large and influential body of the clergy; and, after some discussion, a petition was resolved upon, and numerously signed. It was the general feeling of the meeting that the bill as it now stands might be adopted by the clergy without any sacrifice of principle, and that it was expedient, in consequence of the determined opposition made to the educational clauses by various parties, to assure the Government of their support. Ripon Diocesan Board of Education.At the third half-yearly meeting of the Ripon Diocesan Board of Education, a report of the proceedings of the Board since its establishment having been read by the Rev. W. Sinclair, one of the secretaries, it was resolved,-"That the Leeds Church of England Commercial School be taken into union as the Ripon Diocesan Commercial or Middle School at Leeds." "That the Knaresborough Endowed School be likewise taken into union." The Lord Bishop having alluded to the importance of securing the services of organizing masters for the purpose of modelling and regulating the schools in connexion with the Diocesan Board, it was resolved-" That a sum not exceeding 801. be granted for the purpose of engaging one or more organizing masters, as may be found necessary," "That the clergy be invited to communicate with the organizing master appointed by the Board, with a view to obtain such assistance in modelling and regulating their schools in conformity with the rules laid down by the National Society for this purpose as may be required by the incumbent or managers." The Venerable Archdeacon Headlam having announced the resignation in June next of the Rev. Robert Meek, as one of the general secretaries, and also as local secretary for the Richmond district;-it was moved by the Ven. the Archdeacon, and seconded by William Rutson, esq., "That the cordial thanks of this meeting be offered to the Rev. Robert Meek for the valuable services he has rendered while acting in the above capacities." "That the Rev. Chas. Dodgson be requested to accept the office of one of the general secretaries, and also that of secretary for the Richmond district, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. Robert Meek." Oxford Diocesan Board.-The organization has been rendered more complete by the formation of a Local Board at Henley, under the presidency of the Rev. F. K. Leighton, Rural Dean; the result of which has been a material increase of subscribers from that district and the Local Board will now proceed to inquire into the state of education in the deanery, and to invite the clergy to place their schools in union. Training School at Oxford.-At the commencement of 1842, twenty pupils were receiving instruction at Summertown, of which number fifteen belonged to the diocese of Oxford, and five to the archdeanery of Bucks. During the last year, ten have been admitted, who will be at the disposal of the Board for its own purposes. Six young men have had situations found them by the Committee. Two, after a residence of two years and a quarter, and one, after a residence of a year, were recommended to the charge of schools. A fourth, who had been two years and a half in the school, is engaged as usher in the Diocesan Commercial School at Cowley. Two others, whose course of studies was incomplete, have, with the sanction of the Committee, been placed in charge of schools. This is upon the whole a larger number than the Committee can expect to send forth in every year; but it may certainly be considered a good augury for the future, that in what is really the first year in which visible results could fairly be looked for, the Training School should have been able to supply so large a number of masters. The number of pupils at this time receiving instruction is 23; and the Committee represent that, under the careful management of the Principal, the Institution appears to be fully answering the purposes for which it was established. Bath and Wells Diocesan Board.-At a quarterly meeting held at Wells, the Diocesan inspector stated to the Board the general results of the inspection of Church of England schools during the last two years. Reports were presented from 310 parishes, containing a total return of 26,221 children receiving instruction. Particular accounts had been obtained of the state of education in each school from personal inquiry on the spot, for which purpose the diocesan inspector had paid 150 visits of inspection, and the district inspectors 228. The total amount of annual endowments ascertained is £692 16s. 6d., and of annual donations and subscriptions, exclusive of 36 schools supported wholly by the parochial clergy, £3,500 16s. 4d. The number of new school-rooms and premises in contemplation is 47. These statements refer to about two-thirds of the diocese, and it is hoped that an accurate account of the whole diocese will be obtained for the next spring meeting of the Board, when the period of three years, originally allowed for the completion of the work will have expired. For the further improve ment of schools, a grant was voted in part payment of an organizing master for the service of the diocese. Charter House.-Mr. Edwin Palmer, of this School, and now scholar of Balliol College, who was a few days since elected to the Hertford Scholarship, has also obtained the scholarship founded by Dean Ireland. Harrow School.-Gregory and Sayer Scholarships.-The first three candidates stood as follows:-1, Hon. Percy Smythe; 2, Ripley; 3, Grant. There were 19 other candidates. Mr. Smith was elected Neeld Scholar at Christmas last. The first of the above scholarships (value 1007. a year for three years) was founded by Mr. R. Gregory; the second (50 guineas for four years), by Mr. J. Sayer, and the scholar becomes a member of Caius College, Cambridge. Collegiate Institution, Liverpool.-The subscriptions already amount to 23,000l., and it is expected 8,000l. more will be obtained in 51. subscriptions throughout England, to be called the M'Neile Testimonial for the endowment of scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge, and for nominations for the different schools. Christ's Hospital.-On Easter Sunday, the boys educated in this ancient foundation, had their public supper, according to custom, in the great hall of the building. The sight was one of peculiar interest, and certainly such as cannot be matched in any institution in this country, and probably in no part of Europe. Shortly before seven o'clock His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Glocester, entered the hall. They were received by the committee of the governors, the head-master Dr. Rice, and other authorities of the hospital. There were also present, the Lord Mayor, the Duke of Cleveland, the Marchioness of Downshire, and many other persons of rank and influence. The galleries were crowded. The company having taken their places, the boys sung the 100th Psalm, after which the form of prayer, written by Compton, Bishop of London, was read, and also the lessons of the day from the Bible. Grace was then said, and the boys sat down to supper at the tables arranged along the hall. At the conclusion grace was said, the hymn for Easter sung, and the anthem, written by one of the Grecians (Jones), and composed by Mr. Glenn, the organist, was chanted. At the conclusion of the anthem the boys paraded round the room, bowing to the company, and then took their departure. By half-past eight o'clock the hall was cleared and the whole ceremony terminated. subjects. The list of subscriptions amounted to £700. Amongst them were, from the Queen, £105; Queen Dowager, £10; Captain Schaw, R.N., £20; Admiral Mangan, £10; Mr. Wyndham, £12, 12s.; Mr. Doxat, £50; Mr. J. Curteis, £12, 12s.; Mr. Canfield, £12, 12s.; East India Company, £105; Lord Romney, £50; Trinity House, £105. Royal Infirmary for Children.-At the 27th anniversary festival of this charity, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge in the chair; it was stated that the institution had, since its foundation in 1816, conferred the benefits it afforded upon upwards of 160,000 children. The average number admitted was about 500 per month, although it had no funded or other property whatever, being dependent for its existence entirely upon voluntary yearly subscriptions. All that was possible was done with the little fund intrusted to the committee, but even that little could not be continued beyond the present year without assistance from the public. We regret to state that the amount of subscripLions was not at all commensurate with the utility of the charity. Bequest to the Welch Charity School, &c.-A lady, named Phillips, who died lately at Boulogne, has bequeathed the sum of £45,000, in equal shares, to the four following charities:-St. George's Hospital, the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, the Blind Asylum, and the Welch Charity School, in Gray's Inn Road. The latter maintains, clothes, and educates, 200 children, born of Welch parents, having no parochial settlement in London. Fruits of Industry.-The senior wrangler of the present year at Cambridge is the son of a farmer. He received his education at a village school, and was afterwards placed under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Martin, at Exeter. Eventually he entered St. John's College as a sizar, and by strict attention to the duties imposed on him passed a college career of unusual brilliancy. Confirmation at Malta.-On Tuesday, January 31, the Bishop held a public confirmation in the chapel of the Governor's palace, when 270 persons were confirmed. Of these a considerable part were officers and seamen belonging to the men-ofwar on the station. It was very gratifying to see the number of adults, who embraced the opportunity of receiving the sacred rite. Among them were two commanders and three lieutenants of the Royal Navy, and several non-commissioned officers of the garrison. Bishop confirmed the whole of the candidates separately, using the prayer singly in each case, and the service altogether was very impressive. The chapel was much too small to contain all who wished to attend, and was quite crowded during the ceremony. APPOINTMENTS. The At a special chapter held at Carlisle, the Rev. H. Gough, A M., second master of St. Bees, was appointed by the dean and chapter of Carlisle to the mastership of the Grammar School at Carlisle, in the room of the Rev. W. Rees, resigned. Rev. R. Hancock, late first master of the Middle Department of Kingston College, Hull, to the head mastership of the Diocesan School, Bristol. Rev. Henry Milward, vicar of Paulton, Somerset, to be inspector of schools within the Chewton district of the deanery of Frome. DEATHS Rev. T. Gibbs, formerly second master of the Grammar School, Ashbourn, aged 56. Rev. Richard Lewis, master of the Grammar School, chaplain to the Honiton Union, and curate of Monkton, Devon, aged 72. The Rev. Mr. Richards, for many years master of the endowed School at Newport, Isle of Wight, aged 67. Rev. A. Wharton, forty years master of the Grammar School, Yoresbridge, Yorkshire. At Kendal, the Rev. J. Sampson, in the 78th year of his age, head master of the free school in Kendal, nearly 40 years. At Knightwick, Worcestershire, in the 87th year of her age, Mrs. Jane Pugh, for more than 50 years the village school mistress. MEANS OF EXCITING DILIGENCE IN STUDY. Stimulos dedit æmula virtus ; Nec quenquam jam ferre potest Cæsarve priorem Ar a period when so just and general an aversion prevails to coercive treatment, as connected with education, it is pleasing to reflect, that while relinquishing the coarse, and frequently inefficient measures adopted by our ancestors, we are so far from being without an adequate substitute, as many persons feared, that several of our modern means of securing mental exertion, greatly exceed in influence the rigid corporeal discipline formerly in use. The chief distinction between the old and the new school would seem to be, that the supporters of the former acted on the fears, those of the latter on the hopes of their pupils: they on the selfish and personal, we on the more generous and elevated principles of our nature; and these incentives, instead of proving inoperative, as was confidently predicted by the advocates of severity, have been found to excite fully as much diligence, (and from a far superior motive), as all the austerities of the "ancien régime." Instances have occurred within the author's experience, wherein these mental stimuli have over-acted, and it has been necessary to restrain the inclination to study from regard to the physical welfare of the pupil; an inclination originating in, and confirmed by, inducements exclusively addressed to the intellect and the heart. A few of the most effective of these will form the subject of the present paper. The most obvious and operative of these motives are unquestionably the desire of approbation and the dread of disgrace. Hence arises a strong argument for maintaining the character of the tutor, and the consequent respect of the pupil, at a high standard; for as praise is only valuable in proportion to the esteem which we entertain for the party who confers it, this motive will lose much of its efficiency, if not the whole, when the preceptor is lightly esteemed. Parents who are anxious for the progress of their children, might greatly promote the desired object, by inculcating a proper deference for those who are intrusted with the weighty responsibility of their education. From a deficiency of this principle (one of the most constant and salutary in its operation that can actuate a youth), will, from time to time, arise the necessity of employing others of a less liberal and elevated character; and again, as during a greater part of the year, the master, more especially in boarding-schools, is the source from whence praise or censure flows, nothing can be more important than impartiality in their distribution; for each will certainly lose its proper value, as a means of exciting diligence, if supposed to be awarded by caprice or momentary impulse. A master should therefore be guarded and discriminate, even in his applause, knowing how soon boys will cease to aspire to that which is considered easy of attainment. Praise," says an eminent writer, "if employed on every trivial occasion, will soon lose its influence by its familiarity; and if too lavishly bestowed, even where some VOL. I, NO. 6. JUNE, 1843. Q portion is justly due, no higher degree will remain for extraordinary emergencies." Half-yearly, or other periodical testimonials for the inspection of friends during the vacations, will be found to aid greatly in securing assiduity throughout the other parts of the year. These may be greatly simplified, and the trouble of the master much abridged, by a printed form, with blanks to be filled up in accordance with circumstances. Another powerful incentive to study, which, either from a misapprehension of its nature and effects, or doubts of its moral tendency, it has lately become fashionable to decry, is emulation. Upon the current misconception of this term, a few observations may not be considered a digression, when it is remembered that its prevalence is calculated to deprive instructors of one of their most useful instruments of moral and intellectual training. Many good and conscientious people object to this means of arousing the slumbering faculties of youth, considering themselves to be admonished against it, in the scriptural enumeration of vicious motives, under the head of "emulations, wrath, strife," &c.; but surely the term will admit of, and even requires, a very different interpretation, when taken in connection with other parts of Scripture; for, in numerous passages, favourable allusion is made to circumstances which of necessity imply competition, as in reference to the Grecian games, "striving for the mastery," and again warning us, "lest any take our crown. So that, for the most part, we seem to be justified in taking the original word nλos in its wide and general signification, as Schleusner defines it, "ardens et intensum studium tam in bonam quam in malam partem;" equally susceptible of a good as of a bad acceptation. Indeed, without competition there can be no superiority, and therefore no praise; yet praise is held up as a legitimate object of desire, "if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things." In some passages, this noble and generous rivalry seems to be indirectly enjoined; and the caution is doubtless meant to apply only to dishonest or sinister methods of acquiring superiority, and to prevent this passion from degenerating into envy nay, the very principles of our common nature, whether in the young or the old, suggest the use of emulation as a motive to exertion. The opinion of Quintilian (no slight authority in educational matters), is very express on this point. "Give me a boy," says he, whom praise fires and shame rebukes," and then proceeds to show the important benefits which a desire in youth to surpass others, is commonly found to produce. The writer of the present article feels convinced, from many years' experience in tuition, that without some such inducement, the exertions of the young would speedily languish, and if a substitute were not provided, would eventually cease. The great object is to keep the mind free from envy and jealousy, and from every feeling that might prompt to the use of indirect means of attaining the end proposed. Emulation and envy appear to hold the same relation to each other, as good sense and cunning; of which the former is a most estimable quality, the latter a despicable vice; the one to be carefully cultivated, the other to be rigorously repressed. |