effectually because its operation is indiscreet and unsuspected. We refer to a home-bred influence that springs up by the fire side and around the table. It drops from the parent's lips on the heart of his child, to be carried into the gatherings of children in the neighborhood, and thence, with accumulated power into the school, there to injure if not to frustrate, the best endeavors of otherwise competent and useful teachers. It takes the place of a salutary influence that might easily be exerted by the judicious and decided coôperation of parents while their children are under the domestic roof. The indulgence of parental fondness humors the waywardness of the child, lends a willing and partial ear to his unfounded complaint against the teacher, entertains unjust suspicions of the latter's intellectual attainments, and discretion in government. Instead of placing the full weight of parental authorty in the hands of the teacher, it takes away from those hands much of the authority which the deliberate and settled wisdom of the State has placed in them. We therefore respectfully, but with an earnest voice, call upon parents, by their tender and sacred regard to the best interests of their children, and by their enlightened respect to the general good, to refrain carefuly from weakening the government and diminishing the usefulness of the teacher by hasty or ill-founded distrust of his competency or faithfulness, and to consider that, in the regulations of his school, and in his judgment of the character and conduct, the merit or demerit, of the scholar while under his eye, he has advantages for discernment which can be possessed by no one else; and to bear in mind that, as a general fact, the teacher feels his responsibility more deeply and constantly than others feel it for him, and that his reputation and disposition stimulate him to put forth his best exertions for the useful advancement of the school. Let them not forget that, while the children are in school, parental authority is passed away into other hands, and that neither the parent nor the scholar should entertain the thought that any remnant of domestic power may infringe on the supremacy of the teacher, whilst standing where the public will has placed him.-Massachusetts Teacher. WINTER SCHOOLS. tical problems of individual and social life. Amidst these scenes of mental excite nent characters are rapidly receiving, as on melted metal, the stamp which they will soon exhibit as current coin in the wide world's marts. Well may that winter school form as it does the staple topic for at least one half the talk of the whole section; weil may the doings of the "master" and the pupils be made the subjects of constant discussion. Alas that those doings should be debated in passion and prejudice by those who have never entered the school-room door. How happy if every parent would visit in person that busy room. Let them come and mingle with their children in their school: let them sit down by the side of their sons and daughters on the hard benches, and watch with friendly interest the processes by which the noble boy and graceful girl are conquering their way to intelligence and power. And why should not parents visit the school? There is no spot within the boundaries of the section so ull of interest and instruction as that school-room. A half day spent in the school is better and pleasanter every way than an escuing at some scientific lecture. In the well conducted asses one may hear unending courses of popular lectures. Once make it fashiona le and no place of resort will be found to possess so many attractions as a good school. And how largely would the general intelligence and cultivation of any community be increased should the adu't portion of that community adopt the plan of spending their leisure hours in the school room. If the minds of children increase in knowledge under the instructions of the compe tent teacher, how much more the minds of men who could comprehend the practical value and bearing of every truth, and bring to the illustration of every principle the light of an active experience! Nor need there be any great fear that the lessons would be too sim. ple. But few memories are so tenacious as not to need frequent reviews even, and a review of the lessons of childhood would often reveal to the man important truths which the inexperience or inattention of childhood had failed to perceive. servers. And how honorable and potential is the position of the master of the winter school! Throughout the section he is the observed of all obwindow or door ajar, anxious eyes study his walk and dress. His words Wherever he walks the streets, from many a half-curtained are caught and carried till their echo has been heard by every fireside, and they have formed the topic of talk for old and young. If a man of intelligence, cultivation and benevolence, how much may he contrib The winter school! What stirring memories hang around this phrase! What visions of fun or fame does it not arouse in the minds of youth. The winter is the time for the revival of learning. The old schoolhouse, which has through the long hot days of summer shrunk quietly aside under the shadow of the trees, or veiled its face in the way-ute to even the present happiness of the section; how much of a side dust seems to grow larger and looms up with a sort of eonscious dignity as the cold weather approaches. The big boys and girls are coming to shool. The harvesting and husking are over, the labors of the farm and dairy are finished, and the older sons and daughters who have rendered good service at home, are about to turn their attention from the cultivation of the soil to the pursuit of science. The old schoolroom whose summer siesta has scarcely been disturbed by the patter of little feet and the piping voice of the wee ones, now proudly echos the sturdy tread of stalwart youth, and the merry laugh of blushing maidens, who have gathered their books in hand, to grapple again with the knotty sums of the arithmetic and the puzzles of the parsing lessons. What a time there has been about engaging a "master?" How the tide of talk has sent its eddying whirls to the very circumference of the "section" and agitated the minds of old and young as one candidate after another has been proposed for the truly important post of teacner of the winter school. Finally it has been settled; the progressive party and the young people have triumphed, and the teacher, just from the normal school, has been hired. Some old men shake their heads and talk doubtfully of new notions and high wages, but the older class of scholars express their joy that, at length they are to have a skilful and accomplished teacher, and all discontent soon disappears in their enthusiastic discussions of their purposes and plans for a hitherto unheard of diligence and success in study. The dust is brushed from the old books and the pages are carefully scanned for some familiar mark or passage which may indicate the last step of the last winter's progress. New studies to be taken up are discussed, and old ones are proposed for review, till, finally the whole question is deferred for the "master's" advice. At length the day and the master arrive; the scholars assemble, the preliminaries are settled and the winter school is begun. The temporary feeling of strangeness and distrust between the "master" and his scholars speedily gives way to a sentiment of mutual interest and regard, and they bend themselves steadily down to their respective tasks as teacher and taught. Ah! how busy and blessed a scene is that winter school! What a band of earnest thinkers is there, groping amidst the elements, or wrestling manfully with the higher problems of scientific truth! How the conflict of mind goes on as the spellers take their places, or the parsers bend over the contorted phraseology of Milton or Pollock or Pope, or as the young algebraists chalk their equations upon the black board. The intellectual strength and skill acquired here will by and by grapple, with a triumphant might and success, with the great prac of his generous and cheerful intellectuality may he breathe into the circles of its social life. And in the school-room how splendid the responsibilities of that winter school; how glorious and blessed the fruits. How may he infuse into the minds of those large boys and girls, just ready to start forth on the path of independent life, t e vigour and energy cultured intellect, and animate them with his own loftier purposes or authority of the master he may add the persuasive influence of the more generous ambitions. Teacher at once and companion, to the friend, and there amongst the scenes of that winter school, in the familiar chat of the recess hour and in the familiar companionship of the fireside, where he goes as the honored and welcome guest, whatever of purity or true nobleness there may lie buried within him will gied hopes and anxieties for the future, now drawing so near, when get itself reproduced in their minds and manners. Amidst their minworking world, with what interest and confidence do they turn to the they must leave school and hon e for an independent place in the wide, teacher to tell him the plans they have formed or to ask his advice concerning the course they are to pursue. of life, and how long will its memories linger through those coming How that winter school sends out its lights far along the roadways like spring flowers which, in some favoured spot, linger on even till the years, carrying forward its own joyousness, even to the sear leaf age, snows of winter come again. Michigan Journal of Education. FAMILY CONVERSATION. Very much depends on the conversation of those with whom we habitually mingle. How many great men have received their first impetus on the road to fame from the elevating influence of the conversation of some gifted friend! How many individuals, occupying distinguished public posi ions, owe half their distinction to the fact of their being permitted to absorb and elaborate afterward, in their own tashion, the sentiments and ideas that circulate from mouth to mouth around them! Reading and conversation should go hand in hand, the former lending to the latter piquey and weight, the latter giving to the former the power of stamping itself indelibly on the mind. Plato knew this; and in the quiet groves of Academe gave the immortal example of the worth of well-di ected conversation. The man who reads a book and does not speak of it is like the squirrel who busies himself during the autumn in collecting treasures of beech-nuts and acorns, and buries them carefully in the earth as a store against the hunger of winter, but, having a bad memory, forgets where to seek for them when the hour of want arrives, and leaves them to rot or vegetate, as chance ordains. Conversation to be truly agreeable shoul: be instructive; but to be instruciive, it should be first made agreeable; nor should the topics be treated in a dry and repulsive manner. It is a duty that people owe to one another, to render their social intercourse productive of mutual benefit. This may be most readily and effectually accomplished by the adoption in the family circle, where trends are in the habit of meeting, of some regular plan which shall guide, without fettering, the conversation; and which, while it gives it an instructive tone, need not interfere with its discursiveness, or suitableness to all comprehensions. Nothing would be more simple, and nothing of more lasting usefulness to this and succeeding generations. There are few families, in the present age of free public libraries, without the means of commanding a supply of valuable and wellwritten books. And it would not be very difficult for the eter members of every household to establish a rule, that every evening, or on certain evenings each week, when gathered round the fireside, some books, or discovery, or work of art, or historical event, should be calmly and regularly discussed by the entire circle. Such discussions should embrace a variety of subjects, including those of sufficient familiarity for all to engage fredly in the conversation. Then every member, however inexperienced an unarmed, should be heard with attention; for as there is no flower, however humble, from which the bee will not extract honey, there is no mind so unlimited or unenlightened, from which we may not gather some fruit to be garned in our memories. The topics introduced need not always be treated profoundly, for a continual gravity would put enjoyment out of the question, and make a circle o: pedants; and a pedantic family is detestable. It was Pitt, I think, who said, "I would not give a fig for a man who was not able to talk nonsense!" And that great statesman know very well what he was saying, for it requires a positive amount of genius to talk nonsense well. There need be no necessity, then, for the debates I am recommending to be always wrapped in intense gravity. A subject should now and then be started which would admit of being treated in a volatile manner. Shond a family determine to improve and amuse themselves after this rational manner, instead of wasting their evenings in idle gossip, nothing would be easier than to vary the entertainment sufficiently to give it the charm of novelty. MORAL INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS. The following admirable remark are from Bishop Hopkins' address before the Vermont Teachers' Association, delivered at Windsor, 22nd August. We copy from the Vermont Chronicle which publishes the address in fuli: I have said in the commencement of my lecture, that the reading of the Scriptures should be a regular part of the exercises of every school. I do not ask that the teacher shall make any direct comment on these Scriptures, nor even that he should open or close his school with any public act of prayer. But I do contend that the Bible, so read, shall be continually referred to, as the standard of all moral action, because nothing short of this can prevent the reading of it from becoming an idle form, and even an act of irreverence. For why should the Word of God be read, it it be not regarded? Or why should the divine law be recited, if it be not obeyed. In the government of the schools, therefore, this principle should never be forgotten. The teacher must have rules of order, and he must punish their infraction in some way, both for the reformation of the offenders, and a caution to the rest. This he may do, I grant, as of his own authority, but if he should take occasion to tell his pupils that the order of the school is established not for his own ease, but for their improvement-that their parents sent them there for the express purpose that they should learn that it was the goodness of their Heavenly Father which gave them the opportunity of learning, for which they should be devoutly thankful, that the teacher was responsible to their parents, but much more to God, for making them perform their duty-that they were responsible to the same God for the right use of their advantages, because it was their duty to learn as much as it was his to teach-would not a few words of this sort kindly but seriously uttered, (as the occasion might serve,) be far more likely to secure obedience, besides the inestimable importance of resting that obedience on the right principle which should govern the whole future conduct of life? Again, we will suppose that the Christian teacher sees two or three pupils of superior talents, struggling in the spirit of natural ambition, to be at the head of the class; that the successful one is puffed up with pride, that his competitors are distressed with envy, and a far larger number, being hopeless of reaching the same distinction, are idle and careless, making no effort at all. Would it not be a most valuable opportunity to give them a lesson on the dealings of Providence! Should he not tell them that God sees fit in His own wisdom to make a great difference in the natural powers of his creatures: that to some He gives far more capacity to learn than to others; but that it is a sin to be proud of our talents on the one hand, or to cast down by our dulness on the other, because we deserve no credit for what God has given us, and it is no reproach to us if others have a larger portion than ourselves, that all we have to do is to use our abilities with ailigence and industry, in obedience to His will, that those who have the most talent will have a larger account to render, while those who have the least and do the best they can according to their means, will have the same reward, since it is not the possession of our powers, but the pains we take to use them rightly, which has the promise of final success, through the divine blessing. Surely such a lesson would be most likely to cure the pride of selfish ambition, to stimulate the I would earnestly advocate the fireside readings and debates. With young people the debates would be productive of the purest benefits. They would give them a habit of expressing themselves with propriety of diction; of arranging their thoughts and presenting them in the most forcible manner. They would impress on their memories every new fact that came under their notice, and the contents of every book whose merits formed the subject-matter of the discourses. They would teach them that patience and a governed teinper are necessary to con duct any sort of discussion properly. And, finally, by bringing the minds of the various members of the family into constant intercourse with each other, by displaying the acquirements of some, and the deficiencies of others, it would lead to a wholesome emulation on the side of the uneducated to rise to a level with the more gifted. It would also afford the latter an opportunity of proving their kindness and good nature by assisting their fellow-labourers in their praiseworthy efiorts with their advice and counsel; and thus by drawing the bondsuse.) of union closer, the whole family would be linked together in socialolute ties that nothing could sever, because they would be spun from thehich heart, and strengthened by the intellect.-The Student. "NEVER FORGET YOUR MOTHER." аш ed the tre to The editor of the Lawrence Courier, who is a Worcester boy, r arried ferring to the death of the Hon. John Davis, remarks that he owe n with much to the personal suggestion at d advice of the Ex-Governor, kind es the and earnestly bestowed in earlier years, and adds: ercules "The last counsel we received from him was characteristic of tipulus. man; it was on the deck of a vessel that lay with loosened sails a wish shortened cable that we, still in boyhood, just commencing years wandering and hardship, received a parting grasp of his pure haiculties with these words-' God bless you! Remember what I've said; aey are wherever you go, NEVER FORGET YOUR MOTHER!' What better char man is could be given a lad launching forth on 'life's deceitful tide," whee conthe chart and compass of his young head and heart must be his or protectiou from shipwreck? crowd "Many years have passed away, and that good man has finish hey are the voyage of time; he has disappeared down the dark stream e flashdeath, and we doubt not has reached that celestial haven where hs over storms of earth are never known, and has exchanged the anchor symenemies which he ever carried at the prow during life, for a blissful realizatic -The Student. ent, are strains TRIFLES make perfection, but perfection itself is no trifle.-Michc prose. Angelo. EDUCATION. LOCKE, once on a time, being bredby stadsarvelener, how to get at the true secret of education remarked: "He that has found a way to keep a child's spirit, easy, active, and free, and yet at the same time to restrain him from many things he has a mind to, and to draw him to things that are uneasy to him-he, I say, who knows how to reconcile these seeming contradictions, has, in my opinion, got the true secret of education."-L. "Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. If we retrench the wages of the schoolmaster, we must raise those of the recruiting sergeant."-EDWARD Everett. LITERARY WOMEN. rate and interesting article respecting the distinguished women of France. In no way can we better convey an idea of the tenor of the writer's thoughts, than by laying before our readers the following specimen : The October number of the Westminster Review contains an elabo "Patriotic gallantry may perhaps contend that English women could, if they had liked, have written as well as their neighbours; but we will leave the consideration of that question to the reviewers of the literature that might have been. In the literature that actually is, we must turn to France for the highest examples of womanly achievement in almost every department. We confess ourselves unacquainted with the productions of those awful women of Italy, who held professional chairs and were great in civil and canon law; we have made no researches into the catacombs of female literature, but we think we may safely conclude that they would yield no rivals to that which is still unburied! and here, we suppose, the question of pre-eminence can SPEECHES OF THE CHANCELLOR AND VICE-CHANCELLOR AT THE RECENT CONVOCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. The Chancellor rose amidst great applause, which lasted for some time. He said :-Mr. Vice Chancellor and Gentlemen of the Senate, Ladies and Gentlemen,-It was my intention to have offered a few remarks on the statutes and regulations which have been passed for the government of this University; but you have been already detained so long, and I will add, so much more profitably, by the interesting ceremony in which we have been engaged, that I will not allow myself to make more than one or two observations. It may be thought that the Senate has been tardy in calling this Convocation, and there has been no douut considerable delay, but I venture to hope that the Senate is not justly chargeable with neglect. Many months clapsed before the government was enabled to keep the necessary arrangements for the constitution of the University; and alter the Senate had been constituted, much time was lost in acquiring the information which was absolutely necessary to enable them to set about their, task. Without going into details, I may be allowed to mention, perhaps that the statutes under which the convocation has this day assembled were not returned to me until the middle of September, so that we have not been enabled to give more than a few weeks' notice of the commence ment; and considering the shortness of that notice, the results are such, I think, as ought to gratiiy all who take an interest in the cause of education. I find that at the commencement of the Queen's University in Ireland, held during the last month, the whole number of degrees conferred in the Faculty of Arts was thirty, and they were drawn of course from the three colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway. Now when I state that we have this day conferred nineteen degrees, and that thirty-seven students have been admitted in the Faculty of Arts, five in the Faculty of Law, and one in the Faculty of Medicine, it might be admitted, I think, that the results are highly satisfactory, and argue well for the prosperity of this institution. But there is that objected to in this University, which, if true, must prevent it ever producing those beneficial results to which we look forward with so much hope. It is said that this is an unchristian, or perhaps I should say, an antichristian institution, unworthy the support of Christian men in a Christian country. That is a charge which well deserves the attentive consideration of all, but especially of those upon whom the administration of the affairs of this institution have been devolved, and it becomes us, therefore, to consider deliberately the foundation upon which it rests. It is quite true that the Faculty of Divinity in this University has been abolished; but that was a matter of necessity and not of choice. (Applause.) Had there existed in this Province an Established the Bible are acknowledged by all Christian denominations alike. With that great bond of union and agreement, the Senate feels that the minor differences between Christian and Christian may well be sunk, in carrying on this great work of Education, as comparatively unimportant; and if there be any man who feels himself at liberty to stigmatize us as therefore either unchristian or anti christian, he must feel himself equally at liberty to stigmatize as antichristian and unchristian every ddnomination other than that to which he himself belongs. If that be the true nature of the reproach, the Univerity is content to bear it. I admit that any system of education which would exclude moral science would be, in my humble judgment, very imperfect system, because it is in the formation of the moral principles and habits that education in the true sense of the word consists. And I will also admit that I know of no standard of moral judgment or Christian men than the Bible. But does this University exclude moral science? Does she ignore the Bible as the standard of moral judgment? If to found Scholarships for the promotion of this particular branch of science,—if to require proficiency in it from all students throughout the whole course, -—if to reward a thorough acquaintance in it with the highest honours,-if that be to exclude moral science, then we are justly liable to the charge. And how can it be said with truth that we ignore Christiahity, when our statutes expressly require a knowledge of Paley's Evidences and Butler's immortal Analogy, from every student who is a candidate for a degree in Arts. On the contrary, I am bold to affirm that the field of moral knowledge which is laid open is as large, and the degree of cultivation required as perfect, as in any other establishment of the same character on the face of the earth. (Great applause.) Before I sit down I am anxious to refer to the munificent provision which has been made by the University for the promotion of literature and science, by the considerate foundation of ninety scholarships. The Senate, after the most anxious deliberation, has found itself at libery to appropriate to this high object no less a sum tnan £3,000 a year. It may be thought, and, indeed, I have heard it said, that this is an extravagant expenditure of the national endowments of this national institution. I admit that it is, so far as I am aware, unprecedented. Larger funds, indeed, are devoted to this particular object in other countries, but that has been the fruit of individual munificence, accumulating through many ages. But there will not be found any instance, I believe, in which an institution of this sort has devoted so large a portion of its funds to that object. The Senate, however, felt that our social position was peculiar. Ours has not been a natural growth, in which, by a gradualand simultaneous devolopement of all the powers, nations, like individuals, grow up to manhood. Our physical powers, if I may be permitted so to speak, have received an undue developement. The avenues to wealth će open all around us, and are everywhere coveted by men pressing nward to fortune. The national industry is stimulated, therefore, to party and the young people have triumphed, and the teacher, just from the normal school, has been hired. Some old men shake their heads and talk doubtfully of new notions and high wages, but the older class of scholars express their joy that, at length they are to have a skilfule highest point, and the love of money, with all its kindred evils, is and accomplshed teacher, and all discontent soon disappears in their enthusiastic discussions of their purposes and plans for a hitherto unheard of diligence and success in study. The dust is brushed from the old books and the pages are carefully scanned for some familiar mark or passage which may indicate the last step of the last winter's progress. New studies to be taken up are discussed, and old ones are proposed for review, till, finally the whole question is deferred for the "master's" advice. At length the day and the master arrive; the scholars assemble, the preliminaries are settled and the winter school is begun. The temporary feeling of strangeness and distrust between the master" and his scholars speedily gives way to a sentiment of mutual interest and regard, and they bend themselves steadily down to their respective tasks as teacher and taught. Ah! how busy and blessed a scene is that winter school! What a band of earnest thinkers is there, groping amidst the elements, or wrestling manfully with the higher problems of scientific truth! How the conflict of mind goes on as the spellers take their places, or the parsers bend over the contorted phraseology of Milton or Pollock or Pope, or as the young algebraists chalk their equations upon the black board. The intellectual strength and skill acquired here will by and by grapple, with a triumphant might and success, with the great prac coming deeply rooted in the hearts of our people, while the pleasant snths of literature are becoming deserted, and the general tendency is wards a state of mental decrepitude, destructive of all our national eatness. We have a fertile soil and a salubrious climate, and we live the favour of Providence under free institutions, which secure to us hat most inestimable of all privileges, civil and religious liberty; and enjoy all under the fostering care of that mighty empire, of which disust ever remain our greatest glory that we form a part. (Great thelause.) But what will any or all of these advantages avail us if our tastal aud intellectual faculties are suffered to lie dormant. True im ve. aroonal greatness is not the necessary growth either of fertility of or salubrity of climate. Look around the globe and you will find len fortywhere, fertile regions once the abode of civilization and art, now this to the lowest point of poverty and degradation, while the barren of td and pestilent marsh have become the seats of empire and wealth. boo at Holland or at Scotland-consider what these countries have dur and, and what they now are; and then look at the past history and of wnt condition of Spain, or of Italy, and you will find the contrast a acholy proof of the truth of the statement. Melancholy in truth it is, all of instruction and full of hope, for it demonstrates with unmis takeable clearness that it is to the cultivation of his moral and intellectual faculties that man owes all his goddlike pre-eminence. (Applause.) And when these faculties are suffered to lie dormant, when the human mind becomes stunted, then nations, like individuals, sink by the inevi table law of our nature to the level of the beasts that perish. If it be an object then to lay the foundation of true national greatness-if we desire to achieve for ourselves a position among the nations of the earth, like that of the glorious empire to which we belong if we hope to stand out even as she now stands out, pre-eminent not only in power, but in the grandeur of her intellectual being, we must imitate the example and walk in the footsteps of our forefathers. (Great Applause.) We must elevate the national mind by the careful cultivation of our moral and intellectual faculties. We must cherish the arts by which habits are reformed and manners embellished. We must implant the love of truth, of beauty and ret.own in the hearts of our people. This is the noble object to which this University aspires, for the accomplishment of which she esteems every sacrifice small. Failing to accomplish this, she feels that all is lost. But if she is enabled to fulfil what she must believe to be her destiny, she feels that she will have laid the foundation of true national greatness, and she indulges the confident hope that we may one day point to our long line of heroes and states. men, of philosophers and poets, only less glorious than that which adorns the annals of our native land. (Great Appause.) While we all exult with patriotic joy-and such exultations will, I am sure, be participated in by every one in this assembly-in the glorious achievements of our countrymen in the sanguinary conflict on the heights of Alma (great applause), permit me to give, to-day, the due merit of praise to those who have won a bloodless triumph over as fierce enemies of progress, over as stern foes of improvement-the assaults of bad propensities, the attacks of evil passions, the pressure of straightened circumstances—and have won the victory, not at Alma, but at Alma Mater. (Great Applause.) Miscellaneous. (From the London Times.) THE ALMA RIVER. Though till now ungraced in story, scant although thy waters be, Many a great and ancient river, crowned with city, tower, and shrine, "By the Alma, at the winning of that terrible hill-side." R. C. T. IN ALMAM FLUVIUM The Rev. Dr. MCCAUL, Vice-Chancellor, said that the gratifying duty devolved on him of presenting the certificates of honor, whereby the University attests its opinion of the proficiency of its students in the different departments, to which they have devoted special attention. Such certificates, in themselves of no value, derive all their worth from the circumstances under which they are presented and received. Their value consists in this, that they are the records of the success which has attended you in the prosecution of your studies. And when I speak of success, I do not merely mean the success in competition-the success of one candidate over another, although I should be sorry to be believed to be amongst those who think that such competition is injurious. (Applause.) I believe that beneficial results arise from this competition, nor has the Almighty implanted in man a desire for distinction without wise and good objects, in order that it may be the means of producing benefit both to man himself and to his fellowbeings (Applause.) But it is in a far higher sense that I speak of success. I speak of that success which I doubt not some of you have had-of that triumph which some of you have achieved over the allurements of pleasure, over the blandishments of indolence, over the temptations of vice; of that success over straitened circumstances which may have impeded some of you in your course; that success which has attended some of you in the hard struggle to overcome those difficulties which poverty may have thrown in your way. (Applause.) Such success I deem to be the development of that spirit of resolute determination, of patient self-denial and of steady perseverance, which produced the mascula proles of the olden time-which has supplied the parent state with so many illustrious men, whose names add lustre to the bright pages of British glory, and which, I doubt not, if carried out here, will yet grace the annals of this fair land of our adoption with a long and noble list of her own worthies. Such a spirit realizes the conception of the Satirist, for it would prefer the labors of a Hercules to the sumptuous banquets and voluuptuous ease of a Sardanapulus. Such success is not generally regarded with that high honour I wish to attach to it, and yet I am sure that such triumphs over difficulties and impediments are the genuine proofs of true greatness. They are as far superior to physical triumphs as the spiritual nature of man is superior to his corporeal. They have not, it must be owned, the con"Patriotic gallantry may perhaps contend that English women could, comitants which excite the attention and the admiration of the crowd if they had liked, have written as well as their neighbours; but we will leave the consideration of that question to the reviewers of the -they have not the pomp and circumstance of glorious war-they are literature that might have been. In the literature that actually is, we unaccompanied by the pealing trumpet, the booming gun or the flash- must turn to France for the highest examples of womanly achievement ing banner, and yet I hesitate not to say that such triumphs over in almost every department. We confess ourselves unacquainted with moral difficulties and impediments-such successes over the enemies the productions of those awful women of Italy, who held professional chairs and were great in civil and canon law; we have made no reof our spiritual welfare-the foes to our mental improvement, are searches into the catacombs of female literature, but we think we may equal, if not superior to anything ever eulogized in the noblest strains safely conclude that they would yield no rivals to that which is still of poesy, or celebrated in the most glowing language of historic prose.unburied! and here, we suppose, the question of pre-eminence can EDUCATION.-LOCKE, once on a time, being asked by a school teacher, how to get at the true secret of education remarked: "He that has found a way to keep a child's spirit, easy, active, and free, and yet at the same time to restrain him from many things he has a mind to, and to draw him to things that are uneasy to him-he, I say, who knows how to reconcile these seeming contradictions, has, in my opinion, got the true secret of education."-L. "Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. If we retrench the wages of the schoolmaster, we must raise those of the recruiting sergeant."-EDWARD EVERETT. LITERARY WOMEN. The October number of the Westminster Review contains an elaborate and interesting article respecting the distinguished women of France. In no way can we better convey an idea of the tenor of the writer's thoughts, than by laying before our readers the following specimen : only lie between England and France. And to this day, Madame de Sevigne remains the single instance of a woman who is supreme in a class of literature which has engaged the ambition of men; Madame Dacier still reigns the queen of blue stockings, though women bave long studied Greek without shame; Madame de Stael's name still rises first to the lips when we are asked to mention a woman of great intelectual power; Madame Roland is still the unrivalled type of the sagacious and sternly heroic, yet loveable women; George Sand is the unapproached artist who, to Jean Jacques' eloquence and deep sense of external nature, unites the clear delineation of character and the tragic depth of passion, These great names, which mark different epochs, soar like tall pines amidst a forest of less conspicuous but not less fascinating, female writers; and beneath these again, are spread, like a thicket of hawthorns, eglantines, and honeysuckles, the women who are known rather by what they stimulated mien to write, than by what they wrote themselves-the women whose tact, wit and personal radiance, created the atmosphere of the Salon, where literature, philosophy, and science, emancipated from the trammels of pedantry and technicality, entered on a brighter stage of existence." PROBABLE EFFECT OF THE ANGLO-FRENCH ALLIANCE ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The subject of the probable effect of the present happy alliance of the two most civilized nations of the world on the language of those nations is one deserving the consideration of every lover of literature, as well as the etymologist. Among many other effects of this alliance this is not the least noteworthy. To the English student it is more particularly worthy of study, for it is a well known fact that the English tongue is more susceptible of change and of receiving impressions than any other language. This is, and always has been, one of the characteristics of our language. with the creation of our race, and which will terminate when the earth and all things therein shall be dissolved.' "But let us take a year, and add to it by unity: we soon arrive at a century. Taking this as our unit, we add again, until we arrive at the era of creation. We go backward still, until we find ourselves, in imagination, at the commencement of a si lereal system. Duration is still unexhausted; it is yet an unfathomable abyss. We conceive of ages upon ages, each as interminable as the past duration of the material universe and cast them into the mighty void; they sink in darkness, and the chasm is still unfathomable. We go forward again, add century to century without finding any limit. We pass on till the present system is dissolved, and duration is still immeasurable. We add together the past and the future term of the existence of the universe, and multiply it by millions of millions, and we have approached no nearer than at first to the limits of duration. We are conscious that it sustains no relations either to measure or limit. It is beyond all computation by the addition of the finite. It is thus, from the contemplation of duration, that the idea of the infinite arises in a human intellect from the necessity of its nature. "This idea of the infinite, to which the mind so necessarily tends, and which it derives from so many conceptions, is one of the most remarkable of any of which we are cognizant. It belongs to the human intelligence, for it arises within us unbidden on various ocasions, and of perception or consciousness; it is occasioned by them; yet it difiers we cannot escape it. Yet it is cognized by none of the powers either from them as widely as the human mind can conceive. The knowledge derived from these sources is by necessity limited and finite. It has no qualities, yet we all have a necessary knowledge of what it means. Is there not in this idea some dim forshadowing of the relation which we, as finite beings, sustain to the Infinnite One, and of those conceptions which burst upon us in that unchanging state to which we are all so rapidly tending?" THE POPULATION OF IRELAND. A return has been issued from the census office in Dublin, showing the population of Ireland from the year 1805, to 1853, both inclusive, as far as the same could be ascertained from various sources. The result is thus set forth : Year. The foundation of the English tongue is very slight, while the superstructure is composed of parts from almost every known languageLatin, Greek, French, Danish, Norman French, Italian, German, Spanish, and even contributions from the language of Asia, Africa, and America, make up what is called Engish. The daily intercourse between the two peoples in the tent, in the field, at the bivouac fire, on the march, "shoulder to shoulder," the meetings between English and French seamen, each assisting the other, and parleycooing as fast as possible-all this must perforce cause a strong inflix of words and terms from our ally, which eventually will become so incorporated 1807 with our own language as to form another permanent addition to its value and expressiveness. One strong reason for believing that the words thus imported will obtain a permanent standing in our language 1810 is, that the importation will be the work of the peer and the peasant, the general and the private. 1805 1806 1808 1809 1811 1812 Many foreign terms, in extensive use by the upper classes, are never heard among the lower, and vice versa. But now the case is altered. 1813 .7,865,729 1851 ..7,464,156 .6,551,970 46 Mark many, aye most of the "letters from the seat of war," even those written by a private" or a "non-commissioned officer," and we shall find French words used in a manner and to an extent to warrant that which I have already asserted, viz., that the present Anglo-French alliance will effect an extensive addition to the number of words in the English language.--Correspondent of Carnarvon Herald. THE THEORY OF DURATION. From the Rev. Dr. Wayland's "Elements of Intellectual Philosophy"-a volume originally written by President Wayland, to be delivered as lectures from the chair of moral and intellectual philosophy which he occupies in Brown University. The work is now, perhaps, better adapted than any other book we can mention for instruction in the elements of the noble science of which it treats. The amount of learning and the fruits of severe thought condensed in the lucid yet compact pages of this work are unsurpassed. Dr. Wayland's writings, are equally admirable for their sentiments and style. Read for example the following clearly defined theory of DURATION. "The first measure of duration seems naturally to be the succession of our own thoughts. A portion of duration seems long or short, in retrospect, according to the number of events to which we have attended, and the tone of mind or the degree of earnestness with which we have observed them. But it is obvions that these elements vary greatly with the same individual at different times, and with different individuals at the same time. We therefore seek for some definite portion of duration as the unit by which we may measure with accuracy any other limited portion. Such natural limit is found in the revolu tion of the heavenly bodies; and hence we come to measure duration by days, and months, and years, or by some definite portion of these units. Duration measured in this manner we call time. If I do not mistake, we mean by time that portion of duration which commences 1828 computation made in that year by Major Newenham, based upon the NOTE. The number of persons returned for 1805 is the result of a results furnished by the collectors of hearth money. The population for 1818 is partly the result of an enumeration and partly of computation, no returns having been made in the following places-viz., the cities of Limerick and Kilkenny, and the Counties of Meath, Westmeath, Wexford, Cavan, Donegal, and Sligo. The population for 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851, is taken from the census returns made in those years under specific acts of Parliament. The population as shown in this return for the intermediate years has been computed from the increase which took place between the periods from 1805 to 1813, from 1818 to 1821, from 1821 to 1831, from 1831 to 1841, and at the same rate from 1841 to 1846. In 1847 and the succeeding years, a considerable decrease is known to have taken place, but the annual account is not known. POPULATION OF MEXICO. According to the latest census of the population of the Republic of Mexico, which we find published in the last Mexican papers, the entire number of inhabitants is 7,853,395, to wit: |