BELGIUM

least 8 and not more than 10 members. The highest grade of instruction is that dispensed by the universities. Of these, there are four. Two, those of Ghent and Liege, belong to the state; one, that of Louvain, to the bishops; and one, that of Brussels, to an association of Liberals. Ghent, Liege, and Brussels have each four faculties; Louvain has five. There is a council of superior studies (conseil de perfectionnement de l'enseignement supérieur), consisting of the 2 rectors and 8 professors of the state universities (1 from each faculty), the school inspectors, and some private individuals. Industrial instruction is given in institutions of three grades; higher instruction, in the special schools of arts, and manufactures and mines, attached to the University of Liege, in those of civil engineering, and of arts and manufactures, annexed to the University of Ghent, and in the superior institute of commerce at Antwerp; intermediate instruction in the industrial departments attached to all the athenæums and high schools; primary instruction, in the industrial schools for workmen. The latter are very numerous, lacemaking alone being taught in 586 schools. There is a military school for training officers of all arms, regimental schools for the instruction of ignorant soldiers, and a school for the education of soldiers' children. There are 2 veterinary schools, 3 conservatories of music, 72 schools of drawing, | painting, sculpture, and architecture, a national observatory, 2 schools for deaf-mutes, 1 for the blind, 6 for orphans, and 3 for young criminals. Education in Belgium is not compulsory, and the number of children receiving no kind of instruction is still large. Of the conscripts there were, in 1845, 391 out of 1000, who could neither read nor write; in 1863, 302.

The salaries of primary teachers were fixed by a law of 1863 as follows: (1) in schools with more than 100 scholars, minimum salary 1,050 francs; (2) in schools with from 60 to 100 scholars, 950 francs; (3) in schools with less than 60 scholars, 850 francs. The chief town of every province has a special savings-bank for teachers (caisse de prévoyance), into which every teacher is required annually to pay a certain fixed amount from his salary, and which also receives contributions from the provinces, the state, and private individuals. Every teacher who is sixty years old and has served thirty years is entitled to a life pension. The full pension of teachers is also paid to their widows and to their orphans till the latter have reached their 16th year.

Of the four universities of Belgium, the free Catholic University of Louvain had, in 1872, the largest number of students (901); the free (liberal) University of Brussels had 583; the State University at Liege 436, and the State University of Ghent 210; the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Antwerp, 1576 students. The Conservatory of Music at Brussels was attended by 675 pupils, that of Liege by 789. The number of teachers in the primary schools, in 1874, was 10,629, of whom 7,032 were laymen, and 3,597 members of religious orders and clerics. The

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latter class has increased since 1851 by 1,098, the former only by 624. The schools for adults numbered 199,957 pupils, 9,219 more than in 1848, being 3.98 per cent of the population. aggregate expenditures made for primary instruction, in 1874, were as follows: national government, 6,643,415 francs; provinces 1,584,010 fr.; communes 5,863,561 fr.; total 14,090,986 fr. To what extent illiteracy still prevails may be inferred from the fact that, in 1874, of 43,311 men who were drafted for the militia, 8,727 could neither read nor write, 1,976 could only read, 15,726 could read and write, 16,228 had a higher education, and of 654 the degree of instruction was unknown. See BARNARD, National Education, part II., p. 369 to 401; JUSTE, Histoire de l'instruction publique en Belgique (1840); Rapports triennaux, publiés par le gouvernement sur l'enseignement des trois degrés; Annuaire statistique de la Belgique.

BELL, Andrew, D. D., a distinguished educationist, the author of the system of mutual or monitorial instruction sometimes called the Madras system, was born at St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1753, and died at Cheltenham, England, in 1832. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews, went to America, and after a short residence there, returned and took orders in the Episcopal Church. In 1787, he embarked for India, and on his arrival at Madras, was appointed chaplain to the English garrison, and also superintendent of the school then recently established for the education of the orphan children of British soldiers. Finding great difficulty in obtaining the assistance of competent teachers in this arduous work, he resorted to the expedient of conducting the school by means of the pupils themselves. This method was partly suggested to his mind by his seeing, on one of his morning rides, the children of a Malabar school sitting on the ground and writing with their fingers in sand. He immediately introduced this method of teaching the alphabet into his school, and finding the ushers averse to the innovation, gave the AB C-class to a boy whom he selected as especially fitted for the task. This boy, whose name was John Frisken, and who was probably the first monitor in English education, was the son of a soldier, and then about eight years old. The success of this lad induced Dr. Bell to extend the experiment. He appointed other boys to teach the lower classes; and soon afterwards applied his system of monitors to the whole school (1791). This was continued under his superintendence till his return to Europe, in 1796. (See MONITORIAL SYSTEM.) After his arrival in England, he drew up a full report of his school, which was published in London, in 1797, under the title of An Experiment in Education, made at the Male Asylum, Madras; suggesting a System by which a School or Family may teach itself under the superintendence of the Master or Parent. This pamphlet attracted little attention, until, through the efforts of Joseph Lancaster, the monitorial system of instruction invented by him was introduced into

the schools of the Dissenters. A controversy as to the respective merits of the systems of Bell and Lancaster then sprung up, the friends and adherents of each claiming for it not only superiority in merit, but priority of invention. The idea of mutual instruction was, however, not new. Indeed, it is as old as Lycurgus; and Lancaster was too candid a man to claim an absolute originality for his plan. In his first pamphlet, published in 1803, he says: "I ought not to close my account without acknowledging the obligations I lie under to Dr. Bell; I much regret that I was not acquainted with the beauty of his system till somewhat advanced in my plan. If I had known it, it would have saved me much trouble and some retrograde movements." This controversy was as much sectarian as educational, as the rival systems were favored, the one by the Dissenters, and the other by the Church of England. It, however, served a useful purpose, in giving an impetus to the progress of education. In 1811, a society, called the National Society, was formed for the establishment of schools in connection with the Church of England, on Dr. Bell's plan; and Dr. Bell was appointed to superintend the enterprise, a duty which engrossed much of his time and efforts until his death. By this means, the Madras system obtained an introduction not only in England, but in Scotland and Ireland, as well as in some parts of the United States. For the purpose of bringing it to the notice of educators on the continent, Dr. Bell made an extensive tour, in the course of which he visited the schools of Pestalozzi and Fellenberg, with the former of whom he was quite charmed. "He has much that is original," he remarked, " much that is excellent. If he had a course of study-if he were to dismiss his masters, and adopt the monitorial system and the principle of emulation, he would be super-excellent." In the mean time, the analogous system of Lancaster had been carried into effect in numerous schools established by an association of Dissenters, styled The British and Foreign School Society; and much active rivalry existed between the two societies. (See LANCASTER, JOSEPH.) During his life, Dr. Bell received several lucrative offices in the Church, from which he was enabled to amass a large fortune. The whole of this, amounting to £120,000, he bequeathed to various towns in his native country for the endowment of schools. He founded Madras College, at St. Andrews, and a lectureship, at Edinburgh University, on the principles of teaching, and on the monitorial system. On his death, in 1832, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, the highest dignitaries of the Church and many distinguished noblemen attending as mourners. An elegant monument marks his resting-place, with an inscription in which he is characterized as the Author of the Madras System."-See SOUTHEY, Life of the Rev. Andrew Bell, D. D. (Lond., 1844); the Edinburgh Review, vol. XXXIII.; LEITCH, Practical Educationists and their Systems of Teaching (Glasgow, 1876).

BELLES-LETTRES

BELLES-LETTRES is a French expression for polite literature, i. e., books and language in so far as they are shaped by the idea of beauty. It has been used in English to designate a somewhat vague class of studies connected, more or less nearly, with the mastery of literature on its esthetic side. Some of the colleges in the United States have had a professor of belleslettres. He has taught rhetoric and elocution mainly; but poetry, drama, prose fiction, criticism, classical philology, the humanities in general, are all in his province. Blair's Rhetoric was long widely used as a text-book in this branch; and several editions of it are still kept in print. Esthetics (the science of beauty) and philol ogy have, of late years, made great advance, and new text-books are needed to set forth modern methods of studying literature and language, so as to understand their beauties. The elements of the study should be taught early. In the kindergarten or other infant school, the children should be taught to admire and examine beautiful objects, to notice the qualities which give them beauty, to name the objects and the qualities; they should be told anecdotes in which beautiful persons do beautiful acts, and the words expressive of beauty should be spoken with tones and gestures which may give them lively associations and a permanent place in the memory; passages of verse or rhythmical prose in which beautiful thoughts are fittingly expressed, and of which the teacher is foud, should be repeated till they are caught by the pupils. Such passages may be among the noblest of our literature. It is not necessary that they should be wholly comprehended by the learners. They may be regarded as music, producing comparatively vague intellectual processes. but quickening powerfully the emotional element of esthetic culture. Language and literature should lead the youth of cultured races to a more rapid development than the natural growth of the understanding. Beautiful and noble words thus learned by heart will serve as molds in which the expanding intellect may flow and form. This early oral instruction may be happily aided by learning to read in illustrated books, in which beautiful pictures are made to interpret and enforce the thought. Some of the magazines for children afford such aid in a good form; such as The Nursery (Boston); St. Nicholas (N. Y.). Children taught in this way will be ready to pursue the study of belles-lettres when they have learned to read with ease. The simplest method used in our schools is the reading in class of selections of characteristic works of the most admired authors in our own and other classic languages. Text-books of selections for this purpose are: HUDSON'S Text-book of Poetry; HUDSON'S Text-book of Prose (Boston); UNDERwOOD's British Authors; UNDERWOOD'S American Authors (Boston); Typical Selections from the best English Authors from the 16th to the 19th Century (Clarendon Press, Oxford); most series of School Readers have a class book of literature, and some of them are well selected

and arranged. The kind of beauty earliest appreciated is that of adventure. Short stories please; such as fables and parables. The style must be simple, the movement rapid. Lyrics or orations expressing tender or noble feelings come next. The appreciation of epic and romantic narrative will grow rapidly; minute delineation of character, the drama, and the modern novel will then follow, and finally descriptions of works of art, scenery, and nature. The liking for ornate language, figures of speech, rhythmical effects, and other arts of style, generally needs special cultivation to make it strong in young readers. Whatever be the passages chosen to read, the teacher aiming to give instruction in belleslettres will direct the attention of the class to beautiful thoughts, figures, and expressions, and will have them read with care and expression, so as to bring out the thought and feeling of each passage. He may also mention criticisms which have been made on the passage, tell of occasions on which it has been quoted or imitated, quote similar passages in other authors or the same author, and have parts committed to memory. In such studies, more is caught than taught. The teacher must feel the beauties and communicate the feeling by looks and tones. Pupils who read with expression should also be used to heighten the interest of the exercise. A single good reader will often stimulate a whole class. Comment and criticism should be mainly used for pointing out beauties, and exciting admiration for them. Appreciative reading, comment, and memorizing may thus be made a delightful introduction to literature, leading naturally to further study in two main directions,the historical and the philosophical. The historical is the easier in its beginnings. Courses of lectures on the history of literature, and text-books giving material for historical and biographical study in connection with selections for reading, are to be had. CLEVELAND'S Compendium of English Literature (N. Y.) includes the most eminent authors from Sir John Mandeville to Cowper. The same author has published similar works on the Literature of the 19th Century, and on American Literature (N. Y.). Somewhat like them are SHAW's History and Specimens of English Literature (edition by BACKUS, N. Y.); and CHAMBERS'S Manual of English Literature. Larger works for the teacher and for reference are CHAMBERS's Cyclopædia of English Literature (N. Y.); and DUYCKINCK'S Cyclopædia of American Literature (Phila.); and indispensable to the thorough teacher is ALLIBONE'S Dictionary of Authors (Phila.), which is a great store-house of biography, bibliography, and criticism gleaned from many sources, and quoted at length. With these aids, the student of belles-lettres must be led to point out how each successive beauty in the passages which are read is related to the character, education, and times of the author; and by well-directed study he may acquire, in time, clear ideas of the representative works of literary art in the great eras of history,-first of English history, then of the history of other

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nations. This will require the reading of many more books than can usually be read in school. The teacher should, however, see that many are read. This can best be done by requiring written exercises of such a kind as to assure him of the fact without taking much of his time. He may have brief outlines of stories handed in, as, of some of the Canterbury Tales; or the gist of the critical views of some author on a particular point, as Coleridge's in regard to Hamlet; or the brief mention of ten of the most interesting passages in a book; as, in the Pilgrim's Progress, (1) The Slough of Despond, (2) The Interpreter's House, (3) The Fight with Apollyon, and so on. Or he may ask for biographical facts on which works of art are based; as, what events in Milton's life suggested passages in Paradise Lost. Writing should also be freely used to stimulate original production; imitative production is, to be sure, what is to be expected of the young students of belles-lettres; but they should use their pens freely, in such a way as the authors they admire or their own powers may prompt. If they show signs of talent, the teacher should encourage them. The meters of the poets may easily be imitated; and it is only by practice in production that the secrets of style are attained or thoroughly understood. The student of belles-lettres will soon learn that the English is only one among many classic literatures. He will wish to become acquainted with Homer, Virgil, and Dante as well as with Milton; with Boccacio as well as Chaucer; Goethe as well as Shakespeare. He will wish to learn Greek, Latin, Italian, French, German. (See the articles on these and other languages.) No literature can be mastered without mastering the language in which it was originally written; but much may be done by translations. Several text-books of such selected translations are available: LONGFELLOW's Poets and Poetry of Europe (Phila.); ELTON's Specimens of Greek and Roman Poets (Phila.); WRIGHT'S The Golden Treasury of ancient Greek Poetry (Oxford); RAMAGE's Beautiful Thoughts from Greek Authors; same from Latin Authors; from German and Spanish; from French and Italian (London); ANGEL'S French Literature (Phila.); BERARD'S Spanish Art and Literature (Phila.) BOTTA's Universal Literature (Boston); and The Hebrew Poetry in the English Bible. But in order to render this historical study as valuable as possible, it should be accompanied with the critical study of literary works relating to the principles of art, or the laws of beauty. Such study requires a knowledge of descriptive rhetoric and prosody, and of the technical terms of esthetic criticism; so that the students may be able to classify and name the facts which come before them, and talk of them with perspicuity. They should, for example, when set to study a beautiful passage, recognize the rhetorical forms which occur in it, such as similes, metaphors, personification, etc; if it is poetry, they should recognize the poetical forms, such as the meter, with its management of the feet and cæsuras, of rhyme and alliteration; they should be able to