It need not be said the expense of such establishments could not be afforded, for all experience of public education shows that it costs less to educate the whole at public charge than to educate the select portions who now occupy the pri vate seminaries. We think it could soon be shown, that the sums now paid for the education of two or three hundred young women at private schools in Boston, would more than suffice for the superior education of the thousand who would avail themselves of such an education, were it possible. Were there a thousand young women furnished with the best culture which this age could afford, scattered about in society, as wives and mothers, it is easy to see the change which they would soon effect in a single generation. Nay, it is not easy to see ALL the change they would effect. Their influence would soon appear in the churches, in the newspapers, the theatres, in all our literature,-yes, in the State itself,-and produce effects by no means anticipated now. The establishment of such an institution would in a very few years double the number of persons who have a superior education, and every such woman is not only an ornament, but a blessing, to Society.

To crown the whole system of Public Education, a Public College would seem necessary, founded by the State, watched over by the State, and by the State preserved from all sectarian and partisan influence; a college with libraries and lectures open to all who were able to understand their use. Our scheme of public education is exceedingly incomplete until this, also, is established. At present, many young men of superior talent are debarred from a generous education solely by their inability to meet the expenses of a college course. They suffer for lack of culture, and Society suffers for lack of their services. Inferior men, but born of parents thriftier or more fortunate, obtain the culture and occupy the more elevated posts of society, which can only be filled by men born with superior gifts not less than well-bred.

Everywhere we see signs that a free Public College is needed and desired. Amongst them are the rise of cheap colleges, which only express the want which they cannot satisfy; the numerous lyceums and courses of lectures; the Mercantile Library Association, the Association of Mechanics' Apprentices, and the like, in Boston. It would be easy for any one of the free states to establish such a Public College in one of its principal cities, offering gratuitous instruction to all

who could pass such an examination as would show they were capable of appreciating the instruction offered. We will not go into the details of such a scheme, wishing only to invite public attention to the subject. Such institutions would soon furnish a large body of men with a superior education, and free us from one of the troubles of American society-professional men ignorant of their profession; lawyers, doctors, ministers, whom it would be flattery to call half-educated, but who are yet not to be blamed, having all the culture they could get. Still more, it would diffuse a liberal education amongst all classes of society, and the advantages of that we have not time to point out. It is no mean reproach to us that the Prussians, the Saxons, and the French have done far more for the superior education of the people than we have thought proper even to attempt. Massachusetts has taken the lead in many important movements of the nation. We wish she would set the example of a Public College; for surely, no state is so competent, for various reasons, to make the experiment, and perhaps none so much feels the need of it. Every man of superior education, so far as that goes, is a blessing to Society, not less than an ornament. He gives dignity and honor to his calling, not it to him. He may sit on the bench of a Judge, or on the bench of a Shoemaker, be an Upholsterer or a Clergyman, that is of small account; his thought, his wisdom, his character, do their work in Society. As things now go, we get rich faster than we get intelligent, and as a nation deserve the reproach of being material and vulgar. Aristotle said in his day, the mass of laboring people should not be "of a character too elevated." A democratic government demands for all the best education which it is possible for all to receive; the superior education of as many as possible.

In all the large towns of Massachusetts, men and women have associated together, established lyceums, and secured to themselves courses of lectures every winter. This movement shows the want of something more than schools, colleges, and churches have hitherto afforded. The effect of these lyceums with their lectures is excellent in many ways, intellectual, moral, and social. But as yet little is accomplished by them in comparison with what may easily be done. No system is pursued by such institutions; lectures come pell-mell after one another, without order. There is no sufficient body of men well trained for the business of popular lecturing. Brilliant

and showy men serve for an hour's amusement, but fail of accomplishing the great work which waits to be done. It seems to us that the lyceums of several towns might combine together, and have regular and systematic courses of lectures delivered in each by the same person. In this manner men of ability and suitable education might easily be well paid for the labor of preparing valuable lectures, and the People receive the advantage of instruction from the best minds in the land. The business of a popular lecturer might soon become as important as that of a judge; his social rank as high, and his salary still more. In this manner some of the best talent of the State might be applied to its most appropriate work - the Education of the People. Lectures might be delivered treating of the Facts of Nature, or Science in its various departments; the Facts of Man, his history, literature, laws, and the like;-lectures on Facts, and lectures, also, on Ideas.

A few years ago, in Boston, one of her sons founded an Institute for the better education of the people, by means of lectures, and thereby did a greater service to that town, as we think, than any American has ever done to his native place. Education, in its large sense, is the greatest charity which can be bestowed on a town or a city. We refer to the Lowell Institute. Its usefulness is now only beginning. There the services of some of the most able men of America and of Europe have been wisely obtained for the purpose of instructing the People. The experience of that Institute shows that superior talent and culture can easily be commanded for this great work whenever the pecuniary means are provided. A combination of numerous lyceums, though individually poor, can also secure the services of men of superior ability for their purpose, as soon as they will. The apparatus most important in education is men,-able men. The influence of lectures like those of Agassiz and Walker at the Lowell Institute, of Emerson at the various lyceums and elsewhere, it is not easy to calculate. Not only do those men give positive information, but they stimulate all their ingenuous hearers to desire a yet nobler culture, and suggest the intellectual and other methods by which it may be won.

In New England there is no public or even social Amusement-recognized as such. The old and barbarous sport of military exhibitions has long been unpopular, and is now ridiculous. The amusement of getting drunk is rather old-fashioned, and though still the only pastime of the wretched, is not

likely to revive amongst intelligent or even merely respectable men. Politics and Theology may serve for awhile in place of amusement this for the men, that for the women; but they will not do the work. This absence of amusement, and the somewhat unsocial character with which America has been reproached, render it the more desirable that lyceums and public lectures should be provided, to meet numerous wants, and, while they cultivate the mind, cultivate, also, social feelings amongst all.

Public libraries, also, will powerfully aid this work. We think there is not a public library in any large town in the United States, a library to which all persons have access. The land is full of books; valuable books, even, are now becoming more and more common. True, the "yellow literature," the literary trash that is hawked about at the railways, indicates a low taste in the manufacturers and consumers of such miserable productions. The school-books in most common use, we regret to say, are poor and low; such as relate to Science often poorly constructed, and devoid alike of scientific principles and scientific method. It is commonly thought that an ignorant man may write for the ignorant; if he wishes to keep them so, he had better. But the most skilful physicians are needed by the sickest men. Still, spite of the increase of these ephemeral works, and the spread of that yellow-fever of literature, the taste for really valuable books has increased with astonishing rapidity. The want of public libraries in most of our large towns is beginning to be felt. The establishment of social libraries, which are not so often merely domestic as heretofore,-of District School libraries, the libraries of the various institutes, associations, athenæums, lyceums, and the like, is only an indication of the want, not adequate provision to meet it. It is a remarkable fact, that in the city of Paris there are more books thrown open to the public every day, than are contained in all the college and state libraries of this country. There we have seen, with republican and Christian delight, a Professor from the Sorbonne and a Teamster in his blouse of blue cotton, sitting at the same table, diligently studying works which neither of them, perhaps, could afford to own. We are glad to learn, while writing these pages, that attempts are seriously making in Boston to found such a library. The generosity of the wealthy men of that city is well known, and seems to have almost no limit; but we think

their wealth has seldom been directed to a nobler object than this work of educating the People.

The Lawrence Scientific School in the University at Cambridge, recently established, will doubtless afford valuable aid in promoting the solid education of the People. A want has long been felt of some institution which should afford a culture somewhat different from that of our better colleges, not less severe and scientific, but more so, if possible, only less monastic and mediæval. We see it suggested by the distinguished President of Harvard University, that something is perhaps to be done "with a view to the formation of accomplished teachers for classical schools and colleges;" and hope that some provision may soon be made there or elsewhere for instruction in the Science of Education—what the Germans call Pädagogik. Apart from the art of teaching there is a Science of Education, as distinct from the practical business of instruction as Geometry is from the art of surveying land or making an almanac. This, also, is a liberal science, to be cultivated in part for itself, as an end, and therefore should have a place in every liberal scheme of education, as well as Ethics and Metaphysics; but is a means, also, and will prove useful in practice, as most men come, at length, to have the charge of forming and developing the characters of others, at the most tender age, committed to their care. The English language is singularly deficient in works which treat of this subject, though the German is sufficiently rich, at least so far as quantity is concerned.*

We come now to speak, though briefly, of the works named at the head of our article. No. 1 contains the Reports of two sub-committees of the Boston School Committee. The first is the Report of the "annual examination of the Grammar department of the Grammar and Writing Schools." The second, of the "annual examination of the Writing department of the Grammar Schools." The first is a plain statement of the results of the examination of each particular school. The reading in the upper divisions of the first class is pronounced admirable, as that class is under the direction of the head masters. But the three lower classes, including more than four fifths of all the children in the schools, are under the care

* See Von Raumer, Geschichte der Pädagogik, &c. 2te Ausgabe. Stuttgart. 1843. 2 vols., 8vo.

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