Dr. V. has no pretence, even on this ground, for attacking Dr. Rennell. "Dr. Vincent him/elf tells us, in page 4, that Dr. Rennell excepted both him and his fchool out of the accufation, yet in the very next page, he fays, the reproaches of Dr. Rennell still remain unretracted," and though he afterwards repeatedly mentions Dr. Rennell's exception, he continues to write, as if Dr. K. continued to accufe both him and his fchool. Were we even to fuppofe that either Dr. R. did not know his own meaning, or did not truly declare it, ftill a dilemma remains-ftill Dr. Vincent complains of that which he himself undertakes to prove cannot concern him."

- Dr. V.'s attack on the Bishop of Meath alfo incurs our author's animadverfions.

"To the Bishop, he fays, in the first fentence of his book, Proof, in the bufinefs now to be difcutied, your Lordship feems to have thought totally fuperfluous; without any knowledge of your own, without inquiry or examination, you affume the teftimony of Dr. Rennell as incontrovertible.'

"Whether it arife from the want of religious inftruction, or from whatever cause, too many in this our day, confider a Bishop as entitled to no more respect than another man; nay, fome feem even to take pleasure in fneering at that facred character: thofe, however, who with me think it entitled to peculiar reverence, especially from the inferior orders of the Clergy, will probably fee fomething objectionable in the wording of the fentence just quoted, as well as of many others in the following pages of Dr. Vincent's work. But whatever may be thought of the language, the matter is furely objectionable. Had Dr. Vincent faid only, that the Bishop had produced no proof, the pofition would have been correct; but to affert that he has no knowledge of his own, and has neither inquired nor examined, is to affert what is incredible, and what cannot be known, much less proved: and thus in accufing the Bishop of bringing a charge without proof, he falls him elf into the very error, which at the fame inftant he is cenfuring in a fuperior. I beg leave alfo to remark, that Dr. Vincent charges the Bishop with affuming the teftimony of Dr. Rennell as incontrovertible' (page 3;) with grounding his charge on the teftimony of Dr. Rennell' (page 10;) with miftaking Dr. Rennell's rhetoric for argument, or affertion for truth; with going beyond the information of his brief' (page 12.) In page 22 he calls Dr. Rennell the guide the Bishop has followed, and the oracle he has believed;'-and in page 32 fays, Dr. Rennell has led his Lordship into The error. Yet in the very next fentence he admits, that the fame outery (as he terms it) is to be found in feveral of our religious and moral writers;' and if we turn to the Bishop's words as quoted by Dr. Vincent himself, in page 10, we fhall fee, that fo far from borrowing his opinion from Dr. Rennell, the Bishop was prepared to offer his fentiments, before he found the fubject anticipated by the Doctor."

6

and

We perfectly agree with our author, that the epifcopal character is entitled to peculiar reverence, not only from the inferior orders of the clergy," but from the higheft dignitaries in the church; for we know of no exception whatever to the apoftolic injunction not "to fpeak evil of dignities;" and furely it more peculiarly behoves thofe who hold fuch dignities to fet the example of respect and re

verence.

verence! Every thing therefore that comes from a Bishop Thould be attacked with extreme caution, and particular delicacy. We fhall not be fufpected of contending that nothing which a Bishop writes, or utters thould become the fubje&t of difcuffion, for that would be to impute that quality to the epifcopal character, the affumption of which is happily confined to the church of Rome. The BANGORIAN CONTROVERSY exhibits fome admirable fpecimens of the mode in which a Bishop, who has been led into error, ought to be, attacked.

Adverting to the general fyftem of public education, of which Dr." V. fays but little, the author juftly obferves, that, "The inquiry is rather, whether general information be not too much its object, to the exclufion of religious inftruction. And if the teftimony of fo-} reigners is to be relied on, it fhould go to prove that our travellers are able defenders of the doctrines of Christianity, and eminent examples of the purity of its precepts." His remarks on the ftudy of Pagan authors are equally judicious;-it is not the ufe, but the abufe, of. them which he condemns. "It is obfervable, that Dr. Vincent omits entirely, what appears to me to conftitute the greatest objec tion to the claffics, and which applies peculiarly to thofe, which are the most usually read and remembered by, school-boys; I mean their OBSCENITY, and that of the Latin poets, in particular." Yet, have we lately heard it gravely afferted, that the claffics in ufe at our public fchools, contain nothing, offenfive to morality !!! We fhall next exust pect to hear Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Terence, and Lucian, elevated to the rank of moralifts!!! Well may our author afk-" If to preferve our minds pure, we must look on nothing, read nothing, hear nothing, that may inflame our finful paffions; what fuccefs can we hope, when at the very period, when our paffions are strong, and our reafon weak, we feed them daily with impure ideas?"

Speaking of public fchools, the author fays, Dr. Vincent "rightly afferts, that under the expreffion Public Schsals, not only Winchester, Eton, and Weftminster, but also the other great fchools, both of the metropolis, and in the reft of England, ought to be comprifed." So thought we, until lately informed, from high authority, that we laboured under a mistake, and that ignorance alone could give to the expreffion fo wide a definition!

The author thinks with us, that, "many good effects may be produced by a calm and difpaffionate examination of this fubject," and that the great obftacles to fuch an inveftigation," are the prejudices, and partialities, both of individuals and focieties."

"If they, who from their fituation, experience, and talents (I allude particularly to thofe, who fuperintend our colleges and fchools) are the beft judges of exifting defects, and practicable improvements; if thefe, I lay, inftead of candidly and cordially uniting in fuch inquiries, will refolutely fet their faces against them, and cavil at the wording of a propofition, or the qualification of the propofer; muft it not impede, instead of promote, improvement, and prevent, in part, the good, which might otherwise result from it?

"B"

But it may be faid, why all this outery? Have not our schools and univerfities gone on and profpered for centuries paft, on the fame plan, which is now purfued? And are we yet to learn the danger of innovation? To this it may be replied; that to correct abufes, is not to innovate-that fo old a fyftem may probably have fuffered from the hand of time-and that when an outcry is raifed by fuch men as I have quoted, we may reasonably conclude, it must have fome foundation.

"And this fuppofition will be ftrengthened, if we confider the great changes, which have taken place fince the plan of our education was originally formed.

Though it is impoffible to look back without astonishment and reverence to the establishment of thofe numerous churches, colleges, and fchools, which the pious liberality of our ancestors devoted to the promotion of religion and learning, and which are now the boaft and glory of our land; and though one is little less astonished at the wisdom that framed thofe statutes, by which they were regulated, yet we ought not to forget, that thefe being adapted to Popish fuperftition, fome of them were annulled by the reformation, and others have fince become obfolete. Thus the fyftem admirably calculated for the age, in which it was formed, though it may ftill continue fundamentally right, may need fome additional fupports, to enable it to withstand the corruptions of modern times. For little did William of Wickham dream of the Rights of Man, or the Age of Reafon-of Kings tried and put to death by their fubjects-of Senators neglecting their duty, and quitting their places, to preach the fovereignty of the people, to drunken mobs in taverns; and as little did the pious founders of Eton, &c. fufpect, that their schools were to contain hundreds of scholars, clothed in purple and fine linen, and accustomed from their infancy, to fare fumptuously every day.

"An accurate comparison of the prefent ftate of our great feminaries, with that in which they originally existed, would be a curious and useful work; but my aim will be accomplished, if what I have urged, fall indúce thofe, who are most able and moft interested, carefully to investigate the general fyftem of Education now in ufe among us, and the manner, in which it is practically applied in our colleges and fchools."

His hints for a reformation in our public fchools are well worth the attention, even of Dr. Vincent. Entertaining a juft idea of the advantages, to be derived from the well-regulated study of the claffics, he fuggests the neceffity of fuitable comments by the mafter, and, above all, of having editions from which every exceptionable paffage has been carefully expunged.

"ONE BOOK, indeed, there is, which no art of man can render fit for perufal; but which, by a ftrange fatality, all boys are compelled to read, and fome to imprint deeply on their minds. Well would it be for them, and for the world, if the whole of it were committed to the flames." I allude not merely to its obfcenities, though moft deteftable; but to its general plan and principles; particularly to that moft dangerous of all arti fices, the making virtue contemptible, by feeble sketches of correct characters, void of every brilliant quality; and vice popular, by combining it with wit and genius, and painting profligate characters in lively colours, calculated to charm and captivate the youthful mind.-How then can, any clergyman juftify putting TERENCE into the hands of his pupils?

"If to ftate the defects of fchools in general, be an invidious task; how much more fo muit it appear, to arraign the particular cuftoms of indivi dual feminaries? But as every Weftminster man may be fuppofed to have burnt my work, as foon as he difcovered my with to do as much for his favourite author; I think I may venture to lay a few words, on the use, to which that author has long been applied in the Dormitory. For who, that has not been bred up in prejudice, can deny, or doubt, the fatal effects, which must neceffarily be produced, by the public recital of the fcenes already alluded to, and which are too well known to need a fuller defcrip tion? On this head, indeed, (as well as fome others) I am anticipated by another anonymous writer, who in reviewing Dr. Vincent's Defence in the Antijacobin for January laft, has fo ably difcuffed the Weftminster annual play, and the ufe there made of Terence in particular; that I have nothing to add, but to exprefs my grief and my furprife, that fuch exhibi tions should continue to be patronized and applauded, even by fome of our most reverend divines; at a time when private theatricals and bills of divorcement feem to follow each other like caufe and effect; and to threaten the extinction of all decency and conjugal fidelity, among the higher ranks of fociety. Nor can that prejudice furely be lefs inveterate, which can contemplate, without pain and grief, a number of fine manly youths of family and fortune, of high attainments, and ftill higher promife, drefled like Opera dancers, in filk and fatin, roving over a whole neighbourhood, entering both public and private houses; ftopping frage coaches; and tak ing from all defcriptions of passengers, half crowns, fhillings, and even fixpences, which fome of them have hardly earned, and can ill afford to part with.

"Oh! but (it will be faid) this is an ancient cuftom at Eton-it is fobut furely if ever there were a custom "more honoured in the breach, than the obfervance"-this is fuch, at least as now practifed. If at other fchools, an election day, or a day kept in memory of a pious founder, cannot be obferved, without a degree of excefs, utterly inconfiftent with Christian fobriety; is it not the duty of the governors to abolith fo corrupt and cor rupting a practice? If extrajudicial oaths are always objectionable; how much more so when tendered compulforily to boys of fifteen?"

Refpecting the fcenes which have been faid to follow the exhibition of Terence's plays at Westminster, we have heard the affertion alluded to in our review of Dr. Vincent's pamphlet, publicly declared to be falfe. The paffage was this" if the reports of thofe whọ cannot be mistaken, be really true, there are convenient and ready Pamphile at hand on Tuch occafions, to realize the fcenes of fiction, when the minds of thefe hapless youths are vitiated and their paffions heated, almost to frenzy, by the ribaldry of the fcene." Now we can only fay, that the fource of our information on this head was fo truly refpectable that it is not the ipfe dixit of any individual, however refpe&table, that can induce us to doubt its purity. Befides, the party from whom the peremptory negatur proceeded, could only speak from bearfay, and could not poffibly have any perfonal knowledge of the fact of which he spoke so strongly and fo decifively. We, therefore, muft continue to believe the report here noticed to be a true report. In a note to the paffage laft quoted, the author fays, it has "been

શ

urged

urged in defence of the Weftininfter play, that it is ordained by the ftatutes." But, morning prayers, he adds, are prefcribed by the ftatutes, and yet are omitted daily;" and an English play, we add, is alfo enjoined, by the ftatutes, to be performed by the chorifters, but it never is performed;-the ftatutes, therefore, are not obligatory, and nothing but the moft rooted prejudice could lead any man to maintain that they supply a defence of scenical exhibitions offenfive to decency, and fubverfive of morals.

The conclufion of the tract before us exhibits a fair specimen of the spirit which pervades every page of it.

"I have now completed my plan--By flewing-that Dr. Vincent has not vindicated public education, from the charge of defectiveness in Religious Inftruction and Moral Regulation-By ftating fairly this important queftion, and the fentiments of feveral writers refpecting it-And lastly, by mentioning fuch inftances of defectiveness, and fuch meatures for their correction, as have occurred to my own mind, or been fuggefted by others. In doing this I have not been able to pleafe myfelf, and therefore can fcarcely hope to content my readers. But if any one fhall take the troubie to correct my errors, and continue the difcuffion, I earneftly entreat him to recollect, that, however weakly or erroneoufly the point in debate may have been stated or maintained, truth will fill be truth; and thofe, who fincerely wish to discover it in the prefent cafe, muft fairly meet the quef tion

"WHETHER THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION AND MORAL CONDUCT OF THE RISING GENERATION, ARE SUFFICIENTLY PROVIDED FOR, AND EFFECTUALLY SECURED, IN OUR SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES?" The notes fill nineteen pages, and they are fo pertinent, and fo excellent, that, notwithstanding the length of our extracts from the body of the pamphlet, we cannot relift the temptation of laying one or two of them before our readers.

The

Rollin's Belles Lettres.-" The whole of this excellent work fhould be read, and fome parts of it ftudied with the utmost attention, by every perfon engaged, or likely to be engaged, in the intruction of youth. It is alio an excellent book to put into the hands of young people. Such, and fo various are its merits, that to do them juftice would require the pen of the author. "Monfieur Rollin's Ancient Hifiory, and Roman Hiftory, are no leis excellent, and thould be read by all. They are models of what Hifio y fhould be, efpecially when intended for the inftruction of the young. most important facts are felected, and are interfperfed with reflections full of true wifdom and genuine piety. Happy would it be for us, if we were fupplied with fuch hiftories! But, alas! our cafe is the very reverfe. Mr. Hume's Hiftory of England, the most pleafing, and on the whole, perhaps, the best we have, is made the vehicle of the moft mifchievous attacks on Christianity, fo artfully difguifed, as to be imperceptible to the unfufpecting eye of youth.

"Dr. Robertfon contents himself with unfair statements of thofe circumftances, which relate to our establishment in Church or State, and difagree with his Prefbyterian and democratic notions.

"Mr. Gibbon very artfully attacks all Revealed Religion.

And too many of our modern Hifiorians, and indeed of our modern

Writers