made, the chances of some differences breaking out on a closer intimacy, of some peculiarity in his demeanor, rendering him unpopular in the parish, or of his not being sufficiently humble and obedient to continue to act in subordination to his Rector, whom he may far surpass in ability and learning, are of course considerable. Lastly, supposing none of these obstacles to occur, but the views of the curate to be as accordant, his temper as obliging, his activity and perseverance as unwearied, as can be desired, then comes preferment. Such a termination is generally contemplated from the first, after a limited period; but should this not be the case, in proportion to the zeal and excellence of the curate grows the certainty of his being called to a higher sphere of duty.

And now, contrast with this the case of a young man, once the inmate of the parsonage, now a Deacon, returning to officiate as curate in his native place. His early character has been moulded by his present superior according to his own sentiments; he is endeared to the parishioners by the ties of birth and by their knowledge of his religious deportment from youth upwards; his reverence for his patron has become a matured habit; he has no desire to exchange his old home for another where he will be less appreciated, nor has he any connexions through whom promotion will naturally descend upon him. What a satisfaction would it be to our clergyman to look forward to having the labours of such an assistant permanently united to his own; to be able to delegate to him the direction of the school, to which (with perhaps little aptitude for teaching), he is now obliged to devote so much of his own time; to form with him schemes of enduring usefulness to be carried on in concert together to their lives' end!

To such of the clergy as have not yet taken part in the vigorous effort lately made to improve Church Education, who perhaps think it superfluous, and that it may well be left to the State, which seems only too willing to engross it, or who, having at no little personal sacrifice set on foot a National School, think that they have done everythingto them I would respectfully address a few words in conclusion.

......

The clergyman's care for the education of his parishioners, is no optional or newly imposed task; rather it is one of very primitive and universal obligation. The 5th Canon of the Council of Constantinople is as follows:- Presbyteri per vicos et villas scholas habeant. Et si quis fidelium suos parvulos ad discendas litteras commendare vult, eos non renuant suscipere. Nihil autem ab eis pretium exigant excepto quod eis parentes eorum, charitatis studio, suâ voluntate obtulerint. It appears further from a Canon of the Council of Vaison in 529, that Presbyters were directed to bring up young persons in their own houses, and prepare them for the Clerical State, by teaching them the Psalter, the reading of the Scriptures, and other good rules of discipline; and the same rule obtained in the Diocese of Orange.* Lastly, to bring the matter home to ourselves, in 990, the substance of the ancient Canon of Constantinople,† expressly containing the words,

*Thomass. de Vet. Eccl. Discip. p. 2, 1. 1, c. 88, § 10, and c. 96, § 4.

+ Wilkins's Concilia, Vol. I, p. 270. See also Canon Selwyn on Cathedral Reform, Part II, p. 114.

"Presbyteri semper debent IN DOMIBUS SUIS Scholas habere," became incorporated with our own ecclesiastical laws.

It may be said, indeed, that while duties remain the same, the mode of fulfilling them varies with the times; and that, at the present day, by actively promoting and superintending a National School, the clergyman best discharges this primitive obligation. Let this be fully granted; still, are there not frequent cases in which, from want of funds or other obstacles, he is precluded from doing so? The erection of the Parochial School may be beyond his power; the domestic tutelage can hardly be otherwise than within it. And even where a school has been successfully established, does it not often go to his heart to see (in Bishop Selwyn's words*), " many of the most hopeful of his scholars fall away in consequence of passing into the service of careless and profane masters." How shall he better spare his feelings this pang, and establish between himself and his little ones (parvulos), that peculiarly domestic and parental relation which the Canon seems to enjoin, than by adopting, from time to time, the suggestions I have ventured to throw out?

Believe me to be, my dear Sir, faithfully yours,

S. F. W.

FACTORY BILL.

GOVERNMENT EDUCATIONAL SCHEME.

MY DEAR SIR,-The Factory Bill has engaged my most anxious attention since my conversation with you; but I have been unable, for several reasons, to fulfil my promise of writing you on the subject before this day; and as it is so near the end of the month, if I am not already too late, I must confine myself to a few general remarks, without entering into the details of the Bill.

The debate, if it be not more fitly called the conversation, which took place in the House of Commons last night, will have drawn attention to to some of the practical details of the Bill; by which, in fact, its real character must be chiefly decided.

Into these I do not propose now to enter, but venture to commend them to the careful consideration of your readers, and of those especially who are themselves patient and persevering labourers in the field, over which the operation of the Bill is to extend. Those faithful servants of their Master, who “mid the din of towns and cities," well nigh sink under "the heavy and the weary weight of all this unintelligible world," who struggle single handed with a mass of sin and misery, suffered to grow up, to the shame of this Christian country, with no commensurate efforts for its removal, are well aware that the government cannot leave things as they are. If they give the authors of the measure credit for honest intentions, and are satisfied that there

* See the whole of his remarks, ubi supra, p. 59.

is no surrender of principle to worldly expediency, they will gladly pass on from the discussion of abstract points, to consider how the Bill will work in its details; and they will especially watch the bearing of small alterations which have been, or may be hereafter suggested, with a view, on the one hand, to make the measure really effect its proposed object, or, on the other, to change its character altogether.

Being, as I am, pressed for time, I must content myself with sending you a few notes of the impressions under which I approached the consideration of this Bill, and of the extent to which they seem modified by a consideration of its details.

It may be assumed in any plan of public education, that if the object be to train up Englishmen in loyalty to the Crown and attachment to the institutions of the country, the agency of the Church must be called into play, so far as possible.

That, the object of education being to raise men above the degrading influences around them, to call out and strengthen the spirit in its warfare with the world and the flesh, and in so doing to mature the faculties which God has given them, the action of the Church should be, as far as possible, spontaneous; it should have freedom of action from within ; and only be controlled from without just so far as may be necessary to restrain abuse and guard against neglect.

That such freedom is not compatible with any arrangement which may enable the government of the day, representing as that must to a great extent the preponderance of worldly influence, to exercise a sensible and immediate interference in the details of public education, either as to the subjects taught or the manner of teaching.

That in a system of education worthy to be supported and encouraged by the state, religion should be so blended with all the elements of knowledge as to sanctify and give unity of purpose to the whole.

That for this purpose religion should be so taught as to be living and practical, and therefore, not as a set of dogmas detached from their natural connexion with other things; seeing that it is most undesirable in a school to draw attention to controverted points, or to the ground on which the authority of the teacher rests.

Consequently, there should be in the schools of the Church no broad line drawn between what is secular and what is religious-still less any question of what is general and what is special in religion. Secular knowledge should at all times be made to illustrate religious teaching, while religion should throughout sanctify general knowledge and direct mental discipline. Duties and principles of action should be seen to rest on revealed doctrines, while doctrines are seen to be living and real as their application is gradually unfolded.

On looking at the Bill I could not but observe three things, with considerable apprehension as to their probable effect on the working of the measure before us, and still more with reference to the precedent which they might tend to establish.

1. The influence of the Committee of Council.

2. As a consequence, the separation between what is secular and what is religious, more or less involved in the separate jurisdiction

assigned to the Committee of Council on the one hand, and to the Bishop and Clerical Trustee on the other.

3. The fact that two different classes of children in the same school are to receive religious instruction under different conditions.

Now, in the first place, it must be borne in mind, that we are no longer free to say what the Church would do, if it could (on this head there is much more to be said than I can now even allude to). The State has practically taken the matter in hand, so far as relates to the factory districts, and the present government is composed of men who care far more to rest upon what they do, than upon the abstract principles they put forth in speeches, and in schemes which they do not expect to carry. Something will be done, and looking to the events of last autumn, the motto is, "What is done 'twere well it were done quickly.” It is, therefore, not easy to resist the following conclusions :

That the Church, with her present imperfect organization, cannot supply, unaided, the required education in the factory districts, within such a period of time as those who are responsible for the public tranquillity are entitled to insist upon.

That if the State comes in with more than ordinary aid, it has a claim to see that its funds are duly applied to the special emergency. We are therefore not in a position to remonstrate against the continued existence of the Committee of Council; we must rather endeavour to have its functions so far defined as to secure the Church against all interference in matters of religion, and all unnecessary control in other matters.

That however undesirable it may be to frame a system to teach two classes of children in the same school on different religious bases, no other plan can be suggested under present circumstances, to meet this particular case, which would not involve principles more dangerous to Church and State, that is, provided the following be made clear: that there be no recognition of rival systems of religion; that the religious teaching of the Church be complete, as regards all who do not object to receive it; that the general teaching given to the whole school be such as not to shake the foundations of what is more full and complete, (this, I think, will be attained, if due security is given for the appointment of a competent master, and for his removal in case he turn out incompetent); that while no human formulary is imposed, as of authority, on those who object, the master be free to teach the meaning of Holy Scripture, and not merely tied to the reading of the words.

How far these points are secured by the Bill, is another matter; its principles are, to a great extent, involved in its details, and therefore the effect of the clauses should be carefully weighed. The case is one of special and limited application, and must be dealt with accordingly ; for the same reason, it must be held to furnish no precedent for dissimilar cases.

If, after careful examination, your readers are satisfied, that the proposed enactments will surrender no fundamental principle, and with some little alteration in detail, are likely to be the means of reclaiming from practical heathenism a mass of destitute children, they will not be restrained by any timid alarms as to future dangers, or by any distrust

of the Church's power to meet new circumstances, from accepting a plan which is undoubtedly the fruit of honest intentions, and the result of a careful consideration of a complicated and difficult case. I must apologize for writing to you in so much haste.

I am, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

T. D. A.

London, March 25, 1843.

A NATIONAL SCHOOL FOR 300 BOYS IN ONE ROOM.

PROPOSED ARRANGEMENT.

It must not be inferred from the above title that we are advocates for large schools, even in the case of boys; for girls they are, we had almost said, intolerable. In either case we should prefer such a limited number as would allow the master or mistress an opportunity of studying the character and circumstances of every child, and now and then of having a quiet talk with them one by one. It has often been a subject of doubt with us whether, among all the wonderful sights and extraordinary achievements in some of our most famous schools in London and other fine places, there is not a great want somewhere of education. We have even caught ourselves at times imagining, that there is some good after all in a quiet sensible old dame provoking her dull charge to emulate their grandmothers: "Ah! your father's mother, when she was as big as you, Betsy, used n't to sit playing with her fingers so; she could read the hardest chapter in the Bible, and had worked that beautiful sampler-you know what I mean-before your age. I've heard her mother tell, that she never knew her say a bad word in her life." Certainly we should regard it as great gain, if every child in a parochial school was quite sure that his master knew him, and felt a living interest in him, personally and individually. Still we are glad to acknowledge there are many and great advantages in a large school, and, whether or not, large schools we must and shall have. And such being the case, let us endeavour to make the master as well acquainted as circumstances will allow with each and every child under his care. Let the lowest class see him, and be seen by him, if they are not often to have the honour of being taught by him. Do not let him be shut up nearly all the day in a separate room with the highest class, cramming them against a coming examination, or some other show-day, while the rest are left to the mercy of underlings, whether monitors or pupilteachers. Here again, let us not be misunderstood: the master ought to bestow most time upon the first class, and no school approximating to a large one is perfect without a class-room. We say, however, a class-room, to be used for special purposes, and on extraordinary occasions. We have no sympathy with the notion that seems to be gaining ground in some quarters, that it would be desirable, if practicable, to have a separate room for each class, and that, with a view to such