his servants allowed to be absent? If the ult mate object in preventing such intrusions is pleasure in sporting, it is better that pleasure should be rendered more expensive, than that the life of man should be rendered so precarious. But why is it impossible to proportion the resisting force to the obstinacy of the trespasser in the absence of the proprietor? Why may not an intruder be let gently down into five feet of liquid mud ?-why not caught in a box which shall detain him till the next morning?-why not held in a toothless trap till the proprietor arrives?—such traps as are sold in all the iron shops in this city? We are bound, according to my brother Best, to inquire if these means have been previously resorted to; for upon his own principle, greater violence must not be used, where less will suffice for the removal of the intruder.

"There are crops, I admit, of essential importance to agriculture, which will not bear the expense of eternal vigilance; and if here are districts where such crops are exposed to such serious and disheartening depredation, that may be a good reason for additional severity; but then it must be the severity of the legislator, and not of the proprietor. If the legislature enacts fine and imprisonment as the punishment for stealing turnips, it is not to be endured that the proprietor should award to this crime the punishment of death. If the fault is not sufficiently prevented by the punishments already in existence, he must wait till the frequency and flagrancy of the offence attract the notice, and stimulate the penalties of those who make laws. He must not make laws (and those very bloody laws) for himself. "I do not say that the setter of the trap or gun allures the trespasser into it; but I say that the punishment he intends for the man who trespasses after notice, is death. He covers his spring gun with furze, and gives it the most natural appearance he can; and in that gun he places the slugs by which he means to kill the trespasser. This killing of an unchallenged, unresisting person, I really cannot help considering to be as much murder as if the proprietor had shot the trespasser with his gun. Giving it all the attention in my power, I am utterly at a loss to distinguish between the two cases. Does it signify whose hand or whose foot pulls the string which moves the trigger!-the real murderer is he who prepares the instrument of death, and places it in a position that such hand or foot may touch it, for the purposes of destruction. My brother Holroyd says, the trespasser who has had a notice of guns being set in the wood is the real voluntary agent who pulls the trigger. But I most certainly think that he is not. He is the animal agent, but not the rational agent-he does not intend to put himself to death; but he foolishly trusts in his chance of escaping, and is any thing but a voluntary agent in firing the gun. If a trespasser were to rush into a wood, meaning to seek his own destruction-to hunt for the wire, and when found, to pull it, he would indeed be the agent, in the most philosophical sense of the word. But, after entering the wood, he does all he can to avoid the gon keeps clear of every suspicious place,

and is baffled only by the superior cunning of him who planted the gun. How the firing of the gun then can be called his act-his volun. tary act-I am at a loss to conceive. The practice has unfortunately become so common, that the first person convicted of such a mu. der, and acting under the delusion of right, might be a fit object for royal mercy. Still, in my opinion, such an act must legally be considered as murder.

"It has been asked, if it be an indictable offence to set such guns in a man's own ground: but let me first put a much greater question— Is it murder to kill any inan with such instruments? If it is, it must be indictable to set them. To place an instrument for the purpose of committing murder, and to surrender (as in such cases you must surrender) all control over its operation, is clearly an indictable offence.

"All my brother judges have delivered their opinions as if these guns were often set for the purposes of terror, and not of destruction. To this I can only say, that the moment any man puts a bullet into his spring gun, he has some other purpose than that of terror; and if he does not put a bullet there, he can never be the subject of argument in this court.

"My Lord Chief Justice can see no distinction between the case of tenter-hooks upon a wall, and the placing of spring guns, as far as the lawfulness of both is concerned. But the distinctions I take between the case of tenterhooks upon a wall, and the setting of spring guns, are founded-1st, in the magnitude of the evil inflicted; 2dly, in the great difference of the notice which the trespasser receives; 3dly, in the very different evidence of criminal intention in the trespasser; 4thly, in the greater value of the property invaded; 5thly, in the greater antiquity of the abuse. To cut the fingers, or to tear the hand, is of course a more pardonable injury than to kill. The trespasser, in the daytime, sees the spikes; and by day or night, at all events, he sees or feels the wall. It is impossible he should not understand the nature of such a prohibition, or imagine that his path lies over this wall; whereas the victim of the spring gun may have gone astray, may not be able to read, or may first cross the armed soil in the night time, when he cannot read;-and so he is absolutely without any notice at all. In the next place, the slaughtered man may be perfectly innocent in his purpose, which the scaler of the walls cannot be. No man can get to the top of a garden wall without a crimi nal purpose. A garden, by the common consent and feeling of mankind, contains more precious materials than a wood, or a field, and may seem to justify a greater jealousy and care. Lastly, and for these reasons, perhaps, the practice of putting spikes and glass bottles has prevailed for this century past; and the right so to do has become, from time, and the absence of cases, (for the plaintiff, in such a case, must acknowledge himself a thief,) inveterate. But it is quite impossible, because in some trifling instances, and in much more pardonable circumstances, private vengeance has usurped upon the province of law, that

may legally be put to death. There was no primary intention here of putting a mere trespasser to death. So, if a man keep a ferocious bull, not for agricultural purposes, but for the express purpose of repelling trespassers, and that bull occasion the death of a trespasser, it is murder: the intentional infliction of death by any means for such sort of offences consti

can, from such slight abuses, confer upon pri- | caught in the act of perpetrating it, a mar vate vengeance the power of life and death. On the contrary, I think it my imperious duty to contend, that punishment for such offences as these is to be measured by the law, and not by the exaggerated notions which any individual may form of the importance of his own pleasures. It is my duty, instead of making one abuse a reason for another, to recall the law back to its perfect state, and to restrain astutes the murder: a right to kill for such reamuch as possible the invention and use of private punishments. Indeed, if this wild sort of justice is to be tolerated, I see no sort of use in the careful adaptation of punishments to crimes, in the humane labours of the lawgiver. Every lord of a manor is his own Lycurgus, or rather his own Draco, and the great purpose of civil life is defeated. Inter nova tormentorum gener a machinasque exitiales, silent leges.

"Whatever be the law, the question of humanity is a separate question. I shall not state all I think of that person, who, for the preservation of game, would doom the innocent-or the guilty intruder, to a sudden death. I will not, however (because I am silent respecting individuals), join in any undeserved panegyric of the humanity of the English law. I cannot say, at the same moment, that the law of England allows such machines to be set after public notice; and that the law of England sanctions nothing but what is humane. If the law sanctions such practices, it sanctions, in my opinion, what is to the last degree odious, unchristian, and inhumane.

"The case of the dog or bull I admit to be an analogous case to this: and I say, if a man were to keep a dog of great ferocity and power, for the express purpose of guarding against trespass in woods or fields, and that dog was to kill a trespasser, it would be murder in the person placing him there for such a purpose. It is indifferent to me whether the trespasser is slain by animals or machines, intentionally brought there for that purpose: he ought not to be slain at all. It is murder to use such a punishment for such an offence. If a man puts a ferocious dog in his yard, to guard his house from burglary, and that dog strays into the neighbouring field and there worries the man, there wants, in this case, the murderous and malicious spirit. The dog was placed in the yard for the legal purpose of guarding the house against burglary; for which crime, if

sons cannot be acquired by the foolhardiness of the trespasser, nor by any sort of notice o publicity. If a man were to blow a trumpet all over the country, and say that he would shoot any man who asked him how he did, would he acquire a right to do so by such notice? Does mere publication of an unlawful intention make the action lawful which follows? If notice is the principle which consecrates this mode of destroying human beings, I wish my brothers had been a little more clear, or a little more unanimous, as to what is meant by this notice. Must the notice be always actual, or is it sufficient that it is probable? May these guns act only against those who have read the notice, or against all who might have read the notice? The truth is, that the practice is so enormous, and the opinions of the most learned men so various, that a declaratory law upon the subject is imperiously required.* Common humanity required it, after the extraordinary difference of opinion which occurred in the case of Dean and Clayton.

"For these reasons, I am compelled to differ from my learned brothers. We have all, I am sure, the common object of doing justice in such cases as these; we can have no possible motive for doing otherwise. Where such a superiority of talents and numbers is agains! me, I must of course be wrong; but I think it better to publish my own errors, than to sub scribe to opinions of the justice of which I am not convinced. To destroy a trespasser with such machines, I think would be murder; to set such uncontrollable machines for the purpose of committing this murder, I think would be indictable; and I am, therefore, of opinion, that he who suffers from such ma chines has a fair ground of action, in spite of any notice; for it is not in the power of no tice to make them lawful.”

This has been done

HAMILTON'S METHOD OF TEACHING LANGUAGES.*

[EDINBURGH REVIEW, 1826.]

"2

"4

the light of the

"5

men:

man

The

Questo era nel principio appresso Dio. | in which of many senses which his dictionary This was in the beginning near to God. presents the word is to be used; in considerPer mezzo di lui tutte le cose furon ing the case of the substantive, and the syn "3 By means of him all the things were taxical arrangement in which it is to be placed, fatte: e senza di lui nulla fu fatto di and the relation it bears to other words. made: and without of him nothing was made of loss of time in the merely mechanical part of ciò, che è stato fatto. the old plan is immense. We doubt very thut, which is been made. much, if an average boy, between ten and In lui era la vita, e la vita era fourteen, will look out or find more than sixty In him was the life, and the life was words in an hour; we say nothing at present la luce degli uomini : of the time employed in thinking of the meaning of each word when he has found it, but of the mere naked discovery of the word in the lexicon or dictionary. It must be remembered, we say an average boy-not what Master Evans, the show boy, can do, nor what Master Macarthy, the boy who is whipt every day, can do, but some boy between Macarthy and Evans; and not what this medium boy can do, while his mastigophorous superior is frowning over him; but what he actually does, when left in the midst of noisy boys, and with a recollection, that, by sending to the neighbouring shop, he can obtain any quantity of unripe gooseberries upon credit. Now, if this statement be true, and if there are 10,000 words in the Gospel of St. John, here are 160 hours employed in the mere digital process of turn ing over leaves! But, in much less time than this, any boy of average quickness might learn, by the Hamiltonian method, to construe the whole four Gospels, with the greatest accuracy, and the most scrupulous correctness. The interlineal translation of course spares the trouble and time of this mechanical la bour. Immediately under the Italian word is placed the English word. The unknown

E la luce splende tra le tenebre, And the light shines among the darknesses, e la tenebre hanno non ammessa la. and the darknesses have not admitted her. Vi fu un uomo mandato da Dio che "6 There was a sent by God, who nomava si Giovanni. did name himself John. Questo venne qual testimone, affin di 667 This came like as witness, in order of rendere testimonianza alla luce, onde per to render testimony to the light, whence by mezzo di lui tutti credessero. means of him all might believe."

that is known. The labour here spared is of the most irksome nature; and it is spared at a time of life the most averse to such labour; and so painful is this labour to many boys, that it forms an insuperable obstacle to their progress. They prefer to be flogged, or to be sent to sea. It is useless to say of any medicine that it is valuable, if it is so nauseous that the patient flings it away. You must give me, not the best medicine you have in your shop, but the best you can get me to take.

In this way Mr. Hamilton contends (and appears to us to contend justly), that the language may be acquired with much greater ease and despatch, than by the ancient method of beginning with grammar, and proceeding with the dictionary. We will presume at present, that the only object is to read, not to write, or speak Italian, and that the pupil instructs himself from the key without a master, and is not taught in a class. We wish to compare the plan of finding the English word in such a literal translation, to that of finding it in dic-sound therefore is instantly exchanged for one tionaries-and the method of ending with grammar, or of taking the grammar at an advanced period of knowledge in the language, rather than at the beginning. Every one will admit, that of all the disgusting labours of life, the labour of lexicon and dictionary is the most intolerable. Nor is there a greater object of compassion than a fine boy, full of animal spirits, set down in a bright sunny day, with an heap of unknown words before him, to be turned into English, before supper, by the help of a ponderous dictionary alone. The object in looking into a dictionary can only being the word; we will now suppose, after runto exchange an unknown sound for one that is known. Now, it seems indisputable, that the sooner this exchange is made the better. The greater the number of such exchanges which can be made in a given time, the greater is the progress, the more abundant the copia verborum obtained by the scholar. Would it not be of advantage if the dictionary at once opened at the required page, and if a self-moving index at once pointed to the requisite word? Is any advantage gained to the world by the time employed first in finding the letter P, and then in finding the three guiding letters P RI? This appears to us to be pure loss of time, justifiable only if it is inevitable; and even after this is done, what an infinite multitude of difficulties are heaped at once upon the wretched beginner! Instead of being reserved for his greater skill and maturity in the language, he must employ himself in discovering

We have hitherto been occupied with find

ning a dirty finger down many columns, and after many sighs and groans, that the word is found. We presume the little fellow working in the true orthodox manner without any translation; he is in pursuit of the Greek word Bλ, and, after a long chase, seizes it as greedily as a bailiff possesses himself of a fu gacious captain. But alas! the vanity of human wishes!-the never sufficiently to be pitied stripling has scarcely congratulated him. self upon his success, when he finds Bar to contain the following meanings in Hederick's Lexicon:-1. Jacio; 2. Jaculor; 3. Ferio; 4. Figo; 5. Saucio; 6. Attingo; 7. Projicio; & Emitto; 9. Profundo; 10. Pono; 11. Immitto; 12. Trado; 13. Committo; 14. Condo; 15. Edifico; 16. Verso; 17. Flecto. Suppose the little rogue, not quite at home in the Latin tongue, to be desirous of affixing English sig nifications to these various words, he has the.

*

at the moderate rate of six meanings to every | the Latin tongue, which varies the significa Latin word, one hundred and two meanings to tion of verbs and nouns, not as the modern the word En; or if he is content with the languages do, by particles prefixed, but by Latin, he has then only seventeen.* changing the last syllables. More than this of grammar I think he need not have till he can read himself 'Sanctii Minerva'-with Sciop pius and Perigonius's notes."-Locke on Education, p. 74, folio.

Words, in their origin, have a natural or primary sense. The accidental associations of the people who use it, afterwards give to that word a great number of secondary meanings. In some words the primary meaning is very common, and the secondary meaning very rare. In other instances it is just the reverse; and in very many the particular secondary meaning is pointed out by some preposition which accompanies it, or some case by which it is accompanied. But an accurate translation points these things out gradually as it proceeds. The common and most probable meanings of the word Bax, or of any other word, are, in the Hamiltonian method, insensibly but surely fixed on the mind, which, by the lexicon method, must be done by a tentative process, frequently ending in gross error, noticed with peevishness, punished with severity, consuming a great deal of time, and for the most part only corrected, after all, by the accurate vind voce translation of the master-or, in other words, by the Hamiltonian method.

Another recommendation which we have not mentioned in the Hamiltonian system is, that it can be combined, and is constantly combined, with the system of Lancaster. The Key is probably sufficient for those who have no access to classes and schools: but in an Hamiltonian school during the lesson, it is not left to the cption of the child to trust to the Key alone. The master stands in the middle, translates accurately and literally the whole verse, and then asks the boys the English of separate words, or challenges them to join the words together, as he has done. A perpetual attention and activity is thus kept up. The master, or a scholar (turned into a temporary Lancasterian master), acts as a living lexicon; and, if the thing is well done, as a lively and animating lexicon. How is it possible to compare this with the solitary wretchedness of a poor lad of the desk and lexicon, suffocated with the nonsense of grammarians, overwhelmed with every species of difficulty disproportioned to his age, and driven by despair to peg top or marbles?

The recurrence to a translation is treated in our schools as a species of imbecility and meanness; just as if there was any other dignity here than utility, any other object in learning languages, than to turn something you do "Taking these principles as a basis, the not understand, into something you do under- teacher forms his class of eight, ten, twenty or stand, and as if that was not the best method one hundred. The number is of little moment, which effected this object in the shortest and it being as easy to teach a greater as a smaller simplest manner. Hear upon this point the one, and brings them at once to the language judicious Locke :-"But if such a man cannot itself, by reciting, with a loud articulate voice, be got, who speaks good Latin, and being able the first verse thus :-In in, principio in beginto instruct your son in all these parts of know-ning, Verbum Word, erat was, et and, Verbum ledge, will undertake it by this method, the Word, erat was, apud at, Deum God, et and, next best is to have him taught as near this Verbum Word, erat was, Deus God. Having way as may be-which is by taking some easy recited the verse once or twice himself, it is and pleasant book, such as Esop's Fables, then recited precisely in the same manner by and writing the English translation (made as any person of the class whom he may judge literal as it can be) in one line, and the Latin most capable; the person copying his manner words which answer each of them just over it and intonations as much as possible.-When in another. These let him read every day over the verse has been thus recited, by six or eight and over again, till he perfectly understands persons of the class, the teacher recites the 2d the Latin; and then go on to another fable, till verse in the same manner, which is recited as he be also perfect in that, not omitting what he the former by any members of the class; and is already perfect in, but sometimes reviewing thus continues until he has recited from ten to that, to keep it in his memory; and when he twelve verses, which usually constitute the first comes to write, let these be set him for copies, lesson of one hour.-In three lessons, the first which, with the exercise of his hand, will also Chapter may be thus readily translated, the advance him in Latin. This being a more im-teacher gradually diminishing the number of perfect way than by talking Latin unto him, the formation of the verbs first, and afterwards the declensions of the nouns and pronouns perfectly learned by heart, may facilitate his acquaintance with the genius and manner of

In addition to the other needless difficulties and miseries entailed upon children who are learning languages, their Greek Lexicons give a Latin instead of an English translation; and a boy of twelve or thirteen years of

age, whose attainments in Latin are of course but mode

rate, is expected to make it the vehicle of knowledge for other languages. This is setting the short-sighted and blear-eyed to lead the blind; and is one of those aflicting pieces of absurdity which escape animadvernon, because they are, and have long been, of daily ocMr. Jones has published an English and Greek Lexicon, which we recommend to the notice of all persons engaged in education, and not sacramented gainst all improvement.

currence.

repetitions of the same verse till the fourth lesson, when each member of the class translates his verse in turn from the mouth of the teacher; from which period fifty, sixty, or even seventy, verses may be translated in the time of a lesson, or one hour. At the seventh lesson, it is invariably found that the class can translate without the assistance of the teacher, farther than for occasional correction, and for those words which they may not have met in the preceding chapters. But, to accomplish this, it is absolutely necessary that every mem ber of the class know every word of all the preceding lessons; which is, however, an easy task, the words being always taught him in class, and the pupil besides being able to refer