill up their time with study and useful recreation.

Wishing to form the character from an early period, and not to be responsible for habits and a character formed elsewhere, we propose to receive boys of the age of six, and to decline (unless in peculiar cases) commencing with any after the age of fourteen.

A part of each day is to be regularly devoted to Gymnastic exercises. These, with other active employments, are the best means of preserving the health, and invigorating the constitution. Assiduous attention will be paid to the subject of manners.

As some boys are designed for college, and others are not, the course of education will be accommodated, in each case, to the wishes of the parent. Both classes of boys will need instruction in Spelling, Reading, Writing, and

Drawing, in Declamation, and Composition, in Arithmetic, and Algebra. Geography, with the aid of the best books, of maps, charts, and globes, is to be pursued as an object of prime importance. Both will also study French, Spanish, German, and Italian under native teachers: and for this end measures have been taken to procure the assistance of gentlemen of acknowledged talents and character.

The boys preparing for college will likewise be taught Latin, and Greek, with the elements of History, and where it is wished, the Hebrew.

The boys not intended for college will, in addition to the above, be taught Latin if the parents consent, English Grammar, Rhetoric, and as extensive a course of Mathematics as is desired. They will have the opportunity to re ceive a regular course of instruction in Botany, History, Logic, Ethics, Men tal Philosophy, and Political Economy. It is expected also, that, those students, who have been sufficiently long in a course of education, and have made the requisite attainments, will be permitted to attend the course of Lectures on Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology, by Professor SILLIMAN; and the course on Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, by Professor OLMSTED.

The religious instruction of the pupils will be parental. The great aim will be to train them up in the fear of God. Each day will begin and end with reading the scriptures and prayer. The Bible will be a class-book on the sabbath; and the pupils will attend church at the place designated by their parents.

This is our general plan: we shall aim to execute it with fidelity; reserving, however, the right of making such alterations as experience shall show to be necessary. With the subject of education, we are not wholly unacquainted. One of us has been occupied for a considerable period, in a course of collegiate instruction. Both of us have had the privilege of surveying many of the principal seminaries of Europe; and one of us, during a long residence in Germany has examined, with the utmost attention and care, the system of education pursued in several of her Universities, and in her Academic and Commercial Gymnasia.

There will be two vacations in the year, each of three weeks; the first to commence on the first Wednesday of May; the other on the second Wednesday of September. During both, the boys may remain at school without additional expense.

We shall have a valuable library of the best authors in English, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.

The annual charge for boys of ten years and over is three hundred dollars; but a deduction will be made where two or more come from one family, at the same time. The charge for boys under ten is two hundred and fifty dollars. In this sum are comprized all charges for instruction, including the tickets for the college lectures, board, washing, and mending, room, fuel, lights, and furniture, except a bed or mattress, and bed-clothing, to be furnished by the pupil. These may be procured on the spot, at a fair price. Where it is wished, the clothing of the boys can be procured by us, and on terms advantageous to the parent.

It is intended to open the institution on the 1st of May, 1828.'

New-Haven, Nov. 28, 1827.

SERENO E. DWIGHT,
HENRY E. DWIGHT.

The great importance of this undertaking, its close connexion with the interests of learning, the high standing and eminent qualifications of the gentlemen concerned, the happy location, the ample accommodations of the buildings, and the deep interest of the community in the success of the enterprize, have induced us to insert, not a mere notice, but the entire prospectus of the institution.'-American Journal of Science.

PRIMARY EDUCATION IN FRANCE.

From Johnston's work mentioned at the commencement of this No.

France, with a population of thirty millions of souls, affords an extensive field for the operations of an enlightened government; but, at the same time, were the elementary instruction entirely in the hands of the government, and wholly dependent on it, this great population would render it a matter of infinite difficulty, nay of impossibility, to create a system that would administer sufliciently or adequately to the moral wants of the great body of the people. But the French government has not attempted this. It has adopted a plan which, while it prevents abuse, does not interfere with the endeavours of individuals to promote the great object of an enlightened benevolence. The Primary Schools, in each district of the kingdom, are placed under the charge of a committee, the nature of which has been already described. These committees again are subject to the jurisdiction of the University, and, as much of the benefit to be derived from the progress of instruction must depend upon the choice of the members composing them, several ordonnances have been published, by superior authority, setting forth the extent of the duties expected from them, and advising" that the members should be enlightened men, disposed to examine, with impartiality and without bias, all projects of amelioration, and all new methods of education, before rejecting them."

The Primary Schools of France may be divided in different ways, according to the point of view in which they are considered. They may be divided into schools of the first, second, or third order, according to the degree of extension or perfection to which instruction is carried; they may be divided into those kept by individuals and those kept by associations, and particularly by the brotherhood of charity; they may also be divided according to the system of teaching adopted in them, and, lastly, into gratis and paying schools.

In the following table is given a statement of the numbers of the University of France, including all the Primary Schools, for the year 1815, and certainly, considering the extent of the kingdom, it does not give a very high idea of the condition in which the public instruction then was:

But since this period a rapid increase in the number of schools and scholars has taken place. In 1815 France was but awakening from a state of things that did not permit instruction to extend its full influence. A heavy conscription had drained off the young men almost before they had time to be educated; and a complete military system of government was not likely to give great encour

*Coup d'œil general sur l'education, et l'instruction publiques en France, &c. par M. Basset Censeur des Etudes au College Royal de Charlemagne.