LITERARY INSTITUTIONS C^dr 3Rdatt0tt to pufiltc ©jpuitotr. AN ESSAY WRITTEN FOR THB LONDON LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. BY GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE. DEDICATED TO THE CITY MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION, GOULD SQUARE, CRUTCHED FRIARS. LONDON : 3 . WATSOK, 3, QUEEN’S HEAD PASSAGE, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCXLIX, \ ©ftiication. TO JOHN ROBINSON, ESQ., THE FOUNDER, AND TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE. Twelve months ago the London Literary and Scientific Institution offered a Prize for the best Essay on the ‘ Cha^ racteristics and Advantages of Literary and Scientific Insti- tutions — their claims to the support of society, and the best means of extending their usefulness.’ There was finesse in the advertisement making this proposal public, which seemed to me unbecoming the seriousness of the X^subject, and the dignity of that Institution. It repelled me till ' ^ the representations of others induced me to write, who urged that 1 might find in the competition an opportunity of bring-^ ^ing suggestions on the proposed subject, before persons I otherwise inaccessible to such views. It was expected that each writer would make the Institu- tion which offered the prize the model upon which he would descant. The model did not seem to me exactly perfect, and K ^ (though not quite safe in a Prize Essay) I preferred to take an independent course ; and after the second chapter of the X following Essay I gave, it will be seen, free rein to this taste, and in this spirit a new title has been adopted. Of the award, which has been made to my friend Mr. Mottram, there can be no question, either on personal or DEDICATION. i?" public grounds. The judgment of the adjudicators is not to be impugned, and their honour is above suspicion. As a writer so readily persuades himself that what he has written ought to be read, I am open to the imputation of having yielded entirely to that seduction which betrays so many into print. But fortunately the adjudicators — (Dr. South wood Smith, George Grote, and James W. Gilbart), have specified this Essay, in their adjudicatory sentence, among ^the very creditable performances exhibiting sepa- rate passages which they should be glad to single out for reward.’ A stronger reason, however, with me is my desire to offer a public testimony to the Gould Square Institution — the only Mechanics’ Institution I have ever known (and I have known them extensively) in which the principle of manly discipline which I have commended — the entertainment of all questions — is a fundamental condition of its existence. Whose name can I more appropriately associate with this effort than that of John Robinson, whose intelligent enterprise founded this Institution — whose discernment perceived the principle on which the greatest utility of such societies could be de- veloped, and whose courage and judgment have preserved it in healthy practice ? With that Institution in which the Ksechanic is not mocked by the pretence of instructing him in the improvement of his position, v.^hile knowledge of the most importance to him, the very knowledge of progress, is denied him — with that Institution where no man’s conscience is outraged, and where no man’s voice is hushed, I am proud to associate this Essay on Literary and Scientific Institutions, and their Relation to Public Opinion. George Jacob Holyoake. 17> Woburn Buildings, Tavistock Square, November, 1849. LITERARY & SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS, CHAPTER I. RELATION OF THESE INSTITUTIONS TO THE WANTS OF THE AGE. To theorise merely upon this question is impossible to, the present writer. It is a question which he feels, and sentiment commingles with judgment in what he offers for its solution. He does not pause to ask what will be expected in this Essay. He contents himself with expressing what his personal experience and reflec- tion dictate ought to be said. In this state of feeling he will probably write less acceptably than otherwise he might, but he may speak more instructively. This is his apology for any strangeness in classification or plainness of speech. It is therefore that he commences by stating the Relation of Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics’ Institutions to the Wants of the Age. The right understanding of their benefits, the increase of their efficiency, and the extension of their operations, seem to him to depend on this relation. Literary and Scientific Institu- tions are a feature of the transition of society towards higher civilisation. There was no place for them a century ago — they will probably have exhausted their present functions in a century or two to come.* But in this day the future depends upon them. We are not far from the period when the Arts and Sciences re- sided exclusively in the Colleges, and ministered only to the sons of opulence and leisure. At length they emerged from the cloister, and condescended to become the handmaids of a favoured few of the people. But it was doubted whether all men would ever be able, or indeed ought to be able, to read, write, and accompt. Slowly the possibility and desirability of general elementary knowledge began to be admitted. At last its dif- fusion became a passion with a few far-seeing and generous scholars, who proposed to offer to adults what had been denied them when children. As the success of commerce and manufac- tures in this country had elevated many of the poor to the ranks of the rich, and created a Middle Class, it was found that those in want of instruction comprised a various body — and hence Mechanics’, Literary, and Scientific Institutions were invented and adapted to the exigences of these several classes. These Institutions were not designed to supersede Colleges, nor to be exactly auxiliaries to them ; but to be Colleges to those who else had no Colleges. Since it was not possible to give all * The writer refers to the time when the tuition of youth will be general, and when these Institutions will have to confirm and illustrate that knowledge which they now inculcate. This will be their next stage. 6 LITE BABY INSTITUTIONS t knowledge, it was intended, by the enlightened founders of these Institutions, to give what knowledge could be given under the circumstances — a principle very much lost sight of in the esti- mates made in high quarters of their present operations. Being intended to meet a civilisational exigency, it is quite clear, therefore, that the functions of these Institutions must depend upon the wants to be met 5 and it is impossible to determine these functions without the study of the intellectual state, pro- bable duties, and physical opportunities of those for whom such Institutions were designed. What the province of these Institu- tions is (absolutely denied, or entirely overlooked, by the most influential journals of the day) will be more conveniently defined in another place. CHAPTER II. CHARACTEBISTICS OF THE CITY OF LONDON LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. To cite the particular Institution of which one is a member as a model of others may seem egotism, but the egotism is more super- ficial than real. Why should he hesitate to commend (as far as he can) to others that Institution from which given advantages are to be derived ? If a man be disqualified to speak in favour of an Insti- tution of which he is a member, is he not equally disqualified to advocate an opinion which he holds ? Yet the world allows him to commend a principle of judgment, but not an article of property. The reason probably is that, in the advocacy of opinion, we aim not to exalt ourselves so much as to instruct others ; and where this justifiable intention is made plainly evident, men are even allowed to speak of themselves, and become the chroniclers of their own merits (as in some few exemplary autobiographies), without being suspected of egotism. Therefore, as any citation of the City of London Literary and Scientific Institution, Aldersgate Street, in these pages, is not done in arrogance, but in exemplifi- cation, it is hoped that it will not be set down to a vain, but to an instructional, intention. The obviously instructional characteristics of this Institution are I. Ampler means than common. II. A well-supplied Reading Room. III. Lectures. IV. An attractive and practical Library, V. Classes in Literature and Science. VI. Museum. VII. Discussion Class, VIII. Conversation Room. 1, Ample means imply facile opportunities of Instruction. This is an indispensable source of utility, and should be secured, if THEIR BBLATION TO PUBLIC OPINION, 7 possible, as the basis of all proceedings, in the formation of similar Institutions. 2. The Reading Room is an incipient auxiliary to thinking. Here daily events reflect their wonderful colours over life, and stimulate inquiry. A well-supplied Reading Room is the world’s audience-chamber of incidents, where change, with a hundred, tongues, tells you of its progress. .3. Of Lectures, instructive seems a better descriptive of the lectures required in an Institution of this character, than the adjective able. Able lectures are doubtless instructive also, but instructive implies the sound quality of informing rather than of being rhetorical. The whole purpose of these Institutions is more to reach the understanding than to please the ear, and instructive Lectures are most consonant with this aim. 4. Lectures being in their proper nature suggestive, they send the audience to the Library to corroborate new ideas. A full Library of standard or accredited books in Literature and Science is, in fact, a treasury of mankind’s wisdom placed at the disposal of every individual. A limited Library is like a bank restricted in specie, unable to honour the various calls upon it, and com- pelled to send some claimants away disappointed, 6. It is the function of Classes to confirm that which the Lectures incite, and that which Reading improves. Classes ate the College portion of these Institutions. Here real knowledge is imparted, and solid acquisitions made. Here knowledge is converted into Science, by the desultory gatherings of life’s un- directed readings being classified, systematised, and made ready for use. 6. What the Library is to the Lecture, so the Museum is to the Class — it enables the student to test theory and compare impres- sions with nature. To the desultory reader or general thinker, a Museum is but a curiosity, but to the Class-student it becomes what the Laboratory is to the Chemist. 7- Knowledge, suggested by Lectures, amplified in the Library, systematised in the Class, tested in the Museum, is put upon trial in Debate. But unless controversy be unfettered— 2 . e., unless all subjects be admissible — the discipline is imperfect, and the name is practically a misnomer. 8. Conversation refines, perfects, and polishes the whole man. In the particular Institution now alluded to, this feature has not yet received distinct realisation ; but the idea deserves enumera- tion on account of the results of which it is capable. There is one emphatic word by which that timidity of ignorance which shrinks from conversation is designated. • It is said such a man has ‘ no presence.’ For all the practical purposes of social inter- course such a man is a man wrapped up and laid by. To develop the power of conversation, is to develop originality, variety, and increase the charms of life. 8 LITERARY INSTITUTIONS : CHAPTER III. TRUE AND FALSE INSTITUTIONS, Ample and facile opportunities of instruction are contingent on ample means. Ample means are the source of these utilities. So important is this power that where private benefaction does not step in to supply sufficient means, the class of persons for whom a given Institution is designed should be called upon for such subscriptions as would meet its full wants 5 and if the class of persons in the locality of such Institution is unable to pay the rate of subscription found necessary, a greater number of members should be sought, that aggregate small fees may supply the need- ful revenue. And to this end small, half-managed, halbsupported Institutions should be promptly and liberally assisted, as a means of raising the character these Institutions ought invariably to sustain, and of securing the pleasure they ought constantly to confer. An aggregation of means ought ever to be employed to give them decided efficiency, and decided attractiveness. The establishment, or rather ‘ getting up,’ of a certain class of Literary and Scientific Institutions in the metropolis is not incurious. They have a natural history of their own little known to the public. Generally they begin in the most gene- rous devotion, but with some their origination is a trade — a speculation in philanthropy. But let it be observed that knowledge is so good that even its ‘trade’ is a public bene- fit. A small place is taken, and the empty apartments dig- nified by the sounding and popular designation of the ‘ Literary and Scientific Institution’ of, etc., etc. In this new Hall of Knowledge, probably a closet serves for a museum, and the secretary’s bed room for a committee room ; or, probably, a curtain drawn across one end of the largest room in the house, divides the said room into lecture hall and library^ — which latter apartment serves also the further purposes of reading room and coffee room. The assumed secretary, with prompt diligence, writes to sundry persons favourably known to the public as the friends of education, and solicits the joint favours of a donation and the use of the donor’s name, to be announced as president or vice-president. Wishing well to popular improvement, but knowing little of the mechanism by which that improvement is really to be promoted — trusting to the integrity of representations which they have no time to inquire into — and believing in the reality of an Institution which they have no time to visit — they consent, and remit name or money, or both. A few days behold a circular issued, in which certain talismanic names appear as donors or patrons, which serve as lures to the more cautious, who are not to be interested until a respectable foundation is laid. A * The writer is but describing places which he has visited in his lecturing experience. THEIE RELATION TO PUBLIC OPINION. 9 library is aggregated on the gratuity principle. People are applied to who feel called upon to give something whether they have anything to give or not, and they send down a parcel of old hooks, which they do not want, for the use of persons who find them too obsolete to read. Next, classes are formed, conducted by some gratuitous teacher — who hardly ever attends, or who scarcely knows what to teach when he does. The lectures are got up’ with equal prospects of usefulness. A number of per- sons are solicited, the able and the unable alike, to lecture ‘ for the benefit of the Institution.’ No refusal is taken — any subject at any time is accepted. Some consent, supposing, from the names of the patrons on the prospectus, that an efficient under- taking is to be promoted ; some consent, wanting the courage to refuse, though ill able to give time and thought gratuitously — and probably do thus contribute more to the Institution in one such act, considering their means, than many of its members do in twelve months. Others consent, as the prominence of position offered them gratifies their vanity, or desire or need of popularity. The effect of all this is felt upon the public. The poor lecturers are often unable to provide properly for the occasion, and come ^ unprepared ;’ others are not able ‘ to prepare ’ under any circum- stances 5 and some, wanting punctilious honour, forget to appear at all. In these cases, the abstraction of the charge for admission is the least harm done to the auditors. If the lecture they hear be of mediocre character, their night is sacrificed, and, what is worse, a disinclination is created to attend again.* Even in those cases, which are indeed by far the majority, in which these Institutes are formed with the best intention by poor men in earnest for the improvement of their fellows, still they are necessarily conducted under similar circumstances of indigence, and produce the same effects. Even classes formed for mutual instruction never hold long together among the uneducated ; for how can they teach others to any extent, or interest others long, who know little themselves ? They can do but little good : they may do harm, because they amuse young men with the belief that they are learning, when they are wasting their time; and in many cases they so disappoint the neWly-stimulated student that he retires with a distaste for study, which never after revives. ♦ This passage is printed with hesitation, lest it should operate as a dis- couragement to many who, with a generous and noble temerity, endeavour to impart their little to those who know less. But in the picture here drawn will be recognised groups from life. The moral is this — Let the friends of educa- tion look to these Institutions, and render that help which will perfect them ; their sole defect is limited means. W here an Institution is originated with the intelligent energy with which the City Mechanics’ Institution has been carried forward to its present usefulness by its founder and the devoted coadjutors who have constituted its several committees, we see a popular and an admirable model of institutional policy; but in those instances where good intention is divorced from practical ability, it is the duty of the wealthy and the wise to sustain and direct the noble endeavour. 10 LITERARY INSTITUTIONS I Let it, however, be repeated, that many Institutions exist, efficiently, which have arisen from humble, well-intentioned beginnings, and which would not exist at all but for such efforts ; and it would be ill taste to discourage or censure this generous heroism. But, without doing so, one may point out the fact, and insist upon it, that an Institution’s state of needy transition is always one of limited, and sometimes of doubtful, usefulness. But as it is one of the most hopeful signs of our day that these Institutions do originate under the most adverse circumstances, and as the attempt of the poor to instruct the poor, no matter how is the beginning of popular improvement, which will know no end. Let the friends of education look to these efforts, and help them. CH APTER IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE INSTITUTIONS IN RELATION TO EXTENDED USEFULNESS, The term ‘ Literary and Scientific Institution’ has now to be considered in its more extended sense, as including the Literary Institutions of corporate bodies, middle-class, and working men. We have the literature of music, of art, and of science, as well as the literature of literature. The extension of the usefulness of these Institutions implies not only more efficiency in themselves, but also the power of propa- gating their own existences by force of example. The conditions of this self-extension may be discussed under three heads — Unity, Utility, Effectiveness. Section I . — Unity. Unity relates jointly to management and design, which of course depend upon officers and objects. 1. Unity of action, 2. Unity of object. The City of London Institution includes, under judicious limi- tation, a democratic basis. The members are of a class possessing more than average knowledge, and belonging to an order whose acquaintance with the forms and principles of business is pro- verbial. In this case, and similar ones, this principle of election may be acted upon with manifest advantage. In the present writer’s first acquaintance with these Institutions, he was very anxious about a share in the management of them 5 but as he grew older and obtained a larger acquaintance with the world, he saw how unfit an uneducated youth was to legislate upon matters which he had yet to learn, and how little he knew of the manner of adjusting the co-operation of persons whose habits of thought and action were those of a class within whose precincts he had never trod. Reverting from the forms of demo- THEIR RELATION TO PUBLIC OPINION. 11 cracy to the principle, he found that that alone was democratic which was done well. Unity of purpose cannot be forced, it must self-originate. In fact it appeared to him that a democratic constitution was a concession to the popular instinet for self- government 5 but, however highly he estimates this as a general rule (for the political education of the nation, for instance), he saw clearly that there were exceptions to its efficiency, and that a purely Mechanics^ Institution was one. If he might theorise upon the constitution of these societies, it would be to this effect : — Either a private individual (like Busby or Arnold) should stand at the head — or a dozen volunteer, or well-chosen, well-imbued, unanimous men, should be the com- mittee. These should remain in office for a long term, and be superseded only by answering men — i.e., by men imbued with the same devotion, and bent upon realising the same objects. The first directors should ever hold themselves ready to resume their direction when called upon, or to offer themselves when they see need. It is assumed that these Institutions should originate with men to whom the communication of knowledge is a passion and a mission, and who are animated by a spirit of moral chivalry. Men who regard themselves as soldiers of progress are the only men fitted for this work. The welfare of an Institution depends upon its officers. It is well with an Institution which is well-officered. They attract by a living influence with which no form, no letter can compete. They create confidence by their frankness : they win gratitude by their devotion : they inspire the spirit of studentship by their example. The diffusion of knowledge should be cultivated as a generous sentiment, and elevated to the rank of a sublime duty. How deeply, how gratefully does the present essayist remember the generous attentions of those who gave their time, the long evenings through, year after year, to communicate to him and other poor youths that knowledge which has made him at peace with himself and the world, and given into his hands, in some measure, his own destiny, and made him a participator in the kingly pleasures of intelligence. These teachers were mostly of the working classes themselves ; but, being somewhat informed, they have since merged into the class of emigrants whom misery annually drafts off into foreign lands— as their knowledge made destitution or dependence insupportable. Some have since perished amid Canada’s snows and under Trinidad’s burning sun, where no kind voice was near to whisper the soothing word, or kind hand to wipe the death damp from the brow ; but memory, more grateful than fate, follows them over the distance of time and place, and pours over their graves the gratitude which words could not convey for the light which they threw over the chequered paths of his life. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS UR8ANA-CHAMPAIGN 12 lilTERARY INSTITUTIONS I It would be well if new Institutions originated with distinct ideas as to their terms of existence. At first the aim should be to establish an Institution for a given term of years. It would then be regarded from the commencement as an agent, and worked with definite vigour. The managers should have distinct objects of detail present to them. Without defined purposes, Institutions, like men, waste their existences. Institutions, like heroes, should leave their footsteps on the sands of time. Section 11 . — Utility, Utility, in general, is a point worthy of consideration by the promoters of these Institutions. The number of Institutions should be limited to distinct public wants, so far as these wants are departmental — that is, only such branches of instruction should be attempted as are evidently needed, and no more Institu- tions should be set on foot than the numbers of a given locality were likely to fill. All subj ects which promise interest, either in their nature or their treatment, should be admitted into the Institution. Politics are admitted into a few Institutions, and a dignitary of the Church has very properly stepped forward to recommend its more general admission. The time will come when theology also will be recalled. It is impossible that these Institutions should have been popular while excluding the most popular and vital topics which agitate men. Besides, men will not always tolerate the discredit it puts upon them, to be told that passion is so strong and reason so weak that they must, like children, be forbidden certain things — that, in fact, they have not the good sense to consider among themselves the most vital questions of life. Moreover, while such a subject is excluded, the function of these Institutions is not fully performed. These Institutions ought not to be content to keep men as children, but to aim at converting children into men. Are not the quarrels of literary men a disgrace to literature ? Are not more popular associations broken up by their friends than by their enemies ? Are the burning differences between class and class kept up by any other agency than the incapacity of patrician and plebeian to act out any ordinary principle of fra- ternity in debate ? Should not these Institutions for the people teach the philosophy of discussion by example ? — or, are they to follow after the people whom they ought to lead ? Or, before they teach the people this great lesson of lessons, ought they to wait till the people have blindly and hazardously struggled them- selves into it ? If it were possible to reconcile the change to received notions of religious propriety, it would be well to convert at least Mechanics’ Institutions into Sunday Schools also, placing all the educational advantages of the Institution at the disposal of the THEIR RELATION TO PUBLIC OPINION. 13 humble student on that day which alone the poor can call their own. That day would then be consecrated to improvement ; and what better incense can man offer to the skies than the gratitude of growing intelligence? Let not such an arrangement in any way interfere with the devotion of those who are able to reserve the day for higher use still ; but let well intending piety pause and consider whether it does well to forbid the means of moral elevation to those to whom an iron fate has given only that day to attempt improvement in. Section III. — Effectiveness. Effectiveness, of course, includes that amplitude of means be- fore insisted on as a condition of action ; it also includes the idea of their efficient use. The efficiency of the next importance is that of the adaptation of human agencies to utilitarian ends. This is essential to secure the presence of the proper persons for the propa- gandism of knowledge. In the Secretary especially, in the Libra- rian — from the highest officer to the very doorkeeper — there should be found a certain fitness ; there should exist in these function- aries a well-ascertained sense of duty, higher than that which salary begets. Officers should be men who would make it a point to present everything in its most attractive shape : they should be artists in their sphere. An Institution should present a combination of adaptations, like a Catholic cathedral, in which everything is in keeping, and reaches the sense as well as addresses the understanding. It w-ould be easy to cite instances of how much is neglected where everything is possible of attainment. Some short time ago, a new Institution held its first anniversary in the metropolis. A distinguished wit occupied the chair. The beginning was good ; but there the art of adaptation ended. I’he platform w'as crowded with unique talent. Of these an indiscriminate selection was put forth, and they were misplaced. A gentleman little used to speaking, and unfitted on some personal grounds, w^as put for- ward to eulogise the chairman ; while a master in the artot words, and one of the first wits of the rostrum — who alone, of all men there, was able to execute the task with delicacy and brilliancy — was assigned a common-place sentiment, to which twenty men present could have spoken. In the provinces they manage these things still worse at anni- versary soirees. It is too frequently thought enough that a variety of great names are got together, and the owners thereof are left to adjust themselves as they can. Artistic effect— that fore- thought in the disposition of these great names, whereby the public taste could be improved — is not professedly recognised as a branch of institutional management. Yet do not half the failures of really useful associations occur through inattention to this principle ? Management is not yet 14 iin ERA-RY institutions : an art, and unfit collocations of individuals mar the efficiency of innumerable societies, and impair the peace and harmony of the most promising assemblies. ‘ A place for everything, and every- thing in its place,’ is a much-meaning maxim^ not yet transferred from our houses to our halls. Yet it is not more true of things than of men, as Plato was first among the ancients to foresee. There is a place for every man, if we have but the sagacity to discover it ; and it will never be harmonious with society till every man is in his proper place. Should not popular Institu- tions contribute somewhat, at least by example, to the inculcation of this art ? Perhaps what has already been said is enough. The reader can- not have failed to perceive the province of these Institutions, and their relation to public opinion. But there is yet one practical respect in which this province and relation is not understood. CHAPTER V. THE PROVINCE OF THESE INSTITUTIONS IN RELATION TO PUBLIC OPINION. The Daily News, and other journals of respectable literary reputation — the Athenceum, for instance — have derided the va- rious ends that seem to be sought by Literary Institutions. Lately the Daily News cited a list of lectures of a London Institution of this class, and — after enumerating geology, history, chemistry, botany, oratory, etc., in the programme of a season’s lectures— asked, ‘ what can be learned by those who hear so little of each thing ? and what education can be afforded to the inhabi- tants of the district which shall listen to this desultory course T Where the mistake is palpable, the answ^er is easy. The province of Literary and Scientific Institutions is first to stimulate opinion by lectures, and then to perfect it in classes. The objection under consideration has arisen in some temporary misapprehension of the nature of knowledge, and its relation to the people. Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. But no- thing is worth doing but what we want. Wants are of two kinds— 1. Essential. 2. Secondary. The essential wants are those pertaining to profession and to private duty. The secondary, those which incidentally illustrate profession, and qualify us for general intercourse. Essential wants demand jorofowwc/ knowledge. Secondary wants require only outline knowledge. The whole system of popular education needs to be recast, and made more practical. The condition of the people is new, and their instruction is old. Maps have been corrected, geographies THEIR RELATION TO PUBLIC OPINION. 15 have been revised, arithmetics contain a few modern questions, grammars a few modern examples, and copy books are ruled in a new way j and these are nearly all the renovations in tuition our times have brought. But men who have to light for the very elements of instruction, need a more radical adaptation of it than this. Children borne, as Thom was in his infancy, through snows to the factory, and who snatch an atom of knowledge here and there, as birds do food when the fields are covered with snow,* demand other treatment if they are to be saved from the darkness and despair of ignorance. Guide their rude interpretations of nature, of men and manners — give plain method to their classifi* cations, coherence to their inferences, justice to their invectives. Unfold the broad and essential elements of knowledge to them, if you would serve them and save them. They want no new phi- losophy. There are more old ones which are good than they can study. There is more wisdom extant than they can master more precepts than they can apply. Weapons innumerable sur- round them, of which they have to be taught the use. Their watchword is work. The scaling ladders with which the wise have mounted the citadel of wisdom, and have kicked down, are yet necessary for the service of those below. They require to be reared again for the use of those who have yet to rise. CHAPTER VI. REASONS WHY THESE INSTITUTIONS ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY THOSE FOR WHOM THEY WERE DESIGNED. Persons friendly to Educational Institutes are daily discouraged by the indifference with which the objects of their anxieties are regarded by those for whom they labour. Yet it is natural it should be so, for how can the ignorant be expected to appreciate what they do not understand ? It is said, ^ How prates the populace that Knowledge is Power, and yet how few put them-, selves to inconvenience to get this power.’ It is true that it is so, but it is not strange. The student, whom the love and pleasures of knowledge have once penetrated, covets its power. He will pay all his means, his leisure, his health for its attainment, and often his life. Gratitude for, and appreciation of, the means of intelligence, are the after fruits of education ; and he who looks for them before, looks for them out of season, and discourages himself without cause. Come they will in all fulness, it is only a matter of time. Generous exertion and wise patience are the attributes of the successful educators of the people. Understanding will one day govern the world ; and, by judicious appeals to it, we may accelerate, and even inspire, on the part of the untaught, the disposition which we desire to see manifested. * W. J. Fox, M.P. ; Lectures to the Working Classes. 16 LITERARY INSTITUTIONS. Tell them knowledge is not only power, but that real indestruc- tible power is unattainable without knowledge. Tell them that knowledge is not only power, but wealth— that while labour is but intrinsically the source of subsistence, that it is knowledge which subdues nature and creates riches. Tell them that in no market of the world can ignorance compete with intelligence — and then the untaught will learn. Tell them that it is not within the power of patriotism to make an ignorant people free or happy. Knowledge is the absolute and indispensable precursor — the only groundwork of political and social betterance. Let this be understood, and the people will learn to regard these Institutions as the agents of national freedom. Tell them that life without education is life rais-spent, for want of a certain end to thought. Tell them, in the words of Bishop Hall, that such persons do as unwise archers do, shoot away their arrows they know not at what mark — that to live to a false end is deceit and loss, and to live without one main and common end is idleness and folly. Tell them that ignorance is not to be hidden— that incapacity will show itself — that poverty of intelligence ^ will out.’ That a man’s parentage can be told by his appearance, his habits by bis health, his training by his gait, his taste by his dress, his spirit by his tones, his education by his speech, his society by his bearing — that Zeno asked an unanswerable question when he demanded ‘ I4ow can a man be concealed ? How can a man be concealed ?’ Tell them, in line, that it is easier to be than to seem^ and they will be set on being with earnestness. Tell them that, without knowledge, though they move in the ranks of gentlemen, that they wear the badge of the plebeian and the fetters of the clown. That intellectual bondage is worse than physical ; because the physical chain is rivetted by others, the mental by ourselves. That the ignorant man is ever at the mercy of educated opinion. That, to be truly free, we should be in a condition to dare the judgment of the wise. That, while it is deemed honourable in man or woman to war against political tyranny — which is but the vulgar, the serf form of freedom— it must be nobler to war against the despotism of ignorance , for the sceptre of incapacity may wave over a world of slaves, when mitres and thrones have passed away. Whether we will or not, this question of popular education is every man’s business. It takes a cholera to convince us that we have an interest in the purity of our neighbour’s habitation, the course of his life, and the state of his health; but when some profound folly meets with public applause, or some profound charlatan carries away a nation’s suffrages, we find that a moral or political cholera prevails, in which we may read our interest in the purity of our neighbour’s information, and the state of his understanding. But we are slow to recognise this truth, which is the first perfect lesson that civilisation teaches a people. Holyoake & Co., Printers, 3, Queen’s Head Passage, Paternoster Row.