that the whole of it be placed before the eye and the mind in a small compass, and be taken in as it were at a glance; and it should be written therefore, not in sentences, but like a table of contents. Such an outline should not be allowed to fetter the writer, if, in the course of the actual composition, he find any reason for deviating from his original plan. It should serve merely as a track to mark out a path for him, not as a groove to confine him. But the practice of drawing out such a skeleton will give a coherence to the composition, a due proportion of its several parts, and a clear and easy arrangement of them; such as can rarely be attained if one begins by completing one portion before thinking of the rest.'

A single specimen will show how this skeleton should be drawn up.

Subject: The Contest about Ship-Money.

Outline.

(1) By way of introduction, the origin of this tax, where levied, why levied, how expended.

(2) The extension of the tax under Charles I.; why so extended.

(3) The resistance of Hampden, noticing the reason of his resistance, his courage in resisting, and his resisting in a legal and constitutional manner.

(4) The result of the resistance at the moment, the obstacles to impartial justice.

(5) The moral influence of Hampden's conduct, and of the legal decision; contributing more than any other cause to bind the bulk of the Parliament against the King, and ultimately to overturn the despotic

power which seemed for the time to be triumphant. 'Freedom's battle once begun,' &c.

This outline may be filled up in an hour, or may be extended to two hours, according to the detail with which the parts are treated; but in either case the writer knows exactly how to treat of each point with proportional minuteness.

M

SUBJECTS GIVEN AT THE VARIOUS

EXAMINATIONS.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION.*

1859.

1. Sketch the life and character of any great statesman, or of any great mechanical inventor, or of any great general of our own country.

2. Write an essay on any one of the following:(1) The influence of travel as a means of education ; (2) The influence of rhyme on poetry; (3) The influence of gold discoveries on civilisation.

3. Write a letter to a friend describing the room in which you are at present sitting, and the occupation in which you have been engaged.

4. Write a letter describing the ascent of a high mountain or the descent into a mine.

5. Write an essay on the liberty of the press.

6. Describe the great comet of 1858.

N.B. Only three of the subjects are to be chosen, of which (2) or (5) must be one.

In all cases three hours are allowed for each paper.

For 1858.

1. Write a short but careful exposition of what appears to you to be the true conception of any one of the following characters of the Shaksperian drama: Hamlet, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Lear, Falstaff.

2. Compare or contrast the poetical genius of Shakspere with that of Milton.

3. Describe an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or a shipwreck.

4. Write a narrative of the Indian mutiny, not dwelling on details, but sketching rapidly the course of events, and so presenting a clear summary of what has happened down to the capture of Lucknow, with as little expression of opinion as possible.

5. The influence of public schools on English life. N.B.-Only three of these subjects to be written on.

1858.

1. Write an essay on the Elizabethan age.

2. Describe as vividly and at the same time as accurately as you can some one event or scene in English history.

3. Describe shortly, but as picturesquely as you can, any place that you have seen at home or abroad.

4. Write a letter from Milton to Richard Cromwell

on the consolation afforded by the cultivation of literature in adversity.

5. Write a short essay on any one of the following subjects, treating it in your own way :-London, India, Language, the British Empire.

N.B.-Only three of these to be chosen.

1. Describe in a letter any remarkable event of which you have been an eye-witness.

2. Write a historical essay on Italy, or Poland, or Prussia.

3. Show how it is that federal governments are both strong and weak.

4. The stage, as a means of education.

5. 'And all our knowledge is ourselves to know.' Discuss the truth or falsity of this.

N.B.-Only two subjects to be chosen.

1. Write an essay on one of the following subjects: -corn, cotton; coal, gold.

2. Write a letter describing London in 1862.

3. No hero is a hero to his valet.'

truth of the assertion.

Examine the

4. Heroes are much the same, the point's agreed,
From Macedonia's madman to the Swede.'

Examine the justice of this comparison.