pointed is from twelve to one, which is the time allowed to journeymen for their dinner, and yet many choose to attend the school in preference. The Marquis Tempi has founded at Florence a school in which artizans receive instruction in geometry, mechanics, and dynamics, from Dupin's courses.

The Abate Lambruschini, whom we have repeatedly mentioned as a most zealous promoter of popular education in Tuscany, established, in 1830, a holiday-school at Figline in the Val d'Arno, in which linear drawing, perspective, and the elements of geometry and mechanics are taught, besides reading and writing. After witnessing for two years the good effects of this institution, Lambruschini, seeing that its continuance was endangered for want of support, addressed, in 1832, the following considerations to the wealthier classes of the country :—

'It is now the business of those proprietors who derive from this province either the whole or part of their income, to decide whether it is their interest or not that the labourers whom they must employ on their estates should be men well acquainted with their profession, and in some degree cultivated in their minds and sober and regular in their habits, instead of having them idle and spending the holidays, as many do at present, in the wine-shops with cards in their hands and the glass before them, or listening in the market-place to the trash of quacks and impostors. It is for all honest men in every province of Tuscany, to pronounce the sentence of life or death upon an institution, which if crowned with success will lead to the establishment of similar institutions in all parts of the country; but which, if unsuccessful for want of support, will tend to convince the indolent, the faint-hearted, and the prejudiced, that all our prospects of bettering the condition of society are mere vanity and delusion.'

We are glad to hear that the school of Figline has been maintained, and that similar schools have been opened in other places in Tuscany. Nor is Lambruschini blinded by enthusiasm to the many and great difficulties that attend the subject of popular education. He has candidly stated them in an eloquent memoir, which he read to the Academy of the Georgofili, in December, 1831, with some extracts from which we shall conclude this article :—

'Those who are averse to popular education may be divided into two different classes; some are fanatical and prejudiced men, who hate instruction for its own sake, and who would restore the happy times in which kings themselves could not write, and were obliged to affix their signature by means of a stamp. But these are few, they cannot hurt us, and they deserve no answer. There is, however, another and a much more numerous class of men, neither malignant nor frantic, who have no bad feeling towards the people,

but who fear because they miscalculate the consequences of general instruction, and fear it not only for their own security, but for the happiness of the people themselves. They think that the lower. classes will become arrogant, restless, dissatisfied with their condition, will acquire tastes and aspirations inconsistent with their means, and will at last throw society into confusion and cause much misery to others, without in the end benefiting themselves. This class of adversaries must not be treated as fools or as enemies; they ought to be reasoned with, as friends with whom we differ in argument; remove their fears, and they will join us in the blessed work. We must examine their objections, and perhaps in so doing we may find something to alter, something to improve in our own views and system...... One great deficiency in all that has been done for popular instruction has struck me repeatedly. We have formed primary schools, we have simplified the methods of teaching, we have induced as many children as we could to receive elementary instruction. All this is right. But suppose the whole rising generation fully able to read and to understand what they read, what books shall we put into their hands? We must confess, there is hardly a book as yet in Italy written really for the people. Bad books we have plenty of; silly books are likewise in abundance; we have also, it is true, numerous works of science, poetry, refined learning, or of elegant literature, but these are not the works fit for or useful to the children of the poor. Let us turn our attention to produce good elementary works; let our learned men not disdain to write for the humblest classes of readers; let us invite, let us encourage them to do this, otherwise all our primary schools will be either useless or dangerous. We lavish hundreds and thousands of sequins on a singer, dancer, or a fiddler, and we grudge a small remuneration to the author of a good elementary book. Let people find in the practice of reading, in which we take so much pains to instruct them, a guidance for their conduct, food for their mind, a means to improve their condition, a comfort in their privations, otherwise it were better for them if they had never learnt to read. In fine, let us bring forth good books suited to the wants and capacity of the people, or let us shut up at once our elementary schools. Again, is it enough for the people that they should read and write? Is not the immense majority of the children of men obliged by a natural necessity to earn their subsistence by the sweat of their brow? They may read good books in their moments of leisure and they may relish them, but they must work, their trade or occupation must be the essential object of their particular study. The instruction we give them ought therefore to be mainly directed to this object. Our schools ought to be also schools of industry. Sciences have now fortunately become practical; there is not a profession or handicraft that cannot derive infinite assistance either from chemistry or mathematics, mechanics or physics. To instruct them how to avail themselves of this assistance would be rendering a real benefit to the people, a benefit of which they would soon feel the practical results. Lastly, we ought, while we cultivate the mind, not to

.....

neglect the heart of our youthful pupils. But this is unfortunately the part least attended to in all systems of education. It is on the qualities of the heart that individual satisfaction and domestic happiness mainly depend. The method of mutual instruction, wisely directed as it is in our Florence school, night greatly assist this moral training. A school might be made the model of a wellordained society, administered by impartial laws, rewarding merit, encouraging the slow, repressing the intemperate, equitable and benevolent towards all. But perhaps some other principle is wanting for this purpose besides mere philanthropy; perhaps religion is required to complete the work of the total regeneration of the people. Religion, it is true, has been often disfigured by the passions of man, and has been the cause of much misery; but the shadows of error vanish away, and religion remains still the true friend of mankind, the comforter of the poor, the link between the various classes of society, the hope and comfort of all. It is perhaps reserved for religion well understood to effect the perfection of a system of popular instruction, which may prove at the same time a system of moral education. There is perhaps still a greater task reserved for it, namely, to find means that the people shall never be without a supply of work sufficient to procure them sustenance and decent comfort. This joined to moral education, and to intellectual and mechanical instruction, would be the real completion of the regeneration of mankind.'

Lambruschini's sentiments appear strikingly in unison with those expressed by Cousin in his Report on Prussian Education, which we noticed in No. XV. of this Journal; and they seem to be on the whole true and practical. His concluding remark on finding means for preventing the people ever being without work, and for securing them a comfortable support, are foreign to the subject which he is treating, and tend to diminish the practical value of his proposed plans by mixing with them considerations that belong to a branch of public economy.

GIRARD COLLEGE FOR ORPHANS*.

THE late Mr. Girard, a banker of Philadelphia, recently bequeathed the residue of his real and personal estate to the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Philadelphia, in trust, to build and support a college for poor male white orphan children. This residue appears to be very large, as the testator directs the trustees, in the first instance, to apply and expend the sum of two millions of dollars, part of the said residue,

* A Constitution and Plan of Education for Girard College for Orphans, with an Introductory Report laid before the Board of Trustees, by Francis Lieber, Philadelphia. Carey, Lea, and Blanchard, 1834.

in erecting buildings suitable for the reception of, and in providing an education for, at least 300 scholars, and then leaves the remainder of the said residue for the further improvement and maintenance of the said college; expressing a wish that as many children between the ages of six and ten years shall be received, as the buildings will hold and the funds support. The testator has given very special directions for building the college in a manner to secure its being substantial, healthy, convenient, fire-proof, and simple in architectural design, intimating however a desire, that the elevation should be in good taste and symmetrical.

Mr. Girard then proceeds to direct the early organization of the college, and due public notice of its opening. Instructors and other officers of the establishment he desires may be selected for merit, and not through favour and intrigue; and it is his wish that, in the instance of orphans, priority of application should entitle the applicant to preference in admission; that the food be plain but wholesome, and the clothing plain but decent; that due regard shall be paid to the health, and, for this end, he suggests cleanliness and suitable exercise and recreation. With regard to instruction, the testator thus expresses himself:

They shall be instructed in the various branches of a sound education, comprehending reading, writing, grammar, arithmetic, geography, navigation, surveying, practical mathematics, astronomy, natural, chemical, and experimental philosophy, the French and Spanish languages (I do not forbid, but I do not recommend the Greek and Latin languages), and such other learning and science as the capacities of the several scholars may merit or warrant. I would have them taught facts and things, rather than words or signs; and especially I desire, that by every proper means a pure attachment to our republican institutions, and to the sacred rights of conscience, as guaranteed by our happy constitution, shall be formed and fostered in the minds of the scholars.'

The testator then proceeds to direct the expulsion of such scholars whose habitual misconduct mild means have proved inadequate to reform, and the apprenticeship of those who merit it to suitable occupations, as those of "agriculture, navigation, arts, mechanical trades and manufactures," according to the capacities and acquirements of the scholars respectively; and it is his wish that, as far as prudence shall justify it, the inclinations of the several scholars as to the occupation, art, or trade to be learned shall be consulted. And lastly, after forbidding the appropriation of the capital to meet the current expenses of the year, and directing the investing of any surplus income, thereafter to be and remain

part of the capital, he inserts the following singular provision:

'I enjoin and require that no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the said college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college. In making this restriction, I do not mean to cast any reflection upon any sect or person whatsoever; but as there is such a multitude of sects, and such a diversity of opinion amongst them, I desire to keep the tender minds of orphans who are to derive advantage from this bequest free from the excitement which clashing doctrines and sectarian controversy are so apt to produce; my desire is, that all the instructors and teachers in the college shall take pains to instil into the minds of the scholars the purest principles of morality, so that, on their entrance into active life, they may, from inclination and habit, evince benevolence towards their fellow-creatures, and a love of truth, sobriety, and industry, adopting, at the same time, such religious tenets as their matured reason may enable them to prefer.'

In all new countries so great a proportion of the resources of each individual is required for his actual wants, that the community to which he belongs is able to levy but small contributions upon him for purposes of public utility; and as there are no accumulated stores bequeathed in former times to resort to, education, arts, and sciences, all matters, in fact, which do not immediately relate to the sustenance of the individual and actual security of the state, run great risk of being neglected. A bequest, therefore, such as that of Mr. Girard, cannot but be of the highest importance to the state of Pennsylvania. The trustees indeed appear to have considered such to be the case, and accordingly, before attempting to act in execution of the will, they have directed Dr. Lieber to draw up a plan for the college, and to report it to them.

Dr. Lieber's plan of education for the Girard College of Orphans, with an introductory Report printed by order of the Board of Trustees, is now before us; and as plans similar in many respects have gained attention in England, it may, perhaps, be instructive at this moment, when the subject of national education is under the consideration of the House of Commons, to see whether we can derive any useful hints from the plan of education proposed for this new college.

That part of the will of Mr. Girard which relates to the exclusion of the ministers of religion from his college, appears to have made a considerable sensation at Philadelphia. Before, therefore, entering upon other points, Dr. Lieber first discusses this, and arrives at the conclusion that although