A French Eton Or Middle Class Education and the State to Which Is

A FR ENCH ETON

AND

S C H O O L S A ND U N I V ER S ITIES

I N FR A N C E

B DLE- CLAS S EDUCATIO N AND THE STATE

TO WHICH IS ADDED

OOLS AND UNIVER SITIES IN FR ANCE

BEING PAR T O F A VO LUME O N S CH OOL S AND UNIVER S ITIES

’ O N TH E CO NTINENT PUBL IS H ED IN 1 8 6 8

M A TTH EW A R NO L D

EX Li BR i s ’ SCHOLASTICATE SI . BAS IL S

?Lo n u o n

M A C M I L L A N A N D

A N D N EW Y O R !

1 8 9 2

All r i ghts res erved TH E ﬁrs t part of the pres en t volume con sists of a reprin t h E o n o ri i n all 8 6 4 Thi s of A Fren c t g y publis hed i n 1 . is followed by that portion of the bo o k o n S cho o ls and Un i vers i ti es o n the Co nti n en t (1 8 6 8) Which deals With Secon dary Education n P e Mr Arn o ld t i n 1 8 4 i n . r ace W r 7 Fra ce A f , hich . w o e When the German portion of the latter b o o k was publis hed s t bu t was a t r a m tt als o n epara ely, which f e w rds o i ed , has bee n repri ted .

MAR 2 7 1954 A FR ENCH ETON

MIDDLE-C LAS S EDUCATIO N AND THE STATE

A IVE Y i h L L and acute wr ter, w om English society, indebted to hi s vigilance for the exposure of a thousand delinquents , salutes with admiration as

a o its Grand Detective, some time g called public attention to the state of the College o f the

” Blessed Mary at Eton . In that famous seat of

a o f was learning , he said, a v st sum money ex i pended on educat on , and a beggarly account of

was R empty brains the result . ich endowments were wasted ; parents were giving large sums to have their children taught, and were getting a

fo r most inadequate return their outlay . Science, arho n g those venerable towers in the vale o f the

’ a H Thames, still dored her enry s holy shade ; but S B 2 A FRENCH ETON

t . s he did very lit le else These topics , handled

i e ll with i n ﬁn t ski and vivacity, produced a strong

ﬁxe d effect . Public attention, for a moment, itself u po n the state of secondary instruction in England . hi i The great class , w ch is interested in the mprove

o f i ment this, magined that the moment was come for makin g the ﬁrs t step towards that improve

ment . The comparatively small class, whose

children are educated in the existing public schools , thought that some i nquiry into the state of these institutions might do go o d . A Royal Commission

u o n was appointed to report p the endowments ,

ni studies, and management of the ne principal — i h public schools of this country Eton, W nc ester, mi ’ St. West nster, Charterhouse, Paul s, Merchant ’ H Taylors , arrow, Rugby, and Shrewsbury .

was Eton really the accused, although eight c o -respondents were thus summoned to appear with Eton ; and in Eton the i nvestigation now t wi ll comple ed probably produce most reform . The reform of an institution which trains so many

o f i s of the rulers this country , no doubt, a matter

of considerable importance. That importance is

nl e as Ti mes e certai y less ned if it is true, the t lls A FRENCH ETON 3

u s i s , that the real ruler of our country The

t abs o l People , although this po entate does not u tel y transact his own business, but delegates E that function to the class which ton educates . li But even those who be eve that Mirabeau, when

H e who admi n i s ters overns he said , , g , was a great

Ti m es h deal nearer the truth than the , and to w om, E therefore , changes at ton seem indeed matter of di great importance , will hardly be sposed to make those changes very sweeping. If Eton does not i i h teach her pup ls profound w sdom, we ave

’ O xe n s ti ern s word for it that the world i s governed

. an e h by very little wisdom Eton, at y rat , teac es her aristocratic pupils vi rtues whi ch are among — the best Virtues of an aristocracy freedom from

' ﬁ tati o n hi a ee . , manliness, a gh spirit, simplicity

It is to be hoped that she teaches something o f

h who these virtues to her ot er pupils also, , not of the aristocratic class themselves, enjoy at Eton

ben e ﬁt the of contact with aristocracy. For these

s n other pupil , perhaps, a little more learni g as

a well, a somewhat stronger dose of ide s , might be A . i desirable bove all, it might be des rable to wean them from the easy habits and profuse 4 A FRENCH ETON notions of expense which Eton generates—habits and notions graceful enough in the lili es of the

ﬁ e ld social , but inconvenient for its future toilers

To and spinners . convey to Eton the knowledge that the wine o f Champagne does not water the

whole earth, and that there are incomes which l £5 00 0 fal below a year, would be an act of kind ness towards a large class of British parents, full o f n o t O Le . t u s proper pride, but pulent hope that the courageous social reformer who has taken l Eton in hand may, at east, reap this reward from hi s u s labours . Let hope he may succeed in some

o f what reducing the standard expense at Eton, and let u s pronounce over his offspring the prayer

“ A : 0 - of jax boys , may you be cheaper educated than yourfather, but in other respects like him ; may you have the same loving care for the improve

o fﬁ c er ment of the British , the same terrible eye

u li upon b l es and jobbers , the same charming gaiety in your frolics with the Old Dog Tray ’ —but

” may all these gifts be developed at a less er price ! But I hope that large class whi ch wants the improvement of secondary instruction in this — country secondary instruction, the great ﬁrs t A FRENCH ETON 5 stage of a li beral educati on comin g between ele i mentaryinstruct on, the instruction in the mother tongue and in the simplest and indispensable branches of knowledge on the one hand, and superior instruction, the instruction given by

ﬁ n i s hi n universities, the second and g stage of a

be — i i li ral education, on the other w ll not magine that the appoi ntment of a Royal Commission to report on nine exi sting schools can seri ously help I it to that which it wants . hope it will steadily say to the limited class whom the reform of these nine schools (i f they need reform) truly concerns

— f a i tu r i Tu a r es g . These n ne schools are by their constitution such that they profess to reach but select portions of the mu l titudes that are claimi ng secondary instruction ; and , whatever they might

i can profess, be ng nine, they only reach select hi portions . The ex bition which the Royal Com missi oners have given u s of these schools is indeed I very interesting ; hope it will prove very useful.

But, for the champions of the true cause of second

s ary instruction, for those intere ted in the thorough

hi an n improvement of t s most import t concer , the cen tre of i nterest is not there . Before the English 6 A FRENCH ETON

t mind, always prone to throw itself upon de ails , has by the interesting Report of the PublicSchool Commissioners been led completely to throw itself hi upon what, after all, in t s great concern of n seco dary instruction, is only a detail , I wish to I show, with all the clearness and insistence can, h i w ere the centre of interest really l es . To see secondary i nstructi on treated as a matter of national concern, to see any serious attempt to make it both commensurate with the numbers

the needing it and of good quality, we must cross mi h h Channel . The Royal Com ssioners ave t ought

h m i mi i n t e selves precluded, by the l ts of their s tru cti o n s , from making a thorough inquiry into the system of secondary i n struction o n the Con ti n e n t I . regret that they did not trust to the vast importance of the subject for procuring their h pardon, even if t ey somewhat extended their scope, and made their survey of foreign secondary

nl instruction exact. This they could have done o y by i nvestin g qu ali ﬁe d persons with the commission to i n i e seek, the r name, acc ss to the foreign

s schools . These institution must be seen at work , 8 A FRENCH ETON

fo r and seen by experienced eyes , their operation to be properly understood and described . But to see them at work the aid o f the public authorities abroad is requisite ; and foreign governments, most prompt in givin g this aid to accredited

emissaries , are by no means disposed to extend it to the chance in quirer . 1 85 9 In I visited France, authorised by the

i who Royal Comm ssioners , were then inquiring

o f into the state popular education in England, to seek, in their name, information respecting the

French primary schools . I shall never cease to be gratefu l fo r the cordi al help afforded to me by the fu nctionaries of the French Government for seeing thoroughly the objects whi ch I came

hi n to study. The gher fu ctionaries charged with the supervision of pri mary instruction have the supervision of secondary instruction also ; and their kindn ess enabled me occasionall y to s ee somethi ng of the secondary schools—institu‘tions i which strongly attracted my nterest, but which the Royal Commi ssioners had not authoris ed me

an d o f to study, which the French Minister Public

Instruction had not directed his function aries to A FRENCH ETON 9

s aw he r . t o show me I thus Lyceum, public

n u l —a seco dary school, of To ouse good specimen o fits class . To make clear to the English reader

i s what this class of institutions , with a view of

i hi m ds enabl ng to see, afterwar , what is the problem respectin g secondary instruction whi ch

i n i we th s country really have to solve, I will describe the Toulouse Lyceum .

u l hi To ouse, the c ef city of the great plain of i Languedoc, and a place of great antiquity, d gnity,

a has and import nce, one of the principal lyceums

Bu hi to be found out of Pari s . t the c ef town of every French department has its lyceum, and the considerable towns of every department have

hi i ts their communal colleges, as the c ef town has

a i s i n lyceum . These est bl hments of secondary

a struction are attached to ac demies, local centres

t In s of the Depar ment of Public truction at Paris ,

hi x of w ch there are si teen in France . The head

” hi s hi of an academy is called its rector, and c ef

” - mi ni sters are called academy i nspectors . The superintendence of all public instruction (under the general control of the Mi ni s ter o f Public In

’ u i zo t s struction at Paris) w as given by M . G 1 0 A FRENCH ETON education -law to the academies ; that of primary instruction has been, in great measure, taken away from them and given to the prefects ; that of secondary or superi or instruction still remains

u to them. To louse is the seat of an academy of

ﬁrs t i i di the class, w th a jurisd ction exten ng over I eight departments ; its rector, when was there

1 85 9 - i in , was an ex judge of the Par s Court of M a . Cass tion, Rocher, a man of about sixty, of li great intel gence, courtesy, and knowledge of the

Ill - hi m world. health had compelled to resign hi s i In s tru c judgeship, and the M nister of Public

hi s tion, personal friend, had given him the rector

i n ate of Toulouse, the second in France point of

nk di n i ﬁed ra , as a kind of g retreat. The position of rector i n France much resembles that of one

x of our heads of houses at O ford or Cambridge .

M u i . Rocher placed me under the g dance of hi s

- M M a . . ac demy inspector, Peyrot ; and Peyrot, after introducing me to the primary inspectors of

i n Toulouse, and enabl g me to make arrangements with them for vi siting the primary schools of the city and neighbourhood, kindly took me over the

i hi s di i lyceum, wh ch is under imme ate superv sion . A FRENCH ETON 1 1

A French lyceum is an institution founded and

a i maintained by the St te, w th aid from the de partmen t and commu n e . The communal colleges are founded and maintained by the commune, with aid from the State . The Lyceum of Toulouse

i n i l i s is held large and somewhat gloomy bu d ng , in the mids t of the city ; old ecclesiastical build ings have in a number of towns been converted

- i by the Government into public school prem ses .

r omis ewf r M We were received by the p , . Seignette . — The provi sor is the chief functionary the head

—o f F master a rench lyceum he does not, how

hi a i ever, mself te ch, but manages the bus ness

mi i fin an c es concerns of the school, ad n sters its , and i s responsible for its general conduct and di s cipli n e ; hi s place i s one of the priz es of French i secondary instruction, and the prov sor, having i h mself served a long apprenticeship as a teacher, has all the knowledge requ i site for superintendi ng i hi s . He professors , l ke the professors , has gone thr ough the excellent normal school out o f which the fim cti o n ari es of secondary instruction are t fu lfill e d i aken, and has stringent cond tions of

ni re trai ng and examination. Th e chaplains 1 2 A FRENCH ETON — R oman Catholic pri ests have the charge of the religious i nstruction o f the lyceu m ; a Protestant

i ni e l m st r, however, is special y appointed to give this instruction to pupils whose paren ts are of

u the reformed faith , and these p pils attend, on

o wn s hi Sundays, their Protestant place of wors p .

The lyceum has from three to four hundred scholars ; it receives both boarders and day

a In s chol rs . every lyceum whi ch receives

u bo u rses boarders there are a certain n mber of , or public scholarships , which relieve their holders T from all cost for their education . he school has

e di s thr e great visions, each with its eparate schoo l rooms and playground The playgrounds are t A large courts, planted wi h trees . ttached to the

s n di in titutio , but in a separate buil ng, is a schoo l

s i x to r for little boys from twelve yea s of age, l cal ed the Peti t Co llege ; here there is a garden as well as a playground, and the whole school i h l fe is easier and softer t an in the lyceum, and

e adapted to the t nder years of the scholars . In

Peti t Colle e the g , too, there are both boarders and

- day scholars . The schoolroo ms of the lyceum were much like

14 A FR ENCH ETON

is . great Engl h public schools, shines The boys are taken out to walk , as the boys at Winchester used to be taken o u t to hi lls ; but at the end of

’ the French schoolboy s walk there are n o hi lls

H e on which he i s turned loose . learns and practises gymn astics more than our schoolboys do ; and the court in which he takes hi s recrea tion is somewhat more spacious and agreeable than we English are apt to imagi ne a co u r t to be ; — but it is a poor place indeed poor i n itself and — poor in its resources compared with the p layi ng

ields meads f of Eton, or the of Winchester, or the cl ose of Rugby . Of course I was very desirous to s e e the boys

ms in their schoolroo , and to hear some of the

M . M . lessons ; but Peyrot and Seignette, with all - the good will in the world, were not able to

u n fﬁ i grant to an o c al Visitor permission to do this . It is something to know what the programme o of studies in a French lyceum is, th ugh it would be far more interesting to know how that pro gramme is practically carried out . But the pro gramme itself is worth examining : it is the same

e ﬁx for every lyceum in Franc . It i s ed by the A FRENCH ETON 1 5

l ri i n Counci of Public Instruction in Pa s, a body i A wh ch the State, the Church , the French cademy, and the scholastic profession, are all represented, and of whi ch the Mini ster of Public Instruction

u ﬁxe d i s is president . The programme th s pro

’ mu l ate d i ni g by the M ster s authority, and every

a lyceum is bound to follow i t. I h ve before me

u l M u i z 1 833 that prom gated by . G ot in ; the i t variations from , up to the present day, are I but slight. n the sixth, or lowest class, the boys

a i have to learn French, L t n, and Greek Grammar,

i s N a and their reading Cornelius epos and Ph edrus ,

a and, along with the fables of Ph edrus, those

he ﬁf h ta . t t la of La Fon ine For next, or c ss ,

’ i n the reading is Ovid Latin , Lucian s Dialogues

I Téléma u e and socrates in Greek , and g in French .

r For the fou th, besides the authors read in the

l a i X c asses below, Virgil in L t n and enophon in

’ i r rles X I Cha I . Greek and, in French, Volta e s

For the third, Sallust and Cicero are added in

’ a H Mor ali a L tin , omer and Plutarch s in Greek ;

’ F a Steele de L ou i s X I V in rench, Volt ire s , Mas

’ sil o n s Peti t Oar éme l , Boi eau , and extracts from

tt Fo r ﬁfth Bu on. the second class (our form), 1 6 A FRENCH ETON

H and orace, Livy, Tacitus, in Latin ; in Greek,

an d Sophocles and Euripides, Plato Demosthenes ;

’ ’ Bo s s u e t s Hi s to i re Umverselle in French, , and Mon

’ u i u s Grandeu r et D caden ce ales R o m te s q e é ai n e. The hi ghest class (our sixth form) is divided into

two, a rhetoric and a philosophy class ; this — i hi division which is mportant, and w ch is daily F becoming, with the authorities of rench Public

—i s Instruction, an object of greater importance di meant to correspond to the rection, literary or s ci en ti ﬁ c hi di u l , w ch the stu es of the now ad t

In scholar are to take . place of the Pindar, e Thucydides, Lucan, and Moli re, of the rhetoric

class, the philosophy class has chemistry, physics, and the higher mathematics . Some instruction in natu r al science ﬁ n ds a place in the school

i n the o course of every class ; lower classes, instru

o f z tion in the elements human physiology, oology, ﬁfth botany, and geology ; in the second class ( form) , instruction in the elements of chemistry. To this instruction in natural science two or three l A hours a week are al otted . bout the same time

u is allotted to arithmetic, to special instr ction in i h story and geography, and to modern languages ; A FRENCH ETON 7

as these last, however, are said to be in general imperfectly learnt in the French public schools as they are in o u r own . Two hours a week are

devoted to the correction of composition . Finally , N T the ew estament, in Latin or Greek, forms a

n part of the daily readi g of each class .

O u hi I t s programme will make two remarks, suggested by compari n g i t with that o fany of our

s ci en ti ﬁ own public schools . It has the c instruo tion and the study of the mother - tongue whi ch

- e our school course is without, and is oft n blamed

n for being without. I believe that the s ci e tiﬁ c instruction actually acquired by French school

i s l boys in the lower classes very little, but sti l a boy with a taste for science ﬁ n ds in thi s instruo tion an element whi ch keeps hi s tas te alive i n the special class at the head of the school it is

c i s s u fﬁci en t more onsiderable, but not, it alleged, for the wants of this special class , and plans for making it more thorough and systematic are being

- canvassed. In the study of the mother tongue the French schoolboy has a more real advantage over ours ; he does c e rtaml y learn somethi n g of

. the French language and literature, and of the c 1 8 A FRENCH ETON

i En gli s h o u r sc hoolboy learns noth ng. French

i n grammar, however, is a better instrument of li struction for boys than Eng sh grammar, and the

French literature possesses prose works, perhaps

ﬁtte d even poetical works , more to be used as clas sics for schoolboys than any which English I ﬁt literature possesses . need not say that the ness of works fo r this purpose depends on other considerations than those of the genius alone, and

o f . the creative force, which they exhibit

The regular school- lessons of a lyceum occupy

tw - i n about enty two hours the week, but among these regular school -lessons the lessons in modern languages are not counte d. The lessons in modern languages are given out of school - hours ; o u t o f

- school hours, too, all the boarders work with the masters at preparing their lessons ; each boarder has thus what we call a private tutor, but the

n o t French schoolboy does , like ours , pay extra for his pri vate tutor ; the general charge for board

and instruction covers this special tuition . Now I come to the important matter of school fees . These are all regul ated by authority ; the scale of charges in every lyceum and commu nal A FR ENCH ETON 9 college must be seen and sancti oned by the

- i academy inspector in order to have legal ty. A

- u l day scholar in the To ouse Lyceum pays, in the

o f a i i s lowest the three gre t d v ions of the school,

fr 8 4 i 1 1 0 . ) a year ; in the second d vision

1 3 fr 8 4 i n he pays 5 . ) the third and high f i e s t vi 1 80 r . I di sion, f he w shes to

share in the special tuition of the boarders, he

£2 £4 r . N pays from to a year ext a ext, for the

A hi s boarders . boarder pays, for whole board

di v1s mn r t 800 f . and ins ruction, m the lowest ,

di vi 85 0 fr . a year ; in the second sion,

i n hi di i i 900 fr . I the ghest v s on, n the i ﬁ 2 s ci en t c class the charge i s £ extra . The pay

i n ments are made quarterly, and always advance .

Every boarder bri ngs with hi m an o u tﬁt (tro u sseau ) valued at 5 00 fr . the sum paid fo r hi s board

i n t e and s ruction covers, b sides, all expense for

hi o u tﬁt keeping good t s , and all charges for wash

di e ri ing, me cal att ndance, books , and w ting

. T materials he meals, though plain, are good, and they are set out wi th a propri ety and a regard for hi appearances w ch, when I was a boy, graced no

- I u school dinners that ever saw just as, I m st 20 A FR ENCH ETON

s a y, even in the normal schools for elementary

- teachers, the dinner table in France contrasted k strongly, by its clean cloth, arranged nap ins, glass, and general neatness of service, with the

n a ki n l e s s ni stained cloth, p k ves and forks, jacks

u m and mugs, hacked joints of meat, and st ps of

I di nn - loaves, which have seen on the er table of

E u normal schools in ngland. With s it i s always

i s ﬁlled the individual that , and the public that i s sent empty away. Such may be the cheapness of public scho ol

i s education, when that education treated as a

l mi i s matter of pub ic economy, to be ad n tered upon a great scale, with rigid system and exact super intendence, in the interest of the pupi l and not in

- 1 the interest of the school keeper. But many i ll people, it w be said, have no relish for such

’ ’ 1 L admi m t s rati on des Zycées es t co mp léteme n t étm ngér e a tou te i dée de s ecu lati o n et de ro t s the u l p p ﬁ , ays To ous e pro “ s pe ctu s which lies before me ; A lyceum i s man aged n o t i n the t as m leas a atter of s peculation o r pro ﬁt an d thi s i s n o t

m rt n f fo r the i s a ere adve isi g pu f, public the real proprietor of the m i t has lyceu s , which foun ded fo r the education of i ts t an d fo r t t t n h you h , ha objec o ly ; t e directors of the lyceum are s m s r an ts the m e i ple e v of public , e ploy d by the publi c at ﬁxed sa ar l ies .

22 A FRENCH ETON

ni o f them, young men from the u versities Toulouse and Montpellier ; two o r three were settled in i i Paris , but, happen ng to be just then at the r e N homes, at B ziers or arbonne, they had come ik over l e the rest ; they seemed a good set, all of them, and their attachment to their old school

’ and master was more accordi ng to one s notions

i s - i of Engl h school l fe than French . We had to

Mo nta n e No i re o f cross the g , an outlier the

Cevennes ; the elevation was not great, but the ai r 1 8th an , even on the of May in L guedoc, was di i l sharp, the vast stance looked gray and ch l,

and the whole landscape was severe, lonely, and desolate . Soreze i s in the plain o n the other side

Mo n ta u e No i re o f of the g , at the foot gorges running up i n to the Ceven nes ; at the head of these gorges are the basins from whi ch the Canal da i d f — M i the great canal uni ting the M e di ter ran ean A — with the tlantic is fed . It was seven

’ o clock when we drove up the street, shaded with

e - large trees , of Sor ze ; my fellow travellers showed

wa I me the y to the school, as was obliged to get

away early the next morning, and wanted, there

, fore to make my Visit that evening . The s chool A FRENCH ETON 23

o f occupies the place an old abbey, founded in

75 7 by Pepin the Little ; fo r several hundred years the abbey had been in the possession of the

’ ni i n Domi cans, when, Louis the Sixteenth s reign, w i a school as attached to i t. In th s school the king took great interest, and himself designed the

i s dress for the scholars . The establ hment was saved at the Revolution by the tact of the Do mi ni c an who was then at its head ; he resumed the lay dress, and returned , in all outward appear

n to f hi s l a ce, the secular li e, and school was al owed to subsist. Under the Restoration it was one of the most famous and most ari stocratic schools in

o France, but it had much declined when La or 1 8 4 5 o fi t. I daire, in , took charge waited in the monastic - looking court (much of the old abbey remains as part o f the present bui lding) whil e my N card, with a letter which the Papal uncio at I Paris , to whom had been introduced through

’ n fo r Sir George Bowyer s ki dness, had obtained

i was me from the Superior of the Dom nicans, taken up to Lac o rdai re he sent down word directly that he would s ee me ; I was shown across the court, up an old stone staircase , into a 24 A FRENCH ETON vast corridor ; a door in thi s corridor was thrown

open, and in a large bare room, with no carpet or ll furniture of any kind, except a sma table, one

- c ru c i ﬁx or two chairs , a small book case, a , and

Lac o rdai re some religious pictures on the walls, ,

hi s i - in the dress of order, wh te robed, hooded, and

s at . sandalled, before me

The ﬁ rs t publi c appearance o f this remarkable

o f T man was in the cause education . he Charter of 1 830 had promi sed li berty of instruction

o fﬁci al liberty, that is, for persons outside the hierarchy of public instruction to open schools .

’ M Gu i zo t s This promise . celebrated school law

1 833 ﬁn all i of y performed ; but, in the meant me, the authorities o f public instructi on refused to

ff i t Lac o rdai re M give e ect to . and . de Monta

O n o n 7th 1 831 lembert pe ed in Paris, the of May ,

o f i an independent free school , wh ch they them selves were the teachers it was closed in a day o r two by the police, and its youthful conductors

ﬁn e d were tried before the Court of Peers and .

’ This was L ac o rdai re s ﬁrs t public appearance ; twenty - two years later his last sermon in Paris was preached in the same cause ; it was a sermon A FRENCH ETON 25

th h hr on behalf of e sc ools of the C istian Brethren. Duri ng that space o f twenty - two years he had

h ﬁeld run a conspicuous career, but on anot er than that o f education ; he had become the most

h E he re renowned preac er in urope, and had

e i established in France, by his nergy, conv ction, l and patience, the re igious orders banished thence i I since the Revolution . Through th s career cannot now attempt to follow hi m ; wi th the h hi ni eart of friends p and the eloquence of ge us, M i . de Montalembert has recently wr tten its his tory ; but I must point out two characteri stics hi m i t h which distinguished in , and whic created hi in him the force by w ch, as an educator, he worked, the force by which he most impressed and commanded the young. One of these was

ﬁ rm his passion for order, for solid government.

He called our age an age which does not know

” w} n a gai t u er e o béi r how to obey g g . It is easy to s ee that thi s is not s o absolutely a matter o f reproach as Lac o rdai re made i t ; in an epoch of transition society may and must s ay to its

n governors , Govern me accordi g to my spirit, if

” I am o t obey you . One cannot doubt that 26 A FRENCH ETON

Lac o r dai re erred in makin g absolute devotion to ' ’ ' the Church (malheu r a gem; tr o u ble Z Egzeee 1) the watch - word of a gi fted man in our century ; o n e cannot doubt that he erred in affirmin g that the greatest servi ce to be rendered to Christianity in our day was to do something for the revival

”

a . of the medi eval religious orders Still, he seized a great truth when he proclaimed the intri nsic

' weakness and dan ger o f a state of anarchy ; above

all, when he applied this truth in the moral sphere

was n hi s he inco trovertible, fruitful for nation ,

H e especially fruitful for the young. dealt vigor o u s l y with himself, and he told others that the

ﬁrs t thing for them was to do the same ; he i placed character above everyth ng else. One

” may have spirit, learning, even genius , he said ,

and n o t character ; for want o f character our age

o f u is the age miscarriages . Let s form Christians

ﬁ rs t o f u s in our schools , but, all, let form Chris tians in o u r own hearts the one great thing is

’ to have a li e o o n e s o wn f f . Alli ed to thi s characteristic was his other i h his passion, in an age wh ch seems to t ink that progress can be achieved only by our herding A FRENCH ETON 27

h i n fo r toget er and mak g a noise, the antique

l o f discipli n e of retirement and si ence . His plan

ﬁ rs t life for himself, when he took orders, was to go and be a vill age cu r é i n a remote province i n

M u él e n A i France . . de Q , the rchb shop of Paris, kept him i n the capital as chaplai n to the Con vent o f the Visitation he had not then com m en c e d the co nferences whi ch made hi s reputation ; b e an d lived perfectly isolated and obscure, he h was s o . never happy It is with delig t, he

hi i I ﬁn d wrote at t s t me, that my solitude deepening round me ; one can do nothing without ’ A solitude, is my grand maxim . man is formed

i . from within , and not from w thout To withdraw i and be with oneself and w th God, is the greatest i m strength there can be in the world . It is possible not to feel the serenity and sincerity of

i di n v these words . Tw ce he refused to e t the U i ers ;

ni i he refused a chair in the U vers ty of Louvain .

1 836 hi s ﬁl l ed di s In , when fame France, he

fo r ﬁ v e s appeared years , and the e years he passed

H e a in silence and seclusion at Rome . c me back 1 84 1 i N in a Dom nican monk ; again, at otre

° c i n e ﬁabl e accent hi s Dame , that eloquen e , that , led 28 A FRENCH ETON cou ntrymen and foreigners capti ve ; he achi eved his cherished purpose of re - establishing in France di the religious orders . Then once more he s l appeared, and after a short station at Tou ouse

hi s consigned himself, for the rest of life, to the

o f labour and obscurity Soreze . One of the i great consolations of my present l fe, he writes e “ I from Sor ze, is , that have now God and the

” ni young for my sole compa ons . The young,

i r i ns w th thei fresh spirit, as they tinctively feel

s o the presence of a great character, , too, irre s i s ti bly receive an i n ﬂu en ce from souls which li ve habitually with God .

Lac o r dai re received me with great kindness.

H e was d h ex above the mid le height, wit an c ellen t countenance ; great digni ty i n hi s look

hi s and bearing, but nothing ascetic ; manners

ni a mated, and every gesture and movement show

H e di ing the orator. asked me to ne with hi m

da h the next y, and to see the sc ool festival , the

ate des an ci en s élé'ves I f ; but could not stop . Then

was n he ordered lights for it growi g dark, and ins isted on s ho vn n g me all over the place that evening . While we were waiting for lights he

30 A FRENCH ETON ascertain that the pupil s are properly lodged and fed, and that the teaching contains nothing con trary to public morality and to the laws ; and the school may be closed by the public authorities on

’ v eri ﬁ ed ll an inspector s report, duly . Sti , for an

li s i e al estab hment l ke the Sor ze school, the actu State interference comes to very li ttle ; the Mini ster has the power o f di spensi ng with the c erti fi cate ao of probation, and holy orders are c epte d in the place of the c erti fi cate of competency (the examination in the seminary being more di ffi c u l t than the examination for this latter) . In France the State (Machiavel as we Engli sh

i t mi n think ), in na g certain matters as the objects i of its superv sion in private schools, means what

o it says, and does not g beyond these matters ; li k and, for these matters , the name of a man e

Lac o rdai re serves as a guarantee, and is readily accepted as such . A e ll the boys at Sor ze are boarders, and a boarder’ s expenses here exceed by about £8 or

1 0 hi x £ a year s e penses at a lyceum . The pro gramme of studi es differs little from that of the lyceums, but the military system of these State A FRENCH ETON 31

schools Lac o rdai re repudiated . Instead of the vast common dormitories of the lyceums, every

i was boy had hi s l ttle cell to himself ; that , after di ff . all, as it seemed to me, the great erence But

was to o im mense stress laid, , upon physical edu

u m a cation, which the lyce s are s id too much

Laco rdai re i to neglect . showed me w th great i satisfaction the stable, w th more than twenty

all horses, and assured me that the boys were

’ ’ was le d ma i . sal esom taught to r de There the , ll where they fenced, the armoury fu of guns

n r o u . and swords, the shooti g galle y, and so All h t is is in our eyes a little fantastic , and does not replace the want of cricket and foot

i n ﬁ eld ball a good , and of freedom to roam

- over the country out of school hours ; in France,

i s however, it a good deal ; and then twice a week all the boys used to tur n out with Lao or

u t daire upon the mo n ains , to their great enjoy

ez 0 1 hi m ment as the Sor e pe p e said, the Father

l i V an y An d se f be ng more igorous than of them . the old abbey school has a small park adjoining i t i a , w th the mount ins rising close behind, and

has i it beaut ful trees in its courts, and by no 32 A FRENCH ETON

- means the di s mal barrack look of a lyceum .

Lac o rdai re had a staff o f more than ﬁfty

n teachers and helpers, about half of these bei g — members of hi s own religious order Domini cans ; all c o - operated in some way or other i n

Lac o rdai re conducting the school. used never

- hi to give school lessons mself, but scarcely a Sunday passed without his preaching in the h i chapel . The ighest and most d stinguished

the In s ti tu te boys formed a body called , with no governing powers li ke those of o u r sixth form, but with a sort of common room to

i ri i i themselves, and w th the p v lege of hav ng

m Laco rdai re I their eals with and hi s staff.

’ S alle d I llu stres H was shown, too, a , or all of

hi i n Wort es, nto which the boys are i troduced on high days and holidays ; we shou l d thi nk

i I The th s fanciful, but found it impressive . hall is decorated wi th busts of the chi ef of i the former scholars , some of them very d stin

u i s hed A g . mong these busts was that o f Henri de Laro chejac qu eli n (who was brought up here

e hi s at Sor ze) , with noble, speaking countenance, his Vendean hat, and the heart and cross on his A FRENCH ETON

fo r breast. There was, besides, a theatre public

recitations . We ended with the chapel, in which we found all the school assembled ; a Domi nican was reading to them from the pulpit an edifying li fe o f a scapegrace converted to seriousness by

n a bad accide t, much better worth listening to

. was Lac o r than most sermons When it over, daire whispered to me to ask if I would stay for the prayers or go at once . I stayed ; they were very short and si mple ; and I saw the boys dis perse afterwards . The gaiety of the little ones and their evident fondness for the Pér e

. As o f was a pretty sight we went out chapel, o n e o f o f o r them , a little fellow ten eleven, ran

u s n from behind , snatched, with a laughi g face,

’ Lac o rdai re s i t Lac o rdai hand, and kissed ; re i l hi s . I sm ed, and patted head When read the

’ M M n l e m other day in . de o ta bert s book ho w

Lac o rdai re hi s had said, shortly before death , “ I have always tried to serve God the Church ,

o u r J i I and Lord esus Christ ; bes des these,

—o h — il have loved , dearly loved ch dren and

I o f young people, thought this incident .

Lac o r dai re knew absolutely nothin g of our D 34 A FRENCH ETON

n great E glish schools, their character, or recent

Fre n chm an history but then no , except a very few at Paris who know more than anybody in

n n n . H the world, k ows a ything about anythi g ow I ever, have seen few people more impressive ; hi he was not a great modern t nker, but a great

Christian orator of the fourth century, born in the nineteenth ; playi ng his part in the ni ne teen th centu r y not s o successfully as he would ll I have played it in the fourth, but sti nobly .

u l wo d have given much to stay longer with him, I as he kindly pressed me was tempted, too, by hearing that it was li kely he would make a N di d speech the next day. ever any man so

’ o f hi s be i n give one the sense g a natural orator, perfect in ease and simplicity ; they told me that o n n Su day, when he preached, he hardly ever

' wen t u p into the pulpit, but spoke to them from

“ ” s ans a o n I his place f g . But had an engage

Carc as s o n e ment to keep at at a certain hour,

I o I and was obliged to g . At nine took leave

Lac o rdai r e V of and returned to the illage inn, clean, because it is frequented by the relations

l - of pupi s . There I supped with my fellow tra A FRENCH ETON

v ellers , the old scholars ; charming companions

s . a they proved them elves L te we sat, much min de Caho rs we drank, and great friends we became . Before we parted, one of them, the

e n ami B ziers youth studyi g at Paris, with the ability o f his race assured me (Go d forgive him that he was well acquainted wi th my

B ﬁv e I poems . y the next morning had started to retu rn to Castelnaudary. Recrossing the

Mo n tagn e No i re in the early morni n g was very cold work, but the view was inconceivably grand . I l caught the train at Caste naudary, and was at

Carcas s o n e I s aw o by eleven ; there a sch ol, and

I ci t arca o n e I e m saw the old y of C s s . not going I to describe either the one or the other, but i cannot forbear say ng, Let everybody see the

e c ci t de Car as son e. It is, indeed , as the anti

l dl e u l u ari an s a i t A H . q c l , the Mid e g erc aneum

ﬁrs t o ld i When you get sight of the city, wh ch — is behind the modern town when yo u have go t clear of the modern town, and come out upon the

A cu e bridge over the ude, and see the walled upon — its hill before yo u you rub your eyes and thi nk

I van ho e that you are looking at a vignette in . 36 A FRENCH ETON

T I I hus have enabled, as far as could, the

Engli s h reader to s e e what a French lyceum i s k li e, and what a French private school, com

. I peting with a lyceum, is like have given hi m I fo r , as far as could, the facts ; now the

o f application these facts . What is the prob lem respecting secondary instruction which we in thi s country have to solve ? What li ght do these facts throw upon that problem ?

38 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 corresponding class can obtain from in stitutions like that of Toulouse or Soreze ?

i s There is the really important question . It vain to meet it by propositions which may, very

likely, be true, but which are quite irrelevant .

” I am Your French Etons, told, are no Etons

” all ik at ; there is nothing l e an Eton in France . I know that . Very likely France is to be pitied I for having no Etons, but want to call attention to the substitute, to the compensation The

English public school produces the ﬁn e s t boys in e the world ; the Toulouse Lyceum boy, the Sor ze

College boy, is not to be compared with them .

to o . Well, let me grant all that But then there are only some ﬁv e or s i x schools in England to produce this specimen - boy ; and they cannot pro duce him cheap . Rugby and Winchester produce him at about £1 20 a year ; Eton and Harrow (and the Eton schoolboy is perhaps justly taken as the most perfect type o f thi s hi ghly - extolled class) cannot produce hi m for much less than

£200 Tan tce a year. mo les Wat R o man am co n dere — gentem such a business is it to produce an article so superior. But for the common wear and tear A FRENCH ETON 39

dl l i of mid ing life , and at rates tolerable for midd ng

? do ro people , what do we produce What we p duce at £30 a year ? What is the character o f the hi fo r u s schools w ch undertake this humbler,

? but far more widely - interesting production Ar e they as good as the Toulouse Lyceum and the ? T Soreze College hat is the question . Suppose that the recommendations of the Public School Commi ssi oners bring about in the great public schools all the reforms which a judi cious reformer could desire ; suppose that they produce the best possible appli cation of endow c ments, the best possible mode of ele tion to masterships ; that they lead to a wi se revision o f

to the books and subjects of study, a reinforcing of the mathematics and of the modern languages,

a where these are found we k ; to a perfecting,

ﬁn all i n di s ci y, of all board g arrangements and p li n e ; nothing will yet have been done towards — provi ding fo r the great want the want of a secondary instruction at Once reasonably cheap

r o m and reasonably good . Suppose that the ec men dati o n s of the Commissioners accomplish — somethi n g even in thi s direction suppose that 40 A FRENCH ETON n the cost o f educating a boy at Rugby is reduced £1 00 to about a year, and the cost of educating a boy at Eton to about £1 5 0 a year—no one acquainted with the subject will thin k it practic

n able, or even, under prese t circumstances, desir

f i n able, to ef ect in the cost of education these

An d two schools a greater reduction than this . what will this reduction amount to ? A boon — i n some cases a very considerable boon to those who n o w l frequent these schools . But what wil it do fo r the great class now in want o f proper secondary instruction ? Nothing ; for in the ﬁrs t

o r place these schools are but two, and are full, at

s u fﬁci en tl least y full , already ; in the second place,

if they were able to hold all the boys in England, the class I speak of would stil l be excluded from — them excluded by a cost o f £1 0 0 or £1 5 0 just as

o f 1 2 2 much as by a cost £ 0 or £ 00 . A certain number of the professional class, with incomes

quite inadequate to such a charge, will, for the

o f o f r sake the future establishment thei children, f t make a brave ef or , and send them to Eton or £1 5 0 £1 0 0 Rugby at a cost of or a year. But they send them there already, even at the exi st I I A FRENCH ETON 1

ing higher rate . The great mass of middling

l n v n fo r people , with midd i g incomes , not ha i g their children’ s future establi shment in life plans which make a public school training i n di sp en s

ll fo r able, wi not make this effort, will not pay

’ their children s schooli n g a price qu i te di s pro

o rti o n a p te to their means . They demand a lower — school charge a school charge li ke that of

u l To ouse or Soreze .

n ﬁn d i to A d they t. They have only open the m Ti es . There they read advertisement upon

“ advertisement, offering them, conscientiously

f n in l of eri g them, a most any part of England “ £20 which suits their convenience, Education ,

e li o f per annum , no extras . Di t un mited, and

n ri the best description . The educatio comp ses

Greek , Latin , and German, French by a resident

native, mathematics , algebra, mapping, globes, and all the essentials of a ﬁr s t- rate commercial educa

—all tion . Physical, moral, mental, and spiritual the wants of their children will be sedulously

“ n cared for. They are invited to an Educatio al

” H di i s ome, where scipline based upon moral i n ﬂu en c e and emulation, and every effort is made - - ni to combine home comforts with school trai ng.

” Terms inclusive and moderate . If they have a i child with an awkward temper, and need ng i special management, even for this particular ch ld the wonderful operation of the laws o f supply and demand, in this great commercial country, will be i found to have made perfect prov sion . Unman ageable boys o r youths (u p to twenty years) are made perfectly tractable and gentlemanly in one year by a clergyman near town , whose peculiarly persuasive high moral and reli gious training at

An d I once elevates , etc . all this , as have said, i s i r provided by the s mple, natu al operation of

the laws of supply and demand, without, as the

Ti mes l o f beautiful y says, the fetters endowment

’ 3 and the interference of the executive . Happy country ! happy middle classes ! Well may the

Ti me s congratu l ate them with such fervency ; di l well may it produce thyrambs, whi e the news papers of less - favoured countries produce onl y leadin g articles well may it declare that the fabled life of the Happy Islands is already be

nn u s gi ing amongst . I But have no heart for satire, though the I I A FRENCH ETON 43

i 0 o n e who n n t. N occasion i vites , knows a ything o f afﬁrm the subject, will venture to that these

educational homes give, or can give, that which

’ ’ ﬁ r n who o e . N0 o e they conscientiously , knows

afﬁrm anything of the subject, will seriously that

can they give, or give, an education comparable to

u l e that given by the To ouse and Sor ze schools .

An d why ? Because they want the securities hi w ch, to make them produce even half of what ff — they o er, are indispensable the securities of

B kn supervision and publicity. y this time we ow pretty well that to trust to the principle of supply and demand to do for u s all that we want in pro v i di n g education is to lean upon a broken reed .

We trusted to i t to give u s ﬁt elementary schools till its i mpotence became conspicuous ; we have

r i t - th own aside, and called upon State aid, with

i u s the secur ties accompanying this, to give ele mentary schools more like what they should be ; we have thus founded in elemen tary education a

e syst m still , indeed, far from perfect, but living — and fruitful a system whi ch will probably s u r f vi ve the most strenuous e forts for its destruction .

In secondary e ducation the i mpotence of thi s 44 A FRENCH ETON principle of supply an d demand is as signal as i in elementary education . The mass of mank nd know good butter from bad, and tainted meat

o f from fresh, and the principle supply and de

u s mand may, perhaps, be relied on to give sound meat and butter. But the mass of mankind do not s o well know what di stingui shes good teach ing and training from bad ; they do not here know what they ought to demand, and, therefore, the demand cannot be relied o n to give u s the right if supply . Even they knew what they ought to

s u fﬁc i e n t demand, they have no means of testing

o r hi i s whether no t s really supplied to them .

Securities , therefore, are needed . The great public schools o f England offer securities by their very

ta c o n publicity ; by their wealth , impor nce, and n ec ti o n s to , which attract general attention them ;

o ld i by their reputation, wh ch they cannot forfeit without disgrace and danger . The appointment i of the Publ c School Commission is a proof, that to these moral securities for the e fﬁci en cy of the great public schools may be added the material I security of occasional competent supervision . will grant that the great schools of the Continent

46 A FRENCH ETON u scattered over the country ; we have no provision for planting such schools where they are most

n o r . wa ted, for insuring a due supply of them

Bradﬁe ld Cheltenham, , and Marlborough are no more a due provision fo r the Northumberland bo y than the Bordeaux Lyceum is a due provi sion for

Are i Al . the l ttle satian In the second place, these ? schools cheap Even if they were cheap once,

n o t ll i n does their very exce ence, a country where schools at once good and cheap are rare, tend to deprive them of their cheapness ? Marlborou gh

I — ll — a was, believe perhaps it sti is the che pest o f them ; Marlborough is probably just now the

- best taught school in England ; and Marlborough,

- therefore, has raised its school charge. Marl

s o borough was quite right in doing, for Marl di i borough is an in vidual nstitution , bound to guard its own interests and to pro ﬁt by its o wn

n o t successes, and bound to provide for the general educational wants of the country. But what makes the school - charge of the Toulouse Lyceum remain moderate, however eminent may be the merits of the Toulouse masters , or the successes of the Toulouse pupils ? It is that the Toulouse u A FRENCH ETON 47

Lyceum is a public institution, administered in

o f view the general educational wants of France,

o wn n and not of its i dividual preponderance .

An d o r what makes ( made, alas the school e charge of the Sor ze College remain moderate, even with a most di stinguished and attractive

Lac o rdai re ? director, like , at its head It was the organisation of a complete system of secondary schools throughout France , the abundant supply i of institutions , w th at once respectable guarantees

ﬁxi n and reasonable charges , g a general mean of school - cost which even the most successful private school cannot venture much to exc eed .

“ - A fter all , it is the educational home, and

Bradﬁeld u s not or Marlborough , which supplies with the nearest approach to that rate of charges which secondary instruction, if it is ever to be

o n organised a great scale, and to reach those who i t are in need of , must inevitably adopt . People talk o f the greater cheapness of foreign

o f hi countries , and of the dearness t s every

hi s a t ng costs more here, they y, than it does

: I abroad good education, like everything else .

I am do not wish to dispute, Willing to make 48 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 some allowance for this plea ; one must be careful

l ﬁ n d not to make too much, however, or we sha l ourselves to the end of the chapter with a second ary instruction failing just where our present — secondary instruction fails a secondary instruo

o u t o f i i t tion which, the multitude need ng , a

nl s acri ﬁc e s few , and o y a few, make to get ; the

ri ﬁ i s ac c e s o t. many, who do not like , g without

If we ﬁx a school- charge varyi ng from £25 to £5 0

I am ﬁ xe d a year, sure we have the outside rate which the great body of those needing secondary ll instruction wi ever pay. Sir John Coleridge analyses this body into the clergy of moderate or contracted incomes (and that means the i m

o fﬁc ers o f mense majority of the clergy), the

n army and navy, medical men, solicitors , and ge try i ll ’ 2 of large fam lies and sma means . Many more elements might be enumerated . Why are the

r o u t ? manufactu ers left The very rich, among

these , are to be counted by ones, the middling sort by hundreds. And when Sir John Coleridge

- separates tenant farmers, small landholders, and

” retail tradesmen , into a class by themselves , and proposes to appropriate a separate class o f schools II A FRENCH ETON

fo r o f di n an d them, he carries the process stinctio demarcation farther than I c an think quite desir k able . But ta ing the constituent parts of the class requiring a liberal education as he assigns

s u m n them, it seems to me certain that a ra ging from £25 to £5 0 a year is as much as those whom he enumerates can in general be expected to pay

’ fo r n a son s education, and as much as they eed be called upon to pay for a sou n d and valuable education, if secondary instruction were organised

be . as it might It must be remembered, however, that a reduced rate of charge for boarders , at a

di n - good boar g school , is not by any means the only ben e ﬁt to the class of parents in question — perhaps not even the principal be n e ﬁt which the organisation of secondary instruction brings

i n i t li t. with It bri gs with , also, by estab shing its schools in proper numbers, and all over the li country, faci ties for bringing up many boys as

- day scholars who are now brought up as boarders .

At present man y people send their sons to a boardi ng-school when they woul d much rather

keep them at home, because they have no suit

n f able school within reach . Opi ions dif er as to E whether it is best fo r a boy to live at home o r

o n o to g away to school , but there can be doubt which of the two modes of brin ging him up is the cheapest for his parents ; and those (and they are many) who think that the continu ation of home - life along with his schooling is

fo r i far best the boy h mself, would enjoy a double ben eﬁt in having suitable schools made accessible to them .

I n But must not forget that an i stitution, or

x f n rather a group of institutions, e ists, o feri g to m the iddle classes, at a charge scarcely higher

“ ” o f £20 than that the educational home, an education affording considerable guarantees for

I o f its sound character. mean the College St.

N afﬁli ate d icholas, Lancing, and its schools .

This institution certainly demands a word o f

n M r notice here, and no word of mine, regardi g .

an d Woodard his labours, shall be wanting in I unfeigned interest and respect for them . Still, I ’ t Mr . must confess hat , as read Woodard s pro I gramme, and as listened to an excellent sermon from the Dean of Chichester in recommendation i t of , that programme and that sermon seemed to I I A FRENCH ETON 5 1 me irresistibly to lead towards conclusions which they did not reach, and the conclusions which

M r they did reach were far from satisfying . . Woodard says with great truth It may be

- asked, Why cannot the shop keeper class educate their own children without charity ? It may be

s answered, Scarcely any cla s in the country does educate its own children without some aid . Witness the enormous endowments of our Uni v e rs i ti e s and public schools, where the sons of

- - our well to do people resort . Witness our national

an d i schools supported by State grants, by paroch al

. O n and national subscriptions the other hand,

Mr mi the lower mi ddle clas s ( . Woodard ght quite properly have said the mi ddle class i n i general), pol tically a very important one, is dependent to a great extent for its education on hi private desultory enterprise . T s class, in this

n o thi n i ll s land of education, gets g out of the m ion given annuall y for this pu rpose to every class

”

hi s . H except themselves . In sermon Dr ook

hi s di wa spoke, in cor al, manly y, much to the same effect .

This was the grievance ; what was the remedy ? 5 2 A FRENCH ETON II

That this great class should be rescued from the tender mercies o f private desul tory enterprise ?

o f c That, in this land education, it should hen e forth get something out of the millions given an nually for this purpose to every class except itself That in an age when enormous endow

- ments, the form which public aid took in earlier i ages, and tak ng which form public aid founded in those ages the Universities and the public

ben e ﬁt schools for the , along with the upper mi dl hi class, of this very d e class w ch is now , by the irresistible course of events, in great measure — I excluded from them that in an age, say, when

i di a these great endowments, th s me eval form of

a i l public aid, have ce sed, publ c aid shou d be brought to these classes in that simpler and more manageable form which in modern societies it — assumes the form of public grants, with the guarantees of supervision and responsibili ty ? — The Universities receive public grants ; for not to speak of the payment of certain professors 1 by the State—that the State regards the endowments

1 These profes sors are n o w n omin ally paid by the Un ivers ity bu t the Un iversity pays them i n con sideration of the remis s ion to her the tat c rt n t s r at r m n t t an , by S e , of e ai du ie of g e e a ou h

5 4 A FRENCH ETON 1 1

What sort of a provi sion is this for that need

hi i s o ? H e w ch is, on his own show ng, urgent li hopes, indeed, that if the pub c will assist in hi raising t s one school, it will lead to a general extension of mi ddl e class education all over Eng

” o f ? H land . But in what number years ow long are we to wait ﬁrs t ? An d then we have to

t — s ec r i consider the second great poin that of u i t es .

’ r fu lﬁll ed Suppose M . Woodard s hopes to be suppose the establi s hment of the Balcombe school to have led to the establi s hment o f like schools — all over England what secu rities shall we have for the ﬁtn es s of these schools ? Sussex is not a

u l i f very large and pop ous county, but, even we i m fo r l it ourselves to the ratio adopted Sussex , of

u s three of these schools to a county, that gives

1 20 fo r of them England proper only, without taking in Wales . I have said that the emi nence of the master may be in itself a sound security I for the worth of a school but, when look at I the number of these schools wanted, when look at the probable position and emoluments o f their I teachers, cannot think it reasonable to expect that all of them, or anything like all, will be pro n A FRENCH ETON 5 5 vi ded with masters o f an emi nence to make all

u . f rther guarantees unnecessary But, perhaps, they will all be afﬁli ated to the present institution

an d at Lancing , , in some degree, under its super

9 u s vision Well, then, that gives , as the main E h regulative power of nglis secondary instruction, i i t as our pr ncipal security for , the Provost and

St. N a n . I Fellows of icholas College, L nci g have

M r the greatest, the most sincere respect for . — Woodard and hi s coadjutors I should be quite

’ M r s u fﬁ i n ready to accept . Woodard s name as c e t security for an y school which he himself conducts

— I a I but should hesit te , confess, before accepting

Mr hi s m . Woodard and colleagues , or any si ilar

ﬁn al body of private persons, as my security for

the right management of a great national concern, as the last court of appeal to which the interests of English secondary instruction were to be

d r carrie Thei constitution is too close, their

if o r co mposition too little national . Even this that individual were content to take them as his f l c o . se urity, the bulk the public wou d not We saw n this the other day, when imputatio s were

a an d e thrown out against L ncing, our pr posed 5 6 A FRENCH ETON II

n had security had to ﬁ d security for itself. It

di fﬁ c u lt M r . no y in so doing ; Woodard has , it cannot be repeated too often, governed Lancing

I — M r admi rably all mean is and . Woodard himself would probably be the ﬁrs t to agree with

— m co n ﬁden ce me that, to co mand public for a

o f great national system schools , one needs a security larger, ampler, more national, than any

Mr hi . w ch, by the very nature of things , Woodard i and h s friends can quite supply . But another and a very plausible security has been provided for secondary ins truction by the

M r A zeal and energy of . cland and Dr. Temple ; I mean , the Oxford and Cambridge Middle Class i Examinations . The good ntentions and the activity of the promoters of these examinations cannot be acknowledged too gratefully ; good has certainly be en accompli s hed by them : yet it is

n u deniable that this security also is, in its present

n i n fﬁ i n s u c e t. I n o t conditio , quite write, for the

professed and practised educationist, but for the

fo r general reader ; above all, the reader of that class which is most concerned in the question

I am hi I am which raising, and w ch most solicit n A FRENCH ETON 7

— mi dl ous to carry with me the d e class . There

I u s e u n ro fes fore, shall the plainest and most p I sioual language can, in attempting to show what the promoters of these University examinations

i s try to do, what they have accompl hed, wherein they have failed. They try to make s ecwmity do fo r u s all that we want in the improvement of our secondary education . They accept the educa

” ti o n al homes at present scattered all over the country they do not ai m at replacin g them by other and better institutions ; they do not visit o r criticise them ; but they invite them to send l select pupi s to certain local centres , and when mi the pupils are there, they exa ne them, class

o f m . U them, and give prizes to the best them doubtedl y thi s action of the Universities has given

an d a certain amount of stimulus to these schools , has done them a certain amount of good . But

o n e lls any can see how far this action fa , and

u i An must fall , short of what is req red . y one can s e e that the examination of a few select

h n o t scholars from a sc ool, at the school itself, not preceded or followed by an in spection of the school

itself, affords no solid security for the good condi 5 8 A FRENCH ETON II

An s e e tion of their school. y one can that it is for the interest o f an unscrupulous master to give

hi s all care to his few cleverest pupils, who will serve him as an advertisement, while he neglects m l the co mon bu k of his pupils, whose backward

il . I i ness there w l be nobody to expose w ll not,

o n i i however, insist too strongly th s last misch ef,

I i s because really believe that, serious as its

s o danger, it has not much prevailed as to counter balance the ben eﬁt which the mere stimu l us o f

All I i s h . t ese examinations has given say , that

i u l i s i n s u fﬁci e n t thi s st m us an security. Plans are now broached for reinforcing University ex

ni amination by U versity inspection . There we

An I get a far more solid security. d agree with

o hn ﬁtter Sir J Coleridge, that a body than the Universities to exercise this inspection could not I be found . t is indispensable that it should be li exercised in the name, and on the responsibi ty, o f a great public body ; therefore the Society of

Ar ts, which deserves thanks for its readiness to

help in improving secondary instruction, is hardly,

o f perhaps , from its want weight, authority, and

u ali ﬁ ed i t : importance, q to exercise but whether n A FRENCH ETON 9

te o r it is exercised by the Sta , by great and august

ri corporations like Oxford and Camb dge, the value of the security is equally good and learned cor

o rati o n s ik the p , l e Universities, have a certain

ﬁtn es s natural for discharging what is, in many

respects, a learned function . It is only as to the

power of the Universities to organise, equip, and keep working an e fﬁci e n t system of inspection fo r secondary schools that I am in doubt organisa tion and regularity are as indispensable to this guarantee as weight and authority. Can the Universities organi se and pay a body of inspectors

n i to travel all over E gland, to v sit, at least once

r o r ﬁv e r in eve y year, the four hund ed endowed h schools of t is country, and its unnumbered

“ ” educational homes ; can they supply a machinery

o f i for regulating the action these gentlemen, giv ng

effect to the information received from them,

r printing their reports, circulating them th ough the country ? The French University could ; but d the French University was a epartment o f State .

If l o f the Eng ish Universities cannot, the security i their nspection will be precarious ; if they can, there can be no better. 60 A FRENCH ETON

N0 better secu ri ty. But English secondary

I : s u fﬁ ci en t instruction wants, said, two things

s u fﬁci e n t provision of good schools , security for these schools continuing good Granting that

u s I the Universities may give the second, do

u s ﬁrs t I not s ee how they are to give the . t is not enough merely to provide a staff of inspectors

ll hi r and examiners, and sti to leave the c ld en of our middle class scattered about through the numberless obscure endowed schools and educa 1 ti o n al hi homes of t s country, some of them good,

o f had many them middling, most of them ; but

o f o f none them great institutions, none them

o r i invested with much consideration d gnity . What is wanted for the English middl e class is

1 n r t i n the Mu seu m m n s t at m ns A frie dly c i ic, , co plai h y ce ure t s to o n t t I s et t m all wn of priva e chools is sweepi g, ha he do , all i t t t n tt —he i me to n t w hou excep io , as u erly bad w ll allow poi m n t t r are s m mas to thes e words as y a swer . No doub he e o e ters of cheap private schools who are doin g hon es t an d excellen t work ; bu t n o o n e suffers more than such men themselves do m s t t t n i n m the n s the m fro a a e of hi gs which , fro bad es of ajor i t t s d t t t m an d y of hese chools , a iscredi is cas over he all, bad n o o n e l d n m t n n good alike ; wou gai ore by ob ai i g a public, tr t t m n t n had m an t n t us wor hy discri i a io of fro good , au he ic recogn ition of m erit . The teac hers of these schools woul d t n i n t s n at s n t t he have , heir profes io , a career ; pre e hey have n n o e .

6 2 A FRENCH ETON 1 1

m n o t h claims for this maxi , would ave laid it

Fo r o f down in this absolute way . the wants the

—o f highest class the class which frequents Eton, — n o t s cho o l a, ami l s cho o l for instance f y, but rather I a li ttle wo r ld . , is the right ideal cannot concede

M r H fo r to . awtrey that, the young gentlemen who o to g Eton, our grand aim and aspiration

be should , in his own words, to make their boy

o n e hood a joyous , by gentle usage and friendly

” c o n ﬁden c e on the part of the master. Let him

r o f believe me, the great want for the child en

n o t hi luxury is this sedulous tenderness, t s smooth

o f - I e m ing the rose leaf for them ; sure that, in

n o t i o f fact, it is by the predom nance the family and paren tal relation in its school- life that Eton is strongest : and it is well that this is s o . It

fo r seems to me that, the class frequenting Eton, the grand aim of education should be to give them those good things which their birth and rearin g are least likely to give them : to give them (besides mere book - learnin g) the notion o f a sort o f re i publ can fellowship, the practice of a plain life i - n o f . To common, the habit self help the middle class, the grand aim of education should be to u A FRENCH ETON 3 give largeness o f sou l and personal dign ity ; to the lower class, feeling, gentleness, humanity .

’ H M r H awtre s o f ami l ere, at last, . y ideal the f y as the type for the school, comes in its due place ;

for the children of poverty it is right, it is needful to set oneself ﬁrs t to make their boyhood a joyous

dl c o n ﬁde n c e one, by gentle usage and frien y on the part of the master fo r them the great danger

- i i i n s en s i is not insolence from over cher sh ng, but

’ bi li t - Mr Hawtre s y from over neglect . . y labours

’

St. at Mark s have been excellent and fruitful, just because he has here applied his maxim where it was the right maxim to apply. Yet even in

’ i S M r H awtre s x s th s phere . y ma im mu t not be

to o H used absolutely or too long. uman dignity needs almost as much care as human sensibility.

r i n Fi st, undoubtedly, you must make men feel g ; but the moment you have done that, you must

i n M r lose no time making them magnanimous . . Hawtrey will forgive me for saying that perhaps his danger lies in pressing the spring of gentleness,

co n ﬁden c e - i li n l of , of child l ke doci ty, of ki d y feelin g o f the dependent towards the patron who

” - l is furthering his well being a ittle too hard. 64 A FRENCH ETON n

n The energy and manli ess, which he values as

o f much as any one, run perhaps some little risk At I I di etiolating . least , think can see some in — cations o fthis danger in the reports pleasin g as — ’ in most respects they are o f his boys career in

H e the world after they have left school. does t ’ S . so much for them at Mark s, that he brings them to the point at which the ideal of education

u l changes , and the prime want for their c ture becomes identical with the pri me want for the

dl ﬁbre culture of the mid e classes . Their has been suppled long enough ; now it wants forti f i n y g.

Mr To do Eton justice, she does not follow .

’ Hawtrey s ideal she does not supple the ﬁbre of her pupils too much ; and, to do the parents of

i n these pupils justice, they have general a whole some sense of what their sons do really most

n want, and are not by any means a xious that

- I am school should over foster them . But afraid our middle classes have not qui te to the same degree this just perception of the true wants of f i their of spring. They w sh them to be comfort

s u fﬁci en tl able at school, to be y instructed there, II A FRENCH ETON 65

and n o t to cost much . Hence the eager promise

“ ” o n of home comforts with school teaching, all

” i c o n s ci e n terms nclusive and moderate, from the

u tious proprietor o f the ed cational home . To be

. S o sure, they do not get what they wish long as human nature remains what it is , they never

l i t n l wi l get , u ti they take some better security f o r it than a prospectus . But suppose they get the security of inspection exercised by the Uni

i i e an t v e rs t s . , or by y other trustworthy au hority Some good such an i nspection would undoubtedly accomplish ; certai n glarin g specimens o f charlat an i s m mi it ght probably expose, certain gross cases of mishandli ng and neglect it might put a mi st0 p to . It ght do a good deal for the school

i n h n fo r teach g, and somet i g the home comforts . It can never make these last what the prospect

who uses promise, what the parents believe the prospectuses hope for, what they might even really have fo r their money ; for only secon dary instruction organi sed on a great and regular scale

i s o can give th s at such cheap cost, and to organ i s e secondary instruction the inspection we are

ha supposing s no power . But even if it had the F 6 6 A FRENCH ETON 1 1

if power, secondary instruction were organised on a great and regular scale, if it were a national

o ff concern , it would not be by ensuring to the spring of the middle classes a more solid teachi n g

h o f at school, and a larger s are home comforts than they at present enjoy there (though certainly it i would do th s) , that such a secondary instruction I would confer upon them the greatest boon . ts greatest boon to the offspring of these classes would be its giving them great, honourable, public institutions for their nurture—institutions con v e i n S r m o f y g to the pi it, at the ti e life when the

i n ﬂu en c es spirit is most penetrable, the salutary

—i n ﬂu en c es of greatness, honour, and nationality i which expand the soul, liberalise the m nd , dignify the character. Such institutions are the great public schools of England and the great Uni versities ; with these i n ﬂu en c e s I , and some others to which just now i pointed, they have formed the upper class of th s

—a country class with many faults, with many mi shortco ngs, but imbued, on the whole, and

l i n ﬂu e n c es i main y through these , with a h gh,

rn h magnanimous, gove ing spirit, w ich has long 11 A FRENCH ETON 67

enabled them to rule , not ignobly, this great

country, and which will still enable them to rule it until they are equalled or surpassed . These institutions had their ori gin in endowments ; and

a i l the age of endowments is gone . Be ut fu and venerable as are many of the aspects under whi ch

is it presents itself, this form of public establ hment imi of education, with its l tations , its preferences,

e i n ﬂexi bi li t its eccl siastical character, its y, its inevitable want of foresight, proved, as time rolled o n ni , to be subject to many inconve ences, to many

O n abuses . the Continent of Europe a clean sweep has in general been made of thi s old form i of establishment, and new inst tutions have arisen I E upon its ruins . n ngland we have kept our great school and college foundations, introducing into their system what correctives and palliatives

s o were absolutely necessary. Long may we keep them ! but no such palliatives or correctives will ever make the public establishment of education

hi h s u fﬁ c ed s u fﬁce fo r i w c for earlier ages th s , nor

o f persuade the stream endowment, long since

li ﬂo w fai ng and scanty, to again for our present needs as it ﬂo we d in the Middle Ages . For public 68 A FRENCH ETON I I establishments modern societies have to betake

thems elves i n themselves to the State ; that is, to

e character O n thei r co llecti ve an d co mo m t . the

n Continent, society has thus betake itself to the

f n State for the establis hment o educatio . The result has been the formation of institutions like the Lyceum of Toulouse ; institutions capable o f great improvement, by no means to be extolled mi absolutely, by no means to be i tated just as they are ; but institutions formed by modern society, with modern modes of operation, to meet

a modern wants ; and in some import nt respects,

i n s i . t tu at any rate, meeting those wants These tions give to a whole new class—to the mi ddle — class taken at its very widest n o t merely an education for whose teachin g and boarding there

r — h I is valid secu ity, but something not so muc

m hi — o f i ad it, but somet ng the same enlarg ng,

o f n liberalising sense, the sense belongi g to a i great and honourable public institution, wh ch Eton and our three or four great public schools

o u r give to upper class only, and to a small frag

o ff ment broken from the top of our middle class .

i s H That is where England weak, and France , ol

7 0 A FRENCH ETON 1 1

schools, with the stipulation that all the schools which sent pupils to compete for these scholar hi dm s ps should a it inspection, a beginning would have been made ; a begin n i n g which I truly believe

’ would, at the end of ten years time , be found to have raised the character of secondary instruction If all through England . more than this can be

ﬁrs t attempted at , Sir John Coleridge , in his two

i the Gu ardi an excellent letters on th s subject to , i perfectly ind cates the right course to take ; indeed , one could wish nothing better than to commit the settlement of this matter to men of such prudence , moderation, intelligence, and public character as

ﬁv e Sir John Coleridge . The four or hundred endowed schools, whose collective operations now

u l give so little result, sho d be turned to better account ; amalgamation should be used, the most

u l usef of these institutions strengthened, the most useless suppressed, the whole body of them be treated as one whole, destined harmoniously to

o - a c operate towards one end . Wh t should be had in view is to constitute, in every county, at

o f r least one great centre secondary inst uction ,

h o f with low charges, wit the security inspection, II A FRENCH ETON 7 1

l and with a pub ic character. These institutions shou l d bear some such title as that o f R o yal

S cho o ls , and should derive their support, mainly,

- of course, from school fees, but partly, also, from

— r o wn o r endowments thei , those appropriated to them—and partly from scholarships supplied by

public grants . Wherever it is possible, wherever,

i s that is, their scale of charges not too high , or i i their situation not too unsu table, exist ng schools of good repute should be adopted as the R oyal

’ Mr ho ls . S c o . Schools such as Woodard s, such as ! ’ ing Edward s School at Birmingham , such as the Collegiate School at Liverpool , at once occur to o n e as su i table for thi s adoption ; it would

confer upon them, besides its other advantages , a i public character wh ch they are now without . Probably the very best medi cine which could be H devised for the defects of Eton, arrow, and the other schools whi ch the Royal Commissioners have i i been scrutin s ng, would be the juxtaposition, and ,

a o f i to a cert in extent, the competition, establ sh i N ments of this k nd . o wise man will desire to s ee root- and-branch work made with schools like

H to s e e di Eton or arrow, or them verted from the 7 2 A FRENCH ETON 1 1

di function which they at present scharge, and, on

the whole, usefully . Great subversive changes would here be o u t of place ; it is an addition of new that our secondary instruction wants, not a

o ld o r o ld ' demolition of , , at least, not of this . But to this o ld I cannot doubt that the apparition and operation o f this desirable new would give a very

i i ts fruitful stimulus ; as th s new , on part, would certainly be very much i n ﬂu en c ed and ben eﬁte d by the old . The repartition o f the charge o f this new secondary instruction, the mode of its assess

o f i r e u l at ment, the constitution the bod es for g ing the new system, the proportion and character of functions to be assigned to local and to central f authority respectively, these are matters o detail and arrangement whi ch it i s foreign to I my business here to discuss , and, hope, quite foreign to my di sposition to haggle and wrangle about . They are to be settled upon a due con

a sideration of circumst nces, after an attentive

o f o f scrutiny our existing means operation, and a discriminating review of the practi ce of other countries . In general , if it is agreed to give a 1 1 A FRENCH ETON 7 3 public and coherent organisation to secon dary

ill i ts instruction, few w dispute that particular f i mi direction, in dif erent local ties, is best com tted to local bodies , properly constituted, with a power o f supervi sion by an impartial central

to s i n the authority, and of resort thi authority

O f o r last instance . local bodies, bad good,

mi ni ad stering education , we have already plenty of specimens i n this c o rm try it woul d be dith cult fo r the wi t o f man to devise a better governing body fo r its purpose than the trustees o f o r Rugby School, a worse governing body than the trustees of Bedford School . To reject f the bad in the examples of ering themselves,

o u s e to use the g od, and to it with just regard to the present purpose, is the thing needful .

Undoubtedly these are important matters ; but

di fﬁc u l t undoubtedly, also, it is not to settle

n o t di fﬁc u lt I fo r them properly , mean, ordinary

i n t lli good sense and ordin ary good temper. The e i gence, fairness, and moderation wh ch, in practical

m s o ho w matters, our country en know well to

o n e exercise, make feel quite easy in leaving

- these common sen se arrangements to them . 74 A FRENCH ETON n

I e m more anxious about the danger of having the whole question misconceived, of having false

o f issues raised upon i t. One these false issues

“ I n s a : A have already oticed . People y fter all , your Toulouse Lyceum is not so good as

” i s Eton . But the Toulouse Lyceum for the I i middle class, Eton for the upper class . w ll

u s allow that the upper class, amongst , is very

o f i n wa well taken care , the y of schools, already .

7 But is the middle class The Lyceum loses, E perhaps , if compared with ton but does it not gain if compared with the Classical and Com me rci al Academy An d it is with this that A the comparison is instituted . gain, the French f Lyceum is reproached with its barrack li e, its i i want of country air and exerc se, its d smalness,

i . its rigidity, its excessive supervis on But these defects do not come to secondary instruction from its connection with the State they are not necessary results of that connection ; they come to French secondary instruction from the c o m mo n French and continental habitudes in the — training of children and school-boys habitudes that do not enough regard physical well - being n A FRENCH ETON 7 5

i and play. They may be remed ed in France,

’ and men s attention is now strongly drawn to them there ; there has even been a talk o f

u moving the Lyceums into the co ntry, though

hi s t would have its inconveniences . But, at any rate, these defects need not attend the public establi s hment o f secondary instruction i n Eng

n ni n la d, and assuredly, with our notions of trai g,

u l . A they wo d not attend them gain, it is said

- that France is a despotically governed country, and that its Lyceums are a part of its despotism .

But Switzerland i s not a despotically - governed

u co ntry, and it has its Lyceums just as much as

. A France gain, it is said that in France the

nl l l Lyceums are the o y schoo s a lowed to exist, i that th s is monopoly and tyranny, and that the

’ Lyceums themselves s u ﬁ er by the want of com petition . There is some exaggeration in this

xis o f e complaint, as the e tence Sor ze, and other

e tes ti ﬁes l places like Sor ze, ; sti l the restraints put upon private enterprise in foun di n g schools hi in France, are, no doubt, misc evously strict ; the refu sal o f the requisite authorisation for opening a private school is often vexatious ; the 7 6 A FRENCH ETON II

Lyceums would really be ben e ﬁted by the prox

t o f i mi . y other, and sometimes rival, schools But who supposes that any check would ever be put,

i n in England, upon private enterprise in found g schools ? Who supposes that the authori sation demanded in France fo r opening a private school would ever be demanded in England, that it i t would ever be possible to demand , that it would ever be desirable ? Who supposes that all the ben eﬁts of a public establishment of i n struction are n o t to be obtained without i t ? It is for what it does itself that this establi s hment

s o is desirable, not for what it prevents others

n from doing. Its letti g others alone does not prevent it from itself having a most useful work

do o n e to , and a work which can be done by no

o f else . The most zealous friends free instruction i upon the Continent feel th s . One of the ablest

o f M . them, Dollfus, lately published in the

R evu e Ger man i qu e some most interesting remarks on the defects of the French school system, as

e at present regulated . H demands freedom for private pers ons to open schools without any authorisation at all . But does he contest the

7 8 A FRENCH ETON I I

to narrow our spirit and to hurt o u r practice . It is good to make a catchword of thi s sort come down from its stronghold of commonplace, to force

u s i n it to move about before the open country,

u and to show s its real strength . Such a catch word as thi s : The S tate had better leave thi ngs alo ne. One constantly hears that as an absolute im l max ; now , as an absolute maxim, it has real y no force at all. The absolute maxims are those whi ch carry to man’ s spirit their own demonstra

D u t 733 the tion with them ; such propositions as, y law o hu man l e Man i s mor all r ee o u f if , y f , and so .

The S tate had better leave thi n s The proposition, g alo ne i t , carries no such demonstration with ; it has, therefore, no absolute force ; it merely con veys a notion which certai n people have gener alised from certain facts whi ch have come under

r i thei observation, and wh ch, by a natural vice of

m mi n the hu an d, they are then prone to apply h absolutely. Some things t e State had better

. hi leave alone, others it had better not Is t s

i o n e o f particular th ng of these, or one those

hi n that, as to any particular t g, is the right ques I . N a o n e tion ow , say, th t education is of those 1 1 A FRENCH ETON

hi n o t things w ch the State ought to leave alone, i which it ought to establ sh . It i s said that in

education given, wholly or in part, by the State, there is something eleemosynary, pauperising, de grading ; that the self- respect and manly energy i of those receiv ng it are likely to become impaired, as I have said that the manl y energy of those who are too much made to feel their dependence upon i a parental benefactor, is apt to become mpaired .

’ l hi s o ? I z Wel , now, is t s s a citi en s relation to the State that of a dependent to a parental bene factor ? By no means ; it is that of a member in

ﬁr m a partnership to the whole . The citizens of S a tate, the members of a society, are really a hi ” partners p ; a partnership , as Burke nobly says ,

all in all science, in art, in every virtue , in all

’ ﬁn al perfection . Towards this great design o f

i c o their connection, they apply the aids wh ch hi operati ve association can give them . T s applied

ll dl n to education wi , undoubte y, give the middli g person a better schoolin g than his own individual unaided resources cou l d give him ; but he is not li thereby humi ated, he is not degraded ; he is wisely and usefu ll y turn ing hi s associated condi 80 A FRENCH ETON II

u i hi s tion to the best acco nt . Consider ng end and

n i t desti ation, he is bound so to turn ; certainly i he has a right s o to turn i t. Certa nly he has a — right to quote Bu r ke again to a fair portion o f wi th all i ts co mbi n ati o ns o all which society , f h ’ ski ll an d o rce i s . f , can do in favour Men in civil society have the right—to quote Burke yet — once more (o n e cannot quote hi m to o often) as to the acquisitions of their parents and to the

o f to the i m fruits their own industry, so also p ro vemen t of thei r oﬁwri ng to i ns tr u cti o n i n and to consolation in death . H ow vain, then, and how meaningless, to tell

who o f hi s f a man , for the instruction of spring, li ! receives aid from the State, that he is humi ated Humiliated by receiving help for himself as an i ndividual from hi mself in hi s corporate and ! associated capacity help to which his own money,

taX - as a payer, contributes, and for which, as a result o f the joint energy and intelli gence of the

ni whole commu ty in employing its powers , he himself deserves some o f the praise ! H e i s no more humili ated than one is humili ated by being on the foundation o f the Charterhouse or of Win II A FRENCH ETON

t di hi l ches er, or by hol ng a scholars p or fel owship

Na i f at Oxford o r Cambridge . y ( there be any

mi li s o . hu ation here) , not much For the amount o f o f benefaction, the amount obligation, the I amount, therefore, suppose, of humiliation, di mi ni shes as the public character of the aid

H e u becomes more undeniable . is no more h mil i ate d than when he crosses London Bridge, or ! i ’ walks down the ng s Road, or visits the British

u m Muse . But it is one of the extraordinary inconsi stencies o f some English people i n this mi matter, that they keep all their cry of hu liation hi and degradation for help w ch the State offers .

A i s man is not pauperised, not degraded, is not

’ fo r oppressively obliged, by taking aid his son s

’ M r i n . o r school g from Woodard s subscribers, from

o r the next squire, or from the next rector, from

s the next ironmonger, or from the next druggi t he is only pauperised when he takes it from the

a I St te, when he helps to give it himself

This matter o f State -intervention in the estab li s hm en t o f public instruction is s o beset with I misrepresentation and misconception, that must,

n o before concludi g, g into it a little more fully . G 82 A FRENCH ETON 1 1

I mi l i t i s want the dd e classes ( for them, above I mi dl all, write) , the d e classes so deeply con

ri cerned in this matter, so numerous, so ght i u l hi n ntentioned, so powerf , to look at the t g with impartial regard to its simple reas on and to its present policy. i THE State mars everything wh ch it touches , say some . It attempts to do things for private people, and private people could do them a great

” deal better for themselves . The State, says

Ti mes the , can hardly aid education without

n mi s chi ev cramping and warpi g its growth, and o u sly interfering with the laws of its natural

” Wh u l i n development . y sho d persons in Down g

Street, asks Dr. Temple, be at all better quali ﬁed than the rest o f the world for regulating these H matters appily, however, this agency, at once

hi u u n so misc evous and so bl ndering, is in our co try

Ti mes s . s little u ed In thi country, says the

“ n be agai , people cannot complain of the State,

i n cause the State never prom sed them a ything, bu t o n the co n tr ar alwa s to ld the m i t co u l d do , y, y 84 A FRENCH ETON II I

n o o o d . them g The result is, none are fed with

” So ill the . false hopes . it is, and so it w be to end “ This is somethi ng more than a system with u s ;

i s u sa e i t i s a n ecessi t . o i t g , y We shall g on for ages doing as we have done .

i s s i f Whether this really so or not, it seem as

”

s o . it o u ght not to be Government, says Burke

o i s (to g back to Burke again) , a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants . Men have a right that these wants should be provi ded

b hi s i for y t w sdom We are a free people, we have made our own Government . O u r own wi sdom has planned our contrivance for providing

An d o n for our own wants . what sort of a c tri v ance has our wisdom made ? According to the

Ti mes h , a contrivance of which the ighest merit i I is, that it candidly avows its own mpotency. t does not provide for our wants, but then it always

u s u l told it co d not provide for them . It does

“ fu lﬁl not its function, but then it never fed u s

” i s with false hopes that it would . It perfectly

An . d l useless, but perfectly candid it wil always remain what it i s now ; it will always be a con tri v an ce whi ch contrives nothi ng : this with u s

86 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

i reﬂe c ti n ndeed, to any g man, appears an agency of the greatest possible power and value ? For

ﬁrs t several reasons . In the place, the govern ment of this country is, and long has been, in the hands of the ari stocratic class . Where the aristo

ﬁn d cracy is a small oligarchy, able to employment for all its members in the adni i n i s trati o n of the

a State, it is not the enemy, but the friend of St te action ; for State- action is then but its o wn action

l a under another name, and it is itse f directly g

ran di s ed g by all that aggrandises the State . But where, as in this country, the aristocracy is a very mi large class, by no means conter nous with the

n executive, but overlapping it and spreadi g far i t beyond , it is the natural enemy rather than the friend of State - action ; fo r only a small part of

ni its members can directly admi ster the State, and it is not for the interest o f the remainder to give to this small part an excessive preponder

. Na ance y, this small part will not be apt to i t seek ; for its interest in its order is permanent,

- while its interest in State function is transitory, and it obeys an instinct which attaches it by pre ference to its order. The more an aristocracy has m A FRENCH ETON 7 of that profound political sense by which the

i s s o di i s Engl h aristocracy is much stingu hed, the i more its members obey th s instinct ; and, by

n s o V doi g , they signally display their best irtues, moderation , prudence, sagacity ; they prevent l i fruitfu occasions of envy, dissension, and str fe ; they do much to insure the permanence of their order, its harmonious action, and continued pre A dominance . tradition unfavourable to much

State- action in home concerns (foreign are another thing) is thus insensibly established in the Govern hi i . s ment itself T s tradition, th essentially aristo cratic sentiment, gains even those members of the

nm o f Gover ent who are not the ari stocratic class .

In the beginnin g they are overpowered by i t ; in i the end they share t. When the shepherd

ﬁrs t Daphnis arrives in heaven , he naturally bows to the august tr adi tions o f hi s new sphere

n di du e u m m i t l men l m i B ca s i n su t i m t r i O y p . y

hi s o ff the time the novelty of situation has worn , he has come to thi nk just as the immortals do ; he is now by conviction the foe o f State -i n te rfer ence ; the worthy Daphnis is all fo r letting thi ngs — alone amat bo n u s o ti a D ap hn i s . 88 A FRENCH ETON m

Far from trying to encroach upon individual

liberty, far from seeking to get everything into

o n its w hands, such a Government has a natural and i nstinctive tendency to limi t its own functions . It turns away from offers o f in creased responsi bil i ty o r activi ty ; it deprecates them . To propose increased responsibility and activity to an aristo cratic Government is the worst possible way of

’ T Ti mes i ts payi ng one s court to i t. he is genuine

bu sm es s o f mouthpiece, when it says that the

i n i s Government, domestic concerns, negative i to prevent d sorder, jobbery, and extravagance ; that it need have no notion of securing the ” n o t o f future, even regulating the present ; that

“ it may and ought to leave the course o f events to regulate itself, and trust the future to the security of the unknown laws o f human nature

” and the unseen i n ﬂu en c e s o fhigher powers . This is the true aristocratic theory of civil government ; to have recourse as little as possible to State action, to the collective action of the community ;

to leave as much as possible to the individual ,

An d to local government. why ? Because the members o f an aristocratic class are prepo n derat 1 11 A FRENCH ETON 89

vi l ing indi dua s , with the local government in their

N i s s ee hands . o wonder that they do not w h to the State overshadowi n g them and ordering them about . Since the feudal epoch, the palmy time of

local government, the State has overlaid individual

u i M r A action q te enough . . dderley remembers wi th a sigh that Houses of Correcti on were once

” i i o a . G volunt ry inst tut ons a little farther back, and the court of justice was a voluntary i n s ti tu ti on ; the gallows was a voluntary institution ; A ’ I i n Mr . voluntary , mean , dderley s sense of — i the word voluntary not depend ng on the State, but on the local government, on the lord of the

il i i . so , on the preponderating ind v dual The State i has overla d the feudal gallows, it has overlaid the feudal court of justice, it has overlaid the feudal A H o f i ﬁn all M r. ouse Correct on, and y, says dderley,

- l it has overlaid our school system . What wi l it do next ?

e In the aristocratic class, whose memb rs mainly compose and whose sentiment powerfully pervades

o f n a the executive this cou try, jealousy of St te a I ction is, repeat, an intelligible, a profoundly

o f natural feeling . That, amid the temptations 90 A FRENCH ETON III

o fﬁc e i i s , they have rema ned true to it a proof of

their practical sense, their sure tact, their modera — tion the qualities which go to make that govern i ng sp i ri t fo r whi ch the En glish aristocracy is so

A ri remarkable . nd perhaps this governing spi t of theirs is destined still to stand them in good stead through all the new and changing develop ment o f modern society. Perhaps it will give them the tact to discern the critical moment at which it becomes o f urgent national importance

that an agency, not in itself very agreeable to them, should be used more freely than heretofore . They have had the vi rtue to prefer the general interest of their order to personal temptations of aggrandi sing themselves through thi s agency ; per haps they will be capable of the still higher virtue

i o f of admitting, in the general nterest their

i n country, this agency, spite of the natural pre judices and the seeming immediate interest o f A their own order. lready there are indi cations

No o that this is not impossible . thoughtful h server can have read Lord Derby ’ s remarks last

o n o f session the regulation our railway system, can have followed the course of a man li ke Sir m A FRENCH ETON l

o hn Paki n to n o n J g the Education question, can have watched the disposition o f the cou ntry

’ gentlemen o n a measure like M r . Gladstone s

A ll ni n Government nnuities Bi , without recog si g

ri hi that political instinct, that governing spi t, w ch

i n o f often , the aristocratic class this country , is wiser both than the unelastic pedantry o f

ri theo sing Liberalism, and than their own pre judices . The worki n g classes have no antipathy to

- A e . i Stat action gainst this, or against anyth ng else, indeed, presented to them in close con n e cti o n n l k with some proceedi g which they dis i e,

u i it is, no doubt, q te possible to get them to raise a cry ; but to the thi ng itself they have no objection . Quite the contrary . They often greatly embarras s their Liberal friends and patrons from other classes, one of whose favourite

n o S tate - i nteh er en ee catchwords is f , by their reso

to lute refusal to adopt this Shibboleth, embrace ’ l thi s article of their patrons creed . They Wi l i join with them in their Liberal sm, not in their

to crotchets . Left themselves, they are led, as

s o to o by their plain interest, , , by their natural 92 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

i to di sposit on, welcome the action of the State in their behalf. It is the middle class that has been thi s

’ An d action s great enemy. originally it had good reason to be its enemy . In the youth and

o f li mi early manhood the Eng sh ddle class, the action of the State was at the servi ce o f an ecclesiastical party. This party used the power

o wn of the State to secure their predominance, and to enforce conformity to their own tenets . N The stronghold of onconformity then, as now, was in the middle class ; m i ts struggle to repel

n i t mi dl the co formity forced upon , the d e class underwent great suffering and injustice ; and it has never forgotten them . It has never for gotten that the hand which smote i t—the hand whi ch did the bidding of its Hi gh Church and — prelatical enemies was the hand of the State . It has confronted the State with hostile jealousy

ever since . The State tried to do it violence, so it does not love the State ; the State failed to

i t s o subdue , it does not respect the State . It regards it with somethi n g of aversion and some

hi o f t ng contempt . It professes the desire to

94 A FRENCH ETON m

o f society in a loose, rudimentary, potential state ; i n o f i n the few at the top society, a state modi

man ﬁe d and reduced by various culture . The o f the multitude has n o t yet s o li di ﬁe d into the typical En gli s hman ; the man o f the aristocracy

u has been ethereali s ed o t of him . The typical Englis hman is to be looked for in the middle

An d ﬁn d class . there we shall him, with a com

’ ill - M hi plexion not su i ting . T erry s law ; with a S pirit not very open to new ideas , and not easily

en thu ravished by them ; not, therefore, a great s i as t n i for u versal progress, but with a strong

i n — o f love of discipl e and order, that is, keeping hi t ngs settled, and much as they are ; and With

di o f t elf a sposition, instead lending to the

- i n a i s onward look g st tesman and leg lator, to act

t m en wi h bodies of of his own kind, whose

ff hi s aims and e orts reach no farther than own.

Poverty and hope make man the friend of ideals , therefore the mu l titu de has a turn for ideals ; culture and genius make man the fri end of ideals, therefore the gifted or hi ghly trained

u r few have a t n for ideals . The mi ddle class h as the whet neither of poverty nor of culture ; m A FRENCH ETON 95

ill - o ff i t it is not in the things of the body, and is not highly trained in the thin gs of the mind ; therefore it has li ttle turn for ideals : it is self

r sati s ﬁe d . This is a chord in the natu e of the

i s n Engl h middle class which seldom fails , whe i struck, to give an answer, and wh ch some All people are never weary of stri ki n g . the variations which are played on the endless

l s el - o vern men t hi theme of lo ca f g rely on t s chord .

H an ardly y local government is, in truth, in this

i dl as country, exerc sed by the mid e cl s ; almost the whole of it i s exercised by the aristocratic i F — class . Every local ty in rance that country which our middle class is tau ght so much to — compassionate has a genu i ne municipal govern ment, in Which the middle class has its due share ; and by thi s mu n icipal government all matters of local concern (schools amon g the number) are regulated not a country parish i n

England has any effective governm ent of this ki n d at all But what is meant by the habit o f

f- o n hi o u r l local sel government, w ch midd e class

i c a o f v o lu n is so n essantly felicit ted , is its habit

n i ts o wn i n tary combinatio , in bodies of arrang g, 96 A FRENCH ETON I II — fo r purposes of its o wn choosing purposes to be carried out withi n the limits ﬁ xe d for a private association by its own powers . When the middle class is solemnly warned agai nst State i u l o f nterference, lest it sho d destroy the habit

” — - self reliance and love of local self government, i i t i s . it th s habit, and the love of , that are meant

“ When we are told that nothi ng can be more dangerous than these constant attempts on the part of the Government to take from the people

” s hi the management of its own concern , t s is the sort of management o f our own concerns that is meant ; not the management of them by a regular local government, but the management of them by chance private associations . It i s o u r

n i habit of acti g through these associations wh ch, M “ r . u s s says Roebuck, saves from being a et of

i l o f helpless imbec es, totally incapable attending

” o u r to own interests . It is in the event of thi s

n all h n habit bei g at altered t at, accordi g to the

s same authority, the greatness of thi country is ” 1

. An d gone the middle class , to whom that

1 Mr . R i n r n t x n t S at She fﬁeld oebuck , his ece e celle peech , has n t t i n r at n at an t d n o show ha popula educ io , y ra e, he oes t m n t ma ms to t t s tr t n Bu ea hese xi apply wi hou re ic io . t perhaps

98 A FRENCH ETON m suffered itself to be made an engin e o f the High

to No n c o n fo rmi s ts Church party persecute . It gave an excellent lesson to the State in s o doing . It rendered a valuable service t o liberty o f thought

If - and to all human freedom . State action now threatened to lend itself to one religious party

dl l u i against another, the mid e class wou d be q te

i n c o nﬁn i n i t right again thwarting and g . But can it be said that the State now shows the sli ghtest disposition to take such a cou r se ? Is such a cou rs e the course towards whi ch the modern spiri t carri es the State ? Does not the

State show, more and more, the resolution to hold the balance perfectly fair between religious parties ?

i n o wn The middle class has it its power, more

c o n ﬁrm hi than any other class , to the State in t s

n i s resolutio . Th class has the power to make it

h u —i n ns thoroug ly s re organising, for i tance, any — new system of publicinstruction that the State shall treat all religious persuasions with exactly If . ll equal fairness , instead of holding aloof, it wi now but give its aid to make State - action e qu i t

s o able, it can make it .

A - gain , as to the habits of self reliance and the 1 1 1 A FRENCH ETON 9

love of local self government . People talk of

i n ter eren ce co n tr ol Government f , Government , as if

State - action were necessarily something imposed upon them from without ; something despotic and self- originated ; something whi ch took no account

ll r vi of their wi , and left no freedom to thei acti ty . l Can any one real y suppose that, in a country like

- —i n — this , State action education, for instance can

we s o ever be that, unless choose to make it We can give it what form we will . We can make it our agent, not our master. In modern societies

s o the agency of the State, in certain matters, is ill indispensable, that it w manage, with or without our common consent, to come into operation some how ; but when it has introduced itself without — i the common consent when a great body, l ke the dl ll i t mid e class, wi have nothing to say to then its cour se i s indeed li kely enough to be

a not straightforward, its operation not satisf ctory.

u s i i t But, by all of consent ng to , we remove any danger o f thi s kind By reall y agreeing to deal in our collective and corporate character with education, we can form ourselves into the best and most efﬁ ci en t of voluntary soc ieties for 1 0 0 A FRENCH ETON I II

i n i t - manag g . We can make State action upon it i t a genuine local government of , the faithful but potent expression of our own activity. We can make the central Governmen t that mere cour t of i di s interested rev ew and correction, which every sensible man would always be glad to have for his own activity. We shall have all our self reliance and indi vidual action still (i h this country we shall always have plenty of them, and the parts wi ll always be more li kely to tyrann ise over the whole than the whole over the parts) , but we shall have had the good sense to turn them to l account by a powerful, but stil voluntary, organ i s ati o n ben eﬁc en ce ll ben eﬁcen c e . Our wi be act

” ’ b r u l e deﬁni ti o n ing y (that is Burke s of law, as instituted by a free society) , and all the more f “ e fective for that reason . Must this make u s a ll set of helpless imbeciles, tota y incapable of attend ing to our own interests Is thi s “ a grievous blow aimed at the i ndependence of the Englis h character Is English self- reliance and inde pen de n c e to be perfectly sati s ﬁe d with what it produces already without thi s organi s ati on ? In

a i i t middle cl ss education it produces, w thout , the

0 2 A FRENCH ETO N m that we turned to Government—to ourselves in — our corporate character to get it improved faster . di d i t S o long as we not care much about , we let

’ n M r o wa . it g its own y, and kept si ging Roebuck s

” i - ﬁn e old Engl sh stave about self reliance . We

“ kept crying just as he cries now : Nobody has the same in terest to do well for a man as he him

self has . That was all very pleasant so long as we cared not a rush whether the people were educated or no . The moment we began to concern ourselves about this , we asked ourselves what our song was worth . We asked ourselves how the bringing up of our labourers and artisans—they

“ n doing for themselves, and nobody havi g the same interest to do well fo r a man as he hi m

— n n self has was being do e . We fou d it was being done detestably. Then we asked ourselves

as ben eﬁc e n c e whether c ual, precarious, voluntary ,

“ ” ben eﬁc en c e n or acti g by rule , was the better

v agency for doing it better. We asked oursel es if we cou ld not employ our public resources o n

hi if we o u r be n eﬁc e n c e t s concern , could not make

“ u o f act upon it by r le, without losing our habits

l - l n m se f re ia ce, without ai ing a grievous blow 1 1 1 A FRENCH ETON 1 0 3

o f n l at the independence the E g ish character .

We found that we could ; we began to do i t ; and

M r to . we left . Baines sing in the wi lderness

Fi n all a y, as to the objection that our St te — action o u r be n e ﬁc en c e working by ru l e N often bungles and does its work badly. o wonder it does . The imperious necessities of i t modern society force , more or less, even in hi t s country, into play but it is exercised by a class to whose cherished instincts it is opposed the aris tocrati c class ; an d it is watched by a class to whose cherished prejudi ce s it is opposed — the middle class . It is hesitatingly exercised and jealously watched . It therefore works with

o r out courage, cordiality, belief in itself. Under

n i s o its prese t cond tions it must work , and, work i n s o . n o t g , it must often bungle But it need work s o ; and the moment the middl e class

n abandons its attitude of jealous aversio , the i t moment they frankly put their hand to , the moment they adopt it as an instrumen t to do

i s o . n them service, it w ll work no longer The

n o t i s a it will bungle ; then, if it is appl ed, y, to ll n o t s batﬂi n an d education, it wi be fu sy , g, 104 A FRENCH ETON m barr en ; it wil l bring to bear o n this concern the energy and stron g practical sen se of the middle f class itsel . hi But the middle class must make it do t s .

They must n o t expect others to do the business i for them . It is they whose nterest is concerned in its being done, and they must do it for them

—the selves . Why should the upper class aristo cratic class—do it for them 7 What motive except the di stant and not very peremptory one

n n fo r of their ge eral political se se, their instinct

’ i n u r n tak g the co se which, for the whole cou try s

to — sake, ought be taken have the aristocratic class to impel them to go counter to all their

m i n natural maxi s, nay, and to all their seem g interest 9 They do not want new schools for their children . The great public schools o f the

n cou try are theirs already. Their numbers are not such as to o v erﬂo w these few really public schools ; their fortu nes are such as to make the expensiven ess o f these schools a matter of i n ff . m n di erence to them The Royal Co missio ers,

whose report has just appeared, do not, indeed, give a very brilliant picture of the book - learn ing

10 6 A FRENCH ETON I II

a i the most invalu ble of bless ngs, that the great di end of society is the perfecting of the in vidual, i the fullest, freest, and worth est development of ’ di the individual s activity. But that the in vidual

vi may be perfected, that his acti ty may be

u i worthy, he must often learn to q t old habits

o o u t to adopt new, to g of himself, to transform himself. It was said, and truly said, of one of the most unwearied and successful strivers after human perfection that have ever lived—Wilh elm von Humboldt—that it was a joy to him to feel hi mself mo di fie d by the operation of a foreign i n flu n An d e c e . this may well be a joy to a man whose centre o f character and whose moral force are once securely established . Through this he makes growth in perfection . Through this he enlarges hi s being and fil ls up gaps in i t ; he unl earns o ld prejudices and learns new excellences ; he makes advance towards inward light and freedom . Societies may use this means i di of perfection as well as n viduals, and it is a characteristic (perhaps the best characteristic) of o u r n age, that they are usi g it more and more .

u s n n Let look at our eighbour, Fra ce . What m A FRENCH ETON 1 0 7 stri kes a thoughtful observer most in modern

France, is the great, wide breach which is being made in the o ld French mind ; the strong ﬂo w with which a foreign thought is pouring in and

h mi xin g with i t. There is an extraordinary i crease in the number of German and English books read there, books the most unlike possible i to the native li terary growth o f France . There s a growing disposition there to pull to pieces o ld stock French commonplaces, and to put a bridle upon old stock French habitudes . France will n o t u l , and sho d not, like some English liberals , ru n a- muck against State - action altogether ; but she shows a tendency to control her excessive

- to mi State action, reduce it within just li ts where it has overpassed them, to make a larger part fo r i free local activ ty and for individuals . She

ll u l A wi not, and sho d not, like Sir rchibald

Al as ison , cry down her great Revolution the work of Satan ; but s he shows more and more the power to di scern the real faults of that

n o f n m Revolutio , the real part delusio , i potence,

’ ’ o f 89 o r o f 9 1 and transitoriness in the work ,

ﬁ di n m n and to pro t by that scer e t . 10 8 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

Our middle class has secured for itself that centre of character and that moral force whi ch I i are, have said, the ind spensable basis upon which perfection is to be founded . To securing

vi them, its gour in resisting the State, when the

r n i t State t ied to tyra nise over , has contributed hi not a little . In t s sense, it may be said to have made way towards perfection by repelli ng

’ nl the State s hand . Now it has to e arge and to

r adorn its spi it . I cannot seriously argue with those who deny that the independence and free

o f action the middle class is now, in this country, immutably secure ; I cannot treat the notion of the State now overridin g it and doing Violence to i i t . n , as anything but a vain ch mera Well, the , if the State can (as it can) be of service to the mi ddle class in the work o f enlargin g its mind ll and adorning its spirit, it wi now make way

’ towards perfection by taking the State s hand . State-action is n o t in itself unfavourable to the

’ hi s u l individual s perfection, to attaining his f lest

n i . S o t n developme t far from , it is in ancie t

- Greece, where State action was omnipresent, that we s ee the in dividual at his very hi g hest pitch of

1 1 0 A FRENCH ETON III

n i which is taki g place, or rather, wh ch is begin

i n i a . n ng to t ke place, amongst them It is only its commencement as yet ; but it shows itself at

o f a number points , and bids fair to become a

i o f great power. The mportance a change, placing in the great mi ddle class the centre o f the i ntel

i f s lectual l e of thi country, can hardly be over estimated. I have been reproved for saying that the culture and intellectual life of our hi ghest class seem to me to have somewhat ﬂagge d since

n the last century . That is my opinion, i deed, and all that I s e e and hear strengthens rather than

u l f shakes i t. The c ture o this class is not what

b e . u l it used to Their value for high c ture, their i be . belief in its mportance, is not what it used to

li s e One may see it in the pub c schools, one may e

ni . it in the u versities Whence come the deadness ,

f the the want of intellectual li e, poverty of acquire m in m ent after years of school g, which the Com i s s i o n ers , in their remarkable and interesting report, show u s s o prevalent in o u r most di s tinguished public schools ? What gives to play an d amuse

ni ment, both there and at the u versities, their

n m s o present overwee ing i portance, that home III A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1 critics cry out : The real studies of Oxford are

” : At its games, and foreign critics cry out Oxford the student is still the mere schoolboy The most experienced and acute o f Oxford heads of houses told me himself, that when he spoke to an un dergraduate the other day about tryi n g for

i s some d tinguished scholarship, the answer he got

’ : was Oh, the men from the great schools don t care for those things now ; the men who care about

nh them are the men from Marlborough, Chelte am ,

” o - ! Wh I and the sec nd rate schools ence, say, does

hi s n t slack ess, this sleep of the mind, come, except

a from a torpor of intellectual life, a dearth of ide s, an indi fference to ﬁn e cu l ture or di sbelief in its necessity, spreading through the bulk of our

i n ﬂu en ci n highest class, and g its rising genera

’ tion 2 People talk as if the culture of thi s clas s

n had only cha ged ; the Greek and Roman classics,

i n they say, are no longer in vogue as they were h ﬁ ld’ C es ter e s . Lord time Well, if this class had onl y gone from one source of hi gh culture to

o f i n H another if only, instead read g omer and

n o w an d Cicero, it read Goethe Montesquieu but it does not ; it reads the Ti mes and the Agr i 1 1 2 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

rac ti eu ltwral Jo u rn al . And it devotes itself to p

i f An d . cal l e . it amuses itself It is not its rising generation only whi ch loves play ; never in all its hi story has our whole hi ghest class shown such

li f fo r u l fo r . zeal enjoying e, am sing itse f It would be absurd to make thi s a matter of reproach

i u s against t. The tri mph of material progress multiply the means of material enjoyment ; they

a hi s attract all classes, more and more, to t ste of t hi hi enjoyment ; on the ghest class, w ch possesses

u r u s in the amplest meas e these means, they m t hi needs exercise t s attraction very powerfully. But every thoughtfu l observer can perceive that t the ardour for amusement and enjoyment, of en educative and quickening to a toil- numbed work

- dl ing class or a strait laced mid e class, whose great

i s want expansion, tends to become enervative — and weakening to an aristocratic class a class

l all which must ru e by superiority of kinds , superiority not to be won without contention of

i I hi nk spirit and a certa n severity. t , therefore, both that the cu l ture of our highest class has hi declined, and that t s declension, though natural i and venial, mpairs its power.

1 1 4 A FRENCH ETON III

i dl speare in En gland . Our actual m d e class has

n ﬁn e u l o r not yet, certai ly, the c ture, the living

u i di o f intelligence, which q ckened great bo es men

n the at these epochs ; but it has the foreru ner,

di ni preparer, the in spensable i tiator ; it is traversed by a strong intellectual ferment. It is the mi ddle

u r class which has real mental ardour, real c iosity ; it is the middle class whi ch i s the great reader ; that immense literature of the day whi ch we see

u s — u r surging up all round , literat e the absolute value o f which it is almost i mpossible to rate too

a dl hi i humbly, literature h r y a word of w ch w ll —i t reach, or deserves to reach , the future, is the i m ddle class which calls it forth, and its evocation is at least a sign of a widespread mental move i ment in that class . W ll this movement go o n and become fruitfu l : will it conduct the mi ddle class to a high and commandi ng pitch of cu l ture and i ntelligence ? That depends on the sen sibility whi ch the middle class has for p erfecti o n ; that

tran o rm i tsel depends on its power to sf f. And it is not yet manifest how far it possesses — this power . For and here I pass to the second

n hi l I of those two thi gs w ch particu arly, have m A FRENCH ETON 1 1 5

i s said, strike any one who observes the Engl h — mi ddl e class just now i n its public action this class has hitherto shown on ly the power and di s

i t a rm i tse pos ion to ﬁ lf, not at all the power and

di tran or m i tsel . T sposition to sf f hat, indeed, is

- a n one of the deep se ted insti cts of human nature, — but of vu l gar human natur e o f human natu re

- — not high sou l ed and aspiring after perfecti on to l esteem itse f for what it is , to try to establish

to itself just as it is, try even to impose itself

s with its stock of habitude , pettinesses , narrow mi nesses, shortco ngs of every kind, on the rest of the world as a conquering power. But nothin g has l be sati s ﬁ ed i be rea ly a right to w th itself, to

hi has and remain itself, except that w ch reached perfection ; and nothi ng has the ri ght to i mpose itself on the rest of the world as a conquering hi force, except that which is of gher perfection than the rest of the world . And such i s the

a f fundament l constitution of human af airs, that

s the measure of right proves al o, in the end, the

n measure of power. Before the E glish middl e class can have the right or the power to assert

e t itself absolut ly, it must have greatly perfec ed 1 1 6 A FRENCH ETON m

o f is itself. It has been jokingly said th class, that all which the best of it cared for was summed up — in this alli terative phrase a i n es s an d B ethels : and that all which the rest o f it cared for was the

Bethel s N Bu si n ess without the . o such jocose and slightin g words can convey any true sense o fwhat the reli gion of the English middle class has reall y i t i been to ; what a source of vital ty, energy, and

persistent vigour. They who wait on the Lord, says Isaiah, in words not less true than they are

“ ” s hall r enew thei r s tren th i noble, g and the Engl sh middle class owes to its reli gion not onl y comfort

o f n in the past , but also a vast latent force unwor life and strength for future progress . But the

o f mi hi Puritanism the English ddle class, w ch has

been so great an element of strength to them, has

by no means brought them to perfection ; nay, by l hi the rigid mou d in w ch it has cast their spirit, it has kept them back from perfection . The most that can be said of it is , that it has supplied a stable basis on which to bui l d perfection it has given them character, though it has not given

u r n them cult e . But it is in maki g endless addi

to n n tions itself, in the endless expa sio of its

1 18 A FRENCH ETON I I I

o ld nl l methods, and having o y its old se f to give u s , establish itself at all points and become master l of the situation . Particu arly on Church questions i is this true . In this sphere of rel gion, where

i n - we feel g and beauty are so all important, shrink

mi - li mi from giving to the ddle class spirit, ted as

s e e i t i s - we , with its sectarian m, its under culture, i its intolerance, its bitterness, its unlovel ness, too much its own way . Before we give it quite its

wa we own y, insist on its making itself into some

u i i thing larger, newer, more fr tful . Th s is what

- i i s the recent Church Rate d v ions really mean , and the lovers of perfection, therefore, may accept them without displeasure . They are the voice of the nation crying to the u n tr an sfo rmed middle class (ii it wi ll receive i t) with a voice of thunder The future is not yours

A n i n di ff r nd let me say, in passi g, that the e i i ence, so irritat ng to some persons, with wh ch

European Opinion has received the break -u p of the o ld American Uni on has at bottom a li ke ground . I put the question o f slavery on one side ; so far as the resolution of that question depends on the issue of the c o n ﬂi c t between 1 1 1 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 9

N o n e the orth and the South, every may wish

r this party o r that to prevail . But M . Bright

M r o ld A i and . Cobden extol the merican Republ c

n n an d i n as somethi g interesti g admirable itself, and are displeased with those who are n o t afﬂi c te d

n o t at its disaster, and jealous for its restoration .

M r o f M r . Bright is an orator genius ; . Cobden is a man o f Splendid understanding . But why do they refuse to perceive, that, apart from all class jealousy o f aristocracies towards a democratic republic, there existed in the most impartial and thoughtful minds a profound dissatisfaction with the spirit and tendencies of the old American

Union, a strong aversion to their unchecked

fo r s triumph , a sincere wish the di ciplining and correcting of them 9 An d what were the o ld

Uni ted States but a colossal expression o f the

- ri English middle class spi t, somewhat more acces

o f sible to ideas there than here, because the democratic air it breathed, much more arrogant

and overweening there than here , because of the absence of all check and counterpoise to i t—but

o f there, as here , full rawness, hardness , and

n imperfection ; there , as here, greatly eeding to 1 20 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

a be liberalised, enl rged, and ennobled, before it could with advantage be suffered to assert itself absolutely ? Al l the energy and success i n the world cou l d n o t have made the Uni ted States admirable so long as their spirit had thi s imper f i o n u n e c t . Even if they had overr the whole

o ld u l l earth, their national style wo d have sti l

Mr h been detestable, and . Beec er would have still been a heated barbarian . But they could

u l not thus triumph, they could not make their r e

s o ri thus universal, long as their spi t was thus imperfect. They had not power enough over the

o f N t minds men . ow hey are transforming their spiri t in the furn ace of civil war ; with what s u c

s e cess we shall in due time e . But the lovers of perfection in America itself ought to rejoice—some

n o e — of them, doubt, do rejoic that the national

ri u l o f spi t sho d be compelled, even at any cost f suf ering, to transform itself, to become something

r higher, ampler, more g acious . To be glad that

it should be compelled thus to transform itself, that it should not be permitted to triumph u m

i nk transformed, is no nsult, no u indness ; it is a i I homage to perfect on. t is a religious devotion

1 22 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

peril, hunger and thirst, disease and death, are between Jeru s al em and yo u .

So o n e o f , when marks the ferment and stir i hi l fe in the middle class at t s moment, and sees this class impelled to take possession o f the

world, and to assert itself and its own actual

r o n e di spi it absolutely, is sposed to exclaim to

m i s t et i t Jeru s al e no . ri , y Your present spi t

eru s al em is not J , is not the goal you have to

ﬁ i n s ati s e d . An d reach, the place you may be when one says this, they sometimes fancy that one has the same object as others who s ay the same to them ; that o n e means that they are to yield themselves to be moulded by some existing

No n c o n fo rmi t force, their rival ; that one wishes y

An to take the law from actual glicanism, and

' the middle class from the present governin g

A eru s al em class ; that one thinks nglicanism J ,

eru s al em and the English aristocratic class J .

I o r i do not mean, or wish, th nk this, though

re many, no doubt, do . It is not easy for a

ﬂe cti n who g man, has studied its origin , to feel any vehement enthu siasm for Anglicanism ; Henry the Eighth and his parliaments have 1 1 1 A FRENCH ETON 23

o f taken care that . One may esteem it as a

n eﬁc en t n be social and civilisi g agent. One may

ff fo r - n have an a ection it from life lo g associations, and for the sake o f much that is venerable and i interesting which it has nherited from antiquity. i t— I One may cherish gratitude to and here ,

nk Mr who ﬁ hts thi , . Goldwin Smith, g against it the battle of the Nonconformists with s o much

s o ili force and much ab ty, is a little ungrateful fo r hi the shelter and basis for culture w ch this, like other great nationally established forms of

ff who religion, a ords ; those are born in them can get forward on their road, instead of always eyeing the gr ound on which they stand and disputing

i t An nl about . But actual glicanism is certai y not

e ru s al em I u l J , and sho d be sorry to think it the end whi ch Nonconformi ty and the mi ddle class are to reach . The actual governing class, again, the English aristocratic class (i n the widest sense — of the word ar i sto crati e) I cannot wi sh that the

i o f rest of the nation, the new and grow ng part

the nation, should be transformed in spirit exactly according to the image of that class . The merits and services of that class no one rates hi gher than 1 24 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

I do ; n o o n e appreciates higher than I do the

o f o f re ﬁn e value the relative standard elevation , ment and grandeur, which they have exhibited ; no o n e would more strenuously Oppose the reli n qu i s hi n g of thi s for any lower standard . But I cannot hide from myself that while modern societies increasingly tend to ﬁ n d their best life in a free and heightened spiritual and intellectual

’ o ﬁ er activity, to this tendency aristocracies at least a strong passive resistance, by their secular prejudices , their incurable dearth of ideas . In

a modern, rich, and industri l societies , they tend to misplace the ideal for the classes below them ; the immaterial chivalrous ideal of high descent

o f and honour is, by the very nature the case, of force only for aristocracies themselves ; the i m material modern ideal o f spiri tual and i n tell ec

tual perfection through culture, they have not

ni to commu cate . What they can and do com mu n i cate is the material ideal of splendour of

al An d we th, and weight of property. this ideal is the ideal truly operative upon o u r mi ddle classes at this moment . To be as rich as they r can, that they may each the splendour of wealth

1 26 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

ﬁ d i t s ati s e with , can one wish it to prevail just as it is .

i n But in a transformed middle class , a middle class raised to a higher and more genial culture ,

ﬁn d eru s alem I am we may , not perhaps J , but,

i t. sure, a notable stage towards In that great

i ts i n class , strong by its numbers, energy, its du s tr i y, strong by its freedom from frivol ty, not by any law of nature prone to immobili ty of

hi s mind , actually at t moment agitated by a

o f spreading ferment mind, in that class , liberal l mi ised by an ampler cu ture, ad tted to a wider

o f n sphere thought, livi g by larger ideas, with l its provincia ism dissipated, its intolerance cured,

n — its petti esses purged away, what a power there

ll be i fo r ! wi , what an element of new l fe England

i dl afﬁrm Then let the m d e class rule, then let it its own spirit, when it has thus perfected itself.

An d I cannot s e e any means so direct and powerfu l fo r developin g this great and ben e ﬁc en t power as the public establishment o f schools fo r mi B i m the ddle class . y public establ s h ent they B may be made cheap and accessible to all . y public establishment they may give secu rities 1 1 1 A FRENCH ETON 1 27 fo r the culture offered in them being really

n i good and sou d, and the best that our t me B knows . y public establishment they may communicate to those reared in them the sense o f n bei g brought in contact with their country ,

i f ' w th the national life, with the li e of the world and they will expand and digni fy their spiri ts

mm n I by co unicati g this sense to them . can see no other mode of institution which will offer the same advantages in the same degree .

I cannot think that the middle class wil l be much longer insensible to its own evi dent i n I te re s ts . a cannot think that, for the ple sure of being complimented on their self - reliance

Ti mes by Lord Fortescue and the , they will much longer forego a course leadin g them to i t their own true dignity instead of away from . I know that with men who have reached or passed the middle of life, the language and habits of years form a network round the

Spirit thr ough which it cannot easily break ; and among the elder leaders o f the middle clas s there are men whom I would give much to —m e n o f an d i persuade weight character, l ke 1 28 A FRENCH ETON 1 1 1

M r o f u l to o . Baines , men character and c ture ,

Mi all— I t I M r . like whom mus not, fear, hope to persuade . But among the younger leaders of this class —even of that part of it where resistance is most to be apprehended, among the younger Dissenting ministers , for instance I i there exists, do bel eve, a disposition not

ﬁxe dly averse to the public establishm ent o f

fo r — a education the middle classes willingness,

an of at y rate, to consider a project this kind

i ts A on merits . mongst them particularly is

an d the ferment expansion of mind, of which I have spoken, perceptible ; their sense of the

o f i i n value culture, and the r culture itself, creases every day . Well, the old bugbear whi ch scares u s all away from the great con fessed means o f best promoting this culture

di fﬁcu l t — the religious y , as it is called is potent

nl s o o y long as these gentlemen please . It rests solely with themselves to procure the public establishm ent of secondary in struction upon a perfectly equitable basis as regards religious f dif erences . If its establishment is suffered to

ﬁx itself in private hands , those hands will be

1 30 A FRENCH ETON 1 11

i n s tru c will it be easy hereafter, in secondary

i di fﬁc u l t u i tion, to settle the rel gious y eq tably, if the establishment o f that instruction shall have been effected by private bodi es in which clerical i n ﬂu en c e predominates . I hope the middle class will not much longer delay to take a step on which its future value

ﬂu o and dignity and i n e n c e s much depend.

By taking this step they wil l indirectly confer a great boon upon the lower class also . This obscure embryo, only just beginning to move,

travailing in labour and darkness , so much left o u t o f account when we celebrate the glories of o u r A s o n tlantis , now and then, by mour ful a

i n u s m gl mpse, showi g itself to in La beth , or

S i talﬁ elds o r i m p , Dorsetshire ; this m ense work

n o w ing class , so without a practicable passage

o f h to all the joy and beauty life, for w om in an aristocratic class, which is unattainable by

fo r them, there is no possible ideal, whom in a mi ddle class, narrow, ungenial, and unattractive, ll there is no adequate ideal , wi have, in a cul tu re d d , liberalised, ennobled, transformed mid le h h class, a point towards w ic it may hopefully 1 1 1 A FRENCH ETON 1 3 1

work, a goal towards which it may with joy direct its aspirations . h C ildren of the future, whose day has not yet

o u ill dawned, y , when that day arrives , w hardly believe what obstructions were long suffered to

! i all prevent its coming You who, w th your i i faults, have neither the arid ty of ar stocracies,

- nor the narrow mindedness of middle classes ,

a i s you, whose power of simple enthusi sm your f h great gi t, will not compre end how progress towards man’ s best perfection —the adorning — and ennobli ng of his spi ri t shou l d have been reluctantly undertaken ; how it should have been for years and years retarded by barren

- - commonplaces, by worn out clap traps . You wil l wonder at the labour of its friends in provi ng the self- provin g ; you wi ll know no di thing of the doubts , the fears, the preju ces they had to di spel ; nothing of the outcry they had to encounter ; o f the ﬁerce protestations o f li fe from policies whi ch were dead and di d not

i t u l know , and the shrill quer ous upbraiding

from publicists in their dotage . But you, in

di fﬁcu lti es your turn, with of your own, will 1 32 FRENCH ETON 1 1 1 then be mounting some new step in the arduous ladder whereby man cli mbs towards hi s pe rfe c tion ; towards that unattainable but irresistible

- w lode star, gazed after ith earnest longing, and i nvoked with bitter tears ; the longin g of thou

h a sands of e rts, the tears of many generations .

PREFACE TO THE SECO ND EDITIO N

(1 874)

THE book on Scho ols and Un i versi ti es on the Con ti n en t I i s 1 868 , which publ hed in , has long been out of print ; I now republish that part of it which 1 a rel tes to Germany. The historical interest of tracing the development of the French school system, from the University of Paris and its colleges down to the lyceums and faculties of the present day, is extremely great ; the practical

s - f value of thi school system, in af ording lessons for English people ’ s guidance at the present

1 i P n a i n 1 874 n the o t n Th s reface origi ally ppeared , whe p r io S choo s and Un i versi ti es on the Omi ti nen t n t of l , deali g wi h rm n ﬁrs t a t P Ge a y, was published sep ra ely . The reface was d m s n t t n bu t n o w n t i t ropped fro sub eque edi io s , is repri ed , as con tain s much matter which is of in teres t i n View of presen t discus s ion s o n education al matters 1 36 PREFACE

moment, is small . The German schools and

o n f abu n d universities, the other hand, of er an ance of such lessons .

During the debates in Parliament this last

o n spring Irish university education , a foreign critic remarked that the ignorance whi ch foreigners are

o f i o f accused display ng when they talk England, could not possibly exceed the blundering into which the English debaters fell when they talked

An d of universities on the Continent . a good

o f l deal ignorance about these there certain y,

l o f among English public men, is ; whi e some the lessons to be got from a right knowledge o f them

. No w are , as we have said, very valuable of

German higher schools and universities, in par ti cu l ar , there exist for the use of people outside Germany scarcely any clear and trustworthy accounts my account was found useful both in

I as c er England and on the Continent, and have tai n e d that the description it gives o f German I public instruction still holds good . therefore

i t n I reprint , and in reprinti g it will take the

i o n e opportunity to po nt out, by way of preface, or two things which at this moment i n England l 38 PREFACE men in general who compose these the judgment

we and experience are, by the supposition follow, and indeed by the very nature of things, inferior

o wn ill to his . Probably at the very best it w be a give and take between hi m and them he will i conce de something to their prejudices, and w ll tr s i n h y, along with thi concession, to slip as muc of what he judges to be really right and expedi ent hi as he can . But the more he slips in of t s the less he will te ll the body of hi s supporters that their prejudices are prejudices ; he will even

the a make out, in passing, best c se for these he can, and will soothe and humour them, in order

n that what he does gai he may gain safely.

T h ik a herefore in any matter whic , l e educ tion,

n o t touches many passions and prejudices , we do get the best our statesmen would naturally devi se ; and what we do get i s given in a manner not to correct popular prejudices , but rather to humour them . Our statesmen, therefore, and their

a dl me sures, do directly har y anything to check and s e t right widespread errors amongst the community . Our most popular newspapers do even less ; because, while they have all the PREFACE 1 39 temptations of statesmen to coax popular pre

h u n judi ces rather t an co teract them , they have not the same chance of being , by experience and f o . strength judgment, raised really above them But it is evi dent that the whole value of its i training, to a nation wh ch gets the training of

- self government, depends upon its being told plainly of its mistakes and prejudi ces ; for mis takes and prejudi ces a large body wi ll always

a e n h ve, and to follow th se without let or hi drance

n o t ai i is the tr n ng we want, but freedom to act, with the most searchi ng cri ti ci sm of our way of acti ng.

No w i i i a crit c sm of our way of act ng, in any

a matter, is t citly supplied by the practice of foreign nations, in a like matter, put side by side with o u r practice ; and thi s cri tici sm by actual

i n examples is more practical , more teresting , and more readily atte nded to than criticism by specu

An d lative arguments . the practice of Germany supplies a searching criticism of this kind ; for we know how German practice is governed by the notion that what is to be done should be done sci en ti call to ﬁ y, as they say ; that is, according the 140 PREFACE

o f reason of the thing, under the direction experts, and without suffering ignorance and prejudi ce to

intrude . But this criticism our politicians and —h newspapers aving always, as we have seen, to

con sider the prejudices of those bodies on which they lean for support—will never apply strin

u n ﬂi n chi n l T ti gently and g y . he prac ce of foreign nations they will always try to exhi bit by a side which may make their own supporters feel proud

m u n and co fortable, rather than humiliated and

i s hi easy and perhaps it to t s cause, even more i than to s mple carelessness and ignorance, that those inaccurate assertions about foreign uni ver

sities by our public men, on which foreigners m . T com ent, are attributable herefore we have

always said that in this country the fu nctions — of a disinterested literary class a class o f non i political writers, having no organ sed and em m bodied set of supporters to please, si ply setting

u themselves to observe and report faithf lly, and

looking for favour to those isolated persons only,

scattered all through the community, whom such an attempt may interest—are of incalculable t impor ance.

1 42 PREFACE

o n based, if we tell the real truth, popular

- prejudice and clap trap . This constitutes an di ff immense erence . The Roman Catholics will cry out against the policy pursued by the Prussian

Go vernment towards them, but they cannot help i t having a respect for , because it is based on principles of reason which an able statesman h sincerely olds, can plainly avow , and has power to follow . But for the policy pursued by the

English Gover nment towards the Roman Catholic I i church in reland, no Roman Cathol c can have any respect ; for it does not represent the real mind of able statesmen, but the mind of a quan tity o f inferior people controlli n g the action of ili statesmen, whose ab ty goes to putting the best

i s o colour they can upon the act on controlled .

An d the policy of the Prussian Governm ent may i . I succeed speak w th caution, because, in the

ﬁrs t place, a foreigner cannot well have a thorough knowledge of the circumstances ; and , in the second place, what is right and reasonable

o r o f does not always succeed, the best judgment the ablest statesman may fail to hi t truly what is

r right and reasonable, or he may show tempe and PREFACE 1 43 in discretion i n details even where he is right in I i . H his main drift owever, th nk that Prince

’ Bismarck s policy will succeed, and that he may hope to see the great body o fthe German Catholic s

ll i t I am ﬁn a y come in to . But sure that the

’ Englis h Government s policy towards the Iri sh Catholics never can succeed ; for it does not even follow in its main drift that Government’ s best notions of what is right and reasonable As much as these may not always be enough for

s . success ; but less than the e , never Now wherein li es the essential point of di ffer ence between the Englis h and the German

t a i Governmen s, in their practic l dealings w th Roman Catholic education and kindred matters ? That is just what fr om English public speakers

u l x H and writers one wo d never learn . E eter all i k praises Prince Bismarck because, l e England at i r i ts e i ns . best moments , he sternly stra Roman sm

O u S ectat or a i the other hand, the p s ys that Pr nce Bismarck adopts towards Roman Catholics the il liberal policy of England before Catholic emanei pati o n ; the S tan dar d says that what he does is as if an En glish Mi ni ster forced all Roman 1 44 PREFACE

t m Catholics, wanting to ake orders , to co e to

Oxford and Cambridge to be educated . Is it

l s o ? n o t s o ff rea ly and if it is , where is the di er o nce ?

I : i t is here that Prussia, before proceed ng to regulate in certain poi nts the course of Roman

h li s rs t es tabli s hed an d en d owed thei r eli Cat o c r i o n . , ﬁ g

Before compelling Roman Catholic candidates fo r

she ave them R oman orders to attend universities, g

u n i ers i ti es to o t Catho li c v o . H g as England, when i t n was restraini g Romanism, stood towards it as ? Prussia stands Before Catholic emancipation, was the Roman Catholic religion i n Ireland

i s was establ hed and endowed, or it encompassed hi i ? At hi by pro bit ons and penalties t s moment, have the Roman Catholics of Ireland a Roman i Catholic un versity, or are they in the condition of having vainl y asked England to give them o n e ? An d when the Engli sh Government at last offered

ni w them a u versity ithout theology, philosophy,

hi was n o t ff or story, even this o er cried o u t

“ against in England as a plan o f endowment

” i w e however m tigated and disguised, and are not told to rejoice at the offer havin g failed

1 46 PREFACE

f Catholic country, just as Ox ord and Cambridge are Protestant uni versities for a Protestant

M r country. They may be told by . Lowe that all a man ought to wish for i s an Examining

Board, and that faculties and professors are a

mi o ld great stake ; but they hold to the notion,

ni n that a regular u versity i s a better thi g. They may be told that they ought to be s ati s ﬁe d with an u niversity where theology and the matters akin to it are not taught ; or where theology is i hil not taught, and h story and p osophy are taught

without reference to religion , without any one asking o fwhat reli gion are the persons who teach them. That is not their opinion they prefer that their sons should be taught theology, philo

an d h t sophy, istory at the universi y as well as other things ; and that they should be taught

i l n theology, ph osophy , and history by perso s of

i s their own religion . Th is no extravagant claim

s a l of theirs, they y ; they are on y asking for what the majority of people desir e elsewhere for the

En children, and what elsewhere is given . In g land and Scotland Protestants choose to make their un iversities places where their childr en can PREFACE 7

hi s learn theology, philosophy, and tory, and can learn them from Protestants ; why may n o t

Roman Catholics do the same, where they are the bulk of the popu l ation ? An d in Germany they i may ; but in Ireland they are told by ‘the Engl sh

: Government Oh no, that is impossible ; we have a p ri n cip le that for the future we must n o t in Ireland, endow religion in any way whatever.

But Prince Bismarck has not thi s principle ; he gives Roman Catholic uni versities to the Roman

nl he i Catholics . O y ins sts that Roman Catholic

a ll priests, paid by the St te, sha have passed thr ough the studi es and examinations of the

n sati s ﬁ e d university, instead of remaini g with the di i stu es and examinations of their own sem naries . That is h i s principle ; and the Roman Catholics

ﬁn d i t u . fault with , as they do with o rs But evidently it is quite a di fferent pri nciple from

ﬁrs t ours indeed, it can only be reached by

n . Ti mes rejecting our pri ciple altogether Yet the ,

i s i s as natural for a leading Engl h newspaper, talks as if by our principle we generously con ferred on the Irish Rom an Catholi cs a precious boon, and a great advantage over their Prussian 1 48 PREFACE

i n brethren. We feel, it says, that however consistent Ultramontane principles may be with

n i s i f the general tendency of E gl h l e, we are strong enough to leave them to be encountered by the

” natural i n ﬂu en ce s of free discussion . This i s just the sort of colour whi ch the mass of Englis h — men like to s ee given to our Irish policy liberal

An d and rosy. certainly, if we do not grant to

l we our Roman Catho ics any university, cannot

. H force them to take degrees there owever, the party affected i s not content with what we do any more than with what Prince Bismarck does ;

ni i n in Ireland they want an u versity, and Prussia they do not want to have their clergy made to

ni e pass through u versity studies and xaminations . S o the Roman Catholics di s hke both what our

Government does and what Prince Bismarck does ; but there the likeness between the German

i wo and the Engl sh policy ends . The t go upon wholly different principles ; and if one policy is

be right the other hardly can , if the one is likely to succeed the other must be likely hi to fail . Which is right, w ch is likely to

wi l the succeed, l depend on comparative truth

1 5 0 PREFACE who can plead such a long prescri ption fo r their

d s o indepen ence of the State, who sincerely think

i s th independence their right, should , one would

think, when innovations are made and they resist

i n them, be treated with the greatest possible

‘ - du lgen c e and long s u ﬁ eri n g. As to attempts to i r cut the tie between the Cathol c p iest and Rome, and to substitute for it State - appointment or

u l pop ar election, this may be very desirable in

the m i t itself ; and, if Catholic co munity wishes , well and good. But so long as the Catholic community sees in its priest a functionary to whose reli gious ministrations hi s tie with Rome t hi gives heir whole virtue, to forbid t s tie is to forbid the Catholic community the exercise of its i ff rel gion . If Prince Bi smarck su ers his new

o f legislation to run into excesses this kind, they e i t. A i k may asily be fatal to nything, too, l e a di rect prohibition of the ecclesiastical schools, or a direct regulation of studi es and control of books

i ll - vi s in them, seems to me a harsh and ad ed measure . To interpose, somewhere between the t priva e seminary and the public cure of souls , the mi studies and exa nations of the university, seems PRE FACE 1 5 1 to me all that is really required ; and to require thus much is reasonable . It is true, the Roman

Catholics have the ri ght to certain guarantees i n i the matter. They have a r ght to demand that the university shall not be made an engine o f

o f - Protestant or anti religious propagandism , that the semi narist shall n o t be put i n the hands o f

i o fhi s the enem es faith , that his university, there

i ni fore, shall be a Roman Cathol c u versity, and his hi professors for theology, philosophy, and story, hi I . T Roman Catholics s being guaranteed, think the State may reasonably impose university i stud es as a preliminary to orders , and that it

0 i may fairly h pe to obtain, with t me, the appro bati o n of its Roman Catholic members themselves

o l to i ts doing s . The reasonable ones wi l be brought

ﬁrs t i n to approve , but the mass will come time .

i s i r It true, also, the Roman Cathol c hie archy wi l l claim to have more guarantees than those

ﬁrs t mentioned, and will make an outcry at if it A i does not get them . body of this k nd will always try to make the best terms fo r itself it i can . The Irish bishops cla med from Lord Mayo

n o f n the gover ment their Irish u iversity, the right 1 5 2 PREFACE

o f o n n o f veto the appointme t professors, the right o f di smissin g professors . This would make the uni versity simply a continuation of the seminary with a State payment . But what i s the object of an university ? To diffuse the best

o f An cu l ture by means the best professors . d wi it is granted , that since th so many and great parts of culture religion is concerned, Roman

h i n Catholics may fairly wish to ave, an univer s i t i y where they send the r sons , Roman Catholic

i s i s i k professors ; the question , Who l ely to choose i ? A i them best, the State or the b shops min ster o f il State w l choose them with a wider view, and i with a more publ c, a fuller, and a more coneen 1 trated il responsib ity, than the bishops can ; li therefore the State is kely to choose them best.

Thi s is s o agreeable to reason that o n e certainly need n o t despair o f bringing the Roman Catholic laity to admit it indeed, even at this moment,

1 It can n ot be to o often repeated that this i s the real u h an swerable argumen t for State in terven tion ; the whole c o m m n t s to n an d i n m n t t t the u i y is upposed gover , a i is er of S a e mm n t t tt t n n s a cen tre i n whole co u i y ge s , be er ha a ywhere el e ,

whi ch to at r es o ns i bi i t . n a a i n ﬁ p l y Experie ce, by p lp bly show g the d t n s t t t as n t n the n ew efec ive ess of uch subs i u es , for i s a ce , n n n u s ﬁn all to gover i g bodies of our public schools , will bri g y m t t to m n s u the u to s t o r . si ple ru h , which so a y of wish hu eyes

15 4 PREFACE

English Govern ment in regard to university I education in reland . This principle is, as we

fo r n o t have seen, that the future we must , in

Ireland, endow religion in any way whatever.

No w it is remarkable that in the soundness o f this their principle many o f the chief members o f the English Government appear, if we may judge i ' by their own adm ssions, not to believe ; whereas in the soundness of hi s Prince Bismarck appears l . H to believe hearti y owever, a principle may no doubt be sound, even though its upholders do not i t i themselves believe in ; the quest on is, Does the E i principle of the ngl sh Government, when we

i n i t ? Be exam e , turn out to be sound in itself

cause if it is not, it can never be likely to succeed , much as it may be written up and called a great

i So u and necessary pr nciple . much written p ,

n s o c o n ﬁde n tl i deed, it is , and asserted y, that it has come to be treated by a great many people as almost a truism, as something which in its general o form, that the State ought to have n thing to do

n with religio , one must begin by admitting as a

o f matter course, though circumstances may here an d there prevent o u r as yet shaping o u r action PREFACE 1 5 5

n o i A i t t. ll n in co formity tru sm, as is we know , N is something true and trite . ow, the principle i n question is not exactly a truism, but it is next door to i t ; it is what Ar chbishop Whately used

a A u i s i to call a f lsi s m. tr m is someth ng true and trite, and a falsism is something trite and false ; and that i s just what the maxim we are now dealing

t : alsi sm wi h is something trite but false, a f . We will endeavour to make this clear by analysing the maxim in the grounds on Which its main

ai n r i t e s base t. For manifestly it is not a principle which carri es

i t - its own proof on the face of , like the self evident truths in mathematics ; it is collected from other

’ n propositions . In the same way, Pri ce Bismarck s principle that the Roman Catholic clergy should pass through university studies is not a self- evident truth in itself : it depends on the truth of a pro i t ’ position behind , that a nation s public ministers in men tal and spiritual things should have passed

So through the best culture o f the nation . also the principle that the State should have n othin g to do with religion depends on further propositions advanced respectively by those two powers in this 1 5 6 PREFACE country which we have elsewhere called Mi ll i s m

Mi alli s m and . These nicknames give offence, and i we w ll not employ them here ; one of them ,

besides, might turn out to be not strictly accurate .

M r who Fo r . Mill , was not, perhaps, the great

hi s who spirit that some of admirers suppose, but

e n was a singularly acute, ardent, and int resti g man , was capable of followin g lights that led hi m away from the regular doctri ne of phil osophical radi c ali s m he , and on no question was more capable of doing this than i n o n e where the Catholics o f I ll s a reland were concerned . We wi y then,

Mi lli s m Mi alli s m instead of and , Secularist Radi c ali s m N f c and oncon ormity. Both all themselves

Liberal, both unite in the proposition that the

State should have nothing to do wi th religion ; di ff h but they take erent grounds . We ear most in thi s country o f the ground taken by Noncon

o f n formity ; but out E gland, on the Continent,

o n e hardly any takes this ground . Seculari s t Radi cali s m o n , the other hand , is a great power on the

Contin en t as well as with u s ; and its reason for severing all connection o f the State with religi on

o u al y hear perpetu ly.

1 5 8 PREFACE sweeping religion o u t of the schools an d theology out of the universities , and leaving the Church to l deal with these by herself and just as she ikes .

n o The no sense cannot g all at once, they say, but in time it will go ; and it will go the sooner the less yo u encourage it by taki n g any public notice of it whatever.

No w nl these e ightened people fall into error, because there is really more in reli gion than they f i . u o magine Tr e, all sorts ignorance and super s ti ti o n have fastened themselves on to religion i true, all sorts of inconven ence and damage have come from religion as we see it existing. But this — is because religion the rule and sanctions o f

— has conduct interests all the world, and thus become the mixed and strange- shapen thing whi ch the practice and opinions o f great mu l titudes o f - h men were likely to fashion . Particularly as this been s o with that form of Christianity which has

most penetrated the societies where it lived, most laid hold on the mu l titude and been reacted on — li . re by the multitude, Roman Catho cism But li gi o n is not on that account like the black death o r the sweating sickness , a mere disease out of PREFACE 1 5 9

n which, if we do othing to foster it and will let

i n ﬂu en ce s o f i li “ the modern civ sation work, we may hope mankind will grow it is a natural human need which will manage to satisfy itself. To this matter we shall return presently we will now only point o u t that the nations of Europe have all provi ded the mselves with an organ isation o f re li gi o n just as they have provided themselves with an organisation o f society ; the one was made a

ff fo r m public a air the sa e reason as the other, because both were felt to interest the public pro f u n dl i t o . y, as human needs of primary mpor ance

An d when it is said that thi s or that thing has n ot i been made a matter of publ c organisation, and wh u l be ﬁn d y sho d religion , we shall always , if we hi look close enough, that t s was because the thing

in question did not interest the public profoundly, was not held (whatever its real merits may have been) to be a thing worth instituting publicly, a public need o f primary importance ; whereas re i li g o n was . Religion has been publicly instituted because it i s a recognised public need ; it has n o t been made a public need by bein g publi cly insti

u t d N t e . aturally the publicly instituted religion 1 60 PREFACE i n Ireland would be that of the immense majority of the people, the Roman Catholic religion . But this has not been allowed to institute itself pub li c l y, because it was not the religion of the minority

Ir who conquered Ireland ish Catholicism, there

has i s fore, been entirely d sociated from the public

a n d life of the country, been left to be an entirely i t private concern of the persons attached to . ? H Well, but what has been the consequence as it died out becaus e of this wholesome neglect by the State ? Among no people is thei r reli gion s o

Vi H gorous and pervasive . as it fewer faults and disadvantages than the same religi on i n countries i t ? I where the nation institutes n no country,

probably, is Roman Catholicism so crude, blind,

i n I I and unreasoning as reland . t seems , then, that by dissociating religion from the public life

ri d i t of a country, you do not get of , and you do not abate what is faulty and mi schi evous in i t ;

An d you only make this stronger than ever. s o

i li s far, perhaps, ph losophic Libera m hits the truth in its comparison of religion to a disease what

vi m e n there is hurtful and rulent in religion, as have corrupted religion, becomes worse when it is

1 62 PREFACE

No n c o n fo rmi s ts arti ﬁci ally sustained . The think

religion a thing most precious and imperishable . i Their notion, however, is that relig on will thrive best if the State lets it alone, and if it is not

n . At hi publicly i stituted least, t s is the notion which at the present moment they wish to pro i as r o r b . claim thei pr nciple, and to stand fall y

N i i al ow , this pr nc ple is a puzzling matter to de

u with, because its tr th or falsehood cannot be seen i t mm on the face of , but depends upon an i ense

O n experi ence which we have not had . the one

an we h d is the fact that men, so far as see, when

they were left to themselves and acted naturally, have almost always made religion a public i n s ti tu

tion . True, the world is far from being perfect .

o r i mi to o u r But if religion, , to l t ourselves what

experience can better deal with, if Christianity,

ﬁ rs t ever since its appearance, had been left to itself as a concern for individuals and private

n u l co gregations only, wo d the world, men being ? what they are, have been any better It is really

s a u impossible to y . The modern Dissenters tell s

h o it would, but w at experience have they to g

? : upon They have this that at the Reformation, PREFACE 3

o f n di n many the E glish middle class , sco tented with the shape whi ch the publi c institution o f

u s u n fo r religion then took amongst , reno ced it

r e themselves , and made thei r ligion a thing of d private congregations and in ividuals . Then i these same people , with their habits of separat sm e s e a stablished, crossed the , and founded English America with the same di s sidence of dissent pervadi ng its reli gion as pervaded the religion of

as as its founders . For soon they had given in to s eparati sm they found it was a thing that grew ff upon them , and they began to di er and separate from one another as much as from the reli gion

e N publicly institut d in England . ow , then, has

ri w E is religion th ven more ith the ngl h Dissenters, A and in merica, than it has thriven under the

common conditions ? O f cour se the Dissenters

say it has, and they are fond of pointing to the

o f number chapels and churches they build, and to the number of chapels and churches built in

A in i merica, and to the salaries paid to m sters , to

n prove that religion thrives best o n their pla .

i s hi But the real question , w ch produces, not the

the bes t most churches and the best salaries, but 1 64 PREFACE

t e o r eli i o n n o r yp f g , the public institutio of it the ? H leaving it to private handling ere, too, the

Dissenters wi ll c o n ﬁden tly answer that they and their plan produce the best type of reli gion . We

' di ﬁ e r from them ; we are strongly of opinion that neither i n Great Britain nor in Am erica have the separatist churches produced so good an d lovely a type of religion as that whi ch is suggested by

e i i n the name of F nelon, for nstance, the Roman

! en o r Catholic Church, or by the names of

o u r i s A Wils on in own . There another thing. swarm of private religious sects wastes power ; it hi absorbs for its mac nery, squabbles, and gossip,

ai i mi force of br n wh ch ght be better employed, and is not good, therefore, for mental progress . Not much o f Engli s h thought comes from the Am Dissenters . erica, occupied in the material

a inst llation of society over a vast continent, gets most of her thi nking done for her in Europe ; but

s he o n i t if had to depend herself for , she would

ﬁn d I , suspect, her religious organisation unfavour

i n able to her growth thought and knowledge . But we do not offer all this as a certainty so

v o n e i t n o r e ident that every must admit , do we

1 66 PREFACE

an y formation of a public Catholic university , though the vast majority o f the Irish would like i An d o n i t. they prevent it a ground wh ch has

ri and can have no positive certainty, and car es for mankind at large no convi ction . We may safely say that if thi s alleged ground of the modern Di s s en tere was their onl y and their

u real ground in ref sing, for instance, the Catholic

ni w I u versity ished for in reland, they would be

u powerless . The absurdity and injustice of ref sing o n a ground so inconclusive such a wish of the

Iri s hmm majority of would be too glaring. But it is not the real ground . Most certainly it i s not the real ground with the rank and ﬁle of the Nonconformists ; and we take the li berty o f

n who doubti g, we make it our business to try and i see th ngs as they really are, whether it is the

n o actual motive even with the leaders , although doubt they have now persuaded themselves that

s o ﬁrs t it is . Their natural and thought was that to which Pym gave utterance when he said that it was the business of legislators to establish true

u reli gion and to punish false . The Ch rch o i

’ En f gland s was not the true religion, there ore the PREFACE 7

n n f rmi s ts i t No c o o repelled . But the bulk o f them

i s n long hoped to establ h the true religio , that is,

o wn . hi their , in its stead T s was hopeless , because of the man y and ever - multiplyi ng differences

o n c o n fo rmi s amongst themselves . The N t mm o ri ti e s had to put forward the plea o f reli gious

m s e rs e c u equality, to free the selves from ri k of p

mi s ri tion by the Nonconfor t majo ty . The Inde

’ pendents denial of the right o f the civil magistrate to interfere in matters of religion was to bar the claim of the Presbyterian ministers to invoke the civil magistrate’ s arm to puni sh what they thought heresy. But John Goodwin, the greatest name among the Independents and an i nteresti ng and

n o t remarkable man, expressly says that he does quarrel with the setting up of Presbyterianism by

di o f the Government, but with the recting the

i n i Government, the pun shment of heresy, by the

T fo r Presbyteri an ministers . he contention was to lerati o n i ; that rel gious bodies had no authority, as the Savoy Confession says, to impose their

’ opinion s upon one another . The same was the conten tion of the Baptists .

But all thi s was rested o n the ground that in 1 68 PREFACE

matters of conscience Christ is king, and the

n magistrate ought not to meddle ; and this grou d,

n taken originally with an eye to toleratio , easily suggested to the No n c o n fo rmi s t minorities a new

departure . It was, that there should be no public

institution of religion at all and thus that, though

’ ﬁrs t any separatist s own religion might not be ,

’ u l yet nobody s should . This wo d rescue them

o f ri ri from a mortifying position infe o ty, while it would at the same time i n ﬂi c t a mortifying loss

N n of rank upon their rivals . onco formists have since come to s ee all mann er o fﬁn e aspects i n the i idea of rel gious equality, and they love to think that they have embraced it for these ; but the real reasons why they embraced it are those we

ﬁrs t have given . They adopted it to get toleration , they insist on it n o w to bring thei r publicly i n

o wn stituted neighbours to their level . H owever, to this day, what imparts real strength to the opposition of the rank and ﬁle o f them to l the Church of Eng and, what procures them what

ever real sympathy theyget from the public outside ,

i n V is the belief, not the irtue and excellency of

o f the idea religious equality, but the belief that

1 7 0 PREFACE

i e n ma e u s s l ght s t mi sgi vi g to be di s l rr or . You make

e If parties to a li . the conscience of the pauper parent be vi olated by the omission o f hi s peculiar

hi s il religious tenets in the teaching of ch d, how do you appraise the i njury i n ﬂi c ted o n our s by forcing u s to pay money i n support of heathen i sh s u ers ti ti o n s ? p This , this is the notion really behind the Nonconformist maxi m that the State i must have nothing to do w th religion , the notion whi ch gives to this abstract maxim nearly all the power it has . The State paying for Ritualism in i England is bad enough, but the State pay ng for Roman Catholi ci sm in Ireland is making Protest

a li e ant England and Scotland parties to , to heathen i s h s u ersti ti o n s ri i n p . The majo ty England and Scotland like for themselves a public i n s ti tu

o f : I tion religion but for reland, because the religion of the maj o ri ty there is a lie and heathenish

we No n c o n fo rmi s t superstition, adopt the maxim that the State must have nothing to do with religion .

Now we do not Speak to the representatives o f

o f o f the dissidence dissent, and the Protestantism the Protestant religion . Their divisions cannot PREFACE 1

o f l all them be instituted publicly ; whi e , at the same time an y other form o f religion which does

to get instituted publicly, appears thereby acquire i an advantage wh ch they have not . Therefore, to reinforce their objection on the score o f its false hood an d supers titiousness to publi cly instituti ng i N f mi Roman Catholic sm, the oncon or sts have the further objection that thi s wou l d be givin g to the Roman Catholics an advantage whi ch they them selves cannot have . The two objections together i make them proof aga nst convi ction . But we

ri who appeal to the majo ty in England, have given

r hi to thei own religion its public institution, w ch l ll ma ri t . o they sti maintain They are the j y, or it

u l n o t wo d be maintained . Well, what is it which i made them, and wh ch makes men in general, wish to give to their religion thi s public institution ?

Is it not the desire to give more weight, solemnity, li and grandeur to re gion , to make it less like a

1 It is to be hope d we shall n o w be permitted to as certain to t n t t the m t I t the what ex e hey are ajori y . believe hey are m n m t At an r t i t n o t t to overwhel i g ajori y . y a e, was credi able the t mm n an d i t a a i n the la e House of Co o s, le ves a serious g p t t t s t t the n n m ts d religious s a is ic of Europe, ha No co for is shoul have been able at the last cen s us to preven t the fact bein g 1 7 2 PREFACE thing o fprivate fancy o r in ven tion 7 The Roman

Catholics , where they are the majority, have just the same desire ; why are they not to follow i t ? Because the Roman Catholic religion is so false

! i s and dangerous that really the English answer.

No w t I am , quixotic as the at empt may seem , sure

l i s to we ought bold y to confront th answer, and i f show its hollowness . The t me has come br i t doing , and the attempt is not, perhaps, so quixotic as it looks . We shall not be thought to deny that Roman Catholicism contai ns much that is false and hurt

ful, and that Protestantism has many points of i advantage over t. But Protestantism has not so much advantage over it as to be entitled to present itself as absolutely true, and to brand Roman Catholi cism as absolutely false ; its doing so must i appear to every w se man, even, as an extravagant pretension , and to every Roman Catholic as

s a insolence and outrage . It is no answer to y that Catholicism sets up the same sort o fpretension against Protestantism . For the question is not,

H o w

is a Catholic country to! govern a Protestant

n ? H o w i s appe dage but, a Protestant country to

1 7 4 PREFACE

Catholicism we are always lookin g at from the negative side .

N o f l s a evertheless no re igion, one may y , is the favourable side so easy to ﬁn d or s o proper to i n s Pi re indulgence . The Roman Catholic religion is the religion which has most reached the people . The bulk of its superstitions come from i ts having r u eally pl nged so far down into the multitude, and

o spread so wide among them . The tw great ideas of reli gion are the idea of conduct and the idea of happiness and no reli gionhas equalled Catholicism in givi ng on a great scale publicity to the ﬁrs t and reali ty to the second . The Pope tells a French

deputation that the virtu ous woman is the salt o f

society and the depraved woman its bane ; he tells an American deputation that i ndustry and energy

ﬁn e i are th ngs , but that the care for riches narrows

and hardens the heart and the sen tences are

’ u n ik k n telegraphed ro d Europe l e a i g s speech, read with reverence in every Catholic family as

o f o f the words the head Catholicism, forced upon the eye of careless thousands who never think a moral thought by the very newspapers which never

Who utter one . , again, has seen the poor in other PREFACE 1 7 5

churches as they are seen in Catholic churches , o r common soldiers in churches as they are seen in the churches o f Rome ? And why ? Because the attachin g doctrine of the equal share of Chri s tians

n in the beauty and glory of religio , which all

o f churches preach, the Church Rome makes

ﬁn d palpable and the poor in church, and free to i them as to the rich , the g lded saloons whi ch

u s with they hear of but can never enter. It is so

r vast, too, this old popular religion of Ch istendom, that in the repertory of its history you may ﬁn d l a most anything ; a good for every bad, the con demn ati o n of every foll y and crime whi ch it has itself committed . It has the Inquisition o n the o n e n ha d , and on the other it has Gregory the

: Great saying The Church, formed in the school il of hum ity, does not command its erring children

” a by authority but persu des them by reason . It has o n e Pope proclai ming hi s infalli bility it has another Pope crying : Why should you wonder

o u r a we at being mist ken, who are men Prophets have been mi sled ; is it stran ge that we shoul d be misled who are n o prophets ? The multiplicity

o u r u s an d o u r of business overwhelms ; minds, 1 7 6 PREFACE

s o hi having to attend to many t ngs, can attend the less to each single thing, and are the easier in some

” n i t one thi g deceived . We upbraid , with much

o f Go d o f show of justice , as making the word none effect by its tradition ; yet all the whi le it is saying in a popular manual True conversions are very

rare, because nothing under a total and thorough

s u fﬁc e N change will . either tears , nor good desires ,

i o f nor intentions, nor the relinqu shment some

n o r sins , the performance of some good works w ” 1 l a n e cr eatu re. will avai anything, but Such

o f is the range this religion . We know only the

we tyranny and folly, and therefore call the religion

’ a li e ; but the Catholic s attachment to hi s religion is bred of all the mildness and wisdom whi ch are

w e s ee there also, though do not them, and a successfu l management o fhi m can never be dictated by Protestant antipathy which will know nothi n g f o them .

to o The Catholic sees, , what the Protestants

ho i a li e n o t w call his rel gion do , that an enemy reproaching Protestantism can say much the same

’ 1 P m n an d S e c Alban Butler s L i ves of the S a i n ts ; S S . hile o

22d m . Appia , Nove ber

1 78 PREFACE the co ven an t and that ‘ a Catholic must keenly feel the injustice o fhavi ng it said of tran s u bs tan ti ati o n exclusively ? Science professes to assert nothing which it cannot positively verify. Does any o n e suggest that the doctrine o f the atonement rests o n anything li ke as good grounds as the doctri ne that the earth moves round the s u n

The same persons, the Catholic might retort, would s ay this both o f the atonement and o f o u r

i n o f doctr e transubstantiation, and with just the

o f same degree reason in both cases . Science, he

s a might add, has plenty to y against Protestant as well as Catholic . Even Puritan ministers have maintained that the laying o n of hands gave them

o u d power to cast t evils . Protestant ministers

’ ’ cried out against Galileo s assertion o f the earth s movement just as loudly as Catholic priests ;

t fo r ﬁrs t indeed, it was observed hat here, the i time, ministers and pr ests agreed, and Descartes wrote that there was a good time coming for the

’ theory of the earth s motion, as the priests would probably begin to allow it now that all the ministers condemned i t. But Protestants in general, it is urged, are favourable to modern PREFACE 1 7 9

An d s o science . too, to a Catholic, it seems that

Catholics i n general are favou r able to modern science ; because he looks at Catholicism by the good side , and treats untoward incidents as the

n o t . we exception, the rule But treat them as

l No w the ru e for his religion, never for our own . ,

hi m i s how such a proceeding must strike , what we ought to ask ourselves. N i ik o, Protestantism and Cathol cism are al e

x mere appro imations, but tolerable approximations

i n they both of them are, and all publ c i stitution of its religion can not fairly or rationably be refused by Protestants to a Catholic coun try on the sort of plea one mi ght use against the worship

u ern au t i s a li e of J gg , that Catholicism and

a hen i s h er i t he t su s t i o n . i s p It true , however, that

u s Catholicism does seem to , as we have already

to i said, have certain points of grave d sadvantage

we r a i s m if compare it with P otest nt These, however, are of a kind to be lessened rather than

n aggravated by a public institutio of religion . The gravest di s advantage is undoubtedly the

a r dependence on Rome ; the est blishment, th ough

hi n n i n . t s depende ce, of a foreig power the country 1 80 PREFACE

It was this whi ch chi eﬂy made the Engli sh m l Refor ation ; and a most everywhere , as the

ri individuality of the European nations pened,

’ and un ity i n one s nation became a dominant i habit and idea, coll sions were found to arise between this unity and that old unity in Rome which belonged naturally to a time when all the nations were englobed in the Roman Empire . Such collisions between all egiance to the nation and allegiance to Rome are to the English spirit intolerable ; Great Britain got rid of them by the l ll ff Reformation , and that Ireland shou d sti o er a ﬁeld for them i s to English people an irri tating

An d l and alarming thought . the double al egiance

dl di fﬁ u l is undoubte y a source of danger and c ty .

But here , too, we shall deal best with our cause

di fﬁ cu lt i t of y if we regard , not as a monstrous

e and perverse aberration, but as the thing pr sents itself to the Irish Catholics themselves, and as in

its nature it really is . To the Irish Catholics , to Catholics everywhere, the attractiveness of u nion with Ho me is n o t in the dependence on a government of foreigners , which is naturally

attractive to no man , but in the greater solidity,

1 82 PREFACE

State which is often found in practice so baneful

a Practic lly, no doubt, no body of clergy can be reckoned upon, wise enough and temperate enough

ﬁll n i t to , without bei g intoxicated by , the mighty

i n part which, the Catholic scheme, is reserved

hi s for Rome ; practically, a church as wide as

hi s i nation, suited to nation, nat onally governed, i s u l he ill what a man sho d seek, and does to run after the shadow of more and lose the substance o f this . But the national sense is strong in every

i as nat on, and may be trusted to assert itself

o n h time goes . W at hinders it from asserting itself in Irish Catholicism ? What keeps Irish Catholici sm Ultramontane ? O u r policy and our

ill Iri policy only. We w not let sh Catholicism be i nstituted publicly ; we wi ll not suffer it to be national, to have the sense of being the

i we Church of Ireland, and ndependent ; keep hi it a private t ng , and its only way of being great and public is by being Ultramontane . We will not allow a Catholic university with a charter from the Crown, so Ireland will have a Catholic university with a charter from mi Po e . the p What ad rable, what successful PREFACE 1 83 management ! Granted that Catholicism has

r really, as compared with P otestantism, grave elements o f in conveni ence and danger ; the

o f worst these dangers, the Ultramontane ten

“ we n o t o u r r deney, do abate by p inciple of n o t e n do w mg i n any shape religion in Ireland ; we aggravate and exasperate it a thou

- sand fold .

Ultramontanism is a p o li ti cal disadvantage connected with Catholicism . But we will go

s a has further and y that Catholicism , as compared

r with Protestantism, an intellectual and spi itual disadvantage likewi se . We must always remember

— a what Catholicism has been, the gre t popular

i i o f i all rel g on Chr stendom , with the accretions and superstitions inseparable from such a char acter . Long before the Reformation serious and n i i telligent Cathol cs could, for their single selves , separate these accretions from their religion .

fo r They could see, instance, that the papal

o f o f system, or that the worship the Virgin and

o f saints, had taken dimensions quite out propor tion with what i s said o r indicated o f them i n the

N o ew Testament , and could g back nearer to the 1 84 PREFACE

foundations of the whole matter. Serious and i ntelligent Catholics c an do for their single selves

n the same thi g still ; with them, the essentials of religion are much what they are with a pious

Protestant ; they can hold this or that accretion

o f very cheap , and talk it very lightly . But at

m ni the Reformation the mass of the com u ty, in

ri Protestant count es, adopted, in breaking with

o f ac cre Rome , this rejection what was evidently

an d tion and superstition, and got a freedom a new

o f point of departure, in subjects thought the most

an d widely deeply interesting that are known , hi w ch , in Catholic countries , was reserved for the superior few alone . Protestantism had dangers

o wn i ts o f and drawbacks of its , and criticism the

’ the tru th Bible was not any more than Catholicism s .

But by the mere getting ri d o fan immense baggage o f — erroneous ideas, the most evidently unsound

o f part Catholicism, and felt to be so by the best

Catholics themselves, yet the part the most natur — ally attractive to the multitude , the breach with di d Rome certainly accomplish, for the nations which became Protestant, a popular education of

An d very considerable value . this education

1 86 PREFACE the i n ﬂu en ces o f the time help i t ; wherever the pressure of the time and of collecti ve human life can make themselves felt, and therefore in all

public and national institutions for education ,

i the Cathol c as well as Protestant, change works .

o n e o r i s The way to prevent adjourn its working, to keep education what i s called a hole - and- corner ff i a air, cut off from the publ c life of the nation and

ds the main current of its thoughts, in the han of a clique who have been thus narrowly educated themselves . And this is preci sely what we are doing in Ireland by refusin g to institute Catholi c

- - education publicly. We keep it a hole and corner

n thi g, with its teachers picked by the Catholic i bishops , and neither of publ c appointment nor designated by public opinion as emi n ent men ; we prevent all access of the enlarging i n ﬂu en ces of the time to either teachers or taught .

i s a li e In short, Roman Catholicism not ; it i is , like Protestantism itself, an essay in rel gion,

S di s ad an approximation . But it has two pecial

u l vantages in its load of pop ar error, and in its

Ultramontani sm ; and our policy i s precisely calcu lated to maintain and increase both . PREFACE 1 87

In ﬂu e n c e s of the time ! n ational i nﬂ u e n c e s l but these are just what the Roman Catholi c hi erarchy are afraid o f! In Ireland yo u would have to negotiate wi th the Roman Catholic hier archy the settlement of Roman Catholic education ;

l u r and they wou d reject yo overtures, and entertain no plan except such as puts education entirely in

i s their hands . This often sai d I di sbelieve it At h . altoget er present , indeed , the Roman Catholic hi erarchy know very well that the Government i cannot seriously negotiate w th them , because it is controlled by popular prejudi ce and unreason ;

arle i n s o f a therefore any p y g are a mere game br g,

i s n in which there nothi g sincere on either side, and in whi ch the Catholic bishops may freely advance pretensions the most exorbitant, because

k n they now that nothi g reasonable can be done . But clear the unreason away ; let it be evident that the Government can and will treat with the

Iri sh Catholics for the only public in stitution of their religion asked for, the institution of a Catholic university, such as they have a right to, and such as i n the Catholic parts o f German y Catholics If possess . the Irish bishops proved impracticable 1 88 PREFACE

we f i s then, at any rate should have of ered what

o u r reasonable, and conscience would be clear. But would the Irish bishops then be found impracticable, or would Ireland allow them to be s o s o li n ? i n , even if they were inc ed Certa ly a wise an d ﬁ rm negotiator would be needed to deal with them ; but that fair terms might be come to I if the Government were really free, have no

An d wh ? doubt . y Because behind the bishops

the eo le there is p p concerned in this matter, the A ill Irish nation . wise Government w always

o n regard the nation, and rely its reasonableness ,

fo r if its genuine wants and wishes are fairly met, controllin g the unreasonableness o r ambition of individuals or corporations . The Roman Catholic priesthood in Ireland is a corporation o f whi ch I di shall speak with no srespect , but it is naturally interested in securin g its o wn paramount authority if it can . The Irish nation has no such interest . It is itself a corporation wider than the Roman

li . Catho c priesthood, and including them It desires such an university as England and Scotland have .

So long as we refuse Ireland this because its reli

a li e heathen i s h s u ers ti ti o n gion is and p , the Roman

1 90 PREFACE

i n o wn tself, seeking to impose by e actment its

nl i t e ightenment, as it calls , upon an unwilling and unprepared people ; that, too, is a sort of

a C esarism , and vain, unspeakably vain are such ff ff i e orts . Very di erent is the course wh ch we are suggesting for the English Government in Ireland . This course has for its object not to constrain the I people , but to give the people free play . t pro c e eds on the notion that reli gion is a matter u ni v ers all i l y interest ng, which fol ows, like human

l aw society itself, a of progress and growth , and that this law manifests i tself in the whole com

ni r mu ty ather than in any reli gious hierarchy. i The h erarchy may be necessary, may be venerable, may possess great Vi rtues ; but it in evi tably priz es too high what favours its own authority, its traditions, its discipline . The hierarchy may claim to stand as the proctor and plenipotentiary o f the whole communi ty in all that may concern religion ; but thi s is a claim not to be admitted by Govern i ments , Cathol c any more than Protestant ; and a Catholic Government the English Government in

I n reland ought to all i tents and purposes to be .

The proctor for a nation is the national government . PREFACE 9 1

The communi ty wi ll show its real wants most

an d truly and naturally, secure them best, if it

r0 er r acts for itself, through its p p adequate epre i s e n tat v e . And the only adequate representative of the whole communi ty is its executive govern Wh ment . ile the bishops , if they have the

ni appointment of professors in a Catholic u versity, will inevitably ask : Who wil l sui t the bi shops ? who will be conven ient to the bishops the com munity is interested i n askin g solely : Wh o is the best and most di stingui shed Catholic for the chair A i nd th s is the very question which, if the pro fe s s o rs are of State appointment, it is always the ’ w l i Government s duty, and i l in general (allow ng fo r i human imperfect on) be its practice, to ask and l b to ru e itself y .

The truth is, religion is too great a thing, too ll universal a want, to be we dealt with except nationally . Men in general may think little and feel bluntly ; but the chief exercise of their higher

re thought and emotion which they have, is their li i o n n V g . Their co duct may be ery imperfect, but

s o as the chief guide and stay of conduct, far it has

thi n all n . No any at , is their religio g therefore, is 1 92 PREFACE

i s o f s o much importance to them . This where

n the philosophical Liberals, who thi k that religion is a noxious thing and that it must die out, make

i s so great a mistake . Their m take is so great,

indeed, that they themselves cannot persistently

i t ﬁ n d o f keep to , and we even the acutest them

ﬂatl Mr ll u s contradicting themselves y . . Mi tells ,

’ hi s in a passage Where he is adopting father s words, that his father looked upon religion as the greatest

o f o n enemy morality. Eighteen pages further ,

where he is descanting on the lamentable absence , in English society, of any high and noble standard of conduct he adds that this absence prevails everywhere excep t among a few of the s tr i cter ” r eli gi o ni s ts The little that i s done for morality ’ ! A is done, then , by morality s greatest enemy statesman in any Christian country will be nearer

’ the truth m thinking that religion i s morality s

’ greatest friend and that therefore it i s mankind s greatest friend . Men want religion, a rule and sanctions of conduct which enlist their feelings ; and the actual forms of Christianity are appr o xi

An d i mations to this . men want it publ c and

i national , to prevent relig on, the proper source of l 94 PREFACE

i i t was no such th ng . It applied, as Cavour meant , si mply to cou ntries where the Church had hither

u to r led the State ; this usurpation it stopped , i and to accompl sh thus much was a great gain, a

o great progress . Church and State were left to g

’ each its o wn road the clergy s sway of the State

was . n o t stopped Cavour did pause to ask, it was not then the moment for asking, what the Church i t really was ; he took the Church as he found , the

Church represented by the clergy, and he left them perfectly free to manage what are called their own

f o n af airs, condition they left the State to manage

itself. But who are interested in the Church , that

i n o f is, the society formed those concerned about

l ? nl No re igion The clergy o y , as we have seen , A the whole people . nd who are really the Church

s t n o t Evidently the whole religiou socie y, and its ministers only . The ministers exist for the sake of the community to which they minister ; the

fo r clergy are for the people, not the people the

A i s clergy. national church is what wanted ;

n o w but a clergy, as the clergy in Italy are, dis

ara ed p g , irritated, and isolated, treated very rigor o u sl y as to church property, yet treated as the sole PREFACE 1 95

i to depositaries of rel gion, give religion a form n hi arrower and narrower, make it a thing w ch less and less corresponds to the wants of the nation m and of the time, and co municate their own dis

a content to all with whom they come in cont ct .

Thi s is what is happening in Italy ; this is what

a ree Chu rch comes of taking a catchword , like f i n a ree State i t f , absolutely, instead of using , as

s wise men do, only for the preci e moment and

hi u l circumstances w ch it suits . The Sec arist

i i s Liberals so l ttle know what religion really , they s o si ncerely thi nk that religion if wisely

W di e h neglected ill out, t at they keep on advising any treatment of the di fﬁcu l ty rather than the

s e e i I right one . They can that rel gion in taly is

i m s ati s fac to r in an y state, and that, on the other hand, the sectarianism of Protestant countries is

” u banef l ; but in religious matters , says the

“ Pro resso Edu cati ve n i g , our traditio al ind fferentism ” hi will save u s from sectarian di vi sions . T s traditional i ndifferentism is not what needs e n c o u ragi n g ; a severe judge mi ght s ay that the tradi tional indifferentism o f the Italians in reli gion was probably the secret of their traditional 1 9 6 PREFACE

impotence . What educated Italians need is to be ff i less indi erent in rel gion, and to know that it is a matter which concerns themselves also, not the M clergy only. . de Molinari , a writer who is

Jo u rn al always worth reading, is eloquent in the

’ des D ebats on the injustice of attempts such as are being now made in Switzerland, attempts by the community to control the organisation o f religion

” to meet their own wants . The Church is free,

he the i s — fo r hi m says , and State free ; and the clergy are the Church and the comm uni ty are the

State . The Church has the right to change, if it

o r chooses , its symbol its discipline, without ask

o r ls ing leave of cantonal federal counci , just as the State has the right to change its constitutionwithout

” o f H e asking leave bishops or clergy . forgets that the community, whom these cantonal and federal councils represent, is the Church ; that they have religious wants and have formed themselves into a religious society to satisfy them ; that the bishops

and clergy are but the ministers to the society, and a smal l fraction o f i t ; and that the whole design of the society is frustrated if the wants of

o f the mass are to be no account, but the fraction

1 98 PREFACE

A the nation . national church in harmony with

’ at the community s wants is what he drives . But above all does this conception manifest itself in i the serious German c, or partly Germanic nations , where the sense that religi on is a genuine concern o f the community is native, and where the

‘ i n di fi eren ti s m o f philosophical Liberalism is a

arti ﬁc i al plant of growth . What is passing in Switzerland and Germany shows the desire to give f ef ect to the idea of national churches , to the idea

f o f that religion is an af air the community, against the di ﬁi cu lti e s whi ch the peculiar constitution and relations of the Roman Catholi c clergy throw in the way of its working . The governments are

n to i n o f o wn not tryi g impose a relig o their , some modern enl ightenment o r othercongenial to govern

di n ments and scouragi g to religion ; they are, at f d bottom , trying to give ef ect to this sincere esire

o n e n ew of the community. In place there is some d n o t ogma which the community do want to receive , but which the clergy want to force upon them ; in another place there is some religious reform fo r

hi to w ch the community are ripe, but which the

O n clergy ppose a stubbor resistance ; in another, PR EFACE 1 99 there is some cherished national aim of the co m

o n hi An munity w ch the clergy frown . d the clergy retain , from the times when they were the Church

u l and the Church r ed the State, all sorts of means o fthwarting and punishin g the community which sticks to its own view and does n o t comply with theirs . To remove all these means, to make the c o m - l munity the Church, and self ru ing ; above all ,

to transform the clergy itself, to bring the clergy,

n l a body in ma y respects so excel ent , into closer sympathy with the community by bringing it to ’ — I i share the community s best culture, this , bel eve, is in general the sincere intention of the religious l po icy of the German and Swiss governments, although in particu l ar points they may have acted i hl . n hars y and unadvisedly The commu ty, in

n Switzerla d and Germany, wishes religion a public institution and yet a thing which may grow accordin g to their needs and be ad

n r mi istered according to thei needs . This is what Prince Bismarck has to meet ; it is a wish which in modern communities will more an d m an d more ake itself felt, which govern

n An d ments will have to meet more a d more . 20 0 PREFACE neither the wish n o r the tryin g to meet it is

Caesarism .

i s i n Well, but when we Engl h praise Pr ce

Bismarck fo r what he is doing and sympathi se with him , we pass judgment on ourselves . We have n o t clean hands in the matter for which we

H e praise him . is doing what our mind has n o t

o u r n o t been clear enough , prejudices enough under

o f u s the control our reason, to put in a position

fo ll o wm r o u r fo r doing. Some people say he is g If Tudor legislation . he followed our Tudor

i s legislation , he would establ h Protestantism throughout Prussia, and pass an act of uniformity i t If to make Catholics conform to . he followed

o f s the policy our modern Liberal , he would with hold from the Catholic community any public institution o f their religion or any Catholic university to send either their laymen o r clergy f o H e o . H e n t . does nothing the kind is followi g

di fﬁ c u lti e s a course which has its , indeed , but which

to . approves itself reason Our modern Liberals , o n n fo r the other ha d , are governing Ireland in

o u t obedience to a maxim which turns , when we

n i t to exami e , be a falsism ; current enough ,

20 2 PREFACE

corporate character) is of no religion, is quite

n fo r unsound . In excha ge it we ought to solicit w them, with a persistency hich never tires, to take a better : It is false to say the State is o f no religion ; the S tate i s of the reli gi o n of all i ts ci ti ze n s ” t an ati ci s m o an o them wi thou t he f f y f . Surely for getting this kind of return made u pon o u r minds and maxims there could not well be a more favourable moment than the present ! dl The country is profoun y Liberal ; that is, it is profoundly convinced that a great course o fgrowth and transformation lies before i t ; and whoever

to i s o should try make it th nk that this is not ,

but that all must stay where it is , would soon

n o u t hi s ﬁ d mistake . Still the actual policy and

o f o u r i ri we principles L beral f ends do seem , if

n may judge by the recent electio s , to be profoundly

n o r to uninteresti g to the country, at any rate,

fo r i t S o have lost their charm . instead of being angry with u s for having long said that their

n o t performance was quite what they supposed, that their doings wanted more thought to direct

fo r i di fﬁ cu lt i n them, that the rel gious y Ireland the abolition o f the Protestant establishment by PREFACE 20 3

’ the power of o u r Dissenters antipathy to State

n o n fo r churches was really solutio , that the di fﬁ c u l ti e s ari sin g o u t of the way in which the

n ill land in Engla d is held, b s like the Real Estates

Intestacy Bill were no solution ; that even marriage

’ ’ with one s deceased wife s sister was n o t a staff to ’ — help o n e far o n one s road instead o fbeing an gry

u s fo r n ll k with saying this , and declari g sti , li e

Dai l Tele r a h the y g p , that there is no such thing

hi M r as conquering the principles of w ch . Glad stone has been these ﬁv e years the tri umphant

” n r expone t, surely our Libe al friends would do well to consider whether there may n o t have been

i n some truth What we said, and to use the leisure they seem likely to have for reviewing their ideas a little . l i di The Secu ar st Ra cals , especially the younger and more ardent among them , who have been

to n brought up thi k that religion is dying out, and who are all of them, perhaps, more or less in the

m H who sa e case as ume, confessed that he had

N m n n never read the ew Testa ent with atte tio , might well im prove their presen t opportunity by acquain tin g themselves a little with the nature 204 PREFACE

h s and history of religion, and to t i end studying,

. ben eﬁt among other books, the Bible But the

we which may expect from the Secularist Radicals ,

u l n during the present l l, thus revisi g their ideas, is as nothi ng compared to what may accrue from the Dissenters performing the same process . It is not too much to say that the chi ef hope o f

n ﬁv e i s progress , in the ext years, for true Liberal m, lies i n the conversion o fthe Protestant Dissenters ; o r to speak more correctly, as well as, perhaps,

n ati on ali s ati o n more agreeably, in their . They can hardly be ignorant that a very strong light has been turned lately upon them and upon

an d their proceedings , that the general impression

left with the public has not been favourable .

T ff - - o u hey have o ended, any clear sighted looker f can see that they have o fended, what Burke well

an d n calls the ancient i bred integrity, piety, good

n nature and good humour of the E glish people .

f fo r we We shall not af ect to regret this , have

n long said, and the Dissenters have been very a gry

u s n t with for sayi g, that they are an obstacle o

o u r civilisation . They are indeed greatest. But w e say this s o resolutely because we see so clearly

20 6 PREFACE

i m as he remarked, to be by many esteemed an

c e possibility, by others a wonder, by some a a temper which has grown now to be more intense

ﬁerc er . and than ever That course cannot, more over, be for the advancement of religion, which ends by setting up as its great mark an object in

: . no way religious religious equality The cry, the h watc word of the modern Dissenters, the eternal

’ f r Mi all r li i t o M . s e o u s e u ali burden song, is g q y .

But the evangelical watchword is religious s u b mission ; s u bmi tti ng yo u rs elves on e to an o ther i n the ear o Go d Na f f . y, and the very Pope , the representative of the religion which is , as the

’ “ No n con o rmi s t s ni f correspondent says, heathe sh ” i superstition , has at least the grace to call h mself

o f s ero u s by predilection the servant servants, m s ero o rn .

I s o i This , say, far as rel gion is concerned, is

n clear. The general public, however, is getti g in disposed to the Dissenters not on grounds o f religion only its good sense and reﬂe c ti o n are l begi nning to tel against them too . It has begun i — to dawn upon the general publ c, the Dissenters bein g of late perpetually before it with the cry PREFACE 7 that their con science con strains them to do this

n o t - i t and will let them do the other, has dawned

n upon the public, the question havi g become thus

ask practical, that after all one must , where the

’ public action is concerned in what a man s c o n

o r c o n science commands forbids , whether the

reas o n abl An d science co mmands or forbids y. it

’ has come very much to the conclusion that a man s m conscience com anding himself is reasonable, but that his conscience forbidding hi s neighbours is

n n o t unreaso able . It is agreed that a man is to be made to say a thi ng is right if he does not think s o n i whe his conscience protests aga nst this, it

A s a protests reasonably . man is free to y he

nk n s a thi s mo archy wrong , he is free to y he thinks an Establi shed Chu r ch wrong ; he is n o t to be

mi n compelled to accept the nistratio s of bishops ,

n o t to l o ffhi s hat he is be compe led, even, to take to the Queen . Positive approval and adherence are matters of conscience . But the majority wish

ri fo r for a monarchy, the majo ty wish the public i nstitution o f religion known as the Church o f

n l E g and . Public funds; we will suppose , are applied directly o r in directly to the support o f 20 8 PREFACE

m n hi . l a s both Wel , but a objects ; he feels conscience vi olated by his contributin g to main

n tain an institution which he thi ks wrong . Well, now, what the public are more and more coming

n o t to perceive is that this objection is reasonable,

i t o f and that the proper answer to , instead turn

’ ” ing up one s eyes and sayi ng How very gri evous I

“ is : Then you o u ght n o t to feel your conscience

” i 0 o n e l o violated by t. N has a right to ob ige y u to s ay yo u approve of monarchy if you disapprove o f i t o f , or to conform to the Church England if

o u ff i t o n r y di er from ; but you , the othe hand , have no right to prevent the majority from insti

o r n u r tuting monarchy instituti g a national ch ch ,

o r and providing for them directly indirectly,

o r o f . partially entirely, out public funds To pro

O o r o n es el fess an pinion adopt a practice for f, can

’ reasonably be said to engage one s conscience ; to pay a tax laid by the majority fo r an institution whi ch the Opinion o r practice of the majority leads them to adopt , can engage the conscience only if

ﬂa i ti o u s n what is instituted is plainly g . Viole t

n o O o r men easily allege, doubt, that all pinion practice at variance with their own is ﬂagi ti o u s

2 10 PREFACE

ﬁrs t f di sc o mﬁte d ef ort , will be to unite the

Liberal party agai n in a programme of their o wn dictating. They have settled ideas, the Liberal

n o t party has ; they know clearly what they seek ,

n o t w the Liberal party does . Political Dissent ill for a ti me become more prominently political than

ﬁerc el ever, and contend more y ; but the more it

u l does this, the more will its inherent fa ts make

i ts themselves felt, the more will unattractiveness, its bitter narrowness, its essential unreligiousness

di s s ati s ﬁe d become apparent, and the more will

li i Mr Mi ll t. a the pub c grow with . does not

M r Mi all charm ; but the lead will pass from . to

M r e men like . L atham, a spokesman whom really,

n o n e o r hi s whe hears reads some of deliverances , a morali st might be almost tempted to call the

u k H a dr n en elot of Protestant Dissent, an ex mple s e t u o r p to show the temper and tone Dissent,

o f i O r t . the championing , at last leads to there

’ f i k M r n i n will be ef orts l e . Chamberlai s to w the working men to the cause o f Nonconformity by

o f Co n making their jealousy the Church, as a s erv ati v e institution , combine its force with the

’ Dissenters jealousy o f the Church as a religious PREFACE l 1 rival ; such efforts will have a certain measure of

an d c o n ﬂu en c e o f e success, the two j alousies may

n produce a co siderable stream . But Dissent is a r eli gi o u s cause : it has to stan d o r fall as a

An d reli gious cause . the more partisans it has

M r Mr . . n like Leatham or Chamberlai , the more

s the e partisans take the lead, the more their f ef orts are crowned with success, so much the more will Dissent as a religious cause be dis

ll i t i n credited, so much the more wi lose ground the esteem of the nation . More and more it will

“ shock the integrity, piety, good nature and good

” humour of the English people . It will lose groun d in the attachm ent of its own best men for

n u the same reaso . O all its best men the di s satisfaction wi th its temper will Operate ; o n the

n younger amo gst them, the growing modern perception that all the forms o f Christian ity are

’ o wn approximative only, that one s sect has not

o t the os el i i g the truth, g p , wh le all other rel gious ll communities are in error, wi act in concert with the other ground for dissatisfaction . Already

n o f this is ma ifest , already these causes dissolu

n n . n n tio are begin ing to act Twe ty years he ce, 21 2 PREFACE

Di ssent will have no such group to present as the group of its best men is n o w ; these will

n i k have passed away, and the you ger men of l e

M r Mi all n worth will be elsewhere . . seems maki g ll preparation to retire, and he wi retire at the i l right time, for the part wh ch he has played wi l not be possible for a man of hi s good qualities i n

he M r the future . May , and . Carvell Williams ,

o f and the rest these men of war, who have talked so much of religion, who have really cared for it

so much , and have stood so much in its way, may

i n they in the even g of their day, before they close

o n e their eyes for ever, be allowed at least short glimpse o f what the way ofp eace really is N Yes , the cause of the onconformists is

f n destined to suf er eclipse, not to be the rallyi g i A po nt of the Liberalism of the future . nd

’ ﬁ n al religious history s sentence on this cause , whatever praise political history may bestow o n

i t ill o n e . s a i t , w be a severe It will y of , even after all its advocates have been heard and every

n hi thing has bee weighed w ch tells in its favour,

that in temper and contentiousness it began , by

an d n temper co tentiousness it perished . It was

21 4 PREFACE

disregard, in the choice of incumbents, of the

o f wants and wishes of the people, its retention mi worthless nisters , its over ritualism and fan tas ti cali t n o t n y, all are to be remedied by maki g the Church a private institution but a more truly public one, and by pouring into it that large portion of the middle class , with its popular

Di s sentiment and its robust energy, which the If ff senters constitute . the Church has e eminacy, they are the people to do it good ; if it has silli ness

the i t A and formalism, they are people to cure . majori ty o f the nation desire a public i nstitution o f religion and a national church ; how great a majority we cannot tell, for the Dissenters have

o u r ni I hindered ascertai ng, but believe an i N u s mmense majority. ot to keep up a jealo and i i t angry struggle aga nst this wish , but to adopt , to impress their stamp upon the national church, and to aid in developing that religion of the future, which, as all living things follow the law of growth and change, will not in a great and

i l - l ving people be the re igion of to day, is the new

hi ﬁv e i aim to w ch , in the next years , the D ssenters should have their thoughts and wishes turned. PREFACE 2 1 5

i n But thi s and all the matters most importan t

u s to , progress, at the point where our n ation now

s o u r stand , depends on getting just, clear, well ordered thoughts about them, and setting at de

ﬁan c e - clap trap and catchwords . We have seen

that Ireland has a right to a Catholic university,

t ll s he u l and tha it is rea y expedient sho d have one .

nn x s ati s ﬁe d We ca ot e pect her to be , any quantity

H u s ti ﬁe d of agitation for ome Rule is j , so long

u i n as we ref se one to her. But she is governed

’ deference to the Briti sh Protestant s clap - trap and

hi ﬁn d i catchwords, w ch the r expression in such sayi ngs as that the Protestants of Great Britain are implacably hostile to concurrent endowment i n any shape or form ; and if s he is to be governed

- can deﬁan c e . aright, it only be in of such clap trap

But for an active politician to go counter to clap

i s trap , as we have seen, hard ; and, indeed, by the

An d nature of things it must be hard. therefore it is that we rejoice to s e e a momen t of lull i n their acti ve political life come to s o many of our

a Liberal friends , because they thus escape from gre t

to i . temptation, and are set free use their ntelligence For the active politician can hardly get on without 2 1 6 PREFACE

- deferring to clap trap and even employing i t.

Na who y, as Socrates amusingly said, the man defers to clap - trap and the man who uses hi s i n telli en c e g are, when they meet in the struggle of li active politics , ke a doctor and a confectioner competi ng for the suffrages of a constituency of schoolboys the confectioner has nearly every point in his favour . The confectioner deals in all that the constituency like ; the doctor is a man who hurts them, and makes them leave off what they di like and take what is sagreeable . And accord i n l a i g y the temptation, in de l ng with the public

o f and with the trade active politics, the temptation

we to be a confectioner is extremely strong, and see that almost all our leadi ng newspapers and i i t lead ng politicians do in fact yield to . What o u r li ds I l i n po cy towar rish Catho icism has, defer

we ence to British Protestant feeling, really been,

“ now know ; but the D ai ly Telegrap h calls it a

” great and genial policy of conciliation, and the

Ti mes says that English Liberals demanded, in 1 868 hi , that the grievances w ch alienated the Irish l ” Catholic shou d be removed . This is to speak

k we ‘ li e a confectioner ; for know , and the Irish .

C H A P T E R I

DEVELOPMENT O F S ECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN EUROPE — Origin of our Pres en t Secon dary Schools Their Developmen t — — best traced i n Fran ce Roman Period Medi aeval Period — — Un iversity of Paris Creation of Coll eges The I n struction — i n the Mediaeval Schools The Un ivers ity of Paris an d the — — R e n aissan ce Schools of the Jesu its The Old School s — — ’ abolished at the Revolution New Plan s Fo u rcro y s Law (1 802)

POPULAR Education has spru n g o u t of the ideas i m and necess ties of modern ti es , and the element ary school for the poor is an ins titution whi ch has n o remote hi story . With the secondary school it is otherwi se . The secondary school has a long

o f history ; through a series changes it goes back, i n n o f every Europea country, to the beginnings civi lised society in that country ; from the time

o f when this society had any sort organisation, a

a o f cert in sort schools and schooling existed, and H IGHER SCHOOLS IN FRANCE 2 1 9 between that schooling and the schoolin g which the children of the richer class o f society at this

n day receive there is an u broken connection . In no country is this continuity o f secondary i n s tru c

i n n t on more visible than in Fra ce, notwithstandi g F her revolutions ; and in some respects rance, in that whi ch concerns the hi storical developmen t o f i secondary nstruction, is a typical country. All the countries of western Europe had their

v early contact with Greek and Roman ci ilisation, a contact from Which their actual books an d schools and science begin ; France had this more Al l than any of them , except Italy. the countries of western Europe had in the feudal and catholic

A e Middle g their universities , under whose wings were hatched the colleges an d teachers that formed the germ of our actual secondary i n struction ; an d the great Middle Age university was the Univer

o f s i ty of Paris . Hither repaired the students other countries and other universities, as to the

o f a main centre medi eval science, and the most authoritative school o f mediaeval teaching. It received names expressing the most enthusiastic

: o u ntai n o kno wled e tree o devotion the f f g , the f 220 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

l e candl i c o the Lo rd es t k o the ho u se . if , the f f The most famous University of Paris , the place at

n E this time and lo g before whither the nglish, and mostly the Oxonians, resorted, says Wood .

Tan dem fi at hi e o el u t Pari s i i s i s i ens i s stn di i gu emadmo dam i n Par i s i ensi s tu di o say the ru l es of the University o f

1 365 H a Vienna, founded in . ere c me Roger

S t. A Bacon , Thomas quinas, and Dante ; here studied the fou nder of the ﬁrs t uni versity of the

n Empire , Charles the Fourth, Emperor of Germa y

! n o f and i g Bohemia, founder of the University 1 of Prague here Henry the Second i n the twelfth century proposed to refer his dispute with Becket ;

r here , in the fou teenth, the schism in the papacy an d the claims of the rival popes were brought for I A judgment . n Europe and sia, in foreign cities

o n ﬁelds and battle , among statesmen, princes , priests, crusaders, scholars, passed in the Middle

A n No s ai mas si mu l ges this word of recognitio , f i n Galand i a — the Rue de Galande, one of the

o ld u ar ti er streets of the university quarter, the q lati n of Paris .

1 Fo u n ded 1 348.

22 2 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND its works ; all this ti me France has the lead ; in the fourteenth century the lead passes to Italy ; bu t now comes the commencement of a wholly

a new period , the period of the Ren issance properly s o n n i called, the begi ni g of modern European l fe, the ceasing o f the life o f the feudal and catholic

e Middle Ag . The anterior and less glorious

s i i o f Renai sance, the Renaissance with n the l mits

A e l hi the Middle g itse f, a revival w ch came to

0 l a st p and could not successfully develop itse f, but which has yet left profound traces in o u r

S o u r — pirit and literature, this revival belongs

chi eﬂ n . F y to Fra ce rance, then, may well serve as a typical coun try wherein to trace the medi es v al growth o f intellect and learning ; above all

n u s she may so sta d for , whose connection with

dl A e o u r N her in the Mid e g , owing to orman kings and the currency of her language among o u r s o s o cultivated class , was peculiarly close ; close that the li terary and intellectual develop ment of the two countries at that time inter

an d no mingles, important event can happen in that of the o n e without straightway affectin g and

o f i nteresting that the other . As late as the year UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 2 23

1 328 ﬁ n d we French an alternative language, at

Oxford, with Latin ; the students are to use co llo u i o L ati n o r el s altem Gall q i eo . With the hostili ty o f the lon g French Wars of Edward the

hi r m T d comes the estrange ent, never afterwards i dimin shing but always increasing. To this day it i s impossible to read the French literature o f the true Middle Age without feelin g that here is the moment when the li fe of the French nation comes really closest to our own ; thought and expression have both of them much which we

n u s hi i n recog ise as akin to , w ch we have a great

n l n degree retai ed, whi e the Fre ch have gone away from it to a thought and expression more effective no doubt for many purposes, but more unlike ours .

To show how this is the case with thought an d style wou l d need more space than I have here at

o n e o u t — command example of a thousand, the

” r eseo n er i n word , for nsta ce, to rescue, which the

i n A e hi French had the Middle g , w ch we have

n o — still, but which the French have longer, will

u show how it is the case with lang age .

li s u l i n o f Roman civi ation in Ga , as other parts

n m o f . the empire, orga ised a syste schools Before 24 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

vi li s the ruin of that ci ation in the fourth century,

there were great schools in important towns,

Ar A Vienne, Lyons, Bordeaux, les , gen, Clermont,

‘ s cho o l s Chri s ti an Perigueux ; and at these , children began to appear. Then came the invasions of the

-u o f o f barbarians , and the break p the old order

th e i things . For some school ng ceased to be a concern o f lay society ; it went on in the shelter o f the Church and for the ben eﬁt o f the e ccl e s i

r as ti cal body . The great schools f om the fourth l century to the twe fth are the monastery schools ,

St. il such as the school of Victor at Marse les, of f Léri n s o H e S t. in the isles y res, of Claude in

e St. e Franche Comt , of M dard at Soissons . There

4 0 o f were 0 monks studying at the school St.

Medard in the sixth centu ry. A famous monas ter l y school for women a so, that of Chelles near

the Paris, existed as early as time of the Mero vi n gi an kings . But as a new state of society i li gradually formed tself and became so d , signs

o f appeared the lay class too coming to school . 82 A . 6 decree of Pope Eugene II , in , ordered that i n n n i e er s i s ep i s cop i i s sabj ebti s gae p lebi bas et ali i s lo ei s i n u i bn s n ecessi tas oeeu rr er i t o mn i n o au r a et g ,

226 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

n o n n objects, bee going u interruptedly ever since .

n H o f Our Stephe arding, the third abbot Citeaux, and the true founder o f the great order o f the

n n o f Cistercia s, was studyi g at the School Paris

n 0 A s i 1 70 . The name of belard recall the Euro pean celebrity and i mmense intellectual ferment o f thi s school in the twelfth century . But it was i n ﬁrs t the year of the following century, the n thirtee th , that it received a charter from Philip

A o f ni ugustus, and thenceforth the name U versity o f Paris takes the place o f that o f School o f Paris .

Forty - nine years later was founded University

ll l o f Co ege, Oxford, the oldest Co lege the oldest

Engli s h University. Four nations composed the

- University of Paris , the nation of France, the

o f N nation of Picardy, the nation ormandy, and (signal mark of the close intercourse whi ch then existed between France and u s the nation o f 1 T ni England. he four nations u ted formed the

o f faculty o farts . The faculty theology was created

1 An other mark of this close in tercour se i s the choice of a the n t n n t t n was S t m patron by a io of Fra ce his pa ro . Tho as of th n n n wa m t e n t s S t. n d C n t . a erbury Tha of a io of E gla d Ed u ,

- he n m t n . In the ﬁfte en th n t n the t Saxo ar yr ki g ce ury, whe UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 227

' i n 1 25 7 o f i n 1 271 di , that law , that of me cine in 1 2 74 . i i Theology, law, and med c ne had each their

u r o n e Dean arts had fo Procurators, for each of

u l Ar the four nations composing this fac ty. ts

ni elected the rector of the U versity, and had pos

o f ni hi session the U versity chest and arc ves .

The pre-eminence o f the Facu l ty of Arts indi

n cates, as i deed does the very development of the

ni l University, an idea, gradually strengthe ng itse f, of a lay instruction to be no longer absorbed in i t. theology, but separable from The growth of a

ri lay and modern spi t in society, the preponder

vi l ance of the crown over the papacy, of the ci

e i s a over the eccl siastical power, the gre t feature o f F hi rench story in the fourteenth century, and to thi s century belongs the hi ghest development of the Uni versity . But the ecclesiastical power never abandoned its clai ms to a control of education ; it

s t had numerou means of ac ion on the University,

an n and it waged a const t war for mastery, ofte l with success . The Chance lor of the Cathedral of

’ had a at n an d n n the Hun dred Years War sep r ed Fra ce E gla d,

m n t the a an d St. m n n ation of Ger a y ook pl ce of ours, Charle ag e m n In 1 661 m n was m d took that of St. Ed u d. Charle ag e a e by t statute the common patron of the Un iversi y . 228 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

N otre Dame was the ecclesiastical chief, as the

hi ni rector was the academical c ef, of the U versity ;

ﬁrs t the seal of the University, for the twenty

ea x y rs of its e istence, is the seal of its ecclesiasti

i N . cal ch ef, the Chancellor of otre Dame When, 1 22 1 1 225 i between and , the Un versity struck,

ﬁrs t for the time, a seal of its own, the Chapter of Notre Dame complained to the papal legate at

Paris of the usurpation, and the legate ordered the

n i n u rr seal to be broke . The scholars rose in s ec

’ tion , assailed the legate s house, and compelled ﬂ . T him to y he dispute was referred to the Pope,

n I i n 1 244 . a and at last Innoce t V , , gr nted to the

n University a seal of its o w .

Uni But the license to teach, the crown of the f versity course, was con erred by the ecclesiastical N ll . o t power, the Chancellor of the Cathedral ti he was provi ded wi th this license cou l d the candi

o fhi s date appear before the masters faculty, and

o f receive from them the bonnet doctor in law, i Sb med cine, or theology, of master in arts . far the University had to admi t the intervention of the authority of the metropolitan church Nor was it successfu l i n freeing itself from the intrusion

230 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

starting place in Paris . It had immunities from

o wn taxation, it had jurisdiction of its , and its members claimed to be exempt from that of the provost of Pari s ; the ki n gs of France strongly

i a favoured the Univers ty, and le ned to its side when the municipal an d academi cal authorities were in co nﬂi ct ; i f at any time the Uni vers i ty i i i thought tself ser ously aggr eved, it had recourse

a i h i s —i t to a me sure wh ch t rew Par s into di may, i shut up its schools and suspended ts lectures . In a body of thi s ki nd the di scipli ne cou l d not be strict, and the colleges were created to supply

i n hi ni f centres of discipl e w ch the U versity in itsel , — an apparatus merely o f teachers and lecture — rooms, did not provide . The fourteenth century i s the time when, one after another, with wonderful i h t e a . N rapid ty, French colleges appe red avarre,

ai H s o a h Mont gu, arcourt, names famili r in the sc ool

ﬁrs t o f annals of France, date from the quarter the

r o f av arre fourteenth centu y. The College N was i 1 304 founded by the Queen of Phil p the Fair, in , E the College of Montaigu, where rasmus, Rabelais,

i i n and Ignat us Loyola were their time students, was founded i n 1 314 by two members of the UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 23 1

o f o n e o f A o f family Montaigu , them rchbishop

Rouen . The majori ty of these colleges were

o f founded by magnates the church, and designed

a to maintain a cert in number of bursars , or

i re scholars , during their un versity course . F quently the bursarships were for the ben eﬁt of

’ u n the fo der s native place, and poverty, of which

the among students of that age there was no lack,

s eci ﬁ e d was p as a title of admission . Al ong with the Uni versity of Pari s there existed i n France, in the fourteenth century, the Universi A ties of Orleans, ngers, Toulouse, and Montpellier. Orleans was the great French school for the study of the civil law ; Reuchlin and Theodore Beza studied it there . The civi l law was studiously

i s kept away from the University of Par , for fear di ll it should drive out other stu es, and especia y the study of theology ; s o late as the year 1 679 there was no chair of Roman or even of French law in the University of Paris . The strength of this University was concentrated on theology and

arts , and its celebrity arose from the multitude o f students whi ch in these branches of in struction it attracted. 232 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND

One asks oneself with interest what was the mental food to which this vast turbulent mu l ti tude pressed with such inconceivable hunger. Theology was the great matter and there i s no doubt that thi s study was by no means always that barren verbal tri ﬂi n g which an i ll - informed i modern contempt i s fond o frepresenting t. When

i n the Bishop of Par s publicly condem ed, as current

ni i i : u ad in the U versity, such propos t ons as these Q

‘ sermo n es theo logi s u n t fu ndati i n fabu li s ; Qu ad n i hi l p lu s sei twr p r op ter sci re theo logi am i a fabu lce et fal sa s n n t i n l ege chri s ti an a s i ei tt et i n ali i s ; Qu ad lea: chri s ti an a i mp edi t addi seere Qu e al s a i en tes mun di s u n t hi l oso hi tan tam i s e vi : p p p , it dent that around the study of theology in the medi aeval University of Pari s there worked a real

o f h . ferment thought, and very free thoug t But the University o f Pari s culmi n ated as the exclu

e sive devotion to theological study d clined, and

o A culminated by virtue fthat declension . teach ing body with a lay character could not have been i i created by the s mple mpulse to theological study . The glory of the University of Paris was i ts Faculty

A i ts ar ti en s of rts, , as they were called ; it was

HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

s u fﬁc i e n t fully competent authorities, and quite ,

’ fo r if properly used, the teacher s purpose . The great monastery schools of Cluny, Saint Victor, and the Bernardines, assigned three years to

r g ammatical studies , and the University professed to admit to its teaching no student who was not

u i n es ei t ar tes i n already grounded in them ; g p ,

e i ad artes r an n m t n d t . But a measure of the good sense o f the grammatical studies o f the time

D o n atu s mo rali zatas is supplied by , the grammar o f mor ali s ed was Donatus , as then the fashion with all books used for instruction . What is the m p ro n o en 7 the learner is made to ask . Man is

n o men thy , the teacher answers , sinner is thy

r o n omen . p Therefore, When thou makest thy

ro nomen prayer to God, use thy p only, and say, O I heavenly Father, call not upon thee as man,

’ “ ” A : Wh I . but implore thee as sinner gain y,

the learner asks, is the preposition the considera tion o f the j o y o f the elect ? The answer is

f mn an di s Qu i a i lli p rcep o n an ti tr da . The scholastic phil osophy remains a monument o fwhat the Middle Age achieved in the favourite

art, the art which starved all its six sisters, UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 235

Di alectic ; but what was really the instruction gi ven and the pro ﬁc i en cy acqu i red in the humani mi ties and mathematics it is not so easy to deter ne .

The word mathematics was at that ti me syn o n y

i s mous with magic, as shown by a hexameter

i n u s e ls - line a poem for the of the schoo , a li ne equally unpromi s ing for their mathematics and for thei r scholarship : Datgae mathemati eos combn r i theo logi a . The ari thmetic most in esteem was

a that of the computers, which de lt with epacts, the i n i golden number, the dom cal letter, and all the calcu l ations necessary for frami ng the e ccle si

a as ti c l calendar . But a catalogue of the Sorbonne

i n 1 290 library, , shows that among the books

i Practi ca was a treat se on geometry in French,

Geo metr i w i n Galli eo hi h ﬁrs t , of w c the words are quoted i n the catal ogue . The catalogue of the

i i 1 338 o f same nstitut on, in , has several copies a

’ i s Latin version of Eucli d s Geometry. There no mention of any work on algebra or mechanics .

In the Sorbonn e catalogue o f 1 290 appears Ovid ;

a 1 338 i s in the c talogue of he joined by Terence ,

H u v en al . Virgil, orace, Lucan, J , Statius Ovid was the favourite poet, and a special, though a 23 6 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND

m . Nu ero u s curious, object of moralisation trans l ati o n s o f the Latin classics were made for John f o V . France and Charles , showing that much attention and interest was already drawn to these works ; but the frequent mistakes show also how imperfect was the mastery of them by that age; il 1 3 1 1 The Counc of Vienne, in , decreed that

u r o f i n the ni at the Co t Rome, and four U versities o f x Paris, O ford, Bologna, and Salamanca, there H A should be classes of ebrew, rabic, and Chaldee . V i Pope Clement . is said to have at the same t me i enjoined the study and teach ng of Greek . It is

ri mi certain that in the monaste es of the Do nicans , who for their mi ssions in the East needed the

u r Oriental languages, individ als acqui ed a know ledge o f them ; the Domini cans of Dijon in 1439

u m i give themselves , in a doc ent wh ch has been

o f Mas sori i preserved, the name , as the inheritors o f o f e wi h the tradition the J s doctors . The same

i ts order, renowned for devotion to learning, sent members o f its body to learn Greek in Greece

itself, and as early as the thirteenth century

o f A produced translations ristotle, Plato, and

i o f Proclus . But it is ev dent that the study

238 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND — men tit i a ess e marking thereby the gulf whi ch

’ had begu n to separate men s spiri t fr om the old

— hi s learning Ramus, though he began career as

N rr a servitor at the College of ava e, passed his i c o n ﬂi ct l fe in bitter with the University, by wi which he was t ce condemned, once for his anti

Ar li hi s i i s . istote an heresies, once for Calv n m The languor of the retrograde spiri t took possession of

r the Unive sity, and, with the University, of the

l o f F co leges and schools rance, which depended o n i t. The one learned i ns titution which imbibed

ai i the spirit of the Ren ssance, wh ch seriously

i ﬁ rs t o establ shed, for the time in France, instru H tion in Greek and ebrew, which kept meeting i by the creation of successive cha rs, chairs for i i mathematics, ph losophy, med cine and surgery,

a o f anatomy and bot ny, the wants the modern S hi pirit, and w ch was spared by the Revolution when all the other public establi s hments fo r

— o f education were swept away, the College

- was France, this institution a royal foundation

’ o f Francis the First s, and unconnected with the A l Uni versity. few names like that of Rol in stand out in the annals of the University teaching UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 239

o f n France, between the Renaissance a d the

Revolution, and command respect ; but in general

this teaching was without life and progress . The Je s u i ts invaded the province long ruled by B the University alone . y that adroit man agemen t

fo r n n of men which they have always been emi e t,

S o f and by the more liberal pirit their methods , they outdid in popularity their superann uated

ﬁrs t rival . Their school at Paris was establi shed 1 5 65 1 762 in , and in , two years before their dis

- solution , they had eighty six colleges in France . l They were fol owed by the Port Royalists , the

Benedictines , the Oratorians . The Port Royal

i n ﬂu en c e schools, from which perhaps a powerful

fo r upon education might have been looked , restricted this i n ﬂu e n c e by limiting very closely

o f the number their pupils . Meanwhile the main fun ds an d endowments fo r public education i n

’ n France were in the University s ha ds, and its

administration o f these was as ineffective as its

teaching. The only college whose pecuniary state

i was o fNav arre an d Navarr e was sol d the College ,

n o t n bu t was administered by the U iversity, by

’ n the Co u r oles Co mp tes . The U iversity had 240 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

O fﬁc e originally, as sources of revenue, the Post

Mess a eri es O fﬁ ce and the g , or of Public Con v eyan ce ; it had long since been obliged to

O fﬁ c e m abandon the Post to Govern ent, when in 1 71 9 it gave up to the same authority the

Mes sa eri es privilege of the y , receiving in return

m r fro the State a yearly revenue of liv es .

Fo r h i t t is payment, moreover, undertook the obligation o f making the ins truction in all its i i u . u i principal colleges grat tous Pa d or grat tous ,

i s u was however, its n tr ction quite inadequate to

es u i ts the wants of the time, and when the J were ll 1 764 expe ed from France in , their establishments closed, and their services as teachers lost, the void

was i that left was strikingly apparent, and publ c attention began to be drawn to i t. It is well T known how Rousseau among writers, and urgot

s among statesmen, busied themselve with schemes of education ; but the interest in the subject must

o f have reached the whole body the community, for the instructions of all thr ee orders of the States General in 1 789 are unanimous in demand

a a is ing the reform of educ tion, and its est bl hment on a proper footing.

2 42 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND and this expense was esti mated at o f fran cs . But 1 792 and 1 793 were years o f furious

agitation, when it was easier to destroy than to

l r bui d . Condorcet perished with the Gi ondists, and the reconstruction o f public education did n o t begin till after the fall o f Robespierre . The decrees of the Convention for establishing the

N o f ormal School, the Polytechnic, the School

’ ’ i eeo les cen tr ales Dau n o u s M nes, and the , and then

i n 1 795 o f law , bore, however, many traces

’ ’ o n d r D au n u C o c et s design . o s law established

ri mm p y schools, central schools, special schools,

o f o f and at the head all the Institute France, h s t i last a memorable and enduring creation, with which the old French Academy became i n c o rpo r

’

. B D au n o u s was ated y law, also, freedom given

n to private perso s to open schools . The new

n legislatio had many defects . There was no provision for the reception o f boarders in the central schools . There was no hi erarchy of teachers ; all the professors were o f equal rank an d n n o e . i dependent of another The country, to o was n o t , yet settled enough for its education UNIVERSITIES IN FRANGE 3

ni ll N to orga se itself successfu y . The ormal Sc hool speedily broke down the central schools were established slowly and with di fﬁc u lty in the cou r se of the four years of the Directory there were nominall y instituted ni nety - one of these

was schools, but they never really worked . More hi ll accomplished by private schools, to w ch fu freedom was given by the new legislation, at the same tim e that an ample an d open ﬁ eld lay before them .

u l s u fﬁc e They co d not, however, for the work , and education was one of the matters for whi ch l Na o eo n . p , when he became Consul, had to provide

’ Fo u rcro s i n - 1 802 as s y law, , took the ba is of its

- school system secondary schools , whether estab li s he d by the communes or by private indi vi duals ; the Government undertook to aid these schools

di n i fo r by grants for buil gs, for scholarsh ps, and

u i a n grat ties to the masters ; it prescribed L ti ,

French, geography, history, and mathematics as t the i nstruction to be given in hem . They were placed under the superintendence o f the prefects . To continue and complete the secondary schools were instituted the lyceums ; here the in struction 244 H IGHER SCHOOLS IN FRANCE

was to be Greek and Latin, rhetoric, logic, litera

ture, moral philosophy, and the elements of the l mathematical and physical sciences . The pupi s

i : bo u rsi ers n ati o nawe were to be of four k nds , scholars nominated to scholarships by the State ;

ils pup from the secondary schools, admitted as r i f ee scholars by competition ; pay ng boarders, and

- - paying day scholars . Three Inspectors General w who ere appointed for these schools, were to be assisted by three Commissioners taken from the

Ins titute .

246 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 o f the Institute traversed France to ascertain the

o f educational condition the country, and what were its more pressing requirements The

N o f ormal School , the unique and best part F rench secondary instruction, was launched at

a 300 l st ; a boarding establishment for pupils , fo r the purpose o f training them i n the art of 1 teaching the letters and sciences . In 81 0 it

was . 1 80 6 fairly at work Meanwhile, from to

1 808 Na o l e o n i , p had establ shed the centre in

o f which all these schools, and all the schools

France, were to meet, the new University, the f University o France. The freedom of teaching

was r conceded by the Revolution now withd awn, for the control o f the whole public instruction o f

n o France belonged henceforth to the University, school being allowed to exist without the author i s ati o n o f - its Grand Master, no schoolmaster to give instruction unless he was a member o f the

University and graduated in one of its faculties .

ﬁ ve — These faculties were theology, law, medicine ,

letters, mathematical and physical sciences . The — i grades were three the baccalaureate, the l cense, the doctorate . The license answers to our degree 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 247

- . academi es of master of arts Twenty seven , or

University centres, each with its rector, council ,

ff o f r i and sta inspectors , we e formed in the pr n ci al o f F o u p towns . rance, and they carried , under

- the authority of the grand master at Paris, the

o f administration the University .

The University was not a mere department o f that State, it was an endowed corporation . It O f had a revenue of about of francs . this the ﬁxed part proceeded from a permanent

to o f charge, granted the University, francs a year upon the public funds, and from the o ld property, real and personal , of the uni v ers i ti es and colleges , so far as this property was

’ still unappropriated and at the State s disposal . Thi s latter source proved so inconsiderable that the averag e income accruing to the University from the whole o f i ts landed estates did not exceed francs a year. The variable por tion o f the University revenues was far the most

i n important . Th s co sisted of dues paid for exam i n ati o n s o f and degrees , and a contribution, one

o f fo r twentieth the fee paid their schooling, from all the scholars in the secondary schools of France . 248 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1

With these revenues the University paid the

o f o f expenses its administration, the expenses

o f N its faculties, and the charge the ormal School . The public scholarships founded in the lyceums and the i n s i gn i ﬁcan t contribution made at that time by the State towards the expenses o fprimary

o f instruction, were paid in the form a subvention f from the Minister o the Interior. The legislation of the Empire accomplished little for the primary instruction of France, but the secondary instruction it established on a ﬁrm

footing, and with the organisation which in the 1 809 main it still remains . In a statute restored to Greek and Latin their o ld preponderance in i ff th s instruction, e acing a mark which the

s ci en ti ﬁc Revolution, by the prominence given to i t and mathematical studies, had left upon . It thus resumed the mainl y classical character common to it in the correspondin g institutions 1 1 3 m all through Europe . In 8 the E pire had

- l eées o f thirty six y , with pupils , whom

35 00 held public scholarships ; in the private —i i schools private they can be called , when their teachers had to be members o f the Un i

25 0 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1

with which they were locally connected . But

o f the municipalities , and even that Paris, had

already, in the general pressure , resisted the obligation of providi ng their o wn share of scholar

o wn ships ; and when the State, reducing its

o f number scholarships, left that of the munici

ali ti es u n p altered , and besides ordered the prefects to see that they were regularly paid, the resistance grew stronger still . The Government had to yield i t to , and the number of scholarships at the charge o f the municipalities was reduced by nearly o n e

i o f half, wh le the reduction in the number State scholarships was still maintained . The amount o ffree schooling in the French lyeées was therefore

seriously diminished . This diminution , however, was not ill - suited to the circumstances of the

time, and soon began to be viewed with favour.

o f With the reviving prosperity France, families of the middle class became more and more capable o f themselves mee ting the moderate charge o f

’ their children s education ; the higher class , about

whose ability to pay there could be no question, but who had hesitated to avail themselves of the new public schools , began more and more to use 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 5 1 them ; and a class whom the prodigal supply o f State scholarshi ps had attracted to the State i schools, a class w thout the means of purchasing

from their own resources a liberal education , were, it was said, not proper recipients of such i an education, were rendered useless and d scon i t tented citizens by , and would be the better for

i o being excluded from t. S strong was the feeling i in favour of this exclus on, that at the very outset 1 830 of the new and liberal Government of , the report of a Commission recommended it to the Chamber of Deputies in urgent and even harsh At terms . the same time the better payment and the continued extension of the teachi ng staff

in the public schools were desired on all sides . Under thi s impulsion the State grant for scholar i f ships steadily declined , that for the teach ng staf l 1 81 steadi y increased . Between 5 and 1 830 that fo r the former sank from francs to that for the latter rose from francs to The Governm ent of Louis

i l n o f Ph ippe , havi g undertaken the serious task dealing with primary education , was unable at

ﬁrs t to give much attention to secondary when, 25 2 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1

’ M i z t 1 833 . Gu o s however, memorable law of

o f had founded primary instruction, a succession ministers s e t themselves to improve and develop

o f l ‘ the secondary schools . The number ycees had 34 40 risen, under the Restoration, from to ;

o f u l 5 4 under the Government J y it rose to . The contribution o f the State to their support greatly increased . But the increase was entirely

ﬁ xe d o f for the expenses , as they are called, the

o f public schools, expenses in which the payment f the teaching sta f forms the grand item . These, from francs, which was their amount in

1 830 o f , had risen, when the Revolution February overthrew the Government of July, to

fo r hi francs . The subvention scholars ps had fallen in the same period from francs to

francs . The University had been made by Napoleon an endowed corporation, and not a ministerial department, in order to give it more stability and

- . greater independence The grand master was,

to however, all intents and purposes, the Minister o f 1 824 Public Instruction, and when in the head

M Fra i . s s n o u s of the University, de y , took this

2 5 4 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1

o f that by retaining , as the possessor an endow

o f ers o n n e ment and property, the character of a p ei ri le , it might attract bequests and fresh endow

1 ments , of which a department of State had no chance .

1 S o man t n s i n En n t n y ques io arise , gla d , abou e dowed s s t at I t t t n t sa n t the chool , h will ake his oppor u i y of yi g wha is tat the i n n t n m n t n s t . e of law, Fra ce, abou e dow e s for educa io Thes e en dowmen ts are of far les s importan ce i n Fran ce than i n n n h ﬁr th n m n E gla d . I t e s t place e Revolutio ade a clean sweep of all old en dowmen ts ; what exis t date from a time n the R t n In the s n the n s ts si ce evolu io . eco d place Fre ch law e ’ m ts to m n r n hi s rt i n li i a a s powe of disposi g of prope y, which h Co e a o En n n o In n t e d N eon Art. gla d do t exis t . Fra ce by p l ( 9 1 3 an d the a t s n m an o n e t m t , r icle followi g) if a leaves legi i a e ma s o n e - hi s r t an d n o m child, he y dispo e of half of p oper y , ore , m hi m s two ma s o n e -t away fro if he leave , he y dispo e of hird , an d n o m r m t n two o n e - rt an d o e ; if he leaves ore ha , of fou h ,

n o m . If n o n t n rt n ore he has childre , a cer ai propo io of his property i s s im ilarly secured to hi s n eares t represen tatives m n t within certain limits . The a ou of property free to be disposed of i n ben efaction s i s thus smaller i n Fran ce than i n n n E gla d . In n n man n m an n to t t E gla d a a es i dividual be rus ee , or a n m r n s to tr t s to n t f t u be of i dividual be us ee , carry i o e fec a ta t o n n t n s as n hi m at s u r chari ble beques , co di io sig ed by plea e . n In Fran ce this can ot be don e . A foun der mus t en trus t his t ta s to ers on n e ci vi e deﬁn ed beques for chari ble purpose a p l , as an étre ct aa u el la loi recon nai t u n e arti e d es dr oi ts u i ﬁ if, g p g a arti en n en t au x ers on nes o r di n ai r es e u ve ' pp p , t q i p ew n t r ecevoi r s e d es li bérali tés . Such a per on n e ci vi l must be either a public ta m n t n s tan t s r es blish e (for i ce , a public hospi al , a pari h chu ch , a ta m a commun e) or n es blis h en t of public utili ty . An ta i m n t n o t n a s ta s m n t can nl es bl sh e , bei g public e bli h e , o y ma an t m n t t t an d t be de es ablish e of public u ili y, capable here 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 2 5 5

to Its schools meanwhile continued prosper, and had never been in so ﬂo u ri s hi n g a condition as they were when the R e volution of February broke o u 9 1 8 9 1 t. 000 0 830 Their pupils, in , in , d 1 848 numbere in . Their grant from

n an n m n t c the n c fore of receivi g e dow e , by a de ree of Cou il of t t r s n m n t s an d S a e, a body which p epare Gover e bill , is , besides , the t m n t t i n n to the m t highes ad i is ra ive body Fra ce , which os m tan t m tt m n i t at n - c o n ﬂi cts t n the i por a ers of ad i s r io , be wee ff n t tm n ts t t s t ns s t n be di ere depar e of S a e , que io of juri dic io t he m n t an d the t e — n t tr r t tc . wee ad i is a ive judicial au ho i y, are brought fo r ﬁn al settlemen t. n t t an n m n t mu s t er The recipie , herefore, of e dow e be a p s on ne ci vi le bu t to en able even a p ers on n e ci vi le to accept an en dowmen t an expres s authorisation of the admin istr ative a t t i n a an d the n tu u hori y is e ch case required , a ral heirs are n o t a o n an n t heard o n the other side . They are he rd y poi of law if an y s uch ari ses i t goes to the ordi n ary legal trib u n als they are heard o n the ques tion whether the bequest was a ’ proper o n e for a man i n the testator s con di tion of family an d m In s m i t the t fort un e to ake . o e cases is prefec who gives t t at n t the c the eo n s ei l d e re ectu r e his au horis io , wi h advi e of p f ’ i n n an d s n t s t n o n the i ge eral, alway whe here is oppo i io he rs

art i t the n t t . p , is Cou cil of S a e mm o r m s n t n s tta to Illegal, i oral , i pos ible co di io a ched a he n an d n t n s t are t n u l d . be efac io or beque , by law of Fra ce l voi The Coun cil of State calls upon the livin g don or to rectify such con dition s before his ben efaction can take effect i n th e cas e of t t t n i s n t as to l a beques , au horisa io give wi h reserve il egal

n t n s et . co di io s , which are aside A bequest to an es tablis hmen t for purpo ses n o t within the legal attr ibution s of that establishmen t is thus s e t aside . For ns tan t i s t to i t n n t i ce, if a beques lef a church for a school , ca o ta ff t the law n o t n - n ke e ec , because does recog ise school keepi g as an attrib u tion of a church s o the Coun cil of State authorises 25 6 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 11

I Government at that time reached , as have

n o f already me tioned, the sum francs ;

’ the sums received from scholars fees fo r board and instruction exceeded francs . The staff o f professors and other school functionaries

the mm n - n es tabli s hm%t co u e, which is by law a school keepi g , to t n t t the r an d the mm n m n s accep joi ly wi h chu ch , co u e a age h t e bequest. n s t to an m n ta mm n Agai , a beque ele e ry co u al school, saddled with the con dition that the school sh all be taught by the s i s s e t s the n religiou for ever, aside, becau e school law of Fra ce gives to the commun al an d departmen tal authority the right of decidin g fo r themselves whether a commun al s chool shall be n t i n the t n h c u der lay each g or eachi g of t e religious . A o n dition givin g to an authority other than that n amed by the n the n mi n t n mm n t school law of Fra ce o a io of a co u al eacher, the s t n the s rs i n mm n or elec io of free chola a co u al school , w n d S o n n n ould be equally i vali . would a co ditio forbiddi g a t to n nm n t n t n n n priva e school be u der Gover e i spec io , or e abli g i t to be un der an u n certi ficate d teacher because by the Fren ch s t m t m t n t n law all chools , priva e as well as public , us ad i i spec io , an d m t c erti fic ated t P t are at us have a eacher . riva e schools pres en t n o t in spected as to their teachi n g there is n o w before ‘ the Coun cil of State a law for puttin g un der in spection the t n the t n m c n et . eachi g as well as buildi gs, heal hi ess , orals, , of private schools which enjoy their en dowmen t by Vi rtue of an authorisation . It is to be remembered that public establishmen ts an d o n s t s m n ts ti t t rec g ised e abli h e of public u li y, have heir rules of m n m n t n t t t n n d n n t m a age e for i s i u io s depe i g upo he , which n n t s et the t n t tat mm n ca o be aside by direc io s of a es or. A co u e i s ta l m n t an d the mm n a public es b ish e , school of a co u e follows t n m n m n t fixed n t t t n a cer ai order of a age e for such i s i u io s . The con gregation of the Chris tian Brothers is a recogn ised establish m n t t t an d the m n m n t the e of public u ili y, order of a age e of

2 5 8 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1

i ch ef assailants , the priests , with auxiliaries from

o r quarters the most opposite, whose interests whose principles it wounded . With the fall of the Orleans dynasty fell the privilege of the

In 1 84 8 o f University. the government General

Cavaignac struck the ﬁrs t blow at its academical

n organisatio , which had remained unchanged since

’ the Emperor Napoleon s decree ﬁrs t founded it i n 1 808 2 . 7 The academies, which had carried on the administration of the University for forty

2 n l 0 . aw years , were reduced to The came the 1 5 1 85 0 of th March, , the organic law which now

governs public instruction in France, and which transformed the regulation of this instruction B completely . y this law persons not members of

the University became free to open schools, and

o f the exclusive privilege the University ceased . The shadow of a corporate and endowed existence which had been left to it ceased also ; its e m dowment no lon ger appeared as an item of the public debt, its estates were made part of the

n - public domai . Eighty six academies, one for

o f ﬁ rs t each department France, at replaced the old academical organisation o f 1 808 ; but very 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 25 9

1 86 1 6 soon these academies were reduced to , each academy including in its district several depart ments ; and this is the organi s ation in force at the present moment . I Before come to the schools as they now exist, a few words must be given to the immediate effect produced upon them by the legislation o f 1 85 0 t . The unsettled s ate of the times, the

o f derangement many private fortunes, and the

o f at ﬁrs t opening a number of private schools,

ff l e u a ected the yee s very nfavourably. The sums received from the pupils in them for board and lodgin g fell from francs in 1 848 to 1 1 francs in 85 . This diminution in the receipts, as the State refused to make it good, n ecessitated a reduction in the payments to

ﬁm ti o n ari s teachers and c e . With all the economy that could be exercised the embarrassment was

n great and increasi g, when the government, in

1 85 3 o n i , hit the simple expedient of ra sing the

o fees for b ard and schooling, which had remained nearly stationary since they were ﬁr s t ﬁ xe d i n

1 2 l eee n 80 . The fee for board in a Paris y had bee

1 In 1 85 4. 260 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1

600 700 800 o r 90 0 di , , , francs, accor ng to the

’ was ﬁxe d pupil s place i n the school . It now at

95 0 1 05 0 1 1 5 0 1 5 00 . , , , and francs The fee for

ﬁrs t o f schooling, which had at been a uniform fee 60 1 00 francs, and then had been raised to francs, 1 20 was made, according to the subjects taught, , 1 200 25 0 di 5 0 . , , or francs Proportionate ad tions were made to the school charges in the departments , where these charges are always lower than in Paris .

Far from emptying the public schools, this rise

o ld in their charges answered perfectly. The charges had been very low, the new charges were not in themselves high, and were accompanied by m an improved and developed progra me of studies . The return of tranquill ity and the growing wealth and prosperity of the country enabled families to

’ l c es ﬁll support them the more easily. The y e e d again , and the new scale of charges produced an addition of francs in the yearly amount 1 85 5 received from their scholars . In the number

’ o f l cees 5 4 y , which had been before the February

63 o f Revolution , had risen to ; the number pupils i n i 1 85 1 them, wh ch had fallen to in , had in 1 85 5 in creased to The communal

262 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 for the communal colleges Fo r the 1 lyeées the State contributed about ; for the communal colleges, which are municipal insti 4 tu ti o n s £ 000 . fo r , barely The State subvention 1 85 5 to French secondary instruction may be put, therefore, at about the municipal sub v en ti o n to the communal colleges amounted to nearly the same sum . There remained

for the communal colleges, for the lycefes ) to be raised by the schools them

. a selves The St te subvention, exclusive of the grant for scholarships, gave, in an average

’ of francs for each of the 5 4 lycees then

’ i n i n 1 85 5 l cees 63 ex sti g ; , when the y numbered , the State subvention of the year gave an average

fr l eée i n of but . for each y . The aid was s u fﬁci en t i s even w th the increa ed fees charged, and the total expendi ture fo r 1 85 5 o n the lyoées outran

the total receipts by francs, about

' ’ At 74 l cees the present moment France has y ,

20 1 847 an d 1 1 more than she had in , more than 1 24 85 5 . 7 l she had in She has communal col eges ,

1 fr . the dé ens es i xes an d fr fo for p f , . r s scholarship . 1 In t s ar th n n w fr hi ye e s ubve tio as . 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 263

5 9 s he 1 849 n less than had in , but three more tha

1 In s he she had in 85 7 . these schools has

l eées c o m scholars ; in the y , in the

s 4 l eées mu n al colleges . Thu the 7 y have very nearly as many pupils as all the 247 commun al colleges together. And while the number of

l eées i s pupils in the y tends to increase, and about

1 000 h a more t is ye r than last, in the communal l i i i co leges it tends sl ghtly to d min sh , and is about

1 00 less . The State schools have altogether

1 85 5 o f more scholars than in , a sign the advance o f the country in prosperity . The amount of State aid received by them is much hi gher than in

1 85 5 o f , a time reduction and distress ; it reaches, i n hi ncludi g the grant for State scholars ps , of francs in round numbers , a third more than in

to O f 1 85 5 . , now then this

u m l eées i r fo r ﬁxed s the y receive . their

1 x e penses, and for bursarships the com f e r . n mun l colleges receive , havi g received

1 ’ The actual n umber of burs arships i n the Fren ch lycees is

n o w 1 05 7 d m n 1 5 88 . It t n t , divide a o g holders is wor hy of o e t t the ten P n the e t n d ha colleges of aris alo e, before R volu io , ha 1 0 46 m st the n m the the bursars , al o u ber of bursarships for n at n whole of Fra ce pres e t. 264 HIGHER SCHOOLS IN FRANCE 1 1

i n 1 85 5 . less than i r . The mean rate o f ll grant to each sti , however, slightly below

was 1 84 7 o n e - what it in , though nearly third 1 greater than the rate of 85 5 . It is intended to

l eée o f F place a y in every department rance, an d ﬁv e new ones are at the present time i n progress .

266 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 11 kind are appoin ted by the Minister of Publi c di hi m c an . Instruction, and be smissed by In

an d n i o f all, the arrangement trai ng classes , the

fo r arrangements boarding, the hours of work and

recreation, the means of recreation, the mode of

an d o f i i n government, the whole system d scipl e, are the same . The Minister of Publi c Instruction is the head fﬁ o f hi ni . H o c e t s vast orga sation is , in Paris, has s i x divisions, under himself and his secretary

a o f s i x h . as general E ch these divisions its chief,

and is divided into two bureaux, each, again, with its head Fi rs t come the three di vi sions for i superior instruction, secondary instruction , pr mary

r instruction . The ﬁ s t bur eau o f each of these i s for the p erso n nel o fthe branch o fpublic instru ction — administered by the division , treats, that is, all

to matters relating persons, appointments, and studies ; the second bureau is fo r the materi el

com tabi li t — and p é, whatever relates to buildings ,

ﬁn an ce o r . di , accounts The three remaining vi

’ o n e o f n sions have charge, , the departme t s business with the Institute and with the public libraries ;

n s ci en ti ﬁc a other, of its business with the and 1 11 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 267 literary establi shments (such as the Museum o f N H A atural istory , the French school at thens , the

i n o f ill . c o n observatories Paris and Marse es, etc ) n ec ti o n o f with it the third, of the expense the

o fﬁc e central , and of the general revision of the

ﬁn an ce whole and accounts of the department . Under the Minister’ s presidency is the Imperial

o f i Council Publ c Instruction, which in concert with hi m ﬁ xe s the programmes o f study in the

State schools and the books to be used in them .

It is also consulted as to the formation o f new

State schools, and as to the whole legislation and reg u lation of French public instruction . The important measures which have lately been intro du c ed and passed for the furtherance of professional i i s — o f I nstruction , as it called, measures which

— o f shall have to speak presently, were all them

M . i thus brought by Duruy, the present m nister,

n before the Council, and there discussed . Certai members o f the Council formerly proceeded from 1 85 2 election ; in , under the pressure which

i o f then caused, in France, the strengthen ng the w hand of government every here, proposal by the Mini ster of Public Instruction and nomination by 268 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1 the President of the Republic was substituted for

The election in these cases . Emperor still nomi

’ ’ i M D u ru nates on the M ni s ter s proposal ; but . y s di sposition has certainl y been rather to enlarge the part of action fo r others than to keep all action fo r himself ; thus he has late ly given to the func ti o n ari e s l o f of pub ic instruction, whom the law 1 85 2 ffh gave him the power to dismiss o and, the

m ﬁ v e o f security of a co mittee of , chosen out the i I Council of Publ c nstruction, by whom the case of the functionary whose conduct may be in ques

hi s tion is to be examined, defence heard, and the

o f o n merits the case reported . But the names of the actual members of the

ﬁtn e s s u Council guarantee its for its f nctions ,

whether it comes from election or from nomination .

M . The Minister is the President, and de Royer,

Cou r des Com tes the Chief President of the p , is

- i Vice President . The great bod es o f State are represented, so is the Church, so are the Protes

tants, so are the Jews, so is the law, so is the

s o l l Institute , are the schoo s , pub ic and private .

- There are thirty two members , with a secretary ; an d - o f among the thirty two, not to speak the

2 70 HIGHER SCH OOLS AND 1 1 1

i n o f pol tical reasons, but which early all friends

n education condem , taken away from the rectors h and given to t e prefects . The rectors are assisted by academy inspectors, of whom there must be o n e at least (at Paris by a special rule there are eight) for each department comprised in

As 1 the academy. there are only 7 academies

o f for France, most them, of course, have a district o f several departments ; the academic centre, the

o f u l residence the rector and the seat of the fac ties , is in general placed in the most important chi ef

o f I town their departments . n the other depart ments o f the district the academy in spectors

exercise in fact the functions of rector, having their o fﬁc e s in the several chief towns, entering the names o f f candidates for degrees in the dif erent faculties, Al l and inspecting the public schools . their

o n to reports these schools converge, however, the

’ o f o fﬁc e centre the academy, to the rector s ; and

o f from these reports, from the reports the i mmediate authorities of the schools , and from his l own inspections , the rector makes up the month y report whi ch he is bound to transmit to the

Minister in Paris . With the rector is placed, to 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 7 1

i form his council, not only the academy nspectors o f hi s n an d district, but also the dea s of faculties, seven other members chosen every three years by

i i o r the Min ster. These seven are an archb shop

two o f bishop from the district, ministers the

n o r e wi s h Catholic, Protesta t, J worship, two

o f members the magistrature, and two public i functionaries or other notables of the d s trict .

- M C o u e rel The well known . q is thus a member of

mi an d M the acade c council of Paris , . Devienne ,

Co u r Im er i ale i s the First President of the p , i l 3 another. Th s counci consists of some 0

r s members in the academy of Pa i , where the academy inspectors are very numerous ; i n the other academi es it consists o f from 1 5 to 20 members . It holds two sessions a year, lasting

ni about a fort ght each, when it receives reports from the academy inspectors and deans of faculties

i s r on the whole instruction of the d t ict, and deals with all questions which come before it respecting

ﬁn an c e di s hi n the administration, , cipline , or teac g of the public schools .

fo r o f There is also, each department France ,

o f a Departmental Council, which the prefect is 27 2 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1

i president, and the academy inspector, a pr mary

inspector, the bishop and an ecclesiastic named by

o f him, a representative the Protestant and of the

e wi sh the hi - o fﬁc e r o f J .communions , c ef law govern

ment in the department, a judge, and three or four

1 o f members the Council General, are members .

e wi s h The primary inspector, the Protestant and J representatives, the judge, and the members of the

c n i o f Coun il General, are named by the Mi ster I h Public nstruction . T is departmental council has to do wi th pri mary rather than secondary instruction ; with the public secondary schools it

a ff does not meddle , but cert in matters a ecting the private secondary schools come before it from the

mi ri acade c authority, with appeal to the Impe al

l ri O f Counci o f Public Instruction in Pa s . these I matters shall speak by and by . The depart mental council meets twice a month .

n Besides the Mi ister, the Imperial Council, and

- the academic authorities, six inspectors general have special superintendence of secondary instruo

o f tion . Three these inspectors are for letters,

1 The Coun cil Gen eral i s an elective body con sis tin g of the n m otables of the depart en t.

274 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1

Commission o f Health exists fo r the special ben e ﬁt

ﬁrs t th r l c es . e of the Pa is y é But, in the instance, governing and admini stering body in a French

’ — l c e o f the y e consists these three functionaries,

roo i s ear who o f cen s eu r p , is the chief all, the , and

co n ome . the é or steward Then come the teachers,

ff o f professors o f di erent degrees rank . Then

mai tres r e eti tears o n the p , whom falls the task of that constant supervi sion o f the boys out o f class

hi u s hours, for w ch French schools have with in

England such a notoriety . The professors give their lessons and are then free to depart . They have nothing whatever to do with the boys

’ f mai tr es r eti eu r o u t o . e t s school hours The p , or

’ mai tr es al étaole as they are more generally called, — — the ushers, as we should call them, are with the boys , when they are preparing their

an d r lessons , at their meals, and at thei recrea

ri tion, and in their dormito es . The highest class o f these ushers assists the boys in the prepara tion of their lessons ; a lower and far larger class

o f is inadequate for this task tutor, and is simply charged with the duty of superintending and

n reporti g. 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 27 5

All ri r ovi s eu r to these functiona es , from the p

’ mai tre attu ale ni the , are nominated by the mi ster .

r ovi s eu r fo r The p and the rector, indeed, present

’ the mini ster s acceptance candi dates fo r the post

’ ’ o f mai tr e aeta do and o f teacher of the lower classes i n the commu nal colleges ; and the rector has to keep a record of servi ce and seniority among the

the l eées professors in y of his academy, which record , mi no doubt , guides the nister in making his nomination . Still the mass of patronage vested in the minister must appear to our eyes extra ordinary . But it is right to say that the law i n France has imposed condi ti ons on the minister’ s exercise of his patronage which inevitably keep it within strict bounds . As the rector must be a

u l - doctor in some fac ty , and the academy inspector must be a licentiate (i ntermedi ate between a

n o u r bachelor and a doctor, and answeri g to

u l eee master) , so each f nctionary of the y , from the

’ p rovi seu r to the mai tre d eti tde must present some

n o f r o eu guara tee intellectual capacity . The p vi s r

’ mai tr e al étaole must be a li centiate . The must be

fo r a bachelor o f letters o r sciences . But it is the

’ professor s o fﬁc e that the most strin gen t security 27 6 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1

To ro ess eu r is required. be a full professor (p f

’ a ré é ale l cee ti tu l ai re) the title of y y y is necessary.

to We have nothing corresponding this in England .

It is n o t a un iversity grade but a special c erti ﬁ

fo r cate or diploma . The examination it requires

o f the possession a university grade , and covers the

’ o f i whole ground the ntended professor s teaching . The title exists for superior instruction also there

' ’ are agr eges de facalté as well as agreges de lyeée ;

u to be full professor in a fac lty, indeed , guarantees

’ a r e ati o n fo r o f beyond the g g ( example, the rank doctor o r of member of the Institute) are demanded

’ but even to be acting professor(p rofess eu r s upp lean t)

a r é é l in a faculty, the title of y g in that facu ty must be obtained ; and to obtain it the candidate has to pass a strict examination in the matters which he wi ll have to teach .

’ ’ a r e es ale l eee o f The g g y are seven orders, corre s po n di n g to the ki nds o f instruction given in the

’ l eées a re es fo r o f y . There are g g the classes mathe

o f u r n o f maties, nat al scie ces , of philosophy, higher

o f classics , of lower classics , history and geography,

’ To a r é e fo r o fmodern languages . be an g y any o n e o f them the can didate must be twenty-ﬁv e years

27 8 HIGHER SCHOOL S AND 1 1 1

I ﬁxe d classes are, as have already said, by author I ity . will just mention in passing what the candidate for the class es su p éri eu r es de lettres

Hi s (higher classical division) has to do . paper

o f o f o f work consists a piece Latin verse, a piece t ranslation from French into Greek and Latin, a F piece of translation from Greek into rench , a

o n e o n i l Latin essay and a French essay, a ph o

o n sophical the other a literary subject, and a piece o f translation into French from a modern

o r I me o oee language, English German . n his he has to correct aloud two exercises of boys in the

v o f l c e higher classical di ision a y é , to translate with full comments and explanations a passage from a

l eées Latin and Greek author read in the y , and to comment on a passage from one o f the French

t H e classics read here . has also to translate a

o r Fi n all passage from an English German book . y ,

o n he has to give, as if to a class, a lesson either

grammar, classical literature, philosophy, history,

o r o wn . modern languages, at his choice

H ﬁtn e s s n aving proved his by his examinatio , the candidate is then nominated professor in a class of the order fo r which he has obtained the 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 27 9

o f a r i n title g égé. But he cannot be employed a class o f another order without obtaining by ex

' amination the title o f agr ege for that class ; thus an agréye for the higher classical division cannot be employed in a mathematical class or a class

’ an a re e fo r for natural sciences , nor can g g the

s di i n lower cla sical vision be employed the higher . The spectacle so often seen in English schools of r a classical maste teaching, without any real acquaintance with his subject, mathematics, or

i s n o t i n modern languages, or history , to be seen

France .

The pupils of the Normal School (Eco le Nor male

’ S u p eri eu r e) can hold the place of professor without

’ ’ bein g agr eges but they cannot hold the more i m portant and better paid post o fp rofes s eu r ti tu lai r e i 1 without this test, they can only be d visional,

ro ess eu rs di ei acting, or assistant professors (p f

a lean ts ad n t An d si on n ai res s oi s . , pp , or j ) the ex ami n ati o n s o f the Normal School are in themselves

ﬁtn e s s o f a test, and a very strict one, of the its

I m en pupils for their business . have already

1 The full professor (pr ofes s eu r ti tu lai r e) has the class ; the i d an d the n s class , if large, is div de , divisio al profes or has charge

v s n as n t t n m . of a di i io , co radis i guished fro a class 280 HIGHER SCH O OLS AND 1 11 ti o n e d this admirable institution ; it enjoys a deserved celebrity out o f France as well as at

n t home, and owhere else does there exist any hing i t qu ite like . Decreed by the revolutionary

n t s e t ﬁrs t Governme , and to work by that of the

N di fﬁc u lt —o n e apoleon , it had two periods of y, under the Restoration, when it attracted hostility

o f was as a nest liberalism, and it proposed to abate its i mportance by substituting for o n e central Normal School several local ones ; another after

o f Febru ar the revolution y , when the grant to it

o f was greatly reduced, and the number its pupils

ff n o w fell o . But it has recovered its grants and

an d its numbers , few institutions in France are so rooted in the public esteem . Its main function is to fo r i form teachers the publ c schools . It has

o n e i e n ti ﬁ s c c . two divisions ; literary, the other

Its pupils at present n umber 1 1 0 ; they are all

o f £40 hi bursars , holding a scholarship a year, w ch

o f n entirely provides for the cost their mainte ance . The course is a three years’ one but a certain number of the best pupils are retained for a fourth ﬁfth and year ; these, however, are lost to the secondary schools, being prepared for the doctorate

282 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1

most to envy in English education . But it must he remarked that there are great government schools in France which in some measure perform

o f the part Oxford and Cambridge, and supply yearly a body of laymen whose intellectual train ing has been prolonged, under stringent discipline, for

s u fﬁci en t several years beyond boyhood ; a body ,

even in itself, to keep society fed in the several departments o f practice and knowledge with a number of intellectually trained men o f a high

order, and to preserve the intellectual level from

n h h si king . The Polytec nic School, w ich trains civil as well as mili tary engineers fo r the State the

Eeo le Fo res ti ere o f Eco le (School Woodcraft) , the

' ' ’ ’ Im eri ale des Char tes Eco le Fr an zai s e cl Athones p , the g , are all of them establishments di schargi n g thi s

i o f function . But the ch ef the establishments

Eco le No rmale a ér i en re which discharge it is the S p .

’ d Ulm o ld This school is in the Rue , in the school

o f o n o f quarter Paris the left bank the Seine ,

an d where the Sorbonne, by far the greater part

l cees o f of the y and centres instruction, secondary

to . and superior, are still be found The building

o n e is large and handsome, something like of the 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 3 more modern colleges at Oxford o r Cambridge ; it

ﬂa has chapel, library, and garden ; the tricolour g i waves over the entrance to t. Everything is beauti fully neat and well kept ; the life in common which economy compels these great public establish

to — n ments, in France , severely practise, has , whe

its details are precisely and perfectly attended to ,

h Eco le No rmale and w en, as at the , the resources allow a certai n ﬁn i sh and comfort much beyond

o r the strict necessary of the barrack hospital , a more imposing effect for the eye than the arrange !

I am ments of college rooms, though far from

n i f sayi g the l e in college rooms is not preferable .

The pupils, even here, sleep in large dormitories , but the beds are screened from one another by

i n partitions stopping short of the ceiling, the fashion adopted in some of the more recent

Normal Schools fo r our primary teachers here in

England ; each student has thus a small chamber to himself. Last year 344 candi dates presented themselves fo r 35 n vacancies, and these ca didates were all

To picked men . compete, a youth must in the

firs t 1 8 o f an d 24 place be over years age under , 284 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1 must produce a medical c erti fic ate that he has n o bodily i n firmi ty u n fitti n g him for the function o f - c erti ficate teacher, and a good conduct from his

H e school . must enter into an engagement to

i fo r 1 0 devote h mself, if admitted, years to the

o f service public instruction, and he must hold the degree o f bachelor o f arts if he i s a candidate i n

o f o f the literary section of the school , bachelor

i n s ci en ti ﬁc H e sciences if the . then undergoes a i i prelim nary exam nation, which is held at the same time at the centre o feach academy throughout i France . This exam nation weeds the candidates ; those who pass through it come up to Paris fo r a

fi n al Eco le Nor male examination at the , and those who do best in this fin al examination are admitted A to the vacant scholarships . bare list of sub j e c ts o f examination is never very instructive ° the reader will better understand what the fin al

i n I s a exam natio is, if y that the candidates are the

eli te o f l eées who the very the y , in highest classes o f these lyeées have gone thr ough the course o f

o r s c i e n ti ﬁc instruction, literary , there prescribed .

s ci en ti ﬁc o f N In the section the ormal School, the

’ ﬁ rs t year s course comprehends the differential

286 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 11 third year there is a di vision i n the s ci en ti ﬁ c section, some pupils giving their chief study to

n pure mathematics and astro omy, others to physics and natural sciences . I I 1 1 0 N found, as have said , pupils in the ormal

School, all bursars ; commoners , to use our expres

Fo r 1 1 . 0 sion, are not received these students

h - t ere are , besides the director general and a director

. o f s ci en ti ﬁc studies and another of literary studies ,

23 mai tres des co n eren ces hi professors , or f , as in t s institution they are called . The professors are i pretty equally div ded between letters and sciences . One of the most distinguished professors of the s ci en ti ﬁc section told me that in this section they

- o fﬁc ere d were a little under , and that it would be

s ci en ti ﬁc better if certain of the lectures , which the students now have to go to the Sorbonne to hear, where the wants of the audience are not the

same as theirs, could be given at the school itself, and by professors of the school . This really was the only drawback I could hear o f to the complete e fﬁci e n c o f y of the school, and this, course, was due

o f to the common cause such drawbacks, want of

The o f funds . cost the school last year was 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 287

fr . ; in round numbers , The t library, laboratory, and collec ions seemed to me excellent .

l l - The pupi s have ha f yearly examinations, and they are practised to some extent , and , under the

n M present Mi ister, . Duruy, more than ever before, h in the lyoées of Paris . The teac ing o f the professors keeps always in view the scholastic A destination of their hearers . t the end o f the thi rd year’ s course the student who has passed thr ough it with distinction is authori sed to present

’ himself at once for aggregation . Five years school

i s o f practice, it will be remembered, required i T t other cand dates . he less distinguished studen

l eée o f is at once nominated to a y , but to the post assistant professor only, not of full professor ; after one year’ s service in the capacity of assistant pro fe s s o r he may present himself for aggregation . I have been somewhat minute in describing how the body o f professors in the French public

o f schools is formed , because the best feature these schools seems to me to be their thoroughl y trained and tested staff o fprofessors . They are far better paid than the corresponding body of teachers in 288 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1

Italy ; they have a far more recognised and satisfactory position than the corresponding body

of teachers in England . The latter are, no doubt,

o f better paid but, with the exception the head masters of the great schools, who hold a position

who i apart, need em nent aptitudes for other things besides teaching, and who are very few in number,

n o they form hierarchy, have no position , are

n saddled, to balance their bei g better paid, with

- m boarding house cares , have little or no ti e for A F study, and no career before them . rench

’ o r ﬁ v e professor has his three, four, hours work a day in lessons and conferences, and then he is free ; he has nothing to do with the discipline or

’ o f l cee n o t religious teaching the y , he has to live in its precincts ; he ﬁn i shes his teaching and then

’ he leaves the lycee and its cares behind him t al ogether. The provisor, the censor, the chaplains ,

n the superintendents, have the business of gover

an d o n ment direction, and they are chosen the i A ground of their aptitude for t. young man wishing to follow a profession whi ch keeps hi m in contact with intellectual studies an d enables him

who to continue them, but has no call and no

290 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1 honourably known in their own country as those of men o f m ark and honourable performance or honourable promise in their several departments of sciences or literature ; such are the names (I

l . quote a most at random) of MM Briot, Berger,

E o f e . B nard, Jules Girard, tienne Two the most M M eminent of modern Frenchmen, . Cousin and . il i F V lema n, were originally professors in the rench

ni public schools ; they were both, also, Mi sters o f n M u Public I struction . . D ruy, the present

Minister, was a professor, an author of a very good

- M . an d M . school book , and an inspector . Taine

e - i Pr vost Paradol, personages so mportant in the

i o f French l terature the present day, were both o f di u i N them sting shed pupils of the ormal School .

It is clear that thi s abun dance of emi nent names gives dign ity and consideration to the profession o f public teachin g in France it tends to keep it fully

who supplied, and with men carry weight with the t pupils they each , and command their intellectual

An d . i respect this is a very mportant advantage .

The salary o f a professor is composed o f two

t ﬁ xe d par s , the part and the eventual part, as they ﬁ d f are a . xe o i s c lled The salary a full professor , 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 2 9 1

4 5 0 0 4 0 00 35 0 0 fr . to at Paris, , , and , according the division in which the professor is placed ; i n the

1 2400 220 0 200 fr 0 . ﬁxe d departments , , , and The

a 1 800 i r s lary of a divisional professor is in Paris .

1 200 fr 1 200 i r or . in the departments it is . The eventual salary used to be formed by taking nine hundredths o f the fee for board and schoolin g paid

ﬁv e - o f by each boarder, and tenths the fee paid for

n schooling by each day boy . The sum obtai ed by

’ taking these fractions was in every lycee divi ded between the censor and the professors, and the share received by each was the eventual part of

2 hi s salary But since 1 862 the tr ai temen t even tu el has ﬁ xe d u m 3000 fr been at a uniform s of . for professors in Paris ; for those in the depart

o n e A ments it is more than half less . professor also receives certain fees fo r examinations and

conferences, and often he gives a certain number

u I was nf of private lect re s . i ormed that from all these sources the income o fan able Paris professor

1 There may be i n Paris 30 professors at the ﬁrs t - n amed rate at t m 3 5 at the n an n m at the t d . In the a i e , seco d , y u ber hir d tm n t 1 33 at the ﬁrs t te the am n m at the epar e s, ra , s e u ber

n an n m at the t d . seco d , y u ber hir 2 Fo rme rly the division al professors had n o share i n the

’ trai temen t e ven tu e l bu t t n o w dm tt to i n i t. , hey are a i ed a share 2 92 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1 o f the ﬁ rs t rank in his callin g reached very nearly

fr o wn I . a year . For my part would

an d sooner have this, with the freedom leisure a i t £800 French professor has with , than a year as o n e of the under masters of a public school in

England .

e s e ci The divisional professors are poorly paid, p ally those in the departments, but it is to be said

o r be o n e o f that their condition is, ought to , passage only ; they are o n their road to the aggre

a i o n o f g t and the post full professor . Meanwhile they, too, may turn their spare hours to account fo r ben e ﬁt the of their income .

The position o f the great body o f the mai tres

’ ( l étade o r mai tr es ré éti tears i p is more d scouraging .

They are extremely numerous ; the system o f supervision practi sed in the French schools makes

s o it necessary that they should be , and their number of course renders it impossible that they

o r n o f should be well paid, that ma y them should

o f rise to the higher posts the profession . Some o f them rise ; an d di stinguished men have begu n

o f their career in the post usher . While super

d n étades h inten i g the , or workrooms in w ich the

294 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1

etu de di fﬁc u lt boys in their any y in their lessons ,

n r O f and by helpi g them forwa d with them . course in the higher part of the school an ordinary

’ mai tre aetado has not the attai nments necessary

h An h fo r such a task as t is . us er acting as master £60 receives in Paris about a year, in the depart ments from £40 to £5 0 the three grades of ushers n o t in charge o f forms receive from £30 to £5 0 i n £25 £40 Paris , from to in the departments . It is

’ to be remembered that they have in the lycee their board and lodging free, and those of them who,

re being masters of the lower forms , are not

r l eée qui ed to live in the y , have an allowance of about £20 a year towards their board and lodging .

The Paris lyeees no doubt get the best o f the

’ mai tres re eti teu rs p , and employ those of the highest grade ; I was struck with the generally decent I address and appearance of those whom saw there , and everywhere I was inclined to wonder that fo r such a post at such a stipend the schools could O f supply themselves as well as they did . course it is n o t easy to induce the authorities to o wn that

’ mai tr e d éta de who the , is such an indispensable 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 2 95 in gredient in that system o f constant supervision

hi a i s w ch they think necess ry, and must be a weak

i t o f part in , and a stranger has few means pene trati n g in such a matter below the surface ; but I am n c hi eﬂ I o wn I incli ed to think , y, , from what have heard from English boys brought up i n French

’ t mai tres d étu de schools , hat among these many there is a large stagnating mass i n which there is hi much corruption and much misc ef, and that from this mass a great deal that is noxious di stils among the boys they are set to overlook , though perhaps the contempt with which the boys are apt to regard the usher makes his i n ﬂu e n c e for harm somewhat

b who less than it might otherwise e . The boys

Spoke with disgust and contempt o f the body o f

’ ’ ’ mai tres d etu ae I add spoke, must , with great respect of that o fprofessors .

To conclude this account o f the governin g and I teaching staff in a French public school, must add that their nomenclature i n a commun al college

f eee is somewhat di ferent from that in a ly . The dir ector o fa communal college is called the p r i n ci al r o vi s o r p , not the p ; the masters are called

re en ts n o t r o ess o rs . a g , p f The princip l must have 296 HIGHER SCHOOLS IN FRANCE 1 1 1

o f s o the degree bachelor, and must the regents ; in those coll eges which give the full course o f n n seco dary instructio , the regents charged with the higher parts o f this course must be licentiates.

298 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND W

n o t i t class, numbered, in wh ch the instruc ion given

1 o f is mainly that primary schools , and does not H include Latin . ere children of six years of age

o f n are admitted . The very good exercise learni g by heart from the classics of the mother tongue b i s egins even in th preparatory class, and is con ti n u e d to the top of the school . Latin begins in

class e ( le hu i ti eme the , and is carried further in s e ti eme A s e ti eme i i p . fter p beg ns another div sion,

I i s that of grammar. t obvious that when boys are admi tted at s i x or seven years o ld a serious exami nation at entrance i s o u t of place ; but after the elementary di vision a boy ’ s access to each m hi division is guarded by an exa ination, w ch

o f turns, course, on the matters taught him in the

a division he is leaving . The lowest cl ss in the

s e division of grammar is , the sixth form in

o wa the sch ol, according to the French y of reckon

n H i . g ere begins Greek , and also the study of

n be n i s the modern la guages . These may E gl h,

o r n German, Spanish , Italia , according to the wants o f the localities and the wishes of the

1 Pri mary i n struction m ay be given by a primary school m t bu t m t d n the as er, he us hol , u less he has degree of bachelor , he t full c erti ﬁc ate of a primary teacher. IV UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 29 9

parents, France having a frontier either in contact o r i n i all n close proxim ty with these la guages .

’ It may wound an Englis hm an s vani ty to ﬁ n d that the pre-e minence given in the schools o f hi s o wn country to French is not given in France to

' n l cees E glish ; in the y of Paris, German and

i s adv an Engl h pretty nearly divide the pupils , the t n t be age resti g, however, with German ; par ly caus e thi s is the native language of i mportant provin ces of France partly becau se it is of more i l i use to m itary students, wh ch many boys in

l eées n o the y are going to be and partly, doubt, because in the s ci en ti ﬁc and intellectual movement of Europe at present England cou nts for s o little

f r o . and Germany so much In Germany, where

F a u s rench is oblig tory, as with , in the schools , and where English is optional, one cannot hear without a little mo rti ﬁc ati o n the two languages clas s i ﬁe d H an del- S r ache as , the one, the p , the other,

Caltar - S r ache li s i s H an del - S rache the p ; Eng h the p , learnt for mere materi al and business purposes ;

Cu ltu r - S r ache the p , learnt for the purposes of the

i s mind and spirit, French .

Drawin g and sin gin g are li kewise obligatory 30 0 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND W

i n l eees matters of instruction the French y , and

are not paid for as extras . Two hours a week are,

o n . an average, given to each Drawing is taught

o f o f as a matter science, not amusement, and the pupil is carried through a strict course from outline up t o ornament and model drawing .

The ﬁfth class (olass e ole ei n gai eme) reads our o ld i N friend Cornel us epos , but it reads also authors n o t I n —J much, thi k , in use in our schools ustin , fEli an , and Lucian . The division of lessons is the

class es same here and in the sixth class ; ten , as

they are called, a week , and two hours of singing,

1 f n o n e o f n o . A drawi g, and two gym astics class lasts two hours ; s o this gives (not counting gym n a ti c s 24 o f s ) hours lessons in the week . The classes are thus divided : seven classes and a half

(1 5 hours) fo r classics ; o n e class (two hours) fo r history and geography ; two half classes (two hours) for modern languages ; o n e half class (one hour)

r o f fo arithmetic . The weekly number classes remains the same all throu gh the school ; but the proportion o f time given to classics and to other

1 mn t m t the u i n the c es Gy as ics for par of reg lar course ly é , an d are n o t charged for as extras .

30 2 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND I V counting gymnastics) has thus risen from 24 2 to 6 .

s eco n de In , the same proportion between sciences and letters ; but in sciences the programme is

i n now algebra, geometry, and natural history,

o f di s tri bu stead arithmetic and geometry . The

n tion o f additional lessons remai s the same . The

A ri co la o f o f g Tacitus , the easier dialogues Plato,

n the easier orations of Demosthenes , appear amo g the books read .

bo o u r Then the y rises into sixth form , called

i ﬁrs t with the French from old t me not class, but

Class e de rh to ri u e é q . The classics read are much what would be read in o u r sixth form ; but in the mother - tongue the pupil studies the Pen s ées o f

Orai s o ns an ebres Bo s s u e t La Pascal , the f of , Bruyere,

’ ’ ’ ’ Fén elo n s L ettr e a l Aeademi e Fr an ai s e Bu ﬁ b n s c ,

’ Di sco u rs s u r e i e de Lo u i s X I t S t le S eel V. y , Voltaire s ,

’ ’ A r i n Fables t Po eti u e Fo n ta e s . Boileau s g , and La Even the selection of a body of English classics

n like this , excellent in themselves and excelle tly

fo r adapted the purposes to which they are destined, is a progr ess which En glish public in struction has

o f yet to make . Letters have eight out the ten IV UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 30 3

i n rh to r i u e classes é q , which is the great classical

. o n e form of the school Sciences have only class, divided between geometry and cosmography ; but I with an object which shall notice presently, an additional lesson o f an hour in the week has been established fo r the ben eﬁt o f those pupils who desire to refresh their knowledge of the s ci en ti ﬁc

s eco nde tr o i s i eme instruction given in and . Other

Wi s e the lessons occupy the same number of hours as m those two classes .

i o f But now, after the great class cal form

’ rheto r i ae the e di ﬁc e g , comes a crowning of which

we have not, and which in some degree , perhaps, represents that part o f education which with u s the student gets later, at the University. This is

o f lo i u e o r o fﬁc i all the class g q , , as it is now y

f hi los o o hi e. o f called, p p The design this class is

M . thus summed up by the present minister,

Duruy : General revision of the classical and s ci en ti ﬁ c studies of the three previous forms ;

two instruction in physics ; and, above all, as the t characterising s udies of this class, philosophy, making the pupil busy him self with the substance of ideas as in rhetoric he busied himself with their 30 4 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND IV

an d n l n form, developi g his ref ectio as rhetoric

—an d developed his imagination and taste , con

r o f temporary history . The prog amme the course of philosophy divides the subject thus : In tro du c

tion, psychology, logic, moral philosophy, theology ,

o f f n history o fphilosophy . That the course o c o temporary history goes from 1 81 5 to the present time ; the professor has to introduce it with a

“ rapid summary o f the general facts which have m o di ﬁe d ﬁfte e n th , from the century onwards, the

i n ideas, nterests, and constitution of Europea

3) ’ H e i n society . concludes it with France s share

il n ro ramm i the general work of civ isatio . The p g e s a skilfully constructed framework , capable of being by a good teacher so ﬁlle d up as to make the course

n In hi lo s o hi e very i teresting and useful . p p , the

o f l I design this c ass being such as have stated ,

Greek and Latin o f course lose their preponderant

i n n share the lesso s . In the ten lessons they have n o w n , i deed, only so much share as the language o f o u t o f —X four the nine authors read , enophon

111 emo rabi li a Plato D e R e u bli ca ( ) , ( p ,

Tu seu lan s an d O ees an d ﬁ ), Seneca (select letters), — gives them ; the remainin g ﬁv e authors read are

30 6 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND I V

n fo r hi r n o w examinatio t s deg ee turns , by express

1 regulation , upon the matters taught in the classes

’ hi lo s o h l cees o f rheto ri c and p p y in the y . A youth who has gone through these classes with success

di fﬁcu lt de has no y in obtaining the gree, and one

o n l eées l who sees the benches of the y pupi s , having o c mpleted the age of sixteen, have gone in for their

o t i t i degree, and already g . Exam nations are held twice a year in each of the 1 6 seats of faculties o f F 1 3 letters in rance, and in other towns whither the faculties o f their respective academi es send

i ni o f examiners . The exam ng jury is composed three members of the faculty of letters and o n e of f o . a n that sciences The ex minatio s are public , partly on paper and partly oral, and they last two

who - days . Candidates fail in the paper work ex

n o t o n e amination are admitted to the oral . The paper - work consists o f Latin and French composi

o f F ' tion , and translation from Latin into rench

me e o ee u the work , of constr ing a passage from a

Greek or Latin author and explainin g a passage

F o f from a rench one, and answering questions in

1 D cr et i m eri al d a 2 7 n o vembre 1 864 relat an B ac é p , , if calttu réat és L ettres . IV UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 30 7

hi l hi ra an d p osophy, story, and geog phy, mathe

l - mati ca and natural sciences . The paper work

fo r counts three marks, the construing and

n i o n e i explai ing for two, ph losophy for , h story

fo r a . and geogr phy one, the sciences for two

Fai lu re in any one of these nv e sections causes ’ If the candidate s rejection . he loses three out of the nin e marks distributed between the sections he is equally rejected . The part given to mathe mati c s and natural sciences in an examin ation for the degree of bachelor of letters, is what will

u s n i m most strike in goi g through th s program e . A candidate who holds already the degree of bachelor of sciences is of course exempted from the

i en ti ﬁc o f i A s c part the exam nation . candidate who has got, in the class of rhetoric or philosophy, one o f the chief prizes for classics in the grand

l cees annual competition of the y , is exempted from

he the literary part of the examination, but t

i n i ﬁ c o s c e t part he must still g through . The dues

1 00 fr for the degree of bachelor amount to .

But many of the best pupils of the lyeées have

Vi n o t in ew the arts degree, but a degree in sciences

’ admi s s mn to eco les s éei ales and the p , as they are 30 8 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND IV

— t the S . called, schools like Polytechnic, Cyr, the

’ Eco le Navale Eco le For es ti er e Eco le Cen trale , the , the

n u u res A des Ar ts et Ma fact . dmission to these schools is a favourite object of ambition in France ; it at once places a young man i n a career ; but it is guarded by a strict and competiti ve examination in mathematics and natural sciences . It is said that a clever boy who has gone through the lyeee

hi lo s o hi e who ll to the end of p p , and has fo owed with dili gence the s ci en ti ﬁ c as well as the li terary instruction of the di fferent classes through which he has passed, is , at the same time that he has secured a thorough literary education, strong

n i i enough in sciences to obtai , w th a l ttle previous i aid from private tu tion, the degree of bachelor of

i i s sciences, and to present h mself with this ind

o f pensable credential at one the special schools . To encourage boys destined for these schools to

o f i ﬁrs t complete their course literary tra ning , the additional lesson in sciences of which I spoke when I was describing the rhetoric class has been added

o to the programme o f that class . The b y i s thus enabled to keep hi s mathematics fresh at the same

o n hi s . H time that he goes with classics owever,

3 10 HIGHER SCHOO LS AND w

o f t S . Cyr . The class of special mathematics conducts to the more di fﬁcu lt examination o f the

o f s ci e n ti ﬁc Polytechnic School, or to that the

o f N section the ormal School . It sometimes happens that the same student passes for both the Polytechnic and the s ci en ti ﬁc section o f the

M i n Normal School . Duruy a recent report noti ces with pleasure that several students who had thus wo n the double nomination elected for N N the ormal School . othing could better show the credit with whi ch this excellent institution has succeeded in investin g the somewhat u n attrac tive profession of schoolmaster.

ni ﬁxed But the Polytech c and St. Cyr have twenty as the highest limit of age for their candi

e s ec i dates ; the competition, at the Polytechnic p

s a to o ally, is very severe (some people y, severe) , and it is not easy to succeed the ﬁrs t time ; a candidate wishes to have ti me for more trials than o n e who . But a youth goes through his literary

o f hi los o hi e course to the end p p , and then takes his

o f two years mathematics , elementary and special,

ﬁt hi m ﬁn ds to for the Polytechnic examination,

i l o f to h mse f with no margin age spare, and must l v UNIVERSITIES IN FRANGE 3 1 1

ﬁrs t o r A succeed the time give up his object . dd to this that a bo y wi th a strong aptitude fo r s ci e n ti ﬁc studies often feels very little disposed for

’ a nine years conversation with Latin and Greek .

Add n o f n agai , that the parents a promisi g boy often feel very li ttle disposed for an eleven years’

fo r expense his schooling, when he might be off their hands in eight or nine . To meet cases of thi s kind the well - known bifu rcati on had been

a O u u i est blished . iss ng from the division of grammar, and passing the examination which

s bo guard the issue from that division , a y, instead o f e was ntering humanities, allowed to choose whether his training should be henceforth literary

' i n ti ﬁc l cee ff hi m or s c e . The y o ered his choice

s ci e n ti ﬁc between a section, supposed to prepare

him for business, for the special schools, for degrees i in science and medicine ; or a l terary section, conducting to degrees in letters and law, and, in

vi general , gi ng what the world has agreed to call

f n A bo the education o a gentlema . y may be admitted at once to the grammar division ; three

o f years classics, therefore, there, and then the

i u r cati on bi u rcati on bf . But even after the f letters 3 1 2 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND IV kept a strong hold o n the follower of sciences ; one - half o f the school - time was in the s c i e n ti ﬁc section given to literature, modern languages, and

o n e - ﬁfth history, while in the literary section only

- w as o f the school time given to sciences . But neither the friends of letters nor those o f sciences

a i s ﬁe d bi u rcati on were s t with the f . It was said

to o that it took the boys young, before their voca tion was s u fﬁ ci en tly clear ; that it damaged both s ci en ti ﬁc and literary studies , producing good M students in neither. The present minister, . i t. Duruy, abolished The abolition, however, turns

o n e i t a out, when looks closely at , to be more p

s c i en ti ﬁc parent than real . It is true that a sec

‘ o f l cee an d tion the y no longer exists in name, that a bo y who after he has done with the grammar di tr o i si eme vision remains on at school, must enter ,

o f the i o f the lowest class div sion humanities, and

hi s the pass year there . It is desired, no doubt, by framers o fthe new regulations that he should have

be n eﬁt o f s eco n de r h tori u e o f hi l o the and é q , if not p s o hi e p , as well ; but in these cases , where there is a current o f interests which c o n ﬂi c ts with the

n o t regulations, it is what is desired, but what is

3 14 H IGHER SCHOOLS IN FRANCE IV

M . The changes introduced by Duruy have,

o n e o f therefore, made year humanities obligatory o n the school - boy proceeding to the s c i en ti ﬁc

To hi o f classes . t s extent they are in favour M . n o t classics. Duruy urges also, though he does

f o f m en orce, a still longer course hu anities before

i n the the pupil gives h mself to sciences . O other

hi s hand, in new programme he has strengthened the s ci e n ti ﬁc instruction by introducing more of it into the higher classical forms than was formerly t H e s i m li ﬁ ed aught there . has also, in general, p ,

o f compressed , and reduced the old programme

’ l cees instruction in the y . Still more has he done

’ o f this with that the bachelor s degrees, both in

arts and science . This programme, which was

o n e he n o w before a very wide , has made identical ,

’ I l eée s as have said, with that of the y two highest

o f o f classes in humanities, and with that its class

s i m li ﬁc ati o n elementary mathematics . This p , the degree in question being for youths o f seventeen or

eighteen, seems clearly judicious . C H A P T E R V

THE LYo EEs

’ — — — The L ycees of Paris Health Overwork Competitive Ex — — ami n ati o n s for little Boys The L yoée of Van ves I n ternes a M a nes n d .

WITH the provi sion I have described for the supply o f all professors , they are a body, through France , o f o n e stamp and training ; the pick o f them n o

l eées doubt comes , in the long run, to the Paris y , but the ablest of youn g professors may expect to

ﬁ n d i h mself, at some moment in the beginning of ﬁ hi s . eld career, at a school in the provinces The

fo r . him in Paris, however, is large Paris has

cle lei n exerci s e seven great classical schools p , as it

o f is called that is, in which the full course I instruction which have detailed above is given .

A l c es de lei n exerci s e o f 247 ll y é are p , while the

1 5 2 s o communal colleges only are . The rest 3 1 6 H IGHER SCHO O LS AND have only the elementary division and the division o f grammar ; they do not add to grammar the

o f division humanities . The seven great classical

o f l eées l e d schools Paris are the y Louis Gran , N e apol on, Saint Louis , Charlemagne, Bonaparte,

the Bourbon, and Colleges Stanislas and Rollin .

' O f l cees l e Na o léo n these the y Louis Grand, p , and

Saint Louis , and the two colleges, take boarders ;

- Charlemagne and Bonaparte take day scholars only .

o f Most of them retain the site, at least, an old pre -revolutionary school ; Sai nt Louis is the Co llege

’ d H ar co wrt - , founded in that great school movement o f the fourteenth century which I have already

o f li mentioned, by two brothers , members Phi p the

’ ’ Co u n c i l R ao u l d H arco u rt c an o n Pari s an d Fair s , , of ,

’ d Har o u r N c t . e Robert , bishop of Coutances apol on

' ' l lle e H en ri I o d Co V. was the g , and as, from the

e o n e neighbourhood of the Panth on, sees its long

ﬂ f du o St. E pile, anked by the Church tienne

o n e m Mont, where Pascal lies buried, ust own

o f o ld i that a venerable look France it still reta ns .

olle e B o u r bo n l e Bonaparte was the C g . Louis Grand

e s u i t was the famous J school of Clermont , which

o n e Louis the Fourteenth day visited, and the

3 1 8 H IGHER SCHOO LS AND

2 i x o f 30 7 . s inquiry, have scholars Only the

the nine have really, in public estimation , rank of great public schools, the rank which the seven great Paris schools hold ; still , let them all be

i n o f counted , and yet the public classical schools Paris alone have nearly twice as many scholars as N the public classical schools of all England . ay, o f all Scotland and Ireland besides ; for these two countries have no publi c classical schools of the rank o f the great English schools o r o f the Paris l eées S o r i y , and cotch Ir sh parents who desire, and ff h i can a ord, sc ools of th s rank for their children, must send them to the English schools .

’ I l cees o f i I i visited all the y Par s, and bel eve

’ l eée s ni there is no part of a y orga sm, from the

' math mati u es eei ales elementary division up to é q w , hi I h w ch ave not seen at work , and no part of the I instruction which have not heard given . The internal management and the working aspect o f

1 11 u all these institutions are s m ar, tho gh the ex teri o r o f f the buildings is often strikingly di ferent .

o f The modern, handsome, and wealthy appearance the lyeée Bon ap ar te suits its position in the newer

o f — and more luxurious quarter Paris, the quarter UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 3 1 9

r — most f equented by Visitors , with the Rue de H6 e la Paix , the Grand tel, the Op ra , and the

O u Madeleine for neighbours . the other side of

o ld the Seine, in the quarter of the schools and

i i n o f the rel gious, the neighbourhood the Sorbonne e m h and Sainte Genevi ve, the so ew at dilapidated front o f Louis l e Grand or Napoleon suits the

a t e antiquity and ssociations of h region . Many

o i di n i n of the public scho l bu l gs France, the old I school sites and fabrics havi ng been, as have already said, restored after the Revolution, as far as possible , to their former desti nation, are in fact v ery old, and the rebuilding and repairing of the lyeees and those sani tary works in con nection with them which earlier ages neglected, but which are n e w thought, and rightly, to be of such great

o f importance, are a cause constant and heavy expense to the government. In this way the

r S o n whole f ont of aint Louis, which stands the

o f new continuation, upon the left bank the Seine, o f e the Boulevard S bastopol, has just been rebuilt,

l e e n o and a very handsome building this y e w is .

u Y o ring at the decorated entrance in the boulevard , and the porter admits you to the open and spacious 3 20 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

’ ﬁrs t u vestibule, looking on the school s great co rt, surrounded by high whi te walls with uniform tiers o f mm a windows , and co unic ting directly with the

arloi r p , where at all the French public schools a

’ o r boarder s parents , those authorised by them, can

come and see him between twelve and one, or

- ﬁv e A i between half past four and . scend ng a

h the ca bi n et the staircase, one reac es of censor and that of the provi sor. The room of the provisor communi cates with the apartment where he i s

i l eée lodged (for the prov sor lives at the y ) , and the

’ re yi s o r s i p lodging at Saint Lou s is most enviable .

I M a a . Its occup nt when was there was Legr nd, but he has since left i t to become provisor at h Bonaparte , a muc easier post, because at Bona

who parte there are no boarders . Every one has had opportunities of observing must have been struck to see how much work Frenchmen seem

ri able to do, and to do with spi t and energy ; the provisor o f a great lyeée certainly needs to have

o f re s o n ability this sort, with the business and p s i bi li ty of a boarding house of some 5 00 boys

n M e erfe c pressi g upon him . . L grand had it to p tion ; constantly appealed to, with a rain of letters ,

3 22 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND

an d table napkins silver cups, and the large

dormitories scrupulously neat and clean, at one

o f end the curtained bed the usher in charge, in the door at the other end a wi ndow by which to i i t overlook the room from w thout, and, near , ingenious mechanical devi ces by whi ch the Visits o f n s o the functio ary whose business it is to see, ll often in the night, that all is we in each bedroom , are recorded, and the controller is himself con

l i n ﬁ rm ari e s tro led ; then the dispensary and , the service done by sisters of charity, with rooms for all stages of ill ness and the eternal usher over looking those invalids who are up an d together ;

- the linen stores and clothes rooms , everything ’ hi beautifully kept, each boy s t ngs ticketed and numbered wi th the greatest exactness ; the bath

o fﬁc es rooms , , kitchens, the supplies of bread and

wine, the soup , meat, vegetables , pastry, all in preparation o n a grand scale and all o fthem which

I a — i n t sted excellent, this is what may be seen

l cee i s every great y in France but at Saint Lou ,

from the newness and freshness of the buildings, and the perfection of ﬁni s h and order whi ch is

a a reached, it may be seen to special dvant ge, UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 323

the Finish and order are, however, in great

o fG majority ases, rules of French administration ;

I o f and as have already remarked, the march a

i s o n e great public service, such as the service of i of these establishments , has inevitably someth ng l imposing in it if regu arly and well conducted,

hi o f i w ch the arrangements private establ shments, i in which the ndividual has, very likely, his tastes

u l more cons ted and a life more to his mind,

l we cannot wel equal. But when come to con

’ s u lti n g the individual s taste and giving him a life

hi s we to mind, generally come at the same time l to expense ; a cheap private estab ishment, without

hi n the regularity and economy of a great mac e, and without the costly luxury of independent

i s comfort, a slipshod thing, full of meanness and mi s ery. It is to be remembered that in one of

’ l cees to t u the Paris y a boy is have board, ins r ction,

ri books, w ting materials , clothes, washing, medical

The £5 0 . attendance, and medicine for a year

question is, how these may be given best for that money .

The medi cal service is excellent ; the general

’ rate of sickness i n the lycees i s certainly surpris 3 24 HIGHER SCHO O LS AND

i n l o f g y low, and probably to the excellence the

—fo r medical service, ability, completeness, and

di li o f attention far excee ng, ke that a great

i o f hospital, anything the nmates the establishment

u l — u co d command at home , this is in great meas re

i . ow ng The meals are four in number ; breakfast,

o ater dinner at noon, the g , as it is called, at half past four, and supper in the evening. The break

o ztter f fast is a slight, and the y a very slight af air this latter i s in fact a roll of bread and nothing more ; the dinner and supper are the substantial

. two meals The dinner is in general soup , then dishes and a vegetable, then dessert ; there is an

o f ff allowance wi ne . It will be seen how di erent

o r is the system of meals from ours , at least from what ours was ; but it is in great measure cli mate and differences of physical organisation whi ch I determine the varieties in these things . have heard some complaints of the way the boys are fed

l eées in the y ; not as to the quality of the food, but I the quantity, have heard several people complain,

i n s u fﬁci en t I is apt to be . give these complaints, on a matter which, with boys , very easily

n o t gives rise to them, and where it is very easy

326 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND for the short time they have to give to exercise

’ than our boys amusements wou l d be but they

nki did not, in general , to my thi ng, look so fresh ,

o u r - happy , and healthy as public school boys . The

- ensi on master of a well known p , who had English boys as well as French, assured me that the French

boys were not to be judged by their complexions, that they had more endurance and a tougher ﬁbre than our boys, and that when he took them out h toget er on long excursions his English boys,

ﬁrs t vigorous at , knocked up sooner than his French boys . This is the old reproach of the Latin races against the northern barbarian, that he is lusty, and melts and gives Way in the sun ; there may i t be some truth in , and the spirit and gaiety of an

o English boy do not g with him into his exercise, he ﬂa s i t —i f g in , he does not feel he is at play and free i n i t ; thus it has been observed that gymn as

n o t ﬂo u ri sh tics do in our schools , they are too much o f a drill o r a lesson ; and for the same reason the volu nteer company has not s o many o r

An d such ardent recruits as cricket or boating . no doubt the physical energy o f the youn g English p ensi on nai re would show to more advantage if he UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 3 27 was matched in cricket or boati ng with his Fren ch

o r comrades , than in gymnastics a walking excur

i s the sion, where he a little damped by sense of

l to constraint and rule . Stil it is hard believe, and

I c o n ﬁn e men t do not believe , that the , the scanty

- o f recreation , and the long school hours a French schoolboy are without some unfavourable effect o n hi s - health and development ; the long school hours ,

vi n however, are an almost ine table result of placi g large boarding schools in the heart of large

S o f cities, where pace for exercise and freedom range must be limited , and the boys therefore must be kept more at work to save them from the mischief of being penned up together in idleness with few or no resources of amusement . The placing large boarding schools in large cities is

o f itself, again, an almost inevitable result having large day - schools attached to the boarding schools ; fo r the supply to large day- schools can only be

an d found, of course , in large cities , indeed the need fo r them only exists there . It must be

o f added, besides , that a body professors such as

cées o f an d , the ly Paris are proud, justly proud of

to o u t o f possessing, is hardly be obtained a large 328 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND

o f city . Many these professors have pursuits,

' o f l cees independent their work at the y , which tie

l c es them to Paris ; and the y é , if they were planted in the country, amidst better conditions of physical development for their boys , might have some loss in professors to s e t again st the gain in other respects .

F l eees o f o n e The rench y , however, are guiltless preposterous violation of the laws o flife and health hi h committed by our own great schools, w ch ave o flate years thrown open to competitive examina

o n i n tion all the places the r fou dations . The

French have plenty o f examinations ; but they put them almost entirely at the ri ght age for

a o f ﬁfte en examinations , between the ye rs and

-ﬁv e i twenty , when the candidate is ne ther too old i nor too young to be exam ned with advantage .

To put upon little boys of nine o r ten the pressure o f a competitive examination for an object o f the f greatest value to their parents, is to of er a

’ premium for the Vi olation of nature s elementary

s acri ﬁc e laws, and to , as in the poor geese fatted

o f for Strasburg pies , the due development all the

o f organs life to the premature hypertrophy of one .

HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

i promising subjects from the pr mary schools . This I seems to me quite right, and wish the English

ho w we ff reader to remark here, as elsewhere, su er from o u r dread o feffective admi nistration and from the feudal and incoherent organisation of our society. In the hands of individuals and small local bodies patronage like that o f our foundation schools becomes outrageously jobbed ; at last the i t publ c attention gets directed to his, and the patronage has to be otherwise dealt with ; but there is no body o f trained and competent persons with authority to decide deliberately how it may be best dealt with ; so i t ends by the local people through whose laches the di fﬁ cu l ty has arisen

n s o throwi g a p to Cerberus, and gratifying

’ ignorant public s love of claptrap by throwin g

n i O n everythi g open to competitive examinat on . the Continent, there is an Education Minister and a Council of Public Instruction to weigh matters o f this kind ; s o far from jobbing bein g promoted

by this, the examination test is much more strictly applied in France than with u s but there is a competent authority to decide when it is rational to apply it and when absurd . Neither are there UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 33 1

an o f wa l cee a y complaints the y the y burs rships, it being judged best not to give these by competi

— ri tive examination, are dist buted ; because here again all that is done is done with the safeguards o f n joint action between several compete t agencies, of publicity, and of responsibility. It is a mistake to suppose that a government bureau, in an dm a inistrative organisation like that of France, has no checks ; it has far more checks than a

extem government bureau here, which has been

o ri s e d n o t p to meet some urgent want, and is part

- o f a well devised whole . The secretary of our Education Department i s al most invited to settle of hi s own authority education - questions whi ch

M m ni . Duruy , though a i ster, would not settle without referring them to a Council composed as

N o u r we have seen . ay, and even supposing secretary refers them to hi s chiefs and they refer

o f — them to the Committee Council, how is this

Committee o f Council composed ? Oi three o r

n n four Cabi et Mi isters , with no special acquaint

ance with educational matters .

The want o f more air and exercise fo r their schoolboys is a matter which is occupying the 33 2 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND attention of the authorities of public secondary instruction in France ; they are beginni ng with

ff o ld i the greatest su erers by the system, the l ttle

l eee alu Pr i n ce Im eri al boys , and the y p , at Vanves , is a fruit o f their awakened solicitude fo r these I chi ldren . Vanves is charming. t lies a mile or

o f Vau i rard two out Paris on the g road . It was a summer villa of the Prince of Condé ; when the then holder of this title emigrated at the R ev o l u

’ tion , Vanves was sold as emigrant s property, and was l eée l e bought very cheap by the y Louis Grand, h I w ich managed, as have said, to subsist through

o f I the storms the Revolution . t is now, like every

l eee o f other y , the property the State , and after havi n g for some time served as a juven ile depart

i l e ment for Lou s Grand only, it is now an inde

t i fo r penden establ shment little boys, beginning with pri mary instruction and carrying them no

oi n ai éme o n further than g , when they are passed ,

s l e — not necessarily to Loui Grand only, though the o ld connection o f Vanves with this lyeée is felt

ti e — as a strong , but to whatever school the pupil chooses . Seven hundred little boarders (for

Vanves takes no day - scholars) o f from ﬁv e to

334 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND after paying all its expenses has a pro ﬁt o f £4 0 00

le a year . Its progenitor, Louis Grand , clears

0 Pro ﬁts o f a pro ﬁt o fmore than £3 00 . this kind

o to l eees g the State, the proprietor of the y , and are available for the general expenses of secondary

’ i wa l cee nstruction . In this y a prosperous y helps

’ to pull a strugglin g lycee through ; but a lyeée which brings in plenty o f money will always be liberally treated for its own improvements and extensions .

Vanves has no day - scholars ; its boarders are

o n £40 all housed the premises , and all pay about

l eées s o a year . In the ordinary y it is not . These ,

1 - with scarcely an exception , take day scholars , and do not themselves lodge all their pupils who

ﬁxe d are boarders . They all charge a rate by 2 fo r £40 authority, ranging, their boarders , from

£60 fo r - £6 to a year their day scholars, from to

£1 0 Fo r h h . the boarder t is includes everyt ing ;

1 At the Co e e R o li n t all rs ll g l hey are boarde . 2 d ao at 1 62 In the m n ta n Décret a 5 8 . ele e ry divisio boarders a £40 i n the mm n £ 44 i n the s n p y , gra ar divisio , superior divi io £ 48 i n m t m t t s the , special a he a ics (where hey have, perhap , best s ci en ti ﬁc an d mathematical teachin g to be go t an ywhere) - i n the m n ta n £ 6 i n £ 60 . s rs Day chola pay, ele e ry divisio , m an m m t 1 mm £ 8 i n an t s d t £ 0 . gra ar , hu i ie special a he a ics UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 5

hi s tu to r we u l s a — , as sho d y, that is , the professor who ben eﬁt o u t o f o f gives him the , class hours,

co n eren ces n r e e certain f and exami ations , and the p ti tewr who — , helps him with his lesson, as well as his class instruction and his board ; for the day

nl hi s scholar, it o y includes class instruction, and £3 £5 he pays from to a year extra, according to

fo r tu to r m his place in the school , . This akes a

’ day scholar s expense come to from £9 to £1 5 a

- year. Some boys are half boarders , passing the

’

8 AM . 8 P at l M . cee twelve hours from to the y ,

o ater getting their dinner and their g there, but n o t o r n breakfasting, supping, sleepi g ; these have l £22 £34 the fu l instruction, and they pay from to

’ extern e s u rvei lle - who a year. The is a day scholar

’ learns his lessons i n the salle d étn de under the

’ ’ o ff hi s usher s eye, and is thus parents hands

u r o f i t the whole day except an ho in the middle , but has no meals at the school ; he pays, as an

- n ordi n ary day scholar with the full instructio , £1 5 80 3 from £9 to a year, and francs (about

n g uineas) a year besides fo r superinte dence . But all the boarding- scholars of a lyeee whi ch takes boarders are not boarders of the lycée itself 336 HIGHER SCHOOLS IN FRANCE

’ and many of the day- scholars o f a lycee which takes no boarders are boarders , though not in the l eee At l e n y . Louis Gra d, for instance, the greatest

’ o f l cees 800 i n tern es an d the y , there are boarders ( )

5 00 day -scholars (extern es) ; but all these extern es

n o t do live at home . Charlemagne and Bonaparte

i n tern at - have no , they are day schools ; but the population o f Bonaparte is thus divided : day

who o f 1 5 1 scholars live at home ( these , are

’ extern es s u rvei lles 707 - who ) , ; day scholars are at a

- 4 93 1 200 An d o f boarding house, ; total, . that

u : - who Charlemagne th s day scholars live at home ,

200 (70 o f them extern es s wrvei llés) ; day - scholars

ho - 90 990 A w 7 . are at a boarding house , ; total, boarding - house o f this kind is called in France

ensi o n i ns ti tu ti on che de p , its director is called f

’ d ati o n ens i on che i ns ti t . p , f

l o r These estab ishments are private, , as the

’ eco le li bre i nsti French prefer to call them, free ( ,

n br e tu ti o li ) .

338 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1

N de mn ati o n incapable of keeping a school . either can he have hi s school - room in ruins o r under

’ conditions dangero us to his pupils health o r morality ; fo r if it is a new school he is establish

ing, he has to signify his intention beforehand to

o f the academic authority his department, and if

o f this authority makes objection , the Council

Public Instruction in Paris, in the last resort, I decides . f within a month the academic authority

i s hi s makes no objection , he then free to open school ; but it is at all times liable to inspection by the academic authority o r the inspectors- general o f i n secondary instruction, to ascertain that noth g

o r ff contrary to health, morality, the law, is su ered

o to g o n there . The inspector of a school of this

i ts kind does not meddle with instruction .

Much the most famous o f these institutions i s

i s i n Sainte Barbe, near the Pantheon it the

l o neighbourhood of Louis Grand, and boards a great number of boys who follow the classes of

l c that y ee. Sainte Barbe answers more than any thing else I saw in France to a public school with u s ; I do not mean at all in the mode of manage ment and teaching, which is that of all French V I UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 339

s school ; but it is not a State establishment, and i yet has antiquity, mportant buildings , a great

i u s loci en s . connection , a g , and general con ideration

M Labro u s te o f I Its head , . , is a member the mperial

o f ili Council Public Instruction . Many fam es

l eée o l o which frequent the great classical y , L uis i Grand, have used Sainte Barbe as their board ng house for generati ons ; the College R olli n was once held here ; and the prosperity of the establishment is now so great that it has recently founded a Vanves of its own for its little boys at Fontenay k aux Roses , near Paris ; and Fontenay, li e Vanves, is well worth seeing . But just because it has this

o f exceptional character, Sainte Barbe, course, is not a good sample o f the French p ensi ons ; neither s is it a good example of the French private school , because its chief function, though it has classes of

o wn r its , is to serve as a g eat hereditary boarding

Se hou s e to the frequenters of Louis l e Grand . I

ensi on will go elsewhere for specimens of the p ,

u s which now occupies .

ﬁles These institutions abound in Paris, and the o funi form -wearing schoolboys whom one meets in the streets are generall y p ens i o n n ai r es going under 340 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 the care o f the master o f the p en s i o n or o n e of his ushers to or from the lyeee whose classes they

T i ask I di d follow . he Commissioners w ll , as , i why, if a boy is not to l ve at home, but to be a

o boarder somewhere, he does not g and board at

l eée the y whose classes he follows . The answer in the case of Sainte Barbe to the question why the i ns ti tu ti on l eee i s has the preference over the y ,

I o ld di as have said, here tary connection . But generally the answer is thi s : parents seek a some what less vast assemblage of boys, a somewhat more domestic management, and a somewhat more attentive supervision o f studies out of class

ﬁn d o r ﬁ n d hours than they , think they , at the l eée At ti i n e ik y . the same they l e the name o f the l eee S o y , its guarantees , and its professors . they

ens i o n ﬁft send their boy to a p where he is with y,

two r n o t o r a hundred, hund ed boys, with four

’ ﬁv e hundred ; where the master s wife i mports the femini ne element into the di rection of household

f bo af airs, and where their y gets more looked after in learning his lessons, and better tutored ; and then he is to add to thi s the ben eﬁt o f the lyeee

statu s - professors and the of a public school boy .

342 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 good the older boys have excellent rooms to themselves the younger ones are not more than two or thr ee i n a room ; the ti me gi ven to recrea tion i s something more than i n the i n ternats o fthe l cées is y , and the whole establ hment has a more domestic character than they have , and not their i mi . As rigid, formal, and l tary air to lessons and M ’ e . sports, how ver, the difference between Cousin s

’ ’ l cee i s and the y , to an Englishman s notions , slight ;

i n i h the system is the ma n muc the same, and necessarily s o ; but there is no doubt that the preparation of the boys for their classes, and the

o f l eée individual help given them out y hours, is M ’ much more considerable at . Cousin s ; indeed, one may s ay roundly that he employs professors

i n tern at where the only employs ushers . The

' con er ences re eti ti on s o f l cee n f and p the y are, i deed, by professors , and are designed to meet the want of tutoring ; but the amount o f these which

’ falls to the i n tern e s share i s n o t to be compared

’ with the amount he gets o fsalle d étade work under

’ who di ﬁ eren t an usher, is as from a professor as chalk from cheese ; and it is the object o festablish

’ ’

M . mai tre r e eti teu r ments like Cousin s to make the p , UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 343

nl as tutor, disappear, and come in o y as watchman,

hi s and, as tutor, to put the professor in place . i M . fo r Th s Cousin does, and it is the best ground his high charges . I M must add that . Cousin himself is an ex functionary of public instruction , and that the success he enjoys seemed to me thoroughly well earned .

s M I s i u A . n t t ti on Cousin feeds Bonaparte, so the

M n As ass i feeds Charlemagne . Bonaparte is a

i l eée s o i s somewhat fash onable y , Charlemagne a

’ l cee somewhat democratic y ; selected, in general , by poor but clever school - boys from the provi nces whose parents wis h to give them the advantage of

’ o f l cees I o n one the great y of Paris . t is the right

o f bank the Seine , but beyond the wealthy quarter.

i n ter n at - ﬁfths o f Charlemagne has no , yet four its

en i o pupi ls are boarders . They board in p s ns not

M I ns ti tu ti o n Massi n like that of . Cousin ; and the i n b —a has the Marais close y, quarter which long

to ri — ceased be a stocratic and fashionable, is a

m I was 1 81 0 good sa ple of them . t founded in , at

i o f the rev val secondary instruction in France, by M . Massin , from whom it takes its name its 344 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1

M who o f present head is . Lesage, has the grade

’ ’ o f a re e was fo r licentiate, the title g g , and twelve

. H e years a professor at Charlemagne too, then, is no adventurer, and may be supposed to know

An li his busi ness . Eng shman can at once see the difference between the domestic arrangements at

’ ' M l cee . Cousin s and those of a y , though the general course o f study and play will seem to him to be

two t pretty much alike at the places . A the

I ns ti tu ti on Massi n the march of the domestic arrangements and the aspect o fthe premises seem

f l e to me not to dif er much from those of the y ée . ’ ff The expense at M . Lesage s di ers very little from that at a lycee ; in France it is a very small body i of parents wh ch will exceed this rate, and the

ens i o n s — o f p , therefore, the immense majority them, — keep their charges very near the rate o f the At M ’ public schools . . Lesage s the charges for boys in special mathematics are slightly lower

’ than those in the i n ter nat o f a lycee ; for other boys

ﬁv e they are from to ten pounds a year higher.

That is to say, a boy in humanities at Charlemagne M . M . fo r who boards with Lesage , pays Lesage

1 200 fr his board and tuition . a year, and pays

346 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND VI it says much in favour o f the lyeée classes that the boys ﬁt fo r them almost invariably pay the fees and follow them . M ’ o f in . The aspect th gs at Lesage s , the internal

s alles arrangements, the large dormitories, the

’ ’ d el u de , the courts, the chapel, are all to an

En gli sh eye hardly distinguishable from those o f

’ cee a ly . The meals are the same ; a sister is to be seen in the i n ﬁrm ary ; there are the two an mon i ers i to give rel gious instruction to the Catholics, and the Protestant min isters to pick o u t their sheep

tem le and conduct them to the p . There is the same preparation for the degree o f bachelor as at

l eées the y , even the same special preparation for i 1 the great Government schools as at Saint Lou s .

' o r be m o re e ffecti v e Only there is, is believed to , a and sustained tutoring there is Madame Lesage to give an eye to the younger boys o r to invalids ; the movement o f the whole establishment does not

s o n an d seem entirely mecha ical , the numbers ,

1 At Sain t Louis the spe c ial an d elemen tary mathematics of the ordin ary lycées are organ ised with pecu l iar an d min ute r n to the m n t n s the n m n t efere ce exa i a io of several Gover e schools , “ an d take the title of Ecole Préparatoire au x Ecoles Spéciales d m n two - s u Gouvern e e t . There is a year cour e of special m t m t a he a ics . UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 347

n o t i n ter n ats o f though large, are , as in the the

l eées o f s s o bo great y Pari , vast that a y feels lost

i n ter n at in them . Charlemagne having no , it is

who n o t i obvious that a boy does l ve in Paris, and

o wants to g to Charlemagne, must board elsewhere

e n than at Charl magne . But the otion that a p en si on is more homelike and less barrack - li ke

i n tern at l eée than the of a y , that there is more

n indi vidual care, and that the tutori g is better

o f done, tells in some degree, no doubt, in favour

’ M as an establishment like . Lesage s , well as in

’ M i n ‘ a f . favour o one like Cousin s, though the c se

’ a I f m of M . Les ge s , as have said, the dif erence fro

a lyeée is not very perceptible. There are p ens i on s formed o n some special

o f n a o r principle grouping, such as natio lity

religion ; for instance, for Polish boys frequenting

l cées n n the y , for Protestant boys freque ti g the

' l cees y ; of course, with this further tie between the

o f i nmates, the principle association becomes still

The o f less mechanical . march the institution,

o f fo r however, its scale expense, and the reasons

i t I n i n n preferring , will be found, thi k , early all

cases pretty much what I have described them. 348 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

But the Commissioners will desire to hear o f

' humbler public schools than the great lycees o f

u s Colle e Co mmu nal Paris . Let then take the g at

u l o u r Bo ogne, close at own door, which almost any

u s i A i o f may have an opportun ty of seeing . ga n

d o n e a large, imposing building ; it stan s in of the

principal streets of the town, and it gives its name,

R u e da Co lle e o f . A g , to one the side streets gain

o f the University France, with its guarantees and inspection ; Co llege Commu nal de Bo u l ogn e -swr-Mer ;

’ I ns tr u cti on Pu bli u e Academi e ( le D o aai i s q , the

o f T i full style the institution . he public establ sh

” fo r ments secondary instruction , says the organic

1 law, are the lyceums and the communal colleges .

- Boarding houses may form part of them. The lyceums are founded and maintained by the State,

2 with the c o - operation of the departments and town s . The communal colleges are founded and maintained by the communes . In order to establish

fu lﬁl a communal college, every town must the following conditions : it must furn ish premises

to suitable for the purpose, and undertake keep

1 ’ i ment ar 1 2 4 . 1 ars 1 8 0 su r Z Ens e ne t . 5 L o i di e 5 m 5 g , 7 , 7 , 7 , 7 2 This c c -operation con sists i n the foun dation of scholarships

3 5 0 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND the elemen tary divi sion and the division of

o f . An d grammar, but that humanities also it is

o f the college the municipality, kept in its own

en r i e l hands, and entrusted ég only (as it is cal ed) i to the principal as their functionary. Somet mes the communal college is made entir ely over to the principal, with a subvention from the municipality, and the condition annexed that he shall take a

o f certain number scholars on certain terms . hi Beyond t s, he may make what he can out of the

hi s o wn T school, and he conducts it at risk . he

o f M h principal the Boulogne College, . Blaring em, told me that he had held a mun icipal college in i th s manner, but that he preferred to hold it as at

n r i e ﬁ xe d I e . hi m present, w , with a salary asked if it was not more lucrative to be able to charge

’ fo r o n e i h i one s boarders what l ked, instead of av ng i f the tar f settled by authority he said, no, because

f ﬁx ed the public school tari f , with the most rare exceptions , the tariff for all the schools in the A I country . nd this is what have again and again been told .

S e the Boul ogn e College has its council of

i l c e adm nistration, like a y é , to overlook its business VI UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 35 1

ff o u n a airs , and to g through its acco ts in concert

’ o f l cee with the principal, as the council a y goes w through them in concert ith the provisor. Only

as the college is a municipal institution, while the l eée n i s F y is a State institutio , and it the rench ru l e that the admi nistration of a public establish

n ment shall mai ly belong to that public authority, — whether the State, the department, or the

— i mmwi ate commune, with which it is in con n e c ti o n u i o f , the co ncil of adm nistration the I i Bo ulogne college is a municipal body . t cons sts

- l of the mayor, the ex mayor, a judge of the civi

ri u l t bunal at Boulogne, the president of the Bo ogne tribunal of commerce, and two lawyers, one of

them a member of the Boulogne municipal council,

’ o f the other the mayor s adjoint . The scale school charges is ﬁx ed by thi s body in concert with the

i o f principal, and w th the sanction the rector of f A o . the cademy Douai, to which Boulogne belongs The charges are much lower for French boys than A 1 2 £23 at Paris . boarder under pays but a year ; over 1 2 but under 1 5 he pays £25 ; above

’ 28 - o ld 1 5 £ . , The day scholar s fee is the Paris

1 0 fr 1 85 3 0 . school fee before , For English 35 2 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1

o i hi boys ( whom there are several) the rate is gher, because they have to be taught the French language but fo r them the rate i s not in itself

fo r 1 2 £39 high ; boarders under years of age, a

1 2 1 5 £42 1 5 £4 8 i s year, from to , , above , . Engl h

- 4 £ £5 o r £8 . day scholars pay , , T he school arrangements, hours, and lessons are just the same as in a lyeée ; there is primary instruction for the little boys , then an elementary and a grammar divi sion wi th thei r regu l ar classes ; then humanities conducting to the degree of

h s ci e n ti ﬁc bac elor of letters , and a training con

r ducting to a deg ee in sciences, and to the great f Government Schools . The college staf consists, — besides the chaplain, the teachers of modern

languages . and drawing, and a primary school

—o i master, the principal, and twelve regents , one fo r o n e h fo r philosophy, for istory, three science and mathematics , seven for classics . The principal must hold at least the degree o f bachelor ; eight o f the twelve regents (all above the division of

o f grammar) must hold the degree licentiate, the

o f other four must hold that bachelor. The degrees I of licentiate and bachelor are obtained, as have

35 4 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1

schools, of all the chief endowed grammar schools t of this coun ry, and of the chief schools of modern

foundation, such as Cheltenham and Marlborough . Certainly a good many of the endowed schools in the list do not at present rank as high as even a i communal college ; but giv ng all of them, and all of the schools of modern foundation enumerated

in the calendar, the rank of public schools , and

ni adding their population to that of the ne schools ,

I ﬁ n d that o u r public - school boys in England number (i n round ﬁgu res ) to match the

- o f I public school boys France. think the

I was English reader will be startled, as , by this

If - compari son . a public school education is an

hi s advantage , then t advantage is enjoyed by more boys in France than with u s .

Therefore pri vate education is by i ts volume a much less important affai r in France than with u I s . cannot pretend to give any accurate statistics o f i t 1 395 . There are said to be institutions of secondary i nstruction in France conducted by lay men o r by the secular clergy ; the clerical semin

—223 — i i n aries, therefore, in number, are ncluded 1 3 . 95 this body of schools The , schools have a VI UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 35 5

33 total of scholars . There are, besides, instituti ons o f secondary m s tru cti o n belonging to religious corporations ; these 33 have a total of 2 hi 5 85 . scholars T s gives, in round numbers,

boys in private secondary schools, clerical

i n and lay, against the secondary schools T of the State . he French Government are intend ing to brin g out a great stati stical work on second ill ary instruction, and this w contain interesting information on the number and population of the private schools ; but this work is still onl y i n

I ﬁ n d 1 3 1 prospect . that Paris contains private

’ se condary schools (etabli s sements li br es d i ns trwzti on

u bli u e i p q ) , but in th s number are included estab

’ M I ns ti tu ti o n li shmen ts like . Cousin s and the

Massi n nl li , acting mai y as feeders to the pub c schools and a very large number of the 1 31 are If places of this kind. we take the departments , where the private secondary schools are almost

’ l cees we l uni versally independent of the y , sha l be struck with their i n s i gni ﬁcan t number compared

n u s with what we are used to in Engla d . Let take the Academy of Paris . The district of this

n : Academy includes nine departme ts Seine, Cher, 3 5 6 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND VI

e t e t Eure Loir, Loir Cher, Loiret, Marne , Oise,

e t e t . Seine Marne, Seine Oise Setting aside the metropolitan department, the number of the private

: secondary schools is as follows in Cher, four ; in

e t e t Eure Loir, four in Loir Cher, four ; in Loiret,

s i x ﬁ v e e t four ; in Marne, ; in Oise, ; in Seine

e t Marne, eleven ; and in Seine Oise (a department

u asi q metropolitan, of which Versailles is the

5 7 . capital), nineteen in all These same eight 1 departments contain four lyeees and twenty - o n e communal colleges . Two private establishments which I visited I will mention, because they both enjoy a high

o f reputation . One is the school Sainte Genevieve

’ i n e s u i ts the Rue des Postes, the other is the J

u i d Va rar . Vau i rard school at g Like the school at g , the school in the Rue des Postes is in the hands f o the religious . Both are considerably more ex

a pensive than the public schools, keep up brisk competition with them, and make them very

. a jealous . This is particularly the c se with the school in the Rue des Postes, which is a special

1 ’ The easy access to the great lycees of the metropolitan departmen t explain s the fewn es s of the lyeées i n the other t s a m t t departmen ts of hi cade y dis ric .

35 8 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1

employ. Their charges are high , and they can i afford to prov de thoroughly good teaching.

Private tuition is an extra, and their pupils are the sons of weal thy people and can afford thi s mi t i l extra . They ad their pupils w th carefu tests as to character and capacity, and they keep them for the ﬁrs t three months on probation ; the seclusion is greater than in the lyeées ; the boys

“ have leave out but once a month i nstead o f once a fortnight ; visits in the p arloi r are permi tted N only twice a week instead of every day. o hi wonder, then, that t s abundance of care, coneen trati o n i , and appliances bears fru t, and that the candidates from the Rue des Postes are remarkably successful in the exami nations for the Government schools . I was parti cularly struck with the good appear

o f l eées I ance the boys here . In the y had been struck with their good manners , and the natural t politeness they showed, down quite to the lit le

o f boys, when tried by the unusual incident the entrance o f a stranger and a forei gner into their school- room ; I am sure in England there would

have been much less rising and bowing, and much VI UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 35 9

more staring and giggling but here , besides

n I having good manners , the boys certai ly looked ,

l eées thought, fresher and better than in the y . They are a great many of them the sons of the o ld mi o f noble fa lies France, amongst which, as is well known, Catholic sentiment is strong . They have probably had more advantages fo r their health and growth and good looks than the mass o f l eée the y boys , and the grounds and recreation

n o t n of the school itself, though without a ge eral

’ e l cee n resemblance to thos of a y , had somethi g much more attractive in them . The great religious

house, with its large cool galleries looking on the

o f o ld o f convents and gardens that quarter Paris ,

ﬁ u re s o f and the g the religious moving about, had certainly a repose and refreshment for the spirits which in the great barrack -like machine of a lycée is wanting .

’ The same may be said o f the Je s u i ts school at

d n Vau gi rar . This school is even more i teresting

o f than that the Rue des Postes, being a complete

o f s ci en ti ﬁc . school , while that is only a set classes

i rard o At Vau g they g through the whole course ,

l eees hi lo as in the y , from primary instruction to p 360 HIGHER SCHOOL S AND VI

’ s o hi e an d mathemati aes s eci al es . H p g p ere, too, as in the Rue des Postes, they are very successful in the exami nations for the great Government s Schools ; and for the ame reasons . The boys are all boarders the fees are high (about the same rate as in the Rue des Postes) ; no expense need be

- spared, and the tutoring as well as the class lesson

n is very careful and good . The i struction is given

fo r by the religious, and as they work love and for the good of their order, of course one great — cause of expense in lay schools the payment o f

— o f teachers i s cut f. I heard the teaching in

hi loso hi e r h tori u e natri eme p p , é q , g , and the ele

e u i mentary divi sion . The J s ts seemed to me

r quite to merit their reputation as teache s . The

ri supe or is in every respect a remarkable man .

H e was a disti nguished pupil o f the Eco le Normale ;

e s u i t then he became a J , and, of course, quitted the service of the State ; but his experience in

l Eeele Nor mal e fo r the is no bad thing his school . The good appearance o f the boys struck me here

o f as in the Rue des Postes, and the number well known names one heard among the boys was curious, and showed from what class this school

3 62 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND VI

region full of trees and gardens . The Je s u i t school is at the extremity o f Vau gi rard and gets the air

o f . the country In the Rue des Postes, too, the

i s fo r boys are older, and it the little boys that the cast- iron movement of the lycée appears most dismal, and the guidance of the ecclesiastical hand in bringing them up seems most protectin g and

n i natural . Somethi g of this eccles astical shelter we are used to in the great schools and universi ties in England and perhaps it is on this account that in S pite o f all which is to be said against the

e s u i ts n I J and their traini g, could not help feeling that the Vau gi rard school was of all the schools I saw in France the one in which I would soonest have been a schoolboy .

’ e Lac o rdai re s I Sor ze, school , which have else 1 was ﬁrs t- where described, a class private school

as Vau i rard under the Dominicans , g under the

o fl eée o r colle e Jes u i ts . The law forbids the title y g to be taken by any private establishments , but the Minister of Public Instruction can authori se certai n old established schools of this kind to keep the

1 ’ A Fr ench Eton or Mi dd le - Clas s Edu cati on and the See ,

S tate . VI UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 363

colle e if i name of g they have been used to bear t. It is in this way that two out of the seven great

o f i R o lli n Stan i slas classical schools Par s , and , get

colle e. Th n o t the title of g ey, however, though

is nl State establ hments, not o y follow the same

’ e i l eées ro course of t ach ng as the y , but employ p fe s s o rs of the same stamp . Private establi s hments

I a are bound , as have alre dy said, to have for their head the holder of the degree of bachelor at least, o r else of a c erti ﬁc ate of capacity ; but for their assistant teachers they may employ whom they l wi l . But they are bound to keep a register with

u the f ll name, age, and birthplace of each assistant whom they employ, and to produce it whenever

An d the inspector requ i r es . the authorities of 1 public instruction have the power, in a case of m misconduct o r immorality, to repri and, suspend , di or altogether i nter ct from teaching, either the

hi s s head of a private school or any of as istants, with the right of appeal, when the penalty goes

e i so far as suspension or int rd ction, to the Imperial A i Council in Pari s . teacher nterdicted cannot be employed thenceforth in an y school public o r

’ 1 ei nemen t art . 67 68. L oi da 1 5 mars 1 85 0 su r l Ens g , , 364 HIGHER SCHOOLS IN FRANCE v 1

I private . These powers seem extensive ; but am bound to s ay that all the private teachers whom I asked informed me that they were exercised in a way to cause no complaint ; and that neither as to authori sing the establis hment o f a pri vate

h ﬁrs t secondary sc ool in the place, nor as to

o r was inspecting interfering with it afterwards, the action of Government i n the least degree unfair or vexatious .

’ semi nai r es The , where the clergy are educated, are under ecclesiastical management . They are 1 nominally subject to State superintendence ; but s o far as I could learn thi s superintendence comes

n to nothing, and no i spector ever enters them .

1 L o t d a 1 5 mars 1 85 0 art 0 , . 7 .

3 66 H IGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 1 perfection o f drill that o n e sometimes ﬁn ds in the

i n I best elementary schools England , but rarely,

i . th nk , in our classical schools Our government through prepositors or prefects, and our fagging,

are unknown in the French schools ; for the former, the continual presence and supervi sion o f the

’ ’ mai tre d etn de leaves no place ; the latter is

i The s e t abhorrent to French deas . of modern

i ni i s a t op on undoubtedly gainst agging, and per haps also agai nst government through the sixth form ; one may doubt, however, whether the force o f old and cherished custom, the removal of excess

i n x and abuses the e ercise of these two powers,

ben eﬁts i o f and certain undeniable attend ng that ,

o f two at any rate, the latter the , may not yet long preserve them in the great English schools . The

h o f ﬂo i n same can ardly be said gg g, which , with

e n term di i t o n e out g mto long scussions about , may say the modern spiri t has irrevocably con

‘ demn ed s o i t as a school punishment, that will

u n more and more come to appear half disg sti g,

fin d half ridiculous , and a teacher will it more and more di fficu lt to i n fli c t it wi thout a loss o f

- i n self respect . The feel g on the Continent is very v 11 UNIVER SITIES IN FRANCE 367

i m strong on this poi nt. The pun sh ents in the

French schools are i mpositions and c o n ﬁn emen t ;

' I a ki n d u n i s hmen t- arade at Vanves saw of p p , the

n rbu n d t culprits being marched rou d and a cour .

h i s The employment of punis ments, however,

i u s certa nly less than with , and here, too, the great number of school hours saves the French

u lt schoolmaster from a di fﬁc y . It is a part of the

’ to l censor s business co lect, and to give at the end

e i of every we k to the prov sor, a report from the usher on the behaviour, and from the professor on the progress, of each boy in the school ; at the end of every quarter the provi sor forwards the s u m

e mary of these reports to the par nts . Comparing the instruction with that of our own great classical schools, one is at once struck by the fact that the French schools carry Greek by no

e means so far as w do . Their Greek composition

i s is next to nothing there no Greek verse, and even the Greek exercise has lately been abolished

me secon de was in tr oi s i e and , on the ground that it

n o t the merest grammatical exercise, carried far enough to give the pupil the least power o freally

o f wri ting Greek , and that an exercise this sort 3 68 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 1

me ff was o u t o fplace after tr oi s i e began . Di erent

’ lycees have a special reputation fo r different branches o f instruction ; thu s Saint Louis i s

l e famous for mathematics , Louis Grand for the humanities generally, Charlemagne for Greek .

e But ven at Charlemagne the upper boys, whom

I u heard at lesson under a disting ished professor,

M Bo i s si er i i k . , had certainly noth ng l e the mastery of Greek of the upper boys in our best public schools ; one mi ght almost s ay that in the iambics l of Sophocles they could get along pretty wel , but

was l that any chorus decided y too much for them . The Greek lessons are much fewer in number than

u s u u with . The gro nding seemed to me good eno gh .

The little boys in si xi eme whom I heard at Bo n a p ar te saying their Greek grammar left nothing to be desired .

In Latin the French schools seem to me qu i te equal with ours perhaps it i s from the afﬁ n i ty o f w the language ith their own , but they seem, if there is a di fference between o u r best schools and

an d theirs, to be more at home with Latin, to take

do to it more kindly than we do . They not, how

o f n ever, get through nearly so much the Lati

370 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v n

their lesson out of a book a good deal more . In o u r elementary schools I have often regretted that

s o o f the master teaches the lessons much, instead

i n mak g the boys, as in our classical schools, learn it beforehand ; the French professors proceed more i like our elementary teachers in th s respect, and

teaches then, when the master the lesson, of course there has to be a great deal of goi ng over it again

etu de con ereme afterwards, in the or the f . The l eees i y have much more of th s than our schools ,

I am a and inclined to prefer, at least for te ching classics , our plan, which makes the boy depend i more on h mself, and, above all, takes him through a great deal more of an author .

t The French use books of selections a grea deal , and I believe Rugby was rather an exception to the common rule of the English public schools in I using them in the higher forms so very little . suppose no o n e who has been used to the Rugby

ik A t practice can much l e the other. bou their

school books in general the French are conservative, and amusing stories are told o f German scholars at Paris pointing out errors in the received school

ﬁn e fo r books, and getting a , instead of thanks, VI I UNIVERSITIES IN FRANGE 3 7 1

i r the pains . It is a just instinct, however, which makes the French university cling to ﬁxi ty in its i elementary school books , and the r boys learn A grammar better than ours in consequence . boy does not enter into the rati onale of grammar ; what he wants is a system of clear categories to refer

i n ﬁn i ti v e 7 the cases in his reading to . What is that

- It hi ne s ar ere voces comes under the p g category.

— ‘ 7— Why is it p ati en ti ct after abater e By the rule

n tor that and its compounds take an ablative. T his is a good mental exercise for a boy, and he is capable of i t ; but that he may practise it with

hi s h l advantage, categories s ou d be as plain and

as ﬁrml ﬁ xe d hi s few possible, and should be y in

’ own mind and in his questioner s . When he is capable of comprehending the rati onale of grammar

ff con s u lt (quite another a air) , he is of an age to a

i t hi s grammar, not learn , and grammar can then

u ll f hardl y be too philosophical and f . Hal a dozen grammars of thi s kind are s u fﬁci en t for the needs

we of a whole school . But , and the Germans too, keep trying to put the rati on ale o f grammar into

ﬁrs t i s the grammar, the grammar that learnt, not

’ consul ted ; the boy s mental di gestion rejects the 37 2 HIGHER SCHOOL S AND v u

rati ona le ﬁ xi t , and meanwhile the y needed for categories to whi ch he i s promptly and precisely to hi s —an f hi s refer all cases, ef ort of which mind

— s acri ﬁc ed is perfectly capable, is . Thus, with all l the fau ts of the old Latin grammar, twenty years ago boys of twelve and thirteen di d their grammar

s work a thou and times better than they do it now, because the substance of ﬁ xi ty of categories had not then been abandon ed for the shadow of

e U i h I rati on al . p to a certain po nt, t erefore , think the French authorities wi se in thei r zeal for

ﬁxi t - y of text book . From the bottom of the French schools to the

ﬁn ds i i top one recitat on, read ng, and exercises , in

i s the mother tongue . Writing French as con

’ s i derabl e i i a n a part of a boy s work as wr t ng L ti . S e far is this pushed that there are to be found in France hostile cri tics of the lyeées who s ay that to judge by their teachin g yo u would suppose every bo y in them was meant to be afterwards by profession a man of letters . It is probable too much stress may be laid on teaching matters of i l terary workmanship and style, graces which ,

n as ean tar n on an t after all, ﬁ ; but the reading and

3 7 4 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 1

an educated, competent German, a man in whom

a his employers have a good bargain, te ching in a

ﬁ n d i s French school, than to an Engl hman of like

a i s n o t stamp there . With these dr wbacks much

f I i nk at present ef ected ; but more, th (still speak

o u r a ing from my own remembrance of gre t schools) , than is done with u s ; partly because the con di ti o n s u n of the problem are better derstood, partly m because its soluti on i s more seri ously atm pte d. Geography forms the object of di s tinct lessons o f which the graduated course i s traced in the mi nisterial programme . Neither the German i t classical schools nor ours teach , in general, in thi s manner ; and after the elementary classes it i s surely best taught in connection with other

f o f fo r lessons , which af ord plenty occasions

i n i t hi teach g , and give a better chance, by attac ng

o f i it to interesting events, making it l kely to be remembered and more than a dry and soon lost F nomenclature . The professor in rance uses the blackboard and traces outline maps with an adroitness and accuracy which may often be seen I in our elementary schools, but not often, think ,

al in our classic . V II UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 3 7 5

H to o istory, , is taught according to a graduated

hi o f programme, w ch begins in the lowest class r i — the g ammar d vision with the East, Egypt and

As — ia, and proceeds through Greece and Rome

s ﬁn i s hi n to the hi tory of the modern nations , g, as I hi l have already said , in the p osophy class with contemporary history . The programme system,

c o m the programme being drawn, as it is, by a — petent hand and with great care, seems to me

vi i f of ser ce here . It gives the teacher h msel a

i n valuable clue, serves to guide his read g, and leads him to group hi s ideas an d methodise hi s

I nk teachi ng . do not thi any educated man could read the programme of Middle - Age and

’ modern history for the French lycees without

ro ﬁt — m i n hi s p , without being re inded of gaps

ﬁll . knowledge, and stimulated to them The hi s tory lessons I heard given to the higher classes were evidence in favour of the system , for

- they were well arranged and very i nterestin g .

Modern languages , geography, and history have an ayrégati o n of their own ; that for modern languages havi n g been introduced by the present m o f S inister . They have thus , course , pecial 37 6 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 1

I professors , and are not taught, as remember them

to taught in our schools , by each classical master

o wn his form .

As often as I approach mathematics an d

I am o wn natural sciences, confronted by my

s a ignorance of them, and warned not to y much .

i I s aw I Someth ng, however, of what heard and

n F must report as well as I c a . The rench have a reputation for their teaching of these matters ;

i s i t their language excellent for , and their text books are clear and good . But what strikes one

n o f a most, is the promi ence oral te ching here ; hi and oral teac ng seems here in its right place .

The text -book is merely the basis of the pro

’ fe s s o r s i u i nstr ction, and by tself can give no idea of what the French mathematical teaching is . In di these stu es , again, the programmes seem to be o f i re advantage, and the system of rev sion and

o f h I petition lessons, w ich in classics thought

s o i n pushed too far, is serviceable mathematics and natural sciences that it may well have got its l I currency from its usefu ness in these branches . never shall forget the impression made upon me by teacher and pupils in the class of mathémati qu es

37 8 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND VII

But the French lay the greatest stress o n the

o f n importance teachi g the natural sciences, and regard mathematics as subsidiary to this object ; they severely criticise our Cambridge teaching fo r

s o devoting itself exclusively to pure mathematics, and making the instrument into an end . The barrenness in great men and great results which has since Newton’ s time attended the Cambridge mathematical teaching is mainly due, they say, to

’ o n this false tendency . Comte s judgment the

o f study sidereal astronomy is well known, and the leaning of practice and opinion among French mathematical teachers at present tends in the same direction as that judgment .

the fo r In general, respect professed in France the mathematical and s ci e n ti ﬁc teachin g of our secondary schools is as low as that professed for A e o u r classical teaching is high . Fr nch school master who had seen a number of our schools said

: n o t ri to me Your boys do learn a thmetic, the science o f numbers ; they learn to reckon (te

An d every o n e who has watched a French teacher employing with hi s pupils the simple

’ ’ r edacti o n a l an i te process called , and has also V 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 37 9

’ watched an En glish boy s bewil dered dealin g with

l o f s u m hi s a ru e three , and heard questions about

” i ts statement, which to him is a mere trick , learnt mechanically, not understood, and easily

di ii er misapplied, has a good notion of the

' ence between the arithmetic o f French and o f

English schools . I must not forget to add that our geometry teachin g was in foreign eyes s u fﬁ c i en tly condemned when it was said that we still

Eu cli d d e used . One of the great sins of Cambri g

Eu cli d I am was her retention of . bound to say that the Germans and the Swiss entirely

F o n Eu cli d agree with the rench this point . , they

was o u t all said, quite of date, and was a thoroughly u n ﬁt text - book to teach geometry I from . was, of course , astounded ; and when I asked why Eu cli d was an u n ﬁt text - book I ’ to teach geometry from , was told that Euclid s pre positions were drawn out with a view to

i t vi meet all possible cav ls, and not wi h a ew o f developing geometrical ideas in the most lucid and natural manner . This to me, in my

ignorance, sounded plausible ; but at any rate the foreign con sens u s against the u s e of Eu cli d is 3 80 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 1

i I something str king , and cannot but call the

’ to i t En glish reader s attention .

I aamén i ers have several times mentioned the , l or chaplains , attached to the French pub ic schools .

N o f h one these sc ools, secondary or primary, are secul ar schools ; in all o fthem religious i nstruction

I i o f is given . t is g ven , too, in the vast majority

’ An i n private schools . hour s lesson the week, certain exercises and prizes in conn ection with i i this lesson, and serv ce on Sundays , are what th s

instruction amounts to in the secondary schools . The provisor and the chaplain regulate it between them ; that of Catholi c boys is under the in spection o f o r the bishop of the diocese his delegate, in J concert wi th the provi sor. Protestant and ewish boys receive the religious instruction of their own

mu tati s mu tanali s communion, regulated, , precisely l like that of Catholic boys . The great ycées o f Paris have Protestant and Je wi sh chaplains attached to them, just as they have Catholic

o r chaplains . Where Protestants Jews are not numerous enough for the school to have a special

o f chaplain for them , boys those persuasions still receive their religious instruction from ministers of

382 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v n shows a certain hostili ty to them and it is re markable that in the secondary schools 1 of that

ni great ma festation of the modern spirit, the French

Revolution, only two professors out of fourteen were

belles -lettres Na o l eo n I assigned to classics and . p , as i have already mentioned, did away w th the central

a ir schools , and restored L tin and Greek to the old s u remac bu t b u rcati on p y, the if , which began as early 1 821 as , showed the tendency to elude, when it was im possible to gainsay, that supremacy. The i hi i upper pr mary schools, w ch were nstituted by

’ M u i zo t s 1 833 . G school legislation in , were another attempt to get rid of di fﬁcu lti es caused by that h supremacy . The two great municipal sc ools of l Co lle e Cha tal Eeole Tu r o t Paris, the g p and the g ,

Colle e Cha tal 1 were another. The g p has 000 600 £40 scholars , of them boarders paying a year .

Eco le Twr o t h nl The y takes day sc olars o y, paying

6 £ o f from £ to 7 a year. The director this latter

I M Mar ri n . u e school, which visited, is g , a gentle man who was sent by the Prefect of the Seine to l see our secondary schoo s in London, and whose

report on what he saw there is well worth reading .

1 n t s n s t t t the n n t n i n 1 93 The ce ral school i i u ed by Co ve io 7 . v n UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 383

In both these establishments Latin and Greek are

eirclu ded i s wholly from the school course, which

ﬁll ed F by rench, modern languages, mathematics , natural sciences, and the other parts of what i is called a modern education . The Chr stian Brothers have a successful school of the same

T ri hi n u kind at Passy. he f ends of t s new i str ction were strong enough to insert in the organic school law o f 1 85 0 a paragraph binding the minister to appoint special juries to give c erti ﬁ cate s to the

ensei nemen t r o essi on n el i t imparters of the g p f , as 1 was then called . Commissions were set to i t i l organise , but wh e they proceeded slowly with

i 64 l cées their task, it so far organ sed itself that y 74 out of , and nearly all the communal colleges,

n i t made some provision for givi g ; and last year,

i n the of the boys schools of the State,

were receiving this modern instruction , while in private schools of o n e sort and another i boys were receivin g t.

M hi s o wn . Duruy is entitled to speak for

1 ’ Le m n t s u r i s du n s s é l ms tru c i is re, l av Co eil up rieur de ’ ti n n t t é x l en s ei n emen t o publique , i s i uera des jurys sp ciau pour g ” ’ n n —L oi da 1 4 mars 1 85 0 SW l Ensei n emen t professio el . g ,

art. 62 . 384 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND VII

boys at any rate, and he declares that, in

a hi their c se, with hardly any exceptions , t s 1 instruction proved a failure . The Commi ssi ons appointed to study the subject reported that thi s

was instruction a failure, too, in the majority h o f pri vate schools . Its teac ers were proceedi ng

i i l - at random, w thout any d stinct and wel digested

i ll - i plans ; they were paid, and the r position was

i n h the uncertain ; they were, general, wit out

i A rand e requi site collect ons and apparatus . g

e M r i n ati li t . , Du uy says, has to be transformed f i i into an ef ective inst tut on . The law of the 21 s t of June of last year is

i t n . O designed so to transform the one hand, h say the authors of t at law, to balance the old s e - a l i hi h c lled iberal profess ons, for w c a classical

education was supposed to be the best preparation, there have ari sen i n modern society a number i m of industr al, co mercial, and agricultural pro

xi fessions , which did not e st a hundred years ago, and whi ch require a di fferent preparation from t O u hat for the old professions . the other hand,

1 ’ Ci r cu lai r e d a 2 octo bre 1 863 relati ve a l ensei gn emen t

386 HIGH ER SCHOOLS AND V II

i n courses are to be of equal rank, held the same

en c o u r institutions, and furnished with the same

n o f ageme ts . The teachers the one are to enjoy an equal position and to offer equal guarantees with those of the other.

ni the The new legislation, therefore, u tes in public schools the classical and n o n - classical pupi ls

n n in the same buildi gs, under the same gover

n o n - ment , but gives the classical pupils separate

lessons , and separate professors . It establishes

o ld a normal school, occupying the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, for the training of the latter. It i provides a distinct aggregat on for them, as the professors of classics, mathematics, and modern

ﬁx languages have a distinct aggregation . It e s It for them a scale of payment . provides a

o f hi fo r separate supply scholars ps their pupils, and it draws o u t a separate set o f programmes fo r

n the new i struction . It institutes a local body ,

o f co ns ei l ale er ecti o n n ement with the title p f , in conn ection with each establishment where the

’ n co n s ei l s u eri eu r new i struction is given , and a p i de p erfecti on n emen t to advise the min ster in Paris .

n Finally , it extends to private schools givi g the VI I UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 387

ni if new instruction that power of obtai ng, judged

u n worthy, from the comm es , departments, or State ,

l l aw o f a bui ding and a subvention, which the 1 85 0 bestowed on the private secondary schools . It is the French theory that the State’ s duty is to establish models and s o improve pri vate i n

i u i o n M u s t t t s . . Dur y has certainly taken great pains to adapt his model to the pu r pose for which

n it is wanted . The pupils of the new instructio are likely to have time for onl y a three or four

’ ’ o f years course, instead the seven or eight years course o f the classical school ; and the new i n

i s struction , therefore, arranged for four years , and 1 2 1 6 fo r boys from about the age of to . Even this shorter course is more li kely than the clas sical course to be abridged by the boy’ s sudden with dra al w ; it has been attempted, therefore, to make as far as possible each year’ s plan of study complete i n N itself. either for the professor, nor for the il pup , has the culture to be carried so far as in hi t the classical school ; for both, therefore, the ghes

o ff o f class o f payments is cut . In Paris the rate payment to the professors of the new instruction i s about the rate of payment to classical professors 388 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND V I I

o u t o f in the provinces ; Paris , something below this ; but then these new teachers will often come from the class where only primary in struction at

fo r hi present goes recruiting teachers, and to t s class the rate of salary will appear good . The

i n boys, whether boarders or day scholars, pay as the elementary di vision and the grammar division o fthe classical school ; the hi gher rates o f p hi lo

o hi e math mati u es s eci ales o ff s p and é q p are cut . Provision is made for drafting into the classical school boys who show aptitudes whi ch make the

i o f prolonged tra ning, classical or mathematical,

r that school desi able for them . The name of the new instruction was rather a

“ di fﬁc u lt I ro fes matter of y . t had got that of p

” hi o f sioual, but t s word gives the idea a school where particular trades and businesses are learnt, and this is not the design of the new schools .

” s a We do not, y their promoters, put the work s h0 p in the school ; in these new establishments the teaching is still a means, not an end, and when the pupil leaves them, the knowledge he possesses will be general knowledge . The true professional school comes later ; it is such a school as the

390 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 1 which has recently issued from the department o f

1 publi c instruction at Paris . Taking the boy on

1 1 o r 1 2 his leaving the primary school at , when he is supposed (and this is worth remarking)

besides his religious instruction , reading, and

o f writing, to possess the elements grammar, the four rules o f arithmetic both in whole numbers

u i and in v lgar and dec mal fractions, and the

ﬁrs t metric system, it gives him, , a preparatory

h he year, in which w at possesses is perfected, his slight smattering o f history and geography ex changed for a methodical foundati on o f those studies, a modern language, geometry, and natural

T u l history begun . hen, by a reg ar gradation , which yet leaves the instr u ction of each year as far as possible a complete whole in itself, it carries him through a four years ’ course in the matters named by the law . The attention paid to teaching

n o t the mother tongue, and only its history and i t literature but how to write , is as remarkable in

i n o f this course as that the classical schools . But perhaps the greatest novelty is the information

1 Ens ei n ement s eco n dai re s eci al décrets arrétés ro rammes g p , , p g ’ ’ n r l o u i n de du 21 u i n et docu me ts elatifs a e eec t o la lo i j 1 865 , P m 6 s : m m ér a 1 8 6 . ari I pri erie I p i le , VI I UNIVERS ITIES IN FRANCE 3 9 1

o n m com on subjects , as it may in brief be called .

o f n The choice and arrangement this i formation , simple matter as it seems when it stands in the

r prog amme, must have cost much thought and

to ’ pains , there being such a lack of models follow

ro and it seems to me most successful . The p

le i s lati on u su elle o u t gramme headed g , giving the line of a course o n the public and private law and

n o f F — the admi istrative organisation rance, how

u the government is composed, what are the f nctions o f i ff ho w its d erent departments , the municipalities

ho w are constituted , the army is recruited , how taxes are raised , what is the legal and judicial

o f ho w i system the country, in the most mportant

n relations of civil life , marriage , i heritance, holding

property, buying, selling, lending , borrowing ,

ff z — partnership the laws a ect the citi en, this pro gramme in particular seems to me quite admirably

fo r composed, both what it inserts and what it omits .

The programmes o n the legislation o f commerce

o n an d c o m and industry, and rural , industrial, m erc i al n economy, are also very interesti g but each o f these is more particularly designed fo r a

n o f n to o f si gle division pupils, accordi g the class 3 92 HIGH ER SCHOOLS AND 1 1 1 profession to which they are destined ; whereas the programme for legi s lati on u s u elle is designed for

all, containing what it is important for all alike to know ; and therefore thi s latter programme is not so easy a programme to prepare, and has a more general interest when prepared .

It is as yet to o soon to judge of the success o f

’ u ru this important addition of M . D y s to the public secondary instruction of France , but the

o f Mu seu m —an correspondent the , English educa ti o n al periodical deserving to be more widely — known than it is, seems to me not far from the

ﬁ n d truth, when he says that to a population for

di fﬁcu lt these new schools is the y, as the rich class o f people wanting to use them is small, and the

o f large class people wanting to use them is poor. The loud demand for them comes c hi e ﬂy from a

o f i certain number rich industrialists, with v ews

O n o f about education, and pposed to the tyran y

’ a who L tin and Greek, yet wish their sons school to be a school o fas high social rank as the classical

n school . This has been done by givi g the new in struction the title and apparatus o f secondary

n . i struction, and its cost, of course, along with them

3 94 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND V II

N o n e o f ﬂo i n evertheless , as may say gg g, that the set o f the modern spirit is so decisively against it that it is doomed , whatever plausible arguments m a o n s o y be urged its behalf, is the set of the modern spirit so decisively in favour of the n ew

’ n M D u ru s instructio , that . y creation, whatever wh reasons may be given y it should not succeed, will probably in the end succeed i n some shape o r

T i o n other. his current of opin on is , indeed, the

s o Continent, wide and strong as to be fast growing irresistible ; and it is not the work of authority . Authority does all that can be done in favour o f the o ld classical training ; ministers o f State sing its praises ; the reporter of the Commission charged to examine the new law is careful to pay to the o ld

— - training and its pre eminence a homage am u s i ngly 1 n o f u s H o f Fre ch . Men the world envy a ouse r Commons whe e Latin quotations are still made, school authorities are full o f stories to show ho w boys trained in Latin and Greek beat the pupils l o f the n ew instruction even in their o wn ﬁ e d .

1 ’ Ou n e saurait trop exalter l i mpo rtan c e s ociale des lettres Ce s on t e es u i on t as s u r e e u i ales s i ec es la classiques . ll g d p s l s u r mati e i n te ctu e e de la Fr a —ﬁhi s ei n emen t s econ dai r e p é lle ll nce . g

s eci a . 438 p l, p . v 1 1 UNIVERS ITIES IN FRANCE 3 95

Still i n the body o fsociety there spreads a growin g di i sbel ef in Greek and Latin , at any rate as at present taught ; a growin g disposition to make modern languages and the natural sciences take I their place . remark this in Germany as well as G F in France ; and in ermany too , as in rance, the movement is in n o wise due to the school

i s authorities , but rather in their despite, and against their advice and testimony. I shall have

b s a an opportunity, by and y, to y a few words respecting what appears to me the real import of

u this movement, and the part of tr th and of error

u i t All I n o w in the ideas which favo r . wish to i t lay stress upon i s s volume and irresistibility . C H A P T E R VIII

S UPERIOR O R UNIVERSITY INSTRUCTION IN FRANCE

— — — Superior I n struction Faculties Letters an d Scien ces Theo — — — logy Law Medicin e Other I n stitution s i n Fran ce for — — Superior I n struction Us e ofsuch In stitution s Con clusion .

I HAVE incidentally said something o f the superior I instruction of France as went along, and at the outset I disclaimed all pretension to treat it fully ; but a very short notice o f it as a whole ought to I be given before pass elsewhere. The superior

o f instruction France consists of the faculties , and o f —s h certain other institutions, uc as, for instance,

ll o f N ! the Co ege of France, the Museum atura

H S o f vi istory, the chool Li ng Oriental Languages,

- where the studies and lectures are o f a pitch which presupposes that the student’s secondary

o f instruction is completed . The students French

e superior instruction are n t , like our undergraduates

3 98 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v 1 1 1

n umerous than in the provincial academies, and in the more important of these they are more m nu erous than in the less important . The faculty

o f fo r of sciences has in the academy Paris , example,

r m eighteen chai s ; in the acade ies of Clermont,

h s N a . ancy, and Poitiers it but four These four, which may be taken as representing the absolute

u l n : necessary for a fac ty of sciences, are the followi g

physics, chemistry, pure and applied mathematics,

In natural history . letters the Paris faculty has

a ﬁv e eleven chairs, the provinci l faculties have each ,

hi o f o f w ch in all them, except that Toulouse, are

: i the same ancient l terature, French literature,

l u l foreign literature, phi osophy, history . To ouse substitutes fo r chairs o f ancient and o f foreign

o f o f literature chairs Greek and Latin literature .

o f u l ﬁv e fo r Theology has seven seats fac ties,

two fo r the Catholics and the Protestants . The seats o fthe two Protestant facu l ties are Montauban

o f and Strasburg . The chairs these faculties are

t ﬁ v nowhere more than seven or fewer han e . The

subjects common to them all are dogmatic theology, I ecclesiastical history, and (here use the French

’ u en ce sacr e morale e an li ae elo é e é . titles) q , and y g The V III UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 3 9 9

i n 4 2 h faculty of theology, which has all c airs, is i the least mportant of all the faculties in France , because the Church of Rome does not recognise

its degrees, and they have no canonical validity . O f course, for those Who aspire to be professors in hi t s faculty, its degrees and attendance at its lectures are indispensable and by an ordinance of the Government of 1 830 its degrees are requ i red fo r all ecclesiastical preferment down to the post o f ew e ale chef- li en de can ton inclusive ; but as a certain number of years ’ pastoral service was to

be accepted as an equivalent for these degrees , and they were not to be required of anybody who when the ordinance appeared was more than

- twenty one years old, they have not come to much .

The Fren ch Church is n o t emi n ent at present fo r i theological learn ng, and what theological learning

it has does not come to it from the University . 98 Law has eleven seats of faculties , with chairs .

The great chairs in this faculty are those fo r the

Co de Na o leon i p , Roman law, civ l procedure, com

merc i al . Co de law, administrative law The

Nap o leon has to itself six chairs at Paris and three

e n o f o f i n each of the other t seats faculties . Two 40 0 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND V III

N these ten, ancy and Douai, have been recently

ho w added, and the reader may like to know an additional faculty, when wanted, is provided . The

o f N town ancy, already the seat of an academy,

of a faculty of sciences, and of a faculty of letters, l desired a facu ty of law also, Lorraine having

n formerly, under its old sovereig s, possessed one . h The State agreed to establis one there, the muni ci pali ty of Nancy undertaki ng on its part to raise every year and pay to t he treasury a s u m rei mbu rs

ing the State for its outlay on the new faculty, its

a re es r professors, g g , and courses of lectu es . Douai

o f got its faculty law on the same terms . The

o f State gives the character a national institution ,

o f n the guarantee publicly appoi ted teachers, and the privilege o f conferring degrees and the town is abundantly willing to pay for thi s .

No o n e in France can practise as a barrister

avocat i ( ) w thout the degree of licentiate of law . No one can practise as a solicitor (ab ou t) without

cer ti i cat ale ca aci té en dr oi t u s s e e the f p . Let what

o f two l the possession these diplomas imp ies.

A licentiate o f law must ﬁrs t have got the

o f degree bachelor of law . To get this he must

40 2 HIGH ER SCHOOLS AND VIII

o f o n the subject o f each course . The cost this

c e rti ﬁ c ate u . n , all fees for lect res, etc i cluded , is from £1 1 to £1 2 1 The professors 1 11 the facu lty i o f law are men

' ‘ i n n t é n g v a e m e t i rr h k owled e of their se er l branches .

En gli s hre ade rs Wi ll ldo well to compare thi s regular

' ' an d ' e dhc ati ve c o u rs e o f le gal instruction with the

' w a f i n whi ch b u s y a arrister is left, with , to pick

' ' up the trick o f his trade as he likes ; and they may hear in mind at the same time the resources o f o u r universities and Inns of Court for legal

ho w o u r education, and universities and Inns of m Court apply the .

Medicine has three great seats of faculties, with 1 6 . chairs The faculties are at Paris, Montpellier,

o r i n and Strasburg . To be a physician surgeon

man o f France, a must have the diploma doctor

di o r O either in me cine in surgery . To btain this ,

’ ' he must have attended four years 1 1e c tu re s i n a

o f n had t s . wo ar faculty medici e, and !ye practice

he hi m l ‘ f ' in a hospital . When prese nts se f o i the

’ ﬁrs t the ' di lo m a year s lectures, he p o f o f fo r o f bachelor letters ; when the third, that

The t s u m 2 85 exac is fr. V 1 1 1 UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 40 3

h o f n o f bac elor sciences , a certai portion the mathematics generally requ i red for thi s degree H being in hi s case cut away . e must pass eight

hi s examinations, and at the end of course he must H support a thesis before his faculty. is diploma, i i t hi m i by the t me he gets , has cost a l ttle over £5 0 1 A medical man with a doctor’s degree may practi se throughout France . To practise without i t di o o i er ale sante , a man must have the ploma of ﬁ . To practise without the di ploma either of doctor

f i e cle an te i s a ci er de e or o oﬁ c r s penal . The ﬁ s an t must have attended three years ’ lectures in a

’ faculty and had two years practice in a hospital , and he must pass ﬁv e examinations and write a paper bearing o n one of the subjects of his instruction . Before he can be admitted to attend lectures in a facu l ty o f medicine he must produce

’ eer ti leat d examen de rammai r e o f a f g , a sort minor

o f r o n bachelor arts degree, tu ning the matters

aatr i eme the taught in g , highest class in the

o f l e es hi s i n grammar division the y é . Thus hav g

a n learnt some L ti and Greek is, our British

1 1 26 fr i s the a t s u m . 0 . ex c 40 4 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v m

A ssociation will be shocked to hear, rendered H necessary. is diploma costs him altogether

£32 n hi m about , but it o ly authorises to practise in the department where he has been received a ci er de san t ﬁ é, and he may not perform any great O peration except in the presence of a doctor.

A kind of branch of the facu l ties of medi cine

’ Ecoles s a éri eares de Phar maci e is formed by the p , three in number, with nineteen chairs . These schools, too, are at Paris, Montpellier, and Stras

Chemi s tr to xi c o l o harm ac burg . y , gy, p y , and natural hi story are the main matters of instruction . For

fo r medicine and pharmacy there are , as sciences 1 o f and letters , auxiliary schools in a number the

o f large towns France, with professors only a grade below the faculty professors , with lectures allowed i 2 to count, to a certa n extent, as faculty lectures , and with the right o f examining fo r some o f the

1 ’ Eco es r arato i res de medeei n e et d e ha l p ép p rmaci e . There t n t - wo t m are we y t of he . 2 ’ n t n t m n s m t For i s a ce ; for a doc or of edici e diplo a, hree ’ an d tt n n o n t r i n an co e r ar ato i re years a half a e da ce lec u es é l p ép , ’ ’ an d o n e ar i n t t i n ye s a facul y, is accep ed lieu of four years ’ n t n atten da ce o n faculty lectures . For a druggis s seco d class ’ d m an d n t t n i n an co e r ar ato i re iplo a, a year a half s i s ruc io é l p ép ’ is accepted i n lieu of a year s in struction i n o n e of the three

' es i e r de ha eco l sapér u es p rmac ie .

40 6 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND V III pharmacy school the candidate for the second

’ class diploma must have the eer tiﬁeat d examen cle grammai re mentioned above .

u l o r I must add that our whole reg ation, rather

- l o f hi i non regu ation, the teac ng and pract ce of pharmacy strikes the best judges on the Continent hm with perfect astonis ent, and is condemned there I with one voice . see that an eminent English

a physician declared l st year, at the meeting of the A British ssociation, that while the practitioner

En l an d where mi whom in g , he knows less of che stry

w el s e we i s than any here , are pleased to call a chem t, can in France o r Germany perform any analysis

u which the physician may req ire of him , in this cou n try he is in nine cases out of ten quite T incompetent for such a task . his exactly corresponds with what I have heard o n the H Continent . ere , at any rate, we can trace a clear practical inconvenience from o u r educational I shortcomings . Signor Matteucci, whom have

u d e o f already quoted, a most favourable j g England, who , though he says Oxford and Cambridge are

‘ hau l s l cees but y , hopes we shall long keep them, told me that he considered the strengthenin g o f VIII UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 40 7

o u r i n superior instruction, especially the direction o f n m n n o f all i n the scie ces, our ost pressi g eed the f matter o public education .

In o f o f Paris the seat the faculties theology , sciences , and letters is at the Sorbonne ; of the

1 o f i n Eco le de M deci n e o f faculty med ci e , at the é ;

3 t o f Eco le ole Droi tf hat law, at the There are

n o f ri — fo r eight i spectors supe or instruction, four

o n e letters , four for sciences, for medicine, and one

o f o f for law . Six the eight are members the

an d Institute, their names will probably be familiar

i s n M n . R v a : M a s o . N to ma y English readers , isard ,

M Le M M . . . Dumas (the chemist) , Verrier, Brong l i r M . T n a t . , and Charles Giraud heir sa ary, like

f fr o . that the faculty professors in Paris , is F a year, a high salary for rance ; and the posts of in spector- gen eral and professor of superior instruo tion form a valuable body of priz es for science an d

t . li erature Each faculty has an aggregation , similar in plan to that which exists fo r the professors o f

n I b ' secondary instructio , and which have descri ed

fo r g n an d but, ag regatio in a faculty , very high

’ 1 f le d e M eci n In the Place d e l l lco éd e .

111 the Place d a Pa n theon . 40 8 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND v m

n complete studies are necessary . In ge eral , the

' course o f promotion is this : the intending agrege

ﬁrs t obtains the degree o f doctor in his faculty

‘ ’ after being admitted ayreye he becomes assistant

n d ﬁn all A a . professor, y full professor full faculty l professor must be thirty years o d. The Dean o f

' Faculty is chosen by the Minister o f Public In

hi s struction from among the professors of faculty .

While the minister has power to dismiss o fhis own

authority the functionaries of secondaryinstruction , those o f superior instruction can only be dismi ssed

1 by imperial decree . The faculties have also the right of proposing candidates fo r their vacant

who chairs, though the Emperor, nominates , is

re o s al n o t bound to adopt their p p .

Free o r private courses o n the matters of

superior instruction cannot be publicly given, in

o f France, without the authorisation of the Minister

who i t Public Instruction, , before granting , takes the advice o f the prefect and the academic rector li for the loca ty where it is proposed to open them . Outside the faculties are a number o f important

1 ’ D cr et or an i u e da 9 ma rs 1 85 2 s ur l i n s tr u cti o n u b i u e é g q p l q ,

art. 3 .

4 1 0 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND

studying o n the spot the lan guage an d . antiquities

A e s a o f Greece . ll who have made thes a peci l object o f study know what sound an d useful memoirs have proceeded from pupils of the French

fA n I o . e School the s may mention, as a specim n ,

o n o f M the memoir the Island Euboea, by . Jules

b u u . A B r ea Girard ll these esta lishments , with the ales L o n i tu des i i o f g , and the publ c l braries the — capital, the great library in the Rue Richelieu ,

n e the Mazari e Library, the Sainte Genevi ve A Library, the rsenal Library, and the Sorbonne

n n o f Library, are u der the Mi ister Public

u Instr ction . Other ministers have special schools,

o f I l some which have a ready mentioned, attached

o f to their department . The Minister War has thus the Polytechnic, Saint Cyr, and the Cavalry

School o f Saumu r ; the Minister o f Marine has the Naval School and the Schools o f Hydrography ; the Minister o f Fi n an c e has the School o f Wood

' craft (Eco le fo resti ere) ; the Minister o f the House hold has the School o f Fin e Arts ; the Minister o f A griculture, Commerce, and Public Works has

o fA n the Schools griculture, the Veteri ary Schools,

A n the Schools of rts and Trades , the Ce tral V III UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE 4 1 1

o f A n o f School rts and Ma ufactures, the School

o f an d Commerce , the Schools Mines and Miners,

’ Eco le Im ri a le des P s et han e the p e on t C sse s . The grants to the Institute and to the Academy o f Medicine (a sort of medical i nstitute) come into

i n n the est mates of the Mi i ster of Public Instructio .

n hi s i l I to est mates come a so all grants, whether 1 fo r s o r pensions, gratuities, mi sions, publications,

hi a o f subscriptions, w ch fall under the he d grants fo r l an d 1 865 iterature, science, art . For these

fr grants amounted to . The A grants to the Institute and cademy of Medicine, grants which really come under the same category as the preceding, amounted to above more . These ﬁgu re s have an elo quence which I will leave

n the E glish reader, acquainted with our national

di o f expen ture for the advancement literature,

science, and art, to appreciate for himself.

1 It ma t m n t n n i n n y be wor h e io i g how, Fra ce, a public departmen t usually proceeds with a report like min e to the ’

s n mm n n s t n . It n i ts School E quiry Co issio , for i a ce se ds t an d t bu t i t n o t n t an d repor er receives his repor , does pri publish It i ts t to i t i t i n an o fﬁ c i al volume . leaves au hor publish as an d n a o the d tm n t n 200 or i ry bo k, epar e , however, subscribi g for 300 i t d t t m n n t t t n n d or copies , which is ribu es a o g i s i u io s or i i vi d u al s that i t wishes to in form o n the matter to which the 4 1 2 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND VIII

Public establi shments such as these which I h n ave e umerated serve a twofold purpose . They ﬁ x a standard of serious preparation and special

ﬁtn e s s fo r every branch of employment a standard which acts on the whole intellectual habit o f the

n ﬁx cou try . To a standard of serious preparation ff is a very di erent thing, and a far more real lli homage to inte gence and study, than to

— o f demand, as we have done since the scandal o u r o ld mode o f appointment to public functions

—a grew too evident, single examination, by a single f board with a sta f of examiners, as the sole pre

EX liminary to all kinds of civil employment . ami n ati o n s preceded by preparation i n a ﬁr s t- rate

ﬁrs t- o u superior school, with rate professors , give y a formed man examinations preceded by pre parati o n under a crammer give you a crammed I o n e . man, but not a formed once bore part in

n di i the examinations for the I an Civil Serv ce, and I can truly say that the candi dates to whom I gave the highest marks were almost without ex c epti o n the candidates whom I would n o t have

n o t appointed . They were crammed men, formed me n ; the formed men were the public school

4 1 4 HIGHER SCHOOLS AND VII I

Again we have Eastern possessions an d interests compared wi th which those of all other

i n s i n i ﬁcan t European nations are g , but France has a public school o f living Oriental languages and

. M we have none Professors , among whom are .

li en M u . M Stanislas J , Garcin de Tassy , and .

Cau s s i n A de Percival, teach there rabic, Persian , A H Turkish, rmenian, industani, modern Greek ,

An d a an es e . Chinese, Malay , and J p pupils from all parts of Europe come to their instruction . A second purpose which such public establish

i s i ments serve th s . They represent the State , k the country, the collective community, in a stri ing visible shape , which is at the same time a noble and civilising o n e ; giving the people something to be proud of and whi ch it does them good to be

o i proud . The State is in England singularly

o f i li o f i i without means civ sation th s k nd . But a ff modern state cannot a ord to do without them, and the action of individuals and corporations cannot fully compensate for them the want of them has told severely o n the intelligence and r eﬁn emen t o f o u r middle and lower class . It makes a difference to the civilisation o f these vm UNIVERSITIES IN FR ANCE 4 15 classes whether it is the Louvre which represents

' u e o r N their co ntry to th m, the ational Gallery ;

' an dwvhether the State co nsecrates in the eyes of

' the 1people the great lines of i ntellectual culture b fnati o n al or t y institutions for them, leaves hem to t o f m ake care the selves . What the State, the collective permanent nation, honours, the passing

n c people ho our ; what the State negle ts , they

o f think no great consequence . It is in this point of View that the national institution, on the Continent, of all that interests

i ni o r an t human culture seems to me especially p t . l In France , in her superior and sti l more in her secondary instruction , there is undoubtedly too

much regulation by the central government, too much prescribing to teachers the precise course

n au tho ri s a they shall follow, too much requiri g of

n tions before a ma may stir . If the professors were left free to arran ge their programmes by

’ c o n e n o t ti n e s , oncert among themselves , if any , n an d with proper guarantees of capacity (fo r to a rigorous demand fo r these there ought to be no objection) were free to open a school o r to deliver public lectu res without an y further che ck what 4 1 6 HIGHER SC HOOLS IN FRANCE VIII

i n i n F ever, thought and learn g rance would in my hi . w opinion be great gainers T s change, ho ever, would but remove what is an excrescence upon the public establishment of education, a noxious excrescence due to political causes, and to their predominance in France as with u s (onl y with u s they have operated in another way by preventing the public establishment of education altogether) ll i A over inte ectual nterests . ll the salutary and civilising effects o f the public establishment o f i education are to be had without th s excrescence .

When I come to Germany I will show them so existing .

T H E END

Ed i n bu r h. Pr mt d b R . R C L A R ! e y . , g