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evoked sporadically in Wallachia are Matei Basarab ²¹ and Constantin BrSn-covcanu ²², while the Moldavian Gheorghe Asachi appeals to Stephen -:the Great ²³. During this period there is no essay to unify the Moldavian ^:and the Wallachian mythology: in each province the speakers praise only dhe historical characters of that very province. Quite exceptional with respect to their treatment of historical characters are the discourses held in 1837 by Simeon Marcovici and in 1838 by Aaron Florian, both professors at the Sfan-tul Sava College in Bucharest. Simeon Marcovici, after discussing the generał problem of civilization, gives a list of the princes whom he considers to have played a beneficial role in the history of Wallachia: “RadulNegru Basarab, her founder, Mircea the Old, Vlad the Impaler, Michael the Brave, the pride of Romanians, and Matei Basarab and §erban Cantacuzino” ²⁴. And this is all. The speech of Aaron Florian, professor of history, who had begun. to publish a great monograph on the history of Wallachia ²⁵, is an abridged yer-sion of this work, a narration beginning with “the powerful empire of the Dacians” and going up to the 19th century, wlien "the rays of the European lights penetrating this land, they awakened the national and patriotic senti-ment" ²⁸. Yet this speech with such a strong emphasis on history is very untypical during the period studied by us.

After 1856, although the Principalities were in a great political turmoil due to the changing of their intemational position and then due to the strug-gle for the unification of Wallachia and Moldavia (achieved in 1859), the official speeches seem not to notice these circumstances, The speakers con-tinue to insist on the need to educate good citizens, conscious of their rights and duties. The gazette "Monitorul Comunelor" opened a column with ądvice for the morał and spiritual education of children ²⁷. The official aims of rural schooling are clearly expressed by Gr. Vladescu in the gazette “Na^ionalul": "the rural schools will make the villagers know their duties. towards God, towards the Govemment, towards the country and towards the wholg. so-ciety" ²⁸. The mixture of innovation and consen atorism is apparent in the speech from 1858 delivered by G. Costaforu, generał director of schools, \vho told that the purpose of the school-system was “to found in our country a real national learning, which should ennoble the hearts through the love and fear of God, arise the intelligences, protecting them from the fatal mislead-ings of a flamboyant imagination" ²⁹. Although, as Paul Comea said, the generation of the enlighteners gives way to a new generation of "nationa-lists, revolutionaries, democrats" ³⁰, the latter seem not to be prepared to innovate in the field of schooling. Thus, Mihail Kogalniceanu, one of the most

²¹    See the speech held by Dimitrie Jianu, teacher at Cdmpulungr, "Muzeul National⁰, 1836, I, no. 31, p. 254 [122].

²²    See the speech held by Gavriil Munteanu, teacher at Buziu, in "Muzeul National⁰, 1836, I, no. 28, p. 110.

²³    "Albina Romineasci⁰, 1847, XIX, no. 46, p. 186.

²⁴    Simeon Marcovici, Civilizafia, in "Muzeul National⁰, 1837, II, no. 4, p. 38.

²⁵    Aaron Florian, Idee refede de istoria Prinfipatului Tarii Romdnesti, t. I—III, BuCu-resti, 1835-1838.

²⁰ V. A. Urechia, op. cit., vol. II, p. 13—25.

²⁷    See: Mioara Cimpoieę, Octavian Ionescu, Problcine de pedagogie tn presd. De la Unirea Principatelor ptnd la cucerirea independentei Romdniei, Bucureęti, 1967, p. 137.

²⁸    Gr. Vlidescu, Despte instruefiunea publica, in "Na^ionalul⁰, 1858, I, no. 21, p. 80.

* "Anuntitorul rom&n°, 1858, V, no. 53, p. 3.

³⁰ Paul Comea, Oamenii tnceputului de drum, Bucureyti, 1974, p. 6.