2 JULY 1836, Page 18

Locee's Treatise on Edna - dim forms the Third Volume of the

Masterpieces rf English Prose Literature; to which Mr. ST. .1011N has prefixed a Preliminary Essay on the subject of the work, and added a variety of notes. Education itself is just now a popular topic; and the sensible, practical, plain-spoken " Thoughts " of Loots:, the results of much worldly observa- tion and study, are worth attention for the intrinsic excellence cf their matter, whilst the peculiarity of their manner will amuse. In the Preliminary Di-course, the editor takes an histori- cal view of the different systems of education followed in the ancient wield, as well as in the dark and middle ages. It is pleasingly' and elegantly written; and the almost boyish enthu- siasm of the writer in favour of the ancients, gives a character to the essay. Mr. ST. JOHN MOMS altogether to overlook the exist- ence of slavery at Athens, and to be unconscious that the Athenian citizens were in reality as complete an oligarchy as the West Indian planters or the pure flutes of Georgia.