riety of groups may be produced, to exercise the skill and taste of the learner. When the teacher has formed a group with which he is particularly pleased, he may sometimes take

which he can at The modelsa re

a sketch to be preserved for future use, from once arrange the pieces in the order desired. made perfectly white, in order to give full effect to the peculiar light in which they may be placed, and that no false positions may be imagined from the apparent situation of accidental lights and shades, and to avoid distracting the attention with too many things at the same time.

The multitude of different pictures, produced by varying the arrangement of these few geometrical solids, depends, in great measure, upon the relative positions, the distribution and contrast of light and shade, as well as upon the arrangement of the outlines.

The scholar is now prepared to combine sketches and shades, and may consequently employ himself upon any subject where only a moderate variety of figure is to be presented. Machines, apparatus, and furniture, may be the subjects of his early essays;-landscapes, into which animated figures are introduced, may follow ;-heads in crayon, or full-length figures of convenient size, may succeed to these, and henceforward the exercises may take such a direction as the interests of the school, the convenience of the teacher, or the future pursuits of the individual scholar, may render expedient.

The interests of the school may sometimes demand, that a number of large drawings should be made from plates, which, on account of their expensiveness, cannot be in the hands of every member, but from which the teacher may desire to give his illustrations. Should instruction in agriculture be among the objects of the institution, the teacher in that department would find innumerable applications in representing implements of husbandry, the form and position of the necessary buildings, the relative situation of gardens, meadows, fields and woodlands, with the modes of hedging or fencing in model farms; the appearance and botanical characters of

the vegetable kingdom; and the figures and peculiar points of domestic animals. Should instruction in natural history be attended to, in addition to the more obvious applications, we may observe, that the minute parts of creation may be drawn, of gigantic size, from an engraved plate, or from the screen of a solar microscope; if from the former, the scholar will not fail to avail himself of the aid of proportional compasess, to obtain a correct general outline.

I need hardly advert to the uses which may be made of this art by the professor in chemistry, natural philosophy and practical mechanics. However extensive may be their cabinets of apparatus, or their collections of working models, a vast proportion of what they would desire to explain, must, if they confine themselves to these alone, be left unexplained. Teachers in these departments, sometimes employ the black-board only; but the labors of a few scholars well instructed in drawing, may soon give permanency to those figures, which must otherwise be erased and afterwards repeated at every repetition of the course. In some cases, a very moderate share of improvement will enable the scholar, in pursuing this method, to render important services to his teacher.

Even in the classical departments of education, how much more clearness of conception, and how much higher satisfaction, would be derived, from illustrations of antiquity, made by the hand of a pupil and explained by the living voice of his teacher, to a class or a whole school, than are obtained from the solitary investigation of the student, which, on account of the forbidding aspect of the notes and dissertations contained in his text-books, often amounts to no investigation whatever. The number of text-books used in a classical school is generally very limited; so that it would commonly be no difficult matter to obtain a complete series of illustrations of the Greek and Latin courses. Of these the teacher might avail himself, presenting one or more at every lesson, and either giving the necessary explanations, or requiring them from the class. The latter method would stimulate to greater industry in studying

the notes as well as the text of their class-books.

An exten

sive practice in this department, employing large engravings and lithographic prints, has convinced me, that classical study may be rendered nearly as attractive by this species of demonstration, as any branch of physical science; especially, if the means of demonstration emanate from the skill and diligence of the pupils. A succession of classes might thus leave behind them permanent, visible, useful memorials of their diligence and assiduity in cultivating a taste for ancient learning, while they improved their skill in a most useful art. A large port-folio of drawings, adapted to each class book, bearing the proper references, and inscribed with the names of the respective students by whom they were produced, would, I apprehend, be a powerful auxiliary to the classical teacher, whatever might be his own learning or abilities.

But if neither the interests of the school, nor the convenience of the teacher, demands the exercise of the scholar's talents in drawing, it can seldom happen that his intended profession will be wholly unconnected with the applications of design; and therefore he can never feel at a loss for subjects tending to improve his skill, and to enlarge, or more deeply to impress, his knowledge of subjects in which he is individually concerned.

I have already referred to the connexion between drawing and penmanship, and will only mention in this place, that the plan which has been suggested by a writer on the subject, of performing both on the same or on opposite pages of the same book, may probably be found useful in exhibiting, at a view, the concurrent improvements in the two branches, and even when the drawing cannot, from its size, be admitted into the copy-book, it may not be amiss to cause the scholar to place a specimen of his writing on some part of the sheet. A degree of care will thus be induced, not always attainable in his ordinary writing lessons, and some improvement will not fail to be the result. The first lessons, consisting of small geometrical figures, may certainly be drawn in this manner, and the exer

cises in writing may consist of a copy of the problems and directions, whenever the improvement of the pupil in penmanship is sufficient for that purpose.

As to the drawing materials to be introduced into schools, especially for boys, I would recommend that they be confined principally to slate-pencils, lead-pencils, common crayons, and Indian ink, believing from experience, that the introduction of other colors, would, in most schools, be a source of more inconvenience than profit. The procuring and preparing for use, of suitable patterns, will probably present itself as a difficulty in the first introduction of this as a branch of school education; but this obstacle will soon disappear, if teachers and others manifest a disposition to cultivate the study. The presses of our engravers and lithographers, to say nothing of foreign sources, are sufficiently prolific, and might soon be induced to furnish abundant supplies. We have not seen that the calls of the public for improved school-books, were either tardily or sparingly answered; and there can be no reason to believe that those who work on stone, box-wood and copperplate, will be less vigilant for the public good, than their more numerous brethren of the type.

I have thus endeavoured to exhibit a practical view of the subject before us, noticing its connexions and tendencies in regard to intellectual improvement, its bearing on the useful arts and various occupations of life, its relation to another branch of early education of great practical importance, the methods in which its elements may be successfully communicated, and its usefulness in reacting on other departments of science and literature, throwing new light on the paths of learning and sensibly alleviating the pains of teaching.

The course of instruction now offered to the consideration of this assembly, claims not the merit of originating from a master of the art, who might be thought anxious to support a peculiar theory, or to further the extension of his particular praetice. It is founded on no startling paradoxes or metaphysical subtleties. It offers to all classes, in all schools, a degree of

practical skill, proportionate to the time, industry and talent devoted to its attainment. If but one step has been taken, the knowledge acquired is still not without its use in the business of life. If from any cause the career of the scholar be interrupted, he has not to indulge the useless regret, that for want of further instruction, all his past application is of no avail.

The circumstance just alluded to adapts this method to every class of public as well as of private institutions. The uses and applications of what is learned, to the mind, will keep pace with its uses and applications to the purposes of life, and to the business of instruction. The powers of conception, no less than the perceptive faculty, will be strengthened and improved. The taste will find abundant and profitable exercise, and a foundation will be laid for some discrimination in regard to the works of our meritorious-much neglected artists.

Note.-In the course of the lecture, a number of models and drawings, intended to exemplify the method described, were presented and explained. For several of these, the author takes pleasure in acknowledging his obligations to Mr William Mason, of Philadelphia; and to his pupils, under the instruction of that gentleman, for the remainder.