General Notices. 89 



portant branch of school discipline. The sentiments appropriate to childhood 

 and youth find expression in the music taught in the elementary schools ; 

 and lessons calculated to make a deep impression on the character of the 

 children, and to influence their future conduct, are linked with the most 

 pleasing associations in the songs sung in the schools of Germany and Swit- 

 zerland. The religious duties of the school are rendered much more im- 

 pressive, where simple but solemn music forms a part of the exercises. 



" In this country, of late years, the importance of teaching vocal music in 

 elementary schools has generally been acknowledged. It is now considered as 

 an essential part of infant education, and is steadily making its way into other 

 schools for the poor. The important and useful influence of vocal music on 

 the manners and habits of individuals, and on the character of communities, 

 few will be prepared to dispute. It is, however, satisfactory to know that the 

 degrading habits of intoxication, which at one time characterised the poorer 

 classes of Germany, are most remarkably diminished since the art of singing 

 has become almost as common in that country as the power of speech ; a 

 humanising result attributable to the excellent elementary schools of many of 

 the states of Germany." 



Two difficulties have hitherto stood in the way of our national cultivation 

 of vocal music : first, the want of a method for teaching it in any schools, and 

 particularly in elementary schools ; and, secondly, the want of a machinery for 

 bringing any good method that might be introduced within the reach of the 

 masters of such schools. In order to surmount the first of these difficulties, 

 the Committee of the Privy Council on Education has charged Mr. John 

 Hullah, a gentleman of distinguished musical attainments, with the duty of 

 preparing for the use of elementary schools, and for publication under the 

 authority of the council, a course of instruction in vocal music, founded upon, 

 and embracing all the practical points in, the celebrated method of Wilhelm, 

 now in operation with such remarkable results in Paris. (^Morn. Chron., 

 Jan. 14. 1841.) 



A good deal will be found in our Volumes for 1829 and 1830, written by 

 ourselves, and also by different correspondents, on the importance of music as 

 a branch of popular education ; but certainly, sanguine as we were then 

 accused of being, we did not go so far as to anticipate the happiness which we 

 now experience, after the lapse of only ten years, at the speedy realisation of 

 our wishes. The progress which national education is now making in this 

 country is indeed most gratifying ; and, though it must necessarily be a 

 number of years before the system is carried to such a degree of perfection 

 as it is in Prussia, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Baden, and Austria, yet who can 

 predict the progress it will have made before another ten years have passed 

 away ? The idea that there is one kind of education for the rich and another 

 for the poor, will probably soon be considered as unreasonable as that there 

 should be one law for the rich and another for the poor. The young gardener 

 will thus see that however much he may now be before his older brethren, 

 when he comes to be an old man himself he will be hard pressed on by those 

 who are now growing up to compete with him ; and he should therefore take 

 every opportunity which presents itself of storing his mind with ideas, or of 

 adopting some business where the labour required is more that of the hands 

 than of the head. — Cond. 



Amusement of some kind is a necessity of all ages and all conditions. The 

 poorer a man is and the more he is a slave of toil, the more needful it is that 

 he should find diversion and refreshment of some kind for his weary spirit, 

 and the more important that he should find it in enjoyments which are not 

 sensual, and which, while they soothe his senses, refine them. The human 

 heart is naturally so unquiet, morose, and jealous a thing — so apt to make 

 self the centre of all its thoughts and sentiments, that the happiest man is he 

 who can most frequently find the means of escaping from his own narrow 

 personality, to fix his attention on something which is not himself. Interest 

 him in the recital of some noble action, excite him by verses or songs which 



