prove advantageous to have closet adjoining the readingroom for a wardrobe, for which a keeper might be hired with a small salary, or any one might obtain the use of this wardrobe, by the payment, in large towns, of one or two cents, every time, as is done, for instance in Paris.

The advantage of having the reading-room separated from the library is very great. The room can be made more agreeable if not united with the library, so that the readers will not be interrupted constantly by the noise of comers

and goers.

There are very few persons who have not found that every

mental labor becomes easier,

where the body is placed in a comfortable position. To be uncom fortably seated before too low or too high, or shaking tables,

with cold feet and facing

the light, are the causes of very disagreeable distractions. On the other hand the mind becomes animated and prolific when the body is at ease. The addition of writingdesks to the usual tables would undoubtedly give great satisfaction to all visitors of the reading room.

In a public library, it is essentially necessary that the books and the officers employed should be separated from the visitors, by a railing (see the plan), which might be the continuation of a desk in the form of a semicircle, on which the latest publications might be placed for the in

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medical, and law colleges, it has been enriched by works auxiliary to the study of the students, who in large numbers inhabit the neighbourhood. It contains about 250,000 printed volumes, and 3,000 manuscripts, of which a well arranged ticket catalogue (i. e., the titles of the books written on slips of paper, and put in an alphabetical order) exists. The library is open from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M., and from 6 to 10 P.M, except Sundays and holidays; it is lighted with gas, proceeding from pipes in the shape of chandeliers fixed on the tables. In winter the whole building is heated by furnaces in the cellars.

The structure itself is well deserving of a more detailed description. The whole of the groundfloor is divided by the large and beautiful entrance and staircase, on one side of which there is the room for the preservation and use of the manuscripts, illustrated works, engravings, rare books and typographical curiosities, which are all kept in cases with glass doors; on, the other side several smaller rooms occupy the remainder of the floor. Ascending the spacious and commodious staircase, which is ornamented with the statues of the heroes of French literature, we arrive at the first floor which is reserved entirely for the large saloon comprising the library and reading room. The design annexed may perhaps supply an idea of the interior arrangements.

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The height between the shelves depends of course on the size of the

books, which are to be placed upon them.

The usual measure for folios is 16 by 18 inches.

Quartos, 10 by 11 Octavos, Duodecimos,

8 7

And then there will always be room enough to take the books out without rubbing them against the boards. The shelves should at least be 15 inches wide, to admit of a sufficient circulation of air.

Perhaps the most conveniently arranged and latest built library on the Continent of Europe, at present, is the Libraire de St. Génévieve at Paris. The Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, Abbot of the Génofains, enlarged the library, which is that of the old Abbey of St. Génévieve, considerably by his donations. Situated near the theological,

WHAT A SCOTCHMAN MAY BECOME.-At a meeting held in Edinburgh recently, to obtain political "justice for Scotland," Sir A. Alison, the historian, related the following anecdote:

"Gentlemen, one very curious thing occurred to show how Scotchmen do rise all the world over, and with this anecdote I will conclude.

Marshal Keith had the command of the Austrian army, which long combated the Turkish forces on the Danube, under the Grand Vizier, and after a long and bloody combat, the two generals came to a conference together. The Grand Vizier came mounted on a camel with all the pomp of castern magnificence. The Scotch Marshall Keith, from the neighborhood of Turriff in Aberdeenshire, at the head of the Austrian troops, had a long conference, and, after the conference, the Turkish Grand Vizier said to Marshal Keith that he would like to speak a few words in private to him in his tent, and he begged that no one should accompany him. Marshal Keith accordingly went in, and the moment they entered, and when the conference in the tent was closed, the Grand Vizier threw off his turban, tore off his beard, and running to Mashal Keith said, 'Ou, Johnnie, foo's a' wi' ye, man.' (Loud laughter.) And he then discovered that the Grand Vizier of

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A. Entrance.

B. Seat of the Overseer, who does not allow a person to go out with a book, without a written permission.

C. Desk of the employés de reserche (those who refer to the catalogues), the Librarian and his first assistant. The latter directs the visitors to the different departments, superintended by his colleagues, who are seated at their desks at

D. And who have to give out the books asked for.

E. Book-shelves, which are not accessible because of the railing F, which runs around all the walls and uprights. G. Table.

In this library, books are not allowed to go out but in cases of necessity, and then the person who takes them has to give a receipt, returned to him when the volumes are brought back.

The further prosecution of the preceding ideas of the structure of the building for a library, according to the claims of our times, ought of course to be left to practical architects.

Turkey was an old school companion of his own, who had disappeared thirty years before from a parish school near Methlic. (Laughter.)-London paper.

SORROW AND RESIGNATION.-The very things which touch us the forget. The noble mansion is most distinguished by the beautiful most sensibly, are those which we should be the most reluctant to images which it retains of beings past away; and so is the noble mind. The damps of autumn sink into the leaves, and prepare them for the necessity of their fall; and thus insensibly are we, as years close around us, detached from our tenacity of life by the gentle pressure of recorded sorrows. When the clasping of hands so lately linked, hath ceased; when youth, and comeliness, and pleasantry are departed,Who would desire to spend the following day

Among the extinguished lamps, the faded wreaths,
The dust and desolation left behind?

But whether we desire or not, we must submit. He who hath appointed our days, hath placed their contents within them, and our efforts can neither cast them out nor change their quality.-Ibid.

Educational Intelligence.

CANADA.

MONTHLY SUMMARY.

EXAMINATION AT THE HAMILTON CENTRAL SCHOOL.

At the Examination, the progress of the scholars was considered, by those who were especially competent to form an opinion upon the subject, as unusually great, and such as to entitle Mr. Sangster, and the other teachers of the school, to the highest praise. The examinations upon the several branches of knowledge were of deep interest, and productive of much pleasure, from the ready answers which were almost uniformly given to questions which, to us of the older day, would seem too abstruse for immediate reply. But, apart from all this, and constituting a higher ground of gratification, is the consideration of the results of what is termed the new system. It is, when the exhibition of yesterday is compared with the common-school teaching of a former day, that the subject becomes one of overwhelming interest. It is scarcely necessary to refer to the state of education in our former sectional schools-the remembrance of them is painful to visit them was repulsive. In saying this, we would not desire to censure the teachers of those days, or the scholars, or the parents; the error was not wholly in the one or in the other, but it was in the tout ensemble,-in other words, in the system. At the Central School, on the other hand, were to be seen, as we have said, a mass of children, of almost all ages, of all ranks, and of both sexes, all under perfect discipline, clean and tidy in their persons, and their countenances beaming with happiness and intelligence. If the gratification of the examinations went no farther than in the witnessing of twelve hundred children happy-if the only pleasurable feeling were those to be derived from the survey of the countenances of happy mothers, and gratified relatives, listening to the apt replies of those in whom they were taking each an individual interest-if these constituted the sole source of pleasure, there was much to cause a heavenly-minded satisfaction in the heart of the benevolent; but, such a heart could not stop at this point; the philanthropist would reflect upon the events of a future day: he would picture to himself these well-disciplined intelligent and happy children converted into the men and women of a future generation; he would remember, as was well observed by Mr. Sangster, the excellent Principal of the school, that the children of to-day will be the Divines, the Statesmen, the Lawyers, or the domestic and useful mothers and wives of a future era; that they, and such as they, will constitute the Canadians of the next generation; and, reflecting on all this, the benevolent observer would rejoice more than words could speak, or the pen define, that he lived in a day when education had ceased to be a drudge and a terror to the recipient, and a heavy task to the teacher, and had become a labor of love- or mutual source of satisfaction. Those who witnessed these examinations will heartily respond to these sentiments, and will pray that the blessings of such an education as that of our Central School, may be diffused throughout the length and breadth of our land; nor will they fail to pity those whose absorbing attention to business, whose never ceasing interest in themselves and their own affairs, have deprived them, by their absence from these examinations, of an opportunity of enlarging their minds, and of opening their hearts to something better than their counting houses and Ledgers.- Communicated to the "Spectator."

SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS IN BELLEVILLE.

The Hastings Chronicle in reporting the recent Examinations, thus remarks: "These Examinations were a complete triumph in favour of Free Schools. The attendance which they drew is, we think, a strong indication that the all-important subject of educating the rising generation is attracting the attention of the public, especially the parents, who evidently feel the necessity of having their children educated; they are convinced that if they are to keep pace with the spirit of the age, they must be educated. If the children of this town remain in ignorance, the fault must rest with their parents and guardians, as our Schools are free, and under the charge of excellent Teachers. At the Examinations the audience was addressed on the several evenings by Geo. Benjamin Esq., Dr. Hope, Rev. Mr. Gregg, and J. D. Pringle, in a very effective manner. Dr. Hope entered very minutely into the subject of Free Schools, giving a very accurate detail of the progress of the schools during the past year, and referred particularly to the attendance of children, as well as the expenses incurred in the support

of our common schools; he said that those statements were obtained from the School Trustees, and which he believed was in the main correct; though there might be a few small accounts to be added, they would not materially affect these statements. It is satisfactory to know that the amount raised for each child of school age in 1852, in the State of Massachusetts, $4 71cts, showing a balance in our favor of $2 52cts, when compared with the following statements:

Probable number of children of School age,

Number registered at public Schools, including separate School,
Do. do. Grammar School,
Do. do. Private Schools,

1400

1357

90

54

1501

760

.590

£2200

120

42

£162

The graduates and students of University College have lately organized a Literary and Scientific Society, under the patronage of the College Council, similar to associations already existing in universities in England and the United States. The President and professors are, ex officio, patrons of the society, and control its decisions and management. The following officers have been elected for the present academical year:-President-Adam Crooks, M.A., B.C.L.; Vice Presidents—W. W. Baldwin and C. E. English; Secretary-E. M. A. Crombie; Treasurer-J. E. Sanderson; Council -Edward Blake, B.A., and James Brown, B. A., from the graduates, and Thomas Hodgins and Charles J. Macgregor, from the students. Dr. Wilson, Professor of English Literature, delivered the opening address of the society, before the professors and students, on the 3rd instant.

CHATHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL.-The Western Planet states that "the contract for the erection of a grammar school, at a cost of $3,000, is already given out; and the building will be completed early next summer. Chatham will, ere long, have nothing to complain of in point of public buildings."

BRITISH AND FOREIGN

MONTHLY SUMMARY.

The Earl of Eglinton has been elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University, after a sharp contest with Alfred Tennyson, the Poet Laureate.....Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton has been unanimously elected to the office of Honorary President of the Associated Societies of the University of Edin burgh ...The success of the system of education pursued in the Queen's

JOURNAL OF

Upper

Canada.

TORONTO: JANUARY, 1854.

LORD ELGIN IN EDINBURGH.

The Earl of Elgin presided at the annual meeting of the "Apprentice School Association" of Edinburgh, on the 16th January, and delivered a beautiful address on the occasion. Alluding to Canada, His Excellency said: "I make bold to say that there is no part of the continent of America in which more has been done within the last few years to extend education to all ranks and classes in the community, or in which more liberal exertions have been made, and more liberal co-operation has existed between the Government and the people, to effect that great object, than in the British colony of Upper Canada." [Applause.]

COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

At the annual meeting of the " Apprentice School Association," held in Edinburgh on the 16th January, the Rev. Dr. Guthrie, in the course of a powerful address, expressed the following sentiments in respect to compulsory education:-"He held that the State ought to charge itself with the duty of seeing that every child in the country had the means of education, and should charge itself, in addition, with the duty of seeing that every child in the country was educated. Some people might start at this, and say, Oh, you interfere with the liberty of the subject.' But why should the State take care that the child of every mill-spinner should be taught, and punish the parent for neglecting it, and not take the same care of the children of the Grassmarket or the Cowgate? The law did not allow a man to starve his child. It was very cruel, it might be said, to starve the body. Very cruel, it was true; and the State interfered with the liberty of the subject there; but if it was right in the law to compel the parent to feed the child's body, was it right in the law to compel the parent to starve his child's soul? Suppose the law did not compel him to feed the child's body, death would step in, and relieve society of the evil there; but if they did not compel him to feed the mind, what happened? The untaught child, in nine cases out of ten, became a burden, a nuisance, a danger to society."

this clause of the act, I may remark, that among other points of difference between the new and former grammar school acts, are the following:-1st, Instead of there being one board of trustees for the management of all the grammar schools in a county, there is to be a board of six trustees for each grammar school. 2d, All the trustees of grammar schools are to be One-third of the members of each grammar school corporation appointed by county councils, instead of by the Crown. 3d, retires from office annually, and the places of the retiring members, as well as all other vacancies, are to be filled up by the county council, as provided in the 9th section of the act. 4b, All the trustees of such grammar schools, as may be hereafter established, are to be appointed by the county municipalities, as provided for by the 10th section of the act. 5th, The board of trustees of each grammar school has the appointment and removal of all the officers, and the entire management of the school. 6th, In each grammar school certain subjects are to be taught and certain regulations are to be observed.

It will, therefore, be seen that the success and usefulness of each grammar school will be very much affected by the character and qualifications of the trustees appointed; and their character and qualifications will altogether depend on the appointments of the county councils.

One of the objections most strongly urged against the new grammar school act has been, that county councils were not competent to select, or, from the influence of personal or party feeling, would not select fit and proper persons to manage the grammar schools. I earnestly and confidently hope, that your county council will, by its selection of trustees, falsify this objection, show the groundlessness of the fears which have prompted it, and justify the large recognition of the popular principles of government which characterize the provisions of the grammar school act. The true way for a people to secure the continuance and extension of popular government is to administer it in the most equitable and beneficial manner.

judge of the qualifications and proceedings of a professed agriNow, as none but persons acquainted with agriculture can culturist; so none but persons acquainted with the subjects taught in grammar schools are fully competent to judge of the

labors of the masters and their assistants, the wants of the