some form contend for its extension to all classes of the community, however they may differ concerning its true objects and extent. But with all this apparent willingness to advance education, the nation,- the people as a whole-is uneducated to this hour. Of this assertion there can be no reasonable doubt; the feverish efforts of instructional societies prove it, and the experience of every public man demonstrates the same truth. Are we told by some well-meaning gentleman, who has just returned from a visit to a first class National school, that the knowledge possessed by the boys and girls is really wonderful? that chits, ten years old, know more than the man of seventy in former times? listen, benevolent gentleman, ere you sit down quietly to dinner;-listen to those sounds which rise with ominous distinctness from the crowded masses of the population, and behold the sights which in many a densely-peopled city suggest strange themes for the thoughts of the man who deems " all is well," and speaks approvingly of the "march of intellect." What say the chaplains of our jails,-whither seventy thousand English men and women are hurried every year, respecting the education of those prisoners? Not one half can read so as to understand any ordinary book, and not more than one-tenth can read and write with tolerable ease.

Truly this does not look like enlightenment. Whence do these miserable men and women come? Chiefly from the lower ranks of society, the agricultural labourers and the inferior mechanics supplying by far the greater portion. Are the rest as ignorant as those? Probably not; for it is but reasonable to suppose, that the majority of those who fall under the powers of the penal laws have come from the very worst section of the people, and are consequently the most ignorant. But we are still compelled to believe that a vast portion of the lower order is without anything deserving the name of education, and this is the deliberate conviction of judges, magistrates, and the guardians of poor-law unions, who are most likely to know the real condition of the population. From their testimony it appears, that not more than one person in twenty, amongst the lower orders, receives an education likely to influence his character for good.

What means the system of "ragged schools" as they are called, and of which the public must have heard with few congratulatory feelings? Does it not plainly declare that in the festering centres of populous cities we have so allowed ignorance to accumulate its blighting powers, that all the existing modes of education are insufficient to draw from their dens the young letterless creatures, whose ignorance of things divine is equalled by their ignorance of things human. Within a few yards of some of these "ragged schools" are standing National and other places of education; but these buildings could not come to the children, nor would the wretched and depraved parents bring the children to the schools; and as the government, in its gracious condescension, refused to interfere, all went ripening on into crime, and perhaps preparing the elements for revolution. But it now seems that these outcasts can be drawn within the influence of an educational course, as the reports of these ragged schools sufficiently prove.

Why then have thousands been allowed to grow up from childhood to youth, in the most degrading ignorance, whilst statesmen have been legislating for places ten thousand miles distant, unconscious of the pestilence raging in the narrow lanes behind their stately residences? In the mean time millions of books have been translated and printed for the use of distant pagans, and schools are established by Englishmen in the South Sea islands; whilst, within the sound of the Westminster bells, multitudes have been growing up nearly as ignorant as those distant semi-barbarians, to whom our thousands and tens of thousands are sent.

What a glaring anomaly is here-what a fatuity is

this! Far be it from the writer to chill the ardour of generous enterprise for distant people; let such feelings burn with all the intensity of a holy sympathy for the woes of human-kind, but let not our own streets an alleys be left in darkness, whilst sending the means knowledge to the antipodes.

Perhaps some may question the extent of the iz rance just described, and insinuate that the statement is overdrawn. The extent of such an evil must judged by examinations conducted over the whole coa: try, from which it appears that in every county ar town a large portion of the population can only described by the term ignorant; nor could any inte gent man employ another epithet. Ask all minded and zealous clergymen, in what state they in the mass of the poor: let the experience of some evidence on this subject. One will tell of the stratz discoveries made, when preparing the young for e mation; what ignorance of the simplest facts of ser ture history, what stupid blunders respecting the aly. bet of Christianity, and what incapacity for the plains moral arguments, are detected by the amazed examine Some will declare how St. Paul was confounded w Moses, by one youth; whilst Pontius Pilate is rats... with the prophets by another.

These special instances of ignorance do not of a attract the reader's notice, for he is, perhaps, ran brought into contact with the classes in which th abound. Let him not, however, deny the existene evils because he has not seen them. That the mise is here strongly stated is possible enough; that it m be expressed in milder terms may also be conoce but on such small details of the argument time not be wasted. Two men may vary in describing t gloom of a dark night-one calling it black, the ct 2 murky; but this will not make the darkness light, even change it to twilight. Neither can some diver ties of statement destroy the assertion, that the "E cation of the English is yet in a very low state."

Even if we come to those who can perform somet in reading, writing, and arithmetic, what do we s Oftentimes the grossest ignorance exists, with the r ability to "read, write, and sum;" which some pers really seem to regard as the three mystical operat which must be all-sufficient to develope the under ing of him who can perform them. Nothing is æ” common, especially when speaking of the poor, to reckon these three items as the total of educa A kindly-disposed person is examining the conditont the rustics in his parish, he enters a tolerably a looking cottage, and there sees a round-faced boy,f** teen or fifteen years old, who has just come fro neighbouring field to eat his dinner of bacon and tro Young Hodge gives his front lock of hair a pluck the entrance of our observer, who is mightily please see the school bow so well performed, nor less de at the sight of the bacon, which proves that S will not collect much matter for the "Times," should wend his way hither.

But the visitor, being satisfied respecting the dition of the outer man, directs his attention not to digestion, but to the intellects. The first qu "Can you read, my man?" is boldly answered with "ees Zur, please," and the assertion as boldly pr reading a few lines in the newspaper of yesterday, Mr. Rhas carried in his pocket as a convenient of rustic powers.

All was well done, save an unaccountable meré in pronunciation, which almost suggests the pos that the youth does not understand the lines just read. The second question, "And perhaps y write too?" is also promptly answered, and atte a full-length exhibition of the rustic's name in cha the back of the door. If, in addition to this, a "sa addition," or substraction, can be disposed of, the ch are that Hodge gets a sixpence, and his beneveki!! aminer retires, filled with delight at the advance th

public attention to the lamentable consequences flowing from the system in many cases. Whether some plan cannot be devised for creating and preserving a better monitorial scheme demands the attention of all,-but if no device seems possible, the nation must contribute more ample funds, and provide more paid and trained

masters.

What a general scheme of education for the people should comprehend is not our province to decide; that it should be more comprehensive and more exact seems admitted by those most conversant with the subject; and we may be allowed to hope, that our programmes of education will not be henceforth limited to paper, but reduced to practice in every English school. The difference is startling between the subjects professedly taught to the masters and mistresses in the training seminaries, and the actual education brought from schools by the boys and girls of our populous towns and villages. To impart to the poor all those branches of knowledge which some enthusiasts desire may be hopeless, but let us not neglect the intellectual wants of the age because others suffer a too generous ardour to inflate their expectations. Enthusiasm on this subject will not deserve more than a prudent caution; but supineness may justly provoke the indignation and contempt of every man. Remissness in national education has been a national vice, and, unless succeeded by redoubled exertions, and those in the right direction, will entail | ruinous consequences on some not distant generation. Other nations are in this respect leaving England behind, and disgraceful will it be to find the Prussian, Austrian, Swiss, and French peasants or artisans better educated than our boasted free-born Englishmen. We have held ourselves up to Europe as a moral and intelligent people, and puzzled Europe is compelled to admit much of this character to be true; but, in revenge, points to our drunken and ignorant artisans, who, when hired at high wages by foreign manufacturers, prove to be the most insolent, disorderly, and untaught of all mechanics. Nothing save the special manufacturing skill of our workmen induces the foreign employer to engage such ill-ordered men in his service. This is the testimony of foreign manufacturers in Switzerland, Italy, France, and other countries to which the mechanical skill of the English workman has conducted him, and where he disgraces his country by ignorance and vice. Let Britons arise and cure this crying evil by an improved system of national education.-W. D.

RAMBLES IN BELGIUM.

No. IV.-BRUssels.

BRUSSELS may not unaptly be called a miniature Paris; its shops, cafés, small park, boulevards, &c. contribute, in their several relations, to this vraisemblance. After leaving the railway station, the entrance to the city by night is very suggestive of the French capital. The Place Royale contains all the best hotels, and is, so to speak, the pinnacle of the new town, which has here a sort of natural separation from the old, inasmuch as a very long, tortuous, and hilly street must be traversed before the newer portions can be reached. The cathedral of St. Gudule first took my attention; it is a very large edifice with two enormous towers, the exterior effect heavy and ponderous. Not so the interior; for the columns are greatly relieved by the windows being filled with the richest painted glass. Several statues and monuments of various Dukes of Brabant are placed in different parts. The pulpit is, however, the great source of attraction: here, again, one is struck with wonder at the skill of the Flemish carvers in wood, so elaborately and exquisitely finished is this specimen in all its parts. It is supposed to have

been designed as a typical representation of the Christian faith. Below is Paradise, with the figures of Adam and Eve quitting the garden by the orders of the expelling angel; while high above may be seen the infant Saviour destroying the serpent. All this is so arranged as to leave a distinct impression on the mind as to the bearing of the whole work. The paintings are of ne particular order of merit, and a so-called Rubens is a miserable affair. It was impossible to resist the pressing importunities of a flower-girl, who gave me, for two copper pieces, a delicious bouquet formed of roses and the sweet-smelling yellow jasmine. She had taken her station by the outer wall of the entrance, and would not be refused. It was curious to see the women carrying about large brass pitchers, looking very bright and clean, some full of milk, others of water.

The Flemish language sounded doubly inharmonious when any of the peasantry, with their farming prodce, passed by, as the shop-keepers speak very good French, and at the hotels the garçons, most of them, kr English sufficiently well to answer any demand upca them. To be in Brussels a day without seeing its bear tiful Hôtel de Ville was an impossibility; so, spitef the rain, which was falling in torrents, I descended the interminable Rue Montagne de la Cour, and soon arrived at the Grande Place, where it is situated To my mind it is the most perfect of its kind in Belgium, even exceeding the famous one at Louvaiz It has a Gothic tower with a richly ornamental spre springing up to an immense height; there is a light ness and delicacy about it that made me often tur again and again to enjoy its architectural beauty. k was from hence that Charles the Fifth, weary of gover ing, resigned his throne, and, doffing the kingly garb clothed himself in monkish habits, departing from one state of misery to another; his entrance in a monastery and melancholy end, are too well known not to be se sociated with this old hall. Often, too, was it lit by the flames of the terrible Inquisition in the time of l'hi the Second, and many scenes of historic interest were transacted in the adjoining neighbourhood. There is an excellent contrast afforded by the Maison Comm nale, which stands nearly opposite; it is a heavy, soli looking pile; it was rebuilt in the seventeenth cent 17, and dedicated to Nôtre Dame de la Paix in consequence of the delivery of Brussels from the plague. There is an inscription upon it, though nearly illegible; I took it down, and found it to run thus: "A peste, fame, et bello, libera nos Maria pacis." It is now metamorphosed into shops.

Some very venerable-looking mansions covered with quaint designs, full of odd little windows, gables, an peaks, all attesting their Spanish origin, stand in this place and the adjoining streets. The theatre is in the Place de la Monnoie, and, after partaking of an elegant dinner at Du Bos Rue Fossé aux Loups, I attended th performance, which consisted of Meyerbeer's opera of th Huguenots, with no ballet or afterpiece of any kind. Tar admission to the pit was one franc and three-quarters One thing seemed very objectionable, and that was, that all parts of the house had one common entrance: in case of fire, or any other emergency, the confusion and difficulty of exit must be terrible.

The pit was half full of soldiers, who are in this ec try encouraged by the State to acquire a love of musie and other branches of the Fine Arts, by being allowed to enter their exhibitions and theatres at a certain consideration.

The opera was admirably acted and sung, the orchestra not too overpowering or noisy, and the chorus efficica, and alive to the interests of the situations,-not staring and gaping in one fixed line, but dispersed on the stage, and partaking in the emotions of the principal per formers, of whom Laborde was the worthy chief: be has a lovely tenor voice of good and even quality; and both in that, and his impassioned way of using it, minded me continually of Duprey. The bass part was

taken at a short notice by a tall gentleman, who was well received, and who did himself great credit by the style in which he gave Martin Luther's Hymn. Mademoiselle Heinfetter's Valentine was the crowning charm of the performance: simple and unaffected, with a rich clear voice never out of tune, she sang the music of the part most bewitchingly. The opera over, and the hour being only ten, there was every temptation to stroll once more to the Grande Place to see the effect of the moonlight on the Hôtel de Ville: it was like a piece of frosted silver, and one had a longing to place it under a glass case; it was too fragile-looking, too delicate, for open air exposure.

Before reaching the Hôtel de Flandre, it was impossible to pass the Café des Milles Colonnes without stop ping to taste its far-famed coffee. It was found of excellent quality. The saloon is elegantly fitted up with a quantity of mirrors and gilt ornaments, and is abundantly supplied with French, English, and Belgic newspapers. There were several officers en costume playing at dominoes, and appearing to take as much interest in the game as if it had been whist or chess. Everything in the apartment was conducted in the most orderly manner.

On the following morning I visited the palace of the Prince of Orange: it is a well proportioned edifice, and has some very handsome floors of polished woods; the custode required all the visitors to wear list shoes over their boots, in order to avoid any injury to the flooring. As for the pictures which once adorned these rooms, they are gone to the Hague, having followed the prince after the revolution of 1830. It is made a matter of great favour to see the king's palace, and I could not by any means obtain access to it.

The Parc is small, and the trees are not in any way remarkable, except that many of the trunks are pierced by the bullets of the conflicting parties at the Revolution; it is very well kept, and with its statues and allées has a very pleasing and inviting aspect of a summer's morning, when it is generally the resort of the bonnes and their little charges, who seem to enjoy its refreshing shades. Occasionally too may be seen two or three ladies, without any bonnets, at needlework on the benches around. At the opposite end to the gate which leads from the Place Royale, there is a small theatre, in which chiefly light pieces are played. There are several public fountains in the city; one is stated to have been erected by an ancestor of the present Marquis of Aylesbury; another, called le Cracheur, is not at all remarkable for the taste it displays, and the Manikin seems to be a favourite with the townsfolk, who have some legend connected with it, and have set apart a day in July as a fête for its honour, or rather I suspect for their own gratification and amusement. Very near the Parc, and opposite to the side where the palaces are situate, stands the Palais de la Nation: it is a handsome edifice in the Grecian order of architecture. Admittance was readily accorded to me and a party of French tourists, whose contemptuous observations on the arrangements of the interior were really most amusing. The chamber of the Lower House is a half circular apartment. On one side is a platform on which is placed the President's chair, before whom the orator for the time being advances from the body of the house, and addresses the assembly. Several rows of benches face this tribune; they are conveniently fitted up with desks and places for writing materials. The light is admitted from above, and, though far inferior in point of effect to the British House of Commons, yet there is a quiet air of dignity about the spot not unworthy its real intention and use. In a room, apparently set aside from some more exalted position, we were shown two large paintings: one a representation of the Battle of Waterloo, in which the present King of the Netherlands and the Duke of Richmond are vividly portrayed. Like all pictures of this class, in which red coats and smoke form a promi

nent feature, the impression left on the mind is of no agreeable character.

Anxious to have another opportunity of seeing some of the flowers and plants for which Belgium is celebrated, I hurried over my inspection of the Representative Upper House, and sought out the Botanic Garden; it is very near the railway station and on the slope of a hill. The grounds are of no great extent, but are laid out in a diversified and tasteful way. The conservatory is large and handsome, and contains some tolerably good palms, but on the whole was disappointing for one who had expected more.

Walking home through the Rue Montagne de la Cour, I was astonished to notice the number of confectioners' shops. They are famous for a cake made of almonds, altogether different to our own, both richer and more appetizing. Chocolate is sold in all sorts of devices, and is eaten as a great delicacy by the middling classes. A troop of infantry were marching up the steep street, and gave a very fair sample of "les braves Belges." By far the greater number were under the ordinary height of English foot soldiers, and gave one very much the idea of a yeomanry corps in the midland districts. They did not seem as if they were accustomed to bear arms, and at times evinced an awkwardness truly absurd. The officers were fierce looking gentlemen with terrible mustachios, and thickly padded coats.

The sensation produced by this military array was very slight, as compared with a similar march of our own well appointed men on a summer afternoon up the shady side of Pall Mall. Education and refinement seem to have advanced more amongst them than they have in our troops, for, on quitting the street to take a peep at the works of art that were being shown at the Exposition Nationale, I was a listener to some very able remarks on one of the statuettes, made by two common soldiers, who were criticising the design with an evident perception and love of the beautiful. A similar reflection suggested itself on the previous evening at the theatre, where a man sitting near me in the plainest uniform, entered into conversation with his neighbour, and spoke of Rossini's and Mozart's music as a thing perfectly familiar to him. His observations on Meyerbeer and the dramatic music of France were excellent; no amateur or critic could have displayed more taste or intelligence.

The Exposition displayed some fine paintings; one group of wild animals by the Belgian Landseer were especially clever. Verbockhoven is an artist of great merit; I had seen some of his works in London, but was not prepared for anything so good as the execution of this painting. There was a force of contrast, a power, and finish, which bespoke a mind of high order.

A very fanciful marble statue of Hope claimed a good deal of attention, which I was glad to see bestowed upon it by many around.

Although much pleased with the entire exhibition, I came away still more gratified with the thought that the remembrance of my own talented countrymen was not in the smallest degree weakened or effaced.

Coming out, there was a number of young girls dressed in white, with a wreath of white roses round their heads, standing, talking together in subdued tones. Their costume requiring some explanation, I was told they had been to their church to be confirmed by the bishop. They did not speak much for the beauty of their race, for one and all were as plain daughters of Eve as ever existed.

An introduction to the proprietor of one of the largest lace manufactories gave a pleasant means of inspecting his establishment; nothing could be more courteous or more attentive than this gentleman, and he was at considerable pains to point out anything that questions were asked upon.

It was wonderful to hold some of this delicate fab

in the hand, and examine the minuteness of the pa and it was difficult to believe that the large

fingers of the workwomen could have brought this art to such perfection. Wonder followed wonder, as I thought on the fields of flax I had passed, and remembered that they were the origin, or rather foundation, of these fairy-like articles. The manufactory was very dark, and not well ventilated, so that a ramble on the Waterloo boulevards was quite necessary, before assist ing at the four o'clock table d'hôte, at the Hôtel de Flandre. Of this latter, it is necessary to say special words of commendation and recommendation. Be assured, oh reader, that it is first and foremost of all hotels in Brussels. The dinners are superb, and served in the best style; it is the custom to have the dishes placed before the admiring eyes of the guests for a few minutes; they are then carried off by the attendant garçons to a sideboard, cut up, and handed to each individual; the pâtisserie is of the most varied kind, and must be, not seen, but tasted, to be appreciated. The society is always, as I have heard and found, good, and parties, who have never met before, mingle cordially in the conversation of the dinner table. Brussels is a charming place for a short séjour : retirement or gaiety may be equally enjoyed, and it is an easy distance from London on the one hand, and Paris and the principal German towns on the other. It is a mistake to suppose that it is a cheap spot to live in; the prices demanded by the shopkeepers are fully as high as those of the first houses in the west end of town, and it needs some acquaintance with the different localities to find out good and respectable, and, at the same time, moderate houses, where the necessaries of life may be purchased. The general temperature of the city is equable, and the many agrémens connected with it render it a very agreeable resort for the invalid, who seeks to combine amusement with a relaxation from all active duties.

ON THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF PRAIRIES. FEW of our readers can be unacquainted with the fact, that a vast portion of North America is occupied by level plains of extraordinary extent, called savannahs, or prairies. These prairies are of three kinds : first, the heathy or bushy prairies, which have springs of water, and are covered with small shrubs, grapevines, &c. These are very common in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Second, the dry or rolling prairies, generally destitute of water, and almost of all vegetation but grass. These are the most common and extensive : the traveller may wander for days in these vast and nearly level plains, without wood or water, and see no object rising above the horizon. Third, there are the alluvial, or wet prairies, which form the smallest division. These are covered with a rich vegetation of tall rank grass. The soil is deep, black, friable, and fertile, and abounding in pools without issue, left by the floodings of the rainy season.

There is this peculiarity in the scenery of North America, that forest and pasture land are seldom found intermixed. The country consists either of vast tracts of land, such as above described, and altogether destitute of timber; or it is covered with forests for many hundreds of miles. This remarkable difference between the features of American scenery, and all that we, as Europeans, are acquainted with, has led to various theories by which the circumstance is attempted to be explained. Decandolle states, that the right of prior occupation is sufficient to explain the fact; that forests and prairies mutually exclude each other. He considers, that if by any cause a forest is established in a given place, the shade of the trees, and the eagerness with which their roots absorb nourishment, together with the interlacings of those roots, will prevent the

grasses from shooting up underneath. If, on the contrary, the prairie is first developed, then, supposing that the seeds of the trees do from time to time germinat, yet their young roots cannot easily pierce the close net-work of the grasses already existing on the spet and, even if they do, they are starved by the voracity of the grass-roots, which are more numerous, and letter developed than their own.

Not resting satisfied with this attempted solution, Dr. Daubeny, in his Lectures on Agriculture, inquir what has given to the forest in the one case, and to the meadow in the other, that prior occupancy, to which their power of maintaining entire possession of an ertensive tract may perhaps justly be attributed.

The view of the subject, taken by the learned professer himself, appears so likely to present the real cause of the phenomenon in question, and his remarks on the exuberance of newly-peopled countries in general, at so interesting, that we make an abs ract of them fɛ the benefit of our readers.

It is probable, that in the climate and latitude alluded to, forests would usurp dominion over te. greater portion of the country, if no extraneous case interfered to arrest them. It is only necessary, there fore, to explain why large tracts should be found why denuded of timber; and this it seems most reason to attribute to the practice that prevails amongst! Aborigines, of annually setting fire during summer t the plains, in order the more readily to take deer a other wild game.

In the dry season a fire, when once kindled, spre in all directions, until it is stopped by the interventi of a river, or by meeting with a ridge or tract so desi tute of vegetation as to afford no combustible terials. Hence those vast plains that lie to the wes the Mississippi, not being intersected by any bar range of hills, nor yet traversed by large rivers, have the course of years been converted into prairies, the growth of timber being from time to time prevented the cause assigned, until the luxuriant herla ! length so pre-occupies the soil, as itself to stifle all t ing along either side of that great stream, the numera kind of vegetation; whereas, over a wide tract ex tributaries that pour their waters into it, oppose s to the progress of such fires as may occur, and the enable the forests to maintain their ascendancy.

Be this as it may, the absence of timber in t prairie country is by no means an evidence of sterility on the contrary, the immense accumulation of decay vegetable matter, which has resulted from the gr of herbaceous plants during so many centuries, found to constitute a soil of almost unrivalled pr ductiveness.

The colonist, therefore, in settling down in suc region, has little room for the exertion of any ex ordinary skill or industry, having around him ank limited extent of land, which in its actual condi takes the trouble of turning it up and scattering affords the richest pasturage, and which, whenever over it, will generally repay him largely for the la expended. Harder, indeed, is the lot of him who takes up his abode within the precincts of the primeval for of the western world; since, before he can reap any vantage from the land he calls his own, he must u take the severe task of clearing it of the timber w which it is encumbered. This, however, being a plished, it is seldom that he is disappointed of an s return for his labour. Notwithstanding his rude a imperfect method of culture, his success is as grotas that which follows the utmost exertion of skill andă perience in older countries. This was even the case parts of the Union which are by no means remar for their fertility at present; as, for instance, in state of New England.

"When the tract on the green mountains in Mas chusetts was first settled," says Dr. Dwight, "the A exuberant fertility was attributed to it, which has sia