3Q0K8 MANUAL public anti janbatt fStiucation, FOUNDED ON A DISCOVERY, “ BT WHICH A SCHOOL OR FAMILY MAY TEACH ITSELF UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE MASTER OR PARENT,” MADE, RECORDED, AND PROMULGATED AT MADRAS IN 1789-96; PUBLISHED IN LONDON, 1797, AND THENCE DIFFUSED OVER THE WORLD. EIGHTH EDITION, DIGESTED AND ABRIDGED. WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX. BY ANDREW BELL, D.D. LL.D. F.As.S, F.R.S.Ed. Prebendary of Westminster, and Master of Sherbum Hospital, Durham. “ Moses chose able men oat of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of Gfties, and rulers of tens .” — Exodus xviii. 25. “ As emulation is especially serviceable in fostering the studies of those who have made some proficiency in learning - so beginners and novices find greater benefit, as well as satisfaction from imitating their scbool-fellows than their master, because the one is far easier than the other.” — Quin. “ With what joy are boys elated when they come oft’ victors? With what shame are they covered when vanquished ? With what solicitude do they exert themselves, not to incur blame? With what eagerness do they seek to earn praise? What toils do they not undergo, that they may be chief among their fellows ?’’ — Cicero. lionHon : PRINTED FOR C. & J. RIVINGTON, st. Paul’s church-yard, AND WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL. 1827. [Price One Shilling.] TO THE NATIONAL SOCIETY, 1 THE DIOCESAN, CO-OPERATING, AND AUXILIARY SOCIETIES, FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE POOR, &c. &c. &c. Ctjus JBattual FOR THE USE OF THEIR SCHOOLS, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THEIR FAITHFUL, HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR, CONTENTS. Part I. — Sketch of History. Chap. i. — Introduction. Chap. ii. — On the Discovery of the System at the Madras Asylum, ai)d its promulgation in India, p. 9. Chap. iii. — On its publication in London, introduction into English Schools, and general Diffusion, p. 1 1 . Part II. — On the characteristic principle, the main Ians, and general rules and regulations of a Madras or National School. Introduction, p. 15. Chap. i. — On the principle of the Madras System, p. 15. Chap. ii. — On the intellectual machinery of the Madras School and the scheme of its Tuition, p. 16. Chap. iii. — On the Master and Teachers, p. 17. Chap. iv. — On Classification, p. 20. Chap. v. — On Discipline, p. 22. Chap. vi. — On perfect Instruction and Order, p. 24. Part III. — On the application of the Madras System to the different branches of elementary Education. Introduction, p. 27. Chap. i. — Summary and description of the specific practices adapted to scholastic and domes- tic Instruction in Reading, Writing, and Ciphering, p.28. Genera] Remarks: — 1. Difference between the principle and practices of the Madras School, p. 29. 2. How far the Madras System is applicable to a small school and family, p. 30. 3. On the changes imputed to the Madras System, p. 30. Chap. ii. — On the arrangement of the Lessons and division of Time, p. 32. Chap. iii. — On Religious Rehearsals, p. 32. Chap. iv. — On the elementary Lessons, p. 33 • Chap. v. — On the previous repetition of the Initiatory Les- sons, p. 34. Chap. vi. — On simultaneous Instruction in Writing, Spell- ing, and Reading, p. 35. Chap. vii. — On Monosyllabic Reading Lessons, p. 38. Chap. viii. — On the Printed Characters, p. 38. Chap. ix. — On Promiscuous Reading, p. 38. Chap. x. — On Morality and Religion, and the grand views which theMadras System opens to the Christian world, 39. Chap. xi. — On the Elements of Arithmetic, p. 44. Chap. xii. — On Registers, p. 49. Chap. xiii. — On Exami- nation, p. 50. Chap. xiv. — On Economy, p. 50. Chap, xv.- On Building, fitting up Schools, &c. p. 51. Chap. xvi. — On Grammar and Classical Schools, Ladies’ Boarding Schools and Schools of Industry, p. 51. Appendix to the history, proofs, and illustrations, p. 52. INDEX Referring to those laws and regulations for the government, discipline, and instruction of a school , on which success mainly depends ; and pointing out those errors and defects, which, when not prevented, or corrected, leave nothing of the Madras System hut the name. 1. It is in the first place essentially requisite, that the school-master, like the professor of every other art oi science, make himself intimately acquainted with the system* which he professes to teach ; and that he be able to reduce his knowledge to practice, and prove himself equal to the duties of his office, by the order, improvement, and happi- ness of his pupils, all of which depends on his unceasing vigi- lance, assiduity, and energy. P. 17 — 19. 2. It is in the next place absolutely necessary that he select and qualify able, trusty, and active teachers ; and incessantly watch over, direct, and guide them in the performance of all their functions. P. 17, IS. 26. 3. Let him then begin with arranging the school into classes according to the proficiency of the scholars ; and let the up- per classes be constantly fed from the lower, and kept up to their complement. P. 1 6. 20. Here let him be especially careful not to multiply his own labour, and that of the visitors, and diminish the improvement of the scholars in the same ratio, by lessening the size and increasing the number of the classes. P. 21, 22. 4. The rules for prompting and taking places, and circu- lating the lessons in due portions must be perfectly known to, and invariably acted upon by, every member of the class. Nothing but the scholars being able to play the game them- selves can render the school in reality Ludus literarius, alike pleasurable and profitable. P. 20, 21. The earnestness and interest of the game are greatly checked, and the progress of the class retarded, when the master or teacher prompts and directs at every turn, instead of instructing the scholars at once to proceed of their own ac- cord under his general superintendence and correction. P.20,21. 5. Let the master and teacher impress on their minds the manifest advantage of an uniform and undeviating adhe- rence to general rules and regulations, which, by superseding the necessity of particular directions at every individual case and example, conduce in an eminent degree, to abridge and * Sec General Resolutions of tlie National Society, April 5, 1$2G. A 3 6 Index / lessen the labour, both of teacher and scholar, and to render their tasks easy, intelligible, and pleasant. P. 18. 26. 6. Let the master and teacher also ever bear in mind that all the school must, without intermission, be kept busily, profit- ably, and happily employed ; that they must be tasked accord- ing to their ability, and not beyond what they are readily able to bear ; and that the tasks must be rigidly exacted, p. 21 and note, p. 25 ; that the scholars must be perfectly instructed in the principles and practices of the system, and in every lesson as they go along, 24, &c. ; that they must examine one ano- ther on the meaning of every word and sentence, p. 29. 38, note 39, 40. 42. 50, that they be made intimately familiar with their religious exercises, p. 32. 39; and that the utmost order, regularity, and quietness be observed in every act and every movement. P. 24. 7. It is important to observe, that it is quite easy to teach one rule at a time ; and also, that however numerous the faults of a school, there is no difficulty in correcting them one by one, though it be found impracticable to break them in the lump. It is exactly the case of the bundle of rods. To teach is easy, to unteach most difficult. P. 26, and note, p. 40. 8. It is of great consequence that every child from the be- ginning be habituated to speak audibly , distinctly, and slowly, pronouncing aloud the last letter of every syllable, the last syllable of every word, and the last word of every sentence. The neglect of this important rule is a perpetual source of inaccuracy, hindrance, and annoyance ; and often loses more than half the time in school. P. 33, 34. 9. It is also highly important that every child repeat in- cessantly in a low voice whatever is read or rehearsed aloud by his school-fellows, so that from his entering to his leaving school he is either reading or rehearsing in an audible voice himself, or repeating in a low tone what is read or rehearsed by his class-fellows. P. 33, 34. 41. 1 0. The teachers in their turn must read a portion of the lesson, as well for their own practice, as for an example to their pupils. P. 19. 11. Let the master seriously consider, that it is perfect in- struction and mild discipline, which more than any thing else reconcile and attach children to school, and that it is almost always found, that the numbers, attendance, and conduct of the scholars, and even the behaviour of the parents keep pace with the talents and activity of the preceptor. Instead, then, of complaining that the teachers are bad, the scholars late or Index. 7 truants, and the parents troublesome, let him seek the only effectual remedy at home, remodel the school, remove what- ever is objectionable, and break the bundle of errors and de- fects one by one. P. 19. 29, 24. 26. Note, p. 40. At the same time it is advisable that inquiry be made about the scholars who are late or absent, at their houses ; and that their parents be warned that if their children (not having leave of absence) do not attend regularly, and behave well, they will be suspended, or, if need be, expelled. P. 24. 12. For the purpose of regular behaviour at Church, let the children be paired off into tutors and pupils, (the one being answerable for the other) and a monitor have charge of a class of as many children as may be convenient ; and let ushers be set over several divisions, and a head usher over the whole, to keep them attentive, quiet, and orderly, and to report transgressors, that the appropriate discipline of the school may be applied to reform them, and to prevent others from so offending. P. 16. 24. 1 3. The economy of time is taught on all occasions, such as giving out and gathering books, slates, &c. dismissing school, &c. Note, p. 24 — 5 ; even on particular occasions, as on the examination of a class by visitors, the teachers must see that the rest of the school, when seemingly stopped, must be employed in writing on their slates, or other still tasks ; and let it be particularly noticed that the teacher is never to quit his class, and leave them idle, to do any thing which a pupil can do for him, while he goes on with the lesson. On the course of the daily processes. 14. The school opens and closes every day with prayers, 32. 15. The first lessons on admission to school are rehearsals by heart of the Lord’s Prayer, and other religious exercises, of which a certain portion must be exacted daily. P. 32, 33. 16. The introduction to the art of reading also commences with previous repetitions from the mouth of the teacher. P. 34, 35. 17. The child likewise on the day of admission, enters on a course of arithmetic, which, after a little practice, he pro- secutes of his own accord. P. 44. 18. Let due attention be paid to previous and unreiterated spelling and syllabic reading ; and to stops and points, pauses and clauses, p. 28, 29. 36. 38. 41 ; and to the rules laid down for simultaneous reading and writing. P. 35 — 7. 19. Once a week, before the hour of examination, let every copy, and ciphering-book, and slate (filled on the upper side A 4 s Index. with writing and ciphering) be arranged round the desks or benches in order of performance. P. 50. 20. The disregard of equal and impartial justice in ad- ministering the laws of the school, is a fault for which nothing can compensate. P. 23, et passim. “ Mind these rules before you mend them.” N.B. Some parts of this Essay may seem more particularly addressed to general readers, but they will not be found, on that account, less calculated to impress a just sense of the im- portance of his office on the professional master, and to sti- mulate him to an earnest discharge of his functions : and if some expressions occur with which he is not familiar, they may be of use in accustoming him to refer to his dictionary for the terms of his art. “ I take schoolmasters to have a more powerful influence upon the spirits of men, than preachers themselves. Foras- much as they have to deal with younger and tenderer minds, and, consequently, have the advantage of making the earliest and deepest impressions upon them ; but to preach to people without principle, is to build where there is no foundation ; or, rather, where there is not so much as ground to build upon.” — South. The references in this Manual, when not otherwise stated, are made to the reprint of the Report of the Madras Asylum (1797), with an Appendix, comprising the subsequent history of its original pupils. — Murray. 1813. The General Committee of the National Society, 5th April, 1826, confirmed the resolutions of the School Committee, of which the first and third arc as follow. “ 1st. The School Committee entirely agree with Dr. Bell on the decided opinion he has formed of the advantages which would be derived from making the duty and interest of the masters and mis- tresses of schools, in all cases, to be inseparably connected; by ren- dering their emoluments, in some way or other, dependent on the general improvement, good conduct, and number of the scholars. “ 3d. One point of as great importance as either of the others is, that the official visitor should especially direct the master’s attention to the necessity of taking care, that there should be a constant supply of teachers * ; and that the masters attend strictly to the detailed instructions recommended by Dr. Bell on this point, as well as to all the other leading principles laid down in his manual, which should be invariably placed in the hands of the master and mistress for that purpose.” To facilitate this purpose is the aim of the present concise and cheap publication. _ * This is most effectually done by the perfect instruction of the whole school, whereby every child or adult, in passing through the classes, is com- pletely trained for a teacher. MADRAS SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. Part I. — Sketch of History. Chap. I. — Introduction. — To give full interest, authority, and efficiency to the following manual would require a com- plete history of the Madras System of Education, together with an analysis (a task to which the author professes himself quite unequal) of the faculties, powers, and affections of the mind, on which this system of mutual tuition and moral discipline is founded, and its energies depend. But this undertaking w'ould far surpass the limits prescribed to this practical tract, intended for general circulation, and common use. On the other hand, a set of rules, merely mechanical, for conducting schools on this system, would be little better than a dead letter. Such a formula would be quite insufficient to prevail against early and inveterate habits of thinking and acting, nor would it serve to qualify instructors, either to carry it on with understanding, life, and vigour, or to act conformably to its genius and spirit, in cases, which no direc- tions, however numerous and minute, can literally embrace. For these reasons, the historical and theoretical parts of this epitome are restricted to such a brief summary of ex- ternal and internal evidence, as may evince the all-sufficiency of the means, herein set forth to produce the results ascribed to them ; and the practical and experimental parts are con- fined to such a model of the new methods of tuition, as may suffice for the guidance of parents, preceptors, and pupils in carrying them into effect, and may serve to maintain, per- petuate, and disseminate the Madras School in its original sim- plicity and purity, and in the amplitude of its pow’er — all compiled, digested, and abridged, from original documents, official reports, and authentic records, under the highest authorities abroad and at home. Chap. II. — On the discovery of the System at Madras, and its Promidgation in India. The system of mutual instruction and moral discipline, which is the subject of this tract, originated in the Military Male Orphan Asylum, at Egmore, near Madras, and thence obtained the name of the Madras System. Of this institu- tion, founded by order of the Court of Directors of the East India Company — “ for the maintenance and education of the orphan and indigent Sons of the European Officers and Soldiers of the Madras Army,” the Governor of Fort St. George was President ; the Commander-in-Chief, and other A 5 10 Sketch of History. Members of Council, Vice-Presidents ; and the principal civil and military servants of the company, Directors. The school was opened in 1789, and the author, one of the Directors, Minister of St. Mary’s, Chaplain of Fort St. George, and, in every sense of the word, attached to the army, undertook its superintendence, on the express stipulation, that the salary annexed to the office should be added to the funds of the Institution. In the earnest discharge of his functions, he hit upon a dis- covery, by which any Institution, how numerous soever, may be conducted by a single superior, or superintendent. On this principle he new modelled the Asylum, whereby the School, then consisting of two hundred boys, on the founda- tion, was entirely taught, by fourteen teachers and assistant teachers (from seven to fourteen years of age) selected from the scholars themselves *. Annual Reports of the rise, progress, bearings, and re- sults of “ this new mode of conducting a school through the medium of the scholars themselves,” p. 24, were presented, by the author, to the general Meetings of the Board, recorded, by their order, on the books of the Institution ; and forwarded, by the President in Council, to the Court of Directors at home. In the year 1796, when the author was about to leave India, on account of his declining health, he was officially called upon to draw up such a summary of the above reports, as might form a brief record of the discovery he had made, and an authorized manual for the future management of the School, and for general diffusion. This final and compen- dious Report f closed the eventful labours of the author in the East. But the views of the Madras Government did not ter- minate here. That nothing, on their part, might be wanted to authenticate, promulgate, and perpetuate this discovery the President (Lord Hobart, the Earl of Buckinghamshire) in Council, transmitted copies of the said Report, extracted from the records of the Asylum, to the Governments of Ben- gal and Bombay, as well as to the Court of Directors at home, with a circular letter, in which they recommended (to use their own words) this “ system of tuition altogether new \ * See scheme on the back of the title page. t See a literal copy of this Report, reprinted by Murray, 1813, to which, when not otherwise stated, the references in this manna! are made. t Subsequently to the promulgation and exhibition of the Madras System, it has been remarked that various instances of the partial employment of Scholars in the instruction of one another had been noticed ; but these were 11 Sketch of History. •—as deserving the attention of those who interest themselves in the education and welfare of the rising generation.” p. 10, 1 1. Neither was the author insensible to the responsibility imposed upon him by his discovery, nor to the earnest it presented of a plenteous harvest in the new field he had thrown open for the cultivation of future generations ; in con- templation of which he was wont to say ; “ If you and I live a thousand years, me shall see this system of edu- cation spread over the world.” Let it never then be for- gotten that, though this little work is intended for a parti- cular Institution, and a present purpose, for the parochial Clergy, and visitors, and superintendents of National Schools, it looks forward with confident assurance to every country, and to every age ; to every nation, and to every language. Chap. III. — On the publication of the Madras System in London, its consequent introduction into English Schools, and its general diffusion. On the arrival of the author in London, in 1797, he pub- lished (verbatim et literatim), the above Report, thus authen- ticated and recommended, under the title of “ An Experi- ment in Education, made at the Male Asylum, at Madras-, suggesting a system, by which a school or family may teach itself under the superintendence of the master or parent.”— 1797. In consequence of this publication, and of the personal efforts of the author, the experiment was forthwith repeated in various quarters. Of those entitled to particular notice, one of the first was at St. Botolph’s, Aldgate, the oldest Pro- testant Parochial School in London * ; another was in the Schools of Industry at Kendal, of which, before the end of the last century, a most satisfactory and gratifying account was published by Sir Thomas Bernard, in “ the Reports of the Society for bettering the condition of the poor.” But there is neither room nor occasion to enumerate here solitary unconnected instances, not deduced from any common principle, mir productive of any general results. No attempt had ever been made to copy after them, nor to make them the basis of any theory, or even practical plan. Previously to the publication of the Madras Report, Mutual Tuition was se- condary, incidental, partial, and limited; now it is primary, inherent, uni- versal, and all but exclusive. “ Now,” (said Dr. Barton, Chaplain to tin Archbishop of Canterbury, in a Sermon preached at Lambeth, 1808, for the National School,) “ now the POINT has been gained upon which the judicious instructor may take his stand, and direct the mind in whatever it pleasetii him.” * Before this time there was no other School but the Military Asylum at Madras conducted on this principle. A G 12 Sketch of History. the charity and free schools, and other institutions, which copied after these precedents. It must suffice to allude to a few of those, which, under the immediate direction and su- perintendence of the author, furnished the most striking spe- cimens of the Madras System, and thereby chiefly contributed to its further and progressive diffusion ; such as the esta- blishment of it in the schools of Whitechapel, and at Gower’s Walk, and especially the authoritative exemplar of the en- dowed schools at Lambeth, and the still more illustrious and commanding display in 1807, on that grand scale for which it is eminently fitted, at the Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea This magnificent spectacle (in an Institution with which the Military Asylum at Madras was coeval, and congenial) produced an astonishing sensation and effect. Nor is this all for which the Madras System, and its hum- ble author, stood indebted to HIS LATE ROYAL HIGH- NESS, FIELD MARSHAL THE COMMANDER-IN- CHIEF— THE FATHER— THE FRIEND— AND THE BENEFACTOR OF THE ARMY, AND OF THE CHILDREN OF THE ARMY. Through His Royal Highness, Regimental Schools were established, in 1811, by the general orders of government, on this system, after the experience, as in these orders is stated, of “ its most com- plete success,” in the Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea f. With these must be especially mentioned the Barrington School, at Auckland, founded, and munificently endowed, by the late Bishop of Durham, not only for the education of all the poor in the neighbourhood, but also for the gratuitous maintenance and training up of Madras monitors and masters, who, together with pupils from the author’s parish at Swanage, performed the most essential services, by organi- zing schools in various quarters, from Carlisle to Exeter, and even in the West Indies, &c. To the above should be added the schools for the Clergy Orphans, at St. John’s Wood. Such a series of successful experiments, and auspicious * It deserves to be particularly remarked, that, under mutual tuition, works of industry, (the appropriate virtue of the poor) also flourished greatly at the Duke’s School, as the people of Chelsea call the Royal Military Asylum, and at Gower’s Walk, built and endowed by an individual for an example of the union of education and work. f See “ Instructions for establishing and conducting Regimental Schools upon the Rev. Dr. Bell’s System, as adopted at the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea." Northumberland Court, Strand, London. Primed and sold BY AUTHORITY, by W. Clowes, November, 1811.— General Orders. — Horse Guards, Jan. 1st, 1812. 13 Sketch of History. results (to take no notice of a concurrence of co-operating causes, which do not fall within the scope of this brief review') prepared the way for a consummation, to which the author had long looked forward, and in anticipation of which he published “ A Sketch of a National Institution for train- ing up the children of the poor.” 1808 . Happily, in the year 1811 , there was formed, under the benign influence and high auspices of His Grace the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, an Institution on this system, corres- ponding entirely in its object and end with the above-men- tioned sketch. This was the National Society, (since incor- porated by royal charter *) “ for promoting the education of the poor in the principles of the established Church ,” — the Prince Regent, (now His most gracious Majesty) Patron ; the Archbishop of Canterbury, President ; and the Lord Chancellor, Prime Minister, the Archbishop of York, the Bench of Bishops, and other high authorities in Church and State, Vice-presidents. By the judicious measures, indefatigable exertions, and substantial aid and support of this illustrious Society, numer- ous new schools have been erected, and old ones enlarged, and education under this system rendered general + through- out England and Wales — monuments of that discovery by which one man can instruct as many Scholars as one room (or more if adjoining) can contain. Every where in the Annual Reports of the National So- ciety, the blessings which this discovery is capable of confer- ring, and which it has already conferred, are happily pour- trayed, and officially recorded. In their first Report, 1812 , it is stated that “ it is fitted to give a new character to society at large;” and the seventh Annual Report closes with these words : — * Extract from the Royal Charter of Incorporation of the Na- tional Society, dated May, 1813. “ That a most powerful engine was ready for their use and appli- cation, in the system practised by the Rev. Dr. Bell at Madras, and since introduced by him into this country ; that the particular ad- vantages of this system have enabled the Society to disseminate the blessings of education far more extensively than would have been otherwise possible, and that its principles and practice have been found to be equally adapted to the conveying of religious instruc- tion, to the formation of the infant mind, and to the improvement of the moral and social character. t Upwards of 340,000 children, making an addition of ten thousand in the last year, are officially reported to be instructed in England and Wales, under the auspices of the National Society, and if to these be added all who are taught on the system of mutual tuition, they cannot be estimated at less than half a million; but the numbers so instructed at home and abroad, are incalculable. 14 Sketch of History. “ Being fully sensible, that the more they can plant this admira- ble system, with deep and strong roots, in every part of the king- dom, the more they will advance the cause of true religion, and promote the solid welfare of the state ; together with the happiness, present and eternal, of those individuals to whom its blessings are extended.” And to the same effect is every subsequent report. In fine, from the fountain-head, at Madras, through these and other channels, this system has flowed throughout the world, during the life-time of its author, with a rapidity, and to an extent, of which there is no parallel, in any School, an- cient or modern, carrying along with it the means of civiliza- tion, and that most powerful of all means, the Gospel of peace and salvation, to the benighted nations, in the remotest re- gions of the earth. Unexampled, however, as its progress has been, it cannot be said to have been altogether unforeseen or unexpected — for its ultimate general diffusion had, from its first announcement, been inferred and predicted from the simplicity and universality of its principle, the attractiveness and immensity of its power, the facility and economy of its execution, and from its moral and engaging discipline, un- ceasing and equal, and at once the most lenient and most ef- ficacious. The Conclusion of the Third Report of the General Committee of the National Society, dated 1814, will not be considered as an un- suitable conclusion to this brief narrative. P.29. “ Of the debt of gratitude due to Dr. Bell, for devising, and bringing to maturity, a method of general education, which has enabled the Governors of the Church to execute what our Reformers projected — the giving to the whole population of the realm, a competent measure of useful learning, seasoned with religious instruction, in the principles of our national Faith — the Committee feel that it is quite out of date for them to oiler any computation. The system itself, now extended into almost every partoftheem- pire, has carried with it the only adequate exemplification of the pretensions of its inventor. But it would be a failure of duty in the General Committee, not to advert to the new and increasing obligations which he is conferring, not merely on the Society, but on the nation at large. Possessing an honourable retirement, he might deem himself exonerated, by bis past services, from farther exertion ; but, with unabated zeal, and at bis own charges, he con- tinues to dedicate his whole time, and all the energies of his mind, to the great work which he has begun ; dividing the year between his attendance at the Central School, and the visitation of its numerous country connexions, and apparently setting no other value upon his life, than as he can render it instrumental to the universal adoption of the Madras System. These are deservings, which the General Committee deem it incumbent on them to re- cord, but do not pretend to estimate.” It would be superfluous to enumerate, individually, all those whose exertions have been eminently serviceable ; but it must be satisfactory to the public to learn, and therefore it is their duty not to withhold the fact, that, notwithstanding the numerous and various demands on the time of THEIR most Reverend President, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Society has never failed to receive the countenance of his high authority, as well by his constantly presiding at all their deliberations, as by his presence at the public examinations of the children at the Central School. 15 Principle. Part II.— On the characteristic 'principle, the main laws, and general rides and regulations of a Madras or National School. Introduction. — The ultimate object or end of all education is to promote the temporal and spiritual welfare of its pupils ; or in the words of the Madras Report, “ to make good men, good subjects, good Christians,” p. 50. The proximate or immediate object of elementary education is, therefore, to render simple, easy, pleasant, expeditious, and economical, the acquisition of the rudiments of letters, and the elements of morality and religion, and of useful knowledge. It has accordingly been the study of the author of this essay, through the instrumentality of a new organ, to combine in harmonious union, the ease and satisfaction of the master, the progress and amusement of the scholar, and the in- terest and gratification of the parent. In a word, to render a school in reality, “ Ludus Literarius” — a game of letters, in which pleasure and profit go hand in hand. Such was most happily exemplified in the lives, conduct, and fortunes of the original pupils of this system, p. 107, and wherever it is well understood, and faithfully administered, the results have been similar. A brief exposition of the principle on which this system is founded, will convey an idea of its numerous facilities, and immense powers. Chap. I . — On the characteristic and essential principle of the Madras System. There is a FACULTY, inherent in the mind, of conveying and receiving Mutual Instruction ; and a pleasure attached to this reciprocal intercourse. It is this faculty, or rather the development, exercise, and application of this faculty, as an universal, and immutable law of human nature, that con- stitutes the Madras System — the organ desiderated by Lord Bacon for the multiplication of power and the division of labour in the moral and intellectual world — for the commu- nication, extension, and advancement of letters, arts, and sciences, in general. On this principle, a superior can conduct any institution how numerous soever, through the instrumentality of its own members. In a school, it gives to the master the hundred eyes of Argus, the hundred hands of Briar eus, and the wings of Mercury. In other words, by multiplying his ministers at pleasure, it gives to him indefinite powers, and enables him to instruct as many pupils as any school will contain. While 16 Intellectual Machinery . it bears a manifest analogy to the mechanical powers, it infi- nitely surpasses them in simplicity, economy, force and effect. With great propriety it has been called the Steam Engine of the Moral World. The intellectual ma- chinery costs nothing, grows in force and efficiency, by the use that is made of it, and with the work which it has to perform : viresque acquirit eundo. In a word, it is the lever of Archimedes transferred from matter to mind. But, while the mechanical problem is merely speculative, and requires a new planet, on which to rest its fulcrum, in order to move the terraqueous globe, the intellectual engine has the seat of its power and operation in the human breast, is every where in action, and, by an infallible and irresistible impulse, is giving motion to the moral and intellectual world. Chap. II. — On the intellectual machinery of the Madras School, and the scheme of its tuition. 1. The entire economy * of the Madras school is conducted by a single master, or superintendent, in the words of the Madras Report, “ through the medium of the scholars them- selves .” P. 24. 2. The school is arranged into forms or classes, each con- sisting of about 36 members, of similar proficiency. The upper classes are often more, and the lower less, numerous. 3. The scholar ever finds his level by a constant competi- tion with his fellows, and rises and falls in his place in the class, and in the forms of the school according to his relative proficiency. 4. To each class is attached a teacher, and, if numerous, an assistant teacher, who are constantly present with the class, and responsible for its order, behaviour, diligence, and improvement. The lower classes, in learning their lessons, are generally paired off into tutors and pupils, (a superior boy tutoring an inferior), under the direction of the teacher. In large schools, an usher or superior teacher is often set over every three or four classes, and a head usher over the whole school. . 5. Monitors are also appointed to the charge of the books, slates, pencils, paper, pens, ink, and of the various depart- ments and offices of the school-room : or the ushers may per- form these services, or rather see them performed. In addition to these are (6) registers, and, if necessary, (7) a jury. * By economy when printed in italics, are comprehended the entire in- ternal regulation, arrangement, order, and government of the household — the eutire instruction and discipline of the school, in all its departments. Master and Teachers. 17 Chap. III. — On the Master, his selection and manage- ment of the Teachers, and on their functions. In the words of the Madras Report, “ His scrutinising eye must pervade the whole system, his active mind must give it energy, and his unbiassed judgment and equal justice must maintain the general order and harmony.” P. 42. Such is the duty of the master (or superintendent). More particularly it is his province to direct, guide, and conduct the uniform and impartial administration of the laws and re- gulations of the school, in all its departments ; by which means, only, he can render them effectual to the purposes for which they are framed. These are to give full scope to the thirst for knowledge, to the spirit of a laudable emulation, to the con- tinual exercise of the social disposition, and to the love of imita- tion, so as to promote diligence and delight, imbue the infant mind with the first principles of morality, religion, and learning, and implant in the tender heart, habits of method, good conduct, and piety. The system of mutual tuition furnishes him with ample powers and every requisite for the performance of these im- portant duties. When not actually present himself, he is virtually so, by his ministers, his ushers, teachers, and as- sistant * teachers, with every child, at every moment of time. It is with them, through them, and by them, that he has to con- duct all the operations of the school ; and his agents will ever be such as he makes them, good, bad, or indifferent ; as he forms them so will they form their classes. “ As the judge of the people is himself, so art his officers ; and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such are all they that dwell therein.” Ecclns. x. 2. It is, therefore, essentially requisite that the master be well versed in all the methods of instruction and discipline, and assiduous and expert in the administration of his office. “ It was my chief object, in RAISING l)P MY YOUNG TEACHERS, to carry into efTect the intentions of the hononrable Court of Directors (when they ordered this establishment to be formed) in snch a manner as mi^ht be most conducive to their views, to the interests of this government, to the benefit of society, ami to the good of the pupils committed to my charge ; all of ivhich objects have been, and are so blended together in my mind, that 1 cannot separate them, even in imagination.” P. 49. Every where a similar course is to be pursued. First then it is of the utmost importance that he select for his ushers, teachers, and monitors, the most intelligent, capa- ble and energetic scholars, whose faithful and zealous services he can command and rely upon. His next duty is to train his teachers, if they have not, by passing through the forms of the * The office of assistant teacher is sufficiently indicated by the name. While the teacher is occupied with the instruction of the class, it is more especially his duty to attend to the general order, and to prevent, or check, any irregularity, confusion, or disorder. — See Chapter oti Discipline. 18 Master and Teachers. school, been already regularly and well bred to their office. This is best done by performing their functions seriatim for and with them, so as to correct their failures and inequalities, and, by precept and example, qualify them to proceed, of them- selves, under his general superintendence. And then he must never fail daily and hourly to inspect, examine, and instruct the classes, one by one ; and to occupy himself wherever there is most occasion for his services. He must ever and anon, with his watch in his hand, attend each class, when the lesson is given out, learned, and said : and he must apportion its length to the capacity of the scholars. He must not expect that his school will ever rise to eminence, or long continue in that state, unless he himself ascertain how much each class can advance in a given time, task them accordingly, and exact the perform- ance — unless he watch over his agents with unceasing vigi- lance, support their authority, and stimulate their efforts — unless he be especially careful to prevent, or, on its first oc- currence, to check the smallest irregularity or deviation from these simple, plain, and easy rules *, the uniform and rigid observance of which can alone ensure and maintain complete success. He must ever bear in mind, that his teachers, when judiciously selected, well instructed, and duly superintended, will perform their functions with greater zeal, diligence, and perseverance, than adult ushers, or preceptors. They best know whore the difficulty lies, and howto accommodate their instructions and explanations to the capacity and understanding of their fellows ; nor do they tire (for which we have theauthority of Quintilian, as well as daily expe- rience) like men, in continually doing the same thing. They are exalted by that office, which, the adult usher feels as a degradation. They can be displaced, and others substituted in their stead, as often as there is occasion. They are tractable, and, in the hands of a master who is acquainted with the disposition and genius of children, and knows how to treattbem ; or, which is the same thing, who will literally conform to the laws and regulations of a Madras School, they place their happiness in doing whatever he listeth ; sen- sible that whatever he, in the just administration of his office, com- mands, will most effectually contribute to their own welfare and im- provement, as well as to that of their pupils. And the common concern, which all the members of the school feel in the general economy, naturally leads them to take a reciprocal interest f in one another: and they do take th at interest accordingly. * On the discovery and lirst experiment of the new system at the Madras Asylum, it was oflicially reported to me, “ that the boys were all of them so familiar with, and so instructed in, the system, and felt it so well calculated to promote their welfare, to advance their learning , and to preclude punishment, that they did not require looking after, as they of themselves habitually performed their daily tasks.” My remark at the time was, “ But this must be received with a grain of allowance, as I have ever observed that the smallest inattention to the preservation of any part of the system occasions a proportionate falling off.” P.32. t See the Reports of the National Society. Master and Teachers. 19 The teachers should be retaiued in their station * as long: as they perform their task with ability and success, and consistently with the general good, and no longer. Objects of honourable emulation should be held up to them. They should be fully impressed with the natural and necessary advantages of their office. That the teacher profits far more by teaching than the scholar does by learning is a received maxim of great antiquity, which all experi- ence confirms. The words of Lilye to this effect ought to be en- graven on the walls of every school. “ Qui docet indoctos licet indoctissimns esset, Ipse brevi reliquis doctior esse queat.” Besides, it is felt and acknowledged, that the act of teaching serves, in an eminent degree, as an apprenticeship to qualify forbu- siness and active employment. Hence it is that an able master finds no difficulty in selecting and retaining good teachers; while an incompetent master, or a master, whose heart is not in his work , is known by his failure in this respect, and by his complaints of his teachers, and of his scholars, and of their parents. On the whole, the master who performs his duty faithfully, gains the hearts of his pupils, and exercises a complete dominion over their minds, and can direct their energies as he sees fit. His teachers and best scholars are most alive to the beneficial effects of the sys- tem, and most devoted to his service. They are ever ready to minis- ter to his pleasure, and give the tone and spirit to the whole school. From his pupils, his influence extends to their parents, who are completely won by their being made sensible of the happiness and improvement of their children; and anew character is thereby given to Society, as is fully certified by official reports from various quar- ters, where mutual tuition is duly administered. It is a palpable error to allege, as is often done, that the hands of the Madras master are tied up from the instruction of the school. The reverse is the ease. Competent teachers, selected by himself, and retained only while they faithfully perform the offices assigned to them, and for which he has qualified them, are perpetually occu- pied in teaching and hearing their respective classes, and saying a portion of the lesson with them ; and, thereby, preparing them for the inspection, examination, and instruction of the master; who has this manifest advantage, that the work is, for the most part, done to his hands ; and that, while he is engaged with each class in rotation, the rest are in a course of preparation for his return to them ; and, while all are proceeding with their daily employment, be enjoys leisure (which other masters do not) for the superintend- ence, direction, and instruction of both teachers and pupils, when- ever, and wherever it is requisite. Such are the powers with which the agency of the scho- lars furnishes the master for the security and preservation of the continual attention, diligence, and the consequent improvement of the whole school. But the benefit of the Madras machinery does not rest here. * In some schools the candidates for preferment are set to teach an inferior class for about six weeks, and when they acquit themselves well of their charge they are promoted to a superior class ; but if not they return to their former station, or else are allowed to make a further trial of six weeks more. 20 Classification. Chap IV. — On Classification. The first and grand law of the new school is, that every scholar by a perpetual and generous competition with his fel- lows, finds for himself his level, and unceasingly rises and falls in his place in the class, and in the ranks of the school, accord- ing to his relative proficiency. This classification, peculiar, (in its laws and extent) to the Madras system, contributes in a high degree to the life and spirit, activity and exertion, and to the improvement and happiness of the Indus literarius. This engaging and ellicaeious auxiliary of the new system requires the particular and deliberate attention of the Madras student, and professional master ; as his complete success must always depend on his full comprehension, and rigid observ- ance of this main law of the Madras School. Begin then with arranging the classes according to the pro- ficiency of the scholars, from the first or highest to the last or lowest, on the floor, in squares *, rectangles, or circles, conform- ably to the space and shape of the room. For the attainment and preservation of this equalised classification (by which term is denoted classes composed of members of similar proficiency ) the scholars, who rank high in their class, are placed on trial at the foot of the superior class ; and, if they rise in its ranks they obtain permanent promotion ; but if they fail, they revert to their former class. On the other hand, the scholars who fail for some time, after due warning, in saying their daily lessons, are removed to the head of the inferior class, when, if by in- creased exertion they maintain a high place, they return to their former class, on a new trial. But it is advisable ( as often as it can be done ) to secure and maintain equalised classification, by continually feeding the higher from the lower classes, whereby the unpleasant necessity of de- grading the scholars, inferior in genius, memory, or progress, may be, in a great measure, if not entirely, dispensed with. When, in learning, or saying, or rehearsing a lesson, a boy fails, or errs, the next below, or, after a few seconds, any other in succession, who prompts him, takes, of his own accord, the place above him and all between : and if he do not then repeat what has been told, he is, in like manner, again corrected. If all below fail, the head boy is referred to. But if he also fail, any one who now prompts takes the head of the class. The next to the defaulter, and one only, in his turn, must speak at a time +. The scholar who prompts before his turn, or who, when above the reader, till the head boy has been appealed to, forfeits a * The first and last child being opposite to one another, the rest at equal distances, and the opposite sides equal and the teacher to stand where he can see and have a command of the whole class. t Till the scholars are familiar with the rules of prompting, the teacher guides them, by passing along the class with his finger, that none may speak out of turn, and not more than one at a time. Classification. 21 place *. So likewise does the boy who prompts, but does not of his own accord, immediately lake the place he has gained. In all this it is necessary in order to give complete interest and delight, and to produce full effect, that the scholars under - stand and play the game themselves. Thus every boy is kept on the alert, as well above as below the speaker, all being liable, on every mistake, to lose a place. In writing and ciphering also , whether at the desk, or on the floor, let each scholar be invariably arranged according to his performance. Every new scholar, whatever his former progress may have been, is placed at the bottom of the school, and works his way np through the classes, learning the practices and rules of the school as he goes along, till he finds his appropriate sta- tion. It is thus that the dunces, as they are called, from other schools, are no longer dunces when they enter a Madras school. By these means, no class is ever retarded by unequal or incompetent associates ; and every boy in every class is fully and profitably employed ; and by thus finding his own level, his improvement is most effectually promoted and rendered a maximum. Conscious that his lot depends upon his own ex- ertion, and his relative attainments, and that whether he rises or falls in the ranks of the school, he is in his proper place; he recognises the justice, perceives the fitness, and feels the utility, of rules so happily conducive to liis own, and to the general weal. “ Give me a boy who is roused by praise ; whom glory delights ; and who cries when vanquished. This boy will be 1'ostered by am- bition, he will be stung by reproach, and animated by a sense of honour. In him I shall entertain no apprehension of sloth.” — Quin. It can now truly be said : — “ Give me (almost) any boy, and let me plant him in a Madras School, properly regulated and conducted, and I will, in a great degree, show you these fruits. None shall remain insensible to the impulses which are there given, and to the motives which are there presented to the mind. In none shall remain dormant the principles of humanity implanted in all. In all shall the love of imitation, and a sense of honour and shame, develope themselves, and display their powerful influence.”— Ludus Literarius. P. 185. It is a common and inconsiderate custom in a master, by the mul- tiplication of his classes, to increase his own labour, and, in the same proportion, to diminish the profit of the scholars. In general, the larger the classes the greater the improvement. It often hap- pens that two, or even more, classes may be united with advan- tage f. A higher class may be benefited, in case of imperfect in- * In going to a higher place in the class, the scholar walks before, and to a lower, behind, his fellows. t The advantages of large classes are manifold. When, as not nnfrequentlv is the case, instead of 30, the classes are composed of nine scholars each, four able teachers are wanted instead of one ; and the task of superintendence and inspection, on the part of the Masters and Visitors, and the risk of neglect in 22 Discipline. struction, (too prevalent a case) by going over again the ground with the lower; and an inferior class derives double improvement from imitation, emulation, and excited diligence, on being joined with a superior ; and the boys at the head of the inferior will soon attain a high rank in the new class. On the whole, it is manifest that the master has no more trouble, nay he has less trouble, in the tuition of a whole class, than of a single scholar ; and that that emulation , or desire of excellence, which the Creator has implanted in the human breast, for the wisest and noblest purposes, is thus unceasingly called forth, and proves a powerful incentive to laudable exertion. Further fruits of this classification will be seen in the next chapter. Chap. V. — On Discipline — Rewards and Punishments. “ When Crates saw an ignorant boy, he struck his tutor.” Corporal punishment has no tendency of itself to sharpen the wit, improve the memory, or advance the knowledge of the patient. On the contrary, it frequently hardens the offender, disgusts his school-fellows, begets a hatred of the school, the book, and the master, and thereby defeats its own end. The discipline which de- pends on bodily fear, fails whenever there is the hope of escaping detection: at best it has seldom more than a temporary effect, which often ceases with the pain it inflicts. Under its dominion, the scholar aims only at impunity, and not at improvement or re- formation ; and the greatest culprit and sufferer often becomes the Hero of the school. Instead, therefore, of arbitrary and occasional punishments, the Madras System has substituted a code of laws, unceasing in opera- tion, and powerful in influence, founded on the constitution of man, adapted to the genius of children, and left to the administra- tion of its subjects, or, as might almost be said, to execute itself. Indeed, the entire machinery of the new school is fitted to prevent idleness and offences, to call forth diligence and exertion; and thereby to supersede corporal infliction. Simultaneously, and by the same means by which it conducts the instruction, it conducts also the moral, religious, and intellectual discipline. Scarcely can an offence be committed without instant detection, and immediate cor- rection. Any transgression which may require serious animadver- sion, the teacher reports to the master, who, when he sees occasion, tries the accused by a jury of his peers. 1. In the first place, the continual presence and vigilance of the teachers * * with their respective classes, serve in an obvious manner, as has been seen, to prevent offences and this necessary office, are multiplied fourfold; and the benefit of imitation and emulation diminished in the same ratio. * The business of our little teachers (and they perform it to admiration) is not to correct, but to prevent faults; not to deter from ill behaviour by the fear of punishment, but by preventing ill behaviour to preclude the use of punish- ment.” P. 39. “ If an assiduous exactor of STUDIES watch over the scholar, there will be no need of this castigation ; but as matters now stand, through the negligence of the pedagogue (tutor) boys seem to be so corrected that they are not constrained to do their duty, but punished for not doing it.” - Quin. Discipline. 23 disorder, idleness and inattention, and to secure the incessant occupation of the scholars. 2. In the next place, the well adjusted proportions of honour and shame which its classification continually distributes, with an impartial and unerring hand, form the most appropriate and efficient rewards of the meritorious ; and, at the same time, the most powerful correctives of the undeserving. The pro- motion of the one, and the degradation of the other, imme- diately consequent upon, and in just proportion to, their deserts, are the simple and powerful stimulants, most effec- tive in the government, as well as in the instruction of a school. Again, besides the immediate fruits of this new classifica- tion, it furnishes the teacher with a ready instrument for cor- recting various errors, and reforming defaulters. In every case of failure, irregularity, or aggression, such as low utter- ance, reading fast, or in a singing or drawling tone, indistinct articulation, being inattentive, unsteady, holding down the head, not standing upright, or in the proper place, &c. the teacher, or rather the assistant, has only to point to, or name, the offender, and he goes down a place ; and then, if need be, another. But if he fail grossly, or wittingly misbehave, he is turned down, according to the nature of his offence, two or more places, or even to the bottom of the class. When unruly, or disobedient, he is detained there for some time. If still refractory, he is degraded to a lower class. So also with late boys, truants, &c. The loss of more than one place, being attached to any offence, will, in a well-regulated school, be sensibly felt by the tender mind ; and the forfeiture of a class makes a deep impression, and calls forth the utmost efforts to wipe out the disgrace, and regain the lost honours It is a fact fully ascertained by experience, that a maximum of improvement cannot be obtained without a minimum of punishment ; and that the nice sensibility and delicacy of feeling, which are produced by mild and gentle treatment, have no small influence on the general character, conduct, and kindly spirit of the whole school. Briefly, it is * Meither these, nor any good fruits of the new system, can be expected, where it is not duly administered, so as to implant in the infant breast a just sense of its mild spirit, and general tendency to promote the best interest and true happiness of its pupils: as when the master, from early custom or inveterate habits, or any other cause, does not feel the force of these very simple precepts, and does not even make trial ofthem ; or, when from want of confidence in his own powers, he does not persevere in that uniform and undeviating course necessary to ensure success in any new undertaking. 2 24 Perfect Instruction. a prominent feature of the Madras System that it always appeals to the better part of human nature. By means of his monitors, the master is also enabled to enforce the extra punishment of confinement after the regular school-hours, to recover what has been lost by absence, &c. Truants and flagrant offenders are occasionally corrected by temporary suspension. For expulsion, a Altai and deplorable issue, there can hardly ever be occasion in a well-regulated school, where due attention is paid to the morals, the improvement, and the happiness of the children. Rewards are cither honorary or pecuniary. Teachers are re- warded, not by a fixed stipend, to which there is an obvious ob- jection, but according to their deserts, the good conduct and improvement of their respective classes, and their regular attend- ance and good behaviour at church and at school ; and the most exemplary and meritorious of the scholars are often rewarded in various ways. In some schools, besides the distribution of tickets, medals, books, or clothes, there are established lending libraries, fund books, and saving banks, for the general benefit. It is but justice to children to state, that they are not so much alive to any reward, as to the advantages they enjoy in the speedy and perfect instruction under the mild, but in- flexible, laws of the new school ; and that no rewards are so acceptable to good teachers, or more appropriate, than aiding and assisting them in carrying on their own studies, at extra hours, and at home. Chap. VI. — On perfect Instruction and Order. The second main law of the Madras School is ; “ that its instruction be conducted in a gradually progressive course of study, by easip, adapted, and perfect lessons, ‘ a notioribus ad minus nota.' ” The perpetual presence, and fellowship in their studies, of the teachers with their pupils ; and the law of classification and moral discipline, treated on in the two foregoing chap- ters, go a great way to the accomplishment of this important object. One of the maxims of the Madras Asylum was, in the language there spoken, that “ A boy cannot do any thing right the first time, but that ho must learn, when lie first sets about it, by means of his teacher, so as to be able to do it himself ever after.” P. 42. In other words, the rule is, that each successive lesson and practice must be made familiar to the scholar, before ano- ther is taken in hand ; and that, in every act and every movement, whether in walking in and out of school, taking places at the writing-desk, or in the classes on the floor, the utmost despatch *, order, regularity, and quiet must be ob- served. * To save time, two or more boys of the class are employed under the teacher in giving out and gathering books, slates, &c.: and the scholars walk 25 Perfect Instruction. In particular, let attention be paid to the initiatory lessons, the neglect of which not only prevents the scholar from ac- quiring for years, what may be learned in months, but also by the habits it begets, opposes no small obstacle to his future studies* *. In the beginning, therefore, never prescribe a lesson or task, which can require more than fifteen or twenty minutes, or double that time if it is to be first writtten at the desk and then said on the floor. Never omit marking the book, the moment the lesson is given out, nor quit a letter, a word, a line, or a verse, or a sentence, or a paragraph, or a section, or a chapter, or a book, or a task of any kind, till the learner is well acquainted with it. In the daily repetition by heart, let every scholar be taught to rehearse prayers, graces, &c. as well as to say the initiatory lessons, in the style and tone of a good reader, which, with uniform attention on the part of the teacher, all will soon be able to do (while the organs are pliant) by imitation, as they unceasingly repeat them with their instructors and fellows ; and a better manner may, under this process, be acquired, in a few lessons, than ordinarily is attained during the whole period of schooling, under a low and negligent utterance, or a singing or drawling tone. in and out of the school two or three abreast, according to the size of the doors or stairs, &c. * The advantage of perfect instruction may be understood by remarking how much the difficulty of learning to read may be done away, by removing every obstacle on its first occurrence ; such as by making the child familiar with the stops and points, and daily attending to them in the outset, and also with those common words, of which, it is said, three or four score, counted every time they occur, amount to one half of the number of words in any book. The same observation applies to the construction and analysis of sentences, owing to the similarity among them. One lesson being perfectly learned, the next is in part known : and a habit of attention and accuracy, which is of no small importance, is acquired. As iu many schools there is much waste of time, occasioned by passing slightly over what is most important and unknown, so is there in others, by repeating and dwelling on what is less material and already well known. The true art of tuition consists iu tasking the abilities of the scholars suffi- ciently to maintain a perpetual interest, and call forth the temperate exercise of the faculties of the mind, which is not less grateful than the moderate stretch of the mnscles of the body; and by not imposing on them burdens beyond what they are readily able to bear. Perfect instruction, in a progressive course, by the love of knowledge natural to man, and of novelty (the great parent of pleasure, especially to children) renders a school a perpetual source of enjoyment to the infant mind; and study becomes not only pleasurable at the time, but also on re- flection, by the pleasurable emotions with which it is associated. As, on the one hand, the scholar has a pleasure in doing what he can per- fectly perform, and perfectly understand, so, on the other hand, every task is irksome to him which is above his comprehension, or in which he is not duly instructed B 26 Perfect Instruction. Let the master himself, then, watch over the uniform exe- cution of these directions, not satisfying himself by telling the teachers to do so and so, but by doing it, in the first instance, with them and for them, thereby showing them how to do it, and by seeing it done. In short, when the law of perfect instruction, and perfect order is duly executed, there is only one thing to be learned at a time, and all is ease, despatch, and pleasure. When neglected, in the first instance, which is the fatal error in many schools, a complication of difficulties and bad habits is formed, which it is extremely toilsome to unravel. These scholastic knots cannot be cut : they must be untied. In teaching and implanting habits ab initio, there is no difficulty. The difficulty lies in unlearning and undoing bad habits, which indulged become a second nature. Seeing, then, that what constitutes the main difference between one school and another is perfect and imperfect in- struction, I cannot forbear repeating here, once more, an observation which it is my most anxious wish, as it always has been my most earnest endeavour, to inculcate. Let no master, as he values the satisfaction and approbation of the Visitors and Directors of his school, the profit and delight of his pupils, the gratification of their parents and friends, and the good opinion of the public, and his own ease and comfort, think he has done his duty while he has a single child in his school who does not make early and daily pro- gress according to his capacity, who is not perfectly instructed in every lesson as he goes along. But let it also be remem- bered, that the scholar’s time must not be wasted in repeating again and again what is already familiar to him, except as far as is necessary to prevent its being forgotten. In conclusion, let it be observed, that to maintain good order and perfect instruction, which must go hand in hand, it is of the greatest consequence that the usher (if there be one), as well as the master, be able at all times, to give off hand an account of the hourly and daily progress of the whole school ; and also each teacher of his own class, so that the Visitor or Su- perintendent may occasionally, by the examination of one or more classes at a time as he shall think fit, ascertain the accuracy of the account rendered to him, and form his opi- nion and give his orders accordingly. Such, in fine, are the means by which the master will fully acquit himself of the important duties committed to him, advance the welfare of the rising generation, of the society to which they belong, and, as far as depends on him, of their common country. Elementary Education. 27 Part III . — On the application of the Madras System to the different branches of Elementary Education. Introduction. — In the foregoing part of this Essay, an organ for the multiplication of power and division of labour in the moral and intellectual world, has been developed, aud- its force and energies displayed ; and the leading laws and main rules for conducting, under this principle, the classifica- tion, discipline, and instruction of an establishment, have been set forth and demonstrated. This is what constitutes the Madras System of Education. It embraces all art, science, and literature, and stands quite distinct from the use which is made of it, and from the doctrines which it is employed to inculcate. It remains to treat on the application of this system to the several branches and various departments of scholastic and domestic education. For this purpose there are, in Madras schools, employed certain specific practices, or methods, which speak for them- selves, and which, by actual experience, have been found most effectual to simplify, facilitate, and expedite the peculiar operation to which each is appropriated. In the prosecution of this system (and of every other) the first requisite is a course of useful and instructive study, which begins with elements and first principles, and what is easiest to be understood, arranged in a gradually progressive series, so that each lesson may be intimately connected with that which went before, and that which follows it — the course itself being adapted to the nature and purpose of the school for which it is prepared *. As the course and arrangement of study, so also the methods, which are now to be described, must be suited to the genuis and capacity of children, calculated to open the * In National schools, the elementary course consists of short and cheap tracts, moral and religious, amusing and instructive, of which hereafter in the proper place. In the first instance it is only necessary to state, that Nos. 1 and 2, form the rudiments or basis on which the art of spelling, read- ing, and writing is built. No. 1 is a tract of 8 leaves, in script or written characters, in a largish current (running) hand, and is at once the child’s primer and copy-book. It consists of the letters i, 1, t, o, the vowels, a series of the combinations of vowels and consonants, or syllables of two letters, and a set of easy monosyllabic lessons. No. 2, Part I. begins with a copy of the same lessons in print, with additions. Part II. is the History of Joseph and his Brethren, and serves for the introduction to a course of reading lessons composed of monosyllables and polysyllables (by which latter term are denoted words of more than one syllable) indiscriminately. Each child is also furnished with a small slate to be suspended about bis neck or otherwise, so as to be always at hand for use ; and with a script card of the alphabets, stops, and points, and digits, which serves as a perpetual prototype, when he writes from memory, dictation, or a printed book. b 2 28 Summary of Practices. infant faculties, to indulge the social, imitative, and active dis- position, to gratify the desire of learning, and of excellence, to improve the memory, and to add to the stock of useful knowledge. The chief of these are as follow. Chap. I. — Summary and description of the specific prac- tices, adapted to scholastic and domestic Instruction in Reading, Writing, and Ciphering. 1. Tuition, in the elements of letters, is conducted by simul- taneous instruction * in spelling, reading, and writing. 2. Every branch of study is taught by reducing it to its primary elements. Reading lessons are divided into clauses, clauses into pauses, pauses into words, words into syllables, and syllables into letters. 3. The alphabet, together with Ihe primary combinations of vowels and consonants (or syllables of two letters) is taught in a series, which enables the child to dictate his successive lessons for himself, conjoined with a manual operation, which heightens this satisfaction, and imprints the performance on his memory and mind. This is happily illustrated in the case of arithmetic. 4. Monosyllables are taught by previous spelling, on book, in order to read them; and off book, when read. Thus on book, a, n, an; s, e, n, t, sent: and off book, teacher an, scholar, a, n, — T. sent, — S. s, e, n, t. Polysyllables are taught by syllabic reading on book, and by unreiterated spelling off book ; not as in the old school, p, r, e, pre, s, e, n,t, sent, present ; but pre-sent, present. — not m, i, s, mis, r, c, re, misre, p, r, e, pre, misrepre, s, c, n, t, sent, misrepresent, a by itself a, misrepresenta, t, i, ti, misrepresentati, o, n, on, misrepresentation ; but mis, re, pre, sent, a, ti, on, mis- representation. Again off book, the teacher gives out the word, and the scholars first divide it into syllables, and then spell, thus pre, sent, p, r, e, s, e, n, t ; again, mis-re-pre-sent-a-ti-on, m, i, s, r, e, p, r, c, s, e, n, t., a, t, i, o, n. In the beginning and as long as is deemed expedient, the word is repeated after it has been spelt. o. In the Madras primer there are no unmeaning tables or lessons of detached monosyllables and polysyllables, with which spelling books are wont to abound. These, like the letters of the alphabet, ■when taught in immediate succession, have no connection or asso- ciation to assist the memory, nothing to interest, amuse, or in- struct. Instead of which the children learn to write, spell, and read monosyllables and polysyllables, as they occur in the course of lessons adapted to their age and understanding, where the sense of the text and context is a perpetual guide and help, and conduces as well to amusement and instruction, as to advancement in the art of reading. 6. A pause is the minutest subdivision of a sentence which con- tains a distinct idea, and is marked by a momentary suspension of the voice, as, The uay-of God-is-a good way. * This by the certainty, distinctness, and pleasantness, w ith which it is attended, is said, when duly executed, to be accomplished in less time thaD is U'uallv employed in learning any one of them by themselves ; and if it betroe, that writing (as is often reported) so far from retarding, forwards the read- ing, then the writing is a negative quantity, and is acquired in less tban no lime. Summary of Practices. 2J) 7. A clause is (generally) a larger portion of the lesson, deter- mined by breaks in the sense, as. The way of God is a good way. 8. After every lesson has been read and spelt, the scholars are taught to examine one another on the meaning of Ihe words and sentences, at first, with the books open, and afterwards with the books shut. N.B. No word, which the child can readily pronounce at once, need be spelt on book, nor read syllabically ; and no word, with which the child is not familiar, must be passed over without being spelt oft’ book. The exemplification, exposition, and illustration of these prac- tices will be given in the sequel, when the books to which they re- fer are taken in band, p. 40, &c. GENERAL REMARKS. The above summary and definitions convey information on points often misunderstood, and furnish answers to questions frequently asked. I. “ Wherein does the difference between the principle and ■practices of the Madras school consist ?” The former as before expounded is a discovery “ sni generis ” — one simple, universal, and immutable as the nature and constitution of man. The principle of mutual tuition, is the spirit which per- vades, actuates. connects, and sustains the entire scholastic ma- chinery. It is that which gives vigour to the parts and unity to the whole. “ totanique infasa per artus Mens ngitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.” The true nature and character of this system, as a discovery, are briefly designated in the following extract from a sermon preached before the Society for FrnmotingChristian Knowledge, at the Anni- versary of the Charity Schools, at St. Paul’s, by the Dean of Chichester, 1817, now Lord Bishof of Gloucester. In speaking of the Founders of our old charity schools, and com- paring a discovery in the intellectual world, as momentous in its consequences as it is humble in its origin, with the grandest and most sublime ever made in the physical world, he says, “ If we do not reproach the philosophers of old times with the ignorance of what a Newton saw and investigated, we must not find fault with those good men for not having forestalled the merits aud anticipated the discoveries of a Bell.” The practices of the new school are, on the other hand, of a cha- racter quite different. They are inventions in contradistinction to discovery — contrivances matured by observation, trial, and ex- perience, that may be multiplied and diversified at pleasure, and even set aside, without essentially affecting the character of the system, which is quite independent of them, and communicates its immense powers to all sorts of scholastic processes, that may be sub- stituted for them, or are applicable to the instruction of the youth- ful mind. When, therefore, the author inculcates with earnestness the ad- vantages of certain subordinate processes, he must be understood to speak of them merely as compared with other practices of a similar description ; for none of them admit of comparison with the main spring of mutual instruction, which is the life and living principle of the whole. At the same time he would not willingly forego the benefit of the minor practices, and the arrangements for conducting the operations of the new school, which originated and were re- e 3 30 . General Remarks. corded at the Madras Asylum, and have been confirmed and in some instances simplified or reduced to their first elements by the experience of 30 years at home. 2. Here also it may be necessary, for the sake of parents, private tutors, and the institutors and masters of village schools, to advert to a common mistake, “ That the Madras System is in no wise ap- plicable but to a large school.” It is true indeed that the efficacy of imitation, the influence of ex- ample, and the incitement of emulation have only full scope where there is a competent number of classes of a competent size. But it is also true that the principle of mutual tuition may be employed with great advantage in a school ever so small. If there are two children in the same stage, by appointing the one tutor to the other, they will derive double pleasure, and double benefit, as will also be the case with an elder and a younger child in a family. The advantage grows with the number of scholars. Six scholars form a respectable class, but 36 a much better, whereas the specific prac- tices* may he adopted with no small advantage (though not with equal force) under any system, and are as applicable to a single child individually in a family, under the parent, relative +, or tutor, as to a numerous class collectively in a school under a teacher. 3. It has also become necessary to notice another mistake, be- cause it has a tendency to prejudice the Madras System, and serves as a plea to vindicate the disorderly and defective state of schools, whether arising from negligence, incapacity, or ignorance of all system The mistake here alluded to is, that “the Madras System has undergone frequent changes.” How far this is the case can readily be ascertained by comparing this and evory former edition of the Instructions for conducting Madras Schools, with the original Report (1796) of the Parent ScnooL at Madras. In that Report it is recorded and certified by the Government of Madras, and the Directors of the Asylnm, that it is a “ System of tuition altogether new,” p. 10 — that “ it is a new mode of conducting a school through the medium of the scholars themselves.” p. 24 — that “ the school teaches itself.” p. 40 — that “the school is entirely taught by the boys,” p. 48 — that “ there is a teacher and an assistant for every class,” p. 41. Its dis- cipline “ not to correct, but to prevent fault,” **** — “ and to preclude the use of punishment:” p. 39 — and that “John Frisian, of 12 years and 8 months, with his assistants of seven, eight, nine, and eleven years of age, has taught boys of four, five, and six years to read the Spectator distinctly, and spell every word accnrately as they go along, who were only initiated into the mysteries of their ABC eight months before, and have read the child’s first and second books twice over, and gone through two spelling-books, the Psalter, a great part of the Old Testament and all the New, and who can make numbers with their finger in sand to one thousand, and who have learned hvmns, stops, and marks, the catechism, tables in arithmetic, and to write.” P. 36, 37. ______ * Such as the child’s writing on sand or slate, dictating of his own accord elementary lessons, syllabic reading, unreiterated spelling, simultaneous spelling, reading and writing, reading by pauses and clauses, an arrange- ment of elementary lessons, and a course of arithmetic, in a series by which he can for the most part proceed of himself with his successive lessons. t A younger child in a family derives no small benefit from repeating the lessons with an elder even before he begins to read ; and also afterwards, so as not to interfere with his proper lessons. t Most commonly what was designed and found effectual to prevent these faults, or to correct them where found, is alleged to be the cause of them ; and the excuse is often circulated wilhout inquiry. General Remarks, 31 But if all other memorials of this system were lost, the scheme of the school of the Madras asylum, the teachers, names, and ages, &c. 1796, would alone suffice for a monument of this system, its origin, and character. See p. 33, Madras Report, and back of title-page, supra, and for its future fruits see pp. 98—114. Such was the Madras System at the Fountain-head. Now, has any the least change thereof taken place in any edition of my instructions for conducting schools, or in the administration of theCentral School of the National Society ; or any school that has correctly copied after this model? Is it, then, in the practices of the Madras School that these name- less changes are lo be met with? The original practices at Ma- dras, according to the same Report, were, “ Writing in sand,” p. 24 — previous and unreiterated spelling, and syllabic reading— “Marked books and Registers,” p. 31. “Black book and Jury,” p. 43 ; and from none of these has any deviation been made, ex- cept in the frequent substitution of slates for sand, of which the rea- sons are assigned, p. 3o, t infra; and that in well-regulated schools there is found little or no occasion for black book and jury. Or is it in the stereotype and lithoyraphic cards , substituted for printed books? One of tiiese inventions was not known, and the other not in use, when this discovery was made. Again, is it in the use of new Tracts (small books) extracted and compiled from the Bible? These are the history of Joseph and his Brethren, our Saviour’s Parables, Miracles, Discourses, and History. Neither to these, nor to the arrangement of the initiatory lessons, and of Arithmetic, in a series which enables children to dictate them, for the most part, for themselves, or at least most readily to learn them, it is presumed can any plausible objection lie, or any change of system be imputed. The only remaining practices to be noticed are reading by pauses and clauses. In the Report of the Madras Asylum, it is stated to be the practice to “ Read syllables by themselves and words by themselves,” p. 28. without any notice of pauses and clauses; and in the above summary it is stated, that “ Every branch of study is taught by reducing it to its primary elements. Reading lessons are divided into clauses, clauses into pauses, pauses into words, words into syllables, and syllables into letters.” Nothing more has been done here, or elsewhere, tban-followiug up the original practices of the Madras School to their natural con- sequences and to their utmost simplicity, so as more effectually to promote ease, satisfaction, despatch, and efl'eet. More especially the practices of reading by pauses and by clauses, which are supposed a great stumbling block, were, after full and incontrovertible expe- rience, recorded and recommended by a Chaplain to the President of the National Society, himself a member of the General Commit- tee, and nowon the Episcopal Bench. His words and arguments are almost literally copied in the above summary, Nos. 6, 7,S,p.28 — 9: and in chap. i.v. on Morality and Religion, Nos. 3, 4, 5, p.41 — 2, beginning with “ Iu particular,” and ending with “ especially con- duce.” See also in the book of Common Prayer as referred to, p.41 infra, from “ Further examples" “ to whole class.” On the whole we conclude, that as to the principle of the Ma- dras System the wit of man can add nothing to it, and can take no- thing from it : nor has it perhaps often occurred, that a set of arbi- trary rules and practices (which may be varied at pleasure) for B 4 32 Division of Time. carrying a new and original scheme into effect, has subsisted, as in the present case, durinafi^he third part of a century, and under- gone little of no change; except it be called a change to have re- duced some of them to their simplest elements. Now, in proceeding to particulars, it may be of use to give a previous idea of the arrangement of the daily lessons : Chap. II. — On the division of time in the lower classes of National Schools, which meet five or six hours a day. 1. Religious Rehearsals — 2. Preliminary Repetition of the initiatory Lessons — and 3. Arithmetic — for each of these allow 15 or 20 minutes every morning and evening, say two hours in all, there will remain three or four hours for the regular and stated course of simultaneous and perfect instruction in writ- ing, spelling, and reading, which may be divided interchange- ably with the other exercises, into six or eight lessons, of half an hour each. The former part of this half hour is to be allotted to writing and learning the lesson at the desk, and the latter to saying it on the floor. The viva voce rehearsals and repetitions are discontinued as soon as the scholars can give out the lessons for them- selves, and the divisions necessarily vary as the classes ad- vance, and according to the respective studies and other circumstances ; but the whole should be so arranged that the scholars may sit and stand alternately *. To begin with the first of these : — Chap. III. — On Religious Rehearsals. “ The Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and Ten Commandments, he (the scholar) learns by heart, not by reading them himself in his Primer, but by some- body’s repeating them before he can read.” — Locks. How extensively and effectually does the teacher of a Ma- dras School supply the place of the person designated some- body by Mr. Locke, far beyond what he could have imagined. On admission to school, the beginners, in the first instance, learn by heart, for a quarter of an hour (or more, if deemed expedient) morning and evening, in small portions, such reli- gious exercises as are of daily use. These are — 1. The Lord’s Prayer, which is restored, as it were, to its wonted place in the Horn-book ; 2. Graces before and after meat ; 3. The second and third Collect of morning and evening service ; 4. A short Prayer on entering and leaving church ; 5. The Creed ; and 6. The Ten Comma ndments f. * Seneca says that the Roman youth were always on their legs, and never learned any thing in a sitting posture ; and Lord Bacon says, “ that much sitting of children at school hinders their growth and experience seems to evince that standing and taking 'of places is a wholesome exercise. Hence the standing in writing at desks, of counting and banking-houses, and by students of medicine, &c. t See Baptismal Offices. 33 Elementary Lessons. These exercises the teacher * rehearses slowly, distinctly, audibly, with a just pronunciation, and due attention to pauses, clauses, stops, and points, the whole class repeating along with him ; it may be, in the beginning, in a loud voice, but ever after so as to be scarcely audible, or lost in the voice of the reader. One or more pauses, or a clause, or as much as the class can well learn by heart in a quarter of an hour, should be perfectly taught the first morning and evening ; or the whole may be repeated over and over again at each lesson, till it be perfectly learned. Before a new lesson is given out, the pre- ceding portions are briefly rehearsed. The lessons are gradually lengthened as the scholars advance, and their minds are more and more opened for the reception of progressive instruction, and as the memory improves by exercise. In this way, the Lord's Prayer can be repeated slowly in little more than half a minute, and so of the rest in proportion, at the rate of one hundred words (on an average of five letters to a word) to a minute. It would be of use to have these lessons script, and put into the hands of the scholars during the rehearsals, so that they may have an opportunity of picking up letters and words as well, and as soon as they can. For the continuation of this subject, see the chapter on Morality and Religion, where it will be treated of more at large. Chap. IV. — On the Elementary Lessons. To form early habits of attention and application, which is essen- tial to all study, and, at the same time, to teach the elements of letters, which in themselves are devoid of all amusement, is the first and most difficult task in the art of tuition ; and though till this is accomplished no good progress can be made, and the child can have no satisfaction in his studies, yet it is generally, if not always, more neglected than any other part of the course, at all hands. Here lies the bane of many a school which passes under the name of a Madras School. Every school, where this is the case, falls into deserved discredit, and children, after having been weeks, and sometimes mouths, with- out learning what, in well conducted schools, is taught in lessthau as many days, or even hours, are not unfrequently w ithdrawn from dissatisfaction and disgust. This is the more lamentable, when we consider the fatal conse- quences of this neglect (in the grounding, as it is called) on the early habits and future progress of the children, and the singular facilities and numerous advantages which the Madras system pro- vides to obviate these evils, as well as every other difliculty in * As soon as any scholar can lead, he gives ont the lesson instead of the teacher, and takes the first place, and so of the others in turn. The same rale is followed in similar cases. B 5 31 Previous Lessons. scholastic instruction, and in the communication and advancement ul knowledge, and to supply the desiderata for these purposes, pointed out by the greatest and ablest writers. 1. First and foremost: Mutual tuition has supplied the organ desiderated by Lord Bacon ; 2. “ Assidutts studiorvm exactor ” — “ the assiduous exactor of studies” by Quinctilian ; 3. The some- body by Mr. Locke, beyond what these illustrious men could have imagined ; and lastly, the means of fixing attention and preventing the waste of time, of which so much has been written by Logicians and Metaphysicians, to so little purpose. Simple and easy, however, as the remedy in every case of diffi- culty is. it requires that superintendents and masters never cease to employ those powers and means, which the Madras system puts into their hands. A specimen of one of these has been seen in the former chapter. Chap. V. — On the previous Repetition of the initiatory Lessons. In the first instance, then, till the class can proceed of their own accord, let a quarter of an hour (or more, as is deemed expedient) be set aside morning and evening, for the previous repetition of the initiatory lessons from the mouth of the teacher, as in the case of religious rehearsals. The scholars have now their books in their hands, and learn to point at the place, and follow the teacher. In this way, which children so much enjoy, and can so readily perform, the alphabet cau be rehearsed twice slowly in a minute, and a line of the combinations of vowels and consonants in five se- conds, and each series in less than two minutes, and the whole book of sixteen pages in as many minutes, and so of the rest. The first of these exercises affords a specimen of what may be often observed in a Madras School — the union of several lessons in one, so as to assist and forward one another. The whole class bawl together from the mouth of the teacher, and as soon as may be, of one auother, (in an adjoining apartment if thepe be one) ba, be, bi, bo, bu *, (the sound being an echo to the sense ;) and a, e, i, o, u, and ha, he, hi, ho, hu ; and also va, ve, vi, vo, vu, and wa, we, wi, wo, wu ; taking places according to the loudness, and to the right pronunciation of the letters and of the aspirate, till all can be heard from one end of the room to the other. They are then instructed to modulate their voices so that they cau be heard by the teachers and one another, and at other times, so much louder as to be distinctly heard, by visitors and strangers. In this act the class are at once taught the head line or key to the series of lessons, by which they most rapidly learn the alphabet, the just and distinct pronunciation of the letters, the right use of the aspirate, and to speak aloud f. The advantages of these viva voce exercises (or reading-on lessons, as the children call them) is manifest. They area relaxation and di- vertisement from the ordinary employment of the school. They are * Y is omitted for the present, to prevent the confusion of li and ly, and to shorten the first lessons, and c and gare, in the first instance, only pronounced hard, afterwards the soft sounds before e,and i, and y, are taught. t To speak audibly is a most material point, the neglect of which is a source of endless indistinctness, hindrance, and annoyance. Simultaneous Instruction. 35 an effectual bar to idleness. They form early habits of attention. They are level to every capacity. They give wings to the first essays of the unfledged novice, and prepare him for the subsequent and perfect perusal of these initiatory lessons, in the manner explained in the next chapter. Besides, when writing is not taught, the repetitions may be ren- dered especially available to forward the art of reading by itself. In this case, the lessons may be divided into short (suitable} portions, and dwelt upon till the scholars can read them distinctly on book, spelling and examining as before set forth. The particulars of these processes may be easily gathered from the subsequent instructions, by omitting the words write and writ- ing, and written, as often as they occur, or substituting’ for them, when necessary, spelling, or reading, or both. It must not, however, be passed over in silence, that there is a great relief in alternate reading and writing, though the writing should be only in small portions (as often practised) without keeping pace with the reading. Chap VI. — On simultaneous Instruction, in Writing, Spelling, and Reading. The surest and most effectual method of perfect instruction in the elementary lessons, w hich have just been recited, is by writing them on sand or slate. The easiest of these is writing on sand, with the finger, which is the simplest and most manageable instrument. This practice is the only branch of the New School which the author borrowed from India, and it is the only one which his expe- rience iu the generality ofour schools has iuduced him to relinquish. Owing to the difficulty of superintendence, where the lesson must be effaced as soon as written, and to the consequent neglect and slow progress at the sand board, this practice is now, for the most part, superseded by that which was wont to follow (slate writing.) By beginning with slate and pencil, and the written characters, a stage of the course is saved, the copying of the printed Alphabet, which is more difficult than copying the written characters, and of little or no use, is rendered unnecessary, and the knowledge of the printed characters, as will be seen hereafter, is attained almost in- 'sensibly. At the same time, the art of reading by itself, and of sand writing, will be sufficiently apparent from the following details of slate- writing — a process which has this manifest advantage, that the lessons remain for inspection, till one or both sides of the slate are filled, and seen by the master, as well as the teacher, so that they can hardly be evaded or neglected, as at the sand board, without detection. In the Central, and other well-conducted Schools of the National Society, the art of writing is rendered subservient to the art of reading ; or rather writing and reading go hand in hand, and are mutually auxiliary the one to the other. In the commencement, let an able, expert, and trusty teacher, and assistant, be appointed to the class of beginners, and a tutor from a superior class be assigned to each scholar, for an hour, (or half an hour,) at two or more intervals, morning and evening, for a few days, till the child acquires sufficient use of his eyes and fingers to proceed of himself. B 6 36 Simultaneous Instruction. All being seated at the desk, or oil the bench, except the teacher and assistant, the tutors have now to instruct their pupils, to copy », spell, and read the lessons of the Primer, for which they have been prepared by the above recitals. The tutors begin with instructing their pupils to trace, and as they trace, pronounce the letters i, I, t, o, one by one, over the script primer, or a slate engraved with the small Alphabet for the purpose, and then to copy and read them on their slates ; and next to write and name the vowels, annexing each, as soon as they can make it, to the letter (1) as in the card before them, pronouncing by previous spelling I, a, la, 1, c, le, l,i, li, 1, o, lo, 1, u, lu ; then pointing with the pencil, and reading what is written, la, le, li, lo, lu. The tutor next calls upon the pupil to spell and write the words f in any order on the back of the slate, and then to read them as written. Having written at the desk for fifteen or twenty minutes, all the members of the class, dispensing, for the present, with the superior tutors, are arranged in their square or circle on the floor, accord- ing to their writing; and rehearse or say this lesson conjointly to their teachers in the class, as they before did individually to their tutors in learning it at the desk, each child now taking in turn a single letter or syllable, or word, or such portion of the lesson as is found convenient to produce despatch and a brisk circulation. But the whole lesson, while it can be read in a few seconds, may be said by as many of the chilren in succession, as may be found ne- cessary to perfect instruction. This observation must serve once for all, to guide the master in future on similar occasions. It must not, however, be forgotten that minute divisions, when readily per- formed, are, by the brisk circulation, most effectual to keep all un- remittingly attentive and alert. Here let me call upon the master to ply his utmost might and watchfulness to have the children soon and well instructed in the primary lesson, la, le, li, lo, lu. This being the key to the subse- quent lines of the series, renders their acquisition easy, sure, and pleasant, as it is then only requisite, to instruct the pupil lo write and name the consonants one by one in order, and be can of him- self annex to each as he did to l.tbe vowels a, e, i, o, u, and thereby form the first series of lessons, from ba, be, bi, bo, bu, to za, ze, zi, zo, zu, and read and spell them as above. Having thus learned to write and read all the letters, be proceeds in like manner with the next series, in which the vowels precede the consonants, beginning with ab, eb, ib, oh, ub, and ending with az, ez, iz, oz, uz. Htre again great pains must be bestowed on the head line, ab, eb, ib, ob, ub, not only as the key to the series, but also on account of distinguishing the short sound of the vowels * The writing must be the same size, form, and distance of lines as the pro- totype, and without ruling. The distance is that of three lines lo an inch, or eighteen lines to a slate of six inches long. At the outset the child is allowed to mark the beginning and ending of each line with a pencil, by measuring the distance from the top or bottom of the slate, or by applying to it the proto- type, or otherwise. In the commencement, particularly in lamilies, there is a difficulty in commanding that attention on the part of the child which is re- quisite to form a figure or letter. But were this obstacle once surmounted by perseverance and adequate motives, such as the parent alone can be a judge of, the futnre progress would be easy and pleasant. t In writing on the tloor, the scholars, at the outset, for the sake of dis- tinctness, drop the hand at the end of each letter. Simultaneous Instruction. 3 7 when they begin the syllables as e, and i, in eb, and ib, ec and ic, &c. With these combinations the pupils should be made quite fami- liar, because one or more of them occur in every word of more than one letter, and they form the foundation on which they have to rear the fabric of their future studies. As soon as may be, the superior tutors being dispensed with, the class is paired oil' into tuturs and pupils, and learn the lessons at the desk ; and, when necessary, the former stand by the side of the latter on the floor assisting them, aud pointing for them, to the place on the slate or book, &e. After all, perhaps, the best way to surmount the difficulties of the initiatory lessons is by uniting tile inferior part of the class, which has just gone through them, to the class of beginners. The former, by revising their primary lessons as tutors to the latter, while they greatly forward their pupils, do, at the same time, most effectually advance their own improvement, by repeated practice, and by fa- miliarizing themselves with the elements of their future studies — an arrangement of which all, in turn, enjoy the benelit. In fine, it is necessary to observe, that the writing must be done so as not to retard, but to forward the reading. The mischievous practice of writing over and over again, the same lesson, with a view to writingit well, at once, which cannot be accomplished, (and after all, perhaps, not learning to read it,) must be abolished. Perfect Instruction in spelling must be enforced in every lesson, but perfect writing only is to be attained in the course of successive lessons, to forward which fast writing is mainly conducive. For a short time, therefore, it is enough that the writing be legible. For this reason the promotion takes place according to the despatch till the lesson can be written in a given time (say a line of the above series in one minute, a page of the script cards in fifteen minutes, and the whole book at this rate in four hours.) When this fundamental poiut is gained nothing more is required to ensure uniformly pro- gressive improvement in writing, than to assign places (unhappily almost never done) according to the conformity of the writing to the script prototype, provided the master make sure that equal justice be invariably observed in the allotment of places. But that no time may be lost the teacher must learn to do this with a single glance of the eye. Any unintentional mistakes are immaterial, and will correct and balance themselves in the course of a week or a month. If this be duly performed every child will, in no long time, infallibly learn to make an approximation to the script cards on the slate, and afterwards, when required, on paper*. The child having acquired a large round hand can readily learn to write in any hand that may be required, provided the lessons which are given him to transcribe, or the alphabet, be written or script in that hand. The same observation applies to the digits, stops, and points. * A half-penny sheetof pot paper folded into 10pp. is sufficient to copy the whole script cards, and contain more than is written in mauy idle copy heads and copy books, in text and half text, and other hands. Of these nothing has been said, because when the round current hand of the script cards has been acquired, there is no difficulty in writing these large hands, or occasion for particular directions. The capital letters may be taught as they occur’ in the course of lessons, or by copying one or more after every lesson. 38 Reading Lessons. Chap VII. — On the monosyllabic Reading Lessons. Hitherto the child has been gratified with the joint exer- cise of his eyes and fingers in copying, and of his memory in dictating his successive lessons. From this time the higher powers of his mind are brought into perpetual activity. Every future lesson in reading, and copy in writing, serve to cul- tivate the understanding, and to furnish amusement and in- struction. The monosyllabic lessons in the remaining cards or leaves of the first book are copied, spelt, and read, as in the junction of vowels and consonants, thus : — T, b, e, the, w, a, y, way, o, f, of, G, o, d, God, i, s, is, a g, o, o, d, good, w, a, y, way ; and then they read by pauses, thus : — The way — of God — is — a good way. Lastly, they revise the whole 12pp. at once. At the end of every lesson, the scholars are called upon to spell the hard words ; and they examine one another with the assistance of the teachers on the meaning of the words and sentences. This will be explained in a subsequent Chapter *. Chap. VIII. — On Instruction in the printed characters. The beginning of Book, No. 2. is a copy in print of the lessons which have been just learned in script. By revising these lessons in this book, the children from their previous knowledge of them, and from the similarity of the printed and written characters, insensibly acquire the former, while they still further perfect themselves in their first essays in reading. Having perused these lessons by pauses and clauses, they, in like manner, go through the remainder of the monosyllabic part, writing (their only copy being their script prototype card of the Alphabet; reading, spelling, and examining as before. Finally, they once more revise the whole 13pp. at a single lesson, which, iTi.be class be perfect, may be done in thirteen minutes. Chap. IX. — On Reading Lessons composed of Mono- syllables and Polysyllables promiscuously. The last stage in the art of reading begins with the His- tory of Joseph and his Brethren, which forms the latter part of the second book +. The method is the same as in the monosyllabic reading, but with this difference, that the polysyllables are, in the first in- stance, taught by syllabic reading, and unreiterated spelling. The class having already learned to read monosyllables are taught to resolve the polysyllables into the (mono) syllables, of which they are composed as above, thus : — * Let the scholars learn to read pages, contents of chapters, &c. and to turn to any page, section, chapter, verse, &c. And in every lesson begin with any child indiscriminately. t An intermediate book, between the first and second part of No. 2. is a desideratum. But wherever here or elsewhere any want or difficulty ocenrs, let it be recollected that superior tutors, under able teachers, or one or other of the methods pointed out above, with right measures, supply a ready and sure remedy, the success of which depends entirely on the instructor. Morality and Religion. 39 Jo seph, Joseph, instead ofj,o, Jo, s, e, p,h, sepli, Joseph, Breth-ren, Brethren, &c. It is usual to write the whole of this book, the scholars paying particular attention to the polysyllables while they write and read. But this and all other arrangements of the sort depend on the will of the managers. Chap. X. — On Morality and Religion. “ Engage the mind in study by a consideration of the divine pleasures of truth and knowledge.’' — TEMPLE. In the scheme of Education reduced to practice in the National Schools, and through the whole course of study there pursued. Morality and Religion are both end and means. They are the ultimate object, and they form the prin- cipal materials of the instruction which the pupils receive. The elementary books, there taught, are almost entirely taken from the Holy Scriptures ; and form a compendious system of Christian instruction. This subject has been, in a great degree, anticipated. The instruction began, as has been seen, on the entrance of chil- dren at school, with religious rehearsals, which they learned by heart from the mouth of the teacher, while, at the same time, they were grounded in the rudiments of reading, by a series of lessons, ending with the History of Joseph and his Brethren. They now’ proceed to the appropriate ccurse before alluded to, of moral and religious study, by which they are more and more improved, by incessant practice, in the art of reading. This course, in National Schools, consists of rehearsals of the Catechism, the same broken into short questions, tfte larger expositions of the Catechism, and the Chief Truths of the Christian Religion , in question and answer *, (which are com- * It is matter of frequent inquiry, how far instruction by books composed in question and answer should be carried. To this in- quiry a general reply may be made; that the rehearsal of answers from book, by rote, contributes little to the stock of knowledge, when, as often happens, it is no more than a memory of words, without understanding the sense. Teaching history, for example, in this way, interrupts the narrative, and prevents the interest and the pleasure. But how can children question one another ? By com- mencing with what is simplest and easiest, — the elementary reading lessons, — the task of examination is rendered level to the meanest capacity. The illiterate master instructs himself as well as his scholars. By the daily analysis of the initiatory lessons, their minds are gradually opened for the growing series of progressive study ; whereas the multiplication of questioning books actually locks up the mind, and precludes the growth of the understanding by pre- venting its exercise. In questioning, especial pains must be taken that the words of the answers do not always immediately follow the words of the question, lest, as often happens, the answers be made mechanically. By never analyzing a sentence, or attending to its meaning, 40 Morality and Religion. mitted to memory by reading them) and of the following brief tracts from the lists of The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, composed of extracts and abridgments from the Bible. 1. Our Saviour’s Sermon on the Mount. 2. Parables. 3. Miracles. 4. Discourses, 5. History of our Saviour. 6. Ostervald’s Abridgment of the Bible. By means of these, the character of which is sufficiently indi- cated by their titles, and which do not altogether cost so much as one of the small spelling-books in common use, the chil- dren are qualified to read their Bible and Prayer Book with readiness and edification ; and to carry on their future studies with understanding and effect. The methods employed for expeditious and perfect instruction in this course, were be- fore set forth ; and the further illustration and exemplifica- tion deferred, till the whole of the elementary tracts, from different parts of which specimens were to be extracted, should be taken in hand. The following are examples of reading by pauses, marked — , and clauses marked | . 1st. Book 2. p. 2. There is not — a thonglit— in oar hearts, — but — God — knows it, p. 14. The History — of Joseph — and — his Brethren. r P.18. In the seven plenteous years — the earth — brought forth abundantly; and — Joseph — gathered up — all the food — which was — in the land ] and— laid it up — in the cities. When further advanced, the whole would be read as one clause. 2d Sermon on the Mount. Jesus — seeing — the multitudes — went up — into a mountain; | and — when be was set, his disciples — came — unto him. | And — be opened — his mouth — and — taught them — saying; | Blessed — are — the poor — in spirit, | for — theirs — is — the kingdom — of Heaven. 3d. The Catechism. The clauses are here marked 1, 2, 3, &c. 1. My duly — towards my neighbour, — is — to love him — as — myself, and — to do — unto all men — as — I would — -they should do — untome. 2. To love, scarcely a sentence in a whole book is understood; whereas, by analyzing one sentence, and doing it well, a great progress is made in understanding another. It is actually from not knowing how easy the communication and acquisition of knowledge may be rendered by such a course of , study, and by such means as are pointed out in this Essay, and applied, as here applied, that the time spent in school is so olten wasted to little or no purpose. In the way here pursued, the school has, in a few days, advanced one step, and acquired one species of knowledge, which renders the next step easier. Each preceding acquisition adds to the general stock, which more and more facilitates what follows; whereas, in slovenly, and negligent teaching, the difficulties never once surmounted, are still fresh, and meet him at every turn. In the Madras Tuition the difficulties diminish every day, as the scholar goes along from Parable to Parable, from Parables to Miracles, 1'rom Miracle to Miracle, from Miracles to Discourses, &c. By teaching one at a time, and well, the whole is soon learnt ; by teaching the whole in a lump, nothing is well learnt. 5 41 Morality and Religion. honour, and succour — my father — and— mother. 3. Tohonour — and — obey — the King — and — all — that are put — in authority — under him. 4. To submit myself — to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors, — and — masters. 5. To order myself — lowly — and — reverently — to all my betters. 0. To hart nobody • — byword — nor — deed. 7.Tobetrae — and — just — in all my dealings. S.To bear no malice — nor — hatred — in my heart. 9. To keep — my hands — from picking — and — stealing; and — my tongne — from evil speaking, lying, and slandering. 10. To keep— my body — in temperance, — soberness, and — chastity. 11. Not to covet — nor — desire — other men’s goods. 12. But — to learn — and — labour — truly — to get — mine own living— and — to do — my duty — iu that state — of life— unto which — it shall please — God— to call me. Further examples, from the highest authority, of the use of clauses, distinguished by capital letters, may be seen in the Lord’s Prayer, the General Confession, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, &c., as printed in the Book of Common Prayer, and appointed to be said by the minister, and re- peated by the congregation. In this manner it is that the lessons of the Madras school (the clauses being lengthened as the class proceed) are read by the teacher and scholars in succession, and repeated by the whole class. It is only necessary to subjoin a brief recapitulation and exposition of these and other auxiliary and subsidiary prac- tices, which have been proved by long observation and expe- rience, to be especially conducive to form and maintain those habits of attention and application, without which no study in any school or family can be prosecuted with advantage, as well 'as the habit of correct thinking, which is no less useful in the humblest walks of life, than it is essential to every literary and scientific pursuit. 1. The practice of every child pronouncing to himself, in a low tone of voice, whatever is said or read by his class- fellows, cannot fail to keep up the attention of every member of the class, at every instant of time, and secures the slow and distinct enunciation of each in turn, and to preserve the power of imitation in perpetual activity. 2. The circulation by letter^, syllables, words, pauses, and clauses, as the class advance, shares the lesson among the members of the class, without reading it over oftener than is necessary to perfect instruction, requires unremitting atten- tion, and keeps the class alive to their work. 8. In particular, 'pause-reading, by tying down the eye, the voice, and the mind to a single object at a time, gives ieisure to the scholars to digest each idea as they go along ; and conduces, in no small degree, to distinct reading, and ready comprehension. 4. In reading by clauses, also, every child becomes his own teacher, and determines, by his own reason, according to the breaks in the sense, how much it is proper for him to read. 42 Morality and Religion. 5. Lastly, by the Mutual Examination, the main spring and grand principle of the Madras system, the tuition by the scholars themselves, is actually carried to its utmost limits. Here each child is tutor and pupil in turn ; and the incite- ment of emulation operates, as well in the art of questioning, as of answering. The teacher and assistant act as umpires, seeing’that no fit questions are omitted, and no unfitting ones asked; and correcting, if necessary, the answers when the scholars fail. What may not have been understood, when read, is made palpable to every comprehension. By these means all the children are qualified to become teachers, (being habitually practised in the highest duty, in point of instruction, which belongs to that character) and a lasting foundation is laid for their invariable attention to the sense of all they read, not only as scholars, but, what is far more, as teachers. The grand object of the Madras system, and of the National Society in adopting it — to instil into the infant mind the genuine principles of Christianity; to make them understand, as well as read, their Bibles — is greatly pro- moted by the habits of accuracy, to which the practices here alluded to especially conduce. In the prosecution of this study, the class first peruse the New Testament, next the Old, and then again the New. In fine, for what more particularly regards the intellectual, moral, and religious application of this system of education, and the grand views which it opens to the Christian world, see the Original Records of its rise, progress, bearings, and results in die Elements of Tuition, Parts I. II. Ill, and the former edition (1823) of this Manual. The first of these volumes (the Report of the Madras Asy- lum, 1796, so often quoted) is the fountain head, w'hence the others have flowed, and all else that has been written on this subject, and all that has been done in the diffusion of this sys- tem, in whatever channels, and under whatever names and appellations they may have passed. W T hen duly considered, the development and character of a novum Organon , which communicates to the scholastic world the same advantages as the mechanical powers to the physical world, cannot but be regarded as an object of curiosity and interest, as well as, if the author mistakes not, an invaluable acquisition to literature and science. To the moralist and divine ; the statesman and politician ; the sovereign and legislature, it furnishes an in- strument more powerful than ever yet has been wielded. To the Christian Church it is more particularly of the deepest consequence. When other attempts had, in a great measure, 43 Morality and Religion. foiled, it supplies immediate and inexhaustible resources for the furtherance of the fulfilment of the Prophecies, and the accomplishment of the Promises, beyond the most sanguine hopes, which could reasonably have been entertained, under any other System. More especially does the History of the Parent School of the Madras System, and of its original Pupils , with an Appen- dix, comprising a brief Record of their subsequent lives, conduct, and fortunes, afford to the Antient and Venerable Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and for the Propagation of the Gospel inForeign Parts, an example * of the most engaging, the most economical, and the most efficacious means that ever have been imagined for the advancement and consummation of the grand and momentous ends of their institution ! How * This argument was happily illustrated 14 years ago by an able advocate and zealous promulgator of the Madras System of Educa- tion. “ The Author (says he) cannot conclude this introductory chapter, without congratulating the original inventor of the System, Dr. Bell, on the realization of his anxious hopes, on the reward of those labours, which will, under Divine Providence, prove a lasting blessing to posterity, and call forth the gratitude of thousands in this country, stimulated by the same feelings of affection, which, after eleven years’ silence, produced from his Indian pupils a letter, fully proving (as Dr. Bell says), ‘ that the sentiments, which it was his incessant aim to inspire, had not evaporated ; and that the princi- ples, which his dutiful pupils had imbibed, had taken deep root, and continued toyield their natural fruits.’ “ This pleasing instance of gratitude, as well as satisfactory prac- tical proof of the strong hold, which the new System takes on the mind, is signed by nearly fifty of his pupils at Madras, (in the name of the whole body) and, while it shews a becoming gratitude, on their part, for the unwearied assiduity shewn by their benevolent pastor, it enumerates the respectable situations in life, in which they are placed, ascribing to his paternal care, under the great Dis- poser of events, their preservation, their comfort, and ail the va- luable advantages they enjoyed. They have since presented Dr. Bell with a service of sacramental plate, and a gold chain, and a medal, and have begged that 100 copies of his miniature, on copper- plate engravings, may be sent to be distributed amongst them. When the total ignorance of those children, at the time of their first being instructed by Dr. Bell, is considered, the lamentable want of early good impressions, and their exposure to vice, and particularly deceit of every kind; and when we compare their subsequent moral and religious improvement, and the respectable places in society, which they afterwards filled ; when too there was more to undo, before sound principles could be imbibed, than can be the case in this happier country, an undeniable proof is afforded of the excel- lence of Dr. Bell’s mode of instruction ; nor can there be the smal- lest reason for doubting, that, whenever the same measures are stea- dily and perfectly adopted, they will be attended uniformly with the same lasting good effects.” Suggestions to the Promoters of the Bev. Dr. Bell’s System o f Education (Longman, 1813), hy the Itev.F. Ire- monger, late Prebendary of Winchester. See pp. 39, 60. infra. 44 . Elements of Arithmetic. difficult and rare is it to convert and reform men grown up in error or evil ways ! How practicable and easy to imbue the infant mind with religious principles, to implant in the tender heart sentiments and habits of virtue and piety, and to train up the young in the may they should go ! Let Archbishop Tillotson sum up : “ There are several ways ofreforming meu, by thelaws of the civil magis- trate, and by the public preaching of ministers. Bnt the most likely and hopeful reformation of the world must begin with children. Wholesome laws and good sermons are but slow arid late ways ; the timely and most compen- dious way is a good education. This may be an effectual prevention of evil ; whereas all afterways are but remedies, which do always suppose some neglect and omission of timely care.” Ciiap. XI. — On the Elements of Arithmetic. Introduction. — Arithmetic, or the science of numbers, affords a familiar and manifest exemplar of that methodical arrangement of study, and of that tuition with understanding, which characterise the new school, and render every branch of education easy, pleasant, and certain. It requires no pre- vious knowledge of reading, or writing. It can be rendered level to children of the tenderest age, and slenderest capa- city. As an exact science, when conducted systematically, it is calculated to exercise and open the infant faculties, to cultivate the growing understanding, to gratify the love of method, of imitation, and of knowledge. For this reason the child, on his admission to school, enters, at once, on the first principles of arithmetical progression, and a practical exemplification of its rules. Proceeding step by step in a uniform series of successive lessons (which, after a few examples, he can dictate for himself) he may go through an elementary course of the four cardinal rules, which com- prise the whole of arithmetic, in less time than, in some schools, is allotted solely to write the idle digits, the mind being locked up all the while. § 1. On Numeration and Notation on the Arabic Syste?n. Computation, on this system, is performed with ten cha- racters (digits, monads, or single figures) 0,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, by the combinations of which every number whatever can be expressed. The prime monade, zero, or cipher (0) so called from cfra, an oriental root, gives its name (to cipher or ciphering ) to this science, because from this root springs the series of digits (and numbers), by the regular gradation of unity, and because it is the key to that decadary scheme, which repeats by regular circles of ten places (from the ten fingers) each decade ending with the cipher, as below. The prototype card, which has been mentioned above, or a slip of paper, with the digits, in script, or written cha- Elements of Arithmetic. 45 racters, is the child’s sole text-book ; and this he has always before him. The pupils, with the teachers and tutors, are arranged, and proceed at the desk and on the floor, as detailed in the section on writing, to which the reader is referred. The course commences, not by copying the digits again and again, in immediate sequence, without intellect or interest ; but by a process in which, as in the case of the letters, the plea- sure of the manual operation is heightened by an exercise of the mind. The child, in copying the digits, as he does the letters, is taught to form them, of his own accord, into a regular series of initiatory lessons. A single rule suffices for this purpose, “ Copy the last lesson, and add 1 to it.” Proceeding from the root, or cipher (0) by the addition of unity (1) he creates as it were, and names the successive digits, and numbers ; and, by the help of his tutor, with his fingers or counters, he ascer- tains their value, and is silently initiated in the first law of arithmetical progression, as in the annexed series of the first ten lessons in columns downwards, beginning with the first significant figure. O O Scheme 1 . Formation of Digits, and Progression of Num- bers by Unity. In tin's manner is formed the first decade, 1,2, 3,4, 5,6,7,8,9,10, (marked 1 — 10) which repeats for ever by the addition of 10 as 1 1—20, 21 — 30, 31 — 40, & c. He now copies the decades* from 1 — 10 to 191 — 200, whereby he is initiated in all the varieties which occur in reading and writing units, tens, and hundreds (or a half period oi three places) according to the place of the cipher; and as every long number consists of a repetition of half periods, it can by a simple device be read as below. But first let it be observed, that the value or power of a signi- ficant figure is increased tenfold, by having a cipher, or other digit annexed to it: thus 1 is one unit, 10 is ten units, and 100 is ten times 10, or a hundred units, and 555 or a half pe- riod, is 5 units, and 5 tens, and five hundreds. A period consists of six places, or alternate half periods of units and thousands, and pro- ceeds by multiples of millions. Lessons. 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1,1 1 , 1 . 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1,1 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2, 2 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1,1 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 1 . 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1,1 4 , 4 , 4 , 4 , 4 , 4 , 4 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 a, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 1 , 1 , 1 , 1,1 6, C, 6, 0, 6 1 , 1 , 1,1 7, 7,7,7 1 , 1,1 b,S, b 1,1 9,9 1 10 * A decade can be written slowly in less than a miunte, and, at first, the child should he tasked to write one, and afterwards two or more, till he can copy ten in fifteen minutes. The places being assigned, for the present, according to the despatch in the performance. Those who finish first are gratified by trying to make a new copy better than the former. Those who do not perform their task in the given time are put to the bottom. Bat the class does not stop for them. [See page 47. PRIMARY LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC. Scheme 2. — In Addition and Subtraction. ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 I 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 Less. I. <2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10 i 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 C 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ’ 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 k2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 Less. II. 4, 5, 0, 7, 8, 9,10,11 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 .2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ■ 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 1 , 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 Less. III. Less. 6, 7, 8, 9,10,11,12 I 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 .3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 r 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 V 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 1 Less. V. < 10,11,12,13,14 J 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 V. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 6, 7, 8, 9 6 , 6 , 6 , 6 Less. VI. 12,13,14,15 6 , 6 , 0 , 0 6, 7, 8, 9 c 7, 8, 9 \ 7, 7, 7 Less. VII. ) 14,15,16 7, 7, 7 Less. VIII 7, 8, 9 r 8,9 \ 8 , 8 . <16,17 8 , 8 8, 9 Less. IX. < Tm | =1 Scheme 3 — In Multiplication and Division. ! 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9 1,1. 1. 1, 1. 1, 1, 1, 1 1)T72, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7, 8, 9 /• 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 „ „ \ 2 , 2 , 2 . 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 Less. II. < 2)4, 6, 8,10,12,14,16,18 (. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6777879 r 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 \ 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 Less- III. ^ 3)9,12,15,18,21,24,27 ( 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ■ 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 \ 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 1 4 )1 6,20,24 ,28,32,36 . ~ClM777~879 Less. IV. Less. V. ! 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 5)24,30,35,40,45 576777879 Less. VI. 6, 7, 8, 9 ) 6 , 6 , 6 , 6 ) 6)36,42,48,54 6, 7, 8, 9 Less. VII. J C 7, 8, 9 \ 7, 7, 7 < 7)49,56,63 C 7, 8, 9 Less. VIII. 8, 9 8 , 8 k 8)64,72 ' 8, 9 Less. IX. 47 Elements of Arithmetic. Thus, then, to read any number whatever, as 55555555555 5 55555$ 6* mark by alternate commas aud semicolons, and by a series of dots as lollows ; 5;5 5 5,5 5 5;5 5 5,5 5 5,5 5 5,5 5 5, and then read each division as if it were a single half period, pro- nouncing thousands for each comma, and millions for each dot, thus 5 millions of millions of millions (or trillions), 555 thousand 555 millions of millions (or billions), 555 thousand, 555 millions, 555 thousand and 555. In like manner, by the distinguishing marks, any number, how- ever long, can be written at once. An example will suffice. Note down eight thousand quadrillions, six hundred thousand and one trillions, seven thousand and fifty billions, nine millions, forty-two thousand, three hundred aud fifty six. 4 3 2 1 8 ,000 ;600,001 ;007 ,050;000, 009 ,042,350. In this example figures are substituted for dots. By a little at- tention to these elements and exemplifications, the master will be prepared to explain them to his pupils, when be sees occasion ; and, in the mean time, be will be the better able to show them bow to instruct themselves in the following simple processes. § 2. On the four cardinal Rules of Arithmetic. The child begins with copying (forming) for himself the annexed series of lessons. This is done by a single rule m “, d t? ply each digit in succes- sion b ‘° itself, and all that come after it ; and prove subtraction division • As every arithmetical operation is performed by addition, sub- traction, multiplication, or division, the elements of which are the digits (or ciphers as they are also called ) it is manifest that the above schemes comprise an elementary course, from which every other arithmetical operation naturally follows, and need only to be illustrated by examples, and inculcated by practice. It is apparent also that these elementary lessons have necessarily formed the addition and subtraction, multiplication and division tables, which the scholars may learn far more easily (and must learn) step by step, as they go along, while they dictate them for themselves, and observe the natural order of progression, in which they proceed. It is also clear that, by proving addition and multi- plication, by subtraction and division, the latter are at once most readily and satisfactorily taught and vice versa +. * A siugle example includes as many as there are figures as the above does. 1st 5, 2d 55, 3d 555, 4th 5555, Sac. t The method of instructing children in the elementary lessons deserves especial notice on account of its general application. It is on the Platonic mode of questioning — not indeed to recall the reminiscence of what was known in a pre-existent state, but to bring forth the early fruits of the seeds implanted by the hand of nature in the human intellect. There is not room for more than a very brief specimen of the beginnings. Thus — Teacher. If then you are to add together all the digits, which do you begin with? — Scholar. 1. — To what do you first add 1? — S. To 1. — T. To what then? — S. To 2, 3, &c. in succession to 9. — T. What next? — S. Add 2 to all the digits. — T. No, not to 1, because this was done before, &c. Again. — T. If 2 & 3 make 5, what do 3 and 2 make, and what 2 from 5, & 48 Elementary Lessons. ^ 3 . — On the application of the Elementary Lessons in general practice. The teacher dictates extempore a sum step by step, and the whole class repeat and set it down on their slates, having no other copy than their script prototype card. They then read the sum given out in order to correct it if necessary ; after which they perform the operation, and read the several results, each taking a single step in successsion. When the whole is performed and proved *, the teacher inspects the slates and assigns his due rank + to each member of the class according to his performance. After two or three initiatory lessons the sums are dic- tated by the scholars themselves, each in succession giving out a minute portion. Several classes, consisting of hun- dreds of boys, may be employed in the same arithmetical operation on the floor, at one and the same time, a single voice only being uttered in succession, as called upon by the teacher, and all the rest setting down the figure from the mouth of the successive speaker, each teacher taking charge of his respective class. In every case, that variety should be studied, which occurs in common use ; and the higher digits should be dictated as often as the lower ; to which last, children when not duly directed, generally give the preference. For the sake of acquiring a habit of readiness and quickness, the members of the class should frequently, when the sum has been given out, perform it individually in their places on the floor, and take precedence according to the despatch in the performance. In National Schools the examples of the Compound Rules are chiefly conlined to pounds, shillings J, pence, and farthings. The tables commonly used for this purpose may be dispensed with. It 3 from 5? and if 5 multiplied by 3 be 15, what is 3 into 5, 15 divided by 3, and by 5? and so on in other cases. Hence if any one of these four questions be rightly answered, the other three are known ; aud when this is familiar to the scholar, one only need be asked, and much time saved in questioning. This note has been introduced under the head of arithmetic for the sake of brevity and certainty, but a similar method is pursued in all the other branches of study, more especially as has been seen in morality and re- ligiou. * In proving addition the npper line is cut off, and the lower added down- wards, and their sum subtracted from the sum total gives the upper liue. — Specific Rales, Contractions, Sue. cannot be here entered upon. t The scholar who does not set down the sum properly is sent to the desk with a tutor to copy it till he can do it correctly. A class considerably infe- rior, being joined to the ranks of a superior, and repeating with them, and copying from the slates of the boys next to whom they are placed, will soon be enabled to proceed of themselves with the superior class. $ In adding shillings set down the right hand figure of t.':e sum of the co- lumn of units, and carry the figures on the left to the tens, which added di- vide by 2, set down the remainder, and carry the quotient to pounds; and *o iu every denomination of an even number of tens. 49 On Registers. is only necessary to instruct the child how many of one denomina- tion make one of another. The division table does the rest. Thus, 27 pence divided by 12 is 2s. 3d., &c. It is thought unnecessary to spend time in learning tables of weights and measures, which arc in general soon forgotten. Alow examples in cases of the most common occurrence may suffice, from which the use of the rest will be sufficiently obvious, when occasion calls for them. These suggestions must here suffice. The master must needs refer to a Madras School for an illustration of its peculiar processes. If he be familiar with the elementary principles he can apply them, if need be, to the different rules which arc to he found in any book in common use. The shorter the better. All that he has to do is to substitute the new for the old methods. I must not, however, conclude this chapter without remark- ing, that it is still a desideratum to have a system of arith- metic composed on Madras principles, for the higher as well as lower orders of schools, and printed in script, which may serve for copies in writing, as well as for instruction in ciphering. Indeed script might supersede printed books in general. Chap. XII. On Registers. 1. Thebook of admission of the children, with tbenumbers, dates, names, age, and parentage. 2. The marked, or teacher’s book, on the front of which is written, with pen and ink, the date, his name, and class. Every morning at the place where the lesson begins, the day of the month is marked with pencil, and each lesson when given out thus, I. The neglect of this book often betokens the fall- ing off of a school. 3. In the daily-attendance, and class-book are entered, at one place, the rank each scholar holds in his class, and, at another, the progress of the class, copied from the marked book ,- and, 4th, The Paidometer comprehends each scholar’s monthly pro- gress in twelve triple columns, in which, on the last day of every month, are entered the book, page, and stage at which each child has arrived, in his reading, cyphering, and religious exercises. A single line, on a large folio sheet, comprehends the entire progress of each child for a year. Of these registers the piarked and class-books serve as a present guide and check. But owing to the perpetual fluctuation in the members of a class, in a large school, they arc little more than of temporary use. But the Paidometer is of great and permanent utility. In well-regulated schools it will form a record of no less value in the intellectual, tlxau the barometer, thermometer, and pluviometer in the physical world. It will furnish a standard of re- ference for the use of schools and families, showing the maximum and minimum and average progress of children of different ages and capacity, and hold forth at once an example and a stimulus to the earnest Preceptor or Parent *, * To another and further use of the new organ and of the records of its re- sults, which, though it does not fall within the scope of this Essay, the Author conld hardly excuse himself, if he were to forego this opportunity of once more alluding. His long and intimate acquaintance with the talents of chil- dren, and of the manner in which they may be drawn out by the Madras (or Platonic) mode of questioning has often suggested to him the idea of insti- C 50 Chap. XIII. On Examinations. The general examinations of a school are yearly, half-yearly, or quarterly ; besides which, an examination should take place once a week, by the School Committee, at which it is of great importance that the Visitors and Superintendents be present. The examination commences with the inspection of the copy-books of the advanced classes, and the slates of the others (one half of the upper side being tilled with writing, and the other with ciphering), arranged on the desks or benches, according to the performance, each child putting his name on his copy-book or slate. This practice deserves parti- cular notice, as affording the readiest mode of inspection, requiring only a few minutes in the largest schools, and as a stimulus to exer- tion for precedence on the part of the scholars. Chap. XIV. On Economy. On this head it is sufficient to observe, that a Preceptor can teach ten children for one he could before, andthat, while in some schools the Master gives only ten or twenty minutes a day to a child, the Madras Master by himself or his ministers actually devotes the whole of the school-time, or five or six hours. Other branches of economy are the frequent use of slates and pencils for pens, ink, and paper; of small and cheap tracts, comprising no more than, and all that is, useful for the purpose ; and perfect instruction, by which one page goes as far as half-a-dozeu read in a careless and slovenly manner. A subscriber to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge can obtain, at the reduced prices, sets of the follow ing Tracts, con- sisting of 50 each for 2s., viz. 1. National Society’s Book, No. I. in 8-ieaf script cards. 2. No. II. a set of Monosyllabic Lessons, and the History of Joseph and his Brethren ; 3. Our Saviour’s Sermon on the Mount; 4. Parables; 5. Miracles; 6. Discourses; 7. His- tory; 8. Ostervald’s Abridgment of the Bible; and, 9. The Chief Truths of the Christian Religion; in all, 450 books for 18s.; or one copy of the whole for less than 5d *. By good management each of these may, on an average, serve six ' children in succession. The real cost of elementary books for suit- ableinstruction in the art of Reading, and in the rudiments of Reli- gion might, in National Schools, be reduced to little more than one penny for each child f. tuting a set of experiments with a numerous class of them, in order to gain an insight into the genuine powers and faculties of the infant miud, and the un- biassed sentiments of the heart ; — thence to derive certain elements and first principles, whereof, by an induction of particulars, to form a sound and solid basis of unsophisticated maxims, on which to build a new science of mind, widely different from the hypothetical speculations, and the incongruous doc- trines of the old school. * To these must be added a slate. Unframed slates, polished on both sides, are sold by G. Roake, 31, Strand. s. <1. Slates, 7 inches by 5 at 2 C per dozen. fii 4i at 2 3 0 4 at 1 9 Dutch slate-pencils 6 0 per 1000 Black lead ditto 1 0 per dozen. f The Author begs leave to recommend to private families and schools, where the funds admit of it, to read, in the first instance, and preparatory to the study of the Bible, Mrs. Trimmer’s Abridgment of the Old and New Testament. Her other books for private families will be found highly useful. N.B The whole of the above Tracts, Nos. 1—9, may be read slowly, distinctly, and audibly, at the rate of 100 words to a minute, p. 33 supra, in less than six hours. 51 On Grammar and Classical Schools, $c. But the most striking example of the economy of this System may be seen in the first experiment of it at the Madras Asylum, which (contrary to what commonly happens), was attended with a great re- duction of expense. P. 48. Chap. XV. In building and jilting up Schools, the following suggestions are said “ to combine the greatest convenience with the least expense v For school-rooms the common allowance is seven (not less than six) square feet for each child; but the larger the better. A barn or rectangular building is accounted a good model of a school-room. It only wants windows, the bottom of which should be about 5 feet from the floor, and should open at the top; or else there should be apertures at the top of the walls for ventilation. To prevent echo, — a frequent nuisance in new schools,— the roof may be without ceiling, walls lime-washed, no plaistering, domes, or circular walls. The expense of building varies so much in different places, that no general estimate can be made, The lilting up costs but little. All that is necessary is a few plain forms for the several classes, and a ledge or desk for writing upon, against the walls, all along the sides of the room. In some wide schools a double desk is also placed lengthways in the middle of the room. By this simple and convenient disposition of the cheap furniture of a school-room, there is accommodation for one half more children than by the usual methods of placing the tables, desks, and forms. Chap. XVI. On Grammar and Classical Schools, Ladies' Boarding Schools, and Schools of Industry. In the Iteport of the Madras Asylum (1796), the author recom- mended that the experiment, which had been attended with such signal success in that school, should be tried ‘‘in every charity or free school, — and in the generality of public schools and academies .” p. 53. After further experience he expressed himself in stronger terms. “ He will be a sturdy master of an academy, who shall make the first trial ; but could he once overcome prejudice and opposition, which I do not advise him to attempt, unless he feel his own powers equal to the Augean task, and achieve the arrangement according to this scheme, with his scholars them- selves ; and, were he endued with due perseverance, I could venture to pro- mise him success beyond any expectation they can entertain, who have never witnessed the wonderful effects of the System. I can ensure to him, under its just and impartial administration, the hearts of his scholars, and, by conse- quence, the heads of their parents *. — Analysis, 1807. This system has now been established in sundry classical schools with distinguished success ; but there is no room here to enter into particulars. On this head it must suffice to refer to Elements of Tuition, Part III., Ludus Liter arius — the C lassical and Grammar School — a volume entirely devoted to the interesting question on the application of the Madras System to the higher order of children. * In another place it is said, “ nor can the time be very far distant, w hen the richer classes of the (.'immunity shall participate in the boon, already con- ferred on their poorer brethren, and enjoy the incalculable benefits of a System of Education, which reason and experience have evinced is, in an eminent degree, adapted to onr noble and ingenuous youth, iu whose unsophisticated breasts the principles of a virtuous and generous emulation are predominant. This event will accomplish the scheme of the Madras System at home ; and the whole community will b^ raised in due proportion, and all will approximate nearer to God and goodness.” 52 Appendix. There the principles of the New System are demonstrated and de- fended — objections answered— the plan of a Latin (and consequently Greek) Grammar laid dawn, Lilya’s and Eton Grammars analysed, and the necessary details for conducting education set forth at full length. It may, however, be just noticed, that in schools for the richer classes of young children, some of the first lessons in reading may consist of the accidence of the English grammar, (to ■which might be added the Latin) and that in classical schools ab- stracts, or epitomes of treatises on morality and religion, and of the sciences (such as arithmetic, grammar, geography, algebra, &c.), containing first elements, and general principles, should be com- posed and published in script, as will undoubtedly be the case before the end of the century. Such, if properly executed, and adapted to the ready comprehension and consequent amusement of the infant mind, may be entirely transcribed with great advantage. In Ladies’ Boarding Schools it may be sufficient to state here that it shines with peculiar lustre. Iu Girls’ Schools of Industry on the Madras Plan, every thing is conducted as in the school of letters. The knitting and needle- work, and whatever else is taught, are arranged from easy to diffi- cult. Each class has its teacher, who often works herself, while she attends and examines her pupils, or while they read, by turns, to one another. Every day the scholars have places assigned to them, according to the relative quantity and quality of the work done, of which the amount is registered. Boys’ Schools oflnduslry are con- ducted on the same principle. All the schools for the poor should be schools of industry. See Analysis, 1805, p. 79; and Elements of Tuition, Part IT. — the English School, p.41 1 — 422; and foraSketch of a National Institution for training up the Children of the Poor: and Mr. Pitt and Mr. Whitbread’s Bills for Schools of Industry. Ib. pp. 422—433. APPENDIX. That nothing may be omitted to render this Essay as compre- hensive as its limits will admit, and may suffice as a synopsis and text-book for the information and satisfaction of those at home and abroad, who have no previous or correct knowledge of the subject — For these purposes it is deemed incumbent to subjoin, in corrobor- ation and confirmation of the foregoing narrative, statements, and conclusions, a few brief extracts from some of the original reports, and records, and the authentic documents and vouchers alluded to above *. * If auy objection be made to the few pages of history, proofs, and illus- trations, prefixed and appended to this work, it may be answered in the terms of the Lnidus Literarius and English School. If it be true that the greatest of the discoveries which relate to the inanimate or brute creation, fall infinitely short in value and importance of the least of those which go to the amelioration of the moral, religious, and intellectual man ; and that it has never been thought idle or unprofitable to inquire into the origin of any important dis- covery iu the scientific or material world ; — shall not then the Madras stu- dent be supplied with an answer to the questions, where and when this new power in the moral and intellectual world was discovered ? what were the circumstances which led to the discovery ? and whether the system of education founded on it appeared in the genuine simplicity, purity, and unity of an original work ; or decked with appendages foreign to the principle on which it was constructed, and subversive of the object to which it was di- Appendix* 53 Of' these the original or archetype is the Report of the Madras Asylum. To it all the others have referenee ; and of them the bead and front is the circular letter of the Madras Government to the Governments of Bengal and Bombay, and to the Court ol Directors of the East India Company ; of which the following is a copy of that TO THE HON. SIR JOHN SHORE, BA RT., GOV ERNOK GENERAL IN COUNCIL, AT FORI' WILLIAM. Honourable Sir, Dated 6th August, 1796. The Military Male Orphan Asylum having flourished under “ a system of . tuition altogether new," we are desirous of diffusing, especially in India, the report of its progress, and present state, and the mode of teaching practised there, with a view to extend any benefits, which may arise from this system, amongst that class of children to whom it seems peculiarly adapted. We have, therefore, the honour of transmitting a copy of the Rev. Dr. Bell’s last Report of the School, extracted from the Records of the Institution, which we recommend, as deserving the attention of those who interest them- selves in the education and welfare of the rising generation. We have the honour to be, with respect, Honourable Sir, your most obe- dient humble Servants, ^Signed) Hobart, Aliired Ci.ap.kf. *, Edward Saunders, E. W. Fallofield. Such is the immovable basis on which the Madras System of Education rests; and every subsequent stage of its progress fur- nishes the most respectable testimonies and incontrovertible proofs (not to mention ocular demonstrations) ofits authenticity, charac- -r ter, and results. Several of these have been seen in the first part, supplementary to which the following are a few brief specimens. 1. One of the earliest notices of this System in Great Britain, is by an old and invaluable friend, who had himself witnessed its early stages at the Madras Asylum, and is still alive. In recom- mending the establishment of regimental schools on this system, he says: — “ The Male Asylum was, from the time of its institution, till last year, nuder the charge of the Rev. Dr. Bell, who declined receiving either salary or emolument for his trouble. It has succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations, and has afforded an opportunity for a learned and ingenious man to introduce a new mode of teaching and regulation, which be has lately com- municated to the public.” — Plans for the Defence of Great Britain and Ireland. By Lieutenant Colonel ( now General ) Dirom, Deputy-Quarter-Master-General in North Britain. Edinburgh, 1797. 2. That the character and purport of this system were as well un- , derstood on its introduction into England as it was at Madras, is evident from the follow ing extracts of a review by an anonymous critic. rected? And whether the amplifications and successive publications in which the use of this new power was detailed and applied to the variety of cases that occurred, breathed the same spirit and pointed to the same end? In a word, shall not every' means be taken to attach the master to his profession, and to his school ; and to persuade the courteous reader to lend his aid to the support and furtherance of a system fraught with such inestimable blessings ? “ 1 really think (says a learned jndge), that his (Dr. Bell’s) Plan, if rightly conducted, is one of the most stupendous engines that ever has been wielded, since the days of our Saviour and bis Apostles, for the advancement of God s true religion upon earth. * * * I am not sure that this is not the commencement, by bis means, of that glorious era, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.” — 1812. Instruc- tions, See. 6th Edit. p. 34. * Still alive. C 3 54 Appendix. “One such practical experiment in education is worth a thousand ingenious, but fanciful theories, fabricated in the closet, and often little calculated for any other sphere It was the steady prosecution of this happy idea [this new mode of conducting a school through the medium of the scholars them- selves] that enabled the Doctor to surmount all obstacles, and to establish a system of education, the effects of which are as truly interesting as the means are novel. “ As to Dr. Bell, when we consider the object he liadiu view, the ingenuity and perseverance displayed in accomplishing that object, his disinterestedness in declining all pecuniary reward, and the success with which his endeavours have been crowned, we feel rejoiced in the opportunity of acknowledging his deserts, and thus anticipating the opinion of all the true friends of mankind. For while their esteem and applause were bestowed on Howard, who visited prisons, and Count Rumford, who has reformed work-houses, a portion of it will not be withholden from him, who has successfully endeavoured to render these abodes of guilt aud wretchedness less necessary, by the influence of early tuition on the minds and manners of the destitute and abandoned Orphan.” — Anal. Review for January, 1799. That this system was exemplified in practice, as well as under- stood in theory, before the end ofthe last century, has been already shown, p. 11. supra, of which more hereafter. In proceeding to the present century, it is deemed proper to take notice ol'its intro- duction into a new channel, of which the following is the statement by the master of the school himself. 3. Extracts from Improvements in Education by Joseph Lancas- ter. Editions, 1st and 2d, 1803; and 3d, 1805. “ In the year 1798, 1 opened a school .... I knew of no modes of tuition but those usually in practice.” 3d Edit. p. 1. “ The institution which a benevolent Providence has been pleased to make me the happy instrument of bringing into usefulness, was begun in the year 1798. The intention was, to afford children of mechanics, &c. instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, at about half the usual price.” 1st and 2d Edit. p.44. “ During several years I had essayed to introduce abetter system of tuitiou into the School, and every attempt bad failed.” 1st aud 2d Edit. p. 45. “ The boys’ school was instituted as a free school, by Joseph Lancaster, in 1801.” 3d Edit. p. 23. “ Tuition in this school is conducted solely by the senior boys employed as teachers.” 3d Edit. p. 14. “ Dr. Bell had 200 boys who instructed themselves.” ***••»* As a confirmation of the goodness of Dr. Bell’s plan, I have succeeded with one nearly similar in a school attended by almost 300 children.” — 1st and 2d Edit. p. 64. “ I am much indebted to Dr. Bell, late of Madras, for the preceding in- formation on the subject. I have reduced it to practice, and find it does honour to its benevolent inventor.” 3d Edit. p. 58. “ This method of spelling is commonly practised in schools, but for the method of studying the spelling lessons, 1 am indebted to Dr. Bell, believing it was his peculiar invention.” ill. p. 00. ,<#*** All these difficulties were obviated hy my hearing from Dr. Bell that it was dry sand.” ih. p. 47. “ I again refer the reader to Dr. Bell’s Pamphlet; he cannot do better than to procure one and read it himself, which will save me going more into detail, and afford him greater satisfaction.” — Appeudix to 2d Edit. p. 79. “ I now' explicitly state what my plan is as far as I am concerned. It is a SYSTEM of order, whereby a hoy of fourteen may govern any nmnber * of others." Letter of Mr. Lancaster to Professor Marsh (Bishop of Peterborough), Morn- ing Post, September 23, 1811. _______ * See back of title-page, and p. 30. supra. Appendix. 55 4. To the same purpose is the testimony of Mr. Lancaster’s early advocates. “ Mr. Lancaster’s free school in the Borough was not opened till the year 1800, (1801), so that Dr. Bell unquestionably preceded Mr. Lancaster, and to him the world are first indebted tor one of the most useful discoveries which has ever been submitted to society.” — Substance of a Speech on the Poor Laics, by S. Whitbread, Esq. M.P. Feb. 19, 1807. Note A., p. 98. 5. “ We are so far from wishing to undervalue the labours of Dr. Bell, that it gives us great pleasure to express our warmest admiration of what he has doue for education. He is unquestionably the beginner in an art, which we trust will be carried to a still greater perfection We hope he will value his deserved reputation aboye every thing else, and not lose that origi- nality, which has brought him into notice.” — Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1807. Other vouchers to the same effect are : 6. Extract from a New and Appropriate System of Education, by P. Colquhoun, LL.D. 1806. “ The nation is indebted to the genius, the ability, and persevering industry of the Rev. Dr. Bell, late Superintendent and Director of the Male Asylum, at Madras, in the East Indies, for a most enlightened Plan of Education for the poor, which he some time since disclosed to the public, and for which he deserves a statue to his memory.” 7. Copy of a Letter from Matthew Lewis, Esq., one of the Com- missioners of the Royal Military Asylum, at Chelsea. “ Dear Sir, Eevonshire-piace, Oct. 14, 1807. “ Permit me to offer you my cordial thanks for the information and plea- sure which I have derived from the perusal of your Analysis, and for which I hope to have an early opportunity of repeating my acknowledgments to you in person. “ The System of Education, which you have invented, is at once so ra- tional, so simple, and so practicable, that it cannot fail of making its way into general use ; and I have infinite gratification in seeing the Royal MILI- TARY Asylum already profiting by your labours, and giving such certain promise of bearing public and powerful evidence of the truth and value of your System. — I am, with real esteem, dear Sir, your faithful humble Servant, “ Rev. Dr. Bell. M. Lewis.” 8. Extract from the Report of the Clergy Orphan School, under the patronage of her Majesty. The Right Rev. Lord Bishop of London, President, 1811. “ An important alteration has been made, since the last anniversary Re- port, in the mode of instruction pursued in the School, by the adoption of the Madras System of Education. This System was invented, as its name im- ports, in the British East India dominions ; and a Report of it, extracted from the Records of the Male Asylum, at Egmore, was, in the year 1796, sent by the Government of Madras to the Directors of the East India Com- pany, and published verbatim, by its Author, on his arrival in Europe, in 1797 The System was immediately introduced into the parochial school of St. Botolph, Aldgate, by a Trustee of mostdistinguished and exemplary zeal for the education of the poor, [D. P. Watts, Esq. of Portland Place ;] and about the same time was fully adopted and acted upon at Kendal, by Dr. Briggs, as superintending visitor of the Blue Coat School in that place ; and yearly Reports of its complete success were published there, aud an account of it appeared in the third volume of the Reports of the Society for bettering the condition of the Poor No plan has yet been proposed, from the general application of which so much and such unmixed good can be expected, as that for which this country, and many other parts of the habitable globe, are indebted to the piety, philanthropy, and unexampled labours of Dr. Bell." 9. The next extract is from the Barrington School, by Sir Tho- mas Bernard, Bart. Hatchard, 1812. “ In 1798, the Madras System had, on the suggestion of Mr. D.P. Watts, now of Portland Place, been in some degree adopted in the Charity School of 56 Appendix. St. Botolph, Aldgate. A few months after, it was established, with striking effect, at Kendal, by Dr. Briggs, an eminent physician of that town, since fixed professionally at Liverpool. Reports of the state of this school, in- duced me to visit it in September, 1800, when I had the pleasure of spending some time with him, and afterwards of giving to the public, in the third volume of our Reports [for bettering the Condition of the Poor, No. 90], a detail of the information I had been able to collect, and the observations which had occurred to me, during three days which I had the pleasure of spending with him, at Kendal. In June, 1801, Mr. Joseph Lancaster opened a large free school in the Borough, in which he adopted a similar mode of tuition. “ I copy the date from Mr. Lancaster’s hook ; but I do not mean to enter into the question, whether Mr. Lancaster borrowed, or did not borrow, from Dr. Bell, the new method of tuition by the pupils themselves ; I confine myself to the simple and well-known fact, that the adoption of Dr. Bell's new method, in the Ahigate and Kendal Schools, waspriorto the introduction of it into the Borough School.” 10. “ General Orders. — Horse-Guards, 1st January, 1812. “ With a most earnest desire to give the fullest effect to the benevolent intentions of Government, in favour of the soldiers’ children, to which his Royal Highness the PRINCE Regent has, in the name and behalf of his Majesty, given the Royal sanction, the CoMMANDER-IN-ClUEF calls on all General OHicers, Colonels of Regiments, and Commanding Ollicers of Corps, to take under their special superintendence the Regimental Schools belong- ing to their respective commands With this view, the Commander- i n -Chief directs, that the Regimental Schools shall be conducted on military principles ; and that, as far as circumstances will permit, their establishment shall be assimilated to that of a regiment, and formed on a System, invented by the Rev. l)r. Bell, which has been adopted, with the most complete success, at the Royal Military Asylum. “ His RoYaL Highness has directed, that extracts shall be made from ‘ Dr. Bell's Instructions for conducting a School, through the agency of the Scho- lars themselves which, having received Dr. Bell’s approbation, are sub- joined, as the best directions His Royal Highness can give for the conduct of the Regimental Schools of the British Army, &c. &c. “ Harry Calvert, Adjutant General.” 11. The introduction of the Madras System into the navy, is recorded by illustrious authorities. “ It has been mentioned, on former occasions, as a subject of high grati- fication, that this excellent system has, under the illustrious Patronage of His Royal Highness the Duke of York, been generally introduced into the regiments of the Army. It is now to be slated, as a circumstance no less gratifying, that an opening has been made (or its introduction into the Navy, with a fair promise of success.” — Ninth Report of the National Society, p. 15. 12. Not long after the adoption of the Madras System into the Military Asylum, it was introduced into the Naval Asylum, at Greenwich, whereof late it has greatly flourished. 13. “ In the year 1801, the Bishopof Durham had appointed Mr. Bernard his Spiritual Chancellor, which occasioned him to make an annual visit to Auckland Castle. During that of 1808, all the arrangements were made for establishing a kind of Collegiate School at Bishop Auckland ; not merely for the instruction of young children, but also for preparing the most promising scholars, for the office of schoolmasters, on Dr. Bell’s New System of Edu- cation. This part of the plan became indispensably necessary, not oidy for the introduction of the System into the Diocese of Durham, but also its ex- tension into every other, us the Central School in the metropolis was not at that time established. Applications were therefore made at the Barrington School, and complied with, for supplying the Dioceses of Carlisle, Exeter, York, and Winchester, with instructors, who could not then be obtained elsewhere. For the perpetual support of this noble establishment, the Bishop of Durham settled, by deed, upon four trustees, a sum of money in the funds, Appendix. 57 producing four hundred and thirty-six pounds a year. He also erected, at Lis own expence, a spacious and elegant stone building, on a plan by Mr. Bernard, which was opened for the school, 26th of May, 1810, being his Lordship’s birth-day.” — Extract from the Life of Sir Thomas Bernard, by the ltev. James Baler, his nephew ana executor, pp.89, 90. 14. “ If the plan of Education recently adopted in this country, be gener- ally maintained in its TRUE SPIRIT AND EXTENT, and the children, when transferred from these schools into the various walks of humble and active life, be afterwards regularly supplied with suitable books, to foster and confirm that principle of Religion which has been instilled into them, and that sense and habit of submission to which they have been accustomed, we may defy all the machinations of domestic foes to subvert our constitution, or disturb our internal tranquillity, and all the exertions of foreign enemies to deprive us of our prosperity and glory as a nation.” — Extract from Charge of the Right Rev. George Tomline, D.D. F.R.S. Lord Bishop of Winchester, 1822. 15. “ Sir, — I have received and laid before the Court of Directors of the East India Company, your letter to Mr. Ramsay of the 5th instant, with the documents from your India pupils, accompanying the same, and I am com- manded to express to you the high satisfaction the perusal of those docu- ments have afforded the Court, in learning therefrom, how much the valuable Institution, over which you lately presided at Madras, has benefitted by your labours and talents. “ I am further commanded to convey to you the Court’s thanks for the perusal of the documents in question, which are herewith returned. I have the honour to be. Sir, your most obedient humble Servant, “ James Cobb, Assistant Secretary. “ East India House, 13 th October, 1812. “ The Rev. Dr. Bell.” 16. Original School Committee of the National Society. “ At a meeting of the General Committee of the National Society, held at St. Martin’s Library, 22d January, 1812. “ Resolved, that Dr. Bell be requested to act, under the direction of this Society, as superintendent in the formation and conduct of the Central and other Schools, to be established by this Society, in the Metropolis and its vicinity, with power to engage such persons, as masters and mistresses, as shall be adequate to carry the purposes of this Society into effect; and to retain, suspend, ordismiss such masters and mistresses. “ 2dly — That Dr. Beil be empowered to engage persons to be trained as masters and mistresses. “ 3dly — That the Trustees of the several schools of Lambeth, Mary-le- bone, and Gower’s Walk, Whitechapel, be immediately applied to by the School Commitlee, to be hereafter appointed, to enable this Society to give Dr. Bell .sufficient power to train masters in those schools, according to the former resolution to this effect. “ 4thiy — That a Sub-Committee be appointed for the general management of the Central, and other Schools, and to assist Dr. Bell in carrying into execution the foregoing Resolutions ; and that such Committee do consist of the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Honourable Lord Radstock, the Right Honourable Sir John Nicholl, the Rev. Dr. Barton, and William Davis, Esq., three of whom to be a quorum. “ 5thly — That Dr. Bell do report his proceedings, from time to time, to such Committee; and that such report be submitted to this Committee.” 17. “ Pastoral Letter (recommending the education of the negro- slave children) to the Governors, Legislators, and Proprietors of Plantation* in the British West India Islands,” by the Right Rev. Beilby Porteus, D.D. Bishop of Loudon. Cadell and Davis, Lon- don, 1808. P. 35. “ Dr. Bell, (the original Author of such Schools on the New Sys- tem) is, as you will see in the Appendix, decidedly of opinion that Sunday Schools, well conducted, will fully answerthe purpose of instructing the negro children, both in reading and in religion.... The expense, as Dr. Bell states it, will be reduced to a mere nothing, a sum below all notice.” 58 Appendix. Extract of a Letter from Dr. Bell to the Bishop of London. 1808. P.37. “ The measure planned by your Lordship, was alone wanted to crown the long and successful struggle (the abolition of the slave-trade) which you have made in the cause of suffering humanity ; and the time will come, when this measure, formed for the completion of your great design, will also succeed. * * * * If the humble System of Education, which was founded and reared in the Eastern World, and thence imported into Europe, be now, by your Lordship’s exertions, happily transferred to the Western World ; and should it, in the one Indies, prove as instrumental in promoting the benevolent pur- poses which your Lordship has so much at heart, as it has been in the other, m promoting the \ iews of the Honourable the East India Directors, and the Government of Madras, 1 shall think I have not lived in vain.” In sending a youthful parishioner of the Author’s, to introduce the Madras System of Education into Schools for the negro slaves in the West Indies, his Lordship wrote to the Author as follows : — “ It is a big word to say, but he will do as much good in the Western world, as Buonaparte is doing mischief in the European world.” At that time his Lordship often said that, til! this work was ac- complished, lie considered his victory in the long and arduous struggle for the abolition of the slave-trade, as incomplete. There is no room here even to insert a list of thenumerous schools on this system established in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America : for which sec Reports of National Society, the publications of the Author, &c. 18. “ In bidding farewell to this publication, I am unable, either to pass over in silence, or to express, as I ought, the debt of grati- tude, due for the support and furtherance which the Madras System of Education has long derived from the zealous patronage, exten- sive bounty, and personal labours, of aNoble Friend, deeply versed in its spirit, its principles, and its practices. My Lord Kenyon is continually occupied in its diffusion and advancement, as the most effectual means of gooi> to Man, and glory to God on earth.” — Instructions, k. c. 1817 and 1823. Supplementary Documents in confirmat ion ofi the History of the Parent School of the Madras System, and of its original Pupils, and of the Argument thence deduced, p. 43 . supra. TO THE RIGHT HON. THE PRESIDENT, VICE-l’llESIDENTS, AND DIRECTORS, OF THE MALE ASYLUM. My Lord and Gentlemen, Your sentiments of the services I have been enabled to render in charge of the Male Asylum, as expressed at the General Meeting after the annual examination of the school, in your Resolutions of the 13th Jan. 179C, and conveyed to me by the acting Secretary, Captain Pierce, are pleasing and grateful to me beyond expression. A testimony of such high authority, and in such flattering terms, supplies whatever was wanting to fill up the mea- sure of my satisfaction in the office I have so long discharged. When I have contemplated the uniform progress of the school, and seen the vices incident to the former situations of these youths gradual!;/ vanishing, their morals and conduct approaching nearer and nearer every year to what I would have them to be, and the. character of a race of children in a manner changed ; I could not help imagining, at times, that I regarded the w'ork in which I had so earnestly engaged, with the fond partiality of a parent, who beholds in a favourite child beauties and qualities, which escape every other eye. The opinion, now solemnly announced to me, of those who have the best access to know, and are the best qualified to judge, removes from my mind all distrust Appendix. 59 of this kind, and leaves my gratification unalloyed by any other consideration than the necessity of separating myself for a while from this happy scene. But it is not the feelings of the heart which alone speak on this occasion. My sincere acknowledgments extend to the most important interests of the school under your patronage. The attention you have shown to every pro- posal for improving the health, the morals, and the right education, of these youths ; and the countenance and support you have given to my unequal ex- ertions, haveenabled me to overcome difficulties under which 1 might other- wise have sunk ; to surmount obstacles which often impeded my progress ; and to reach that goal, of which I was at times afraid I should be constrained to stop short — the completion of that system which, with your consent and ap- i probation, I endeavoured to establish When, on the foundation of this institution, you conferred on me the ho- nour of superintending this seminary, I entered upon the charge with the sti- pulation, which you then granted to my request, of declining the salary you had proposed to annex to the office ; and as I have never changed my opinion on that subject, I hope for your further indulgence on this occasion, when, with the deepest sense of the delicate and obliging manner in which you have awarded to me a remuneration under another shape, I continue to decline the acceptance, from this charity, of (your gracious tender and) whatever I could construe into a pecuniary emolument. The state of the School, the flourishing condition of its funds, and the sanction of your approbation, are the rewards of which alone I am ambitious to boast. May ALMIGHTY GOD long prosper your endeavours, and render this seminary a public blessing, by training up the rising generation to integrity and industtry, veracity and temperance, and by instilling into the infant ' mind the purest principles of our holy religion, — the best friend of our happv constitution, and of the good order, the peace, and the welfare of society. I have he honour to be, My Lord and Gentlemen, With the greatest respect and consideration, Your most obedient servant, Egmore, IS th Jan. 1796. A. Bell. ADDRESS OF PUPILS. — TO THE REV. DR. ANDREW BELL. Madras, 25 th Feb. 1S07. “ Reverend Sir, — With much respect and esteem, We, your Pupils, who have had the happiness to be placed under your immediate patronage while you were in charge of the Military Male Orphan Asylum at Egmore, now presume to address you. This we are constrained to do with hearts glowing with gratitude, when we reflect that Orphans as we were, you have rescued us from wretchedness and ruin through your friendly and voluntary interfe- ► rence in the instruction of our tender youth. “ We sensibly feel the great and good effects of that wholesome System which you began, and so invariably supported, in the superintendence of that Orphan Institution, which so effectually promoted our Education during the most early stages of its helpless infancy. We should therefore be devoid of every sentiment of gratitude, were we to withhold this expression of our thankfulness to you, whom we consider in the light of our father and friend : — although this disposition is manifested at this late period of time. Such of us as are now resident in Madras, are thus unanimously desirous of express- ing our gratitude, while we are satisfied that we are also fulfilling an incum- bent duty on the part of the whole of our fellow Scholars, who have not the opportunity of testifying, in like manner, their gratitude for favours received, in consequence of their absence in distant countries. Their intentions, how- ever, with respect to the subject of this Address, we are satisfied, are consis- tent with our own. Actuated solely by this principle, We, your Pupils, Reverend Sir, think 60 Appendix. it incumbent on us to offer you our grateful, however humble, acknowledg- ments, as the first step we would take, on coming to years of discretion. The excellent and instructive precepts we have received ; the labours which you have so disinterestedly bestowed; the fatherly care and persevering attention paid by you to the morals of our youth ; and, above all, those charitable motives which influenced you to instruct us in the knowledge of the Christian Religion, we hope ever to remember. Whatever has been im- parted to us by your pious endeavours, we humbly trust, through the Divine Blessing, we shall imbibe, and that the instructions afforded us will be pro- ductive of those ends for which they have been bestowed, even to make us good Men and true Christians. These impressions, we hope, will remain in- delibly stamped on our minds, under the strengthening support of that All Gracious Being, who has in mercy taken us under His powerful Protection, and brought us to the knowledge of His Divine Will, which, through His Heavenly Grace, will, we hope, end in Eternal Happiness. We are sensible, that our case would have been forlorn, and under less able hands, we should have been left destitute of those necessary attainments which are requisite to guide us through life. With pleasing gratitude we now reflect on those excellent precepts you gave us — the great lesson, “ to speak truth, to leave off deceit, and to be a good boy .” — We are now throughly sensible of their advantages. Conscious of the inadequacy of other exertions than your own for perfecting the system of our education which you ever held up to our view in the above striking precepts, we therefore beg leave to assure you, that we feel most sensibly the result which has arisen from the mode of instruction which you followed, so profitable to ourselves and honourable to you. To your kind patronage in our infancy, we are indebted for those valuable, advantages which we enjoy, and are through your means now capable of acquiring; by which we are enabled to fill those important duties required of us as mem- bers of society. Several of us are become the heads of young families ; and to your paternal care, under the Great Disposer of Events, we ascribe cur preservation and comfort. With sentiments of the liveliest gratitude for favours received, and with expressions of the most earnest desire for your real happiness, in the decline of life, we are, Reverend Sir, your truly obliged, affectionate, and humble servants. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM MARK DCXHILL TO THE REV. DR. BELL, MADRAS, 5TH MARCH, 1807. William Smith, the first boy in the school, and Samuel Sawyer, are head clerks in the Paymaster’s Office at Palamcottah and Trichinopoly. In the Surveying Department John Robinson and Samuel Godfrey have shown themselves diligent and good surveyors. — George Stevens is agent to the Government Press established by Doctor Kerr. — Thomas Adamson and William Faulkner are still ushers as you left them — John Friskin is head printer to the Courier Press in Madras. — My brother Matthew Reed is in the Military Board Office ; in short, there is not a boy who was placed under your tuition that has not been brought forward, and is now able to provide for himself. For your better information I enclose a list of the boys thus situated which has come to my knowledge, of those now present at Madras as well as elsewhere. THE END. Printed by R. Gilbert, St. John’s-square, London.