sions, and lastly, one with seven, and putting them
side by side, he found the piece of a correspondent length, and thus, in
less than eight minutes and a half, answered, "fifteen." The ingenious
master then exercised another boy in subtraction, and a third in
multiplication: but the latter was thrown into great confusion, for one
of the pieces having lost a division, it led him to a wrong result.

The teacher informed us that he taught geometry in the same way, and had
even extended it to grammar, logic, rhetoric, and the art of
composition. The rules of syntax were discovered by pieces of wood,
interlocking with each other in squares, dovetails, &c., after the
manner of geographical cards; and as they chanced to fit together, so
was the concordance between the several parts of speech ascertained. The
machine for composition occupied a large space; different sets of
synonymes were arranged in compartments of various sizes. When the
subject was familiar, a short piece was used; when it was stately or
heroic, then the longest slips that could be found were resorted to.
Those that were rounded at the ends were mellifluous; the jagged ones
were harsh; the thick pieces expressed force and vigour. Where the
curves corresponded at one end, they served for alliteration; and when
at the other, they answered for rhyme. By way of proving its progress,
he showed us a composition by a man who was deaf and dumb, in praise of
Morosofia, who, merely by the use of his eyes and hands, had made an
ingenious and high-sounding piece of eloquence, though I confess that
the sense was somewhat obscure. We went away filled with admiration for
the great Lozzi Pozzi's inventions.

Having understood that there was an academy in the neighbourhood, in
which youths of maturer years were instructed in the fine arts, we were
induced to visit it; but there being a vacation at that time, we could
see neither the professors nor students, and consequently could gain
little information of the course of discipline and instruction pursued
there. We were, however, conducted to a small _menagerie_ attached to
the institution, by its keeper, where the habits and accomplishments of
the animals bore strong testimony in favour of the diligence and skill
of their teachers.

We there saw two game-cocks, which, so far from fighting, (though they
had been selected from the most approved breed,) billed and cooed like
turtle-doves. There was a large zebra, apparently