Page images
PDF
EPUB

but if there the consistent, and for several years continued, endeavours, of some of the leading gentry have been successful, far beyond expectation, in remedying the evil complained of, we might surely hope, that a nearer acquaintance with the plan they have adopted, and a conviction that such benefits do really arise from it, would lead us, not only to admire, but to imitate them.

About twelve years ago, several distinguished individuals, among whom it will perhaps be sufficient to name the Marquises Torrigiani, Rodolphi, Guicciardini, Count Demidorff, and i Signori Enrico Meyer, Franceschi, and Vaissieux determined to make some effort to improve the condition of the population in Florence and its vicinity; for, whilst ignorance and superstition had debased the mind of the mass, poverty of living, scrofula, low fevers, and opththalmia, had increased the weekly bills of mortality, leaving the convalescent survivors too often a burden to themselves, their families, or the state. The comparatively recent establishment of Infant Schools in England and Germany suggested the first attempts; but, as a two-fold object was to be attained, both to induce the parents to send their children where they might be morally, religiously and intellectually trained, and to strengthen the constitution of the little scholars, there was offered to each child who attended the school a good substantial midday meal of soup, thickened with vermicelli, macaroni, or some other of the Italian paste:”—and although this last part of the plan, upon the liberal scale adopted, was doubtless attended with much expense, it did not deter these gentlemen, whose incomes were in many cases very moderate, from making the sacrifice required.

[ocr errors]

As the infant schools in Florence, Pisa, and Leghorn, whether for boys or girls, are conducted very much upon the same model, it will be sufficient to give a description of one of them. An "asilo infantile," then, as they are named, consists of five separate rooms, in which the children are classed according to their ages, or (what is very nearly the same) corresponding capacities. The age of admission is the same as in England, but the boys are retained in the school till they are eight years old, and the girls, for whom no other school is provided, till they are ten or twelve. To the upper class of boys alone is there a master appointed, the female mind being considered as best adapted for the instruction of very young children;-and to each other room or class a mistress, who seldom undertakes any other department than that first assigned to her. The simultaneous method of instruction is preferred in the" asili ;" but at eight years old at latest, the boys are transferred to a school on the monitorial system, (" di mutuo insegnamento") whilst the girls, on the contrary, are encouraged, as was before mentioned, to remain until they go out to service.

With regard to the books used, the method of questioning, &c, the German and English models have been followed, so that the chief points of difference between the Infant Schools in this country and in Italy may be said to consist, first, in the entire separation of the sexes from the very earliest age (in my opinion, not only unnecessary, but ill-advised); secondly, in the greater number of mistresses employed (for the reason stated above, and also because in each school five or six

adult instructresses are required); thirdly, in the regular and marked transfer from one class or room to another, no child being allowed to be so removed till his age and acquirements furnish a motive for the change- in the opinion of Italians, I should observe, a great improvement upon the plan of having all the children of an Infant school in one room; and, lastly,—though not, I dare say, least in the opinion of most parents and child.en.—in the comfortable and substantial meal which in every day given to each Ettle scholar.

In describing the benchts arising from these arrangements, I will use, as far as may be, the words of one of the directors, who kindly accompanied me in a visit to a school of the kind. "Look,” said he, “at the difference of the children in the first or junior class, as compared with those in the nith, or even fourth and third classes. When first admitted, many of the poor creatures have weak eyes, emaciated bodies, and seem slmost demikered by the kindness and care shewn to them; but as you pass from one roem to another, you may mark the change in their countenances and general appearance. The gradual advance in age is not sudicient to sccount for this rapid improvement and development, whether of mid or dady, and by the time they have been four or Are yours in this school. I would challenge any nation to produce me a more mtellgvat or hostly set of little happy beings. There is one other test of the value of the aid afforded by these institutions, of which there are six in this town, containing from two to three hundied children in osch, viz. that for several years past, parents do not have yourse to the Foundling Hospit to the same extent as formerly, for bringing up their spring, but are able to listen to the dictates of natural adiction, which unges them to retain their little ones m their own care. For with the slight see tion of a small roll, morning and evening, to their daily moal at the solool, they are no longer obliged to consign them to the State, are the only thermative to death by starvation and disease. And to you, sir, “continued my benevolent and philosoplão informant, "I will contos that I look to the moral, religious, and intelectast okostion novind at sach institutions as these, for the

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small]

regeneration of my country. According to my views, the only revolution worth contending for, is that which necessarily results from the enlightenment of public opinion,-to that master spirit both the ruler and the ruled must bow; and when that is attained, it matters -not greatly under what form of government we live, for all laws opposed to it, whether in the statute book or not, must remain a dead letter. Whereas revolutions, in the common acceptation of the term, by the contempt of all authority, human and divine, by the recklessness of life, and the abandonment of principle which too often accompany their outbreak and progress, are far more likely to retard than to promote our advancement towards it."

Such, then, my dear sir, were the opinions, and I believe words, of my Italian friend; for, believing them to be replete with justice and good feeling, I wrote them down at the time. They might indeed be commented upon at some length, but as they treat partly of a subject only indirectly connected with this Journal, I will not dwell upon them at present, but conclude in the hope that, should this brief statement of facts convince any persons of wealth or influence that the rising generation of some poor and neglected district in their neighbourhood might, under God, be raised from their sad condition in the course of a few years by some such means as have been adopted with success in Tuscany, they will not be deterred by the reflection, that it would cost a somewhat greater sacrifice of time and money than they had contemplated in their charities, but will "go and do likewise,"

[blocks in formation]

INTERCHANGE OF REPORTS AND OTHER
DOCUMENTS.

Mr. Editor. As your Journal will not fail to be seen by many of the
secretaries connected with our Boards of Education, I am induced to
ask you whether, through the medium of the National Society, or by
some other communication through the metropolis, it could not be
arranged that facilities should be given for the interchange between
secretaries and inspectors, of reports and other local documents. In
the notices in your first number, you specify three reports as of great
value. The very important one of the London Board, advertised in the
Ecclesiastical Gazette, I had obtained through a bookseller, but know
not how to become possessed of the other two. If each Board would
send the overplus, or a certain suggested number, of its own documents
to an assigned office or shop in London, and thereby become entitled, on
application at the specified place, to receive a copy or two of like

"It has been ascertained that in most parts of England a good substantial soup might be provided for fifty infants at the rate of five shillings per diem. If the little scholars attended for five days in the week for forty eight weeks, this would amount to sixty pounds per annum."

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

documents furnished by other Boards, much might be accomplished in furtherance of the idea thrown out, with but little machinery. A notice of such office or shop in your Journal might be found all that is necessary for initiating so desirable a system of interchange. The results of this simple experiment would soon shew in what particulars the plan might need filling up. With sanguine anticipation of much practical benefit from the undertaking in which you are engaged, I beg to remain, Mr. Editor, yours faithfully, J. H.,

Hom, Sec. for Board of Education for the Archdeaconry of Stafford.

this hint is a valuable one. Upon inquiry at the office of the National Society, We did that it has only been by accident that a notice exactly meeting our correspondent a wishes, which appeared for several years successively in their Annual Report, has been omitted of late. The number of each document therein suggested of course a larger number would now be required. The experiment, however, can be made at once-b]

[merged small][graphic][subsumed][merged small]

The spot on which Christ's Hospital now stands was formerly occupied by the society of Grey Friars, which was removed from Cornhill some time in the fourteenth century. After the dissolution of the religious houses, the building was used as a store-house for French prize goods. But in the year 1546, Dr. Ridley, then one of the chaplains to Henry VIII, was directed by the king to announce in a sermon preached at St. Paul's Cross, that "the House of the Grey Friars, and the Hospital of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield, were to be given to the Mayor and Commonalty of London, to settle the maintenance of a parish church, and for relieving the poor." Christ Church was soon afterwards endowed, but it does not appear that anything was done at that time towards carrying out king Henry's intention regarding the poor.

In the beginning of the year 1553, Ridley, now Bishop of London, preached before king Edward VI during his illness. The bishop insisted strongly on the duty of giving to the poor, and called upon the rich and those who were in high stations, to be "merciful to the poor, and to travail by some charitable way and means to comfort and relieve them.” The king shortly after sent for Bishop Ridley, and (in the words of Stow) "caused him to come into the great gallery at Westminster, where (to his knowledge, and the king likewise told him so,) there were present no more persons than they two; and then made him sit down in one chair and he himself in another, and caused the bishop, maugre his teeth, to be covered, and then entered into communication with him." After thanking Ridley for his sermon, the king said, "I took myself to be especially touched by your speech, as well in regard of the abilities God hath given me, as in regard of the example which from me He will require; for as in the kingdom I am next under God, so must I most nearly approach Him in goodness and mercy; for as our miseries stand most in need of aid from Him, so are we the greatest debtors-debtors to all that are miserable—and shall be the greatest accountants of our dispensation therein; so direct me, I pray you, by what particular actions I may best discharge my duty." The bishop, taken by surprise, "could not well tell what to say," but after some hesitation, he proposed to the king that he should write to the lord mayor, “willing that he should call unto him such assistants as he should think meet, to consult of this matter."

Ridley waited till the letter was written, and was then commanded by the king "not only to deliver the said letter himself, but also to signify unto the mayor, that it was the king's especial request and express commandment, that the mayor should therein travail, and so soon as he might conveniently, give him knowledge how far he had proceeded therein."

Sir Richard Dobbs, the lord mayor, "joyfully received the letter, and agreed with all speed to forward the matter, for he favoured it very much." A committee of aldermen and commoners was formed, and "by the good diligence of the bishop, the business was well followed." A document was drawn up by the committee in which the poor were considered under three heads:-1. The poor by impotency; that is, the aged and the young, the blind and the lame. 2. The poor by casualty; that is, the wounded soldier, the decayed householder, and those visited by any grievous disease. 3. The thriftless poor; that is, the riotous, the vagabond, and the idle person. "For these three sorts (continues Stow) three several houses were provided. For the innocent and fatherless, which is the beggar's child, and is indeed the seed and breeder of beggary, they provided the house that was the late Grey Friars in London, and called it by the name of Christ's Hospital, where poor children are trained up in the knowledge of God, and in virtuous exercises, to the overthrow of beggary. For the second class were provided the hospitals of St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew; and for the third degree they provided Bridewell, where the vagabond and the idle are chastised and compelled to labour to the overthrow of the vicious life of idleness." We are informed that at the same time, "they provided for the honest decayed householder, that he should be relieved at home at his own house, and in the parish where he dwelt, by a weekly relief and

pension."

This plan was cordially received by the king. The charter of incorporation was forthwith granted to "the Mayor, Commonalty and Citizens of London, and the Governors of the Hospitals of king Edward VI." As soon as the king had signed the charter, and filled in with his own hand the blank which had been left for the amount of the endowment, he blessed God and said, "Lord, I yield thee most hearty thanks that thou hast given me

F

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »