best Latin epigram after the model of Martial. He gave also a rent charge of £20 per annum, for founding a classical scholarship.

The late John Norris, Esq. of Witton in Norfolk, gave by will in 1768, a premium of £12 to the author of the best English prose essay, on a sacred subject, to be paid partly in a gold medal and partly in books. One side of the medal represents the New Testament and the cross, with this inscription round it: "The wisdom of God unto salvation ;" the reverse represents the resurrection, with the inscription, "Death is swallowed up in victory;" upon the edge is engraved "The Norrisian Prize," and if there is room, the name of the successful candidate and the date of the year.

John, Lord Craven, gave £50 per annum to two scholars the best proficients in classical learning. William Battice left an estate of £20 to one scholar on a similar plan. William Worts gave two pensions of £100 per annum each, to two travelling Bachelors of Arts. Rev. John Hulse, by his will, in 1777, founded two scholarships in St Johns, of £40 each; the scholars to be nominated by the Vice Chancellor and the Heads of Trinity and St Johns.-Wilson's Memorab. Cantab.

BUST OF MECENAS.

We copy the following from the Report of the seventh meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, communicated to the editor by Dr Bryce of Liverpool.

"It was long a cause of wonder and regret, that no gem, medal, or statue of a man so illustrious had ever been discovered. At length the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, early in the last century, by a happy conjecture, fixed on one of the gems in his collection, an amethyst of small size, marked with the name of the Engraver Dioscorides, as being the representation of the head of Mecenas. Another head having the name of Solon, the engraver, evidently representing the same person, was afterwards found in the Farnesian museum; and a ring of the same, a sardonyx, also by Solon, has since been discovered in the collection of the Prince Ludovisi. The features given in these gems agree so well with all that has been handed down in the Roman Classics, concerning the personal appearance and habits of Mecenas, that the suggestion of the Duke of Orleans has been adopted by all subsequent antiquaries. A few years after the recognition of the head of Mecænas on the gems of Dioscorides and Solon, both artists coeval with Augustus, an antique

fresco painting was discovered in the ruins of the palace of the Cæsars, in the Palatine Hill at Rome. This painting represents Augustus, surrounded by his courtiers, conferring a crown of the Persian King Phraates, an event spoken of by Horace. In the first rank of the courtiers stands one, evidently the Prime Minister, in the act of speaking, whose features strongly resemble those on the gems of Mecænas above described. Next to him is Agrippa, who is readily recognized, from medals, coins, and statues of him. found in the group. A copy of this painting was bought by Dr Mead and brought to England by him; and an engraving of it may be seen in Turnbull's Essay on Ancient Painting.

Horace also is

This was the extent of antiquarian research and acquisition concerning Meæcnas during the last half century, when in the spring of 1830, a bust was found in an excavation made by Professor Maumi, at Carsoli, the ancient Carsuli, about seventy miles from Rome, on the Flaminian Way.

The bust was of colossal size, of pure Parian marble, and perfect in every feature. On being cleaned of its incrustation, the modelling of the work was seen to be of that masculine firmness which characterizes the style of the epoch of Augustus, excelling in what is called a broad manner-the execution that of a master- with the greatest freedom and grandeur; the emaciation by age of the individual being faithfully preserved. The striking resemblance of the bust to the gems and picture of Mecenas was at once recognised by the most eminent antiquarians and learned men at Rome. A conclusive evidence of the estimation in which it is held in Italy, is the fact that it has been twice copied by Thorwaldsen.

PAPERS ON EDUCATION, laid before the British Parliament, Feb. 12, 1839.

MY LORD,

Whitehall, Feb. 4, 1839.

I have received her Majesty's commands to make a communication to your Lordship on a subject of the greatest importance. Her Majesty has observed with deep concern the want of instruction which is still observable among the poorer classes of her subjects. All the inquiries which have been made show a deficiency in the general education of the people which is not in accordance with the character of a civilized and Christian nation.

The Reports of the Chaplains of gaols show that to a large number of unfortunate prisoners a knowledge of the fundamental truths of natural and revealed religion has never been imparted.

It is some consolation to her Majesty to perceive that of late years the zeal for popular education has increased, that the Established Church has made great efforts to promote the building of schools, and that the National and British and Foreign School Societies have actively endeavored to stimulate the liberality of the benevolent and enlightened friends of general education.

Still much remains to be done; and among the chief defects yet subsisting may be reckoned the insufficient number of qualified schoolmasters, the imperfect mode of teaching which prevails in, perhaps, the greater number of the schools, the absence of any sufficient inspection of the schools, and examination of the nature of the instruction given, the want of a Model school which might serve for the example of those Societies and Committees which anxiously seek to improve their own methods of teaching, and, finally, the neglect of this great subject among the enactments of our voluminous legislation.

Some of these defects appear to admit of an immediate remedy, and I am directed by her Majesty to desire, in the first place, that your Lordship, with four other of the Queen's servants, should form a Board or Committee, for the consideration of all matters affecting the Education of the People.

For the present it is thought advisable that this Board should consist of

The Lord President of the Council.

The Lord Privy Seal.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, and

The Master of the Mint.

It is proposed that the Board should be entrusted with the application of any sums which may be voted by Parliament for the purposes of Education in England and Wales.

Among the first objects to which any grant may be applied, will be the establishment of a Normal School.

In such a school a body of schoolmasters may be formed, competent to assume the management of similar institutions in all parts of the country. In such a school likewise the best modes of teaching may be introduced, and those who wish to improve the schools of their neighborhood may have an opportunity of observing their results.

The Board will consider whether it may not be advisable, for some years, to apply a sum of money annually in aid of Norinal

Schools of the National, and of the British and Foreign School Societies.

They will likewise determine whether their measures will allow them to afford gratuities to deserving schoolmasters; there is no class of men whose rewards are so disproportionate to their usefulness to the community.

In any Normal or Model School to be established by the Board, four principal objects should be kept in view, viz:

1. Religious Instruction.

2. General Instruction.

3. Moral Training.

4. Habits of Industry.

Of these four, I need only allude to the first; with respect to Religious Instruction there is, as your Lordship is aware, a wide or apparently wide difference of opinion among those who have been most forward in promoting education.

The National Society, supported by the Established Church, contend that the schoolmaster should be invariably a Churchman; that the Church Catechism should be taught in the school to all the scholars; that all should be required to attend church on Sundays, and that the schools should be in every case under the superintendence of the clergyman of the parish.

The British and Foreign School Society, on the other hand, admit Churchmen and Dissenters equally as schoolmasters, require that the Bible should be taught in their schools, but insist that no Catechism should be admitted.

Others again contend that secular instruction should be the business of the school, and that the ministers of different persuasions should each instruct separately the children of their own followers.

In the midst of these conflicting opinions, there is not practically that exclusiveness among the Church Societies, nor that indifference to religion among those who exclude dogmatic instruction from the school, which their mutual accusations would lead bystanders to suppose.

Much therefore may be effected by a temperate attention to the fair claims of the established Church, and the religious freedom sanctioned by law.

On this subject I need only say that it is her Majesty's wish that the youth of this kingdom should be religiously brought up, and that the right of conscience should be respected.

Moreover, there is a large class of children who may be fitted to be good members of society, without injury or offence to any party -I mean the pauper orphans, children deserted by their parents, and the offspring of criminals and their associates.

It is from this class that the thieves and housebreakers of society are continually recruited. It is this class, likewise, which has fil'd the workhouse with ignorant and idle inmates.

The Poor Law Commissioners have very properly undertaken to amend the vicious system which has hitherto prevailed, and in the neighborhood of the metropolis much has been already done under their auspices.

It is in this direction likewise that certain good can be accomplished. It sometimes happens that the training which a child of poor but virtuous parents receives at home, is but ill exchanged for the imperfect or faulty instruction which he receives at school, debased by vicious association; but for those whose parents are dead, or who have no home but one of habitual vice, there can be no such danger.

In all such instances, by combining moral training with general instruction, the young may be saved from the temptations to crime, and the whole community receive indisputable benefit.

These and other considerations will, I am persuaded, receive from your Lordship the most careful attention. I need not enter at present into any further plans in contemplation for the extension of the blessings of sound and religious education.

I have had the honor to receive your Lordship's letter, conveying to me her Majesty's desire that I, as President of the Council, together with certain other of her Majesty's servants, should compose a Board, or Committee, to consider the state of education, and direct the application of any sums which may be appropriated by Parliament for promoting its improvement.

I hasten to express my readiness, whilst I continue to fill that situation, to discharge my share of such a duty, convinced as I am of the importance of the objects proposed, and the improbability of their being satisfactorily accomplished without the countenance and "uperintendence of her Majesty's Government.