NATIONAL EDUCATION.

"HERE it is, yere Arnh'r!" said the driver of my car as, in the middle of a very interesting biographical history he was gratuitously giving me of his "harse," he stopped him suddenly in the middle of Marlboroughstreet, and with his whip instantly pointed to an iron gate immediately before me bounded on each side by a grave-looking stone wall, the mica of which was glittering in the sunshine. Within the said gate, and close to it and the wall, appeared on each side a low, substantial porter's lodge ornamented with columns of the Grecian Doric, and on entering the dominions there immediately almost flashed before my eyes a remarkably verdant and well-mowed, large, long, rectangular lawn, bounded at the far distant end by a line of three buildings slightly detached from each other. centre one, which had the appearance of a chapel, and in the upper portion of which shone a clock, is the infants' school, flanked on one side by its only brother, a school for boys, and on the other by its sister, one for girls. At a short distance from the Doric lodge stood, magnificently on the right, Tyrone House, formerly the town residence of the Marquis of Waterford, now occupied as a board-room, also as quarters for the Resident Commissioner, the Right Hon. Alex. Macdonnell, and for other officers of the institution. On

The

the left of the green lawn, and immediately opposite Tyrone House, is a large, solid, but rather lower building, used as lecture-rooms and as habitations for the conductors of the schools.

The object of this immense establishment is to impart not only to the children of the poor in Dublin, but to the indigent rising generation throughout the whole of Ireland, the inestimable blessings of education. The duties, therefore, are obviously twofold: first, to give instruction to the applicant children in its immediate neighbourhood; and, secondly, to educate and instruct male and female teachers, so as to enable them, on returning to their respective parishes, more or less remote, to establish throughout the country that wellarranged uniform system of education which it is the duty of the Commissioners to superintend.

As Tyrone House has wisely been constructed on a firm foundation, so, no doubt, was it highly desirable that in the education of the rising generation of Ireland the Christian religion, which its inhabitants vie with each other in revering, should have formed not only the solid basis of the system, but the cement which in future ages should have bound together, in indissoluble affection, the various living particles of which it is composed. Unfortunately, however, upon this subject there arose from all quarters such a variety of conflicting opinions, that it was deemed necessary to erect the superstructure I will not say without any foundation, but with the best that could practically be obtained; and, accordingly, the principles upon which the Commissioners act are, that the schools shall be alike open to Christians of all denominations; that no pupil shall be

required to attend at any religious exercise or to receive any religious instruction which his parents or guardians do not approve, and that sufficient opportunity shall be afforded to the pupils of each religious persuasion to receive separately, at appointed times, such description of religious instruction as their parents or guardians shall think proper. Accordingly, every Tuesday from 10 till 12 religious instruction may be and is imparted to the children of all denominations of Christians by the minister of the particular creed to which they respectively belong. The Commissioners give to the students a new and curtailed translation of a very small proportion of the Bible, the inaccuracy of which small proportion is thus described (vide their Preface) in their own words:

"The translation has been made by a comparison of the Authorized and Douay versions with the original. The language, sometimes of the one and sometimes of the other, has been adopted, and occasional deviations have been made from both."

But although this unfortunate, and, alas! disreputable disagreement still exists, the Board of Commissioners, very much to their credit, have, for their common object, encouraged the construction of a series of books in the various departments of elementary instruction, which are not only in general use throughout the National Schools of Ireland, but by their intrinsic merit are rapidly extending, in increasing numbers, to the establishments for public instruction in Scotland, England, and even in the remotest of our colonial settlements.

In 1850 there existed in Ireland under the supervisionof the Commissioners, who, as vacancies occur,

are appointed by the Lord-Lieutenant, and whose number must not exceed fifteen

Number of National Schools . . . 4,547

Number of children attending them 511,239

-being an increase of 133 schools and of 30,616 children, as compared with the numbers in the preceding year of 1849. In 1850 the number of children in the Marlborough-street establishment was 1400. All pay for their schooling a penny a week. In the same year the sum paid to teachers of six classes (averaging 147. 10s. to each) was 66,9641. The number of teachers trained during the twelve months was 185 males, 87 females; total 272. Of these, 15 were of the Established Church, 214 Roman Catholics, 41 Presbyterians, and 2 Dissenters.

There are also under the direction of the Board 124 workhouse schools; namely, in Ulster 28, in Munster 43, in Leinster 29, and in Connaught 24.

Besides affording the means of imparting ordinary instruction, the Board of National Education in Ireland has at Glasnevin a farm of 128 acres, in which teachers as well as pupils receive literary and agricultural instruction, which is thus disseminated over the country -the consequence of which has been that there have already sprung up in Ireland 17 model agricultural schools, as follows:-in Ulster 8, in Munster 6, in Leinster 1, in Connaught 2.

After ascending the chaste, beautiful staircase of Tyrone House, which by every stranger is deservedly admired, and arriving at the Board-room, I was introduced to the Resident Commissioner, who most oblig

ingly offered to explain to me in detail the whole of the system in which he was so deeply interested. As, however, I mentioned to him that my object in visiting the establishment was merely to observe the appearance and conduct of the children, he very kindly committed me to a person whom he requested to conduct me wherever I desired, and to loiter with me wherever and as long as I wished.

From my Mentor I accordingly learnt, as I walked towards the schools, that they at present contained 500 male children, 430 female, and 300 infants-total 1230; of whom about 7-8ths are Roman Catholics, and the remaining 1-8th Protestants (Episcopalians and Presbyterians), with 3 or 4 Jews.

That of the young persons lodged in the establishment, who are learning to be country teachers, and who have come from the country to Dublin for that object, 130 are males, 65 females-total 195; of whom about 1-4th are Protestants. Lastly, that the hours of instruction are from ten in the morning till three in the afternoon, excepting on Saturdays.

On arriving at the girls' school my attendant told me very gravely that it would be necessary we should wait a little, there being at present nothing to be seen, as the children were not in study, but in their playyards; but as this was exactly the place in which I wished to see them, I begged he would allow me to go there. Accordingly, proceeding through a large, light, airy school-room, empty of everything, but on the floor black desks and forms, and on the walls maps, he conducted me to a locked door, at which stood a little female sentinel or janitress about ten years of age.

On