OR,

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

Intellectual and Moral Training and Scholastic
Discipline of Youth;

WITH

INQUIRIES AND REMARKS

ILLUSTRATING THE RESPECTIVE ADVANTAGES

OF

HOME AND COLONIAL EDUCATION ;

AND SUGGESTING METHODS BY WHICH THE NECESSITY OF LEAVING

THE COLONY IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A LIBERAL

EDUCATION MAY BE SUPERSEDED:

Formerly one of the Masters of King Edward's Grammar School, Taunton,
Somerset, and for many years Proprietor of Winchmore Hill

Academy, near London.
Author of

"Letters to Lords Brougham and Russell, on the

Incorporation of the Royal College of Preceptors, London," "Inquiry as to the
Comparative Advantages of Public and Private Schools;" and
various works on kindred subjects.

“Istiusmodi res dicere ornatê velle, puerile est ; planè, autem et perspicuè expedire
docti et intelligentis viri." CICERO.

“I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts out of ten
are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their Education." LOCKE.

NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION.

MELBOURNE:

GEORGE ROBERTSON, 69 ELIZABETH STREET.

MDCCCLXVII.

Fe

DEDICATION.

TO THE VERY REVEREND H. B. MACARTNEY, D.D. DEAN AND ARCHDEACON OF MELBOURNE.

VERY REVEREND SIR,

Encouraged by the great and growing interest manifested by all classes of the community in the cause of Education, and anxious to contribute in some degree, however slight, to the advancement of so important an object, I have long desired to lay before the public of Victoria and the adjacent Colonies some of the results of forty years' experience as a Schoolmaster.

With this purpose in view, I was naturally led to seek the countenance of one whose earnest and continuous efforts have inseparably associated his name with the subject of the following pages; and I therefore rejoice in the privilege of dedicating this work to you, Sir, to whose exertions much that is hopeful in our educational prospects may be justly attributed.

With sentiments of unfeigned respect, I have the honour to subscribe myself,

Very Reverend Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

STEPHEN SKINNER.

PREFACE.

THE early part of this work was published some years since, in a separate form; and having been very favourably received by the Public and the Periodical Critics of the day, has been for some time out of print. It has now undergone a thorough revision to adapt it to the peculiar requirements of the Australian Colonies; but a considerable portion, having been written during a fourteen years' residence in Victoria, will be perceived to have a more direct reference to its peculiar capabilities and aspect, as a grand field for educational advancement. The Author may be permitted to add that, although chiefly addressed to Parents and Guardians, and to Gentlemen who have recently engaged in, or are preparing for, the scholastic profession, yet, at this important period of our political existence, the work may perhaps be found suggestive to others whose influence in our councils may prove of paramount importance; now, especially, when our political status in the community of nations seems mainly to depend, under Divine Providence, on the direction given to our Educational Institutions.

A life-time devoted to the Theory and Practice of Education, as an Author and a Schoolmaster, may perhaps be thought to justify some degree of confidence in the correctness of the views here presented, and the conclusions arrived at; having been tested by long experience, and sanctioned by success.