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Robert Rackes, Esq."

Founder of Sunday Schools.

Published by Fisher, Son & C Caxton, London, May 1, 1828

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Memoir of

ROBERT RAIKES, ESQ. THE FOUNDER OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

(With a Portrait.).

THERE is not an individual in England whose name is more secure, or more deserving of immortality, than that of ROBERT RAIKES; nor is there one that will descend to posterity, associated with more unfading honours. Howard has acquired deathless renown by visiting hospitals, jails, and lazarettos; Hanway has secured a niche in the temple of fame by his regard for the outcasts of society; and Fox, as the founder of the Sunday School Society, is enrolled among the philanthropists of his country.

A station not less conspicuous, and not less honourable, is assigned to the subject of this memoir, the elevation of whose character has arisen solely from the benevolence of those principles by which he was actuated. Already have the effects of his exertions attracted the attention of his countrymen, and contemporaries throughout the world; and, without the blast of the trumpet, or the roar of cannon, it will command the admiration of future generations, unaccompanied with the groans of the dying, and untarnished with the stains

of blood.

Mr. Raikes was born in the city of Gloucester on the 14th of September, 1736, but of his parentage, family connexions, education, and the events of his early years, very little is known. It is, however, but fair to infer, from the wise and generous actions which marked his mature age, that his youth was not wasted in idleness and dissipation. Having acquired a knowledge of the printing business, and being engaged in trade, this benevolent man, instead of devoting all his time and talents to the acquirement of ease and fortune, directed his attention to the condition of the wretched among his fellow creatures, and exerted himself to mitigate their sufferings, by relieving their necessities.

Actuated by these views and feelings, we learn from the European Magazine for 1788, vol. xiv. p. 315, that "The first object which demanded his notice was the 113.-VOL. X.

[1828.

miserable state of the county Bridewell, within the city of Gloucester, which being part of the county gaol, the persons committed by the magistrate, out of sessions, for petty offences, associated, through ne cessity, with felons of the worst description, with little or no means of subsistence from labour; with little, if any, allowance from the county; without either meat, drink, or clothing; dependent, chiefly, on the precarious charity of such as visited the prison, whether brought thither by business, curiosity, or compassion.

"To relieve these miserable and forlorn wretches, and to render their situation supportable at least, Mr. Raikes employed both his pen, his influence, and his property, to procure them the necessaries of life; and finding that ignorance was generally the principal cause of those enormities which brought them to become objects of his notice, he determined, if possible, to procure them some moral and religious instruction. In this he succeeded, by means of bounties and encouragement given to such of the prisoners as were able to read; and these, by being directed to proper books, improved both themselves and their fellow prisoners, and afforded him great encouragement to persevere in the benevolent design. He then procured for them a supply of work, to preclude every excuse and temptation to idleness."

The affinity being thus rendered obvious between vice and ignorance, it was natural for a mind constituted like that of Mr. Raikes, and habituated to serious reflection, to trace this moral malady up to its primitive source. He discovered that in early life, the education of those whom he found the inmates of jails, had been totally neglected; that no instruction had been imparted to their minds, of the duties which they owed either to their neighbours, or to their God; and, as a natural consequence, he was led to infer, that succeeding generations, if trained up in equal ignorance, would, in all probability, prove equally vicious. On looking around him, he, however, perceived that the children of the poor were engaged in labour at a very tender age, which left them no time to receive instruction during

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Memoir of Robert Raikes, Esq.

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the days devoted to employment, and | The thunderbolt men of sect and party saw Sunday appeared to have been interdicted by common consent. The barriers which thus encircled him on every side, left apparently no space in which his benevolence could operate; but its native energy soon discovered an ample field. He saw that Sunday was devoted to wickedness, and very rationally concluded, that if this could be repressed, by teaching the children on that sacred day their duties to God and man, no law, either human or divine, would be violated, and that the community would be amply compensated for the sacrifice of public opinion.

Having reached these conclusions, Mr. Raikes began to carry his plans into operation towards the close of the year 1781, or in the beginning of 1782. The trial continued nearly one year, towards the termination of which, on finding success attending his enterprise, the following paragraph, which seems to be the first that was ever printed respecting Sunday Schools, was inserted in the Gloucester Journal of November 3d, 1783:

"Some of the clergy in different parts of this county, bent upon attempting a reform among the children of the lower class, are establishing Sunday Schools for rendering the Lord's-day subservient to the ends of instruction, which has hitherto been prostituted to bad purposes. Farmers, and other inhabitants of the towns and villages, complain that they receive more injury in their property on the Sabbath, than all the week besides this in a great measure proceeds from the lawless state of the younger class, who are allowed to run wild on that day, free from every restraint. To remedy this evil, persons duly qualified are employed to instruct those that cannot read; and those that may have learnt to read, are taught the catechism, and conducted to church. By thus keeping their minds engaged, the day passes profitably, and not disagreeably. In those parishes, where this plan has been adopted, we are assured that the behaviour of the children is greatly civilized. The barbarous ignorance in which they had before lived, being in some decree dispelled, they begin to give proofs that those persons are mistaken, who consider the lower orders of mankind incapable of improvement, and therefore think an attempt to reclaim them impracticable, or at least not worth the trouble."

From the Gloucester Journal, the preceding paragraph soon found its way into the London and some provincial papers; and from the novelty of the subject, it excited no small share of public attention.

the Sabbath violated, and launched their anathemas against the innovator; those who could merely read and write, perceived the rights of their castes invaded; while those who snored in aristocratic ignorance, predicted convulsions that would unhinge the civilized world. The more enlightened, however, saw the subject in a very different light. They perceived that it put into the hands of the community a powerful engine, possessing an energy which baffled all calculation, from its obvious capability of being rendered of universal application.

In this state of public feeling, numerous letters were addressed to Mr. Raikes, containing a due proportion of censure, of applause, and of sincere inquiry. Among those who appeared to have been actuated by a spirit of benevolence, was a Colonel Townley, a gentleman of Lancashire, who having seen the anonymous paragraph, addressed a letter to the mayor of Glouces ter, requesting all the information he could communicate on a subject which seemed fraught with such momentous consequences. The mayor, on receiving Colonel Townley's letter, immediately handed it to Mr. Raikes, who, in reply, has furnished the following interesting particulars respecting the occasion, origin, and character of Sunday Schools:

"Gloucester, Nov. 25, 1783.

"SIR,-My friend, the mayor, has just communicated to me the letter which you have honoured him with, inquiring into the nature of the Sunday Schools. The beginning of this scheme was entirely owing to accident. Some business leading me one morning into the suburbs of the city, where the lowest of the people (who are principally employed in the pin-manufac tory) chiefly reside, I was struck with concern at seeing a group of children, wretchedly ragged, at play in the street. I asked an inhabitant whether those chil. dren belonged to that part of the town, and lamented their misery and idleness. Ah! Sir, said the woman to whom I was speaking, could you take a view of this part of the town on a Sunday, you would be shocked indeed, for then the street is filled with multitudes of these wretches, who, released on that day from employment, spend their time in noise and riot, playing at chuck, and cursing and swearing in a manner so horrid, as to convey to any serious mind an idea of hell rather than any other place. We have a worthy clergyman, the Rev. Thomas Stock, said she, minister of our parish, who has put some

of them to school; but upon the Sabbath, they are all given up to follow their inclinations without restraint, as their parents, totally abandoned themselves, have no idea of instilling into the minds of their children principles to which they themselves are entire strangers.

"This conversation suggested to me, that it would be at least a harmless attempt, if it were productive of no good, should some little plan be formed to check this deplorable profanation of the Sabbath. I then inquired of the woman, if there were any decent well-disposed women in the neighbourhood, who kept schools for teaching to read. I presently was directed to four. To these I applied, and made an agreement with them, to receive as many children as I should send upon the Sunday, whom they were to instruct in reading, and in the church catechism. For this I engaged to pay them each a shilling for their day's employment. seemed pleased with the proposal. I then waited on the clergyman before mentioned, and imparted to him my plan. He was so much satisfied with the idea, that he engaged to lend his assistance, by going round to the schools on a Sunday afternoon, to examine the progress that was made, and to enforce order and decorum among such a set of little heathens.

The women

"This, sir, was the commencement of the plan. It is now about three years since we began, and I could wish you were here to make inquiry into the effect. A woman who lives in a lane where I had fixed a school, told me some time ago, that the place was quite a heaven upon Sundays, compared to what it used to be. The numbers who have learned to read and say their catechism, are so great, that I am astonished at it. Upon the Sunday afternoon the mistresses take their scholars to church, a place into which neither they nor their ancestors ever entered with a view to the glory of God. But what is yet more extraordinary, within this month, these little ragamuffins have, in great numbers, taken it into their heads to frequent the early morning prayers, which are held every morning at the cathedral, at seven o'clock. I believe there were near fifty this morning. They assemble at the house of one of the mistresses, and walk before her to church, two and two, in as much order as a company of soldiers. I am generally at church, and after service they all come round me to make their bow, and, if any animosities have arisen, to make their complaint. The great principle I inculcate is, to be kind and good-natured

to each other; not to provoke one another; to be dutiful to their parents; not to offend God by cursing and swearing; and such little plain precepts as all may comprehend. As my profession is that of a printer, I have printed a little book, which I give amongst them: and some friends of mine, subscribers to the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, sometimes make me a present of a parcel of Bibles, Testaments, &c. which I distribute as rewards to the deserving. The success that has attended this scheme has induced one or two of my friends to adopt the plan, and set up Sunday Schools in other parts of the city, and now a whole parish has taken up the object, so that I flatter my. self in time, the good effects will appear so conspicuous as to become generally adopted.

"The number of children at present engaged on the Sabbath, are between two and three hundred, and they are increasing every week, as the benefit is universally seen. I have endeavoured to engage the clergy of my acquaintance that reside in their parishes. One has entered into the scheme with great fervour; and it was in order to excite others to follow the example, that I inserted in my paper the paragraph which I suppose you saw copied into the London papers. I cannot express to you the pleasure I often receive in discovering genius, and innate good dispositions, among this little multitude. It is botanizing in human nature. I have often, too, the satisfaction of receiving thanks from parents, for the reformation they perceive in their children. Often have I given them kind admonitions, which I always do in the mildest and gentlest manner. The going among them, doing them little kindnesses, distributing trifling rewards, and ingratiating myself with them, I hear, have given me an ascendancy greater than I ever could have imagined; for I am told by their mistresses that they are very much afraid of my displeasure. If you ever pass through Gloucester, I shall be happy to pay my respects to you, and to shew you the effects of this effort at civilization. If the glory of God be promoted in any, even the smallest degree, society must reap some benefit. If good seed be sown in the mind at an early period of human life, though it shews itself not again for many years, it may please God, at some future period, to cause it to spring up, and to bring forth a plenteous harvest.

"With regard to the rules adopted, I only require that they come to the school on Sunday as clean as possible. Many

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