LETTER XVI.

PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS- NATIONAL EDUCATION-WANT OF INFORMATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE —FEMALE EDUCATION.

HIGHER CLASSES

SEVILLE, OCT. 1809.

IT is a question which has been frequently agitated in England, whether a system of national education would be productive of beneficial or injurious consequences: many ingenious arguments have been advanced on both sides, and it is but lately, that a distinguished member of the House of Commons framed a plan for this purpose, which, though it displayed the benevolence of the proposer, was, after mature deliberation, found impracticable.

In Spain, however, such a plan has been adopted and carried into execution; so that there is no person born within the last thirty years, who has not been instructed in the first rudiments of knowledge. When the society of the Jesuits was abolished, and their property confiscated, Count Florida Blanca and Campomanes succeeded in obtaining the appropriation of part of the funds of that order to the purposes of parochial education, and schools were established in every part of Spain for the gratuitous education of the children of the poor. I have naturally wished to inquire how far their morals have been

benefited, or the enjoyments of the people secured by this institution. Those with whom I have conversed on the subject praised the benevolent designs of its authors, but at the same time they assured me, that no change had taken place in consequence of it; that neither the moral nor religious conduct of the people had undergone any alteration; that, generally, though the peasantry learnt to read in their youth, yet that they relinquished and lost the practice as they advanced in years, but this they attributed to the scarcity of books, and the still greater scarcity of such as afford entertainment, and to a distaste which all, who are not by profession compelled to it, naturally feel at reading lives of saints and didactic homilies.

It is not sufficient to teach the art of reading; to make it useful, more time is required than the peasants can bestow, and books are necessary, very different from any that are to be found in Spain, to induce them to retain the art when they have acquired it; besides, it may be doubted, whether the indulgences of labourers in those athletic exercises which form their chief amusements, be not more productive of health, spirits, and consequently happiness, than a course of reading such as they are likely to fall into. This is a subject, however, on which I would rather doubt than decide, because I cannot shut my eyes to the important fact, that the moral character of the Scotch peasantry, as much excels that of the Irish, as the habits of early industry in the former country, exceed the idle propensities among the youth of the latter; on the other hand it must be remarked, that mechanics and manufacturers in England, though generally better instructed, are less sober, prudent, and virtuous, than the agricultural

poor.

The education of the higher classes in Spain is intolerably bad, which, perhaps, is a greater evil than the deficiencies of the lower orders in other countries. I am informed, that among the nobility the instances of their being incapable of writing are far from uncommon; that to appear learned would by no means be considered a distinction; and that the whole care of keeping accounts, and even writing letters, devolves on their domestics. I have scarcely seen a book in any of their houses, and a library is so rare, that the man who possesses one is regarded almost as a phenomenon. The faculties of the higher orders are so blunted by early dissipation, that they want that acuteness which distinguishes their inferiors, by whom they are consequently despised.

The early period of life at which the young Spanish gentry are introduced into society, the time they usually spend in that society, the trifling subjects commonly discussed, and the great familiarity with which they are allowed to behave to their elders, all contribute to prevent their acquiring that knowledge which is so necessary to form the character of virtuous and intelligent men. The quiet solitude of domestic life seems unknown in Spain: the idea of a man, his wife, and family, spending a day, or even part of a day, without company, appears to them so unnatural, that they can scarcely believe it to be our practice. Their widely different system has, however, some recommendations. Young people enter life with a greater degree of confidence; in whatever society they are placed they feel perfectly easy, and acquire a fluency in conversation, and a style of manners, which gives them a species of currency through

life. These, so far as I can judge, are the advantages, the only advantages, of this system. In England, our youth are kept in the back ground till they have acquired more years, and accumulated a greater store of knowledge, and even then they neither mix so frequently, nor so indiscriminately in company as in Spain; they are less calculated to strike at first; they are more embarrassed in society, but they attain in retirement, and in the domestic circles of wellregulated families, a series of reflections and habits, and a course of conduct, which has hitherto elevated, and, I hope, will ever continue to elevate, the character of English gentlemen.

The university of Seville is almost solely appropriated to the education of the clergy: the course of study occupies five years, which are principally devoted to the acquirement of the Latin language, the knowledge of civil law, the philosophy of Aristotle, and scholastic divinity. Scarcely any improvement has been introduced within the last four hundred years; the philosophy of Bacon, Locke, and Newton, is utterly unknown to either professors or pupils. The war has considerably lessened the number of students, as a large portion has entered into the army. They do not reside within the university, but have private lodgings in different parts of the city.

The education of the females of the best families, is, if possible, still worse. They are early sent to a convent as pensioners, and under the care of some of the aged nuns are instructed in reading, writing, and needle-work, but especially in the outward forms of religion, They are usually kept in these houses of seclusion till they arrive at a proper age, and frequently till some matrimonial engagement

is

formed. From the retirement of a convent, with all its uniformity and dulness, they are suddenly introduced into circles of gaiety and dissipation, and it is not wonderful that from so violent a change, and from the example of the married females, with whom they associate, they become victims to the dissolute habits of their country.

Q