all others, the most to be pitied. Should not society render them some assistance? - is it not a duty incumbent on it to provide subsistence, or rather the means of obtaining it, for all its members? - does it not become a more imperious duty, when women are concerned, -ought it not to take them entirely under its protection? The least it can bestow is an education which may enable them to provide for themselves some art or occupation suitable to the situation in which they were born.

Having claimed for the daughters of the lower orders the only education suited for them in the existing state of society, and which it is the duty of society to give, namely, one to fit them to become workwomen, artists, servants, &c.-we demand, for the same reason, on behalf of the daughters of the higher orders, an education to qualify them for the only social employment which remains open to them, that of teaching. Let it be remembered also, that the pupils from the normal schools, who are nominated by government to the direction of other establishments, would not be the only females whose subsistence would be insured; but that, by a natural consequence, this benefit must extend to all the pupils. The certain result of such an establishment would be, as in the case of mothers and mistresses of shops applying to the industrious schools for workwomen and servants, that the principals of female schools would apply to the normal schools for their teachers and governesses, either for public or private tuition. This class of females would then be saved from the horrors of want; they would have a noble end in view, and the means of obtaining it. What an unbounded influence might not these normal schools thus obtain over private education, through the medium of teachers and servants brought up under their roof and fully trained for their respective duties.

Lastly, let us reflect how this education, so uniform and yet complete, issuing, as it were, from one common sourcethe normal school-whose pupils had all received the same kind of instruction from properly qualified teachers, would again diffuse this superior intelligence through all ranks of society by their superintendence of private and public education. Let us reflect what an influence education would exercise over the whole community by the exertions of those females who had received the training of the normal schools; and we can scarcely form an idea, what might be the effects of a national education on morals and opinions, if the government, that is to say, the organ of society at large, became the master and director of it.

Before concluding this article we must answer an objection, which may perhaps be raised, on the score of individual liberty; for in all establishments of this kind, what is most to be feared is that persons should be considered as things, and compelled to follow certain invariable rules, while the very character of our nature revolts against all restraint. It is then necessary to lay down as a law, that the pupils of the normal school, even those who are gratuitously admitted, shall not be required to take any engagement, nor bind themselves to follow the profession of teaching-not even engage to remain a fixed period in the establishment; so long as they are there, they should follow the rules and submit to the duties imposed, but with perfect liberty to quit the moment they desire. Even after being appointed to the government schools, they should always have the power of relinquishing their situation, if agreeable to them to do

so.

Parents also ought to preserve the right of placing their children either in the government establishments or in private schools. It cannot be too frequently repeated, that liberty of teaching, so long as it does exist, or rather so long as it preserves the estimation in which it is held at present, renders, in a great degree, a complete national education impracticable; still, under existing circumstances, much may be done by the government showing a model of better schools than any which now exist, and by continually training up a set of teachers who will deserve the confidence of the public. The perfect liberty which every person ought to enjoy of sending his children to private schools of his own choice, would tend to counterbalance any evils that might arise in a system of public instruction under the direction of the government; for no government system could maintain itself in this country, if its schools became less efficient than those managed by private individuals.

The industrious and normal schools would then be for two classes of females, whose education would be determined by their social position. There remains yet another, much the least numerous and important class in society, that is to say, those whose fortune allows them to consider education as merely a means of moral and intellectual cultivation, so far as it is in harmony with the ideas and wants of existing society. We must then have a third kind of public establishments, which we would name intermediate schools, for those females who seek in education only a methodical development of their faculties, and not the means of subsistence. The object of this third kind of school is nothing more than the improvement of education as it at present exists; but this improvement would be greatly aided by the institution of a normal school, which alone can furnish the means of perfecting a system which shall embrace education in all its parts.

To those women who feel themselves capable, and who have the will to influence public opinion, we address our reflections on a new organization of female education: if government should still refuse to lend its aid towards modifying and perfecting the social body, and education, its foundation and framework, let every member at least concur individually, as much as lies in his power, towards this desirable end.

EDUCATION OF PARISH-POOR CHILDREN, UNDER THE POOR-LAW AMENDMENT ACT.

IMPORTANT as the results are which we anticipate from the chief provisions of this bold but wise legislative measure (the Poor Law Admendment Act), in checking the headlong course of national degradation, we cannot but attach the highest value to the clause which falls more immediately within the province of the Journal of Education; namely, that in which the commissioners are empowered to make and issue rules, orders, and regulations for the education of the children in the workhouses. It would perhaps have been difficult to pass through the legislature a distinct and separate bill, giving to three individuals so vast a power of doing good as is contained in these few words. By other portions of the act they have the power of stemming the current of corruption and debasement: by this, of imparting new life to society, by fitting those who in less than twenty years will constitute a large portion of the men and women of the country, to contribute to the national prosperity by pursuing what is really their own interest. Full as the task is of difficulties, we trust, indeed we have every reason to hope, that the commissioners duly appreciate their situation,-that they will meet those difficulties manfully, and, having laid down a well-considered plan of action, will not allow themselves to be swerved either to the right or to the left by any clamour that may be raised against them; while, at the same time, they pay due attention to any good suggestions that may be offered.

The commissioners, by this act, have a power of enforcing, although not a system of national education which will embrace every individual in the country, at any rate one which will extend to every county, town, and village in it. They have the power of exhibiting a model of a national elementary school, and if that model be one worthy of imitation, we have little doubt of its being gradually and generally adopted. The object of the commissioners therefore appears to us two-fold-the immediate one, of educating the children of paupers in such a manner as shall rescue them from their present dangerous position; and the more distant, but not less important one, of giving an example of a sound practical system of education throughout the country.

The plan to be pursued ought to be founded upon a consideration of the evils to be overcome; and a knowledge of the more prevalent vices of the parents must point to the mode of dealing with the children. The pauper population consists of the following elements:-In the metropolis and the larger towns, some are persons reduced in circumstances by inevitable calamity, more are persons reduced by imprudence, and the largest proportion are the offspring of vice, confirmed mendicants, thieves, and prostitutes: in the country, there are certainly but few who have ever held a higher rank in society than that of labourer, but then the evil is more widely spread among that class, for in many places it would be difficult to find labourers who have not at some time received parochial relief. The general effect of receiving relief under the old system has been, that those who have once received it appear thenceforth to have their love of independence blunted, and to grow careless of the earnings of labour. The natural springs of prosperity to the individual become dried up, and he knows not himself, and consequently cannot teach his children how to meet manfully the difficulties of life, and to maintain a virtuous and independent position in society. The knowledge of the principles upon which society hangs together become obscured, the real nature of the value of labour and the right of property are forgotten, while the feeling for domestic comforts, the honest pride of independence, and the natural affections, all appear to be buried in one common tomb. Το restore a manly tone, and to give a knowledge of their true position in society to that portion of the rising generation committed to their charge, is the duty of the commissioners.

In the workhouses, as at present administered, the method of acting with regard to children is various. We have ourselves lately visited the workhouse of St. Mary-le-bone. This workhouse is in many respects well conducted, and has the character of being upon the best system of any in London

The time both of the adults and the children is properly employed; the children receive instruction in various trades; we saw them at work as tailors, shoemakers, ropemakers, and weavers. But the system is defective in several essential particulars. The separation of the children from the adult paupers was by no means complete, for while at work they were mixed up together. A more fatal mistake than this could not well be made for if from the good and virtuous, who are advanced in years, youth receive instruction with humility and respect, they are too often liable to corruption from an intercourse with 'hoary vice and grey iniquity.' The literary instruction at this workhouse was of the ordinary description, reading, writing, and arithmetic; which, of themselves, are but feeble agents in fortifying children with principles for their guidance when they go out into the world. The reply of one of the children whom we asked, Why he should not tell a lie? was, having the fear of the cane before his eyes, 'Because he should be punished.' The system of labour adopted, although it may produce the habit of continued application (a matter, we admit, of much importance), cannot give a knowledge of the value of labour, or of the necessity for the right of property. It is true that a few halfpence of their earnings are given to the children weekly, but upon being questioned as to the value of their labour per week, they replied, that it amounted to three-halfpence or two-pence; they appeared to have no idea of their food, lodging, and clothing being given to them in part as a return for their labour-these things they considered as a right, with which their labour was in no way connected.

But in most workhouses there is no system at all; and great corruption arises from bringing the adept in vice into continual close connection with the inexperienced. A workhouse, in most cases, is little less, if at all less injurious to character than a prison. In the London workhouses we have ourselves known instances where female children have been seduced by the agents of disreputable houses; and we understand that the practice is not uncommon. The officers of some parishes, aware of these circumstances, have sent their children out into the country to be kept; but as the persons who receive them do so for their own private interest, and the parishes, in their agreement with them, stipulate for little beyond wholesome food and clothing, it would be almost too much to expect that any sound system should be pursued with reference to the future welfare of these children. Still, however small,