find on reflection, that in the examples we have given, we have only just touched on the several topics, and a multitude of thoughts of the same kind will crowd upon his mind; indeed, more is to be apprehended from redundancy than from paucity.

We have already premised that with regard to religious instruction, our course of language must come after the mother's teaching, which stops short at the first elements of Christianity; and before the lessons of the catechist, which should give them their final developement. And whilst religiously keeping within these limits, we shall find no lack of materials; for after all our examples, how much must ever remain to be said on the wonders of creation; the greatness of God; on the life and the great work of our Lord and Redeemer; on man, his nature, his dignity and his destiny; on our duties; on virtue and vice! I should add that all the examples we have given, express a combination of several thoughts; but our course of language must descend much lower, for the sake of beginners, and must lead them on little by little, for we wish to give a broad and solid basis to our education.

Our course of language will cultivate both the mind and the heart, in accordance with its motto: "Words for thoughts, and thoughts for the heart and life." And what does it do for the cultivation of the mind? It developes it by degrees, and moulds it so as to prepare it for the great truths of life, that it may receive them rationally and retain them with full conviction. Now, are not these the truths which when received and as it were assimilated by the mind, reach the heart and form it aright? Undoubtedly there is a kind of intellectual developement, which may be quite independent of right affections and right principles; as, for example, the mathematical sciences and the various applications of them. developement may indeed prove fatal; it may, by wandering into the paths of error, choke the feelings of humanity, the voice of conscience, and that piety, which in the child first turns to the mother, and then rises to the Great Author of life and all things. But not so the develope

This

ment to be produced by our educative course of language, because it gives the right direction to young minds.

Its intention is to form the mind in order to form the heart. The cultivation of the mind is then a means towards an end; but as all is action and re-action in the soul of man; the more the affections are purified, the more will the mind expand, and the better will it apprehend all the great truths of life.

I trust that teachers will declare in favour of our plan, when once they are acquainted with it. This book presents them with an introduction to it; and by reading it attentively they may easily form a just idea of the elementary lesson books, of their contents, of their gradual advancement, and of the spirit which pervades them. These books will contain our instruction in all its parts ; and teachers will not have the trouble of inventing the lessons. All that will be required of them will be, to assist their pupils in giving an account of the matter contained in the lessons, and to correct the mistakes they may make from ignorance or inadvertance. This, however, requires superior powers of mind, and a talent for teaching and questioning, which will leave unimpaired the magnitude and importance of their task; and if our course of language releases them from the duty of inventing the lessons and combining the plan, it does not from that of being its interpreters, and of being in all things the guides of youth. I venture to say that this introduction contains all that is necessary for the right discharge of their noble task. It is a compendium of ethics, by means of which they may learn to know all the faculties of the mind and the tendencies of the heart which they have undertaken to cultivate. They will find in it not only the object towards which they should lead their pupils, but the means of doing so; and in all this, my intention has been, I will confess, to form teachers, in order that they may form aright the young minds entrusted to them.

To teach childhood to speak and to write correctly is no doubt a good work, but it cannot be compared to that of the mother who, by enduing the child with speech, awakens his young thoughts, in order to give a right

direction to his young affections. Our educative course of language undertakes to continue the mother's work, and to complete it by a more regular method; for why should we be mere teachers of speech, when we might rise to the dignity of educators, and thus render the greatest

services to mankind?

I shall venture also to recommend not only the reading but the study of this book to mothers. It has been moulded on the instinct they have received from above, and on this account should inspire them with peculiar interest. They may also learn from it to do with fuller knowledge what they now work at in the dark, and consequently not as well as they could wish. Not that they should anticipate, and enter upon a regular course of language with their tender pupils; but this book will teach them in detail what the Creator has given them to form, and how they may regulate from afar the affections, by insinuating such thoughts as will, in proportion to their developement, deter from evil, and lead to what is right. Mothers are or should be the confidants of their children; and how great is their influence over them! If I could but gain favour with the mothers, I should feel I had gained my cause. But what say I? My cause? It is not mine, for I am an old man, and the time of my departure is at hand; but it is the cause of generations and generations to come.

BOOK V.

DETACHED REMARKS ON THE ABSTRACT AND THE USE OF THE EDUCATIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN THE MOTHER-TONGUE.

OUR

UR educative course is intended for pupils of seven years of age, and if they are diligent, it will not occupy more than three or four years at most. Before commencing it, they need have no grammatical knowledge whatever, for it undertakes that branch entirely; but it requires as a necessary preparation that children should have been previously taught the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as some exercises of intelligence and memory.

From the very first lesson it calls upon the pupils to invent, though on a very small scale; and to the oral exercise succeeds one in writing on the same subject, in order thus to fix it in the mind. The reason, therefore, is obvious, why children cannot be admitted to it, till they have learnt in the elementary school to write, more or less correctly, the words which they know. Their minds too must be a little developed, and for this reason we have exercises of intelligence, of language, and of arithmetic, in our elementary school; for these exercises rouse the different faculties, and by their variety amuse instead of wearying the pupils.

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CHAPTER I.

Remarks on the Abstract of our Educative Course of Language.

Abstract of the First Part.

THIS part comprises syntax and the conjugation of the proposition, as well as a vocabulary, which, by means of the derivation of words, will teach children the meaning of those words they do not yet know by those that they do.

The syntax of the proposition is extensive, and must be so, were it only with a view to grammar, because it gives all the first notions which are new to children, and not without difficulty to them. These notions are abstract, and introduce young minds, as it were, into a new world, where they can only acclimatize themselves by exercise. They were wholly engrossed by things, and now they are referred to their signs.

A considerable difference will be observed in the propositions, both as regards their contents and their gradation. Some are simple; they only contain the subject, the verb, and the object or direct attribute: others add the question to whom? to what? then some determination of time, place, manner, in answer to suitable questions; these, therefore, are more or less compound: then, again, others are complex, because in our propositions are contained several which might be expressed separately, but are condensed for the sake of brevity.

In the instruction of childhood, these three kinds of propositions, which present a distinct gradation and a growing difficulty, must be considered separately, and each must be long dwelt upon, in order that they may not be jumbled together in the mind.

With the syntax of the proposition is combined, in our educative course, an explanation of its meaning, in order that our pupils should not learn words only but things, and should early acquire the habit of understanding what they say, or read, or hear. Our grammars have not attended to this, and consequently their pupils only learn

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