boys of branching off at a certain stage in their career into a class where they are not required to learn Greek, very few are found to avail themselves of it. The school at King's College, London, containing more than 400 boys, appears to be organized upon the same principle as Cheltenham, except that the link of connection between the two divisions is slighter. The classical and modern departments, in point of numbers, are nearly equal.

The object of these systems is twofold:-1. To prepare boys for definite examinations in which they would not succeed if they competed direct from the classical school. The chief of these are the examinations for Woolwich and Sandhurst, which mainly govern the reading of the higher classes in the modern department at Cheltenham, and with a result which is beyond doubt successful. Yet it appears that at Marlborough and Cheltenham-both of them schools eminently successful at the Universities—a modern department is not needed to enable a good classical scholar to succeed in the Woolwich examination as it is now conducted, and boys could be sent in for Woolwich with almost equal advantage from either department. What it does is to enable boys, who are not good classical scholars, to succeed in that examination by obtaining high marks in other subjects-but its utility is limited because there are, in fact, few boys of ordinary abilities who can not, by taking pains, become fair scholars. What is true of the Woolwich examination is true, in a still greater degree, of others which are less hard and less special in their character. The main object of all competitive examinations is to ascertain which of the candidates is the ablest and most industrious and has profited most by the education he has received, and those who conduct them are no doubt alive to the importance of so arranging their details as to give the boys who have had the best general education the advantage over those who have been specially prepared in particular subjects with a view to obtain a large number of marks. The main studies of the public schools being classical, it is obvious that unless a due amount of weight is given to the classics in the Woolwich examinations, boys from those schools will not stand a fair chance in the competition. On the other hand, as it is of importance that the examinations should comprise other subjects besides classics, it is also obvious that unless the public schools provide a due amount of instruction in those other subjects, the candidates whom they send up must compete at a disadvantage. It is certain that there has hitherto been a want of adjustment between the Woolwich standard and the teaching of the public schools. The fault lies chiefly, though not wholly, in the deficiencies in the course of education pursued at the latter; and when those deficiencies have been supplied, the difficulty which is now complained of will speedily disappear. 2. The second object is to attempt to solve, in some degree, the ques tion, How far is it possible to give a really good public-school education on any other basis than that of instruction in the dead languages? So far as the experiment has yet been tried it is the generally expressed

opinion of those engaged in it that the result is so far successful as to justify much confidence in its value, and though a system of mixed classical and modern study may be deemed preferable, yet a thoroughly sound education may be given upon the basis of modern studies and mathematics, excluding classics; but that the practical difficulties which lie in the way are exceedingly great. It is difficult to find men thoroughly competent to teach modern languages as they ought to be taught, as the basis of literary study. There are not the well annotated books, the carefully arranged grammars, the accepted curriculum of authors, which classical study has to offer to them who pursue it. From the number of different lines along which it is thought necessary to conduct the students, there are difficulties in organizing classes and in apportioning and duly limiting the hours of work, and there is also some obvious difficulty in administering a modern department without breaking up the unity of the school.

The advisability of establishing at the older public schools a system resembling either of those which exist at Marlborough and Cheltenham does not rest therefore upon grounds solidly established by experience, and the risks and difficulties of the experiment, which are felt in the newly established schools, would be felt much more if the attempt were made to ingraft modern departments on the old classical schools. They are, and they still ought to be, essentially classical schools; yet at the same time, the general course of study in all these schools should be broader than it now is and should also be more elastic. The course should be extended by the addition of new subjects, as already proposed; and provision ought to be made for the discontinuance, in certain cases, of certain portions of study, in order to enable boys to pursue other portions farther than the usual course allows. The Governing Body should of course take care so to regulate the proportion between the work to be abandoned and the work to be substituted for it, as to obviate the risk of idle boys seeking permission to discontinue difficult lessons and to takė up easy ones. No discontinuance should be permitted until the boy has reached such a position in the school as to render it certain that he has had full and fair opportunity for testing his powers in all the branches of study comprised in the course. It should not be allowed unless upon the application of the parents as well as of the boy; nor unless the Head Master is satisfied that there are good grounds for the request, and that the boy's character and abilities are such as to render it desirable that it should be granted. The work to be taken up should be fully equal in its demands upon the boy's time and attention with that which is to be dropped, and it should be enforced with the same strictness and encouraged with the same care as the ordinary work of the school. Experience will show how far such a system may advantageously be carried, what form may most conveniently be given to it, and what changes it may require.

Deficient Preparation. Home Influence.-Strong complaints, which

are by no means without foundation, are made of the ill-prepared and ignorant state in which boys are very frequently sent to school, and this evil is upon the increase, rather than the reverse. There are many boys whose education can hardly be said to have begun till they enter, at the age of twelve or thirteen, or even later, a school containing several hundreds, where there can be comparatively little of that individual teaching which a very backward boy requires. The consequence is that the schools are impeded and embarrassed by the necessity of giving elemen tary instruction which should have been given earlier and elsewhere. In some degree this evil must be ascribed to the deficiencies of the preparatory schools--but the fault rests chiefly with the parents. It is recommended that at every school there be an entrance examination, which shall not be merely nominal and the standard of which shall be graduated according to the age of the candidate. When it is known that the test is established, and known that it will be adhered to, parents will have themselves only to blame if their sons are deprived of the advantages of a public-school education for want of qualifications which might have been secured by proper and timely care.

Of all the incitements to diligence and good conduct which act upon the mind of a school-boy, the most powerful, generally speaking, is the wish to satisfy his parents; and his view of duty when at school will always depend very much on the light in which he feels that it is regarded at home. He knows very well the estimation in which industry is held by his parents. If their real object in sending him to a public school is merely or chiefly that he should make advantageous acquaintances and gain knowledge of the world, this is likely to be no secret to him, and the home influence, which ought to be the Master's most effica cious auxiliary, becomes in such cases the greatest obstacle to progress.

Physical Training. Games, &c.-The bodily training which gives health and activity to the frame is imparted at English schools, not by the gymnastic exercises which are employed for that end on the Continent, but by athletic games, which, while they serve this purpose well, serve other purposes besides. Pursued as a recreation and voluntarily, they are pursued with all the eagerness which boyhood throws into its amusements; and they implant the habit, which does not cease with boyhood, of seeking recreation in hardy and vigorous exercise. The cricket and football fields, however, are not merely places of exercise and amusement; they help to form some of the most valuable social qualities and manly virtues, and they hold, like the class-room and the boardinghouse, a distinct and important place in public-school education. Their importance is fully recognized. Ample time is given for them, and they have ample encouragement in general from the authorities of the schools. It is possible, indeed, to carry this too far and at some schools this may be the case; it is carried too far if cricket matches are multiplied till they engross almost all the interests and much of the time of the boys during an important part of the year; yet it is certainly carried too far

if boys are encouraged to regard play as on the same level with work, or to imagine that they can make amends for neglecting their duty by the most industrious pursuit of pleasure. The importance which the boys themselves attach to games is somewhat greater, perhaps, than might reasonably be desired, but within moderate limits it is highly useful. It is the best corrective of the temptation to overstudy which acts upon a clever and ambitious boy, and of the temptation to saunter away time which besets an indolent one.

Swimming is taught at Eton, Westminster, and Shrewsbury. The desire to go on the river, which no boy is allowed to do till he has shown himself able to swim, operates at these schools as a sufficient inducement with a large number of boys. At Eton almost every boy learns to swim even if he does not row. It is much to be wished that every boy who goes to school should acquire the art.

Rifle-corps exist at Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Rugby, and Shrewsbury. The number of members fluctuates and appears to be kept up chiefly by the amusement of target-shooting, without which they would probably have died away. To make the drill in any manner compulsory would be fatal to such interest as the boys now take in it. Apart from such value as it possesses of fitting boys to enter the defensive force of the country, it is also of some use as affording to boys who do not care for cricket and do not row, a healthy and social employment for their leisure-in giving them, in short, something to do. It is entitled to higher consideration than a mere pastime and the school authorities are advised to give it all practicable and suitable encouragement.

Discipline. Monitorial System. Fagging. In all the public schools, excepting such as are virtually day-schools, discipline and order are maintained partly by the masters, partly by the boys themselves. The power exerted for this purpose by boys over their school-fellows is, generally speaking, recognized by the masters, and regulated and controlled by custom and opinion. The grounds on which the monitorial system rests appear to be these. Small breaches of discipline and acts of petty oppression can not be effectually restrained by the unaided efforts of the masters without constant and minute interference and a supervision amounting to espionage, and the boys submit in these matters more cheerfully to a government administered by themselves; in every large school some boys will always possess authority over the rest, and it is desirable that their authority should not be that of mere physical strength, which is tyranny, nor that of mere personal influence, which may be of an inferior kind, but should belong o boys fitted by age, character, and position to take the highest place in the school; that it should be attended by an acknowledged responsibility, and controlled by established rules. On these grounds and in some degree from the force of tradition and habit, the system where it exists is, in general, much cherished and highly valued by both masters and boys, and is considered by some witnesses of great judgment and experience as indispensable to the efficient management of a large school.

There are objections, however, to any delegation, express or tacit, to school-boys, of authority to inflict punishment on their school-fellows. There is a risk lest it should be abused from defect of temper or judg ment; lest it should make those intrusted with it imperious or tyrannical, or priggish and self-sufficient; lest boys, whose character makes them ill qualified to govern others, should be oppressed and discouraged by a responsibility to which they feel themselves unequal; and lest, if it should fall into unfit hands, it should become an instrument of positive evil. There is some risk also lest the Masters should, more than is safe or right, leave the discipline of the school to take care of itself, and incongruities, the correction of which forms part of their own duty, to be checked-ineffectually, perhaps, or perhaps not checked at all-by the senior boys. The power of punishment, when intrusted to boys, should be very carefully guarded, and the liberty of appeal to the Head Master should be always kept open, and it should be thoroughly understood that boys may avail themselves of that liberty without discredit and without exposing themselves to ill-usage. It is believed, however, that cases of abuse have been exceptional, and that by proper precautions they may be prevented from interfering seriously with the benefi working of the system.

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