this fear of being seen doing evil, is likely to pro. duce in its immediate operation, namely, the exercise of cunning to conceal the fault, is the very worst that a child can be led into, we must remark, that this is another of those abstract possibilities which may happen, from a combination of extraordinary qualifications in the instructor, and uncommon excellence of disposition in the child; but will any man undertake to say, that it is generally applicable, and are the interests of myriads to be sacrificed for the possible advantage of a very few individuals. Is a master to be allowed to change the accustomed system of instruction, because he thinks himself competent to effect what others have failed of accomplishing. Assuredly, the probability is, that the man who so thinks of himself, is under the influence of overweening vanity. It is not amongst men of superior qualifications and deep knowledge of the perversity of the human heart, and the difficulty of correcting its evil propensities, that such self confidence is to be found.

But after all these projects have been detailed, it is admitted by this writer, that other subordinate means must be sometimes employed; and at the head of these subordinate means we find "corporal punishment." Truly, the children subjected to the discipline which admits corporal punishment, will not be apt to

class it among subordinate means.

But "it is

not to be resorted to in the first instance; remon strance and admonitions, first private, then public, are to be employed." Now be it observed, that at the very outset of this new plan of education, the author had condemned the resorting to the feeling of shame and the dread of exposure, as punishments, lest it should lead to that fear of man which bringeth a snare. But

Naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret.

He finds himself at last compelled to resort to these very principles (17).

What comes next, if these means prove ineffectual?" the child is to be deprived of the privileges which other children enjoy." Now here we have rewards and punishments; for the continuance of a privilege is a reward for the continuance of good behaviour, .and must operate in such a way as to produce in the children those comparisons as to merit and demerit, which it was deemed evil to give occasion for; and their discontinuance is a direct punishment. The instance given of a privilege, the loss of which is to be made a punishment, is that of being allowed to borrow books from the library, which it is proposed to attach to the school. A truly curious mode of producing amendment in a child this certainly is, to deprive him of the power of reading books which might improve him!

Ultimately the child whom this discipline had failed to correct, is to "suffer corporal punishment at home, and in the presence of the teacher or superintendant.' Why the admonition should be public, and the exclusion from privileges public, and this ultimate punishment inflicted in private, we are not told. There are some practical difficulties in this last process, which it would not be easy to get over. It may not be easy to convince the parents that such chastisement is necessary, and it cannot be expected, that they will refrain from inquiring into the cause of it. It may be still more difficult to persuade them to be present at its infliction. But besides all this, what is to become of the school while the teacher is absent on this business? What portion of his time will be occupied in going distances of two or three miles upon such errands? Is it to be expected, that in a numerous school, and we must give up education altogether if we are not content to have many children instructed by one master,-is it, I say, to be expected in a numerous school, that instances of such delinquency will be so very rare, as to admit the possibility of such a system of discipline ?-Undoubtedly not.

We have done with punishment, come we now to rewards. And here also we find all the system which had been proposed, at once given

up. "The diligent and well conducted are to be recommended to the superintendant for gifts or privileges." "But these," we are told, "are to be given, not as bribes to urge them forward, but as rewards, to shew them that their good behaviour is observed, and duly esteemed." It is truly melancholy to see a well intentioned man thus deceiving himself into a belief, that he can change the nature of things, by bestowing new names upon them. He calls a premium a bribe, and rejects the use of it.-He denominates it a reward, and he adopts it. He seems to have some confused notion that it is useful to give a reward, but mischievous to promise it. Now in this he forgets, that to give to a child a reward for any good conduct, involves, practically, the promise to give similar rewards for future good conduct. The inference is one which the child will never fail to make; and the fact of such gift being known to other children in the school, they will inevitably be led to expect similar rewards for their good conduct. If the superintendant of the school does not act uniformly, the consequence will be, the loss of respect for him among the children, who will, at best, consider him as capricious, and most probably distrust him as partial.

Following this writer one step further, we find him adopting the actual system of pre

miums proposed by the Association already mentioned: "the distribution of Bibles, Testaments, and other books which combine what is agreeable and interesting with what is improving and instructive." These he places at the head of his rewards. It is unnecessary for me to follow him any farther. He admits that general and periodical examinations may be expedient, but that they should be conducted with simplicity and so as to avoid vain display. Such are our examinations. He admits of giving Bibles and Testaments and improving books as rewards. Such are our premiums.

I cannot avoid observing, that he does not name Prayer Books among his rewards. Nay, he excludes them, for they certainly do not come under the description of books combining what is agreeable and interesting, with what is improving and instructive.

And I

make this remark to warn you, my Reverend Brethren, that there is a secret leaven of dissent, or at best, an indifference to our establishment, lurking in the minds of those proposers of new plans of education. And I cannot help noticing, that in the only place in this chapter of the tract I have been examining, in which the word catechetical occurs, it has a meaning totally different from its ordinary one,