424 
Mr, Farej/s Reply to Mr, Broad:^'oo(L [Dec, 1, 
en miscellaneous subjects, than a com¬ 
panion to a particular object of study. 
Dr. PsfESTi.EY too pubiishe'd some ques¬ 
tions on theology, but he annexed refe¬ 
rences for answers to each question; and 
l^lr. Field, (5f Warwick, has clone some- 
thinw of tlie kind, vet rendered useless 
by having similar additions. The merit 
of the ingenious JMr, Bltler must not 
pass unnoticed, bqj his questions are mis¬ 
cellaneous, and adapted only to exercise 
the student in arithmetic. In a late 
■work of Mr. Joyce, he has erred by pla¬ 
cing his questions after each chapter in 
tiie order of the text; and Mr. Bullar 
has erred in the same way in his recent 
work. 
• The first work in which the author ex¬ 
ercised the student in every brancli of the 
sobiect treated of in his previous text, 
was Goldsmith’s Grammar of Geogra- 
phy, a work which has met with encou¬ 
ragement equal to its merits. Tlie same 
author announces also a second part of 
tiiat work, treating solely of British geo¬ 
graphy, and on the same excellent plan. 
Both works in matter and principle de¬ 
serve the preference of all tutors solici¬ 
tous of the solid improvement of their 
pupils. The interrogative system of 
Goldsmith has since been exteiided to 
History in the Grammar of Rorixson, 
to Agriculture in the Grammar of Dick- 
sox, to Moral Philosophy in the Gram¬ 
mar of Baker, and to the English Lan¬ 
guage in the Grammar of Blair.. 
This latter author has since carried it 
to perfection in his Universal Pre¬ 
ceptor, which is illustrated by six hun¬ 
dred questions, and by printing a key, 
lor the use of tutors, to the questions in 
his admirable Preceptor, and to four 
otl'.er sets of questions, which are or 
ought to be used in all seminaries. 
The svstein lias since been carried fur- 
tlier, tmd a Mr. Barrow has prepared a 
set of six hundred questions on tlie New'- 
Testament, OJie of the most important 
auxiliaries to Christian education that has 
for many years issued from the press. 
It is a trifie in bulk, but of vast magni¬ 
tude in usefulness, and, if generally intro¬ 
duced in schools of both ^e.xes, would 
make a gefieraiion of thinking, well-in¬ 
formed, and rational, Christians. It is 
professedly adapted to the use of young 
people; but grown persons may use it to 
advantage who are disposed to study the 
Scriptures; and, to complete its utility, 
answers to it arc given in the Tutor’s I'Icy 
above-iuvined.. 
Tl'-e system has received a further 
auxiliary in Adair’s Questions on Gold- 
smitii’s History of England; a sufjecC 
sutBciently interesting to be taught in 
this einphatical manner, and worthy 
of being thus stud;ed by every young 
Briton. 
Questions have been announced as 
being in the press on Lily’s and the Eton 
Latin Grammars, and on Forney’s. Wo- 
nostrocht’s, and Levisac’s, French Gram¬ 
mars; and these will perfect a course of 
education, and give a facility and a cer¬ 
tainty to the acquirement of knowledge, 
beyond any thing that could have been 
anticipated by tlie last generation. 
It is the peculiar and eminent advan¬ 
tage of this system of instruction that 
it leads and compels children to think, 
and brings into play their powers of corn- 
poring and reasoning. It regards them 
as rational beings, and-is in that respect 
distinguished from those practices which 
are addressed merely to the memory, 
and which are' equally suited to the in- 
•stiuction of irrational creatures. Let a 
chiid learn by rote three or four chap¬ 
ters of the Universal Preceptor; then 
answer in w riting the mixed questions on 
those chapters; and in that manner go 
through the entire work: and he will he 
well and clearly informed on all subjects, 
and a being of superior information and 
attainments to most adults w'ho have 
read and studied by ordinary means half 
their lives. 
I shall conclude by recommending the 
plan, and the w hole of the wmrks named, 
with becoming respect and deference, to 
the intelligent and learned conductors of 
sphoois and academies throughout the 
empire; persuaded that, in so doing, I 
render an essential service to the rising 
generation, and to the propagation of 
useful knowledge. T. Lane. 
Por^S/.70w^/2, Oc'L 31, 1811. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
AM unable to comprehend the dis¬ 
tinction which your correspondent 
Mr. James Brnadwnod makes, at page 
321 of your last Number, between his 
advocating “ the correctness of any sys~ 
tern of temperamentp and pointing out 
“ the best practical method of tuning 
keyed stringed instruments e.'-pecialiy, 
as he says, just after, that his system 
(loosely and impracticably a.s it is de¬ 
fined), of fifths flattened one-fortieth of 
the seiniione from B to C, “ has been 
prououuce4 
