training such as will encourage the growth of habits of frugality and selfdenial, and, as one principal means to this end, the dietary will be of the simplest and humblest description. The Bishop of the Diocese will be respectfully requested to appoint three Clergymen annually to inspect the School. GEORGE ANTHONY DENISON. East Brent, Cross, Somerset, April 7th, 1851. EDUCATION OF THE SIKHS.-It appears from inquiry that there is no foundation whatever for the belief so generally entertained of the universality of brooding apathy and ignorance among the Sikhs; in the Lahore division in particular a large number of children are at all times being instructed, and a strong desire for information prevailing among them, of which it was most important to take advantage. In the Lahore division there were found to be 1,385 schools, with a gross attendance of 11,500 pupils, or, on an average, about eight to each. In the city itself there are 28,692 houses, and 143 schools, with an attendance of 2,243 pupils; of these, 16 are devoted to the instruction of Mahomedan girls, and there are no fewer than 128 of these taught to read the Koran the teachers are women. At Kussoor and its neighbourhood there are 102 schools, with 843 pupils. In Umritsir there are 15,206 houses, 40 schools, and 861 pupils. The population of the Lahore district amounts to about 2,500,000, and about onethird of a million (388,271) of both sexes are believed to be of an age fit for school; of these, 194,135 are males, of whom 11,500, or 6 per cent., are already at school-about two per cent. more receive private instruction-say 8 per cent. in all; a state of matters brought to pass by the Sikhs themselves, and eminently creditable to those we have been accustomed to call barbarians, but still leaving ample room for the labours of the schoolmaster. We could neither give with such minuteness nor accuracy the statements of education or population in Bombay, after an occupation of two centuries, as the Lahore board can give in relation to the districts around them, after a possession of less than three years. The magnitude, wealth, intelligence, and position of the city, pointed to Umritsir as one of the most fitting places for the commencement of the Government scheme of instruction. Mr. Montgomerie, the commissioner (a man indefatigable in his exertions for the cause of native improvement, to whom the whole was intrusted), selected Mr. Saunders, and the choice appears to have been most judicious for the carrying out of the scheme. 300l. was allowed at the outset, by Government, for the erection of a school-house, and 500l. a year for the maintenance of the schools. The teachers were all to be natives of the Punjab-the head master to receive 1907., the first assistant to receive 70l., stipends which, when the cheapness of living is considered, may be deemed most liberal; both these were to teach English as well as other branches. Persian, Oordoo, Hindee, and Sanscrit masters were also to be employed, at from 30l. to 90l. a year. Similar arrangements, on a scale proportioned to their wants, will be made in other cities so soon as the Umritsir scheme is at work. Lord Dalhousie seems to consider the vicinage of the schoolmaster quite as important at times as that of the Commander-in-Chief, by whose side Lord Ellenborough insisted the Governor-General ought to be.-Times. To Correspondents. W. T. Y.'s communication needs some modification; it will probably be inserted next month. M.A.—We are obliged to decline communications of this kind. Our Mathematical correspondence is unavoidably postponed till next month. THE SCHOOLMASTER AT THE EXHIBITION. In the reign of Charles the Second, a rivalry in commerce and in naval power produced feelings of dislike between the English and the Dutch, and led to contests in which a great sacrifice of treasure and of human life served no other purpose than the gratification of a spirit of national hostility. In 1666, however, the English valour achieved a victory, and furnished Dryden with part of the material for the construction of one of his best poems: the great fire of London happening in the same year, contributed another portion of his theme; and the poet gave to his production the appropriate enough title of " Annus Mirabilis." But if that year was wonderful, in which the wide-spread desolations of fire succeeded those of pestilence, and the calamities of war, entailed by clashing commercial interests, distressed the land, we have a remarkable and happy contrast in the circumstances of the present year, rendering it as truly an Annus Mirabilis. Never, until now, have the world's inhabitants been seen vying with one another in pursuits of peace, and exhibiting under one vast roof the manifold products of useful and ornamental industry. The event at once prompts the religious mind to think of Him who, from His throne of universal and everlasting dominion, "beholds all the dwellers upon earth." It is an event which moves our hearts reverentially to "say unto Him, What doest thou?" For we must perceive indeed that it is His work, that it has a most important meaning, and that in contemplating it we should be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." " Yes," it is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." For the dispersion of Babel was also the Lord's doing: and in that event began the separation of mankind into those countless sections, which have made the political geography of our globe such a vast medley of dissimilar organizations. And now, for the first time since the projectors of a mighty structure assembled in the plains of Shinar, have the nations of the world united in one common cause, and met, by their representatives, in one spot. God "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth;" but these nations are more or less widely distinct from one another in language, in religion, in politics, in temper, and in habits,--sufficiently so, to make us contemplate with astonishment the fact, that across sundering seas and mountain barriers the people of distant lands have converged to a reunion in the metropolis of Britain, as candidates for the honour of having promoted human interests, as joint contributors to the stock of human comforts and enjoyments. An occurrence like this, in which the rough aspect of national alienation and distrust is seen giving way, amidst the fusion of social elements which the warmth of a catholic sympathy has effected, should find us rejoicing in our world's apparent progress towards that period, when men "shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks;" when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." In regarding this congress of the world as an indication of harmonious progress, we do not shut out of expectation all return of uncharitable jealousies, animosities, and conflicts, among the nations VOL. IX.-NO. VI. F who now manifest their mutual regards in a manner so encouraging and hopeful; but, nevertheless, in this reunion of the human family, a chord has been struck, introductory to the development of a scheme of relative harmony, which, however it may be disturbed by occasional discords, or retarded by suspensions, will develop in due time a satisfactory completion, and fill the hearts of mankind with "the spirit of truth, unity, and concord." This, we doubt not, is the meaning of the event; and, with this meaning, it confers on our land a glory, whose brighter radiance, compared with the lustre of war's proudest pageantry, is like the excelling sunbeams contrasted with the gloom of night. With such impressions did we come forth from that little sphere of local usefulness which the schoolmaster occupies, to look upon the world-embracing temple that has risen, like a realization of oriental fable, in the midst of us. Among all the industrial arts which are therein exhibited, there are visitors, of course, chiefly interested in the examination of their respective favourite departments; but the schoolmaster, though he may have some peculiar preferences, arising out of the direction which his main study may have pursued, beholds in the Industrial Temple the apparatus of one vast schoolroom, all having connection with his professional interests and duties-all contributing or facilitating instruction in those elements of useful knowledge, with which it is his business to be conversant. On our first visit to the Crystal Palace, we were obliged to be almost passive recipients of a general impression. To examine things in detail was impracticable, not merely from the multiplicity of objects requiring longer time than could be included in many visits, but from the novelty, the unwonted splendour and vastness, the strange mingled beauty and sublimity of the scene. Indeed, it was some time before we found the coup d'œil cease to be distracting; and even then, a confused sense of weariness was the effect of that straining of attention which we are forced by the overwhelming spectacle to maintain. The building itself merits the admiration of all beholders, on account of the union of taste and economy which it exemplifies. Genuine taste is always an economist, disowning superfluity, and requiring that its objects shall possess something so worthy of the material or workmanship employed upon them, that there shall be no appearance of an extravagant expenditure of resources. But this structure is characterized by a very remarkable degree of inexpensive elegance. The short time of its erection, the convenient fabrication and transport of its parts, the small proportion of space required by its provisions for durability and drainage, the economy secured in these respects, associated with the graceful lightness of so vast a fabric, rising ornamentally like a conservatory, adapting it to a situation which a fabric of the ordinary building materials, necessarily much more expensive, would have grievously disfigured-all this, and many other details of expediency and beauty, denote Mr. Paxton to be a genius of no ordinary merit. And, we say, let the schoolmaster, while reflecting on all this, receive and communicate the useful lesson, that true taste is economical; that its cultivation is not allotted merely to the wealthy; that its influence may be exerted by means such as the most ordinary schools afford; and that humanizing effects, forestalling a great amount of moral evil, may be produced by attention to the regularities, and decencies, and neat contrivances, for which there is much scope afforded both by the apparatus and the processes of school instruction. And if the building itself be thus generally suggestive of reflection, which the schoolmaster may turn to a salutary account, in his efforts to promote the moral well-being of society, so is the noble purpose for which the building has been reared. It is a Temple of Concord, one in which homage is rendered to that design of the Almighty, whereby all mankind are regarded as ministers one to another in mutual instruction and beneficence. If all nations were equally supplied with the resources of livelihood, and of physical accommodation and enjoyment, where would be the scope which existing diversities supply, for the cultivation of that fellowship which makes the human race feel that they are "members one of another," and that "the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee?" The Creator might have conferred upon all tribes the power of serving themselves in every needful way; but true happiness arises not from selfishness, but from sympathy, and true greatness is attained not by being ministered unto, but by ministering. All nations, therefore, though endowed with the same faculties, are not placed in the same circumstances, and, by reason of their varying conditions, manifest a corresponding variety in the developments of genius, and in the results of industry. Diversity of climate and soil presents a diversity of products to the hand of manufacturing skill; dissimilarity of habits occasions demand for peculiar means of accommodating those habits; and languages, differing in their idiom and structure, form so many differing moulds for the reception and formation of thought; so that each nation has its distinctive excellences, each has something to communicate by which another nation may be advantaged. As God has determined for every individual a providential calling, so has he determined for every cominunity; but he cannot have designed that societies, in their emulation, should seek to overthrow or to injure one another. He has enstamped upon them diversities, and made those diversities necessitate an interchange of commodities, that isolation and disregard might be precluded, and that bonds of fellowship might be formed. The Great Exposition of Industry, therefore, is, doubtless, in its professed objects, in its ostensible character, most warrantable and praiseworthy. It recognises that there should be competition amongst nations, but forbids that there should be vindictiveness; it commends a striving for the mastery, but discountenances the insolence of pride; it places the olive of peace in the hand of every spectator, while it extends the palm of triumph to excelling skill; it shows us that in one country certain artistic capabilities have become traditional, which have in vain been attempted to be originated in another. And therefore should mankind agree to differ in those respects in which a wise Providence has established a difference; therefore should we "in honour prefer one another," in things wherein variety of national taste and temperament will ever resist the establishment of equality. And here, again, may the teachers of youth perceive an important. suggestion and a useful source of reference on the subject of emulation, as a means of success in school management. It cannot be denied that emulation has the sanction of Holy Writ, nor can it be denied that the feeling very frequently acts unfavourably on the moral constitution of its possessor, by stemming the fountain of philanthropy, and co-operating with selfish or malignant passions. In order to counteract this evil, diligent effort should be made to impress upon the youthful mind a remonstrance, which the Industrial Exhibition is so well designed to enforce,—a remonstrance which says to the possessor of any talent or superiority, "Who makest thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" This is the consideration by which "all boasting is excluded," which teaches" every man not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think," because "God hath dealt to every man the measure" of power or privilege which hath seemed to Him good. In any honourable preeminence which we are enabled to maintain, we have a cause of thankfulness and a source of pleasure, but no reason for conceit or vain glory. And in any inferiority which, without fault of our own, we manifest, we may have cause of humility, perhaps, but certainly not of jealousy or discontentment. Let every man, "in his vocation and ministry," use his best efforts in cultivating the ability which God has bestowed upon him, endeavouring, above all things, that his words and works may give glory to his Creator and do good to his fellow-men. (To be continued.) ON LATIN ETYMOLOGY. No. X. THE change from o to an e, so familiar in the various derivatives from ver- or vel- ' turn,' has been overlooked in not a few words to the great detriment of etymology; and the neglect is the more remarkable as examples of this change meet one at every turn in the vocabularies of both Greek and Latin. The verb expergiscor ought to have been safe from all risk of error, as the forms exporgis cor, exporrectus, are found in all the older writers. But Lünemann (and Mr. Riddle copies him with all precision) derives expergiscor, expergefacio, and expergificus, from a verb expergo; this verb he writes in its own place with a hyphen, ex-pergo, thus referring us to pergo, and to this verb again he attaches the remark: probably from per and rego, consequently for perrigo, "to direct towards," (hinrichten). Without stopping to ask for a justification of the translation of per by "towards," we would observe that the form exporgiscor, while it has the sanction of the best MSS. in the older writers, furnishes in itself a thoroughly satisfactory explanation of its own meaning: ex-por-rig-isc-o-r, i. e., "out-forward -stretch-begin-I-self," in which we have a graphic description of the act of waking. We have here taken the liberty of giving to reg-o as its primitive sense the idea of "stretching." Now recta linea is "a straight line," and as straight is only a participle of stretch, we have |
