* Wealth-y, possessing wealth: compare- Work-er, a person that works: compare→ This will be sufficient for the present to explain our meaning. MISCELLANEOUS. FOREIGN. FRANCE. NATIONAL SCHOOLS.-It appears, from a report presented to the French sovereign by the Minister of Public Instruction, that, out of the 38,135 communes, or districts, into which France is divided, 24,148 of them possess national schools (écoles primaires), and 13,984 are destitute of them. The total number of children, between five and twelve years of age, inclusive, is 2,401,178; and the greatest number of them who frequent the schools is in winter, when they amount to 1,378,206: in summer, they do not exceed 681,005. Of the 282,985 young persons, between the ages of twenty and one-and-twenty, inclusive, who are enumerated in the registry, 112,363 are able to read and write, 13,159 are merely able to read, and 149,824, being more than one half, can neither read nor write. NEW SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION.-The Rev. M. Kley, a retired clergyman, resident at Strasburg, has lately devised a system of elementary instruction, which is said to possess considerable advantages over every other system yet adopted. On the report of the rector and inspectors of the academy of that town (and we should add, that this institution is a scion of the University of France), a premium of 300 francs has been conferred upon the inventor, as an inducement to further exertion. VERSAILLES NATIONAL SCHOOL.-If ever prodigality sat upon a throne, it was when Lewis the Fourteenth exhausted the resources of France. Amongst his countless extravagances, none, who have wandered as far as Versailles, can have passed the ancienne Vénerie unnoticed. But even this canine palace was not splendid or extensive enough for the late infatuated monarch, who went on, from year to year, adding to its capacities, at an expense of several hundred thousands of francs annually. The day of redemption has at length dawned for the nation at large, so far at least as this *This termination y exists in the German language in the longer form of ig, as in wichtig, weighty. scene of extravagance is concerned. The regal dog-kennel has been lately fitted up, and opened as-a National School! THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL.-A royal ordonnance, under date the 25th of November last, and containing seventy-three clauses, directs a complete reorganization of this establishment. The corps of teachers is to consist in future of twenty-seven individuals, and the staff, of twelve officers. No pupil is to be admitted until he has undergone a public examination, the result of which is to be determined by a jury; nor can any pupil be dismissed from the institution excepting by virtue of an order bearing the signature of the Minister at War; and this order must be grounded upon a report of the council of the school. The principal, or director of the studies is to receive a salary of 10,000 francs (400l.); each professor, 5000 (2007.); the master of languages, 3000 (1207); and an under-master, from 1500 to 2000 (60l. to 801.) per annum : the librarian is to have 4000 francs (1607.), and the medical attendant, 3000 (1207.) a year. ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION.-This branch of education has received great encouragement throughout France since the deposition of the late king; particularly in the department of the Seine and Oise, where the council-general has voted twenty pensions (bourses) to the normal school, 8000 francs (3204.) in aid of the provisional normal school, and 6000 (2407.) in aid of teachers. At the instance also of the prefect of the department, the Minister of Public Instruction has assigned 30,000 francs (12007.) for purchasing or rebuilding schools, 7000 (2807.) for bestowing premiums on teachers, and a like sum to be applied in the distribution of elementary publications. In several districts, societies have been formed for increasing these public grants by means of private subscriptions. We find also, that, in many parts, the academies (or provincial branches of the University of Paris) are intrusted with the forwarding of this important step towards the mental amelioration of the lower orders in France; and that, with this intent, the government have placed various sums of money, amounting in all to 75,775 francs (or 30307.), at the disposal of the academies of Aix, Angers, Clermont, Cahors, Lyons, Paris, and Toulouse; inclusive of the departments of the mouths of the Rhone, Var, Lower Alps, Corsica, Maine and Loire, Sarthe, and Mayenne. JULY ORPHANS.-The second clause, in the law For Distributing National Rewards,' having provided, that these children, being adopted by the nation, should, on the demand of the father, mother, or guardian, be educated in public or private institutions from the seventh year of their age, and at the expense of the state, until they should attain to their eighteenth year,' the government have determined to appropriate an average sum of 281. (300 francs) per annum for the education of each child, and to pay it into the treasury of the respective municipalities, certain members of which are authorized to settle the kind of education to be given to each family. The orphans are also placed under the immediate tutelage of the Minister of the Home Department. It is stated, that 788 persons fell on the popular side during the three days' contest at Paris, in July, 1830, and 281 orphans have been found, within the several districts of the department of the Seine, entitled to this manifestation of national gratitude. SCHOOLS OF INDUSTRY.-The Minister of Public Instruction mentioned, during the debate in the Chamber of Deputies, on Arago's recent motion for reforming and extending the seminaries for the arts and trades, that there are above 450 schools in France, where various degrees of industrious habits and acquirements are taught, and that the number of schools for forming superintendants of mechanical works, exceeds forty. The government,' he added, are engaged in devising establishments, where commercial firms may be supplied with clerks and superintendants of works, of a better informed class.' DEPARTMENT OF THE SEINE, &c.-We learn, from the statistical tables for this department, that the outlay for the education of children of all classes annually amounts to a sum of 1,251,400l. It appears also that, at the close of the fourteenth century, there were but sixty teachers altogether in the French metropolis-namely, forty engaged in instructing youths, and twenty in teaching girls. Forty years ago, it was estimated that 7,000,000 of individuals in France were able to read; at present, they are computed at more than 16,000,000. Of STRASBURG, June, 1831.-' There is a university here, which was established in 1621, and continued its useful labours until the breaking out of the French revolution, when it was entirely dissolved. After the tempest had passed over, however, it again raised its head, but it has never recovered the blow which has been given to it. In its earlier days it was a popular place of resort to the youth of Germany; and continued to be equally frequented by them after Alsace had fallen under the dominion of Lewis the Fourteenth. late years a medical school has been added to it, and from this circumstance the faculty of physic is become by far the best attended: still, it labours under so many practical disadvantages, when compared with the French metropolis, and the admirable institutions and collections which Paris possesses for furthering the study of physical and medical science, that, in spite of a well-supplied anatomical museum, it is never likely to become of leading importance as a focus for science or practice. Amongst other establishments, we were introduced into the seminary for the education of the Protestant clergy, who are destined to supply vacancies in the ministry of this quarter of the world; the number of its pupils varies from thirty to fifty; the prælections are delivered in German, and the young auditory are sent, during the vacations, to visit the Protestant congregations who inhabit the districts bordering upon the Rhine. A few years ago, its directors took the principles of the Lutheran faith for their polar star; but, at the present day, their views lean to what is called neologism. There is but one of its teachers who professes Calvinism. It is not easy to ascertain the number of Protestants on the French side of the Rhine-I mean in Alsace; inasmuch as the public census never takes the religious professions of the inhabitants into the account; but I was told by several Protestant clergymen, that they amounted to five or six hundred thousand. On the other hand, the increase of the Catholic population may be inferred from the simple fact, that, when the French became masters of the town, in the time of Lewis, it did not contain more than twelve Roman Catholic families; and at this moment it possesses seven Protestant, and six Catholic, churches.'-A. BELGIUM. THE ancient and once renowned University of Louvain, as well as the more modern institution of the same kind at Ghent, is about to be closed, and one single university for the whole kingdom is to be erected in Brussels. The commission to whom the proposal has been referred, have already made a report, which recommends the adoption of this measure. SWITZERLAND. AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL FOR THE POOR. - A Mr. Vernet, of Geneva, has a large estate called Carra, on which a school of this description has existed for the last ten years. It is under the care of M. Gerhardt, who founded the school for the poor at Hofwyl. None but entirely destitute children, such as would not have received any, or, if any, the most wretched kind of education, are admitted into it; they are carefully educated until they reach the age of twenty, are employed constantly in various pursuits connected with agriculture and mechanics, and are thus fitted for filling the situations of workmen, domestic servants, and agricultural labourers. There are forty acres of meadows, arable-land, and garden-ground, entirely cultivated by them; and thirty of the children belonging to the school are maintained by the voluntary donations of the inhabitants of Geneva, at a cost of two hundred and fifty pounds per annum; though it should be observed, the labour of the children themselves produces as much as a moiety of that amount. Independently of the value of the food raised on the spot, the annual expense of their maintenance does not exceed eighty pounds! COLLEGE OF LAUSANNE.-(From private Notes.)- From the Castle we proceeded to visit the College. It is a spacious building: the ground-floor is occupied by apartments in which geography, history, the mathematics, music, and gymnastics, are respectively taught; and the upper-floors contain the academical council-room, academy of sciences, museum, and library. The council superin tend and determine all matters appertaining to public education, and exercise a control over the whole of the scholastic institutions in their canton. The academy has seventeen professors attached to it, whose functions extend to the departments of divinity, science, jurisprudence, and the belles lettres. The youths, educated under their care, are chiefly destined for the clerical, medical, or legal profession, and therefore undergo a series of rigid examinations. The students who are intended for holy orders, derive some assistance from the eight-and-forty small pensions which, upon the report of the academical council, are granted by the Council of State to such of them as are reputed the most deserving, or possess but slender incomes. Every minister of the church is required to go through a nine years' course of study in the academy; and the course is thus apportioned:-two years are devoted to the belles lettres, three to philosophy, and four to theology. They remove from the one to the other, after passing their examinations in each, and are admitted into the church at the age of four or five-and-twenty. It appears that the Council of State are the ultimate appeal in all ecclesiastical concerns, and have the power of dismissing every clergyman who may disgrace the sacred office.'-D. ITALY. CLOSING OF THE PAPAL UNIVERSITIES.-A recent decree of the Pontifical Congregation of Studies in the Roman capital has directed the shutting up of the Universities of Rome and Bologna, as well as of every other high school within the Holy Father's dominions. A specific place of meeting has been assigned to each faculty, with a view to the prosecution of the several courses of lectures; but no individual is to be admitted into the corps of students unless he shall produce a certificate of previous good conduct, and afford proof that his pecuniary and intellectual capabilities entitle him to admission. Over and above these requirements, the chancellors of the universities are enjoined to insist upon the student's going to church on fast and feast-days, and to watch over his due observance of all religious duties. In the teeth of this decree, we are informed that the papal Pro-legate at Bologna has yielded to the loud remonstrances of three hundred of the students in that university, and publicly announced that the course of their studies shall not be interfered with, or the closing of the university take place. It does not appear that his Eminence condescended to consult his Holiness -before he contravened his orders. PAVIA. The several courses of lectures in this university were opened on the 4th of November, with the solemn inauguration of a marble bust of the celebrated Volta. PARMA. The closing of this university, under a decree of the Grand Duchess, dated on the 14th March last, has recently been followed by an intimation, that the scholastic year 1831-2, will not |