Leaving abstract generalities-is it not possible for our writers at once to come to the marrow of the matter? not omitting to throw in here and there a handful of spice, or any other piquante stimulant. Without this veneering and variety, we shall fail to keep up the attention of the reader; with it, we humbly think, a writer may challenge competition with many of our contemporaries. Doubtless names have more weight than deeds with the unthinking class; and, what is worse, their reputation is often greater than either their actions or intellect warrant.

Peter the Great, on seeing the monument of Richelieu, exclaimed-"I would give half my dominions for one Richelieu to teach me to govern the other half.”

Reformers are martyrs: such was Socrates and other Athenians, all of whom committed divers offences against the leaden sovereignty of custom. So speaks the impartial voice of the modern historian. He was the reverse of a sceptic; no man ever looked upon life with a more positive and practical eye; no man ever pursued his object with a clearer perception of the road which he was travelling; no man ever combined in like manner the absorbing enthusiasm of a missionary, with the acuteness, the originality, the inventive resource and the generalising comprehension of a philosopher. He is acknowledged to have been one of the greatest-if not the greatest-of

things as possible; to teach them to do all in the best manner; to set them an example of industry, sobriety, cleanliness, and neatness; to make all these habitual to them, so that they shall never be liable to fall into the contrary; to let them always see a good living proceeding from labour, and thus remove from them the temptation to get the goods of others by violent and fraudulent means.

merely human teachers. Yet he founded no sect-no school; he left no disciples-he refused the title of master. This master-mind listened to God's word-not fallible man's human creeds.

Luther, Knox, &c., incurred the hatred of party spirit, and many by that hatred fell. A man that sets up for the critic of his age, cannot escape the critic's penalty. If he does not censure freely-openly, he does not merit the name of a critic. It is enough for us-the belief of Gospel facts upon Scripture evidence. All sects need to circumscribe their creeds, excise excrescences, to detach from the mysteries of human origin. Then, nothing will remain but the Bible. This way-bill to heaven cannot be superseded. Let it be read honestly: a wayfaring man, though a fool, cannot err in this way. We are content to sail in the old ship; where no gale of passion or pride will swell the sails so as to break the cordage; and which will land us safe at the goal of our fondest hopes. Antiquity, reason, nature, and philosophy, although a quadruple alliance, are but blind guides when the deep things of GOD are concerned. The New Testament is the only pilot, compass, quadrant, and chart, in the ocean beyond time. No atheist ever circumnavigated that mare incognitum. Whether preponderance of enjoyment does not lie on the more credulous side, is another matter.

"Pestalozzi's simple comprehensive plan was this

Act right, and then you cannot act amiss."

Pestalozzi on the Continent is known as a familiar household word, and his memory, now that we have unhappily lost him, is everywhere held in veneration. When

pitted against the men of his generation, he was unapproachable in his department. Pestalozzi's master-principle was, that the poor are our brethren; and this axiom is as old as the Christian dispensation. He taught men to act on the Divine truth, and apply it in earnest to the affairs of human life. He "loved the brethren" in deed and in truth. The same sophistical reasoning is used for neglecting the education of the poor, as against giving freedom to the negro slave. He cares not for freedom, say they who would make it perpetual, and is happy in his bondage. The answer is triumphant: the fact that his bondage has destroyed all love of liberty, is the strongest reason for breaking his chains, because it is the most melancholy effect of that unnatural condition. Pestalozzi desire was to confer true independence on the poor, to raise them above the abjectness of poverty, by elevating their characters to endure what they cannot remedy; by developing their faculties that their resources may be increased, and purifying their taste that they may not be wasted. Like many other good and zealous philosophers, he drunk deeply of the bitter cup of penury; but this only quickened the desire to sweeten the draught for others. His intimate connection with the abject poor, confirmed his contempt for externals, and his love for unprotected humanity. My first step (he writes) was to gain the confidence of my pupils, and attach them to me. This main point once attained, all the rest appeared to me easy. Cut off from the rest of mankind, I turned all my cares and affections to the children: to me they were indebted for all the relief they received. I partook alike of their

pains and their pleasures. I was everywhere with them —when they were well, and when they were sick, I was constantly at the bed-side. We had the same nourishment; and I slept in their midst, and from my bed either prayed with them or taught them something.

Sentiment and romance aside, we will confess that we little envy the heart and quite as little the head-of him who can read this most interesting passage unmoved—a tale of the most touching pathos, and replete with lessons of the most useful practical wisdom. Well might his pupils' hearts be so closely knitted to him! A more transparent and less opaque character we have not met with since the days of Fenelon and Paschal,-neither of whom lay beneath the feet of any knot of great men or small men. Both were Roman Catholics by name, but genuine Protestants in heart and life; for in neither was there any of the stiff rigidity, or the unalterable codes of practice and belief of the former, and still less of the tawdry millinery and flexibility of its jesuitical votaries; neither would either have thrown stumbling-blocks on the onward march. If it be the sure destiny of man to rise, it must be the inevitable fate of Popery to sink. If we should be mistaken, and the converse happen, then infidelity in all its wild fanaticism will ride rampant; and in the world will be re-enacted all the atrocious and licentious tragedies that disfigure the historical pages. In all countries where Papacy is the national religion, we have their usual concomitants-anarchy, strife, turmoils, and every evil thing; and no retrogressionist attempting to arrest the rush of men's minds, can repudiate these stubborn facts.

Before the time of Pestalozzi, it was scarcely dreamed of that the teacher should exchange places with the learner; that he should suffer himself to be led by his pupil to a certain point, in order that he might commence his superstructure on the foundation already formed; that he should ascertain the bent and genius of his pupil, to enable him to determine upon the best mode of rendering his lessons beneficial, so as to correct that which is erroneous, and develope that which is hidden.

This is the true method of instructing the deaf and dumb; and not less the true method of instructing children gifted with all their faculties. What so common as to teach words instead of ideas? This is the great fault in all our seminaries of learning-the philosophy of the master is not sufficiently lowered to the comprehension of the pupil. "He who seeketh wisdom in books, eateth up leaves, and loses the fruit." Before fitting the work for the public eye, most of our works need some expurgation; and to many the sponge may be used freely. A mere scholar is generally known by his ignorance of everything but languages, which have so filled his head as to leave room for nothing else. He mistakes the steps for the temple of Minerva, the shrine for the goddess; and is as proud of his mind's purse as if there was gold in it. Pedantry's jargon will no more improve our understandings, than the clink of a smoke-jack will fill our stomachs. What Bentley said of Warburton, after their first interview is quite applicable to the readers of the nineteenth century :-"The man has a marvellous appetite for reading, but a shocking bad digestion."