day? Where are those crusaders that they suffer the ancient precincts of a great bulwark, like the towered edifices of Eton, to be thus profaned for an impiety, which the law stepping before religion seeks to correct?

We remember that when it was a matter of complaint in the House of Commons, that mackerel was permitted to be sold on a Sunday, the indignation of the pious was somewhat appeased when they found that the fishery of that great staple of subsistance would be annihilated, if the permission does not remain as it was. Are the Eton fishers of youth affected with the same apprehension? Will the poor youth perish of decomposition, if they are only kept out of the school-room for twenty-four hours? How ludicrous it is, how mournfully it speaks for the consistency of our country, that there are high persons in it who contend that a ship load of mackerel should be allowed to rot sooner than that it should be lifted in a wholesome state to the lips of famishing men, whilst in the luxurious halls of a religious edifice, a worse example is weekly in process.

Looking to the effect of this practice as it affects public and national interests, its importance very considerably increases, as the author bears testimony.

"I need not point out how large a proportion of the English clergy have received public educations. Will the most bigotted advocate of the church, as it is, deny, that, for the last 150 years, a secular spirit has been making great way, especially amongst the upper orders of the hierarchy ? And can it be doubted, that if the clergy had been better instructed in the solemn nature of their high and holy duties-if a deeper reverence for their profession-a more earnest devotion of their best energies to the service of their Lord-a more profound sense of their obligation to promote HIS interest, and a less interested desire to further THEIR OWN-in a word, can it be doubted, if the clergy had been more religiously educated, that, instead of the tempest, whose gathering howls are now threatening their existence, the same sunny and serene sky would be now smiling over their heads, which gilded and glorified their most palmy days? I ask the question in candid and sober sincerity; 1 crave an answer in the same spirit."

The author very properly disposes of the answer to some of his objections, that the " private business" of the school corrects all defects, when he says, that the bare fact of their being a supplementary addition to the public business, is in words a confession that there is something wanted to the latter. He shows, however, that from the little time which can be given to the "private teaching" by the tutors, and from the peculiar absence which such a system experiences, if all these influences which make a boy attentive, he concludes, that their value is now insignificant indeed. It is not possible for the assistant masters to revise the

exercises alone in less than six hours; and what is the advantage after all of these exercises, which consist of compositions in Latin and Greek. What in the name of common sense,' asks the author, he himself having been once, as we judge from his various hints, an Etonian, " What can be the object of such a huge mass of composition? Ninety-nine persons out of one hundred never attempt even Latin or Greek after they have left school, to say nothing of the fact, that about half the Eton compositions, in the dead languages, are the productions of others than the nominal author. But let us listen to the developement of the system.

"The highest boy at Eton has, in the course of the week, to construe about 35 verses of some one of the lesser Greek poets, about 70 verses of Homer, Horace, and, generally, Virgil; these he also repeats by heart. He has, in addition, to construe the same quantity of Latin, and, also, Greek prose, principally Lucian. About the 30 highest boys manage, besides all this, to get through a Greek play, if a moderately short one, in A TWELVEMONTH; and this is the sum total of the public instruction. Occasional and periodical holidays, scattered over the year, deduct something considerable from the regular work. Making allowance for this, we may fairly state the annual reading of a boy in the highest class at Eton, to be about four books of Homer, three of Virgil, two books of the Satires of Horace, or their equivalent; as much Latin prose as would amount to a book and a half of one of Cicero's Treatises; about the same quantity of Greek prose, together with 1000, or 1100 lines of the lesser Greek poets. Now this course of reading is undeniably inadequate as a preparation for College. Indeed, the head master of Eton plainly acknowledges as much; for he exacts the same quantity from boys 13 years old, that he does from those of 18.

"It is a very remarkable fact, that, at Eton, the lowest boy in the fifth form has a GREAT DEAL MORE to do than the highest in the sixth; for he does exactly the same lessons, without the advantage of having read many of them before, and, of course, without having the same maturity and strength of intellect to learn by. That which a boy of 13 is capable of doing, cannot be sufficient for a young man who is entering College."—pp. 21-22.

It is the conclusion, then, of the author, that until the doggrel Latin and its tedious connexions are suppressed, there is no hope for Eton pupils. He suggests for the present, that each of the three divisions of the fifth form should have separate books; the lower division in which boys remain one year might read two books of the Odyssey, two of Xenophon's Anabasis, the Odes of Horace, and the Georgics of Virgil. Characteristically enough, the latter book, because thoroughly innocent perhaps, and highly calculated to deposit some choice elements in the minds of youth, the Georgics of Virgil are not read in Eton! The Eneid, with all its doubtful description, is on the contrary a favourite. The lower division still should, in addition, read the Cataline war of Sallust, and the De Lenectute and Amicitiâ of Cicero. He thinks

that one original exercise in the week would be quite enough; but a weekly translation of a short Latin paragraph ought to be considered indispensable.

No person who knows any thing of the subject of education will deny that boys should be as much as possible left to their own resources, and this should be particularly attended to in the translations. At present it would appear that the turning of Latin into English is done with no care at Eton, and under such circumstances it is not unlikely that a boy would frequently confound the difference between the idioms of the two languages, an error which has sometimes struck us in the writings of persons educated in this school.

The author next speaks of the value of emulation as a means of stimulating youth to exertion, and he laments that the system at Eton should be so modified in such an ignorance of human nature as to leave out this principle altogether. The writer again insists that every division should have its exclusive master, instead of the present practice which places, for example, a boy in the upper part of the fourth form, under five different masters.

With respect to the middle division of the fifth form, he suggests one original exercise, and a translation as before mentioned. The boys belonging to it he thinks might read two books of the Iliad, two plays of Euripides, edited by Porson, two books of Livy, two of Herodotus, and some portions of Juvenal and Catullus. The upper division, comprising the sixth form, which we suppose a student would take between three and four years to go through, ought to read three plays of Sophocles, as many of Aschylus and Aristophanes, three books of Thucydides, two books of Tacitus, the Satires and Epistles of Horace (which boys in the lower part of the fifth form are certainly not capable of understanding), a book of Lucretius, at least ONE of the larger Speeches of Demosthenes, and four of Cicero, three books of the Eneid, and a small quantity of Theocritus. There should be the same proportion of composition as in the other divisions, and religious instruction besides. In his passage through the fifth form, a boy ought certainly to be made acquainted, not only with the Gospels and Acts, but with Paley's Evidences, Grotius, and Tomline Theology.

He considers that something should be done for abstract science in Eton, such as prescribing to the boys at a certain stage of their education a knowledge of four books of Euclid, and of Algebra. It is singular that the study of mathematics should not even be recognized at Etou as a part of its public business.

There are some other remarks in a branch of the discipline of the College, to which it is necessary we should advert. The subject is one of great interest, and indeed of importance, and well deserving the public attention. We are glad to see such questions taken up under auspices so very fortunate as those which atten

the present one, for there is an ample measure of energy and decision displayed in enforcing the necessity of reform, without the slightest approach to ill-humour or any other fault which would be unworthy of an advocate of truth and justice.

ART. IX.-The History of Switzerland from its Earliest Origin to the Present Time, a Popular Description and Faithful Picture of the gradual Rise and Progress of the Swiss Nation. From the German. By HEINRICH

ZSCHOKKE.

One vol. 12mo. London: Wilson.

1834.

As a specimen of the characteristic manner in which the Germans prepare historical narratives for diffusion amongst the people, we consider the present work as particularly worthy of attention in this country. The work before us, which is a history of a very interesting people, whose relation to Europe has been from time immemorial one of very great importance, appears to us in its plan and execution a model of good composition in the department to which it belongs. The narrative is written in a peculiarly lucid style; an animated spirit is kept up throughout the whole of the work to the conclusion, and with admirable discretion and just taste, the events and points of particular value towards elucidating the history of the Swiss nation, are selected for extended explanation. In endeavouring to give to our readers some idea of the qualities to which we have attributed to the volume, we shall be governed in our notices less by a desire to keep up a regular succession in our observations on events, than by a wish to exhibit the peculiar powers of the author.

It is not necessary for us to notice the ancient portion of the history of Switzerland, as nothing of any great interest attracts our attention in these annals before the reign of Charlemagne, under whose influence that country, with every other European kingdom, experienced considerable changes. In his reign, Helvetia was incorporated with the German Empire, and thus became a special object of the emperor's attention. And this event was favourable to Helvetia, for the local governors in almost every part of the Continent, taking advantage of the disorders which distinguished these times, assumed the supreme authority, passing by all these intermediate powers which stood between them and the emperor, whom alone they showed any disposition to confess as their superior. But though conflicting among themselves, they always courted harmony when a common danger threatened, and in the year of our Lord, 900, when an innumerable host, the mounted Hungarians, as they are called in history, issued from the shores of the Black Sea. and moved to the banks of the Danube, these petty chiefs of Helvatia, like the other self constituted authorities, united readily in the plan of the emperor, to

take measures in their country for defending it. Henry, the Fowler, who filled the throne of the German Empire at this crisis, commanded for this purpose that all the large inhabitant places, throughout Helvetia, should be surrounded with walls, ramparts, and moats, and that these strong places should be occupied by a ninth proportion of the free and nobler population, who should undertake their defence in war, and direct their internal policy in time of peace. Here was the origin of cities and of corporate councils in Switzerland, and the example which was thus given of preparations for defence, was imitated so extensively, that every place in that country, capable of being attacked, was put into a state of fortification. The general security thus afforded to cities and towns, induced great numbers to repair to them, and they became the marts of commerce and opulence, such as excited the jealousy of the nobles who still continued to immure themselves in their castles. Some, however, of these nobles sympathized warmly with the popular interests, and not only mitigated the slavish system which had been immemoriably established in the country, but distributed to poor families portions of their land, requiring only a tithe of the produce and personal service when required. On every house erected within the seignorial domains, a tribute was exacted consisting of hens and eggs. Another custom was, that when the head of a family died, his family were obliged to give up to the lord of their property, or to the religious establishment of which they were members, the best dress which belonged to the deceased, also the best article of furniture, and the best beast in the stable. The rest of the property remained in the family as their legal inheritance. The lords kept all the unappropriated lands to themselves, these being principally forests from which nothing was supplied to the people without their permission. They allowed the peasantry to fell parts of the forest, and to clear wood-lands for cultivation on a ground rent. The persons who were allowed to do this remained bondsmen, if they were not originally free, and were considered as being entirely subject to the will of the lord. They received their timber from him for their dwellings and offices, the seed for sowing, the plough, waggon, hatchet, ladder, the first cows in the stall, the first sow and pigs, and the first cock and hens. In return for all this, the tenants were obliged to pay a tax on every article to the lord, to give him their services, and make tributes in kind, sending them to the castle. Such was the origin of the towns and numerous villages of Switzerland.

Most of the ancient families, who flourished at this period and took a prominent part in establishing the system by which the inferior classes were so much benefited, are now extinct, having been in the time of the Crusades considerably diminished in their numbers by reason of the number of them which joined in the expeditions to the Holy Land. But that which was fatal to the