In the fourth year about four-fifths of the time should be allotted to reading and about one-fifth to composition. The time assigned to the reading may most profitably be devoted to an extensive study of a few typical examples of the most important forms of literature. The novel, the drama, the lyric, and the essay, may be taken as the types to be studied. The maturity of the pupils in the fourth year will make possible a detailed analysis of the essential elements of these forms, which cannot be undertaken earlier in the course. By a careful study of a few of the best examples of each form to be found in English literature, the pupils not only come to know and appreciate some of the best literature in our language but are given some canons by which to judge what they read independently after they leave school. 2. The Novel The novel is a convenient form with which to begin the fourth year work. George Eliot’s “Silas Marner” is one of the novels which lends itself admirably to intensive study. The kind of novel, the theme, the author’s point of view, the plot, the characters, the setting, and other important elements are all to be carefully studied. In the detailed analysis of plot, the introduction, the situation, the development of the plot, the secondary plots, the interweaving of principal and subordinate plots, the means of sustaining interest and suspense, the climax of the action, the unraveling, the denouement and the probability and plausibility of action, should receive consideration. The study of character presented in the novel will include the interaction of plot and character, the types of character, the grouping of characters, the methods of delineation, the truth to life, and similar points. It is also important to consider the novel as the expression of the author’s personality, of his attitude toward life, and of his interpretation, or “criticism,” of life. Since time will permit of the detailed analysis, in class, of but one novel, use for comparison may be made of other novels which the pupils have read or are reading as a part of their library work. Novels of such different types as Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield,” Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities,” Scott’s “Ivanhoe,” and “Talisman,” Thackeray’s “Henry Esmond,” Hawthorne’s “House of Seven Gables,” and George Eliot’s “Romola,” will furnish ample supplementary material. 3. The Drama