trious habits. The statistical returns of crime show that poaching, and the offences generally found in company with that most demoralizing vice, are above the average; and the value attached by the parents to the blessings of education would seem to be but slight, if we may judge from the irregular attendance of the children, or the early age at which they are altogether removed from school. The remarks which I have so often had occasion to make upon the employment of very young children in field labours are not less applicable to this than to the other counties in the Eastern district of England. This, however, is not entirely, perhaps not mainly, the fault of the parents. When they are willing, they are not always permitted to keep their children at school. Last year I heard of many instances in which, partly from solicitude for the children's health, partly from a wish for their mental improvement, the parents have been sincerely anxious to save them from exposure to bad weather, and to send them to the village school; but on representing their wishes to their employers, they have been informed that they must give up the child or be dismissed from labour themselves. The children are thus taken from school and from home, and at the age of eight, seven, and even so young as six years, are kept in the fields from morning to night, Sundays and week days, for weeks together, without any occupation but that of watching the crows. They there lose not merely the advantages of instruction, but almost the habits and feelings of human beings, and learn something of the wild and furtive habits of the animals among whom they live. I am informed, and can easily believe, that the tastes and tact of a poacher are often acquired by children while engaged in this employment. Occasional and brief attendance at a village school may counteract to some extent, but cannot prevent or remedy, this desolation of the moral and intellectual faculties. I am far from objecting to the frequent employment of children in useful and invigorating labours, and believe that too close attendance at school is by no means a good preparation for their necessary work; but a compromise might be made, and would doubtless be agreed to, if the proprietors would exert their legitimate influence over the cultivators of the soil. The farmers might easily make arrangements for employing all the children, in rotation, for a certain portion of each day; and the managers might then enforce their attendance at school, were it for not more than two hours daily. In the north of England, where the habits of young and old are at least equally industrious, these difficulties are not found to be insurmountable; and no exertions ought to be spared to improve the moral and mental condition of our agricultural labourers. In no other way can they be preserved from physical deterioration, and from feelings adverse alike to social and domestic well-being.

It must, however, be admitted that such an arrangement would render a considerable change necessary in the methods of instruc

tion, and indeed in the general organization of most village schools. It would be totally incompatible with that system of monitorial teaching which owes all the success to which it can advance a claim, to a dull and rigid uniformity. I believe that the principal reason why children above the age of 10 years, who are withdrawn from village schools by some temporary employment, seldom if ever return when that employment has ceased, is, that there is no place for them in the school; they do not fit in; they obstruct the progress of others, and make but little themselves. It is not because they are averse to receive instruction, to repeat lessons, or to hear them explained by an intelligent teacher; but they cannot learn in and with a class; they are not interested in lessons which it is impossible they can understand, having lost the connecting links; they are pained by their apparent inferiority to their companions, and they naturally shrink from the degradation of a young monitor's reproof. The means by which these objections can be overcome are not difficult to understand, but they require great exertion and considerable ingenuity in the teachers to apply. On the one hand it is necessary that the schoolmaster should hold himself responsible for the individual advancement of his scholars, and consequently that he should find or make opportunity of frequent personal intercourse with each. On the other hand, he must bestow much pains upon the collective lessons, by which an electric impulse, as it were, is communicated to a mass of scholars, and their intellects are brought into simultaneous action. Each of these methods, however, requires an amount of talent, energy, and practical ability in the teachers which it would be unreasonable to expect in the ill-paid and untrained, though often respectable and meritorious persons, who have hitherto been appointed to village schools. If anything can supply such desiderata it is certainly the plan now in full operation, by which the boys and girls, who evince predispositions and abilities, will be thoroughly trained for the work of instruction. I adhere, however, to the opinion which I formerly expressed, and which I now repeat, having had the advantage of conversing with many of the most experienced supporters of education upon the subject, that in most country districts it will be advisable to have a preparatory school in each village, and a completely organized school, under the charge of able teachers, in a central locality. This plan has been found most successful at Kesgrave, in Suffolk, and is now adopted at Duxford, and in other places.

The want of trained teachers is deeply felt in this district. It is with great difficulty that the schools can be supplied with any teachers at all qualified to continue even the present course of instruction; much less can efficient and experienced persons be induced to accept the salaries and conditions offered to them. This want is, however, likely to lead to the establishment of new training schools. In the spring I was present at some conferences in which

the subject was thoroughly discussed, and some preliminary steps were taken. It then seemed not improbable that an agricultural training school for masters would be established in or near Cam. bridge, and an industrial training school for mistresses in Hertfordshire, for the diocese of Rochester. Since that time considerable progress has been made in the latter project, a provisional committee has been appointed, and funds raised sufficient to warrant the hope that it will be carried into execution ere long.

Schools in which Pupil Teachers or Stipendiary Monitors have been appointed.

I proceed to give some account of the schools in which pupil. teachers or stipendiary monitors have been appointed on my recommendation.

I have found only two schools in which it appeared advisable to appoint stipendiary monitors, viz., Comberton and Stonham Aspall; both handsome, well-arranged village schools; each conducted by a mistress. 190 pupil teachers (121 boys and 69 girls) have been appointed to

That these schools are in all essential points conducted upon an efficient system, and are in a satisfactory condition, is presupposed, both by the fact of the managers applying for, and the Inspector recommending, the appointment of pupil teachers. I believe that those that are in the country are now, or soon will become, in every respect, model-schools for the surrounding districts, and that those in the metropolis are above the average standard of good national schools.

The following statistics, extracted from my tabulated returns, if compared with the statements in last year's report, will give a tolerably good idea of the comparative resources and condition of these schools.

In the schools either in country towns or villages, there are―

Several applications have been received from Norfolk; and there is reason to believe that many appointments would have been made had I not unfortunately been prevented from attending to them by a variety of other engagements.-F. C. C.

The total expenditure in the country schools varies from 301. to 1807.; in London from 1307. to 6007. The salaries of masters average about 707.; and of mistresses about 607.

In all the country schools, and in London with two exceptions, viz., the schools of All Saints', Gordon-square, and St. Peter's, Bethnal-green, which are in a transitional state, the buildings are spacious and commodious, and the school-rooms are either well arranged or capable of those improvements which the managers are willing to introduce on the recommendation of the Inspector. They are also furnished with good apparatus; in some places at the expense of the subscriber, but in a large number with the aid of a grant from their Lordships. The appearance of these schoolrooms, lofty, well lighted, warmed, and ventilated, with convenient arrangements for class or collective teaching, large maps, black boards, and drawings or models of natural objects or mechanical instruments, is exceedingly striking, and is calculated to leave deep and lasting impressions upon the children's minds. But so far as regards these and other external conditions, there is no reason why the schools in most of the country towns, and in nearly all the parishes of London, should not be adapted for the reception of pupil teachers. All the schools erected lately with aid from their Lordships, and most of those which were previously established, require but a few additions and alterations; for instance, a group of parallel desks and one or two class-rooms, for which purposes liberal grants have been always made upon the application of school managers.

Having requested the masters of a large number of schools to supply me with information as regards the age of the children, I have ascertained that in 30 metropolitan schools

692 children are above 12 years old

between 10 and 11

between 8 and 11
under 8 years old.

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The highest proportion of children above 12 to the total number being as 48 to 276, as, for instance, in the school of St. Martin'sin-the-Fields; the lowest 3 to 210, as in the school of St. Thomas', Charter-house

In 26 schools, situate either in country towns or large villages, I find

The tables present very curious facts as regards the fluctuations of attendance; e.g., in the boys' school of St. Thomas', Charterhouse, 210 were present at examination; 513 having been admitted, and 304 having left in the preceding twelvemonth,

The course of instruction in these schools may undoubtedly be extended with great advantage to the children, and the methods may be improved, but we must form a high estimate of their comparative merit upon the whole, if we judge with reference to what has been accomplished, or even attempted in former years and in other schools, or what might reasonably be expected considering the pecuniary resources, or other external means at the disposal of the managers.

In the country schools I find the following proportions.

The selection of reading-books has been much improved within the last two years. In addition to the Second, Third, and Fourth Books of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which contain much useful information, the entire series published by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland are used in most of these schools. I have recommended them on the grounds of their systematic arrangement, and generally, speaking, clear explanation of principles. But there is still room for great improvements. It does not seem that any school-books yet published contain a sufficient number of extracts from the great classical writers in our language. Schoolmasters are waiting with great anxiety for the publication of a list of books, and for the assistance of their Lordships in purchasing them.

In arithmetic the progress has been marked of late years, and is now rapidly advancing. In nearly all these schools I believe that a fair proportion of boys and girls are conversant with its elementary principles, and tolerably skilled in its practical applications.

The study of geography has always been exceedingly attractive to children, but a very considerable improvement has been lately observable. Instead of making use of a list of strange names, and some ill-explained and unintelligible lessons on the so-called mathematical introduction, I now find the teachers, in nearly all of these schools, substituting easy and familiar lectures upon the causes and effects of physical phenomena, upon the social habits and political institutions of various nations, and upon other subjects of practical interest. Good maps are drawn in many schools, and the examinations on this subject are, for the most part, very satisfactory.

The History of England has received more attention than for.