OPINIONS OF THE LONDON PRESS.

"MR. WILLIAM MARTIN has for many years been known as a most zealous and indefatigable labourer in the field of Education. He was one of the very first pioneers in the modern educational movement, and hewed out the stubborn prejudices that overlaid the subject with a persevering energy deserving all praise. By the publication of the Educational Magazine, which he carried on with great ability for many years, Mr. Martin performed almost as great a service to Education as Lord Bacon did to Philosophy; for he opened the door and led the way to its rational development, and may be called the father of the 'Intellectual Method.' He raised the art of teaching into a Science, and elevated the teacher to a higher grade in society. It gives us great pleasure, therefore, to recommend Mr. Martin's Intellectual Series of School Books; which present a most complete course of Elementary Instruction, beautifully illustrated. They are adapted both to private or family as well as to school instruction, and present so many features of excellence that we scarce know which to praise most, the rare ability which the author displays in poetic and prose composition, his skilful adaptation of words to ideas, or the easy progression of his lessons. Well suited are they to the development of the opening faculties. In the use of them we rognosticate there will be no more crying at learning to read, for in them idy is rendered pleasing, and the 'teaching the young idea how to shoot' -delightful task.""-Morning Herald.

Mr. William Martin is a great benefactor to little children; he is singuarly fortunate in being able to bring down his own clear and powerful intellect to the understanding of childhood. He elevates the young mind without. fatiguing or overstraining it, and his teachings and reasoning are full of interest. He understands the value of brevity; and whatever quantity of information he desires to convey, he does it briefly and pleasantly. The preface and introduction to these excellent books (valuable as they are in the public or private school-room) should be carefully perused by parents and teachers. The volume must have cost Mr. Martin profound thought and great labour; the poetry is exactly what children cannot fail to like; the religious lessons, in the exact words of Scripture, can give no offence to any who acknowledge the Bible as the rule of Faith and Practice; the woodcuts are numerous and appropriate, and by them the eye receives instruction even if the ear fail in attention. The text is, as it should be for the young, large and distinet; and we have rarely met with such valuable Helps to Education."-Art Union.

"We have no hesitation in pronouncing these works, from the prolific pen of Mr. Martin, to be in every way well adapted to the religious, moral, and intellectual instruction. The religious lessons, in the exact words of Scripture, are concise and emphatic; and the other portions of the volumes present features of unusual excellence. The lessons, which comprehend a complete circle of elementary knowledge, are strictly progressive, and, being printed in a clear, bold type, and judiciously embellished with numerous wood-cuts, render the whole a most valuable addition to our scholastic literature.--Atlas. "These works are written by Mr. Martin, well known for his educational ings, and are able contributions to his many juvenile works. By repetin of words he makes acquirement facile, and rewards the young learner h the satisfaction of having achieved knowledge. By clothing moral tales

and the rudiments of science and useful knowledge in pure Anglo-saxon, he cultivates conversational English, and makes the idiom easy without vulgarity. This, to us, is a very important matter. The illustrations are most beautiful, copious, and appropriate; and we wish the author every success in publications, which may be considered as a boon to the rising generation." Weekly Dispatch.

"These excellent works, by Mr. William Martin, are, indeed, a vast step in educational improvement and the old spelling-book system. In them the child is not only taught to read by an easy and progressive system, but also to understand what he reads. He is taught to form comparisons and to make inferences, which is a method of training the young mind well deserving the term 'Intellectual.' The lessons include every branch of useful and entertaining knowledge, and the illustrations, many hundred in number, surpass anything of the kind we have ever seen in books for the young, and refer to the objects and things described of which they are exponents to the eye. The spelling lessons are after a plan which secure the exact spelling and pronunciation of every useful word, and with the Grammar and Expositor, present a complete course of Elementary English instruction_of he highest value to the parent or teacher, to school and to family edutation."-New Monthly Magazine.

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These are excellent School Books, based upon a plan the importance of which is becoming generally acknowledged by the best teachers in the education of youth-we mean, the suggestive or intellectual, rather than the preceptorial mode of teaching; furnishing aids to the development of the mental powers, instead of simply supplying a series of lessons to be conned by rote. So soon as a child has mastered the alphabet, and is fully acquainted with the form and power of each letter, he is here presented with something which shall excite his interest and rivet his attention. He is taught the habit of carrying the sense with the sound; and the lessons assume an intellectual instead of a mere mechanical character. We need scarce observe, that the development and expansion of the mental faculties must bevastly superior to the superficiality consequent on the old spelling. book and rote system."-Morning Chronicle.

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Nothing is more pleasing to us, than to behold a philosophical mind bringing itself down to the level of childhood: Frederick the Great was not least, when on 'all fours' he made himself horse to his little nephews; and Sir Isaac Newton was no less a philosopher, when playing marbles with the younkers in the churchyard. In the same manner, the author of these pleasing and useful publications has brought down his intellect to the level of the youthful capacity. This is as it should be; for nothing can be worse than the 'pedantic stilts' from which our Dilworths, Fennings, and Mavors used to propound instruction and render it difficult. We congratulate the author, therefore, upon his 'Intellectual Series' of school books, which supply a desideratum in our Educational literature; and we shall be rejoiced to hear of Mr. Martin's success, as one deserving public support."- Journal of Education.

"Mr. Martin 'has done the state some service' by his Educational labours. We cannot tell whether the state knows it; but the public ought to know, that a more sensible, beautiful, and useful set of books for the education of the young, has not appeared since education was made popular; we can confidently recommend these volumes after the most careful examination."— Church and State Gazette.