DON ALONZO PEREZ GUZMAN THE TRUE.

"Don Alonzo! Don Alonzo!

Forth come on thy city wall;
Wilt thou yield to us Tarifa?
Quickly answer, once for all."
On the wall steps forth the aged
Don Alonzo Perez Guzman;
In the Moorish host a captive
Sees his first-born, dearest offspring,
Him, his age's hoped-for comfort,
To his eyes the light of gladness,
Image of his youth reflected,
Of his noble race supporter,
Sees the swords already waving,
Hears the villain heathen raving;
"For thy son's life, Don Alonzo,

Wilt thou yield to us Tarifa,
Or his head see pale and bloody,
Now upon our lances quiver?"

Silent hears the aged father,

Looks to heaven, yet speaks no word,
Draws, and throws his well-tried sword
To the murderous foe beneath him!
"By this, to my God and king,

Let him fall an offering!"

With his left hand seized he trembling
On his silver-whitened beard,
Pressed against the wall his forehead,
Till the heathen's shout he heard,
Him announcing, that dissevered,
In its gore his son's head quivered,
And Tarifa is delivered!

Therefore is, all ages through,

Don Alonzo Perez Guzman

Ever thence surnamed THE TRUE.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

WHILE Proprietary Schools are filling pages with advertisements, while our new Metropolitan Universities are drawing attention to the peculiar excellence of their respective plans, we, the Public Schools, beg modestly to remind the world of our existence, and to explain the advantages of a system which has been tried by the severe test of experience.

"Semper ego auditor tantum ?

Shall every practicable and impracticable plan of education find its proper champion in the lists of literature, and shall we not dare to break a lance in defence of our Domus? No! We, albeit an unworthy champion, will prepare to do our devoir as a true knight, and our Ladie of Chartreuse defend the right. If we have not knightly prowess, we have at least knightly devotion; and, fortunately, the cause for which we put lance in rest is too intrinsically good to be periled by our unworthiness. But seriously, as having a peculiar and individual interest, we claim the indulgence of our readers while we say a few words on the subject of Public Schools.

The author of Pelham has stated* what he conceives to be the leading defects of Public Schools: we propose to examine whether his objections be founded in fact, deriving our arguments from what we know of Public Schools in general, and our own in particular.

But first of all as to the relative value of a classical and scientific education, as that will involve some of the principal points of dispute. The objects of all instruction appear to be, first, the salutary and beneficial exercise of the various powers of the intellect and imagina

* England and the English: Sect. Education of the higher class.

tion; secondly, the formation of a correct taste, which will be, to a certain extent, a consequence of the first; and, thirdly, the storing the memory with facts that may be necessary for the future pursuits of the learner, as well as that higher kind of knowledge that may guard from error and afford data and incentive for future reflection.

Now we believe it is universally admitted that the study of languages is the best possible means for training and developing the mind. But the generic similarity of modern languages, the frequent correspondence of idiom, and the recurrence of phrases that defy all the ingenuity of the critic to reduce to analogy, in a great measure repels philological inquiry. The superficial manner, too, in which they are taught, and which our objectors recommend, renders the acquiring them an exercise rather of memory than intellect. In the dead languages, which are the parents of all modern dialects, every expression is reducible to the few simple rules of construction; the stream of language has not as yet wandered so far, but that by research and patient investigation it may be traced to its fountain head. Thus, then, the study of the dead languages, though but a means to an end, is still of most important influence in exercising the mind and fostering a spirit of inquiry. And this alone will be an answer to the objection, that the advantage gained is not proportionate to the labour employed, since the labour itself answers all the most desirable purposes of education.

But after all, the most definite and tangible object will be the formation of a correct taste, as being that over which cultivation has most control. Taste is produced by the operation of the reasoning powers on the objects presented by the actual or intellectual vision ;

the former analysing, comparing, and combining the impressions produced by the latter. It becomes necessary, therefore, that the most chaste models should be constantly presented, while the reason should be exercised, that it may be able to examine its own sensations, and reduce to some degree of order and classification the images presented by the involuntary perceptions. It will be said, Are there not in our own language models of every species of excellence, and why have recourse to the stores of a forgotten tongue? We may ask in return, Why, in the case of the architect and the sculptor, are the relics of ancient art the grammar by which he studies, and the standard by which his success is tested? We do not deny that each of the separate excellences of ancient literature have been equalled, if not surpassed, by individual writers of modern times; but there is not that concentration of mind, that careful and elaborated accuracy, and, above all, that stern and chaste severity of design and execution, which render the works of the ancients invaluable as models for imitation. Again, the difference in the train of thought, as in the form of expression, between ancient and modern times, invites, and to a certain extent compels, a close examination into the ideas themselves; and those beauties are more fully appreciated which are not discovered without some degree of difficulty. This habitual intercourse, this constant analysis of the master-minds of antiquity, cannot fail to produce that taste which softens without enervating, elevates without inflating, and smooths down asperities of temper without weakening force of character. This inherent refinement expresses itself in every action, and mainly produces that high and polished tone of manners which is the chief charm of educated society. Neither of these effects, particularly the latter, appear

to be equally produced by the study of the physical sciences. The practical utility of a knowledge of the classics will better appear as we proceed to examine Mr. Bulwer's objections in detail.

Passing over his remarks on school connexions, which are irrelevant to the general bearings of the subject, we come to a complaint that learning by heart and the composition of Greek and Latin verse are the chief occupations at a public school. Now this is not the case, as these two branches occupy but a subsidiary place in the routine of school studies; and when no more than due importance is attached to them, no one can deny their utility and advantage. The former is necessary and useful as an employment for the memory; and though to Mr. Bulwer "knack" may seem a fitting term by which to designate the power of versification, we can assure him that the habit of metrical composition answers the double purpose of giving a practical acquaintance with the hidden treasures of the language, and calling into play the highest powers of the imagination. In proof whereof we recommend him and our readers to the Charterhouse Prize Poems. Besides, exercises in verse are varied with at least an equal number of prose compositions in English, Greek, and Latin; and as to the advantage of this, no one has ever, we believe, attempted to dispute. But our author objects to these two branches because they are superficial, and goes on to observe that nothing solid is taught, nor a desire for anything solid inculcated. Assuredly there is no solidity in the profound reflection, the searching knowledge of human nature and political science evinced in every page of Thucydides; no solidity in the deep philosophy, just morarality, or burning eloquence of Cicero! Are the contemplative Plato, and the acute and penetrating Tacitus, to