branches of information, of which it is well to acquire the elements at school. The history of the mother country, its literature, and great men, has the most immediate claim upon attention, after which come the histories of the countries to which geographical and political circumstances, or any other cause, have given importance in our estimation. (21 22 23 24) the acquirement of one or two ancient languages, and a school study of a few of the books written in them, as constituting a liberal education, unquestionably a liberal education ought to include that acquirement and that study. The commencement of a classical course, as it is called, may be made during the latter part of the elementary period; but it should mainly be postponed till after fourteen, when the comparative ripeness of the mind enables a pupil to acquire more of this kind of knowledge, and that more effectually, in one year, than in three or four at an earlier stage. The study of the classical languages is a special education, required by those whose occupations are to be of a philosophical or literary character. In an expressly literary education, they would always form a conspicuous element. And the refining effect which the admirable productions of the Grecian and Roman writers is calculated to have upon the minds of all must be at once admitted. The abuse of these languages in education has been solely in their being made the sum and substance of all education, and, though in a less degree, in their being taught at a period of life when it is impossible to experience their softening and improving influence. Natural History. As a study for the two last years of the fourteen, ought to be reserved natural history, which is better understood, and more beneficially acquired, after than before the study of the elements of chemistry and mechanical philosophy. The pupil, in this branch, will learn to distinguish the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; the atmosphere and its phenomena; the winds, the ocean with its tides and currents; the discoveries of geology; the nature of animals and plants, &c. Political Economy.-A pupil who has entered his fourteenth year, with his mind stored with the knowledge and strengthened by the exercise of the education we have described, should be introduced to the elementary principles of political economy. Society suffers in its vital interests from the prevalence of ignorance and prejudice in this great field of speculation and action. Logic.-The elements of logic appear to us to form the appropriate conclusion to our practical elementary course from six to fourteen. All that precedes it is knowledge, and as such chiefly addressed to the knowing faculties of the mind. But man has also reflecting faculties; and it constitutes the chief end and object of our knowledge to furnish these with materials for their exercise, which is called reasoning. This, the highest operation of mind, is regulated by laws in the nature of things, which right reason both discovers and obeys. These laws systematised constitute the science, practically the art, of logic. The pupil, while he masters its principles, should be well exercised in their applica tion. Religion. The first principles of religion are understood to have been imparted under the circumstances indicated in our section on moral education. In a school course, due provision must be made to carry out this all-important department. Looking only to what the principles of education ask from us on this point, we would direct, first, the continuation of the method formerly described; next, daily scripture reading; next, a subjection of the individual pupils to the agency of the ordinary means of diffusing religious knowledge and maintaining religious impressions.* Languages. Though it is a great error to regard *CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE. 1. Infant Treatment under Two Years of Age. 2. Infant Education from Two to Six Years of Age. 3. First Book of Reading. 4. Second Book of Reading. A Simple Lessons in Reading. 6 Rudiments of Knowledge. 7. Introduction to the Sciences. & The Moral Class-Book. &A Geographical Primer. 19. Introduction to English Composition. 11. First Book of Drawing. 12. Second Book of Drawing. 13 Animal Physiology. 14. Rudiments of Chemistry. 15 Natural Philosophy, First Book. 15. Natural Philosophy, Second Book. 17. Natural Philosophy, Third Book. 18. Elements of Plane Geometry. 19. Solid and Spherical Geometry. 20. Elements of Algebra. 21. History and Present State of the British Empire. 22. Exemplary and Instructive Biography. 2. History of the English Language and Literature. 4. History of Greece. Principles of Elocution. 25 School Room Maps of England, Ireland, Scotland, Europe, Aa, Palestine, North America, South America, Africa, and the Hemispheres. MECHANISM FOR EDUCATION. The mechanism for education may be said to be of two kinds-that which is furnished in the family circle, and that which is furnished by public establishments. The mother is an educator of nature's appointment, and the first. To her falls the duty of securing the sound organisation of the infant, as far as it can be done by obedience to nature's rules before and after his birth. She has the duty of drawing his senses and intellectual faculties into that gentle exercise which gives them vivacity without being attended by danger, and that of establishing the basis of regular and correct moral habits. For all these purposes she is in a position of great influence; for her infant, accustomed to look chiefly and most immediately to her for protection, kindness, and every comfort, is unavoidably disposed to pay to her that veneration on which genuine influence depends. She is, as has been well said, the DEITY of the child, and nothing but a sad misuse of her own feelings can prevent her from being all-powerful over him for the regulation of the whole economy of his being, at least during the first two or three years of his life. So far as moral education depends, as we have shown, on moral atmosphere, and the influence of immediate example, the importance of home as a part of the mechanism of education must be acknowledged. Before the period of school attendance, home is all in all: thereafter, it still continues to bear a great share in the duty. The formation of moral habits, and the development of religious feelings, will depend much on what is done in these respects in the family circle. Parents may even serve as aids to the business of school, to a degree of which they have in general little conception. First, they may do much in the way of enforcing and providing for that important requisite, regular attendance. Second, they may strengthen the hands of the teacher by paying him a proper respect. Compared with these objects, the mere superintendence of lessons given out to be learned at home, is, though itself important, a trifle. There is a tendency in parents to be over-easy in the admission of excuses for attending school; and they often take away their children for a considerable time, for reasons affecting their own conveniency and pleasure. It is also not uncommon for them to look down upon teachers, and speak of them, and even to them, in no very respectful terms. All these are errors of a fatal character, seeing that they weaken the school mechanism in some of its most important requisites. A child becomes a fit subject for the education of public establishments at two years of age. From this age till six, he should, if possible, attend an infant school. The infant school, although a modern invention, is a part of educational mechanism which is now generally approved of throughout Europe, being in vogue not only in Britain, France, Holland, and Germany, but even in Italy. It is, when rightly constituted, only a nursery upon a large scale-a place where infants may be reared in company instead of being kept in solitude-where they may be reared in pure and wellregulated circumstances, instead of being exposed to the contaminations of a public street. It is peculiarly essential for the children of the poorer classes, who are otherwise so liable to become a mere infantine canaille; but it might be well for children of every grade to be brought up in infant schools, as society is essential to the working out of many of the problems of education. An infant school should generally be calculated for about 100, or not more than 140 pupils, of both sexes. Two teachers, male and female (if possible, a man and his wife), are required, the one to superintend the boys, and the other the girls. The school should be well ventilated, and fitted up with a long gallery containing six or seven tiers of seats, and divided into two departments for the various sexes, the younger children being disposed on the lowest forms. The walls should be furnished with drawings of natural and other objects; and a black board and arithmetic ball-frame should likewise be provided. A piece of play-ground is so essential, that no establishment without one is entitled to be considered as an infant school. It should have flower-borders, which the children are trained to respect, and places of convenience where cleanly and delicate habits are inculcated. A circular swing is required for the amusement and to promote the physical health of the children; and it will be well to have a quantity of wooden prisms, of the form of bricks, with which they may engage in the building of houses, towers, and other structures, according to fancy. pro more advanced instruction to those destined for fessions and for the more important places in society, and as such being preparatory to the university. The parish-school and grammar school of a small Scottish burgh may be considered as an arrangement approaching to what is required in this respect. The primary school is applicable to the ages between six and ten or eleven. In a country under a national system of education, one would be required for every group of population above a thousand in number, as the attendance would then probably be from a hundred to a hundred and fifty. Reading, grammar, arithmetic, the elements of geography, history, and science, and moral training, would form the chief features of the business of a primary school. And to this extent all should be educated. It follows that infant and primary schools ought to be special subjects of state provision and care. Society is expressly interested in seeing all children trained and instructed thus far, that they may become a moral and intelligent population. So strongly is this regarded in Prussia, that education, up to the point in question, is enforced by law. Cer tainly, it is at least well to encourage parents, by all means consistent with the spirit of a free country, to have their children educated to this extent. While the state, then, regulates the education of infant and pri mary schools, the state should also furnish it gratuitously, or all but gratuitously, thus removing all difficulty which may be felt by indigent individuals, the very class whose children are apt to become most dangerous if left uneducated. It has often been ob jected to the idea of gratuitous education, that what is obtained for nothing is not valued; but the education furnished by the state (or, as an alternative, by local assessment) would not be really gratuitous. Every parent would know that he contributed to the fund by which the school was supported, and that this was much the same thing as paying fees. The intellectual education of an infant school is limited to the learning of little hymns and knowledge rhymes, the study of simple geometrical forms, and of the merest elements of arithmetic, exercises upon narrative passages of Scripture, the properties of objects, the characters of animals, the names of countries and cities, &c. In some, reading and grammar have been introduced, to satisfy prejudiced parents; but these are departures from the right character of the institution. Most of the lessons are metrical, and sung to simple airs. The moral department, confessedly the chief, consists in the learning of good precepts, scriptural and otherwise, the fostering of kindly and gentle, and the restraint of angry and malevolent feelings, the forma tion of conscientious, polite, and delicate habits. It is remarkable how far a good infant school teacher can accomplish these objects, and how quickly any new pupil is brought into harmony with the spirit of the place. An infant school teacher requires a union of qualifications which is not often attainable. He should possess a gentle and affectionate character, with unlimited patience, yet have that intellectual activity and vivacity which are necessary for sustaining attention in young children. He must both be a well-informed man and capable of making what he knows intelligible to those who know nothing: he must both be firm and discreet in management, and possessed of manners of almost infantine playfulness. A knowledge of music, and a good voice, are amongst the qualifications which he requires. The elementary schools following upon the infant seminaries (where these exist, or, otherwise, being the first schools), are different in different countries, not only in the materials and modes of instruction, but in the extent to which they carry on pupils. In Britain, they are generally in a state considerably inferior to what is found in Holland and Prussia. In a rightly constituted system, there would be two seminaries between the infant school and the university, the first or primary school being devoted to those branches of instruction in which all should participate, and the second or secondary school affording continued and In order to ensure a supply of well-qualified teachers, as well as for the sake of uniformity of methods, the infant and primary schools would each require district normal schools. Teaching is an art. It is one of considerable nicety, requiring both natural and acquired gifts of no ordinary kind. Without a due apprenticeship to it, no man can be expected to satisfy the demands of the modern educationist. There is a large amount of detail, both in the methods of procedure and in the material of instruction, which a candidate for this employment must have thoroughly mastered be fore he can duly teach. There is also an aptness and facility for the duty, which nothing but practice can give. For all of these reasons, schools for the training of teachers, or normal schools [so called from norma (Latin), a rule], are indispensable. We have not room here to enter fully into the details of a well-constituted normal school of any kind, but may pause for a moment to indicate the important principle, that it is not suffi cient for a young man to sit by, observing the proce dure of a well-conducted school; he must enter personally into the business, and be accustomed to act as a teacher himself, in order to attain the right qualifi cations. We have considered the infant and primary schools as comprehending the education required by all the children of a state, and as therefore calling for state support and regulation. For this reason, we have indicated a conclusion to the primary school period some what later than what is practically the case in the schools answering more or less to this description. Generally, the primary school period may be said to end at nive years of age, at which time a boy, for example, is con sidered as fitted to commence a classical course in a higher school. While the material of intellectual edu cation remains generally as it is, this arrangement w be appropriate; but if we consider some branches of general knowledge as necessary for all, we must past pone the conclusion of the primary period to ten or eleven. At that age, the children of the humbler classe would be fitted to commence the active life to which they are usually destined, while others would be equally ready to go forward into advanced schools. The secondary school-answering to the grammar schools and academies of Britain, the colleges and pensions of France, the gymnasia of Switzerland and the German states-is the first school appropriate chiefly to the middle and upper classes. As its benefits are not universal, it should be supported solely by those who take advantage of its instructions, although the state may extend to it protection and regulation. The higher intelligence required of the middle and upper classes, and the special education required for the professions which many of these classes are called to follow, constitute the necessity for secondary schools. They are introductory to a university course for those who are to follow law, medicine, divinity, or any of those other occupations which are now rising into the same rank with the "professions ;" those otherwise destined here obtain that comparatively liberal education which is required in the middle walks of life. The course of instruction proper to a secondary school corresponds with what has been pointed out in the preceding section as the advanced department of intellectual education. It may here be proper to remark, that, when we speak of certain classes of the community attending this advanced order of schools, we do not mean that these are to be conducted on exclusive principles. Let their fees be as moderate as possible, and let all who can afford Attend. In such circumstances, it would often happen that children of the humbler classes, who showed an aptitude for a superior education, would obtain it, and be thereby enabled to make an advance in life suitable to their faculties. Religious instruction is presumed, as formerly indicated, to be imparted, throughout the whole period of elementary education, in schools. Here a difficulty as to arrangement unfortunately arises from the various views which are taken on doctrinal points. The teaching of doctrine according to the views of any one denomination, necessarily precludes, from the school where it is done, the children of those who dissent from the views in question. On the other hand, if doctrine be excluded, those who are most eager for the inculcation of particular doctrines or for the maintenance of particular religious institutions, are offended. To obviate the difficulty as far as possible, a particular arrangement has been made in Holland, in the Irish national schools, and some others; Scripture reading is there confined to such parts as include no controverted doctrines, and to a general reference to the Bible on preceptive points, and all else is taught to the pupils, at extra hours, by their particular pastors. It is thus thought possible to teach religion as efficiently as by any other plan, while the school is allowed to be a common good to all classes of the community, and a means of bringing up the children of religious parties in harmony together. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. made. The superiors are a teaching farmer and a schoolmaster, beneath whom is a matron to superintend the domestic establishment. "At half-past five the pupils rise, arrange their rooms, say their prayers, and, in two divisions, which alternate on different days, are engaged until eight in study or in work; half the pupils are with the farmer, and half under the schoolmaster, except on extraordinary occasions, when the services of all are required for the farm, or the season releases them from their agricultural duties. At eight they breakfast, and are free until nine; work and attend school in alternate divisions, from nine until one. Dine at one, and have recreation until two. From two to six, are at work and in school alternately. From six to seven, sup and have recreation. From seven to nine, prepare the lessons for the next day, have prayers, and retire at nine. On Sundays they attend their respective places of worship, and occupy a part of the remainder of the day in religious reading. The intellectual instruction consists in spelling, reading, grammar, geography, arithmetic, writing, and book-keeping, with some elementary and practical geometry and trigonometry. The farmer gives lectures also in the evening upon the theory of agriculture. It is intended to introduce lectures on botany and agricultural chemistry. The practice includes all the operations of farming, under the different approved systems; the rearing of cattle, the management of a dairy, and, in general, the incidental as well as the direct occupations of the farmer or agricultural labourer. The head farmer, or agricultural master, is expected to explain the principles of the work in which the pupils are engaged, and to take opportunities for incidental instruction. The operations which he is specially called upon, in the regulations of the committee, to teach, are, ploughing and the setting of the plough, the use of farming instruments in general, the qualities of stock and modes of recognising them, the treatment and management of dairy and farming stock, the making and repairing of fences, the rotation of crops and those best adapted to different varieties of soils, the modes of draining, reclaiming, and improving lands, and the most recent inventions and improvements in agricultural implements. The farmer takes those who are sufficiently advanced in knowledge and age to be benefited thereby, to the fairs, to assist in the sale of the products of the farm and stock. The pupils are divided, for work, into sections, each of which has its monitor, or chief, and consists of eight or ten boys. The head monitor, or superintendant, has the control of them, in the absence of the master, and arranges with him the distribution of their time, takes an account of the stock, and of the products of the labour, and advises with the master in regard to the farm, in such a way as to prepare himself for actual superintendence. This place is occupied by the elder pupils in rotation. The farm consists of one hundred and thirty-three acres, of which one hundred and twenty-five are arable land. It is worked so as to present examples of the most approved rotation of crops, the fields embraced in the same series of shifts lying adjacent to one another. The whole is drained by underground drains, according to the Scottish system, and is well enclosed with diffe rent fences as specimens, and trials of the various The mingling of industrial arts with education is an idea of modern times. One of the first examples of it, by which general attention was attracted, originated at Hofwyl in Switzerland, in 1806, under the care of a man of fortune still living, M. de Fellenberg, Here the object was to teach farmning on improved principles, while general education was conducted on an almost incidental plan, at intervals, by the superior of the establishment. Schools of this kind have since been kinds."+ planted in other parts of the continent, and in the United Kingdom. Latterly, industrial education has been extended from agriculture to handicrafts. As a specimen of a purely " agricultural school," we select that of Templemoyle near Londonderry, which appears to be conducted in an efficient manner. Esta bished in 1827 by the North-West of Ireland Agricul- Industrial village schools are well exemplified in that of Ealing, about five miles from London, established by a benevolent lady. The principles held in view in establishing this seminary were, that the children should A plot of the ground, as surveyed by the pupils, and drawn by one of the number, was presented to me, showing the details struction of this drawing was one of the practical exercises of the class. a of the arrangement, and the classification of its parts. The con + Bache's Report on Education in Europe. Philadelphia, 1839. early acquire habits of patient industry; that they should be acquainted with the value of labour, and know the connexion between it and property; that they should have intelligence, skill, and an acquaintance with the objects by which they are surrounded; that the higher sentiments, the social and moral part of their being, should receive a full development. The industrial occupation is gardening, pursued in a piece of ground connected with the school. "It is divided, one portion being reserved for the use of the school, another being subdivided into small gardens for the boys. The pupils work in the first under monitors, and receive a compensation in proportion to the useful results of their labour. The second they hire at fixed rates, and dispose of the produce as they please, always receiving, however, the market price for it from the school, if they choose to dispose of it there. The younger children are not allowed to undertake gardens on their own account, but work for others or for the establishment, Partnerships are sometimes formed among them for the more advantageous cultivation of larger pieces of ground. An account current with each pupil is kept, in which he is charged with the rent of his ground, and the seeds and plants which he has purchased from the stock, and credited with the produce which he has sold to the school." * education is here to be advocated: it is called for as something absolutely necessary, to counteract an inherent tendency of all asylums for the maintenance and education of children to become monastic institutions. The children are kept apart from external nature, from human society, and from many or most of the common operations of life. They come out as helpless nearly as they went in. Industrial education presents itself as almost the only conceivable means of fitting such children for entering the world in any thing like the same condition as other children. It is not essential that any one child be made a proficient in any one art; the great end is to make them generally acquainted with the arts of life, and to prepare them by habits of industry for earning their own bread when they grow up. From the attention which the Poor-Law Commis sioners are giving to the subject, we have no doubt that in a short time we shall see the whole of the fortyfive thousand orphan and pauper children of England educated in this wholesome manner. In the late reports of the commissioners there are some excellent hints thrown out. Different arrangements are recommended for different districts. It is suggested, that in an agricultural district there ought to be a large garden which the children should be taught to cultivate, in order to become acquainted with those duties which In-door occupations are less desirable in alternation they will probably be called to perform when they are with school instruction than these healthy out-of-door sent out into the world. They should also be taught labours, but must have the effect of training to steady to erect sheds or outhouses, to make wheelbarrows and and persevering habits, not to speak of the actual skill other simple utensils, and to fashion desks and forms conferred by them. As an example of a school in which for the school. Thus, as farm-servants, they will be such occupations are pursued, we select that of the able to execute a number of little jobs in carpentry Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea, where 600 children which would otherwise require the interference of the of non-commissioned officers are reared. Those above proper tradesman. To enable them to contribute to eleven are here taught handicrafts, about four hours their own personal comfort and that of their house a-day of three days of the week being thus devoted. hold, without an expenditure of their earnings, they "Rather less than a hundred boys work as tailors; should be taught to make and mend their own clothes fifty each day alternately: about the same number are and shoes, to plait straw hats, to make straw mattresses, employed in a similar manner, as shoemakers, cap and whitewash walls. In a manufacturing district, makers, and in covering and repairing their old school- the employments should bear a similar relation to the books; besides which, there are two sets or companies trades of the neighbourhood; and in or near a seaport, of knitters and of shirt-makers, and others who are the arts connected with maritime life should be taught engaged as porters, gardeners, in kitchen-work, &c. Such, in brief, are the views of the Commissioners Every thing is done by those who work at the trades respecting the boys: they recommend that the girls except the cutting-out. This branch, requiring more should be trained to the household duties of cooking, experience, is managed by the old regimental shoe-cleaning, and washing clothes, sewing and knitting, by makers, tailors, &c., who, with aged sergeants and corporals, and their wives, manage the concerns of the institution. The system of monitors and teachers to overlook the other boys at work is generally adopted; while, in addition to the various branches of industry mentioned, the school furnishes a company of drummers and fifers, and an excellent band of music; the players necessarily devoting a considerable part of their time to the practice of their instruments."+ Though there are some defects, the asylum is allowed to be an evidence that a greater degree of progress may be made in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in other branches of learning, than is attained in the great majority of schools, and yet that the boys may be taught music, gymnastic exercises, and various useful trades; thus improving their health, increasing their means of enjoyment, and promoting their future interests, much more effectually than by the prevailing methods."+ Industrial education is practised with marked success in various institutions for the reform of young criminals, as in Parkhurst Penitentiary, Isle of Wight, and the Warwick County Asylum; in several for the refuge of destitute persons, as in that at Hoxton, and the Guernsey Hospital; and in various schools for orphan and pauper children under the New Poor-Law Act, of which that at Norwood is a most interesting example. It is not as an improvement, which may or may not be adopted, that industrial * Bache's Report on Education in Europe. Some Account of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea. Second having to perform those duties as far as required in the workhouse. It is worthy of remark, that in the Marylebone charity for girls, this plan has been for many years acted upon with excellent results. There the girls are accustomed to make their own beds, to clean their own knives, forks, and shoes, and to be scrupulously clean in their dress. "Their chief employment is needle-work; but they are employed in rotation to scour the school-rooms, the play-rooms, and the washing-rooms, the tables, forms, and stairs, as well as to prepare and remove the meals of the rest of the scholars, and to wait upon the domestic superintendant and officers."* The reporter of these circumstances adds, and we fully concur in his sentiments" The value of chari ties of this description is too obvious to require particu lar comment. By establishing good habits, they doubtless accomplish more than can ever be effected by mere precept; and they not only tend to make useful servants, but provident, neat, and intelligent wives and mothers, If it were possible to engraft some part of such a system on the national and other schools, these advantages would become generally diffused, and the consequence would be a great increase in the comfort of the houses of the poor, and an accompanying contentment, produe tive of the best results on the character, among young married men of the working-classes, whom the extrava gance or mismanagement of untidy and ignorant part ners often drives to alehouses, and other resorts of idleness and dissipation." * Quarterly Journal of Education, i. 287Printed and published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, Edinburgh CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S NUMBER 66. NEW AND IMPROVED SERIES. DRAWING AND PERSPECTIVE. PRICE 14d. DRAWING is an imitative art, by which the forms, posi- | tions, and relations of objects are represented on a flat surface. The faculties employed in this as in other imitative arts, are possessed in a certain degree by all persons. Some possess these faculties in so high a degree, as to become fitted to exercise them as a profession, for the gratification of mankind at large. In others, they are manifested so moderately, that a protracted effort to make such persons become tolerable draughtsmen would only be labour thrown away. The majority, however, are so far endowed, as to be able, when instructed, to delineate any simple object, and to enjoy much pleasure from higher delineations produced by others. The practice of elementary drawing at school, hitherto greatly overlooked, is calculated to produce the most beneficial results. As regards those who possess the faculties for design in a high degree of excellence, early practice will awaken those faculties, and furnishing them with stimulants to progress, secure the benefit of their ultimate exercise for the community. Lesser degrees of excellence will also be developed-such as would in vain perhaps essay excellence in the higher walks of art, but might become of incalculable value in connexion with certain branches of manufacture. so that they may realise the benefit of this part of the intellectual and sentimental powers which have been conferred upon them; a portion of their nature which, like others, may be abused, but, in its moderate use, is not only a source of innocent pleasure, but may become the means of anticipating and supplanting many pursuits of a less worthy character. Nor, while the art is perhaps chiefly acquired with these views, may it be without some results of a more directly useful kind. In many situations-when wandering in our own, or roaming in foreign countries-we may see objects of which we would be glad to carry away some memorandum, and of which the slightest pencil sketch would be sufficient to awaken a recollection at any other time. And yet, for want of a few elementary lessons in drawing, many of even those who travel for the purpose of informing the public, are unable to commemorate such objects, or, at the best, can give only a few scratches, which a professional artist has afterwards to fashion into shape-a shape, of course, in which correct representation is not to be looked for. In this point of view, drawing takes its place, as a useful art, by the side of writing, being, like it, a means of description, and one which may occasionally be even more serviceable than that art, though certainly not capable of so general an application. Referring to the volumes on Drawing in our EDUCATIONAL COURSE for a methodic series of instructions, our design on the present occasion is to present a popular view of what may be done by comparatively unlearned persons to acquire a knowledge of the art, including perspective, which is the foundation of all pictorial delineation. It will be understood, then, that in all our observations we address ourselves directly to the pupil. DRAWING. As a means of elevating tastes and desires, and thereby embellishing what might be otherwise a routine of commonplace existence, drawing appears in its most interesting light. The person who has acquired a knowledge of botany feels a new pleasure in examining the parts of a hitherto unseen plant; he who has acquired a knowledge of geology is interested in passing along a road, the side of which displays a deep section of rock, or from which he may view various granitie elevations; he who has acquainted himself with the principles of machinery experiences an enjoyment in contemplating the intricacies of some great engine, which another knows nothing of; and in the same manner he Drawing is effected by various materials, as chalk, who has studied the art of drawing discovers a source black-lead, or coloured pencils, Indian ink, &c. Drawof new and innocent gratification in the innumerable ings of a simple kind are made principally on white paper forms and tints of external nature. Things formerly or Bristol board, but also sometimes on tinted papers, passed with a careless eye and a vacant mind, then in which case the lighter parts are brought out by white assume a character which arrests attention and awakens crayons. Commence a study of the art by acquiring thought. Those faculties of the mind which perceive ease of hand, and in fact learn what the hand can do and appreciate the figure, colour, and arrangements of by its different evolutions. For this purpose, drawing objects, and trace in all a natural and appropriate lines with chalk on a black board is perhaps the best beauty, spring up from a dormancy which might have exercise. Either, therefore, on a board with chalk, or otherwise known no interruption; a new association of on paper with a pencil, learn to make drawings of lines, Er mysterious being with the physical world around us is practically established; and the value of existence becomes by just so much enhanced. Not surely that it is desirable that an absorbing interest should be created in all minds respecting the outward aspect of nature, to the neglect of the more serious affairs of life. All that can be contended for is, that as many as possible should be rendered capable of looking with pleasure, instead of indifference, upon the beauties of nature, straight, curved, or a modification of either. Observe You may begin the drawing of objects by copying |