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CHAP. IV.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

“But 'tis not timber, lead, or stone,
The architect requires alone,

To finish a fine building ;
The palace were but half complete,
If he could possibly forget

The carving and the gilding.”—COWPER. “So many more languages a man hath, by so many more times is he a man."-BACON.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS are to the more solid parts of education, what a handsome frame is to a good picture : they add to the beauty and perfection of the character,—whereit possessessomething yet more beautiful in solid acquirements of mind, and graces of heart. But where they are the best parts of a girl's education, they lose half even of their beauty, and almost all of their value.

Not for a moment would I undervalue any accomplishment; every art, every language, every acquirement of whatever sort, is valuable to a woman; not only because it gives her occupation and home enjoyment, but also because it is another security against misfortune. But, then, every accomplishment we begin must be carried out to some definite

purpose;

which at present is far from being the case. Take, for instance, Drawing. Every schoolgirl learns drawing, and produces extraordinary landscapes and crayon heads on her return from school, and her parents pay the bill and have the drawings framed ;- and there, I am afraid, is an end of the matter. But ought hour after hour, year after year, to be spent to no practical purpose? Is it fit or reasonable that a girl should put her parents to so much expense, and lose her own precious time, merely to say she has done so and so, whilst she could not draw an animal for her little brother, or sketch a design for a table for her father, or tell the difference between the forms of an oak and an elm, if the originals were not before her? Has the Almighty given us Time to be so frittered away? Certainly not.

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What is the error, then? It is not our knowledge, but our want of knowledge, with which I am finding fault. We begin a good many things just where we should leave them off; we practise detail when we should study principle: hence we are puzzled whenever a subject demands a knowledge of general principles.

Drawing, to be useful, must be taught and learnt in a very different way. A knowledge of the rules of proportion, of light and shadow, of the principles of colouring, of geometry; these should be the subjects of a course of lessons in drawing. As it is, nothing is really known; and were a party of young people recently from school asked by what rule they would effect the arrangement of a group of haymakers in a field, so that they should all appear to be at different distances, hardly one out of the number could reply. Yet a knowledge of drawing is essential to every educated being; and, doubtless, as Art progresses and people begin to understand what education means, it will become a part of the lessons in every village school. May we speedily witness the advent of that day. Meantime let

every one mend one, and the world will soon improve. Draw the simplest forms-cubes and such things—and avail yourself of all the good instruction you can; but draw from nature, or from good studies, and remember that Giotto, when he sketched a circle with charcoal on a bit of paper, considered he had given sufficient evidence of his capacity for the greatest works. : LANGUAGES, like drawing, are apt to be learnt as a task, and dismissed afterwards from the memory. With regard to the study of them, a great advance has doubtless taken place during the last few years; but that much remains to be done we may feel well assured, when we read the extraordinary translations of French tales which have appeared, and find a translator for the press rendering "un particulier” into "a particular person."

In our study of languages, we must not forget that until we can think in them we are not proficient. I believe a better system is now in vogue, and by the aid of De Porquet, and other good scholastic writers, linguists are really made; but still girls are too much engaged in rendering

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French into English, instead of English into French. To remedy this, make it a habit daily to translate from English into French, and select, for such exercises, the most colloquial parts of a story, play, or other work. Scientific and professional works are extremely useful in this respect; as, by the study of them, we become acquainted with technical terms which otherwise would hardly occur in any lesson. Translations

. of our own authors by good foreign writers are valuable as keys to those who wish to improve themselves without the aid of masters. If, for instance, you can procure a translation of “ Waverley,” and you take it also for your own study, by comparing your translation with the Frenchman's, you will detect your errors, and arrive at an excellent knowledge of the language. But, in this unassisted study, be sure to transcribe every technical and idiomatic phrase, and not only learn it by heart, but construct a dialogue for yourself in which it shall occur.

A knowledge of French verbs I will suppose you to have thoroughly acquired at school; but, as I have found even good scholars puzzled by

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