who are being taught orally is comparatively little disturbing to the rest. Hebrew, of course, forms a part of the instruction; but, as a curious involuntary indication of the different position of women in olden times, of which the shadowy reflection still remains in this school, it is not thought necessary to teach the girls more than what enables them to say their prayers-which must always be said in the original tongueby rote. The boys acquire the language, as a language; the girls, merely the pronunciation, though they have the general sense of the prayers explained to them by an English translation. Still, grand as it sounds-this majestic Hebrew-the Hebrew of Moses and the prophets-we Christians felt that we would rather have the simple heart-cry of the poorest Christian child, who has been taught to say "Our Father, which art in heaven," or, "Pray, God, bless 66 papa and mamma, and make me a good "child!"—ay, even though it dwindles down to the ridiculous, or sublime, prayer of infantile faith, "Please, God, cure poor mamma's headache, and give me a new doll to-morrow." Therein lies the great difference between the Jewish and Christian dispensations

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the relation of God to us as the Father -not only the King, the Lawgiver, the just and righteous Judge, but the loving Father-as revealed in latter days through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

It was impossible to go through these classes of girls, both in the general schoolroom and the lesser rooms, without noticing how exceedingly well taught they were: solid teaching, in which the reflective powers, as well as the memory, were called into exercise. Though in each instance of our visits it was no planned examination, but an accidental breaking in upon the routine of the class, their answers rarely failed. In history, geography, grammar, dictation, they seemed equally at home. Their reading was especially good; and any one who can appreciate the difficulties of a Cockney accent added to that of the lowest English and foreign Jews,

will understand how surprising and refreshing it was to come upon h's and r's always put in their right places. This is, doubtless, mainly owing to the care and superior education of the headmistress and her subordinates; some of them, who, like the others, had entered the school, not even knowing their alphabet, were as intelligent, lady-like young people as one could wish to behold. I saw one or two lithe graceful figures, soft gazelle eyes, and exquisitelyshaped mouths, that irresistibly reminded me of Rebekah at the well, or Rachel when Jacob kissed her and

served for her seven years; "and they "seemed to him but a few days, for the "love he had to her."

Besides needlework, cooking, laundry, and housework are taught to the girls, successive relays being taken out of the schoolroom to be initiated in those indispensable home-duties which are worth all the learning in the world to women. Perhaps these little descendants of Sarai and Rebekah are none the worse for being given less actual learning than the boys, and taught to imitate their wise ancestresses in being able to "make cakes upon the hearth," and "prepare savoury meat" such as many a man besides poor old blind Isaac would secretly acknowledge that "his soul loveth." The eight hundred little black-eyed maidens who are to grow up mothers in Israel may effect no small reformation in the nation, by being able satisfactorily to wash their husbands' clothes and cook their sons' dinners.

which

The general schoolroom of the boys is much larger than that of the girls: in fact, it consists of two rooms, communicating by a sliding door, and capable of being made into one large area, yearly, on the Day of Atonement, is used as a temporary synagogue, and accommodates nearly 3,000 worshippers. Even this space is not now sufficient for the number of boys who attend. Undoubted ly, there must be an intense love of learning in the children of Israel; for many of these lads, some of whom enter the school without even a knowledge

of

the alphabet, come daily a distance of four, five, and six miles, from all the suburban quarters of London. It was strange to see them-not, I must confess, quite so clean and wholesome and nice-looking as the girls, but with sharp, dark, acute faces-poring over their books and slates, or else sitting in rows, with their caps on, headed by a teacher who was also covered, repeating, ore rotundo, lessons or prayers in the sacred language; for they are all obliged to learn A, B, C, and Aleph, Beth, Gimel together. This of itself shows how much vitality the school must possess. What would be thought of one of the English national schools, or even the Scottish parochial schools-where the educational standard is much higher-at which it was expected that the children of mechanics or farm-labourers should study Greek and English at the same time?

The exceeding discipline maintained among these small sons of Jacob (doubtless by nature as unruly as their forefathers whom Moses struggled with at the waters of strife) was very remarkable. At a signal from the head-master, all the hundreds of lads sank instantaneously into the most profound silence, which lasted until another signal bade them recommence their tasks-with a noise astonishingly like Babel.

Like the girls', the boys' senior classes have rooms to themselves. Here their education is carried on to a pitch which has enabled some of them to enter as undergraduates, and take their degree at the London University. The school has also been placed under Government inspection, and the Government system of certificated pupil-teachers is successfully carried out. These have extra clasess, under the instruction of the indefatigable head-master; so that the establishment answers all the purposes of a normal school. Two scholarships are established; one in commemoration of the emancipation of the Jews-of which the last year's examination papers in grammar, geography, history, Hebrew, social economy, arithmetic, algebra, Euclid, and natural philosophy, are enough to drive an ordinary Gentile head to distraction.

There are also two annual prizes in money, given in memory of deceased supporters of the school; and a gift of fifty pounds has been bestowed yearly upon the cleverest, most diligent, and well-conducted girl in the establishment, by Sir Moses Montefiore, in remembrance of his late much-lamented wife. Such charities, which make the beloved memory of the dead a perpetual blessing to the living, might well invite us Christians to imitate these generoushearted, wisely benevolent Jews. It prevented one's smiling at a fact, that could not but be noticed in going from class to class of these very sharp boys, that their chief sharpness seemed to lie in figures. They did everything else uncommonly well: wrote from dictation a somewhat unintelligible poem of Shelley's with scarcely an orthographical error; answered geographical questions and a long catechism on the principle of direct and indirect taxation, in a manner that showed their intelligent comprehension of the whole subject; but, when it came to arithmetic, they took to it like ducks to the water. lengthy and involved mental calculations, the acuteness of these young Israelites was something quite preternatural. You felt that they were capable of "spoiling the Egyptians" to any extent, not necessarily by any dishonesty, but, simply by the force of natural genius. And charity-which would always rather see the bright than the dark side of an acknowledged factmight well pause to consider whether that astonishing faculty for amassing and retaining wealth, which is attributed to the Jewish community, may not arise quite as much from this inherent faculty for figures, added to the cautious acuteness which an oppressed race must always learn, as from other and meaner qualities which exist no less in us than in the Hebrews.

In

The less abstruse and more superficially refining branches of education are not neglected. In the highest class the boys are taught drawing, and vocal music from notes-also physiology as applied to health. Poor things, they

must have small opportunity of converting their theory into practice! But one of the most noticeable points of the school was the exceeding attention evidently paid to the two most important necessities of youthful well-being in physical and consequently mental development cleanliness and ventilation. In this low Spitalfields-this worst of all bad neighbourhoods-it was something wonderful to pass from room to room, and feel the air perfectly pure and wholesome, though with no more complicated system of ventilation than that very simple one which so few people can be got to understandnamely, of windows always kept a little way open at the top, so as to produce a gentle but thorough current-not a draught above the children's heads. These little heads were well kempt, the faces clean washed, and the clothes decent, or at least well mended. To each boy and girl is presented annually, by the bounty of the Rothschild family, certain habiliments to help out the poor wardrobe, those of the girls being fabricated by themselves, in the hour each day which is devoted to sewing. There are made also, from the same source, occasional additions to the scanty dinners which each pupil brings, or is supposed to bring. But these charities are carefully administered, so that in no case should the self-reliance and self-respect, which are the greatest safeguard of the poor, be broken in upon by indiscriminate or dangerous benevolence.

The pupil-teachers also, many of whom must necessarily know painfully the hard struggle it is for a girl to maintain a respectable and even lady-like appearance upon an income smaller than that of many domestic servants, receive annually, from the same generous hand, a serviceable, pretty dress: less as a bounty than as a kindly acknowledgment from the higher woman to the lower, of how exceedingly valuable is all true service in all stations of life. The cordial sympathy between the committee and the teachers, the ease of their relationship, and the heartiness with which all laboured together, in the

bond of a common interest and common faith, was one of the pleasantest facts noticeable in the institution.

But I think I have said enough about this remarkable school, which, neither asking nor expecting any support from the general community, confines its workings strictly to its own nation. To judge by the results since its foundation in 1817, when it opened with 270 boys, "to be instructed in Hebrew "and English reading and writing, "and the rudiments of arithmetic," its influence must be very great, and yearly increasing. How far it will aid, or is meant by Providence to aid, in that climax of the world's history believed in alike by Jew and Gentile-Sir Moses Montefiore and Dr. Cumming -when the chosen people shall be all gathered together at the Holy City, is impossible to say. God works less by miraculous than by natural means, and it may be that the blindness shall be taken from the eyes of the children of Israel, not by a sudden revelation, but by the gradual growth of their nation, through the great remover of darkness and prejudice-education. Who can tell how soon they may be gathered, in the most simple and natural way, from all corners of the earth whither the LORD has driven them, and brought to Jerusalem " upon horses, and "in chariots, and in litters, and upon "mules, and upon swift beasts," or as Dr. Cumming insists the original word Kurkaroth should be translated)

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upon chariots revolving with the swiftness of the clouds," which may probably-odd as the coincidence sounds— indicate the newly-planned Syrian railways.

At any rate, whatever be their future destiny, it was impossible, without a strangely solemn feeling, to contemplate the growing-up generation of this marvellous people, who, amidst all His chastisements, have held so firmly to their faith in the One Jehovah, and in His servant Moses. And when, having gone through the school, we paused again in the girls' schoolroom to hear their chanting-in which the well-known

richness of the Jewish voice was very perceptible-we could not listen without emotion to the long drawn-out, mystical music, which may have been sung in the Temple before King David, of the Twenty-ninth Psalm :

"Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, "give unto the LORD glory and strength. "Give unto the LORD the glory due "unto His name: worship the LORD in "the beauty of holiness.

"The voice of the LORD is upon the

"waters: the God of glory thundereth: "the LORD is upon many waters. . . .

"The voice of the LORD breaketh the "cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the "cedars of Lebanon.

"The LORD sitteth upon the flood: "yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever. "The LORD will give strength unto "His people; the LORD will bless His "people with peace."

And surely all good Christian souls may say, "Amen and amen!"

IN that graceful dialogue on the best Government, which has recently proceeded from the pen of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Crito, the moderator of the discourse, thus addresses the advocates of the three typical forms:1 "You do not," he says, 66 attempt, or "condescend, to show that a particular "form of government is suited to the "circumstances or wants of the particu"lar people; that it is likely to guard "against certain evils to which the com"munity in question are liable, or to "produce certain benefits of which they are destitute; you believe that it will " operate like a charm, mechanically and infallibly. No matter how prosperous or contented a country may be, you 66 are always uneasy until you have cut "its constitution according to your par"ticular pattern. If a country be under

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"Democraticus, are desirous of making "the government democratical. You "allow nothing for habit, nothing for "association, nothing for historical re"collections; you assume that a community of men can be moulded, like clay, under your hands; that they can be moved like pieces on a chessboard, or like soldiers at a review." Nor was this objection to the purely abstract character of such theories removed by the answer, that the advocates of each form proceeded on the belief that his favourite system offered the best prospect of ensuring the public welfare, or by asserting that the form of government determines both the substance of the laws and mode in which they are administered. The objection of Crito accounts for much of the distrust of, and distaste for, speculation on political changes which are not demanded as remedies for specific mischiefs, and which do not promise definite and desirable results. It also assists us in arriving at the conditions which are necessary to render any proposal for political amelioration useful and popular-that it must be called for by the existence of certain and undoubted evils, and afford a prospect of commensurate benefits; and further that, in order to be successful, it

should make due allowances for habit, take into account existing associations, and respect historical traditions.

A plea for a real Metropolitan Government in the place of the existing chaos of powers may combine all these conditions. The metropolitan proprietors as well as inhabitants are, as much as any civilized community in the world, in need of that organization and protection which a properly-constituted local government is capable of affording. At this moment a number of public companies, pursuing schemes profitable or supposed to be profitable to themselves or their projectors, threaten to create within the metropolitan area more than a hundred miles of road, and to construct stations for about thirty different railways, on every possible variety of level and intersection. The multitude and conflict of public and private interests involved in these schemes must, at present, be discussed and watched over, if at all, before the Committees of the Houses of Parliament. The most able and assiduous members of these committees are the first persons to acknowledge their real inefficiency for such purposes. They are subject to almost every defect that a tribunal can labour under. It seems perfectly amazing that, in a country supposed to be governed by reason and discussion, such a state of things can continue. An experienced lawyer thus describes some of the infirmities of this procedure: "The committee," he says, 66 without any trustworthy information "of the requirements of the locality or "the effect of the undertaking on the "public interest, is dependent on the "interested representations of the pro"moters, or of opponents rich enough "to interpose no witnesses of the "naked truth are in request; no one, "professionally or otherwise, is prepared "to advocate the interest of the public "or of the locality; and persons indirectly, but most deeply, interested are unheard." 1 The ascertained cost

of this method of legislation to the companies who are forced to seek it is 1 See a paper "On Private Bill Legislation," by Mr. Pulling.-Soc. Sci. Trans. 1862, p. 129.

enormous. The unknown expenses of individuals who are driven to it for protection we can scarcely guess at. Railway-bills have cost from 650l. to 1,000l. a mile. Power to make twenty-nine miles of road cost the Hereford Company 250,000l.; and, before a spade was put into the ground, the Great Northern Railway Company had paid 420,000l. in parliamentary costs.2 The waste of capital or monetary wealth of the country is but a small portion of the evil resulting from the pertinacity with which the House of Commons clings to the power of local legislation. It is, in truth, one example of that vast network of often unconscious personal object and motive which has woven itself around our whole Parliamentary structure, and which no statesman dares to invade. The members of committees may act

on hearsay evidence in its most objec "tionable form-statements designedly "made to them individually out of

doors," "3 as much as on the evidence brought before them. Their decisions are purely arbitrary, not capable of being tested by any known law, and are without appeal. Their determinations are often of immense local consequence, and therefore materially affect their local popularity and influence. The power of aiding or resisting a railway-bill may be exercised greatly to the advantage of a represented, and greatly to the prejudice of an unrepresented, town-results which may be of much importance in elections under our partial and patchwork system of representation. Railway directors have, moreover, by their patronage and influence, acquired under that system great political power, and become valuable supporters and formidable adver saries. When, therefore, we are told that "the House will never part with this business of private-bill legislation," we cease to be surprised.

The admission of the Metropolitan Board to be heard before the Committees of Parliament affords a chance of inviting at least some regard to the public good. It may, however, be doubted whether, from the small num2 Id. 3 Id. p. 130.