ART. XVII. Remarks on the Rev. Dr. Vincent's Defence of Public Education: With an Attempt to state fairly The Question, Whether the Religious Instruction and Moral Conduct of the Rising Generation are sufficiently provided for, and effectually secured, in our Schools and Universities: Together with the Sentiments of several late Writers, and others, on this important Subject. By a Layman. 8vo. 2S. Hatchard.

SINCE

INCE an advocate, who takes a personal interest in the cause for which he pleads, may reasonably be expected to intermix his own feelings with the question, as well as to state it in the most favorable manner; it becomes those who are the umpires to beware, lest, by sympathizing with the defendant, they espouse and patronize his very faults and imperfections; and before they pass sentence, they ought to weigh, with care and impartiality, the arguments which may be adduced on the opposite side. The candid, serious, and respectful manner, in which the author of these Remarks ventures to offer his objections, intitles him to this indulgence:

Awed (he says) by the superior fame of him, on whose work I am about to comment; and aware of my own inability to do justice to my subject, I have long waited in the vain hope of seeing the task undertaken by some abler hand; and similar motives induce me still to withhold my name. Should my observations be weakened by my insignificance, in the same proportion, in which bis have derived force and effect from his station and character; the plainest truths must sink under such accumulated disadvantages.

But though I fight in a mask, I will endeavour to fight fairly, nor have I any inducement to do otherwise. A stranger alike to Dr. Vincent and his opponents; if I respect them for their talents, I honour him for his long and unremitted exertions, in a most laborious and arduous office. And though my plan will compel me to state objections to several passages in his tract, I hope no one will suppose me insensible to its beauties; or capable of perusing without admiration the pious praise of that able champion of our faith, Mr. Jones of Nayland; the eloquent and grateful testimony of the talents and admonitions of the venerable Metropolitan of York; or other passages no less worthy of their author.-But I must quit this pleasant path for one beset with thorns and briers.'

He then proceeds to point out the personal reflections which Dr. Vincent has made in various passages of his defence. The Doctor's vindication of the use of Pagan authors is next canvassed with much ability; and though the Layman is as unwilling as Dr. V. to exclude those excellent models, to substitute Prudentius for Virgil, or Gregory Nazianzen for Homer, yet he justly remarks that Pagan authors contain many objec-. tionable parts in a moral and religious point of view; and he judiciously adds, "Maxima debetur pueris reverentia."

The

The valuable hints, which this author has suggested on the above subject, are well worth the attention of all superintend ants of schools. We would on no account exclude the beau tiful models of Greece and Rome; to which, we are persuaded, the moderns are indebted for whatever they possess of classical taste, as well as for the critical knowlege of the force and meaning of various passages in the sacred Scriptures, to which they have attained: but how far an index expurgatorius might be employed with success, in pointing out to the editors of school-editions of the classics certain passages for omission, deserves much deliberation.

In our review of Dr. Vincent's defence, we mentioned but slightly the unguarded expressions and the warmth of temper which he betrayed; and we shall allow the reader of the present pamphlet to form a judgment for himself, from the full and able discussion which they have here undergone. single extract will be sufficient to shew whether there be any force in these strictures, and whether they be written with discrimination:

But let us now advert to what is in fact the pith and marrow of the Work-I mean Dr. Vincent's defence of himself, and of that School over which he so ably presides.

Of himself he says, "I am too old for reformation;" « I cannot now change my method, my habits, or my opinions;" "I acknowlege no delinquency or neglect."

Perhaps this might as well have been omitted; perhaps a differ ent declaration would have better become the servant of a Master, who was meek and lowly in heart, and who exhorts his disciples to learn of him.

Dr. Vincent admits, that Neglect, Vice, and Evils of various sorts, exist in his School.--Can none of these be avoided? Can none of them be diminished? Surely, while such exist, a resolute resistance to all reformation cannot be justified. Surely, at the close of the scene, to have remedied one evil, or checked one vice, will produce more comfort and conscious satisfaction, than any defence of Public Education.'

Leaving Dr. Vincent, the author now examines the question, whether or not a sufficient provision be made for the religious instruction of youth in our public schools.-By quotations from several eminent writers on the subject, and by observations of his own, which evince much good sense and judgment, he determines this inquiry in the negative.

From the consideration of schools, he next proceeds to remark on the religious discipline of the Universities; and there, also, he discovers material defects in the little regard which is paid to religious education; although he admits that outward forms of religion are not neglected in those seats of learning.

On Cambridge he is particularly severe. We shall leave? it to some able member of that learned body, to convince the world of the erroneous statement of this author:

Should we inquire whether the religious instruction afforded at School is continued at College, and the deficiencies of the former supplied by the latter; we shall too often receive a most painful answer. In this (as in most respects) Colleges vary; but in some, and those not the smallest or least noted, I fear it will be found, that from the day the Students enter, to that on which they quit the University, they are not required, or even recommended, to read a single book, either on the doctrines, or the duties of Christianity. Its evidences are perhaps laid before them; but having proved its truth, instead of explaining its tenets, and enforcing its precepts, shewing its nature, its importance, and its proper application as the rule of life; the Teachers suffer it to remain unknown; while the whole time of the young men is engrossed by the unauthorized assertions of the Morslist, the visionary speculations of the Metaphysician, and the barren demonstrations of Mathematics. If at Cambridge a Student were to burn his Bible, and banish from his mind every idea of Religion, he would not be thereby impeded in the public examinations, or obstructed in taking his Degree: subscription to the articles might formerly have staggered him, but Dr. Paley has taken care to obviate all such objections. Does not this disease call aloud for a remedy, and is it not high time that the study of Christianity should have some attention paid to it, and that a certain proficiency in it should be required, in order to the attainment of Academical honours?"

Our readers will probably be convinced, by the manly spirit and temper in which this pamphlet is written, that the author is far from being prompted by animosity against an individual, or by party zeal, in what he has stated. Whether the defects which he has indicated, either in Dr. Vincent's Defence or in the regulations of our Schools and Universities, really exist or not, it is not to be doubted that this writer believes them to be as he has stated them; and that he has no other object in pointing them out, than that of guarding the public against the spirit of a Controversialist in the one case, and of suggesting to them, in the other, the expediency of some better provision to defend and maintain the Citadel of our faith.

We have not heard who this Layman is, nor whether that denomination be real or assumed; but no Minister of our Church can display more zeal in its support, nor manifest himself a more orthodox believer. Several of his assertions are open to controversy, and some of his expressions obnoxious to censure: but we are not disposed to become parties in this dispute, nor to wander from the direct question in our report of it..

Other pamphlets on this subject will be found in the succeeding page.

MONTHLY

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

For AUGUST, 1802.

EDUCATION.

Art. 18. Hints for a Plan of General National Education, and a Legislative Revision of the present System, &c. By David Morrice, 8vo. IS. Rivingtons.

AN establishment of the kind here recommended is, in Mr. Morrice's opinion, a great desideratum in this country; and he wishes the legislature to institute an inquiry into the defects of our public schools.

REVEALED RELIGION, (he says) the grand principle and basis of all right education, being not only too little interwoven into the system of our schools and academies, but, what is of far greater importance, into that of our HIGHER SEATS of learning, also, which in reality draw their chief sources of instruction from Pagan writers, and from the records of republican Rome.'

Mr. M. then proceeds to consider the sort of education necessary to the three several classes of the Sons of the Nobility and Gentry, the Middling Classes, and the Poor, and how the defects and errors in the present system may be best remedied.'

On each of these heads he offers several remarks, and some which we much approve; although we cannot agree with him in wishing to have our schools put on the Spartan plan; and to have a Greek or Latin version of Thomson's Seasons, or Pope's Messiah, substituted for what he calls the republican models of Greece and Rome.

Art. 19. An attempted Reply to the Master of Westminster School*; or, Reflections suggested by his Defence of Public Education. By David Morrice. 8vo. Is. Symonds.

This reply, if it may be so called, consists rather in assertions of the author respecting the defects of public education in general, than of any direct attack on the learned author of the Defence of Westminster School: but it contains some observations which are wellfounded, and deserve attention. Mr. Morrice seems to have had more particularly in view the state of Academies in this country; and in defence of them Dr. Vincent has not undertaken to wield

the pen.

Art. 20.

The Family Budget, or Game of Knowlege. A Box, and a small Volume. Sold by Ridgway, &c.

Budget, which we have always understood to signify a Bag, is here applied to a Box; which is divided into seven compartments, the centre being called the Pool, and the six which surround it being in. scribed Arithmetic, Grammar, History, Mythology, Vegetables, Music. Cards containing Questions and Answers relative to these subjects are dealt out, and the Game is played like that of Pope Joan.

Mrs. Partridge, the widow of an officer who fell in the West Indies, is the inventor of this Game; and her design is to smooth

See p. 424. of this Review..

the

the path of wisdom by blending amusement with instruction, and to fix on the memory, by a kind of recreation, the lessons which are usually received from the preceptor. If the cards be judiciously composed, which is the case with the present set, the play recommended with them may be of use in families and schools.With the box is given a small volume called an Appendix, containing Directions for playing the Game, and the Lessons which some of the Card Pieces require the holder to repeat, or to forfeit.

New sets of cards are also prepared, by which this game, intended as a tablet of memory, may be prosecuted to any extent. These are furnished in numbers by the author's bookseller.

POLITICS.

Art. 21. Considerations on the Debt on the Civil List. By the Right Hon. George Rose, M. P. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Hatchard. 1802. These considerations present a clear view of a subject on which much misconception has prevailed. Mr. Rose gives a history of the Civil List, by which it is shewn that his Majesty made a bad bargain at his accession; and he particularly explains the items exhibited in the account submitted to Parliament. The Debt of the Civil List, from 1786 to 1802, lately discharged by a vote of the House of Commons, was 1,283,000l. On the statement of particulars designed to shew how this debt arose, Mr. Rose makes such remarks as, we think, ought to be submitted to the reader:

This, on the first view, appears to be a very large sum, by which the estimate, made in 1786, of the Civil List expences, was exceeded in sixteen years, equal to about 80,000l. per annum; but it will be seen, by looking at the statement of the expence in each year, laid before the Committee, and printed at the end of this Pamphlet, that the exceedings were inconsiderable during the first seven years while we were at peace; they increased afterwards largely, under heads (with the exception of tradesmens' bills) connected principally with the War, or with the internal state of the country. It is not necessary to enumerate the particulars again: it will be sufficient to remind our readers, that they arose chiefly in the Department of the Secretaries of State; messengers' bills, from expences incurred by Ministers at Foreign Courts (except the augmentation of their salaries), including presents to Foreign Ministers here on signing Conventions, &c.; and from the charge incurred for Law Proceedings and Police Establishments. These, with the Tradesmens' Bills, above alluded to, will account for nearly the whole excess; and when the increased price of almost every article included in these bills is adverted to, it must be a matter of considerable surprize, that the exceedings were not much greater, for the reason already suggested in the observation on that head.

If any one has imagined, that the debt incurred on the Civil List has arisen, in the remotest possible degree, from any expences of his Majesty, that could have been avoided, he will see how entirely he has been mistaken; and that, instead of a want of due attention to conomy, it is manifest, that his Majesty's personal arrangement, and strict injunctions to his servants, could alone have kept down the exRIV. AUG. 1802.

Ff

pences