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away like gunpowder. In the chamber, eight feet from the chimney, it came out over the corner of a looking glass in three places, the largest like a gimblet-hole-split the back-board of the glass into three parts, melted the gilding, and went off at an opposite corner in one large place and nine small ones, through the wall to a window in the room beneath, splintered the casement by a nail into five or six small pieces, and killed a rose-bush which was tied to a nail on the outside of the house. Opposite, and fifteen feet from the chimney, hung a piece of embroidery; three small holes were left in the wall over one corner of it; two thirds of the top of the frame, which is of mahogany, is split up to a corner; where it appears as if the fluid ran down the back of the glass, to a basket wrought with gold thread, and, blackening it, passed off at another corner, through three small places in the wall, and came out in five points, like nail marks, in the ceiling over a looking glass in the first story, ran all over the gilding, and went off through the wall by the nails which support the glass. The paint in the chamber was turned of a very dark colour with a metallic cast: the paper was red and blue, the red, excepting near the floor, had entirely disappeared. There was no lightning-rod on the house."

The preceding description of the effects of lightning is very interesting, and, conjoined with what I have detailed in another place, reads an instructive lesson to us. Here is ample evidence of the division of the meteor into various ramifications or streams, a curious selection of metallic materials and their fusion, oxydation, and vaporization, when insulated either partially or entirely, (being thus dis continuous conductors) wherever they stood in the way of its progress; and its leap to non-conducting substances which were destroyed, or fractured, or burnt up, together with the non-electric if in contact with them. It seems to me highly probable that the lightning, when it scorches or vaporizes, carries with it part of the materials on which it has been occupied; and that its momentum is increased partly by the opposition it meets with in its progress to the earth, by the nonconducting media and materials that obstruct its path.

[The extent of our extracts reminds us that we must draw to a close.

We are unable to follow Mr. Murray further in his closely narrated facts and well drawn inferences, and ingenious theories: among the latter we especially notice his views of a geographical distribution of colour on the surface of the globe, which he terms the geography of colour. We can only add that it is long since we have seen the most astounding phenomena of nature illustrated and explained in so intelligible, familiar,

entertaining, and unpretending a manner, as in this pamphlet. Here is none of the mystification or pedantry of science, but cause and effect are traced in such plain writing, that "all who run may read."]

The Public Journals.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

[THE number (24) of the Foreign Quarterly Review, just published, is perhaps the most valuable, attractive, and interesting, yet issued. Its leading subjects are National Education-Egyptian Antiquities-Animal Magnetism - and Mirabeau, the French Revolutionist. These form masterly papers, full of unwearied research and scholarly ease. Dry and uninviting to the general reader as the first and second subjects appear, they are rendered even entertaining from the manner in which they are handled; and the third and fourth articles yield all the interest their titles promise. What a relief are subjects such as these to the Road and the Turf of the English Quarterly Review, and the political bile of its blue and yellow contemporary.

We shall probably quote from more than one of the above papers; but the first on the list has correspondent claims to our notice. The extract explains the character, objects, and operation of the Prussian system of edu cation, as reported by M. Victor Cousin, or rather that portion of it which relates to the primary or elementary instruction, destined for children of the lower and middle orders, which are managed as follows:]

Every circle (or subdivision of a regency or county) is divided into communes (or parishes); and each commune is provided with a school, of which the pastor or curate of the place is inspector, together with a committee of the principal persons of the commune, called Schulvorstand. In the city communes, where there are several primary schools, there is a higher board, composed of the magistrates, which exercises a general superintendence over the several committees. Moreover, in the chief place of the circle there is another inspector, whose authority extends over all the schools of the circle, and who corresponds with the local officers. This as well as the local inspector is almost always an ecclesiastic, but after these two officers the authority of the civil administration commences. The school-inspector of each circle corresponds with the government or council of each regency or department through the medium of its president. One of the members of this council is an officer called Schulrath, paid as well as his colleagues, and specially charged with the superintendence of the primary schools. He also inspects the schools; awakens and stimulates the zeal of the inspectors, the commit

tees, and the schoolmasters: all the inferior and superior inspectors correspond with him, and he carries on, through the medium of the president of the council of the depart ment, all the correspondence relative to the schools, with the higher authorities: he is in fact the real manager of the primary instruction in each department. It will be observed, therefore, that the details of the primary schools are, in Prussia, left to the management of the local authorities, while the central government exercises everywhere a general superintendence.

[The following passage is a descriptive outline of the schools:]

All parents in Prussia are bound by law to send their children to the public elementary schools, or to satisfy the authorities that their education is sufficiently provided for at home. This regulation is of considerable antiquity; it was confirmed by Frederick the Great in 1769, and was introduced into the Prussian Landrecht, or code, in 1794, and finally it was adopted in the law of 1819, which forms the basis of the actual system of Prussia. The obligation in question extends not only to parents and guardians, but to all persons who have power over children, such as manufacturers and masters of apprentices, and applies to children of both sexes from their seventh to their fourteenth year complete. Twice a-year the school committee and the municipal authorities make a list of the children in their district whose parents do not provide for their education, and require the attendance of all who are within the prescribed age. This attendance is dispensed with, if satisfaction is given that the children will be properly instructed elsewhere; but the parents are nevertheless bound to contribute to the school to which their children would naturally belong. Lists of attendance kept by the schoolmaster are delivered every fortnight to the school committee. In order to facilitate the regular attendance of the children, and not altogether to deprive the parents of their assistance, 'the hours of lessons in the elementary schools are arranged in such a manner as to leave the children every day some hours for domestic labours. The schoolmasters are prohibited by severe penalties from employing their scholars in household work. The schools are closed on Sundays; but the evenings, after divine service and the catechism, may be devoted to gymnastic exercises. Care is taken to enable poor parents to obey the law, by providing their children with books and clothes. If, however, the parents omit to send their children to school, the clergyman is first to acquaint them with the importance of the duty which they neglect; and if his exhortation is not sufficient, the school committee may summon them and remonstrate with them severely. The only excuses admitted are a

certificate of ill health by a medical man, the absence of the children with their parents, or the want of clothes. If all remonstrances fail, the children may be taken to school by a policeman, or the parents, guardians, or masters, brought before the committee, and fined, or imprisoned in default of payment, or condemned to hard labour for the benefit of the commune. These punishments may be increased up to a certain limit for successive infractions of the law. Whenever the parents are condemned to imprisonment or hard labour, care is to be taken that their children are not abandoned during the term of their punishment. Parents who neglect this duty to their children are to lose all claim to pecuniary relief from the public, except the allowance for instruction, which, however, is not to pass through their hands. They are likewise declared incapable of filling any municipal office in their commune. If all punishments fail, a guardian is to be allotted to children, and a co-guardian to wards, in order specially to watch over their education.

In order to enable parents to comply with the terms of this law, it is necessary that there should be schools which their children can attend without difficulty. Accordingly, every commune is required by law to have a complete elementary school, and every town containing more than 1,500 inhabitants to have at least one town school; the difference between which schools will be explained presently. In order to carry this law into effect, it is enacted that the inhabitants of every rural commune shall, under the direction of the public authorities, form themselves into a society (called Landschulverein), composed of all the landed proprietors, and all the fathers of families not landed proprietors, resident in the commune. A society of this kind may likewise be formed by a single village, or even by a collection of remote farm-houses. In general every village is required to maintain its school; several villages, however, may have one in common, if each is unable to support the expense of a separate school; provided that the distance from the common school is not greater than two miles, in a flat country, or one mile in a hilly country; that the communication is not interrupted by marshes or rivers impassable at certain seasons of the year; and that the number of children to be instructed is not too large, that is, more than 100 for one master.

In order to make a complete primary school the following things are necessary. 1. A sufficient income for the schoolmasters and mistresses during their service, and a maintenance for them after their retirement. 2. A building for exercises and instruction properly constructed, maintained, and warmed. Furniture, books, pictures, instruments, and

3.

all things necessary for learning and bodily exercise. The first of these points is declared by the Prussian law to be the most important of all; as without sufficient salaries it is impossible to have good masters. No general rule as to the amount is laid down, as the circumstances of different places differ; but the provincial consistories are directed to appoint a minimum for the salaries of schoolmasters in towns and in the country for each province, which is to be revised from time to time. With regard to the second point, it is laid down that the school-house ought to belong to the school; but if it is hired, a house ought to be taken which stands in an open space. It is absolutely required that every school should be in a wholesome situation, should have rooms of sufficient size, well floored and ventilated, and kept with the utmost cleanliness, and should, as far as possible, contain a good lodging for the master. Where there are several masters, one at least ought to reside in the school. Every school in a village or a small town is required to have a garden, where the scholars may learn the art of gardening, and a yard for the exercises of the children. As to the third point, every school is to have a collection of books sufficient for the use of the masters, and, as far as possible, for that of the scholars. Other things used in education, such as maps, models for drawing, instruments and collections for teaching natural history and mathematics, implements for teaching trades, &c. are to be furnished to the different schools, according to a scale fixed by the provincial consistories.

The next subject to be considered is the fund from which the expenses incured in establishing and maintaining these schools are to be defrayed. This fund is of three kinds-1. Endowments of private benefactors. 2. A rate imposed on the inhabitants of the town, commune, or department. 3. The payment of the scholars. With regard to the first of these sources, the law enacts that wherever there is a school maintained by the gifts of private benefactors, it shall be used as the public school of the place; and shall, if necessary, be assisted or augmented at the public cost. Wherever the private funds are insufficient, the duty of maintaining the inferior schools is imposed on all the fathers of families in the town or commune, that is, all married persons having an independent establishment; the rate of payment being proportional to the income of each. If a town or commune should from poverty be unable to maintain a proper school, the funds of the department are to be called in aid, so long as the inability shall continue. In addition to these resources, all children attending the school are required to pay a certain sum to be fixed by the school committee; the chief part of which is to be

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Having thus explained the duty of parents to send their children to the elementary schools, and the manner in which these schools are established and maintained, we now come to the object and nature of the instruction communicated in them. "The principal object of every school (says the law) is to bring up the youth in such a manner as to create in them, together with a knowledge of the relation of God to man, the power and desire of regulating their lives according to the spirit and principles of Christianity." With this view the masters are directed to form the children to habits of piety; to begin and end the day's lessons with a short prayer; and to instil religious sentiments into their minds at the time of the communion. They are likewise enjoined to inculcate in the children obedience to the laws, and fidelity and attachment to the king and state, in order to animate them with the love of their country.

The inferior public schools are of two kinds the elementary schools in villages and country places, and the civic or town schools in the towns. Every complete elementary school is required to teach the Christian religion, the German language, the elements of geometry, and the general principles of drawing, arithmetic, the elements of natural science, geography, general history, and particularly the history of Prussia, singing, writing, gymnastic exercises, and the simplest kinds of manual labour. No elementary school is complete which does not embrace all these subjects; in every school, however, it is absolutely necessary that at least religion, reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing, should be taught. Every town school is required to teach religion and morality, the German language, reading, composition, and the study of the national classics, the elements of Latin and of mathematics, a sound knowledge of arithmetic, physical science, geography and history, and especially the history, laws, and constitution of Prussia; the prin ciples of drawing, singing, chiefly for religious purposes, and gymnastic exercises. No particular books are appointed to be read in the schools; but the masters are left to choose the best on each subject as they may successively appear. Every scholar is bound to go through the entire course on every subject forming a part of the prescribed education, nor are the parents at liberty to exclude their children from any particular branch of knowledge. The children are to be examined be

fore they pass from one class to another; and once a-year, in every boys' school, there is to be a public examination, at which, moreover, the master is required to give a written account of the progress and actual state of the school. Every child at his departure from school is furnished with a certificate of his acquirements and character.

The Prussian law justly lays great stress on the respectability and competency of the masters: it is not, however, satisfied with mere injunction and exhortation, but establishes a system by which a succession of well-qualified masters is insured.

It should be added, that the Prussian law does not permit any person to open a private school without having obtained permission from the proper authorities, which may be refused in case of immorality or improper conduct on the part of the applicants. Unmarried men are absolutely prohibited from keeping a girls' school. After private schools have been established, they are subject to the inspection of the public officers of education, who have power, if they find that bad books or masters are employed, to report the school to the provincial consistory, which may withdraw the permission from the school.

Such is a general outline of the national system of elementary instruction for the middling and poorer classes, established, by the law of 1819, in Prussia.

[We have not space to quote the reviewer's clever remarks on the character of the Prussian system, and his suggestions for the adoption of certain of its laws in this country instead of "the 20,000l. now proposed to be granted for the building of schools in England, and the large sums of money annually granted for many years to private societies in Ireland, of being expended and often wasted by irresponsible persons, on schools which do not become the property of the public."

The following facts, however, bespeak the well-working of the Prussian system, and the fairness of the reviewer's concluding remark is self-evident: "Prussia with a revenue of less than eight millions (7,590,4767.), educates her entire population (nearly as large as that of England), at an expense of about 360,0007. a-year, of which sum the state contributed, in 1831, about 48,0007. (Cousin, Rapport, p. 268, Supplément p. 15). How small a part of the sum annually raised in England as poor rates for corrupting the poor, would be sufficient to educate them in knowledge and in virtue!"]

Retrospective Gleanings.

LETTER OF KING CHARLES II. TO MRS. LANE.

THIS lady greatly assisted in the preservation of Charles II., after the battle of Worcester;

and the address with which she managed his escape appears to have made a considerable impression on the fugitive king. P. T. W.

Copy of the Letter.*

"MRS. LANE, I have hitherto deferred writing to you, in hope to be able to send you somewhat else besides a letter; and I believe it troubles me more that I cannot yett doe it, than it does you; though I doe not take you to be in a good condition longe to expect it. The truth is, my necessities are greater than can be imagined; but I am promised they shall be shortlye supplyed: if they are, you shall be sure to receive a share; for it is impossible I can ever forgett the great debte I owe you, which I hope I shall live to pay, in a degree that is worthy of me. In the mean time, I am sure all who love me will be kind to you, else I shall never think them so to your most affectionate friend

"Paris, Nov. 23, 1652."

"CHARLES REX.

Now in the possession of a gentleman at Manchester.

The Gatherer.

Countess of Desmond.-Catherine FitzGerald, Countess of Desmond, was born about the year 1464, was married in the reign of Edward IV., lived during the entire reigns of Edward V., Richard III., Henry Elizabeth, and died in the latter end of VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and James I., or the beginning of Charles I.'s reign, at the great age of 162 years, as is generally supposed. For an account of this remarkable character, see Mr. Pennant's Tours in Scotland.

There is a print of this lady, taken from an original family picture of the same size painted on board in the possession of the Right Honourable Maurice Fitz-Gerald, Knight of Kerry, &c.; which may be purchased at Mr. Evans's, No. 1, Great QueenP.T. W. street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Magna Charta.-This document was read in Westminster Hall, in the presence of King Henry III., the nobility, and bishops, with lighted candles in their hands; the king all the while laying his hand on his breast, and at last swearing solemnly, faithfully, and inviolably, to obey all things therein contained, as he was a man, a christian, a soldier, and a king; then the bishops extinguished the candles, and threw them on the ground; and every one said, "thus let him be extinguished and stink in Hell, who violates this charta," upon which the bells were set on ringing, and all persons by their rejoicing approved of what was done.

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Snake-charming.-The Manitou of the Osages (says Mr. Carne) was a serpent of an enormous size, which the priestess had the power of charming, though to every other its bite was mortal. Some of the more super stitious Indians had a Manitou, or evil genius, in their dwellings, to keep them from harm; the belief they often held in transmigration conduced to this practice. To the wandering Indian, whose eye often followed with desire the rapid flight of the eagle and the deer, it was, no doubt, sweet to believe that his soul after death should roam through the regions of the air, and over the plains, without ever being wearied. I remember, (says M. Bossu,) in a village of the Illinois, one of our soldiers

went into a hut and found a live snake which

he killed; the master arriving quickly after, fell into a terrible passion to find his deity dead, and uttered a wild lament; he said it

was the soul of his father, who died about a year before; that the old man had loved to pursue and kill the serpents, having envied their rapid movements by which they glided from rock to tree, and swam over wide rivers; and when his limbs were stiff, and his frame bowed, he longed that he might be a serpent after death. W. G. C.

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Lord Bacon, when first appointed judge on the northern circuit, had to pass sentence of death on several malefactors, by one of whom he was strongly importuned to save his life. The culprit, finding all he could say to be of no avail, at length desired mercy on account of kindred. Prithee," observed his lordship, "how came that in ?" if you please, my lord, your name is Bacon, and mine is Hog, and in all ages hog and bacon have been so near a kindred, that they are not to be separated." "Ay, but," re plied the judge, "you and I cannot be kindred unless you be hanged: for Hog is not Bacon until it be well hanged."

"Why,

H. B. ANDREWS.

laid a grain of wheat. This done, a cock was turned loose in the circle, and careful observation was made of the grains he pecked. The letters corresponding to those grains were afterwards formed into a word, which word was to be the answer desired. P.T. W.

Redruth, in Cornwall, a curious substance, Swimming Stone.-In a copper mine near called the swimming stone, is found. It consists of right-lined laminæ, as thin as paper, which intersect one another in all directions, leaving, however, unequal cavities between them. In consequence of this hollow texture, the stone is so light that it swims in water. W. G. C.

Amphipolis, offered his services to Philip II. A King without his right eye.—Aster of king of Macedon, telling him that he was so excellent a marksman that he could bring Well," down birds in their most rapid flight. service when I make war upon starlings." said the king, "I will take you into my Stung with the reply, Aster resolved upon revenge. Having thrown himself into the city, he let fly an arrow, on which was written. "To Philip's right eye." It hit the king exactly in his right eye. Philip ordered the label: "If Philip takes the city, he will hang arrow to be sent back, with the following Aster," and he was as good as his word.

P.T. W.

Encoring with a vengeance-Andronicus Livius, one of the ancient Roman poets, was the first who attempted to compose a drama in verse, which he himself sung and acted, while a player on the flute accompanied him in unison to keep him in tune. He was encored and obliged to repeat his pieces so often, that he lost his voice and became unable to sing or declaim any longer. He was then allowed a slave to sing, while he only Hence the cusacted the part behind him. declamation or melody of the piece, with tom (says his biographers) of dividing the which the Roman people were extremely delighted.

THE ANNUALS.

With the next Number,

THE SECOND SUPPLEMENT

OF THE

Spirit of the Annuals for 1834: With a fine "Landscape" Engraving; and Tales and unique Extracts from the Landscape Annual, Keepsake, Amulet, Hood's Comic Annual, &c.

Ancient Divination.-This art was in use among the Greeks; and the usual manner of it was this. A circle was made on the Engraving from the Oriental Annual. ground, and divided into twenty-four equal spaces, or proportions: in each of which spaces was written one of the letters of the alphabet, and upon each of these letters was

No. 633, the First Supplement, coutains a splendid

King of Epirus.

Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House, London; sold by G. G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve St. Augustin, Paris; CHARLES JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

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