some kind must lie in the teacher or good results can not be produced. Some men have a kind of magnetic force to which a boy yields unconsciously, and which it is impossible for him to resist. Others are obliged to have recourse to mere external force. These men rarely become successful teachers, however talented or learned they may be.

This account would be incomplete without the addition of the writer's belief respecting all preparatory education. It is not what a boy learns at school that makes the man, but how he learns it. All the knowledge that a faithful student acquires before arriving at manhood is as nothing, compared with the intellectual strength he has gained, and the ability he has of taking hold of any work that may present itself, and doing it. If the acquisition of knowledge were the chief object in education, very useful as an acquaintance with the dead languages is—indispensable, in fact, to the man of letters-one might with propriety doubt the expediency of spending so large a portion of youth and early manhood in the study. But the earnest, laborious student of language develops a power, which no other training could possibly give him, and in comparison with which, all his acquisitions of mere knowledge sink into utter insignificance."

We give below the Regulations of the School Committee as printed in 1861, so far as relates to this school.

REGULATIONS OF THE LATIN GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

SECTION 1. This school, situated in Bedford Street, was instituted early in the 17th century.

2. The rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages are taught, and scholars are fitted for the most respectable colleges. Instruction is also given in Mathematics, Geography, History, Declamation, English Grammar, Composition, and in the French language.

The following regulations, in addition to those common to all the schools, apply to this school.

3. The instructors in this school shall be, a master, a sub-master, and as many ushers as shall allow one instructor to every thirty-five pupils, and no additional usher shall be allowed for a less number.

4. It shall be a necessary qualification for the instructors of this school, that they shall have been educated at a college of good standing.

5. Each candidate for admission shall have attained the age of ten years, and shall produce from the master of the school he last attended, a certificate of good moral character. He shall be able to read English correctly and fluently, to spell all words of common occurrence, to write a running hand, understand Mental Arithmetic, and the simple rules of Written Arithmetic, and be able to answer the most important questions in Geography, and shall have a sufficient knowledge of English Grammar to parse common sentences in prose. A knowledge of Latin Grammar shall be considered equivalent to that of English.

6. Boys shall be examined for admission to this school only once a year, viz: on the Friday and Saturday of the last week of the vacation succeeding the exhibition of the school in July.

7. The regular course of instruction shall continue six years, and no scholar shall enjoy the privileges of this school beyond that term, unless by written leave of the Committee. But scholars may have the option of completing their course in five years or less time, if willing to make due exertions, and shall be advanced according to scholarship.

8. The sessions of the school shall begin at 9 o'clock, A. M., and close at 2 o'clock, P. M., on every school-day throughout the year, except on Saturday, when the school shall close at 1 o'clock.

9. The school shall be divided into classes and sub-divisions, as the master, with the approbation of the Committee, may think advisable.

10. The master shall examine the pupils under the care of the other teachers in the school as often as he can consistently with proper attention to those in his own charge.

11. The books and exercises required in the course of instruction in this school, are the following:

Class 6. 1. Andrews' and Stoddard's Latin Grammar. 2. English Grammar. 3. Reading English. 4. Spelling. 5. Mental Arithmetic. 6. Mitchell's Geographical Questions. 7. Declamation. 8. Penmanship. 9. Andrews' Latin Lessons. 10. Andrews' Latin Reader.

Class 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, continued. lations. 13. Colburn's Sequel.

Prose Composition.

11. Viri Romæ. 12. Written Trans14. Cornelius Nepos. 15. Arnold's Latin

Class 4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, continued. 16. Sophocles' Greek Grammar. 17. Sophocles' Greek Lessons. 18. Cæsar's Commentaries. 19. Fasquelle's French Grammar. 20. Exercises in speaking and reading French with

a native French teacher.

Class 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, continued. 21. Ovid's Metamorphoses. 22. Arnold's Greek Prose Composition. 23. Xenophon's Anabasis. 24. Sherwin's Algebra. 25. English Composition. 26. Le Grand

pere.

Class 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, continued. 27. Virgil. 28. Elements of History. 29. Translations from English into Latin. Class 1. 1, 7, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, continued. Geometry. 31. Cicero's Orations. 32. Composition of Latin Verses. Composition in French. 34. Ancient History and Geography. 35. Homer's Iliad, (three books.)

30. 33.

The following books of reference may be used in pursuing the above studies: Leverett's Latin Lexicon, or Gardner's abridgment of the same.

Andrews' Latin Lexicon.

Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon, or Pickering's Greek Lexicon, last edition. Worcester's School Dictionary.

Smith's Classical Dictionary.

Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.

Baird's Classic Manual. Warren's Treatise on Physical Geography, or Carteé's Physical Geography and Atlas, is permitted to be used.

12. No Translations, nor any Interpretation, Keys, or Orders of Construction, are allowed in the School.

13. The instructors shall pay particular attention to the penmanship of the pupils, and give constantly such instruction in Spelling, Reading, and English Grammar, as they may deem necessary to make the pupils familiar with those fundamental branches of a good education.

The improvements made within even the present century, in this—the oldest school now in operation on the original plan in the country-as in all other grades, in material, outfit, and aids of instruction, as well as in the range of studies and methods of teaching are very beautifully alluded to by Mr. Everett in an Address at Faneuil Hall, in 1855, at the close of the Annual Examination of the Grammar Schools:

"It was, Mr. Mayor, fifty-two years last April, since I began, at the age of nine years, to attend the reading and writing schools in North Bennet street. The reading school was under Master Little, (for "Young America" had not vet repudiated that title,) and the writing school was kept by Master Tilestone. Master Little, in spite of his name, was a giant in statue-six feet four, at least

-and somewhat wedded to the past. He struggled earnestly against the change then taking place in the pronunciation of u, and insisted on our saying monooment and natur. But I acquired, under his tuition, what was thought, in those days, a very tolerable knowledge of Lindley Murray's abridgement of English grammar, and at the end of the year could parse almost any sentence in the American Preceptor. Master Tilestone was a writing master of the old school. He set the copies himself, and taught that beautiful old Boston handwriting, which, if I do not mistake, has, in the march of innovation, (which is not always the same thing as improvement,) been changed very little for the better. Master Tilestone was advanced in years, and had found a qualification for his calling as a writing master, in what might have seemed, at first, to threaten to be an obstruction. The fingers of his right hand had been contracted and stiffened in early life, by a burn, but were fixed in just the position to hold a pen and a penknife, and nothing else. As they were also considerably indurated, they served as a convenient instrument of discipline. A copy badly written, or a blotted page, was sometimes visited with an infliction which would have done no discredit to the beak of a bald eagle. His long, deep desk was a perfect curiosity shop of confiscated balls, tops, penknives, marbles, and jewsharps; the accumulation of forty years. I desire, however, to speak of him with gratitude, for he put me on the track of an acquisition which has been extremely useful to me in after life-that of a plain legible hand. I remained at these schools about sixteen months, and had the good fortune, in 1804, to receive the Franklin medal in the English department.

After an interval of about a year, during which I attended a private school kept by Mr. Ezekiel Webster, of New Hampshire, and on occasion of his absence, by his ever memorable brother, Daniel Webster, at that time a student of law in Boston, I went to the Latin school, then slowly emerging from a state of extreme depression. It was kept in School street, where the Horticultural Hall now stands. Those who judge of what the Boston Latin School ought to be, from the spacious and commodious building in Bedford street, can form but little idea of the old school house. It contained but one room, heated in the winter by an iron stove, which sent up a funnel into a curious brick chimney, built down from the roof, in the middle of the room, to within seven or eight feet from the floor, being like Mahomet's coffin, held in the air to the roof by bars of iron. The boys had to take their turns, in winter, in coming early to the school-house, to open it, to make a fire, sometimes of wet logs and a very inadequate supply of other combustibles, to sweep out the room, and, if need be, to shovel a path through the snow to the street. These were not very fascinating duties for an urchin of ten or eleven; but we lived through it, and were perhaps not the worse for having to turn our hands to these little offices.

The standard of scholastic attainment was certainly not higher than that of material comfort in those days. We read pretty much the same books-or of the same class-in Latin and Greek, as are read now; but in a very cursory and superficial manner. There was no attention paid to the philosophy of the languages, to the deduction of words from their radical elements, to the niceties of construction, still less to prosody. I never made an hexameter or pentameter verse, till years afterwards I had a son at school in London, who occasionally required little aid in that way. The subsidiary and illustrative branches were wholly unknown in the Latin School in 1805. Such a thing as a school library, a book of reference, a critical edition of a classic, a map, a blackboard, an engraving of an ancient building, or a copy of a work of ancient art, such as now adorn the walls of our schools, was as little known as the electrio telegraph. If our children, who possess all these appliances and aids to learning, do not greatly excel their parents, they will be much to blame.

At this school in 1806, I had the satisfaction to receive the Franklin medal, which, however, as well as that received at the English school in 1804, during my absence from the country in early life, I was so unfortunate as to lose. I begged my friend, Dr. Sturtleff, a year or more ago, to replace them-these precious trophies of my school-boy days-at my expense, which he has promised to do. He has not yet had time to keep his word; but as, in addition to his other numerous professional and official occupations, he is engaged in editing the records of the Massachusetts and Plymouth Colony, in about twenty-five volumes folio, and in bringing out the work at the rate of five or six volumes a year, I suppose I must

excuse him for not attending to my medals, although, like Julius Cæsar, the dootor possesses the faculty of doing three or four things at the same time, and all with great precision and thoroughness.

Mr. Mayor, the schools of Boston have improved within fifty years, beyond what any one will readily conceive, who has not, in his own person, made the examination. I have made it myself only with reference to the Latin School, but I have no reason to doubt that it is the same with all the others. The support of the schools is justly regarded as the first care of the city government; and the public expenditure upon them is greater in proportion to the population than in any city in the world. I had occasion, last week, to make a statement on this subject, to a gentleman from a distant State, and when I informed him that the richest individual in Boston could not, with all his money, buy better schooling for his son, than the public schools furnish to the child of the poorest citizen, he was lost in admiration. I do not think the people of Boston themselves realize, as they ought, what a privilege they possess in having that education brought to their doors, for which parents in some other parts of the country are obliged to send their children a hundred or a thousand miles from home; for we may well repeat the inquiry of Cicero, "Ubi enim aut jucundius morarentur quam in patria, aut pudicitius continerentur quam sub oculis parentum, aut minore sumptu quam domi ?"

In a word, sir, when the Public Library shall be completed, (and thanks to the liberality of the city government it is making the most satisfactory progress,) which I have always regarded as the necessary supplement to our schools, I do really think that Boston will possess an educational system superior to any other in the world.

Let me, sir, before I sit down, congratulate the boys and girls in their success, who, as medal scholars are privileged to be here. The reward they have now received for their early efforts is designed as an incentive to future exertion; without which the Franklin medal will be rather a disgrace than a credit to them. But let them also bear their honors with meekness. Of their schoolmates of both sexes who have failed to obtain these coveted distinctions, some, less endowed with natural talent, have probably made exertions equally if not more meritorious; some have failed through ill health Some, whom you now leave a good way behind, will come straining after you and perhaps surpass you in the great race of life. Let your present superior good fortune, my young friends, have no other effect than to inspire you with considerateness and kind feeling toward your schoolmates. Let not the dark passions, and base, selfish, and party feelings which lead grown men to hate and vilify, and seek to injure each other, find entrance into your young and innocent bosoms. Let these early honors lead you to a more strict observance of the eleventh commandment, toward those whom you have distanced in these school day rivalries, or who, from any cause, have been prevented fron sharing with you the enjoyments of this day; and as you may not all know exactly what the eleventh commandment is, I will end a poor speech by telling you a good story:

The celebrated Archbishop Usher was, in his younger days, wrecked on the coast of Ireland, at a place where his person and character were alike unknown. Stripped of everything, he wandered to the house of a dignitary of the church, in search of shelter and relief, craving assistance as a brother clergyman. The dignitary, struck with his squalid appearance after the wreck, distrusted his tale, and doubted his character; and said that, so far from being a clergyman, he did not believe he could even tell how many commandments there were. "I can at once satisfy you," said the Archbishop, "that I am not the ignorant imposter you take me for. There are eleven commandments." This answer confirmed the dignitary in his suspicions, and he replied with a sneer, "Indeed, there are but ten commandments in my bible; tell me the eleventh and I will believe you." "Here it is," said the Archbishop, "A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another."

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

8. T. Coleridge.

RULES AND REGULATIONS-1826.

The particular superintendence of the Primary schools was originally delegated by the vote of the Town instituting this grade of schools to a special Committee, or Board, who publish their own Rules and Regulations.

The Committee appointed to provide instruction for children, between the ages of four and seven years, shall be known by the name of the Primary School Committee; and shall consist of as many members, in addition to the regular officers, as there are schools belonging to the establishment.

The whole Board.

RULE 1. The officers of the Board shall consist of a Chairman, Secretary, and Standing Committee; to be chosen annually by ballot, at the quarterly meeting in January.

RULE 2. It shall be the duty of the chairman to preside at all meetings; to call to order as soon as a quorum shall have assembled; cause the journal of the preceding meeting to be read, and then proceed to business. In his absence the secretary shall call to order, and a chairman pro tem. be chosen forthwith by the Board.

RULE 3. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep a faithful record of the proceedings of the Board, with the names of the members present at each meeting, which shall be read at any meeting when required. He shall timely notify the members of all meetings of the Board, and all sub-committees of their appointment and duty, by transmitting to their respective first named members, an attested copy of the vote by which they were appointed, including the names of the members of each said sub-committee. He shall transmit copies of all votes and resolutions of the Board, which may require to be communicated, agreeably to the intentions thereof; insert the names of candidates on the notifications to members; notify new members of their election by the Board; and perform such other duties as by custom belong to the office of secretary.

RULE 4. The Board shall meet on the third Tuesdays of January, April, July, and October; to devise measures for the general interests of the school; and special meetings may be called by the Chairman or standing committee, whenever deemed necessary. Sixteen members present shall form a quorum.

RULE 5. Elections to supply vacancies at this Board, shall always be by ballot, at a regular meeting; and nomination of candidates for the same, shall be made by the respective district committees in which such vacancies may occur, at some previous meeting; or in the interval of any two meetings by notice to the secretary of the Board, who shall insert the name or names thus proposed, in his notifications for the meeting next thereafter ensuing, when election thereof may be duly made.

Standing Committees.

RULE 1. The Standing Committee shall consist of as many members as there are districts; whose duty it shall be, besides their attendance on the meetings of the Board, to meet on the second Tuesdays of January, April, July, and October, (and oftener if called by their chairman and secretary,) to consider of every subject relating to the primary schools; to receive the semi-annual reports of the district committees, and the instructor's returns, and prepare abstracts of them; and report at every quarterly meeting the result of their proceedings,— recommending any improvements necessary to promote the general objects of the Board.

RULE 2. It shall be the duty of the standing committee to visit and examine all the schools, semi-annually, viz.-in the months of March and September; assigning a district to each of their members in regular rotation, or otherwise, when expedient.

District Committees.

RULE 1. The schools of this establishment shall be divided into a convenient number of districts, which shall be regularly numbered; and each District Com