In English History.

In Decimal Arithmetic and the higher rules of

Mental Arithmetic.

In Book-keeping.

In the elements of Mechanics.

In Mensuration.

In the Elements of Land Surveying and Levelling.

In the Rudiments of Algebra.

In the Composition of Notes of a Lesson; of an Account of the Organisation of the School and the Methods of Instruction used, and of an Essay on some Subject connected with the Art of Teaching.

In their skill in the Management of any Class under Instruction, and in their ability to give a Gallery Lesson.

Probably also in Vocal Music and in Drawing from Models.

"Such being the subjects in which the pupilteachers will have been examined before the close of their apprenticeship, no Master ought to obtain their Lordship's third or lowest certificate, who is not prepared to show an accurate knowledge or skill in all these departments, and in such others as may appear in England or in Scotland, required by the present state of the parochial and other schools.

"The examination papers on each of these subjects must, of course, exhibit a higher range of acquirement, and greater accuracy and facility than those to be required from Queen's scholars.

"The regulations as to character and religious knowledge will be strictly consistent with those by

which the certificate of pupil-teachers is to be determined in the different classes of schools, and the terms of the Supplementary Minute of the 10th of July, 1847, are to be borne in mind with respect to the class of schools referred to in that Minute."

It seems not too much to require, though not distinctly stated in the above list, that the Teacher should also possess some acquaintance with the more important physiological laws, and their application to the preservation of health and to mental culture. Under this head may be included gymnastics, and physical exercises generally, &c.

Supposing he is thus furnished morally and intellectually, besides avoiding faults, which is but a negative excellence

2. The Teacher must endeavour to render his instruction attractive and interesting.

Instruction partakes of these characteristics when it is so presented as to rivet the attention of the pupils, and render them willing and desirous of listening to it, and of understanding it. Should the instruction be to the pupils wholly void of this interest and attraction, the Teacher will scarcely be able to maintain that concentration of attention and that good feeling which are essential to success.

It is difficult to speak definitively of the means which may be employed to invest a subject with interest; for they are as various and exhaustless as are the casts of men's features or the complexions of their minds.

We will, however, mention a few contrivances that may be had recourse to, at the discretion of the Teacher: and

Firstly. The instruction may be rendered interesting by a suitable variety.

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Making intellectual effort," says Mr. Abbott, "and acquiring knowledge, are always pleasant to the human mind, unless some peculiar circumstances render them otherwise. The Teacher has, therefore, only to remove obstructions and sources of pain, and the employment of his pupils will be of itself a pleasure; and this pleasure resulting from intellectual effort in new and constantly varied modes, the Teacher may deepen and increase very easily, by a little dexterous management, designed to awaken curiosity, and concentrate attention. It would be very unwise for the Teacher to say to himself-my class are tired of addition, I must carry them on to subtraction, or give them some other study. It would be equally unwise to keep them many days performing example after example in monotonous succession, each lesson a mere repetition of the last.

"He must steadily pursue his object of familiarising them fully with this elementary process; but he may give variety and spirit to the work by changing occasionally the modes. One week he may dictate examples to them, and let them come together to com pare their results; one of the class being appointed to keep a list of all that are correct each day. At another time, each one may write an example, which he may read aloud to all the others, to be performed and brought in at the next time.

"He may also excite interest by devising ingenious examples, such as finding how many all the numbers from one to fifty will make when added together, or the amount of the ages of the whole class, or any such examples, the result of which they might feel a little

interest in learning. Thus the object is steadily pursued, though the means of pursuing it are constantly varying."

It were easy to illustrate this point more at length, but the above hints may suffice. A certain amount of variety is agreeable to everybody, and children are especially fond of it. The Teacher, therefore, who desires to render his instructions interesting, will take care to give to them that judicious variety recommended in the rule: But

Secondly. The instruction may be rendered interesting by the liveliness, and quickening influence of the Teacher's manner.

In connection with the present rule the Teacher will do well to remember, that the art of education is not merely, or exclusively, the art of communicating. It is, perhaps, rather the art of awakening, exciting, and enlivening.

Now it would be palpably vain to expect one who is himself asleep, to systematically awaken another requiring to be awakened. Again, how can one that is inert create due excitement in another; or how can one that is himself intellectually dead impart intellectual life to another?

From such a Teacher, instruction can hardly be interesting; and hence the force of the present rule.

The activity, however, that it enjoins is not a mere physical activity. It does not consist in a restless activity of the body, nor in a constant motion of the hands, and much less in a stamping with the feet. It is, in short, a mental activity, and a mental life-giving influence which our present rule requires. But under the present rule, it may be proper to ask more particularly

Thirdly. By what means can a love of learning be awakened and preserved in the pupils, and how can they be brought to take a pleasure in it for its own sake?

In answer to this, we may observe, in the first place, that the pleasure which the Teacher himself evinces in the imparting of his instruction will go far to create a similar feeling in his pupils. It is well, too, for the Teacher to take it for granted, as it were, in his arrangements, that such a feeling does exist in his pupils and in short, the more efficiently in every respect the instruction is imparted, the more likely is it to be interesting to the pupils.

Another way calculated to render the school instructions interesting, is to lead the pupils to perceive clearly the important connection which exists between such instructions and the practical business of life. The events and circumstances which occur within the sphere of the pupil's acquaintance may, by a little tact on the part of the Teacher, be rendered subservient to this purpose.

Exercises in composition on subjects of a familiar and practical character- calculations of a like kind, as also questions in Geography *, &c.—will readily occur to the Teacher.

* Mr. Combe, in his "Notes on the United States of America," mentions a gentleman who advances the instruction of his sons in a way at once simple, agreeable, and efficacious. In the evening, after tea, when the family are enjoying the quiet comfort of the winter fireside, he desires one of his sons to read from the daily newspaper the list of ships which have arrived in the port of Boston; it specifies the places from which they have come and the nature of the cargo. He then asks one to point out the place on the map, and to tell the latitude and longitude; another is desired to assign a reason why it brings that par