Middle Classes, Educational Wrongs 301 Middle Classes, Zola's Parisian, Church Principle, 392 Muir, Sir W., Annals of the Patriotism, Scottish, and Scottish 381. - - Poets, Three Representative, Mr. - ancestors of Tennyson, 337-Tenny- Politics, The 'Mean' in, 261-Aris- Preussische Jahrbücher, Proctor, R. A., The Great 172 161 199, 403 188 174 R. 205, 406 196 193, 413 189, 411 197 191, 409 Rassegna Nazionale, Revue La Nouvelle, Do. Philosophique,... Schwarz, D. C., Predigten aus - 244 399 Spurgeon, C. H., Farm Sermons, V. Veitch, Prof. John Hamilton, ... Veitch, Douglas and Sophie, W. 154 159 189 188 415 391 386 183 Wallace, Edwin, Outlines of Z. Zeitschrift für Philosophie und 201 334 Erratum. 201, 401 Page 351, line 5, for Mr. Browning, THE SCOTTISH REVIEW. MAY, 1883. ART. I.-EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENTS AND PERHA ERHAPS few better illustrations can be given of Burke's definition of law, viz., 'beneficence working by rule,' than a comparison of primary and secondary education, in respect of their history and present condition. The latter has been in existence since the introduction of Christianity into Britain. Long before the Reformation, it had endowments which were misappropriated much as they are now. Acts were passed in its support, but there is no satisfactory evidence that their provisions were strictly, if at all, enforced. It was nurtured by ecclesiastics as being required to provide candidates for holy orders. Though this was the original purpose of Burgh Schools, we find that so early as in the end of the fifteenth century, laymen took part in them, both as teachers and pupils. Burgesses and freeholders were ordered to send their eldest sons to school at the age of eight or nine, and to keep them there till they were competently founded and had perfect Latin.' Care was taken that the teachers were properly qualified, and the curriculum of study, especially in Latin, was sufficiently broad. Under the fostering care of the Church they continued to do very good work, but as Latin became gradually a less important instrument in the education of the clergy, the supervision became less strict, and the encouragement less hearty. For a century past there has been no effective system or complete organisation, and it may be said. that they have been practically left to take care of themselves. The result has been the usual one when the question is not one of physical want, viz., quasi-stagnation from indifference, and thriftlessness from want of system. Primary Education, on the other hand, in the shape in which it is represented by existing schools, does not go farther back than the Reformation. There were dames' schools before then, but they were purely private enterprises, and without supervision of any kind. Early in the seventeenth century an Act of the Privy Council was ratified by Parliament. This act provided that a school should be established in every parish, and a fit person appointed to teach the same. With some vicissitudes, depending on the establishment and ultimate abolition of Episcopacy, this continued in force till 1696, when the injunctions laid upon the heritors were more stringently enforced, and, thanks to the zealous exertions of the Church, parish schools were soon erected in every parish in Scotland. No important change was made for upwards of a century, but in 1803 the altered value of money made a reconsideration of the question necessary. The emoluments were increased, and made liable to revision every twenty-five years. Revision was made in 1828 and 1853. The Parochial Schools Act of 1803 was amended by the Parochial and Burgh Schools Act of 1861, which remained in force till Lord Young's Education (Scotland) Act of 1872. The cause of education had, however, in 1846 received a great impulse from annual grants by the Committee of Council. What is important to observe is, that from the establishment of parish schools, Primary Education, with a greater or less admixture of higher work, has grown steadily, not always quickly, but generally in the right direction, till it stands before us to-day a well-developed, healthy, and productive plant, ready to cover every inch of ground available or requisite. How different has been the fate of the older and higher branch. Cared for by the Church as long as Latin bulked largely in clerical education, it continued to struggle on, sometimes well, sometimes poorly, but generally in an unsystematic way. Early in the sixteenth century Acts of Parliament were passed teachers, the right to examine, etc., and in later times it has got now and then a sort of step-child's recognition in the legislation dealing with Parochial Schools. It is doubtful if it would have received even this recognition, but for the fact that in a number of cases the schools were partly parochial, partly burghal in constitution. It has been, at any rate, practically free from government control. Since the middle of the sixteenth century the burgh schools were visited with more or less regularity, and examined with more or less strictness in the presence of Magistrates and Town Councils. In some instances the aid of independent examiners was called in, but we have no very definite information as to whether such examinations meant more or less than the Presbyterial examinations of twelve years ago. It is not unreasonable to suppose that they were generally as perfunctory, and as innocent of stimulus towards solid attainment. They were certainly not organised in such a way as to produce a general raising of the standard. They did not issue from such a source of authority, nor were they stimulated by such substantial rewards and punishments as to give them real and progressive force. We accordingly find that, with a few exceptions, they showed little of the spring which indicates consciousness of vitality, or of the improvement which ought to be the fruit of increased experience. It has been too much the fashion of late to decry the work of the old parochial schools, and disparage the part played by the Church in their management. It ought not to be forgotten that, for two centuries, it was almost exclusively to the Church that Scotland owed a system of education that cost so little and earned so much for its people. And even in later times, when its care became less necessary, and its influence less weighty, it should be remembered that, if the Church did little, every other class did less. Indeed, as a rule, no other class did anything. It is no doubt to the credit of the heritors that, when the maximum and minimum salaries of teachers were considerably increased by the act of 1861, in a great many instances the maximum was willingly given. Beyond this, however, active interest and encouragement were almost entirely confined to |