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    undue or very favourable estimate of the extent of reli g ious knowled ge possessed by the wisest Heathens , nor were at all insensible of the infinitely superior advantages in this respect , which may be enjoyed even by the poorest child in a Christian land . Whether the gentleman was satisfied with the child ' s answer , which he admitted to be * very remarkable , ' we know not . But , at all events , it is impossible not to indulge a hope , that the knowledge

    and ready application ot scripture , which these children indisputably possess , may be found of infinite value to them , when assailed with questions of still greater moment than the one which was now discussed , and may enable them to { give to every one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in them . ' Surely a mind so furnished must be more impregnable to the insidious assaults of infidelity than his , who is in a great measure left to derive the knowledge of his religion from the false representations of the infidel . "—Note , pp . 199 , 200 . To teach grammar no book is used , but the same familiar conversational method is adopted as for other subjects of instruction :

    " In the commencement nothing more is done than explaining the nature of a noun , and calling upon the pupil to pick out all the nouns which occur in any passage he has been reading . He is next taught to distinguish tlieir genders and numbers ; but cases are reserved till he has learnt the verb and preposition , and can thus be rendered acquainted with their object and use . If the technical nuftie of singular and plural ' , &c , at first puzzle him , he is still made acquainted with the grammatical distinction by varying- the form of the question . Thus , in place of asking the number of the word boys , we may

    ask why it is boys and not boy : and , on being told , that it is because there are more than one , we may then , till the word becomes familiar , tell him that this is called plural . As soon as he can distinguish nonns tolerably well , the pupil is next instructed in the nature of articles , and called upon to illustrate what he has been taught , by its application to the passage before him . He is next in a similar manner taught , by means of examining the nature of

    adjectives , their applications , and their modes of comparison . Then , in like manner , pronouns and afterwards verbs ; leading him gradually by examples to understand their differences in point of mood , time , number , and person . Then prepositions ; after which the distinction of cases in nouns is explained . Then adverbs , with the distinction betwixt them and adjectives . Then conjunctions , and , lastly , interjections . —Pp . 217 , 218 .

    Arithmetic is taught in classes ; mental arithmetic is made to go along with slate arithmetic ; and ( wonderful to relate !) the greatest progress is made by the scholars , though there is no such a thing as a multiplication-table used in the school .

    " Our first object was / ' says Mr . W ., " to render excellence in . this department as much a mutter of emulation as in the others ; and in this we at length completely succeeded , partly by personal encouragement , and partly by bestowing additional prizes for combined alertness and accuracy . Arithmetic , which had hitherto been one of the dullest of their occupations , now became to the scholars a source of the highest interest and amusement At none of their sports did they ever exhibit greater zeal . They , by degrees , attained a rapidity of movement in this art , which we should have previously accounted quite incredible , and , along with that celerity , a proportional accuracy in calculation . But this was not all . They acquired , at the same time , what , in our opinion , is infinitely more valuable than any arithmetical attainment , that general energy and activity of mind , which we found of so much service in the introduction of all our subsequent improvements , and which we . doubt not has in a great measure formed the character of many of them for life . "Pp . 232—234 .

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    " 384 ' -Edinburgh Sessional School .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 384, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/16/