in reference to them alone the general form and the natural divisions of the earth, which he had traced for his pupils, are of importance. In determining the bounds of their habitations, men will generally be observed to follow the guidance of nature, and in fixing the places of their collected residence, to be almost universally directed by the same hand, establishing their cities upon the banks of a river, or a lake, or on the shores of the ocean. The information which he had previously imparted upon Natural Geography, was now therefore of great importance. Associated with the grand divisions of nature, the civil and political divisions were more clearly understood and more easily remembered, whether nature had been followed or deserted; and referred to some striking character of the natural world, to the coast of a well known ocean or lake, to the banks of a river, or to the foot of a chain of mountains, the situation and importance, and all the distinguishing characters of a city, or a town, were subjects of interesting knowledge, and readily laid up in the memory. The civil divisions were pointed out by the instructor as they were originally formed, and

all the changes which they have undergone by the gradual diffusion of the first settlers, or by subsequent conquest were briefly noticed; and so far and no further, he assumed the character of the Historian; and lastly, he gave a full detail of the civilization, government, religion, and particular habits of life by which the various communities of men are distinguished, selected from the best travellers, and the most eminent writers upon political economy. A mere outline of this admirable system was prepared by him for his pupils; the map of each country was the lecturer's usual text, and the knowledge he imparted was drawn chiefly from the sources of his own recollection.

Having found in the study of the works of nature not only a constant source of pure enjoyment, and habitual cheerfulness, but also considerable aid in the investigation of other important branches of human knowledge, and many powerful incitements to piety and virtue; he regarded it as an indispensible part of his duty to introduce those who were under his care to the means of engaging in so pleasing and useful a pursuit. Natural history therefore formed a regular part of his course, and

such was the ardour by which his own breast was animated, whenever he spake of the works of nature, that it was scarcely possible for any one to be much in his society without catching some portion of his spirit. In the prosecution of this branch of knowledge, his pupils enjoyed great and enviable advantages. In the study of Botany, he was not content that they should be able to learn by the assistance of Dr. Withering's useful work, the plants which might attract their attention; he exercised them frequently in original description, and thus taught them how to examine for themselves with accuracy, and to communicate with clearness to others any discoveries which they might chance to make. In the other divisions of this engaging science, be for the most part followed an arrangement of his own, of which he furnished his pupils with the outline, and this he filled up chiefly from the works of Buffon and Pennant, and the very useful abridgement of Linnæus, published at Edinburgh, in two octavo volumes, under the title. of" Elements of Natural History." The want of a proper Elementary book he felt and lamented. To supply this desideratum he was

himself well qualified, but other unavoidable occupations did not allow him sufficient leisure. One eminent living writer he frequently spoke of in private, and once publicly, as "possessing all the qualifications necessary for this task, and peculiarly fitted for the execution of it, by being accustomed to the consideration of entering into the imperfect views, and supplying the wants of the uninstructed mind. That writer's plain and elegant style and happy talent for familiar illustration would," he observed, “be most beneficially employed in conducting the unpractised naturalist through the three kingdoms of nature, in explaining the principles on which the classification of their various parts has been conducted, and in selecting such details as would render the whole equally interesting and instructive." To the mind of every reader this merited encomium will immediately suggest the name of Aikin.

After such an ample detail of the plan of instruction which he adopted, and which has been thus largely stated with the hope that it may be found useful to those who are engag ed in the same important occupation, it will be readily acknowledged that they who were hap

pily under his care enjoyed peculiar advantages in the improvement of their mental powers. But it was not in the very extensive and judicious plan which he adopted, that all his excellence as an instructor consisted; the manner in which he carried this plan into execution was equally admirable. His patience was inexhaustible, and wherever he discovered a desire after information he would place the subject which he had before him in every possible light, that it might be clearly seen and fully comprehended; he never willingly suffered his pupils to leave him without having formed the most just conceptions of what had been proposed to them, he varied his illustrations in order that it might become perfectly familiar to their minds, and never relinquished the point till, as he used frequently to say, "he read intelligence in their countenances." He was generally happy in pupils worthy of himself. Those of them who resid. ed with him soon learnt to consider his roof as the parental roof; they left it with similar feelings of regret, they remembered it with similar emotions of pleasure; from their instructor they had experienced the tenderness and solicitude