Tarsus, and what it was or might have been at Jerusalem, is not sufficiently kept in view. It may be doubted whether in the former city the apparatus for public teaching and disputation was so complete as is here supposed; and we may well believe that hatred to Gentile children, however likely to be entertained in Palestine, where strangers were few, was not felt so strongly, if at all, among those who had been born and brought up in the cities of the heathen. We take it that there was little positive ill-will, unless in times of excitement; but that there was simply that social separation which always exists among persons of different religion and origin,—such, in fact, as may be witnessed every day in our own country. And it is certain that the Jews could never be in social intimacy with any people, their laws respecting food being alone sufficient to secure their isolation.

That the schools, in which the elements of learning were imparted to boys, were similar to those we now see in the East, there is little reason to question. A short account, therefore, of these schools, and the instruction given in them, will furnish the best illustration of the subject. With the substitution of the synagogue for the mosque, and the Bible for the Koran, the analogy is probably as close as need be desired.

The first and earliest object of a parent is to instil into the mind of his son the principles of his religion, and the observances proper to it; and then he endeavours, if possible, to obtain for him the instructions of a schoolmaster, if the small expense can be afforded. Most of the children of the higher classes, and many of the lower, are taught by the schoolmaster to read, and to recite the whole or certain portions of the Koran by heart. They afterwards learn the common rules of arithmetic.

Schools are sufficiently numerous in every large town, and there is seldom any considerable village without one. In metropolitan cities almost every mosque has a school attached to it, in which children are taught at a very trifling expense. The sum of about a penny paid every Thursday is a very common school fee; and the master of a school attached to a

mosque receives in addition, from the endowment, some principal articles of clothing once a year, when the boys also obtain some garments and a little money. The lessons are generally

written upon tablets of wood painted white; and when one lesson is learnt, the tablet is washed, and another is written.

As a substitute for this, slates have been found very acceptable where introduced by missionaries. The schoolmaster and his pupils sit upon the ground; and each boy has a tablet in his hands, or a copy of the Koran, or one of its thirty sections, on a little rude kind of desk of palm-sticks. All who are learning to read recite their lessons aloud, at the same time rocking their heads and bodies incessantly backward and forward. This is the practice of almost every one who reads the Koran, being supposed to help the memory; but the din which it occasions in a school is more easily imagined than described. Yet in the midst of all this noise, the experienced ear of the master instantly detects an error which any of the boys may fall into, and distinguishes the offender, who is forthwith called to account. The discipline of the school is maintained by

'The good old rule, the simple plan,'

of bodily chastisement. This is inflicted by a palm-stick upon the soles of the naked feet; for in school, as in other places, the heads are covered and the feet bare, and the quantity of shoes near the entrance of the apartment is a strange sight to the inexperienced. Corporal punishment is, however, very rarely inflicted, the real respect with which eastern children are taught to regard their seniors, being generally quite sufficient to maintain the authority of the schoolmaster and the discipline of the school.

It will be seen that the common schools teach little more than reading and learning by heart; the reading lessons being written on the tablets, not by the boys themselves, but by the master; and one who can read well and recite a good portion of the Koran, is in general held to be quite sufficiently educated. The schoolmasters seldom teach writing; and it is learnt by few boys but those whose destined employment will require it; and they then learn it usually from one of the officers employed in the bazaars. Some parents engage a tutor to teach their sons at home; and those who aspire to a high education can acquire it on easy terms at the Medressehs or colleges attached to the great mosques, answering to the school

in which Saul completed his education at Jerusalem. Girls, unless in very rare instances, are not taught to read or write; and we well remember the bewildering amazement with which the females of a small eastern town flocked together, to behold an English lady writing in her journal at our evening encampment. Yet there are schools in which they are taught embroidery and needlework, an art in which they excel. Their religious education is, however, very much disregarded, and scarcely any religious duties are expected from them. Among the Jews, the women were not to this degree neglected; for the females introduced to our notice in the New Testament, are generally well versed in the Scriptures. Among them also, writing seems to have been more frequently a part of common education than it is at present in the East; but with these differences, the parallel seems to run very close.

Forty-third Week—First Day.

SCRIPTURE READING.-ACTS VIII. 28.

It may be pleasant this evening to turn back to the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, for the sake of some practical considerations which, in the thoughtful mind, connect themselves with it, or arise from it.

Those considerations which pertain to the eunuch's study of the Scriptures are the most important, as well as the most interesting, and they concern us most; for in this eunuch we have before us an example of those dispositions on which God loves to bestow more light, and from which He never eventually withholds it. These dispositions are indeed his gift; and He fails not in due time to honour the gifts of his own bestowing.

It is evident that dim and partial as the eunuch's light was, he read the Scriptures with a real and lively interest, and not as a formal task. If it had been so, he would have discharged that duty before he began the morning journey, or when he reached the evening rest. He would have duly read the allotted portion, and then have laid the sacred roll aside until the set time should again come round. But no; according to his light, he loved the word of God. In his measure it had become 'his song in the house of his pilgrimage.' Its high and weighty matters were of deeper interest to him than are the papers and books, in red, yellow, and green, which our own time offers to those who travel by the way. Therefore he read the Bible in his chariot; and he read it with absorbed attention even in passing through a country, every brook, and hill, and valley in which might be supposed of special interest to a foreign Jew visiting the land. And was this labour all lost, this interest all wasted, this reading all profitless, because, as