circulation a plan prepared with great care and industry, with a view of elicitting the opinions, and obtaining suggestions upon the subject, from those who feel interested in the matter. A copy of the proposed rules may be obtained, on application to the secretary, by any member or friend of this association who has not already received one. A change has again taken place in the management of the society, by the retirement of Mr. Catterns from the office of treasurer, which he had held with considerable benefit to the association from its commencement. In accepting Mr. Catterns' resignation, the committee did not fail suitably to acknowledge those services which, in consequence of his other avocations, he could no longer continue. Mr. M'Leod has been appointed treasurer, and Mr. Watkins has also been appointed librarian. The unanimity with which these appointments were made is not a little encouraging; and the committee have a confident expectation that, from the services of these gentlemen, the association will derive great benefit and advantage; and hoping long to enjoy the services of their much respected president, of the value of which they become more and more sensible, they cannot but regard the future prospects of the association as highly promising and encouraging. The committee desire thankfully to acknowledge the confidence which has been reposed in them during the past year, and the support they have received from their fellow members in their endeavours to promote the efficiency and prosperity of the association; and earnestly entreat a continuance of the same for their successors. It now only remains to commend this and similar associations to the favourable consideration and the prayers of all those who desire that the children of our land may be educated in the right way, and brought up in the fear of God, and in love and charity with all men. With all due respect we submit, that every schoolmaster might be benefited, and be the means of benefiting others, by joining such associations; and that since "as is the master so is the school," school managers cannot more easily or more surely promote the efficiency of their school, than by affording facilities to its master for joining an association of this kind, and partaking of its advantages. We are far, very far, from thinking that we have attained unto perfection; we are striving after it. We are deeply sensible of the magnitude and importance of the great work in which we are engaged; and feeling the responsibility connected therewith, are humbled by our short-comings, and the consciousness of the feebleness and inadequacy of our best efforts and endeavours. But, judging from past experience, we are confident that we are in the right road to improvement; and therefore with all humility, but with all boldness, we say to every church schoolmaster, “Come thou with us, and we will do thee good." October, 1845. Statistics. EDUCATIONAL DESTITUTION IN THE PARISH OF ST. PANCRAS, LONDON. It is generally admitted that it is the duty of the church to make a provision for the religious education of the children of the poor, in some degree proportioned to their wants. It is only thus she can fulfil her obligations to them as baptized members of her communion; and it is only thus she has practically any security that they will be instructed in the doctrines and precepts of the christian faith. It is not likely that in a parish, where the machinery of the church has been shown to be so lamentably defective, this duty should be adequately discharged. The reality, however, is more sad than will be readily imagined. The following table, exhibiting at one view the schools connected with the different places of worship, is as accurate as I am able to make it. The figures however may not be entirely correct, and the result is so startling, that I shall be most thankful if my calculations can be proved to be materially wrong. Parish Church, National and Clothed Schools Kentish Town Chapel, Sunday School....................... Percy Chapel, Day and Sunday Schools Woburn Chapel, Boys, Girls, and Infants Total......... If we add to the above, 300 children in the workhouse, who receive daily and Sunday instruction, we make the totals Let us for a few moments carefully consider these results. Attending daily schools in connection with the established church, we have not quite 4,000, say however, 4,000, children of the poor. Attending Sunday schools 3,400. Of these last, the larger proportion are the same children as attend the day schools, and if we reckon 1,000 as exclusively Sunday scholars, we shall rather exceed than fall below the real number, so that the following is a favourable description of the state of Church of England education among the poor in the parish of St. Pancras. In a population of 140,000, we have Attending Day, or Day and Sunday Schools 4,000 And what a lamentable and unheard-of state of things this is. One thirty-fifth part of the population, boys, girls, and infants, all included, receiving daily education at our hands! That is, the same proportion as 20 would be out of a population of 700, or 10 out of a population of 350. For the other one hundred and fortieth part rescued from the streets on the sabbath-day we may be thankful, but it would only give 10 Sunday scholars out of a population of 1,400, or 5 out of a population of 700. Some persons who are fond of looking at an array of figures, and congratulating themselves on results, without comparing them with what they ought to be and might be, will perhaps tell us that the church is doing an admirable work in providing instruction for 5,000 poor children in a single parish. But what will such persons say when we assure them that a well-ordered population of 40,000 would send as many children to Church of England schools? What will such persons say, when we assure them that if the parish of St. Pancras were divided into parishes or districts of a manageable size, with proper church accommodation, and an adequate supply of clergy, we should soon have 14,000 children in our daily schools alone, and that, making due allowance for the number usually educated by dissenters* Now we have but 4,000, and who can tell us anything of the remaining 10,000 that we ought to have. What does the church know of them? If they are baptized, what has the church ascertained, what can she ascertain, of their acquaintance with their baptismal obligations and privileges, their nurture in the Lord, their present condition, or their future prospects? How can she act towards them a mother's part, shielding them from temptation and from sin, guiding them through the bleak wilderness of the world, and pointing them to abodes of glory where He reigns who said, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." Alas! our bowels are so straightened towards them that we do not suffer them, and if ever they reach that home of peace it will not be because we care for them, but only if others supply our lack of service towards those whom we cruelly and unnaturally leave without any care.t-From a Letter to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, on the present state of the Parish of St. Pancras. By the Rev. Henry Hughes, M.A., perpetual curate of All Saints, Gordon Square, St. Pancras. Entelligence. Vacant Exhibitions, &c., at Oxford.— An election of a scholar will take place in Oriel College, on Friday, November 7. Candidates must not have exceeded the age of 20 years on the 14th day of May last, nor, if members of the University, have been matriculated at that time more than eight terms. Certificates of Baptism, and testimonials of good conduct, to be presented to the provost of Oriel, on or before Monday, November 3. An election will take place in Pembroke College, on Friday, December 5 :— 1. Of two scholars on the foundation of Richard Wightwick, B. D. Candidates for the scholarships must be of the * I have not arrived at this conclusion without careful consideration, and an accurate comparison of a great variety of educational statistics furnished me by the kindness of my clerical friends from all parts of the kingdom. From these I gather, that, in a mixed commercial and manufacturing population like ours, one-tenth of the whole number ought to be under education in our daily schools. Many town parishes come near this proportion, and in some it is exceeded. Thus, in the parish of St. Pancras, Chichester, out of a population of 1,051 there are 210 children in daily schools. In the parish of All Saints, Northampton, 791 out of a population of 7,333. Archdeacon Hoare, in his excellent charge on "Parochial Statistics" delivered in the month of April, 1844, states it as his opinion, that where all primary impediments in point of church and school room have been removed, and where the best means are provided and put in operation, we may reckon that a proportion of children, amounting to one-sixth upon any entire numerical population, is attainable in our Sunday schools, and upwards of one-fifth in our daily schools." These large proportions apply only to comparatively small agricultural populations, but the archdeacon gives in a note the following statistics of some of the larger towns of his archdeaconry. Romsey, with a population of 5,347, has in daily schools nearly 400 children, in Sunday schools, 681. Fordingbridge with 3,078; 379 in daily, 327 in Sunday schools. Havant, with 2,101; 324 in daily, and 264 in Sunday schools. + So far back as 1812, Bishop Middleton, then Vicar of St. Pancras, after enumerating the schools then existing, says, "Of the remaining poor children of my parish, who amount to some thousands, I neither know nor can know anything; many of them I would hope attend the service of the dissenting congregations; but many more, I fear, have never been accustomed to attach any idea of sanctity to the seventh day, but pass it in idleness, if not in vice and profaneness."-Address to Parishioners, November 25, 1812. Alas; is this unfortunate parish never to cast off its reproach? name or kindred of the said Richard Wightwick. 2. Of three scholars on the foundation of Francis Wightwick, Esq., lately made, and consisting of four fellowships and three scholarships; the fellows will be elected from the scholars when they shall have taken the degree of B.A. In the election of such scholars a preference will be given to persons of the name or kindred of Richard Wightwick aforesaid, if any duly qualified can be found. 3. Of an exhibitioner on the foundation of Mr. Cutler Boulter. Candidates must in every case be under 19 years of age. Those who shall claim as being of the kindred or of the name of Richard Wightwick, must send in their pedigrees duly avouched, or satisfactory evidence that they are entitled to bear the name of Wightwick, together with certificates of birth and testimonials of good conduct, to the Master, on or before the 14th of November. Other candidates will send in certificates of birth and testimonials of good conduct to the Master, on or before the 28th of November. The examination will commence on Tuesday, the 2nd day of December, at 9 A.M. A fellowship on the original foundation of Brasenose College is now vacant, and will be filled up in the course of the present term. Natives of the ancient diocese of Lichfield (which comprised the present diocese of Lichfield, together with the county of Chester, the county of Warwick, except the deaneries of Kineton and Warwick, and the county of Lancaster south of the Ribble), being graduates of the University of Oxford under eight years' standing, are eligible; the electors having regard in their choice to the preference given by the statutes, in the first instance, to natives of Prescot and Prestbury, and in the second, to natives of the counties of Lancaster and Chester. Candidates are required to exhibit to the Principal on or before Saturday, the 8th of November, certificates of the locality of their birth, together with the usual college testimonials and the certificates of their matriculation. Proposed revival of the Diaconate. At a public meeting recently held at Bristol, for the purpose of forming a branch to the Scripture Readers' Association, the Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, in the course of his opening address, spoke as follows I may as well mention, that for many years I have been desirous that our Church should adopt what was its custom at an earlier period, that of having ministers of an inferior class and qualifications to the regular clergy. I could never see any reason why it should not be done; and now that there is a great spirit for the antiquities of our christian church, I hope that that particular one of them will not be forgotten. My own notion all along and always has been, that we should have a class of deacons, whose duties should be exactly and literally what those are which all deacons promise at their ordination to perform, namely, to search out the poor and ignorant, and to communicate their names to the priest, and in general to go more amongst the poor than it is possible for the priest to do in places of large population. That this may hereafter be done by ordained persons I greatly desire, but in the meantime let us see if we cannot at once partially supply the want. I do not wish to disguise the objections which have reached my ear. I am told, what every one indeed will see, that there is a danger that the persons thus employed, from having less cultivated minds and from having been brought up in other occupations, will be too much puffed up by being placed in the position of instructors of others; that they will seek for themselves admission into the ministry, or will leave the church and become dissenters. Let me say, that according to my notion, if such measures as we contemplate are extensively carried out, I trust dissent itself will be greatly diminished, and I do not think we shall have much to fear from persons now attached to our church leaving it and joining the ranks of dissent. The truth is, that until something of the kind be done, people will be carried away from the church to ministers somewhat more on their own level, and who will take the pains to inform them of those things which the clergy in many parishes find it impossible now to tell to every individual. The great object is to get the people to the church, and I have sufficient reliance on the education, the zeal, and the piety of our clergy, to be sure that when they have got them they will keep them. I am told, on the authority of an excellent clergyman of this place, that the plan has been tried in Bristol in one instance and has failed. Against that I would set the example of London, where it has been tried in a number of parishes, and where, I am informed, it has generally succeeded. Prince Albert's Prize at Eton.. The result of the examination for the prize of £50, given by his Royal Highness Prince Albert, to be disposed of by the Provost and Head Master, according to the judgment of competent examiners, for the promotion of the study of modern languages, was as follows: French-First prize (£10), Close; second prize (£5), Peel, son of Mr. Lawrence Peel. German, First prize (£10), Dugdale; second prize (£5), Parker. Italian. First prize (£10), Close; second prize (£5), Boileau, ma. The following were also selected as having particularly distinguished themselves-In French.-Foster, ma., Byng, Barton, and Boileau, ma. In German, -Barton, Byng, Calton, and Wheatley. In Italian.-Stratton, Barton, and Bradshaw, K.S. Close having been first prizeman in French and Italian, was also presented with the remaining (£5). The number of candidates in French (examiner, M. Auguste Enot) was 19; in German (examiner, the Rev. Mr. Daube); 9; and in Italian (examiner, Signor Pistucci), 7. Prince Albert's prize was founded by his Royal Highness in 1841. City of London School.-At a Court of Common Council, held September 24th, Mr. W. S. Hale, the Chairman of the City of London School Committee, brought up a report which gave very great satisfaction. The following is a brief account of its contents. The report, in the first place, alluded in terms of high praise and grateful acknowledgment to the act of liberality on the part of Mr. Henry Benjamin Hanbury Beaufoy, of South Lambeth, F.R.S., in vesting the sum of £1,717 stock in the hands of certain trustees for the purpose of establishing and supporting for ever a scholarship of the value of £50 a year for the benefit of pupils of the school, who should proceed to the University of Cambridge; and stated, that the first election to the scholarship was decided, at the recent examination, in favour of Henry Judge Hose, who had been a pupil of the school from its commencement in 1837, and had distinguished himself. It next alluded to the announcement made by Mr. Hobler, the son of the late able and excellent chief clerk at the Mansion-house, intimating Mr. Beaufoy's intention to establish a second scholarship, with the same object and of the same value as the first, so that there might be an election to one of the scholarships every two, instead of every four years. It stated, that it was the donor's wish, that the dividends which would accrue prior to the election of the second scholar, amounting to £100, should, together with a further sum of 50 guineas, which he proposed offering, to be applied to defray the expense of procuring lectures, to be given at the school for the next four years, and to the bestowment of prizes upon the pupils. In furtherance of these intentions the report stated, Mr. Beaufoy had since caused a second investment to be made of £1,717 stock in the Three per Cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities; and a deed of declaration of trusts having been prepared, the committee recommended the adoption of it by the Court, and that the city's seal should be accordingly affixed thereto. The report concluded by suggesting, that there should be adopted some mode of suitably expressing the acknowledgments of the Court for such liberality, which would not only interest the present generation, but engage the feelings and sympathies of posterity; with which view the committee proposed, that application should be made to Mr. Beaufoy, in the name of the corporation, requesting that he would allow either a portrait or a bust of him to be executed at their expense, to be placed in some part of the City of London School. Mr. Hale, after a few observations upon the rapid progress of the City of London School, which had already had its reputation confirmed by twelve exhibitions at the university, proposed that the report be agreed to. Mr. Taylor could not help expressing his joy at the consequences of the admirable management of the school by the corporation, and stated that such benefactions were of the highest importance as an encouragement to the trustees and the masters, as well as to the scholars of the establishment. Mr. Ashurst joined most cordially in the expression of grateful feeling towards Mr. Beaufoy, and declared that he participated in the hopes and expectations formed of the advantages arising from the education of the people. |