CHAPTER V. EDUCATION IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Suspension of education in the Eighteenth Century. 41. THE investigations that we have pursued have shown that a suspension of national education in the eighteenth century was an almost inevitable result of the political developments of the Reformation. That the education of the people was in a great measure suspended during that century it is impossible to doubt, though it would be ungrateful to forget or overlook the equally undoubted fact that the eighteenth century was, so to speak, the seed-plot of most, if not of all, the great movements and revivals of the nineteenth century, and that to it modern educational systems owe more than is generally acknowledged. A period of sleep is not inconsistent with growth, and it may be that in the history of nations, as in the life of individuals, there are periods of exhaustion, relaxation and low vitality, during which the body politic is resting in unconscious preparation for a new day. The eighteenth century is certainly an instance of a period of low vitality. Every student of English history and English social life is compelled to notice the mean standard of national ideals during the century ending about the year 1790. Religious belief was practically non-existent among a large portion of the population; the tastes of all classes of society were vitiated and brutal; social morality was debased; political corruption was rampant. In such an age it was difficult for 166 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DAME-SCHOOL. national education to make any headway. It is a matter for congratulation that the educational foundations survived the temporary suspension of effective education for the people, and it is a striking fact that it was this very age that exhibited, in the period from 1660 to 1730, the most remarkable fecundity in the creation of elementary school foundations. This matter will be dealt with in the next chapter', but it is referred to here as an illustration of that extraordinary quality of the century which enabled it to store up rare benefits for future generations while it was apparently incapable of bettering its own case in any way. Shenstone's mistress.' Education generally was certainly in a most ineffective condition. This is in a way shown by Shen'School- stone's (1714-1763) delightful, satirical poem "The Schoolmistress',' in which he draws a vivid picture of the manner of village education in his day. This picture, it may be said, has been verified and recognised as a true picture of a large class of elementary education in England as late as the middle of the nineteenth century by school inspectors who are still living. Some extracts from this poem will be of value. "In every village mark'd with little spire, Embower'd in trees, and hardly known to fame, And at the door inprisoning board is seen, The noises intermix'd, which thence resound, Do Learning's little tenement betray, 1 See pp. 189, 190, and Appendix II. infra. 2 In this poem the poet celebrated his first teacher, an old dame, by name Sarah Lloyd. THE BENCH OF HEEDLESS BISHOPS. One ancient hen she took delight to feed, Lo, now with state she utters her command! To save from finger wet the letters fair." 167 This dame rules her school with the birch of justice: "And through the thatch his cries each falling stroke proclaim." In consequence of such punishment the rest of the school Till fear has taught them a performance meet, The culprit however with wisdom "shuns to be caressed." The result of the admirable system is shiningly set forth 1; "Yet nursed with skill, what dazzling fruits appear! A little bench of heedless bishops here, And there a chancellor in embryo, Or bard sublime............ It is almost impossible not to surmise that the "little bench of heedless bishops" were the licensing Bishops of the period, and that the "chancellor in embryo" was a prophetic vision of John Scott who, as Lord Eldon, blocked the progress of education for many years by holding that a grammar school could only teach the classics. Shenstone gives us, moreover, one other touch that cheerfully assures us of something in common between the children of his day and the children 168 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY GIRLS' SCHOOL. brought up under our modern educational system. The scholars of both periods, probably the scholars of all periods, with jocund leer ...... Salute the stranger passing on his way1." The rod to-day is, however, spared to an extent inconceivable in the days of Erasmus, or of Busby, or even of Eldon. If elementary education was in the poorest possible way, the education of girls and, indeed, all secondary education, was in no better case. Miss Austen's 'Emma.' Shenstone's glimpse of a dame-school in the first quarter of the eighteenth century may be supplemented by Miss Austen's description of girls' schools in its last quarter. "Mrs Goddard was the mistress of a school-not of a seminary or an establishment, or anything which professed, in long sentences of refined nonsense, to combine liberal acquirements with elegant morality, upon new principles and new systems-and where young ladies for enormous pay might be screwed out of health and into vanity-but a real honest oldfashioned boarding-school, where a reasonable quantity of accomplishments were sold at a reasonable price, and where girls might be sent to be out of the way, and scramble themselves into a little education, without any danger of coming back prodigies. Mrs Goddard's school was in high repute, and very deservedly; for Highbury was reckoned a particularly healthy spot: she had an ample house and garden, gave the children plenty of wholesome food, let them run about a great deal in the summer, and in winter dressed their chilblains with her own hands. It was no wonder that a train of twenty young couples now walked after her to church"." 1 Our most vivid pictures of schoolboys in all ages are contained in the poets. An interesting monograph might be written on poets' schoolboys, beginning with Chaucer's little scholar of seven years. 2 Emma, Chap. III. THE COURT OF CHANCERY AND POPULAR EDUCATION. 169 The endowed foundations throughout the country during the whole period of the eighteenth century and for at least the first half of the nineteenth century yielded little fruit; and it is doubtful if the Universities themselves were in any sense worthy of their great traditions. Cambridge certainly had become fossilised and lifeless. It is difficult to analyse with justice the causes that led to the suspension of educational activity in England. The exclusive policy of the Church of England, the political unwisdom of the Crown, the inaccessibility and blindness of the Chancery tribunals', the reaction of the Restoration, were all causes that hindered education. But there can be no doubt, as has been said, that the chief cause lay in the manners of England in the century between the return of Charles II. and the accession of George III. The great scholarship of a few, the great literary merit of a few, the great saintliness of a few, stand out in strong relief. But neither scholarship, nor literature, nor holiness, when isolated, can touch the hearts of a people. The nation for nearly a century lay to all appearance fallow, with room for the weeds of vice and ignorance to flourish. But nevertheless it is to this very period that we trace the origin of our modern system. It indeed appears true that in every age when society seems at its lowest ebb, and when there are absent from a people lofty ideals and deep faith, there are powers at work, unseen by men, preparing a better day. So it was in the first century of our era, so it was before the Renaissance, so it was in the eighteenth century. 42. It will be convenient here to trace the beginnings of the educational awakening in the attitude of the Law Courts in the eighteenth century and then to pass on to the great 1 Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in the year 1751 exactly stated the educational conception of his age. "For though," said the great lawyer, "at the reformation greater invitations were made to bring the poor to schools, that is not so proper now, for at present the poor had better be trained up to agriculture" (Attorney-General v. Middleton, Vesey's Reports (Senior), vol. 2, p. 330). |