It may be thought that Rollin puts a little too much into

the first years of the child's course of study. Before the

age of six or seven he ought to have learned to read, to

write, to be nourished on the Historical Catechism of Fleury,

to know some of the fables of La Fontaine by heart, and to

have studied French grammar, and geography. At least,

Rollin requires that "no thought, no expression, which is

within the child's range," shall be allowed to be passed by.

He requires that the teacher speak little, and that he make

the child speak much, "which is one of the most essential

duties and one of those that are the least practised." He

demands, above all else, clearness of statement, and com-

mends the use of illustrations and pictures in reading books.

ROLLIN. 241

"They are very suitable," he says, " for striking the atten-

tion of children, and for fixing their memory ; this is prop-

erly the writing of the ignorant." 1

258. The Education of Girls. — The same reasons ex-

plain the shortcomings of Rolliu's views on the education of

women, and the relative mediocrity of his ideas on the edu-

cation of children. Living in solitude and in the celibate

state, he had no personal information on these subjects, and

so he goes back to F6nelon for his ideas on the education of

women, and to Quintilian in the case of children.

Is the study of Latin fit for girls ? Such is the first ques-

tion which he raises ; but he has the wisdom to answer it in

the negative, save for " nuns, and also for Christian virgins

and widows." "There is no difference in minds," Rollin

emphatically says, "that is due to sex." But he does not

extend the consequences of this excellent principle very far.

1 Save once, Rollin has scarcely made an allusion to primary instruc-

tion proper. "We quote this passage on account of its singularity: " Several

years ago there was introduced into most of the schools for the poor in

Paris a method which is very useful to scholars, and which spares much

trouble to the teachers. The school is divided into several classes. I

select only one of them, that composed of children who already know how

to write syllables ; the others must be judged by this one. I suppose that

the subject of the reading lesson is Dixit Dominus Domino meo : Sede a

dertris meis. Each child pronounces one syllable, as Di. His competitor,

who stands opposite, takes up the next, xit, and so on. The whole class is

attentive ; for the teacher, without warning, passes at once from the head

of the line to the middle, or to the foot, and the recitation must continue

without interruption. If a pupil makes a mistake in some syllable, the

teacher, without speaking, raps upon the table with his stick, and the com-

petitor is obliged to repeat as it should be the syllable that has been

wrongly pronounced. If he fail also, the next, upon a second rap of the

stick, goes back to the same syllable, and so on till it has been pronounced

correctly. More than thirty years ago, I saw with unusual pleasure this

method in successful operation at Orleans, where it originated through the

care and industry of M. Garot, who presided over the schools of that

city."