ction. When it
is really too tiresome to inquire into all the authorities on some
affair of magnitude, it is so respectable to sum up in the phrase
imitated by the youth alluded to above.

It is in the Secondary Schools of the country that the confusion of
thought is apt to be most painfully seen. Far too much is attempted, and
the pupils are overworked. A teacher in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, a
_laudator temporis acti_, has a manuscript collection of howlers, drawn
from elementary, secondary, and university sources, with the following
fearful lines as a preface:--

"Ye statesmen all, of high or humble station,
Collective conscience of the British nation,
Whether the frothing vat has made your name
Or tropes in carpet-bags begot your fame,
Behold the _product_ of the education
Wherewith is dosed the rising generation.
And see the modern devotee of cram
At midnight hour hard-grinding for the exam.,
A moistened towel garlanding his brow,
And coffee simmering on the hob below.
High on a three-legged stool uncushioned, he
Sits glowering through his goggles painfully,
Nagging his brain with all a grinder's might
Till _one_ sounds on the drowsy ear of night.
Like Sibyl's leaves the papers strew his floor
Wrought-out examples, 'wrinkles' by the score,
Conundrums algebraic, 'tips' on Conics
And thorny 'props' remembered by mnemonics.
Betweenwhiles as the slow time lagging goes,
He takes the spectacles from off his nose,
Removes the damper from his aching head,
Pours out the coffee, cuts a slice of bread,
Sips wistfully the liquid from his cup:
The zeal to pass the exam. has eaten _him_ up.
Thrice happy ye! born 'neath the ancient reign
When _Tityre tu_ alone possessed the brain
(Ere Tyndall's tubes made sweating students numb)
And the whole aim of life was _di, do, dum_."

COMPETING SUBJECTS.

So numerous indeed are the subjects of the school curriculum in our day
that howlers and confusion are bound to result. Formerly there was but
one scheme (containing classics, mathematics, and a little English), and
everybody took it. Now there is a kind of competition among the
departments of a school as to which is the most culturing. When a fond
mother asks the opinion of the masters as to what course of study her
boy (whom she is entitled to think a genius of the first order) ought to
pursue, she is often p