or from contemporary causes. Trained in this manner, they would become not merely proficients in history, but acquainted with the progress of mankind from barbarism to civilization; and they would have their knowledge so arranged in their minds, that it would be useful to them for all the purposes of conversation, oratory, and science, or for the conduct of their lives. Particular histories of the principal ancient and modern states should next be given in short portions; dwelling only on the great events, and omitting every small detail. Of course, the history of our own country, and of those kingdoms immediately connected with ours, will claim the largest share of attention. But in all these lessons on the rudiments of history, there is more danger of saying too much, than too little. The reason why young people remember so little of history is, in general, that they read too much of it, and that they have not a distinct idea of the state of the world at the time of the accounts, which they hear of separate parts of it. By joining biography and science in this new course will render them more interesting to pupils of different tastes. If the foundation be well laid, they may at any future time add to their knowledge of particular history, without confusing their general notion of the whole. After gaining some knowledge of the history of discoveries in the arts and sciences, the pupils may have their own inventions exercised; they may be told the necessary facts, and be led to a certain point, and thus excited to reinvent, what has been previously discovered: thus their minds will be kept in action, their faculties will be strengthened and quickened, and they will acquire, by education, what some people fancy is only the gift of nature, the power of invention. The emulation and interest, which would by these methods be excited, even on

the most difficult and abstruse subjects, would astonish those, who have been used only to the dull passive faces, with which children listen to pedagogues and public lecturers.

The elementary knowledge of arithmetic, given in the first class of schools, should be enlarged and applied to use in the next class; and from common arithmetic, masters should lead gradually to vulgar fractions, the only difficult part of the science: whoever clearly understands these, will easily pass on to decimal arithmetic; to the principles of algebra, and mathematics. These elements of all useful knowledge, and this general education of the memory, judgment, and imagination, should be common to boys of all professions; to this point they should all be educated in the same manner: but from this point let them diverge according to their several destinations in society. Let other schools be now ready to forward the young physician, lawyer, or country gentleman, in the pursuits necessary for their professions; and let those schools prepare them to hear, with advantage, public lectures on law, medicine, or divinity.

The advancement from one class of these schools to another, should not be left to accident, or to the choice of parents, or the will of masters, nor yet to the recommendations or favour of the gentlemen who have established, and who patronize the schools. Advancement should be the certain consequence of knowledge and merit. Public examinations, prize exercises, in which all possibility of assistance should be precluded, ought to precede and decide the election, and an honorary medal should be the ticket of admission into the

higher schools. If strict impartiality were maintained, a noble spirit of emulation might thus be excited; and the publicity of the examinations, and the adjudgment of the prizes, would, in fact, serve to register all the talents of the rising generation. Thus, without its dangers, the advantages of the Jesuits' system of education might in this respect be obtained. Youths known to have obtained prizes would in some degree establish a character for industry and abilities among their competitors, which would forward them in life in their several professions.

What the exercises and courses of study or employment in the different professions should be, need not here be pointed out; some of these will be suggested in the course of the following essays, or at least they may be readily deduced from the principles laid before the reader. It must not be concealed, that the present system of parliamentary interest and cabal must thwart, and in some degree palsy, every effort to give to real merit the precedence, which it deserves; but every firm and judicious mind will be convinced, that this wretched system must destroy itself. When a great statesman was obliged, upon a political change, to excuse himself to some of his followers, by saying, "My dear friend, we are three in a "bed already," who can fear, but that, after a few more party struggles, the game will be found not worth the expense attending it. The pressure of danger, of fiscal as well as military danger, will force these petty means and worn-out resources from the political system. Some great man will be created by circumstances, who can dare to spurn the sordid crew of political adventurers. Financiers and ordinary statesmen,

familiar with a certain set of causes and effects, which, in given circumstances, continue for a length of time to act uniformly, are apt to believe, that affairs will for ever proceed in the same regular course; and that there is nothing extraneous, by which this routine can possibly be deranged: they understand, perhaps, every nicety of the intricate mechanism of society, the foree and produce of which they can calculate with admirable precision; but they are not always aware, that even from the ready and rapid obedience of the vast machine to their will, even from the continuity and swiftness of its action, it is the more exposed to danger from extraneous violence and internal collision.

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CHAPTER II.

ON CLERICAL EDUCATION.

IN the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Bernard Gilpin, rector of Houghton, refused the bishopric of Carlisle. The following is an account of a visit paid to him by Lord Burleigh:

"The statesman began to unbend; and he could scarcely "avoid comparing with an envious eye the unquiet scenes of "vice and vanity, in which he was engaged, with the calm

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ness of this amiable retreat. ***** When he got to "Rainton Hill, which rises about a mile from Houghton, and "commands the vale, he turned his horse to take one more "view, and having kept his eye fixed upon it for some time, "his reverie broke out in this exclamation: There is the

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enjoyment of life indeed! who can blame that man for 'not accepting of a bishopric! What doth he want to "make him greater, or happier, or more useful?'”

It is a curious fact, that one of the greatest and most favoured statesmen that England ever produced, should, in the zenith of his power, have cast a longing, lingering look at a retired parsonage; that his mind should have paused in the career of ambition, to contemplate the happiness, and to admire the humble virtues, of a country clergyman. This picture, and all