substantial freeholders throughout the realm should send their children to school, from the age of six to nine years, and then to other seminaries, to be instructed in the laws, that the country might be possessed of persons properly qualified to discharge the duties of sheriffs, and other civil offices." Those who neglected to comply with the provisions of this statute, were subjected to a penalty of twenty pounds Scots. This enactment evidently implies, that even the influential classes of society, at that period, paid little attention to the education even of the male branches of their families, and, of course, that those in the lowest ranks must have been generally, if not altogether deprived of this inestimable privilege. It was only after the passing of this act, as Dr. Henry remarks, that several individuals began to be distinguished for their classical acquirements, and that learning was much more generally diffused throughout the country.

At the time of the revival of learning, soon after the Reformation, a new impulse was given to the human mind, a bold spirit of inquiry was excited in the laity, when the vices of the Romish clergy were exposed, and their impositions detected; the absurdity of many tenets and practices authorized by the church was discovered; the futility of the arguments by which illiterate monks attempted to defend them was perceived; the mystic theology of the schools was set aside, as a system equally unedifying and obscure; the study of ancient literature was revived; the attention was directed to the sacred Scriptures, as the only standard of religious truth, the legendary tales of monkish superstition were discarded, a taste for useful knowledge was induced, and from that period, seminaries for the instruction and improvement of the juvenile mind, began to be gradually established in many of the countries of Europe;-although they are still miserably deficient both in point of number, and in the range of instruction which they profess to communicate.-The following is a brief view of the present state of education in various countries:

United States of America.—Although the system of education has never yet arrived nearly at perfection, in any nation, yet the inhabitants of the United States may be considered, on the whole, as the best educated people in the world. With a degree of liberality and intelligence which reflects the highest honour on their character, they have made the most ample provision for the elementary instruction of all classes; and most of their arrangements, in reference to this object, appear to be dictated by disinterested benevolence, and by liberal and enlarged

views of what is requisite to promote the moral improvement of society. In the New States, one square mile in every township, or one thirty-sixth part of all the lands, has been devoted to the support of common schools, besides seven entire townships for the endowment of larger seminaries. In the older States, grants of land have frequently been made for the same purposes; but in New England all sorts of property are assessed for the support of the primary schools, which are established in every township.-The following extract from a speech of Mr. Webster, a distinguished member of Congress, in a convention held at Massachusetts in 1821, displays the principles and practical operation of this system, and the grand design it is intended to accomplish:"For the purpose of public instruction," said this illustrious senator, "we hold every man subject to taxation in proportion to his property; and we look not to the question, whether he himself have or have not children to be benefited by the education for which he pays; we regard it as a wise and liberal system of police, by which property and life, and the peace of society, are secured. We hope to excite a feeling of respectability, and a sense of character, by enlarging the capacities and increasing the sphere of intellectual enjoyment. By general instruc tion, we seek, so far as possible, to purify the moral atmosphere; to keep good sentiments uppermost, and to turn the strong current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of law, and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime. We hope for a security beyond the law and above the law, in the prevalence of enlightened and wellprincipled moral sentiment. We hope to continue and to prolong the time, when, in the villages and farm-houses of New England, there may be undisturbed sleep within unbarred doors. We do not indeed expect all men to be philosophers or statesmen; but we confidently trust, that by the diffusion of general knowledge and good and virtuous sentiments, the political fabric may be secure, as well against open violence and overthrow, as against the slow but sure undermining of licentiousness. We rejoice that every man in this community may call all property his own, so far as he has occasion for it to furnish for himself and his children the blessings of religious instruction, and the elements of knowledge. This celestial and this earthly light he is entitled to by the fundamental laws. It is every poor man's undoubted birthright-it is the great blessing which this constitution has secured to him-it is his solace in life-and it may well be his consosolation in death, that his country stands

pledged, by the faith which it has plighted to all its citizens, to protect his children from ignorance, barbarity, and vice."

These are noble sentiments and views, worthy of being adopted and reduced to practice by every government under heaven; and we trust the period is not far distant when the British senate, and every other legislative assembly in Europe, shall have their attention directed to the arrangement of a system of universal education, on an expansive and liberal scale, and with such generous and disinterested objects in view.

There are no states in the Union, nor perhaps in any country in the world, so amply provided with the means of instruction, as the States of New York and New England. In New York, in 1829, there were no less than 8609 common schools, affording education to 468,205 young persons, which was rather more than a fourth part of the entire population! and it is probable, that, since that period, the number has considerably increased. In Scotland, which is reckoned one of the best educated countries in Europe, it is found, that only one in eleven, out of the entire population, has the benefit of education.-In New England, free schools have been endowed by benefactions from different individuals,-and the funds thus bequeathed by charity, or public spirit, have not been devoured by the cormorants of a grasping oligarchy, but prudently and carefully administered.-The education given at these schools, too, is vastly superior to what is obtained at our parish schols. "The general plan of education at the public free schools here," says Mr. Stuart, "is not confined to mere reading, writing, arithmetic and book-keeping, and the ancient and modern languages, but comprehends grammar, mathematics, navigation, geography, history, logic, political economy, rhetoric, moral and natural philosophy. These schools being, as stated in the printed regulations, intended to occupy the young people from the age of four to seventeen, and to form a system of education, advancing from the lowest to the highest degree of improve ment which can be derived from any literary seminaries inferior to colleges and universities, and to afford a practical and theoretical acquaintance with the various branches of useful education. There are at present in Boston, 68 free schools, besides 23 Sabbath schools, in all of which the poorest inhabitant of Boston may have his children educated, according to the system of education now specified, from the age of four to seventeen, vithout any expense whatever. The chil

"Three Years' Residence in North America."

dren of both sexes are freely admitted. The funds of those schools are derived from funds and bequests from individuals, and grants from the legislature and corporations; and enable the trustees, consisting of twelve citizens elected by the inhabitants of each of the twelve wards of the city, with the mayor and eight aldermen, to give the teachers salaries, varying from 2500 to 800 dollars a-year. The assistant teachers have 600 dollars. The trustees elect their teachers, and vote their salaries yearly, and no preference is given on any principles but those of merit or skill. No expense whatever is incurred in these schools for the children, except in books. The richer classes in Boston formerly very generally patronized teachers of private schools, who were paid in the usual way; but they now find that the best teachers are at the head of the public schools, and in most cases prefer them-the children of the highest and lowest rank enjoying the privilege, altogether invaluable in a free state, of being educated together.

"In the adjoining State of Connecticut, it has been ascertained by actual reports, that one-third of the population of about 275,000, attend the free schools. The result of the recent inquiry into the state of education in the State of New York, which adjoins New England, and is almost equal to it in population, is very much, though not entirely the same.— -It proved by actual reports, that 499,434 children, out of a population of 1,900,000, were at the same time attending the schools, that is, a fourth part of the whole population. Although the public funds of New York State are great, these schools are not entirely free; but free to all who apply for immunity from payment. The amount of the money paid to the teachers, by private persons, does not, however, amount to onethird of the whole annual expense, which is somewhat less than a million of dollars."

Besides the seminaries appropriated to the instruction of the mass of the population, the United States contain no less than seventy colleges, in which the ancient and modern languages, the mathematical sciences, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Legic, Christian Theology, and other branches, are regularly taught, as in the European universities; but with more attention to the moral and religious conduct of the students. About the time of the American Revolution, in 1775, there were 10 colleges; from 1775 to 1800, 13 were established; from 1800 to 1814, 11 were added; and from 1814 to 1834, no less than 36 colleges have been established. In these colleges, 5500 students are prosecuting their education, in the different departinents of Literature and Science.-The American

Education Society is just now educating 912 young men for the ministry; the Presbyterian Education Society has 612 students under its charge; the Northern Baptist Society has 250. The whole number at present educated by these Societies, including the Episcopalian, German, Lutheran, &c., is 2000. These are exclusive of a very large number who are paying the expenses of their own education, and who are equally pious and promising.

It is to the numerous establishments of education-the extensive range of instruction they embrace-the opportunities of instruction afforded to the lowest classes of the community-the superior degree of comfort they enjoy-and to the elevation of character promoted by their free institutions, that we are to attribute the non-existence, in most parts of the United States, of what is usually termed a mob or rabble, and that depredations are less frequent, and property more secure, than in other countries. In the Southern States, indeed, the means of education are not so extensive, nor has society advanced to such a state of moral and mental improvement, as in the Northern. The reason is obvious. These States, with a most glaring inconsistency, still continue the abettors of slavery, in its most disgusting forms. More than one-half of their population consists of slaves, who are deemed unworthy of enjoying the blessings even of a common education. A spirit of haughtiness and domination prevails among the influential classes, barbarous amusements among the lower; and Christian morals, the finer feelings of humanity, and intellectual acquisitions, are too frequently disregarded.

Silesia. This country, in consequence of the exertions of Frederick the Great, is now richly furnished with scholastic establishments. Prior to 1765, Silesia, like the rest of Europe, was but wretchedly provided either with schools or with teachers. In the small towns and villages, the schoolmasters were so poorly paid, that they could not subsist without practising some other trade besides their occupation as instructors; and they usually united the character of the village fiddler with that of the village schoolmaster. Frederick issued an ordinance, that a school should be kept in every village, and that a competent subsistence should be provided for the schoolmaster by the joint contribution of the lord of the village and the tenants. Felbiger, an Augustine monk, belonging to a convent at Sagan, travelled to different countries to obtain an acquaintance with the best modes of teaching. After spending some years at Berlin, to obtain a perfect knowledge of the best method of in

struction in the schools of that city, he returned to Sagan, and made the convent to which he belonged a seminary for candidates as schoolmasters. Pattern schools were established at Breslaw, Glatz, and other places, on the principles he had adopted, and all candidates for the office of teachers, were obliged to attend these seminaries, and to practise the method in which they were there instructed. The clergy, no less than the teachers, were required to go through this process, because the superintendence of the teachers was to be committed to them. After these preparatory matters had been carried into effect, an ordinance was published in the year 1765, prescribing the mode of teaching, and the manner in which the clergy should superintend the system. The teachers were directed to give plain instruction, and upon subjects applicable to the ordinary concerns of life; not merely to load the memory of their scholars with words, but to make things intelligible to their understanding, to habituate them to the use of their own reason, by explaining every object of their lesson, so that the children themselves may be able to explain it, upon examination. The school tax must be paid by the lord and tenants, without distinction of religions. The boys must all be sent to school from their sixth to their thirteenth year, whether the parents are able to pay the school tax or not. For the poor the school money must be raised by collections.. Every parent or guardian who neglects to send his child or pupil to school, without sufficient cause, is obliged to pay a double tax, for which the guardians shall have no allowance. Every curate must examine, weekly, the children of the school of his parish. A general examination must be held annually, by the deans of the districts, of the schools within their respective precincts; and a report of the condition of the schools, the talents and attention of the schoolmasters, the state of the buildings, and the attendance of the children, made to the office of the vicargeneral, who is bound to transmit all these reports to the royal domain offices, from which orders are issued to supply the deficiencies of the schools, and to correct any abuses that may be found to prevail. If one school suffice for more than one village, neither of them must be more than half a German mile, or two and one-fourth British miles, distant from it in the flat country, not more than half that distance in the moun tainous parts.

This system had at first many difficulties to struggle with, from the indolence of the Catholic clergy, and their consequent aversion to the now and troublesome duty im

knowledge and of civilization. The late and present kings of Bavaria, have not only swept away myriads of abuses, and established a representative system of government, but they have laid the only sure foundations of permanent and real improvement, in the organization of an admirable system of national education. A school has been established in every parish, to which every one is obliged to send his children, from the age of six to fourteen; Lyceums, Colleges, and Universities have also been instituted, for the use of those who are desirous of prosecuting their studies; and every facility is afforded for the acquisition of the best instruction, at the lowest price. The following is a summary view of the principal seminaries in this country-Three universities, seven lyceums, eighteen gymnasia, twenty-one colleges, thirty-five preparatory schools, sixteen houses of education, seven for higher branches, two boarding-schools for girls, seven normal schools, one school for foreigners, two schools of law, two veterinary schools, two schools of midwifery, and two royal schools. The public, or national schools, amount to 5394; the inspectors to 286; the teachers to 7114; and the pupils of all classes, to about 498,000;—and, since the population of Bavaria is about four millions, it follows, that not less than one-eighth of the entire population is at school, which is a higher proportion than what attends the schools in Scotland.

Baden, appeared to me to indicate a greater degree of comfort, than I had ever observed in any other country, with the exception, perhaps, of Sweden, and the Lowlands of Scotland."

The above sketches were written two or three years ago. Since that time, M. Victor Cousin's "Report of the State of Public Instruction," has been published, and translated into English by Mrs. Austin. This report, which fills nearly 340 pages, contains a very full, but rather dry detail, of the whole machinery of education in Prussia. From this document it appears, that, in 1831, there were 22,612 schools, and 27,749 schoolmasters and mistresses-that the total number of children under fourteen years of age was 4,767,072; the number between seven and fourteen years, 2,043,030, out of which, the number of children attending school was 2,021,421, or nearly a sixth part of the whole population, which is estimated at about twelve and a half millions. It does not appear, from this report, that infant schools are established in Prussia, or any institutions for the instruction of young per sons from the age of fourteen to twenty, or upwards; nor can we learn, from any thing stated in it, that an intellectual principle is uniformly acted upon in the details of education. The system presents too much of a military spirit and character, throughout all its departments, corresponding to the nature of a despotic government; and it would require a very considerable modification, before it could, with propriety, be adopted in a republic or a limited monarchy. Many defi ciencies in the system likewise require to be supplied. Yet, notwithstanding all its defects, it has already produced a benign influence on the knowledge and moral conduct of the inhabitants of that country; and, in a short time, if Britain does not immediately bestir herself in the cause of education, the Prussian population will be among the most enlightened inhabitants of Europe.

France.-Notwithstanding the numerous scientific characters which have appeared in this country, and the discoveries and improvements they have made in the physical and mathematical sciences-the provision for public instruction, particularly in the southern departments, is very defective. The Revolution of 1789 annihilated almost every existing institution, and those for public instruc tion among the rest. For a period of nearly five years, a whole nation of thirty millions of people remained without any regular education. It was, indeed, enacted by a law of the 13th September, 1791, "That a system of public instruction should be organized; that the public schools should be open to