are splendid monuments of the attention paid by our ancestors to the important object of training and enlightening the youthful mind. The provision made for the support of these establishments, especially in England and Ireland, is, generally speaking, munificent; and at the same time it is not sufficient to afford a temptation to the indulgence of idleness, by the conversion of responsible offices into sinecures. The dignity hence accruing to their teachers and professors, invests them with high authority, and imparts additional weight to their instructions; while the respect in which they are habitually held by long established prescription, gives a powerful sanction to the system of their discipline. In Scotland the case is somewhat different, but the result is perhaps little less favourable to general improvement. The professors who lecture in the universities of that kingdom, depend for the principal part of their emoluments upon the fees which they receive from pupils, whose attendance upon their instructions is in many instances optional. Their gains being, therefore, in proportion to their reputation, this circumstance is a strong stimulus to exertion, and bids fair to ensure to the superior Scottish seminaries of education, a succession of learned and scientific preceptors. The constitution and utility of the Scottish parish schools, have been ably and feelingly described by that excellent writer and amiable man, the late Dr. Currie; and though the claim of the supporters of Dr. Bell, to denominate his mode of educating the lower orders of the community a "national system," may be disputed, there is every reason to hope that his labours, and those of the indefatigable Lancaster, will, in the lapse of a short time, place the elements of knowledge within the reach of the humblest individual in the British Isles.

Various and extensive, however, as our public establishments for education may be, with the exception of the individuals who dedicate themselves to the ministry in our national churches, and, perhaps, also of those who devote themselves to the study of the law, it may be affirmed of the great mass

of our community, that in the momentous article of the education of his offspring, every one is permitted to follow the dictates of his own discretion.

From this circumstance has arisen a question, which, though discussed in successive generations from the time of Quintilian, down to the present day, has, by reason of the freedom of our views and of our habits, been no where more frequently and more earnestly argued than in our native country-namely, which is preferable-a public or a private Education. This question certainly involves matter of high importance, and is well deserving of serious consideration.

On entering upon the investigation of this problem, however, it may be expedient to remark, that the Roman rhetorician, whose opinions on this subject have been so frequently quoted, does not by any means treat upon it in the abstract. The general scope of his immortal work, is to detail the process by which a Roman youth might attain to excellence in that accomplishment, which in his time, was the means of attaining the highest civic honours, viz. the eloquence of the forum, and of the senate. It would indeed be a species of laborious trifling, to treat this as an abstract inquiry. Its decision in each case must in a great degree depend upon the particular circumstances of the individual interested in that decision. Is it not, for instance, most clearly the height of absurdity to think of committing a youth, feeble in body or in mind, to the discipline of our public schools? The system necessarily adopted in those seminaries does not admit of those relaxations and indulgences, and of that minuteness of attention, which are requisite to mitigate the effects of corporeal or mental infirmity. In so rude a climate, a sickly plant will speedily wither and die. What an affecting picture does the biographer of Cowper delineate, of the subject of his memoir just emerging from an infancy of peculiar delicacy, and sent to encounter, without protection, the contentions and buffetings of a public seminary of education. "The little Cowper was sent to his first school in the year of his mo

ther's death, and how ill suited the scene was to his peculiar character, must be evident to all who have heard him describe his sensations in that season of life, which is often very erroneously extolled as the happiest period of human existence. He has frequently been heard to lament the persecution he sustained in his childish years, from the cruelty of his school-fellows, in the two scenes of his education. His own forcible expression represented him at Westminster as not daring to raise his eye above the shoe-buckle of the elder boys, who were too apt to tyrannize over his gentle spirit. The acuteness of his feelings in his childhood, rendered those important years, (which might have produced, under tender cultivation, a series of lively enjoyments) miserable years of increasing timidity and depression, which, in the most cheerful hours of his advanced life, he could hardly describe to an intimate friend, without shuddering at the recollection of his early wretchedness."

True it is, that at Westminster school, Cowper acquired a considerable store of learning, and imbibed the principles of that just taste, which characterizes all his writings. But at what a price were these accomplishments purchased? What was the effect of the process to which he was there obliged to submit, upon the happiness of his future existence? His health was impaired. His spirits were broken. He withdrew from the active scenes of society into a comparatively useless retirement-and he finally became a prey to that morbid sensibility, which, for the long and dreary space of thirteen years, rendered his life a blank in the records of intellectual existence.

They, who are narrowly limited in the means of supporting and establishing their families, must be regarded as hazarding a perilous experiment, when they educate their sons at public schools. There, habits of expense are almost necessarily contracted-habits, which in the heirs to title and wealth, may not be inconsistent or unjustifiable, but which are fatal to the future welfare of those who are less fortunately circumstanced. Here let it be observed, that the moral certainty thus super

induced, of a youth's acquiring views and propensities which will be the sure and copious source of anxiety and distress in coming years, is, in the estimation of discreet judgment, by no means compensated by the prospect with which some parents flatter themselves, that in public seminaries their children may form connexions which will ultimately promote their worldly interests. This principle of action is in itself contemptible. It directly tends to the excitement and the fostering of meanness and hypocrisy-it may produce a parasite and a sycophant, but it will never produce a man of honour and a gentleman-and, notwithstanding some rare and splendid exceptions may be quoted to excite the eagerness of the ambitious, the views upon which it is founded will generally end in disappointment and mortification.

Nor is it advisable for those, who, however wealthy they may be, wish to bring up their sons to conduct the details of trade and commerce, to send them to our superior public schools. From the undeviating system of instruction which is there adopted, they will learn perhaps every thing except what will be useful to them in their future destination. Surrounded by companions who are born to what they are led to regard as higher aims and expectations, they will become ashamed of their origin, and discontented with their prospects. Thus will they be induced to rebel against natural authority, and in process of time they will obstinately and wilfully thwart the views, and counteract the wishes of their parents, who, however they may lament the failure of their plans, will have their own folly alone to blame for their unfortunate issue.

Numerous as may be the individuals contained in the classes which are pointed out in the foregoing exceptions, there remains in the ranks of Society an abundant sufficiency of recruits to maintain the numbers of those whose early Education ought, in prudence and discretion, to be conducted at our public schools. The imperious dictate of general opinion has decided, that persons, designed for public life,

ought to go through the process of a public Education. Hence it is expected that the sons of our nobility and or our principal gentry-that they who have a reasonable prospect of obtaining seats in parliament-or of filling the higher, and even the secondary offices of state-that they who are destined to the bar and the church; and in some cases, to the practice of medicine, should qualify themselves for their respective stations by submitting to the discipline of our public seminaries of Education. And this expectation is far from being supported merely by the prejudices of prevailing fashion. It is founded on the nature of things, and the constitution of society, and is therefore reasonable and proper. Generally speaking, it is not indeed absolutely necessary that a particular individual should enter into public life. But if such be his destination or his fortune, it is certainly expedient, and much to be wished, that he should enter upon his station provided with that furniture of mind, and endued with those accomplishments, which will best enable him to discharge its duties with utility to the community at large, and with credit to himself. This happy result may be justly calculated upon, as likely to ensue from the discipline of public Education. In our extensive and well endowed public seminaries, a system of equality prevails among the pupils, which admirably tends to abate the presumption, without controling the spirit of aristocracy, and to enure youth to that patience in suffering, and that manliness of exertion, which are the best preparatives for the scenes of active life. The nature and habits of the society too, which is assembled in these seminaries, produce those easy and unembarrassed manners, which afford an unspeakable advantage in the transaction of business. In the various stages which occur, if the expression may be allowed, in the route of public Education, ingenuous youths proceed by just degrees, and without any violence of transition, to the object of their hopes and wishes. Thus are they enabled without effort, to adapt themselves to