How many a weary month's gone by, This breast hath heav'd, since thou wast nigh, Cease, cruel mem'ry! cease a while, For well couldst thou, with blameless art, Thy converse, innocently free, Could bid the gloom of sorrow flee; Ah! oft I feel the loss of thee, A Comparative View of the Two new Systems of Education for the Infant Poor, in a Charge, delivered to the Clergy of the Officially of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, at Berwick upon Tweed, on Tuesday, April 23, and at Durham, on Thursday, May 12, 1811. By the Rev. R. G. Bouyer, LL.B. Prebendary of Durham and Official. Svo. pp. 18. London. Rivingtons. 1811. HERE is hardly a subject upon which the present generation of Englishmen appear to have more need of being enlightened, than on that of religious toleration. By some, the very idea of toleration in religious matters is held up to reproach, being represented as implying a thing which is inconsistent with the claims of humanity; while, by others, less ignorant and erroneous, and therefore less popular, in their sentiments, the notion of religious toleration is permitted to enjoy so wide a latitude, that nothing is practically saved free from its embrace. We shall not, on the present occasion, set about to vindicate the great and golden principles that stand opposed to those to which we refer, and which latter, upon every occasion, we owe it to our country, and to mankind, to mark with our warmest hostility; but we shall proceed to what is more immediately demanded of us, the review of a tract, which could never have been either published or composed, but for the distempered state of the public mind, upon this momentous subject of religious toleration. It sufficiently appears, in the title which is placed at the head of this article, that it is the purpose of the work before us to offer a comparative view of the two new systems of education for the infant poor,' namely, the system of the Reverend Dr. Bell, and the system of Mr. Joseph Lancaster. In the extracts which we shall think it right to bring before our readers, in this and the succeeding article, the history and respective merits of these systems will be so fully detailed, that we forbear to prefix any observation of our own, except that it is to the tendency of each, either to the preservation or the overthrow of the established church of this kingdom, that the reverend author, in a manner equally gentle and perspicuous, calls the attention of his hearers. A grateful and deserved dedication to the Lord Bishop of Durham is prefaced by the following sentences, well adapted for an introduction to the subject of discourse : • The The warning, which I thought it my duty to give to the Clergy, in that part of your Lordship's Diocese, which I am appointed to visit as Official, regards an object equally interesting to the whole kingdom. That warning is the result of practical experiments on the plan which originated within the pale of our national Church, and of an anxious and watchful survey of those variations, the avowed design of which was to accommodate it to the promiscuous use of all those denominations of Christians, which, in points of doctrine, differ as widely from each other, as from the Established Church. 'Whether these generalizing arrangements can be safely adopted by the friends and supporters of that Establishment is the point at issue between the respective favourers of the two systems: and equally deserves the serious consideration of that numerous and respectable class of our Dis senting Brethren, who, agreeing with us in the fundamental articles of the Christian Faith, confine their objections to the mode of our Church Government, or to the forms of our public worship.'-p. vi. Mr. Bouyer then enters upon his Charge, reviewing, in the first place, with the greatest candour, the motive by which men, often very unequal to the task, are led to interfere with the affairs and institutions of society, and next adverting to the existing state of this country, at a moment when a new system of education is attempted to be established in it: Some practical subjects are of such universal importance to the welfare of human society, that every feeling heart is deeply interested in them; and it is, perhaps, more owing to the solicitude excited by this Jaudable sentiment, than to the natural vanity and presumption of the mind of man, that so many persons assume a right to interfere in such concerns without the capacity, the leisure, or the information necessary for the due management of them. 'Hence it comes that men of every degree in the scale of mental ability, and whether furnished or unfurnished with the helps of learning and experience, decide with the utmost confidence on the merit of any plan for the melioration of society, and in case of competition, embrace and promote one system, and reject and oppose the other, with all the perti nacity and violence of party spirit. This propensity, temperately indulged, may not do much harm, and may eventually be productive of some good, when it exercises itself in speculations and animadversions on those public concerns, which, having been well settled and provided for by the collective wisdom of the state for ages past, may bid defiance to the idle dreams of innovating projec tors, to the evil designs of pretended reformers, and to the ephemeral fluctuations of public opinion. But when an object of great magnitude and importance has been ill-provided for, grievously mismanaged, or culpably neglected; the moment when the perception of such defect becomes universal is the moment of danger, from the errors of ignorant and the visions of superficial observers, from the schemes of the crafty, and and the precipitancy too frequently incident to the best-disposed members of the community, in their eagerness for amendment. 'It cannot fail to strike you, that the moment thus described is the present time, and the object alluded to, the business of Education, and most particularly that of the lower orders of our infant fellow-subjects. To this topic I invited your attention on the last similar occasion of our meeting in this place. But the glance we then gave it was very disproportionate to the importance and extent of a subject most intimately connected with the duties of our pastoral care, and forming, indeed, not only a very principal, but evidently the most hopeful, branch of it, Besides this, the interval of two years, since elapsed, has abounded with interesting occurrences, and displayed various enterprizes, which afford us new lights and encouragements on one hand, and new incitements to caution and circumspection on the other.'—p. 5. After insisting on the acknowledged want of education, and particularly of a religious education, among the poor, Mr. B. proceeds to a view of the remedy which offers itself in the system for which we are indebted to Dr. Bell, of the date, origin, and principal features of which he briefly puts us into possession: This evident progress of degeneracy now spreads universal alarm, and the necessity of a remedy becomes daily more apparent, and more urgent. Such a remedy, when found, must owe its general efficacy to the sanction and support of the Legislature: but laws, prematurely determined, might not only fail of correcting the evils complained of, but even have a tendency to increase some of them, unless judicious experiments of the plans suggested, shall precede the enactment, and unless sundry trials, made in different parts of the kingdom, shall show the necessity, and indicate the means of adapting the measures to particular situations; or, perhaps, rather of vesting a large discretionary power in the hands of persons, whose residence and employments give them a competent knowledge of local peculiarities and exigencies. In a general view, however, no method has been proposed, which promises so much efficacy in spreading and diffusing religious knowledge, as that which a most respectable presbyter of our Church described to the public, on his return from a distant region, in a narrative of the great success with which his first essay was attended, during a most active and persevering practice of many years. Having thus put the public in possession of his excellent system, the reverend founder of it modestly retired to his parochial duties, hoping and expecting, that the simplicity of the plan, and the very beneficial effects, which the practice of it had produced abroad, would not fail to excite men of public spirit, power and influence, to set on foot trials of its expediency in this enlightened and liberal country. But in that expectation he was mistaken. The Madras system was read, talked of with wonder and praise; but the relation of it was soon laid aside, and almost forgotten. The men of the world had all of them something else to do. From this general apathy, however, two or three individuals must must be excepted; and one of them had the merit of first putting the plan in practice in England, and of exhibiting its powerful operation in a suburb of the metropolis; on which account, and for the additions which he made to it, he claimed the title of inventor, and soon collected a very great number of children of both sexes, who received most important benefit from his instruction. But objections having arisen from the circumstance of his being a professed Dissenter, and from dis approbation of some of the additions which he had made to the original system, Dr. Bell was at last prevailed upon to quit his retirement, and to organize some large schools in strict conformity to his own tried plan; and from that time forward, he has practically displayed its advantages, and with indefatigable zeal, and unbounded generosity, he has devoted his time, his labour, and his fortune to this most important object. The fundamental principle of the system rests on this discovery, that any school may be so disposed, by a proper classification, and by the introduction of a strict discipline, creating and maintaining regular gradations of authority, from the master down to the most illiterate child; that the whole instruction shall be conveyed by the more advanced to the more ignorant, by which means the number that may be admitted, and accurately taught, under the sole direction of one atten tive master, need have no other limit than the dimensions of the building, which you can appropriate or erect for that purpose; and several hundred scholars will give the judicious master no more trouble than, in the old methods, he would have found in a school of thirty or forty. The scholars will learn with far greater accuracy, they will much more cer tainly retain what they have learnt, and the rapidity of their progress will be such, that not one quarter of the usual time need be spent in their education. It is not my intention to expatiate on all the advantages, which result from this practice, when judiciously adopted, and steadily persevered in, because they could not be contained within my necessary limits. For a detail of these, I must refer you to the publications of the reverend founder, and the enlargements and explanations of Sir Thomas Bernard, and other promoters and patrons of the institution. I shall now confine myself to such points, as are more immediately connected with our professional pursuits, considering it as my duty to put you upon your guard against some errors in these proceedings, when certain methods are adopted, which, if they became general, could not fail of producing consequences very injurious to the cause of religion in general, and of our Church Establishment in particular. "The knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic affords great advan tages for the secular purposes of human society; but, considered abstractedly, and in themselves, they have no necessary connection with religion, and, of course, cannot be considered as means of remedying the depravity complained of. Like all other acquired or improved faculties of man, these arts may be turned to beneficial, indifferent, or pernicious uses. If, therefore, the schoolmaster's province was merely to teach them without any application to religion, they would form no concern of ours, as Ministers of the Gospel; and be as unfit a subject of my address. to |
