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    Sir , > Mdid $ torte 9 Sept . 15 , 1828 , Your Reviewer of the late Dr . Jones ' s Exposure of the Haroilt ^ nian Method of Teaching Languages , ( N . S ., I . p . 109 , ) while he joins in the jcen ^ sure of it when used alone , at the same time suggests that it may pr . ofcably be connected with the method adopted in most of our schools with considerable advantage . I had certainly been more favourably impressed with

    its intrinsic merits than he appears to have been , having had an opportunity of observing it in operation for several months with adult classes in the German and Italian languages , under the direction of a gentleman alike distinguished for his intelligence and philanthropy , as well as acquaintance from experience , both as a learner and a teacher , with the working of the system . Still I was of opinion that something would be found wanting when applied to the ancient languages , where the classes would be composed of boys , who would not be under the influence of the same motives as adults ;

    something which should insure a more grammatical knowledge of these languages than it appeared probable they would acquire from Mr . Hamilton ' s method only ; and which deficiency I supposed might be supplied by such a union as your Reviewer suggests . I have been permitted to put this principle to proof in experiments upon some of my own pupils , which have been carried through one complete year ; and if you should consider a statement of the results not inappropriate to the design of the Repository , or to possess any interest to your readers , many of whom are engaged in education , I should feel a pleasure in seeing it inserted .

    The first Latin class consisted of four boys , of from twelve to fourteen years of age , selected not on account of their possessing any remarkable aptitude to learn languages , or any unusual habits of application , but because their previous acquirements were similar , and they were nearly of the same age , and of what I judged a very suitable age . Three of them had made a little progress in the language previously , having read the prose of Valpy ' s Delectus , and possessing the acquaintance with grammar usual at that stage of advancement ; but the fourth , and one of the elder , had never made any

    attempt to acquire any other than his native tongue , and his education in every respect had been much neglected . At the commencement of the Christmas vacation , 1826 , they had translated Hamilton's first book , the Gospel of John . At the same period of the following year , 1827 , they had reaa the following : —L' Homond's Epitome Historiae Sacrse ; fourteen of the first Lives of Nepos ; five books of Csesar ' s Gallic War ; Sajlust ' s Jugurthine and Catiline Wars ; five plays of Terence ; first book of Livy , An experiment of the success of this combination of the two methods

    when applied to the Greek language was begun at the same time with the two younger of this class , but on account of the removal of one ,, it could not be carried through a more extended period than about five , months * Within that time , though previously they were unacquainted even with the Greek character , they had translated the Gospel of John , of Matthew , the half of Mark , and the half of the prose of Dalzell ' s Analecta Minora . la the two last-mentioned they had assistance from a literal translation . The second Latin class , if it may be so termed , consisted of two brothers , of the ages of eight and a half and ten years . Their previous education

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1828, page 757, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2566/page/29/