THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Ex Lihris SIR MICHAEL SADLER ACQUIRED 1948 WITH THE HELP OF ALUMNI OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION U(^ /U^ /c--i^Vx£^ / ^i/ S 9tt»~cvL fty A<^ €>V^^^^Kt4cW^y^Jv«/ /^i'^xe4f vt^€x^Cv^^t^ PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, WITH ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO A SYSTEM AND PLAN OF POPULAR EDUCATION AS A NATIONAL OBJECT. By JAMES SIMPSON, ADVOCATE. SECOND EDITION. Serene Philosophy ! Effusive source of evidence and truth, Without thee, what were unenlightened man ! Seasons. EDINBURGH : ADAM & CHARLES BLACK : LONGMAN & CO., ORR & SMITH, SHERWOOD, GILBERT, & PIPER, LONDON ; JOHN GUMMING, AND HODGES & SMITH, DUBLIN. MDCCCXXXVI. "KINTKD J»V S'EIIJ, & CO., OLD FISHMAKKET, EniNBlJRGIi. mio PREFACE THE FIRST EDITION. A deep conviction and solemn feeling of the necessity — the urgency^-of a great National measure for en- lightening, and morally elevating, the great body of our countrymen, are the author's motives for offering the fol- lowing pages to the deliberate consideration of the pub- lic. Whether they shall think his views juster and more practical than those that may have been before them, in a hundred other works on the "interminable theme of edu- cation," it is not for him to anticipate ; but he ventures to hope that they will find the subject placed in a light somewhat different from any with which they are already familiar. He appeals to the Crisis — a great increase of popular power, an immense extension of popular influ- ence, without commensurate directing knowledge and controlling virtue ; and he claims a patient hearing, as the right of the humblest contributor to the difficult subject, to receive, and the duty of every well wisher of his country and his species, to bestow. In this treatise the reader's attention will be called to larger views of the vi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. subject of education, in its principles and practice, than he may have met with before, and that in relation to all classes of the community, for the education of man, adapted to his nature, knows no distinction of ranks ; but he will likewise, it is humbly hoped, see the limit defined, to which the education of every sane human be- ing ought to be carried, in order to fit him for that place in the social system, and in the creation of God, for which he was called into being. With the diffidence be- coming the attempt, and the deference due to his mas- ters in the science of national economy, the author has ventured to propose a plan of popular education for public judgment and legislative adoption ; content if it shall move that discussion, by which it cannot fail to be greatly improved. He will be more than enough rewarded, too, if he shall succeed in reviving some share of interest in the neglected subject of the philosophy of Man, and his relations to external things, without which the science of education must remain, as it has hitherto remained, incapable of practical application, and tliere- fore a discarded weariness. He repeats that the object presses, — that it is exciting anxious inquiry, — and that it is shortly destined to rouse the attention of the most careless and inobservant dweller in the land. Edinburgh, bth Jpril 1834. PREFACE THE SECOND EDITION. The subject of Education being progressive, and in- creased attention having been given to it since the dati- of the first edition of this work, it is none of the least of the advantages of a new edition, that it can illustrate principles from the latest cases of an extending ex- perience. Of this the author has not failed to avail himself; and while he has added to the number of his facts, he has modified and corrected some of his state- ments. On the whole he feels himself on stronger ground than that on which he stood before. Encouraged to anticipate a wider circulation, he has, by closer letter- press, by a trifling curtailment in the size of the volume, and by dispensing with the treatises on Criminal Le- gislation and Homicidal Insanity, which may appear in a separate form, he has been enabled considerably to reduce the price of the work. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Page. Education not yet placed on a right basis — Sound views exist, but are not systematised — The present an attempt at their combination — " Ignorance prevails to a horrible extent" — The truth that it is connected with suffering practically disbelieved — -Appeal to fear — to justice and benevolence — Just notions of the general happiness Intellectual and moral necessary to physical improvement — Di- rect enjoyment from intellectual and moral elevation — The higher faculties of man are the gift of God, and intended for cultivation, use, and enjoyment, ........ 1—4 CHAPTER I. ON THK EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE ON THE CONDITION OF THE MANUAI,- LABOUR CLASS OF THE PEOPLE. ]\Ianual Labourers seven-eighths of the population — Twofold division of the People — 1st, Physical condition of manual-labour class — Their ignorance of the conditions of health — Neglect of air, houses, beds, skin, ablution, muscular exercise — Cholera — Ardent spirits and Sunday drunkenness — Temperance societies — Drunkard insa&e — Causes of intemperance — Transmission of diseases to offspring — JMortality of infants — Faults of servants — Manufacturers — 2d, In- tellectual condition of manual-labour class — Their prejudices, &c The dupes of the designing — Absurd flattery addressed to them — Labour market — Striking for wages— 3d, Moual condition of manual-labour class — Their faculties work as instincts — Malicious destroying and defacing — Cruelty to animals — Other causes of low condition — Effects of the Poor Laws and allowance system — Reli- gious condition — Present provision for education — Reading and writing — Scottish parochial schools — Prevailing prejudices, . 5-31 CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. ON THE EFFECTS OF IMPERFECT EDUCATION ON THE CONDITION OF THE CLAPS OF THE PEOPLE ABOVE MANUAL LABOUR. The term " Educated class" relative — Our vast attainments in Phy- sical Science — Confusion and error in Moral World — Controversy and party divisions — Contrast of sound legislation — General si'lfish- ness — Demands of Christianity — Religion of the " Educated" — Large provision for it — Want of educational preparation — Fanati- cism and insanity — Certain social defects remnants of barbarism, national jealousies, offensive wars, criminal code, &c. — Barbarous customs, fox-hunting, engrossing rural sports, &c Haj)piness not at- tained, reasons — False views of life — Young men of fortune — Waste of life, wealth, and happiness by the atHuerit — Their marriages — Sedentary study — Instructive illustrations on this head — Incogitate pursuit of wealth — Over-trading, glutted markets — Unwelcome in- quirv — Good admitted — Causes of our social evils — No moral train- ing in education — Milton, Locke, Karnes — Reading — Dead lan- guages — False morality of classics — Barbarism of the ancients — Scientific studies — Science of Man, physiological, mental, and mo- ral, a blank in Education, ...... 32-61 CHAPTER IIL ON THE FACULTIES OF MAN, AND THEIR RELATIVE OBJECTS. 3Ian the being to be educated — Knowledge of his nature required — Training horses and dogs — Education, its three essentials — Human body, improvement of — The senses — their objects — Faculties of mind disputed — Modes mistaken for faculties — Admitted view of man's nature — Shakspeare's and Scott's — Postulates to be con - ceded — Physiological evidence not founded on — Experience — Ani- mal propensities — Self-Love — Desire of estimation — Fear — Inferior feelings what — Law in the mind — Benevolence — Justice — Venera- tion — Ethics — Christianity — Other moral sentiments — Intellect — The senses — Knowing faculties — Reflecting — Language — Tabular view of faculties — Possessed by all, but in different degrees — Innate and permanent — Combination — Degrees of rank in faculties — Su- premacy of Sentiments and Intellect illustrated — Mr Combe's ori. ginal views, ......... 62-81) CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER IV. UN EDUCATION AS ADAPTED TO THE FACULTIES INFANT EDUCATION. Page. Faculties improveable — Man, how made wiser, how better — Law of ex- ercise of faculties — Each faculty on its own objects — Exercise of one faculty does not improve another — Faculties that require regulation, excitement, direction of intellect — Loadstar of education — Pupil's study of his own faculties, and their objects — Education, Physical, Moral, Intellectual — Infant Education, to commence in the cradle — Infant school, Physical training, Moral, Intellectual — Real and verbal — Pestalozzi and Mayo — Lessons on Objects — Summary of education of faculties — Edinburgh Model Infant School — Reli- gious impressions, no distinction of sects, preparative — Agency of Man in this — Divine blessing — Intolerance deprecated — Edinburgh Infant School on liberal basis — Progress and success of the school — Prizes and places — Great merit of Wilderspin — Prejudices against Infant education, objections answered, .... 90—112 CHAPTER V, ox EDUCATION AS ADAl'TED TO THE FACULTIES CONTINUED EDUCATION SUBSEQUENT TO INFANCY. Pupils six years old — School till fourteen — Moral training continued — Record of duties — Jlonitorial system — Writing — Drawing — Arith- metic — Continuation of the Mayo lessons — Incidental teaching — Incidental reading — Incidental grammar — No spelling — Lessons on chemical substances, solid, fluid, gaseous — Chemical experiments — Chemical elements — Knowledge of man in body and mind — Geo- graphy — Globe — Incidental Astronomy — Civil History — Geometry — Mechanical Science — Natural History — Incidental Natural Theo- logy — Study of nature naturalized — Lessons on political state — Lessons on political economy — Exercise of the reflecting powers — Maxims and proverbs — Education for all — For peculiar talents or turns — Science taught to the young, to the working classes, to fe- males — Educational Code — Books — Training Teachers — Schools of Industry — American schools of manual labour — Domestic ser- vice — Ulterior education — Languages — Classes — College, . 113-143 CHAPTER VI. CIVIL HISTORY, AS A STUDY FOR YOUTH. History as an advanced study — Just views of it — A chronicle of the ani- mal propensities — Characteristics of antiquity — Fall of empires when natural — Details hurtful to youth — Patriot heroism — Passion for war — Martial glory applauded and rewarded — Internal polity of CONTENTS. Page, antiquity — Asia and Egypt — ^Monotony of propensities — Tyran- nies, caprices, and cliildisbnesses — " Free" states of antiquity, Greece and Rome — No recognised principle of liberty — Ingrati- tude to public benefactors — Benevolence and justice foundations of free institutions — Selfish ambition of public men in Athens and Rome — Tribes that overthrew the Roman empire — How history should be written — How taught — Abridgment — Dark ages — Since Reformation. — Should be a late study, . . • 146-1 55 CHAPTER VII. ON POPULAR EDUCATION AS THE DUTY OF THE NATION PLAN PR0PO.SED. Burdens from popular ignorance — Education ought to be free — Work- ing classes cannot obtain it — Always has been at public expense — .School fees — Voluntary schools precarious — Working class indif- ferent—Gratis experiment — Claims of working class — They pay bulk of taxes — Nation must educate them — Commissioners — Minis- ter — Code — The What of education — Course of books — Practi- cal arrangements — Proposed building and airing ground — School and scientific apparatus — Normal schools for training teachers — First and second grants — Control and superintendence — No lack of teachers — Legitimate compulsion on parents — Something imme- diately to be done — Extract from the Edinburgh Review, 156-175 CHAPTER VIII. DIFFICULTIES OBSTACLES ENCOURAGEMENTS. DirncuLTiEs — Counteraction by adult population — Reaction upon them — Decrease of drunkenness — Course with adults — Incurable class — Edinburgh Association for cheap lectures — Provision for free instruction to the adult workman — Schools of Arts — Denial of leisure to the manual labourer— Proposed restriction of labour — Workmen will restrict it — Farther restriction in factories — Poor Laws' abuses — Criminal population — Obstacles — Public indifference — Remote results— Example of direct enjoyment from moral sentiments — Di- rect benefits — Great expense — Prejudice against educating the peo- ple — Existing interests — Sectarian zeal — Origin of clerical super- intendence — Solecism in our laws — Church in danger — Opposition to Lancasterian Schools, to London University, to Irish National Education — Catholics in Glasgow — Practical inference — Appeal to the dominant sect, to the government, to the people. — Encou- ragements — France, Germany, Prussia, United States — Advocacy of the Press — We are outstripped by other nations — Wishes of the Government and Legislature — Existence of improvements already — Education of all ranks together — Conclusion, . . 1 76-209 CONTENTS. XI APPENDIX. Page. No. I. Extract from the First and Second Reports of the Edinburgh Infant School Society, . . . . . . 213 No. II. Letter from Mr Cunningham, Head Master of the Edinburgh Insti- tution for Languages, ]Mathematics, &c. . . . 235 No. in. Specimen of the Daily Record of Duties, Organic, Moral, Religious, and Intellectual, as kept for one Week, . . . 237 No. IV. Summary of the Proceedings of the Edinburgh Philosophical Associa- tion for procuring Instruction in Useful and Entertaining Science, from its Institution in 1832 to June 1836, . . . 238 No. V. Prospectus of Chambers's Educational Course, . . . 249 No. VI. Hints on the Formation and Conduct of a General IModel Normal School, ... ... 251 No. VIL Address to the Working Classes of Edinburgh by the Society for the Diffusion of Moral and Economical Knowledge, with extract from their first Report, ...... 256 No. VIII. Extracts from a Pamphlet published at Manchester, . . 263 No. IX. Extracts from Reports of the Commissioners appointed by the Lord- Lieutenant to administer the Funds granted by Parliament for the Education of the Poor of Ireland, ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, 3d March lb34, .... 281 Note on Mrs Loudon's work on Philanthropic Economy, . . 285 THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION. INTRODUCTION. Education not yet placed i>n a right basis — Sound views exist, but are not systeraatised — The present an attempt at their combination — " Igno- rance prevails to a horrible extent" — The truth that it is connected with suffering practically disbelieved — Appeal to fear — to justice and benevolence — Just notions of the general happiness — Intellectual and moral necessary to physical improvement — Direct enjoyment from in- tellectual and moral elevation — The higher faculties of man are the gift of God, and intended for cultivation, use, and enjoyment. Education has not yet been placed upon a philosophical or practically useful basis. It is felt that it is imperfectly at- tained even by the educated, utterly withheld from the multi- tude, and not yet systematised either in plan or principles. In presuming to offer to the public the following pages, there is one avowal which the author cheerfully and gratefully makes. While failure to systematise education has disappointed much talent and worth which have been engaged on the subject, yet in many a reflective and eloquent page there are views un- folded which possess the character of essential truth, and offer ready materials to the hand of the architect of a more practi- cally useful structure than the authors themselves erected. It may safely be predicated, that there already exists a large pro- portion of the materials of a philosophical system of education, not rough in the quarry, but almost marked by their symmetry for their places in the building, and inviting to their own com- bination, as a comparatively easy task, a very inferior workman who will collect them together. Such is the utmost preten- sion of the following attempt. The reader who is famihar A / 2 IGNORANCE — SUFFERING — ENGLAND UNEDUCATED. with works on education, will perhaps scarcely discover in these pages a thought with which in substance he has not met before ; but if he shall find known thoughts in combina- tions difterent from any in which he may hitherto have re- cognised them, and better adapted to the great end to which they were directed, the utmost success for which the author dares to look, will have attended his humble labours. A new combination of existing constructions, for a beneficial end, is an invention entitling the combiner to the royal patent. Every one is welcome to claim for himself, or any one else, any such stray idea, if he detect it in the following work ; all the au- thor asks is the use of it. It is most imj)ortant for us all to be aware that much intellec- tual and moral darkness broods upon our land ; that " igno- rance PREVAILS TO A HORRIBLE EXTENT"* in our country ; that on ignorance must ever attend suffering, physical and moral ; and that suffering accordingly abounds. In the reso- lutions of the British and Foreign School Society of March 1831, the confession is more than once emphatically made, that " England is yet uneducated." Dr Chalmers says, yet more despondingly, " In the grievous defect of our na- tional institutions, and the wretched abandonment of a peo- ple left to themselves, and who are permitted to live reckless- ly and at random as they list, we see enough to account for the profligacy of our crowded cities, and for the sad demora- lization of our neglected provinces." f But connection, in the closest relation of cause and effect, between ignorance and all this profligacy and demoralization, is by no means a practical belief with a large portion of the educated classes themselves ; and this is the only assignable reason for the amazing indifference, the incredulity, and even scorn, with which all plans, schemes, and projects, For the enlightenment of the great body of the people, are yet treated. The Edinburgh Review has made a pointed appeal against this error, to the public fears. | None are safe, most certainly, in the centre of pestilence, in daily contact with demoralization and crime ; but our fears are inferior impulses, and are not ade- quate to generous purposes ; of these purposes liigher motives are the fitting guides, nobler facidties the ministers. Our fel- low-men shall share our lights, if we have any ; not that we may be more safe, but that they may be more happy. The best sel- * Lord Chancellor Brougham's Speech at the Wilberforce Meeting at York, October 1833. t Bridgewater Treatise. % No. 117. HAPPINESS — INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL. 3 fishness is justice, and, higher yet, an unselfish benevolence, overflowing in its own disinterested exuberance. The Crea- tor will not bless any lower motive to do good. His system is arranged upon the supremacy of justice and benevolence in Creation, and Christianity is mainly addressed to these fa- culties in man. Till we ourselves have light and truth and love enough to see and feel that our own good flows as a secondary but invariable consequence from our efforts exerted, primarily, and in their motives exclusively, for our fellow-men, we shall in vain attempt to improve them ; we must first improve our- selves. Besides being actuated by a powerful impulse to increase the general happiness, we must arrive at just notions as to the true nature of that happiness. It is an error, springing from limited views of human capabilities, to rest satisfied with the physical weal of our fellow -men. The benevolent Henry IV. of France longed for the happiness of his people, but his lights were satisfied with wishing that thei'e were " a fowl in the pot of every peasant in his kingdom." Had he directed his utmost kingly power to achieve this physical object, he would have failed. It is by operating on the moral and intellectual man, that the only steady and permanent provision is made for his physical wants. The peasant must be capacitated to provide his own fowl. The kind-hearted monarch would have give7i the fowl, if he could, and often repeated the dole ; but he would thereby have degraded the whole character of his people, and unfitted them for the attainment of substantial permanent prosperity. The only true channel of physical comfort will be found in cultivated intellectual and moral powers. Besides attaining the self-denying, upright, benevo- lently-co-operating, and industrious habits which live -in the very atmosphere of an improved morality, an enlightened in- tellect looks before and after, observes relations, calculates consequences, and, according to the nature of things, avoids evil, and secures good. But this is not all ; it is the humblest office of an elevated moral and intellectual character to im- prove the physical condition ; when it has established bodily comfort, and, what is a new contemplation for the thinking few, reasonable leisure from reasonable toil, — an indispensable element, as shall hereafter appear, of human weal, j)hysical and moral, — it is in itself a positive good, a source of direct enjoyment, far above the richest material possessions. This scarcely requires illustration to the enlightened and the moral. 4 HIGHER FACULTIES INTENDED FOR USE. They have only to reflect how small a proportion of their en- joyment is physical or sensual, when compared with that which consists in the refined delights of knowledge, of taste, of feel- ing, and of sentiment, reaped from books and social converse, from the acts of benevolence, and from the acknowledgments of religious thankfulness and adoration. These give their chief value to easy circumstances, not the mere command of material accommodations ; and it is from these that our fel- low-men are in a great proportion excluded, by the exhaus- tion of their time and strength in labour, and by their want of capacity, from deficient education, to convert their leisure, if any they had, to these higher enjoyments. The Creator lias done his part. He has given to every man some portion of intellect, some share of moral sentiment, intended not merely to control his animal appetites, for the preservation of liis own safety, but to furnish him with pure and refined de- light, which we have only to conceive sufficiently intense, to gain a faint glimpse of Heaven. He does nothing in vain. Let those who despair of human nature, reflect that, if He has given to man a share of those high endowments which are the only real approach to his own image, then assuredly he has designed them for cultivation, for use, and for enjoy- ment. To deny this, — and it is practically denied in our abandonment of seven-eighths of our countrymen to ignorance and all its evils, — is to deny that the intellectual and moral nature of man is the work of God. ( 5 ) CHAPTER I. ON THE EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE ON THE CONDITION OF THE MANUAL-LABOUR CLASS OF THE PEOPLE. Manual Labourers seven-eighths of the population — Twofold division of the People — 1st, Physical condition of manual-labour class — Their igno- rance of the conditions of health — Neglect of air, houses, beds, skin, ab- lution, muscular exercise — Cholera — Ardent spirits and Sunday drunken- ness Temperance societies — Drunkard insane — Causes of intempe- rance — Transmission of diseases to offspring — Mortality of infants — Faults of servants — Manufacturers — 2d, Intellectual condition of manual- labour class — Their prejudices, &c. — The dupes of the design- ing — Absurd flattery addressed to them — Labour market — Striking for wages — 3d, Moral condition of manual-labour class — Their faculties work as instincts — Malicious destroying and defacing — Cruelty to ani- mals — Other causes of low condition— Effects of the Poor Laws and al- lowance system — Religious condition — Present provision for education — Reading and writing — Scottish parochial schools — Prevailing preju. dices. The production and preparation for man's use, of the ma^ terial necessaries, comforts, luxuries, and elegancies of life, occupy the hands of nearly seven-eighths of the population of this country. Machinery is only a combination of tools to extend the power of the hand. Still more than seven-eighths of our population live by labour of some kind, either of hand or head ; so that there is not perhaps one in fifty of the whole population of Britain who lives entirely independent of labour. This last mentioned limited class may be ranked, for my pre- sent purpose at least, with those whose labour is not manual ; so that we may assume a two-fold division of the British peo- ple into the manual-labour class, and the class above manual labour. In considering the condition of the manual-labour class, it must not be lost sight of that they are endowed in kind, though not generally in degree, with the like capabilities of education with the class above them, with the like faculties for the attainment of knowledge, moral elevation, and genuine religion. 6 PHYSICAL CONDITION AIR BEDS — SKIN. First, The Physical condition of the whole class of ma- nual labourers, is much worse than it might be rendered, and by themselves, if they were more enlightened than they are. Making allowance for grades in their condition, and individual exceptions, a great majority of that class is left utterly uninstructed in, and lives of course in disregard of, the simplest conditions of health. In too many instances* the light and air, which Heaven bestows and man excludes, very imperfectly enter to cheer and purify their dwellings. In the worst cases, they sleep in beds, often several persons in one, which rarely know cleanly change, and have become infectious as the depositories of insensible perspiration, ascer- tained to be nearly a pound weight from each adult in twelve hours. The nocturnal consumption of the air of a crowded room renders it a positive poison to the lungs, the heart, and the blood ; and when the workman has to contend with a deleterious trade during the day, what must the effect be, upon his health, of the atmosphere and contact of his repose ? llising from this dormitory, of the operation of which on his con- stitution he is profoundly unconscious, the manual labourer resumes his day garments, in part of which he has probably slept, and " unwashed" returns to his labour. He has never learned the imjjort of the word " unwashed," the diseases ex- ternal and internal of an unheeded skin, the consequences of obstructing that exquisite organ which exhales waste, and therefore hurtful, matter from the system, aids importantly in the regulation of the animal heat, is an agent of absorption, and the seat of touch and sensation. Nature lavishes water, as she is profuse of pure air for which every vital function pants ; but water is refreshing, detersive, and luxurious, in vain to the son of toil.f Mr Thackrah of Leeds, the able and useful writer upon the diseases incident to trades, says, • It is important to offer a caveat against being thought to state the case too strongly against this class of my countrymen. We have all seen many clean and comfortable housi-s belonging to workmen. Very generally, how- ever, we observe a disregard of ventilation ; and, if we perceive a want of this essential of health in their houses, we are led to suspect the state of their beds. I not only will permit every manual labourer, who conscien- tiously can, to claim exemption from my description, but should rejoice that the exemptions were numerous. •f- This, and otlier conditions of health, are admirably treated of in " Principles of Physiology," by Dr Andrew Combe, physician in ordinary to their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians; and in his " Phy« siology of Digestion," more recently published. MUSCULAR EXERCISE DISEASES CHOLERA. I on the subject of ablution, " There are other trades in which the surface of the body is affected, though in a less degree, by the peculiar substances applied ; but, without entering into further detail, I would urge the necessary effect of al- most all the occupations of a manufacturing town in fouling the skin. When we consider the functions which this organ is known to perform, independently of those which physio- logy suspects but has not ascertained, when we refer to the natural products of the skin, insensible perspiration, sweat, unctuous matter, &c., we wonder how men can endure the compound crust of soot, dust, and secretions, with which they are enveloped. Throughout the whole of the labouring classes, and indeed among the majority of the middling and upper, this subject is strangely neglected. Cleanliness is practised in a very imperfect manner ; the whole surface is seldom washed ; and, in most persons, the body, with the ex- ceptions of the hands and face, is cleaned only by the remo- val of those impurities which adhere to the linen. Bathing is rarely used in any form." It is another condition of health that the muscular frame shall be suitably exercised by motion and exertion. Some kinds of manual labour, and these besides often in the open air, exercise generally the muscular frame, and such labour is the most healthy; while other kinds are carried on in confined and ill-aired rooms, or manufactories which are loaded with flying dust and deleterious effluvia, and afford no exercise beyond a movement of the fingers, or a turn of the vrrht. A few minutes of fresh air between his work-place and his home, is the workman's portion of that cheapest and best of luxuries ; and worn out in mind as well as body, by the monotony of twelve or fourteen hours' employment, he swallows his meal, often drinks ardent spirits, which aggra- vate greatly the power of every other destroyer of his consti- tution, and in the same bed, and in the same air, he spends the night, as he did the night before, in the unrefreshing sleep of already formed disease. Can we wonder that fevers, cu- taneous and other infectious diseases, originate in the un- heeded persons, neglected beds, and unventilated dwellings of many of this class of people. When the irruption of the Cholera forced us — I wish I could say fi-om higher impulses than fear — to enter the manual labourer's abode, and explore the state in which he lived, a very general want of cleanli- ness was discovered, and in many houses a horrible state oi 8 FILTH DRINKING TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. filth. Swine-Sties were in some instances found in the very rooms already squalid with human crowdedness. The disclo- sure was too humiliating and alarming ever to be forgotten, and it was the first step to the cure of so great an evil that it should be fully known. When to all now described is superadded indulgence in ar- dent spirits, the physical degradation of the manual labourer is complete ; and as a temporary stimidus to weakened nerves and a vacant mind, this practice is dreadfully prevalent among his class. He has from his childhood been left in profound ignorance of the effects of the vice upon the functions of his body, his moral character, and social condition. In the so- ciety in which he lives, on the contrary, he has been accus- tomed, from his childhood, to connect drinking with manly privilege, conviviality, and pleasure, and to deem it not only safe, but wholesome and beneficial. Sunday is a day of too prevalent intoxication among the manual-labour class ; and tlieir employers well know, that Monday and even Tuesday are in consequence what are called slack days in the workshop and manufactory. I have been assured, by benevolent medi- cal practitioners who visit the worst classes of manual labour- ers, that they find it unsafe, as well as disgusting, to go among them on the days of their orgies, when the scenes of drunken- ness which they witness are altogether indescribable. It will afterwards appear how education may be brought to bear upon this shocking vice, which, in a greater degree than is ge- nerally supposed, is a sin of ignorance. Without early moral training and intellectual enlightenment, it is to be feared that those excellent institutions called Temperance Societies, ex- tensive good though they have done, will do little to reform that part of the class in question who most require it. What is their vow to abstain, if you should get it, against their ap- petite to indulge ? The vow binds none whom light and knowledge would not have as securely bound ; and it is well known that the example of the vow has no effect on the igno- rant and the debased. The truly moral are on principle mem- bers of the society of temperance ; they use all things as not abusing them, and need not the aid of an undertaking. It is knowledge of the mischiefs of spirits-drinking that has brought all the sincere adherents of the societies within their pale. None will join them without knowledge, and when knowledge is generally attained Temperance Societies will cease to be necessary. Altliough the engagement is not so high a mo- THE DRUNKARD INSANE. 9 tive as voluntary temperance, yet, in the present state of mo- rality, the benefit to society of a general restraint would be incalculable. The evil of intemperance must be put down by a general effort ; and the first step should be a change in tlie usages of hospitality. Why should we offer our visitors poison and intoxication ! There is a view of the intemperate use of intoxicating liquors, which I am not aware that either Temperance So- cieties or Educationists have yet taken. It is a view which accounts for much of the difficulty of reclaiming the drunk- ard, namely, that his wretched slavery is a disease which ranks him among the insane. This is an opinion beginning to be current among physiologists, and which has actually been brought to the test of physical demonstration by one of the ablest and most philosophical writers in America, Dr Charles Caldwell, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Clinical Practice in Transylvania University. In his " Thoughts on the Pathology, Prevention, and Treatment of Intemperance as a form of Mental Derangement," published in the Transylvania Journal of Medicine for September 1 832, Dr Caldwell avers that drunkenness consists in an affection of the brain, the spinal cord and nerves being also implicated. The appetite for intoxicating liquors, like other appetites, has its primary seat in the brain ; and the augmented intensity which attends indulgence is explained by reference to the ordinary principle of exercise increasing the activity of any organ. In many instances the organic excitement becomes so great as to constitute a form of mania ; and then drinking is an irresistible passion, and is indulged in at the sacrifice of cha- racter, family, and fortune. So long as this excitement con- tinues, remonstrance, warning, and denunciation, avail as lit- tle in preventing drinking, as in curing fever, or repairing a broken bone ; but whenever it is subdued by proper treat- ment, the craving also disappears. The remedies proposed by Dr Caldwell are consequently not mere moral remon- strances, or arguments addressed to the intellect, but bleed- ing, tartar emetic, cold applications to the head, cathartics, and spare living. By these means the paroxysm is shortened, and by their repetition its return is prevented. The physi- cian to the Kentucky Lunatic Asylum has found the above mode of treatment successful. The nauseating effect of the emetic is particularly beneficial in moderating cerebral ac- 10 THE DRUNKARD INSANE. tion. The cold applications ought to be used only when ex- citement is present. Dr Caldwell admits, however, tliat it is only recent and acute cases which can be speedily cured. Those of long standing are much less tractable. Still a good deal may be done by withdrawing all stimulating liquors, and resorting judiciously to local or genei-al bleeding, antimony, plain food, exercise, tepid batliing, and warm clothing. But as every form of mania is more or less periodical, and tends to return, perseverance in regimen is essential to the perma- nent safety of the patient. Dr Caldwell affirms very truly, that nothing could tend more to diminish the prevalence of habitual drunkenness than to have it deemed and proclaimed a form of madness, and dealt with accordingly. Hospitals erected for the reception of drunkards, and authority given to confine them there and subject them to treatment, would be among the most import- ant institutions that could be established, and would effect an immense saving of life, health, property, and reputation. Whole families are involved in permanent ruin and wi-etched- ness from the want of such establishments. If this be consi- dered an encroachment upon personal freedom, it is so only in the same way that the confinement of thieves, or the removal of nuisances, are encroachments on fi-eedom. It is the safety of society which, in both instances, reqviires the individual to be restrained. Intemperance, like other forms of derange- ment, is shewn by dissection after death to be an affection of the brain, and also by its being hereditary in families, and breaking out at the same age in several individuals of the same stock ; and hence Dr Caldwell infers the much greater advantage of prevention than cure. He condemns the absurd convivial usages of society, as constant pi'ovocatives to in- temperance, and he cannot do so too strongly. There is much improvement here already ; no considerate person, for one thing, now thinks of giving spirits as a reward or incen- tive to his servants or workmen. There are probably few members of temperance societies who have yet attained to a philosophy of man beyond that which teaches that the mind acts, and is acted upon, without connection with bodily organization. In consequence of the belief that thought and feeling are the acts of a spirit which operates independently of the body, it follows that all the " old school " appliances for the improvement of the people belong chiefly to the department of abstractions. Now, of CAUSES OF INTEMPERANCE. 11 the mind the morbid action, at least, is demonstrated to be the result of disease in its instrument the brain. Tempe- rance societies have never thought of this. They will never get, at least they will never keep, any member who labours under the disease of intemperance, or a predisposition to it. I cannot withhold the following admirable observations on this important subject, by that eminent physiologist Dr Andrew Combe.* " Intemperance in the use of spirituous liquors is one of the vices that degrade and render miserable a large portion of tlie operative classes in Britain. The object is to provide a remedy for the evil, and the first step toward this end is to discover its cause. The causes of intemperance, then, may be one or other of the following : 1. An innate love of intoxicating liquor, in the form of a strong craving ap- petite." This, Dr Combe says, amounts to disease, and afflicts even well-educated females, and is traced by him to a cha- racter of brain inherited from parents. " Where the tendency to drunkenness," says he, " takes its rise from a particular state of the organisation, moral and religious admonitions, un- accompanied by physical applications, bear very much the same relation to its cause, as a discourse does to over-excite- ment of the ear. The drunkard from this cause is a patient who requires physical as well as moral treatment He must by all means be restrained from using intoxicating liquors, and subjected to a long course of physical training, to change the habits of his body, before any success in his reformation can be expected ; and is not to be confidently relied on, even when all these measures have been apphed. Repentance, promises of amendment, and other merely mental impressions, have as little abiding influence on such men, as the waves raised by the wind on the surface of a lake ; they may be strong while they last, but their endui*ance is brief, and their effects truly transitory. If this principle be fovmded in na- ture, we consider it of paramount importance to be known as a law instituted by the Creator, that men may be aware, not only of the treatment which their vices demand from their guardians, but of the influence on their offspring of their own irregular habits. " 2. A second cause of intemperance may be extreme de- ficiency of food, either in quantity or quality, accompanied by severe toil. The effect of bodily labour, carried beyond the physical strength, is to exhaust the nervous system of its * Phren. Journ. vol. viii. page 606. 12 CAUSES OF INTEMPERANCE. energy and vivacity. When toil ceases, there is a painful feeling of want and depression, attended by a craving for stimulus, which is nearly intolerable. Looking to the cause of the evil for our direction in applying a remedy to it, we would prescribe wholesome food in sufficient quantity, clean- liness, fresh air, and labour proportioned to the strength. The application of these sanative means, however, requires time, money, and a condition of mind in which the whole conduct is subjected to moral restraint. The individuals subject to this form of temptation, however, are in general sunk deep in hopeless poverty, and, at the end of each day's labour, are scarcely able to provide means for purchasing the plainest food in the most moderate quantity. Beset by the feelings of depression, and that heart-gnawing craving for stimulus and reaction which we have described, they fly, as if impelled by an irresistible infatuation, to the gin shop, and enjoy a mo- ment's felicity, which we verily believe to be to them inex- pressibly delicious, although most transitory, and soon to be followed with suffering still more severe than that which, for the nionjent, it relieves. If this be a correct description of the cause of intemperance, in a large proportion of the operative classes, it points out the means necessary to be adopted for its removal. The physical condition of the sufferers must be improved, as the first step ; and one means of doing so would be to teach them the real cause of the passion which impels them to drink, and to aid them in overcoming it. They should be assisted and encouraged to obtain more nutritive and abun- dant food, and to cleanse their persons, apparel, and habita- tions ; and some grateful mental stimulus should be adminis- tered at the hours when the periodical indulgence is generally resorted to. While the physical causes are left untouched, sermons, and essays, and lectures against intemperance will produce only a temporary and limited effect. They will ope- rate only on those individuals whose moral and intellectual powers yet retain so much strength as to be capable of main- taining an ardent struggle against the craving impulses of their physical nature ; a portion small in number, in such cir- cumstances of destitution. " 3. A third cause of intemperance may be a flow of exu- berant spirits, arising from strong health and worldly pros- perity, in persons of little education, knowledge, and mental cultivation. Our intemperate ancestors of the middle and higher classes were men of this description. They felt with- CAUSES OF INTEMPERANCE. 13 in themselves a great capacity of enjoyment ; but having few- ideas, and no intellectual pursuits, they were grievously at a loss to discover in what direction they could obtain substan- tial pleasure. The bottle presented itself as the readiest and most obvious fountain of joy. They drank deep, and expand- ed their souls in rude and boisterous merriment." Dr Combe here enumerates some examples, the conviviality sometimes lasting several days and nights. Looking to this class of causes of intemperance, therefore, Dr Combe recommends for its removal, the institution of seminaries for instructing in useful and entertaining knowledge every class of the commu- nity.* " An excellent foundation," continues Dr Combe, " for improving the moral and physical condition of the peo- ple would be laid, by instructing them in the constitution of their own minds and bodies, and shewing them how the or- gans and faculties which they possess are all capable of be- coming fountains of enjoyment, if rightly employed, and of intense misery, if abused. If the Creator has bestowed a ra- tional nature on man, he must have intended him to improve his condition by studies such as these ; and I shall never cease to appeal to the conscience and understanding of the teachers of mankind, until they shall condescend to do justice, at once to the Author of the universe, and to their fellow-men, by giv- ing due attention to the order of creation. I ask them how they can answer to their own minds for neglecting truth at once so obvious, and so practically useful." The manual labourer, whom filth, foul air, muscular and * A select committee of parliament obtained, after a severe struggle, by Mr Buckingham, reported upon the manifold evils of drunkenness, its causes and remedies. This report has been printed in a cheap form, and widely circulated. It has made the most thoughtless serious. There was some ill- timed, and far from creditable, merriment in the Senate itself, when the astounding report was presented. "The laugh was seasonable," as Burke once ironically remarked, " and the occasion decent and proper." It was loudest, alas ! when the following passage was quoted, offering one remedy for the evil of intemperance. " A national system of education, which should embrace as an essential part of the instruction given by it to every child in the kingdom, accurate information of the poisonous and invariably deleterious nature of ardent spirits, as an article of diet in any shape, and the inculcation of a sense of shame at the crime of voluntarily destroying or thoughtlessly obscuring that faculty of reason, and that consciousness of re- sponsibility, which chiefly distinguishes man from the brute." Now this very information so ridiculed in parliament, is already a carefully reiterated lesson in all well-conducted Infant Schools, It has never been lost sight of in the Model School of Edinburgh. See Appendix, No. I. Mr Buckingham has brought in bills for the very institutions above recommended by Dr Combe. 14 EVILS TO OFFSPRING — INFANT MORTALITY. nervous relaxation aggravated by ardent spirits, have combin- ed to predispose to and affect with disease, has had no lesson ever taught him that his weakened frame, predispositions, and actually formed diseases, will be the wretched inheritance of his children, if he shall become a father. The same igno- rance that has induced his own condition, renders him reck- less of the misery, the guilt, of transmitting it. He himself derived a tainted constitution, perhaps, from his progenitor, and, with his own actual deteriorations superadded, conveys it to his offspring. A few such generations must extinguish the stock, the very source of such a population. If infants are born in poisonous air, nursed in infectious beds, swathed in scanty and unchanged clothing, denie'd those ablutions so notoriously indispensable to the skin, when most vasculent, and more active and important in the infant economy than all the viscera put together, — these last, too, tasked beyond their power by the reflux circulation which an vmcontracted and un- obstructed skin would have disposed of, — is there just cause of wonder that they are swept away in thousands by convulsions, croups, and bowel-complaints, or that the seeds are sown in infancy of the numerous diseases of after life ? The London bills of mortality prove that nearly a fourth of the infants bap- tised, die within the first two years from their birth. This mortality is not the design of the Creator : it is not true of the inferior animals, and therefore must have removeable causes ; which causes will assuredly be found in gross igno- rance. The animals are guided aright by their instincts ; man ought to be directed as truly by his observing and re- flecting powers, which were given him for that end ; but then the condition of cultivation and improvement was annexed to the gift, and that command of the All-wise is forgotten or dis- obeyed. I have often thought the general complaint of annoyance from the faults of domestic servants scarcely reasonable, when we consider the class from which we receive them. With all the habits of negligence, disorderliness, and insensibility to uncleanliness and foul air, in which they have, in many cases, been born, nursed, and bred, they enter our houses, and most readily undertake to keep them in proper order, to anticipate the numberless minutiae of our personal accommodations, and at once supply, by intuition and sympathy, our wants, nay our whims. We soon find, though here, too, there are rare exceptions, that their notions and ours on all these points FAULTS OF SERVANTS — MANUFACTURERS. 15 differ widely. Great disarray and want of cleanliness to us, is order, neatness, and sweetness to them; ventilating of rooms, and airing of beds, are to them mere troublesome fancies ; dusting is an unnecessary disturbance of what, by nature, falls so noiselessly and lies so impartially ; they remove, of course, only what is pointed out to them, and sit down contentedly in the midst of what remains. In nothing should we reap more every-day satisfaction from judicious education, and they themselves more comfort and respectability, than in the im- provement of our domestic servants. I cannot leave the deplorable picture, and it is not over- charged, of the physical condition of a considerable portion of the manual-labour class, without a brief extract, which too truly confirms the worst I have said, from a work which has deservedly excited much attention, Wade's " History of the Middle and Working Classes." After describing, on the authority of Dr Kay,* the long protracted labour and injudi- cious food of the manufactvu'er, Mr Wade says, " It is not from actual distress many work-people use this unsatisfactory and noxious diet, but from bad habits and management. A large proportion of them have wages sufficient to supply them with solid and wholesome food, were they well laid out, in- stead of being squandered in vain luxuries or enervating ex- cess. To preserve them in health, their diet should consist of animal food, wh eaten bread, and malt liquor, and not much liquor of other kinds. From the long hours of labour and close atmosphere in which they are confined, the operative feels the necessity of some artificial stimulus. Coffee, tea, and beer of good quality, are most sviitable for this purpose. Instead of relying on these in moderate quantities, what do the manufacturing labourers do ? Many of those receiving the highest wages, are in the habit of spending a portion of their leisure after working-hours, especially on a Saturday evening, and during the Sunday, in besotting themselves with ale and beer ; and still oftener Avith the more efficient stimulus of gin. It is customary for them in many of the towns, to stop at the gin-shops and take a dram as they go to their work in the morning, and another as they return at night ; and where, as is freqviently the case, the houses of the work-people lie in a cluster round the factory, it is not uncommon for a whole- " The Moral and Physical Condition of the Working-Classes employed in the Cotton- Manufactories in INIanchester. By James Philip Kay, M. D." 16 IMPROVIDENT HABITS GIN-DRINKING — OPIUM. sale vender of spirits to leave two gallons, the smallest quan- tity which can be sold without a license, at one of the houses, which is distributed in small quantities to the others, and payment is made to the merchant through the original re- ceiver. The quantity of gin drunk in this way is enormous ; and children, and even girls, are initiated in this fatal prac- tice at a very tender age. Ardent spirits are not the only stimulus in which this class of people indulge. Many of them take large quantities of opium in one form or another ; some- times in pills, sometimes as laudanum, sometimes in what they call an anodyne draught, which is a narcotic of the same kind. They find this a cheaper stimulus than gin, and many of them prefer it." Again, Mr Wade observes, " The competition of the Irish has acted most unfavourably on the state of the poorer classes. They have not only lowered wages, but the standard of living. In Manchester the habitations of the Irish are described as most destitute. They can scarcely be said to be fui-nished. They contain one or two chairs, a mean table, and most scanty culinary apparatus, and one or two beds, loathsome with filth. A whole family is often accom- modated on a single bed, and sometimes a heap of filthy straw, and a covering of old sacking, hide them in one undistinguish- ed heap, debased by vice, penury, and want of economy. Fre- quently two or more families are crowded into a small house containing only two rooms, one in which they sleep, in the other eat ; and often more than one family live in a damp cellar, containing one room, in whose pestilential atmosphere from twelve to sixteen persons are crowded.* To these fer- tile sources of disease are sometimes added the keeping of pigs and other animals, with other nuisances of the most re- volting character." Besides dissolute habits, bad diet, and local uncleanliness," continues Mr Wade, " another source of unhealthiness in the manufacturing districts is the severe and unremitting labour of work-people. The employment of spinners and stretchers is among the most laborious that exist, and is exceeded by that of mowing alone, and few mowers think of continuing • A medical friend told me that he attended a poor man in a fever, in a cellar in Edinburgh, from the floor of which it was often necessary to pump out the water. When lately in Manchester, I was assured by a medical gentleman there, that all his acquired habits of braving assaults upon his senses, were often too weak for the noisomeness of dwellings into which he was called to enter. PROLONGED LABOUR — LICENTIOUSNESS. 17 their labour for twelve hours without intermission. Add to this that these men never rest for an instant during their hours of working, except when their mules are doffing, in which pro- cess they also assist ; and it must be obvious to every one, that it is next to impossible for any human being, however hardy and robust, to sustain this exertion for any length of time, without permanently injuring his constitution. A collier never works above eight, and a farm-labourer seldom above ten hours a-day : and it is therefore wholly out of all just pro- portion, that a spinner should labour for twelve hours regu- larly, and frequently for more. The labour of the other classes of hands, as carders, rovers, piecers, weavers, consists not so much in their actual manual exertion, which is very moderate, as in the constant attention which they are required to keep up, and the intolerable fatigue of long standing, without being permitted to lean or sit down." Working what are called ovei- hours is a most mischievous practice, which masters should discourage by every means in their power. In Manchester, observing factories continuing lighted up as late as eleven at night, I was told that the people were working over-hours, for larger wages, to be spent, in too many instances, in sen- suality. It is an unblessed gain which is made, either by workmen or masters, by labour in addition to that which is al- ready over-labour. I conversed with enlightened and bene- volent masters who are exerting themselves not only to put down over-hours, but to abridge the hitherto regular dura- tion of labour. The workmen themselves contend for the privilege of over-hours ! Although the moral condition of the manual-labour class is anticipated at this stage of our inquiry, when treating of the physical, I shall finish Mr Wade's statement. " It is almost unnecessary to remark on the low state of morals in factories. One who has the best opportunities of observing, remarks, ' that the licentiousness that prevails among the dense popu- lation of manufacturing towns, is carried to a degree which is appalling to contemplate, which baffles all statistical inquiries, and which can be learned only from the testimony of obser- vers. And in addition to overt acts of vice, there is a coarse- ness and grossness of feeling, and a habitual indecency, which we would fain hope and believe are not the prevailing cha- racteristics of our country.'' * " The iUicit intercourse and Inquiry into the State of the Manufacturing Population, p. 26. Ridge- way, 1831. B 18 VICE IN FACTORIES — UNWHOLESOME TRADES. general licentiousness of the sexes, result from the circum- stances in wliich they are placed. They are exempt from the restraints of other classes ; they have few or no pleasures be- yond those arising from sensual indulgence ; it involves no loss of character, for their companions are as reckless as them- selves ; it brings no risk of losing their employment, for their employers do not take cognizance of these matters." Mr Thackrah directs an enlightened attention to the causes of unwholesomeness in manufactories, and trades in general, but almost all his suggestions imply the co-operating enlight- enment of the work-people themselves.* I anticipate the answer to all I have said on the subject of the physical negligences of the manual-labour class, name- ly, that they have no leisure to be cleanly in their persons, beds, and dwellings. From rest barely sufficient they are summoned to renew their toil, and, after the close of day, t!iey have neither time nor inclination for any thing but food aid repose. I admit and deplore the monstrous evils, physical and moral, of excessive or overprolonged labour, and in the se- quel will beg leave to submit some remarks on the practica- bility of a reasonable abridgment of the toil of the manual laboiu'er, for the j^urpose of education arid improvement, and that by wiser and more efficient means than combinations to obtain it by force, to be spent, as unquestionably it now would be, in idleness and sensuality ; but I deny that cleanliness and ventilation are incompatible with even the present degree of labour. There is time foimd for the ale -bench and the gin- shop. If cleanliness had been constituted a irant, with an appetite as strong, there would have been no neglect of it in the most overworked labourer. Personal ablution is the ope- ration of a few minutes, ventilation is the opening of a win- dow and a door, airing a bed is turning it down for an hour, instead of making it up warm ; while clean body and bed * I have just heard of a very promising contrivance for at one and the same time carrying off the dust from the atmosphere of cotton and flax-mills, and affording thoni ventilation. A series of circular perforations are made in the floors, connected with the open air by tubes. Wheels are fitted into the holes, flush with the floor, and are moved rapidly round by the machinery. The dust is sucked out by these wheels as through so many whirlpools, and a current of used air is kept constantly following the dust, while fresh is supplied by other apertures. Where introduced they have improved the health of the work-people in a marked degree. It has even been said, that they have been made the reasoa for an increase of wages to meet an increased appetite. WASHING STATIONS INTELLECTUAL CONDITION. 19 clothes might be made a benefit of cheap and easy attainment, by the estabHshment, in every town, of public washing-sta- tions for boiUng and hne-drying.* The real obstacle is the disinclination to the trouble of cleanliness, which arises from ignorance of its benefits, and of the evils of its neglect. I shall afterwards shew how simply this most viseful practical knowledge may be early and habitually impressed on the minds of the manual-labour class, to the immense inprove- ment of their physical condition. Secondly, The intellectual condition of the working- classes we can scarcely expect, after what has been said of their physical, to find much more advanced; it is in truth very low, and this I fear with fewer exceptions of importance. Who has not felt and deplored, in his intercourse with nearly the whole class, even what are deemed the most decent and respectable, the mass of prejudice, superstition, and general ignorance, which he is doomed to encounter ? The working man rarely knows how to better his lot in life, by rational re- flection on causes and consequences, founded on early ac- quaintance with the simpler principles of trade, the state of particular employments, the legitimate relation between la- bour and capital, and between labourer and employer, the best employment of surplus earnings, the value of character, the marketable importance, to say no more, of sober and moral habits and intelligence ; in short, on any practical views of the circumstances which influence his condition. On the contrary, he is the creature of impressions and impulses, the unresisting slave of sensual appetites, the ready dupe of the quack, the thrall of the fanatic, and, above all, the passive instrument of the political agitator, whose sinister views and falsehoods he is unable to detect, and who, by flat- tering his passions and prejudices, has power to sway him, like an ovei'grown child, to his purposes of injustice, violence, and destruction. He is told in the harangue from the waggon, and he believes the demagogue's hypocritical slang, that his * A plan for this purpose was submitted to the Lord Provost of Edin- burgh some years ago. But this is far outdone by a washing and dryiug ap. paratus, both by the agency of steam, for which Mr Lemuel Wright, en- gineer, Manchester, has a patent. Hot water charged with soap is several times forced by steam through the clothes packed in a copper vessel ; this is followed by hot water pure ; and this by simple steam, which rapidly dries the clothes. Half an hour completes a washing, and that without manual labour, or the attendance of the owner of the clothes. 20 FLATTERY VIOLENCE STRIKES FOR WAGES. class, because the most numerous, are the most enlightened, and generous, and noble ; that they ought to make the laws, and rule the State ; nay that their will ought to be law, as their judgment is absolute wisdom. The poor man who be- lieves this will believe any thing, and will act on this belief, as a ready instrument of violence. Witness the peril of the merely accused, but yet untried and unconvicted, who chance to fall into his hands, and a single hint in the street will raise the mob against an innocent person ; witness, too, the eager destruction of machinery and pi'operty, and the mad burning of food. Can we forget, moreover, the fury and violence with which benevolently oftered medical aid in the cholera was repelled, under the impression that " the doctors" induced the disease to obtain subjects for dissection, and went the length of poisoning the water ! In nothing is the manual labourer more profoundly unin- formed, than as to his own position in the market of labour, and the due relation of labour and capital. He is readily se- duced to join combinations to extort larger wages and shorter regular hours, both of which misapplied, as, in his present condition intellectual and moral they would be, to the pur- poses of idleness and sensuality, would only render his con- dition worse ; and too often he is not slow to aid the physical force of such short-sighted unions, in intimidating and even assaulting, and, it has happened, maiming, nay murdering, other labourers who prefer giving their work to any employer, and at any value they think fit, to joining in the " strike." By this attempt to force a larger share of capital than without foi'ce would come to him, the workman succeeds in nothing but driving it away from the place, or out of the country, and by his own act puts even the wages he quarrelled with out of his reach. Education alone will make it clear to him, that it is in vain for the labourers to expect, in a market where their numbers exceed the demand, to succeed ultimately in the objects of a strike. Strike they must, in another sense, in the conflict,* and then they will find that they have reduced the amount of the capital which alone can employ and maintain them, and that fewer hands can be engaged at the same wages, Mi8s Martineau has demonstrated this economical result, with her usual felicity, in the " Manchester Strike," No. VII. of those truly wonderful |irodiictions of truth, feeling, and fancy, " Illustrations of Political Econo- my," known to the universal reading public, and marvelled at, as the work of a female pen. NO INTELLECTUAL PLEASURES MORAL CONDITION. 21 or else lower wages than those that induced the stop must be taken by the same number. The pleasures of mtellectual recreation and taste are ne- cessarily unknown to nearly the whole of the manual-labour class. In vain for them has the All-wise given to the intellec- tual faculties to reap the highest enjoyment from their own exercise ; in vain for them has He connected exquisite de- light with the contemplation of His boundless works and won- derful ways, of the transcendent beauty and sublimity of Crea- tion, and the harmonious relations of its infinitely varied parts, all tending to effect benevolent ends to sentient beings. The whole Book of Nature is sealed — aye in this enlightened country, to the numerous sons and daughters of manual la- bour ! I am well aware of the benevolent exertions made to dispel the intellectual darkness by such institutions as the So- ciety for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by means of the cheapest periodical ever published, and by private undertak- ings, such as Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, and Information for the People. Yet I fear it will appear in the sequel, that these admirable repositories of kno\vledge, of taste, and of virtue, immense as their circulation is, are to a great extent lost upon the mass of ignorance and grossness to which they are directed ; and that, as shall likewise afterwards be shown to be true of religion itself, knowledge like that conveyed in the Penny Magazine and Chambers's periodicals, requires early elementary training, both intellectual and moral, for its bene- ficial reception. Thirdly, The Moral condition of a large proportion of the manual-labour class is as low, at least, as the intellectual. I formerly quoted Mr Wade's description of the moral condi- tion of the manufacturing population of Manchester. But much short of this extreme is a low moral, in the more enlarged sense of this term ; and this, I fear, characterizes a much wider range of the manual-labour class of the people. " Left to themselves," without an attempt made to restrain or regulate in infancy their animal propensities, or to call forth, cultivate, and exercise their moral sentiments, their faculties are prone to work as mere instincts, not greatly more under the guid- ance of reason than those of the inferior animals. It depends entirely upon his degree of natural endowment, whether each individual manifests more or less animal feeling, more or less selfishness, more or less civility, kindness, or integrity. With- out cultivation, the animalism may be expected to preponde- 22 SUSPICIONS — CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. rate, whence the desires will be selfish, and the manners coarse and violent. Hence the suspicions, jealousies, and envyings of multitudes in that class, and what when compared with their merits often surprises us, their vanity and self-sufficien- cy ; hence also their tendency to act under the impulse of their feelings, and the obstacles they themselves oppose to all benevolent attempts to do them good. These they often re- pel, as covert intentions for a sinister end. Selfishness is sus- picious, and it is notorious that charitable institutions and be- nevolent schemes are too often looked upon with distrust by those for whose benefit they are intended. Some have attri- buted the malicious destruction, by persons of this class, of or- nament and elegant decoration when exposed, to an envious ha- tred of these marks of a refined enjoyment of the higher classes denied to themselves. I am rather disposed to think that an animal tendency to deface and destroy, which we observe in the youngest children, and which no pains have been taken to suppress or regulate by education, is sufficient to account for this unamiable trait of character in the humbler ranks of our coimtrymen. They are certainly not yet tit for free admis- sion into parks, gardens, and museums ; and these, if they have been opened to them, by way of experiment, have been speedily shut against their reckless destruction, and their often disgusting abuse of the privilege. Infant-school-trained chil- dren, it is well known, may be trusted in the saloons of a pa- lace, or amidst the temptations of a flower or fruit garden. The same early training is the best preventive of cruelty to animals, a vice prevalent among the lower classes, beginning in youth with unchecked insect-torturing and rat and cat-killing, and increased in after years, by cruel sports, boxing matches, and public executions, to the length, in many cases, of dan- gerous ferocity. The home of the manual labourer is often an uncomfort- able one. I make exceptions here, and I trust they are nu- merous, as I have done under the heads of physical comfort and intellectual improvement; but I feel safe in speaking of a large portion who are below the moral rank of a peaceful and comfortable home. Of scanty supplies it is to be expected that much selfishness will be manifested in the partition ; if the man frequents the pot-house, and drinks ardent spirits, his selfishness is always greatly aggravated, and fierce and often dangerous brutality is superadded. The habitually excited lower feelings debase the whole family. The wife, from ill- UNCOMFORTABLE HOME A HAPPY HOME. 23 usage, often in spite of her best exertions, becomes as violent as her husband, if she has not, in her own improvidence and recklessness, to answer for his faults. The children, capri- ciously treated, are often wayward and obstinate, and the fa- mily circle exhibits a scene of strife, brawling, and violence. If our domestic servants often come from such homes, can we wonder at their proneness to manifest feelings which annoy us, oppose our wishes, and interfere with our comforts ? I wish I could say that a low cunning does not prevail to a great ex- tent among the manual labourers ; and that even the simple peasantry, as they are called, have not their share of this cha- racter ; advantage-taking, in other words, fraud, is often boast- ed of, as a proof of address and talent ; straitened circumstan- ces induce grasping habits, when nice moral distinctions va- nish, and the transition to crime is too easy. It follows that this class, not more from their numbers tlian the miserable habits of many of them, furnish, in a great proportion, what is called the criminal population. This last unhappy class of beings have all the worst habits we have described, and others yet more deeply immoral and dangerous to the community.* There are who are blessed with a well-regulated home, whose members are accustomed, in the family intercourse, to control the unsocial and selfish feelings, and to exercise to- wards each other all the kindness and gentleness of the moral sentiments ; where each brings his or her share of knowledge, reflective sense, refinement, and elegance, to the common stock of domestic enjoyment ; and, contemplating in the lux- xvcy of such exalted intercourse, the temporal reward of the right use of the faculties which God hath bestowed, and a foretaste of the exaltation of these faculties in eternal bliss, keep Him steadily before their eyes, in a sustained conscious- ness of gratitude and love. Such have forced upon their view a more striking contrast yet between the lot of the manual- labour class and tlieir own, than the greatest possible difi'er- ence in the physical accommodations of life can suggest. Nor are the elements of this contrast confined to the working- classes. The rich in moral feeling may draw the same con- trast between their own social condition and that of a large proportion of the imperfectly educated, whose physical condi- * That deplorable kind of human intercourse, by which the criminal cor- rupt and confirm each other, and seduce especially the young from honest labour to depravity, is described at length in the treatise on criminal legisla- tioa ia the appendix to the first edition of this work. 24 INCESSANT LABOUR UNHEALTHY TOIL. tion is much above that of manual labour. But when moral, intellectual, and physical privations combine to aggravate each other, a point of human degradation is reached, lower than which man can scarcely fall, and which calls aloud on every friend of his species to do what in him lies to raise his fellow-men out of the mire in which they wallow, and place them in the road which will bring them to a right use of their faculties, and its consequence, the elevation of their cha- racter. The condition of the manual-labour class is unfavourably affected by several causes, partly extraneous to the funda- mental source of their sufferings their ignorance. One of these M'ill be found in the incessant demand for their labour, to accumulate the gains of their employers, which has im- memorially devoted three-fourths of the working-man's wak- ing hours to toil. Another is evident in the number of un- wholesome occupations on which that toil is bestowed. Much light has been thrown by Mr Thackrah, as already observed, on this last evil, in its various forms of vitiated air, noxious fumes,* deleterious materials, distortion of body, exposure to sudden changes of temperature, and likewise on the preven- tives of and remedies for the manifold evils thence arising, chiefly in relation to the manufacturing population of Leeds. But it is not likely that these preventives and cures will have full efficiency, or the season of labour itself be judiciously and beneficially abridged, without the aid of the workmen themselves. Prolonged toil and unwholesome labour are, no doubt, in one sense, imposed upon the working class ; but were they more enlightened, they themselves would abridge the one, and counteract the other ; the first by their own economy, moderation, and resource, and the second by the appliance of much qualifying self-protection. But perhaps the most gigantic evil, acting in co-operation with the ignorance of the working classes, is one which till very lately afflicted our southern neighbours of England more " Dr Reid of Edinburgh, in his laboratory for practical chemistry, carries off all unpleasant or noxious fumes by a strong draught created by a rarifying furnace, in a tall chimney. He has arranged in his premises a simple and beautiful contrivance for ventilating buildings, however crowded, by the same .means. The plan was recommended by Dr Reid to the Committee on the new houses of Parliament, and, I believe, adopted. The celebrated Dr Ar- not of London has invented a cheap and effectual method of heating air, which promises to be a great boon to society generally. DEMORALIZATION — REFORM OF POOR-LAWS. 25 than ourselves ; and that was the abuse of the Poor Laws, especially that unspeakable social gangrene the Allowance System, as it was called. By this, deficient wages were made up by alms, and a bounty offered for idleness, improvidence, and abandonment. The overwhelming consequences, which every economist predicted, resulted, in even a more blasting operation, upon the whole condition and character of the working classes who had the misfortune of being within their influence, than was foreseen. The report of the Royal Com- mission of enquiry into the administration and operation of the Poor Laws it is moral sickness to peruse. From the great mass of matter a volume of extracts, embracing its most im- portant information, has been published under the authority of government. It is a shocking detail. The miserable eco- nomy of maintaining a great part of the population as par- tial and often total sinecurists, in other words paupers, was tenfold aggravated, when the allowance, as was notoriously true, was extorted by violence, threats of incendiarism, and ac- tual fire-raising ; for many of the fires were traced to it. The evidence is overwhelming of the destruction, by this system, of the " veracity, industry, frugality, and domestic virtues of the labourer ;" of " the rapid increase of vice and profli- gacy," — " the prevalence of the opinion that destitution, how- ever produced, constitutes a claim to be supported by the com - munity, and that dependence on the parish is preferable to in- dependent labour," — " the destruction of reciprocal feeling between parents and children," — desertion of wives by their husbands," — " gross sensuality," — " improvident marriages, to the great increase of the evil of an over-stocked labour- market," — " crime as the result of pauperism," — " increase of illegitimate children, the allowance for an illegitimate being greater than for a legitimate child, and illegitimate children being a great advantage to their mothers under the present laws." When such a moral pestilence as this spreads over a land, in addition to the desert already made by popular ignorance, the Creator's designs are defied by his creatures, and they must suffer the penalty of their disobedience. The Poor Laws have been reformed by a splendid act of legislative wisdom and power, although an immense pauper population clung to their abuses with convulsive pertinacity. But the new law is working much better than was expected. The only lasting 2G RELIGION OF MANUAL-LABOUR CLASS. cure for the pauper spirit is popular education ; and so report- ed the Commissioners. Lastlt/, We lecl it almost a mockery, after the foregoing exposition, to ask what the progress of religion is in the ma- nual-labour class. It is the constant complaint of the teachers of religion, that its principles scarcely mingle in the thoughts, mucli less influence the actions, of the great body of this class.* I have always thought it a mistake to impute this to their want of the means of attendance on public worship ; in their present state, intellectual and moral, if the doors of churches were thrown open to them freely, they would not, in any considerable numbers, enter them. The great majo- rity want the impulse ; that impulse is another word for the activity of the superior human faculties ; but the inferior, al- most exclusively, move the manual-labour class. Religion is not addressed to these ; it calls upon the intellect and moral sentiments to control these, as the law in the members w^hich wars against it. A weekly discourse is as the passing wind in the ears of the habitually greedy, the envious, the sensual, the tyrannical, the revengeful, the utterly selfish : a stated pre- ceptive lesson to love God, and his neighbour as himself, is unheeded by the man whose whole soul is drawn by a power, which he was never taught practically to resist, in the op- posite direction. When Sunday comes, he has the choice of listening to a repetition of this to him unwelcome precept, for the thousandth time, of hearing perhaps a purely doc- trinal discourse on the mysteries of our faith, or of enjoying a day of indolence, amusement, or sensuality, or all three. He would not be an uneducated, uninstructed, demoralized man, if he hesitated. In the towns, a very small proportion of the class in question attend public worship.f In the coun- try parishes, especially in Scotland, a considerable portion of this class habitually appear in church. The parish minister • Dr Chalmers, in his speech ia the Presbytery of Edinburgh on 23d January 1834, repeatedly deplored the '^practical heathenism' in which thousands of the population of Edinburgh live. He had even recourse to the strong figure, that it is necessary " to excavate the population, Jirmli/ imbedded in a 7nass of practical heathenism.^' The expression has be- come a byword. t The opinion in the text was written before the report Vfas published which contains the confirmative fact, that, m the churches of Edinburgh, the low-rented sittings for the working classes are in by far the largest proportion untenanted. I greatly fear that the building of new churches will be in vain. IN THE COUNTRY " FEAR OF THE FOLK." 27 knows each individual, and possesses over him a prescriptive pastoral influence ; he is known, moreover, to all his fellow parishioners ; he is a slave to what in Scotland is called " the fear of the folk," and dreads the loss of character with which irregular performance of ostensible religious duties is follow- ed.* But the church-going of a person so influenced is his whole religion ; it has a set day, and is then suspended till that day week. Of natural religion, as inferred from the glo- rious manifestations of God in physical and moral creation, he has not an idea ; some religious teachers even forbid him this ground ; and his Christianity is a set of abstract notions, without the semblance of practical direction. Unqualified selfishness resumes its reign in his heart, if it was ever sus- pended, and an influence the antipodes of Christianity con- tinues to impel his thoughts, words, and actions.f When we speak of a class, we are boimd to make allowance for excep- tions, and now, as I have done before, I cheerfully make it. But that I have rightly described the character of the religion of a large portion of his parishioners, will not only not be de- nied by any parish minister, but is bewailed by him every day of his life. Yet, for none of our wants is so much provision made as for our religious. There is error somewhere. Far indeed is it from my thoughts to impute blame to the excel- lent men who are labouring to " excavate the people from the mass of heathenism in which they are so firmly imbedded." They have no power over an erroneous system, and one not of their own creating. But the application of their part of the process is premature. It is as if the metallurgist were to at- tempt to melt the gold before it is worked out of the vein. Education is the only excavating process ; preaching, in its ut- most conceivable perfection, is a defective engine for the pur- pose ; purely doctrinal preaching is utterly impotent.^ * An Englisbman lately witnessed in Scotland an instance of this metus popiili, this religio loci. A native friend, with whom he was walking, sud- denly fled from his side without uttering a word, and took up a position be- hind a hedge. " The folk" were coming out of the parish church, and al- though the fugitive must have known that half of them had been sleeping in it, he could not meet them ! t This is especially true, when the uneducated man's pastor is of a sect that ranks doctrines so far above Christian morality, as nearly to shut out the latter from his pulpit. This has been too much the case with nearly all Protestant sects ; their creeds scarcely allude to the moral precepts of the Gospel ; some of them seem even to exclude them. X The above argument was published before Mr Duff, the Indian mission* 28 PREPARING FOR RELIGION — PRESENT EDUCATION. If education shall elevate, as it will be shewn that educa- tion alone can, the intellectual and moral, and, by necessary consequence, improve the physical, condition of man, educa- tion is the human means which must greatly aid in preparing him to receive religious impressions in their genuine spirit, and to apply them to their intended practical ends. Before the sower went forth to sow, the soil was prepared. This pre- vious preparation is so ])lainly pointed out in the parable, that it is surprising that any one can lose sight of it. He Avas on his way to prepared ground, when some seed fell by the un- cultivated wayside. He did not expect to prepare the soil by tlie act of sowing the seed, else the seed would have taken root by its own virtue on the bare ground, and risen and ri- pened even among the thorns. I shall have occasion to return to the important subject of a legitimate use of human means ; these are, in truth, God's means, for they are the working of the faculties which He hath bestowed that they may be em- ployed, and as such must be perfectly reconcileable with a ra- tional and scriptural view of spiritual influences, which some sincere but over excited Christians regard as direct miracles. Alas ! that their effects should be so little visible, and so li- mited ! What the desiderated educational preparation shall be which will aid in furnishing the impulses to Christianity, not only for Simday, but for every day of the week, will ap- pear when I come to treat of Infant Education. The reader is requested to view in retrospect the sufferings of the manual-labour class of our country, arising mainly, if not entirely, from their own ignorance ; and then survey the extent and nature of the provision made for their education, -and he will cease to wonder. The great majority receive no education at all. The education of the class is certainly ex- tending in England, and the parochial schools of Scotland are two centuries old. But we come to the question, what is the nature of the education of the humbler classes which is ex- tending in England, and has been so long established in Scot- land ? Is it of a kind to impart viseful practical knowledge for resource in life ; does it communicate to the pupil any light upon the important subject of his own nature and place in creation ; on the conditions of his physical welfare, and his ary from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, came home and ."iinfirmed it, amidst the most enthusiastic concurrence of his audience, in on& of the most splendid speeches ever listened to by that Venerable Body. HEADING, WRITING, CIPHERING MISDIRECTED READING. 29 intellectual and moral happiness ; does it, above all, make an attempt to regulate his passions, and train and exercise his moral feelings, to prevent his prejudices, suspicions, envyings, self-conceit, vanity, impracticability, destructiveness, cruelty, and sensuality ? Alas ! ?v o. It teaches him to read, write, and CIPHER, and leaves him to pick up all the rest as he may I It forms an instructive example of the sedative effect of esta- blished habits of thinking, that our ancestors and ourselves have so contentedly held this to be education, or the shadow of it, for any rank of society ! Reading, writing, and cipher- ing are mere instruments ; when attained, as they rarely or never are, after all, by the working class to a reasonable per- fection, they leave the pupil exactly in the situation where he would find himself were we to put tools into his hands, the use of which, however, he must learn as he may. We know- well that he will be much more prone to misapply his tools, and to cut himself with them, than to use them aright. So it is with his reading ; for really any writing and accounting of this class, even the most respectable of them, scarcely de- serve the name, and may be here put out of the accovuit. Reading consists in the recognition of printed characters ar- ranged into syllables and words. With this most absti'act ac- complishment may coexist unregulated propensities, selfish passions, sensual appetites, filthy and intemperate habits, pro- found intellectual darkness and moral debasement, all adher- ing to a man as closely after as before he could read ; and, be it marked, these qualities will give their bias to his future vo- luntary reading, and assuredly degrade and vitiate its charac- ter ; it will tend to strengthen his prejudices, deepen his su- perstitions, flatter his passions, and excite his animal appe- tites. Well is all this known to the agitator, the quack, and the corruptor. They know that the manual-labourer can read ; but they know as well that he is incapable of thinking or de- tecting their impositions, if they only flatter his passions. No just views of life have ever been given him, no practical know- ledge of his actual position in the social system. We are al- ways told, that the majority of criminals cannot r^af/, as if the mere faculty of reading would have diminished the number of criminals. This is a great delusion. For the reasons I have stated, mere reading might have increased the number of criminals, it would be quite ineffective in diminishing them.* * This explains the celebrated moral map of France by M. Guerry, ia which it is laid down, that crime is most prevalent in the educated districts. 30 LANCASTERIAN WOOD's PARISH SCHOOLS. But if tlie investigation had gone the length of ascertaining witli whith of the criminals had an attempt at moral training and usefid knowledge ever been made, we should have found that column of the table a blank, and something like cause and effect wovdd have begun to dawn upon us. It is needless to pursue so obvious a matter farther. If a national system of education is to stop at reading, writing, and ciphering, it would save much trouble and after disappointment not to at- tempt it at all. If I am reminded of the great improvements introduced by the Lancasterian system, I answer, that I have not seen in the generality of such schools, any thing more than abridged methods, the monitorial chiefly, of teaching numbers to read., write., and cipher* I am aware, too, of what is called the explanatory system, at the head of which stands pre-eminently Mr Wood of Edinburgh, which puts books of useful knowledge into the pupil's hands, and exer- cises him upon their import with much collateral information. But that system does not introduce him to realities, to exter- nal nature and its qualities, and the relation thereof to him- self; it does not impart to him a knowledge of the conditions of his weal and happiness, and his real position in life. It is, besides, almost exclusively intellectual, and, except in reli- gious lessons, is not addressed to the moral faculties directly. If there be any school for the children of the working class (excepting always the Wilderspin Infant Schools), which sys- tematically takes pains to educate the pupil of this rank of life against the evils which have been shown to arise from his ignorance, and to a deplorable extent actually afflict him, I have not been so fortunate as to hear of it. In most schools, even the parochial, which by incogitate habit Me call " the pride and glory of Scotland," some sprinkling of the explanatory system has been introduced ; twenty years ago, no attempt was made to explain any thing ; but in none — certainly in none, is there any provision for the kind of edu- cation which is to make the working man wiser and better, in the manner I have attempted to describe. A new and better system will make a great change on " the pride and glory of Scotland," and, in that change, conferring a rather better claim to that title upon its parochial seminaries, greatly elevate the • Mr Dun, of the Edinburgh Davie Street School, decidedly the best Lancasterian teacher I have jet met with, has introduced much useful know- ledge into his plan ; and, if the means were aflforded him, would introduce much more. SCOTTISH PARISH SCHOOLMASTERS — PREJUDICES. 31 rank and endowments of their teachers. I know these to be in general excellent persons, much accustomed to be praised and starved by the Scottish public. I know some of them who are learned men, according to the usual acceptation of the word, that is, thoi'ough Greek and Latin scholars ; others are mathematicians, and mechanical philosophers, and all are theo- logians ; but they might as well be Brahmins for any good their manual-labour pupils reap fi-om such extra accomplish- ments, beyond reading, writing, and ciphering. The reader is requested now to estimate the value of an opinion, so common as almost to have grown into a set for- mula, which we are quite certain of hearing given forth, by several ladies and gentlemen at once, in every company where the education of the manual-labour class is mentioned. " I am no friend to over-educating the working classes ; educa- tion is running greatly too fast ; teach them to read and write, all beyond is above their condition, and only serves to make them discontented with it." This current twaddle comes of the imperfection of the education of those who echo it ; an imperfection that has other bitter fruits, to be noticed in the next chapter ; the only excuse for it is the ignorance of these opinionists of the length and breadth and height and depth of the social error which they espouse and circulate.* • In the first edition of this work the picture drawn of the condition phy- sical, moral, and intellectual of the manual-labour classes, was considered, hv one or two journals only, to be overcharged. From many well-informed quarters I received confirmations of its truth, and from some, opinions that it was not coloured up to the reality. After two years of farther observation and maturer thinking, I have seen no reason to withhold a republication of the chapter nearly as it at first appeared. Now, a^ then, T rejoice to admit many exceptions among my operative countrymen ; but the general portrait is yet too applicable to a large proportion of them. Xow, as then, I set down nought in malice against them. I rejoice in their improvement, and it is the first step to that great end to tell them the truth, and the whole truth, as to their present condition. ( 32 ) CHAPTER II. ON THE EFFECTS OF IMPERFECT EDUCATION ON THE CON- DITION OF THE CLASS OF THE PEOPLE ABOVE MANUAL LA- BOUR. The term " Educated class" relative — Our vast attainments in Physical Science Confusion and error in Moral State — Controversy and party di- visions — Contrast of sound legislation — General selfishness — Demands of Christianity — Religion of the " Educated' — Large provision for it — Want of educational preparation — Fanaticism and insanity — Certain social de- fects remnants of barbarism, national jealousies, offensive wars, crimi- nal code — Barbarous customs, fox-hunting, engrossing rural sports — Happiness not attained, reasons — False views of life — Young men of fortune — Waste of life, wealth, and happiness by the affluent — Their mar- riages — Sedentary study — Instructive illustrations on this head — Inconsi- derate pursuit of wealth — Over-trading, glutted markets — Unwelcome in- quiry — Good admitted — Causes of our social evils — No moral training in education — Milton, Locke, Kames — Reading — Dead languages — False morality of classics — Barbarism of the ancients — Scientific studies — Science of Man, physiological, mental, and moral, a blank in Education. The term *' educated class," as applied to the portion of our countrymen who are above manual labour, will scarcely be taken by any one to mean that these enjoy the means of education perfect, or nearly perfect. The term is relative, and, certainly, when compared with the manual- labour class, who have no education at all worthy the name, ice are an educated class. But no error is more profound, or more prevalent, than the persuasion that we are an educated class in the best sense of the term. Our complacent conclusions on the subject are, however, exceedingly natural. Look, it is said, at our libraries, our encyclopaedias, teeming, as they do, with knowledge in every branch of science and literature. See our chemical, mathematical, mechanical powers, with all their realized results, which seem to mould material nature to our will, and render life proudly luxurious. Then tin-n to our classical literature, our belles-lettres, our poetry, our eloquence, our polished intercourse, our refined society ; consider our fine PHYSICAL AND MORAL PARTY POLITICS. 33 arts our elegancies; and, above all, think of our legisla- tion, our political economy, our institutions of benevolence and justice, and the gigantic combinations of our entire na- tional system. There is much in these high-sounding claims that deceives us. We are prone to borrow from the large fund of credit we possess in the exact and physical sciences, to place the loan to the account of imiversal intellectual and mo- ral attainment, and to conclude that a pitch of improvement, which enables us to travel thirty miles an hour, must comprise in it every thing else of knowledge and power. But, alas ! when we look beyond the range of physical tangibilities, and, it may be, elegant literature, into the region of mental and moral relations, in short into the science of man, upon which depends the wisdom of our legislation, and the soundness of our institutions and customs, what a scene of uncertainty do we see ! Fixed principles in social affairs have not yet been attained. Scarcely do we meet two individuals who are guided by the same code. Hence controversy is the business of the moral, and assuredly, we may add, of the religious world. When any measure affecting the public is propound- ed, there arises a perfect hurricane of opposition and denun- ciation, as if it were the most monstrous of errors, and the most atrocious of crimes. No plan or project, religious, civil, economic, or merely ornamental, can be proposed, without tearing to pieces the conventions of courtesy, nay, the feelings of common charitj', and exposing a lamentable scene of in- consistency and passion. We find sects of men combining to attain by their vmion certain proposed ends, and these seeiit to be guided by principles which they all acknowledge ; for there is no want of party array, and skilful party tactics ; but when we find that the spirit of party is violence and hatred, we must search the lower region of selfishness for the bond of their union, for we cannot recognise among them any thing which is entitled to be called profound philosophical, or high moral, principle. Nothing more exposes the low state of oiu- present moral attainments, than the endless disputes and ha- treds, which are the sum and substance of what are called ouv politics. If the time shall ever arrive, when legislation shall be brief and practical, founded in benevolence and justice, puri- fied of vain personal display, freed from selfishness, party spirit, l)ride of caste, and sacrifice to particular interests, whether of an exclusive aristocracy on the one extreme, or a reckless, impatient, and often most aristocratic democracy on the other, 34 SELFISHNESS — FASHION CHRISTIANITY. when it shall cease to be fettered by a constituency less en- lightened than representatives animated by single-hearted love to their country and their species, when it shall become an easier task because abuses will be already removed, and laws will come to be less retrospective remedies than onward meliorations, moving abreast with human improvement, what will be thought of the political dissensions which at present degrade and re- tard public affairs ! Of the game of parties, with all its frauds and hypocrisies, the irreconcileable varieties of opinion, the diversity of views, the fierceness of divisions ! A wide-spread selfishness alone accounts for this spectacle ; and who can deny that a systematic selfishness, regulated by law and con- ventional expediency, is the impelling power, at once the bond which unites, and the divellent influence which tears asunder, the centripetal and centrifugal forces which preserve yet dis- turb the circumscribed orbit of our social relations. To engross as much wealth, gain as much of what is miscalled distinction as we can, and outstrip our neighbour, is the business of life. We have, too, our cold-hearted fashion, which well-nigh de- nies those not within its frivolous pale a common nature ; and we have all the successive exclusions and repellants descend- ing in society, and freezing up the sources of good- will and brotherly love, which should flow downward to soften and fer- tilize the humblest regions of the community, and unite the whole in mutual good-will and contented co-operation. It is this habitual contumely which separates the great body of the manual-labour class from all who merely enjoy more physical comfort and ease of life, in a scowling attitude of distrust, envy, and hostility. Talk to us of a more liberal basis of so- cial being, of a higher morality, a more wide-spreading phi- lanthropy, nay, of a mitigation of selfishness, a moderation of wealth-engrossing, a transference of our worship from artifi- cial badges to real intellectual and moral merit, a kindlier feel- ing to our universal fellow-men, and we meet you with mock- ery, as M'e point to what we call " human nature," and return to our money-getting and self- exaltation. Buonaparte was right, we arc a nation of shop-keepers. Nevertheless, when it is put to us in the abstract, \ve admit that Christianity de- mands all and more than in practice we laugh to scorn, and we are terribly scandalized when our Christianity is doubted. Do we not attend church, and yield our assent to the precepts and doctrines there taught ? Do we not prove our zeal by cordially hating all other religious sects, cum odio theologico ? RELIGIOUS STATE — MORAL DEFECTS — FANATICISM. 35 Are we not the foremost and the loudest in shouting the ap- proved watch-words of " irreligion," " infidelity," to raise the moh to put down all heresy and schism, that is, all opinions not our own ? And are we not ready to shed our blood, if we refuse to mend our lives, for the Church, which has always formed an essential part of our politics, and been toasted by us in many an overflowing cup of festivity ? It can scarcely be aven-ed, that any considerable portion of the church-going of the " edvicated class," have more practi- cal week-day Christianity, than that which was predicated of the manual-labour class. If we shoidd ask any of the first how much of what they listen to on Sunday influences their views and acts in life, they would be sorely puzzled to answer the question. Yet there are no institutions of public instruc- tion, both as supported by state establishments, and by the zeal of private associations, more largely endowed than the ecclesiastical, no part of our well-being more cared for. What is the cause of so small a harvest, from so immense a cultiva- tion ? Why does not the seed so plentifully sown fructify and produce ? There is but one answer to this question, we are NOT A MORALLY EDUCATED PEOPLE. There is a barrenness of soil among us, where genuine Christianity refuses to take root ; there is worse, there are the thorns of an inherent sel- fishness, which choke it ; tares pre-occupy the whole field, and the husbandmen sow in vain. As was predicated of their efforts to excavate the lower classes from the heathenism in which they are imbedded, our religious guides address them- selves to unprepared minds much higher up in the social scale. Yet, if a stranger to the actual religious condition of the " educated" were to hear us talk on the subject, he might mistake us for a religious people : if he contemplated our ani- mosity, division, and violence in the matter, although he might miss the spirit of Christianity, he could not fail to be struck with our zeal each for his own dogmas, and for their substitution, by the force ot^ indirect persecution, for all others; dogmas often adopted yesterday for others as intolerantly maintained the day before, — " As if religion were intended For nothing else but to be mended." Nay, he would see religious feeling running into the most ex- travagant credulity and fanaticism among us ; and if he did not know that that melancholy extreme is capable of a phy- 36 SOCIAL DEFECTS BARBAROUS CUSTOMS. siological explanation, as an actual disease of the brain, which sees visions, hears voices, dreams dreams, and speaks jargon,* he might conclude that we are an orer-religious generation. But the indift'erence and the enthusiasm have alike their ori- gin in an im])erfect education, in unprepared uncultivated feelings, which, according to the predisposition and tempera- ment, are either roused to excess by the mere sympathy, the hysteria of a diseased enthusiasm, or are not stii'red at all. A catalogue of our social defects, all referable to the edu- ■cation wherewith we are mocked, might be expatiated upon to the extent of a volume ; the remnants these, of barba- rism which still clings to us and our institutions, customs, ha- bits, and manners. I will venture to enumerate a few of these. We direct yet, for example, an evil eye to our fellow- men in other communities, and speak of our " natiu'al ene- mies I" We are disgraced by national jealousies, national an- tipathies, commercial restrictions, and often offensive war. We have our game-laws and criminal code also to account for. Brought to the standard of sound ethics and reason, there are many of our customs that have as little chance as these of escaping the reproach of barbarisms, which an edu- cated people would disown; cruel i-ural sports, for example, fox-hunting, horse-racing, betting, gambling, prize-fight- ing, duelling, and excessive conviviality. The character and engrossing claims of rural sports, as they are called, will astonish a future better educated age.f Such an age will scarcely believe " the butcher work that then befell" the unsparing slaughter of all that is furred and feathered and finned, in field and flood, " on mountain, moss, and moor ;" they will discredit the graft of the hunting stage of the race upon a civilization, at its lowest, immensely in ad- vance of that stage ; they will reject the story that the boast of the Iroquois and the Esquimaux was also the distinction of the most polished ornaments of our drawing-rooms, namely the havoc of their unerring aim, the life they have extinguish- • There are two patients in the Montrose Lunatic Asylum, under the able Mr Browne's charge, who have spoken " the unknown tongues" for from ten to fifteen years ; long before they appeared among a particular sect recently arisen in this country. •f I say engrossing claims, for I grant that killing game is as legitimate as killing mutton, and do not quarrel with a subordinate and moderate resort to the field by those whose main avocations are more useful and dignified. It is healthful e.xercise ; I cannot concede to it a higher merit. THE HUNTING STAGE OF SOCIETY YET. 37 ed, the blood they have shed, the " head of game" they have gloried over as trophies spread out dead before them, and the larders which they have outdone the butcher in stocking ! All is not right in ovu* habits of thinking, in other words in our education, when our " elite" can claim, and multitudes can accord, a certain distinction to a " capital shot," the victor in what the Olympics knew not, — " a steeple chase," or the proprietor of a pony which can trot sixteen miles an hour. I know the ready answer to such strictures on rural sports, and that answer implies the very educational vacuum which there is so much reason to deplore. It is of great importance, it is said, to our rural population, that the aristocracy shall pass a reasonable portion of their time in the country. They are the spoiled children of excitement, and if you withhold that in the country, they will seek it in the capital, in pur- suits and pleasures infinitely more debasing and more ruinous to health and fortune. Look at Paris. Is an ediicated aris- tocracy here spoken of? Is it indeed so, that in the alternative of their urban or rural excitement the objects are so low ? Is it indeed so, that without the slaughter of its innocent ani- mals, which spread a living poetry over its fields, our " better classes" find no attractions in the country, no delight in " the green fields of England in the merry month of May," no luxury in the roses of Jvme, the pride of July, the mellowness of autumn ; that they indeed — " Renounce the boundless store Of charms which Nature to her votary yields. The warbling woodland, the resounding shore. The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields, All that the genial ray of morning gilds, And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, And all the dread magnificence of heaven." Can we have a more rousing proof than this of a defective, nay a perverted education ? I say perverted, for the barbarism is actually inculcated ; the vacuum is filled, by precept and example, with images of rural slaughter ; the young idea is most carefially taught to shoot, and the tender thought assidu- ously reared, which longs for manhood and bloodshed. The spirit of severity, and even cruelty and blood, of our cri- minal code, has with no small reason been imputed, in some respects, to this remnant of the hunting stage of society. 38 nature's laws — false views of life. The evils suffered by mankind from isrnorance of the hu- man faculties, uiul their right application, will be more ob- vious, when we come to inquire what the faculties and their relations are ; it may suffice at present to say, that happiness is rarely if ever attained, and that the preponderance of sel- fish feelings which are incapable of rational satisfaction, veri- fies the truth that " all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Ig- norance of the physical and organic condition of health pro- duces disease, while it transmits the consequences in weaken- ed constitutions to offspring. The selfish desire of wealth brings together in matrimonial alliance the predisposed to disease and insanity, and bitter domestic suffering is the con- sequence. The same desire of wealth, added to ambition to rise above others, regulates, or rather deranges, the whole sys- tem of life, and there is not one ray of light but disregarded Christianity, to guide in a direction more consistent with real happiness. This is ignorance of the moral conditions of hu- man weal. An enlightened friend of the author's once asked an excellent young man, about to embark for India, what views he entertained of life, and the objects of his own exist- ence ? The question was new to him. He had been " well educated," in the common acceptation of the words, but he had never conceived that life had any higher aim than to ac- quire a fortune, marry, rear a family, live in a fine house, drink expensive M'ines, die, and go to heaven I There was no provision in this for reaping enjoyment from the higher faculties of his nature ; he was not aware that these had any other function to perform than to regulate his conduct in the pursuit of the gratification of his inferior feelings. This is the condition of mind in w hich almost all young men of the upper and middle classes of society enter into active life ; and no- thing can well be conceived more disadvantageous to their success and happiness. Those who are what is called religi- ously educated, are not more fortunate ; because they have been taught that a strong feeling of devotion, too apt to take a morbid character and end in fanaticism and insanity, is that which constitutes genuine religion, while no sect has yet ad- dressed itself to the duty of teaching the nature of man, the value of pursuits in life, the institutions of society, and the re- lation of all these to the religious and moral faculties of man : without understanding these, no person entering upon active life can see his way clearly, or entertain consistent or elevated views of duty, and tlie true sources of happiness. PURSUITS OF MEN OF FORTUNE. 39 This deficiency in knowledge is also remarkably exempli- fied in many yovmg men born to large fortunes, who have succeeded in minority to their paternal estates, and, on at- taining majority, are by law entitled to pursue their own hap- jiiness in their own way. It is quite lamentable to observe the humble, the debasing course they often adopt. Rational views of themselves, of Inmian nature, and of the institutions of society, would be invaluable to such individuals ; but they have no adequate means of obtaining them, while positively false views have been implanted in their minds by a pervert- ed education. It may do good to record the following, though an extreme case. A young gentleman of large fcrtune, not destitute of talents and good feeling, and who had been regu- larly subjected to all the appliances of dead-language educa- tion at school and college, was, on the day of his majority, de- clared a free man, with power to choose the most likely road to real happiness. What did he do ? He established, of course, a stud of hvmters, a pack of hounds, and a whole ar- moury of fowling-pieces ; galloping, blazing, and slaughter- ing, being universally held inseparable from wealth and rank, in the present state of civilization. Coach-driving, either of private four-in-hand vehicles or the public conveyances, is no longer sanctioned bv general approbation, as suiting the age ; nevertheless he had a trial of coach-driving. From this he was diverted by matrimony, and postnuptially took to another gratification of his faculties of rather an original kind ; he placed cats upon a float in the middle of a pond, and sent dogs to swim in and attack them ! This last occupation would have been disdained by a young nobleman of immense possessions, who, at a feast in honour of his majority, mani- fested the best natural dispositions by acknowledging that he had always been taught, and had always felt, that the great duty imposed upon him by his rank and fortune, was to do good. The declaration was sincere, and the character of the speaker such as to warrant the belief that he would act upon it, if his education had been of a kind to have shewn him ho^v to do good. To keep a pack of hounds, to be followed over fields and enclosures by the elite of the county, does not stand very high in the' scale of good : to engage keenly in party po- litics is not good, for these are generally incompatible with the general weal ; to dispense costly and luxurious hospitality indiscriminately, is to do wide-spreading mischief: to pursue or encourage idleness or frivolous occupations, is not good : 40 HOW TO DO GOOD — RIDICULED. to Strengthen, by influence and example, the pride of rank and its correlative sycophancy, to uphold the heartless, icy, withering, harriers of fashion, and, by external pomp circum- stance and equipage, to shut out knowledge of, and sympathy with, the general mass of society, cultivated and uncultivated, are all severally bad, and, although much the practice of our nobility, injurious, in a degree to which their education shuts their eyes, to themselves and to society. Education, render- ed what it ought to be, will point out " what is good," both in its temporal and spiritual sense, to the wealth-loaded fa- vovu'ites of fortune. " To do good and to communicate," is eminently in their power, if they Avill first, " with all their gettings, get knowledge," and apply it to useful purposes ; if they will learn and value the acts and manifestations of high intellectual and moral endowments, more than physical com- forts, sensual enjoyments, and external pomp ; if they will seek the society of enlightened and benevolent men, whose intellects are replenished with knowledge of the Creator's works and ways, whose hearts swell with wonder, adoration, and love, whose whole minds are instinct with sympathy with, and ardent desire for, human happiness. With their aid they would know how to convert their wealth into a powerful en- gine of social benefit, and, from this, the legitimate gratifica- tion of the higher faculties of their nature, they would enjoy as well as confer real good. The very proposition of such a course for a rich, splendid, elegant, and " spirited" young nobleman, would of course, at present, raise in himself and the whole table at which he pre- sides, a roar of incredidous and scornful laughter, the natural expression of the very barbarism so much to be deplored. But, with more enlightened views, it will come to be acknow- ledged that the waste of life, fortune, and happiness, by the affluent, which characterizes the present, as it has marked the past ages of the world, is owing, in no small degree, to igno- rance of human nature, its wants and capacities, in other words, to imperfect education. A volume might be filled* with proofs of the suffering from ignorance which visits all classes, and none more than the hiigher. The inactivity of the faculties of persons of fashion, * An admirable volume has been so filled — " The Constitution of Man in relation to External Objects" — by Mr George Combe of Edinburgh, a work iu immense circulation, both in Britain and America, and already trans- lated into French, German, and Swedish. WASTE OF LIFE, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS. 41 is a perfect tcedium intcp. Their vacuity and dislike to men- tal exercise is constant ennui, and their indisposition to mus> cular exercise and fresh air, brings in its train a whole cata- logue of ailments. Their carriages " stop the way" to health, bloom, and beauty. Who has not pitied, when they were thought to envy, the pale-taced victim dragged to what is call- ed an airing, in which lungs and limbs are alike unconcerned, and are both tending to a state of disease by impeded circulation and impaired digestion. Much of high life is an ignorant defi- ance of Nature's laws, and is visited with enfeebled functions, lassitude, uneasiness, anxiety, and a thousand evils, arising from infringement of institutions, which, when observed and obey- ed, lead to delight and happiness. Few other considerations than rank and wealth determine matrimonial alliances, and these are often, in consequence, ill assorted. The enfeeblement and diseases of high life are by Nature's law transmitted to offspring, as surely as those of the reckless and dissolute me- chanic ; the powers of mind suffer deterioration fii-om the in- fluence of impaired nerves and brain ; the race itself degene- rates, and imbecility and even insanity visit the palaces of the great much more, in proportion to their numbers, than the hovels of the poor. It is lamentable to see ignorance of the conditions of health .inducing the aspirant to college honours to impose upon him- ,self more prolonged toil than that to which the manual-la- bourer is forced by want of bread ; reckless that he will lose health and life in the pursuit. In the biography of a prodigy of early talent, when I have come to the usual passage, "when his companions played, he remained to read and study," I have looked forward a few pages, and always found that he died early. No attempt is made in our defective education to inculcate and impress such knowledge upon us ; and w^e find the most talented men acting in practical disregard of these con- ditions of health and longevity. I cannot withhold the follow- ing apposite and most instructive passage from Mr Combe's work, already referred to, on the Constitution of Man. " No idea can be more preposterous, than that of human beings ha- ving no time to study and obey the natural institutions. These laws punish so severely, when neglected, that they cause the offender to lose tenfold more time in undergoing his chas- tisement, than would be requisite to obey them. A gentle- man extensively engaged in business, whose nervous and di- gestive systems have been impaired by neglect of the organic D 42 SEDENTARY STUDY PURSUIT OF WEALTH. laws, was desired to walk in the open air at least one hour a- day ; to repose from all exertion, bodily and mental, for one full hour alter breakflist, and another full hour after dinner, because tlie brain cannot expend its energy in thinking and aiding digestion at the same time, and to practise moderation in diet ; which last he regularly observed ; but he laughed at the very idea of his having three hours a-day to spare for at- tention to his health. The reply was, that the organic laws admit of no exception, and that he must either obey them, or take the consequences : but that the time lost by the punish- ment would be double or treble that requisite for obedience ; and accordingly the fact was so. Instead of his attending an appointment, it is quite usual for him to send a note, perhaps at two in the afternoon, in these terms : — ' I M-as so distress- ed with headach last night, that I never closed my eyes, and to-day I am still incapable of being out of bed.' On other occasions he is out of bed, but apologises for incapacity to at- tend to business, on account of an intolerable pain in the re- gion of the stomach. In short, if the hours lost in these pain- ful sufferings were added together, and distributed over the days when he is able for duty, he would find them far out- mmiber those which would suffice for obedience to the or- ganic laws, and vvith this difference in the results ; by neglect he loses both his hours and his enjoyment ; whereas by obe- dience, he would be rewarded by aptitude for business, and a pleasing consciousness of existence." Perhaps the most wide-spreading mischief to society comes of the only other ignorance with which I shall detain the reader, the ceaseless, indiscriminate, and inconsiderate pur- suit of wealth. There are no limits to this object with many men, but the stern barriers of law. Merchants and manu- facturers hasten to be rich beyond the course of nature : they engage in adventures for which they have neither know- ledge nor talents ; they enter into the most inconsiderate partnerships ; they lend and borrow, and involve each other in the consequences of the rashest speculations ; and they live in splendour far beyond their means. Machinery should reasonably abridge bodily toil, and leave leism-e for intellectual and moral improvement, with its con- comitant enjoyment ; but machinery has been used only to overlabour workmen and overstock markets ; prices fall ruin- ously low ; the labourers lately over-worked are thrown idle, and left to starve or be supported on charity ; what are call- OVER-TRADING — GLUTTED MARKETS. 43 ed " better" times return ; the glut is removed, work is abun- dant ; avarice again overdoes, and again the market is gkitted, and the labourers again thrown into idleness, starvation, and niiserj'. In 1825-6-7, these views were fearfully verified ; large bodies' of workmen were supported on charity; for many miserable hours they were idle, which hours, distribut- ed over the time of their labo\ir, would have afforded them sufficient daily subsistence. The Ci*eator intended man to labour a reasonable portion of his time, but -when man in- fringes this law by abuse, he defeats his own end ; he is thrown idle longer than all the time put together which, in each day, would have given him salutary leisure as well as sufficiency of bread. This has been written in broad charac- ters, and should be remembered. It is a curious and instruc- tive fact, that when these miscalled good times returned, and labour was in request, workmen struck for higher wages, and for some months manufactories were from this cause stopped ; when the glut returned and its consequences, these masters were the most fortunate, for they had less on hand ; and, blind themselves, had been taught by their blind workmen in quest of a different object, that the overtrading of their neigh- bours was a folly which they had, by no wisdom of their own, but by an accidental combination of circumstances, escaped. For a time prosperity has returned. Our trade and manu- factiu'es are thriving and affording full employment. Let us not boast ; love of money and hurry to be rich still afflict our im- })erfectly educated capitalists. Competition will urge them on, another glut will stop them, their workmen will again be throM'n idle, and much commercial distress will be the consequence. In nothing is education more wanted, than for the attainment of principles which shall put the race for wealth under rational practical regulation, that it may not defeat itself, and subject society to a constant alternation of mock prosperity and over- whelming misery.* But we must proceed, from the evils which visit the class of society above manual labour, although they are by no means exhausted, to a short inquiry into their causes. Before doing so, however, it may be necessary to guard the picture I have drawn from the imputation of being overcharged, and on that ground rejected as altogether false. This objection is most likely to come from persons who live in comfortable circumstances, and a fair external good will towards the circle ■ The above' forebodings written in 1834, are still nearer verification by the insane speculations of 1836. 44 GOOD ADMITTED — EVILS EXIST XO MORAL TRAINING: of their acquaintances, the world to them ; and among whom they know kind-hearted, decent, moral, religious, and even a tew ti-enerous individuals ; who shrink from the disgusting- task of examining the sores of society, or going deeper than a very satisfactorily varnished skin which covers them ; who i'eel in their own persons no inconvenience from alleged social evils, the degi'adation, physical and moral, of the working classes, and the humble attainments and practical errors of the middle and higher ; and who even resent being disturbed by the tiresome people who ai'e always croaking that whatever is is wrong, instead of enjoying the far more consolatory con- viction, that whatever is is right. Readily do I concede to the most contented of these objectors, that there is a large })()rtion of genuine good, moral and religious, in society ; that this, with a much larger ingredient of conventional morality, and its result positive law, preserves the system from falling to pieces ; which it would do in an hour were the picture I have drawn of the lower and higher classes of universal and unqua- lified application. The higher sentiments are at work in our legislation, and our socitil economy ; justice is extending its influence, and benevolence and charity are distinguishing the age.* But while all this is granted, it is maintained that the positive evils which have been enumerated, do exist ; nay, more, that they preponderate, and we should deeply miscalcu- late if we glossed over and spared them for the sake of the good wherewith they are mixed. When the question is an- swered. What is our education ? all that has been said of our condition will be easily and naturally accounted for. Fii^st, There exist no adequate means, either in private fa- milies or public institutions, with the exception of Infant Schools, — of which in the sequel, — for educating the feelings, improving the dispositions, restraining the inferior propensities, and exercising the higher sentiments ; in short, for moral TRAINING. In all this we took our chance, and picked up what we might from partial parents, nursery maids, and juve- nile companions ; while the animal feelings, being the strong- est, acted in us with all the blindness and all the power of The entire generation is apt to take credit for the institutions of charity. The subscription lists of these tell a different tale. It has been observed, that about 1500 hiioicn individuals, of the 150,000 of which Edinburgh is c(>mpos(!d, support all the charitable establishments in the place. The Lon- don proportion would be 15,000. It would be interesting to know how the fact stands, charit'j balls and musical festivals, of course, excluded. MILTON AND LOCKE ON MORAL TRAINING. 45 instincts, and laid a broad and deep foundation for habitual selfishness. There is no greater change, nay revolution, in education, than will arise out of the nascent want, the inci- pient demand which is felt by the more enlightened part of society, for moral training, education's paramount object. Multitudes do not yet know what it means, or laugh at it as a wild chimera, when they succeed in imperfectly taking in the idea. The refracted ray, the full light, is seen ti-om the mountain before it shines upon the valley ; but it must shine as the day upon our whole land, and widely influence our in- stitutions, before we shall merit the name of an educated people. As a proof of the slow progress of truths which nevertheless concern man in his most vital social interests, it is instructive to look back and find such truths announced to an age long past, by master minds that ai'ose long before a generation {qualified to appreciate their genius, and profit by their wisdom. Milton and Locke both advocated moral train- ing ; they held it paramount to intellectual, and intellectual merely subservient to it. One hundred and fifty years have passed since they urged on the notice of their countrymen its superiority and necessity ; but no attempt was made to act upon the principles they taught, till within the last fifteen years, when the first Infant School realized their bequest to their country, and commenced the era of moral education. I cannot withhold the solemn words of these great men. Im- pressed, as I am profoundly, with a conviction of their tran- scendent value, they are to me, as it were, " the voice of the spirits of the mighty dead." Milton's words are these, " The end of learning is to repair the ruin of our first parents, by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the near- est, by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith, make up the highest perfec- tion." — (Letter to Samuel Hartlib.) Locke says, " It is virtue, then, direct virtue, which is the hard and valuable part to be aimed at in education, and not a forward pertness, or any little arts of shifting. All other con- siderations and accomplishments should give way, and be postponed to this. This is the solid and substantial good, which tutors should not only read lectures and talk of, but the labour and art of education should furnish the mind with, and fasten there, and never cease till the young man had a true relish of it, and placed his strength, his glory, and his 46 MILTON AND LOCKE's VIEWS. pleasure in it." — Jjocke^s Thoughts coiicern'oig Education, § 70. " Learning must be had, but, in the second place, as sub- servient only to greater qualities. Seek out somebody (as your son's tutor) that may know how discreetly to form his manners : place him in hands where you may as nuich as pos- sible secure his innocence, cherish and nurse up the good, and gently correct and weed out any bad inclinations, and settle him in good habits. This is the main point, and this being provided for, learning may be had into the bargain." — § 147. " But under whose care soever a child is put to be taught, during the tender and flexible years of his life, this is certain, it should be one who thinks Latin and language the least part of education ; one who, knowing how much virtue and a well tempered soul are to be preferred to any sort of learning or language, makes it his chief business to form the mind of his scholars, and give that a right disposition ; which, if once got, though all the rest should be neglected, would, in due time, produce all the rest ; and which, if it be not got and settled so as to keep out ill and vicious habits, languages and sciences, and all the other accomplishments of education, will be to no purpose but to make the worse or more dangerous man." — §177. Lord Kames anticipated his age more than half a century. In his Hints on Education, with profound truth to us, but mere sentimental writing to the generation he addressed, he says, " It appears unaccountable that om- teachers generally have directed their instructions to the head, with very little attention to the heart. From Aristotle, down to Locke, books without number have been composed for cultivating and im- proving the understanding : tew in proportion for cultivating and improving the aft'ections. Yet surely, as man is intended to be more an active than a contemplative being, the educat- ing of a young man to behave properly in society is of still greater importance than the making him even a Solomon for knowledge." Society has suffered much, and suffers severely yet, for its ignorant neglect of these admonitions. The prin- ciple and the practice of moral training will be detailed in its proper place. Having worse than lost five or six years in the nursery, — having passed the practicable season of moral training, with all our natural faults about us, tempers unregulated, pride and vanity decidedly pampered, and selfishness aggravated, we DEAD LANGUAGES ERRONEOUS SYSTEM. 47 were sent to school to learn to read. That there is some improvement in schools, it would be great injustice not to acknowledge ; but few adults can say that more than mere reading was, in their first school instruction, vouchsafed to them. Even yet no attempt is made to direct aright the na- tural appetite of the young to know. Reading is a useful in- strument of knowledge, but it is gross ignorance to call it knowledge itself. Even at an age earlier than that of our " English school," the faculties ardently crave their natural food, knowledge. The infant purveys, in some degree for it- self, to the great reproach of its unenlightened instructors. At school, these knowledge-craving faculties have little or no- thing done for them ; on the contrary, their natural neglect of the school-book, the result of their preference of something else much more instructive as well as delightful, was punished as idleness and frivolity ; and we left our first school as we went to it, with scarcely any addition to our knowledge. We were now eight or nine years of age, and not past the season for yet commencing useful knowledge training. Crea- tion might yet have been made to open upon us to the incal- culable enlargement of the fund of our happiness, and these faculties might still have been delightfully exercised, by which knowledge is acquired and stored ; — ^but no ! " the usages of society" demanded that we should then commence " a classi- cal education :" in other words, the study, for from six to ten j-ears, of the languages which were spoken by the Greeks and Romans, and which being no longer the vernacular tongues of any living people, are called the dead languages. There is a strong feeling prevailing that this usage is a monstrous error ; in the educational crisis at which we have arrived, it is beginning to be inquired into ; and there can be no doubt that the schools of the dead languages are falling off in popu- larity. This is, therefore, a subject which I am not warrant- ed to omit in this treatise. There is odium and imputed pre- sumption in even approaching the strongholds of habit and prejudice with an inquiring purpose ; and that odium always holds an inverse proportion to the merit of the system or practice to be investigated. Truth and real merit neither dread nor resent free discussion. It is matter, too, of current observation, that the temperature of controversy is always in- creased when interests are endangered ; when, therefore, we consider the splendid endowments, especially in England, for the study of classical literature, which have stood for centuries 48 CLASSICAL ARGUMENT ON WRONG BASIS. in venerable grandeur, and continue to dispense the richest prizes, it were hi vain to look for dispassionate discussion in those who enjoy or look forward to these objects. Antiquity and wealth, however, are not in themselves valid defences of social evils. The time is come for a grave trial of the claims of die dead languages to engross so many of the years of youth, to the exclusion nearly of all other kinds of education. If their advocates and incumbents be confident of the strength of their cause, they ought to court the inquiry, to save them from being prejudged by a practical rejection which is daily gaining ground. It is a natural result of the long reign of an institution which it is held a sort of treason to question, that it is ill prepared for its defence when it comes to be put upon it. The treatises jirofessedly defensive of classical literature are few, because, like the popish faith, it has long claimed infallibility, and the need of apologies for it was as little dreamed of as arguments for popery at Rome. When we do meet with that superfluity, as hitherto deemed, a defence of Latin and Greek, or rather a catalogue of their merits which is not expected to be ques- tioned, it is wonderful how feeble we find it ; scarcely an ex- ception exists ; even the talent of a Vicesimus Knox is nought here. The advocates of the dead languages uniformly avoid, or at least mistake, the true ground of the controversy. They expatiate on the absolute merits of classical literature, but never dream of comparing it with the education which it ex- cludes. When the question, however, is set on this latter ground, it is capable of great abridgment ; for, though we should grant much of absolute value to the actual attainment of classical accomplishment, the experience of centuries has demonstrated that it is of value to so few of those who are forced to pursue it, that the patient repetition of the error from generation to generation, — the unquestioned duty of each oblivious father to enter his son in the classical curricu- lum, as he was entered by his son's grandfather, in which he is to devote years to what is expected to be faithfully forgotten, more mr/Jorum, afford a striking proof of the force of an ignor- ant custom enthralling an imperfectly educated people. Were the actual value, then, of classical study tenfold what it is, if it be true that ninety-nine in every hundred who engage in it fail, and for centuries have failed, in attaining to that degree of proficiency which is of any value at all, then classical study is not the proper education for ninety-nine in every hundred EXCLUSIVENESS OF DEAD LANGUAGES. 49 of those who at present lose their time in the pursuit of it ; and who, as there is no substitute, are lefl uneducated to all useful practical ends and purposes. What is therefore want- ed, is to abolish the exclusiveness of the dead languages ; to allot them their proper place as subjects of study ; to render them easily accessible to all who seek them, either as neces- sary to a learned profession, as a direct gratification of taste, or an elegant accomplishment ; and at the same time to sub- stitute in early and general education, objects of study more practically useful, which, from their nature, will be better re- membered, and will furnish the substantial power of know- ledge and resource for life. All the real benefit to society from the classics, will thus be preserved ; it being obvious that no benefit accrues in any M^ay whatever, either to the student or the community, from their stated oblivion. When we come to the proposed educational substitute, however, it is hoped it will be admitted that the condition of the non- classical world, will, after all, not be so desolate ; and that, though labouring in another field, or travellers by another road, they will present an aspect of society at least as enlight- ened, as powerful, and as accomplished, as any to be found within the walls of the most ancient classical foundations. Now all this is true, even on the assumption of greater ad- vantages than can well be conceded to the dead languages ; but it is still more worthy of consideration, if it be true that their value is greatly overrated. What is arrogated for Latin and Greek, may be comprised in a ^ew particulars. They afford, it is said, the best possible discipline for the intellectual faculties ; they are, from their perfection as tongues, the best subjects of philological exer- cise known ; for the same reason they are the most perfect instruments of thought with which we are acquainted ; as radical languages they are the sources of a most extensive and instructive etymology ; they are the depositories of much useful science and sublime philosophy, physical and moral ; they are, finally, par excellence, the native tongues of poetry, eloquence, wit and taste. Generally, I would humbly argue, that none of these claims are exclusive, even if granted to their fullest extent. The study of English alone, to say no- thing of other modern languages, affords ample scope for in- tellectual discipline, to the limited extent that language can supply it ; our own tongue is a copious and refined instru- ment of thought, and is capable of a most critical and logical E 50 ARGUMENTS — INSTRUMENT OF THOUGHT. analysis ; the Celtic, Saxon, and Scandinavian, have stronger claims on the ground of etymology, yet are never appealed to as necessary to explain their derivatives ; and no more need the Latin and Greek. We are richer than Greece and Rome in j)oetry, oratory, wit and taste, because we have all theirs transfused, and all our own superadded ; and, lastly, our science and philosophy reduce the pretensions of the Latins and Greeks to utter insignificance. It is no reply to say that all these advantages were origi- nally borrowed from the ancient tongues. This is granted, and gratefully acknowledged ; still, if it was borrowed, it is incorporated ; the loan is not merely enjoyed, but added to an immense superstructure of capital unknown to the lenders. Into English are transferred and incorporated correct logical grammar, — copious, refined, and exquisitely various, expres- sion, — a store of taste, elegance, imagery, pathos, wit and cri- ticism, — and all the science worth transferring ; while the an- cient authors themselves are all translated, to the complete and undeniable appropriation of every thing but certain feli- citous turns of expression, the only quality which translation cannot transfer, but which at its best is a luxury, too dearly purchased by exclusive study for one-fourth of a lifetime. It is undeniable, that, as records of ancient civilization, such as it was, and of the institutions, laws, philosophy and literature of Greece and Rome, they are all transferred into our own language. An unfair use is made in the controversy, of the fact that the New Testament is written in Greek ; and a sort of charge of impiety is on this account insinuated against those who object to the universal study of the tongue. Now, no one has gone so far as to propose to extinguish Greek as an entity, or to deny that theologians ought to be masters of it. But if the Christian message is only to be undei'stood in Greek, why was it translated into English, and in that lan- guage alone read to and by the universal British people, with the perfect sanction of their spiritual guides, themselves mas- ters of the original ? This discussion might be extended far beyond the space which can be allotted to it here. It may be observed, sum- inarily, 1.^^, It is to mistake, as it shall be made to appear in the sequel, the nature and operation of the faculties of the human mind, to talk of cultivating an instrument of thought previously to using it in actual thinking. The use of the tool is learned by applying it to the material, and cannot be learn- DISCIPLINE OF MIND — ETYMOLOGY. 51 ed without it ; anil, moreover, the material must be under- stood before the tool can be even conceived. The faculties require knowledge first, and then expression in language ; to reverse the order were a solecism ; in a word, thought must precede language ; the utmost analytical refinements of lan- guage are only so many means of expressing varieties of thought ; the language did not create the thought, but the thought demanded the language ; so that when a mere philo- logist is engaged in his analytical task, and is dealing with ideas as well as words, he deceives himself if he thinks that the most refined expressions, the most delicate shades of meaning, suggested the ideas, much more if he imagines that they constitute the ideas themselves. How and where ideas are to be obtained by the right exercise of the faculties will afterwards be shewn ; and it is trusted that it will then appear that nature has ordained a better course for this than translating, analyzing and parsing a page of Greek ; nay, that this last operation itself will be more intelligently and usefully performed by the student, who comes to it with the know- ledge stores of an intellectual training more in accordance with nature. 2d, It will likewise be shewni in the sequel, that there are modes of disciplining the mind much more effectual than the most critical philology, which itself will be incalculably aided by that previous better discipline. As languages, Greek and Latin exercise but one faculty, — viz. verbal memory ; their advocates who argue that they communicate a store of ideas, forget that these are as distinct from the languages them- selves, " as is the swimmer from the flood," and that there are better, because more natural, modes of obtaining t"hem, modes much more entitled to the name, of intellectual dis- cipline. 3d, The etymological argument is losing weight every day. The derivatives in English are made, and most successfully, direct subjects of study, and as easy of comprehension as their roots. As already said, we follov/ this course with all words" of Celtic, Saxon, or Scandinavian origin ; it is followed now, with regard to derivatives from Greek and Latin, by every school girl ; till all the terms of art and science so de- rived, are becoming as familiar as such words as telescope, phi- losophy, anatomy, panorama, &c. fi-om the Greek, and men- snration, rejection, emancipation, caution,&c. from the Latin.* * Etymological Dictionaries are now in every school for girls. Dr Har- rison Black has ably supplied this desiderate. 52 CLASSICAL POETRY ORATORY SCIENCE. Ath, No one who knows them, denies the splendour, — ima- ginative, however, rather than moral, — of classical poetry and oratory, more than he disallows the claims of painting, music, sculpture, and architecture. It is, however, not too much to condition for the former, as we always do for the latter, that those only whose talents point in the direction of the objects so as to offer a chance of excellence, should devote themselves to them. But we have English poetry. We too can sing; Like Lycidas, and build the lofty rhyme." Wc have exquisite poetry, besides, from female pens, whose authors never read a Greek or Latin poet in the original. bth, It is matter of surprise to meet with the argument of .science outside the walls of a very old classical foundation, within which the actual state of the scientific world is un- known. Latin and Greek contained science for the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries ; but it is surely too much to send the student of the nineteenth to the ancient authors for science. Every thing true and useful in these is to be found, improved upon an hundredfold, in thousands of English books ; while the great proportion that is false and useless is better forgotten. We can study Euclid's relations of exten- sion, Diophantus's relations of number, and Archimedes's de- monstration of specific gravity, of the properties of the lever, and of the relations of the sphere, cylinder, and cone — found by Cicero sculptured on his monumental stone, — with- out requiring previously to learn Greek. No teacher of che- mistry, mechanical philosophy, anatomy, physiology, or medi- cine, would dream of recommending to his pupils the ancient theorists on these induction-created sciences ; if they did so, it would only be as a curious history of error, a subject for antiquarian pastime. If for moral science, or ethics, we are told to go to Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Zeno, Epicurus, Cicero, and Seneca, the answer will naturally be — to which of all these ? for the me- taphysics, morals, and ethics of none of the Greek sages — Cicero and Seneca were scarcely original theorists — agree with those of another. I am well aware that the same diffi- culty occurs to perplex our choice among modern metaphysi- cians and moral philosophers, — at least down to the time of Professor Dugald Stewart, who joins in the confession of the Abbe Bonald, that that philosophy is yet in expectation : but FALSE MORALITY OF THE CLASSICS, 53 sui'ely we need not take the trouble to learn Latin and Greek in quest of true philosophy not there to be found, merely that we may read, in the original, ingenious theories founded on false views of human nature, declamatory generalities about virtue and happiness, the practical worthlessness of which was exposed by their lack of practical effects in mitigating the selfishness, injustice, cruelty, and vice, of the people to whom they were taught, or rather before whom they were vainly displayed. * But this is not all that may be said on the head of the mo- rality of the classics ; there is another view of this topic deeply affecting the weal of society. Morality is placed by the clas- sical authors upon a false and any thing but a Christian ba- sis ; and yet the study of these is most strenuously advocated by the clergy, especially in England, as the most appropriate discipline for the youthful mind. This is evidently the result of the habit of not inquiring into the nature and consistency of long established customs. As part of an education profes- sedly Christian, admiration of the ancient heathens is worked up in the student almost to idolatry : their natural selfishness and injustice, called patriotism, are positively recommended as the noblest objects of imitation ; the history of their mur- derous aggressive wars, rapine, and martial glory, is listened to with delight, and made in mimick essay the pastime of the play-ground of every grammar school ; the sensuality and profligacy that defile, sometimes with nameless abomination, the pages of the satirical and other poets, which, countenanced for a moment, ^fould meet with and merit stoning by the po- pulace, nay the immoralities of the mythological pantheon itself, as a subject of study in a Christian country, have all, as stated exercises for our youth, afforded matter of amazement to those who perceive moral distinctions, and are accustomed to observe and think consistently. A different standard of morals, another rule of right and wrong, seems by habit to be applied to those privileged tribes of the ancient world than is acknowledged, theoretically at least, in regard to the mo- dern ; so that sensuality, selfishness, injustice, rapacity, cruel- ty, and crime, are, in the first, not only passed over as of a different specific gravity from what they count for now-a- days, but are pressed upon the opening faculties as the con- " Tbere is a morality more like the Christian to be found in Epictetus and Marcus Antoninus ; but these are not school studies. 54 EFFECTS ON SOCIETY BARBARISM OF THE ANCIENTS. stituents of moral grandeur and practical virtue ! This essen- tial barbarism recoils dreadfully on society : Christianity it- self is overborne by a spvu-ious morality imbibed from the an- cient authors, and society continues selfish, sensual, and bel- ligerent. It is high time tliat truth were looked in the face, and the world disabused of this superstition, which has too long survived the popish. When a higher moral education shall have taken the bandage from our eyes, it will cease do raise a shout of wonder and scorn to predicate that, morally viewed, the Greeks and Romans were barbarians from the first to the last hour of their history, and that in their own barbarism they were finally extinguished. It will tend to re- concile the reader to this apparently bold thesis, if it should chance to be new to him, to distinguish between the admit- ted civilization, and the essential barbarism of the ancients. These coniminiities passed through many stages of social pro- gress. The human intellect never developed itself more bril- liantly. In no age or nation have men of more splendid ta- lents appeared — more gifted statesmen, more lorty orators, more graphic historians, more ingenious philosophers, more consummate generals, more able lawyers, more sublime poets, more exquisite artists, and, considering the state of physical science, more slcilful mechanicians. Their cities were models of architectural grace and symmetry ; their ways and aque- ducts were stupendous ; their temples, their theatres, their palaces, have no parallels in modern times. Elegance and luxury were carried to their very acme among them. The Roman armies were the most tremendous engines of human power ever produced by human combination. The descrip- tion given by Josephus, of the army which invaded Judea and destroyed Jerusalem, impresses us with the idea of the art of war improved to its ne jihis xdtra in discipline, tactics, promptitude, and co-operation, as if it had been one compli- cated, yet simply and irresistibly acting machine of iron and steel. We are accustomed to associate all that is graceful with Greece, and all that is powerful with Rome ; we were early told that the world was refined by the one, and pros- trated by the other ; Ave were trained from boyhood almost to worship their books, and the very languages in which they were written ; we are familiar with venerable institutions and vast endowments in our own Island, for the study of these languages alone, while Greek and Roman wisdom, valour, patriotism, and virtue, have been to us as household words. MORALITY OF CHRISTIANITY UNKNOWN. 55 It Is time for us to try all this by another standard, and one which, had we been educated on right principles, we would have applied long ago. The barbarism of the ancients may be summed up in a word, — Christian morality was un- known IN Greece and Rome. Mercy and justice did not form the foundation or the actuating principle of their insti- tutions, their polity, or their private life. The virtue of their republics was mere self-exaltation, called patriotism, which was accompanied with gross injustice and cruelty to all other nations ; while a pampered appetite for military glory, and a systematic grasping ambition, produced almost perpetual war for conquest and plunder, with all the horrors and mi- series of that worst form of crime. The Roman share in these wars, with a few exceptions of retributive invasions by the more powerful victims of their injustice, was exclusively aggressive. The nation, and every individual of which it was composed, either joined in, or heartily sympathised with, these grand outrages of moral principle. Hence war, bloodshed, pride, ambition, with an insatiable rapacity, formed the basis of the Roman character, actuated their policy, controlled their education, and constituted their very being. This is what is meant by Roman barbarism. It differed from the savage state Duly in the extended intellect and improved combinations which enlarged its range, and increased its power of evil. Poets sung its atrocities as the summit of human glory, — for there is no greater test of barbarism than blindness to its ov/n features, and mistake of its crimes for virtues ; orators lauded the deeds of blood and rapine, in which sometimes as soldiers they had borne a part, and listening senates hung upon their lips, as they fed to fulness the coarsest appetites of national vanity and selfishness ; historians were ready, in their turn, to record in their imperishable pages, the proud crimes of their countrymen ; and philosophers systematised a spurious virtue out of the inferior impulses of human nature. Such was the ac- tual national practice from the days of Romulus to those of Con- stantine. As we do not find that even the sage philosophers themselves condemned, we are left to suppose they coimte- nanced and witnessed, the savage scenes of the amphitheatre, where Pompey slaughtered 500 lions, and Trajan 1 1,000 wild beasts, and 5000 gladiators, to glut the Roman delight in blood ! Whole days were spent in these theatres by the citi- zens of all ranks, witnessing, with breathless interest, the com- bats of men and beasts, and feasting their eyes with torture 56 TALENT WASTED COLLEGE CLASSICS STUDIED THERE. and death ; and the custom continued to debase and brutalize the people for centuries. Certainly, there never existed on earth a more sanguinary race than the admired Romans. Tliis thirst of blood, added to gross sensuality, and the cor- ru()ti()n which arose out of and ministered to it, the falsehood and dishonesty which characterized public and private life, were barbarism in the midst of all the gorgeousness of physi- cal, luxurious, and literary civilization. Morally, the Romans, and not less the Greeks, were uncivilized, and as the course of the selfish faculties which swayed them is downwards, they gradually sank and ultimately perished. The talent bestowed on classical pursuits is sometimes such as would master the sciences and extend their range. The prize list of a great grammar-school often presents wonderful productions of difficulty and labour. The efforts at College are still more herculean, and health and life are not seldom sacrificed in making them. The granunar-school finished about fifteen, the acquisition of useful practical knowledge may even yet be made, though under great disadvantages. But the feast which Nature spreads is especially withheld from the devoted youth destined to the classical glories of College. Special, laborious, and expensive care is taken to exclude the chance of his picking up even stray knowledge, by engaging him engrossingly in pursuits which lead away from it. When finished at school, he is said to be " prepared for College," and it is the greatest boast of a grammar-school, that its pupils are well fitted for this ad • vancement, and become renowned for bearing away the Uni- versity honours. Now " College," in the sense alluded to, does not mean the attainment of physical and moral science, the knowledge of Creation as revealed in the works of God ; it means more yet of the dead languages, more yet of these standards of science and morality, the Greeks and Romans ; it means advancement in the " higher classics ;" a greater ele- vation still above all " vulgar" studies which are to be of practi- cal use in the attainment of good and the avoidance of evil in after life.* The school keeps an eye upon its former * The term higher classics recalls a mode of reasoning adopted by scholars to silence the gainsayer ou the score of his incompetency. They tell him be is out of his depth when he questions the supremacy of classical literature, it being the privilege of few to attain to a knowledge of its exquisite beauties and perfections. The first answer to this is, that there could not be a stronger reason for forthwith abandoning the custom of wasting, on such a ASSUMPTION BY SCHOOLS — EFFORTS. 0/ alumni, and glories in their triumphs in the dead languages, in the rank they take at College, the scholarships, the fellow- ships they achieve. Nay, this is not all, the school prepos- terously claims to itself the credit of the whole future fame and fortune of its quondam pupil, the whole fruits of that edu- cation which he subsequently gave himself, and which the time he wasted within its walls only postponed ; while his Greek and Latin have not only contributed nothing to his ad- vancement, but have been most probably almost entirely for- gotten by him. There is no part of this solemn mockery of intellectual cultivation more tantalizing than the fact, that classical honours are borne away by efforts, not in the direct, but the inverse ratio of the value of the attainments reward- ed. Ambition performs feats almost incredible ; it furnishes an impulse which makes light and pleasurable tasks which, without it, would be an intolerable grievance. The literary performances are often of great merit, and were they not all, were they an elegant surplusage to practical wisdom and use- ful knowledge, they would be so much gained, an additional grace well worth possessing. But when they are all the hard earnings of the noonday and the midnight, when the same time, talent, and labour, properly directed, would have re- warded the young student with an extent of knowledge, ac- complishment, and resource, which few by their own efforts subsequently attain, we can only account for the dead lan- guages continuing for another day to occupy so long exclu- sively the seat of education, by reflecting that the men who suffer its continuance, were once boys, whom it at one and the same time cheated of sound knowledge, and entrenched in impregnable prejudice.* pursuit, the time of the many ; while the second is a challenge to point out auy passage in any author, Greek or Latin, which, saving always a certain felicity of expression, may not be given in English, to all the effect it pos- sesses of delighting or improving the thinking or feeling faculties of man. • As these strictures will very probably be objected to, as referring to grammar-schools as they were, and written in ignorance of the improvements now introduced into them, it was thought desirable to obtain some of the re- cent reports and prize-lists which are statedly published by the more impor- tant of these seminaries, and all that I have seen, indicate as yet paramount the old subjects of study and competition. It is worthy of remark, too, that the improvements claimed, are neither more nor less than partial introduc- tions of the very useful knowledge now advocated ; in other words, partial displacements of Greek and Latin. In the two great seminaries of Edin- burgh, the High School and Academy, there is considerable improvement in this way ; but both establishments put their scholarship foremost, in their ap- 58 AUTHORITIES AGAINST THE CLASSICS — MILTON. If all this shall appear to be strongly stated, if it shall ex- cite, as it will no doubt do, anijry feelings in those attached to tlic classics by habit and by tlime, and angrier still in those linked to them by interest, the writer has two grounds of de- precation ; First, he abjures all personal feeling in his stric- tures on a system of centuries. He knows the talent and the worth of many of its advocates and retainers ; to some of them he is even bound by the ties of friendship and affection. He remembers, with almost filial respect, the venerable men, now no more, who were his kind and sincere instructors ; re- spects the existing generation of classical teachers ; and so far is he from wishing to affect their patrimonial status, that lie would rejoice to see them compensated for tlie loss occa- sioned to them, by the adoption of a system of education more in harmony with the age, and more consistent with the nature and faculties of man. Secondly, The author claims the shelter of names which none can refuse to join him in venerating. Milton has these words : " Hence appear the many mistakes which have made learning generally so unpleasant and so unsuccessful. First, we do amiss to spend seven or eight years merely in scraping together so much miserable Latin and Greek, as might be learned otherwise easily and delightfully in one year ;* and that which casts our proficiency so much behind is, our time lost in oft too idle vacancies given both to schools and universi- ties, partly in a preposterous exaction from the empty wits of peal to the public. We find prizes for "best Grecian, best Greek prose, best Greek verses, best Latin verses ;" and themes written by boys of four- teen, when the faculties are unfit for the subjects, which it would task the powers of the ablest tacticians, politicians, and philosophers to deal with, such as, " Was the attack of Saguntum by Hannibal, and the invasion of Italy, justifiable on the reasons which he alleges? — Which was the abler general, Csesar or Hannibal ? — On the progress and decline of commercial nations — Whether was Livy or Herodotus the more correct historian ? — On the pro- gress of mankind from barbarism to civilization and refinement. — ; Whether is firistocracy or democracy ultimately more dangerous to public liberty ? — On the manners of the heroic ages," &c. It will astonish a more rationally educated age than our own, that the most enlightened men of the second quarter of the nineteenth century were satisfied with this as the fruit of seven years' labours in their sons ; well aware, at the same time, from their own experience, that the self-education, which is to fit for active life, has yet to begin, after all the prizes for long and laborious scholastic trifling have been awarded, and all the applauses bestowed and forgotten. " On saving time, and other matters, see Letter from Mr Cunningham, head master of the Edinburgh Institution for Languages, &c. App. No. II. LOCKE — GIBBON — SMITH — BYRON. 59 children, to compose themes, verses, and orations, which are the acts of ripest judgment." In another place, Milton says, " Though a linguist should pride himself to have all the tongues that liabel cleft this world into, yet, if he had not studied the solid thin(js in them, as well as the words and lexicons, he were nothing so much to be esteemed a learned man, as any yeoman or tradesman competently wise in his mother-dialect only." Locke, on Education, says, " Would not a Chinese, who had notice of our way of breeding, be apt to imagine, that all our young gentlemen were designed to be teachers and pro- fessors of the dead languages of foreign countries, and not to be men of business in their own." Again, the same author says — ^for he reprobates the practice in several passages : " But though the qualifications requisite to ti'ade and com- merce, and the business of the world, are seldom or never to be got at grammar-schools, yet thitJier not only gentlemen send their younger sons intended for trades, but even trades- men and farmers fail not to send their children, though they have neither intention nor ability to make them scholars. If you ask them why they do this ? they think it as strange a question, as if you should ask them why they go to church ? Custom serves for reason, and has, to those who take it for reason, so consecrate this method, that it is almost religiously observed by them ; and they stick to it, as if their children had scarce an orthodox education unless they learned Lilly's Grammar." A passage follows on the subject of the special oblivion of Greek. " How many are there of a hundred, even amongst scholars themselves, who retain the Greek they car- ried from school, or even improve it to a familiar reading and perfect understanding of Greek authors ?" * Gibbon observes, that " a finished scholar may emerge from the head of Eton or Westminster, in 'total ignorance of the business and conversation of gentlemen, in the latter end of the eighteenth century." Adam Smith makes the remark, that " it seldom happens that a man, in any part of his life, derives any conveniency or • A singularly confirmatory letter from Dr Christison, present professor of jSIateria Medica in the University of Edinburgh, who obtained the highest honours for Greek, both at school and college, and nevertheless has nearly forgotten that tongue, was lately published in Mr Combe's " Lectures on Education." 60 PHYSICAL SCIENCE MENTAL. advantage from some of the most laborious and troublesome parts of his education." Byron, on the authority of his biographer Moore, was a bad Greek and Latin scholar at Harrow ; hated the drudgery they imposed upon him, and acquired his copious, flexible, and splendid style by extensive English reading. It is necessary to repeat, as the qualification of the whole argument, — for nothing is more apt to be forgotten by the advocates of classical studies, — that not a word which has been said can even be perverted to mean absolute hostility to Latin and Greek, to the length of banishing them utterly from education as a pursuit. The study of them (but at a more advanced stage of education, and for a moderate portion of time, as advised by Milton) is necessary for the divine, — who must add Hebrew — the lawyer, and the physician. Nay, more ; even the higher classics afford an object which will well reward the kind of genius which is fitted for the pursuit. What is contended for is, the rescue of our entire youth from the dead languages, — from the engrossing exclusiveness of that one object, during all the period when real knowledge is most naturally and beneficially attainable. It will at once occur to the reader, that this qualification is precisely that which is likely to be most unwelcome to the teachers of the dead languages, whose emoluments depend upon the numbers of their pupils ; but this cannot affect the truth of the distinc- tion.* Our scientific studies are unexceptionably provided for at College. In all the branches of natural history, chemistry, and mechanical philosophy, we have the means offered us of the highest attainments. Suppose us to have completely mas- tered all these branches of physical science, the question re- mains. What is our access to the science of mind, or, more extensively, the science of man ? To physical man, there ex- ist ample means of being introduced ; but anatomy and phy- siology are never dreamed of by any one not destined to the medical profession ; the most highly educated gentleman knows as little about his own bodily frame, and its relations to An admirable treatise on the claims of the dead languages, written by Dr Caldwell of America, and edited by Mr Cox, has just been published. Black, Edinburgh. Dr Caldwell suggests the experiment of a complete edu- cation without the classics, against one with them, iii two youths of equal capabilities. A thorough English education has never yet been seen. ESSENTIAL TO EDUCATION. 61 external nature, as the most uninformed of the manual-labour class, and is nearly as ignorant of the conditions of health, though, practically and by habit more than principle, cleaner in his person and dwelling. But it is in the philosophy of mind that our universities present the grand blank.* Yet truth in this science must be arrived at before human affairs can be placed on a sound moral foundation. If it be unde- niable, that the true guiding principles of human affairs can only be accordance of human affairs with human faculties right directed, what must not be the extent of the evils which hu- manity suffers, when yet in ignorance or uncertainty as to the nature of these faculties ? Can we wonder at the confliction in speculation, and the confusion in action, which prevail around us ? Above all, what title have we to expect that edu- cation, — which is essentially the improvement of the human faculties, the guide to their right use, and the guard against that miserable abuse which far and wide embitters life, — can be either theoretically or practically understood, when no two philosophers are agreed as to what the faculties are ; and few writers on education have tliought of appealing to them, or considered it necessary to take them into account at all in their speculations. But this branch of the subject will be treated more at large in the next chapter ; the utmost object of this and the preceding will have been attained, if they shall tend to open our eyes, not only to the desolate state of seven- eighths of our countrymen, the manual-labour class, for lack of that knowledge which alone will enable them to co-operate in their own elevation, physical, moral, and intellectual, but not less to the imperfections of our own education, our ig- norance of that imperfection, and, the natural result, our un- fortunate apathy on the important subject. ' Professor Dugald Stewart's confession on this head has been already referred to. ( 62 ) CHAPTER HI. ON THE FACULTIES OF MAN, AND THEIR RELATIVE OBJECTS. Maa the being to be educated — Knowledge of bis nature required — Train> ing borses and dogs — Educatiou, its three essentials — Human body, im- provement of — Modes mistaken for faculties — Admitted view of man's nature The senses — their objects — Faculties of mind disputed — Shakspeare's and Scott's — Postulates to be conceded — Physiological evi- dence not founded on — Experience — Animal propensities — Self-Love Desire of estimation — Fear — Inferior feelings what — Law in the mind- Benevolence — Justice — Veneration — Ethics — Christianity — Other moral sentiments — Intellect — The senses — Knowingfaculties — Reflecting — Lan- guage — Tabular view of faculties — Possessed by all, but in different de- grees—Innate and permanent — Combination — Degrees of rank in facul- ties — Supremacy of Sentiments and Intellect illustrated— ISIr Combe's original views. As the being to be educated is man, some knowledge of his nature would seem to be a requisite preUminary to his actual education. Treatises abound in which we are told that man ought to be trained according to his nature, in harmony with his faculties ; but, with a few recent exceptions, no edu- cational writer has made an attempt, which deserves the name of systematic, to inquire what that natvu'e is, or what those fa- culties are. The trainers of horses and dogs proceed much more philosophically; they leave nothing to hazard, but study, with the utmost care, the distinguishing qualities of the ani- mals, and apply the best treatment to those qualities. But any kind of training is held good enough for the human animal, and moreover any kind of trainer who professes to undertake the office. When the principles which ought to regulate edu- cation are imderstood, this grievous error wll be corrected. It will then be known, and the knowledge acted upon, that education is a process calculated to qualify man to think, feel, and act, in a manner most productive of happiness. It will be known that he has a certain constitution of body and mind, having certain definite relations to beings and things external to itself, and that in these relations are the conditions of his weal or woe. Educatio7i icill then be seen to have three essen- EDUCATION — ESSENTIALS — THE BODY — SENSES. 63 Hals, — -first, hi/ early exercise to improve the powers and fa- culties, bodily and mental ;-^secondly, to impart a knowledge of the nature and purposes of these powers and facilities ; — and, thirdly, to convey as extensive a knowledge as possible of the nature of external beings and things, and the relations of these to the human constitution. There is an education for the body, as well as the mind ; the body has bones, joints, muscles, tendons, all constructed in beautiful relation to the properties of matter, to the me- chanical laws of force, resistance, gravitation, and equilibrium, and susceptible of improved adaptation by proper training. . The skin is adapted to its purposes of insensible perspiration, regulation of heat, absorption, and other functions, and is like- wise capable of increase of healthy action. The lungs, heart, and blood, and the air of the atmosphere, were created in pointed relation to each other, and disease and death are often the consequences of man's ignorance of this relation. The stomach and alimentary canal form a perfect chemical appa- ratus for digesting animal and vegetable matter, with relation to whose properties they were formed, and for absorbing and assimilating the digested and wonderfully prepared material to the constant repair of the bodily waste, from the substance of a bone or fibre of a muscle, up to the exquisite texture of the eye, and the yet more mysterious essence of the nerves, the spinal marrow, and the brain. All these points of know- ledge offer a fund of practical education ; the vigour of the body may, by judicious habits and exercise, be increased, and life improved in comfort and happiness ; while the havoc made by ignorance, and the sufferings of a shortened life by abuse of its functions, may be greatly diminished, if not prevented. That these bodily qualities form part of the constitution of man, is all to which it is necessary now to advert ; the educa- tion which has relation to the body, and through the body to the mind, — which last owes much of its vigour and efficiency to the power of the muscles, the energy of the nerves, the re- gularity of the digestion, the purity of the blood, the sound- ness and sanity of the brain, — belongs to the next chapter. The senses are an important object of education, as the media of man's communication with the material world : the exquisite adaptation of these to the known qualities of matter, of the eye to the properties of light, the ear to those of sound, and so of the others, is too obvious and universally admitted, to require here to be dwelt upon. 64 MENTAL FACULTIES MODES MISTAKEN FOR POWERS. It is far otherwise with the faculties of the mind. From the days of Plato downwards, no two philosophers have been agreed as to uhat they are, or in what they consist. How was it then possible to educate unknown faculties, and where is the wonder that, when the attempt has been made, systems of education have been so various and contradictory ? No- thing can form a more instructive proof of the non-practical character of the differing and contradicting analyses of the hu- man mind wliich metaphysicians have severally propounded, than the failure of one and all of them to systematise educa- tion. The grand obstacle has been, that modes of mental ac- tion have, in various ways, been mistaken for primitive powers of mind ; in other words, operations of mind, and not the spe- cific operating energies, have been observed. Now it is ma- nifest that operations, as such, are incapable of educational improvement, unless the operating powers be first improved ; it is impossible to improve the act, without previously improv- ing the actor ; hence no progress has been made in the edu- cation of man according to his faculties, just because the act- ing powers, the faculties themselves, have not been ascertain- ed, but their operations, or rather modes of operating, alone observed. Take for an example Consciousness, which is cata- logued as a faculty by the most approved and popular philo- sophers of mind : yet it is not a faculty, but the operation of several faculties, acting sometimes separately, sometimes to- gether. It were in vain for a teacher of youth to set about improving Consciousness ; as a special act, or a succession of acts, it is incapable either of enlargement or restriction. As well might the arrow's flight be rendered more swift and cer- tain, after it has left the bow. The arrow's flight is a mode or act ; the impelling powers are the elasticity of the bow, and the muscular vigour and skill of the archer. Both of these powers, especially the last, are capable of improvement. In like manner, the powers which produce Consciousness are the legitimate objects of education, and it Avill presently ap- pear that it is not difficult to ascertain what these are. Again, an able female author on education* bestows some chapters on the importance of educating Attention as a faculty. But Attention is not a faculty more than Consciousness ; it is the mode or act of many other faculties, which, in that act, direct themselves to their respective objects. Here too it were to pursue a shadow, to attempt to improve the mere act ; the • Mrs Elizabeth Hamilton, ACTIVE POWERS OF METAPHYSICIANS. 65 powers that act must be ascertained, and improvement sought in exercising those powers ; and that very exercise impHes the mode called Attention. The same may be said of such other alleged faculties, but mere modes of action, as Percep- tion, Conception, Judgment, &c. Perception must have a percipient, a power which perceives ; Conception a power which conceives, and Judgment a power, or powers which judge. The metaphysicians come nearer to positive primitive fa culties, in what they call the active powers, or affections. They acknowledge Benevolence, Hope, Conscience, Self- Love, Love of Fame, Love of Wealth, &c. ; but although these are primitive impulses, capable of direct improvement or regulation by education, we know of no positive institutions for that momentous purpose, till Infant Schools were realized. Now it is plain, that until an approximation be made to something like a practical analysis of the mind of man, until the faculties to be improved by education be known, educa- tion must continue to be vague, misdirected, and inefficient, as it has hitherto been. If, as is evident, we can make no practical use of a great part of the catalogue of faculties which we studied at college, may we not meet upon some admitted common ground ? May we not adopt those impulses or powers of mind which constitute the view of man taken, by neces- sity, in the common affairs of life, but rejected by philoso- phers, and therefore never reduced to any thing like system, and above all, never resorted to in education ? Let any one think what are the tendencies or characteristics in his fellow- men to which he traces their actions, and upon which he re- lies with the utmost confidence for certain expected results. Let us turn to our most successful portrayers of nature, a Shakspeare and a Scott, and observe what are their constitu- ent characteristics of that nature, to which the same faculties in ourselves echo with such delighted sympathy. Assuredly these will not be found in the catalogues of the metaphysi- cians. I should be safe in conditioning, that I shall not need to claim for hvmian nature any one impulse not recognised and dealt with — practically though not systematically — by Shakspeare and Scott. These are capable, we think, of a much more satisfactory analysis than might be supposed ; an analysis which only requires to be acted upon to supply a basis for education which would advance its efficiency to a de- gree almost beyond our calculation. I feel so confident that F 66 POSTULATES — INSTINCT OP FOOD — SEX all my postulates as to human powers, impulses, instincts, or faculties, — for we need not dispute about names, — will be con- ceded to me, from the impossibility, as I humbly view it, of refusing the concession, that I am content to peril the whole argument upon its being admitted by every educated person — First, that the impulses now to be enumerated form consti- tuent parts of man ; and, Secondly, that, as is true of the phy- sical struct\n-e and organic functions, each is related to some objects in nature, moral or physical, external to itself but di- rectly pointing to it, upon which it is exercised. I wish it, however, to be distinctly understood, that I do not found upon physiological evidence of the truth of the analysis of faculties which I am humbly to offer, because that evidence is not ge- nerally admitted ; I do not require to trace each faculty to a disputed cerebral origin ; the faculties shall be merely meta- physically submitted seriatim to the reader's judgment, and his own experience appealed to ; and any one which he does not recognise in man, I am quite contented that he shall re- ject. If, too, he does not think the relative object correctly added to each facidty as we advance, that also he is at perfect liberty to disallow. 1. I do not fear denial, when I claim for man a love of LIFE. 2. It is not less certain that he has an appetite for food, an instinct which directs him, even wlien new born, to remove the pain of hunger, the only pain then removable by an act of his own. Forming a variety or mode of the instinct of food, which last includes hunger and thirst, is tlie desire of the stimidus of alcohol in wine or some other shape. The abuses of these appetites are gluttony and drunkenness. That tliis instinct is primitive, is demonstrated by its often existing in a state of disease ; the insatiable craving of liunger, even wJien the stomach is fall, is a common lunatic symptom ; while the temptations of vAne and ardent spirits often, as for- merly stated, become altogether beyond the control of the will. The relative objects of that instinct are edible animal and vegetable matter ; while the juice of the grape, and other extracts capable of being fermented and distilled, gratify the taste for alcohol alluded to. 3. For the preservation of his species, man is endowed witli AN instinct of SEX. As the abuse of this impulse leads to much evil and suffering, individual and social, it requires much OFFSPRING ATTACHMENT TO CONTEND. 67 more educational watching and regulation than it ever receives, or this neglect, the consequences to body and mind are often horrible. Its derangement is known in lunatic asylums, and detailed in works on insanity. Its object, relatively, is the other sex. 4. Man has an impulse to cherish his offspring. Therc''^ are cases in which this propensity has been morbidly ex- cited. Its relative object is the helplessness and innocence of childhood ; the feeling and the object were intended for each other. 5. Attachment to the place of birth and resi- dence is a well marked element in the constitution of man. 6. A propensity of attachment to his fellow-men, in the alliances of society and friendship, is a part of man's con- stitution. This feeling is so strong, that solitude has often produced mental alienation, as has the unmitigated silence of some penitentiaries.* Man's fellows exist in manifest rela- tion to this social tendency. 7. No impulse requires more the restraining hand of edu- cation than the propensity to contend and fight. We are made most aware of its being part of man, by seeing it in the various forms of its abuse, contentiousness, contradiction, violence, assault, and war. But as no instinct or faculty was given for the purposes of abuse, we shall find the use of this propensity in self-defence, courage, enterprise, and general activity. This impulse has a marked relation to external ob- jects ; it was given to man that he may repel the dangers which often assail him from other animals, and the passions of his fellow-men. Its disease is a troublesome form of vio- lent lunacy. 8. It is not enough that man shall contend and fight, it is often imperative that he shall destroy. Besides killing for food, he must, in self-defence, kill dangerous animals, and more dangerous men, that assail him : and to fit him for this, he has an instinct to destroy. The feehngs which prompt to this extreme, with regard to his own species at least, are resentment, anger, and rage ; these are often abuses, and cer- tainly so is a cruel delight in giving pain, and even depriving of life. In disease it is the most dangerous form of madness ; * See treatise on^ Criminal Legislation, Appendix to the first edition of this Work. 68 IMPULSE TO DESTROY TO CONCEAL. for it produces murder without motive, appetite for blood, * imgovernable violence, and indiscriminate destruction of every thing within its reach. Much short of disease it is a trouble- some propensity ; cruelty to animals, and the tendency to deface and destroy, are its manifestations ; while the irascible tempers which disquiet the domestic circle, are its most ordi- nary form of abuse. It requires for its regulation, if not its repression, the firmest and the gentlest educational manage- ment. Tlie impulse is widely spread in the animal creation ; it is the instinct of prey ; and teeth, tusks, beaks, and claws, are its instruments. It prompts man, too, to arm himself with destructive weapons, from the rude club to the battery of cannon. Lastb/, it constitutes the impulse to punish, to inflict pain, torture, and death. 9. In nothing will the observant instructor of youth per- ceive more diversity among individuals, than in the characte- ristics of reserve or openness. Some individuals are so close, that nothing can be extracted from them ; others apparently never conceal any thing. The truth is, that all conceal much more than they declare, and an impulse to conceal is a con- stituent part of man, for the wise purpose of preventing that constant ex}X)sure of thoughts and intentions, which would not only render society intolerable, but would remove a ma- terial guard against the evils which, by their selfish passions, men are inclined to inflict upon each other. The right use of the impulse to conceal is a prudent reserve ; its abuse is cunning, duplicity and deceit. Those who are conversant with the insane, are well aware how often a morbid habi- tual cunning calls for increased vigilance. The related ob- jects of the faculty are the other faculties whose outward ma- nifestations it restrains : the perfection of what is called act- ing, in both a favourable and unfavourable sense, depends partly on the energy of this power : some children are con- summate actors, and thereby greatly perplex their teachers, who are ignorant of the spring and origin of that deceptive character. Several animals are strongly characterised by this instinct, for example, the fox, cat, tiger, and all that steal upon their prey ; not less are those which use deceptions to escape from their enemies, as the hare, &c. 10. Man has a desire to possess the material things * See treatise on Homicidal Insanity, Appendix to the first edition of this Work. DESIRE TO POSSESS TO CONSTRUCT. 69 that contribute to his enjoyment, and to accumulate them in exclusive property. When the advantages to society of this accumulation are reflected upon, it is evident that what is called capital, is an institution of nature, confined to man as to indefinite accumulation, though observed in bees, bea- vers, and some other animals as to annual store. It is only necessary to think what would be the condition of social man if he lived, like most animals, on the chance of each day, to be convinced of the connexion between accumulation and so- cial power and enjoyment. The use of the faculty to each individual, is the attainment of the means of regvilar subsist- ence for a family, and the benefit of inheritance : its abuse is avarice ; its grosser abuse theft : its disease every one has heard of or witnessed in an impulse, not created by necessity, but beyond the control of the will, to appropriate things of value, and, in the worst cases, whether of value or not. The related objects of the propensity, are material things which afford enjoyment in some way to the faculties, and money their sign and convertible value. The regulation of this pro- pensity ought to be an important object of attention in edu- cation. 11. Independently of his I'eason, man has an impulse to CONSTRUCT, to change the forms and combinations of matter into instruments and accommodations. Franklin called him a " tool-making animal." The faculty is often possessed in uncommon power by cretins and other idiots, without an atom of intellect to guide it. Reason and imagination greatly aid the faculty in man, as is evident when we compare the wigwam with the palace. Individuals differ greatly in this primitive power ; some can make whatever they see, others cannot fold a letter neatly. The relative objects of the im- pulse are manifest in the material world. This power the judicious instructor will recognise and call forth in his pupil. It must have occurred to the reader, that in the inferior animals are found allxhe eleven propensities now described, for they are important, if not essential, to animal existence. On this ground I shall distinguish them as a class, and refer to them in the sequel, by the name of the animal propensi- ties. Before leaving this class of faculties, it seems the best time to appeal to the reader's experience if it be not truth, and press the fact on the attention of the educationist, that vice and crime, in all their phases and varieties, are but other terms for the abuse of one or more of these specified 70 SELF-LOVE DESIRE OF ESTIMATION. impulses. The enumeration of a few will sufficiently illus- trate this, and the reader can apply each instance to the impulse abused, for they are set down in the order adopted — namely, gluttony, drunkenness, incontinence, contention, violence, cruelty, murder, robbery, fraud, theft. Sec. 12. Scarcely anticipating the possibility of the rejection of any of the eleven impulses already submitted, I would next, with not less confidence, claim for man, as we are com- pounding him, a sentiment of self-love, in which is included as well self-elevation as self-preference. In due and benefi- cial endowment, it is a legitimate attention to our own well- being ; it is self-respect, independence, and confidence in our own powers and capacities. In abuse, it is pride, self-suffi- ciency, disdain, insolence, love of power, tyranny, and gene- ral selfishness. It is a great exciting cause of the activity of the impulse to resentment and rage, when it takes the deeper colour of revenge ; and when combined with the impulse to appropriate, it renders that propensity yet more steady, grasp- ing, and exclusive. It is the special faculty of quarrels and duels, and forms the ingredient of turbulence and tyranny, whicli is a nuisance in public, and a cvirse in private life. No faculty of man is more apt to run into abuse, and half the moral evils of man's lot spring from that abuse. The guide of youth cannot, therefore, too early begin to watch and re- press its unamiable manifestations, and regulate its legitimate exercise. Under the present system of education, this im- portant part of man is left to its own guidance. It needs scarcely be added, that it is often manifested in a form of in- sanity not to be mistaken : morbid self-exaltation accounts for the straw crowns and wooden sceptres of Bedlam. The related objects of the feeling are obviously self and its con- cerns. 13. Another sentiment, often, but improperly, confounded with self-love, exercises a mighty influence over man, and furnishes the key to much of the pursuit of his life ; and that is, desire of ESTIMATION, or APPROBATION. By the one, a man esteems himself; by the other, he courts the esteem of others. They are best distinguished in their abuse. The one is pride, the other vanity ; the one assumes, the other begs ; hence it is often truly remarked, that an individual is too proud to be vain. The use of the sentiment now con- sidered, as intended by the All- Wise who endowed man with it, is a proper regard to character, the feeling of shame, SENTIMENT OF FEAR INFERIOR FEELINGS. 71 and, under proper regulation, the incitement to worthy con- duct in the love of praise. The feeling shrinks from reproach, censure, ridicule, and exposure. It leads to a careful con- cealment of vices, follies, and weaknesses, and, better yet, often to their cure. The laws which enact disgraceful pun- ishments, as the piliory, address it directly. It is essentially the love of glory, and, in combination with self-exaltation, it constitutes ambition. Finally, it often runs into disease, of which any one who has visited a large lunatic asylum must have been rather annoyingly made aware, by tlie eager com- petition of the vain patients to detail and display to him their merits, each at the same time pitying his neighbour for liis vain-glory. What, it may be asked, lias education ever done to regulate this and the previous powerful and all-pervading feeling ? The answer is, — Nothing ! On the contrary, it has carefully instituted the means of aggravating the evils of both, by all the competitions, prizes, preferences, and " honours" of our schools and colleges. The related object of this feeling is found in the tendency of mankind to observe and judge each other. 14. That a sentiment of fear is a part of man, no one will deny, and least of all the teacher of the old school, whose ever -brandished rod and cane make a personal appeal to thefeel- ing. The sentiment is given as a self-protector from dangers, physical and moral, with which we are surrounded. Its abuse is cowardice, terror, and panic. Punishment, for the sake of ex- ample, implies our belief of its power as a motive. Its exter- nal objects are danger and evil in general. When diseased, it occasions the groundless fears and horrors of hypochondria, and is essentially that insane melancholy which furnishes the impulse to suicide, by sufferings far more intense than man often knows in what is erroneously distinguished as reality. The last and the two preceding sentiments of self-love, and desire of estimation, evidently regard self; and, therefore, al- though very important constituent faculties in man, and in- tended, in their proper use, for the wisest ends, have no- thing in them amiable or exalted. They are as self-seeking as any of the nine animal propensities, and therefore may con- veniently be classed with these, vmder the general denomina- tion of tlie Inferior Feelings, to which, in the sequel of this work, it will often be necessary to allude. The wliole twelve instincts make up and constitute the Scriptural entity 72 LAW IN THE MEMBERS, AND MIND — BENEVOLENCE. of the " law in tlie members warring against the law in the mind." 15. That there is a law in the mind is beautifully implied in the very distinction of Scripture alluded to ; and it is the object of education, while it represses and regulates the law in the members, to strengthen and confirm the law in the mind. The first element of the law in the mind is Benevolence, — the benign parent of a catalogue of graces, in kindness, desire of the good of others, generosity, compassion, mercy, and all the sympathies of brotherly love. It is the charity which " suffereth long and is kind," which " is gentle and easy to be entreated," and which, in its expansiveness and sincerity, " is without partiality and without hypocrisy." It is impos- sible to conceive a description of benevolence more just, as well as beautiful, than the Scriptural. Sentient beings, gene- rally, are the related objects of this exalted sentiment, and their happiness is its scope and delight. It is an error to sup- pose its function confined to compassion and relief to distress and misery. It goes much beyond this : it is a well-spring of good-will to men, and reaps positive delight from the increase and extension of human happiness. Its manifestations appear to the selfish to be mere sentimental enthusiasm, or a weak sacrifice of substance and ease ; yet their most exclusive joys are vapid, in comparison with the delights of benevolence. Truly, as well as poetically, — " it is twice blessed. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, and becomes The throned monarch better than his crown." It is rewarded with the love of our fellow-men ; for to be ge- nerally " liked," as it is termed, is the necessary effect of be- ing benevolent ; and this popularity is not confined to those who benefit by its generous acts, but is universal. The field of benevolence is boundless, for it embraces all that can aid or advance human happiness, physical and moral. It desires to see man free, enlightened, morally and religiously elevated, and placed in physical comfort and safety. It descends also to kindness to the lower animals. Even this higli sentiment is capable of abuse. This ap- pears in facility, indiscriminate alms-giving, and profusion. In disease, it is beyond the power of the will of the individual, to whom, therefore, the law appoints a guardian. JUSTICE TRUTH CANDOUR. 73 16. A sentiment of justice or Conscientiousness be- longs to man ; it respects the rights of others, and is also ma- nifested in truth and candour. Its deficiency is a great defect of character, unamended even by benevolence. The benevo- lent but unconscientious individual is apt to be generous be- fore he is just, according to an every-day expression. It is a mistake to recognise a defective conscientiousness in that pal- pable dishonesty only which calls for the interference of the law. It is a wide-spreading evil in society, far short of that degree of its manifestation. It shews itself in a way and man- ner against which the law cannot make provision, in the great variety of modes in which men, for selfish ends, are imfair to each other, by taking advantages which they would not give ; concealing the truth which ought to be told, or misleading with regard to it ; disallowing others' claims, not capable of easy proof ; shrouding others' merits ; misstating or distort- ing others' argument ; resenting fair competition ; envying success ; manifesting a selfish jealousy ; indulging in evil- speaking and ridicule ; and, in a thousand ways, " doing to others that which we would not they should do to us." The severest satire on mankind is really found in the distinction conceded to the fair, open, candid, and considerate character, to the Aristides of his circle, who is marked for his whiteness, the etymology of candour, in the midst of the various shades of discoloration in his fellows, with which he is surrounded. There is not a more delicate task for the infant teacher — for the training must be early — than the exercise of the senti- ment of justice and truth, not merely in its broad lines, but in its minutest shadowings. The disease of the feeling, for even conscientiousness may be over-excited, is observed in the me- lancholy self-accusatory ravings of some maniacs, especially in those too numerous cases in which religious terrors have driven reason from its seat. The related objects of the sen- timent of justice are the rights and feelings of our fellow-men. It acknowledges the justice of God. 17. The most superficial observer of man cannot have fail- ed to feel in himself, and observe the signs in others, of a sen- timent of Veneration, a feeling of deference, submission, and reverence. Deferential terms are used by us in our con- verse with those we feel to be our superiors in intellect or conventional rank, as something that is their due ; and the whole strength of the feeling can be testified by those whom it has deprived of utterance when suddenly brought into the G 74 VENERATION — NATURAL ETHICS. presence of majesty. Yet the trembler in the king's presence is not unnerved by fear, for bis reason assures him that he i& in no personal danger ; but " the divinity that doth hedge a king," — Shakspeare's graphic description of the feehng of ho- mage to real or supposed superiority, which is a faculty or sentiment in man, — is the true cause that " ^V^len the king doth look, the subject quakes." But there is a higher related object of this feeling than earthly kings. The King of kings is its great end and ob- ject : it is then veneration, and constitutes the chief ingre- dient in the adoration of reHgious worship. A large natural endowment of the sentiment often carries mere external sanctity to excess, and, mistaking it for religion, claims, and often receives, consideration and homage for it, to the incon- venient crowding of the calendar. The feeling also runs into monomania. The author once saw a young man in Bethlem Hospital in St George's Fields, who dropt on his knees when- ever a stranger appeared, raised his eyes, united the palms of his hands, and remained in that devotional attitude for some time, without uttering a word. The misdirection of this feel- ing, either towards the Deity or our fellow-men, is attended with so much evil, that its proper guidance and exercise ought to form, what it never yet has formed, an object of the most attentive and enlightened educational care. The three feelings of benevolence, jttstice, and veneration, predominating over the inferior and selfish propensities, pre- sent us at once with an intelligible system of ethics. This is that supremacy of the moral sentiments which is partially ad- mitted by ethical writers, from Butler to Chalmers ; the lat- ter, in his Bridgewater Treatise, constitutes conscience the sole ruler ; but benevolence is not less offended by vice and crime than justice ; while veneration is shocked with the daring disobedience to God's will which these aberrations in- volve. The three sentiments of justice, benevolence, and veneration are powerfully combined in that preceptive key- stone of Christianity, " to do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." The humility so beautifully glanced at is that repression of self-exaltation, an impulse I have al- ready treated of, which the instructor should always keep in view ; remembering that " pride vvas not made for man ;" self-love was intended for him, but not its abuse, " which bringeth a snare." The energy of these three feelings, act- HOPE — FIRMNESS. 75 ing in combination, constitutes the moral impossibility of com- mitting crime ; for a man in whom they are supreme, is re- strained from criminal acts more effectually than if fetters of triple brass were on his hands. If there be means, — and it will appear in the sequel that there are beautifully simple and effectual means, — of increasing the power of these invaluable sentiments, by the exercise of practical moral training, does it not vitally concern society to apply them ? I shall offer a few words more on the supremacy of the higher feelings, after treating of the Intellect. 18. I claim no more for man than almost all metaphysi- cians do, and all the non-metaphysical world, in attributing to him a sentiment of Hope, the source of much worldly hap- piness, and the natural foundation of our prospects of a life to come. Hope is an ingredient in religious feeling ; while, in common life, it is not confined to expectations and antici- pations of the future, but is a permanent gaiety, lightness of heart, and buoyancy of spirits, which is contented with the present, dreads no evil, and constitutes in itself real happi- ness. Children, as well as adults, differ widely in this charac- ter of mind ; an enlightened teacher of youth will convert the feeling to useful purposes. 19. The teacher will find his pupils to differ in another respect : he Avill meet with some of them pliant and obedient, and others obstinate and impracticable ; there is, in different degrees, in man, a sentiment of Firmness, the use of which is perseverance and fortitude, the abuse of which is obstinacy. It is of importance that this should be recognised in education as an innate feeling, by which much labour to the teacher, and suffering to the young, might be prevented by avoiding vain contests with obstinacy, persevered in by the teacher in the expectation of curing the defect, while he is only strength- ening the feeling, and confirming the habit. The struggle with an obstinate child, who is further fortified by pride and self-sufficiency, may be compared to an attempt to extract a nail by striking it on the head ; every stroke only drives it far- ther. The judicious teacher will take care never to bring the matter to that issue, but will address himself to other facul- ties, especially justice, benevolence, and reflection ; keeping in mind the fable, that the storm could not induce the travel- ler to part with his cloak, which he only held the faster, but the sun prevailed. 20. Man loves the wonderful. That the sentiment of Won- 76 WONDER — RELIGIOUS FEELING — IDEALITY. DER is innate, will scarcely be doubted by any one who ob- serves its power as a motive, and the fortunes that are made by appeals to it. Well does the charlatan know the effect produced by his cry of " wonder I" It is evidently bestowed as a source of delight in contemplating the wonders of Creation, and as an impidse to inquiry. With Veneration and Hope, it constitutes the religious combination of faculties ; I mean what is called religious feeling, for conscience and reflection are the bases of religious duty. The joint operation, in due proportion, of the two sets of faculties, makes up the perfec- tion, humanly speaking, of the religious character; while a se- paration of them is always more or less to be regretted. Take away or impair reflection, and the remaining feelings will be apt to run into enthusiasm, and even fanaticism ; take away or diminish conscience, and we have the apparent anomaly of sanctity without honesty, of religious excitement with much unfairness, censoriousness, intolerance, and persecution. Won- der is met with in morbid activity ; its madness sees visions, speaks jargon, and dreams dreams, nay, attempts miracles ; in combination with a high estimate of self, it constitutes the prophet of special revelation, and the angel of light admitted to the counsels of heaven. Of this we have not to go far for examples, — the leaders and their followers are all over-ex- cited tvonderers. Education is called upon to watch this fa- culty ; it will shew itself in a child in a tendency to exaggerate and embellish, a marked delight to surprise and occasion won- der, with often an utter sacrifice of truth to attain that end. 21. I do not anticipate objection to a faculty for the sub- lime, the beautiful, the elegant, the perfect, the poetical, as a constituent of the mind of man. The Imagination of the me- taphysicians comes nearest this sentiment, but it does not ex- press it. Imagination is considered as a power which pro- duces ideal creations ; the feeling in question is a mere sen- timent or habit of mind which aspires to the beautiful and perfect, and communicates an elegant refinement to the whole character ; it prompts other faculties to create, while itself merely feels, and views all nature with associations of beauty and of poetry. Its abuse is romantic enthusiasm, unguided by reflection. Its related objects are all that is beautitid and sublime in nature ; it is one of the gifts of Divine Benevo- lence which points directly at high enjoyment ; like music, it is something superadded to the necessary faculties. When it i^ absent or deficient, the individual is gross and unrefined. THE LUDICROUS — IMITATION MORAL SENTIMENTS. / / Infant education takes much care of this feehng, and in va- rious ingenious ways calls it into exercise, with different suc- cess, according to the degree of natural endowment ; for in nothing do individuals differ more from each other. With the explanation now given, I shall call this faculty Imagination, or Ideal Perfection. A still more beautiful term is Ideality. 22. The love of the ludicrous requires a judicious edu- cational management. Man is the only laughing animal, the only one gifted with a specific enjoyment from the contem- plation of incongruity. It is greatly abused in satire, tricks, and mischief, and requires watching : it operates severely on the temper of many who are made its butts, and often withers every purpose of exertion or improvement. Certainly it has been greatly neglected in education. Its relative objects are found in the exhaustless fields of incongruity. 23. Imitation is a marked faculty in man, which shews itself even in the youngest children. Its purpose is manifest- ly to bring society to a convenient uniformity of manners, without which it would present a scene of inextricable con- trariety, and to aid in educing the powers of the young, by the energy of an impulse to do what they see done by their seniors. It aids, as is most obvious, the imitative arts ; and has for its related objects no narrower field than universal nature. The reader is requested to glance back at the faculties just treated of, beginning with 1 5 and ending with 23, and to keep in mind that, whenever the moral sentiments are men- tioned, these nine faculties are meant. He will at once ob- serve that Self-Love, Desire of Estimation, and Fear, are not of dignity sufficient to be classed with the moral sentiments ; but, being as selfish in their nature as the animal propensi- ties, and being also plainly discernible in the inferior animals, they are classed with the propensities under the general name of the inferior feelings; it follows that the moral senti- ments are meant, when the term superior feelings is used. These last distinguish man on this earth, from all the crea- tures of God. But the " Law in the Mind" would be an imperfect regu- lator of the " Law in the Members," if it consisted even of the moral sentiments alone. Sentiments are but feelings, and feelings, however virtuous, are blind, and depend upon intel- lect for their proper direction. For example, benevolence prompts us to succour poverty ; but that feeling makes no 78 INTELLECT— KNOWING FACULTIES. inquiry into the cause of that poverty which it reheves. It tlierefore requires to be itself directed by another class of fa- culties, namely, the intellectual, which, observing, perceiving, knowing, and reasoning, can ascertain, if so it be, that the po- verty is the result of idle and profligate habits, that the poor man is perfectly able-bodied and fit for labour, and that there- fore the benevolence is wasted, and worse, upon the encou- ragement of an unworthy object.' Man is endowed with in- tellectual faculties, and these may be divided into the know- ing and REFLECTING. It is undeniable that, intellectually, we Imow and we reflect. It is a common observation that know- ledge is not wisdom, till it is compared and reasoned on by reflection. It is its combination with reflection, which con- stitutes that knowledge which is power. The weakest reflect- ing powers often co-exist in the same individual, with a store of knowledge which excites our wonder. A walking ency- clopaedia is a title currently given to a person who knows every thing, while his reasoning powers are nevertheless of the humblest order. Nothing proves more demonstrably than this, that knowing and reasoning are distinct powers of mind. The FIVE SENSES are knowing faculties. On these it is imnecessary here to enlarge. They are described in every school-book.* The KNOWING POWERS cognize two distinct classes of ob- jects ; namely, existences and events^ in other words, things that are, and things that happeii. Let any one reflect for a moment, and he will find that whatever he knows, must be either an existence or an event. The paper on which I write is an existence — a thing that is ; if I drop it on the carpet, it is an event, a thing that has happened, a change has taken place : soldiers are existences, their battle is an event ; the acid and the alkali are existences, their effei'vescence on mix- ture is an event. Existences are marked by nouns in gram- mar, events require verbs. Natural history concerns exist- ences, civil history records events. Now, from observing that the power of perceiving and remembering these two classes of objects, respectively, varies, in a marked degree, in different individuals, we may consider them as distinct faculties, which • I have elsewhere, in a short treatise on the subject, endeavoured to shew that a sixth sense is essential to animal existence, namely, one by which we perceive merhanical resistance, that we may regulate our muscular movements according to its degree. I have the satisfaction of having the concurrence of several sound philosophical thinkers on this subject. EXISTENCE EVENTS ATTENTION OBSERVATION.' 79 require in education a separate range of study and exercise, the one improving the faculty for existences, the other the faculty for events. I claim then, for man, — A POWER TO COGNISE AND REMEMBER EXISTENCES. A POWER TO COGNISE AND REMEMBER EVENTS. It is obvious that, to a great degree, man enjoys these fa- culties in common with the inferior animals, which last could not exist without a considerable degree of perception and me- mory, both of things that are and things that happen. These two faculties are most active in childhood and youth, possess a keen appetite for knowledge, and reap so much delight from its attainment, that an instructor, himself well endowed with knowledge, and distinguished by a lively and exciting manner of communication, who can keep wonder alive, and put into his lessons a due mixture of the higher feelings, will possess a power over the will and happiness of his pupils, which will form, and it is already known to form, a striking contrast to the heart-withering irksomeness of the old schools, in which an antiquated and most hurtful system of appeal to the infe- rior feelings of fear, self-exaltation, vanity, and covetousness, is found necessary to stimulate the languid faculties. The knowing faculties are capable of great educational improve- ment, and, by judicious exercise, often arrive at such a degree of comprehension, minuteness, and accuracy, called cleverness and acumen, as to give great practical power in life, and to lead to discovery and invention which extend indefinitely the range of human attainment. We can now understand the mode of activity called attention ; it is the tension or active employment of the knowing faculties when in the act of ob- servation. The young must be called upon to observe, and that extensively and minutely : the educated know well how little was done for them in this exercise, when they were en- gaged exclusively in reading books, and dreamingly passing over the whole of existing things, though before their eyes. In the lower classes of the people, observation remains utterly dormant, and much of the suffering of their condition is the consequence. The related objects of these two knowing powers are Creation and Creation's changes ; their scope is unbounded. There are other knowing faculties, of marked distinction in the different degrees of manifestation by different individuals, which aid in the acquisition of knowledge ; such as a percep- tive power for each quality and relation of matter, as form, 80 QUALITIES OF MATTER REFLECTING POWERS. SIZE, FORCE, COLOUR, ARRANGEMENT, NUMBER, PLACE, TUNE, SOUND. On these the talents of drawing, painting, sculpture, mechanics, calculation, and music depend. But these mani- festations must be so obvious to the enlightened and judicious educationist, that I shall not occupy time and space with a detail of them. The REFLECTING POWERS make use of the materials stored by the knowing faculties, for the purpose of performing the operation of reasoning. That consists in comparing two existences or two events, and concluding that something else exists, existed, or will or may exist, or that something else happens, happened, or will or may happen, in consequence. The process of reasoning, of conclusion-drawing, is some- times performed by a simple act of comparison, or perception of analogy : a great majority of mankind reason in this way , such a truth, they say, follows from the resemblance of two truths which they have compared. The whole of the brilliant field of what in reasoning is called illustration is nothing more than this process of comparison ; and, as many writers and speakers, and these like Dr Chalmers by far the most popular, manifest almost an exclusive preference for analogical and illustrative reasoning, I feel that I am warranted in distin- guishing in man, the reflecting faculty of comparison. Some reasoners, but comparatively few, are more severe, and are contented with no conclusions which do not stand in the relation of necessary consequence to their premises. This is truth, they reason, because it is deducible necessarily from the consideration of these other known truths brought toge- ther. These are the logicians, who distrust analogy and com- parison. The faculty they use is the highest intellectual power, the percipient of the relation of cause and effect, which I beg to designate by the name of the faculty of neces- sary CONSEQUENCE. When the distinct operation of the two mentioned faculties is understood by the instructor of youth, the different lines of talent will be obvious to him, and the educational training will be made to correspond. It is a metaphysical error to distinguish Memory as a pri- mitive faculty, seeing that the cognising and reasoning powers must necessarily be the remembering powers ; remembrance being nothing else but the continued impression of cognition and reasoning, varying according to the energy of those ])owers. If memory were a distinctive power, it would, in each individual, be alike strong, and regard all subjects of re- MEMORY PERCEPTION LANGUAGE RETROSPECT. 81 collection alike. But this is not consistent with fact ; one in- dividual remembers existences, and another forgets existences and remembers events, a third recalls with ease a train of rea- soning, another musical airs, and another the faces of persons lie has seen, or the scenes he has surveyed, each perhaps weak- ly remembering something else of the matters now enumerat- ed ; we are, therefore, forced to the conclusion, that there is no general faculty called memory, but that each faculty has its own power of recalling its impressions. The instructor of youth should ponder this truth well, and he will save himself and his pupil much time and labour, in the indefinite and de- sultory exercise of a supposed general faculty of memory, when in truth he can only improve the memory of each fa- culty in the proper direct cultivation of the faculty itself. The reader is, it is trusted, now in a condition to see the propriety of disallowing Perception as a primitive faculty. Both the knowing and reflecting percipient powers have now been explained and distinguished : the faculty of existences perceives existences, that of events events ; that of compari- son, resemblances ; that of necessary consequence, cause and eft'ect ; so that a general faculty of perception is necessarily a nonentity. Last of all, I claim for man, whose composition we have now finished, the man-distinguishing faculty of language, whereby he converts his thoughts into the conventional signs called words, and, in oral and written discourse, excites the faculties of his fellow-men in the boundless extent of social intercourse. Once more, before proceeding farther, the reader is re- quested to subject the foregoing analysis to the strictest scru- tiny. He is not asked to surrender the catalogue of faculties which may be dear to him as associated with the venerable name of Alma Mater ; he is welcome to reserve that for the amusement of his metaphysical hoiu's ; all that is now asked is, that he will admit, or at least not deny, that the feelings, impulses, or faculties, just submitted to his consideration, have been recognised by him in that being called Man. Many pages might be filled for his aid, from Shakspeare, " the Priest of Nature," and Scott, his kindred genius, to whom I have al- ready referred ; but as this would much lengthen a chapter already long, I have thought it prudent to withdraw what I had prepared for the press on this subject. The whole faculties which have been described, are now 82 TAEULAK VIEW — FACULTIES POSSESSED BY ALL. brought under the reader's eye in a table for the convenience of reference : — INFERIOR FEELINGS. ANIMAI, PROPENSITIES. Love of Life. Instinct of Destruction Instinct of Food. Sex. Impulse to Conceal. Possess. Offspring. Home. Society. Courage. Construct. Self. Love. Desire of Estimation. Fear. SUPERIOR FEELINGS. MORAL SENTIMENTS. Benevolence. Wonder. Justice. Ideal Perfection. Imagination. Veneration. Laughter at the Ludicrous. Hope. Imitation. Firmness. INTELLECT. the senses. Knowing Faculties. Cognition of Existences. Cognition of Arrangement. Events. dumber. Form. Place. Size. Time. Force. Sound. Colour. Reflecting Faculties. Comparison. Necessary Consequence. Language. Several general points require a moment's attention. I . All the faculties in the preceding table belong to every sane in- dividual of the human race ; the want of any of them would be imperfection, or partial idiocy. 2. They are possessed in very different degrees of endowment by different indivi- duals. It is this difference which constitutes the endless va- rieties in the characters of men. Taking the faculties in groups, it is evident that individuals in whom the inferior feel- ings predominate, will be coarse, sensual, and animal ; while those in whom the higher feelings are the strongest, will be INNATE AND PERMANENT COMBINATION. 83 moral and refined. In each individual, some faculty, or com- bination of faculties, is always so povverftil as to mark the cha- racter ; and the observation and discussion of these charac- terizing peculiarities in each other, constitute half the busi- ness of human intercourse. Any one could furnish a cata- logue of the characteristics of his acquaintances, and that ac- cording to the order of the foregoing table. A, he would say, is a gourmand ; B is abstemious and sober ; C cannot tole- rate children ; D should take the situation of a nursery-maid ; E is argumentative, contentious, violent, and passionate. F is as gentle and forbearing as a lamb ; G is reserved, cunning, and artful, H is open as the day ; I is avaricious and miserly ; K is proud ; L is vain ; M is a coward ; N is humble and diffident, and shrinks from notice ; O is benevolent ; P is ge- nerous and almost profuse, while R is cold-hearted ; S is just and true ; T is ignorant ; U is an encyclopaedia ; V is pro- found and logical ; W cannot put two ideas together, and draw a conclusion from their comparison ; X has a turn for the fine arts ; Y excels in mechanics ; Z has a gift of lan- guage, so copious, fluent, and correct, that his thoughts form themselves into words with the precision and beauty of crys- tallization. 3. It must occur to the reader, and he is requested to re- member it as a fundamental truth, that these characteristics of individuals arise from innate faculties, which are perma- nent, and, however improveable, not liable to be eradicated. The faculties modify each other, but the general character is fixed. The irascible man of to-day was so twenty years ago ; so was the selfish ; though, higher feelings being cultivated, the conduct of the one is milder, and of the other more liberal than they would otherwise have been. 4. Another point is to be kept in mind by the reader, name- ly, that the human faculties are capable of acting in combina-^ > tion with each other, at least of simultaneous activity ; the' effect of w^hich will be an increased tendency to a common end, when the faculties acting are in harmony ; or a modifi- cation of power, so that the balance in favour of the strongest will be the remaining force, when they antagonize each other. This is the state of what is called mixed motives, which scarce- ly needs illustration. In a. public subscription for a charity, for example, Benevolence prompts to give, and often much more strongly does vanity, but their united operation mani- festly strengthens the impulse ; self-love and avarice would 84 RANK OF THE FACULTIES — SUPREMACY. save the money. Now, it is perfectly obvious, that it will be given or withheld, according as one combination or the other prevails. Other examples might be supplied, but they can be easily figured. It is plain that what is called individual cha- racter must essentially be the product of a sort of balance of power among all the faculties ; the strongest will stand out most prominent, as the ruling passion ; but modified by others, it will only present itself as a remainder. Thus a man has a powerful impulse of courage, and a thirst for glory, which would urge him on to seek the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth ; but he is also endowed with a cautious fear of wounds and death, the result of whose operation will be a certain deduction from his rash gallantry, and a practical feel- ing that the better part of valour is discretion. He is still a man for the cannon's mouth, but he will never go there but when influenced by a prudent sense of duty. It is needless to push so obvious an inquiry farther. It must be manifest that education should address itself pointedly to these com- binations. 5. The last general observation which requires to be made is one which will at once be admitted, namely, that there are degrees of value and rank in the faculties of man. It is a law of our nature to look upon the moral sentiments with more respect than the animal propensities ; while the powers of re- flection and reasoning are more elevated than the acutest fa- culties of observation. When superiority involves control, it is called supremacy. This control is exercised by the moral faculties, guided by the intellect, which constitute what is called ethics. I was pledged to return to this subject when I had explained the Intellect, for the conti'ol is properly called the Supremacy of the Moral Sentiments and Intel- lect. No writer has thrown so much light vipon this important subject, as Mr Combe, in his " Constitution of Man," already referred to. He says, " Every faculty stands in a definite relation to certain external objects ; when it is internally ac- tive it desires these objects ; when they are presented to it, they excite it to activity, and delight it with agreeable emo- tions. Human happiness and misery are resolvable into the gratification or denial of one or more of our active faculties, before described, of the external senses, and the feelings con- nected with our bodily frame. The faculties in themselves are mere instincts ; the moral sentiments and intellect are OF MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 85 higher instincts than the animal propensities. Every faculty is good in itself, but all are liable to abuse ; their manifesta- tions are right only when directed by enlightened intellect and moral sentiment. In maintaining the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, I do not consider them sufficient to direct conduct by their own instinctive suggestions. To fit them to discharge this important duty, they must be illti- minated by knowledge of science and of moral and religious duty ; but wherever their dictates, thus enlightened, oppose the solicitations of the propensities, the latter must yield, otherwise, by the constitution of external nature, evil will in- evitably ensue. This is what I mean by nature being con- stituted in harmony with the supremacy of the moral senti- ments and intellect." I am not acquainted with any thing more delightfully in- structive than the pages which follow the extract just given. In these Mr Combe illustrates the principle of the regulating power of the moral sentiments and intellect, by shewing its application to some of the most important affairs of life : for example, the principle, if acted on, would prevent the domes- tic propensities from blindly seeking alliance in marriage with an unworthy object. It would prevent the formation of rash friendships, which, founded on fashion, or any other form of selfishness, have no solid foundation, and end, if fortune changes, in mutual reproaches and charges of insincerity. The contrast of the heyday of Sheridan's reputation, which surrounded him with friends who vainly boasted of his acquaint- ance, to the closing scene of his deserted deathbed, is given as an example. Again, the principle, if it did not prevent their formation, would at least shew that there is no cause for wonder when partnerships, entered into for mutual gain, fall to pieces in consequence of bad success, or some other excite- ment of selfishness. After several other examples of false and baseless reliance on the inferior feelings, Mr Combe points out the delight and permanence of alliances and connexions formed vmder the guidance of the higher feelings and the in- tellect, in which not only these are delighted after their own pure and exalted nature, but the inferior feelings themselves are gratified in their proper and legitimate way, so that all the faculties are in harmony with each other. I cannot with- hold the concluding passage on this subject. " By this illus- tration, the reader will imderstand more clearly m hat I mean by the harmony of the faculties. The fashionable and com - 86 BASELESS FRIENDSHIP — HARMONY OF FACULTIES. mercial friendships, of which I spoke, gratified the lower feel- ings, but left out, as fundamental principles, all the higher sentiments : there was therefore a want of harmony in these instances ; an absence of full satisfaction ; an uncertainty and changeableness, which gave rise to only a mixed and imper- fect enjoyment while the friendship lasted, and to a feeling of painful disappointment, and of vanity and vexation, when a rupture ensued. The error, in such cases, consists in found- ing attachment on the lower faculties, seeing they, by them- selves, are not calculated to form a stable basis of affection ; instead of building it on them and the higher sentiments, which afford a foundation for real, lasting, and satisfactory friendships. In complaining of the vanity and vexation of attachments springing from the lower faculties exclusively, we are like men who should try to build a pyramid on its smaller end, and then lament the hardness of their fate, and speak of the unkindness of Providence, when it fell. A simi- lar analysis of all other pleasures founded on the animal pro- pensities chiefly, would give similar results. In short, happi- ness must be viewed by men as connected inseparably with the exercise of the three great classes of faculties, the moral sentiments and intellect exercising the directing and control- ling sway, before it can be permanently attained." This chapter cannot be more appropriately concluded, than by calling the attention of the educationist to the light which he will find thrown on the moral government of the world, by the views now propovmded of the faculties of man, and their relative objects. It is the main design of Mr Combe's " Con- stitution of Man," to demonstrate the foundation of that go- vernment. He distinguishes the laws of nature into Physical, Organic, Moral, and Intelligent, and shews that if man does not yield obedience to these laws, evil, even in this life, will be the consequence. 1*^, He has shewn — and he is entitled to the high distinc- tion of having been the first to shew — that the natural LAWS OPERATE INDEPENDENTLY OF EACH OTHER: that each requires obedience to itself, and, in its own specific way, rewards obedience, and punishes disobedience ; and that hu- man beings are happy precisely in proportion to the degree of their obedience to, or to the degree in which they place themselves in accordance with, these the Divine institutions. For example, an individual who neglects or carelessly observes the corresponding 7;/i?/5^■ca/ law of nature, will be drowned, or HAPPINESS INDEPENDENCE OF LAWS OF NATURE. 87 burnt, or crushed, or fractured, or lacerated, and that inevit- ably, however strictly he may obey the moral laws, even to the extent of the utmost reach of human virtue. Again, if he obeys the organic laws, he will reap bodily health, which is the specific reward of that obedience, nor will any degree of moral turpitude, if he avoids sensual excess, which is a breach of the organic as well as the moral laws, materially diminish his health. But his moral defects will bring their own punish- ment ; and, from these, his health of body will not protect him. This principle affords a key to much that appears in- scrutable in the moral government of this world. Whatever man may be permitted to hope with regard to another, he must study and obey the laws which regulate this world, else no degree of piety and worth will save him from the evils which follow neglect of the physical and organic laws ; while no compliance with these last will shield him from moral suf- fering, if he contemns the moral laws. Whenever we get the principle of the independent operation of the different depart- ments of the natural laws, the apparent confusion of life is explained, and we see why the bad man often prospers exter- 7ially in this world, and the good man is overwhelmed with misfortune ; — I say externally, for the bad man cannot reap higher enjoyment than physical and organic, while, at the same time, he suffers all the penalties of a low morality. On the other hand, the good and pious man, however physically and organically afflicted, is compensated, even here, with the direct consolations of virtue and religion. But the kind of happiness enjoyed, or misery suffered, will be found invariably to result, to each character, directly and separately, and vrith- out the possibility of interference of any of the others, from the specific law or laws obeyed or contemned. This theory of the independent operation of the different classes of the laws of nature, which is itself sufficient, when practically ap- plied to the affairs of man, to work a momentous change in his condition in the present world, is not, it is believed, to be found in any previous author, and therefore belongs to Mr Combe. 2rf, Although many writers have partially shevra, and more have conjectured, that there is a certain harmony between the constitution of external nature and the constitution of man, Mr Combe has been the first to demonstrate this harmony, as an all-pervading principle of creation, and a perfect and beau- tifully symmetrical system. In order to perceive the wise re- 88 HARMONY BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE. lation of the natural laws to the human constitution in body and mind, hoik these related objects must be understood. On the one hand, the laws, physical, organic, moral, and intel- ligent, must be observed, and their independent operation de- monstrated ; and on the other, the mitid of man, as well as his body, must be known ; yet that knowledge, according to Mr Dugald Stewart, was, down to his time, " yet in expec- tation." Mr Combe has adopted the faculties which have now been detailed, as primitive in man, and comparing these with external nature and nature's laws, he at once saw, and made plain to his countrymen and the world, the perfect cor- respondence anfl harmony which was the eternal design of an omnipotent Creator. Wd, The same gifted writer has shewn, that while each na- tural law acts separately, there is a beautiful combination in their action, having for its object the cultivation of the moral and intellectual powers of man, and the establishment of the supremacy of these over the animal propensities ; in other words, THAT THE WORLD IS ACTUALLY ARRANGED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF FAVOURING VIRTUE AND PUNISHING VICE, AND THAT IT IS, THROUGHOUT ITS CONSTITUTION, FRAMED IN PER- FECT ADAPTATION TO THE FACULTIES OF MAN AS A MORAL, INTELLIGENT, AND RELIGIOUS BEING. This Sublime truth had not escaped previous observation. Bishop Butler felt it as an impression on his virtuous mind, but failed to establish its universality on demonstrable evidence. The name of George Combe must be associated, — and already is associat- ed in the four quarters of the globe, — with the demonstrated and complete system ; which, by bringing into one point of view, the different constituent elements of man's constitution, and shewing the relations of these to each other and to exter- nal nature, enables us to explain many of the phenomena of human life, with a simplicity and success which remind us of the light thrown upon the laws of the heavens by the Princi- pia of Newton. Systems of Truth are the work of God : it is the highest reach of human intellect, humbly to observe and expound them ; and, with a mind enlarged and heart improv- ed by the Moral Revelation which teems in the oracles of His works, to learn and a})ply to life and conduct the Oracles of His word ; the one a republication, as has been sublimely and truly said, of the other. " Wherefore," says the enlightened and pious Melancthon, " wherefore our decision is this, that those precepts which learned men have committed to writing, SYSTEMS OF TRUTH ARE OF GOD. 89 transcribing them from the common reason and common feel- ings of human natm'e, are to be accounted not less Divine, than those contained in the tables given to Moses ; and that it could not be the intention of our Maker to supersede, by a law graven upon stone, that which is written with his own finger on the table of the heart."* " I should have observed earlier, that Mr Combe has published three lectures on Popular Education, delivered in October 1833, at the request of the Edinburgh Association for Useful and Entertaining Science. In these he has brought his views of Man and Nature into the most satisfactory prac- tical application. Messrs Chambers have done themselves honour by re-, printing, with the author's consent, the lectures seriatim, in their Journal, which circulates above 60,000 copies. ( 90 ) CHAPTER IV. ON EDUCATION AS ADAPTED TO THE FACULTIES — INFANT EDUCATION. Faculties improveable — Man, how niade wiser, how better — Law of exercise of faculties — Each faculty on its own objects — Exercise of one faculty does not improve another — Faculties that require regulation, excitement, di- rection of intellect — Loadstar of education — Pupil's study of his own fa- culties, and their objects — Education, Physical, Moral, Intellectual — Infant Education, to commence in the cradle — Infant school, Physi- cal training. Moral, Intellectual — Real and verbal — Pestalozzi and Mayo — Lessons on Objects — Summary of education of faculties — Edinburgh Model Infant School — Religious impressions, no distinction of sects, preparative — Agency of Man in this — Divine blessing — Intolerance de- precated — Edinburgh Infant School on liberal basis — Progress and suc- cess of the school — Prizes and places — Great merit of Wilderspin — Pre. judices against Infant education, objections answered. That each sane individual possesses all the faculties which have been enumerated, though in different degrees of endow- ment, is not more true than that, in the faculties of every in- dividual above the grade of idiocy, there is some degree of improveability, some capacity of increased energy in the moral and intellectual powers, and regulation in the animal propen- sities. All education is imperfect in the degree in which it falls short of attaining those ends. In its most general view, education is intended to make men wiser and better, in other words, to improve them intellectually and morally. But this is too vague a generality for practical purposes. The practice must be direct operation on the various faculties, the improv- ed direction and agency of which constitute wisdom and goodness. ^ Men are made wiser by the acquisition of knowledge and the habit of reflection ; while they are made better by the improvement of their moral sentiments. It follows, that the observbig faculties must be actively exercised, in the percep- tion and memory of existences and events ; and the reflecting MAN WISER AND BETTER — LAW OF EXERCISE. 9\ powers habituated to extensive comparison and logical deduc- tion. Industrial skill, again, depends on the increased acti- vity of the mechanical faculties, and all the powers by which matter and its qualities and conditions are cognised. ]\Ioral worth is a general term for several particulars, which particu- lars must regulate the actual moral and religious training of the individual. Thfe facidty of Conscience is, in its activity, essentially the moral worth of Justice, Benevolence of bro- therly love, or the exhaustless impulse to do good to our fel- low-men and the whole sentient creation, while Veneration. must be directly exercised as the moral worth of piety, and the duty and delight of love and obedience to God. The im- provement of these faculties by direct operation on each, is the only notion we can form of moral and religious training as the act of man. To BE IMPROVED EACH AND EVERY FACULTY MUST BE PO- SITIVELY EXERCISED. Preceptive instruction is notoriously insufficient to give mechanical skill ; in actual life it is never relied on, but the apprentice-hand is, for a course of years, set to the woi"k. The same practice is required for the other observing and the reflecting faculties ; they must themselves work in a long course of active practice, to reap the reward of talent. In the moral faculties, exercise is not less essen- tial. As well may we rest contented with saying to the des- titute, the hungry, and the naked, " be ye clothed and fed," without offering the actual means, as to our moral pupil, " be ye kind, and compassionate, and generous, and just, and true, and pious," without exercising them in these graces. An ap- prenticeship, a long apprenticeship to justice, and mercy, and piety, is as essential to the practical exercise of these, as it is to skill in handicraft trades. The Law of exercise is of UNIVERSAL application. It is a fundamental law of nature, that ALL the capacities of man are enlarged and strengthened by being used. From the energy of a muscle, up to the highest faculty intellectual and moral, repeated exercise of the function increases its intensity. The efficiency of the blacksmith's right arm and of the philosopher's brain depends upon the same law. The bodily force, the senses, the obser- ving and reasoning faculties, the moral feelings, can only be improved by habitual exercise. Custom, habit, skill, address, nay virtue itself, are all the fruits of exercise, and come not without it. It is amazing how inconsiderably this great trutli is practically acted upon in education. Its use in moral train- [)2 EACH FACULTY ON ITS OWN OBJECTS. iiig is a discovery of yesterday, and is yet recognised only to the most limited extent. Its efficiency in intellectual im- provement is likewise only beginning to be understood. In short, it has only been in the capabilities of" the hand and the limbs, which necessity teaches even the savage must be exer- cised to attain skill, that the law of exercise has been obeyed. The savage puts into his infant son's hands the bow and arrow and the sling, and keeps him at severe and persevering trial for years ; he throws him into the water to train him to swim, and accustoms his limbs to run, leap, and climb. The me- chanic puts the tool and the material into the hands of his pupil, and sets him to work, well knowing that his progress were hopeless from mere verbal explanations. He might ad- vance a certain way by example, by seeing how his master worked, and he will do so, at the same time that he receives verbal instruction, over and above practical exercise; the whole three appliances are requisite : but the verbal explanation, the precept alone, will do nothing ; with example added, it will do a little ; but by the three means of precept, example, and exercise, combined, the end is completely gained. There is no exception of any faculty from this law. Kindness and com- passion are enlarged only by a long course of actual practice of kindness and compassion ; while Justice is strengthened by the habit of fairness and candour, just as much as shoemaking is improved by shoemaking. Inseparable from the very idea of exercising the faculties, and of course from the practice of that exercise, is the requi- site of exercising each faculty upon the objects which, as has already been shewn, nature points out as related to it. Mus- cular strength is gained by familiarising the muscles, which amount to several hundreds in the human frame, with the re- sistance of external forces, and skill by the habit of conquer- ing mechanical difficulties. The senses are improved by long and particular training, applying each to its own object ; sight, by habitual looking at distant or minute objects, a talent of great value at sea, and in war ; hearing by acute practice in the perception of sounds ; taste, in the discriminating use of the palate, as in wine-tasters, two of whom detected an iron key attached to a leather thong in a cask of wine, the one perceiv- ing in the wine the taste of iron, and the other of leather. The savage acts upon this principle ; he does not content liimself with telling his son the advantages of long and mi- nute sight and acute hearing, but he exercises his eyes and EXAMPLES — FACULTIES SEPARATELY IMPROVED, 93 ears, by many ingenious devices. In the very same manner, the observing faculties are rendered acute by the constant practice of accurate observation of details in existing objects and their qualities, and of passing events. It vrill afterwards appear, that no exercise is less understood, or more partially and imperfectly practised, than that of observation. The rea- soning faculties, again, are enlarged and invigorated by prac- tice in thinking, by familiarity with premises and logical se- quence, and by many an essay of comparison and illustration. Language is rendered copious and fluent by direct practice in clothing thoughts with words. The same law extends into the moral world. For the exerc'se of Justice, the pupil must be made aware of his own and his neighbour's rights, and be habituated, practically, to respect the latter in all contin- gencies. For the exercise of Benevolence, the habit of re- pressing the selfish feelings, and of actually doing good, kind, compassionate, and generous things, not by fits, but as a steady, unvarying principle of action, will be found indispen- sable ; while, for practical piety, the attributes of God, and the wonders of Creation, with all their benevolent purposes — the whole power, and wisdom, and goodness, of the Creator, must, by exercise of all the faculties to which these are ad- dressed, be contemplated extensively, and habitually, in order to found that pious gratitude and love, through which the truths of Revelation itself touch the heart and influence the conduct. It is another vital practical truth, forming a corollary to the last, that the exercise of one faculty will only improve that faculty, and is not adapted to improve any other. Nothing has more retarded education than ignorance and disregard of this great principle. It would be as reasonable to attempt to sharpen the hearing by exercising the eyes, or the touch by smell, as to improve reflection by simple observation, or, either, by learning languages ; while all these may be carried to the utmost pitch of human attainment, and yet justice remain de- fective, the heart cold and selfish, and the sentiment of piety almost non-existent. The evils of the practical disbelief or ignorance of this truth, which we find existing in the most learned men, are only beginning to be suspected. Some of the impulses require less the exercise of activity, than the habit of restraint ; or rather of regulation ; for the All-wise has given to man no faculty whatever to be utterly suppressed. In this His whole work is good. The lowest 94 REGULATION — EXCITEMENT — DIRECTION. animal propensities have the dignity of utiUty, an adaptation to their end, worthy of their great Contriver ; and it is to h- bel his work to hold them up to reprobation, as some well- meaning but unreflecting religionists are apt to do, as proofs of innate human depravity ; there is no evil but in their abuse ; it is therefore requisite that they should be restrained within the bounds of utility ; there is no need to increase their acti- vity. But the moral sentiments act much more feebly in themselves, and are too often overborne by the preponderating power of animal propensities ; it is, therefore, of the very es- sence of education, to strengthen them by exercise, and to bring to their aid the whole power of the intellect. It has been already said, that all the fee/ ings, animal and moral, are blind impulses, and require the direction of the intellect ; the latter must be taught habituivlly to ally itself with the moral sentiments, to direct them aright, and, in combination with them, acting upon the animal impulses, to keep these to their legitimate uses. For example, the animal propensity of the love of money woidd prompt a debtor to withhold payment of his debt, by the force of that blind selfish feeling ; Conscience, as a moral sentiment, would be wounded by such an act ; Re- flection would point out the consequences to character, and the futility of the attempt ; and Conscience and Reflection to- gether would master the withholding propensity, and the debt would be paid. The inferior feeling of Fear, would impel even the patriot warrior to fly from the battle ; for the bravest fear wounds and death ; but better feelings, which need not be enumerated, antagonise the dastard purpose, and reflection coming to their aid, he meets the danger with heroism, and overcomes it. These are farther examples of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect over the animal propen- sities, explained in the preceding chapter ; and as upon this principle creation is constituted, it ought to be the load-star of education, which therefore cannot be too early or earnestly pressed upon the attention. But, to enable the pupil to comprehend and act upon the principle of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intel • lect, he nuist be early and habitually, as a point of knowledge, made acquainted with the animal propensities, moral senti- ments, and intellect, as elements of his own nature ; in other words, he must know and distinguish the various human fa- culties, with their relative value, and their respective objects. If I have correctly enumerated certain powers or feelings PUPIL TO KNOW HIS NATURE PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 95 which belong to man, it is obvious that the earher the pupil knows that these powers or feehngs belong to his nature, the sooner he will know how to exercise tliem aright. It did no harm to reserve the unpractical metaphysics, hitherto called the science of mind, for the study of manhood, as an intricate and abstract curiosity upon which much talent has been wast- ed ; but whenever the study of mind is rendered practical, as it ought to be, its constitution should be made known to the pupil as early as his intellect is fitted to receive it. It will aid him in his future progress, moral and intellectual, just as a knowledge of his tools aids the operations of the mechanic. Accustomed, as he ought to be, to trace his own and his fel- lows' motives and acts to their sources in the faculties, and to appreciate these motives according as they flow from the higher or the lower feelings, he will acquire a nice discrimi- nation of human affairs in all their shades and varieties ; and, aware of the rank and value of the faculties in operation in any act, the abuses to which they are liable, and the evils resulting from these abuses, he will have an additional guard upon his whole life, unknown to those who use their faculties as it were empirically, and, ignorant of the instruments they em- ploy, and the principles of their operation, are good and wise by the fits and starts of natural impulse alone. When we have got the principle that education should har- monise with the bodily constitution and the mental faculties, by imparting a knowledge of these, of their relation to exter- nal objects, and of the mental faculties to each other, and by exercising each mental faculty upon its own objects, we have got a test of easy and universal application, a standard which will not desert us, so long as we do not leave it. Considering the bodily powers, and the division of the faculties into ani- mal, moral, and intellectual, it is self-evident that education will divide itself into Physical, Moral, and Intellectual. By Physical Education is meant the improvement of the bodily powers and functions — the strength and the health. There is much useful instruction in medical writers on this subject ; but, from this very circumstance, not only its theory but its practical application is too much held to be a medical more than a popular object, and therefore is apt to be lost sight of altogether. This is a great error ; the physician may be required to direct the cure of actual disease, but the con- ditions of preserving health and preventing disease are in our 96 MAN HIS OWN DESTROYER THE INFANT. own hands, and depend upon our knowledge of them, — a knowledge which is not intended to make every one his own physician, but to save any one from being his own destroyer. This is not the place to impart that knowledge, but only to urge the necessity of its being imparted, and of the teacher of youth being qualified to impart it, so that the pupil should not only acquire tlie habit of a judicious attention to health, in the different and very simple requisites of air, temperature, clothing, diet, sleep, cleanliness, all as concerning himself, but should be able to apply his knowledge to the treatment of the infant of which he may afterwards become the parent. This last office concerns particularly the other sex. The physical education of the infant necessarily begins at birth, and the mother, and all employed about it, should not only be disabused of all gossip ajjsurdities, such as swathing, rock- ing, and the like, but should know and apply, as a matter of easy practice, certain rules as to temperature and clothing, avoiding cold and too much heat, — attention to the skin, and ablution from tepid water gradually to cooler, but never cold till a more advanced period, — food, from the mother's milk, to other aliments, — air, — light, — sleep, — exercise, with avoid- ance of all positions and premature movements hurtful to the limbs, the spine and the joints, — dentition, &c. This care will occupy two years, when the child, quite able to walk alone, will commence a course of exercise in which he will have more to do himself than is done for him. His ha- bits ought still to be well watched and judiciously directed, in all the matters of air, exercise, food, sleep, cleanliness, cloth- ing, temperatvu'e, &c., and the advantages of attention to these so strongly and practically impressed upon himself, as to be- come a permanent habit for life — a manure d'etre, the con- trary of which would be an annoyance and deprivation. Tem- perance, and moderation in all excitements should be inculca- ted and practised ; sedentary employment should be relieved by regular daily exercise in the open air, and that so contriv- ed by judicious gymnastics as to exercise and strengthen all the muscles. As will afterwards be stated, health may be benefited by the useful exercise of judicious manual labour in the open air. On the whole, physical education will depend on knowledge of physiology, of the parts of the body and their functions, which, as will appear in the sequel, shovdd form a part of education. The brain itself, as the organ of the mind, is kept in health, and even improved by physical education MORAL EDUCATION INTELLECTUAL. 97 and proper bodily exercise, and the maniiestations of the mind tliereby benefited.* Moral Education embraces both the animal and moral impulses ; it regulates, as has been already shewn, the former, and strengthens the latter. Whenever gluttony, indelicacy, violence, cruelty, greediness, cowardice, pride, insolence, va- nity, or any mode of selfishness, shew themselves in the indi- vidual under training, one and all must be repressed with the most watchful solicitude, and the most skilful treatment. Re- pression may at first fail to be accomplished unless by severi- ty ; but the instructor, sufficiently enlightened in the faculties, will, the first practicable moment, drop the coercive system, and awaken and appeal powerfully to the higher faculties of conscience and benevolence, and to the powers of reflection. This done with kindness, in other words, with a marked ma- nifestation of benevolence itself, will operate with a power, the extent of which, in education, is yet, to a very limited ex- tent, estimated. In the very exercise of the superior faculties the inferior are indirectly acquiring a habit of restraint and regulation ; for it is morally impossible to cultivate the supe- rior faculties without a simultaneous, though indirect, regula- tion of the inferior. Intellectual Education imparts knowledgeand improves reflective power, by exercising the intellectual faculties upon their proper objects. Moral training, strictly distinguished, is a course of exercise in moral feeling and moral acting ; yet, from the nature of the faculties, moral and intellectual exer- cise must proceed together, the highest aim and end of intel- lectual improvement being moral elevation, which is the greatest happiness in this life, and an important preparation for a future. Yet nature and necessity point to an earlier ap- pliance of direct moral than direct intellectual training, be- cause there is but one time for moral training, and that is in- fancy. I hope to make this manifest. ' On the details of this subject, Dr Combe's excellent work on the " Prin- ciples of Physiology applied to the Preservation of Health," is again referred to ; — also, Dr Poole ou Education — Dr Brigham " On the Influence of Mental Cultivation and Excitement on Health;" Edinburgh edition by Eraser, and Glasgow edition vfith notes by Dr Macnish — Dr Caldwell on " Physi- cal Education ;" Edinburgh edition with notes by Mr Robert Cox, and a preface by Mr George Combe. These four works should be in every school. 98 INFANT EDUCATION — IN CRADLE — INFANT SCHOOT.. INFANT EDUCATION. 1^/, A watchful observance and management of the facul- ties, whose abuse is violence and anger, should commence when the subject is yet in the cradle. The utmost that can then be attempted is the diversion of the infant from the feel- ings and their objects, and the avoidance of all causes that excite them. If this be neglected, a bent is given, which it is most difficult ever afterwards to set straight. 2c?, The child, so managed by his nurse as to escape the first trials of temper, should be introduced as early as possible to his fellows of the same age ; the best time is when he can just walk alone ; for it is in the society of his fellows that the means of his moral training are to be found. 'Zd, It is advantageous, nay necessary, that his fellows shall be numerous, presenting a variety of dispositions, an actual world into which he is introduced, a world of infant business, and infant intercourse, a miniature, and it is so, of the adult world itself. The numbers should rather exceed fifty than fall much short of it. 4M, But this intercourse must not be at random, each infant bringing its stock of animalism to aggravate that of its play- mates, and create a savage community. It must be correctly systematized, and narrowly superintended and watched, by well instructed and habitually moral persons. oth. The conductor's own relation to his infant charge should be affection, cheerfulness, mirth, and that activity of tempe- rament which delights and keeps alive the infant faculties. dth, The infants should be permitted to play together out of doors, in imrestrained freedom ; a watchful eye being all the while kept upon the nature and manner of their intercourse. Ith, Unceasing encouragement should be given to the prac- tice of generosity, gentleness, mercy, kindness, honesty, truth, and cleanliness in personal habits ; and all occasions of quar- rel, or cruelty, or fraud, or fiilsehood, minutely and patiently examined into, and the moral balance, when overset, restored ; while, on the other hand, all indelicacy, filthiness, greediness, covetousness, unfairness, dishonesty, violence, cruelty, inso- lence, vanity, cowardice, and obstinacy, should be repressed by all the moral influences of the community. No overt act should ever be passed over. * For details, see " Infant Education" of Chambers's Educational Course. PHYSICAL TRAINING MORAL. 99 Stk, There ought to be much well-regulated muscular ex- ercise in the play of the infants, which should be as much pos- sible in the open air. 9th, Their school-hall should be large, and regularly venti- lated when they are out of it, and even when they are in it if the weather permit ; and the importance of ventilation, air, exercise, and cleanliness, unceasingly illustrated, and impress- ed upon them as a habit and a duty. lOth, Every means of implanting taste and refinement should be employed, for these are good pre-occupants to the exclu- sion of the coarseness of vice. The play-ground should be neatly laid out, with borders for flowers, shrubs, and fruit- trees ; tasteful ornaments should be erected, which the coarse- minded are so prone to destroy ; and the inflmts should be habituated not only to respect but to admire and delight in them ; while the entire absence of guard or restraint will give them the feeling that they are confided in, and thereby exer- cise yet higher feelings than taste and refinement. llth, The too prevalent cruelty of the young to animals, often from mere thoughtlessness, may be prevented by many lessons on the subject, and by the actual habit of kindness to pets, kept for the purpose, such as a dog, a cat, rabbits, ducks, &c. ; and by hearing all cruelty, even to reptiles, reprobated by their teacher and all their companions. An insect or rep- tile ought never to be permitted to be killed or tortured.* I2th, The practice of teasing idiots or imbecile persons in the streets, ought to be held in due reprobation, as ungene- rous, cruel, and cowardly. In the same Avay, other hurtful practices, even those which are the vices of more advanced years, may be prevented by anticipation. For example, ar- dent spirits-drinking may, for the three or four years of the infant training, be so constantly reprobated in the precepts, lessons, and illustrative stories of the conductor, and the ready acquiescence of the Avhole establishment, as to be early and indissolubly associated with poison and Avith crime, instead of being, as is now too much the case, held up to the young as the joy and privilege of manhood.| \3tk, Many prejudices, fallacies, fears, and superstitions, which render the great mass of the people intractable, may be prevented from taking root by three or four years of contrary • See in App. No. I. an interesting example of the working of the system in this particular. + App. No. I. 100 PREJUDICES REAL AND VERBAL LESSONS. impressions ; superstitious terrors, belief in the existence, su- pernatural agency, and apparition of witches and ghosts, dis- trust of the benevolent advances of the richer classes, suspi- cions, envyings, absurd self-sufficiencies and vanities, and many other hurtful and antisocial habits of feeling may be effectually excluded.* 14M, Besides securing moral habits, gained by four years' practice, for at least six hours every day, the Intellectual faculties must not be neglected in infant training. Those which begin early to act must be the better for early judicious direction and exercise. At six months' old infants are com- mencing the use of the faculty of observing external objects, and are seeing, hearing, and touching with marked acuteness and activity. A judicious nurse, instructed in the infant fa- culties and their relative objects, might direct and exercise these powers to their great impi'ovement, so as to render them better instruments for the infant's use, when, at two years old, he joins his cotemporaries. The stimulus of numbers will work wonders on the child, and bring out his observing and remembering intellect in a manner that will surprise his family at home. The first objects of his attentive observation will be his numerous little friends ; then all the varied objects of that new world the infant seminary ; its pictures, nume- rous and gayly coloured beyond his dreams ; the curiosities of the little museum ; the flowers, the fruit-trees, the dressed border of the play- ground, the swings for exercise, the wooden bricks for building, the astonishing movements, and feats, and learning, and cleverness of the trained pupils, will all fill the youngest new-comer with wonder, delight, and ardour, and heartily engage him in the business of the place in a day or two. A skilful teacher w ill keep up the activity of the fa- culty of wonder, thus excited, as long as he can without the risk of exhausting it. Every object presented is now a won- der, to be eagerly gazed at, and curiously handled -, and here will commence, with zeal on the infant learner's side, that grand but recent improvement in education, real, as distin- guished from merely verbal, intellectual training ; but yet real including verbal as an accessory, instead of verbal ex- cluding real. The discovery, for it is a discovery, that it is better at once to introduce the pupil to the real visible tan- gible world, than merely to talk to him about it in its absence, is of immense value, and of admirable application to infant • See Chambers' Educational Course, " Infant Education," Sect. 4. LESSONS ON OBJECTS. 101 intellectual training. The child of two years is acutely appC" tised for things, but yet very feebly for words : when, by a grand error, words are forced upon him, things will infallibly take off his attention, and often has he been punished for evincing tliis law of his nature, in inattention to his " book." If the instructor understands and obeys nature, he will readily and judiciously supply things or objects to those faculties in his pupil, which were created to be intensely gratified with tlie cognisance of them. We mean by a judicious supply of objects, such as will combine the pupil's delight with his im- provement. The objects should be arranged in lessons, and successively presented to the pupil's senses and faculty for ob- serving existences. The simple and obvious qualities of any object are inseparable from it, and should be carefully pointed out to him ; while, by a succession of objects, he will learn a variety of qualities, till he has mastered all the qualities of ex- ternal objects, cognisable without chemical analysis. For example,* introduce a class of pupils to a piece of glass. Let them each and all see it, handle it, weigh it, look through it, break it, cut with it, &c. They have thus got its colour, smoothness, hardness, weight, transparency, brittleness, sharp- ness. Let them, at the same time, be familiarised with the words that express glass, and all these its qualities ; let them hear each word pronounced, and then let them see each word printed, written, and spelled, by which means their read- ing is incidentally begun. Here they have the thing, the spoken name, and the written sign for that name, all three together. Ask them if they can name something else that is transparent ? They will probably answer, water. Something else which cuts ? A knife. Is the piece of sponge tied to their slate smooth ? No, it is rough. Tell them the uses of glass. In their next lesson give them something very diffe- rent from glass in its qualities as to transparency, smoothness, hardness, brittleness, sharpness, for example, a piece of india- rubber. It is opaque. Write the word and exhibit it print- ed, as with all the others. It is soft, not brittle, not sharp ; it is flexible, elastic, inflammable, black, tough, waterproof. Every quality must be shewn in its own way, and the uses of the substance explained. Leather is the third lesson. Wherever any quality of the new object agrees with a quality * I take these examples from Dr Mayo's " Lessons on Objects," for the Cheam School, Surrey, on the Pestalozzian plan. I shall have occasion to recur to Dr Mayo, 102 LESSONS ON OBJECTS. foTind in any previous object, let the pupils find tiiat out. Leather agrees with India-rubber in being flexible, opaque, tough, smooth, combustible. It differs from it in odour, &c. SuGAU is the object of the fourth lesson. It agrees with the two j)receding objects, in being opaque, and with glass in be- ing hard and brittle ; but it is soluble, as demonstrated by dissolving a piece in water, fusible in the flame of a candle, white, sweet, sparkling, &c. Its uses are well known to chil- dren. The lessons pi'oceed, and by means of twenty-two of the commonest articles, including the four named above, viz. gum, sponge, wood, water, beeswax, camphor, bread, sealing- wax, whalebone, blotting-paper, willow, milk, spice, salt, horn, ivory, chalk, and oak bark, are gained the heal ideas, and the inseparable names, spoken and written, of the following qualities, viz. bright, yellow, semitransparent, adhesive when melted, porous, absorbing, soft, dull, light-brown, dry, light, liquid, reflective, colourless, inodorous, tasteless, heavy, puri- fying, wholesome, sticky, yellowish, aromatic, friable, volatile, soluble in spirits, medicinal, edible, nutritious, yellowish-white, moist, impressible, adhesive, fibrous, stiff, pungent, jagged, thin, pinkish, pliable, easily torn, fluid, greasy, granular, sa- line, sapid, uneven, hollow, odorous when burnt, tapering, ef- fervescent in acid, rugged, &c. Of course, when the quality cannot be observed without it, an experiment is made, as by making chalk effervesce in vinegar. When the children are perfectly familiar with the objects which, in twenty-two lessons, form the first series, their qua- lities, names, and uses, can tell wherein they agree or differ, and read and spell the words, they are introduced to a second series of fourteen lessons, each lesson on a specific object. This series is preceded by an explanation of the/ive senses, while the knowledge already acquired is classified according as it has come through the channel of each sense, or through that of more than one sense at a time. Parts of objects are submitted to the pujjils, as of a pin, a cube of wood, with its angle and surfaces, the cylindrical form of an uncut lead pen- cil, a pen, a wax candle, a chair, a clock, an egg, a tray, a cuj), a grain of coffee, a pair of scissors, &c. The third series, of seventeen lessons, introduces the chil- dren to the notions of natural and artificial, such as wool, and woollen-cloth, animal, vegetable, animate, inanimate, illustra- ted by a quill, a flower, an insect. Again, the qualities and parts acqiured in the former lessons, and the terms they have LESSONS ON OBJECTS. 103 used, are rehearsed. The derivation of the words from the Latin and Greek, &c. is hkewise made an exercise, and the ideas, the words, and their derivations, are all connected toge- ther in one indissoluble association. In the lessons of the third series, the qualities, parts, conditions, differences, agree- ments, manufacture, and abstract ideas of the following objects, are impressed and connected with language : — Wool, a half- penny, mustard-seed, an apple, glass of a watch, brown sugar, refined sugar, an acorn, honeycomb, butter-cup, lady-bird, oys- ter, a fir-cone, fur, laurel-leaf, a needle, a stone. It is evident that these few objects lead to a great variety of valuable ideas, with their corresponding terms and derivations, their uses, places whence brought, abstract terms arising, &c., for exam- ple, mineral, metallic, fusible, indigenous, spherical, stimulat- ing ; stone, stony ; milk, milky ; organised, inorganised, &c. At least one hundred ideas are conveyed in this series. The fourth series has for its aim, the classification of objects according to their resemblances and differences. This is an advance upon the former lessons, as it calls into activity the reflecting faculty of comparison. The spices are chosen as forming a connected series of objects. The metals, woods, and grains, follow, and a store of collateral ideas is imparted, such as production, trade and commerce, uses of malt, hops, and many others. An exercise in the comparison of substan- ces, shewing the points of resemblance and difference, con- cludes the series. The ideas imparted by the lessons in these four series, are sufficient for infants from two years of age to six, the infant- school period. The fifth and last series of forty-nine lessons, will suit better the more advanced school, to which we shall come in the sequel. The reader, it is presumed, is now prepared to imderstand what is meant by educating man according to his faculties. Under the department of moral training, he has seen educa- tion applied to the regulation of the inferior faculties, which give rise to drunkenness, gluttony, greediness, anger, violence, cruelty, insolence, rapacity, dishonesty, cunning, and false- hood; he has also seen it applied to the cultivation and in- crease of the superior moral faculties, which lead to taste, re- finement, justice, benevolence, and piety ; while, under the branch of intellectual training, he has seen the method of di- rectly improving the faculties by which we gain tlie simplest knowledge of material objects, and their qualities and rela- 104 EDINBURGH MODEL INFANT SCHOOL, tions, and of the faculty whereby we put ideas into words, give objects names, and read, spell, write, and print the same in letters, in other words, incidentally learn to read and write. An excellent arrangement, on the monitorial plan, is made for reading, by marching small classes of four or five children each, in charge of a monitor, round to a succession of boards hmig on posts ; the boards contain both letter-press and pic- ture. All the intellectual course described, is really accessory to moral training. I say accessory ; for moral training is the pa- ramount object of the Infant system. In the Model Infant School in Edinburgh, Dr Mayo's les- sons on objects are taught and practised by Mr Milne, the present excellent teacher. Dr Mayo does not give his les- sons till after the pupil has passed six and even eight years of age ; but experience in the Edinburgh School has shewn that this is an uncalled for loss of time; the very simple, though use- ful knowledge we have detailed, which is in requisition every hour of our lives, and is used even in the inost advanced in- vestigations of the chemist and the mechanical philosopher, being found to be beneficially mastered by infants, and im- pressed, it is trusted, never to be obliterated. But the Infant School System, as realized in Edinburgh, besides the Cheam lessons on objects, affords intellectual instruction on many other points, such as the elements of arithmetic, by the visi- ble method of small balls on wires in frames, money, tables of" weights and measures, geography, the elementary mathemati- cal figures, with no inconsiderable portion of useful practical knowledge, often conveyed in verse, and sung in chorus ; while no opportunity is omitted by the teacher to amuse as well as to instruct, by anecdotes illustrative of the lessons, and told in an elliptical manner, so that the children themselves fill up the blanks as it were, the teacher stopping the narra- tive till they do so, or making some sign or motion implying the desired idea. The lessons are never continued too long, seldom beyond half an hour ; while the intervals are filled up with short por- tions of exercise in the play-ground, in which the teacher of- ten joins, keeping up spirit and active movement, while he is narrowly watching moral conduct and social intercourse.* * Appendix, No. I. Dr Brigham has demonstrated the bad and often fa- tal effects of overtasking the infant brain. Teachers are apt to err here, as intellectual progress alone is capable of being exhibited. Intellectual exer- RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS HOW MADE. 105 The school-room is regularly ventilated by cross windows when the children are out of it, properly warmed in winter, and kept particularly neat and clean, and even showy ; while the pupils are habituated to value these attentions, and receive lessons upon their end and object, which they carry to their homes, where it is most needed. Careful provision is made in the Infant system to give early religious impressions, in a manner which shall connect reli- gious ideas with every thing in life, and render them a means of happiness, and not, as is too much done — and it is a rem- nant of popery — a source of tasks and punishments for the present, and terror for the future. Every lesson, every step in the simplest knowledge, is made a channel for allusions to, and illustrations of, the Creator's power, wisdom, and good- ness ; while His will that his laws, moral and physical, shall be obeyed, is rendered obvious, by an exposition of the evils resulting from disobedience, and the benefits from obe- dience. Thus, the Creator is always kept in view, not alone as an awful Judge seated on high watching the thoughts and actions of his creatures to reward or punish them hereafter, — a view of him which addresses selfishness alone, and never can produce elevation of feeling, which, as the highest reach of human happiness, is its own reward, — but as the present God, the Essence of every thing around us, guiding us to temporal as well as eternal happiness, by his infinite wisdom and goodness. These real impressions lay an early founda- tion for the love of God, which no mere precepts, still less ill-judged threats, can ever succeed in producing. The Sa- viour's history, which exercises and delights the higher facul- ties, is detailed in the most attractive manner, and what he did for mankind simply expounded, as it ought to be to in- fants ; while the morality of his precepts and the benignity of his example are easily and beautifully shewn to be the very kindness, jiistice and truth, which they are taught to exercise in their mutual intercourse. Thus, the natural morality of their every-day conduct, and their habitual love of God, are connected with the morality of Christianity, and associated in their minds as identical with it. No creed or catechism of any sect whatever, dominant or dissenting, is taught them ; not only because the children of many sects unite in the same school, but because religion taught to the very young in that cise, being only accessory to moral training, ought never to be more than what may be called useful amusement. 106 CREEDS — CATECHISMS — SCRIPTURE HISTORY. form, has been found at once unintelligible and repulsive, and if stored in the mind by rote, to exist there as the basis of a religion of prejudice and feeling, with as little of that itnder- standin;/ in it on which the Apostle sets so high and just a value, as the dogmas of the Koran and the Vedas supply to the minds of the Mahometans and Hindoos. Scripture history, illustrated by well-chosen engravings, coloured to at- tract, conveys to them, in a pleasing manner, the leading facts of both Testaments, and always with a heart-improving appli- cation ; while their prayers and hymns are of the simplest, most improving, and least sectarian character. This is a more fitting culture for ulterior instruction by the pastors of their own respective persuasions, upon m hom the duty should main- ly fall, else their office is superfluous, than will be achieved by any other mode of religious instruction we have yet met with or heard of. Those who, with the best intentions, but — I say it with respect — uninformed zeal, prefer, to the course now recommended, what they miscall as applied to infants, a religious foundation of doctrines and catechisms, and these of their own sect exclusively, and an early impression of God as an object of terror, which degrades religion to selfish calcula- tion and interested adulation, are little aware how signally they are defeating their own purpose, how much they are extending the evil of which they so loudly complain, the want of practi- cal vital religion. What, on the other hand, is now proposed, is the preparation of the soil for the good seed formei'ly al- luded to. It is at least the commencement of the process of preparation : it engages the affections, and connects religion with associations of delight, which will never leave the mind. I have been assured by Mr Wilderspin, and the statement has been confirmed by the two successive teachers of the Edin- burgh Model Infant School, Mr Wright, deceased, and Mr ]Milne, that whenever the children are allowed a choice of the kind of story to be told them, the vote is almost invariably for a Scripture story. Their intellectual improvement, and their habitual moral exei'cise, will serve to strengthen the religious feelings as they advance in years. The Report of the Com- mittee of Management of the General Assembly's Schools in Scotland has borne valuable testimony to this, by declaring that progress in secular knowledge was always accompanied by progress in religious attainment. If this be true of intel- lectual progress merely, how much more must it result from, what the General Assembly has not yet made provision for, EDINBURGH MODEL INFANT SCHOOL. 107 the practical Moral training of Infant Schools, and the conti- nued moral exercise which an enlightened system of ulterior education will find means of uniting with all the subsequent stages. I have been assured by the teachers of more advan- ced Schools in Edinburgh, to ^hich the Infant School-trained children have been transferred, that they are the most docile, cheerful, and ready pupils in the school ; and there cannot be a doubt that their religious teachers, when they come into their hands, will have the same experience. This is the. first step of that effective excavation from heathenism, always with the blessing of God, which Dr Chalmers desiderates.* There are excellent and sincere men, who do not concur in these views of preparation ; for them I entertain great respect, and would yet greater, if they were a little more tolerant of othei's, who, wishing, as sincerely as they can do, that religion should live in the heart, and breathe in the actions of every human being, labour towards that blessed end in a somewhat different direction ; but I beg them to consider, that in thus urging preparation, I am to be understood as speaking only of the best human means, and nowise as touching, far less im- pugning, the doctrine of fi-ee grace. As the Edinburgh Model School has now been at work for six years, this is the proper place to state shortly how the ex- periment has succeeded. A first and second Report have been published by the Directors of the Society, which, after detailing the progress of the children inteUectualli/, which was witnessed on several occasions by the public, at stated exhi- bitions characterised by the spirit, animation, and zeal inspir- ed by the system, add, in appendix, a series of incidents, the results of the moral influence of the place, classed according as they manifested kindness, brotherly love, gentleness, and mercy, — truth, honesty, and honour, — attachment, refinement, &c. ; and the picture, considering the class of life, is most sa- tisfactory. I have extracted fully from these Reports,! and earnestly request the reader to peruse these extracts, which, from their great interest, will well reward his trouble. He will find quarrelling rarely occurring, fighting unknown, inso- lence and selfishness restrained, found money faithfully re- ' Witli a view to a national system of education, I shall afterwards endea- vour to shew that the department of Revealed Religion in infant as well as advanced education, should not he in the hands of the schoolmaster at all, but in those of the pastor ; by whom, however, it ought to be taught in the simple and attractive manner which I have above described. ■\ Appendix No. I. 108 NO PRIZES, MEDALS, PLACES — WILDERSPIN. Stored, provisions, however exposed, untouched, kindness, ge- nerosity, mercy to animals, and cleanly habits manifested, re- finement and ornament respected, and horror of ardent spirits habitually expressed. A few specimens of letters out of many received from the parents, are added, which shew the improve- ment effected on the conduct and demeanour of the children at home ; namely, a change from filth, laziness, obstinacy, waywardness, and selfishness, — to cleanliness, activity, docility, respect, and kindliness. We might have mentioned in its place, biit it is never out of season to do so, that, while all appliances, direct and indi- rect, are resorted to, for the purpose of regulating the inferior, and cultivating the superior feelings, that grand solecism of ordinary seminaries of education, an appeal to pride, vanity, and love of gain, three grand enemies of human weal, is avoid- ed within the walls of a properly conducted infant school. There are no prizes, medals, or places of distinction among the infants. These are banished, or rather are unheard of, as incompatible with the essence of the system ; its chief object being to moderate selfishness, they would be as self-defeating as oil applied to extinguish fire. They are, moreover, quite supei'fiuous under a system of training which gives delight by exercising so many of the faculties, and succeeds in keeping up for years a degree of animation, attention, and zeal, which the selfish impulse of places and prizes never yet attained, in the dull routines which require these artificial stimulants. The author remembers once asking Mr Wilderspin if he had ever tried place-taking ? He answered, " My infants would scorn the hahy practice ; it would degrade the whole charac- ter of the school, and defeat my best endeavours for their moral improvement." It may be added, that it would lower the intellectual character of the system not less, inasmuch as it would spur the clever few to learn in order to gratify [a sel- fish feeling, while the great majority would give up the race from despairing of the prize, which is absurdly rendered the chief attraction and motive to exertion.* We need not con- " I feel it not only a duty but a delight to devote a note to this singular- ly meritorious individual, whom it concerns the public to know before they are called upon, as they must be, to approve of his receiving a national tri- bute for the benefits he has conferred on his fellow- men, — the toils he has cheerfully endured, — the pittance he has generally conditioned as bare live- lihood, — and last, and not least, the obstructions and persecutions with which his enlightened and benevolent labours have been met, chiefly, it cannot be PUNISHMENTS — OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 109 sume time on the other well known stimulus, in ordinary schools, punishments. These are directed to a base fear, often excite feelings of revenge, and would, unless under the most cautious regulation, be as hurtful as unnecessary in a well conducted infant school. Viewing infant education, as I do with Lord Brougham, as the most powerful instrument of moral elevation yet invented by man, I am anxious to remove any objections which inat- tention to its real nature is apt to throw in the way of its pro- gress. Its novelty and utter dissimilarity to any preceding system, and its inconsistency with all the notions hitherto en- tertained of infant capabilities, have combined to raise against its first announcement the strongest prejudice. Ist, The idea is ridiculed of teaching children from two to four years of age any thing. It is called education run mad, a hotbed of pre- cocity, parrot-training, confinement and tasks when children should run wild, realising the adage, " soon ripe soon rotten," and so forth. It is impossible to present a more instructive example of that ignorance of the human faculties which is yet nearly universal in society, than these objections, which, it must have been observed, are promptly and imreflectingly stated, and with considerable dogmatism, in every company where infant schools are mentioned. It is utterly unsuspect- ed by the objectors, that man is a moral as well as an intel- lectual being ; that he has feelings which require education, and that on the right training of these depend the happiness of the individual and welfare of society, infinitely more than on the highest attainments merely intellectual. Now, the edu- cation of the feelings has already been shewn to be the pri- concealed, from churchmen. If an Infant School is to be organized in the extreme north of Scotland, Mr Wilderspin will come from Cheltenham, where he resides, for the humblest travelling expenses and means of subsistence, and devote six weeks to the training of the pupils and teachers ; while, by his lectures and zeal, he never fails to give such an impulse to the whole re- gion which he visits, as often gives him several schools to set agoing before be is called elsewhere. He is ready for any infant education enterprise, to the sacrifice of every selfish consideration ; and once offered himself to go to the West Indies to organise schools for the children of the Negroes, if he fihould perish in the attempt. It is fair to add, that Mr Wilderspin did not first invent Infant Schools. This boon mankind owe to the talent and be- nevolence of Robert Owen ; who, whatever may be his errors, it is gross in. justice, as well as indiscriminating bigotry to deny, has large claims on the gratitude of his species, Mr Wilderspin, however, has to a great extent im- proved Infant Schools in their details aad practice, and has organized many hundreds of them. 1 10 THE EDUCATION SAID TO BE TOO EARLY. mary and paramount object of the infant school system ; it has, moreover, been distinctly laid down, that these feelings are incomparably more easily bent and moulded to good in infancy than in after years ; that after six years of age their effectual culture is, in many cases, nearly hopeless ; hence, to delay it till this age would be to leave it out of education altogether ; and this, to the heavy cost of society, has been hitherto the ignorantly adopted alternative. But, again, while moral training is the primary object of infant education, and, in respect of its only practicable period of life, requiring that the schools for it should be schools for infants, it has been found natural and advantageous to ingraft upon that training a most beneficial intellectual culture, suit- ed to the tender age of the pupils, and very far indeed from meriting the incredulous contempt with which our objectors treat it. No intelligent or candid person can read Mr Wilder- spin's work on the system, but, above all, see the inspiring spectacle of a well conducted infant school, and persist in maintaining that the intellectual culture is injudicious, prema- ture, annoying to the children, and useless : the intellectual faculties, and all these faculties, not one or two of them as in ordinary schools, are moderately exercised, so as to com- bine amusement with instruction ; and as they are presented with'their appropriate objects, they cognise and enjoy complete comprehension of every object presented. Their studies are varied with healthful exercise and constant amusement, story, song, and fun ; nothing like a task annoys them, and they ob- tain, without an exertion, much fundamental knowledge to serve them for life.* 2dy Those who are not so decided on the objection of pre- mature education, are yet extremely peremptory on the point of committing the early years of infants to any other hand than the mother's. It is to break, they say, the hallowed bond which unites the parent and the child, to alienate the heart of the infant fi-om his proper guardian, and take away from the latter all motive for parental solicitude. In answer to this, re- ference is trium})hantly made to the letters from the parents of children at the Edinburgh Model Infant Scliool, as the best possible evidence of the working of the system in this impor- * These views are in perfect accordance with Dr Brigham's, whose treatise on mental culture, already alluded to, was published in America subsequently to the first edition of this work. SEPARATES PARENT FROM CHILD. Ill tant particular ; * these letters dwell with pleasure upon the improvement perceived in the children in love for, and con- cern about, their parents ; obedience and obligingness are the every-day fruits of this improvement, and there cannot fail to be that beautiful re-action which, through the affectionate in- fluence of the child, insensibly reforms and christianises the parents. Accordingly, the letters state the fact with grati- tude, that the children, who used to be a nuisance at home, are now a pride and pleasure, and the parents look for their return from school as the most cheerful hour of the day. A slight i-eflection would, independent of such evidence, serve to convince any person of sense, that separation of the child from the parents for six hours in the day, is no greater sepa- ration than actually takes place in every rank of life ; eighteen hours out of the twenty-four may surely suffice to recover the affections which six hours' absence may have engendered : but there is so much nonsense in this objection, that it is really to lose time to answer it gravely. Will any one pretend, that parents in the lower classes are fitted to exercise their children in moral, religious, cleanly, and wholesome habits! Nay, more, are there many parents in the middle and higher classes, who, committing their children, as they do, to the exclusive society of nursery-maids for much more than six hours a-day, can say that they have time, and method, and means, for communicating moral improvement to their children, superior to what is done according to a system founded on the most philosophical prin- ciples, and the most enlightened views of human nature, the Infant School system of Wilderspin ? I have heard mothers of intelligence, accomplishment, and experience, admit and regret that the principles of early moral education cannot be regularly, systematically, and efficiently applied at home. The important, nay indispensable, element of numbers, to exer- cise practically the social virtues, is wanting, and is not sup- plied by a few children of different ages in the same nursery ; in no nursery is it possible to prevent selfishness, conten- tion, and even fighting. Moreover, in the best conducted family, the children are left with servants for a longer period than the hours of an infant school, that " ivell regulated, sys- tematic 7iursery^' as it has been happily called,f where the children of all classes of society will be greatly benefited by spending several of their earliest years. * Appendix, No. I. t By the Lord Advocate Jeffrey, in his speech at the meeting when the Infant School Society of Edinburgh was formed in 1829. 112 HIGHER RANKS — EFFECTS OF REJECTION BY THEM. 3c?, This word all has raised the warmest opposition, and that from many who admit that infant schools may be bene- ficial to the lower classes, but maintain that all educated mo- thers ought to be the sole guides of the infant years of their children. This sounds beautifully ; but let any one look around in the circle of his acquaintance and point out if he can, ten, — five, — nay, one mother qualified to communicate to her infant a tithe of the advantages he will derive from the system of an infant school ? Why should an incogitate prejudice deprive an infant being of this mighty blessing, be- cause he chances to be born of richer parents, in that event a great misfortune to him, than another who, because he is poor, is qualified to enjoy it ? If it were not certain that, when the infant education system shall come to be understood, it must be eagerly sought by parents of all grades in society, there would be reason to expect that, in the course of time, the class enjoying it would rise higher in character than the class rejecting it, and thereby higher in social rank. This would settle the question whether or not Infant Schools are suitable for the higher classes of society. ( 113 ) CHAPTER V. ON EDUCATION AS ADAPTED TO THE FACULTIES CONTINUED. EDUCATION SUBSEQUENT TO INFANCY. Pupils six years old — School till fourteen — Moral training continued — Re- cord of duties — Monitorial system — Writing — Drawing — Arithmetic — Continuation of the IMayo lessons — Incidental teaching — Incidental read- ing — Incidental grammar — No spelling — Lessons on chemical substances, solid, fluid, gaseous — Chemical experiments — Chemical elements-^Know. ledge of man in body and mind — Geography — Globe — Incidental Astro- nomy — Civil History — Geometry — Mechanical Science — Natural His- tory—Incidental Natural Theology — Study of nature naturalized — Les- sons on political state — Lessons on political economy — Exercise of the reflecting powers — Maxims and proverbs — Education for all — For pecu- liar talents or turns — Science taught to the young, to the working classes, to females — Educational Code — Books — Training Teachers — Schools of Industry — American schools of manual labour Domestic service — Ul- terior education— Languages — Classes — College, The pupil is now six years old, and ought not to remain in the infant school after that age ; as it has been found, that the mixture of older children operates upon the younger too much in the way of influence, to the effect of diminishing the original working of the faculties. A limit should be fixed and scrupulously adhered to. At six, the pupil should be intro- duced to the school in which he is to find occupation till he arrives at fourteen, the age of puberty ; at which age, it is sub- mitted to be practicable that he shall have attained, besides moral habits, a sum of general elementary knowledge, suffi- cient as a basis, if his destination be manual labour, for far- ther voluntary progress as the employment of his leisure time, as resource in any situation in which he may find him- self, and as the means of applying the faculties in which he it; strongest to his own advancement in the world ; while the just notions of social life which he has attained will regulate his future views ; and at once deliver him from the various impostors that now mislead him, and render him the enlight- K 114 MORAL EXERCISE DAILY RECORD. ened and v,iirmg co-operator with yet higher intellects, in plans for the general welfare. li'the pupils destination be a ])ursuit above manual labour, his acquisitions, at fourteen, will form a basis on which to push yet farther the pursuits of science, and apply these to exalt the character and usefulness of his future professional line of employment. l.s-f, The MORAL TRAINING bcguu in the infant school must not be considered as finished there. Its principles and prac- tice ought to have a prominent influence on all the subse- quent steps of education, and be held as a directing and ad- vancing system through the whole of life. Kules should be systematically laid down for the constant exercise of benevo- lence, justice, and pi-actical piety, in all the business, and all the intercourse of the school ; the readings and lessons should have a moral tendency ; all selfishness, rudeness, coarseness, and imprecation, should be habitually reprobated ; and disin - terestedness, co-operation, and kindness, esteemed and en- couraged. The subject of morals should be made prominent, and both the natural and scriptural foundation of all its charity and brotherly love unceasingly impressed iqion the pupil's mind. There is a simple, and as it may be called mechanical, aid to the teacher's precepts and the pupil's moral practice, which, printed in a cheap form, should be in the possession of every pupil, and used by him every day of his continuance in the school beyond the stage of infancy. It is the production of a female moralist, is called A Daily Record of Duties, or- ganic, MORAL, RELIGIOUS, AND INTELLECTUAL,* and has been used in families both in England and Scotland for the last six years. The duties which the Creator has constituted the conditions of human happiness are arranged according to the classes mentioned in its title ; while the details have re- ference to the faculties, and these are adopted according to the analysis offered in Chapter III. of this volume.l Every night before he goes to bed, the pupil's attention is called to the events of the day ; and the array of duties which demand fulfilment is pondered by him. He weighs them a/l, for guilt in one is, morally as well as religiously, guilt in all, and is inconsistent with the claim of having performed the duty of " Obedience to God," which is one of the entries ; so that if Published by John Anderson jun. Edinburgh ; and by Orr and Smith, J-ondon. ■f A specimen of one week of the Record as kept, will be found in the Api;endix, No. III., of which each of the other fifty-one weeks of the year is a repetition. MONITORIAL SYSTEM CLASSES WRITING. 1 1 r> nothing else were done than securing a diurnal perusal of tht: names of the duties, a daily reminiscence that these are hu- man obligations, actual good cannot but resvdt. But when this help to self-examination is really and sincerely used as u regulator of conduct, the good it is capable of doing is incal- culable. It might be difficult for one teacher of a numerous school to superintend the fidelity of the entries made by tht pupils in these registers; but the books may be produced t^; the monitors of classes, a.nd each pupil be required to explain his entries, and state upon what acts or kind of conduct he felt authorized to make them ; any thing remarkable to be reported to the teacher. Of course the record-books of tht monitors themselves will be revised by the teacher. What is now stated will be easily understood by a glance at tht specimen referred to. I need scarcely say that the monitouial system which, from its many direct and indirect advantages, is adopted evert in the infant school, should be continued in the more advan- ced seminary, as essential to its efficiency. On the benefit? of this admirable educational improvement, which is in itself •sufficient to immortalise the names of Bell and Lancaster, there is now, it is believed, little difference of opinion.* In the advanced school, which is attended for eight years, there will be variety of pursuit, and tlifferent grades of pro- gress ; but there must, of course, be classes of pupils at the same stage, and learning the same matters. There may be a call for more than one teacher to answer the degrees of progress, — the infant teacher must be a different person from the more advanced, — but this is a matter of economical ar- rangement, which I am not at present considering. I shall therefore proceed with the subject of educating the faculties on their objects, whatever shall be the mere machinery pur in train for that purpose. Writing must be zealously prac- tised according to the briefest and best system yet adopted in the Lancasterian schools ; and the pupil gradually habi- tuated to write down words on his slate, when required, and practise with pen and ink occasionally. Drawing is no more than writing clown objects ; and its principles, to the extent of sketching objects presented, ought to be taught in the writing class ; for allied branches should be practised together. • There are here aud there objections to it, as there are to all other thiugs however excellent ; but when examined into, they all prove to be founded oa misapplications of the system. IKJ DRAWING ARITHMETIC MAYO LESSONS. Design and painting are for those gifted with the talent re- quired ; but every pupil should be able to form on his slate such objects as a square, a cube, a tree, a house, a machine, Sic. in correct drawing and perspective. Arithmetic, which has been well grounded in the inflmt school, by means of vi- sible and tangible numbers, should proceed with its calcula- tions and applications, according to the abridged and clever system of Mr Wood, that of the Lancasterian schools, or Pestalozzi's method, as may be foimd to succeed best.* The Pestalozzian lessons on objects of Dr Mayo, it will be recollected, were left unfinished, as the remainder was considered beyond the stage of the infant school. The fifth and last series of forty-nine lessons affords practice in combi- nation. Each object is presented, as before, to the pupils, who make their own observations upon it. They are then interrogated as to what they know concerning the substance ; and all the information which can be obtained from them is collected by the teacher, who may communicate any farther particulars on the subject, calculated to interest or instruct. The materials thus obtained should be arranged, and repeated to them ; after which the class should be examined upon all that has passed ; and, finally, required to draw up a written account themselves. Children from eight to ten years of age have derived great improvement from this exercise. It not only serves to stimulate their attention during the progress of the lesson, but also furnishes a test of their having well under- stood it, and leads them to express their ideas with clearness and facility. In this course, the substance should be exhi- bited both in its raw and manufactured state. Thus in the lesson on Flax, the plant itself, the fibres when separated from the stem, the thread when spun, and the various sub- stances into which it is made, may be brought before the pu- pils, and likewise models of the machinery employed in these operations. The first lesson of this series impresses the ori- gin, appearance, qualities, preparation, and uses of Leather ; and this includes oak-bark, lime-water, and alkali. The second lesson treats of Cork in the same way, and tells -nhere it is produced. The succeeding lessons are on India- Rubber, Sponge (for many of the objects were presented before for a less extensive description), Camphor, Horn, Shell-lac, Wax- " I have much pleasure in referring to Mr BIber's " Life of Pestalozzi," which contains a summary on this and all other points. ADVANCED LESSONS ON OBJECTS. 117 candles, which suggest capillary attraction, — Glue, Coffee, Tea, Sago, Rice, Paper, — with a long lesson on its manufac- ture ; Parchment, Glass, Whalebone, Bread, Sugar, Hemp, Flax, Cotton, Wool, Silk, Court-Plaster, Saffron, Butter, Cheese, Putty, Starch, Felt, and Porcelain. Many others might be added. The 33d lesson introduces the Metals, with the following observations : " In these lessons on the common metals, it is necessary to present the specimens to the class in their several natural and artificial states ; that is to say, the native ores and the manufactured metals. The teacher would find the interest of the pupils awakened by the examination of the se- veral substances, and consequently would find them more in- clined to receive, with profit, the information conveyed. The plan of writing down the list of qualities is again adopted with the metals, as they lead to a new range of ideas, and very de- cidedly form the characteristic distinctions of the substances." The first metal treated of is Gold. It is a perfect metal, mal- leable, ductile, tenacious, heavy, fusible, incombustible except by electricity. A solid piece of gold, and a piece of gold- leaf, are shewn ; the almost incredible ductility of gold ex- plained, and its resistance to all acids but aqua regia, a mix- ture of the muriatic and nitric- Of course, at this stage, such ideas as electricity and chemical acids, must be antici- pated, the pupils being promised a subsequent acquaintance with them. Then come the uses of gold in coinage and or- nament, as lace, gilding of metals and porcelain, the mode of beating it out, &c. The lesson concludes with the geogra- phical localities of the metal, and its geological and mining description. In this way are treated, in successive lessons, illustrated by exhibition, Silver, Mercury — with the Thermo- meter, &c., — Lead, Copper, Iron, Steel, Cast-iron, and Tin. The 40th lesson compares metals with each other, which brings in the doctrine, illustrated practically, of specific gra- vity. The 41st lesson, one of much interest, is on the attributes of metals in general ; their metallic lustre, sonorousness, weight, ductility, tenacity ; their combinations and alloys in metallurgy, or the working of mettils. This is followed by questions on all the metals, as an exercise. What are the chief qualities and properties of gold, silver, &c. ? Flow is gold beaten out ? How are buttons gilt ? Wliat is lunar caustic ? What are the specific gravities of gold, silver, tin, leud, &c. ? 118 INCIDENTAL METHOD READING — GRAMMAR. The 42d lesson takes up the Earths ; Lime and its many combinations, animal, vegetable, and mineral ; Alumine or Argil, with all its applications, in bricks, pottery, &c. to the use of man. The remaining lessons are on Coal, Granite, Salt, Slate, and Coral. I have been thus minute, I trust not tedious, from my con- viction that a summary of the whole system is necessary to its due appreciation. Of this I do feel assured, that the pupils will not weary of it ; but that, connected as it ought to be, with a well ventilated school-room and exercising ground, with active gyninastics, varied with other pursuits to be men- tioned, and communicated by tlie teacher in a friendly, cheer- ful, and exciting manner, it will be a delight to the children, put the barbarous artificial stimulants of punishments, place- taking, medals, and prizes, for ever out of fashion, and render these, to the better taught pupil, matter of curious history, as- sociated with the other foolish methods of education, which, however incredible it may then be to him, did once prevail in society. It is plain that, in these five series of lessons, all the intellectual faculties have their turn of easy exercise, that ex- ercise constituting high enjoyment, as well as useful practical knowledge. Continuing the process of incidental reading, all the words and descriptions of the objects in the different series should be presented to the pupils in a spoken, printed, and written form ; thus their reading would be improved ; and, by the time their whole lessons are finished, which may re- quire perhaps a year or more, the pupils, assisted by occasional reading in classes under monitors, may easily have attained the power of reading any English book. Grammar, by par- sing, should be incidentally taught. Mr Biber has shewn the Pestalozzian course concisely and clearly, and to his work I must be contented with a reference. It is obvious that, by the incidental method, knowledge of an object and its quali- ties, its name pronounced, written down, and read, and its de- scription read and parsed, are occupations and exercises all jn'oceeding at the same time, and actually aiding each other. In the connection of nature's parts in one harmonious whole, to teach incidentally is to teach naturally. The saving of time and labour must be so obvious, and the unity and co- operation of intellectual exercise so advantageous, that a ju- dicious and extensive application of the Incidental Method seems indispensable to the success of popular education. The SPELLING CHEMISTRY STUDY OF MAN. lli to Antony, he effected his ruin at Actium. Cleopatra's share of the moral sentiments shone forth in her desertion of her lover with her galleys in the heat of the action, and her affectionate offer to abandon him to the mercy of the conqueror. This baseness was even too much for Octavius ; or, more probably, he saw that he did not require its aid, as both lovers were in his power, and he intended to have delighted the populace of Home, by an ex- hibition of them, chained to his triumphal chariot. They pre- ferred self-destruction. Lepidus disappeared in his own in- significance, and Octavius returned to Rome sole master of the Roman empire. It is unnecessary to detain the reader with the Iloman Em- pire: the character of the people became more and more corrupt- ed and debased. The proclivity, which Sallust dates from the fate of Carthage,* proceeded in the accelerating ratio of a falling body. Every one knows the merits of the different emperors, and is well aware that, according as the prince was a man or a brute, the Roman people revived or suffered: unfortunately the latter character belonged to a great majority of the em- pei'ors. Little is to be gained by studying the history of the bar- barism which overthrew and overspread the Roman empire, in the varieties of Huns, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Lombards, Franks, &c. It would be difficult to find one institution in the dark ages founded in mercy, or any feeling higher than a rude and despotic justice, or artificial honour, the offspring of chivalry. Christianity, with its humanizing powers, was for many centuries intercepted, and the most debasing system of fraud substituted in its place, which ever cheated mankind. A dense and noxious fog was interposed between the nations of Europe, and the vivifying rays of Christian morality. Before history can be properly taught, it must be properly * " Ante Cartliaginem deletam — metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat. Sed ubi ilia formido mentibus decessit, lascivia atque superbia HISTOUY HOW TO BE WKITTEN. 153 written. It must be written under the direction of an enlight - eued pliilosophy of mind and human nature, and the sound ethics of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect. It ought to be viewed as a record of the manifestations of the faculties of man, and — the distinction of the animal from the moral faculties, the truth that creation is arranged on the principle of favouring virtue, being kept in view — its events should be classed according to their relation to the higher or lower feelings of humanity ; exalting the former as worthy of approval and imitation ; and reprobating the latter according to their place in the scale of vice or crime, to which, in abuse, tliey essentially belong. The historian thus guided would not worship the false splendour of the Greeks and Eomans, — a worship too unequivocally indicative of a sympathy in our- selves with the lower feelings, out of which that false splen- dour arose ; — but tracing through all their ramifications and tortuosities, to their ultimate inevitable retribution, acts fun- damentally immoral or criminal, would sternly refuse to them the slig])test shelter from imiversal execration, in the most dazzling feats of heroism, the most magnificent dispensation of plunder, the finest taste, or most gorgeous magnificence. The same guiding principles would impart to history a philo- sophical character, which would give it the highest practical value, and instead of an unedifying monotony of vice and crime, would render it a continued illustration of principle, and an instructive guide to national practice. However history may yet be written, it surely need not be taught to the young through the medium of the animal pro- pensities. Ancient history would require great and judicious abridgment, and a new code of instruction, for its convey- ance. A knowledge of the past existence of the various tribes of men, with the chronology of their rise and fall as nations, is of course indispensable. A very summary sketch of their crimes, avoiding their interminable details, would be sufficient to illustrate the dominion of the lower feelings which brought on their fall. To minds exalted by moral training, details of barbarism and blood vv'ill be intolerably te- dious and disgusting ; false glare being at an end, volumes filled with re-enactments of the same animal manifestations will no longer be endured. After exhausting Asiatic artd Egyptian selfishness, sensualities, cruelties, brutalities, and absurdities, a repetition of the very same abominations mutato 154 DARK AGES SINCE REFORMATION. nomine, in Grecian annals, and yet again, when done with these, in Roman, would be a most irksome task, and a mise- rable waste of time. In a judicious abridgment nothing really valuable, even as matter of warning, need be lost ; nothing which marks the development of the faculties, and the pro- gress of human improvement, with the motives of action and the events in their connection as effects from causes ; while all the varieties of injustice, individual and national, should receive their right names, and fraud, treachery, aggression, robbery and murder, which we justly reprobate when perpe- trated in private life, be given over to tenfold execration when committed on a large scale ; when millions are slaugh- tered by an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon, when king- doms are plundered and nations enslaved. The race would be retrograding instead of advancing, if there were not much to avoid in the actings of men who lived when the world was greatly younger and less experienced than it is now : for " the wisdom of our ancestors" — an entity generally of doubt- ful reality at any time — becomes a perfect solecism when it draws back to the eras of positive barbarism. In the progress of civilization useful details will be amplified. The dark ages, with the exception of those singular manifestations of excited propensities and insane veneration, the Crusades, which have done good as warning beacons — scarcely possess any interest founded in utility. But from the period of the revival of learning and science, the working of the faculties affords a great and progressive increase of lessons, and from the Refor- mation downwards, the history of England is replete with in- struction. Even of that history since the Reformation an enlightened morality would reform the inculcation, and allot more discriminately, than is almost ever done, their proptr places, according to a sound philosophy, to the characters, acts, customs, and institutions of our predecessors. Thus would the character of history be elevated, and its usefulness increased. When it had less of war, it would have more of society's natural state, peace, and would become less a chro- nicle exclusively of kings and governments, and more a true picture of the successive generations of the human race ; a valuable record of experience, holding the relation to the phi- losophy of man of a gradual induction of facts, capable of being systematised into a code of practical principles, with a beneficial application to every department of human affairs. SHOULD BE A LATE STUDY. 155 It remains only, on this important head, to observe, that his- tory, taught as now recommended, should be one of the latest subjects of study ; when imparted as a mere chronicle or succession of facts it matters little whether it tasks the young or the advanced ; but addressed to the reflecting powers of the student, it ought to be delayed till these are developed ; addressed as it is to tlie memory alone it is forgotten, and even when remembered, is scarcely, by the educated them- selves, applied to any practical use whatever. ( 156 ) CHAPTER VII. ON POPULAR EDUCATION AS THE DUTY OF THE NATION PLAN PROPOSED. Burdens from popular ignorance — Education ouglit to be free — Working classes cannot obtain it — Always has been at public expense — School fees — Voluntary schools precarious — Working class indifferent — Gratis ex- periment — Claims of working class^They pay bulk of taxes — Nation mast educate them — Commissioners — Minister — Code — The What of education — Course of books — Practical arrangements — Proposed building atid airing ground — School and scienUfic apparatus — Normal schools for training teachers — First and second gWnts — Control and superintendence — No lack of teachers — -Legitimate compulsion on parents — Something immediately to be done — Extract from the Edinburgh Review. Popular ignorance is an enormons national evil. The ig- norance, almost total, of seven-eighths of the British people, to say nothing of the reproach with which it covers us, is ftill of danger to our social system, and even affects deeply our daily well-being. A great proportion of our burdens must be placed to its account ; it peoples our prisons and our hospi- tals, desolates our land with pauperism, and taxes us for the costly machinery of police establishments and criminal judi- cature ; while it largely deducts from the happiness of every feeling man, to witness and live surrounded by the nameless and numberless sufferings which it entails upon an immense portion of our countrymen. From these sufferings they have a claim on that system called the nation, for deliverance- The associating principle of a nation is protection to all from those evils which are too strong for individual exertion. It bestirs itself when pestilence stalks abroad, and the unseen arrow wounds by noon-day ; this is urgent, and fear performs its office. It rises with all the excitation of the belligerent fa- culties to make war, and pours forth its treasures like a tor- rent.* Pride and rage are uncalculating paymasters. But The combinations which led to the victory of Waterloo, in other words, the expenses to Britain of the memorable " Hundred days," was forty mil- lions of pounds Sterling ! EDUCATION OUGHT TO BE FREE. 157 the war against ignorance is made to wait ; it rouses not pride, nor flatters vanity ; the spread of that pestilence excites no panic. Benevolence and justice, the moving forces to that contest, are uninipassioned, tranquil, and slow ; and although we never admit that a treaty with popular ignorance is even to be thought of, we are content to live on in so lengthened a truce with the enemy, as to amount to the same thing. Ac- customed most erroneously to consider education as a n-ant^ for the supply of which all are willing to pay, there are per- haps none of our old habits of thinking, now undergoing ex- amination, which will receive a more violent concussion than this, when the thesis is boldly and unqualifiedly propounded, as it now humbly is, that the education of the children OF THE manual-labour CLASS OUGHT TO BE FREE, free aS the air they breathe, — milk without money and without price. If this novel proposition be deliberately weighed, it will be found that to deny it is to Rclude popular education alto- gether from being a part of the social system. The argument for throwing open liberally the doors of our schools to the children of the manual- labour class is twofold, — \st, That class cannot command any thing deserving the name of education for their children ; and, 2d, They have an undoubted claim ^ for it on the Nation. \st. It is notorious, that the labour, the over-labour, of the working man is barely sufficient, and too often insufficient, to provide food, clothing, lodging, and fuel, for his family. This is true when he is industrious, conscientious, and temperate ; but the state of his family is greatly worse if he be addicted to drinking, or any other expensive selfish indulgence. We must take the fact as it stands, that this last mentioned source of impoverishment actually exists, and opei'ates to a very great extent ; so that if the children of the industrious and tempe- rate labourer are not educated, there can be no hope at all for those of the reckless and the sensual. The object is ren- dered still more unattainable when we reflect what it is that is to be attained ; what the education is which, from two years of age to fourteen, is requisite to elevate the people, physically, morally, and intellectually, from their present threefold degradation. A humble attempt has been made to describe it in the 4th and 5th Chapters of this treatise ; and I would ask any competent person who has read these chapters, and who agrees with me in thinking that the educa- 158 HAS ALWAYS BEEN AT PUBLIC EXPENSE. tion there described is the education wanted for the people- to judge whether by any efforts of their own, individual or combined, the manual-labour class can command that educa- tion for their children, over and above the maintenance of themselves and their families ? They are quite as adequate to the expenses of a war. The very materiel of efficient edu- cation is far beyond their reach ; the ground, the buildings, the apparatus, the implements ; and as much so is the pre- vious most necessary education of teachers, themselves an army in number.* An a priori statement of this array of difficulties might suffice, but the fact is, that the idea of the manual-labour class educating their children, beyond a slight aid to that object, has never been, because it cannot be, enter- tained. The boasted parochial schools of Scotland are built and endowed by the public ; the teacher's house, garden, and salary, are foimd him by the s^e public ; while the school fees payable by the people for "heir children are inadequate even to keep up the establishment, and are looked to as a mere aid to the teacher's after all too scanty means. In the towns, all the experiments of Lancasterian and Infant schools are made mainly at the public expense ; they were else quite beyond the reach of the class for whose benefit they are established. It matters not that they are erected and endowed by partial voluntary contributions, and not by general assessment ; my present purpose is to shew that they were not, because they could not be, procured by the work- ing classes themselves. But such establishments are of most limited extent, and far short of a title to be called public in- stitutions ; and moreover, even in them, the weekly pittance demanded from the parents for their children's attendance, in aid of the subscribed funds, is partially and irreg^alarly paid, and operates to multitudes, and those most needing educa- tion, as a positive exclusion. We are not called upon to ac- count for this, — although it is easily accounted for in pinch- ing want and profligate habits, which often leave not the pence required, or devote them to the gin-shop, — it is enough that it is known and felt to be true. The weekly fee of two- pence has thinned the ranks of the Edinburgh model Infant school, till its directors look upon it more as a sort of staff to • The number of registered teacbers of both sexes under the national system of Prussia, is^f-^OOO and upwards. In France there will be 10,000 more ; for there are 37,000 communes. VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS PRECARIOUS. 159 preserve the invaluable system, than a full establishment. The institution was calculated for 250 or 300 infants ; but for three years and a half, in spite of the undiminished zeal and activity of an excellent teacher, in spite of the exertions of the directors, and not less of the directresses, to increase the numbers, and in spite of many expedients, to tempt and almost coax the people to enter their children, 100 have been the full average attendance !* But there is another circum- stance which must tell with tenfold force in the present argu- ment, namely, that hundreds are of a class above the grade for wliom the institution was chiefly intended ; the appear- ance and clothing of the children, their finery even, on exhi- bition-days, and the general character and aspect of the pa- rents themselves, all bespeak the more respectable class of work-people ; while to those who need it most the school is shut, by the charge of twopence a-week for one child, and a penny for every other child ^^f the same family. But again, the parish schools of Scotland have endured for two centuries just because they do not depend on voluntary . support. For the permanence of the establishments now sup- ported by voluntary contribution, their best friends are full of fears. It is well known that, over the whole country, thev are occasionally dropping, like lights extinguished in the deep obscure, " like stars fi-om the firmament cast."j A solitary Lancasterian school, of about 600 pupils, is supported in Edinburgh ; while an almost periodical statement is reported by its directors that it is running in debt, and must soon shut its doors unless more liberally treated. The Infant school, too, has been a model to only two additional esta- blishments ; and has not only made little progress in clear- * The numbers alone have fallen oif, the system continues vigorous. f In No. 117 of the Edinburgh Review, page 8, is the following passage : " In Henly-on- Thames, there has been a tolerable British school. The Committee on the spot, however, were seized with the notion that they should like to have an Infant School. The British School was accordin^lv allowed to drop, but no infant school succeeded. So precarious is the tenure oi unendowed sc\ioo\i. We may mention also, in proof of their liability to accident, a state of things by no means uncommon in the midland counties, in which sons of respectable farmers have grown up to men's estate without even the elements of education. That they were accustomed to receive in Dames' schools ; but during the time when prices wera high, and the farmers prosperous, they sent their children to boarding.schMs and academies. Bad times returned, and the children were recalled ; but the Dames' school had disappeared." IGO WORKING CLASS INDIFFERENT. ing an original large debt, but is just able to subsist from year to year ; how much longer we dare not say. Mr Wood's name is itself sufficient to maintain a numerous and vigorous school, though that establishment also receives and requires voluntary public aid. In short, the whole system of volunta- rily supported education is precarious, and limited far short of the exigencies of the working classes. Besides, it is yet ano- ther load unfairly laid upon benevolence by selfishness, which is content to reap the benefit of what others pay for. In Edinburgh, we are, and have been for some time, at what is called a " stand still," and it is presumed that we are a pretty fair type of other places. An hundred other charities burden and exhaust the benevolent, who, as was formerly observed, are to the «o«-contributing pviblic of these places as one to one hundred ! Of the rest, midtitudes never give on any ac- count whatever ; " it is not in their way ;" some do make a rare exception of a particularly popular and showy occasion ; steady, noiseless, stated philanthropic expenditure is rare, nor is even that unvarying. This is well known to the anxious directors of some charities which have ceased to be novel ; other charities, bad times, general suffering, year after year thin their subscription lists ; the institutions struggle on for some time longer by various expedients, contracting their usefulness, and heavily taxing their conductors over and above their labour ; at last they die, and a subscription to bury them and wind up their affairs is attempted, and fails I But pay for it who may, the education of the working classes never has been and never will, for it cannot, be paid by themselves. Besides inability, there is another obstacle to any thing like effort by that class to obtain education for their children, and that is, their utter indifference to it, arising from ignorance of its advantages. The very ignorance which we cwi^lore is a mountainous barrier in the way of its own removal. The road must be levelled and smoothed, and almost strewed with flowers, to tempt the prevailing apathy to it. It is proverbial, but erroneous, that a thing must be paid for before it is va- lued, and many will tell us that the working class will not care to send their children to our gratis schools. Now that has not yet been tried ; but it has, on trial, been found to be most certainly true that the maxim reversed holds good, viz. that a thing must be valued before it is paid for ; and hence the empty halls of the pence-exacting schools. It seems an experiment well worth the while of the Government, who GRATIS EXPERIMENT. l6l itmst ultimately have to deal with the great question, to gua- rantee, for a year or two, the loss to two or three intixnt schools that shall arrange to open their doors gratis. From many indications, and from inquiries made by them among the poorer classes, Mr Dun and Mr Milne, the teachers of the Edinburgh Lancasterian and model Infant schools, have informed the author, that they entertain no doubt that their schools would be quite full in a i'ew days on that footing.* This might be expected by attention to the most obvious hu- man motives. The pai'ent must be depraved indeed, or in- sane, who should prefer being annoyed with wretchedly cared, for children at home, or seeing them playing in the kennels of the streets, in filth and wickedness, to placing them in the safety, comfort, and, to them, luxury of an Infant school. If they could be tempted only to bring them there, the children themselves would most certainly come back again ; would the parents — could they, hinder them ? Let us once have the children, and we are sure of their return ; they will make no demand on their parents on Monday morning for the non-ex- isting twopence, which has gone for whisky on Satuixtay night or Sunday ; the poor child is probably sent or driven out of doors at any rate ; he will infallibly find his way to the Infant school ; and when once thei*e, he may in most cases be count- ed upon, not only for the whole period of that first school, l)ut for transference to the more advanced school of our fifth chapter, also opened to him gratis ; and there also he will )nake out the total term. 2dly, The manual-labour class have a claim on the nation tor the means of educating their children. If education can- not be adapted for the people but at an expense which would overwhelm any means short of national, it must be provided by the natiQj|. But this is but another form for the expres- sion that it must be provided by the people themselves ; not * Both these teachers declare that their school-fees are irregularly paid. In the Lancasterian scarcely one-half are paid when due, and a great propor- tion is never recovered. In the Infant achool it is better, though there likewise irregular. Mr Dun knows when a pupil will cease to come back ; it is after running some weeks in arrear. He has often made the experiment of seeing the parents, and on wiping off the score, has found the pupil come back again. Mr Dun and Mr Milne state, that the opinion in favour of gratis teaching is from experience general among the teachers themselves. The boys in the Lancasterian School are about 300,— they used to be 500. If the doors were opened gratis, a larger number than 500 would attend with alacrity. There are about 300 girls. O 162 CLAIMS OF WORKING CLASS. in a partial and inefficient way, but by the equable means of a general contribution passing through the coffers of the state. The waters would but partially irrigate tlie soil if they were not first carried by evaporation high into the atmosphere, and scattered in genial and spreading showers over the whole face of the land. From some few direct taxes the manual-labour class is exempt- ed ; but that class being seven-eighths of the population, must bear an immense proportion of the indirect taxation. They are, after all, the grand consumers, and nearly every thing they consume is in some way or other taxed. What have they in retvu-n for this ? They have protection. Of what ? they have no property to protect, and their manual-skill or capacity of labour needs no protection ; their persons require little, already protected as they are by their poverty ; the pro- tection of the capital that pays their labour is a far-fetched value to them for their contribution to the public burdens. They are entitled to some more palpable and direct return, and what can that be more natural, more blessed, than educa- tion for their children, " Dropping like tlie gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath," and vivifying and fructifying all it falls upon. It is an error to call this gratis education ; the working classes pay for it not only in their extensive contribution to the indirect taxa- tion, but in sustaining by their labour the entire physical fa- bric of the community. For this they bestow one-half, and often more, of the twenty-four hours, three-fourths of their waking time ; and that for a remuneration which their num- bers render limited and inadequate. If that remuneration be barely sufficient to provide necessaries for their families, can we yet reduce it farther by proposing that, over and above their labour and burden of taxes, they shall provide education, such as it ought to be, for their children ? No ! education denied to seven-eighths of a people, should rouse a nation's energies. That it will be costly there is no concealing, but it must be attained at any cost. We must go to war with ignorance, and wage it uncompromisingly till it is conquered. No half measure will succeed ; the effort must be powerful, simultaneous, and worthy of a great people. It must have all the " agitation" of a mighty event ; " the people must take the matter into their own hands;" this meaning, not that the THE NATION MUST EDUCATE THEM. 1G3 people are expected to make unconnected and unsystematic efforts to educate themselves, but that they are to urge the great measure on the Government, as one which they have at heart, and for which they are willing to pay, provided all are made to pay in the fair proportion of an equable tax.* But to the Government they leave the mode of applying the ways and means so provided ; they will thence best secure that uniformity of plan which will enlighten all the land, and bring it within the circle of one vast united family ; in most beneficial contrast to the phases it now exhibits, general igno- rance diversified with a little knowledge in the garb of a har- lequin, with no two of its patches alike. As a commencement to the glorious measure of national education, which is destined to illustrate the legislature that carries it through, its merits should be discussed fully and freely in both Houses of Parliament, and resolutions voted in its favour. Petitions will not be wanting, when the subject is " agitated" by the legislature, the press, and the associations, all combining to enlighten the public upon it, and render it popvdar. When the legislature has, by resolutions, recognised the prin- ciples, first, THAT THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE, FROM TWO YEARS OF AGE TO FOURTEEN, OUGHT TO BE FURNISHED AT THE NATIONAL EXPENSE ; and, Secondly, that the national SYSTEM SHOULD BE DIRECTED BY THE GOVERNMENT, the wav will be paved for the first act of Parliament which will em- power his Majesty to name Commissioners, under the super- intendence of his Secretary of State for the Home Depart- ment,f to constitute a Board of Public Education, whose duty, under the responsibility of a minute report to Parliament, it shall be, First, after the most extensive inquiries into existing improvements, not merely in this country, where there is yet A great association has just been formed in London for that purpose, to be joined by affiliations in all the great towns. Manchester was the first, and Kirkaldy the second, to form provincial associations, t Prussia and France have each a Minister of Public Instruction, and the magnitude of the national object would warrant a similar appointment in this country. In this proposition I am anticipated by the Edinburgh Review, No. 117, p. 30, — " In England, where almost every thing is to do, and a great deal to be undone, we doubt whether any thing can be effected of per- manent utility, without a Minister of Public Instruction. Tlie duties of the Home Office are already too heavy. The only way to secure unity, promp- titude, energy, and we may add impartiality, in any organized system of na- tional education, is to lodge the undivided responsiI)ility in the bauds of a public officer, and to limit his duties to that great object. " 164 THE WHAT OF EDUCATION. but little to boast of, but in countries which have made, and are making, popular education a grand national object, such as Prussia and France, and guided by sound philosophical ])rinciple, to prepare a system of primary education — a Code of Instructions, or directory for the teacher's guidance, adapt- ed to all classes of the community, and with a special eye to the elementary education of the manual-labour class, physical, moral, and intellectual. The vital importance of such a code needs no illustration. On the table of every school in the country, it would be the teacher's rule, guide, warrant, and limit, and secure to the pupil education on an enlightened plan, and that uniform from one end of the empire to the other. This is of immense moment. There is a vague talk on the subject of popular education, even among its zealous friends, which appears never to get beyond the machinery, the multiplication of schools, and tlie methods of teaching ; but few seem to think it at all necessary to settle the point, what is to be taught. In this, we of this coimtry have the course clear for us immeasurably to shoot ahead of both Prussia and France. It would occupy too much space to detail here the WHAT of education in those countries on their new popular system. Those who have read their reports must have been struck with the preponderating importance allotted to the ma- chinery, — to the minister of public instruction, the boards, the normal schools, the primary schools, the control and visitation, the uniformity, borrowed fi-om the very war-office and the barracks. This is all very right, so far as it goes ; but the education conveyed by all these appliances appears yet to rise very little above the old routine. We miss, in the very front of the system, a pi'ovision for Infant Education, and for the chief object of all education, to v, hich every thing else ought to be subservient, early practical moral training. We find no })rovision made for imparting to the pupil a knowledge of him- self, and of Creation as related to him. Languages, geo- graphy, mathematics, history, music, drawing, penmanship, are all excellent branches, but they are too apt to be thought the whole of school objects. The desiderated British Code of the substance of education may be made to exceed any thing yet known ; and, borrowed, as it would be, by the very coun- tries from which we have copied the machinery, will overpay the boon. Besides a Code of Instructions, the Board will adopt a course or series of School Books, which shall embrace COURSE OF BOOKS — PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 165 tlie most perfect and complete system of elementary educa- tion which talent can fiirnisli.* Secondly, The next duty of the Board will, of com-se, be the framing of a practical scheme of jwpular education for the country at large, — namely, the localizing of schools ; the kind of school for each locality, best adapted to confer on the place as much of the improved educational system as possi- ble ; and, as the first step after the general plan is fixed, the best mode of training the numerous teachers who will be re- quired for so immense an luidertaking. 1. The localities pointed out in the familiar parochial divi- sions of the country seem quite unexceptionable. A school on the improved plan in every parish would realise the noble scheme to the utmost practical or Avished-for extent. It is quite unnecessary to enter here into minute details ; when j)rinciple is established, practice com.es naturally to the hand. By returns obtained, through Lords-Lieutenant, from local authorities, the educational wants of the most remote parish may be familiarly known to the Board ; the numbers of chil- dren ; the distances from a central site for the school ; and all other statistical information bearing on the great object. In large towns, the number of schools adequate to the population will be regulated by a division into disti-icts. This, besides many other obvious advantages, will incite to attendance, es- pecially in the Infant school, by vicinity to the pupil's home. 2. The WHAT to be taught, as it has been above called, * The above liint has not been given in vain. The enterprize has actual- ly been commenced by those able journalists the Messrs Chambers of Edin- burgh ; and five numbers of an Educational Course, from the cradle to four- teen years of a;^e, aie already published. From the talents and the virtues of these gentlemen. — from their extensive knowledge, and command of know- ledge, and from their gigantic mechanical means, of stereotype and steam- press, their connections and means of circulation, this noble work will be nobly performed. Already the public have hailed thi; undertaking by their appro- bation of its first fruits. The volumes on Infant Education and on English Lite- rature, have had each a sale of several thousand copies ; while those on British History, Introduction to Science, and Chemistry (the last by Dr Reid), are, for the time, running an equally prosperous course. The series of books for the Irish Government Schools, chiefly, it is believed, arranged by Dr Mac- arthur, under the superintendence of the enlightened Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Whately, and the Rev. I\Ir Carlisle, have likewise great merit, and are an immense advance on any thing that preceded them. There is no reasoa why these bchools should not adopt any numbers of the Chambers' course which they yet need, the Introduction to History, and to Science, for ex- ample, and ihe Elements of Chemistry. 166 BUILDING GROUND APPARATUS. will guide even the architect. The size of his building being regulated by the number of pupils in the parish, or town dis- trict, the structure, for such a plan of education, let us sup- pose, as is humbly proposed in this treatise, is obvious, — an oblong building, with enclosed ground on both sides of it. On the ground-floor there will be a hall for the Infant School, and over it a hall for the advanced school, taught either en- tire, or in two divisions which will require another hall over the second proposed ; but all under one roof, which every builder knows is a great saving. A most important moral advantage will result from the infant and advanced school being in one building, namely, a feeling that they are parts of the same system ; the child of six ascends to the hall above, as a matter as much of course as his gi-owing older ; and that without an interval of a year or two between the infant and more advanced school, justly complained of by teachers as too common, during which much that has been acquired is lost. The upper hall or halls will enter from the other side, without interference with the infant school, and the airing-ground will be larger or deeper, to give room, not only for gymnastic ex- ercises, but for simple workshops, gardening, and other ma- nual employments.* In the infant school hall will be all the apparatus of that sys- tem, already well known and ready to be furnished. In the advanced school will be established, in proper cabinets and repositories, all the means of illustration, scientific and other, which are wanted for the series of lessons there to be taught. There is now great simplification, and of course economy, in chemical apparatus for the elementary experiments ; while in mechanical there is a capability of much abridgment of mate- rial, and of substitution for the more costly instruments. For example, all the elementary experiments in pneumatics, for- merly performed with the large air-pump, which costs above L.30, can be performed with Mr Chalmers's ingenious inven- tion, which can be had for L.3. In what I have called the Code for the schools, the apparatus will be all described and valued ; and the great demand, with competition, would faci- litate the supply-! * It is assumed that, both in the infant and advanced schools, boys and •;iils are educated in the same hall, only sitting apart. They never can be more improvingly or safely together. t Dr Reid has provided a complete chemical apparatus in the most por- table bulk, which can be furnished for L.2, 5s. ' MODE OF TRAINING TEACHERS DIPLOMA. 16/ 3. The Board should proceed forthwith to mature a mode of fitting the future teachers for their important office. It is perhaps one of the most beneficial results of a great national plan, that the superintended uniformity will secure qualified teachers, without whom the whole system would be a mock- ery, worse even than the present. The schools for teachers are called Normal Schools in Prussia, and are also known in Switzerland. Young men are assembled in considerable numbers, and instructed and trained in the branches to be taught, and the art of teaching, and a provision is made for their travelling expenses and moderate maintenance, when attending these preparative seminaries. The certainty of em- ployment as teachers secures even a competition for admis- sion, so that selection becomes necessary. It is humbly sug- gested that as many of these schools for teachers should be established, as shall be deemed by the Commissioners adequate to train the required number of teachers, and be situated in different convenient localities. Well qualified instructors of these schools could even now be procured, and still more when there shall exist a Code for their standard, and a course of books for their guidance. In order the better to secure uni- formity, the commencement should be made with one per- fectly organized Normal School, which should be attended by able men intended for teachers of other Normal Schools. Having stated fully my ideas on the formation of a model Normal School in a short pamphlet, I have thought it best to print it entire. * The teacher of the more advanced school will no doubt be the better fitted for his office, the more extended his attain- ments ; that is, he will not teach the elements of chemistry, mechanical philosophy, or astronomy, worse, that he has him- self advanced much farther in these sciences : and from what I have witnessed in the teachers of improved schools, both Lancasterian and Infant, there may be expected, if oppor- tunity be enjoyed, energetic and persevering self-improve- ment. Of course a diploma from any of the Normal Schools will be taken as credentials of qualification ; and it ought to be rigidly enacted by the legislature, that no one not posses- sed of that evidence of his having completed the prescribed time in the preparative school, should be appointed teacher of any of the national seminaries. There cannot of course be exercised any control over the education of teachers general- * Appendix, No. V. 16S FINANCE GRANTS — CONTROL AND INSPECTION. ly, but the public would soon come to prefer those trained at the Normal Schools. As it will require at least two years to educate the teachers, called Seminants by the Prussians, the finance of the measure will be regulated accordingly. The first grant will constitufe the Commissioners, the Board sitting in London.* They should be enabled to devote their time exclusively to ma- turing the measure, over and above the preparation of the Educational Code. The same grant will establish the first Normal School, and provitle for the total or partial mainte- nance of the Seminants during their attendance at that semi- nary ; while the second, and of course the largest, grant, will be called for wlien it is necessary to build and endow the schools. It has already been said that that grant must be large : it must be told in millions and raised by loan, like the ways and means of a warlike outfit, or the compensation of the West India proprietors. This will stagger the public who are unprepared to connect the benefit with the cost, and the grants will be sorely grudged ; but the country, when more enlightened, will come to see and acknowledge that the trea- sure of Britain never was, and never can be, more beneficial- ly expended. After the first erection of a school in each parish, the annual current expense will be, although absolute- ly costly, comparatively light : but it is a burden which the nation will bear the more willingly, the more enlightened they become, the more they are divested of that indifference, if not indisposition, to popular education, of which ignorance of its real nature and value is tlie cause. The current expenses should be provided for by a parish i-ate. The Board will exercise the most rigid surveillance over the Normal schools, and subsequent parish schools. The pa- rish teacher ought to be liberally paid, quite as liberally as the parish minister, while his attainments will secure to him an elevation in society, far beyond what the " schoolmaster" has yet enjoyed. But to keep vip zeal, and prevent the sedative effect of endowment, all the national school teachers should be appointed triennally ; when rftippointment will depend up- on previous conduct. The Board ought to have the sole ap- * The situation of Ireland is peculiar ; it would require consideration how far what is already well done in that country should be modified into unifor- mity with any different system that may be adopted for this Island, especially in machinery. There is less doubt about the substance of the education ; this should, and may be, uniform every where. NO LACK OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 169 pointment of teachers, and the power of dismissal for suflS- cient reason. Their diploma of qualification will be granted on examination, by Examiners appointed, not by the Board but by the Government. Returns at stated periods should be made to the Board, by the teachers, of the condition and pro- gi'ess of their schools ; and these should be countersigned by the Justices of the Peace and Clergy in the parish, who should have power, and be enjoined to visit, the school at all times, and examine it once or twice a-year. Occasional inspections by Inspectors appointed by the Board, going in circuit, so that the whole schools may be inspected in the course of a certain number of years, and their state published, would fur- nish a motive to teachers, justices, and ministers, alike to do their duty. It is not likely that there will be any lack of applicants for admission into the Normal schools, and these previously pos- sessed, for this should be conditioned, of all the instrumentary attainments of ordinary education, such as reading, wTiting, arithmetic, geography, mathematics, &c. The want of chan- nels of usefulness and subsistence for w-ell educated young men, is severely felt all over the covmtry. Not only will a more respectable reward for their qualifications offer an in- ducement, which is at present imheard of, to follow the liberal profession of instructors, but the avocation itself will, in its excitement to the faculties, so far exceed all the power which belongs to the present dull system, as to engage a much higher order of minds than those that are forced into employment for mere bread. This has been most forcibly exemplified in the Wilderspin infant schools.* It has been already observed that there will be no want of pupils to fill the ranks of such schools as the national schools ought to be. The parents, it has been said, will scarcely hinder the resort of their children to these places of safety and improvement, unless worked upon by some counteracting in- fluence. Besides the disrepute, which will become greater as the system extends, of withholding education from their chil- dren, fi'om mere indolence or perversity, the community, who pay for the advantages which are thus rejected, will come to apply a more intelligible stimulus to these selfish recusants, in form of refusal of work or domestic service to themselves, and the assurance that they will be refused to their children, not only as an expression of reproach, but because the educated • See Appendix, No. I. P 170 COMPULSION — PUBLIC FAMILIARISED. young workmen will certainly be more skilful and more trust- worthy. Besides this, municipal powers, privileges, and ad- vantages, should all be made to depend upon the evidence produced by the claimant that he attended bona fide one of the schools, for the appointed period ; and if, at the time of his application, he has children of the stated age, that they are actually bona fide attending one of the schools. I allude to the elective franchise, votes for local offices, and eligibility to fill them, parish relief, certificates of character, promotion in, and even admission into, the army and navy, &c. This seems the utmost limit of compulsion, if it ought to be so call- ed, which seems either practicable or desirable. Even so much will be required in comparatively ^ew instances, and these only in the first working of the system. The privilege, the high privilege, of education will soon recommend itself, and be eagerly courted both by parents and children.* As the proposal of compelling parents to send their children to school, especially if the compulsion be direct, as it is in Prussia, has excited much indignation, as a really Prussian invasion of the liberty of the subject, it may tend to mode- rate that feeling to state a consideration which probably is not apt to occur to those who think or talk on the matter. The law compels parents to maintain their own children, that they may not be chargeable to the public. But what is that evil compared to the evil of the same children left uneducated being nuisances to the community as criminals. It is of more consequence to the public that the children shall be educated than even maintained ; but the burden of the fulfilment of the more important duty is the lighter of the two to the pa- rents, for a proper national system will provide education free ; whereas the maintenance of the children is compelled, though at the entire expense of the parents. Besides being free, the secular education must, as formerly argued, be di- vested of all sectarian character. Compulsion otherwise would be persecution. This of itself is reason enough for taking religious instruction out of the secular school. Indeed it ren- ders that course altogether imperative. It may farther tend to reconcile this country to compulsion to enforce a great duty, and at no cost to the individual compelled, to state that compulsion is resorted to very generally in Germany and even • In Prussia attendance at the national schools is rigidly enforced ; but the law is never felt, as all are eager to send their children to school. The Prussians laugh at the question, when asked if it is not a hardship ! DUTY OF PARENTS. 171 in tlie free states of New England.* There is a sentimenta- lism on this as on many other subjects in this country, arising from inattention to sound principles. The comparison of evils settles the question in the present matter ; for the evil to the public of a free breed of criminals is an hundredfold greater than the compulsion upon an individual to send his child to a gratis school. When the police of London was put on its present admirable footing, there was much nonsense spoken and printed about military despotism, liberty of the subject, and so forth. The thieves all joined in this view of the new system. I should never hesitate to send the chil- dren that infest the streets of London and other great cities to school by compulsion. Some observations on the obstacles which at present stand in the way of this great yet simple scheme are reserved for the concluding chapter. The author has only to add here, that it would ill become so humble an individual as himself to expect the speedy realization of his views, when the first men of the age despond when they allude to the subject. It is thought that their despair regards finance, and perhaps pre- judice, more than essential impracticability. If the country will furnish the ways and means, and the interested or preju- diced will abstain from opposition and obstruction, the mea- sure, though vast, is beautifully simple, and might be brought into operation in a very few years. It is of great importance to familiarise the public, through the medium of the press, and by means of the educational association above alluded to, with enlarged educational views ; improvement of a tempo- rary kind may even be adopted by the existing schools, al- though this is not to be generally reckoned upon : but the public at large will advance in their habits of thinking on the subject, and become more disposed to make the great national effort which is so urgently required. It is hum- bly suggested that resolutions by the Legislature, and the measure of appointing a Board of Education to prepare these important works which I have called the Code, and the Course of Books, and to mature a national plan, should not be delay- • By statute 5th of James IV. of Scotland, c. 52, the nobility and landed men were compelled to send their eldest sons to the schools under a heavy penalty. Henry VIII. of England also compelled the Irish nobility and gen- try to send their children to schools in Ireland to learn English. It is sin- gular that James IV. and Henry VIII. were contemporary sorereigns. 172 LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTIONS — BOARD EXISTING. ed even for another session of Parliament. Besides the prac- tical opei'ation of a regulating body of instruction,* the exist- ence of an organized power steadily preparing and forwarding the great cause in the country, towards a well-defined end, \vould produce a powerful moral influence, and keep all eyes fixed upon the coming event, as an epoch in the annals of the nation, and the history of the race. I cannot better conclude this chapter, than with an extract from the able article in the Edinburgh Review, No. 117, already more than once alluded to.f At page 27, the writer says, — " Of all the preliminary steps, then, to the adjustment of this great question, by far the most important is the appoint- ment of some means for training schoolmasters, not to any set of mechanical evolutions merely, but to a knowledge of the principles and practice of their profession, and to the able and enlightened discharge of its duties. The want of some such provision is the great vice of our Scottish system. Faults have thus crept into the practice of our parish schools, which no- thing but the removal of the cause will eradicate. Our readers are aware what consequence the Prussian lawgivei's attached to this object ; wisely considering, that the best plans of teach- ing are a dead letter, without good and able teachers ; and that to expect good teachers without good training, is to look for a crop without ploughing and sowing. In all their regulations on the subject of the Schullehrer seminarien, there is an anxious consideration of whatever can minister to the moral and intellectual improvement, and even to the personal com- fort and happiness, of the young teachers, which reminds us more of the tenderness of parental care and admonition, than of the stern and authoritative precepts of law. Every de- partment is enjoined to have one of these seminaries ; the pupils to be admitted between sixteen and eighteen, to the number of from sixty to seventy in each ; to be situated in towns of moderate size, that, on the one hand, they may be preserved from the corruption of very large towns, and, on the * I may mention another advantage of the course of books ; a general complaint by parents will be obviated by it, viz. the great expense of the variety and bulk of school-books, out of which, after all, but a mere portion is read. t I beg to refer to Article loth of the preceding number of the Review (116), for a very complete analysis of the mechanism of the Prussian sys- tem. That system I cannot help thinking unnecessarily complicated. It is evidently modelled upon military notions of duties and responsibilities. 1 PRUSSIAN TEACHERS. 173 Other, have access to schools wliich they can see and may im- prove in. The course of instruction dehvered in these insti- tutions jiresupposes that of the primary schools. Pupils are admitted, however, with whom it is advisable to go back on the primary instruction; and the first of the three years, which form the complement of attendance for the whole course, is generally spent in revising and giving readier and fuller pos- session of previous acquirements. If that point, however, is already reached, the attendance is shortened by one year, and the pupil proceeds at once to the business of the second, which is employed in giving him just notions of the philosophy of teaching, the treatment of the young mind, the communica- tion of knowledge, the arrangement of school business, the apparatus and evolutions necessary for arresting attention and husbanding time ; of all, in fine, that pertains to the theory and practice of moral education, intellectual training, and me- thodical training, technically called Paedagogik, Didactih, and Methodik. The third year is moi-e particularly devoted to the object of reducing to practice, in the schools of the place, and in that which is always attached to the seminary, the methods and theory he has been made acquainted with. We refer for other details to our preceding Number. It is more to our present purpose to remark, that there does not exist, nor ever has existed, in the island of Great Britain, a single institution of this kind, which the Prussian people think so useful, that they have voluntarily gone beyond the number prescribed by law. There were, at the close of 1831, thirty- three of these seminaries in the monarchy, which is more than one for each department or circle. " We cannot but think, therefore, that some effort should be made to apply part, at least, of the Parliamentary grant to the purpose of training schoolmasters, if it were only to mark the opinion of Government of the importance and necessity of such establishments ; and to direct public attention to a branch of knowledge which, new and unexplored as it is amongst us, has long taken its place in the circle of the arts and sciences, and long had its literature and its votaries, in Germany. Any thing approaching, indeed, to the universal and permanent organization in that country, (for it is by no means confined to Prussia) it would of course be vain to ex- pect in this, at least for many years to come ; but means of opening up the subject, and commending it to the attention, not of teachers only and patrons of schools, but of the public generally, need not be regarded as out of our reach. Might 174 LECTURESHIP ON DIDACTICS. not, for example, a lectureship or professorship of tlie art of teaching (or, if a name be wanted tor the new subject, Didac- tics) be appended to one or two of the Scotch universities ; and, if such a novelty could not be engrafted on the old esta- blishments of Oxford and Cambridge, tried, at least, in the infant institution of Durham ? A very small endowment, if any, would be wanted, provided Parliament would make it ini])erative for candidates for vacant schools (beginning at first with those of the better kind only), to produce a certificate of having attended such a course, or even to undergo an exami- nation on the subjects there treated.* " It is obvious, in contemplating such an arrangement as this, that the greatest difficulty would be to find fit persons for such an office, — a difficulty which would scarcely, however, last beyond the first appointment. And even with regard to that, we need scarcely look farther than to the burgh and parochial schoolmasters of Scotland. As a body, indeed, they are not beyond being greatly benefited by attendance on such a course as we propose ; but there are men among them, and the number is on the increase, who, to an enthusiastic at- tachment to their profession, and a large experience of its practical details, add much knowledge of its principles ac- quired by reading and reflection, and an almost intuitive per- ception of what is right in the management of the youthful faculties, and in the manner of imparting instruction. Philo- sophy and experience must go hand in hand, to fit a man for the purpose in view. If such lectureships were instituted in places where there was access also to schools in which the doctrines might be illustrated, the practice exemplified, and the teaching partly conducted by the student, we should ac- cept it as the greatest boon that could be conferred on the pa- rochial education of Scotland. There are few, perhaps none, of the defects that still cling to our parish schools which would not disappear under the wholesome influence of such a mea- sure, carried ably and honestly into effect. P'or example, next to that measure itself, there is nothing more loudly call- ed for to improve our parochial discipline, than a plan of au- thorized inspection. This, we have seen, is regarded as an essential part of the Prussian and French system, and is exe- cuted by delegates appointed by the Minister of Public In- • " See some good remarks on this subject, in the Sketch of a Plan for the Education of Ireland, by R. J. Bryce, Principal of Belfast Academy. 1828." BARRINGTON SCHOOL — THE TWO SOCIETIES. 175 struction. It seems natural that the proposed lecturers, with assistants, if required, should have this arduous duty devolved upon them. Again, a well-arranged succession of school- books is still a desideratum : none would be so likely to sup- ply it well, as men whose lives would be devoted to the study of their art. But if such a project shall appear to some, as we are prepared to expect, visionary and impi'acticable, let stre- nuous endeavours be at least made to multiply the number and increase the efficiency of the model schools we have. There is an endowment for such an institution, called the Barrington School, at Bishop Auckland ; and the Metropoli- tan schools of both the societies are open, and have been used for such purposes, as far as their means would go. To im- prove and assist these would be a far more prohtable way of expending the grant, than to build schools for the propagation of imperfect methods." ( 176 ) CHAPTER VIII. DIFFICULTIES OBSTACLES — ENCOURAGEMENTS. Difficulties — Couuteraction by adult population — Reaction upon them — Decrease of drunkenness — Course with adults — Incurable class — Edin- burgh Association for cheap lectures — Provision for free instruction to the adult workman — Schools of Arts — Denial of leisure to the manual la- bourer—Proposed restriction of labour — Workmen will restrict it — Far- ther restriction in factories — Poor Laws' abuses — Criminal population.— Obstacles — Public iuditfereuce — Remote results — Example of direct en- joyment from moral sentiments — Direct benefits — Great expense — Pre- judice against educating the people — Existing interests — Sectarian zeal — Origin of clerical control — Solecism in our laws — Church in danger — Op- position to Lancasterian Schools, to London University, to Irish National Education — Practical inference — Appeal to the dominant sect, to the go- vernment, to the people. — Encouragejients — France, Germany, Prussia, United States — Advocacy of Press — We are outstripped by other nations —Wishes of the Government and Legislature — Existence of improvements already — Education of all ranks together — Conclusion. I. DIFFICULTIES. In treating of this head, we are to suppose the great mea- sure of popular education as a national object actually passed and in operation, and then consider the counteraction to its working which is likely to be occasioned by existing social evils, and these in the very forms which education is meant to remove. The education of children, on the principles of this treatise, in the midst of an uneducated adult population, will certainly experience the same kind of difficulties as those with which the husbandman would have to struggle, who should watch the growth of a few bushels of grain in a field overrun with weeds. His grain would grow under great disadvantages ; but it would grow ; the increase sown again, a portion of the weeds having in the interval, by any means, disappeared, will yet more increase ; till the field, in due time well cleared, ■wall be occupied, in its whole length and breadth, with good grain. COUNTERACTION REACTION. 1 77 The child of unfortunate parents, who themselves suffer all the evils of ignorance and degradation, returns from our school, infant or advanced, into a society where every thing he has learned, or seen, or done, or enjoyed, is reversed. In this society he must live for as long, if not a longer period, every day, than he remains in school ; and with- out doubt there must be a certain degree of retrogression, a certain drag upon his progress, a step down for every two steps up. But if there he two steps up for one down, there is a step in advance on the whole, and this is an imspeakable gain. This acquisition will tell yet more in the next genera- tion ; in it there will be still less retrograde motion, for the home Avill then have made a great advance towards harmony with the school ; till, perhaps in one generation more, the greatest improV'ement may be reached, at which it is reason- able to expect the manual-labour class to arrive. I have in reserve a word or two, in order to reconcile the reader, nhom the idea may startle, of being called upon to legislate for pos- terity, to sow, at vast expense, that which a generation not even the next shall reap, of which we are not destined to see more than the incipient growth, and scarcely our childi'en, the " whitening unto harvest." In the mean time, I beg to request the attention of my alarmed reader to another element, and a powerful one, of more immediate operation in the progression, and that is the REACTION on the adults of the improvement of the children, — the blessed influence of infant kindness, and cleanliness, and piety, upon a naturally well disposed but ignorant parent, nay upon even a hardened ; for the man who scorns, per- chance, the decencies of life, and spurns alike the precept and the example of pastors and well-wishers, will soften in the presence of his own gentle child, and shrink abashed from the unfinished grossness or excess, as it lisps at his knee the lesson of refinement and temperance. The drunkard who has defied the entreaties of his wife, has been led home from the ale-bench in the hand of his own child. But the domestic influence of children, it is well known, increases as they rise in years ; it is often, as things are, very great ; but when they shall have the moral force of good habits and good sense on their side, they will come insensibly to take the lead of the imbecility of animal degradation, and will exercise a steady check upon their less favoured seniors, and a reforming power in their own homes. 178 DECREASE OF DRUNKENNESS. If, then, the ignorant and immoral adult shall in some de- gree retard the improvement of the young, the improving young will act with an influence, and that always on the in- crease, on the adult, so that the balance of momentum will be onwards. The child often years of age, we shall suppose a girl, who attends the advanced, and has attended the infant school, will take, and the lazy parent will gladly yield to her, the care of the house ; the house will be cleaner and better aired, the parents will purify their persons when urged or shamed to do so by their child, who, moreover, offers the means ; she will watch her father's return with his wages, and induce him to come home to some prepared comfort, instead of resorting to the pot-house, and remaining there perhaps all the night, and all the next day ; she has learned the lesson in school, in a variety of forms, how a home is to be made more attractive than a public house, and she will soon see it her own happi- ness to act upon that knowledge, and to induce her mother to act with her. Our schools established in every quarter of the country, and actually educating the tchole juvenile popula- tion, a pupil or two in every dwelling, cannot fail to act upon the adults, so as to forward immensely the general improve- nient.* * The question of the improvement or retrogression of the working classes »n Edinburgh was lately publicly discussed at the Town-Council Board ; and strong proofs, the result of very extensive inquiries, were adduced by Mr Macfarlane, one of the Magistrates, that workmen generally are improving jn sobriety and steadiness. In his Historical Newspaper, No. 18, Mr Cham- bers comes to the same conclusion. I have been led also to make inquiiies, and rejoice to say that employers very generally declare that there is im- provement in their workmen in sobriety, and of course in steadiness. This fact tends to increase the exceptions so liberally allowed in my first chapter, and it will do so still more, if the improvement extends to other places. The evil of drunkenness is nevertheless very general in the class below that to which employers look for respectable journeymen. It has already been shewn to be very prevalent in manufacturing towns, and there is enough of it generally to forbid relaxation of their efforts by the friends of mankind for its abatement ; while the improvement already effected will tend to the production of \et greater fruits, from an educational system which an im- proved moral will more readily welcome. After all, even the sober and steaf moral habits for a course of time, is the essence of moral training. To attain this ex- ercise, it is necessary to collect infants in suitable numbers, to form a society of equals, in unrestrained but well observed intercourse, where the selfish feelings may be regulated, and the social strength- ened and improved ; in which the practice shall be habitual of cleanli- ness, delicacy, refinement, good temper, gentleness, kindness, honesty, justice, and truth ; confirming good tendencies in the mind, and leading to virtue in the conduct ; — while at the same time the body is strengthened by a judicious use of air and exercise. Fifthly, In this manner the dispositions are prepared as a soil for the precepts and spirit of Christianity ; and these last judiciously sown, as the foundation of morals, will not, in after life, be listened to merely as abstract ideas on Sundays, with no application to ordi- nary life, but will be felt as practical laws, regulating every part of everyday conduct. Lastly, Intellectual training, though of secondary importance in Infant Education , should form, nevertheless, provided it be calculat- ed to, interest and amuse, and never to overtask, an important object in an Infant School. For the vigorous development of the faculties, — before they have been wasted on mere letters, words, and signs, — practical lessons on real objects, and their relations to each other and to the pupil, constituting real ideas and useful knowledge of common things, should be the main intellectual occupation of Infant Schools; to which end the objects themselves should be presented, and their nature and qualities explained, while the printed signs or reading will be easily incidentally, and almost insensibly conveyed. w « • • • ' • The Committee have much pleasure in reporting, that the progress of the School, under the tuition and superintendence of Mr and Mrs Wright, has all along been, and continues to be, in the physical, intellectual, moral, and religious branches, most satisfactory. Im- pressed besides, as the teachers both are on principle, with the vital importance of cleanliness, ventilation, air, and exercise, and of the alternation, at short intervals, with the children of lesson and sitting with play, they enjoy the satisfaction of witnessing strength and health restored to the weak and sickly, and increased vigour mani- fested by the robust ; while the guiding principles of the system.have all along continued to direct their steps, which have not swerved to either hr.nd into paths which may lead far away from the results to which this Society looked when they associated. Mr Wilderspik, though distant, continues to guide the Edinburgh ISIodel Infant School ; and will continue to do so, till its Directors are well convin- ced indeed, that something better than this system can be substi- tuted. Visitors, who are niunerous, have been much gratified by the varied knowledge of objects and their relations exhibited by such young children. The 'I'eacher has himself collected a little museum of ar- ticles, calculated to impress, in a systematic manner, a great number of natural qualities and effects. The friends of the Institution might INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. 215 greatly increase this collection, by sending articles which are to be found in their drawers and shelves as useless lumber. The attainments of the children in scripture knowledge afford the best commentary upon the method adopted for the earliest " incul- cation of Christian Truth," and it is remarkable, that when a choice is given to them of the kind of anecdote to be told them by the Teacher, the vote is, in most cases, for a scripture story. The whole economy and system of the play-ground has fully an- swered the most sanguine expectations entertained of it. Here is the true Infant School ; the school-room is but an accessory. In the play-ground are acquired cleanliness, cheerfulness, health, activity and resource; and social aflteetions are exercised and practised. The results in all thes6 particulars are most cheering. Strangers are struck with the healthy, cleanly, happy, active and intelligent aspect of the groups. Dirtiness, indelicacy, and filthiness are unknown ; and habitualkindliness, civility, justice, and scrupulous honesty, rule the intercourse of the little community. Pieces of bread have often lain untouched within the reach of the whole school for days, when forgotten by their owners. Instances of dishonesty have occasional- ly occurred, but they never have, without being made a lesson "both to the little offender and his jjlayfellows. The Teacher having been directed to keep a record of instructive occurrences, has furnished many instances of the practical working of the system ; to which the Committee have much satisfaction in adding the answers of above thirty of the parents, to a circular letter addressed generally by the Teacher, to obtain the opinion of the etfect upon the children of at- tendance at School. A few specimens are printed in the Appendix of those grateful testimonies. The letters are of course from the most respectable class of parents; but there are many whose children are reaping perhaps comparatively the greater good, who themselves are of a character which cannot appreciate, and an education which cannot acknowledge it. It is only the Teacher, and those who, like him, has visited the homes — if homes they can be called — of many of the poor children, that can estimate the contrast between the squalor and wretchedness of these abodes, and the light, air, cleanliness, warmth, cheerfulness, occupation, goodwill and happiness of the in- fant school and play-ground ; and who can fully comjirehend why the resort to school is so willing, and the stay so lingering. The Com- mittee cannot withhold an affecting instance. One of their number when visiting the school, had his attention attracted by a little girl of about four years of age, who was remarkable for the gentlest de- meanour, and, at the same time, the most miserably starved and wretched appearance. The child seemed to cling to him in the play- ground, and repeatedly took hold of his hand or his coat. To com- plete the picture of infant misery, one eye exhibited the mark of a severe blow. The Teacher's account of the little creature was, that she was the child of a drunken mother, who gave her a black eye in a fit of fury ! This woman, he added, occasionally visits the school, where she creates a disturbance, sometimes abusing him for detaining her child, and sometimes for not detaining her. The child often comes without her breakfast, and without a mouthful of food for the day, 216 INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. a want which Mr and Mrs "Wright have as often supplied, even at the hazard of encouraging the evil which they deplore. Mr Wright's explanation of the poor child's drawing near to the Di- rector was touching. " She is a gentle child," he said, " very unlike her mother, and seems to associate with school and every thing about it, that protection and kindness to which at home she is a stranger." As a school for teachers of Infant Schools, the Edinburgh Model School has, for its duration, done a fair portion of work ; and it has been found that there is a variety and intensity of interest in the system, which is calling forth a class of minds very superior to those of ordinary schoolmasters ; one and all of them increase in zeal as they advance practically in their studies ; affording a satisfactory pro- spect of a command of ellicient labourers, as the harvest of Infant education ripens, and the demand extends. When Mr Wright was unfortunately laid aside by illness, a young man, who had spent many a leisure hour in tiie school, left his occupation as a journeyman printer, and elliciently supplied the vacancy for many weeks ; while another young man, the son of the building contractor, witnessing Mr Wilderspin's first training of the school, as he worked about it as a carpenter, picked up with alacrity and eagerness the whole plan, studied the book, mastered the songs, and actually' established a gratis Infant School of his own, of between thirty and forty pupils, which he still teaches in the evenings after his work hours ! * The Commit- tee know that many young men are contemplating the fitting of themselves for the interesting occupation and the independence, which the multiplication of Infant Schools offers them. The example of Edinburgh (herself in tlie wake of Glasgow, whose success has led to many Infant Scliools in the west of Scotland), has produced Infant Schools already at Aberdeen, Dundee, Kinghorn, Dunfermline, Por- tobello, Inverness, and Dingwall, and they are projected in other towns and places all over the country. JAMES SIMPSON, Chairman of Ordinary Directors. APPENDIX TO FIRST REPORT. I. — Effects of the Moral Training. 1. Incidents to shew the good effects of exercising Kindness and Consideration for others, in opposition to reckless Mischief, Hardheartedness, and Cruelty ; vices which render the lower orders dangerous and formidable. 1. Two of the children, brothers, about five and four years of age, coming one morning late into school, were to go to their seats with- out censure, if they could give an account of what they had been doing, which should be declared satisfactory by the whole school, who should decide. They stated, separately, that they had been contemplating * This young man and Mr Wright are both since dead. APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. 217 the proceedings of a large caterpillar, and noticing the different posi- tions of its body as it crossed their path — that it was now horizontal, and now perpendicular, and presently curved, and finally inclined, when it escaped into a tree. The master then asked them abruptly, " Why did you not kill it ?" The children stared. " Could you have killed it ?" asked the teacher. " Yes, but that would have been cruel and naughty, and a sin against God." The little moralists were ac- quitted by acclamation; having, infants as they were, manifested a character which, were it universal in the juvenile poj)ulation, would in another generation reduce our penal code to a mass of waste paper, in one grand department of its bulk.* 2. The teacher mentioned to the children one day, that he had been occupied about a boy and girl who had no father or mother, and whose grandfather and grandmother, who took care of them, were bedrid and in great poverty. The boy was seven years of age, too old lor the Infant School, but some gentlemen, he said, were exerting themselves to get the boy into one of the hospitals. Here he purposely stojiped to try the sympathies of his audience for the girl. He was not disappointed, several little voices called out at once, " O ! JMaster ! what for no the lassie too ?" He assured them that the girl was to come to the Infant School, and to be boarded with him and Mrs \V^ right ; and the intelligence was received with loud plaudits. 3. One day when the children were in the play-ground, four boys occupied the boys' circular swing, while a stranger gentleman Avas looking on with the teacher. Conscious of being looked at, the little fellows were wheeling round with more than usual swiftness and dexterity, when a creature of two or three years made a sudden dart forward into their very orbit, and in an instant must have been knocked down with great foi-ce. With a presence of mind and con- sideration, and with a mechanical skill, which to admire most we know not, one of the boys, about five years old, used the instant of time in which the singular movement was practicable, threw^ his whole body into a horizontal position, and went clear over the in- fant's head ! But this was not all : in the same well emplo^^ed in- stant, it occurred to him that that movement was not enough to save the little intruder, as he himself was to be followed as quick as thought by the next swinger. For this he jirovided by dropping his own feet to the ground and stopping the whole machine, the in- stant he had cleared the child's head ! The spectator of this admi- rable specimen of intellect and good feeling, which was all necessari- ly the thought anti act of a moment, had bis hand instinctivelv in his pocket for a shilling, but was stopped by the teacher, who 'dis- owns all inferior motives for acts of kindness and justice. The little hero, however, had his reward : for the incident was related by the * This instance of practical mercy occurred strongly to my mind, one day last spring in London ; when passing along a street, I saw several big boys with alive mouse at the end of a string ; I returned in a few minutes the same way, and found they had killed it, and were beating it to atoms ivitli their stickn 1 ! T 218 APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. teacher in full school, in presence of the strangers, and was received with several rounds of hearty applause. 4. J. J. accused H. S. of having eat up J. J.'s dinner. It was proved by several witnesses, that H. S. not only appropriated the dinner, but used force. The charge being proved to the satisfaction of the Jury (the whole school), the same tribunal were requested by the teacher to decide what should be the consequences to the con- vict. One orator rose and suggested, that as H. S. had not yet eat his own dinner, he ought to give it to J. .L This motion, for the children always welcome any reasonable substitute for corporal pun- ishment, was carried by acclamation. When one o'clock came, and the dinner was handed over, coram publico, to J. .T., H. S. was ob- served by him to be in tears, and lingering near his oivn dinner. They were by this time nearly alone, but the teacher was watching the result. The tears were too much for J. J., who went to H. S., threw his arms about his neck, told him not to cry, but to sit down, and take half. This invitation was of course accepted by H. S., who manifested a great inferiority of character to the other, and furnish- ed an example of the blindness of the unjust to the justice of retri- bution, which they always feel to be mere revenge and cruelty. He could not bear to see J. J. even sharing his dinner, and told him with bitterness that he would tell his mother. " Weel, weel !" said the generous child, " I'll gie y'd a' back again." Of course the teacher interfered to prevent this gross injustice ; and in the afternoon made their schoolfellows completely aware of the part each had acted. It is not easy to render a character like that of H. S. libt;ral ; but a long course of such practice, for precept is impotent in such cases, might much modify what in after life would have turned out a sel- fish, unjust, and unsocial character. 2. Incidents to shew the good effects of practically exercising Honesty and Truth, — to the end of superseding another branch of criminal jurisprudence. 1. One of the children lost a halfpenny in the pla}' -ground. The mistress was so certain that it would be found and accounted for, that she lent the loser a halfpenny. Some time after, when the in- cident was nearly forgotten, one of the boys J. F. found a halfpenny in the play-ground, and although no one saw him find it, he brought it at once to the teacher. As the latter knew nothing about the loss of a halfpenny already alluded to, it appeared to him a halfpenny without an owner; but one of the children suggested that it must be the lost halfpenny for which the mistress had given the substi- tute. " What, then, shall be done with it ?" Many voices answer- ed, "The mistress should get it." The girl who lost the halfpenny was called out, and at once knew her own. It was given to her, and she immediately transferred it to the mistress. The teacher then appealed to the whole school. " Is that right ?" "Yes ! yes ! right ! right !" was called out by the whole assemblage, with much applause and animation. This last accompaniment of their approbation is APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. 219 Strongly contrasted with the more tranquil and evidently regretting way in which they condemn, when any thing is wrong. 2. A penny was found in the play-ground, which had lain so long as to be mouldy and rusty. It was held up for an owner, but claim- ed by none. " What shall we do \fith it ?" " Keep it master, keep it." "Why should I keep it ? I have no right to it more than anv one here." This was puzzling to all, till a little girl, not four years old, stood up and said, "Put it in the box." Many voices seconded this excellent motion, and the master referred it to a shew of hands; up went every hand in the school, most of the children shewing both hands for a greater certainty, and the penny was put into the sub- scription-box amid cheers of animation and delight. 3. Immediately before the vacation in August 1830, three boys plucked a few black currants, which had ripened on the play -ground wall ; fruit and flowers being cultivated to exercise self-denial and refinement in the children. One of the boys kept to himself double the quantity which he vouchsafed to each of the other two, but gave a part to a fourth boy who had seen the transaction, evidently to jiur- chase his silence ; but thinking this hopeless, he took back the gift, and struck the boy to give it up, remarking, that as he knew he would tell, he the speaker need not lose his berries into the bargain. They all confessed, and expressed their sorrow, except the striker, decidedly in all respects the most guilty, who maintained a bold and hardened countenance. The voice of the school was, however, mer- ciful to them all, which so much affected the last-mentioned offender that he burst into tears. A clergyman, one of the Directors, was present, whose eye the boy caught, and instantly brushed away his tears, and joined in the hymn which was sung at the moment. He staid behind the rest, assiduously assisted the master to put away the things, a civility he never shewed before, and begged to shake hands with him when he went away. 4. P. M. was brought to solemn trial, before the whole school, for keeping up a penny of his weekly school-fee. After ^he trial and award, which were both just and judicious, the teacher asked the school, "How many of us have been tried now!" A voice called out, "J. H. has been tried." This was indignantly denied by J. H. The teacher turning to J. M., asking him if he had ever been tried ? He hung his head and answered "Yes." "What was it for?" " Master, do you not remember yoursel ?" "I do ; but are 3'ou any the better of your trial and punishment ?" " I've never stolen since, any how." "What was your reason for not stealing ?" " 1 listened to the thhiff in my breast, and that told me it was a crime." J. M.'s offence had been watching, all the time of school, a penny- piece which had been dropped under the stove, and secretly appro- priating it when the school was dismissed. His confession bore that his first purpose was to buy bowls (marbles), but he felt so unhappy that he could not look upon what he should purchase, and formed the singular resolution to expend the money in something eatable, that 220 APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. he might get it out of his sight ! This he did, and gave a share to a schoolfellow. He was asked whether his conscience did not upbraid him. He answered, " It did not speak very loud at first ; but I grew very unhappy, and was happier after I was tried and punish- ed." His contrite tears moved the compassion of his numerous judges, who wished to have sjiared him ; but this was not admissible in the circumstances, and a few pats on the hand was the form of corporal punishment allotted to him. He was sorely tempted, for he confessed that he kept his eye on the penny-piece for two hours before he took it. 5. The following incident was communicated by a gentleman from England, Dr Harrison Black, who, in company with the Chevalier de Frasans, Judge of Assize under Charles X., witnessed the whole occurrence : — The Chevalier de Frasans being present, the master was suddenly called into the play-ground, in consequence of a cry that one boy had struck another on the forehead, so as to make the blood flow : All the children were immediately called in, and inquiry made as to who had been witnesses of the affair. Those who pre- sented themselves were sent into an adjoining room, and the injured party desired to state his grievance. He simply said, T. B. had "struck him with a spade" (which had for a moment been left by a woi-kman), and that he did not believe it had been done on purpose. The offending party being called said, " J. JM. had told him he could not lift up the spade, and in trying to shew that he could do it, the blow was given." The witnesses were called in, one by one, and gave their testimony with great clearness, particularly a little quaker girl. They all corroliorated the statement of the accused party. The teacher then asked of the whole assembly of children, "What punishment ought to be awarded ?" The general cry was, " Three palmies" (i. e. three pats upon the palm of the hand), because that punishment had been a few days before awarded to H. S- But one boy rose, and exclaimed, " No, that is not fair, for H. S. told a false- hood about the fault he had committed, and T. B. did not tell any falsehood." The justice of this remark seemed to be generally understood ; and part only of the punishment was determined upon. The culprit was then reminded, that although the blow had not been given in- tentionally, still he had broken a law which forbade all the children to touch the tools of the workmen, and was made sensible that the punisliment was not inflicted because the teacher was angry, but be- cause he, T. B., had broken a law. The truth of this the little of- fender fully acknowledged to the bystanders, as well as to his master and schoolfellows. The punishment actually inflicted was a gentle tap upon the hand. Hereupon a new and unexpected scene arose, the offended party seeing that all around concurred in condemning the offender, cried out, " I'll fmd a coachman's whip, and lash him." This gave occa- sion to another appeal to the children as to the injustice of this threa- tened second punishment, and ended by the threatener being made sensible that all present were now against Aim." As a proof, he said. APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. 221 " Don't be frightened, Tom, I'll not whip you, or tell mv father." It appeared that he had been so short a time in the school, as not to have become imbued with the governing principles of the place. 7. A little boy came to school with his hands covered with paint. He applied to the teacher's sister to aid him in his extremity, which she did effectually by dint of hot water and soap. He promised to reward her with a halfpenny, whenever he should get one. She, wishing to try him, asked him some days afterwards if he had for- got his promise. He answered. No, but that he had put the first halfpenny he had got into the poor's plate at church. Having soon after got a halfpenny from a lady, he rung the teacher's house-bell, and gave the]money to his creditor, who took it, but, after some days, restored it. 3. Proofs of the success of the System, in its fundamental prin- ciple of governing by Love, and not by Fear, and that con- sistently with the most perfect order and discipline. 1. The master one day intimated that he wanted a number of ar- ticles, of a kind which he enumerated, to illustrate the lessons. He was next day inundated with all sorts of odds and ends, every child bringing with him something, — leather, feathers, clotlis, silk, stones, wood, glass, &c. &c. 2. Accidentally saying that he would come and visit his pupils at their own homes, and, if he did, how would they entertain him, the question was answered by a burst of hospitality, and the number and variety of the articles of cheer enumerated were too much for his gravity. He observed, however, that whisky was not among the temptations offered him, in the competition for the preference of his company. 3. A parent came one day to the school, expressly to be satisfied on the puzzle, as he said, it was to him, how a schoolmaster could ren- der himself the object of love ! His own was always the object of ten'or ; and, instead of running to him when he appeai-ed, he and his schoolmates went off in the opposite direction, with the greatest alertness. His boy, he said, runs to the master whenever he sees him, and is proud to come home and tell that he has shaken hands with Mr Wright, of whom, as well as of Mrs Wriglit and Maggy (the latter a worthy of three years old, the master's child, who sets an example to the whole school) he never ceases to speak. Mr Wright requested the inquirer to remain, and see how he treated his scholars. He did so, and witnessed the kindness, the cheerfulness, and the fun which never flags, while he saw discipline and obedience at the same time. The children went to the play- ground, and, to the amazement of the visitor, the teacher ran out, crying, " Hare and hounds ! hare and hounds !" taking the first cha- racter on himself, he was instantly pursued full cry by the whole pack, round and round the play-ground 1 at last he was taken, and 222 APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. worried by an immense act of co-operation. In his extremity, he rang his hand-bell ibr school: instantly the hounds quitted their prey, rushed into school, the door being scarcely wide enough for them, and were withiii a minute as still as a rank of soldiers, seated in their gallery, and busy with the multiplication table. The visitor went away, with a shrug, muttering, " Na, the like o' that I ne'er saw !" Many psges might be filled with anecdotes illustrative of the be- neficial effects of the system in preventing the numerous fears, fol- lies, envyings, discontents, and prejudices, which render the lower classes so intractable. The superstitious fear of ghosts, witches, &c. is practically removed. A person informed Mr Wright, that as he was crossing a church-yard, not without the habitual dread which from his youth he could not separate from the place, he met a little girl of five years old marching through all alone. " Was she not afraid '■'' " Not a bit ; we learn at the Infant School that ghosts and all that is nonsense." All dirty, gross, destructive, selfish, and inso- lent habits are proscribed, and carefully prevented: and, above all, tvlmky is held up as the greatest of curses to society, and many a lesson is taught of its effects on both mind and body. The children heard, with much indignation, of a crowd in the street insulting a poor Turk, — of some boys who teazed an idiot, — of the mob breaking win- dows on occasion of the illumination, — and of the people maltreating the Doctors for their kindness in trying to cure the cholera. 2V. B. It is unnecessary to give examples of the effect of Intellec- tual Practice, as there is less novelty in children being trained to acuteness and sagacity ; and much of this is capable of exhibition to the public, which is not possible, on set occasions, with proofs of mo- ral advancement. The results in this department, it may, however, be mentioned, are most satisfactory. II. — Letters from the Parents. In order to ascertain that the effects of the moral training were not a mere show at school, Mr Wright was directed to write a circu- lar note to a large proportion of the parents, requesting their opi- nion, in writing, of the improvement of their children attending the school, in learning, manners, affection, obedience, health, and happi- ness. Above thirty answers were received, of which we can only give a very few as sj)ecimens, which we do at random. The originals may be seen by any one who chuses, in ]Mr Wright's hands. It may in general be remarked, that there is a striking agreement among them in a zealous readiness to express, in strong terms, their sense of and gratitude for the advantages their children enjoy at school, and the improvement of their own comfort in their intercourse with their children at home. The delight of the children in attending School, and affection for the Teacher, are mentioned in most of them. I. Dear Sir, — I can scarcely express to you how much my chil- dren have been benefited by your more than excellent mode of tui- tion. Whether tiie many improvements so perceptible in them pro- ceeds ft'om your own qualifications, or from the general system, I APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. 223 ■aiow not; but this I know, that before my children attended the infant School, they were slow, dull, and unmanageable ; they are now ictive, lively, and obedient. I am, &c. (Signed) Jasies Forbes. 2. Sin, — I received your letter regarding the opinion I had formed of my son's improvement at the Infant School. 1 beg leave to state, that it has exceeded my utmost expectation ; and in answer to your questions, the Infant School system, so far from alienating the affec- tions of children to their parents, it increases them to a high degree, and makes them more obedient, and promotes greatly their health and happiness, and they are greatly benefited by the instructions they receive. I have also to return my sincere thanks for your kind- ness and indulgence to them. I am, &c. (Signed) E. Graham. 3. Sir, — I have the pleasure to inform you, that my child has im- proved in every res])ect. The affection of the child is not alienated from its parents : it is more afiectionate and obedient. The health and happiness of the child is greatly improved and much benefited by the instructions received at the school. I am, &c. (Signed) James Fogg. 4. Dear Sir, — It gives me great satisfaction to inform you of the rapid progress the child is making under your care ; iiide..'d it is won- derful for so short a time. Owing to your excellent metliod, she has acquired a taste for learning she never could get at home. She has forgot her playthings, and if the day is so bad that she cannot go to school, she either sings us a song, tells a story, or goes through part of her school exercises the best way she can by herself. She often mentions some part of Scripture, although she is only five years old. I assure you. Sir, her love and respect for her master is great. I think, Sir, all this will give you pleasure to hear, and with good wishes for the improvement of the children, and thanks for what has already been done, I am, &c. (Signed) Catherine IIobertson. 5. Sir, — I am really delighted with my son for his intelligence since he went under your tutorage ; and I altogether approve of Mr Wil- derspin's system of treating children, and, in my opinion, it is not only now, but in future years, it will be instilled in his memory. And you. Sir, I am convinced, have done your duty, from the afi'ec- tion that he has towards you, for he is always speaking about Mr Wright, or giving us a recital of the useful information you give him : and so much I approve of the system, that I am going to send ano- ther boy of mine as soon as the days get a little longer ; and please accept of our best thanks for your attention to our son. I am, &c. (Signed) Thos. Watson. 6. Sir, — With regard to our son's morals, we think them very much improved, for he has a true sense between right and wrong, and the greatness and goodness of God. His intellectual ])arts are as far advanced as we could expect in the time he has been at school, and we bv no means think his atlections alienated fVoai us. As far 224 APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. as our judgment can direct us, we think it must be a great benefit to society. I am, &c. (Signed) James Thomson. Many of the other letters are both well written and worded, and all of them are interesting and satisfactory.* Ill — Rules for the Society and for the Management of the School. \. The object of the Edinburgh Infant School Society is to establish and support in this city a Model School for the inculcation of Christian truth on the infant mind, according to the mode of in- struction laid down in the foiu-th edition of Mr Wilderspin's work on Infant Education ; to establish such other Schools of the same kind as their funds may permit, and to promote the formation of si- milar Schools both in Edinburgh and elsewhere, by affording every facility and encouragement in their power in favour of the extension of Infant Education. 2. Donors of Five Guineas, and Subscribers of Five Shillings an- nually, to the funds, shall be considered members of the Edinburgh Infant School Society. 3. The affairs of the Society shall be under the direction of a Pa- tron, President, 'Phree A''ice-Presidents, Twenty-four Extraordinary and Twelve Ordinary Directors, a Secretary and Treasurer. 4. The active management of the Institution shall be entrusted to the Ordinary Directors, the Secretary and 'treasurer being ex officio members of that body, any five being a quorum. They shall hold stated Quarterly INleetings on the first Monday of January, April, July, and October. 6. Every year one Vice-Presidect, one fourth part of the number of Extraordinary, and also of the Ordinary Directors, shall go out in rotation, and be replaced by an equal number of others elected at the Annual Meeting, the individuals so retiring being always eligible to be re-elected. 6. Three of the Ordinary Directors shall be appointed at each Quarterly Meeting, specially to superintend the School ; on the first Monday of every month to examine into the state of the School, and to receive and determine on all applications for admission ; and such Directors shall report their proceedings in a book to be kept for that purpose. 7. Such clergymen as are in the direction of the Society, together with any other Members who may be appointed, shall be a standing Committee for religious purposes. 8. At the Quarterly Meeting in January, the Directors shall no- minate a Ladies' Visiting Committee, who shall be re(juested to visit regularly, by Sub-committees of their number, appointed from time to time, to examine into the state of clothing, cleanliness, and health of the children, and to suggest any impi-ovement in the slate of the * Mrs W. did not write, but called at the School to bearjher willing testimony to her boy's change of character since he attenided the School. i?he said he was previously a stub- born wilful boy, and took twenty biddings. He now obeys for one, and tliat cheerfully. APPENDIX TO INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. 225 School which may occur to them, in a book to be kept for that pur- pose. 9. The Master and Mistress shall be elected annually by the Or- dinary Directors, and be under their control. 10. An annual General Meeting of the Society, with or without an exhibition of the children, as may be resolved by the Ordinary Directors, shall be held at some convenient time in the month of May. At that General Meeting the Ordinary Directors shall be required to give in a report of their proceedings, and of the state of their funds. 1 1. The Directors shall be empowered to form whatever provisional regulations may be found requisite to enable them best to fulfil the object of the Society, such regulations not becoming permanent till they have received the approval of the Society at a General Meet- ing. RULES FOR THK MASTER AND MISTRESS. 1. The Master shall open and close the School each day with prayer. 2. The ]Master and Mistress shall read the Scriptures in the School daily, and shall endeavour to bring Scripture truth and sound moral principles to bear practically upon the minds and consciences of the children, with a sim])licity and mildness suited to their tender years, and shall take care that all restraints or corrections which proper dis- cipline may require, be exempt from every species of harshness, an- ger, and violence, 2. Either the Master or Mistress shall always superintend the children while in the play-grounds. 4. The School to be kept clean, to be swept every day, and the floor, gallery, and seats to be washed every Saturday afternoon, so as to be perfectly dry before Monday. RULES FOR THE SCHOOL. 1. Each child to pay twopence weekly, which must be paid every Monday morning. When two or more children belong to one fami- ly, only one penny weekly will be required for each additional child. 2. Children to be admitted on the first Monday of every month only, when a Committee of the Directors will attend to receive them. 3. Children shall not be admitted before they are two years of age, nor after five years of age: neither shall any be admitted who have any infectious disease, or who may not have been vaccinated or have had the small-pox. 4. Parents must send their children with hands, face, and neck clean, their hair cut short and combed, and their clothes as clean and decent as possible. 5. The hours of attendance to be, in the summer half-year from the 1st March to the 1st October, as follows : The School to open at Half-past Nine, and exercises to begin at Ten precisely, and to con- tinue till Five, with an interval of one hour from One to Two, for dinner; and in the winter half-year, to commence at the same time and to continue till Three, with half an hour interval for dinner. 226 EXTRACT FROM SECOND INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. The children to be at liberty to bring their dinner, and remain within the premises till the School recommences. 6. The Children absent three days, or late in coming to School for one week without leave, or a satisfactory excuse, shall forfeit their right of attendance. 7. Persons wishing to visit the School will be admitted on Tues- days and Fridays. No individual to be admitted at any other time, except the visitors appointed to attend in rotation, or such as have permission in writing from one of the Directors. IV. — Kinds of Articles which will be thankfully received at the Infant School in the Venncl, from the Public, for the Museum of the School. 1. Models of ships, boats, simple machines, tools, curiosities, &c. 2. Specimens of manufactures, common and curious. 3. Specimens of metals, wood, nuts, and such like portable botanic articles, and of mineral stones. 4. Foreign articles, especially from rude tribes. 5. Pictures of costumes of various races of men, and historical and interesting pictures of all kinds. 0. Stuffed birds and animals, and pictures of them. 7- ]Miscellaneous articles of all kinds which will surprise, amuse, or instruct children from two to six years of age ; such as puzzles, dissected pictures and maps, changing figures, curious toys, &c. &c. &c. EXTRACT FROM THE SECOND REPORT OF THE EDIN- BURGH INFANT SCHOOL SOCIETY. Edinburgh, ^Qth May 1835. At a General Meeting of the Edinbuhgh Infant School Society, held this day, in the Waterloo llooms, after an Exhibition of the Pupils of the Model Infant School, Lord Cockdurn in the Chair,* the fol- lowing Report, by the Ordinary Directors, was read, and ordered to he printed for circulation. It is now three years since the Directors have exhibited the Model School elseAvhere than in its own premises ; and the same time has elapsed since they have published a Report. They have examin- ed and exhibited the children, before their parents and the public, twice a-year, in the school-house and play -ground ; a mode of exhi- bition which they consider the best for fretpient repetition, with a triennial appeal to the public, like that of this day, to ensure exten- sive knowledge of the Institution. They have farther deemed a triennial report of the progress and state of the School, and the pro- ceedings of the Society, sufficient for an institution, of which the best report which can be made is, that its experience has been steady and unvarying. « The Lord Provost, ex-officio President, was in London, and the Lord Justice Clerk, who was to have presided in his room, was detained in Court. EXTRACT FROM SECOND INFANT SCHOOL REPORT, 227 \V'ith deep regret the Directors have to report that, a very few weeks after the last General IMeeting and Exhibition of the School on the 18th of May 1832, they had the misfortune to lose Mr Wil- liam Wright, the teacher. He died of pulmonary consumption in July 1832, and his remains were followed to the grave by the ordi- nary directors and the infant pupils. Mr Wright was cut off in youth and usefulness, leaving the school in very satisfactory effi- ciency ; and his loss was the more Mt that he had, by indefatigable study, — too much for his health, — greatly improved his own know- ledge, and his skill in imparting it to his pupils. His widow return- ed to her friends at Paisley. Mr .lames Milne, formerly teacher of the Portobello Infant School? was engaged for six months, to relieve Jlr Wright, and entered as interim teacher on 4th .June 1832, a month before his death ; after which event, ]\Ir IMilne was appointed to succeed Mr Wright as teacher, subject to the approbation of the Society. Mr Miliie was also married vvhen appointed, and with Mrs IMilne took possession of the teacher's house. The Directors are happy to report that they have had much satisfaction in jVIr IMilne as a teacher, and in Mrs Milne as female assistant. They are both zealous, persevering, and untiring in their duties ; for however unexpectedly the Directors at any time visit the school, they witness no symptoms of imperfect work, or flagging of sj)irits or exertions, either in the teachers or the pu- pils. They are both possessed of all the qualifications requisite for Infant School teachers, in their own departments as master and mis- tress. They have a strong affection for the children, a perfect know- ledge and feeling of the system in all its characters, and apply them- selves not less assiduously to the Physical, Moral, and Religious training, than to the Intellectual. IMr Milne, like his predecessor Mr Wright, has greatly improved his own knowledge by reading, and by attendance at the different courses of Lectures given under the system of the Edinburgh Association for Popular Instruction in Sci- ence. He has in consequence much enlarged the scope of the lessons of the school, and added, at his own expense, as judiciously as exten- sively, to the apparatus, drawings, and illustrative articles, which form the materiel of an Infant School. He has, likewise, published a collection of Hymns and Kliymes for the children, many of them of his own composition. IMr Milne is, moreover, well qualified as a trainer of teachers for Infant Schools; and, although not so many as could be wished, has trained several teachers since his appointment ; who, as the Directors have heard, are giving satisfaction to their employers. The Directors confidently look forward to the Edinburgh IModel In- fant School's not only maintaining its reputation as a Model School, acting upon the most approved and recent improvements of the In- fant system., but becoming a Normal Scliool to supply infant-school teachers extensively to the country. The Directors have noi failed to keep a vigilant eye on the working of the Infant-School system, placed as it is under the care of competent teachers, as they consider it yet on its trial, to the end of taking its imjiortant place in a plan of National Education, v/hich the country must soon enjoy ; and they feel the highest satisfaction in reporting that the three additional 228 EXTRACT FROM SECOND INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. years of experience which they have had since tliey last reported, have served materially to increase their confidence in this powerful instrument of physical, moral, religious, and intellectual elevation of the great body of the people. Physical Education has received a large share of attention. Exercise in the open air, with the great advantage of the rotatory swings, judicious!}' alternated with the regulated periods of confine- ment at lessons, attention by the teachers to proper temperature, ventilation, and cleanliness, with lessons on these important heads, which cannot be inculcated too soon, or impressed too unremittingly, have conspired to keep the children in health and vigour, so tliat the forms are rarely thinned, but by some jjrevalent disease of childhood, such as measles and hooping-cough. The cleanly and healthy appear- ance of the pupils is particularly remarked by strangers who visit the school, and may be judged of by the ])resent meeting. Their ex- press^ion of happiness and joyousness are not less observable and ob- served. The Moral working affords not less promise for the system. De- licate and cleanly habits pi'evail ; the decorations and ornaments of the play-gi'ound are scrupulously respected ; and, in the ordinary in- tercourse of the children, there is much gentleness, and a satisfactory absence of peevishness, crossness, or petulant selfishness, which, when these do occur, are trivial, and easily got over ; a blow is rare, and a fight altogether unknown among them. Incidents to illustrate the moral working sufhciently striking to be recorded, have not been found so numerous as in the earlier history of the school; just be- cause a more uniform and every-day course, in the right direction of honesty, truth, and kind-heartedness, gives rise to few marked oc- currences. It were unnecessary to record every halfpenny or mar- ble which is found and restored; every instance of conscientious con- fession or declaration of the truth ; every example of kindness and mercy to insects and other animals; or every act of good- will to each other ; some one of which occurs, perhaps, every day. This habit of the place, as it may be called, can only be observed by the teachers ; but it is observed, and reported most encouragingly to the Directors. Some incidents are added in the Appendix, No. I., and tlie Directors call the attention of the Society especially to one which describes the generous feeling shewn by the children to one of their number who is imbecile, — an example, in more respects than one, of the value of the Infant-School system. Scripture instruction continues to be re- gularly communicated, and the precepts of Christianity rendered fa- miliar and practical. Scripture lessons are given as a privilege, and are always welcomed by the children. The Intellectual training has even exceeded expectation. It is fairest to judge of its capabilities by the progress of the elder chil- dren. They invariably can read, spell, and even parse to a consider- able extent, besides having acquired the elements of arithmetic and geography, with knowledge of objects and their qualities, and of a great variety of useful things; so as to be on a par with, if not in advance of, much older children at ordinary schools ;• and the Direc- * See Letters from Parents, Appendix, No. IL RACT FRO M SECOND INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. 229 tors can confidently say, that these advantages have been gained in a manner incidentally, and almost insensibly, without over-working the minds of the children, or forcing them on to a premature attain- ment, to be useless to them in after life ; and quite consistent Iv with the physical advantages of health preserved and increased by air and exercise. Unless they are subsequently utterly neglected,' the chil- dren who leave the school have acquired a basis for farther educa- tion, which is not likely to fail them through life. Such are the results which the Directors have the satisfaction to report, after nearly five years' experience of the Infant-School sys- tem, — results which console them for the only adverse view present- ed by the institution, whicli they are compelled, not less, to state to the Society. They lament to report that, in spite of the efficiency and flattering success of the system itself, — in spite of the indefati- gable labours of the teachers, and the exertions of the Directors, and not less of the Directresses, — in spite of repeated invitations to visit the school, circulated widely among the people at all reasonable dis- tances from the school-house, and varied inducements held out to them to enter their children, the numbers in attendance have never kept up to the complement of the establishment. Soon after the out- set of the school, in Mr Wright's time, as high a number as from 160 to 170 attended. The numbers gradually decreased, and the unfor- tunate event of his death very seriously reduced them. They were at one period as low as 65. The character of interim teacher was unfa- vourable to Mr Milne in this particular. "When he was confirmed as teacher, tiie numbers gradually improved, and have this last year been somewhat on the increase ; but, while there is accommodation for 250 (allowing 300 to be on the books), the most numerous attend- ance, since last year's Report, has not exceeded 130. The present number is 120 attending, and 130 on the books. Manv of the chil- dren are from the neighbourhood of the school, while more come from a distance, and some from a great distance ; but the Directors regret they cannot report that the description of population around, which most requires the influences of the Infant-School system, has yet availed, or is at all likely in future to avail itself, of the privi- leges which that system offers. This the Directors have, on inquiry, been led to impute to that apathy which naturally exists where edu- cation is not appreciated, and to the utter hopelessness of obtaining even the smallest school-fee regularly, if at all, paid, by the class of parents whose degradation most loudly calls for the exertions of the educationist. From the teacher's experience, and, moreover, from the experiments made by him, the falling off of attendance, in each particular child, has been found exactly coincident with its school-fee debt ; while his, the teacher's, wiping off the arrear, has, in all cases where it has been tried, brought the defaulter back again. So great is the convenience to the labouring classes of having their infants taken care of, for six or eight hours every day, even when they have not yet known, much less valued, the education obtained, that it is not doubted that the numbers would be speedil_v doubled were the admission to the school free. Application to Government, for a small share of any grant voted by Parliament for educational improve- 230 EXTRACT FROM SECOND INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. ments and experiments, has been thought of, that, for a year or two, the experiment of the effects of gratis admission might be tried. The Directors have not yet made up their minds on the subject, but it is not unlikely that tliey will make the attempt. Most of the attending children pay the school fee, (twopence a- week for one child of a family, and a penny for ex'ery other), on the whole regularly. It will be seen by the balance-sheet of the Trea- surer's accounts, in the Appendix (No. V.), that this source of reve- nue is very inadequate to the yearly expenses ; but, by the support furnished by the members of the Society, and the public at large, the institution has been kept afloat, although little progress has been made in liquidating the original debt, which still presses on the So- ciety, to the amount of L. 208 : 9 : 8.* The interest of this debt, — the principal of which the National Bank has liberally allowed to re- main so long at the debit of the Society, — is a heavy item, when added to the feu-duty, or ground rent, of twenty guineas, in the bur- dens of the establishment. While the Directors acknowledge the support of the actual contributors, they cannot help remarking, in them, the s.mallness of the number of those who, out of the vast population of Edinburgh, sufficiently appreciate infant edu- cation, to aid it with their money. It will not, therefore, excite sur- prise that the society, who have not been able to get rid of the debt on their first established school, which barely subsists from year to year, have not been able to establish schools in other parts of the town. Indeed, this they have now no expectation of being able to do, without the powerful and every day more necessary aid of a na- tional exertion. Two infant schools have been established, without the influence of the society, by two reverend gentlemen, lately di- rectors of this society, Dr Muir and Mr Marshall, chiefly, it is be- lieved, with the aid of their congregations. The directors beg to conclude with expressing their heartfelt ac- knowledgments to the Ladies Directresses who co-operate with them ; and whose countenance of the school, and exertions in it, besides be- ing liighly gratifying to the teachers, and especially to the children, are eminently useful to the institution. JAMES SIMPSON, Chairman of the Ordinary Directors. APPENDIX TO SECOND REPORT. 1.'— Effects of the Moral Training. A few incidents, selected as specimens from many, to shew the continued working of the system, in exercising kindness, af- fection, truth, and honesty. 1. The children, having received many lessons on the subject of » Debt in 1832, L.338 5 2 . . in 1835, 268 9 8 Reduction, . . L.69 16 APPENDIX TO SECOND REPORT. 231 kindness to the weak and the imbecile, and the cruelty of unfeelinglv persecuting them, had, about a year ago, an interesting opportunity afForded them of reducing to practice the precepts they had so often heard. A poor child, weak almost to idiocy, became a pupil. At an ordinary school he would have been made the butt of all his school- fellows, who would have evinced their superiority by subjecting him to persevering ill usage. The teacher gave no particular injunctions to the children about the little new comer ; but having soon observed that the children were aware of his imbecility, resolved to leave for- mer lessons and kindly habits to work of themselves. It was ob- servable that the little stranger's appearance and manner excited at- tention, and something of interest. H e was at first cross and peevish, and pinched and struck some of the children ; yet no attempt was made by them to resent this, as if any thing was to be forgiven to *' Poor Jamie." He soon became a sort of pet, and there is a rivalry who shall " be best to Jamie." If Jamie wishes to exercise in the swing, a rope is at once resigned to him ; — if he wishes to build, the wooden bricks are at his command ; — if he falls, a larger aid than usual runs tn raise him up. There prevails an anxiety that their defective friend should not be left behind in the exercises, both within doors and without, and all sorts of examples and helps are offered to encourage him. Of course, his proifress has been slow ; but the teacher has watched the effect of kind and encouraging treatment on a mind like his, and it has been very satisfactory ; he is now a pupil of a year's standing, and has made marked progress ; his expression of countenance and whole aspect are improved, and nothing is more so than his temper ; he is one of the happiest children in the school, and makes a delighted return to his generous little playmates by all manner of obligingnesses ; he is a ready horse, either vertical or on all fours, and has often a rider on his back — for he is rather a strong child, — and has generally an elile about himself, engaged in unceasing play ; indeed, there are two or three children who never quit him, and one, to whom he himself is so much attached, that when his little friend's dinner, as sometimes happens, is late of coming, Jamie is observed giving him a part of his; which debt is faithfully paid back when the expected dinner arrives. The poor child's mother reports that he is not the same creature at home he once was ; his temper and habits are improved ; and instead of the least, he is the most easily managed of the family. He is never so happy as at school, and is the first to come and the last to dejiart. His only trit is roguishly to hide himself at the hour of shutting-up, and enjoy being ferreted out and chased away by Mrs Milne. Perhaps the success of this case may suggest an advantage of infant schools not yet contemplated, — namely, as an asylum for the infant imbecile, whom the earliness of the culture may greatly improve, if it does not perfectly restore; at the least, they will be safe and comfortable, and in a very different condition than that in which they are too often seen, wandering the streets and roads. Hopeless fatuity is, no doubt, for other care; but cases like that now described, and these are numerous, ought first to be tried in an infant school. 2 F. G. shews his delight in school, and his benevolence bv ex- 232 APPENDIX TO SECOND REPORT. erting himself to extend the pleasure he enjoys as widely as he can among his acquaintance who do not belong to it. It is, accordingly, not unusual to see him enter attended by one or two minute stran- gers, who come to see if all is true which their zealous friend has de- picted. These inquirers not having, in the first instance, the con- currence of their parents, do not always re-appear, although they sometimes do ; hut one little fellow at once took his place among the children, beside bis introducer, and, when his mother came to seek him, refused to go home till the school should be dismissed. The re- sult was, that he was soon after regularly entered. 3. R. r. seeing in the school the zones of the globe distinguished by various colours, drew and coloured on a small piece of paper a very near resemblance of them ; shewing this to his companions, one wish- ed to have it and another wished to have it, and he seemed quite dis- posed to gratify them all. Accordingly, for several weeks he was kept busy fulfilling their orders. His gratuitous trade was soon ex- tended to flowers, houses, and animals ; and other children were in- duced by his example to draw a little too. Two in particular delight in their play hours to sketch on the slates, and make very recognis- able likenesses of what they see on the walls. 4. A. G., a very little boy, with a smiling face, was detained for three months from school in consequence of sickness. On his return, two of the older boys mounted him on their shoulders, and carried him around the play-ground, followed by a crowd of little ones huz- zaing at their heels. 5. M. C, a little girl, and J. C., a boy, twins, both fell sick at the same time; the girl died and was buried without the master know» ing of the event. The little boy, who a short time survived, said to his mother — " Mother, you never told the master when my sister died ; but you must tell him when I die, and bid him come to the funeral." G. Three of the children, when in the Meadows, found a sixpence, and seeing an aged beggar, agreed to give it to him. As it was a considerable time after it occurred that the teacher heard of the ac- cident, he could not find out what induced them to give it to the beggar, or what conversation they had about the matter ; but it seemed to be quite true that they had found a sixpence, and thus disposed of it of their own accord. 9. W. B. was accused of having stolen an apple and a cake from a poor woman's stand at the foot of the Bow. The matter being ^Wi- cially inquired into in school, he was found guilty and punished. His parents were informed of the matter, and told that it was also neces- sary that the woman should be paid ; but rather than pay a penny, they chose to sanction the child's offence, and withdrew him from the school. This last incident is recorded, to shew that an infant school, although it does much, does not succeed in every case; and that de- based parents are often the cause of its failure. APPENDIX TO SECOND REPORT. 233 II Letters from tlie Parents. 1. Sir,— My son James John Dundas Watson has attended vour Model Infant School since September 1832, Of the moral and "reli- gious instruction he has acquired I cannot speak in too high terms. He has improved, or, in other words, greatly changed, in his natural disposition ; he has, besides all, acquired notions of neatness, regula- rity, cleanliness, docility, and self-denial : all which improvements 1 attribute to your system of infant training. He is extremely fonc! of school; in short, he has learned more than I ever thought a boy of five and a-half years could have learned. I have another son only ten months old, and so well pleased am I with their treatment, that so soon as he is able to walk so far he shall be sent. I am, &c. (Signed) W. Watson. 2. Dear Sir, — I have the greatest pleasure in bearing testimony to the good effects produced by the system of training adopted at the Model Infant School upon the conduct of the children, as I had a boy, John, who attended from IMay lu31 till May 1834: his sister has attended since July 1832 till the present time. I have had many opportunities of observing its good effects, and, I think, I only ex- press the opinion of every one who has had an opportunity of know- ing how much a child can learn, and how they are improved in every respect. Their love for home and school makes it easy to persuade them to keep from the street and from bad company ; they never need any persuasion to go to school. The principles of obedience, affection, obligingness, ])eaceableness, cleanliness, regularity, honesty, and truth, instilled into their minds at school, have a visible effect on their conduct at home. They take great delight in hearing parts of Scripture or moral stories read. The progress they make when sent to other schools shews the advantage of their previous training. With my best wishes for the success of Infant Schools, and my grate- ful acknowledgments to you and to Mrs Milne for your kindness and attention, and to all those who, under Providence, have been the means of bringing the system to such perfection, I remain, yours most respectfully, IIobert Kay. Qth June 1835. 3. Sir,— In compliance with your request, that I should write you a few observations on the improvement of my children under your care, I beg to say, that to me and their mother it is most satisfactory ; particularly in speaking the truth, in love for school, and in hearing Scripture stories. I attend Lady Yester's Church, and add, with pride and pleasure, that their conduct is most exemplary, and is often noticed. Of one thing I am certain, that at no school I could have put them to could they have learned so much that is useful, and with so much ease and pleasure to themselves, as in t)ie infant school. I believe, sir, you are aware that my dear little boy, who attended with his sisters, is dead ; he was two years and four months old. During u 234 APPENDIX TO SECOND REPORT. his illness, which lasted a week, his mother was frequently obliged to lift him from his bed to put on his shoes and bonnet to go to school. He had learned that pretty hymn beginning with " Here we suffer grief and pain,'' and it seemed the only thing that gave him pleasure, as I carried him about in my arms, and sang it to him, a little before his death. I much regret you have not another school for carrying on your plan for older children : as Nancy is now seven years' old, I wish to put her where she may improve fitting her age. Begging you to accept my best thanks for your kindness and care of them, and, wishing you all prosperity, I remain, gratefully yours, V>th June 1835. Geo. Beckwith. 4. Sir, — I am extremely pleased with the progress my son has made, yet truth obliges me to say that obedience is the only thing he fails in ; I do not exactly say that he wishes to disobey, but I think it is partly from an absence of mind, and that he is thinking on many things. At the same time he is affectionate, kind, and also obliging ; he is peaceable, and often complained of other boys, but said he would not strike again, as his master said they should not do it. He is particularly honest, and will not touch a thing that does not belong to him, and I can depend on his word in any thing he says. He loves his home, but is quite impatient when kept from school by the weather being bad ; he then does not know what to do with him- self, — he has no wish to go about the streets, and is much displeased with hearing any person swearing or saying bad words. He takes great pleasure in moral stories, and the scripture stories he has re- peated have both surprised and delighted us, as he seems to under- stand them better than we could have expected of him when double his age. I can say little of my other child, as she has been much away from school, from being of a delicate constitution, but her progress seems to be in proportion to the time she has been there. I am, Sir, with sincere thanks for your attention, your most obedient servant, June 9. 1833. Nathaniel Patox. This little fellow is the artist mentioned in case 3, of the preced- ing number of the Appendix. The teacher has remarked a certain want of attention, for a moment, to a matter commanded, which might be mistaken for disobedience. 5, Sir, — T take this method of informing you, that I intend with- drawing my two sons, Andrew and George Goodall, from the Infant School, for the purpose of sending them to the Sessional School. I would consider myself very ungrateful did I not return my sincere thanks to you and Mrs Milne, for your uniform kindness and atten- tion to their best interests since they have been under your care ; I trust that, with the blsssing of God, the seed sown wiil spring up and become a goodly crop. Deeply convinced as I am of the great importance of the instruction imparted in the Infant School, I hope that its benefits will be extended over a wider field, and tliat it may realize the expectations of its liberal benefactors. In the course of LETTER PROM MR CUNNINGHAM. 235 the ensuing spring I shall send two of my younger children to your school, as the only proof that I can give of mv entire approhalion of the system. May you and Mrs Milne be cheered in vour honour- able but arduous duties with the consideration that Ile'who spake as never man spake said, " SutTer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of Ciod." With the best wishes for vour prosperity, and that of the institution over which you preside, I re- main, Sir, your much obliged humble servant, Daniel CxOODAll. This letter is of old date, and came unasked. No. 11. LETTER FROM THE REV. MR CUNNINGHAM, HEAD MAS- TER OF THE EDINBURGH INSTITUTION FOR LAN- GUAGES, MATHEMATICS, kc. Edinbtrgh, 6. Hill Street, 5th March 1834. Dear Sir, — In answer to your inquiries, I beg leave to state the result of my experience in teaching the Classics and Mathematics in George Watson's Hospital, and the Edinburgh Institution, The time allotted in AVatson's Hospital, to the teaching of Latin in the higher classes, was two hours daily, Greek one hour, Arith- metic and Algebra one hour, and Geometry one hour. This portion of time was found sufficient for communicating a competent know- ledge of Latin, and Greek, and the elements of Mathematics. In proof of this, I ma}' state, that of three pupils, who were sent to College, during the time in which I acted as House-Governor, one obtained a prize in the second Greek class, the first year of his attendance at college, and a prize in the Senior Humanity class the second year of his attendance; two obtained prizes in the Junior Matbematical class the first year of their attendance ; and the third, without oh- taining prizes, distinguished himself by his knowledge of the busi- ness of each of these classes. I may appeal also to the manner in which the pupils acquitted themselves at the annual examination, as attested by written testi- monials from the Professors and others who attended as examinators, and to the appointment of two Latin Masters of that Institution in succession, the one to the Grammar School of Dumfries, and the other to Madras College, St Andrew's. In the institution which I now conduct, two hours drily are allot- ted to the teaching of Greek and Latin. By limiting the number of pupils, by confining their attention to what is essential to the attain- ment of a knowledge of the language, and by unremitting exertions during the hours of teaching, I have been enabled to read and ana- lyze minutely, nearly as much as is read in classes of the same stand- 236 LETTER FROM MR CUNNINGHAM. ing at the Academy and High School. I have found that the pro- gress of my pupils in reading the classics, has been greatly facilitated by the knowledge which they acquired in the other classes of the In- stitution ; and that they have been enabled to sustain their attention much more vigorously during the hours of teaching, by having it re- lieved by a change of employment. In the Institution one hour a- day is allotted to Geometry, and one to Arithmetic and Algebra. The age at which pupils usually enter on the study of Geometry, is fourteen. Two hours a-day devoted to these studies for two years by a boy of that age, ought to qualify him, in as far as regards Ma- thematics, either for the business of life, or for the higher classes at the University. The pupils attending the Institution consist of two classes, those who combine the study of the ancient languages, with Mathematics and Modern languages, and those whose attention is directed chiefly to the two last. Both these classes prosecute at the same time the study of History, and Geography, and of English li- terature and composition ; a considerable number also attend the Masters for Writing, Landscape, and Architectural Drawing, and Fencing, and Gymnastics. In addition to the studies above enumerated, I have long been of opinion that Natural History, and the Elements of Natural Philoso- phy and Chemistry, might be introduced with advantage. The difficulty of procuring a museum, and the necessary philoso- phical instruments, and a person properly qualified to give instruc- tions in these branches of knowledge, has hitherto prevented me from making the attempt. Until the public mind is more impressed with the importance of instruction in natural science, and the practi- cability of conveying this instruction, even to very young persons, such an attempt is not, indeed, likely to succeed. In the mean time as much information as possible on these subjects is conveyed by the English classes. I am, Dear Sir, yours faithfully, ROBT. CUNNINGHAM. ( 237 ) No. III. SPECIMEN OF THE DAILY RECORD OF DUTIES, ORGANIC, MORAL, RELIGIOUS, AND INTELLECTUAL, AS KEPT FOR ONE WEEK. 3 □ o s 3 ■d .a t/3 Organic Duties. r Moderate and WTiolesome Food, J Air and Exercise, T S T O N i Cleanliness, .... ' Early Hours, but sufficient Sleep, . N T o N — Moral and Religious Duties. ( Gentleness, Forbearance, no Contention, W T S T / 7. -! Courage, no Cowardice, W V W N — S [^ Activity, no Listlessness or Idleness, o N T W — 2 8. Good Temper, no Passion or Cruelty, T S T c. 9, Openness, no Cunning or Deceit, N T S T i" 10, Frugality no Greediness, or Miserliness, N T S T u ( Humility, no Pride, no Meanness, . T S T ^Sl2. ■< No Insolence, Derision, or Provocation, T S T — o c (No Self-Prefer., no Jealousy, no Envy. T S T — .2 ( Regard to good Opinion, no Shameless- 13. -! ness, ..... 1 No Courting of Praise, no Vanity, . 3 T S T — " T S T — \l4. Caution, Circumspection, no Rasbness, N T — f Spontaneous Kindness, no Coldhearted- /^- i ness, N W V w ( Trutb, Justice, Cbaritable Judgment, c 16. ■< Candour, Gratitude, . T S T w ST c (^ Conscientious Duty, seen or not seen. N W T 1 r Love and Obedience to God, . * Religious Duties, i Obedience and Deference to Parents, I. Respectfulness to Super., Equals, Inf., N T S T in o o N T S T s T S T "o 18. Cheerfulness, Content, . N — JS J Fortitude, Resistance of Temptation, s ■ I no obstinacy, .... N T S T W w 20. No Exaggerat. or Marvellous Embellish T — ^21. Refinement, no Vulgarity, o T — Intellectual Ditties. Accurate Obser. of Objects and Events o N W — Attentive Study and Improvement, . N W — Order and Punctuality, . o N — 1 Exercise of Reflection and Good Sense o N w — Explanation. — The figures on the left denote the Faculties concerne'SO (his entrance into Parliament) the first bill proposing to give education to the people of Ireland was introduced. In bringing forward that important bill he was the humble instru- ment. It was opposed by the then government, and the most vigor- fius opponent it met with was Lord Stanley, who, although he fought the battle, had the good sense afterwards to yield to the voice of pub- lic opinion. The bill of 1831, which was the educational code for Ireland, was then adopted, and contained the substance of the bill he (the chairman) had introduced into Parliament. Subsequently he moved for an inquiry into the state of education, which was granted, and a committee appointed ; and he trusted that the report of that committee M'ould prove of such a nature as no longer to leave us the last in F.urope without a national system of education. (Cheers.) The health of ^Ir Cobden was then proposed by the Chairman, who pronounced a just eulogium on the public and private character of that gentleman, and referred to the influence he had already ob- tained among his fellow townsmen by the cordial aid and encourage- ment he invariably rendered to every plan designed for the intellec- tual and moral improvement of his fellow-men. The toast was re- ceived with acclamation, and drunk with corresponding honours. The Chairman again arose, and when the cheers which greeted him had subsided, he addressed the assemblage in the following terras : — Gentlemen, the present meeting is in an especial degree re- markable, as having been, as I am informed, the first which has met within your town, and I may say the first in any part of England, for the promotion of the great and general object of a national system of education. In that light it is of especial importance; for the ge- neral plea at present made by the opponents of education is, that the people upon this question are inert, that it is the theory of a few idle speculators of tlae House of Commons, wholly unlinked with the national sympathies, and that education has so far progressed under existing circumstances in the country, that all it now requires is to be left alone. The meeting cf this day, the feeling which it has evinced, no less than the conversations which I have had since 1 came hither, liave given me reason to think that, at least in this town, a very different sentiment prevails. I have wished to have an opportunity of testifying that the people on this sutiject " are not dead, but sleep ;" nay, that they are not now sleeping, but awaken- ing, — that they are ready, when the subject is fairly placed before them, to statetheir feelings upon it boldly, and to call upon the mi- nisters that would possess their confidence, and upon the legislature, to act boldly up to the wishes and interests of the people. (Cheers.) I am not, therefore, I hope, out of place in proposing to such an as- sembly as this a toast which I find upon the list, a toast which to my mind for many years has been present, but more as a dream than as a reality, more as a wish than as a hope, as a thing that may be MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. 269 looked for in the perfection of society, but not as a measure that 1 might hope not only to see, but in some measure to assist in bringing to the knowledge of society myself. The toast is, " A national sys- tem of education, more especially the infant system, and that it niav speedily become, as it should be, the paramount object of a wise and constitutional government." That is the toast which I shall propose a little later to your approbation ; but before you give it your sanc- tion, I think I shall not intrude too far upon your indulgence bv stating upon what grounds I call for your approbation of the senti- ment. We are engaged in a mighty cause, the cause of educational reform — that greatest of all reforms, upon which must repose every other; for, clothe it with what name they may, give it what outward appearance they choose, whether it be the institution of this time or of another, of this good or of that, unless constitutions be based upon the intelligence and moral character of a people, thev are but phan- toms of a day, buildings upon the sand, washed away by the first flood, or crumbling to pieces in the first blast. Raise up the mhids of a people first; and then you may build upon that foundation what edifice you choose. (The company rose spontaneously, and loudly cheered the Hon. Gentleman.) Can these words, " educational re- form," be offensive to any one ? What is there in education that men should mystify it in a free and enlightened country ? What does it mean ? It is to bring out the faculties of a human creature to their fullest development ; not to use them merely as faculties, but as instruments in the performance of duty, in all the senses and relations of the term, whether it be that of a child to a parent, or of a parent to a child, that of the citizen to the state, or of the legisla- ture to the people. Duty is one, though multiform ; and the deve- lopment of the faculties constitutes the only instrument which Go0 has given us with which tn perfonn our duties. (Cheers.) And shall you, then, start at the word '• reform ?" Has that word been dese- crated ? Has there been any thing in your conduct, men of Eng- land, that has shewn, since you did obtain reform, that you knew not how to value the gift? Why then should we imagine that it is not a good watchword, " educational reform," or that, in banding together for the procurement of that glorious consummation, ve are not per- forming our duty, not only to each other and to the generation about us, but also to that wiser and better generation that assuredly will come after us ? Why suppose that we are not pertbrmiiig at once our duty to God above us, and to man on earth ? On jjrinciple and on duty, on duty performed through the development of the facul- ties, do I base education. It then becomes a matter of serious ques- tion and consideration how this education is to be obtained : how can you put it in practice if it can be obtained ; and if it can, why shoukl it not be obtained ? It can be obtained, for what is it ? This : that every individual in the state shall have his trijile being, physical, moral, and intellectual, brought to that state of perfection of which it is susceptible. I have no idea of educating men by fractions. 1 will not raise up his physical nature as an enemy to the two other portions of his being ; but I will make it the ally and friend of both. Neither will I take his intellectual faculties anil cultivate them tu 270 MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. the exclusion of the two others. I remember the story of the Alh- lete, who, having had his physical faculties nourished for that purpose only, was alone fit for that occupation, and jiroved, even physically, a bad soldier. How much worse then must it be, if you over-edu- cate the intellectual man, and mis- educate the physical ! You will have in later years the physical man rising up and vindicating his prerogative against the intellectual. How many instances of this have there not occurred in the history of letters? IJgo Foscoli, in the early years of his life, squandered away his physical being pre- maturely, and he sunk down in his later years under the burthen of mere mind. Then, again, in the moral world, can any man be truly religious and moral who does not exercise his intellectual faculties? He may be devout without them, he will probably be a fanatic. We have the history of the Anabaptists, and of the Inquisition of Spain before us, and do we still talk of religion being enough without rea- son ? I therefore say, let the whole man be brought out fully and energetically at all times. Educate the child in the cradle, if you would wish to have him perfect as a man in the senate or the mart. You cannot begin him too soon. You ought never to finish till you see him in the grave. That is one essential of an improved system, though it is utterly forgotten or utterly neglected or abused through- out the whole of our present system, from the dame-schools to that perverted thing, that utter misnomer, called a gentlemanly educa- tion. (Cheers.) Next, as I would not exclude any one portion of the individual man, neither would I exclude any one portion of that great body, the state, composed as it is entirely of individuals all possessing human faculties. For my own part, if I am a lover of freedom, I am not a lover of any particular colour of freedom, of this man's giving or of that man's taking away. If I claim rights for my own property and person, I claim rights also for that far higher gift, intellectual and moral cultivation. (Cheers.) That I must have at any expense, even of the loss of personal liberty and property, and whatever else may betide. Then why talk to me of your giving to the people the political franchise, when you refuse to them that by which all other franchises are valuable or worthless, the franchise of free thinking and right thinking; for it is of no use to think freely, unless you learn first to think rightly. (Enthusiastic cheers.) If so, then, it be an advantage and a right, I will go fur- ther; and I tell it to you who know it, and because you must have seen the fact in ever}' single transaction of your lives, that the intel- lectual and moral man is not only the better workman, the better merchant, the better citizen, but that he is also, in all conditions and senses, the better Englishman. (Loud cheers.) I tell it to you who know it, and I, through you, would tell it to the government above you, who seem not to know its truth, that if they will give you rights such as they have given in the reform bill and other measures, they must take care that they give you also the means of rightly managing those instruments ; for in proportion as they grant to you those great accessions of power — and justly are they due to you as an independent and a free people — they impose upon themselves a most solemn obligation to see that they give you also information and in- MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. 271 telligence, and the temper and morality to apply those instruments, not to your personal position or individual advantage merelv, but to the common good of the whole state. (Loud cheers.) Wliat'are they afraid of in giving education ? What is their apprehension ? That the people become too enlightened ? Too enlightened for what? Not for the people. The people do not suffer by their own enlightenment. (Loud cheers.) Shew me the workman that works ill by putting his mind as well as his hand into his work. Shew me the operative that is worse for learning ; and by learning I mean not merely readuig and writing, but the spirit of instruction and education. Where is the operative that fails in his duty because of learning these things? But it is argued, " They have no time to do these things;" and the next moment they say, " Their time is taken up by other occupations." Then I reply, I would give them that quantity of mind that in time would know how to abridge those other occupations, and afford them- selves a little physical recreation and moral and intellectual luxu- ry. (Loud cheers.) The people, then, would not suffer from edu- cation. If I believed in what Cobbett has said on the subject, such reasoning would be good. He cries out, " The people have not suf- ficient time to spend two hours a day in their moral and religious in- struction ; they have not time to abridge the sixteen or seventeen hours during which the infant is prisoned in the cotton mill, and the agriculturist's child is chained to the soil.'' But I would compel tlie parent to abridge the period of the child's labour; for the child's vote on that subject has never yet been taken. Then what injury does it do to the class above them ? Do the middle classes suffer, because the lower classes press upon them ? No ; the middle classes have an- swered nobly. They have pressed forward, too, in the grand march of human improvement. They have not sluggishly fallen behind in the ranks. But if you go to the higher classes, there you find all the objections. Why ? Because they are sleeping indolently in their beds when they should be awakening from their torpor ; and when they do endeavour to keep their position in the van, it is not by pushing on with quicker step in the race, but rather by keeping back the competitors who are treading on their steps. A far nobler con- test it would be, if they would but challenge competition and distance it afterwards by superior exertions. I rejoice and thank CJod that thei'e is that energy in the people of this country that they do press upon the heels of the aristocracy ; for one of two things will come to pass — either they will, as they get better informed, become the mas- ters of the aristocracy, or they will do that greatest of all good to the aristocracy — they will compel them to reform their education also, and to hold their supremacy over the country by a better tenure than the recollection of j)ast years — by their own actual excellence of character and true superiority of mind. (Cheers.) Then there is nothing, I think, to fear from the extension of education, as to its having the tendency to dislocating and disturbing the various classes of the community. All that is required is this : — if any one of these alarmists raises this objection, your reply will be, and 1 have often said it to them, " You wish to put every thing in harmony and to bring all things into relation with each other ?" " Certainly.'' " ilut 272 MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. how is this to be clone ? You cannot push the people back — ^you can- not uneducate them ; they are educated so far — much too far for jour views, but not enough by any means for theirs or for our own. If you are advocates for harmonies and relations, the only way is, that you too should move on and get before rather than try to pull th? people hack." (Cheers.) If I look to one or another of those journals that oppose all improvement in education — that fly to facts, and give you long arrays of figures, in order statistically to prove the evils of education— what is the account now that we find in these prints — and it is a despicable account after all ? That education not oniy does not check crime but actually produces crime. (Hear, and laugiiter.) " Why, what," say they, " after all, is education, but teaching me to do evil in the best possible wav." This sacred and almighty means of elevating man from an animal into an intellectual and moral being, they actually do assert that this produces evil in- stead of good. Am I, because you have wounded your hand by care- lessness in discharging a pistol, to punish the pistol as the cause ? You are the person to blame, because you know not how to use the instrument. It is found by those alarmists, then, that in the north of France, where undoubtedly both education and crimes against property prevail much more than they did formerly there, or than they now do in the south of France — they find education there co- existent with these crimes, and thence, with all the logic of the grave- digger in Hamlet, they have concluded that it was education that produced the crime, and not any of tliose residuary causes which edu- cation had not attained the means of extirpating. Where there is civilization there is wealth, and where there is wealth desires are awakened, which, if not subdued by an early and careful discipline of these selfish projjensilies, issue in crime. Bring such beings into contact with such means of gratification, and you will have the de- sire for the property of others, and consequently a great increase in crime. (Hear, hear.) But how is this reasoning borne out? There is no consideration of any changes in legislation, of the greater means and a greater vigilance on the part of the detectors of crime ; of the proportion between the condemned and the committed; not a single statement as to these causes; all these are omitted, or they would have shewn what after all is the fact, that crime has actually dimi- nished. It has been found that 81 per cent, of the non-educated are engaged in crime in Belgium, in France, and in America ; while only IG per cent, of the educated portion of the community were found to be so. I think it right to mention these things, that the people may know that the assertion that education produces crime, is an unjust and unrighteous calumny. (Cheers.) What pretence then is there tliat the gates of knowledge should not be thrown wide open to the entire world ? I would have education made as general as the light of day. (Cheers.) I would have no poor or wretched, no noble and ignoble; they should be distinguished only for superior intelli- gence and acquirements. (Loud cheers.) That should be the only inquiry, and not whether they wear this or that gown, or come from this or that college. There is one way, and but one way of doing this, by throwing the door of the school wide open ; and if this is not MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. 273 done by the government, the voluntary principle will not do it. For, you must have a general centre upon which all the other accessory wheels mus.t revolve, and this can only be furnished by one presid. ing intelligence, with which the people themselves must combine. One great improvement which has to be made, in education, besides its universality, is its permanence. Gentlemen, the best instruction you can name in any part of the world, if it is to pass away with this or that man's death, or with this or that portion of the community, it is but a "■ promise to the ear," not kept to the hope, not realized in deed. I am far from wishing to check the flow of natural and in- dividual benevolence ; but I do say that we ought to have a better guarantee for the permanence of any system of education for the I)eople, than the benevolence of any liady Bountiful, or the vanity of any squire, or the self-flatteries of any portion of the community, be they what they may. I have seen the eftect of this voluntary system in Ireland ; I have seen a man come forward with large pro- fessions of benevolent feeling, — he has given ground on which to build a school, and has offered towards it his subscription ; but I have learned by sad experience to fear the Greeks, even when they seem most kind, and I know that these persons expect no inconsider- able return for so much patronage. A few months have scarcely passed away when this very same patron of education, this large builder of schools, this contributor from a long purse to the wants of the poor, has called upon the poor to repay him his contributions, in takijig his books, and in following his opinions. What was the re- sult ? Why this — the school became split into two sections ; one part became his followers, and the other part split olf, and set up against him. I have no objection to this in reference to the spread of edu- cation ; but I wish the light of education to be pure, — I am not for any of the cants of the day, which are raised up in the name of edu- cation ; all I want is for persons distinctly to avow whether they are for education or for mere proselytism. If they are for proselytism let them say so. There is but one way to strike at the root of this evil, and it is this : — let the people build and keep the people's schools ; let there be no patronizers in the case; let every man in this land, whe- ther his coat be new and costly, or old and threadbare, be able to say, as he goes by one of these buildings, " It is mine as well as your's" The poor man may then indeed say to his wealthier neighbour — " I give towards it from a much richer purse than your's — I give to it what I obtain from the labour of my hands, and the sweat of my brow." (Cheers.) We boast of our navies and our armies, and one distinction of our state has been remarked by foreign writers, — that we call all things " ours." Why should we not then talk thus of "• our schools ?" I^et every man pay by an assessment ; and let that assessment be equal, so that every man may know that he contributes his just share, and no more. The three great principles then, which I have endeavoured to inculcate are these: — First, that education .should be improved, because unless you are doing that, you are doing nothing. I care not where you learn, but very much how you learn. It is of no use to talk to me of the number of your schools and your teachers; what I want to know is, if your schools and your teachers 274 MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. are ^ood, if they are the best you could have. It is not of bricks and mortar I inquire ; it is of that with which we build up the mind of man. The second great principle is, that education should be univer- sal ; that it should be limited lo no sect, or part}', or portion of the community, but equally open and available to all. And the third principle is, that above all things, education, as provided for the people, should be perynnnent. Now the next inquiry of us will be, how is all this lo be brought about ? The sugj^estion wliich has occurred to me is still in embryo ; it has not been acted upon by government, or by the legislature ; it still forms a mere matter of inquiry ; but I am justified in stating it to you, because it bears tiie stamp of the ap- probation of all the other civilized communities of Europe and Ame- rica. My pro])osition is, that there shall be two great sources of national education, the government and the people. Every thing in a state ought to be done not only in the best way, but by those in- struments which lead to its fulfilment in the best possible manner. There are some things which the government can do much better than the people. AVhere, theref(n-e, we have a great object in view, we ought not to say, " Let the state alone do it;" still less, " Let the people alone do it ;" but ■' Let both do it, and let each do that part of it which they are best fitted to do." There are things, for instance, in education which no individual locality can do so well as the state. Now, for instance, could this town, with all the zeal and enlightenment of its community, with all its great means, with all its spirit and activity, and the accumulation of wealth and splendour which surrounds its name, — how would you find it possible to pro- cure teachers for the whole community ? No ; you must go at once to the metropolis for them. There must be some central board for the inspection of all the schools, which no individual parish or dis- trict could take upon itself. There are other things which you can do better than the state. You can watch over your individual school : you can see that no abuses take place in it ; you can take care to keep the building in repair ; you can pay the teacher : you can do all those things better than they could be done by any cen- tral board or commission in the world. What was the reason in a late law given by Austria to the Lombard States, authorizing those States to found institutions for themselves ? It was this — that there were things in the local condition of a country which no government, however despotic and overruling, could understand so well as the state itself, and even in legislating for such a state, it was always ne- cessarv to inquire from the inhabitants how the thing lay ; and there- fore they considered it much the simplest thing to say to the local body — ," Legislate for yourselves.'' Therefore I say, let there be a board of national education ; let that board give the first impulse to the operation of the system, by taking land, building schools, fitting them up, educating teachers, appointing inspectors, seeing that they do their duty, furnishing reports for the guidance of the local boards, and finally, receiving money from government and applying it to the promotion of the national object. ]3ut let each local committee take care that the master is paid from their moneys, by a general assess- ment, and that the school is kept in good repair. These are the two MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. 275 provinces which, separating the jurisdiction of each, the state and the people, confound neither, but bring them into conjunction for the promotion of the same grand purpose. The very same plan I would propose to be adopted as well for primary schools as for col- leges, and also for subsidiary and supplementary education, which su])plies the deficiencies of early life, such as mechanics' institutions and scientific and literary institutions, or those which bring on with a new impulse the acquisitions which lia\ e been already ac(]uired, such as museums, libraries, &c. All these I would organize in the same way, under a central board, giving to the local boards the du- ties which I have already enumerated. Then, it is perhaps next objected, that religious education must be given in those schools, and that, therefore, the children being ofditierent religious sects, the thing is altogether impracticable. The answer is, that the test of practicability has been already applied in Ireland, in Prussia, in Switzerland, in America, in France, in Poland, — in every country where there is a mixed population of different sects, — and in every one of them has it succeeded — (Cheers.) What has been discovered? Simply this, that where the community is of one sect, let the teacher be of that sect also, and let him teach his religion. If they happen to be of mixed seels, why not give religious education out of the schools? Where would be the evil or absurdity of it ? Will any one tell me that religious education is not belter attended to, it given out of school hours with the additional sanction of the pastor of the place ? If he has not time for it, there ought to be two or more ; and if he has time for it, and neglect this important branch of his duty, he is not fit for his sacred office. (Hear.) I have no more idea of forcing ujjon any other person my especial tenets, than I would suf- fer any oilier person to force his belief on me. To attempt to teach the same belief or ci-eed to different sects is nothing less tlian to realize the fable of the fox and the stork, who invited each other to dinner. The dinner which the fox gave was a very good dinner for foxes, but did not suit the stork at all •, and precisely the reverse was the fact with the dinner which the stork gave. And speaking with- out profaneness, that has been precisely the manner in which edu- cation has been oft'ered to tlie people of Ireland. Ikit what educa- tion ? One shackled with the condition that those who were taught should adopt and hold one particular religious belief. It was the dinner of the fox given to storks. If this is the case in Ireland, it is the case in England and anywhere else. If you are to give edu- cation, it must be without this condition. You must not attempt to give religious education of any one sect in your schools. I once asked a member of jiarliament this very simple (]uestion, " Do you pretend to say that a child, who can scarcely distinguisii one tree from another, and who is ignorant of the simjilest nouns in our language — do you mean to say that a child can read straightforward through the books of Leviticus and Numbers, and understand the subject of which they treat ?'' " No ; I don't think he could." " Why then do you make the Bible a school-book '■'" " Oh, I think there is no harm in having it there." " For what purj)ose ? To read ?'' " No.'' " AVhat do you think if, with their spelling-book, 276 MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. were bound up the six books of Euclid ?" The answer was, that the sis books of Euclid were not religious books ; but he did not deny the conclusion that religious hooks were often as much beyond the children's comprehension as Euclid itself (live the Bible to the child when he is capable of understanding it, that he may know the Holy Scriptures, and, knowing, venerate them; for without a know- ledge of them there can be no respect tor them ; for it is not the mere words ; the Scriptures are not a mere mechanism of education ; they are living waters, not stagnant puols ; and by using them as sjhool-books you do this farther and more dreadful injury — you in- capacitate that child's mind by thus injudiciously forcing it, not only for the study of the Scrij)tures, but for many other occupations of life. (Hear.) And to the teachers of the Scriptures I would farther say, you indulge in the very practice that will tend to revolt the child's mind at the very sight of the Scriptures afterwai'ds, and thus injudiciously defeat your own object. Have I not then a right, as a venerator and lover of the Scriptures, to appeal against these men for thus injudiciously placing them too early in the hands of chil- dren ? I would honour the Scriptures by teaching the Scriptures at a later period, when they could be better understood, and I would improve the intellect by allowing the mind to shoot and burst forth of itself. There should be no forcing of buds in the human plant, lest it prematurely wither and decay. (Cheers.) You see the pro- digate and the infidel, and wonder, when perhaps a man acquainted with causes as well as effects, would lead you back to the early hours of life, when you see an extravagant apprehension that the child should not read the Scriptures enough, implanting in his mind a real disgust for them, and a misapprehension of their great truths. (Cheers.) Another great difficulty is the changing of the means of education. But infant schools have taken up the ground. They deal with innocent and unsophisticated minds ; they have gone into that temple of the Divinity, an infant's mind, which no one can ap- proach without catching some inspiration and purification by what I may venture to designate the neighbourhood of the Godhead. This they have at last, in many cases, consented to do ; but still here and there you will meet with scattered remnants of the old system, where the rod is still held in idolatry as the only means of cultivat- ing the mind ; even Scripture is quoted in support of it, when, if they would only cast their eyes about them, they would find that facts and reason are both against them. Facts have shewn this, thai in schools where the rod is not used, every faculty has been bet- ter educated. To take colleges, I have had it from a person who has been successfully managing, for a long time, boys from seven- teen years of age to twenty, that he never had recourse to any other remedy than a kind word. To go down to other schools, do you tell me that in the dame schools, the primary schools, punishment is required ? I will take you to the schools of Hack- ney, and to others in the metropolis, and to the Victoria Asylum. The children are put there when they are abandoned by their pa- rents, and are almost thoroughly given up to low habits and to crime. I found one child, cast by his parents into the street, MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. 277 tied in a bag, his body filthy, and his mind as much infected as his bod)'. They took that child into the school and educated it. With the rod? No; but with kindness, and the whole demeanour of the child was completely changed. Nor is this confined to boys any more than girls. In the Victoria Asylum I asked the teacher, scarce- ly a week ago, whether there were any instances of thieving and ly- ing among her pupils ? Remember from what districts tliey come ; from the very centre of St Giles's, from Southwark, and from the neighbourhood of Newgate. She told me that during the time she had been in the administration of the asylum, she had not one single instance of either stealing or lying. At Ealing the teachers give ex- actly the same account. I asked the teacher — " Is there a liar or a thief among your pupils ?" " No." I questioned the boys why ; and their answer was that it was a crime to steal or to lie. One said that to lie was a crime against God. I asked, is it not inconvenience to yourselves ? " Yes," was the reply ; *•' we lose the confidence of our fellows." " What is thieving ?" " It is taking what we ought not." " What ought you not to take ?" " What is not your own." " Why do you pay rent for your garden ?" " Because as we sell the produce of our ground, we ought to pay for that which makes the produce grow." These children I found educating under a noble tree ; joyous in the reception of a physical as well as a moral education ; and the teacher, not trusting to school-rooms or rods, but walking about with them as an elder companion, joyous in his pupils, and they rejoicing in the opportunity of being educated. And you talk of prayer — they pray in the sunshine of heaven, and in the beautiful nature around them ; and they say, " We like teaching when teaching comes, and working when working comes." Would those boys have been better if the rod had been held over them ? No ; if they would, they w^ould not have been Englishmen, and I am one of those who glory in resistance to punishment when punishment is un- just. In speaking of this education, I confine myself not to the edu- cation of any one class, but I go up to the university itself. Do you suppose that there is any inherent malignity of nature in our legis- lature, that makes them determine upon misleading and injuring the people ? No ; their whole crime is ignorance ; they do not know how to teach the people otherwise, because they have never been taught themselves in what justice consists. Do you suppose that a young man whose whole college life has been dissij)ation, which he has been in the habit of looking upon as the model of all excellence, and whose only trophy is the brush of a fox or of a hare — do you sup- pose that he can be capable of guiding the vessel of the state in a storm ; and are we to be surprised if he runs it upon the rocks ? Yet legislation is said to be the only science in which quacks are sure to prosper without scarcely one essential qualification being bestowed upon them. These are the scions of legislation : these are they to whom is entrusted every improvement of our laws ; and hence it is that we have an immensity of ill, and that the whole set of our six hundred and fifty legislators are continually engaged in throwing down, like Mr Nash, in order to build up again, or in building up that we may have the pleasui-e of throwing down again. If, then, we are to reform education, we must reform it altogether. It would be 278 MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. absurd to say, here is a well-educated middle class ; but the aristo- cracy needs no education. How is it, then, that a better system of education is not obtained ? You can do it ; you are the men to do it, by forcing education upon this class, by telling statesmen that thej must be statesmen in mind, and not in money ; that they must ap- prove themselves by the only right standard, a true communion with all the interests ami portions of the country ; that they must know their trade, their profession, before they dare to exercise it in the face of an enlightened nation ; for we have now come to that state of society when nothing is to be achieved by ex))loits. (Hear.) The time of exploits is gone by ; there is no such thing as a political or a legislatorial Jack the Giant-killer now-a-days. Look at the progress of your railway. Day by day the hand laid one stone patiently upon another, the labour of one hour adding a small portion to that of the last, all the workmen present in their various subdivisions of labour ; all their various faculties a])plied, each to their particular place and station ; and with these means they have raised what no single indi- vidual, be he Napoleon, or be he a greater man, could ever hope to accomplish. The great agents of our age are, steam on the one side, and education on the other. You, I say, can effect the introduction of a better system of education ; for all that is wanting now is this, — that the will of the people shall be felt in the I^egislature, and that the Legislature should make the Ministry feel with it. We wonder at some of the changes that we see take place ; we think them abrupt alterations of a state of things which has lasted a long time ; but there has been no revolution in our times, however apparently abrupt, which has not taken place effectually years before. The le- gislature is merely that which seals and ratifies. The revolution is done and over in "the popular mind before it is registered or ratified by the government or the legislature. So I say you have in your hands this revolution, a peaceable but a mighty one, — one upon which all others depend, — one which is to give them all smoothness and facility. Before I sit down, let me remark that, in addition to a national organization, you are called upon, more especially in this town than in any other portion of this kingdom, to aid the efforts now making to effect this most desirable event. When I Avas in London last year, it was urged that an educational society would be desirable, its object being to afford information to Ministers and to the Legislature upon the subject. We are too apt to imagine that England is the world, that the wooden walls of C3ld England are to shut out all illumination, as well as all attack, from the continent, — and, consequently, there is not only no anxiety to obtain informa- tion, but there is an inclination to despise it and disregard it when furnished. In the Commons, if any man happens by any chance to say that such a plan is in operation in Belgium or in France, you see the lovers of things as they are shrug up their shoulders as they say, " Yes, that may be all very well for Belgium ; but as for us, ■we can afford to do otherwise." This society in London was to be formed for the purpose of collecting from every source all the intelli- gence and information that could be obtained, with regard to the progress of education, either in this country or abroad. It was found that many educational societies, already founded, were scattered in various parts of the kingdom, but that they had no means of connec- MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. 279 tion with the metropolis ; and it was therefore proposed to be in com- munication with all these, and to endeavour to promote the forma- tion of others. In the evidence before the Educational Committee of the House of Commons, our witnesses were taken from the north and south, and east and west, from the three kingdoms : we had tes- timony from professors at the universities, from catholic priests, from presbyterian clergymen, from unitarian ministers, from every pos- sible department of the country or of teaching ; and, singular enough to say, there was in all these various classes of persons a general har- mony of opinion. But they knew not each other ; they were sur- prised to find that government had discovered the same things as themselves ; they were united in sentiment and opinion as one body ; and how well it would have been if they had had some oppor- tunity, some common channel of communication with each other. How far would it not have advanced the cause of education ! A na- tional system might by this time have become the law of the land. I urge you to forward the cause of this society, by establishing one here in combination with our's. You have already the elements of such a society amongst you. We wish to gain and to give infor- mation. We wish to collect scattered truths into one focus, and again distribute them to all. We do not propose to ourselves anything like the organization or administration of schools, in the metropolis or elsewhere, but merely the difl'usion of information on this little- understood subject. I therefore say to }'ou, engage with us in this work ; you can do much good, because if a national board be formec", your society will furnish opportunities to that board to profit by your information; and if it be not instituted, such society will shew the government and the nation that we are determined not to be left behind other nations, but to hold our ancient place in the van of the civilization of Europe. (Cheers.) In France, in 1834, they orga- nized a complete society and system of national education. In Italy you see education extending, even the Pope's states not excepted, upon a liberal scale, and a national system. By the latest information from Switzeiland, we find national education made compulsory in the republican cantons of that country ; and we have found those poor states giving four times as much for the people's instruction as the amount of any other charge upon the state, thus putting a right value upon education. Prussia you know too have been active in the cause of national education from INIrs Austin's translation of Cousin's work ; but they have made great advances even since the publication of that work, as later works shew. In Germany they have made gi-eat strides ; Bavaria is still more educated than Prussia ; Denmark has a similar system ; even Russia is mov- ing in this great march; and in Belgium a national law of education was passed but the other day in their new chambers. In America there is not one state but has its provision for the education of its own people, sanctioned by its own separate legislature. Great Bri- tain is the only country in the civilized world which has not a na- tional system of education. (Hear, hear.) Then, gentlemen, let me entreat you, as you value your own interests, as you value the in- terests of the generation that is fast rising around you, put your hands earnestly to the work, llemember the words of Scripture, 280 MANCHESTER PAMPHLET. " He who putteth his hand to the plough, and holdeth it back, is not worthy of the kingdom of heaven." I know not how to separate education from religion : it is a part of that holy faith which we pro- fess, to enlighten the ignorant, and in doing so we do that which most benefits our kind. The friend of education extends its influ- ence to future generations, and if the present is passing away from him, he at least makes sure of those which are coming after it. But do I say that even the present generation has gone too far by, to be influenced by a better system ? No ; I would send out those apostles of truth and peace, the little children that you have educated in your infant schools ; I would introduce them into the peasant's cabin, and into the hovel of the operative, even into the dungeons of vice and iniquity which fester in all our cities, and use there their kindly in- fluence to reclaim even the most hardened malefactor. But a few days ago, I heard a member of parliament state at a public meeting, that he was going home from the house one night, when be heard a domestic quarrel. The husband was about to smite his wife, because she sought to draw him from the gin-shop ; he baflled all the at- tempts of her strength to keep him back, but a voice, which the gen- tleman well said it would scarcely be a figure of speech if he called it an angel's, was heard between them both. The man was arrested in a moment : the child clung to him : the father snatched him up in his arms, folded him to his breast, and was reclaimed. (Loud cheering.) Will any one then say, you cannot reclaim even the pre- sent generation ? It has been well said by a German writer, that he who writes for the age will also write worse than the age. Let us aim at something wiser and better than we have yet seen in society around us, — let our motto be " Education reform, and the virtue, happiness, and real glory of the people of these realms." — At the conclusion of this animating, philanthropic, and truly eloquent ad- dress, of which the above may convey the sense, but can give no idea of the effect and impression produced on those who heard it, the company rose and gave the honourable gentleman several rounds of hearty cheers. Several other able and eloquent speeches were made, especially by Mr Prentice, Mr Watkin, and Mr Rathbone, all manifesting the same liberal and enlightened spirit. Mr Simpson delivered one address to an audience of 3000 of the working-classes in Ijiverpool, and above 1000 (owing to the more li- mited accommodation of the place) in Manchester, and realized what he predicted when fears were expressed for his success, that if the teelings of man, be his rank in life what it will, are addressed accord- ing to the constitution given them by their Creator, they will re- spond with all their native generosity and kindliness. His Liver, pool audience stood (for there were no seats in the large hall) for an hour and a half, gave the most silent and fixed attention, and when their feelings broke out, it was always when the sentiment applauded was of a high moral caste. Mr Simpson has received invitations to visit several other places in England and Ireland, all of which he hopes to be able to accept. This sign of the times is truly cheering. REPORTS OF IRISH C0?JM1SSI0NERS. 281 No. VIII. EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF THE COMMISSIONERS ap. poiuted by the Lord-Lieutenanx to administer the Funds granted by Parliament for the Education of the Poor of Ireland. Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 3d March 1834. To his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant-General and General Governor of Ireland. We, the undersijrned Commissioners appointed to administer the Funds granted by Parliament for the Education of the Poor of Ire- land, beg leave to report to your Excellency as follows : We commenced receiving applications for aid towards Schools in January 1832, and the total number made to us to the present time amounts to 1548. We have granted assistance to 789 Schools which are now in full operation. We made grants to 52 other Schools, which have since ceased to be in connection with us ; in general, we deemed it right to discontinue aid to them in consequence of the reports of our in- spectors. We have promised aid towards the building of 199 Schools, which have not as yet been completed. We have rejected 216 applications, and have 292 now before us for consideration. The Schools which we already have in operation are attended by 107,042 children ; and according to the estimates transmitted to us, those which are to be opened in the houses not yet finished will be attended by a farther number of 30,804 ; so that the whole of the Schools existing and in preparation will afford the benefits of educa- tion to 143,84(i. We have the satisfaction to state, that throughout our correspond- ence with the patrons of schools, we have found them disposed to act with perfect integrity and candour: some instances of deviation from our rules have been reported to us, but on inquiry into the circum- stances, we have in general received such explanations as have been satisfactory to us. An important part of the duty entrusted to us is the preparation of books for the use of the Schools and School I^ibraries. We have hitherto directed our attention chiefiy to the compilation of books for schools only ; we have prepared and published four numbers of a series of reading books, to which we propose to add a fifth ; the lessons of which these books consist have been so w-ritten or selected as that, while they are used in reading exercises, they convey ele- ments of knowledge to the children in regular order. We have also published treatises on arithmetic and book-keeping, and a translation of Clairaut's Geometry. Some books having been hastily prepared to meet the urgent necessities of the schools, will require a farth'er revision, but we are enabled to add, that the whole have already met with very general approbation, and we propose so to arrange the A a 282 REPORTS OF IRISH C0M>'ISSI0NER3. prices and mode of sale as to bring them as much as possible into general use. Besides these works on the ordinary subjects of education, we have compiled and printed two numbers of a series of lessons from the Holy Scriptures, one from the Old, and the other from the New Testament, and we propose to go on adding to them until we com- plete a copious abstract of the narrative parts of the Sacred Volume, interspersed with suitable passages from the poetical and didactic parts of it. We proceed on the undertaking with perfect unanimity, and anticipate, from the general circulation of the work, the best results. It having been imputed to us that we intended to substitute these extracts from the Scriptures for the Sacred Volume itself, we deemed it necessary to guard against such misrepresentations, by annexing to the first number of them the following preface : — " These selections are ottered, not as a substitute for the Sacred Volume itself, but as an introduction to it, in the hope of their lead- ing to a more general and more profitable ])erusal of the Word of God. The passages introduced have been chosen, not as being of more importance than the rest of Scripture, but merely as appearing to be most level to the understandings of children and youth at school, and also best fitted to be read under the directions of teachers not necessarily qualified, and certainly not recognised, as teachers of religion ; no passage has either been introduced or omitted under the influence of any particular view of Christianity, doctrinal or practi- cal.'' It has been farther imputed to us, that we denied to children the benefit of religious instruction, and kept the Word of God from them ; to guard also against this extraordinary misrepresentation, we have introduced the following notes into our regulations : No. 1. " The ordinary school business, during which all the children, of whatever denomination they be, are required to at- tend, and which is expected to embrace a competent number of hours in each day, is to consist exclusively of instruction in those branches of knowledge which belong to literary and moral edu- cation. Such extracts from the Scriptures as are prepared under the sanction of the Board may be used, and are earnestly recom- mended by the Board to be used, during those hours allotted to this ordinary school business. No. 2. " One day in each week (independently of Sunday) is to be set apait for religious instruction of the children, on which day such pastors or other persons as are approved of by the pa- rents or guardians of the children, shall have access to them for that purpose, whether those pastors have signed the original ap- plication or not. No. 3. " The managers of schools are also expected, should the parents of any of the children desire it, to afford convenient opportvmity and facility for the same purpose, either before or after the ordinary school business (as the managers may deter- mine) on the otlierdays of the week. No. 4. " Any arrangement of this description that may be made, is to be publicly notified in the schools, in order that those REPORTS OF IRISH COMMISSIONERS. 283 children, and those onlj, may be present at the religious instruc- tion, whose parents and guardians ai)prove of their being so. _ No. 5. " The reading of the Scriptures, either in the autho- rized or Douay version, is regarded as a religious exercise, and as such, to be confined to those hours which are set apart for re- ligious instruction. The same regulation is also to be observed respecting praver. No. 6. '• A register is to be kept in each school, recording the daily attendance of the children, and the average attendance in each week and each quarter, according to a form to be furnished by the Board." We have thus shewn to all wlio choose to read our rules, with the view of understanding, not perverting them, that, while we desire to bring Christian children of all denominations together, so that they may receive instruction in common in those points of education which do not clash with any particular religious opinions, we take care that sufficient time be set apart for separate religious instruction, and that the ministers of God's Word, of all Christian creeds, and those ap- proved of by them, shall have the fullest opjiortunity of reading and expounding it, and of seeing that the children of their respective de- nominations do read and understand it, not only weekly, but daily, if they think proper. The success which has attended our labours, as appears by the pro- gress we have made, abundantly proves that the system of education committed to our charge has been gratefully received and approved by the public in general ; we trust it will continue to spread and prosper. It shall be, as it ever has been, our constant object so to adminis- ter it as to make it acceptable and beneficial to the whole of His Majest^^'s subjects; to train up and unite through it the youth of the country together, whatever their religious differences may be, in feelings and habits of attachment and friendship towards each other, and thus to render it the means of promoting charity and good will amongst all classes of the people. We annex a statement of our receipts and expenditure to the 31st December 1833, and of our present liabilities, to which we beg to refer. ^Signed) Leinster ; E-d. Dublin; D. Murray ; Franc Sadleir; James Carlisle; A. K. Blake: Robert Holmes. The Commissioners have sent forth two reports in addition to the foregoing, since the first edition of this work was published. These convey the most encouraging information as to the working of the system. The third report, after stating the progress and condition of the schools, is entirely devoted to the irksome and ungracious task of repelling a number of unfounded charges brought against the system in a speech delivered by the Bishop of Exeter, in the House of Ijords, on 15lh March lii'Mi, in moving for a select committee to in- quire into ihe operation of the Commission for national education in Ireland. The leading charges are gross neglect of duty as to religi- ous instruction, and utter indifference as to the morals of the teachers — giving pecuniary aid to schools in connection with nionas- taries and nunneries — permitting altars lor mass to be erected in 284 KEPORTS OF IRISH COMMISSIONERS. the school-houses — perversions of the funds towards building a Ro- man Catholic chapel — Scripture extracts containing corruptions tend- ing to favour the peculiar doctrines of the Church of Rome — books used in the schools oii'ensive to Protestants. The rej)ort is too long for insertion here, but it is confidently referred to as conclusive in favour of the Commissioners on all these and several other points. The report concludes in the following eloquent and truly Christian terms: — '' We have gone through the whole of the pamphlet, and have answered, we liope, every tangible part of it. We have thus noticed it because it was your Excellency's wish that we should do so ; we should otherwise have spared ourselves so ungrateful a task. We accepted the commission with which we are charged in the hope that it might enable us to pour oil on the troubled waters of Ireland, and to allay those dreadful dissensions whicli divide and distract her people. We are labouring so to do. We have no sordid object to accomplish, no factious purpose to serve, no bigoted passi(jn to gra- tify ; we are endeavouring to give a new stamp to the rising gene- ration of the country ; to bring children of all denominations to- gether from their infancy, in feelings of charity and good will ; to make them regard each other, not as belonging to rival sects, but as subjects of the same King, and fellows in the same redemption ; so that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and ' may hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life.' This is the end we seek ; Ave feel that we have so pursued it as to entitle ourselves to public confidence and support, and that confidence and support we have the satisfaction to say we enjoy and received from many persons of dif- ferent religious views, and of different political opinions. We, there- fore, hope it may not again be deemed necessary that we sliould give a formal contradiction to the accusations which prejudice or malice may from time to time put forth against us. If persons who see, or think they see, any thing wrong in the working of the system com- mitted to us, will communicate with the Board upon the subject, they will find us ever ready, to the utmost of our power, to apply a remedy to the evil. If they will not do so, and will 3'et assail our proceedings before the public, it may, we think, be safely left to the candour and good sense of the country, without any interference from us, to discriminate their motives, and deal with their statements ac- cording to their deserts. (Signed) Leinster ; Richard Dublin ; Franc Sadlier ; Jasies Carlisle; A. R. Blake; Robert Holmes.'' 13th July 1830. Note I omitted to recommend, in the body of the work, Mrs Loudon's valuable volume on " Philanthropic Economy." Her chapter on the Philosophy of Happiness is in entire consistency with the views of this work, and brings out the doctrine so eloquently and ])ractically, that it is worthy of being got by heart by every well- wisher of his species. The whole of her work is admirable. ( 285 INDEX. Active powers of metaphysicians, 65. Adult population, a difficulty, 176; re- action upon, 177; course with, 179. Air and exercise, 6 ; in dwelling-houses, 6. Allowance system, poor-laws, 25. Alma mater, associations of, 81. America, U. S., education in, 200. Ancients, barbarous, 54; highly intellec- tual, 54 ; without Christian morals, 55. Animal propensities, 69. Animals, cruelty to, 22. Antiquity enslaved by propensities, 147 Antoninus, morality of, 53. Apparatus for schools, 166 ; cheap, by Dr Reid, 166. Approbation, desire of, 70. Aristides, the, of a circle, 73. Arrangement, faculty for, 8a Arts, School of, 181. Association, Philosophical, Edinburgh,238. Astronomy in schools, 121. Athens, character of, 150. Attention net a faculty, 64, 76. .\ustin, Mrs, translation of Cousin, 199. Author, lectures by, 136, 142, 268, 280; plan for Normal Schools by, 251. Barbarous customs, ,36. Barringtou School, 174. Bath, Mr Clark's school at, 200. Beds neglected by working classes, 6. Belfast Institution and Academy, 206. Benevolence, 3, 72. Biber's Life of Pestalozzi, 116. Bible in schools, 140; extracts from, 282. Black, Mr James, Institution of, 206. Board of Commissioners, 163 ; control by, 168. Body, education of the, 63; study of, at schools, 120. Brigham, Dr, on mental culture, 97. Britain behind other countries, 199. British people, twofold division of, 5. Brougham, Ld., opinion of Infant Schools, 109; an encourager of education, 203. Browne, Mr, of Montrose Lunatic Asy- lum, 36. Bruce Castle School, 205. Bruce, Mr, school at Newcastle, 205. Bryce, Dr, Belfast Academy. 206. Buckingham, Mr, M. P., bills by, 13, 137. Buildings for schools, 166. Byron, Lord, opinion of Latin and Greek, 60. Caldwell, Dr, views of drunkenness, 9 ; on physical education, 97- Candour, virtue of, 73. Capability of education by all, 5. Catechism loo early taught, 190. Catholics in Glasgow, conduct of, 195 ; In Edinburgh, 196. Chalmers, Dr, opinion of Institutions, 2; metaphor by, 2a Mr, School at Mer- chiston, 206. Chamljers's Journal, 21,87. Educational Course, 125, 165. Prospectus of Educa- tional Course, 249. Chemistry taught in schools, 119. Children, influence of, 177. Cholera forced cleanliness, 7. Christianity, not made practical, 34. " Church in Danger," cry of, 192 ; going, motive of, 28. Circus Place School, Edinburgh, 21C. Classical studies at college, 56. Classics, morality of, low, 53; argument for, 48 ; higher mystery of, 56. Cleanliness neglected, 7, 18. Clergy, superintendence of, 169, 19(1. Code of instructions, national, 164. Colour, faculty for, 80. Combe, Dr A., views of drunkenness, 11 ; Physiology, 6; of digestion, & Combe, George, Constitution of Man, 40; great moral discovery by, 86 ; on supre- macy of moral sentiments, 84. Combination of faculties, 83. Committees of Parliament on Education, 139. Commissioners of National Education, 163. Irish, Reports of, 281. Comparison, faculty of, 80. Compulsion in Education, 169. Conceal, impulse to, 6a Conception not a faculty, 65. Condition of manual labourers, 6, 17, 19, 21, 26. Conscientiousness, faculty of, 73. Consciousness not a faculty, oi. Consequence, necessary, faculty of, 80. Construct, impulse to, 69. Contend, impulse to, 67. Controversy prevalent, ai. Costliness of national education, 183. Country sports of aristocracy, 37. Course of books, Chamlxjrs's, J25, 1C5. Irish, 172. Criminal population, a difficulty, 179; course with, 184, Cunningham, Rev. R., Letter to Author, 58, 2,35 ; Institution of, 58, i06. Customs, barbarous, 36. Dark ages, history of, 154. Dead-language education, 47. Destroy, projienslty to, 67. Destruction, practice of, 22. Didactics, lectures on, 174. Difterences wretched in religion, 145. 286 INDEX. Difficulties in way of National Education, 176. Diploma to teachers, 1C7, IfiO. Doctrine preaching, effect of, 27. Dorsey, Mr, Hif^h School, Glasgow, 206. Drawing to be taught in schools, 116. Drinking of ardent spirits, 8. Drummond, Dr, Institution, Belfast, 206; letters to a young naturalist, 131. Drunkenness, decrease of, 17D; an insa- nity, 9. Duff", Rev. Mr, speech of, 27. Dun, Mr, teacher, Edinburgh Lancaste- rian School, 30, 161, 2(l6. Dust in factories, remedy for, 18. Duties, daily record of, 114, 237. Edinburgh, Model Infant School, 104. 214. Association for Lectures, 136. Institu- tion for Languages, &c., 5U. Review, 2, 171, IflH. Society for Moral andEco- nomical Knowledge, 136. Educated C'lass?s, term of, 32. Education, on wrong basis, 1 ; the best cure for pauperism, 26 ; not moral, 15; dead language, 47; Mr Combe's lec- tures on, i!i); What, the, of, 62; physi- cal, :)5; moral, 97; intellectual, 97; in- fant, 98; subsequent, 113; popular, 156; subsidiary, 135; ulterior, 137; univer- sity, 137; religious, 138 ; national, 156; course of, by Chambers, 125, 165; should be free, 15'7; national plan for, 163; same for all, 126. Elevation, moral, of society, 209. Encouragements to national education, 198. England uneducated, 2. Epictetus, morality of, 53. Ethics, natural and scriptural, 74, 142. Etymology, dictionaries for, 49. Events, cognition of, 79. Evidence, author's, before Irish Commit- tee, 207. Examiners of teachers, 169. Excavation from heathenism, 28. Exercise, law of, 91 i of faculties, 91 ; of each on its own objects, 92 ; muscular, 7- Existences, cognition of, 79. Explanatory system, Mr Wood's, 30. Factories, labour in, 183; bad air in, 6; drinking in, 16. Faculties improveable, 90 ; tabular view of, 82, possessed by all, 83 ; act in com- bination, 83 ; of different degrees of rank, 84 ; harmony of, 85 ; excitement, regulation, direction of, 94. Fashion, what, 34. " Fear of the folk," 27. Fear appealed to, 2; faculty of, 71. Fellow men, attachment to, 67. Females taught science, physiology, 132. Fight, propensity to, 67. Firmness, faculty of, 75. Food, appetite for, 66. Force, faculty of, 80. Form, faculty of, 79. Fortune, men of, pursuits of, 39. France, education in, 199. Free states of antiquity, what, 149. Friendships, baseless, what, 86. Fulton's Orrery, 121. Fumes, noxious, remedy for, 24. Gaggia, M., school at Brussels, 203. Geometry in schools, 122 Geography in schools, 121 Gibbon's opinion of dead languages, 59. Gin-drinking in factories, 16. Girard's College, Philadelphia, 201. Gladiators, Roman, 53. Gluts in market, how produced, 43. Good, how to be done by rich men, 40. Government, moral, of world, 86. Government, British, and education, 203. Grammar schools, assumption by, 57. Gratis School, experiment of, 161. Guerry's moral map of France, 29. Hands of seven-eighths of the people em- ployed, 5. Hanwell School, 205. Happiness, what, 87 ; the general, just no- tions of, 3; waste of, by higher classes, 41. Harmony of Man with Nature, 88, of the faculties of man, 85. Haitlib, Milton's letter to, 45. Hazlewood School, 205. Health sacrificed by higher classes, 41 ; for college honours, 41. Henry IV. of France, wish of, 3. High School, Glasgow, English depart- ment, 206. History, Civil, at schools, 122; Natural, at schools, 123; as a study for youth, 14G; a chronicle of the propensities, 146 , Home of labourer uncomfortable, 22; a happy described, 23. Homer's heroes' savages, 147. Hope, faculty of, 75. Hospitality encourages intemperance, 8. Hunting stage of society yet, 36. Hutcheson, Mr, lectures by, 136, 263. Jerrard, Dr, school at Bristol, 206. Ideality, faculty of, 76. Ignorance prevails, 2; effect of, in manual labourer, 5. Imitation, faculty of, 77- Improvements in Education in England, 205; in Scotland, 2(i6. Incidental method, 118. Incidents in Model Infant School, 216, 230. Indifference in public to education, 171, 185. Industry, schools of, 134. Infant education, 98; school, 30, 45, 65. 99; principles of, 213; objections to, 109 ; Edinburgh Model, progress of, 214 ; reports of , 216,226; for higher classes, 112; brain not to be tasked, 104; reli- gion suited for, 115; catechisms not suit- ed for, 106. Innate faculties what, 83. Inspectors of national schools, 168. Instruction, public minister of, 163. Intellect, pleasures of, 21 ; what, 78. Intemperance, causes of, 11. Interests arrayed against education. 189. Ireland, peculiar situation of, 108 ; Edu- cation Committee of Parliament, 139. Irish national system opposed, 194 ; com- missioners' report of, 281. Judgment not a faculty, 65. 287 Justice, ihe best selfishness, 3; criation ar- ranged on principles of, 4. Justice, of the Peace, inspection by, 1G9. Kames, Lord, views of, 46. Kay, Dr, on condition of Manchester, 15. Kennedy, Thos., M. P., letter to, l;(!i. Kerry, Earl of, Committee ot, iU4; la- mented death of, iOi. Knowing faculties, 7ti. Labour, market, 20 ; incessant and exces- sive, Iti, 24; restriction of, 182; in fac- tories, lf!.'3. Lancasteriiin system, 103; schools, 30. Language, faculty of, 81. Languages, when to be taught, 137. Lectures by the clergy and others, 179; in Edinburgh Philosophical Association, 180 ; to the working classes, 142 ; by the author, 142, liilt. Legislature, resolutions by, 171. Leisure denied to workmen, 181. Licentiousness in factories, 17. Letters from parents on Infant School, 222, 233. Life, false views of, 3!) : love of, faculty for, 06 ; waste of, by higher classes, 41. Locke's views of moral training, 45; of dead languages, 59. London, University of, opposed, 193; chil- dren in streets of, 171. Loudon, Mrs, note on her work, 285. Ludicrous, faculty for, 77- Machinery, should abridge latour, 42, a combination of tools, 5. Man a study at schools, 119; the being to be educated, 02; how made wiser and better, 90 ; knowledge of his nature ne- cessary, 62. Manchester, labourers, condition of, 15 ; pamphlet published at, 263. Manual-labour schools, 134; class, claims of, 157 ; condition of, 6, 17, 19, 21, 26. Martineau, Miss, 2(», 125. Master manufacturers, avarice of, 181, Mayo, Dr, school at Chcam, 205 ; lessons on objects by, 101. Mechanical science for schools, 123. Mechanics' Institutions, 181. Melancthon's views of Nature, 88. Members, the law in the, 72. Memory not a faculty, 80. Mental science in education, 60 ; faculties long uncertain, 64. Metaphysicians, the active powers of, 65. Milne, Mr, teacher Edinburgh Model In- fant .School, 1114, 161. Milton's views of moral training, 45 ; of dead languages, 58. Minister of public instruction, 163. Modes mistaken for faculties, 64. Monitorial method, 115. Montrose Lunatic Asylum, 30. Morality is happiness, 3. Motives to d ■ good, what, 3. Murray, Dr, Lectures by, 136. Moral sentiments what, 77; given to all, 4; direct enjoyment in, 187; Moral train- ing new, 35, 44 ; government of world, 86 ; and Economical Knowledge Society, 180. Natural laws, what, 86 ; independence of each other, 86; Mr George Combe's original views of, 87. Nature, a 1,1, should study, 2J4, 229; na- turalized, 124. Newspapers, which friendly to education. 198. Normal schools, 167 ; model, plan for, by the author, 251. Objects, lessons on, by Dr Mayo, 101, 116. Obstacles to national education, 185, Offspring to cherish, faculty for, 67. Opium, use of, by working classes, IG. Oratory in the classics, 52. Orleans, academy of, 207. Overeducating, notion of, 31. Overhours of labour, I7. Overtrading, 43. Parochial schools, Scotland, 30 ; overrat- ed, 31 ; teachers of, 31 ; localities conve- nient, 165. Party divisions, 33. Pastors, duty of, with the young, 144. Pedagogical ignorance and conceit, 186. Perce))tion, not a faculty, 6.5, 81. Pestalozzi's system, Ktl. Physical, education, 95; science at schools. Oil, 123. Physiology by Dr A. Combe, 6 ; taught to females, 132. Pillans, Professor, letters bv, loa Place, faculty for, 81.) ; att ichment to, fa- culty for, 67. Plan for national education, 1(33. Playground of Infant School, 215. Poetry in the classics, and modern, 52. Political, state, taught in schools, 124 ; eco- nomy taught in schools, 125. Politics, party, 33. Pompey's gladiators and beasts, 53. Poor-laws, eft'ect of, 25, 31, 184. Posterity, claims of, 186. Postulates for the faculties, 06. Pride, what, 7(i. Principles fixed, not attained, 33. Propensities, animal, what, 09. Prospectus of Chambers' Course, 24f». Prussians, Normal school system, I72. Qualifications of description of working classes, 31. Ranks, different, educated together, 2fi7. Reading, writing, cyphering, 29; misdi- rected, 29. Reasoning, what, 80. Hecord, daily of duties, 114, 237. Reflecting facidties, what, 78, 83. Reform, moral, necessary, 208. Reid, Dr, remedy for noxious fumes, 24 ; ventilation of buildings, 24; chemistry taught to the young by, 28; Laboratory of, in Edinburgh, 128. Religious education, jirovlslons for, ]3H; in infant schools, lii5, 138; feelings, what, 76; dissentions, .35. Remotene.ss of benefits, 186. Resolutions of Legislature, I7I. Restrictions of libuur, 182. Rewards in schools Improper, 103; none in the Infant schools, 108. 288 INDEX. Reviews, Edinburgh, Foreign Quarterly, Westminster, Quarterly, VJ& Richard I., his title from the lion, 147. Roebuck, Mr, motion in Parliament, 203. Romans, barbarous, 55. Rome, character of, 151, Rules for Infant School, 224. Russell, Lord John's committee, 204. Science taught to workmen, 131 ; to fe- males, 132. Scott, Sir Walter, appeal to on faculties, 65,81. Sectarian zeal an obstacle, 189. Sects, dominant in Britain disagree, IDl education for all, 107- Selfishness of society, ;i4. Self-love, faculty of, 7o. Seminants, a Prussian term, 163. Senses five and a sixth, 78. Servants, faults of, whence, 14; training of, 135. Sex, instinct of, 66. Sexes educated together, 166. Shakspeare appealed to on faculties, 65, 81. Sheridan's baseless friendships, 85. Size, faculty of, 80. Smattering of science, 129. Smith, Aciam, view of dead languages, 59. Social defects, 36. Societies, National, British and Foreign, 175, 193; Useful Knowledge, 21; Mo- ral and Economical, 180; extract re- port of, 256. Sound, faculty of, 80. Spelling, how to be taught, 118. Stewart, Professor Dugald's, confession, 61,88. Strikes by workmen, 20. Subsidiary education, what, 135. Supremacy of moral sentiments and intel- lect, 84 ; Combe on the, 84. Swiss patriotism, 148. Tabular view of the faculties, 82. Teachers, training of, 133, 167, 172 ; rais- ing the rank of, 133. Temperance societies, 8. Thackery, Mr, of Leeds, on working classes, 6, 9, 18. Theology, natural, taught in schools, 123. Time, wantof, to obey nature, 41 ; facultv of, 80. Tongues unknown, insanity of, 36. Trades unwholesome, 18. Trajan's gladiators and beasts, 55. Truth, 73. Tune or Sound, faculty of, 80. Ulterior education, 135. University, education, 135 ; London op- posed, 193. *' Uhwashed," the, what, 6. Useful Knowledge Society, 26. Vanity, what, 71. Veneration, faculty of, 73. Ventilation, neglect of, 6; of buildings, by Dr Reid, 24. Voluntary sujjport of schools, 159. Voelkers, Mr, school, Liverpool. 205. Wade's history of middle and working classes, 15 ; on factories, 15. War, passion for, 148 Washmg stations recommended, 19. Wealth, waste of, by higher classes, 41 : indiscriminate pursuit of, 42. " What," the, of education, 164. WiUlerspin, Mr, Infant Schools, 30; tri- bute to, 108. Wood, Mr, explanatory ..system, 30; his Sessional School , 2W). Wonder, faculty of, 75. World, moral government of, 88. Working-classes to learn science, 130 ; education of, free, 157; indifferent to education, 16(»; condition of, 6, 17, 19, 21, 26; address to, 256. Wyse, Mr, W. P., committee of, 204; au- thor examined before, H'H ; Speeches at Manchester, 261. THE END. PRINTED BY NEItL & CO., OLD FISHMARKET, EDI.N'BURGH. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. A University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which It was borrowed. i.'.BKAKY UNlVERSi I OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES LC75 .561 n IHJO L 009 599 447 1 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY i||||l|i III II III liliij I III 1 1 illil ll|l|| |lllll ||il|l||{ AA 001 281 437 2 ■^•{►^ ^s