from the excellence of our political institutions, there must surely be some of our establishments for purposes more purely benevolent, our hospitals and penitentiaries, for instance,-in which we have something to impart, and not every thing to learn.

In saying that the subjects to which our traveller's attention was mainly directed, were such as most travellers might have neglected, it is not to be inferred, that his pages are exclusively devoted to these topics. Many descriptions of towns, public buildings, and occasionally of some curious phenomenon of nature, contribute their measure to enhance the interest of the work. Entertaining, as we do, these favourable sentiments of the work, it is with much satisfaction we find, that a second edition has been demanded at the hands of the author. It speaks well for the good sense of the community; it shows a prevailing disposition not merely to be amused, but to be instructed-a willingness to cherish the feelings, which are here strongly inculcated, of respect and good will for the intelligent and the worthy, though they dwell among a strange people and in a foreign land.

Much as we are disposed to commend the disposition, which our traveller has so uniformly manifested, to devote his time to subjects of practical utility, we should have found it difficult to repress our curiosity so far, when within seven miles of Stonehenge, as to pass on without visiting it. The excellent description of it, given by Professor Silliman, to which our author refers, instead of satisfying, would have excited curiosity the more. But it is not on the reader's account, that we complain of this omission, for as long as we must remain content with knowing it from description only, that of the author referred to, leaves us nothing further to require.

No part of these volumes has afforded us more satisfaction than the description of the respective schools of Fellenberg and of Pestalozzi in Switzerland. For the account of Fellenberg's institution at Hofwyl, occupying thirteen closely printed pages of this edition, we must refer our readers to the work itself, as the article is too long to be extracted entire, and too interesting to be mutilated. The description of the school of Pestalozzi at Yverdun occupies a much smaller space, but we can give only a part of that. We select that part which relates particularly to his principles of government and in

struction.

The two great instruments with which he works are faith and love. He discards the motives of ambition and emulation, as unnecessary, and as tending to counteract the sentiment of good will toward others. He thinks there is enough in the intuitive understanding of every child to accomplish the complete growth and maturity of its faculties, if its reason be properly trained and nourished, and not warped by injudicious treatment. The common plans of education he regards as too artificial, too wide a departure from nature. Too much stress is laid upon the memory, while the imagination is too much neglected. If the native feelings of the heart are allowed to operate, under the dominion of the native powers of the mind, drawn out and expanded by faith and love, the child is competent of itself to arrive gradually at the most correct and important conclusions in religion and science. There is a native and inherent life, which only requires to be cherished by genial treatment, to bring it into the full attainment of truth, and to the utmost perfection of its being. He therefore insists upon the greatest pains being taken to draw out this native life and to preserve it in full vigour. There is a constant danger of urging the child forward beyond its natural strength, of anticipating its conclusions, and thus weakening its confidence in its own powers. In the plans he adopts nothing is to be got by heart. The understanding is to be thoroughly reached, and then the memory will take care of itself.

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Very few books are used, as it is expected the children can read well before they come there. But to describe the modes of teaching, so as to render them clearly intelligible, would require much more time and space than I can possibly allot to it, were I ever so competent to make it known. We saw the exercises of arithmetic, writing, drawing, mathematics, lessons in music and gymnastics, something of geography, French, Latin, and German. To teach a school, in the way practised here, without book, and almost entirely by verbal instruction, is extremely laborious. The teacher must be constantly with the child, always talking, questioning, explaining, and repeating. The pupils, however, by this process, are brought into very close intimacy with the instructer. Their capacities, all their faculties and propensities, become laid open to his observation. This gives him an advantage, which cannot possibly be gained in the ordinary way in which schools are generally taught. The children look well, appear very contented, and apparently live in great harmony one with another; which, considering the diversity of national character and temper here collected, can be attributed only to the spirit of love and affection which sways the breast of the principal of the institution, and extends its benign influence throughout all the departments.

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The success of this mode of instruction greatly depends on the personal qualifications of those who undertake to conduct it. There is nothing of mechanism in it, as in the Lancasterian plan; no laying down of precise rules for managing classes, &c. It is all mind and feeling. Its arrangements must always depend on the ages, talents, and tempers of the scholars, and require, on the part of the teachers, the most diligent and faithful attention. Above all, it requires that the teacher should consider himself as the father and bosom friend of his pupils, and to be animated with the most affectionate desires for their good. Pestalozzi himself is all this. His heart glows with such a spirit, that the good old

man can hardly refrain from bestowing kisses on all with whom he is concerned. He holds out his hand to his pupils on every occasion, and they love him as a child loves its mother. His plan of teaching is just fit for the domestic fireside, with a father or mother in the centre, and a circle of happy children around them. He is aware of this, and wishes to extend the knowledge of his plan to every parent. Pestalozzi is seventy-two years of age. It has been quite unfortunate for the progress of his system on the continent, that he pays so little attention to exteriors, regarding dress, furniture, &c. as of no moment whatever, provided the mind and heart be right.

The attention of many of our benevolent and intelligent fellow-citizens has been turned of late to the improvement of the mode and means of education in this country. Many causes have, no doubt, conspired to give this direction to their exertions, and we are disposed to attribute to the publication of "A Year in Europe" its due share. The school established at Northampton, of which an account was given in a late number of this Gazette, resembles in some respects the institutions of both Fellenberg and Pestalozzi. A few months since an advertisement appeared in the public papers, proposing to establish an institution at Windsor in the state of Connecticut, on the model of that at Hofwyl. Whether this has gone into operation, or with what success, we have not the means at hand to determine. A school has been established at Gardiner, in Maine, upon the same model, and is now in successful operation. Of this school we hope soon to give a more detailed account. Others, conforming very nearly to the plan of Pestalozzi, have been established at Philadelphia and in its neighbourhood.

Since our author's return from Europe, his efforts have been directed to the establishment of a school of a very different description from those of which we have been treating. Some benevolent and influential citizens of New York, where he now resides, have been induced, principally, we believe, by his representations, to establish a "High School" in that city, upon the plan of the High School at Edinburgh, of which he gives the following account.

With an American acquaintance, I went to the high school, of Edinburgh, and was introduced to the rector, J. Pillans. This grammar school is of ancient standing, and like the university, it is under the direction of the magistrates of the city. It dates an existence of nearly 300 years, but the present building was erected in 1777, and is 120 feet long. The number of scholars is at present between 8 and 900. Four teachers are employed, in addition to the rector. This gentleman, by the effort of a particular genius, and indefatigable activity, has com

pletely succeeded in introducing into this large school, the system of monitorial instruction, and applying it to classical learning. He has under his exclusive charge, twenty-three classes, each containing nine boys. Every class has its monitor, who hears the rest recite. The rector superintends the whole, and decides all questions of dispute, when appeals are made to him against the decision of the monitors. In each room is a custos morum, who watches the behaviour of the scholars and notes every instance of remissness. Almost the only punishment resorted to, is the imposing of additional tasks on offenders, and obliging them to attend the school, during the hours and half days of ordinary vacation. The twenty-three classes all recite the same lesson at the same time. The noise they make is unavoidably great, but it is the sound of useful activity. We were highly gratified with the evidences of intelligence and attainment which the boys displayed when collected into one room, and examined before us by the rector. The superiority of their instruction appeared not only in the facility of their translations, but in the readiness with which they recited parallel passages, and referred to the illustrations of different classical authors, and in their acquaintance with the geography, chronology, &c. of the historical passages, which were given them as extemporaneous exercises. Great merit is obviously due to the rector, for bringing this method of teaching so perfectly to bear upon the higher parts of education, and showing its adaptation to subjects which have generally been thought beyond its reach. The high school contains a good library for the benefit of the teachers, and boys of the upper class. The whole cost of tuition in this excellent school, is but three pounds per annum, including the use of the library. There are few boys in the school above sixteen years of age, a period which leaves them sufficient time for apprenticeship to almost any kind of business. With such advantages of intellectual and moral instruction, is it surprising that Scotland should have taken such an elevated stand among the nations, for the intelligence, industry, and sobriety of her people?

This, it will be seen, is an application of the monitorial system to the higher branches of education, which, he informs us, has been practised with great success in that literary capital of the North. The New York High School has just commenced its operations, under the superintendance of Professor Griscom and another eminent teacher of New York; and in the facilities, which it will afford for the acquisition of the higher branches of education to the children of the middling and poorer classes in that city, and in all others where it may be introduced, it may do much toward securing the permanence and stability of a government, whose very existence depends upon the virtue and intelligence of the people.

MISCELLANY.

ITALIAN LYRICAL POETRY.

THE mighty fame of a few great Italian poets, of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso, Alfieri, has overshadowed and obscured the reputation of the less gifted of their imitators and competitors. English readers, I imagine, possess a very imperfect knowledge of the number and of the merit of numerous lesser Italian poets, who form a distinct and remarkable class of literature, well deserving the attention of the enlightened and liberal scholar. I will not say their school is entitled to pre-eminence over that of the Spanish, the German, or the English lyrical and fugitive poetry; but certainly it is not destitute of characteristic excellencies, and exhibits many beautiful features of no mean order. These beauties are accompanied, I admit, by several striking defects; but the Italian poets have, like the poets of other countries, a national character, and by that character they should be judged. I propose to introduce into the Gazette brief notices of the most eminent among them, with translations, which may serve to give an idea of their peculiar manner, and of the general style of the minor Italian poetry. I shall not attempt any systematic order in the series of the poets whom I describe; but shall call them up in the succession, and at the intervals, which circumstances may render most convenient. I begin with

SAVIOLI.

The Count Ludovico Savioli was a Bolognese of noble family, whose light and melodious canzonets gained for him, among his countrymen, the name of the Anacreon of the eighteenth century. Both the Italian and the Greek poet are distinguished by the same graceful fancy, the same sweetness of versification, and the same luxurious abandonment of soul to the emotions of love and pleasure. Savioli has left behind him none but fugitive pieces of this description, all conceived in a similar spirit, and written in precisely the same measure. They are filled with allusions to the pagan mythology, and with imagery drawn from its ancient stores. Indeed, he seems to have completely imbibed the feeling and assumed the tone of a genuine Greek. Instances of the use of the classical mythology in allegorical senses abound in modern Italian poetry, and are apt to offend a pure taste by their triteness and by their incongruity. But we read Savioli as we would