^^^'•m^ iitll: i- ^ ^^^^^^'^^zju^:^:!^ BV 1518 ,R2 G73 1880 Gregory, Alfred. Robert Raikes: journalist and philanthropist /^ [ I ROBERT R jIKES A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS. By ALFRED GREGORY. RAIKES' H0O8K IN OI,0OCS3T SIXTH THOUSAND. HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXX. Hazell. Wauou, aud Viney, Friuurs, Loudon aud Aylc.bury. CHAPTER I. BIRTHPLACE AND PARENTAGE. "A preaching friar settles himself in every village, and builds a pulpit, which he calls Newspaper." — Carlyle. GLOUCESTER, in the early part of the eighteenth century, was not the handsome, well-kept city it is now. It was then unpaved, un- drained, unsavoury, and, by necessary consequence, unhealthy and incommodious. The houses were for the most part low, irregular, and projecting Instead of the numerous ships which now crowd the docks, an occasional vessel from Portugal or France deposited a few casks at the quay, and a wherry to Worcester went twice a week. As to locomotion, even the "Flying Coaches" which subsequently carried adventurous passengers to London in the course of two or three days, had not then commenced their journeys. Nor was the moral or social aspect of affairs more pleasing. The streets swarmed with rogues and vagabonds, Robert Raikes. who were flogged through the city weekly by scores. Religion was at a low ebb. The Church seemed asleep. John and Charles Wesley had not begun their evangelizing labours, and White- field was known in his native city of Gloucester only as a dirty little rascal who robbed his mother's till and tried to quiet his conscience by giving part of the plunder to the poor. Wholesale exe- cutions for comparatively venial offences were the panacea of the Government for all crimes ; and these same executions, with bull-baiting and cock- fighting, formed the favourite entertainments of the mob. Sunday-schools there were none, and poor schools were only just being thought of All over the kingdom popular ignorance and prevalent vice went hand in hand. Gloucester, with all its bad- ness, was no whit worse than the rest of the country. " Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Yet as early as 1722 a gleam of light began to show itself in Gloucester. On the 9th April in that year appeared the first number of the Gloucester /oumal, ninth in order of time among provincial papers, and in size scarcely larger than a sheet of foolscap. Its founder was a printer, named Robert Raikes, the son of a clergyman of the same name Birthplace and Parentage. 5 who lived at Holderness, in Yorkshire. "Raikes the printer," as he was called, was a man of great enterprise and perseverance, and he managed his literary venture so successfully that it soon obtained an extensive circulation throughout Gloucestershire and the surrounding counties. A curious testi- mony to this fact is recorded in one of the early numbers, as follows : — "A demure old farmer applied to the printer of the Gloucester Joiirtial^ and with great gravity of face told him that he feared the mealmen and bakers seldom read their Bibles, but as he knew they always read the newspapers, he desired a comer of hirpapei for the follo^ving texts : * Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have ' (Lev. xix. 36) ; ' Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord* (Prov. XX. 10)." Great as was its ultimate success, Raikes' paper was not established ^^ithout a hard struggle. Be- sides being, like every other contemporary pro- duction of the press, heavily handicapped with Parliamentary imposts — such as the duty on paper and the tax on advertisements — the Gloucester [ournal experienced a special difficulty in the shape of an encounter with the House of Commons. The Robert Raikes. story ot tnat encounter \vill be found duly recorded in the journals of the House for 1728 and 1729. It seems that early in 1728 Mr. Raikes was bold enough to publish in his newspaper a report of certain proceedings in the House of Commons, supplied to him by Mr. Cave, of London, the celebrated founder of the Gentleman^ s Magazine. As Parliamentary reporting was at that time strictly forbidden, Raikes' temerity got him into trouble. The publication in the Gloucester Journal was de- clared to be " a breach of privilege," and Raikes himself was ordered to appear at the bar of the House for punishment. The record of his ap- pearance on April 8th, 1728, reads thus: "Robert Raikes, in custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, attend- ing this House, was (according to Order) brought to the Bar ; where he, upon his knees, received a Reprimand from Mr. Speaker, and was ordered to be discharged out of Custody, paying his fees." This warning did not prevent him offending again in a similar way the following year, and again he was ordered to appear at the bar. Instead of going he sent a petition, setting forth that he was ill of a fever and unable to travel, and pleading that the report complained of had been published without his knowledge, and contrary to his express Birthplace and Parentage. orders given to his servant before the commence- ment of the session not to print any of the votes or resolutions of the House. Taking these cir- cumstances into their merciful consideration, the House " discharged Mr. Raikes from attendance ; " but, as a proof of their determination to keep their proceedings secret, they passed a resolution declaring it to be " a breach of the privilege of this House for any person to presume to give, in written or printed newspapers, any account or minutes of the debates or other proceedings of this House, or of any committee thereof;" and offend- ers were warned that they would be proceeded against with the utmost severity. It was not till many years after this that the House of Commons abandoned its false stand against the Press, and allowed notes of its proceedings to be taken for publication. Meanwhile, Raikes' two summonses to London were so misrepresented in his own city, that he found it necessary to protest that, " Since the printer hereof hath been under the displeasure of the House, it hath been industriously and maliciously insinuated that it is for printing against the Government, which is a false and scan- dalous aspersion." The columns of his paper bear abundant proof 8 Robert Raikes. that "Raikes the printer" was a philanthropist as well as a man of business. Whenever there was a good cause to be advocated, or a bad one to be decried, if the Gloucester Journal took part in the combat, it was always on the right side. Its columns were ever open to intelligence from all quarters, and to correspondence from all classes. George Whitefield, grown out of his boyish pranks and preparing for the Church, dropped some of his earliest effusions into Mr. Raikes' letter-box. Long before the labours of John Howard, attention was called to the deplor- able condition of Gloucester gaol in Mr. Raikes' newspaper. Charitable objects were often aided by the publication of their claims and the gra- tuitous advertisement of their subscription lists. In short, among the provincial Press of that date, the Glo2icester Joiirnal was commendably foremost in many good works. It was to this property that Robert Raikes, " the father of Sunday-schools," was born heir. In a house in Palace-yard, just beneath the shadow of Gloucester's grand cathedral, he first saw the light of day, on September 14th, 1735. His birthplace, bearing no indication of its distinguished associa- tions, still remains standing among the urivate Birthplace and Parentage, 9 dwellings within the cathedral precincts, and for many years it was inhabited by the late dis- tinguished musical composer, Dr. Wesley. Of Raikes' mother little is known, save that she was the daughter of the Rev. Richard Drew, and was twenty-five years younger than her husband. On the monument erected in St. Mary de Crypt Church, Gloucester, to the memory of her hus- band and herself, she is described as " his most excellent wife ; " and the exemplary after-life of her children tends to prove that her epitaph, unlike the generality of its class, was a true description of her real character. One of her sons, Thomas, became an eminent Russia merchant in London, and was for many years a director of the Bank of England. Another son, Richard, who was Robert's junior by eight years, was educated for the Church, and took his degree of M.A. at St. John's College, Cambridge. After having been a fellow of this college for some time, he married a Gloucester lady (Miss Mee), and in 1793 became perpetual curate of Maisemore, a village about two miles from Gloucester. While holding this living he resided during part of his time in Gloucester, and it is recorded to his honour that he heartily co-operated in his brother's philanthropic labours. 10 Robert Raikcs. To the Rev. Richard Raikes also, in 'conjunction with two other gentlemen, is due the establishment of the Gloucester auxiliary of the Bible Society. At the time of his death he held, in addition to the incumbency of Maisemore, the appointments of Treasurer and Canon of St. David's, and Prebendary of Hereford. A monument erected to his memory in Gloucester Cathedral bears the following inscription : — " To the memory of the Rev. Richard Raikes, A.M., a native of this city ; eminent from his youth as a scholar, but still more eminent as a Christian. His unfeigned meekness, his unwearied benevolence, his unceasing labour, exemplified that union of industry and humility which he regarded as peculiarly characteristic of the Christian Hfe. These qualities were in him the more conspicuous, because maintained, for nearly sixty years, under the pressure of broken health and continual personal sufferings. The principle which he felt and avowed as the source of his cheerful submission and ready obedience, was faith in his Redeemer, on whose merits alone he relied for acceptance. He was released from his labours, September 5th, 1823, in the 80th year of his age." \ Respecting the youth of Robert Raikes there is Birthplace and Parentage. 1 1 not much to record. His father, having himself achieved distinction as a journalist, intended his eldest son for the same career ; and with this view Robert received an education which was both liberal and practical. It has been stated that he went to Cambridge, but this statement lacks con- firmation. One of his personal friends in after life, the Rev. Samuel Glasse, D.D., wrote respecting him : — " At a proper time of life he was initiated into the employment of his father, which was not limited to the business of a journalist, but extended itself to other branches of typography ; and though I will not compliment my hero by comparing his literary amusements with those of a Bo\vyer or a Franklin, yet I can venture to pronounce that he entered on his line of business with acquirements superior to the nature of his employment, which, however, has always been considered by men of science and education as very respectable, and in which he is not less remarkable for his accuracy than he is for his fidelity and integrity in every part of his conduct." * * The pamphlet from which the above extract is talcen was written in January, 1788. Dr. Glasse, the writer, was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and one of the chaplains in 12 Robert Raikes. ordinary to His Majesty George III. He is said to have been " a very intelligent and active magistrate, and a very popular preacher." Bowyer, to whom he refers in con- junction w^ith Benjamin Franklin, the American patriot, was a celebrated London printer. I CHAPTER TI. BUSINESS LIFE. ** Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall stand before kings." — Proverbs xxii. 29, ON the death of his father, on September 7th, 1757, the responsibilities of a large and important business devolved upon Robert Raikes. Not only did he become, at the early age of tvvo- and-twenty, sole proprietor and editor of the Gloucester Journal — then the only newspaper in a district extending over many miles — ^but he succeeded also to the management of a general printing and publishing establishment, in which the personal character of the master exercised a most material influence. It soon became apparent that young Raikes, as a business man, was in no respect inferior to his father. His journal continued its prosperous career, and the other departments of \iis business were equally flourishing. Respecting 14 Robert Raikes. the typographical work done on his premises, a contemporary critic, himself a practical printer,* wrote : — " Several pieces, among which may be pointed out the works of Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, are such as will suffer nothing in com- parison with the productions of modern typo- graphy." The same writer testifies to the " ability diligence, and care " with which Raikes conducted his business. Success followed as a matter of X-, course. In process of time, the young printer grew to be one of the most influential men in his native city. The estimation in which his com- mercial qualities were held by others in the same profession is shown by the fact that for several years he was a member of the Court of Assistants of the Stationers' Company in London. In 1767 he was married at St. James's Church, London, to Anne, only daughter of Thomas Trigge, Esq... of Newnham, Gloucestershire, and sister to Sir Thomas Trigge and Rear-Admiral John Trigge. At the ripe age of sixty-seven, after a business life of forty-five years, he retired upon a well-earned competency. It was on the 12th April, 1802, * John Nichols, F.S.A., an apprentice to Bowyer, the London printer, and author of "Literary Anecdotes of tliie Eighteenth Century." Business Life. i5 that he took his farewell of the readers of hi? newspaper, in these terms : — " The property of the Gloucester Journal being immediately to be transferred to another person, R. Raikes, with the deepest sense of grateful respect, begs leave to make his acknowledgments for the distinguished favour by which, from its commencement in 1722, it has been uniformly honoured. The candid interpretation of his conduct, which he has on all occasions expe- rienced, must ever inspire feelings of peculiar obligation, nor can he cease to cherish the flattering remembrance of the support he owes to characters of the first consideration, no less than to the community in general. Mr. D. Walker (late printer of the Hereford Journal) succeeds to the direction of this paper, whose best efforts, it is humbly hoped, mil be rewarded by a patronage correspondent to that for which the present editor repeats his unfeigned gratitude at the interesting moment of final retreat from an undertaking of which a revered father laid the foundation, esta- blished the credit, and supported the independence. To preserve the respectability and favourable a|cceptance of the Gloucester Journal has so long been the earnest desire of the Printer, that he 1 6 Robert Raikes, cannot suppress a spontaneous wish for its future prosperity when for the last time he is about to subscribe himself as the Proprietor, with every sentiment of deference and regard to the public, R. Raikes." Mr. Raikes, though giving up the proprietorship, retained an interest in the newspaper, and received from it an annuity of £,z^o a year from the date of his retirement to his death. The building in which Robert Raikes carried on his business is still to be seen in Southgate-street, one of the principal thoroughfares of Gloucester. It is a quaint, roomy old house with gable ends, now in the occupation of a firm of wine-merchants. The upper stories project to a considerable extent over the lower part, and the fronts are braced with stout oak timbers. As a specimen of the better class of English residences common in the eigh- teenth century, the house stands conspicuous, in a fine street, for its good condition, soundness, and picturesque appearance. Remembering the asso- ciations hanging round the spot, the spectator may easily recall the portly form of Robert Raik^ passing in and out beneath the gables and pursuii his philanthropic work. ^^ A review of the old files of the newspapef W Business Life. ly which Raikes owned and conducted so long affords many illustrations of the difference between jour- nalism as it was then, and journalism as it is now. Leading articles, which now figure prominently in every newspaper, were then but rarely seen. Occa- sionally, the editor, or, as he more generally called himself, " the printer," deemed it necessary to express his opinions upon some current topic, but when he did so it was with the utmost possible brevity. "The editor of a weekly paper," wrote Raikes, " is under a necessity of suppressing pieces that might be an ornament to it, that matters of opinion may not take the place of matters of fact." When " matters of opinion " did obtrude, Raikes strove to make them as generally acceptable as possible. Of course he found that he could not please everybody. One week he was obliged to wTite as follows : " Whatever degree of anxiety the printer may feel to have his paper as much as possible the vehicle of nothing but what is accept- able to all his readers, in matters of party, the Sv publisher of a country paper, of necessity open to both sides, cannot consider himself answerable for Everything which may appear of that nature." T " To convey to the public true and well-founded ^Jarticles of intelligence," was Raikes' own definition 1 8 Robert Raikes. of his great object in the compilation of his news- paper. ^ It was not always an easy matter to ac- complish that object. Special reports by telegraph or railway were then unknown. For the general intelligence of the week country newspapers had to rely upon newspackets brought by coach from London, and it not unfrequently happened that these packets miscarried. Sometimes, even when they came, they were inaccurate, and the poor printer had to correct one week what he had stated the week before. In nothing does the printer seem to have been more frequently hoaxed than in his intelligence respecting "Births, Mar- riages, and Deaths," — then a most important item in the paper. Some of the contradictions of misstatements under this head are very curious. One lady, writing to deny the report of her own death, indulged in the amiable remark that she was " in good health, and, what is more, hoped to outlive her enemies." With announcements of marriages, it was the cus- . tom frequently to enlarge upon the eligible qualities of the contracting parties. For instance, we read one week: "On Wednesday last were concluded the happy nuptials of honour and virtue, in the persons of the worthy Mr. Charles Jones and the Business Life, 19 accomplished Miss Harrison." Sometimes it is said that the bride has a " handsome fortune," and occasionally even the amount is mentioned as "add- ing to the nuptial joy." The following announce- ment to a correspondent is evidence that Raikes now and then received communications which he deemed too high-flown in their personal praises to be printed: "Presuming that the delicacy of the young lady might possibly be hurt by an address in the newspaper, we must beg leave to decline inserting the intended compliment to Miss P r, of P ck." On the other hand, there is in Raikes' journal a remarkable absence of those scurrilous personalities with which most newspapers of the eighteenth century abounded. Not a single instance of personal abuse can be found in the Gloucester journal during the whole of the many years it was under the control of Robert Raikes. This fact is no slight testimony to the elevated character of the man. Some of his notices to correspondents afford further proof of Raikes' sterling virtue. In the follomng paragraph he attempts to act as a peace- maker : " Our Worcester correspondent will appear in a more amiable character if he will exert the talents he is master of in reconciling his divided 20 Robert Raikes. neighbours rather than in keeping up that spirit of discord which has lately prevailed there." On another occasion Raikes invites an irate corre- spondent to dine with him, and make known his grievance to the printer in private. Frequent references by correspondents to "Mr. Raikes* well-known candour," and to the "truth and ' impartiality " of his paper, show that his manifest • integrity of purpose in business life was generally acknowledged. Probably for this very reason he sometimes found himself entrusted with com- missions that do not generally fall to the lot of literary men. One week, for instance, he announces : " The printer of this journal is desired to procure two hogsheads of the finest, richest, and pleasantest cyder which is to be got. He does not regard price. The cyder is to be compared with the finest cyder that can be procured from Normandy and from Devonshire. It is for a great foreign poten- tate, and it may be of service to this county to have the preference." Raikes' independence in business transactions is shown by the fact that he required " ready money with advertisements," and that he frequently excluded advertisements from his paper to make room for news. Every now and again we read that "by Business Life, 21 reason of the length of the foreign despatches/* or " on account of the important reports of Parliamen- tary debates, a number of advertisements are held over, but will appear next week." There are very few newspaper proprietors who would venture on such an announcement now. CHAPTER III. THE PRISON PHILANTHROPIST. " I was in prison and ye came unto me." — Matt. xxv. 36. THE Sunday-school system, with which the name of Robert Raikes will ever be insepa- rably connected, may be said to have originated in ^the Gloucester gaols. It was there that he learned the direct connection between ignorance and crime, and there he saw the futility of punishing the effect (O without removing the cause. At the time he suc- ceeded to the proprietorship of the Gloucester Jour- naif there were two gaols in Gloucester, — one for the county, the other for the city. The county gaol consisted of a portion of Gloucester Castle, a for- tress built in the reign of William the Conqueror, at which time Gloucester was occasionally a royal, residence, by Walter, the Constable of England. Beneath its ancient walls ran an arm of the river Severn. After the fifteenth century the castle fell into a state of desuetude, and early in the eightet nth The Prison Philanthropist 23 century the less dilapidated portion was turned into a prison. Its condition, when Raikes first knew it, was simply horrible. Though from forty to sixty fresh prisoners were received within its walls every week, there was but one court for them all. The day-room for men and women felons was only twelve feet long by eleven feet broad. Persons imprisoned for debt, of whom there was always a great number, were huddled together in a d?n fourteen feet by eleven, without windows, and with no provision for admitting light and air save a hole broken in the plaster wall. In the upper part of the building was a close dark room called " the main," in which the male felons were kept during the night, and the floor of this apartment was so ruinous that it could not be washed. Directly opposite the stairs leading to this sleeping-room was a large dung-hill. Owing to the utter absence of all sanitary arrangements, the whole place continually reeked with infection, and deaths were of constant occurrence. Sometimes as many as a dozen victims succumbed in a month. As far as the debtors were concerned, the only wonder is that any of them survived. No provision of any kind was made to keep them alive. No allowance was granted them, either of food or money, nor was any opportunity 24 Robert Raikes, given them of earning anything. At night, unless they could afford to pay for beds, they were obliged to lie upon straw, and for clothing as for food they were entirely dependent upon their own resources or the charity of the benevolent. The prisoners committed for felony, though, as a rule, less de- serving, were a little better treated. They were provided with beds and clothing, and allowed a sixpenny loaf every two days. The indiscriminate hoarding together of debtors and felons, men and women, child offenders and hardened criminals, was productive of the most fearful immorality. Every new inmate, on entering this den of iniquity, was required by his fellow-prisoners to pay a certain sum of money, called " garnish," which was imme- diately spent in beer, bought from the gaoler, who eked out his erholuments by the profits derived from this trade. The gaoler had no salary, but was paid by fees. Attempts to escape were of frequent occurrence, and as the place was most inefficiently guarded, they were often successful. Scarcely less deplorable was the condition of the city prison, an old building forming part of the north gate, one of the four gates which then stood at the principal entrances to the city. The gaoler received no salary, and paid the sheriff;^ 4 14^. a The Prison Philanthropist. 25 year for his situation. All the inmates— debtorsj felons, and petty offenders — who could not pay foi beds, were kept together in " the main " room, the women being separated from the other prisoners at night. There was no court, but the debtors had the " privilege " of walking upon the leads. In the matter of provisions, however, the debtors in the city gaol were much better off than their brethren in the castle, for they received three shillings a week and threepenny worth of bread per day, with "garnish." For years before the celebrated John Howard commenced his prison crusade, Robert Raikes had been unostentatiously labouring among the miser- able inmates of Gloucester Castle. His first efforts seem to have been to provide the necessaries of life for the imprisoned debtors, and with this object he was earnest in his solicitations, both through the channel of his newspaper and by personal applica- tions to his friends. As early as 1768 we find in the Journal many such paragraphs as the following : — "The prisoners confined in the castle, without allowance and mthout the means of subsistence by labour, most humbly entreat some little assistance from those who can pity their wretchedness. The 26 Robert Raikes. favours they have heretofore received will ever be remembered with gratitude." " The unhappy wretches who are confined in our county gaol for small crimes which are not deemed felonies (for felons have an allowance of bread) are in so deplorable a state that several of them would have perished with hunger but for the humanity of the felonS) who have divided with them their little pittance. A person who looked into the prison on Saturday morning was assured that several had not tasted food for two or three days before. Were a county Bridewell established they might then work for their subsistence. The boilings of pots or the sweepings of pantries would be well bestowed on these poor wretches. Benefactions for their use will be received by the printer of this journal." " The little sums which have been deposited by the benevolent in the hands of the printer of this journal, for the relief of the necessities of those persons who are confined in the castle without any allowance, are now exhausted. There are near twenty persons entirely destitute of support or the means of acquiring it." In response to these appeals Raikes received many contributions, which he personally distri- TJu Prison Philanthropist. 27 buted among the most needy cases in the gaol John Howard, who visited Gloucester county gaol in 1773, and dined at Mr. Raikes' table, thus bears testimony to the value of his labours : " In September the felons were very pitiable objects indeed, — half-naked and almost famished. In December their appearance was much altered. Mr. Raikes and other gentlemen took • pity on them, and generously contributed towards their feeding and clothing. Mr. Raikes continues his unremitting attention to the prisoners." Raikes did not content himself with relieving the temporal necessities of the prisoners. He cared also for their moral and spiritual wants. Frequently mixing among them, he endeavoured to awaken within them aspirations towards a better life. To those who were able to read he supplied good books, and he encouraged them by precept and example to instruct their less favoured fellow-prisoners. For all who were able and willing to work he endeavoured to find some kind of occupation, and he ever strove to inculcate among them the Christian principle of kindness one towards the other. To his labours in this direction the following valuable testimony is borne by the Rev. Samuel Glasse, D.D., a contemporary and friend 28 Robert Raikes. of Raikes, whom he termed " The father of the poor " : — " Whereas extreme ignorance was very properly considered by him as the principal cause of those enormities which brought them into their deplor- able situation, precluding all hope of any lasting or real amendment from their punishment, his \ great desire was, if possible, to procure for them ^ some moral and -religious instruction. If, among the prisoners, he found one that was able to read, he gladly made use of him to instruct his fellow- prisoners, encouraging his diligence and fidelity in this undertaking by pecuniary rewards, and pro- curing for him such other kinds of indulgence as his situation would admit of. Having thus put them in a method of improving their time, he has met with instances of persons, especially among the younger offenders, who have attained to a com- petent proficiency in reading, which has 'served both as an amusement to them during their confine- ment, and as a recommendation of them in their restoration to the community. It may more easily be conceived than expressed what that benevolent heart must have felt (and this pleasure he has often received) when he has heard the prisoner thank God that, by being detected in his crimes, appre- The Prison Philanthropist. 29 hended, and imprisoned, he has had opportunities afforded him of learning that good which otherwise he would probably have never known in his whole life. The choice of books being judiciously made, and religious instruction going hand-in-hand with other information, the teacher himself has often learnt while he was instructing others, and, from the very nature of his employment, became im- perceptibly a better man. But the care of this philanthropist was not confined merely to the busi- ness of literary improvement : it was not less his desire to form their hearts, if it were possible, to sentiments of kindness to each other. Indeed, it was one of his principal endeavours to subdue in them, if it were possible, that savage ferocity of temper and behaviour which only served to ren der their situation more hateful and intolerable. Observing that idleness was the parent of much mischief among them, and that they quarrelled with one another because they had nothing else to do, he endeavoured to procure employment for such as were willing, or even permitted, to work." By none were Howard's philanthropic schemes more warmly supported than by Robert Raikes. For years before Howard discovered the enormity of the then existing prison system, Raikes had been 30 Robert Raikes, denouncing in the columns of his newspaper the flagrant abuses connected with the Gloucester gaols, which he contended could be remedied only by a radical reform. Through the exertions of Howard and Sir George Paul that reform was ultimately brought about. The first step towards it was in 1774, when, by the efforts of Howard, two Bills were passed through Parliament, one abolish- ing gaolers' fees and assigning to gaolers a fixed remuneration out of the county rates, and the other requiring magistrates to provide for the white-washing and cleansing of prisons, the es- tablishment of gaol infirmaries, and the proper care of prisoners. Ten years later, Gloucester Castle and its site were ceded by the Crown to the county of Gloucester, and shortly afterwards, thanks to the energy of Howard and Sir George Paul, whose plans ever had the warm support of Robert Raikes, the old county prison was abolished, and a new and commodious one, still in existence, was erected in its place. In this building, to which the prisoners from the city gaol were subsequently transferred, the separate system of Sir George Paul was first reduced to practice. To show the contrast between the old and new gaols, we may quote a statement in Miss Bumey's The Prison Philanthropist. 31 diary, July 19th, 1788, narrating a visit to Glou- cester. With reference to the prison, whither she was conducted by Mr. Raikes and his family, she wrote : — " Next they carried us to the gaol, to show us in how small a space, I suppose, human beings can live as well as die or be dead. The gaol is admirably constructed for its proper purpose — confinement and punishment. Every culprit is to have a separate cell ; every cell is clean, neat, and small, looking towards a wide expanse of country, and, far more fitted to his supplications, a wide expanse of the heavens. An air of cleanliness and health seem to be considered, but no other in- dulgence." While seeking to show his practical sympathy with the inmates of the gaol, Raikes often took the- opportunity of illustrating, by a reference to their wretchedness, the contrast between the happiness of a path of virtue and the misery of a path of vice. His paper abounded with such reflections on this subject. Recording one week the deaths of several prisoners, he ^vrote : " It were well if those unthinking people who now enjoy but abuse their life and liberty to the violation of the law and the detriment of society, would reflect on the 3 Robert Raikes, danger of infection and the other miseries that await them in a crowded prison." In June, 1783, in mentioning that no less than sixty-six persons were committed to the castle in one week, he added : " The prison is already so full that all the gaoler's stock of fetters is occupied, and the smiths are hard at work casting new ones. Could unhappy ^vretches see the misery that awaits them in a crowded ga®l they would surely relinquish the gratifications that reduce theip to such a state of wretchedness." As showing that he recognised one of the chief causes of crime, there follows this significant remark : **The people sent in are neither disappointed soldiers nor sailors, but chiefly frequenters of alehouses and skittle-alleys." Another paragraph says : " The ships about to sail for Botany Bay will carry about one thousand miserable creatures, who might have lived per- haps happily in this country had they been early taught good principles and to avoid the danger of associating with those who make sobriety and industry objects of their ridicule." In 1790 a man named John Weaver, who had been con- victed of stealing two geese, was ordered to be transported for seven years. "This practice," says a paragraph in the Totirnal, "of robbing the The Prison Philanthropist, 33 farmers of their poultry is become so general that the Court is determined to put a stop to it as far as a severe punishment can contribute to that desirable object. It will be a dear price to pay for a couple of geese, — not only the forfeiture of liberty, but the confinement for ten or eleven months in the hold of a crowded ship, and then to be landed in a distant country, from whence the means of return are utterly hopeless." These are specimens of large numbers of paragraphs to be found in the journal while Raikes was its " printer." Among many striking incidents of gaol life which came under Raikes' notice was the follow- ing : A man named Daniel Munday had been committed to prison for stealing wood. He was a great swearer. One night, while uttering some blasphemous imprecations, his brother, who was also in prison, reproved him. Daniel continued his language, and called on his Maker to strike him dumb if he did not hang himself Next morning the turnkey found him in bed at a late hour, " and supposing he lay there from sulkiness or ill-humour gave him some blows with a stick." Munday made signs that he was dumb, and this was found to be the case. He continued speech- less for several days, and for some time after his 34 Robert Raikes. speech was restored he was "very exemplary in his behaviour and thankful to any of his fellow- prisoners who would read to him." His contrition was, however, short-lived. Two years later, a clergy- man at North Nibley, writing to the Journal ^ said that Munday was engaged in repairing a well in that village, and was about to descend with some materials, when his companion begged him to remain on the bank, as a portion of the wall had fallen in. Munday, using an oath, declared he would go, whatever the consequences, and he commenced his descent. " The words were hardly out of his mouth when ten feet of the top of the wall fell in on the unhappy wretch and carried him to the bottom." His dead body was recovered some hours afterwards CHAPTER IV. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS. ** It is my wish that every poor child in my kingdom should be taught to read the Bible." — George III. BEFORE dealing with the circumstances of that which constitutes Robert Raikes' chief claim to the reverence of a grateful posterity — the part he took in the estabhshment of Sunday- schools, — it may perhaps save misapprehension at once to define the limits of his share in that work. Many controversies have waged round the question, Was Raikes the founder of Sunday-schools ? The answer is entirely dependent upon the construc- tion put upon the word "founder." If by "the founder of Sunday-schools " is meant the person with whom the idea of imparting education to the young on the Lord's day first originated, or by whom that idea was first carried into execution, Raikes is not entitled to the description. Years before Raikes commenced his work, the notion of Sunday instruction had presented itself to 36 Robert Raikes. several philanthropic individuals in various parts of the country, and was in isolated cases put into practice. In one sense of the term, therefore, each of these persons has a prior claim to Raikes to the title of " founder of Sunday-schools." Again, if by the term "founder" is meant the person to whom alone the establishment of Sun- day-schools is due, to the exclusion of all parti- cipation in the work on the part of others, Raikes cannot lay claim to the honour; nor indeed can any other individual. In the whole of his labours Raikes had several most valuable co-workers, and to one, at least — the Rev. Thomas Stock — ^belongs almost, if not quite, as much credit for the in- stitution of schools in Gloucester as to Raikes ^himself. Raikes' distinctive honour lies in the fact that, having in common with several other kindred spirits perceived the advantages that would attend Sunday teaching, he did not content himself, as did others, with establishing a school or schools in his own neighbourhood, but by means of his newspaper and other organs of public opinion he recommended the practice far and wide, and never ceased his advocacy till the scheme was generally adopted throughout the land. The movement, hitherto unheard of save in a few The Establishment of Sunday Schools. 37 provincial towns and villages, was by him brought into the light of day. In vigorous language he introduced it to all classes of readers. From cottager to king, all learned of the new institu- tion through Robert Raikes. He raised Sunday teaching from a fortuitous rarity into a universal system. He found the practice local : he made it national. It is upon this ground that admirers of Raikes rest his claim to the honoured title of " founder of Sunday-schools." The principles upon which Sunday-schools are based being as old as Christianity itself, it is not surprising to find those principles reduced to practice in numerous instances prior to the esta- blishment of the Sunday-school system by Robert Raikes. As early as the sixteenth century Saint Charles Borromeo, nephew of Pope Pius V., and Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, founded in the parishes of his diocese a number of Sunday- schools of which many continue to the present day. He died in 1584, at the age of forty-six. About a hundred years later, the Rev. Joseph Alleine, an eminent Nonconformist of Taunton, and author of the " Alarm to the Unconverted," adopted the plan of gathering the young together for instruction on the Lord's day. In the county of Gloucester. 3^ Robert Raikes, years before Raikes was born, Mrs. Catherine Boevey, of Flaxley Abbey, had one of the earliest, and certainly one of the pleasantest, Sunday- schools on record. Her monument in Flaxley Church, erected after her death in 1726, records her " clothing and feeding her indigent neighbours and teaching their children, some of whom every Sunday by turns she entertained at her house and condescended to examine them herself" "Six of the poor children," it is elsewhere stated, "by turns dined at her residence on Sundays, and were afterwards heard say the catechism." In America, \ a Sunday-school was founded between 1740 and 1747 by one Ludwig Hacker, at Ephrata, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, among the German Seventh- day Baptists settled there. After the battle of Brandy-wine, fought between the American colonists and the British troops in 1777, the schoolroom was used as an hospital, and this event occasioned the breaking up of the school. In 1763-4 a Sunday- school was established at Catterick, Yorkshire, by the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, conjointly with a benevolent lady named Cappe. Miss Hannah Ball, a young Methodist lady, living at High Wycombe, started a Sunday-school in her native town in 1769. Writing to John Wesley in 1770 The Establishment of Sunday Schools. 39 she said : " The children meet twice a week, — every Sunday and Monday. They are a wild little company, but seem willing to be instructed. I labour among them earnestly, desiring to promote the interest of the Church of Christ." Another school, on a somewhat humble scale, was esta- blished at Little Lever, a village four miles from Bolton, Lancashire, by a poor man named James Hey, or, as he was more generally termed, " Old Jemmy o' th' Hey." " Old Jemmy " employed the working days of the week in ^vinding bobbins for weavers, and on Sundays he taught the boys and girls of the neighbourhood reading. His school assembled twice each Sunday in the cottage of a neighbour, and the time of commencing was announced by the ringing, not of a bell, but of an excellent substitute — an old brass pestle and mortar ! After a while, Mr. Adam Compton, a paper manufacturer in the neighbourhood, began to supply Jemmy with books^ and subscriptions in money were given him. He was thus enabled to form three branch establishments, the teachers of which were paid one shilling each per Sunday for their services. In 1778, a Sunday-school was commenced in Macclesfield by the Rev. David Simpson. And in the same year it is said that 40 Robert Raikes. the Rev. Thomas Stock — afterwards Raikes' co- worker in Gloucester — had a Sunday-school at Ashbury, in Berkshire. -, There can be no doubt that Robert Raikes' labours in the establishment of Sunday-schools were the direct sequence of his philanthropic work in the Gloucester gaols. This is clearly brought out in the following narrative, written by the Rev. Dr. Glasse, a personal friend of Raikes, eight years after the first school in Gloucester had been started : — " Mr. Raikes could not but have found, from painful experience, what up-hill work he was en- gaged in while he was endeavouring to humanize those dispositions which had been long inured to habits of uncontrolled ferocity and self-will. He could not but have observed the slowness and dul- ness of scholars unhabituated to any application of the mind except to mischief, and must needs have seen with concern how very unsusceptible even such as were willing to learn were of literary, moral, or religious instruction. He could not but have fre- quently reflected, in his intercourse with those wretched delinquents, on the profound ignorance in whieh they had grown up to maturity in an utter contempt of the wholesome restraints, and a pro- fessed disregard of the sacred duties, of religion. The Establishment of Sunday Schools. 41 "The return of every Sabbath, which gave liberty to the lower classes of the people to show themselves, exhibited to his view multitudes of the rising generation of the poor, pursuing, as he con- ceived, precisely the same plan which had been so unfortunately adopted by those already mentioned within the walls of the prison. The streets were full of noise and disturbance every Sunday, the churches were totally unfrequented by the poorer sort of children, and Very ill-attended by their pa- rents : they were nowhere to be seen employed as they ought to be. Had they been disposed to learn or attend to anything that was good, their parents were neither willing nor able to teach or to direct them; they were therefore a perpetual nuisance to the sober part of the community. They were riotous, impudent, and regardless of all authority whatsoever in their mode of behaviour, disrespectful in the extreme, and frequently detected in such petty offences as plainly indicated that they were on the high road to perdition, iinless something; could be dnnft W rtrnrnr thrm It occurred to him, and to a worthy clergyman (Mr. Stock), to whom he complained of the dissolute state of these poor children, that infinite would be the benefit, as well to the community as themselves, if any method 42 Robert Raikes, could be contrived of lapng them under some proper restraint and instilling some good princi- ples into their minds. " The foundation, they well knew, must be laid in the fear and love of God, in a reverence for the duties of religion, and for all things relating to the Divine honour and service. Mr. Raikes soon began to make known his intentions to the parents, and without much difficulty obtained their consent that their children should meet him at the early service performed in the cathedral on a Sunday morning. The numbers at first were small, but their increase was rapid. The gentleness of his behaviour towards them ; the allowance they found him disposed to make for their former misbe- haviour, which was merely from a want of a better information; the amiable picture which he drew for them when he represented kindness and bene- volence to each othei as the source of real happi- ness, and wickedness, malice, hatred, and ill-will as the cause of all the misery in the world ; the in- terest which they soon discovered him to have in their welfare, which appeared in his minute inquiries into their conduct, their attainments, their situation, and every particular of their lives — all these cir- cumstances soon induced them to fly with eager The Establishment of Sunday Schools. 43 ness to receive the commands and be edified by the instruction of their best friend. " Mr. Raikes very soon saw himself surrounded by such a set of little ragamuffins as would have disgusted other men less zealous to do good and less earnest to disseminate comfort, exhortation, and benefit to all around him than the founder of the Sunday-schools. The children now began to look up to him with such a mixture of respect and attention as endeared them to him and interested him still more and more in their welfare. At first they were, as may be supposed, utter strangers to the common forms of public worship, and it required some time to drill them to a decent observation even of the outward ceremonies of religion — I mean, to teach them to kneel, stand, and sit down in the different parts of the service. But they had their eyes fixed on their commander-in-chief, and they borrowed every motion from him before they could be made acquainted with the reason of it. " But it was by no means his desire or inten- tion that their observances of the Sabbath should end here. To prevent their running about in wild disorder through the streets during the rest of the day was the great object which he had in view, and to place them under the care of proper persons to 44 Robert Raikes. instruct them in their Christian duty was the pre- vailing object of his wishes. But how to effect this, and whence the resources were to arise, ^ Hie Idbor^ hoc opus* " He lost no time in communicating his ideas to those of his friends who were as sensible of the need of some reform in this respect as himself, and a sufficient sum of money was speedily raised to procure masters and mistresses for a large number of children of both sexes to be educated in the principles of Christianity. The city of Gloucester soon began to wear a very different aspect on the Lord's day. Instead of noise and riot, all was tranquility and peace ; instead of quar- relling and fighting, as heretofore, all was concord and harmony ; instead of lying, swearing, and all kinds of profligacy, the children gradually imbibed principles of honesty and truth, of modesty and humility ; instead of loitering about the streets in a state of indolence as painful to the observer as it was to themselves, they were, now seen in decent regularity frequenting the places of public worship, evidently much happier in themselves than in their former state of irreligious idleness. " The labours of the teachers have been much assisted, and their success has been promoted, by The Establishment of Sunday Schools. 45 the unwearied attention of Mr. Raikes to these children on every Sunday morning. When the early service is ended, it has been his constant practice to enquire minutely into their conduct, and even to inspect their persons, to reprove such as came dirty and slovenly, and to commend those that were neat and decent, however homely, in their apparel. The distribution of little rewards, and the slightest expression of displeasure from the man they love, has each its proper effect ; and even the external appearance of these children demon- strates their advancement not less in civilization than morality." Another link between Raikes' labours in prison and school has been placed on record by the daughter of a Mr. William King, a woollen card- maker of Dursley, who formed a Sunday-school in his native town some time before Raikes' movement. Mr. King's efforts failed for want of co-operation, but Mr. King himself never lost faith in the plan. The manner in which he was brought into contact with Raikes is related by his daughter, as follows : — " My honoured father, Mr. King, being on business at Painswick one Saturday, was informed that there 46 Robert Raikes. were two men to suffer death at Gloucester. Instead of returning home to Dursley, his strong feeling led him to Gloucester to try if he could see and converse with them, intending to spend the night with them, if permitted, but the keeper of the prison thought it not proper, as they were desperate characters. He abode in Gloucester that night, and next morn- ing called on Mr. Raikes. Both walked together by the Island (one of the lowest parts of the city of Gloucester), where were many boys at different sports. My father said, * What a pity the Sabbath should be so desecrated ! ' Mr. Raikes answered, * How is it to be altered ? * * Sir, open a Sunday- school, as I have opened one at Dursley, with the help of a faithful journeyman ; but the multitude of business prevents me from spending so much time in it as I could wish, as I feel I want rest.' Mr. Raikes replied, * It will not do for Dissenters ' (as my father belonged to the Tabernacle, being one of the Rev. G. Whitefield's followers). 'Then,' my father answered, ' Then, why not the Church do it ? * Mr. Raikes named this to a clergyman of the name of Stock, who paid a person to teach a few." Mr. Raikes' objection to the scheme being origin- ated by Dissenters was doubtless prompted by the The Establishment of Sunday Schools, 47 fear that if it became identified with any Noncon- formist body, the Established Church, blinded by the mistaken prejudice of the age, would refuse to take it up. Hence he was desirous that the system should originate with the Church, knoAving, doubt- less, that its evident capabilities for good would speedily recommend it to the Nonconformists. In the prison itself Mr. Raikes would find ample evidence of the direct connection between igno- rance and crime. That this connection did not escape his notice is proved by numerous references to it in his writings. Here, for instance, is a state- ment he makes about a young man who was executed at the gaol for housebreaking : " He had never received the smallest instruction. He had never offered up a prayer to his Creator. He said he knew not how to pray. He was totally devoid of all sense of a future state." In his business life, required as he was to keep himself well acquainted with the condition of con- temporary society, Raikes could not fail to note that the neglected state of the juvenile population was one of the most alarming evils of the day. Very few of the children of the poor received the benefits of any education. As soon as they were able to do anything they were put to work, and in 4 48 Robert Raikes. heir intervals of leisure, of which Sunday was the chief, they were left altogether without restraint. "Ignorant, profane, filthy, and disorderly in the extreme," is one out of many similar descriptions which Raikes gives of the children he saw around him. As were the children, so were the parents. Said the Bishop of Chester, in 1786 : " Our houses cannot secure us from outrage, nor can we rest mth safety in our beds. The number of criminals in- creases so rapidly that our gaols are unable to con- tain them, and the magistrates are at a loss how to dispose of them. Our penal code is already suffi- ciently sanguinary, and our executions sufficiently numerous to strike terror into the populace; yet they have not hitherto produced any material alter- ation for the better, and were they multiplied a hundredfold they would probably fail of the desired effect." It was with this deplorable state of things that Raikes set himself to grapple. Prepared, as he was, by his previous experience, to see the advan- tages likely to accrue from Sunday-schools, it needed some more immediate impulse to bring him to the definite decision of founding so novel an institution. The necessary impulse came, as he himself tells us, by accident. The following is the The Establishment of Sunday Schools. 49 account which he gives of the affair in a letter to Colonel Townley, of Sheffield, who had written to the then Mayor of Gloucester for information re- specting Sunday-schools :— * Gloucester, November, 2$f^, 1783. "Sir, — My friend the Mayor has just commu- nicated to me the letter which you have honoured him with, inquiring into the nature of Sunday- schools. The beginning of this scheme was en- tirely owing to accident. Some business leading me one morning into the suburbs of the city, where the lowest of the people (who are principally employed in the pin manufactory) chiefly reside, I was struck with concern at seeing a group of children, wretchedly ragged, at play in the streets. I asked an inhabitant whether those children belonged to that part of the town, and lamented their misery and idleness. ' Ah ! sir,' said the woman to whom I was speaking, ' could you take a view of this part of the town on a Sunday, you would be shocked indeed; for then the street is filled with multitudes of these wretches, who, re- leased that day from employment, spend their time in noise and riot, playing at " chuck," and cursing and swearing in a manner so horrid as to convey 50 Robert Raikes. to any serious mind an idea of hell, rather than any other place. We have a worthy clergyman/ (said she) * curate of our parish, who has put some of them to school, but upon the Sabbath they are all given up to follow their own inclinations without restraint, as their parents, totally abandoned them- selves, have no idea of instilling into the minds of their children principles to which they themselves are entire strangers.' " This conversation suggested to me that it would be at least a harmless attempt, if it were productive of no good, should some little plan be formed to check the deplorable profanation of the Sabbath. I then enquired of the woman if there were any decent, well-disposed women in the neighbourhood who kept schools for teaching to read. I presently was directed to four. To these I appHed, and made an agreement with them to receive as many children as I should send upon the Sunday, whom they were to instruct in reading and in the Church catechism. For this I engaged to pay them each a shilling for their day's employ- ment. The women seemed pleased with the pro- posal. I then waited on the clergyman before mentioned and imparted to him my plan. He was so much satisfied with the idea that he engaged The Estahlishment of Sunday Schools. 5 1 to lend his assistance by going round to the schools on a Sunday afternoon to examine the progress that was made and to enforce order and decorum among such a set of little heathens." In a letter to the Armiman Magazine, dated June 5th, 1785, Mr. Raikes gives, somewhat less in detail, the same account of the circumstances under which he established his first school. He says : — " I have not had leisure to give the public an earlier account of my plan for a reform of the rising generation by establishing schools where poor children may be received upon the Sunday and there engaged in learning to read and to re- peat their catechism or anything else that may be deemed proper to open their minds to a knowledge of their duty to God, to their neighbours, and themselves. The utility of an establishment of this sort was first suggested by a group of miserable little wretches whom I observed one day in the street where many people employed in the pin manufactory reside. I was expressing my concern to one at their forlorn and neglected state, and was told that if I were to pass through that street upon Sundays it would shock me indeed to see 5 2 Robert Raikes. the crowds of children who were spending that sacred day in noise and riot, to the extreme annoyance of all decent people. I immediately determined to make some little effort to remedy the evil. Having found four persons who had been accustomed to instruct children in reading, I engaged to pay the sum they required for receiving and instructing such children as I should send to them every Sunday. The children were to come soon after ten in the morning and stay till twelve ; they were then to go home and return at one, and after reading a lesson they were to be conducted to church. After church they were to be employed in repeating the catechism till half after five, and then to be dismissed, with an injunction to go home without making a noise, and by no means to play in the streets. This was the general out- line of the regulations. With regard to the parents I went round to remonstrate with them on the melancholy consequences that must ensue from so fatal a neglect of their children's morals. They alleged that their poverty rendered them incapable of cleaning and clothing their children fit to appear either at school or at church. But this objection was obviated by a remark that if they were clad in a garb fit to appear in the streets I should not The Establishment of Sunday Schools. 5 3 think it improper for a school calculated to admit the poorest and most neglected. All that I required were clean faces, clean hands, and the hair combed. In other respects they were to come as their circumstances would admit. In a little time the people perceived the advantage. One or two clergymen gave their assistance by going round to the schools on the Sunday afternoon to hear the children their catechism. This was of great consequence. Another clergyman hears them their catechism once a quarter publicly in church, and re- wards their good behaviour with some little gratuity.'* The scene of Raikes' memorable conversation with the woman, as narrated in his letter to Colonel Townley, is supposed to have been an open space near the Severn, in one of the lowest parts of Gloucester, known as St. Catherine's meadows. Raikes' errand in this quarter was, we are told, to hire a gardener. The man whom he went to engage was from home, and it was while waiting for his return that Raikes had the momentous interview with the woman (the man's wife) which finally determined him to take action for the formation of Sunday-schools. In the same neigh- bourhood was situated the pin manufactory of which Raikes speaks. 54 Robert Raikes. At one time Gloucester was famous for its pin- making, and there is a tradition that the invention of pins was due to the ingenuity of an inhabitant of Gloucester, named Tilsby. This tradition was incorporated in the following verse composed at Gloucester by Charles Dibdin : — " The ladies, Heaven bless them all I As sure as I've a nose on, In former times had only thorns And skewers to stick their clothes on. No damsel then w^as worth a pin, Whate'er it might have cost her, Till gentle Johnny Tilsby Invented pins in Gloucester." The art of nin-making has long since passed away from Gloucester, but in Raikes' day it was one of the staple industries of the city, and afforded occupation to a large number of workers, princi- pally children. The clergyman to whom Raikes represents him- self as going was the Rev. Thomas Stock, at that time head-master of the Cathedral grammar school Mr. Stock was born in 1750, and was consequently Raikes' junior by fifteen years. He went to Oxford at the age of seventeen, and after taking his degree of M.A. he remained for some years as TJu Establishment of Stmday Schools. 5 5 a fellow of Pembroke College. The first scene of his ministrations was the village of Ashbury, in Berkshire, where he was accustomed to collect the children together in the chancel of the church on Sundays for the purpose of giving them religious instruction. In 1777 he was appointed head-master of the Gloucester Cathedral school by the Dean and Chapter. In the following year the Bishop of Gloucester presented him to the vicarage of Glas- bury, in the diocese of St. David's, and the Bishop of St. David's was pleased to dispense with his residence at Glasbury in order to enable him to continue the care of his school. For many years, in addition to the mastership of the Cathedral school, he held two important livings in the city of Gloucester — the rectory of St. John the Baptist and the perpetual curacy of St. Aldate. For some time, probably before his presentation to these livings, he was curate of Hempstead, a village about two miles from Gloucester. He is described by one of his contemporaries as " a man of great literary attainments and most exemplary conduct, who made it the business and pleasure of his life to go about doing good by instruc- tion in righteousness and in works of charity, yet who never sought the applause of men." The 5^ Robert Raikes. Gloucester Journal, recording his death on Decem- ber 27th, 1803, sums up his character in the fol- lowing glowing terms : — " Possessed with sincere and ardent piety,- with fervent and active charity — devout and impressive in the services of his ministry — eloquent and ani- mated in the preaching of those awful truths of which diligent investigation had convinced his correct and learned mind — attentive, affecting, and solacing in his visitation of those who were sinking under the weight of sickness or the terror of death — scrupulously just in all his dealings — inoffensive, kind, and cheerful in domestic and social life — he mil long live esteemed and lamented in the memories of his parishioners, his acquain- tance, his family, and his friends." This was the man to whom Raikes, at the very commencement of his work, appealed for counsel and co-operation. He did not appeal in vain. So thoroughly did Stock enter into the movement from its earliest stages that he appears to have had almost as much to do with the starting of schools in Gloucester as Raikes himself. Some even claim for him the credit of the original sug- gestion, which they say was communicated by him to Raikes and carried into effect by the combined The Establishment of Siinday- schools. 57 efforts of them both. Mr. Stock's own account of the affair, as given in a letter to a provincial paper, dated February 2nd, 1788, is as follows : — "The undertaking originated in the parish of St. John's, in this city, of which I was curate. The fact is as follows : Mr. Raikes meeting me one day by accident at my door, and, in the course of the conversation, lamenting the deplorable state of the lower classes of mankind, took particular notice of the situation of the poorer children. I had made, I replied, the same observation, and told him if he would accompany me into my own parish we would make some attempt to remedy the evil. We immediately proceeded to the busi- »'iess, and, procuring the names of about ninety children, placed them under the care of four per- sons for a stated number of hours on the Sunday. As minister of the parish, I took upon me the principal superintendence of the schools and one- third of the expense. The progress of this in stitution through the kingdom is justly attributed to the constant representations which Mr. Raikes made in his own paper of the benefits which he perceived would probably arise from it." It does not appear from the above narrative 5^ Robert Raikes. that Mr. Stock claimed for himself the credit of first suggesting Sunday-schools in Gloucester : he rather seems to represent Mr. Raikes and him- self as being both impressed with the greatness of the evil, both recognising Sabbath instruction as a probable remedy, and both co-operating in an endeavour to try the experiment in practice. This is substantially the story told by Raikes in his letter to Colonel Townley. The discrepancies on points of detail between the two accounts may be explained by supposing that Mr. Raikes had been thinking of Sunday-schools, and had taken some steps for their formation, before his interview with Mr. Stock ; and that Mr. Stock, having had similar thoughts, expressed them at this interview, and