that, in the case of every new Grammar School established by a County Council, the Council should be required, besides providing suitable School Buildings and Furniture, to contribute a certain sum annually for the support of the School. While the fact of their consenting to make such a contribution would be so far a guarantee that the School was needed in the locality, the sum contributed would furnish the Grammar School Trustees with the means, which at present they do not possess, of doing what might be requisite for putting the Grammar School into a state of efficiency.

General Condition of the Grammar School Buildings.

I have nothing of importance to add to the very full description which previous Inspectors have given of the general condition of the Grammar School Buildings. In my private Reports of the Schools individually, I have noted the character of the School-houses in each case, and I only refer to the subject now for the purpose of expressing my opinion that strong measures should be taken by those in authority to compel the erection of suitable School Houses. It should not be tolerated, for example, that in a place like St. Thomas, the Grammar School should be a mean and wretched Building, in which, (by the confession of the Trustees themselves.) it is not possibie for the work of the School to be done without injury to the health of both Master and Pupils. It is shameful that the great and important City of London should dispense its higher education in the miserable old Building now in use. Were the power in my hands, I would unrelentingly withhold from such Schools, (and there is a considerable number of them in the Province,) ail share of the Grammar School Fund, until I received some good assurance that things would be put in a proper state. It may be said that the County, or local Municipal Councils would not care for this; the blow would fall, not on them, but on the Schools, which would become extinct for want of support. I answer: be it so. If the inhabitants of a district are so unconcerned about higher education as to allow the public Officers, who have the financial direction of their affairs, to act in such a manner, let them take the consequences. They do not desire a Grammar School and ought not to have one.

The System of Instruction in the Grammar Schools and its Results.

Of the system of instruction pursued in the Grammar Schools and its resuits, it is impossible, in a general Report like the present, to convey any definite idea. I may remark, however, that with the Schools as a whole, I was much better satisfied than I expected to be. From various quarters I had heard, before setting out on my tour of inspection, that the Grammar Schools were in a very low condition, and this is true of a considerable number of them; but there are also a considerable number which are very excellent, and the majority are at least respectable. In forming an estimate of the average character of the Schools, it seems to me only fair that no account should be taken of what may be termed the unnecessary Schools, which have been inconsiderately established in districts where there is no demand for advanced education. I regard these less as integral parts of the System than as unhealthy excrescences, to be lopped off at the earliest possible opportunity. Leaving out of view Schools of this sort, I do not hesitate to say that the Grammar Schools of Upper Canada, for as many of them as confessedly fall below the mark which it is desired that they should reach, are, as a class, not only in the promise of what they may become, but in what they actually are, at the present moment, an honour to the Country. We must not look for too much. It would be preposterous to expect, at this early period in the history of our Province, that its Grammar Schools generally should be able to bear comparison with the better Classical and Mathematical Schools of Great Britain and Ireland. To this Canada does not pretend, but she has begun weli, and appears to be steadily, if not rapidly, progressing. The branch in which I found the Grammar Schools specially defective was Algebra. On one occasion, when I was leaving a School which I had inspected, in company with one

of the Trustees, a distinguished Graduate of University College, he remarked to me, "It would make Professor Cherriman laugh to see that so called Algebra." I mention this, because there are too many of the Schools, of which the same observation might be made. In not a few of the most advanced Pupils were floundering amid the shallows of the Four First Rules. But much worse than the elementary character of the work done, was the inferior style of doing it. I am afraid that one cause of the prevailing deficiency in this branch is the imperfect knowledge of Algebra, which some of the Grammar School Masters possess. As regards the method of teaching pursued, what I found most reason to deplore, was the insufficient grounding of the Pupils in the principles of the different subjects of study. Closely connected with this is the mistake of not requiring the home preparation of Lessons. In a considerable number of the Schools no preparation, (or scarcely any,) is expected even from Pupils in somewhat advanced classes, except what they contrive to make in the School House during School hours, while the Teacher is bearing other classes. Such a system is manifestly incompatible either with due progress, or with accuracy. There are two errors of method, (as I consider them,) of a minor kind, which it may, perhaps, seem unworthy of a Report like this to notice; but I meet them so frequently that I think it proper to refer to them. The first presented itself in the teaching of Geometry. It often happened, when the boy was called upon to demonstrate a particular proposition, that he was directed by the Master to "put the Figure on the Board;" whereupon he at once drew the complete diagram, as given in Euclid. I found the tendency of this to be, to produce in the Pupils a habit of learning the propositions by rote, in many instances, when, after having drawn his Diagram in the way described, the Pupil had gone through the Proposition correctly from beginning to end, on my requesting him to rub the Figure out, and commence de novo, drawing on the Board at first only what was given, and constructing the Figure afterwards by degrees, as the Proposition might indicate, his perplexity was such as would indeed have made "Cherriman laugh." The reason assigned by Teachers for the injudicious practice referred to, invariably was, that it saved time; and it is easy to understand how a Teacher, with more to do than he can properly attend to, may be led, for the sake of saving a few minutes, into a method of instruction which his judgment condemns; but it may be possible to save time at too great an expense. The other error which I was to notice, is this,-in a very large number if the Schools the classical Pupils are permitted to translate without going through the process of what is called construing, or arranging, the words. The consequence of this is, that they are apt to content themselves with a general and vague idea of the meaning of the passages read, while neither the significations of individual words, nor the syntactical connection of the different parts of a sentence with one another are understood. I am here stating what I have, as a matter of fact, seen again and again. Times without number, after a boy has given a flourishing and loose rendering of some passage in Caesar, or Virgil, I have asked him to point out the Latin word corresponding to some expression which he had used in his translation, and he has answered in the wildest possible manner. It may be said that this could not occur under a good Teacher; for such a Teacher, if he permitted his pupils to translate, without construing, would use means to satisfy himself that they understood what they were about. This is true; but some Teachers are not good Teachers; and although there are exceptions to this, I found that it was not usually the best Teachers who followed the method which I am condemning.

One very excellent Master, with whom I had occasion to converse on the subject, called my attention to the fact that my views here differ from those of Doctor Arnold. Arnold's opinion is expressed at length in an Essay on "Rugby School,' contained in h's miscellaneous works, and the passage is so important that, had the report not already extended to such a length, I should be tempted to quote a large portion of it. I must select the following sentences.

"What can be more absurd than the practice of what is called construing Greek and latin, continued, as it often is. even with Pupils of an advanced age?

Every Lesson in Greek and Latin may, and ought to be made, a Lesson in English; the translation of every sentence in Demosthenes, or Tacitus, is properly an exercise in extemporaneous English Composition. But the System of construing, far from assisting, is positively injurious to our knowledge and use of English; it accustoms us to a tame and involved arrangement of our words, and to the substitution of foreign idioms in the place of such as are national; it obliges us to caricature every sentence we render, by turning what is, in its original dress, beautiful and natural, into something which is neither Greek nor English, stiff, obscure and flat, exemplifying all the faults incident to language, and excluding every excellence."

I have no desire to set my opinion against so high an authority; nor do I very much, in fact, differ from the views which Arnold has expressed. The advantages of the system which he recommends, when it is guarded by proper checks, are real and great. It will be observed, however, that it is specially to "Pupils of an advanced age," who are understood to have been properly instructed in the elements of Latin and Greek, and who are familiar with the principles of construction, that his remarks are meant to apply. I admit that he represents even the youngest Boys as deriving several advantages from the habit of reading into English without construing; but, in doing so, he takes for granted the existence of a system of instruction of so high and efficient a description, as to render it impossible for anything like guess-work to be tolerated in translation. It is no reproach to Canada to say that her Grammar Schools do not present, either, as respects the general culture of the Pupils, or the accomplishments of the bulk of the Masters, anything like the state of things which exists in the great English Schools, and on the view of which Arnold proceeded in his pleadings against construing. Perhaps the advantages of both methods might be secured, if the Pupils were required to construe on their first recitation of a Latin, or Greek, Lesson, and the passages gone over were subsequently, when thoroughly mastered, read into elegant idiomatic English, without construing. To dispense with construing, in the first instance, I cannot persuade myself that we, in this Province, are by any means prepared. TORONTO, 1865. GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, Inspector of Grammar Schools.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE OPENING OF HURON COLLEGE, LONDON, 1864.

In the Appendix to Volume Thirteen of this Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada, I gave an illustrated sketch of the History of the Western University, with which Huron College is connected. The College was formally opened for the reception of Students on the second of January, 1864. It was intended for the education of Young Men for the Ministry of the Church of England in the Anglican Diocese of Huron. The Reverend Doctor Isaac Hellmuth, Archdeacon of Huron, was commissioned by the Bishop of Huron, (Doctor Cronyn), in 1863, to proceed to England, to collect funds for the erection of the College. He was successful in his mission, and obtained Twenty-three thousand dollars, ($23,000,) as the result. The Reverend Doctor Hellmuth having been appointed Principal, he again visited England, and obtained a grant of Twenty thousand dollars from the Reverend Alfred Peach there, for the endowment of the Divinity Chair of the College. In his Address at the opening of the College, the Bishop of Huron said:

On my consecration to the Episcopal Office I found a great demand for Clergymen in the Diocese of Huron. Out of 138 Townships not more than 30 were supplied with

the ministration of the Church of England, and there was no adequate supply of Candidates for the sacred office. I was, therefore, under the necessity of applying to friends in England and Ireland, and by their means a few young men were induced to come to this Country. Still the wants of the Diocese were but partially supplied, and at the present time, after six years of exertion, over 50 Townships are destitute of the ministrations of the Church of England.

I have received several proofs of the deep interest which is felt in our College by friends in this country both near and at a distance. A Gentleman in Kingston some time since transmitted to me $400, and Colonel C. S. Gzowski, who was for many years a resident amongst us, has evinced the interest he still takes in our welfare by contributing £120 per annum for five years towards the endowment of a Classical and Mathematical Chair. A Gentleman connected with the College has liberally contributed $320 per annum towards the same object. And I received within the last week a Letter from which I extract the following passages. "I am requested by a Friend of the Gospel' to forward to you the enclosed order upon the Bank of Upper Canada for $4,000, as a donation to your Theological College for the training of young men for the Min istry, who may go forth and preach Christ and him crucified. That the blessing of God may attend the Institution, and that the Lord may graciously spare you to see some fruits of your labours is our earnest prayer."

I will conclude my Address with the recital of a pleasing incident which occurred when the Reverend Doctor Hellmuth was soliciting aid for Huron College, in England. He called upon two Ladies residing near Bath; they are the daughters of the late General Simcoe, who was the first Governor of Upper Canada. These Ladies have ever taken a lively interest in Canada, and they have evinced their earnest desire to promote the progress of Huron College, by contributing to its funds, and by presenting to it the picture of their Father, to be placed in the College; that picture is now before you. Governor Simcoe explored this Country before roads were formed, or Townships surveyed. He encamped on the forks of the Thames, and it was he who fixed upon the site of this City, and called it "London," and, in his Journal, which is in the possession of his Daughter, and which Doctor Hellmuth has seen, it is recorded that he and his Staff a one of their encampments, it may be on the site of our City, knelt and prayed that God's light and truth might penetrate these regions, and that His blessing might rest upon the Country. On that occasion Governor Simcoe was attended by the late General Evans, as one of his Staff, and it was by advice which he kindly gave me before I left Ireland to come to come to Canada, that my course was directed to the London District as being in his opinion and in that of Governor Simcoe, the part of Canada best adapted for settlers from England and Ireland. By this chain of coincidences, then, my presence here to-day is thus linked with the visit of Governor Simcoe to the Site of the City of London.

The Right Reverend Doctor McIlvaine, Bishop of Ohio, said he was happy to be present on the occasion of such an interesting ceremony as the inauguration of the Huron College, coming, as he did, from across the lines, and pleased he was to congratulate the Bishop of the Diocese and the Venerable Archdeacon of Huron, for the active par they had taken in bringing the Huron College to such a satisfactory position. To the Bishop of Huron was due the origination of this noble design, and to Archbishop Hellmuth was due much for commending the cause which he had so nobly pleaded for in England. He had had the pleasure of being present in England at the time the Archdeacon was collecting funds for the Huron College, and he could say with all confidence that much self-sacrifice, energy, and attention was given to the noble work which he had to accomplish. He was glad to learn that the teaching of this Institution was to be purely evangelical. He liked the term evangelical, although many Ministers of the Gospel did not like it. The Bishop's Address was received with the greatest attention and respect, and was warmly applauded.

The Honourable M. H. Foley said that he had listened with the greatest satisfaction, as every one present must have done, to the admirable and profound address of the Right Reverend Prelate from Ohio. He congratulated the Bishop of the Diocese in having brought to maturity a scheme so noble in itself, and so promising of advantage and permanent benefit, not only to the Church and this Diocese, but throughout the Province at large. He wished also to speak of the laborious and devoted efforts of the venerable Archdeacon, to forward and establish, on a permanent basis, the Institution of which this day's proceedings were the commencement. Having been honoured with the, to him, pleasing duty of introducing and carrying of the Act of Incorporation through Parliament, he could speak with a personal knowledge of the actions of the Archdeacon, and to them in conjunction with that of the Bishop, were the Churchmen of the Diocese indebted for the unanimous passage of the Bill in the very shape required. At the period of his first acquaintance with the Diocese, now some thirty years ago, then there were within its limits, comprising an area of some 13,000 square miles, scarcely a dozen Ministers of the Church of England, here and there almost as shepherds, without any peculiar charge; now they number between seventy and eighty. Then the number of suitable Houses of Worship were yet more limited,-now nearly every Town and Village has their numerous Temples erected to the living God. Then, the Log School Houses, few and far between, were the only places where even the rudiments of an ordinary education could be obtained,-now the Country is covered with suitable and commodious Buildings, in which not only a fair, but in many cases a superior education might be had. Thus, while they owed devout thankfulness to God for what He had done, while they felt greatly gratified with the progress which had been made, they must feel that there was yet even more to be accomplished, and to accomplish it he was sure all present, as well as the people of the Diocese generally, were not only willing but anxious, and determined to put forth all their energies. The honourable gentleman then moved the following Resolution, and resumed his seat amid applause:

"That this Assembly desires to record its devout thankfulness to the Great Head of the Church, for the success which he has vouchsafed to the efforts made to establish Huron College."

The Reverend S. B. Ardagh, of Barrie, seconded the Resolution in a speech, congratulating the Chairman on the Institution of a College which would enunciate the true principles of the Church of England in this Country. He had come several hundred miles to identify himself with it. He held that the principles which were to be enunciated in it, were the principles of his Church in Canada, and his native land, and he felt confident that if the simple preaching of the Cross were made the basis of their faith, that the English Church would rank first in purity among the Churches in the world.

The Reverend Doctor Boomer, of Galt, next moved a Resolution, which he felt confident would receive the individual assent of those present.

"That the cordial thanks of the Meeting be given to the Right Reverend Doctor McIlvaine, Bishop of Ohio, for his kindness in attending the opening of Huron College, and delivering the Inaugural Address, and that he be requested to allow his Address to be printed."

The Reverend Doctor O'Meara seconded the Resolution with much pleasure. He had read with much interest many of the doctrinal works of the Right Reverend Prelate, who delivered the Inaugural Address, and he had, at the present time, travelled many hundred miles to hear from his own lips the truths so ably advocated by him. He felt confident that among the many able works he had written, that the Inaugural Address on the occasion of the Huron College, would not be the least valuable of his many productions.

The Reverend Doctor Hellmuth expressed his deep obligations to the Right Reverend Prelate of Ohio, for his kindness in coming such a distance at this inclement season of