to be so great as it is. It is believed that this difference would be diminished, that more would enter and more remain to complete the course of study, and thus the influence of the school be enlarged, were our citizens better acquainted with its character, with the value and importance of the privileges it offers, and the thoroughness of the instruction it imparts. The teachers in the school are excellently fitted for their office, and in its Principal it has the advantage of a person who has had long experience as a teacher, and whose vigorous and active mind, ever earnest in the acquisition of knowledge, has kept him up with the times, so that he is familiar with all the best modes of teaching, and with all the discoveries, inventions, and progress made in Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Navigation, and the higher departments of Mathematics, and is thus able to impart more instruction often than is contained in the text-books, and bring the pupil up to the level of the mathematical and scientific learning of the day, and its practical application in the various employments of life.

That our citizens generally, and especially parents, who have children approaching the age at which they ought to take advantage of the opportunities offered them for the acquisition of an excellent education at the English High School, may more thoroughly understand its character, it may be well to present in this Report a pretty full exposition, not simply of the course of study, as prescribed in the regulations, but of what is actually accomplished at the institution. The prescribed course of studies covers a period of three years, but liberty is given for those who wish, to remain a fourth year, and form an advanced class to receive instruction in Intellectual Philosophy, the Spanish Language, and in the different departments of science and the

higher mathematics. Few, not more than twenty in all, during the last ten years, have availed themselves of this liberty.

The prosecution of the three years' course, with a fair character, entitles the pupil to a certificate, or degree, declaring this fact, signed by the Principal of the School and the Chairman of the Sub-committee, having special charge and supervision of it. The pupils are therefore divided into three classes.

The freshmen, or third class, after entering, are occupied for about six weeks with a pretty rapid but careful review of the studies of the Grammar Schools, particularly of Geography, Grammar, and written and mental Arithmetic. take up the three important studies of the first year,

They then

History,

Algebra, and the French Language. In the first, Worcester's General History is the text-book. The pupils are not required to learn and recite the text-book verbatim, but it is an absolute requisite that they shall so make themselves masters of the subject matter of the text-book, as to be able to give it either in the language of the author, or their own, with accuracy and fluency. In all recitations, both those qualities, accuracy and fluency, are insisted upon, and also grammatical correctness of expression. Any failure in the latter is noticed by the teacher, and may have attention called to it by the pupils. Ancient Geography is studied in connection with the History of Greece and Rome, and when sufficiently advanced, the pupils are exercised in drawing upon the blackboard descriptive maps of Ancient Greece, Italy or Spain, in which the outlines, or the boundaries, rivers, and mountains of these countries are traced, the principal places noticed, and the important historical events connected with each are recited. This exercise, occupying and employing at the same time the eye, the hand, the memory,

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the judgment and the organs of speech, and requiring, as it does, no small amount of care in preparation, and skill in execution, helps to fix firmly in the mind of the pupil the main facts both of the history and geography of those countries. In this manner a good degree of familiarity with the histories of Greece and Rome is attained, and much oral instruction, touching the biography of distinguished individuals, and the domestic economy and habits of the people, their language and literature, is imparted by the teacher, that thus much of the knowledge commonly derived only from the study of the ancient classics may be supplied. In passing from ancient to modern history, particular attention is paid to histories of England and France, as being more intimately connected with that of our own country. This portion interests the pupils, and is studied with greater minuteness and care, and in addition to what is contained in the text-book, each boy is permitted to offer in the recitation whatever other facts or illustrative anecdotes he may learn from other sources. Each boy recites, or is examined upon the whole lesson, and in this way during the year obtains a pretty good skeleton of general history, which can be more and more clothed and made full and perfect by his subsequent reading.

In Algebra every effort is made at thorough instruction by the teacher, and perfect comprehension on the part of the pupil. The text-book used is the excellent one prepared by Mr. Sherwin, the Principal of the school. The lesson must be so learned that the book need not be used at recitation. As far as possible, the study is made practical, and the pupil is requested to show, or is made to understand, step by step, how arithmetic is included in algebra, to be familiar with the various kinds of

analysis or forms of induction applicable to the same problem, and the intimate connection between the arithmetical analysis and the algebraic formula.

The study of the French language is began by the third class about six weeks after entering the school, and instruction in it is continued in all the classes throughout the three years' course. This instruction is commonly given by the regular teachers in the school, though occasionally a special French teacher has been employed. Chouquet is used for pronunciation, and the pupils begin with Farquelle and the Grandpère. The pupils in the third class are required to commit, and can commonly recite with remarkable fluency all the French that they learn, both in their Grammar and Reader, and by the end of the year they can easily understand all the common talk of a Frenchman, and readily answer him with plain easy sentences, not exactly rising to the dignity of conversation in a foreign language, but enough to show that they have a knowledge of the language, and a facility in the use of it, that may fairly be counted an additional power and accomplishment, and is quite equal to what is attained in the same language by older students in most of the colleges. As they proceed, they are made to enter into a pretty thorough and philosophical analysis of the language, are led to notice its points of resemblance or difference as corresponds with their own, and are thus adding largely to their knowledge of the English, while studying the French language. The former language, the English, is a constant study. By general criticism and by special efforts, by attention to the matter in every recitation, and in everything said or written in the school, care is taken to give the pupil such a knowledge of the English language, that he shall always use it with grammatical correct

ness, with elegance and ease. To this end also, exercises in English composition and declamation are required alternately once a week, and a declamation in French is demanded occasionally, from time to time, so that before the close of the year every pupil makes one declamation in French. Special instruction in Drawing, by a competent teacher, is given to this class, and is continued throughout the three years' course. The third class is separated into two divisions, and each division, in its own room, is under the immediate care and instruction of an usher, but the rooms are frequently visited by the Principal of the school, who in short addresses, or conversational lectures, imparts to them in the course of the year much valuable moral, literary, and scientific instruction.

On entering upon the second year, the second or middle class, in the two divisions mentioned above, come under the instruction of two sub-masters. In the course of studies for this year, Algebra is completed, French and Drawing are continued, and the new branches taken up are Geometry, Bookkeeping, Rhetoric, the Constitution of the United States, Trigonometry, with its application to Surveying, Navigation, Mensuration, Astronomical Calculations, &c., and the Evidences of Christianity, a Monday morning lesson. In the mathematical studies enumerated above, there is a lesson every school day throughout the year, and most of the pupils obtain a pretty thorough knowledge of Plain and Spherical Geometry, and Plain and Analytical Trigonometry. They are instructed in the use of the theodolite and other mathematical instruments, and special effort is made to give them not simply a theoretical knowledge of principles, but a readiness in the