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manner, free of all expense, by the assistance of the best boys in the school; who, as a reward of merit, were permitted to work in it. The same good boys were also indulged with the high privilege of sawing his wood and bottling his cider, and of laughing as much as they pleased while performing these delightful offices.

Mr. Nathaniel Gardner, who left 1739, was afterward assistant in it.

a poet, and a wit.

school in 1735, and college in Mr. Gardner was a fine scholar,

The late Mr. James Lovell was afterward assistant to his father for many years. He also kept a private school for writing and ciphering from eleven to twelve, and from five to six in the afternoon. Mr. James Lovell claims the merit of being the first public instructor in Boston, who introduced an easy and compendious method of teaching arithmetic.

The following memorandum of an eminent clergyman, who was educated in the best schools of Boston, public and private, just before the Revolution, was published in the Massachusetts Common School Journal for 1848, with notes by William B. Fowle:

At the age of six and a half years, I was sent to Master John Lovell's Latin school. The only requirement was reading well; but, though fully qualified, I was sent away to Master Griffith, a private teacher, to learn to read, write, and spell. I learned the English Grammar in Dilworth's Spelling Book by heart. Griffith traced letters with a pencil, and the pupils inked them.

Entered Lovell's school at seven years. Lovell was a tyrant, and his system one of terror. Trouncing was common in the school. Dr. Cooper was one of his early scholars, and he told Dr. Jackson, the minister of Brookline, that he had dreams of school till he died. The boys were so afraid they could not study. Sam. Bradford, afterward sheriff, pronounced the P in Ptolemy, and the younger Lovell rapped him over the head with a heavy ferule.t We studied Latin from 8 o'clock till 11, and from 1 till dark. After one or two years, I went to the town school, to Master Holbrook, at the corner of West street, to learn to write; and to Master Proctor, on Pemberton's Hill, in the south-east part of Scollay's Building. My second, third, and fourth year, I wrote there, and did nothing else. The English boys alone were taught to make pens. Griffith was gentle, but his being a private teacher accounts for it. The course of study was, grammar; Esop, with a translation; Clarke's Introduction to writing Latin; Eutropius, with a translation; Corderius; Ovid's

* Trouncing was performed by stripping the boy, mounting him on another's back, and whipping him with birch rods, before the whole school. James Lovell, the grandson of John, once related to us the following anecdote, which shows the utility of corporal punishment! It seems that a boy had played truant, and Master John had publicly declared that the offender should be trounced. When such a sentence was pronounced, it was understood that the other boys might seize the criminal, and take him to school by force. The culprit was soon seized by one party, and hurried to the master, who inflicted the punishment without delay. On his way home, the culprit met another party, who cried out, Ah, John Brown,' or whatever his name was, 'you'll get it when you go to school!' 'No, I shan't,' said the victorious boy, who felt that he had got the start of them, 'No, I shan't, for I've got it,' and, as he said this, he slapped his hand upon the part that had paid the penalty, thus, as the poet says, suiting the acting to the word.'

We saw this done by another Boston teacher, about thirty years ago, and when we remonstrated with him upon the danger of inflicting such a blow upon such a spot, O, the cnitiffs,' said he, it is good for them!" About the same time, another teacher, who used to strike his pupils upon the hand so that the marks and bruises were visible, was waited upon by a committee of mothers, who lived near the school, and had been annoyed by the outcries of the sufferers. The teacher promised not to strike the boys any more on the hand, and the women went away satisfied. But, instead of inflicting blows upon the hand, he inflicted them upon the soles of the feet, and made the punishment more severe.

Metamorphoses; Virgil's Georgics; Eneid: Cæsar; Cicero. In the sixth year I began Greek, and for the first time attempted English composition, by translating Cæsar's Commentaries. The master allowed us to read poetical translations, such as Trappe's and Dryden's Virgil. I was half way through Virgil when I began Greek with Ward's Greek Grammar.

After Cheever's Latin Accidence, we took Ward's Lily's Latin Grammer. After the Greek Grammar, we read the Greek Testament, and were allowed to use Beza's Latin translation. Then came Homer's Iliad, five or six books, using Clarke's translation with notes, and this was all my Greek education at school. Then we took Horace, and composed Latin verses, using the Gradus ad Parnassum. Daniel Jones was the first Latin scholar in 1771 or 1772, and he was brother to Thomas Kilby Jones, who was no scholar, though a distinguished merchant afterward.

I entered college at the age of fourteen years and three months, and was equal in Latin and Greek to the best in the senior class. Xenophon and Sallust were the only books used in college that I had not studied. I went to the private school from 11 to 12 A.M., and to the public from 3 to 5 P.M.

The last two years of my school life, nobody taught English Grammar or Geography, but Col. Joseph Ward (son of Deacon Joseph Ward, of Newton, West Parish, blacksmith,) who was self-taught, and set up a school in Boston. He became aid to General Ward when the war commenced, and did not teach after the war.

I never saw a map, except in Cæsar's Commentaries, and did not know what that meant. Our class studied Lowth's English Grammar at college. At Master Proctor's school, reading and writing were taught in the same room, to girls and boys, from 7 to 14 years of age, and the Bible was the only reading book. Dilworth's Spelling Book was used, and the New England Primer. The master set sums in our MSS., but did not go farther than the Rule of Three.

Master Griffith was a thin man, and wore a wig, as did Masters Lovell and Proctor, but they wore a cap when not in full dress. James Lovell was so beaten by his grandfather John, that James the father rose and said, 'Sir, you have flogged that boy enough.' The boy went off determined to leave school, and go to Master Proctor's; but he met one of Master Proctor's boys, who asked him whither he was going, and when informed, warned him not to go, for he would fare worse.

After Mr. Lovell left Boston in 1776, the school was shut for a short time; but before the year had expired, Mr. Samuel Hunt was appointed his successor, and taken from the North Latin School. Mr. Hunt continued at the head of the school till 1805; and was then succeeded by Mr. William Biglow; who left the school in 1814.

In May, 1814, the Latin School was committed to Mr. Benjamin A. Gould, who was induced to take the position, by an increase of salary from $1,000 to $2,000, and by the adoption of more stringent regulations by the School Committees.

Among the most important changes which then took place was a regulation that boys should be admitted but once a year, according to the ancient usage of this school, to prevent thereby the continual interruption of classes; that no boy should be allowed to be absent, except in case of sickness, or some domestic calamity; that no certificate, or apology, should in any case be received for tardiness, but that whoever should come after the hour, should be deprived of his seat for that half day, and bring from his parent or guardian a satisfactory excuse for absence, before he could be again admitted to his place. These and other judicious regulations, together with the personal exertions of the master, and high minded policy of the school committee, gradually restored the confidence of the community to the school. In August of 1814, 30 boys were admitted. In the August following, 50; and in 1816, 60 were admitted. In 1826, there were 225 on the catalogue. The following account of the Latin School in 1826, was drawn by Mr. Gould:

MASTERSHIP OF BENJAMIN A. GOULD-1814-1827.

The scholars are distributed into separate apartments, under the care of the same number of instructors, viz., a Principal, or head-master, a sub-master, and four assistants. For admission, boys must be at least nine years old; able to read correctly and with fluency, and to write running hand; they must know all the stops, marks, and abbreviations, and have sufficient knowledge of English Grammar to parse common sentences in prose. The time of admission is the Friday and Saturday next preceding the Commencement at Cambridge, which two days are devoted to the examination of candidates. The regular course of instruction lasts five years; and the school is divided into five classes, according to the time of entrance.

Classification of Pupils.

When a class has entered, the boys commence the Latin Grammar all together, under the eye of the principal: where they continue until he has become in some degree acquainted with their individual characters and capacities. As they change their places at each recitation, those boys will naturally rise to the upper part of the class, who are most industrious, or who learn with the greatest facility. After a time a division of from twelve to fifteen boys is taken off from the upper end of the class; after a few days more, another division is in like manner taken off; and so on, till the whole class is separated into divisions of equal number; it having been found that from twelve to fifteen is the most convenient number to drill together.

In this way boys of like capacities are put together, and the evil of having some unable to learn the lesson which others get in half the time allowed, is in some measure obviated. The class, thus arranged for the year, is distributed among the assistant teachers, a division to each. This is preferred to keeping them together; for they are in the room with two divisions of higher classes, there being always three divisions in each apartment; and by the example of older boys they more readily correct their childish foibles, and fall in with the habits of the school. And further, as writing is not taught in the school, the younger classes for the first two or three years are dismissed at eleven o'clock, an hour before school is done, that they may attend a writing school. It is necessary, therefore, that one division of a class that stays till twelve should be in each room, to afford the instructor employment from eleven to twelve o'clock. This, therefore, is an hour of uninterrupted instruction to a single division in each room, after the other two have been dismissed. Methods of Instruction and Promotion.

When this distribution is made, the boys continue for the year in the apartment in which they are first placed, unless some particular reason should exist for changing them; or when the higher divisions attend the sub-master, for instruction in Geography and Mathematics, to whom these departments are committed.

This method of studying each branch separately is adopted throughout the school. The same individuals do not study Latin one part of the day and Greek the other, but each for a month at a time; and so with mathematics, except that the lesson for the evening, which is usually a written exercise, or a portion of Latin or Greek to be committed to memory, is in a different department from the studies of the day. In this way, the aid of excitement from the continuity of a subject is secured; and a much more complete view of the whole obtained than when studied in detached portions; and the grammar of neither language is permitted to go out of mind. For it should "be remembered, that if the grammar be the first book put into the learner's hands, it should also be the last to leave them."

At the close of every month, the boys in each apartment undergo a rigid examination in all the studies of that month. This is conducted by the principal, with whom only the first class remain permanently, in the presence of their particular teacher, and such other instructors of the school as find it convenient to attend. These monthly examinations are sometimes attended by the sub-committee of the school, and are open for parents, and any other persons interested. If any class or any individuals do not pass satisfactory examination, they are put back, and made to go over the portion of studies in which they are deficient, till they do pass a satisfactory examination. The rank of each scholar and his seat for the succeeding month are determined by this examination: unless an account of places for each recitation of the month has been kept, in which case they are determined by a general average. The boy at the head of the first division of the first class is monitor for the month. The monitor writes in his bill a list of all the classes, in the order in which they are now arranged: and notes, each half day, such as are absent. The absences of each individual for a month, or a year, may be known by this bill.

Text-Books.

Boys commence with Adam's Latin Grammar, in learning which they are required to commit to memory much that they do not understand at the time, as an exercise of memory, and to accustom them to labor. There are some objections to this, it is true, but it has been found extremely difficult to make boys commit thoroughly to memory at a subsequent period, what they have been allowed to pass over in first learning the grammar. It takes from six to eight months for a boy to commit to memory all that is required in Adam's Grammar; but those who do master the grammar completely, seldom find any difficulty afterwards in committing to memory whatever may be required of them. The learned Vicesimus Knox thinks it may be well to relieve boys a little while studying grammar, "for," says he, "after they have studied Latin Grammar a year closely, they are apt to become weary."

The examples under the rules of syntax are the first exercises in parsing. The Liber Primus is the first book after the grammar. No more of this is given for a lesson than can be parsed thoroughly. This and the grammar form the studies of the first year. To these succeed Græcæ Historiæ Epitome, Viri Romæ, Phædri Fabulæ, from Burman's Text, with English notes; Cornelius Nepos; Ovid's Metamorphoses, by Willymotte; with particular attention to scanning and the rules of prosody. Portions of Ovid are committed to memory in the evening that were translated in the day, and verses selected from them for capping, which is a favorite exercise with boys. Valpy's Chronology of Ancient and English History, Dana's Latin Tutor for writing Latin, and Tooke's Pantheon, with the books already mentioned, comprise the studies of the second year. The Greek Grammar is now commenced, if it has not been before, Cæsar's Commentaries and Electa ex Ovidio et Tibullo. Then follows the Delectus Sententiarum Græcarum, a most excellent little book for the commencement of Greek analysis. And here particular care is taken that no word be passed over till all the changes of which it is susceptible be gone through, and the rule given for each. Much depends on the manner in which boys are introduced to a new study. They like what they can understand. Hence it not unfrequently happens, that lads properly initiated into Greek, soon prefer it to Latin and every other study. The Coll. Gr. Minora follows next, with Sallust and Virgil: and these, with the writing of translations in English, from Latin and Greek, form the studies of the third year. The exercises in the Latin Tutor continue till the book is entirely written through once or twice. Much time and labor are saved in correcting these exercises. The head boy gives his exercise to the teacher, and takes that of the next

below him, who in his turn receives his next neighbor's, and so on through the class. The boy at the bottom reads the English, a sentence at a time; and the teacher reads the same in Latin, from the exercise in his hand, marking with a pencil such words as are wrong. Where the sentence admits of variety each form is given. The boys in the meantime mark all words differing from what is read, by placing the figures, 1, 2, 3, &c., under them. When the exercise has all been read, and each boy has marked the errors of his next neighbor the one who has fewest takes the head, and so on. This exercise is returned to be corrected, and has a second reading with the next new exercise. Thus in fifteen minutes the task of an hour and a half is performed. The attention in the meanwhile is effectually secured by the interest each boy has in noticing the mistakes of his neighbor, and the liability of having all marked to his own account which shall appear on second reading not to have been noticed in the first. But this method, of course, can be adopted only so long as the Latin words are given in the exercise book. When the Latin Tutor can be converted into correct Latin, Valpy's Elegantiæ Latinæ succeeds it. This book is a very valuable auxiliary in teaching to write Latin, and an important addition to our school books. It consists of a free translation of select portions of the most approved Latin authors, with many judicious and critical remarks on the rules of construction, and the use of words, with a key, separate from the book, to be kept by the instructor, where the original passages may be seen by the learner, and compared with his own Latin. When boys can write Latin prose grammatically, they are required to make nonsense verses, or to put words into verses with regard to their quantity only. When the mechanical structure of different kinds of versification is familiar, they have given them a literal translation, of a few verses at a time, taken from some author with whose style they are not acquainted, which is to be turned into verses of the same kind as those from which it was taken, and then compared with the original. Bradley's Prosody is used for this exercise. Afterwards portions of English poetry are given, to be translated into Latin verse. Original verses are then required, which, with themes in Latin and English, continue through the course. Considerable portions of all the Latin and Greek poets used in school are committed to memory, as they are read; particularly several books of Virgil; all the first book of Horace, and parts of many others; the third and tenth Satires of Juvenal entire; all the poetry in the Græca Minora; and many hundreds of verses in Homer. This is an important exercise to boys; and without it they can never write Latin prose or verse with the same facility as with it. It is in this way that the idioms of any language are gained; and in writing verses the quantity and proper use of most words employed by the best writers are instantaneously determined, by recalling a verse in which it occurs. Cicero's select orations, De Officiis, De Senectute, De Amicitia, Horace Exp., Juvenal and Persius Expur. Greek Primitives, Xenophon's Anabasis, Mattaire's Homer, Greek Testament, Wyttenbach's Greek Historians, together with the aforenamed exercises, and Geography, Arithmetic, Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra, &c., form the studies of the two last years.

The study of arithmetic is commenced the latter part of the third year or the beginning of the fourth, with Colburn's "First Lessons." Recitations in this are made two or three times each half day, by those who are studying it. The boys are not expected to commit to memory the answers to the several questions, but to find them repeatedly before the recitation, that their answers may then be given with more facility; and in order that the operations, by which they solve the questions, may be strictly intellectual, numbers are often announced by the instructor different from those in the book, and only the form of the questions is adhered to. After the question is announced, a suf

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