and I was delighted with the system, of instruction which had evidently
been pursued with them. We heard them first in the reading and
recitation of poetry; after that in arithmetic and algebra, then in
natural philosophy, and last, and most satisfactorily, in the Bible. It
was perfectly evident from the nature of the questions and answers, that
it was not a crammed examination, and that the readiness of reply
proceeded not from a mere commitment of words, but from a system of
intellectual training, which led to a good understanding of the subject.
In arithmetic and algebra the answers were so remarkable as to induce
the belief in some that the boys must have been privately prepared on
their questions; but the teacher desired Lord John Russell to write down
any number of questions which he wished to have given to the toys to
solve, from his own mind. Lord John wrote down two or three problems,
and I was amused at the zeal and avidity with which the boys seized upon
and mastered them. Young England was evidently wide awake, and the prime
minister himself was not to catch them, napping. The little fellows'
eyes-glistened as they rattled off their solutions. As I know nothing
about mathematics, I was all the more impressed; but when they came to
be examined in the Bible, I was more astonished than ever. The masters
had said that they would be willing any of the gentlemen should question
them, and Mr. B. commenced a course of questions on the doctrines of
Christianity; asking, Is there any text by which you can prove this, or
that? and immediately, with great accuracy, the boys would cite text
upon text, quoting not only the more obvious ones, but sometimes
applying Scripture with an ingenuity and force which I had not thought
of, and always quoting chapter and verse of every text. I do not know
who is at the head of this teaching, nor how far it is a sample of
English schools; but I know that these boys had been wonderfully well
taught, and I felt all my old professional enthusiasm arising.

After the examination Lord John came forward, and gave the boys a good
fatherly talk. He told them that they had the happiness to live under a
free government, where all offices are alike open to industry and merit,
and where any boy might hope by application and talent to rise to any
station below that of the sovereign. He made some sensible, practical
comments, on their Scripture lessons, and, in short, gave precisely such
a kind of