Hamiltonian System.
The Times, 1824-01-03T00:00:00

WFe last night attended ilir.nm`iltotnintIecture, esplanatory of his new system of cducation. It -*as giteu&at thCrowrin and Anchor, and attracted4%very numeroug-sand re8pectable auditory.- HAd Mr. Hanilton, vwhen he deliverea his first lecture, been as co- pioUq, and, at the same timne as explcit,. ashet was 1ast-night, we shnd nothavefelt ouselves called upon, t the former perioa. tb- uave noticed hss object very partfcularly. Ve -felt, notwithstanding the assertion aof Mr. Rli5ilton, in his piospectus, " that the preient system of uitionin theprimnary schools throughout the civilized world was essentially vicious," that the-contray wvas the fact; and that thp rittle progress made by the pupils in some of those cphools was not referable -to the natare of the ststem, but to tbeneglineuce or insuffciency of those who were in- with ts adnministration. IVe were alo a good deal astonished at Ar. H4milton's declaration that a boy, " fr6m the fint moment of his entering school, till Iiis education is what -is called completed, is taugbt nsthing ;" knowing perfectly well that the aSSertion was not correct. With these sweeping proposidons be- fore us, and with a guarantee that each. pupi would be enabled in 48 lessonrs to speak and wrte the French or Gerrmn with gramma- tial accuracy, we dil conceive it to be our duty to say a word or two in favour of the old scholastic system, and to more than hint at the innpossg ility-of auy person bem itaught allanguate -grammar- tically and'accurately in sr short aperiod as that appamentlv speci.- fled. From the lecture oflast night, we, however, haveleaaned -the natureoftheguarantee,and the extentoftheknowledgetobeimparted It is 1ot guaranteed that a pupil,attheend ofeachsection of lessons, shall necessaily bo perfect in the basiness of that section. That, as in all other schools, must depend on his own application. But if he be not perfect-if le do not keep up witi his class, he may receive as many private lessons, gratis, as will tounterbalance his want of quickness, or make up for any occasional absences which may have occurred during the course., This is verv fair-very hontest ; buit it does away with themiracle. Now with rispect to the measure ofin- struction which is tObe afforde(l. WVhatsaysillr. Hamil.on's card? It contains a guarantee,that a pipll shall be enabled to speak and write, with grao/,tnaticalaccuracu, either the French or the German lan. guage, after 4i lessons of anhour eacb. And-what did MLr.Harnil- ton himself last night say ? That, at the expiration of fhe peiiod, the pupil would be able to write those languages-that itwas, how- ever, hardly possible to avoid Anglicismrnzbut that the knowledge- which he possessed would be sufficient for every commercial and so- cial purpose of life. For either of these purposes, we believe, amc. derate knowledge of any language rill suffice; and, doubtless, Mr. Hamilton will impart ipstruction sufficient-for that purpose and certainly at a mast reasonable rate, (a point to which he particularly called the attention of his auditors) but it is a very different thing to found a man in a language; -or, in other words, to teach, him, to speak and write it with grammatic purity. - WVe think EUr. Hamilton will- be found useful in instruct- mug those whose time has been wasted under masters who either-hasd not knowledge, or who, having it, were tcoo idle to impact it torth&F pupils; but wve are sute-that there are thousands -who- havcbeaej reared at what he terms '- primary schools," who-have acquiredc French and German enough for " all the purposes-of cominerihl- and social life." Air. Hamiltoi also teaches Greek:and -Lit!m. Does-the knowledge of those languages, asiwpaxted;by-bii extend no farther than is sufflcient for the purt sesabov.-ntiffanedk? In tnat case, the pupil won't be overburdened vwthcamd'sre, HffAMLTOYIAX SSTBEM.