And, as of rank, so of religion; neither introduced among us any dis turbing element. We had Protestants, Catholics, members of the Greek Church, and members of no church at all; but I recollect not a single word, nor other evidence of feeling, indicating any shade of coldness or aversion, which had rise in theological differences. It might have puzzled me, after a three years' residence, to call to mind whether those with whom I was intimate as with my own brother were Protestants, or Catholics, or neither; and long ere this I have quite forgotten. We never debated controversial points of belief. M. de Fellenberg read to us occasional lectures on religion; but they were liberal in tone, and practical, not doctrinal; embracing those essentials which belong to all Christian sects, and thus suiting Protestants and Catholics alike. The Catholics, it is true, had, from time to time, a priest who came, in a quiet way, to confess them, and, no doubt, to urge strict observance of the weekly fast; yet we of the Protestant persuasion used, I believe, to eat as much fish and as many frogs on Fridays as they.

So, also, as to the various nationalities that made up our corps of students; it caused no dispute, it gave rise to no unkindness. Duels, common in most of the German universities, were an unheard-of absurdity; quarrels ending in blows were scarcely known among us. I recall but two, both of which were quickly arrested by the bystanders, who felt their college dishonored by such an exhibition. One of these was commenced by a youth fresh from an English school. The other occurred one evening, in a private room, between a fiery Prussian count and a sturdy Swiss. When the dispute grew warm, we pounced upon the combatants, carried them off, each to his own room, on our shoulders, and there, with a hearty laugh at their folly, set them down to cool. It was so good-humoredly done, that they could not help joining in the merriment. I have heard much of the manliness supposed to grow out of the English habit of settling school quarrels by boxing. But I do not think it would have been a safe experiment for one of these pugilistic young gentlemen to insult a Hofwyl student, even though the manhood of the latter had never been tested by pounding another's face with his fist. His anger, when roused, is most to be dreaded who so bears himself as to give no one just cause of offence.

Our course of instruction included the study of the Greek, Latin, French, and German languages, the last of which was the language of the college; history, natural philosophy, chemistry, mechanics; mathematics, a thorough course, embracing the highest branches; drawing, in the senior class, from busts and models; music, vocal and instrumental; and finally gymnastics, riding, and fencing. There was a riding-school with a considerable stable of horses attached; and the higher classes were in the habit of riding out once a week with M. de Fellenberg, many of whose practical life-lessons, given as I rode by his side during these pleasant excursions, I well remember yet; for example, a recommendation to use superlatives sparingly, in speech and writing, reserving them for occasions where they were needed and in place.

The number of professors was large compared to that of the taught, being from twenty-five to thirty; and the classes were small, containing

from ten to fiftee. Twice or thrice only, during the term of my residence, one of the students, on account of repeated inattention during a recitation, was requested by the professor to leave the room. But this was quite an event to be talked of for a week. No expulsion occurred while I was there. I do not myself remember to have received, either from M. de Fellenberg or from any of the faculty, a single harsh word during the happy years I spent at Hofwyl.

Latin and Greek, though thoroughly taught, did not engross as much attention as in most colleges. Not more time was given to each than to ancient and modern history, and less than to mathematics. This last, a special object of study, was taught by extempore lectures, of which we took notes in short-hand; and in after years, when details and demonstrations had faded from memory, I have never found difficulty in working these out afresh, without aid from books.

Athletic Games-Foot Excursions.

Our recreations consisted of public games, athletic exercises, gymnastics, and-what was prized above all-an annual excursion on foot, lasting about six weeks.

A favorite amusement in the way of athletic exercise was throwing the lance (Lanzenwerfen). The weapons used were stout ashen spears, six or seven feet long, heavily pointed with iron; the target a squared log of hard wood, firmly set in the ground, about six feet high-the upper portion, or head, which it was the chief object to hit, a separate block, attached to the trunk by stout hinges. A dozen or more engaged in it at a time, divided into two sides; and the points gained by each stroke were reckoned according to power and accuracy. We attained great skill in this exercise.

We had a fencing-master, and took lessons twice a week in the use of the rapier, skill in the management of which was then considered, throughout Continental Europe, indispensable in the education of a gentleman. There are many swordsmen in the upper classes who need not have feared any ordinary antagonist. I was exceedingly fond of this exercise; and I suppose our teacher may have thought me his best pupil, for he said to me one day, "Herr Owen, I expect a friend of mine, who is professor of fencing in Zurich, to visit me in a few days. He will expect, of course, to try his hand with some of the class, and I've chosen you to represent us. If you don't hit him first, I'll never forgive you."

"I think that's hard measure," I replied; "he has made fencing the business of his life, and I haven't taken lessons three years yet." "I don't care. I know his strength. I'd be ashamed not to turn out a pupil who could beat him."

I told him I would do my best. He let me into his visitor's play, as he called it, warning me of the feints likely to be employed against me. Yet I think it was by good fortune rather than skill that I made the first hit. Our professor assumed to take it as a matter of accident, yet I could see that he was triumphant.

Much has been said for and against gymnastic exercises. We spent an hour a day, just before dinner, in the gymnasium. And this experience

causes me to regard these exercises, judiciously conducted, as essential to a complete system of education. They induce a vigor, an address, a hardihood, a presence of mind in danger, difficult of attainment without them. While they fortify the general health, they strengthen the nerves; and their mental and moral influence is great. I know that, in my case, they tended to equalize the spirits, to invigorate the intellect, and to calm the temper. I left Hofwyl, not only perfectly well, but athletic.

Our annual excursions, undertaken, in the autumn of that bright and beautiful climate, by those students who, like myself, were too far from home to return thither during the holidays, were looked forward to, weeks beforehand, with brilliant anticipations of pleasure; which, strange to say, were realized. Our favorite professor, Herr Lippe, accompanied us; our number being commonly from thirty to thirty-five.

It was usually about the first of August that, clad in the plain student uniform of the college, knapsack on shoulder, and long, iron-shod mountain-staff (alpenstock) in hand, we sallied forth, an exultant party, on "the journey," as we called it. Before our departure Herr Lippe, at a public meeting, had chalked out for us the intended route, and when we found, as on two occasions we did, that it was to extend beyond the valleys and mountain passes of Switzerland to the lakes of Northern Italy, our enthusiasm burst forth in a tumult of applause.

Our day's journey, usually eighteen or twenty miles, sometimes extended to twenty-five or more. We breakfasted early, walked till mid-day; then sought some shady nook where we could enjoy a lunch of bread and wine, with grapes or goat's-milk cheese, when such luxuries could be had. Then we despatched in advance some of our swiftest pedestrians, as commissariat of the party, to order supper preparatory to our arrival. How joyfully we sat down to that evening meal! How we talked over the events of the day, the magnificent scenes we had witnessed, the little adventures we had met! The small country taverns seldom furnished more than six or eight beds; so that three-fourths of our number usually slept in some barn, well supplied with hay or straw. How soundly we slept, and how merry the awaking!

Throughout the term of these charming excursions the strictest order was observed. And herein was evinced the power of that honorable party spirit which imposed on every one of us a certain charge as to the good conduct of the whole-making each, as it were, alive to the faults and responsible for the shortcomings of our little community. Rude noise, unseemly confusion, the least approach to dissipation at a tavern, or any other violation of propriety on the road, would have been considered an insult to the college. And thus it happened that we established, throughout Switzerland, a character for decorum such as no other institution ever obtained.

While I live, the golden memories of our college, as it once was, can never fade. With me they have left a blessing-a belief which existing abuses cannot shake nor worldly scepticism destroy, an abiding faith in human virtue and in social progress.

ENGLISH HOME LIFE AND EDUCATION.

THE EVELYN FAMILY.**

MRS. EVELYN, the daughter of Sir Richard Browne, and wife of William Evelyn, the central figure in this sketch of English Home Life in the 17th Century, was not called to the performance of deeds of heroism, nor was she distinguished for her learning or shining Lalents. She possessed an amiable disposition, good sense, and a cultivated understanding, united with a sincere and simple piety— 'qualities which made her the best daughter and wife, the most tender mother, a desirable neighbor and friend in all parts of her life.' She was born at the English Embassy at Paris, in 1635.

Her childhood passed happily in the brightest, capital in Europe, where her father, Sir Richard Browne, resided as English Ambassador; and to it she always looked back with grateful attachment. Here she was tended with all the care a gentle fate could assign to the only child of good, tender, and pious parents, and here it was that she was early seen and admired by the excellent and accomplished Mr. Evelyn; himself described as 'one of the best and most dignified specimens of the old English country gentleman.' Unshaken in his fidelity to a falling cause, when that cause became again triumphant he never condescended to bow the knee to wickedness in high places. Indeed, it may be presumed that his loyalty must at last have partaken pretty much of the character of Horace Walpole's patriotism, who, when the patriots of his day were boring the dilettante statesman with, 'Sure, Mr. Walpole, you love your country!' replied, that he believed he should love his country very well, if it were not for his countrymen.' So it may be suspected. that Evelyn would have supported the Royal cause with still more ardor than he did, had it not been for some royalists.

Although he trailed a pike at Gennep, and joined the King's army at Brentford, yet on the day on which was fought 'the signal battle of Edge Hill,' after having seen Portsmouth delivered up to Sir

• Abridged from The English Home Life of English Ladies in the 17th Century. By the author of Magdalen Stafford.' London: Bell & Daldy.

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William Waller, he was able to make a careful archæological survey of the city of Winchester, calmly noting its castle, church, school, and King Arthur's Round Table. Thus devoted to the pursuits of peace, it is no wonder that he shortly afterward quitted a land divided by civil warfare. After exhausting the sights of Paris, he sailed to Genoa, inhaled the perfumed breath of the South, lost himself in the sunny mazes of Italian gardens, gazed with curious eye on the treasures of Florentine galleries, wandered through princely palaces, heard the Pope say mass at Rome on Christmas Day, climbed Vesuvius, and glided through the voiceless streets of Venice. Then, having declined the honor of a degree offered to him by the University of Padua, and passed, with exceeding pleasure, through the Paradise of Lombardy,' he set his face homeward, returning by Geneva to Paris. Farther, for awhile, he did not proceed; and there, the only time in his whole life, as he tells us, lived 'most idly.'

We all know the indigenous growth of such a soil-love, in idleness, of a necessity, sprang up. It was no idle passion, however, with which the daughter of Sir Richard Browne inspired him, though he was at this time seven-and-twenty; and she, the age of 'one of Shakspeare's women,' not yet fourteen.

Early in the year we find him changing his lodgings from the Place de M. de Metz, near the Abbey of St. Germain, to one in the Rue Columbier, doubtless to bring him nearer to 'Rue Farrene,' where the English Ambassador resided, and of which the pleasant situation lingered long in the memory of the Ambassador's daughter. Nay, as spring advanced, he began learning the lute, though to small perfection; a symptom which we take to be something like Benedict's brushing his hat o' mornings.' Later, his valet, Herbert, robbing him of clothes and plate to the value of threescore pounds, his effects were recovered for him by the good offices of Sir Richard Browne; for whose lady and family, when mentioning the circumstance, he acknowledges he had contracted a great friendship; having particularly set his affections on their daughter. His suit found favor with the Ambassador and his lady; and in her declining days their child recorded her gratitude to those who had placed her in such worthy hands. Accordingly, on Corpus Christi Day, 1647, when the houses were hung with tapestry, and the streets strown with flowers, amidst all the glitter and gaiety of a Paris fête, the marriage vows were taken in the Chapel of the Embassy, before Dr. Earle, afterward Bishop of Salisbury. Three months after this