The Stout Hereward and the Lady Artfrud.* BY ACLETOS. It was the Lady Artfrud, And at the feast sat she, And round the board were marshalled Her sweet but noble face, Of freedom was bereft ; She was a ready aid, She turned her to the stranger, Thy matchless valour knows, At thy achievements glows, "Though every Saxon harper, Attunes his rhymed lays, To taste our Croyland cheer, From thine own lips thy story Most gladly would I hear." "Lady," replied the warrior, "Small cause have I to boast; The Norman rides triumphant Along our sea-girt coast; Beneath his horse-hoofs trampled The once free Saxons lie; They'd rather live his bond-slaves, Than in staunch battle die! "Alas, for noble Harold, And the true hearts that bled With richest carnage fed; "Nay, grieve not," said the lady, "That one brave man was spared; Had Hereward that day fallen, How had his country fared ?" The warrior, smiling, answered, "With Lady Artfrud near, Craven must be the dastard Who could be sad of cheer. ""Twas when the sainted Edward Enjoyed his tranquil reign, *For the general facts of this story, see Keightley's "History of England," vol. i. p. 71. NO. 1852. My father Cedric sent me Beyond the billowy main, By martial deeds in Flanders My training to complete; How little then thought either We never more should meet. "From banished men I heard it, The tale of shame and woe; My father slain, my mother Left homeless by the foe, Whom the spoils exulting Made Cedric's ancient halls, By sweetest memories hallowed, Scene for his drunken brawls! "I came to England; need I tell thee How my angry spirit burned, To behold the once free Saxon By the haughty Bastard spurned? But some gallant hearts were beating, Ready still some fearless hands; My friends and kinsmen straight I gathered, And won back my father's lands. "Now no peace gave the marauders, Yet I stood the assailing tide, Till worn out with grief and trouble, By her husband's side I laid her, "To the last abode of Saxons, And so much the craven foemen "And the wooden-paled Taille-bois, Placed an ugly sorceress, "Oh, a gallant bonfire made it, When the wooden tower blazed high, "And he did, for treason helped him; Sell their country to the foe? "Shame upon them, now and ever! Born to gorge and to betray! When they came his state to meet, "Truly," quoth the Lady Artfrud, "William scorns such dastard deeds, "Lady, in my tent reposing From the troubles of the day, 'Rouse thee, rouse thee, noble Hereward, ""Twas my kinsman, gallant Wulfstane ;] I in startled haste arose, Soon the bravest gathered round us, Countless hosts our path beset; "Then for a little moment In deep dismay we stood; "Then Onward!' shouted Wulfstane, Raise we the battle-shout! "Where'er we came, the cravens How leaps the heart in fight! "But it is over, lady, No refuge now have we, Beyond the azure sea; "Nay, nay," the lady answered, Her brow disturbed with care, "Let not our dauntless Hereward Be conquered by despair. In England still there breatheth Full many a Saxon true; And where shall be their safety, If Hereward leaves them too?" "Alas, sweet lady, vainly Thou kindly dost essay, From England to delay. With few and scattered followers, A little more should'st bend And deign to be his friend! "Nay, frown not, noble warrior, With any lady mate. "My lands are broad, and yearly Revenue large afford; My serfs are many, but, alas, In such a troubled time." The love of woman known; "I only hoped a moment, Sweet lady, take this hand; It wields a well-tried brand. "While in his native country Takes pity on his pain, Education. I.-EDUCATION IN ANCIENT Greece. The subject of education is one of such paramount importance, and one upon which so much is now thought, and in regard to which so vast a variety of opinions exist, while our own is most decided, that we purpose, preliminary to a full examination of education in the present day, to give some slight insight into the history of the subject; to see what in ancient times was thought and done, what in later ages was its progress. With regard to antiquity, Greece, Rome, and Persia will alone be touched upon; we shall then inquire into what is the state of education in the various European states,and America, and then come to the all important question, of what is to be done in England, where the deficiency is lamentable. With this view, between the present time and the few months which must elapse, before we reach our final article, we invite every item of information on the subject, and shall notice with pleasure all pamphlets, &c., forwarded to us. In regard to Ancient Greece, did we devote ourselves to the careful study of the question, we should simply go over the ground trodden by Mr. James Augustus St. John in his elaborate work* on the manners and customs of that country; we shall therefore avail ourselves of the facts and of the words of Mr. St. John. In the outset it is remarked, that whether on education the Greeks thought more wisely or not than we do, they certainly contemplated the subject from an elevated point of view, and therefore commenced operations from the very moment of birth, being particularly careful in the selection of teachers, a matter in which in modern times we have not been so solicitous to compete with antiquity as we might be. We are told In Greece, as everywhere else, education commenced in the nursery; and though time has very much obscured all remaining traces of the instruction the children there received, we are not left on this point wholly without information. From the very day of his birth man begins to be acted upon by those causes that furnish his mind with ideas. As his intelligence acquires strength, the five sluices which let in all that flood of knowledge which afterwards overflows his mind, appear to be enlarged, and education at first, and for some time, consists in watching over the nature and quality of the ideas conveyed inward by those channels. It is difficult to say when ac * ❝ Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece," by James Augustus St. John, 3 vols., Bentley. tual instruction commenced: but among the earliest formal attempts at impressing traditonary knowledge on the infant mind was the repetition by mothers and nurses of fables and stories, not always, if Plato, may be credited, constructed with a religious or ethical purpose." At the age of seven, the boys left their mothers' care for that of the schoolmaster to whom they were taken daily by a governor, and mischievous no doubt the boys of Hellas were, as boys will everywhere be, "and many pranks would they play in spite of the crabbed old slaves set over them by their parents;" on which account, probably, it is that Plato considers boys of all wild beasts the most audacious, plotting, fierce, and intractable. But the urchins now found that it was one thing to nestle under mamma's wing at home, and another to delve under the direction of a didaskalos, and at school-hours, after the bitter roots of knowledge. For the schoolboys of Greece tasted very little of the sweets of bed after dawn. "They rose with the light, says Lucian, “and with pure water washed away the remains of sleep which lingered on their eyelids." Having breakfasted on bread and fruit, to which through the allurements of their pedagogues they sometimes added wine, they sallied forth to the didaskaleion, or schoolmaster's lair, as the comic poet jocularly termed it, summer and winter, whether the morning smelt of balm, or was de. formed by sleet or snow, drifting like meal from a sieve down the rocks of the Acropolis." The Athenian idea of education was that boys should be kept in one constant abstinence from evil thoughts and habits, for which reason there were no vacations, while the schoolmaster was armed with the savage power of the lash. In one particular we might wisely follow the Athenian principle, in appointing a governor, whose "principal duty consisted in leading the lad to and from school, in attending him to the theatre, to the public games, to the forum, and wherever else it was thought fit he should go." With regard to the schools themselves, the following is a very interesting and pleasing account: "It has sometimes been imagined that in Greece separate edifices were not erected as with us expressly for schoolhouses, but that both the didaskalos and the philosopher taught their pupils in fields, gardens, or shady groves. But this was not the common practice, though many schoolmasters appear to have had no other place wherein to assemble their pupils than the porch of a temple or some sheltered corner in the street, where in spite of the din of business and the throng of pas sengers the worship of learning was publicly performed. Here, too, the music-masters frequently gave their lessons, whether in singing or on the lyre, which practice explains the anecdote of the musician, who hearing the crowd applaud his scholars, gave him a box on the ear, observing, "Had you played well these blockheads would not have praised you. A custom very similar prevails in the east, where, in recesses open to the street, we often see the turbanded schoolmaster with a crowd of little Moslems about him, tracing letters on their large wooden tablets or engaged in the recitations of the Koran. "But these were the schools of the humbler classes. For the children of the noble and the opulent spacious structures were raised, and furnished with tables, desks, forms, and whatsoever else their studies required. Mention is made of a school at Chios which contained one hundred and twenty boys, all of whom save one were killed by the falling in of the roof. From another tragical story we learn that in Astypalæa, one of the Cyclades, there was a school which contained sixty boys. The incidents connected with their death are narrated in the romantic style of the ancients. Cleomedes, a native of this island, having in boxing slain Iccos the Epidaurian, was accused of unfairness and refused the prize, upon which he became mad and returned to his own country. There, entering into the public school, he approached the pillar that supported the roof, and like another Sampson seized it in an access of frenzy, and wresting it from its basis brought down the whole building upon the children. He himself however escaped, but, being pursued with stones by the inhabitants. took sanctuary in the temple of Athena, where he con cealed himself in the sacred chest. The people paying no respect to the holy place still pursued him and attempted to force open the lid, which he held down with gigantic strength. At length when the coffer was broken in pieces Cleomedes was nowhere to be found, dead or alive. Terrified at this prodigy they sent to consult the oracle of Delphi, by which they were commanded to pay divine honours to the athlete as the last of the heroes. "In the interior of the schools there was commonly an oratory adorned with statues of the Muses, where probably in a kind of front was kept a supply of pure water for the boys. Pretending often, when they were not, to be thirsty, they would steal in knots to this oratory, and there amuse themselves by splashing the water over each other; on which account legislators ordained that strict watch should be kept over it. Every morning the forms were spunged, the schoolroom was cleanly swept, the ink ground ready for use, and all things were put in order for the business of the day. "The apparatus of an ancient school was somewhat complicated: there were mtahematical instruments, globes, maps, and charts of the heavens, together with boards whereon to trace geometricel figures, tablets, large and small, of box-wood, fir, or ivory triangular in form, some folding with many leaves; books too and paper, skins of parchment, wax for covering tablets, which if we may believe Aristophanes, people sometimes ate when they were hungry. "To the above were added rulers, reedpens, pen-cases, pen-knives, pencils, and last, though not least, the rod which kept them to the steady use of all these things." At Athens these schools were not provided by the state. They were private speculations, and each master was regulated in his charges by the reputation he had acquired and the fortunes of his pupils. Some appear to have been extremely moderate in their demands. were "There was for example a school-master named Hippomachos, upon entering whose establishment boys were required to pay down one mina, after which they might remain as long as they pleased. Didaskaloi were not however held in sufficient respect, though as their scholars sometimes very numerous, as many for example as a hundred and twenty, it must often have happened that they became wealthy. From the life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus, we glean some few particulars respecting the conditou of a schoolmaster in remoter ages.' The first thing taught was the Greek alphabet, to spell and then to read. Herodes, the sophist, experienced much vexation from the stupidity exhibited in achieving this enterprise by his son Allicus, whose memory was so sluggish, that he could not even recollect the Christ CrossRow. To overcome this extraordinary dullness, he educated along with him twenty-four little slaves of his own age, upon whom he bestowed the names of the letters, so that young Allicus might be compelled to learn his alphabet as he played with his companions, now calling out for Omicoes, now for Psi. Writing and various other things calculated to improve the mind, such as learning poetry followed, or then came gymnastics. Arithmetic was an early, and according to Plato, an important branch of study, as also astronomy in relation to its practical bearing, husbandry, navigation, and military affairs. Music, was with the Greeks, an important feature in education.* *On this point consult Mr. St. John, p. 184. Gymnastics too occupied a considerable portion of their time, to counteract the pale faces and emaciated frames too often the lot of the student; horsemanship, swimming, &c., were simultaneously taught, with dancing, the use of arms, wrestling, and every athletic habit of the gymnasia, from whence they went forth to the schools of the philosophers. There were the finishing acadamies of Greece, and here history, philosophy, the fine arts were taught. We pause to give Mr. St. John's view of education in monarchies, regarchies, and free states: "In monarchies a spirit of exclusion, something like that on which the system of castes is built, must pervade the whole business of education. The nobility must bave schools to themselves, or, if wealthy plebeians be suffered to mingle with them, superior honour and consideration must be yielded to the former. The masters must look up to them and their families, and not to the people for preferment and advancement; and the plebeians though superior in number, must be weak in influence, and be taught to borrow their tone from the privileged students. "In an oligarchy, properly so called, there should be no mingling of the classes at all. Schools must be established expressly for the governors, and others for the governed. The basis of education should be the notion that some men were born for rule and others for subjection; that the happiness of individuals depends on unrequiring submission to authority; that their rulers are wise and they unwise; that all they have to do with the laws is to obey them; and all teachers must be made to feel that their admission among the great depends on the faithful advocacy of such notions. "In free states again, the contrary course will best promote the ends of government; the schools must be strictly public, and not merely theoretically but practically open to all. There should be no compulsion to attend them, but ignorance of the things there taught should involve a forfeiture of civil rights as much as being of unsound mind; for in truth, an ignorant man is not of sound mind, any more than one unable to use all his limbs is of sound body. Here the discipline must be very severe. A spirit rigidly puritanical must pervade the studies and preside over the amusements. Every tendency irreligious, immoral, ungentlemanly, as unworthy the dignity of freedom should be nipped in the bud. The students must be taught to despise all other distinctions but those of virtue and genius, in other words the power to serve the community. They should be taught to contemplate humanity as in other respects wholly on the same level, with nothing above it but the laws. The teachers must be dependent on the people alone, and owe their success to their own abilities and popular manners. And this last in a great measure was the spirit of Athenian education. "The best proof that could be furnished of the excellence of a system of education would be its rendering a people almost independent of a government, that is swayed more by their habits than by the laws. This was preeminently the case with the Athenians. They required to be very little meddled with by their rulers. Instructed in their duties and the reason which rendered them duties, accustomed from childhood to perform them, they lived as moral and educated men live still, independent of the laws. With regard to philosophy, history, rhetoric, the fine-arts, such as painting, statuary, and all the preliminaries of the liberal professions, the Greeks provided ample teachers, and these branches fully learned, the young men went forth into the world to fulfil their several destinies. Whether or not, education should be national or not, is now so vexed a question, that without giving our own opinion as yet, we quote that of Mr. James Augustus St. John: "The question which demands so much attention in modern states, viz., whether education should be national and uniform, likewise much occupied the thoughts of ancient statesmen, and it is known that in most cases they decided in the affirmative. It may however be laid down as an axiom, that among a phlegmatic and passive people, where the government has not yet acquired its proper form and development, the establishment of a national system of education, complete in all its parts and extending to the whole body of the citizens, must be infallibly pernicious. For such as the government is at the commencement such very nearly will it continue, as was proved by the example of Crete and Sparta. For the Cretan legislators, arresting the progress of society at a certain point by the establishment of an iron system of education, before the popular mind had acquired its full growth and expansion, dwarfed the Cretan people completely, and by preventing their keeping pace with their countrymen, rendered them in historical times inferior to all their neighbours. In Sparta, again, the form of polity given to the state by Lycurgus, wonderful for the age in which it was framed, obtained perpetuity solely by the operation of his pædonomical institutions. The imperfection, however, of the system arose from this circumstance, that the Spartan government was framed too early in the career of civilisation. Had its lawgiver lived a century or two later, |