regions of knowledge and information into which she cannot follow them; nor can we, in such a case, imagine it is much of consolation that others around her are in the same case.

While upon such topics, we cannot help recalling an incident which occurred some years ago within our own experience. We formed, upon one occasion, part of that anxious crowd which collects in the otherwise deserted courts of Winchester in the month of July, awaiting the result of the morning's work done by the little fellows congregated in the hall upstairs. Fathers and mothers, tutors and friends, brought together from all quarters of England, were anxiously watching for the appearance of those in whom they were interested. We had fallen into conversation with some very agreeable people, ladies, and were so whiling away the time. Presently down rushed a youngster, and brought his paper of Latin verses, one or two of which he had not been able to manage. The ladies looked at it, and handed it over to us; we confess that we, too, were for the moment nonplussed; when one of them suggested whether it would be allowable to use “primo anno" for "spring;" it made the verse. We gathered that all through the long winter and spring, in some quiet country parsonage, these kind relatives had made their way through Virgil and Xenophon, had busied themselves in all the intricacies of Latin prose and verse, and were there still watching over him whom they had tended with so much anxious care. It was with no small pleasure we afterwards read of the success of their candidate, and have often since thought that there could have been few dull evenings in that secluded home. It must have been with something holier than a thrill of triumph and satisfaction that they read the roll, announcing that so much toil and sympathy had been crowned with merited success.

Defective, however, as the secular education of women is, we fear that their religious education is, for the most part, equally imperfect and unsound. In saying so, we would not for one moment be thought to undervalue the inestimable blessings which accrue from the assiduous perusal of the Bible, which, we trust and believe, still forms the life and soul of English homes, and is at the root of the happiness and sanctity which pervade them. “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.” In quiet times, and for those who dwell in peaceable habitations, such comfortable and fruitful perusal of Holy Scripture may suffice for personal edification, and happy are they to whom such is the lot of their inheritance. But these are not quiet times, and all do not dwell in peaceable habitations. It may sound a startling paradox, but we cannot help thinking that

now-a-days some knowledge of religious controversy is more necessary for women even than for men. If rationalism and scepticism are appealing to the latter, yet in the vortex of business and public employment, multitudes are unconscious of such appeals, and have neither time nor inclination to study them. Their unbelief, where it exists, rather derives its origin from the “natural man which receives not the things of the Spirit of God,” than from the influence of unsettling publications; at the utmost, they are confirmed in irreligious fancies and practices by a vague notion that a number of clever men have published books in support of them. Beyond the circle of professed theologians and scholars, we imagine that the number of readers who have wearied themselves in wading through Bishop Colenso's lucubrations, or who have the faintest conception of what the Secret of Hegel may be, is infinitesimally small. It is not so with Romanism, and the various delusions of that loose religionism which may be grouped under the head of Plymouth Brethrenism, if it be allowable to coin such a word. Just at present the Lord seems to be making “our plagues wonderful,” and women to be particularly obnoxious to them. It is under such circumstances, when every species of subtle art and misrepresentation is being unceasingly plied to attract women,-when fallacies of all kinds are saturating popular literature, tales, and hymn books, and erroneous doctrine and idolatrous practices are simultaneously paraded,—that it becomes a serious matter that they should be wholly ignorant of the momentous questions at issue, and be incapable of giving a reason of the hope that is in them. How few women have any kind of acquaintance even with the Articles of the Church of England, or have any definite ideas regarding the important doctrinal questions embodied in them. How few have any clear conception of the points in which our Church controverts the teaching of Rome, or could give any rational account of the controversy involved. Again, how few comparatively are beyond the reach of such controversy, and are able safely to dispense with some knowledge sufficient to protect themselves from danger. We have, within the compass of our own experience, been repeatedly startled at the profound ignorance which well educated ladies, upon whose instruction money has been freely lavished, have displayed of the most cardinal doctrines of the Christian religion; and we have consequently been moved more with pity than surprise at the success of proselytising agents in detaching so many, in various directions, from the truth as it is in Jesus.

Whether this evil is greater than it was in previous periods of English history, we do not care to determine. Probably it is not. There is an almost natural tendency to depreciate the times in which we are living in comparison with the past, and this often leads to much injustice and error. We have, perhaps, in England now as many learned ladies as there were in the times of Queen Elizabeth, who herself, as Roger Ascham tells us, “ besides her perfect readiness in Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish, read, when Queen, at Windsor, more Greek every day than some prebendary of this Church did Latin in a whole week ;' and very many more in proportion who are intelligent and well-informed without any pretensions to learning.

But we suspect they are still, after all, but a little company, whose numbers we would fain see enlarged. Our anxiety is for those who are neither learned nor well-informed, but have much need to be so. The causes of this imperfect and superficial education are not far to seek. Worldly and frivolous parents, mothers especially, are not likely to covet education for their children which they themselves are incapable of appreciating, nor would they be competent judges of it. Such superficial accomplishments as make a show in society would, in such cases, be secured, but nothing more. Many, however, really would wish, and do make an endeavour, to have their children properly taught. But here their difficulties begin. They would be willing to spend money upon so laudable an object, and seek to attain it either by placing their daughters in schools, or by procuring governesses to teach them. Now, unquestionably, there are good schools for ladies, and competent governesses who too often for a most unworthy remuneration, and with ill-appreciated zeal and ability, labour in a most honourable vocation. But they are not easily discernible. There are also many schools in which the only claim of the mistresses to public sympathy and patronage is that, like Dogberry, “they have suffered losses and have two gowns." There are also many ladies who attempt to teach imperfectly what they have learned imperfectly themselves—incoherent recollections of superficial studies, reproduced not from any love of teaching, but because imperious necessity has so willed it. While, in the education of the lower classes, certificates test the qualifications of those who in all our towns and villages have replaced the ancient dame sung by Shenstone, and University degrees attest that the most accomplished scholars whom England can produce are engaged in training the youths of our middle and upper classes, female education has been left to shift for itself without object and without method. How are parents to distinguish between the specious pretender, who, poor soul, for a morsel of bread, undertakes an office for which she is not qualified, from the capable and intelligent teacher who has previously studied and mastered at least the elements of the art which she professes ? We believe numbers would be most glad and thankful to do so, if ready and available means were within their reach.

So far, then, as we can see at present, we hail with satisfaction this present movement of the University of Cambridge as tending to realize an object in which, from its very outset, the Christian Observer has taken deep interest. As we have already observed, it divides itself into two branches. One is a scheme of Examination for Women which was sanctioned by a Grace of the Senate in October, 1868. The nature of it will be quite familiar to those who are acquainted with the Local Examinations held by both Universities for youths, with this difference, that the names of the candidates are not published, and that there are no Class Lists; but in lieu of such distinctions, certificates are given, with honourable additions for those who have passed with credit. The first examination has been held recently, and the very small number who passed the requisite ordeal tells its own tale. We suppose no candidate even offered to attempt Greek, or Logic, or Botany, or Chemistry, as no papers on these subjects are included in those published.

In the scheme as propounded, it is essential that every candidate should pass a satisfactory examination in English Language and Literature and Composition, in Arithmetic, and also in Religious knowledge-upless this last is objected to at the time of application for admission. To obtain a Certificate, the candidate must also pass in one language, in two mathematical subjects, in Political Economy or Logic, or in some one subject of Natural Science; to obtain a Certificate of Honour, two languages, or four mathematical subjects, or Political Economy and Logic, or two Natural Sciences, are requisite. Music and Drawing do not entitle to Certificates of Honour, but the distinction is noted on the certificate.

We have examined the papers carefully, and think them well suited to the object in view. In Religious Knowledge, the candidates were examined in the two Books of Samuel, Psalms xlii.lxxii., the Gospel of St. John, the Epistles to the Galatians, the Philippians, and that of St. James, in the first part of Butler's Analogy, a portion of the Fifth Book of Hooker, and of Paley's Horæ Paulinæ; and it is apparently intended that they should form the subject of examination next year; in other subjects, fresh authors are announced.

Now, in many ways we think such an examination most valuable. It is self-evident, in the case of those who aspire to be governesses or schoolmistresses, that the holder of such a certificate as that which Cambridge offers, ought to be in a peculiarly favoured position. It would be a guarantee that she has some mental qualifications, that she does know some

thing thoroughly, and is capable of stating it with accuracy and intelligence, and that she has read carefully some useful books qualifying her for the duties she aspires to discharge. Indeed, the beneficial results are so direct and palpable, that we do not care to discuss them further. But these examinations are calculated to serve another purpose, and one quite as valuable. We do not see why many ladies who are educated at home or in schools, who have no intention of becoming teachers, should not avail themselves of these examinations for their own intellectual advantage. The chief defect of home education is, almost of necessity, its desultory nature and general aimlessness. Why should not parents require the ladies who instruct their children to prepare them in these specified subjects, and to qualify them for these examinations ? It would furnish an incentive both to the pupils and to the teacher, which in female education is now sadly lacking, and would be a most admirable test of proficiency. We cannot imagine any conceivable objection to such a course : no unbecoming emulation is aroused; there is nothing inconsistent with that retiring grace and modesty which is so becoming in young women; nay, more, nothing that is not already in vogue at schools, except that the test would be as searching and satisfactory as it is now notoriously the reverse. If the result were in many cases to be, that young women were led to form a salutary acquaintance with their own deficiencies, and to become more conscious of the shallowness and imper. fection of their acquirements, this would not, in our judgment, be in any case detrimental. It is quite true that knowledge, in certain cases, may puff up, but the knowledge of one's own ignorance is hardly that of which the Apostle speaks; and we have sufficient confidence in Cambridge examiners to believe that they would give an honest verdict, even in cases where ladies were concerned.

As for the proposed College at Hitchin, we feel unable to speak of it so decidedly. It is still a thing of the future; and in the absence of any specific statements as to the course of studies, and to the means contemplated for upholding digcipline, and regulating its internal arrangements, it might be premature to speak in terms of praise or censure. If the statutes were at all to correspond with the fanciful sketch in Tennyson,

“Not for three years to correspond with home;

Not for three years to cross the liberties;

Not for three years to speak with any men;" and if the object were to realize the prophecy he puts into the mouth of the Lady Psyche, that there should be in England