to a renewal of strength and virtue, in the succession of honest and industrious youth. To occupy life with satisfaction,-to improve the morals, and increase the happiness, of the circle around us, to strengthen the bonds, and insure the peace, of society,-and to draw gratitude and blessings from a virtuous and thriving neighbourhood, these are not pleasures of an ordinary cast, or of inferior consideration. These enjoyments, however, and more than these, may be attained by those individuals, who may be induced to follow the examples which have been detailed in the Reports, and to form themselves into societies for the protection and improvement of the poor. Great indeed would be the benefit of such associations, for the assistance of middle age, for the relief and consolation of declining years, and for that object, the importance of which cannot be too strongly or too frequently stated, the education of youth in steady habits of industry and integrity, and in the genuine principles of christianity. Of EDUCATION it may be truly said, that it is the only earthly blessing, capable of being uni * Observations on Report, No. LXIV. F versally diffused and enjoyed, with an exemption from all inconvenient consequences. I speak of that genuine and well directed education, which is calculated to fit persons to act a strenuous and useful part, in their allotted station in life;-of that education, which teaches and demonstrates the advantages of early and steady habits of attention and industry, and forms in the heart, stable and permanent principles of conduct. It is this, and this only, which supplying the mind with competent funds of human knowledge, and with just conceptions of man's probationary state in this world, drawn from the sources of revelation, doth thereby preserve it from the danger and taint of infidelity; that never confidently attempts, and very rarely succeeds in debasing and corrupting the heart of man, unless where it has been left vacant and unoccupied, for the evil spirit to fix his abode in, In the present state of Ireland, and (to take a wider and more awful scope) amid the tremendous convulsions which have for some time agitated Europe, let us reflect how much of the evil is to be attributed to an improvident neg bect in the education of the poor; a neglect, which has left them a defenceless prey to the sophistry and delusion of the teachers of infidelity, and of the disseminators of sedition. Ignorant, unprincipled, incapable of giving a reason for their faith, or of explaining the benefits of civil order and society, to what miseries have not the poor, in many parts of Europe, been exposed? How have they been taught, by sad and calamitous experience, that without the sanctions of revealed religion, and the restrictions of civil polity, man is, of all animals, the most savage and noxious? and that reason, which is his boast and pride, (and justly so when properly directed) becomes in a perverted state, the potent instrument of evil; and enables him to surpass the ferocious beast, and the venemous animal, in the magnitude and extent of the calamities, too often inflicted on his fellow creatures. Every attainment of man carries in it the principle of decay and corruption; with exception only of that instruction and institution, which prepares him for the performance of duty here, and for the enjoyment of happiness hereafter. Of manufactures, of commerce, of both individual and national prosperity, nay, even of science itself, the extended and abun dant increase tends to complete the fatal circle; and, by decay, convulsion, anarchy, and misery, to produce a new and renovated order of things. In an advanced state of society, where the meridian is attained or passed, nothing can prevent or even protract the evil day, except the revivifying influence of education, operating to correct the vices which flow from affluence and prosperity. To England, in its present state, these considerations are of peculiar importance. While increasing streams of wealth pour into this country from every part of the globe, it be hoves us, if we would guard against the pernicious effects of corrupt and luxurious habits, anxiously to attend to the education of the children of the poor. Without that care, we we may read our history, in that of the many rich and prosperous empires, which have preceded us. On the contrary, while the religious education of the great mass of the people is duly and successfully attended to, and they are prepared in their turn to reap and enjoy the benefits of active industry and useful economy, we need never (to repeat the words of a former report) "despair of our country; but may "look with confidence to a renewal of strength "and virtue, in the succession of honest and "industrious youth." In a subsequent part of this volume, we shall offer examples of different institutions for the instruction and improvement of youth. Of day schools, the first in order of communication upon our Reports, is that of the REV. MR. GILPIN, at BOLDRE,* for twenty boys and twenty girls; of which, though instruction is the chief object, industry is blended with it. After a judicious and liberal support of these schools during his life, the excellent founder has constituted a permanent endowment for them, by appropriating to their support, the produce of his drawings, and of some other of his works. The next in the Reports + offers the example of an extensive and noble range of religious and moral discipline, in the MENDIP SCHOOLS; extending over twelve parishes, dispersed through a district of country of about twenty-five miles in diameter, and founded and supported by the active and unremitting zeal of MISS HANNAH MORE, and her sister. -The KENDAL SCHOOLS, established by DR. † Ibid, No. LXIV · *Reports, No. XXXV. |