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fication of it. He forms the school into three equal divisions, each of which divisions may be further subdivided into two classes. He also divides the subjects they have to learn into three sets, A, B, and C thus:

A. Oral instruction, dictation by monitors, &c.

B. Writing, and slate arithmetic.

C. Reading, and its adjuncts.

This results in the following arrangement of time and subjects.

Taking the Books of the Irish Board as our standard tests of proficiency, and Reading as the basis of our classification, the three divisions will stand thus—

1st Division—

a. Alphabet; words of three and four letters.

b. Words of one or two syllables to end of first Part of 2nd Book: Reading for Schools (National Society).

2nd Division—

a. 2nd Book (Irish): Reading Lessons (National Society).

b. First and Second Sequels (Irish).

3rd Division—

a. Third Book.

b. Fourth Book. Supplement to ditto.

The returns in the reading column should be made with reference to this threefold division; it being understood that no child is put in a fresh book until he can read with tolerable ease and fluency in the old one. Many books, besides those above mentioned, are used in our schools, but I have taken those here enumerated, because they are the cheapest and the most common. The others naturally come under review when speaking of the subjects to which they refer; and which I will now touch upon.

READING, the most important of all, should be rather slow, clear, loud enough to be heard distinctly by the whole class, and with great attention paid to stops. When this is done, the groundwork of good reading is securely laid. Let the master read a sentence occasionally, and the children repeat it after him, three or four times over, if necessary; and he will be both surprised and gratified to find how quickly and readily his tone is caught up. It is not in general prudent to attempt more than this; fine reading is the product of intelligence and feeling, combined with natural gifts, and is not often to be met with, or taught, except by a few. In the first Division, reading is usually learnt from the sheet lessons of the British and Foreign School Society, or those of the Training Schools. The first three books of Nelson\'s School Series, viz., "Step by Step," parts 1 and 2, and the "Sequel" are also much used and generally approved of. In one of our schools Baker\'s "Reading without Spelling" has been introduced successfully; so much so indeed, that I should like to see the plan tried more often.

The Daily Lesson Books of the British and Foreign School Society are also used in some of our schools. They are higher in price than the Irish Series, but are better bound and got up: they have the further advantage of keeping before the Teacher mind the necessity of a rigorous course of interrogation in connection with school reading. It is the first and best test of his ability that the children thoroughly understand the meaning of what they read; both of words and sentences; and there is no time more usefully or pleasantly spent by them, than the few minutes during which they are called upon to tell what they have been reading about. This plan is more completely worked out in the "Master\'s Manuals" of Baker\'s "Circle of Knowledge" than in any other work that I have seen; and they are excellently adapted for those masters who have received no previous training. Reading to be good, or to do good, must be intelligent; an exercise for the mind as well as for the eye, ear, and voice; and it implies, not mere mechanical fluency, but a knowledge of the English language. "The first object to an Englishman," says Archdeacon Sinclair, "is to understand English." Every word represents an idea, and the 300 words which were lately said to form the whole vocabulary of some rural districts in England scarcely suffice for anything beyond the most common wants of daily life. In teaching words then, we should be giving new ideas; exercising the understanding, and developing the intelligence. Reading, thus understood and practised, should be the main business of the school.

SPELLING is best taught by dictation and writing. If the child can spell what he reads, it is enough; the old plan of giving long columns of spelling being now almost universally laid aside as useless; or as, even