the boy meets with πρακ-σω, πηκ-σω, ολέσω, θήσω, &c., he knows with certainty that these are futures, and he can determine the root in each case by subtracting the syllable ow. And this he can do, if he never saw the present tenses, or even if they do not exist; for when the real characteristic termination in each tense is well understood, it is immaterial to us whether or not all other tenses exist which grammarians have chosen to register. Even if their favourite present tense be missing, without which they cannot conceive the existence of a word, it matters not; so much the better, for it is the ugliest, most unmanageable, and most Proteus kind of word that any language has to offer. This tense and the imperfect, which indeed depends on it, are the great irregu larities in the Greek language. We must likewise except such verbs as σteλλw, μevw, &c., where the root ends with a liquid, which are really irregular in the future; while λaubava, oλλvui, &c., are as regular as other words. But we repeat, that when the characteristic terminations and prefixes of about half a dozen tenses are well understood, the real difficulty of the Greek verbs is overcome. Suppose the following words to occur in the lesson of a student who has been trained on this plan : έδοξε, τεταμενος, δικαιωσομαι, ακαχμενος, ἑκλωκα, &c. He can determine the root in each instance: he can give to the tense its technical name, and that signification which he has been taught to give to similarly constructed tenses; we mean the significations that he has learned from actual examples in his reading, for any other mode of learning the meaning of tenses, save in conjunction with other words forming a complete proposition or sentence, is the same kind of thing as if a man were to learn all the German or French vocabulary, and then to suppose that he could read and speak these languages. Indeed, we are of opinion, that the practice of teaching boys to give particular meanings to the respective cases and tenses of verbs and nouns as they learn them in a grammar, is one of the very greatest impediments to acquiring a language that perverse ingenuity could devise. The boy is taught that to is the sign of the dative case, while his earliest experience in reading tells him that the accusative frequently has this sign, and that the dative sometimes most provokingly rejoices in the sign from.

It may be worth while exhibiting some of the various forms of the present tenses in Greek, and contrasting them with the futures:

The verbs in which a liquid precedes the w of the present have not always ow for the characteristic termination of the future; though analogy and some examples of words of this class ending in ow, seem to justify our considering ow as the original characteristic of the future of these words also.

We have classed with those verbs in which a liquid precedes, those also in which this liquid forms no part of the root, such as κερδαίνω, λαμβανω, &c. Κερδαίνω is a curious example of a verb having a double future-one, which contains they of the present, a letter not belonging to the true verbal stem ; and a second, which is quite regular.

The advantage of teaching a young student to recognize, at first sight, in any tense that may be presented to him, its real component parts, is so great, and appears to us so obvious, that we should despair of convincing those by argument who are not convinced by making the experiment. It seems to us that when such a nice little word as προπαρασκευασθησόμεθα occurs, it is better for the student to cut of the tail θησομεθα, which marks a particular tense, number, and person, then to cut off the forepart, and thus come to the verbal crude form σκευα(σ) with its euphonic 6, and, finally, to descend to σκευ, instead of beginning with προπαρασκευαζω, and making the tour of all imaginable and unimaginable words till he arrives at προπαρασκευασθησόμεθα.

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.

[Conformably to our plan as stated at the head of the article entitled Harrow School,' No. V. of this Journal, we are enabled to present our readers with an accurate account of the course of instruction at Westminster School.]

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE DISCIPLINE, STUDIES, EXAMINATIONS, PRIZES, &c. OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.

WESTMINSTER School is a royal foundation, and richly endowed under the name of St. Peter's College, Westminster. At the school, however, the boys receive but little advantage in point of money. The objects of competition are four studentships at Oxford, and three or four scholarships at Cambridge. Its statutes were given by Queen Elizabeth.

Division of the Boys.

There are forty boys on the royal foundation called King's scholars, and four on a private foundation by Williams, Bishop of Lincoln. The remainder are called Town boys. Vacancies on the royal foundation are filled up once a year by candidates from the Town boys, who are elected entirely according to merit, by an examination which will be described hereafter. The Bishop's boys are nominated by the dean and master jointly. In school at the lessons, no distinction whatever is observed between the King's scholars and the rest.

Residence and Discipline of the Boys.

The King's scholars all sleep in one large room, the college or dormitory (150 feet long). Their dining-room is a detached building, very similar to the halls of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. Adjoining to the dormitory, and having a private entrance to it, is the under-master's house. Upon him devolves the care of the King's scholars, during those hours in which they are confined to the college*. At other times the head-master is responsible for their conduct.

The greater part of the Town boys reside in four boardinghouses, which are situated within the precincts of Dean's Yard. One of them belongs to an usher; the rest are superintended by ushers living in or near them. The expense is

* By the strict letter of the statutes, the King's scholars are required to be in some particular place, called station-either the school, or the enclosure in Dean's Yard, or the cricket-ground, or the college, or the hall, at every moment of the day. There are three monitors appointed from the senior boys, who are responsible for this attendance, and bound to preserve due order and discipline. These stations are still enforced upon the lower half of the King's scholars with considerable strictness. The upper half is, by custom, excused.

about the same in either case. One of the ushers, who has not the care of a boarding-house, takes six private pupils on higher terms. The Town boys dine at one, and sup at eight, except at the usher's house, where the supper is superseded by tea at dusk. The remainder of the Town boys live at home with their friends, but, out of school, would be considered under the control and correction of the masters, if complaints of misconduct should be made against them. In college and the boarding-houses there is a roll-call at all times when the doors are locked*. Prayers also are read in the evening. Whatever breaches of discipline occur are either visited immediately by the under-master, or usher; or if the offence be of a higher kind, it is referred to the headmaster, or, in the case of the King's scholars, to the Dean of Westminster, who is supreme.

In case of illness, a King's scholar is removed from the dormitory to the house where he lived when a Town boy, (in which there is a room appropriated to the King's scholars,) and is then under the authority of the usher of the house, and attends the roll-call and prayers.

No boarder is allowed to remain out of school on plea of illness, (unless by particular permission,) without seeing a medical man, who may be either one chosen by his friends, or the one attached to the house.

Libraries

are attached to each house, and to college. A new boy pays 17. 1s., and every one 3s. 6d. half-yearly to the support of them. There is also a small school library, containing old editions of the classics, but little used.

Division of the School.

The school, one large room, is divided into an upper and an under school. The head-master, with his ushers, conducts the business of the former; the under-master with his, that of the latter. The boys are classed in forms†, according to their proficiency. Each form is divided into two removes, which have many, but not all their lessons the same. A boy ordinarily remains about half-a-year in every remove; but a deserving boy is complimented with a by-remove, at any time that the master and usher think fit. To pass regularly through the school, remaining two years in the sixth form, takes eight years. A boy is then seventeen or eighteen years old.

*This time varies according to the season of the year, from six o'clock to half-past eight.

These forms are the sixth, shell, fifth, fourth, in the upper school; the third, second, first, and petty, in the under.

School Hours.

The school hours are from eight o'clock (or half-past seven in the summer) every morning, to twelve, with the intermission of an hour allowed for breakfast; and again, from half-past two o'clock to five in the afternoon of every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In the afternoons of Tuesdays and Thursdays, the boarders are occupied about the same length of time with exercises, the lower forms under the eye of an usher. All, whose parents wish it, employ part of this interval in French, or writing and arithmetic, with masters appointed by the school, or chosen by the parents. But the two upper forms attend a mathematical lecture for an hour in the school under the master and an usher. (See scheme.)

The King's scholars are similarly engaged in college upon exercises or mathematics, under the superintendence of the under-master, who is also present almost every evening for about an hour and a half in the dormitory, for the purpose of assisting the studies of the under elections. The homeboarders write their verses at home, or with an usher, as their parents please. They choose also a time most convenient to themselves, if they are wanted at home between two and five.

Holidays.

All the Saint's Days, marked with red letters in the almanac, are holidays*. Saturday afternoon is a half holiday†. The regular vacations are three weeks at Whitsuntide, a month at Bartholomew-tide, and nearly a month at Christmas.

Lessons.

It is the general custom of the school for the boys to prepare their lessons without the assistance of a private tutor, in school or out as they please. In their houses, or in college, their time is also occupied in writing exercises, and, if in the shells or sixth form, in preparing for their remove or in carrying on private studies and reading mathematics. As far as possible also, a form is not employed upon more than one Greek and one Latin subject for lesson at once. This custom is most strictly observed in the sixth.

Below will be presented a synopsis of the weekly work of

* Attendance, however, at the morning service in the Abbey is required. In the afternoon the boarding houses and dormitory are locked up from two to five. The exercise set on the evening before a holiday is somewhat longer than the usual one of the day.

† On Saturday and Sunday the boys, whose friends reside in London, are allowed to visit them.