bearings; but after all that has been written and spoken on the subject of making them amusing to the very young, it admits of a reasonable doubt whether they can or ought to be taught without a certain amount of routine and drudgery. There are some sensible remarks on this subject in a little work called 'Progressive Geography,' ascribed to the Rt. Hon. W. Croker, showing the utility and reasonableness of committing to memory a string of names of places early in life; and what is true of names of places, is in some degree true of dates and simple facts in history.
The objection which seems to me to lie against the common epitomes of geography is this, that they are generally based upon the political divisions of the present day; and as the child is successively carried through the History of the Old and New Testament, the History of Saxon and Norman England, the History of Greece and Rome, his modern geography is never called into play, and receives no life from what he reads. We want the landmarks of ancient geography and middle-age geography to be clearly and simply set out for the young. The principle is recognised, but carried out in an inconvenient and unpractical way in the geography of the Irish Board. A great improvement has taken place no doubt in connecting geography more than heretofore with the physical features of the earth as it comes from the hand of its Maker, and showing, for instance, how towns and commerce have sprung up in connexion with rivers, and held their place under frequent political changes; but we must not expect philosophy from the young before their minds are stored with facts.
Perhaps it is best in middle schools to confine attention at first and chiefly to those portions of geography which may be made hereafter to have a practical bearing on the History of the Bible, on the salient events of Grecian and Roman History and on the growth of the English empire and commerce.
History as a systematic or philosophical study is unsuited to young boys. The best history for them, after a short outline has been learned as a task, is biography. Boys enter heartily into the admiration of noble characters—happy boys!—and they have little taste for critical discussion of political motives and intrigues. They can more easily take in the image of one leading personage at a time, and identify themselves with his fortunes; and when they meet with his name in history at a later period, they recognise a familiar acquaintance. Southey's 'Life of Nelson,' and Lockhart's 'Life of Napoleon,' both small books in Murray's Family Library, and a 'Life of the Duke of Wellington' by the Christian Knowledge Society, would give a very living interest in the most stirring period of modern history.
