authoress, died rather suddenly at her residence, Yelverton-place, Twicken. The Great Exhibition. The following statistics of the Great Exhibition will, we doubt not, be found interesting:-The income of the establishment has been as follows up to the present date:-Public subscriptions, £64,344; privilege of printing, £3,200; privilege of supplying refreshments, £5,500; amount received for season tickets up to first May, £40,010; Royalty of 2d per copy on catalogues-Total funds in hand on the 1st of May, £113,044. Amount received at the doors up to August 30, £252,141 9s. 6d. ditto up to the end of September, £62,007 128.; ditto up to Saturday, October 4, £12,128 0s. 6d. Grand total, £439,321 2s. The liabilities incurred, so far as they have been at present ascertained, are as follows:-To Messrs. Fox and Henderson for the building, £79,300; to Messrs. Munday for rescinding of contract, £5,000; extra galleries, counters, and fittings, £35,000; management, including printing, &c., up to May 1, £20,943: police force, £10,000; prize fund, £20,000. Total, £170,743 It is understood that the royalty to be paid by the Messrs. Spicer and Clowes will not be enforced, in consequence of the sale of catalogues not having been as profitable as was anticipated. The expenses of management, gas, water, &c., will probably amount to £50,000, and the sum likely to be received this week for admission will be at least £20,000. This would bring the total income up to £460,000, and the total liabilities to about £220,000, leaving the very handsome balance in hand of £240,000, or nearly a quarter of a million sterling. The total number of visitors was 5,547,238. Awards at the Great Industrial Exhibition.-Of the 17,000 exhibitors in the Crystal Palace, 170 received first class or council medals; 2918 received second class or prize medals; and 1912 "honourable mention." Of this number the United States exhibitors received 5 council medals, 75 prize medals, and 47 honourable mentions. The list of awards occupies twenty-four columns of the London Times. Catalogue of the Great Exhibition.-Some curious statistics connected with the preparation of the catalogue of the World's Fair, are given in Dickens's best vein, in the Household Words. The article is entitled "The Catalogue's Account of itself." Denuded of the adornments with which the author has embellished his account, the following are some of the principal facts he communicates. Fifteen thousand persons had to be written to for the modicum of "copy" for the catalogue, or a description of what each was about to send to the Exhibition. Fifty thousand printed circulars were sent out. The catalogue, the labour upon which was commenced in January, 1851, was classified, made up, printed and bound in four days. The first perfect impression was only produced at 10 o'clock on the night preceding the Exhibition, yet 10,000 bound copies were punctually delivered at the Crystal Palace on the following morning. The two copies presented to the Queen and Prince Albert, on that morning, bound in morocco, lined with silk, and gilt-edged, were bound, lined and gilded in six hours. Of the "Official" catalogue 250,000 copies have been printed, consuming 105 tons of paper, the duty upon which was one thousand four hundred and seventy pounds sterling. Besides these, 5010 pages of lists, other catalogues, reports, &c., were printed. The weight of type thus employed was 52,000 pounds. Mr. Fox of the firm of Messrs. Fox, Henderson and Co., the contractors for building the Crystal Palace, Mr. Paxton, the designer, and Mr. Cubitt, the engineer, have had confered upon them the order of knighthood. The American and Austrian Commissioners have notified the public that another edition of the Crystal Palace project will be published in the commercial emporium of the new world. They say, as the Exhibibition will open on the 15th of April, all goods must be in New York by the 1st of March next, and for the convenience of those exhibitors who desire to send the articles which have been displayed in the Crystal Palace, vessels are ready to take the same forthwith. The duration of the Exhibition will be a period of four months. -[N. Y. Com. Advertiser. Magnetism.--Most extraordinary and inexplicable discoveries have been made, and are making, as experiments irrefragibly prove, in regard to magnetism. They have been performed in Brighton, to the entire conviction of persons of the highest science, both Foreigners and British, and are yet altogether so incredible that we almost fear to allude to them as realities. They will, however, come before the Royal Society, at its earliest re-assembling, and be stated in all their details. Meanwhile, what will our readers, and especially our scientific readers, think of the fact, that the magnetic force runs in transverse directions, as it may be employed by the male or female sex; that is to say, that if in the hands of a male operator it proceeded from east to west, or west to east, the same current in the hands of a female operator would immediately change to from north to south, or south to north, and cut the former line at about right angles. Thus magnetism is shown to derive different influences from the two sexes! But this is not all. A letter written by a woman, weeks before, produces an effect upon the current of a like peculiar nature. And again, any part of a dead animal, as the horn of a deer, a bit of ivory, and a dead fly held in the hand of any individual in contact, stops the magnetic action, which silk, the material from living worms, does not interrupt. In fine, there are wonders the most astonishing in store; and it does seem that we are, indeed, on the eve of what has for some time been prophesied, viz., penetrating deeply into the profoundest secrets and mysteries of this pervading agent in the whole economy of the universe, the globe we inhabit, and the human kind! It i stated that a gentleman in Newport, Ky., is perfecting an application o electricity for propelling a box containing letters over wires from place to place, on the telegraphic principle. The experiment over wires of 600 yards in length, has, it is said, worked well. Library Catalogue.-The Library of the Paris Observatory has just received a valuable addition to its scientific catalogue. When Laland, the French astronomer, died in 1807, he left a vast number of manuscripts to be divided among his numerous heirs. One of his descendants, an officer in the army, has been for a long time engaged in attempting to get these manuscripts together again. In this attempt he has at last succeeded, and has made a present of the whole, forming thirty-six volumes, to M. Arago. The latter, fearing that they might again become separated, has, in his turn, caused them to be deposited at the Observatory. The Imperial Geographical Society of St. Petersburg, which recently sent an expedition in search of the Nile, has set about the preparation of a new mission to explore the peninsula of Kamschatka and other Russian possessions in the Pacific Ocean. This latter expedition is to be placed under the direction of a young Polish geographer, the Count de Czapski, who has volunteered to contribute an annual sum of 5,000 silver rubles ($4,000) towards its cost. The Bamboo.There is no plant in Bengal that is applied to such a variety of useful purposes as the bamboo. Besides being employed in the construction of the implements of weaving, it is used for almost every conceivable purpose to which wood is applied in other countries. It forms the posts and frames of the roofs of huts; scaffoldings for building houses; portable stages used in the various processions of the natives; raised floors, for storing rice and various kinds of agricultural produce, in order to preserve them from damp; platforms for merchandise in warehouses and shops; stakes for nets in rivers; bars, over which nets and clothes are spread to dry; rafts; the masts, yards, oars, spars, and decks of boats. It is used in the construction of bridges across creeks; for fences around houses and gardens; as a lever in raising water for irrigation; and as flag poles in bazaars, police stations, akharas, &c. It is the material of which several agricultural implements are made, as the harrow, and handles of hoes, clod breakers, &c. Hackeries or carts, doolees or litters, and biers are all made of it. The common mode of carrying light goods is to suspend them from the ends of a piece of splint bamboo laid across the shoulder. The shafts of javelins or spears, and bows and arrows, clubs, fishing rods, &c., are formed of it. It is employed in the manufacture of fire-works, as rockets, &c. A joint of it serves as an holder for various articles, as pens, small instruments, and tools, and as a case in which things of little bulk are sent to a distance. The eggs of the silk worm were thus brought from China to Constantinople in the time of Justinian. A joint of it also answers the purpose of a bottle, and is used for holding milk, oil, and various fluids; and a section of it constitutes the measure for liquids in bazaars. A piece of it, of small diameter, is used as a blow pipe, to kindle the fire, and by gold and silversmiths in melting metals. It also supplies the place of a tube in a distilling apparatus. A cleft bamboo is employed as a conduit for conveying water from the roofs of huts. Split into small pieces, it is used for making baskets, coops for poultry, bird cages, and various traps for fishing. A small. bit of it, split at one end, serves as a tongs to take up burning charcoal; and a thin slip of it is sharp enough to be used as a knife in shelling betel nuts, &c. Its surface is so hard, that it answers the purpose of a whetstone, upon which the ryots sharpen their bill-hooks, sickles, &c. The Palo de Vaca, or Cow-Tree, of Brazil-This is one of the most ren.arkable rees in the forests of Brazil. During several months in the year when no rain falls, and its branches are dead and dried up, if the trunk be tapped, a sweet and nutritious milk exudes. The flow is most abundant at sunrise. Then, the natives receive the milk into large vessels, which soon grows yellow and thickens on the surface. Some drink plentifully of it under the tree, others take it home to their children. One might imagine he saw a shepherd distributing the milk of his flock. It is used in tea and coffee, in place of common milk. The cow-tree is one of the largest in the Brazilian forests, and is used in ship-building. Antiquarian Exploring Missions.-The French government has lately made a literary acquisition of no ordinary value. A French gentleman, M. Perret, has been engaged for six years in exploring the catacombs under Rome, and copying with the most scrupulous fidelity the remains of ancient art which are hidden in those extraordinary chambers. Under the authority of the Papal Government, and assisted by M. Petit, an accomplished French artist, M. Perret has explored the whole of the sixty catacombs, together with the connecting galleries. "Burying himself for five years in this subterranean city, he has thoroughly examined every part of it, in spite of difficulties and perils of the gravest character; for example, the refusal of his guides to accompany him; dangers resulting from the intricacy of the passages; from the necessity for clearing away through galleries choked up with earth, which fell in from above almost as fast as it was removed; hazards arising from the difficulty of damming up streams of water which ran in upon them from above, and from the foulness of the air and consequent difficulty of breathing and preserving light in the lower chambers-all these and many other perils have been overcome by the perseverance of M. Perret, and he has returned to France with a collection of drawings which extends to three hundred and sixty sheets in large folio, of which one hundred and fifty-four sheets contain representations of frescoes; sixty-five of monuments; twenty-three of paintings on glass -medallions inserted in the walls and at the bottom of vases-containing eighty-six subjects; forty-one drawings of lamps, vases, rings, and instruments of martyrdom to the number of more than one one hundred subjects; and finally ninety contain copies of more than five hundred sepulchral inscriptions. Of the one hundred and fifty drawings of frescoes, two-thirds are inedited, and a considerable number have been only lately discovered Amongst the latter are the paintings on the celebrated wells of Platonia, said to have been the place of interment, for a certain period, of St. Peter and St. Paul. This spot was ornamented with frescoes by order of Pope Damascus, about A. D. 365, and has ever since remained closed up. Upon opening the empty tomb, by permission of the Roman Government, M. Perret discovered fresco paintings representing the Saviour and the apostles, and two coffins (tombeaux) of Parian marble. On the return of M. Perret to France, the Minister of the Interior (M. Leon Faucher) entered into treaty with him for the acquisition of his collection for the nation. The purchase has been arranged, and the necessary amount, upwards of £7,500 obtained by a special vote of the National Assembly. The drawings will be published by the French Government in a style commensurate with their high importance, both as works of art, and as invaluable monuments of Christian antiquity. Discovery of Glaciers in New Zealand.—The following account of the discovery of glaciers at an elevation of 2,000 feet, at Millord Haven, west coast of the Middle Island, New Zealand. is from a letter received from Dr. Lyall, Surgeon of H. M. steam-vessel, Acheron, Captain Stokes, employed surveying the coasts in that locality. The writer is known to most of our readers as a zealous naturalist, who accompanied Sir James Clark Ross during his three adventurous south polar expeditions:-"Milford Haven, New Zealand, 13th March, 1851. Since my last date we have been in two or three sounds, where the water was so deep that we had to let go the anchor close to the shore, and then make fast to the trees by hawsers. We spent about a fortnight in the celebrated Dusky Bay, of Cook. The harbour we are now in is one of the most remarkable I have ever seen. It is about nine or ten miles deep, and not above a mile or two across at the widest part. The entrance is narrow, and immediately on entering you have precipices of three thousand feet towering right over head on both sides. As we went in, the engineers could see the mountains on both sides at once, from the stokehole of the steamer. I wish you were here to take some sketches of the scenery. The hills surrounding the harbour vary in height from upwards of 4,000 to near 7,000 feet, and on many of them unbroken streams of water are seen, originating at a height of 4,000 or 5,000 feet. There is one large waterfall on the side of the sound 1,200 feet, and a fine one close to where the ship is, between 400 and 500 feet. There are glaciers in the clefts near the tops of some of the mountains. I succeeded yesterday in getting to the lowest of them, which I calculated to be about 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. I had a tremendous scramble at one place, having to surmount an almost perpendicular precipice of about 1,200 feet. I was amply rewarded for my trouble, however, by the number of new plants which I found beside the glacier." It may be remembered that Mr. Dawin noticed the curious phenomena of glaciers descending to the level of the sea in the Gulf of Penas, on the similarly mountainous and stormy west coast of Patagonia: (lat. 48 deg S.;) and no one can compare the opposite east and west coasts of Scotland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden, South America, and Tasmania, respectively, with those of the New Zealand Islands, without being struck with the similarity of their prominent features. The eastern side in all these cases is tolerably continuous in outline, flatter, drier, and morel sunny; while the western, which is the windward, is, on the contrary, indented by fingering fiords, running deep into the heart of the country, which is mountainous, perennially humid, foggy, rugged, and boisterous, more uni orm in temperature, and rarely visited by the sun's rays.—Literary Gazette. Assyrian Discoveries-Departure of Colonel Rawlinson.—We are glad to hear that the Lords of the Treasury have at length consented to advance to Colonel Rawlinson the sum of £1,500, to enable him to continue his explorations and exhumations in Assyria. We may doubt if this step would have been even thus tardily taken, but that the value of the discoveries has been so recently exemplified by Colonel Rawlinson, in relation to the history of Hezekiah and Sennacherib. The grant, too, is small, compared with tie sums and means devoted to a similar purpose in the same country by the French Government; it is only very recently that a new expedition of several ships, with abundant appliances, set sail from one of the French ports. Colonel Rawlinson is to proceed immediately to Bagdad, where he is the resident of the East India Company, and from thence he will go to any quarter where his directions may be needed, and where the best promises of future discoveries may be held out. He will also keep open the works already commenced, but he is to act entirely independently of Mr. Layard. Lithography-The Art of Printing from Stone. The process of Lithographing is based upon the fact, that printing ink, being largely composed of oil, will not adhere to any surface which is wet with water. Every one knows how utterly impossible it is to mix ail and water. To lithograph, then, all that is necessary. is to draw on the surface of a dry slab of stone, with a greasy crayon, whatever is desired to be printed. A weak solution of nitric acid is then rubbed over the stone, which fastens the drawing so that it cannot be rubbed off. After this, a solution of gum arabic is passed over the surface, and then the stone is ready for printing. By means of a sponge, water is now rubbed on the stone, and while yet wet the inking roller is applied. The ink of course adheres to the lines of the drawing, because they are oily, but to the wet stone it does not stick. The paper is now laid on, and with the stone passed through the press; the result being a beautiful and exact copy of whatever is drawn. The stone employed for lithography, is of a peculiar kind of lime and clay nature, resembling in appearance a smooth yellow hone, yet possessing the quality of absorbing water. It is found chiefly in Bavaria, though there are quarries of it in England. The Bavarian stones, however, are those most universally employed, and their importation is a considerable object in commerce. They are worth, in New York, from 5 to 10 cents per pound.-[N. Y. Sun. WILLIAM HODGINS, ARCHITECT AND CIVIL ENGINEER, DIRECTLY OPPOSITE THE ARCADE, ST. LAWRENCE HALL, HAVING devoted much attention to the study of SCHOOL the Province, in preparing Designs, with detailed Plans and Specifications of Grammar and Common Schools, and their appendages, so as to meet the requirements of the present improved system of Education. Reference kindly permitted to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, and the officers of the Éducational Department. a competent Head Master to take charge of the Union School in this Town-to be opened on the 1st of January next. Also, a Second Male Teacher and two Female Teachers for the Liberal salaries will be given. same. Applications, accompanied with testimonials of character and qualifications, and stating the amount of salary required, may be addressed to the REV. 1. B. HOWARD, 2 in. Chairman, B. C. S. Trustees, Peterboro. TORONTO: Printed and Published by THOMAS HUGH Bentley. TERMS: For a single copy, 5s. per annum; not less than 8 copies, 4s. 44d. each, or $7 for the 8; not less than 12 copies, 4s. 2d. each, or $10 for the 12; 20 copies and upwards, 3s, 9d. each. Back Vols. neatly stitched supplied on the same terms. All subscriptions to commence with the January number, and payment in advance must in all cases accompany the order. Single numbers, 74d. each. All communications to be addressed to Mr. J. George Hodgins, JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR Upper Canada. VOL. IV. TORONTO, DECEMBER, Joseph Lancaster was born in Kent Street, Southwark, on the 27th of November, 1778. His father was a Chelsea pensioner, who had served in the British army during the American war. To the pious example and early instruction of his parents he always attributed, under the divine blessing, any acquaintance he possessed with the power of religion. "My first impressions," he says, "of the beauty of the Christian religion were received from their instructions." There is a touching beauty in his own account of himself as a little child, retiring to a corner, repeating the name of Jesus, and as often reverently bowing to it. "I seemed to feel," he says, "that it was the name of one I loved, and to whom my heart performed reverence. I departed from my retirement, well satisfied with what I had been doing, and I never remembered it but with delight." This little incident was an epitome of the man, and, inconsistent as it may seem to be with his future religious profession as a member of the society of Friends, it truly shadowed forth the enthusiastic, not to say passionate feeling, which through life so eminently characterized him. About this period, and that of his attaining the age of eighteen, he seems to have been an assistant at two schools, one a boarding, the other a day school; and thus, as he afterwards states in a letter to Dr. Bell, he became acquainted with all the defects attendant on the old system of tuition in both kinds of schools. At eighteen he commenced teaching on his own account in his father's house, and the following description of the undertaking, extracted from an old report of the Borough Road School, is from his own pen. It refers to the year 1798. "The undertaking was begun under the hospitable roof of an affectionate parent: my father gave the school-room rent free, and after fitting up the forms and desks myself, I had the pleasure, before I was eighteen, of having nearly ninety children under instruction, many of whom I educated free of expense. As the number of scholars continued to increase, I soon had occasion to rent larger premises." On the outside of his schoolroom he placed the following printed notice :-"All that will may send their children and have them educated freely; and those that do not wish to have education for nothing, may pay for it if they please." This filled his school. As the number of his pupils increased, a new schoolroom was provided, chiefly through the benevolent aid of the late Duke of Bedford and Lord Somerville, "who," says Lancaster, "appeared to be sent by Providence to open wide before me the portals of usefulness for the good of the poor." "The children,” he adds, “now came in for education like flocks of sheep; and the number so greatly increased, as to place me in that state which is the mother of invention. The old plan of education, in which I had been hitherto conversant, was daily proved inadequate to the purposes of instruction on a large scale. In every respect I had to explore a new and untrodden path. My continued endeavours have been happily crowned with success." Nothing can be more beautiful than the account given of his position and character at this time. He was always domesticated with his pupils. In their play hours he was their companion and their friend. He accompanied them in bands of two, three, and (on one occasion) of five hundred at once, to the environs of London for amusement and instruction. Nor did he care only for their intellectual necessities. Distress and, privation were abroad:-he raised contributions, went to market, and between the intervals of school, presided at dinner with stxty or eighty of the most needy of his flock. "The character of benefactor he scarce thought about; it was absorbed in that of teacher and friend. On Sunday evenings, he would have large companies of pupils to tea, and after mutually enjoying a very pleasant intercourse, would conclude with reading a portion of the sacred writings in a reverential manner. Some of the pupils would vary the exercise occasionally by reading select pieces of religious poetry, and their teacher would at times add such advice and observations, as the conduct of individuals, or the beauty and importance of the subject required. Is it any wonder that with pupils so trained, to whom so many endearing occasions presented, evidences should abound of affection, docility and improvement! In them he had many ready co-operators, and, however incapable of forming designs, never were agents more prompt aud willing to execute." These were his best and most joyous days. He was now rapidly becoming an object of public attention. His school-room was visited by "foreign princes, ambassadors, peers, commoners, ladies of distinction, bishops and archbishops;" his publications were passing rapidly through editions, each larger than its predecessor; his school, ably and zealously conducted by youths trained under his own eye, and imbued with his own enthusiastic spirit, was forsaken for lectures in all the principal towns of the kingdom, in every part of which he was received with the most marked and flattering attentions from all classes; even the monarch did not disdain to admit him, uncovered, to his presence, but sustained, encouraged, and applauded him. This interview is too characteristic to be omitted. 6 "On entering the royal presence, the king said: Lancaster, I have sent for you to give me an account of your System of Education, which I hear has met with opposition. One master teach five hundred children at the same time! How do you keep them in order Lancaster ? Lancaster replied, Please thy majesty, by the same principle thy majesty's army is kept in order-by the word of command.' His majesty replied, Good, good; it does not require an aged general to give the command-one of younger years can do it.' Lancaster observed, that, in his schools, the teaching branch was performed by youths who acted as young monitors. The king assented, and said, 'Good.' Lancaster then described his system; and he informed me that they all paid great attention, and were highly delighted; and as soon as he had finished, his majesty said: Lancaster, I highly approve of your system, and it is my wish that every poor child in my dominions should be taught to read the Bible; I will do anything you wish to promote this objeet, Please thy majesty,' said Lancaster, if the system meets thy majesty's approbation, I can go through the country and lecture on the system, and have no doubt, that in a few months, I shall be able to give thy majesty an account where ten thousand poor children are being educated, and some of my youths instructing them." His majesty immediately replied: Lancaster, I will subscribe £100 annually; and,' addressing the queen, you shall subscribe £50, Charlotte; and the princesses, £25 each; and then added, Lancaster, you may have the money directly.' Lancaster observed: Please thy majesty, that will be setting thy nobles a good example. The royal party appeared to smile at this observation; but the queen observed to his majesty, How cruel it is that enemies should be found who endeavour to hinder his progress in so good a work.' To which the king replied; Charlotte, a good man seeks his reward in the world to come." Joseph then withdrew." A Being imprudent in money matters he was arrested for debt. friendly docket was struck against him, and his creditors were called together. The result was, that in 1808 his affairs were transferred to trustees- -a fixed sum was allowed for his private expenses-a correct account of all receipts and expenditures was for the first time kept; and shortly after an association was formed, originally entitled "the Royal Lancasterian Institution for promoting the Education of the Children of the Poor," and subsequently, for the sake of greater simplicity, comprehension, and brevity-the BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY. Lancaster's affairs were indeed transferred to trustees, but the man remained unchanged. He was still the victim of his impulses. The excitement of his mind never subsided. The repression of his extravagance was to him an intolerable interference. One by one he quarrelled with his friends; then separated himself from the institution he had founded; commenced a private boarding school at Tooting; became still more deeply involved; went through the Gazette; and finally, wearied with strife and sorrow, sailed in the year 1818 for the new world. On his arrival in the States he was everywhere welcomed and honored as the friend of learning and of man. His lectures were numerously attended, and, for a time, all appeared to go well with him. But his popularity rapidly decayed. Rumors of debt and of discreditable pecuniary transactions in England, soon followed him; sickness, severe and long continued, wasted his family; and poverty, with her long train of ills, overtook him. Under these circumstances he was advised to try a warmer climate, and an opening having presented itself in Caraccas, he was assisted by his friends to proceed thither. He went with his son-in-law and daughter, (who afterwards settled in Mexico,) and, to use his own words, "was kindly received-promised great things, honored with the performance of little ones," and-after expressing, in no measured terms, his indignation at the breach of all the promises made to him-was glad to leave his family, and escape with his life. This was accomplished by a hasty flight into the interior, from whence he subsequently reached the sea shore, and embarked in a British vessel bound for St. Thomas. After a short stay at Santa Cruz and St. Thomas, we here again his lectures were attended by the governor and the gentry of the island, he returned to Philadelphia. Again sickness overtook him, and poverty, and much sorrow. In miserable lodgings, with an apparently dying wife, pinched by want, and pressed hard by difficulties of every kind, he appealed to the benevolent, and in addition to other aid, obtained a vote of 500 dollars from the corporation of New York. This enabled him to take a small house, and to recover strength. He now determined to return to England, and all but agreed for his passage, when circumstances induced him to return through Canada. On his arrival at Montreal he commenced his lectures, and again for a time floated along the stream of popular favor. The Parliament of Lower Canada voted him several grants for educational purposes. His worldly circumstances improved, and he determined to give up the thought of returning to England, and to settle in Canada. This was in 1829. But after a time, and probably through his own folly, he again sank, and then opened a private school for subsistence. But his career was rapidly drawing to a close. He had fully resolved on a voyage to England; but about a week before the affecting accident occurred which occasioned his death, he expressed some doubts on the subject, saying, "He knew not the reason, but he could not see his way clear in leaving America." On the 23d of Octobər, 1838, he was run over in the streets of New York; his ribs were broken, and his head very much lacerated. He was iminediately taken to the house of a friend, where he died without a struggle, in the sixty-first year of his age." THE LATE REV. DR. LINGARD. The biography of a man of letters, whose hours have been chiefly spent in his study, can only be satisfactorily written by one who has been admitted into an intimacy of friendship with him. Such biographies are sometimes extremely interesting. The projects of the author-probably dwelt upon for years-of works which he may not have lived to accomplish; his predilections, his prejudices, his tastes, his manner, his social peculiarities,-the delineation of these, when the picture is earnestly and graphically executed by one who knew, and reverenced, and had a warm affection for the subject of it, has frequently a charm which he looks for in vain in more ex citing narratives. Such a biography of Dr. Lingard we are rejoiced to have reason to anticipate from the pen of the Rev. Mr. Tierney. This gentleman has already distinguished himself in literature He is favourably known to the world as the learned editor of Dodd's "Ecclesiastical History," and his elaborate work, "The History and Antiquities of the Castle and Town of Arundel," displays great and painful research, which has had its reward in the production of very curious and interesting matter. But, perhaps, the best guarantee of Mr. Tierney's ability, as certainly it is his best title, to write a life of the late Dr. Lingard, resides in the fact that he was honoured with the friendship of that illustrious historian. If we remember the great work on which his fame is firmly established, we shall not be accused, when we employ the word "illustrious," of using the language of hyperbole. out. John Lingard was a native of Winchester, and was born on the 5th February, 1771. Whilst yet a child in the Catholic congregation at Winchester, the piety of his disposition, and the quickness of his abilities fell under the observation of the celebrated Dr. Milner, who conceived such hopes of him, that he sent him to the secular college at Douay. He was in the third year of his divinity at that seminary, when, in October, 1793, the first French revolution broke The dangers which threatened so many at that perilous period did not altogether pass him by, as we learn from the following anecdote, which he was accustomed to relate to his friends, and which we have borrowed from a contemporary:-On one occasion, when the disaffection of the populace had risen to such a degree that the military were under arms in the streets, the young Lingard was looking out, when he observed an orderly ride rapidly up to the commanding officer, and in a few moments every trooper vaulted into his saddle. Shortly after came a counter order. The authority of the "sovereign people" was declared, and a Mons. de Baix, who had rendered himself obnoxious, was hurried amid yells and execrations a la lanterne. The student knew this gentleman, and penetrated the crowd to inquire the cause of his summary punishment; when, his dress attracting attention, he heard the cry of “ La Calote," and presently, "Le Calotin a la lanterne !" He took to his heels, darted down a narrow lane, and, thanks to his fleetness of foot, our eminent historian escaped. On another occasion he was compelled to sing the "Ca ira," with a bayonet at his breast. The young divine left the town before his superiors, and the majority of the students were hurried away to Escherquin. Early in 1795, when the community found means to return to their native country, several of the members established themselves at Old Hall Green, near St. Edmund's, Herts, where Dr. Douglass, Vicar Apostolic of the London district, had secured them a residence under the Rev. Dr. John Daniel, their old superior; whilst others repaired to Crooke Hall, near Durham, where Dr. Gibson, Vicar Apostolie of the Northern district, and the sixteenth president of Douay College before his promotion to the episcopacy, had provided them an asylum. Amongst these was the subject of our memoir, and it was here that he completed his course of divinity, and received holy orders. It was now that his ability for teaching the higher studies of philosophy and divinity were to be tested, and the singular efficiency he displayed obtained for him the appointment of vice-president. Notwithstanding his arduous avocations, the active mind of Dr. Lingard employed itself upon the development of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, and the result of his extensive and laborious reseaches was his "History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church," which was given to the world in 1906, from the Newcastle press, and which was published in two octavo volumes. This work reached a second edition in 1810, and a third edition was published in 1846, by Mr. Dolman. The agitation of the Catholic question gave full activity to Dr. Lingard's pen. In 1807 he published in the Newcastle Courant a series of letters on Roman Catholic loyalty; and his tracts on the Charges of Dr. Shute Barrington, the Bishop of Durham, and his replies, amongst others, to Dr. Philpotts (now Bishop of Exeter), with his reviews of Protestant, or Anti-Catholic, publications by Dr. Huntingford, Bishop of Gloucester, by Dr. Tomline, and by Kenyon, were read extensively at the time. But the great work of Dr. Lingard, and by which his name will be familiarly known to posterity, is his "History of England, from the first invasion by the Romans to the accession of William and Mary in 1688." The first two volumes of this work were published in 1819, and it was completed a few years later. It was materially altered, improved, and enlarged as it passed through three editions, but the best edition is the last, which was published by Dolman, in the winter of 1849, and is in ten octavo volumes. For the last forty years of his life Dr. Lingard held the small preferment belonging to the Roman Catholic Church in the village of Hornby, near Lancaster, where, on the 17th of July of the present year, after a lingering illness, he breathed his last, at the age of eighty years. Dr. Lingard's private virtues were worthy of his eminent abilities. His habits were attractively simple, his disposition was affectionate, and his nature most benevolent. Many profitable hours might of course be passed in the society of a man of such varied knowledge; but many pleasant hours were likewise spent by those who had the happiness of his acquaintance, for his fund of anecdote was inexhaustible, and his conversation at all times pervaded by pleasantry and good humour. The house in which Dr. Lingard lived for so many years was a most unpretending residence, having a small chapel behind it, a. door of communication opening into it from the house. In his garden, which was a long strip taken off a small grass field, he passed much of his time. It was the chief recreation of his leisure to attend to his fruit trees, which were trained and pruned by his own hand. His garden was the burial-place of his favourites, is spaniel Ætna, his cat, his tortoise, and his horse, which last was laid beneath the shade of a flourishing oak tree, reared from an acorn brought by himself from the shores of the Lake of Thrasymene in 1817. Over the grave of "Etna," his faithful companion of many years, the doctor, it is said, has been seen to stand until his eyes were suffused with tears, and he would exclaim, Ah, poor Etty!" No anecdotes are trivial when, as in this instance, they display so clearly the nature of the man. 66 We have now to speak, which we must do very briefly, of the works of Dr. Lingard. The "History of the Anglo-Saxon Church” is, undoubtedly, the fruit of great labour and research, containing a vast amount of most curious information which had lain buried for centuries. Others have since laboured in this field, or rather, worked in this mine, but they have added little to the mass which had been accumulated by the patient assiduity of our author. To Lingard's "History of England" too much praise cannot be awarded; and it has already had no ordinary share. It is, unquestionably, the very best, not only because it is the most impartial, but because it is the fullest and the completest history of this country that has ever been given to the world. As a mere writer, Lingard is certainly not equal to Hume, whose style, so easy, so simple, so indiomatic, is inimitable, and perhaps hardly to be excelled; but it is small praise of Dr. Lingard, that in all the higher qualities of an historian, in his "knowledge of the spirit of antiquity, in exactness and circumstanciality of narration," he is immeasurably superior to the great Scotchman. In his preface, Dr. Lingard says, "It is long since I disclaimed any pretensions to that which has been called the philosophy of history, but might with more propriety be termed the philosophy of romance. Novelists, speculatists, and philosophists, always assume the privilege of being acquainted with the secret motives of those whose conduct and characters they describe; but writers of history know nothing more respecting motives than the little which their authorities have disclosed, or the facts necessarily suggest. If they indulge in fanciful conjectures, if they profess to detect the hidden springs of every action, the origin and consequences of every event, they may display acuteness of investigation, profound knowledge of the human heart, and great ingenuity of invention; but no reliance can be placed on the fidelity of their statements. In their eagerness they are apt to measure fact and theory by the same vi-ionary standard; they dispute or overlook every adverse or troublesome authority, and then borrow from imagination whatever may be wanting for the support or embellishment of their new doctrine. They come before us as philosophers who undertake to teach from the records of history; they are in reality literary empirics, who disfigure history to make it accord with their philosophy. Nor do I hesitate to proclaim my belief that no writers have proved more successful in the perversion of historic truth than speculative and philosophical historians." We cannot do better than close this short paper with a passage of such masterly sense and manly eloquence.-Bentley's Miscellany. EFFECT OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION IN SARDINIAN ITALY.-MOVEMENT IN FAVOUR OF FREE SCHOOLS. The Genoese correspondent of the Newark Daily Advertiser speaks thus of the effect of the Industrial Exhibition upon the interests of popular education in Southern Europe. He remarks:The London Exposition has produced a sensible effect upon the public mind in this comparatively free country, which was probably more numerously represented in London during the exhibition than any other on the continent, except France. I learn from an official source that over 2000 passports for London were issued at the Foreign Office in Turin during the last two months of that great fair. Every town and settlement of the country had it representatives there, and the effect has been an awakening of public attention to the importance of giving new energies to home industry—the essential condition of-national independence and prosperity. One of the fruits of this awakening is the organization of a "National Society of Workmen for mutual Aid and Instruction.” This association was inaugurated in the capital (Turin) on the 19th inst., with great solemnity. The Mayor and municipal authorities attended in official costume, and many manufacturers of high standing gave the sanction of their presence. After the ceremonies of the inauguration, a procession with music and banners, and an address by Mr. Brofferio, an eminent member of the Sardinian bar, who is also a member of the popular branch of the Parliament, the whole Association with its distinguished guests, participated in a rural feast. Upwards of 3000 members were present, including 35 deputations from auxiliary associations in different parts of the kingdom. This is believed to be the first association of mechanics and workingmen ever formed in Southern Europe, and such an institution could not be tolerated in any other country this side the Alps. The augury is for good. It is but the beginning of the end. The friends of education are also moving under the inspiration of the new light that is breaking upon the country, and a large deputation has gone from this city to meet a "Congress of Educators and the Friends of Free Instruction," in one of the Palaces of the King at Alexandria," which has been liberally offered for its use by the King himself. THE REWARD OF DILIGENCE -"Seest thou a man diligent in his business?" says Solomon," he shall stand before kings." We have a striking illustration of this aphorism in the life of Dr. Franklin, who, quoting the sentence himself, adds, "This is true; I have stood in the presence of five kings, and once had the honour of dining with one." All in consequence of his having been "diligent in business" from his earliest years. What a lesson is this for our youth, and for us all! |