as explicitly as the case may require, shall, with the approbation of the Trustees and Master, be re-admitted to the school.

5. The Trustees having made such provisions relative to the school house and its appendages, as are required by the fourth clause of the twelfth section of the Common School Act, 13th and 14th Vict., cap. 48, it shall be the duty of the Master to give strict attention to the proper ventilation and temperature, as well as to the cleanliness of the school house; he shall also prescribe such rules for the use of the yard and out-buildings connected with the school house, as will ensure their being kept in a neat and proper condition; and he shall be held responsible for any want of neatness and cleanliness about the premises.

6. Care shall be taken to have the school house ready for the reception of pupils at least fifteen minutes before the time prescribed for opening the school, in order to afford shelter to those that may arrive before the appointed hour.

III. DUTIES OF PUPILS.

1. Pupils must come to the school clean in their persons and clothes.

sidered; and they will, I am persuaded, contribute much to the improvement of the Grammar Schools, and greatly facilitate their management on the part of Boards of Trustees and Head Masters.

2. The regulations in regard to the qualifications for admission to the Grammar Schools (1st section, 2nd clause) cannot, of course, apply until the commencement of the next half yearafter the summer vacation-when all the pupils attending the Grammar School at that time, or then applying for admission, must be examined according to that regulation, and classified according to the programme.

3. In regard to the Text-books sanctioned for use in the Grammar Schools, three remarks may be made: The first is, that in the English branches, the National Books, with one or two additions, have been selected and authorised, as they are upon the whole, the best series of English text-books published are in use in the Common Schools, and are easily obtained. The second remark is, that in the Greek and Latin languages, more than one text-book on the same subject has, in some cases, been authorised-especially grammars. The reason is, that each of the books mentioned is used and preferred by a con

2. Tardiness on the part of pupils shall be considered a viclation of the rules of the school, and shall subject the delin-siderable class of teachers; and the first object of the Council

quents to such penalty as the nature of the case may require,

at the discretion of the Master.

3. No pupil shall be allowed to depart before the hour appointed for closing school, except in case of sickness or some pressing emergency; and then the Master's consent must

first be obtained.

4. A pupil absenting himself from school, except on account of sickness, or other urgent reason satisfactory to the Master, forfeits his standing in his class and his right to attend the

school for the remainder of the quarter.

5. No pupil shall be allowed to remain in the school, unless he is furnished with the books and requisites required to be used by him in the school; but in case of a pupil being in danger of losing the advantages of the school by reason of his danger of losing the advantages of the school by reason of his inability to obtain the necessary books or requisites through the poverty of his parent or guardian, the Trustees have power to procure and supply such pupil with the books and requisites

needed.

6. The tuition fees, as fixed by the Trustees, whether monthly or quarterly, shall be payable in advance; and no pupil shall have a right to enter or continue in the school until he shall have paid the appointed fee.

of Public Instruction being to secure the use of an uniform

series of Text-Books in each Grammar School; and then, after the test of comparison and experiment, (which may be made

under the new system,) to secure the use of the same Greek and Latin grammars in all the schools. This is, indeed, effected in part by the regulations requiring Arnold's First Lessons in Latin and Greek alone to be be used by the pupils in commencing the study of those languages. My third remark is, that while each Board of Trustees will, of course, determine which of the books authorized (where there is an option) shall be used in their school, some regard should be had to the circumstances of individual parents and pupils, in superseding the use of some books now in use, by the introduction of new ones. In first introducing an uniform series of text-books into the Common Schools, I stated that the authorized books should be introduced as the old and unauthorized books might become worn-out, and as new classes should be formed in each school. I think it best for the Board of Trustees to adopt the same method in introducing an uniform series of text-books into the Grammar Schools. They have authority under the present Grammar School Act and accompanying Regulations, to determine not only which of the text-books authorized shall be used in each school, but also that each pupil shall be provided with such books. I may, how

Adopted by the Council of Public Instruction for Upper ever, add, that it is the teacher, rather than the books, that Canada, on the Thirteenth day of February, 1855.

EDUCATION OFFICE,

Toronto, 15th February, 1855.

[OFFICIAL CIRCULAR.]

From the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the Boards of Trustees of Grammar Schools throughout Upper Canada.

GENTLEMEN,

I have the honor to transmit you herewith the Regulations which have been adopted by the Council of Public Instruction, and approved by the Governor General in Council, for the better organization and government of Grammar Schools in Upper Canada-including rules as to the qualifications for admission to each Grammar School, the exercises and discipline to be oberved, the course of studies to be pursued, and the text-books o be used. These regulations have been very carefully con

makes the school, whether it be an elementary, or high school, or even college.

4. In respect to the course of studies and the order of subjects prescribed by these Regulations, it is important that the Boards of Trustees and Head Masters should exercise a philosophical as well as parental discretion in recommending or sanctioning the selection and pursuit of optional subjects by pupils. In preparing this Programme of Studies, it has been sought to keep the two following educational axioms in view :First, "That a course of studies should be adapted to exercise and improve the various intellectual powers of children, accordto the natural order of their development." Secondly, "That the subjects of study should be so arranged that the knowledge of the first prepares the mind of the pupil for the acquisition of the second, the second for attaining the third, and so on in regard to all the subjects of the course." In the exercise of options

in regard to one or more subjects of study, (as is allowed in the accompanying programme,) Trustees and Head Masters cannot too seduously exert their influence upon parents and pupils to direct their preferences in harmony with the foregoing axioms, and to that which is most practical and useful in ordinary life. 5. In giving practical effect to the accompanying Regulations and Programme of Studies, I beg to offer for the consideration of the Boards of Trustees and Head Masters, two or three remarks on the objects and methods of teaching, which I think should be insisted upon and pursued in every Grammar School. As the office of the Grammar School is that of a preparatory school to the University for one class of pupils, and that of finishing school to another and larger class of pupils, thoroughness should characterize the teaching of all subjects of the Course of Studies. Every pupil should be taught the language of his country, should be able to read it with accuracy, intelligence and grace-should know the orthography and the meaning of its more difficult, as well as of its more easy words-should understand its grammatical structure, and should learn to use it with skill, and to appreciate its excellencies, by the practice of speaking it accurately in ordinary conversation, by frequent composition in writing, and by the critical reading and analysis of portions of the English Classic Authors, in both Prose and Poetry. The foundation of sound scholarship in Foreign languages can only be laid in an accurate knowledge of their grammatical forms and principles, their proper pronunciation, and a clear perception of their differences of structure and idioms from the English and from each other-objects which cannot be accomplished without the practice of oral and written exercises and compositions in the languages taught, as well as of accurate and free translations of their standard authors. In

same purpose.

Each Municipal Council and School Corporation concerned can select Books from the Official Catalogue to the amount of twenty-five per cent. upon the sum or sums already contributed by them, and forward their orders to this department; and the books will be packed up and forwarded as fast as the work can be performed. In case any particular book or books requested may not be on hand, or cannot be procured, corresponding books will, as far as possible, be selected from the catalogue and forwarded; and, when desired, the selections of any part, or of the whole of the books to the amount apportioned, will be made by this department.

In each case, please state the person to whom, and conveyance by which, it is desired that the books shall be sent. EDUCATION OFFICE,

E. RYERSON.

PUBLIC LIBRARY NOTICE.

Mathematics the pupil should be familiar with the definitions, should perfectly understand the reason, as well as the practice, of each step of the process in the solution of every question, Toronto, February 1st, 1855. from simpler cases in Arithmetic to the more difficult problems of Algebra and propositions of Geometry. In teaching all the other subjects of the course, there should be like accuracy and To Municipal Councils and School Corporations in Upper thoroughness. No pupil should be allowed to advance from one rule or subject to another in any of the branches taught, without a thorough knowledge of that which precedes it. The progress of the pupils should be judged, (and will be judged in practical life,) not by the number of pages of books they may have gone through, but by the nature and number of the subjects they have mastered; and the thorough teaching and study of a few subjects is better for the purposes of mental discipline, solid learning, and success in life, than the superficial teaching and study of many subjects.

Canada. Until further notice, the undersigned will apportion one hundred per cent. upon all sums which shall be raised from local sources by Municipal Councils and School Corporations for the establishment or increase of Public Libraries in Upper Canada under the regulations provided according to law.

EDUCATION OFFICE,
Toronto, February 1st, 1855.

THE

E. RYERSON.

NORMAL SCHOOL TEACHERS.

HE present Session of the NORMAL SCHOOL for Upper Canada will CLOSE on the 15th of April next. Trustees and others in their applications to this Department for TEACHERS, will state distinctly the Class of Teacher, Male or Female, which they may require, whether 1st or 2nd (no 3rd Class offer. Applications should be sent in not later than the first week in April. Certificates are issued); and the amount of Salary which they may be able to

N.B.-The next Session of the NORMAL SCHOOL will commence on the 15th of May, and end on the 15th of October, 1855. Education Office, Toronto, February, 1855.

6. The success and efficiency of the Grammar Schools must now chiefly depend upon the manner in which you, gentlemen, discharge your duties in the selection of Masters and Teachers, and in the oversight and provisions for the furnishing and support of the schools. All the Text-books, Maps and Apparatus required, can be procured at the Educational Depository connected with this department, at the cost prices. I had hoped, that before the adjournment of the Legislature in December, a Bill would have been passed amending the "Grammar School Act," so as to facilitate the discharge of their duties by Boards of Trustees, and greatly contribute to the interests of Grammar Schools. I think we may now anticipate the passing of such a All communications to be addressed to Mr. J. GEORGE HODGINS, Bill in the course of a few weeks, as I believe there is no less Education Office, Toronto. ardent desire on the part of the Government and Legislature, TORONTO: Printed by LOVELL & GIBSON, Corner of Yonge and Melinda Streets,

ADVERTISEMENTS inserted in the Journal of Education for one halfpenny per word, which may be remitted in postage stamps, or otherwise. TERMS: For a single copy of the Journal of Education, 5s. per annum; 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.

of the Diocese were to provide the remainder. Even in Eliza-
beth's own time, this Aet seems to have been imperfectly car-
ried out. Mr. D'Alton, in his evidence* before the Committee
on Foundation Schools, mentions a curious record, whereby
Queen Elizabeth, understanding that this Act was "slenderly
or not at all executed" in Limerick, empowered the Mayor of
that city, by mandate, to sequester yearly, and from time to
time, so much of the livings, tithes, &c., as belonged to the Bishop
and Clergy of the Diocese until the Act was complied with.
Various statutes were made during the reign of William III.,
and his immediate successors, concerning those Schools, but
with no satisfactory results. In the year 1813, by the same
Act which regulated the Royal Schools, the Diocesan Schools were
placed under the control of the same Board, and permission was
given to the Commissioners, with the consent and approbation
of the Lord Lieutenant, to erect into one district two or more
Dioceses, and to consolidate into one District School, the several
Diocesan Schools of their united Dioceses. The Lord Lieute-
nant, with the advice of the Privy Council, is empowered to
fix and apportion among the different Diocese in a district, the
Masters' salaries which are to be paid by the same parties, and
in the same proportions, as the original Act of Elizabeth directs.
The Act further enables the grand jury of the county in which
the School is established to present on the county any sum or
sums which they should think proper for purchasing a site, and
building or repairing a School-house. Notwithstanding all
these attempts to improve them, the Schools have never suc-
ceeded. In 1838, the Committeet of Foundation Schools thus
describes their condition: "The Lord Lieutenant will not ap-
point Masters unless a salary is secured, the salary is refused
by the Clergy unless the School is built by the grand jury; the
grand jury refuses to build the School, unless the Master stipu-
lates to receive a certain number of Free Scholars: the Master
refuses to receive Free Scholars on the compulsion of the grand
jury, and the Commissioners will not, or cannot, enforce the
right either on the part of the grand jury or their own." At
a still later date, no improvement seems to have been made. In
their Report for 1850, the Commissioners of Education observe,
"As regards the Diocesan Schools, generally, we regret to be
obliged to state that with a few exceptions they have failed to
be productive of the benefits originally expected from them.
This has arisen partly from the mode of payment of the Masters,
alike distasteful to the Clergy and to the Master, and partly
from the dilapidated state of many of the School-houses, for the
repair of which no fund beyond a voluntary presentment by a
grand jury is provided by law." There are at present fourteen
Diocesan Schools in operation. They are situated in the
towns of Ballymena, Carlow, Cork, Downpatrick, Elphin, Lon-
donderry, Limerick, Mallow, Monaghan, Mullingar, Naas, Ross-
carberry, Tuam, and Wexford. The annual number of pupils
in each School, on an average of the four years Ending 31st
December, 1852, was 24, of whom three were Free. It is stated
that they have no landed property, and a very small income in
some cases in stock. No religious restriction was ever imposed
in these Schools. It has been generally supposed that as they
are supported by the contributions of the Clergy of the Esta-
blished Church, they must be strictly Protestant. The follow-
ing extract from the Report of the Committee on Foundation
Schools will show the error of this opinion: "There is nothing
in the Act of 12 Elizabeth, or in any subsequent modification
of that Act, limiting admission to these Schools to Protestants.
The Acts of Charles and William affect the Masters of the
Schools only. No later enactment refers to the subject, nor
has any by-law been passed by either the Diocesan Clergy,
grand juries, or the Board of Commissioners, to that effect. *
Nor is this confined to the pupils. There is no law now in force
requiring the teacher to be of the established religion; and
Mr. Quinn, the former Secretary, declares no religious test is
exacted, nor is there anything which could preclude a Roman
Catholic or Presbyterian from being appointed by the Lord
Lieutenant to the mastership of any one of these Schools."
* P. 44.
+ Q. 821.
| Parliamentary Paper, Session 1858, No. 400.

+ P. 48.

Besides these Schools of public foundation, the Commissioners of Educations have under their control 23 others, which may be termed private foundations. They are situated at Athlone, Ballyroan, Bandon, Clane, Carrickmacross, Charleville, Clonakilty, Clonmel, Cloyne, Dundalk, Eyre Court, Kilbricken Tenantry, Kilkenny, Kilworth, Kinsale, Lifford, Lismore, Middleton, Navan, Rathvilly, Tullyvin, Waterford, and Youghal. Of these, five, viz., the Kilbricken Tenantry, Kilworth, Lifford, Rathvilly, and Tullyvin Schools, seem to be merely elementary. Of the remaining eighteen, several, such as Eyre Court, are not Classical Schools, but might probably be made such. Excluding Athlone, the Mastership of which was vacant when the return was made, and the five elementary Schools, each of the others, on an average of the four years ending December 31st, 1852, had about 24 pupils yearly, of whom about six were free. It would seem that only three of these Schools, Ballyroan, Clonmel, and Middleton, have their estates vested in the Commissioners. In other cases the payments are, we believe, made directly to the Masters. We cannot state with accuracy the gross amount of their endowments, but from a table compiled by Mr. D'Alton, their united revenues exceed £6000 a year. This amount is, however, apparently too large. With the exception of Tullyvin, they are open to all religious denominations, and no religious qualification is required in the Masters. The appointments are in the gift of the Trustees, or of Corporations, or of Bishops of the Established Church.

It would appear from the evidence given by Mr. D'Alton before the Committee on Foundation Schools, that several other endowments for Educational purposes are, or ought to be, in existence. The charter granting in 1631, one hundred acres of land for a School at Clogher, has been lately printed in the Parliamentary Paper which contains the charters of the Royal Schools. But we believe that no such School is in operation. There are also many other minor endowments of little value singly; but which, if consolidated, might be made most useful. Some further enquiry into this subject would be desirable. Last of all, and differing from the other Endowed Schools in being under a separate management, are the Grammar Schools of Erasmus Smith. The Committee on Foundation Schools observe, that "it may be a matter of question whether these Schools should be considered private, or public. They are undoubtedly of private foundation, but from the frequent interposition of the legislature, they may in great measure be regarded as public institutions." They were established under a charter granted in 1669, to carry out the intentions of Erasmus Smith, who settled large estates for Educational purposes. The charter provides for the foundation of Free Grammar Schools at Drogheda, Galway, and Tipperary. A fourth, subject to the same conditions, was subsequently founded at Ennis. It further directs that the children of the tenantry on the settled estates, without any restriction as to numbers or residence, should be educated gratuitously, and that the same privilege should be extended to a number of other boys at the discretion of the Governor, provided that the whole number did not exceed twenty, and that they were resident within two miles of the School. For these, all fees are strictly prohibited, but the Master may take from the remainder an entrance fee of two shillings each. As the value of the estates increased, difficulties arose as to the application of the surplus. Various Acts of Parliament were passed, authorizing different forms of expenditure. Several Professorships, to the aggregate value of about £500 a year, were founded in Trinity College, but owing to the depressed condition of the estates, these endowments have been, since 1847, almost wholly withdrawn. Thirty-five exhibitions of the value of about £8 each, and tenable until the exhibitioner has attained Master's standing, that is for a period of seven years from entrance, have also been established in the same Institution.

In reference to these exhibitions, the Provost and Fellows in reply to some enquiries of the Trinity College Commissioners,

§ The Commissioners of Education here and elsewhere mentioned in this article, must not be confounded with the "Commissioners of National (i, e. Common School) Education in Ireland."

state that "of Erasmus Smith's exhibitions, only twenty in the last ten years have been given by examination at entrance. The remaining exhibitions, on this foundation, are filled up by the Board from students who have already been distinguished in their academic career, without reference to the schools at which they were educated." The management of the Schools and the estates is committed by the charter to a Board consisting of thirty-two members. The Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, the Chief Justices of the Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, the Chief Baron, and the Provost of Trinity College, are ex officio members. This Board elects new members as vacancies occur; and makes no report of its proceedings. It is provided that the Masters who are appointed by the Governors, shall be approved by the Bishop of the Diocese "if they shall willingly subscribe the two first canons of the Church of Ireland." No religious restriction is imposed on the pupils. The Master is directed to lecture every Sunday on Usher's Catechism, but the anxiety to provide for the education of the children of the tenantry, shows that the Schools were designed for the benefit of all religious denominations, since the bulk of the tenantry on the southern and western estates, must at the date of the charter have been Roman Catholics.

In considering the condition of these Schools, the first point which naturally attracts our attention is the constitution of their governing body. The Commissioners of Education in Ireland, consists of the Primate, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, the Members for the University, the Provost of Trinity College, the Bishop of Tuam, four other Bishops, one from each province, and four other "proper and discreet persons," who are appointed by the Lord Lieutenant. It would not have required extraordinary sagacity to have predicted that such a Board could never work well. The time of the eminent persons who are ex officio members is fully occupied by other duties. The Provincial Bishops are necessarily non-resident. maining four "proper and discreet persons" serve gratuitously, and in most cases must have other more urgent demands upon their time.

The re

the estates which the charter had vested in them, conferred these estates upon the Board as at present constituted, and rendered the Masters dependent for their salaries on the discretion of this Board. At a still later period, the Commissioners of Education themselves, by virtue of the powers which their Act conferred, established the Exhibitions to which we have referred, and merely required that each candidate should have been for three years a pupil at some of the Royal Schools. It was probably thought that the inhabitants of these particular localities necessarily possessed a great advantage, in having their children educated under their own eyes, and in thus avoiding the inconvenience and expense of sending them to reside in some distant county. But if the Legislature was justified in taking away from the Masters their estates, and appropriating to the present purposes, without any local restriction, the surplus revenues they may well admit to a share in these advantages, if on other grounds it is judged expedient to do so, boys educated, as well as born, out of the charmed circle of the estates. The Act of George III. gives to the Commissioners the alternative of maintaining Free Scholars at the School, or of establishing Exhibitions in Trinity College. To the former plan, as well as to the original idea of " Free Schools," the objections are at least as strong as to the present system of Exhibitions. The Board would either insist that the Master should instruct the Free Schools gratuitously, or they would pay him at a certain rate for each boy. In the first case, the Free Scholars would represent a certain charge upon the Master's salary: in the second, a certain number of pupils in addition to his salary, guaranteed to him by the Board. In a very short time the results of these two methods would completely coincide, and the Free Scholars would always be regarded as a charge upon a settled income. In such circumstances, unfailing experience shows that careless Masters are consequent upon the removal of the chief incentive to exertion. The Diocesan Schools support their original cha racter of Free Schools by the gratuitous instruction of three boys, on an average, in each School. The Royal Schools, as having about three times their revenue, are proportionately liberal, and exhibit an average of between seven and eight free pupils in every School. In Erasmus Smith's Grammar Schools there are absolutely none: we must remember, too, that the returns from which these figures are taken, refer to a period during which considerable agitation had prevailed on the subject of gratuitous education. In a paper read before the Society of Arts by the Dean of Hereford, so well known for his successtul exertions in the cause of elementary education, we find some remarkable statements upon the subject. The same high authority, in strong terms, declares his conviction, founded on considerable personal experience, that "the educational and other charities dispersed over the country, do little or nothing but positive mischief." Similar opinions are held by several of the Privy Council, and by Inspectors of Schools, whose views are fully stated by the Dean of Hereford.

Not only is the constitution of the Board defective, and its energy misdirected, but its powers are very much restricted. In the Diocesan, and most of the private Schools, the Board has no control over the funds. The Master of the School receives his salary directly from the Clergy or the Trustees, and there are seldom any surplus funds. But the property of the Royal and other Schools, which is vested in the Board, collectively exceeds the sum now required for payment of all salaries and similar purposes. Each School, however, has its own separate endowment, and the Board has no power to apply the surplus rents of one School to the wants of another. Under the present system, the surplus funds are allocated to support, maintain, and provide for free scholars, and to endow Exhibitions in Trinity College, Dublin, at the discretion of the Commissioners. The latter alternative has been adopted, and a sum Were cheap, but wholly gratuitous, Education secured, we exceeding £1000 per annum, is given in Exhibitions, tenable may consider the propriety of devoting a part of the surplus under certain conditions, for five years, varying in amount from funds to the endowment of Collegiate Exhibitions. Every £25 to £50, and bestowed by public examination, upon the parent naturally thinks his own son likely to obtain one of these best answerers in a prescribed course. Objections to this sys- prizes, which at once confer upon the holder rank among his tem arise from every quarter. Four of the Royal Schools, and companions, and relieve the paternal finances in the most gratione Private Foundation, are sufficiently wealthy to have Exhi-fying way by the honorable and hard won earnings of the boy. bitions. But as these Exhibitions are strictly appropriated to Thus the Exhibitions operate as an attraction to children yet each School, and as the Candidates from all the Schools are ex- untried, and bring more pupils to School. After some time amined together, it sometimes happens that the defeated candi- spent at School, if the parent has any reason to hope, and he is date of one School is better than the successful candidate from slow to despair, that his son has a fair chance of success, he will another, and thus the anomaly occurs, that in an open and per- leave the boy a year or two longer, and thus Exhibitions-and fectly fair examination, the worse man obtains the prize. But nothing can be more important-keep boys at School. Even at a time when the Commissioners of the great English Univer- if the boy fails, and from the very nature of the case the great sities propose, with the general consent, to abolish all restric- majority must fail, the effort has not been without its value. tions of place and birth and name, in the various endowments The simultaneous efforts, too, of a whole School, although the of those establishments, it would be indeed strange to see the boys themselves are unconscious of them, imperceptibly raise opposite process in operation in Ireland. Fortunately it is un- the standard of Education. The Master is not slow to feel necessary to discuss the question. It has been long since settled. the general activity. The Exhibition is the great prize of his A far more important change was made by the Act of George * "Remarks On the Importance of Giving, as Far as Possible, a SelfIII.. This measure, which the late Sir Robert Peel, then Chief Supporting Character to Schools for the Industrial Classes, and the Means of Secretary for Ireland, introduced, took away from the Masters Doing So." London: Groombridge and Sons. 1858.