the result. Thanks were awarded to him.

Bridgeton Free Church Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association.-The annual soirée of this society was held on the 9th of January, in the Trades Hall, Glassford Street. The Rev. Alex. Wilson presided. The company, about seventy, having partaken of an excellent tes, &c., the chairman delivered an address congratulating the members on the success which had attended the association, and gave a few lessons for their future guidance. The secretary read the annual report, which showed the state of the association to be satisfactory, the membership being at present 27, with an average weekly muster of 18. The adoption of the report was moved by Dr. Patrick and seconded by Mr. T. K. Kerr. Interesting addresses were delivered by Messrs. J. Steel, on "Ghosts;" John Glover, on "Time;" John M'Pherson, on "General Topics;" Wm. Paterson, jun., on "The Ladies." Messrs. Cowan, Mutch, Deans, and M'Farlane, added to the pleasure of the meeting by their musical attainments.

Forres (in Morayshire, N.B.), Mutual Improvement Society.-This society, originated on the 1st of May, 1861, has been greatly put about by the lakewarmness of the young men of the town in general, and the diffidence of some of their members in particular. Lately, however, owing to the energy of several members, due perhaps, in a great degree, to the perusal and study of your magazine, our prospects have appeared a great deal brighter, and on the last night of 1862 we enjoyed an augury of a long course of prosperity and wide usefulness among the young men of Forres. On that night, a considerable number of members, with a few of their friends, met in Naughty's Temperance Hotel, to "take on" the new year, and spend a happy night in each other's company. The staple of the evening's entertainment consisted of speeches, songs, and recitations, while now and again genial conversation lent its charms to the evening. Every per

son, discarding that mock modesty which is sometimes so unpleasant a feature in meetings of this kind, performed what was assigned to him in a chaste and elegant style. We had crossed the Rubicon; for through the reports of those, not as yet members who were with us, and who, every one, put their names to our roll, we have raised quite a sensation among our townsfolk, a sensation which, we have every reason to believe, is settling into an inclination for our society, and the noble object it, however humbly, seeks to pursue.-J. S., Sec.

Lever Street Chapel, and Stock's Chapel (Manchester), Literary Societies.-A soirée in connection with these societies was held in the Stock's schoolroom, Manchester, on December 20th. About eighty members and friends sat down to tea, after which the chair was taken by the Rev. J. Garside, who dwelt at some length upon the advantages of mutual improvement societies. A prologue, written by a member, was then repeated by Mr. G. T. Bowes. During the evening several songs, &c., were sung, including "Blanche Alpen," by Miss Moss; a number of recitations were also given, amongst which were Macaulay's "Horatius," by Mr. J. E. Howe; Tennyson's "May Queen," by Mr. Butterworth; and "Othello's Vindication of his Marriage," by Mr. John Dale, all of which were favourably received by the meeting. Addresses were delivered by the Rev. G. Downing, and Messrs. Coppock and Clegg. A selection of music, including the overture to "Guillaume Tell," was performed on the pianoforte. Between the first and second parts of the programme, an interval of an hour was allowed for dessert, and for the examination of engravings, geological specimens, stereoscopes, microscopes, works of art, and other objects of interest that were arranged in various parts of the room. The proceedings were brought to a close about ten o'clock, after a very pleasant and profitable evening had been passed.JOHN D.

THE experiment projected under this head was originally begun with the intention of being tried for one year. The past year has been so exceptional in its nature as to disqualify the results from being regarded as decisive, however satisfactory. As stated in our last, we have determined on renewing and extending the experiment, with high hopes of, and an earnest desire for, usefulness. The lessons allotted in our last were the first of our new session. The books are again open for matriculation, and the class-fee is now payable. The matriculation fee is payable once for all; the class-fee is payable each session. These fees, it is to be remembered, cover no part of the expenses incurred in the practical conducting of the classes, but only a proportion of the costs of transmission, correspondence, registration-books, &c., all others being borne by the proprietary. These fees are exigible from the students as an earnest of their selfhelping disposition, and to free the "Collegiate Course" from the unwelcome feeling it would have to many if it were gratuitous.

The students will be, as before, duly notified of the relative position each month's exercise bears, and the sum of the year's markings will determine the position of the several competitors. It is hoped that all who feel interested in the success of this educational experiment will inform those likely to profit by it of the opportunity afforded them, and so aid its progress. We subjoin a copy of the rules, to which we solicit care, attention, and compliance, as these will greatly lighten our toils, while neglect must impede the proper out-working of the scheme.

RULES.

I. All letters and exercises referring to this department are to be addressed thus:

Editors of British Controversialist, 65, Paternoster Row, London, E C.

"O. C. C.," class [No.].

II. No communication on any other topic is to be contained in the correspondence or exercises forwarded to this department. [No book-post packet ought to contain any correspondence.]

III. The exercises for each separate class-though they may be posted in one packet-must be written on separate sheets of paper, so as to be readily forwarded to the several conductors.

IV. The exercises are to be posted regularly on some day between the 12th and the 18th of each month, and if circumstances prevent the performance of the exercise, an intimation to that effect must be forwarded within the same space of time.

V. Each exercise must be duly signatured and carefully and legibly written, and the whole series must be made up by each student before a certificate can be granted.

VI. Class-lists will be published monthly, containing the conductors' returns of the exercises received, and the judgment passed on each. Certificates of merit will be presented to all deserving students at the close of the year.

VII. A matriculation fee of one shilling is payable once for all, and a class registration fee of sixpence is payable for each class annually.

FART I.

I. Theoretical.-What is arithmetic?

What are numbers? What is numeration?-notation? What are figures? How many figures are commonly used? What is meant by calculation? Why are figures more advantageous in calculation than words? Do the figures mean precisely the same, whatever place they occupy? On what principle does place affect figures in notation? Write in words the following numbers, viz. :907963978; 667071809.

Figurate.-1. An army is made up of 35 regiments of infantry of 850 men each, 18 of cavalry of 460 men each, and 2 of artillery of 320. The enemy has 4 infantry regiments more, and each is 80 men stronger; 3 cavalry regiments of 50 men less each, and 4 corps of artillery, each twice as large as those of the other army. How many more men are there in the former than the latter? 2. If 36 oxen can eat 216 acres of grass in one year, and if a sheep eat one-third of the quantity that an ox can, how long will 63 oxen and 75 sheep together take to consume the grass of 17,550 acres? 3. If a pole 8 ft. long cast a shadow of 41 ft., how long will the shadow cast by a church spire 295 ft. high be at the same time of the day?

another 14s., and the last 16s. per gallon: what would be the total cost, and the revenue derived from it, at 8s. per gallon? 2. If a merchant can buy coals where they cost 5s. 3d. per ton, and the land carriage of them is 2s. 4d. per ton; or may get them at a seaport at 6s. 4d., and get a sloop to carry 150 tons for £10, whether would he profit most by 150 tons bought at the former or the latter place? 3. A wine merchant bought 16 pipes of wine at £18 a pipe, and bottled it into 52 doz. per pipe, for the bottling of which he paid 1s. 9d. per doz. He sells it at first at 128. per doz., but raises its price 3d. per bottle, as each hundred dozen is disposed of. What does he gain on the whole? 4. If a navvy receives 4s. 8d. every work-day -exclusive of eight holidays---from 5th Feb. to 11th Nov., and 3s. 2d. each work-day of the rest of the yearexclusive of Christmas and New Year's day-what is his annual income?

II. [Postponed till March.]

III. Name the capes and bays in order in England and Wales, from Solway Frith to Berwick-on-Tweed; in Scotland, from the river Esk, in Dumfriesshire, to the river Tweed; in Ireland, from the north bank of the Liffey round to the south. Name and describe the positions of the chief mountains in England, allocating them in their respective ranges, &c., thus:

Position.

Cambrian

IV. Name the Plantagenet sovereigns. Name the kings of the house of Lancaster. How came the house of Lancaster to supersede the royal Plantagenets? In whose person? Whose claims would now be thought preferable? Why? Describe the battle of Homildon Hill. Who were opposed to

9 m. S.E. of Carnarvon 5 S.W. of Dolgelly

Henry IV., and plotted against him? Who was Owen Glendower? What parties were defeated at Shrewsbury? What remarkable matters in this reign are referred to the years 1401 and 1405? Write an analysis of Shakspere's "Henry IV."

V. Write an analysis and criticism

VI. Name the idols of the intellect. Arrange in a table the various species of these "idols." Define each species. What means may be best employed to escape from or lessen the evils brought on us by these "idols"? What precautions are necessary or advisable with regard to "prejudices"? How do prejudices tend to produce fallacious reasoning? What are the respective positions of psychology and logic? What is regarded as "a fact in logic? What use do logicians make of facts?

VII. Collect instances of the proper use of the generic verbs-especially of shall and will. Write out an abstract of the grammar of nouns. Trace out the progress of races in their emigrations from the east westward. Name the chief races which, combined, have influenced the form and history of the English language.

Read Shakspere's "Julius Cæsar," act i., scene 1. Criticize the words mechanical, labouring, naughty, recover, expectation, replication, call, tongue-tied, ceremonies. Collect and explain the various antique grammatical usages, as "ought not walk," &c. [or Milton's "Paradise Lost," as usual].

PART II.-FRENCH, GERMAN, LATIN, AND GREEK.

I. Theoretical.-What sound does c take before a, o, u?-before e, i, y? In what words does c sound as if g? What change does the cedilla make upon the sound of e? What is the law of pronunciation regarding final c in French? What euphonic change

Works.

Dunciad," "Essay on Man," &c., &c.

in the sound of d is required before a vowel or h mute? Write out six words, with their signification, having the acute accent-the grave-the circumflex- the diæresis-the cedilla, properly used. How many genders are there in French? What peculiarity

arises from this fact?

Practical. Form first.-Write out the definite, the indefinite, and the partitive articles. Instead of what words are du, des, au, aux, used? Translate-Le cousin de mon ami; mon oncle est (is) le frère de ma tante; l'enfant de mon oncle; l'enfant a (has) une pomme; donnez-moi (give me) des pommes et des poires; mon frère a une poire; les branches et les feuilles d'un arbre; donnez-moi des figues et des oranges; j'ai (I have) une fleur; la racine d'une plante; les arbres du jardin; les feuilles de la vigne. Arrange the nouns into two columns-1st, masculine; 2nd, feminine.

Form second.-Trauslate-La morale de l'Evangile est la loi de Dieu; Dieu est le principe de toute vérité; un véritable ami est un trèsor; l'étude de l'histoire et de la géographie est indispensable; l'ignorance est vaine et opiniâtre; la force est le pouvoir de la justice; la violence est celui de l'injustice. Arrange the nouns according to genders. Give the plural form of each adjective. Out of the words here given construct six other sentences. Distinguish the subject from the attribute or predicate by underlining the former once, the latter twice. Form third.

Translate half of

chapter second of Lamartine's Christophe Colomb. Parse the following words occurring in the first chapter, viz., dévoile, nié, étudiant, exclut, encourues, joue, s'acquiert, suit. Arrange in a table the chief parts of the verbs which occur in the month's lesson.

II. Junior.-Write out and commit to memory the definite and the indefinite articles. Which German substantives are undeclined in the singular? What may we thence infer regarding most polysyllabic nouns ending in anz, ät, ei, orey, eit, ek, enz, ie, ik, inn, ion, is, iz, schaft, ung, un, ur? Why? Compound substantives abound in German; -whether do such words take the gender of the first or last of their components?-in such words, whether is the first or last component declined, or both? Write out the following words in German type or script character, and affix the cognate English words, viz, fünd-ling, freund-schaft, haus - thür, bank, milch, scham, buckel, distel, drossel, kabel, schaufel, ziffer, kraft, silber, wasser, volk, wort. Decline any two of these substantives. Commit the words and meanings to memory.

Senior. Transcribe the cardinals and ordinals, from one to twenty. Decline the adjectives anmuthig, köstlick, fromm. What is the force of the phrases-wenig oder gar nichts, zu vielen malen, auf einmal? Write out any compound words made up of those given in the junior class lesson. Continue to copy out and translate "Undine," &c., about 24 lines.

III. Junior.-Nepos or Cæsar-underlining the nominatives and verbs in agreement.

Senior.-Virgil, Horace, or Catiline

explaining the syntax of all subjunctive verbs.

IV. Junior.-Decline in Greek characters any three of the following feminine substantives of the first declension, viz., a(n)kura,an anchor; epistole, a letter; time, honour; stēle, a pillar; techne, an art; numphe, a maiden kome, hair; kephale, head; sophia, wisdom; stole, a robe; pheme, a report: and any three of these masculine nouns of the first :-nautés, a sailor; poietes, a poet; polites, a citizen; kleptes, a thief; krites, a judge; sophistes, a learned man; mathētēs, a scholar. Tell the Greek words from which the following English words are derived, viz., epistolary, fame, estimation, nymph, technology, sophisticated, poetry, critical, cephalic, anchor, comet, stole (a long garment), nautical, mathematical, political, anticleptic, and give the meanings of these words. Write in Greek the following phrases, viz., the letter of a maiden; the robe of a sophist; the head of a citizen; a judge of a pillar; the hair of a citizen; the wisdom of a poet; the art of a scholar; the honour of a judge; the thief of a letter; the maiden of a sailor; the thief of an anchor.

Senior. Decline the substantives or adjectives from which the following words are derived :-hieratic, macrocosm; heroic; maternal; paternal; phonetic; galaxy; hippo-potamos; somatology; gigantic; ornithology; dynamic; panoply; and give the English meaning of each word. Continue the translation of Xenophon's "Anabasis," and quote the verbs as before. Write out the declension in full of any pronouns in the lesson.

A MEMOIR of James Sheridan Knowles is in preparation.

Edward Dicey, biographer of Cavour, is at present the editor of The Reader, a new literary weekly of great promise.

Fraser's Magazine is to pass into the hands of the Messrs. Longmans; but Mr. Froude will continue to act as editor. Mr. C. T. Brookes, an American, has translated Richter's Titan.