hers, have been formed by the addition of the same termination, and that the genitive singular of the nouns and pronouns in most of the Indo-European languages also ends in s. The termination of the genitive singular of the German is at present the same as that of the English was in the time of Chaucer, namely es; and there has for some time been the same tendency with the Germans to elide the e that has been noticed in the case of our own language. It is even customary in some parts of Germany to substitute the apostrophe for it, just as we do in English.

*** A learned paper on this subject, by Archdeacon Hare, will be found in the Philological Museum, vol. ii. p. 143. Camb. 1833.

Correspondence.

SCHOOLMASTERS' SALARIES.

SIR,-At a time when all parties are engaged in a species of rivalry for the extension and improvement of education among the poor, the readers of educational periodicals were scarcely prepared to find a school manager raising his voice against the improvement of the condition of the humble, hard-working, and ill-requited instruments by whom the education in question is administered. The last number of the National Society's Monthly Paper" contains the views of such a gentleman, expressed with all the force of conviction as to their appropriateness. He states, as his deliberate opinion, that forty pounds per annum, where a house and garden are provided, is an ample salary for a schoolmaster in a rural district, sufficing to defray the charges of a family, on the simple conditions that substantial comforts only are to be provided for and sinful display avoided. Farther, he thinks it harsh and unjust to complain of the parsimony of managers who provide salaries to the amount above specified, and that it is the extravagant tastes of teachers which alone deserve reprehension, as making such a scale of remuneration insufficient. Surrounded as we are by abundant evidence that the "School Manager in Wales" will find little sympathy among the more liberal promoters of elementary education throughout the country, it appears needless to enter into anything like a formal argument against the proposed rate of salary to "a valuable and useful class." Public opinion has long demanded and government has given effect to the general wish, that a high tone of character, and a wellstored mind should rank among the qualifications of the schoolmaster. And can it be asserted, with any show of plausibility, that such men are adequately paid on the wages of the inferior class of artisans and labourers?

But there is no reason to fear, now that the necessity of a higher standard of instruction for the poor is recognized, that a short-sighted and mischievous economy will be tolerated, the inevitable result of which would be the degradation of the teacher. "The salaries asked

and offered," ranging from 607. to 80l., to which the "School Manager" adverts, while they are more than he deems an adequate

return for the services of a "valuable and useful class," cannot but be regarded, the value and quality of the work performed being duly estimated, as very much below the fair remuneration to which properly qualified instructors of youth are entitled. And the patrons and promoters of schools who recognize the truth of this proposition, are fortunately a numerous and increasing class. The Education Committee of the Privy Council, too, has systematically recorded its approval of the more liberal rate of payment, by refusing any grant in augmentation of the salaries of teachers who do not already possess what the correspondent in the "Monthly Paper" regards as a sufficient salary. That committee refuses to augment very low salaries, while it has fixed no amount of emolument to which it will refuse an addition, on the fulfilment of certain conditions.

By this mode of administering the funds placed at its disposal, the Committee of Council refuses to relieve any locality of the duty of supporting a school, or to recognize the propriety of inefficient support. The effect of this policy has been, that not only have deserving teachers secured Government grants, but their previous salaries have in numerous cases been increased, or they have had residences provided, expressly for the purpose of meeting the requirements of the committee, as conditions of making a grant. Hence in very many instances it is gratifying to find that the masters of elementary schools are in the receipt of salaries which afford them the means of supporting a family in comparative comfort, of stocking their shelves with books, the indispensable tools of their profession, and of enjoying a little necessary change of scene at the annual vacation. The recipients of such incomes will be found to possess no greater share of the conveniences and decent appendages of a home, than fall to the lot of the more thrifty and well-paid artisans, large numbers of whom receive from 27. to 31. per week, and in some employments even higher wages.

Without disparaging in any degree the merits or the virtues of the teacher quoted by " School Manager" as an exemplar to the profession, it may fairly be remarked, that such an illustration carries no more weight, as a case for imitation, than is furnished to another profession by the example of a certain country vicar, rich in all the virtues that could adorn the character of a Christian pastor, and who was passing rich on forty pounds a year."

I will conclude this letter with an extract from a living writer of eminence: "The schoolmaster's occupation is laborious and ungrateful; its rewards are scanty and precarious. He may indeed, and he ought to be, animated by the consciousness of doing good-that best of all consolations-that noblest of all motives. But that, too, must often be clouded by doubt and uncertainty. Obscure and inglorious as his daily occupation may appear to learned pride or worldly ambition, yet to be truly successful and happy, he must be animated by the spirit of the same great principles which inspired the most illustrious benefactors of mankind. If such are the difficulties and the discouragements, such the duties, the motives, and the consolations of teachers who are worthy of that name and trust, how imperious then the obligation upon every enlightened citizen who knows and feels the value of such men, to aid them, to cheer them, to honour them, to en

deavour to elevate their station, to enlarge their usefulness, and to raise the character of the schoolmaster among us. Thus shall we best testify our gratitude to the teachers and guides of our own youth, thus best serve our country, and thus most effectually diffuse over our land light, and truth, and virtue. * * But to raise up such a body of

*

*

men, as numerous as the wants and the dignity of the country demand, their labours must be fitly remunerated, and themselves and their calling cherished and honoured."

May 28, 1851.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

JUSTITIA.

[We insert JUSTITIA's letter, though we cannot unreservedly adopt his views. The letter of a School Manager, which he refers to, alludes to the difficulty of obtaining even as much as £40 a year" in a rural district where there are no resident gentry, nothing but poor farmers, and half-clad, half-fed labourers." This difficulty JUSTITIA does not attempt to meet. Good teachers ought to be well paid; and school managers who cannot afford to give higher wages than the labourer can get, must be content with inferior masters.-ED.]

ON THE NEGLECT OF ARITHMETIC IN HIGHER

SCHOOLS.

SIR,-In your May number you have called attention to a subject of which the importance can scarcely be overstated. The notice therein of Whewell's work on a Liberal Education is certainly not the least valuable part of your last journal. The only wonder is that the incredible truths alluded to should have to be discovered and exposed by a man of such gigantic powers as the Master of Trinity. At first sight, and to many it would seem, I have no doubt, that to urge on the masters and scholars of this great kingdom the necessity of a thorough knowledge of arithmetic was, if not unnecessary, at all events beneath the dignity of so great a genius. And yet in reality it was not so. The subject cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of all who are engaged in tuition in what are called the better class of schools: no eloquence can be misapplied.

Nothing that I can say professes to add at all to the weight and authority with which Dr. Whewell has spoken. And yet this letter may serve to keep the matter one month longer before the attention of those concerned. I have been engaged several years, both in the University and out of it, in preparing young men and boys for college and for professions, and have had by this time a fair amount of experience; and I can scarcely say that I have met with more than a single instance of a young man being thoroughly conversant with arithmetic. In national schools, and the smaller grammar schools, this subject, justly characterized by you as the very foundation of all sound mathematical knowledge, is thoroughly taught. In the larger grammar schools, in most of the proprietary schools, and in all the great public schools, the ignorance of most boys in this matter is simply incredible. When it is taught, the hours that are spent in it are at great distances, and but little is really learnt. By-and-by it is time to be turned into algebra, and that little is soon forgotten in the marshalling of pluses and minuses. The young candidate for university honours—yes, the can

didate for college and university honours, and for professional renown, often knows not how to set about a sum in Interest, Discount, Profit and Loss, or, it may be, even in Practice. He considers and avows that such things belong only to bankers' clerks, tradesmen, and "such like people;" and are beneath the notice of the future graduate, rector, magistrate, or Queen's counsel. Many a man has discovered in after life, even if he does not find it out at college, that it is hard to build before you have laid the foundation; many a curate has found how much more useful he would have been in his national school, if he had had more knowledge of figures; and many a solicitor and barrister has had to make up for the neglect when they could ill afford the time, and have made it up but indifferently after all. Let it no longer be said, that the best educated portion of a commercial nation know scarcely anything of figures, and that the graduates of the most scientific people of the world have neglected to lay the foundation of all science. If, sir, you admit these remarks into your pages, you will oblige one and may profit many a

May 20, 1851.

PRIVATE TUTOR.

Notices of Books.

THE CLASSICAL GAZETTEER; A DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY,

SACRED AND PROFANE. BY WILLIAM HAZLITT. 8vo. Pp. 378. (Whittaker & Co.)

A VERY copious, and, so far as we have tested it, a very correct alphabetical list of places named in ancient geography. It is much more complete than anything that has hitherto been published for school use, and will be found a most useful "finding index" to any set of maps. The descriptions, of necessity, are brief; the modern names are appended where they have been identified.

We would suggest the marking of the quantities in any future edition.

NORMAL CHART OF THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

READING IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS; WITH DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE

NORMAL CHART, &c. BY W, J. UNWIN, M.A., PRINCIPAL OF THE

TRAINING INSTITUTION OF THE CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF EDU

CATION. (Ward and Co.)

THE attention which of late years has been devoted to the principles of teaching, while it has developed a very great amount of improvement in most departments of instruction, still leaves the schoolmaster desiderating better and more ample direction in the art of teaching to read. The slow progress and inferior quality which characterise the reading

in most of our elementary schools, have been so frequently commented on, that effort towards a remedy has been sufficiently prompted, and in many instances exerted. But it should be borne in mind, that among those who endeavour to impart effectual help in this matter, there are two who must necessarily fail. For it is in knowledge of the philosophy of language, united to experimental acquaintance with the powers and propensities of the youthful mind, that ability to make the requisite improvement resides; and he, therefore, is inadequate, who theorizes in private study on the principles of language, but is not practically conversant with the business of the schoolroom; he also is inadequate, who, though daily occupied in the instruction of children, has not thoroughly instructed himself in the philosophy of speech.

Our attentive examination of Mr. Unwin's Normal Chart, and its accompanying pamphlet, has induced us to presume that he has fulfilled the two conditions jointly necessary to success. He evinces, we

think, the requisite skill resulting from long contact with the youthful mind, and a careful analysis of the principles of language. In the next number of the Journal, however, we hope to recommend his production by a few detailed evidences of its merit; and meanwhile we state generally our persuasion, that Mr. Unwin has supplied one of the most useful schemes which modern improvement has yet devised, for facilitating, and otherwise duly conducting, the acquirement of the art of reading in our primary schools.

AHN'S PRACTICAL AND EASY METHOD OF LEARNING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. FIRST COURSE. TRANSLATED FROM THE 39TH GERMAN EDITION, BY J. P. HALL AND THOMAS HALL. (Bateman.)

A TRANSLATION from a German book which has had a wide and a deserved popularity. The principle, as stated in the preface, is this: "It imitates as much as possible the natural way in which children acquire the first knowledge of their mother tongue, and prepares for the study of a methodical grammar and more advanced reading. Though the learning of rules is excluded, yet the work itself has not been planned without them, but follows a progressive method founded on definite principles." The book begins with the nouns and the articles, and goes on progressively through the other forms of grammar, constantly reproducing under other combinations the words which have been already learnt.

We know from experience that this is a most interesting way of teaching a language; from the very first moment the pupil feels that he has learnt something that he can make use of, and when he has mastered even the 72 pages of this little book he will have a copious vocabulary of words, and be able to hold a conversation on ordinary matters. For young children especially, whose minds cannot grasp the meaning of a rule, or apply one that they have learnt, it is peculiarly adapted. The system is the same as that adopted by Ollendorff; but the book is less cumbersome and more systematic.